War Scribes

Summary of Legion II

Ranged Combat, Data Analysis and Collection, Tech-Intuition

Legion Colors

Legion Tactics

Cautious, methodical, and predictable, and have an odd tendency to be brilliant when planning grand campaigns, but being more uncertain than most in the maelstrom of personal combat at the tactical level. Some Legions appreciate the War Scribes’ oversight of their wars, and others deride them for perceived cowardice. They lack the bloodlust that most other Legions are known for, preferring a solid, relentless advance, backed by the highest technology they can muster. Where other legions favor boldness, the Scribes favor tried and proven methods, and do not deviate from them. They are dour warriors, not given to emotion on the battlefield, but to those that earn their trust, they will go to the ends of the Galaxy to assist them in their times of need.

Legion Equipment

Their favored weapons are Dark Age relics, though there are precious few that survived the chaos and destruction of the Isstvan Massacre and the destruction of their homeworld, Whitestone. Most of what remains from the Dark Age is noncombat gear, primarily advanced manufactorums and data storage facilities, which the War Scribes and their successors draw on to maintain their advanced equipment.

The War Scribes Legion roamed far and wide, recovering many of the Great Crusade's most notable blueprints and STC fragments, unlocking their secrets and sharing them with the other Legions. The Emperor encouraged this, seeing it as a way to ensure that His sons had a supply of material outside of the Mechanicus' control. Though minor, this trickle of equipment gave many Legions a crucial advantage in their wars, even as it laid the seeds of resentment that would later cause the death of the War Scribes' Primarch.

The War Scribes Legion is replete with these devices compared to almost any other Imperial force. In their arsenals are large quantities of Jetbikes, Fellblades, Rapiers, Cerberus Tank Destroyers, Contemptors, Javelins, Sicaran Tanks, Typhon Siege Tanks, and Deimos-Pattern vehicles. Where other Space Marines might have lost such patterns of equipment, the War Scribes are expert record-keepers, and their warfleet has critical data well dispersed and backed up, so that even great loss may be recovered from.

Even in the 40th Millennium, the Chapter and its successors will have access to much that the rest of the galaxy has forgotten, and their armies will look much as they did in the Great Crusade, an army from a more enlightened time.

Legion Doctrine

Because of the Scribes love for knowledge, predictability, and the written word, the War Scribes were encouraged by the other legions and their Primarchs to author the Codex Astartes following the events of the Heresy, with the help of the Crusaders, Steel Marshals, Thunder Kings, and Scions.

They disagree with the Mechanicus in many areas, not least of which is their refusal to hoard technology. The War Scribes do not innovate technology, but they do reverse-engineer it at every opportunity, and disseminate the information to the worlds they conquer, and to the Imperium as a whole when possible. In the Great Crusade, their actions were responsible for much technology of war entering the hands of other Legions.

Unfortunately, after the Heresy, the Mechanicus forced the War Scribes to do no more than gather technology, and there is bad blood between them. Though the rest of the Imperium is ignorant of what happened on Whitestone, the armies of the Mechanicus nearly destroyed the entire Legion, and only Arelex's voluntary surrender and execution prevented the War Scribes from breaking with the Imperium altogether.

The blood of their Primarch purchased a treaty that holds even to this day, stating that the War Scribes and their Successors may possess whatever technology they have recovered, past, present, or future, and they may use the Atalantos Worlds near the Galactic Core as a manufacturing base to maintain their supplies, but the descendants of Arelex may *never* attempt to share what they know or learn without the Mechanicus' explicit permission.

Indeed, though the War Scribes still resent this treaty, they respected their Primarch's sacrifice so much that when a Successor, the Iron Scribes, broke the treaty, the War Scribes *destroyed their own Successor* rather than dishonor Arelex's sacrifice.

Space Marines know no fear, but the War Scribes don’t handle Chaos incursions very well, mentally or tactically. They can’t predict the unpredictable, and this puts them at a steep disadvantage. Against Material foes though, their brutally powerful weaponry makes them a force to be reckoned with. The War Scribes also prefer to engage the enemy at range, rather than up close and personal. They seek efficiency in battle, and spare little thought for personal glory and honor. Though not incapable of using a chainsword or power blade, the Scribes are almost always at a disadvantage in close quarters.

Notable successors

The Isstvan Massacre nearly destroyed the entire Legion, and they were completely unprepared for their betrayal at the hands of the Traitor Legions. Despite being a respectably large Legion of nearly 90,000 warriors, only one in thirty Marines survived Isstvan, leaving a bare 3,000 to carry their Primarch back home. The only reason the Legion remains a viable force to this day is the large number of small squads dispatched galaxy-wide to hunt relics, these numbered almost 10,000 and were called back to brace the Legion. Without those reinforcements, which the Mechanicus had no knowledge of, the War Scribes would surely have been annihilated when the Mechanicus attempted to sear their homeworld to the bedrock in an attempt to remove the War Scribes' Primarch from impeding their goals to control the Imperium from Mars, rather than Terra.

As it now stands, the War Scribes are a fleet-based chapter, operating within the loose confederation of worlds known as the Atalantos Worlds, for though the Legion survived, their planet was torn asunder in the apocalyptic clash of forbidden, ancient technology. For the briefest of instants, they and the Mechanicus fought as Dark Age Mankind might have, holding nothing back. The War Scribes Chapter of the 40th Millennium looks much like it did in the 30th, wielding Crusade-era weaponry alongside handfuls of even more ancient relics. They defend their treasures jealously, still remembering their defeat at the hands of the Mechanicus.

Knights Draconian

The first Chapter Master of the Knights Draconian, Nicholai Galilei, served as liaison officer to The Entombed during the Istvaan V campaign. While recovering from the wounds he suffered there, Galilei criticized the War Scribes' strategy for failing to properly co-operate with the other legions present. While the critique was not harshly worded, it created considerable controversy - especially because Arelex Orannis, busy with other duties, did not publicly reply. Internal dissent within the War Scribes made the break-up of the legion for the Second Founding painless: those who agreed with Galilei left, those who disagreed remained in their original colours. Subsequent bust-ups with The Entombed and the Eyes of the Emperor left an embittered Knights Draconian believing that co-operation is largely impossible. Big fans of the Inquisition.

Brothers Itinerant

Pirates, Cowards and Traitors. The first Master of Brothers, Neheziah Bo'ash, had been a middling officer of the War Scribes legion. His accomplishments hardly worth mentioning until his first commission to the command of an escort squadron. The man's prowess in ship-based combat became well noted over years leading up to the Isstvan Massacre. It was the beginnings of the massacre that truly forged the brotherhood. Their fleet had come under attack and in the confusion Neheziah ordered the squadron to retaliate against any ship that fired upon them. Having heard reports of massacre on the planet the fateful command of Neheziah came through to the other ships of the squadron. They were to quit the field until they could ascertain the best course of action and regroup with their legion. In the aftermath of istvaan when the squadron made their way to link up with the rest of their legion, they were fired upon. As it was assumed they were in league with the traitors or worse they were cowards.

Through out the duration of the heresy the brothers raided loyalists and traitors alike, looting for supplies and materials for their ships. Any legionnaire unfortunate enough to have survived their attack and refused their offer to join the brotherhood were press-ganged into service. Those who were more easily swayed to join the brotherhood would paint white their face plates and gauntlets It is to represent their mockery of honour and loyalty; having been betrayed twice over. The lenses of their helmets are either replaced or dulled into a dark black to represent their merciless or soulless nature. Over the years since the heresy the brotherhood has acclimated to a number of sorcerers or seers captured from their raids, who are sought after for their ability to fate their raids with success. Should however their fates be wrong one can only imagine the vicious repayment that would be visited upon them.

Iron Scribes

Little is known of this Chapter, only that they chose to break the Orannis Accord and share technology without the consent of the Mechanicus. The War Scribes annihilated the entire Chapter, rather than give the Mechanicus an excuse to attack *all* of Arelex's descendants.

Arelex Orannis, Primarch of The War Scribes

Appearance

Arelex is a bald, hulking mass of scar tissue and burn marks, signs of a lifetime spent delving into dangerous places in search of relics and lore, and the price that must be paid when attempting to divine the secrets of archaeotechnology. The right side of his jaw and cheek has much of the flesh replaced with bionics, a grim reminder of his near-death on Isstvan.

Shorter in stature than most Primarchs, he stands only a few inches taller than the average Space Marine, though quite a bit broader at the shoulder and extremely muscular. His upper body and arms are overdeveloped, and somewhat simian in appearance. Though his body is frightening, his pale green eyes are almost kind.

The armor he wears is a force-shielded patchwork of different relics retrieved from ancient cities and tombs, a bulky, custom fit affair of enormous size painted dark grey and trimmed in brass.

Arelex carries a single weapon when he marches to war, a heavy graviton projector roughly equivalent to that mounted on a Rapier chassis. Indeed, the gun for a Rapier was derived from the graviton projectors native to Arelex's homeworld. The miners who rescued Arelex as an infant used these devices to remove enormous chunks of marble from deep mine shafts, and carry them to the surface. As he grew to manhood, Arelex became expert in their use.

Normally these weapons must be mounted on a tripod or a mobile platform, served by two or three men in the manner of a Lascannon, but the Primarch's strength allows him to wield the mighty device with just his two hands and his power armor's assistance. Over the years, Arelex modified the graviton cannon to do a little more than just pull and lift. With it, he can crush, push, lift, drop, and otherwise manipulate his targets as he wishes. Only the toughest of vehicle armor and the strongest of foes can withstand its punishment for long.

Youth

Arelex's pod took a very hard landing, pounding through the crust of his homeworld Whitestone. Underneath the planet's extensive deposits of valuable marble lay an endless maze of geothermal vents and boiling springs. The marble miners and carvers were astounded to see an infant drifting down the boiling rivers, and they managed to catch him before he plunged into a massive lagoon which surely would have been Arelex's end. Though burned severely, the infant was alive, and the miners took Arelex's arrival to be a blessing, giving him over to be raised by the priesthood of Whitestone.

Whitestone was an ancient land, full of relics, ruins, and holy buildings, and Arelex delighted in exploring all of them. The restrictive life of a priest never sat well with him, and he began taking greater and greater risks in his adventures. More than once he was severely injured, spending months in the hospital. Arelex never intentionally rose to a position of power on his homeworld, for he was singularly bad at connecting with the people, preferring the company of the natural world and the cleverest technical works of Man.

Still, almost despite himself, the people of Whitestone rallied around him, seeing his larger size and intelligence as a sign of deific blessing, and the priesthood encouraged this, using Arelex as a somewhat unwitting idol to control the people. He ruled in their name, doling out reward and punishment at their request, but whenever possible he retreated to the wilderness to continue his explorations.

Over time, a few people of Whitestone followed their "prophet" into the wilderness, pursuing Arelex wherever he went. These people at least, Arelex could understand, they were fellow seekers like himself, driven by wanderlust and a need to learn. While the priesthood spoke in his name to the masses, this new cult began to grow in number behind the scenes.

The Coming of The Emperor

Whitestone was very close to Terra, indeed many of the finest Terran monuments and halls of power are made with marble from Whitestone, and the trade links with Terra, though almost destroyed many times, had endured even through the terrible Warp Storms before the Eye of Terror's formation. Thusly, Whitestone was one of the earliest worlds to be visited by the Emperor, and Arelex was the second Primarch to be discovered.

The Emperor was most unimpressed by a Primarch who had not mastered his world, and was disappointed that Arelex was content to let the priesthood rule in his name. The Imperial Creed forbade such religious organizations, and the Emperor tracked Arelex into the wilderness in order to speak with him. Horrified by his son's ruined appearance, the Emperor was nevertheless drawn to Arelex's love of humanity. Almost singlehandedly, Arelex had brought his world from the precipice of disaster to a technological Renaissance, powered by the wisdom of ancient Man. Unlike most men, Arelex kept nothing for himself, destroying that which was unsafe, and giving freely of himself that which was useful.

This generosity, though useful, could not be permitted to make His son soft, and the Emperor knew that no Primarch could be allowed to remain a passive observer of the galaxy. The Emperor ordered Arelex to lead his people, and tear down the priesthood that was parasitically using Arelex to their own ends. The debate lasted several hours, because Arelex was reluctant to slay those who had raised him. What exactly was said to finally convince Arelex to go to war is unknown, but all that Arelex himself ever said was that the Emperor "Showed me what I needed to see".

Taking up his personal armament, an enormously powerful hand-held gravitic device formerly used to carve out immense loads of marble from Whitestone and lift it out of the mines, Arelex systematically tore down what had been built in his name. Denouncing the parasites who had ruled Whitestone, he commanded his people to serve the Emperor just as they had been serving himself.

The Great Crusade

Joining Arelex on the Crusade were the warriors of the II Legion, almost one hundred thousand strong and chomping at the bit for their Primarch to rejoin them. Despite the Emperor's urging, the II Legion's conquests were slow and methodical, driven by an insatiable urge to thoroughly examine the conquered planets, seeking treasures undreamed of in the technologically deprived Imperium. Though their blades were bathed in blood, the II Legion held the pen in equal regard to the sword, and for that, they were derisively dubbed the Scribes of War by the other Primarchs, later adopted by the II Legion as a title of honor and shortened to War Scribes.

Most of the marvels they recovered remained with the Legion, but quite a few of the Great Crusade's weapon types came from Imperial re-engineering of relics gathered by the War Scribes, and this contributed to the success of other Legions, buying the War Scribes a modicum of tolerance for their slow pace of advance. The War Scribes conquered the least number of planets for the Imperium, mostly securing a broad swath of worlds in the Ultima Segmentum near the Galactic Core, but they also strengthened those planets more than almost any other Primarch, ensuring their economies, militaries, and technological levels were as robust as possible, forming a strong bulwark for the innermost heart of the Imperium, guarding the way to Terra against threats from the Galactic Far East.

Over time, almost 10,000 of the most aggressive War Scribes split into smaller squads, ranging far and wide across the Galaxy in scouting expeditions, and their reconnaissance proved quite valuable to Imperial strategy and planning. Arelex himself was responsible for integrating the data, developing the skills he honed in mapping his entire world and applying them to the entire Galaxy. More and more, Arelex found himself drawing up the maps and plans of the Great Crusade alongside the Emperor, and though the burden of overall command was never his, and Arelex would never be Warmaster, his logistical and planning talents were woven into many aspects of the Great Crusade.

Unfortunately, his Legion was too easily blinded by their own gear, and despite their best efforts, could not focus themselves on the task of conquest as well as the other Legions could. More and more, the War Scribes came to rely on simplistic tactics, assuming that their superior weaponry and armor would see them through any challenge. Though they and their Primarch could understand how the Galaxy needed to be conquered on a grand scale, actually making it happen on the tactical level eluded them.

One unforeseen side effect of the War Scribes thoroughness in their conquests was the formation of a group of planets highly dedicated to the principles that Arelex espoused; exploration, renewal, a love of learning, and a refusal to let personal differences cloud their vision of the greater Imperium. Over time, these worlds near the Galactic Core, a few dozen in number, became known as Atalantos, a realm where the past had not completely vanished, and the glories of old were forever in the minds of the people, driving them to regain them. Whitestone was not among these worlds, being so close to Terra and now firmly integrated into the Imperium, and so the War Scribes primarily recruited from Atalantos, the world for which the area was named.

Arelex forged friendships with several other Primarchs (Needs more info on who, exactly), and while some were true friends, some preyed on Arelex's detachment and naturally trusting nature, and sealed the doom of his Legion on Isstvan.

At the Council of Nikaea, Arelex was at the very forefront of the campaign to ban all Psykers from the Astartes. He distrusted their unpredictable powers to an incredible degree, shocking many who had previously thought Arelex almost totally detached from most worldly affairs. Even in the most brutal fighting, Arelex maintained an almost unnatural calm as he attempted to analyze the unfolding battles, but in the council chambers of Nikaea, he spoke with as much bloodlust and hateful fervor as a die-hard Gorger. He argued that the Imperium must not clutch such a viper to its bosom, and that they were beset by enough threats from outside without adding distrust of their own comrades into the account. When the Emperor banned Librarians, Arelex rejoiced, and to this day the War Scribes and nearly all of their Successors refuse to use Librarians at all.

The Heresy

Sent to Isstvan to bring the Traitor Legions in line alongside several other Loyalists, Arelex threw himself into the fray with gusto. Betrayal enraged the Primarch, as familial loyalty was one of his deepest-held values, and he was unusually focused on the task at hand. Fearlessly, the War Scribes advanced, certain that their careful planning and superior firepower would carry the day.

Unfortunately, the Traitor Legions had studied the War Scribes well, and the Black Augurs along with several other Traitor Legions, completely outmaneuvered the War Scribes, throwing them into complete disarray with a series of well planned strikes form every quarter. Arelex nearly suffered a complete mental breakdown when confronted with the truth of what his traitorous brothers represented, and what they wanted to do to the Imperium, and at the critical moment, could offer no advice and gave no orders to the Legion. He was unprepared for Chaos, and unprepared to slaughter those he had once called brothers, and out of 90,000 War Scribes deployed, only 3,000 survived to drag Arelex off the field and evacuate him.

Retreating to the Basilikon Atalantos, greatest fortress of the Atalantos Worlds, Arelex entered a deep depression, smouldering with anger and feelings of betrayal. Shame at the needless loss of his Legion burned him from within, and the faces of all his soldiers he had gotten killed with his incompetence paraded themselves through his nightmares. No more was Arelex a warrior who fought for peace and knowledge, this Primarch had become a rampaging monster, gathering the most powerful, most inhumane archaeotech he could muster, and unleashing them indiscriminately on any planet that even vaguely hinted at betraying the Imperium.

More than a hundred worlds burned, rendered blasted wastelands at the touch of weapons not seen for thousands of years. The Ultima Segmentum near the Galactic Core reeled at Arelex's wrath. Many traitors were killed, but far more innocents were delivered unto the pyres of paranoia. The Emperor issued an edict demanding that Arelex return to Terra and participate in its defense, where the Emperor could talk some sense into the uncontrolled Primarch, but the message was never delivered. It fell to another Loyalist Primarch to calm Arelex and remind him of his duty.

Battered and broken, the War Scribes merely followed their Primarch, going where he ordered them, and killing what he told them to. They did not participate in the Defense of Terra, heaping shame upon failure.

Post-Heresy

Once the fires of the Heresy had cooled, Arelex's talents were critically needed. With the Emperor now on the Throne, no one else had the high-level vision to even try and put the Imperium back to rights. In his immeasurable shame and self-hatred for his failure to save his father, Arelex threw himself into the task with an almost insane fervor, welding the broken fragments of Imperial politics together into a structure that lives on to this day, the various political and administrative branches of the Adeptus Terra. Arelex put the first High Lords in power, and to this day, the bond between the War Scribes and the various branches of the Adeptus Terra is ironclad, and they can almost always count on the support of the High Lords.

The Codex Astartes was written by Arelex at the behest of the other Loyalist Primarchs, who desired that he should organise their thoughts and hard-earned experience that it might never be lost to the Imperium. Though most of the tactical advice was drawn from more competent Primarchs, it was Arelex who set up the decentralized nature of the Astartes, and the Codex is a wonder of organization and clarity. Few chapters adhere to its strictures absolutely, but as a reference material there are very few chapters that have never drawn from the Codex's stored wisdom.

Arelex's greatest struggle was curtailing the Mechanicus. Sensing an opportunity after the Emperor's withdrawal from power, a shadow war between the High Lords, backed by Arelex, and the Mechanicus began. The Mechanicus desired complete control of the Imperium from behind the Throne, and for the center of true power to be Mars, not Terra. Though a balance of power and many compromises were eventually reached, leading to the present-day situation, the Mechanicus came to hate Arelex for denying them absolute power.

Finally, matters came to a head on Whitestone, where the Mechanicus confronted Arelex and the War Scribes. They had finally come to the conclusion that the thorn in their side had to be removed, and were willing to deploy multiple Titan Legions and an ocean of Skitarii to silence Arelex forever. If the Mechanicus couldn't rule the Imperium from Mars, at least they would ensure that the Imperium could never live without their consent and technology. Arelex represented a wild card, a force potentially capable of breaking their stranglehold on machinery, and that could not be allowed. Whitestone convulsed as Dark Age weaponry was unleashed by both sides, and the fight was so apocalyptic that the planet itself began to come apart.

Arelex, seeing that even at the last he had failed, resolved that his Chapter, his Second Founding scions, and their Successors must live on. Opening a hailing frequency to the Grand Magos in charge of the invasion fleet, Arelex offered his life for his children's. If he would agree to let the Mechanicus kill him, then his blood would buy a truce forevermore, and the War Scribes would merely gather technology, consenting to let the Mechanicus control how technology was dispersed within the Imperium.

The Orannis Accord was sealed in blood, and as Whitestone came apart, Arelex was wiped from the Galaxy in its death throes. The War Scribes and their Successors would never attempt to challenge the Mechanicus, and though the two factions would never hold the other in a positive light, they would lay down their arms and coexist. In this, Arelex showed his Legion that for the good of the Imperium, the greatest of sacrifices may be required, and the memory of their Primarch's voluntary death indelibly shaped the War Scribes and their Successors' psychology.

At the very end, Arelex charged his children with a simple task, to "Become better men than I", for at the end of his life, Arelex deemed his failures to outweigh his successes. The interpretation of what exactly his final message means is a point of much debate among the War Scribes and their Successors.

The death of a Loyal Primarch at the hands of forces ostensibly loyal to the Imperium was covered up, and to the Imperium as a whole, Arelex is a Primarch who failed his Emperor, but atoned with everything he had to offer and turned back to the path of righteous servitude. Few worship his legacy as they do with other, more noble Primarchs, but many pay him respect for what he accomplished after the Emperor's interment.