The Bulwark

Summary of Legion XXVIII

Something of a rarity, the Bulwark remained fairly neutral during the Heresy due to their remote and less aggressive stance. Main Focus; Siege Warfare and Empire Management

During the Great Crusade, the Bulwark was used to bolster the defenses of any planets that weren't currently a warzone; after conquering a planet, the Bulwark would leave behind a garrison to keep watch over the planet instead of another Legion wasting its potential resources doing so. Due to this, the Bulwark Legion didn't see action nearly as often as other Legions.

Legion Tactics

Each chapter sized division of the Bulwark is called a 'Bastion' and is given their own world to maintain and fortify. Each Bastion supports the other Bastions near it by using traditional transport, but each also can function independently of any over-arching command structure. The Command Structure is referred to as the 'Keep' as well as having the traditional Chaplains, Librarians, Techmarines, and Apothecaries.

On the offensive the Bulwark have limitless patience. Once an LZ has been cleared by the Vanguard, pre-fabricated fortresses and other defenses are brought in from orbit. Slowly expanding out from a central beachhead, the Bulwark's fortresses will continue to grow in number until a good portion of the planet is covered entirely by them. At this point, the Bulwark need only wait for their enemies to assault their defenses and summarily be shattered upon them. However, if this tactic does not work, bribes may be offered to key members of the resistance in return for their cooperation. As a third and final option, all areas outside of the control of that planet's Bastion will be devastated via mass missile and artillery barrages. As this wastes valuable resources, this option is only used in dire or rushed circumstances.

Legion Equipment

WIP

Pre-fab Fortresses;

Diggers;

Hades Breaching Drills;

Moles;

Legion Doctrine

Serious, driven, and dour, the Bulwark are fierce defenders who value personal toughness and stubbornness. Despite not being heretics, they bow to neither the Emperor nor Chaos.

Notable Successors

The Ramparts

Restructured Bulwark Spiritual Successor; Siege and Colonization Specialists

Chapter History

The mighty empire of the Bulwark had fallen. Shattered by the combined forces of the Silver Cataphracts and the Steel Marshals, the Bulwark never quite recovered. After the Heresy had run its course, the empire rose again, but it wasn't quite the same. Some planets seceded from the union and the vastly undermanned Bulwark simply could not stop them. Without their Primarch, they could not continue to expand their borders and prosper, as they had before. Instead, they fought every day simply to retain a semblance of their once sprawling empire.

Sebastian's last great act as Primarch had been to hollow out one of the moons of Arelon to form an impregnable fortress of rock and ambition. During the events of the Crucible, Sebastian ordered the entire 1st Bastion into the fortress, which came to be known as "The Folly of Rex" or simply "The Folly." Seeing this act as cowardly, many officers stayed on the battlefield and died with their Primarch. However, the captain of the 1st Bastion, whose name has been lost in the annals of history, was one of the few who chose to enter The Folly.

Emerging days later to scenes of devastation, the captain and the remains of his company wept bitter tears for the loss of their brethren. It took several weeks to merely collect the gene-seed of their fallen allies and enemies. During this time, the remains of the Bulwark splintered into factions; some wanted to leave to find their own path, some to surrender to the Loyalists, and others to side with the Traitors. The captain of the 1st company, the most trusted associated of his Primarch, only sought one thing; to build his own empire upon the ashes of the last. Seeing no other course of action, the captain assumed the title of Keep and took as new name; Indomitus. Indomitus would go on to become Emperor of a new empire as his forces reconquered worlds that had once been under their control.

The Bulwark had failed. Its mighty defenses had been breached and its mighty leader slain. Seeking to distance his empire from that of his failed predecessor, Indomitus renamed his Legion; they were now to be known as the Ramparts, the mighty crowns upon the towers of order.

Notable Members

Indomitus the Impenetrable - 1st Keep (Chapter Master), formerly Tower of the 1st Bastion (Chapter) of The Bulwark. - Formerly the Equerry of Sebastian Rex, Primarch of the Bulwark, Indomitus now strives to rebuild his Primarch's once mighty empire. A consumate strategist, Indomitus rarely leaves the comfort of The Folly, instead trusting his Towers to do his bidding. What is an empire without an Emperor?

Yakobus - Tower (Captain) of 1st Stronghold (Company)

Ghurayus - Tower of 2nd Stronghold

Chapter Combat Doctrine

"The only way to ensure victory is to eliminate resistance." - Indomitus, Keep of the Ramparts

While the Ramparts practice a combat doctrine very similar to that of their Founders, they differ in that instead of focusing on attrition-based siege warfare, the Ramparts focus on artillery barrages to conquer worlds. Via orbital bombardment, the Ramparts clear an LZ for their pre-fabricated fortresses to touch down.

If the enemy has a stranglehold on the space around a planet, specialty fortresses come to the fore; akin to Kharybdis drop pod but the size of a Storm Eagle, these towers are dropped from orbit in groups of 3-5. Each tower, called a Node, houses a squad of 8-12 Marines.

Each Node possesses a modular defense system that can be configured with various different heavy weapons, such as heavy bolters or plasma cannons. Once at least 3 Nodes have touched down, void shields are transmitted between them, creating an isolated section of enemy real estate.

Pointing their weapons inward, the squads would then clear a beachhead within their void shields. Once several of these beachheads have been made, their void shields would be linked to create a much larger staging area for the rest of the occupation force to land.

Once this LZ has been established, the artillery barrages begin. Battery after battery of Manticore Missile Platforms and Earthshaker Cannons bombard the area around the LZ, clearing a path between Node groups in order to further reinforce their positions. Any assaults upon the Node forts are repulsed with heavy weapons fire; the Ramparts need never step foot outside their defence lines. Eventually, these Node forts will encompass large portions of the combat zone. Instead of attacking their enemies, the Ramparts will simply continue to launch Nodes further and further into enemy territory until there is nothing left.

Resistance is met with overwhelming force; unlike other forces who must use their supplies wisely, the supply lines of the Ramparts extend however far they need to, ensuring they never run out of ammunition or other supplies. In this way, while a barrage of Deathstrike missiles would likely be sufficient against a major hive city, the Ramparts might issue two or three of said barrages to completely devastate it.

However, no evidence of this mass destruction is ever left behind; due to the thriving empire at the heart of the Ramparts, they export populaces as others might products. Transplanting a populace that is already loyal to them, the Ramparts effectively instantly colonize a world with pre-fabricated, self-sustaining cities that will eventually expand into the planet beyond. In this way, instead of spending years colonizing planets, then fortifying them, the Ramparts form Fortresses from each of their conquests; what was once an offensive defense is now a defensive offense.

Chapter Homeworld

The Folly, a former moon of Arelon that has been hollowed out and made into a fully autonomous space station.

Chapter Appearance

Like their predecessors, the Marines of the Ramparts are stout and solid, usually favouring heavier armour than Space Marines usually opt for. Clad in sandstone and slate coloured power armour, the Ramparts have shattered all aquilas upon their armor, declaring their secession from the Imperium.

Sebastian Rex, Primarch of The Bulwark

The Coming of The Emperor

Then, on a world named Arelon the legion found its lost Primarch, Sebastian Rex. Sebastian had been found in the forests, and had been looked after by the populace of a small city, constantly predated on by roaming bandit armies and the neighbouring nations and Great Cities. Over the course of his time on Arelon, Sebastian managed to take that small city, and turn it into a sprawling empire, the Jewel and capital city of all of Arelon. He had done this by meticulously, and patiently, fortifying the small city state and all of its conquests and the infrastructure linking them, so that they made an interlocking, interlinked web of citadels that protected each other and their cities. At first Sebastian would not listen to the Emperor, believing the Emperor to be a bigger, space-faring foe like he had faced on Arelon, one that he and his people would weather like a storm.

The Emperor ordered the Silver Cataphracts and the Steel Marshalls to use their siege expertise to force Sebastian out. They did so with ease, although the defenses did give them far more trouble than they expected, their advanced weaponry and tactics reduced the defenses to rubble. Seeing his empire, all he had built in ruins, Sebastian wept, but he remained steadfast, standing in front of the main gatehouse to the capital, that was still just about intact, and challenged his foes to duel him. He fought off many foes, fighting for hours on end, sustaining great wounds but shrugging them all off. Bloody and beginning to tire, Sebastian finally challenged the emperor himself to duel him as his final gambit.

The Emperor did not accept the duel, but chose to speak with Sebastian, explaining why he had come, and what Sebastians destiny was; to fortify the stars in the name of his father, the Emperor. Sebastian accepted this, agreeing to do his best for his father, but the seeds of resentment were already sown in his soul. His legion, renamed the Gatekeepers after their Sebastians heroic last stand on Arelon, now followed the Great Crusade, reinforcing and garrisoning strategic positions - using what he learned at the hands of the Cataphracts and the Marshalls to good use, and together with advanced technology, began perfecting the art of siege defense.

The Great Crusade

As the Great Crusade progressed, Sebastian began carving out his own network of highly defended, incredibly fortified planets, and steadily expanded this burgeoning empire until he had a prosperous sector under his control, benefiting from the regular patrols and heavy defenses, the sector economy became robust, constantly growing to keep up with the demand for construction materials and defensive weapons and space ships soared. He made friends with Arelex of the War Scribes, and Uriel Starikov of the Children of Armok.

As his empire grew and strengthened, Sebastian, and the Gatekeepers involvement in the crusades waned. And by the time the Heresy began, it had been some time since Sebastian and his legion had done more than fortify and defend against xenos attacks. Not knowing who to side with, and remembering the pain he felt at having his mightiest achievement reduced to rubble by the Emperor, Sebastian declared his neutrality, taking his now considerable personal empire with him.

The Heresy

As the Heresy raged, Sebastian was contacted by Uriel Starikov of the Children of Armok, and warned that his legions rivals, the Silver Cataphracts, and the Steel Marshals were en-route to his empire to force him to join them, as they had done back on Arelon. Images of his sector spanning empire reduces to rubble and glass like his first empire enraged Sebastian, and he began preparations to welcome his former brothers with concrete and steel. As one final insult to his oncoming foes, he sent a personal message to their Primarchs.

"You will now know us as the Bulwark. For we will break you upon our mighty defenses and laugh at your death. You will be destroyed in the Crucible I lay before you, but take solace knowing that we will forge your remains into new walls to crush all those who follow in your ill-fated footsteps. We are the Bulwark. Bring us your best. For we will take them all!"

Little did Sebastian know that the the two loyalist legions had been dispatched to provide assistance to the Bulwark, as Sebastians little corner of the Imperium was perhaps the safest and most secure loyalist sector in the whole galaxy. The Loyalists had planned to use it as a base for a second front, to lure the Traitors into the masterfully crafted defenses of the Bulwark Empire or attack them from behind if they marched on Terra. The Crucible Challenge came as a shock, but assuming the Bulwarks message to mean they had joined Hektors side, the Cataphtacts and the Marshals did not hesitate in preparing for battle.

The Crucible itself was made up of 4 worlds and 2 space stations, all garrisoned and fortified beyond normal necessity or logic. They were dug in for a long, bloody siege. The Crucible would last the rest of the heresy, and outmatch the Siege of Terra in scale and brutality. Ultimately, the Crucible would leave the Bulwark victorious, but having sustained heavy losses themselves, losing around 55% of their legion. The Cataphracts and the Marshals suffer an estimated 65% and 52% casualty rate respectively. Towards the end of the battle, seeing him in person, Sebastian challenged the Marshalls Primarch, Roman Albrecht to single combat. Roman was a far superior fighter, and lead the fight, but Sebastian's skill at defending kept the duel locked into a stalemate. As both Primarch's anger and desire to best their rival took over them, they began to ignore the battle that had temporarily lulled to watch the two giants duel. Finally, Sebastian struck; parrying a sword stroke, he disarmed Roman, and gave him no respite - not even stopping to gloat. Roman's head flew, and the silence that followed it was deafening. A Primarch, the mightiest of the mighty, save the Emperor of mankind himself, was dead. Before the head of Roman had even hit the floor, the carnage resumed at a higher force than before - deafening cheers from the Bulwark, and cries of anguish and sorrow fueled rage from the Marhsals. Sebastian stood, sword in the air, relishing in the feeling - he had bested one of the 2 mortals responsible for his people, his empire back on Arelon, being destroyed. The feeling did not last long. He had suffered some minor wounds during the fight, but they had weakened him, and he returned to his fortified battle lines. Later in the battle, Sebastian would face the Cataphracts Primarch Constantine while defending a breach in the curtain wall of the capital of the 4th and final world. Constantine was not as close a match for Sebastian as Roman was, but due to Sebastians wounds, Constantine was able to get the upper hand, and mortally wounded Sebastian with a powerful strike from his master-crafted power halberd. Before he succumbed to his wound however, Sebastian grabbed the halberds shaft, and pulled himself down the blade, so he was face to face with his rival brother, nothing but hatred on Sebastians face, but a look of remorse on the face of Constantine. Sebastian tried to say something, and Constantine leant in to hear his brothers last words over the din of battle. "Bring us your best, for we will take them all." He trailed off into laughter, that quickly became a coughing fit as blood poured out of his lips. His lips that smiled. Constantine looked confused, then was engulfed in an explosion that sent all those in a 30 radius flying. Constantine was not dead, but he was no longer conscious; the blast had ripped his lower body clean from the rest of him, and hurled his upper body up, and into the rubble of an outer wall. The apothecaries were able to keep him alive miraculously, but Constantine Komnemnos was in a deep coma, and would never be the same again.

Post-Heresy

Following the aftermath of the Crucible, and the now finished Heresy, the Bulwark return to their original business of building their Empire out on the fringes of the galaxy, and focus on rebuilding their decimated legion, which they do reasonably faster than most, due to their Empires strong economy, and all the gene-seed they could recover and steal from the dead at the Crucible.

They keep true to their promise and have their old fortifications rebuilt using the smelted down and crushed remains of their foes. Roman Albrecht's dead body is sealed in plas-glass, normally used for void windows, and sent to their fortress monastery, where his body watches over the main gate, a testament to all who would try and siege the Bulwark.