Second legion at Terra

So, I made a homebrew based on the second legion ages ago, and my mind started wandering. How do you think these guys would've fared...

During the great crusade?

During the heresy as loyalists?

During the heresy as traitors?

But most importantly, how do you think they'd have fared at Terra as both loyalists and traitors, and what affect would they have had?

The second legion of Adeptus Astartes were formed during the great crusade with one major purpose: the art of defense. Recruited mainly from the population of the landmass known as Albion, they were used during the unification wars to contain enemy offensives and begin counterattacks. The legion proved itself during the war against the pan-pacific empire, containing an offensive and then launching a huge counterattack alongside the iron warriors.

The two legions learnt much from each other and close cooperation continued between them as they moved out of the Sol system and onto the galaxy. The great crusade solidified their tactics of defensive warfare and counterattack, whilst also surprising everyone with their capacity of void warfare, outmanoeuvring and initiating several assaults from seemingly nothing.

Before finding their primarch, the second's greatest hero was the Legatus of the First cohort, Flavius Llancarfan. Hero of the battles of Ctesiphon, Caer, Eoferwic and alexios, he had personally fought side by side with the emperor and several primarchs, whilst killing 8 warbosses and personally leading a mission to destroy an eldar craftworld with minimal casualties.

At the onset of the latter half of the great crusade, the iron warriors touched down on the world of Avalon.

Years prior, a man sized object had crashed into a forest from space. Avalon was primarily covered in gargantuan temperate forests populated by tribes and druids, plains with hunter gatherers, cities and farms or, strangely, singular mountains jutting up occasionally from the world below, like nails in a piece of wood formed into a planet. Coupled with seas and oceans spread between the continents, the planet was a temperate Paradise ruled by both the nobility and, even more powerful yet highly ceremonial, the druids. These men often dictated which gods were received which sacrifice based on their omens and secret rituals within their stone circles. Entire nations had crucial decisions based on the readings, tomes and signs of the druids.

There were many armies that drilled with black powder weaponry, skirmishing and warring upon the surface, primarily in the plains that dotted the landscape. The intricate alliances that the nations of this world formed made warfare even more Byzantine: even the slightest diplomatic incident could result in full scale world war.

It was into this turbulent mix of allies and nations that Bysmak, head of the deposed Panndrayken family, former rulers of Durovernum, found a tiny child lost in the woods. Surrounding the child was a miniature fortress built out of the forest floor. What was even more incredible was that although the fortresses of Avalon were built up and out of stone, this mud fortress was built into the ground. Surrounding the ramparts of this maze of trenches were thorns stretched out to prevent entry, and tiny wooden ballistae had been built, autoloading and on a swivel, allowing the operator to use them to control any angle and prevent entry to the fort.

Surrounding the bottom of this minuscule hillock were the corpses of 22 Avalonian wolves, and a Boarbear, all shot by the ballistae. It was clear then, that this child was useful. Rescued and adopted, Ahrucius Panndrayken was brought up without help or care. He was merely a soldier in a renegade army, ruled through fear and hate. The freak, as he was nicknamed, was beaten and neglected, starved and hated for his difference. He was even once used for bayonet practice. Through all of this, he built new, breech loading rifles to counter the muzzle loaders of Avalon. Heavy repeating rifles were created too, but these were few in number. New oxen drawn armoued vehicles with cannon turrets, designed to transport troops safely through the battlefield with the oxen unpanicked, were built. Recruits were signed up and trained. Finally, 20 years after planetfall, Bysmak and his supposed pet general, Ahrucius, made their move. The kingdom of Camulodunum was their first target.

Known for its freedoms and constitutional monarchy, Camulodunum was an advert to all. When their lands were attacked, they sent a huge portion of their exceedingly powerful army to crush the terrorists. 200,000 men faced off against 78,000. At dawn, the Camulodunumese army advanced towards the trees under which the rebels were hidden. Cannons blasted the forest which held the rebels while infantry advanced.

What nobody had realised was the cannons caused minimal casualties because Ahrucius had hidden his troops in trenches. As soon as the enemy were in range, troops appeared over the parapet and fired their machine guns, bolt action rifles spitting fire and lead faster than the enemy could respond. In a mere 3 hours, the battle was over. 132,000 men lay dead on the field for 8,000 of Ahrucius’ own. The next months saw Camulodunum, Dunoverum, Eidayn and Vultris fall. In just over a year, most of Avalon had fallen to Bysmak.

Ahrucius had known that his conquests had taken him ever closer to betrayal, especially when his design s and ideas were given to other scientists under Bysmak's patronage. Not all of his designs were for weaponry, as some included vehicles and the means to produce such items.

By the time that Karkassia and Londinium, Avalon's two most militarised yet smallest States had agreed their alliance, Ahrucius made his move. His personal regiment, the second guards, were ordered to a remote gully in the dead of night. Whilst the rest of the camp slept, Ahrucius snuck out and marched his troops to the last two kingdoms. Behind him, his tent burned, but whether or not this was Bysmak's doing or his own has never been established. Flooded with refugees and the veteran soldiers of the second guards, the last kingdoms begrudgingly allowed Ahrucius command of all foreign refugee and volunteer battalions as well as his own. After redeveloping the kingdoms and setting them to produce his new designs, he dug trenches and awaited the rage of Bysmak.

He didn’t have long to wait.

After a search of his own empire, Bysmak sent his son, Sklyffen, to assault the last kingdoms. After a brief battle, the Skylffen plan failed and Ahrucius advanced his lines as Bysmak mourned his dead son and dug trenches. For the next 70 years, Avalon was ruined by the advance of Ahrucius' forces and the brutal, grinding attrition war that afflicted her as artillery turned her once fine forests into shell pummelled fields, the plains were filled with blood and craters while the seas ran red.

Flight was invented and it was at this point that Karkassia came into its own with the Karkassian droptroopers. These men soon gained a reputation as an elite force that landed in cooperation with the armoured formations to break apart the trenchlines whilst the infantry caught up, biting and holding pieces of ground until they were correctly fortified and ready to be utilised.

By the time the great crusade and Perturabo came to Avalon, the world was largely fields of muck where men could drown in, craters and shellholes filling the place as trenches snaked through the land, split in half by the grinding tracks and shoes of the armies churning up the bloody morass.

When the emperor found his son, he tried to convince him to join him and his brothers. When Ahrucius refused, he made a bet. Ahrucius’ next assault had to take the capital, or he’d join the emperor. He promptly showed his father the door, refusing to allow the slaughter of men to justify a point. The emperor made another bet: infiltrate the lines to Bysmak’s capital and he would leave.

Ahrucius agreed and left. After a few days, he was within sight of the capital when he was captured. Nothing is known of his capture other than that he was tortured to find the location of his friend, the golden giant, only for the emperor to enter with the second and fourth legion to rescue him. Ahrucius treated the emperor with barely masked hostility afterward.

Shortly after taking command of the second and renaming them the Wolftails, after the mythical band that protected Avalon, Ahrucius journeyed to Terra. It was here that his character was truly revealed. He had from the start embodied total mobilisation and warfare: there was an all or nothing approach to everything that was matched with a slow, methodical, strategic way of observing things. Ahrucius was once described as like Fulgrim and Perturabo combined. He pursued efficiency and perfection, often falling to rage and bouts of withdrawal when perfection or efficiency wasn’t reached. Once, it was recorded he’d destroyed 14 servitors and his personal study when he realised that a transport system he had worked on for the last 14 months had one simple overlooked flaw that lowered it’s efficiency below 80%. He chose paths he saw as efficient and didn’t sway from them once he started, even when they went wrong. If he had to, he would just switch to another of his favoured key strategies if things did go wrong. Below all this, there was a desire to create and preserve, not also buildings but his men. Horus once had to rescue him from an ork warboss after he’d jumped into combat to protect a platoon of imperial army alone, and gotten swarmed by greenskins. At the same time, those who earnt his respect received his full backing and help. At the council of Nikaea, he supported Magnus the red despite being anti psyker, purely because he saw it as a trial and humiliation of Magnus. Honor was crucial to him as well. The ruler of Antares 8 had taken hostage his wife and her family, with Ahrucius holding the palace to siege on the grounds of women and children being behind the doors. After personally leading the mission to extract them, he took the palace then knelt before the woman and her son, publically apologising for forcing her to go through the recent events and naming her planetary governor, even adopting her eldest son and taking him into his ranks, where the boy would rise to be part of the twelve: his personal council akin to the trident or mournival.

In war, everything was geared to either production or destruction. He was cold, analytical and relentless, much like his brother, Perturabo. Indeed, the two formed a fast friendship, even proposing improvements and alterations to the imperial palace that were rejected by their father. They differed in that Ahrucius accepted his emotions, but wasn’t happy with them. He also allowed heroics, encouraged initiative, debate, autonomy and camaraderie among his troops. Whilst he was also friends with Fulgrim, Sangunius, Vulkhan, Horus, Mortarion Lion'el Jonson, and Magnus, both of them pursuing knowledge, he disliked many of his brothers. Roboute Guilliman was too pompous, yet had his good points despite being flawed. The Kahn was Honourable, yet too rushed sometimes and Angron and Russ were hotheaded fools yet Russ' opinions on honour and loyalty sometimes put the two in good standing. Ferrus Manus was also disliked for his manner, Curze was just a savage who believed that a dead man had his uses. The second also hated the dogmatic way of Lorgar, believing he was too gullible. Dorn was his least favourite. The two often argued, Ahrucius seeing him as stubborn, obstinate and prideful.

Spending as little time as possible in his father’s company, Ahrucius spent a miniscule amount of time on Terra before he took his legion to assault the stars. His campaigns in Ctesiphon, Grallax and against the Quaernar civilization are noteworthy examples of how to conduct slow, protracted attrition warfare. After he reformed them, his Astartes would build trench lines, letting the enemy march towards them, artillery, anti air and anti tank guns bristling with the minefields, wire and heavy bolters lining the parapets. All assaults would be repelled while the scouts were used to gauge enemy numbers and morale. At the right time, a bombardment would occur, armour smashing through the frontlines as air support and assault marines supported them, the majority of the infantry marching behind, clearing out resistance with flamers and bolters before locking down their new gains, preparing the vicious cycle to go around again.

However,, the most potent of the Ahrucian reforms was simply the structure. Under his rule, a squad had 2 heavy bolter/suppression marines, 2 ammo bearers, 2 apothecaries, 2 anti vehicle marines, a sergeant, a second in command and 6 marines. Aside from heavy weapons and the commanders, every marine in these 16 man units had a bolter, delivering multirole capability, suppression, flexibility and independence. Each company had at least 1 scout squad, there were no specialist scout companies. Similarly, at least the first and second squads in these units were comprised of veterans, and vehicles were part of companies, not attached. As such, the 300 man companies could operate a variety of tasks and operations whilst also committing to specialised tasks.

However, through all of these accounts, there is one trend which became abundantly clear: Ahrucius’ main priority was his men. Where Perturabo viewed them as tools, Ahrucius saw them as his own true sons and tried to always ensure that as many of them survived as possible in his gruelling campaigns of attrition. Perhaps this is why imperial army detachments assigned to The Wolftails didn’t mind their posting, however hellish. The ‘little brothers’ as the wolftails called them, were always looked after and as many as possible were saved.

During their time away from the crusade, the second were creatives and artists, aspiring to create the best tools of war or, best of all, design new vehicles or buildings. Primarily, they saw themselves as artists and creatives. Wherever possible, they attempted to convince worlds to join, hoping that they’d agree, engaging them in debate and even showing their skills as builders and designers to win systems and races over. The first time they encountered a race of humans who obstinately refused to join the imperium, they had no knowledge of how to cope with it. Biologically and seemingly genetically, something prevented them from firing on their fellow man, despite the brutal childhood of their primarch.

It is this compassion which was the downfall of the second. Within the system of Icaltheron, they encountered a race of humans like them which wouldn’t submit to the will of the crusade. Rather than subjugate them in a campaign that would clearly incur heavy losses, The Wolftails simply documented them and moved on, disobeying orders. The primarch Konrad Curze was sent to the system to subjugate them. Already at odds with Curze for his actions regarding civillians, Ahrucius blocked him and engaged in a debate. Any attempt to subjugate the citizens was halted by The Wolftails.

Eventually, Horus and the emperor himself arrived to end the Icaltheron standoff. Still, despite the arguments and debates of the imperium, they were met with refusal. The order was given for the subjugation, and The Wolftails protested to the last. To prevent the loss of life from a grievous campaign in which the second refused to take part, they travelled to Icaltheron 6 to request negotiations. Despite the refusal, word reached them of Curze’s brutal campaigns to annihilate resistance, including rounding up insurgents, placing them in a city, then burning it, executing the survivors.

When he reached Ahrucius, the night haunter ordered his brother and his sons aside, and was refused. The emperor himself grew tired of this and ordered his son to step aside. He too, was refused. There had been several other instances of the second firing on other units, not to wound or kill, but to suppress whilst they retrieved criminals sentenced to death to rehabilitate them. Several worlds had known this, and the refusal to the emperor was the last straw. Ahrucius announced that he could have no part in an imperium which called itself the saviour of humanity then enslaved, butchered and destroyed it’s own race. The imperial truth was merely the imperial excuse to annihilate anyone who opposed the emperor, and he and his legion wanted no part in it.

Ahrucius was given a chance to repeal his words and rejoin his father, but refused. A company of Custodian guard was left with Horus and Curze, both with orders to proceed with the subjugation. For the first time, legionary fought legionary as Horus called upon Russ to execute the traitors and Perturabo to break his brother’s defences in conjunction with the Luna wolves own spearhead tactics and Curze’s policing. The bloodiest day of fighting came on Hellfire ridge, whereby it was estimated as many as 190,000 Astartes lay dead in the mud, with Horus and Ahrucius personally duelling. It was said of that day that the only reason the very ground wasn’t stained red was because it was washed away by the tears of Horus, standing victorious over his brother’s battered, broken lifeless body. After that day, Horus ordered a retreat and full planetary bombardment. Only when there were no signs of life upon Icaltheron IV were the night lords allowed to go down to the planet and comb it, executing all forms of life that survived the virus bombs as they trod over the bodies of their dead brothers.

Following this, the planet was destroyed and all signs of the existence of the second purged. Rumours were spread, but nobody, not even other primarchs or Malcador the sigilite were ever given any of the barest indication of the truth, with all primarchs involved sworn to secrecy on pain of death. So fell the second.

Interestingly, however, the bodies of 4 terminator marines, 6 apothecaries, 7 techmarines, 8 tactical squads, a group of scouts, first legatus Flavius Llancarfan and the primarch himself were never found, despite the confirmed death of Ahrucius. The strike cruiser Bastion was also confirmed missing from the wolftails fleet and never found, despite it being in attendance at the legion’s final stand...

Submitted May 13, 2018 at 02:01PM by izzwizzwoo https://ift.tt/2IhKwT1