The Empty Crusade (Horus Heresy)
- Thread starter Planetary Tennis
- Start date
[X][Phoenix] To A New Path
[X][Children] Only Man
[X][Flames] Dig In
[X][Children] Only Man
[X][Flames] Dig In
[X][Phoenix] To Meager Reward
His work has ends but not to the heights he would have sought. A simple streamlining of implantations of the geneseed into the Emperor's Children. Not enough.
[X][Phoenix] To A New Path
Psykers and Pariahs are rare and the interactions of them are little studied by those of the biological arts. Fabius turns his hands to pry the secrets of the warp and flesh together from these samples.
[X][Children] Only Man
The Legion morale is paramount, the benefits of Xeno and of Abhuman is minimal before the might of the legion.
[X][Flames] Delay
Hold negotiations and remain on the planet, keep the Eldar unaware until reinforcements arrive.
His work has ends but not to the heights he would have sought. A simple streamlining of implantations of the geneseed into the Emperor's Children. Not enough.
[X][Phoenix] To A New Path
Psykers and Pariahs are rare and the interactions of them are little studied by those of the biological arts. Fabius turns his hands to pry the secrets of the warp and flesh together from these samples.
[X][Children] Only Man
The Legion morale is paramount, the benefits of Xeno and of Abhuman is minimal before the might of the legion.
[X][Flames] Delay
Hold negotiations and remain on the planet, keep the Eldar unaware until reinforcements arrive.
[X][Phoenix] To A New Path
Psykers and Pariahs are rare and the interactions of them are little studied by those of the biological arts. Fabius turns his hands to pry the secrets of the warp and flesh together from these samples.
[X][Children] Train to Accept
The Legion needs to be ready to use any tools, focus on the strengths of the xeno auxiliaries and teach the legionaries to use those.
[X][Flames] Delay
Hold negotiations and remain on the planet, keep the Eldar unaware until reinforcements arrive.
Psykers and Pariahs are rare and the interactions of them are little studied by those of the biological arts. Fabius turns his hands to pry the secrets of the warp and flesh together from these samples.
[X][Children] Train to Accept
The Legion needs to be ready to use any tools, focus on the strengths of the xeno auxiliaries and teach the legionaries to use those.
[X][Flames] Delay
Hold negotiations and remain on the planet, keep the Eldar unaware until reinforcements arrive.
[X][Phoenix] To Bloody Tragedy
What is life without bitterness? Beside it fits Fabius. His New Men are outright superior to both baseline Humans and Astartes but also insane to the point that they would fly a spaceship into a star while laughing.
[X][Children] Train to Accept
We are officialy multi-species policy, we have to learn to work with it, not just deny it and do what is short-term easier.
Beside, it's just the fact of reality, that proper soldier should be able to use resources at his disposal to the best of his ability, not just discard them because he didn't like the colour of the new tank.
[X][Flames] Dig In
We tried diplomacy, they rejected it, we are still Empire, and we need resources to cull actual hostile species that are objective danger to all other sophonts, such as infamous Rangdan or Khrave who keep other sophonts as livestock.
And that without mentioning metaphysical dangers we can't work around, such as Chaos or C'tan.
What is life without bitterness? Beside it fits Fabius. His New Men are outright superior to both baseline Humans and Astartes but also insane to the point that they would fly a spaceship into a star while laughing.
[X][Children] Train to Accept
We are officialy multi-species policy, we have to learn to work with it, not just deny it and do what is short-term easier.
Beside, it's just the fact of reality, that proper soldier should be able to use resources at his disposal to the best of his ability, not just discard them because he didn't like the colour of the new tank.
[X][Flames] Dig In
We tried diplomacy, they rejected it, we are still Empire, and we need resources to cull actual hostile species that are objective danger to all other sophonts, such as infamous Rangdan or Khrave who keep other sophonts as livestock.
And that without mentioning metaphysical dangers we can't work around, such as Chaos or C'tan.
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[X][Phoenix] To A New Path
Psykers and Pariahs are rare and the interactions of them are little studied by those of the biological arts. Fabius turns his hands to pry the secrets of the warp and flesh together from these samples.
Let the man get something useful done.
[x][Children] Train to Accept
The Legion needs to be ready to use any tools, focus on the strengths of the xeno auxiliaries and teach the legionaries to use those.
We don't have time for this anthrochauvinist bullshit. Astartes have more in common with ogryn than baselines to begin with, count yourselves lucky we don't feed you all to the biologis.
[X][Flames] Strike
Pull the legion from the planet and prepare to leave; however, this is a ruse and the legion will strike the Eldar cityship directly.
Frankly the fact that the Eldar didn't know this was coming and either evacuated or prepared a trap tells me there's not much worth holding negotiations with, and maybe if we kill the fleet the remnants on the ground will surrender?
Psykers and Pariahs are rare and the interactions of them are little studied by those of the biological arts. Fabius turns his hands to pry the secrets of the warp and flesh together from these samples.
Let the man get something useful done.
[x][Children] Train to Accept
The Legion needs to be ready to use any tools, focus on the strengths of the xeno auxiliaries and teach the legionaries to use those.
We don't have time for this anthrochauvinist bullshit. Astartes have more in common with ogryn than baselines to begin with, count yourselves lucky we don't feed you all to the biologis.
[X][Flames] Strike
Pull the legion from the planet and prepare to leave; however, this is a ruse and the legion will strike the Eldar cityship directly.
Frankly the fact that the Eldar didn't know this was coming and either evacuated or prepared a trap tells me there's not much worth holding negotiations with, and maybe if we kill the fleet the remnants on the ground will surrender?
- Location
- Canada
[X][Phoenix] To A New Path
Let's see where this could go
[X][Children] Train to Accept
The Third were paragons of the Emperor's will, this should not change even with a different Emperor.
[X][Flames] Dig In
War is a grinding affair, and the eighteenth are strong, they can hold out.
Let's see where this could go
[X][Children] Train to Accept
The Third were paragons of the Emperor's will, this should not change even with a different Emperor.
[X][Flames] Dig In
War is a grinding affair, and the eighteenth are strong, they can hold out.
[X][Phoenix] To Meager Rewards
[X][Children] Train to Accept
[X][Flames] Delay
[X][Children] Train to Accept
[X][Flames] Delay
- Location
- Texas
[X][Phoenix] To No End
[X][Children] Punish Dissenters
[X][Flames] Leave the World
[X][Children] Punish Dissenters
[X][Flames] Leave the World
Vote closed
The Phoenix and the Flames 2
Fabius ignored the urge to retch that was fighting against his Astartes nature. The warp null tore at his soul, causing his whole being to respond in hate to the individual he was performing the surgery on. The neophyte had been a casualty in his training, a man who had taken a shot to the temple. Most of his brain had been scrambled. A good apothecary would have taken the geneseed and left the man to the training grounds of Terra. However, he was not strictly dead and Fabius needed subjects, so like many before him, the fate of Subject-178 was set the moment Fabius came across the half-dead man.
He would not live as an Astartes; his brain was far too damaged, but he was proof of Fabius' ideas. A Pariah artificially induced, one made at great cost, and the chances of survival would be even lower for men who were not brain dead. However, it was evidence that Fabius had access to the knowledge and skills required to create a null. A marine's strength and power combined with an oppressive aura, a force to weaken mortals and to slaughter psykers.
His failures in that field had caused him great annoyance. While he had found the secrets behind the creation of a null, a far rarer creature than a psyker, the induction of psychic potential into a body had never succeeded. His current consideration was that it was because of the brain death of the subjects he had access to. The Selinar woman was back on Luna running tests with live mortals for comparison. The results so far were dim; if extrapolated to Astartes, only one in a thousand were even viable for the process and only a thousandth again could survive all steps. It was a high price, one he doubted his own legion would be willing to pay.
So Fabius reached out for aid through hidden channels to make his project a reality.
[][Fabius] The Selinar
While he would not have access to the power of Astartes, making humans into low-ranked nulls will allow the creation of the Null Auxilia, a weaker force than the Sisters of Silence but one that is far more numerous.
[][Fabius] The Emperor
It is a long process to have an audience with the Emperor himself, but Fabius is able to gain that honor. Guilliman is unwilling to sacrifice the men needed to make a force of Blank Astartes but offers a path. Fabius helps create a process for a new dreadnought that uses an Astartes Blank of his creation to become heavy forces against psyker positions.
[][Fabius] The Legion Master
In the end, the best one to go to would be his own leader. So he approached the legion High Command and spoke to him of his discoveries, his processes, and what they could offer. As he predicted, they would not agree to the use of this technology, finding it too grim and ineffective for its cost. However, with his research known, he gets more support for his projects with the psyker.
[][Fabius] A Sigillite
An agent, an unknown serf, had seen Fabius and watched him. He reported back, and an entire network slowly relayed the information to the spider at the center of the web. A man who is very interested in this project. The blind guide of the Emperor, the Sigillite himself, approaches Fabius.
The Legion did not have time for games; it did not have time for those who would spit on the gifts of the Empire. They had to be shown the ways that the xenos auxiliaries could be used. Commands were made, and the Legion began to limit their deployment of the Solar Auxilia elements with them and the other human elements. The captains and other legionaries are made to work with abhuman and xenos elements.
However, what quickly becomes apparent is the xenos do have a distinct difference in battle compared to humans. Where humans were largely the same and, outside of the largely standardized armor and weapons, did not vary much in abilities beyond simple skills, abhumans were specialized, largely having unique traits making them better in some roles than others. Xenos more so. While some were largely equivalent to humans or an abhuman in ability, the Xeno Auxiliaries could vary wildly in capabilities. Small crustaceans that piloted small swarms of automata. Lumbering shelled brutes the size of tanks with a sonic attack that paralyzed the enemy. Each Xeno could take a while to integrate into a larger command structure.
Ironically enough, the xenos auxiliaries have been performing worse than the human ones, a state of affairs caused by the lack of skills in the command of such a diverse force. The legion tackles this issue…
[][Children] Chapter Focus
The xenos will be categorized broadly into the roles that they can fit easily. Then each chapter of the Legion is tuned into commanding and directing these categories. The xenos auxiliary as they arrive will be sent to the appropriate chapter.
[][Children] Supreme Doctrine
This is a feat that would take a Primarch to truly reach—a unified codex of all possible ways to command mortal troops. While the Supreme Doctrine is not the absolute authority of war, the Legion hones their understanding of every possible xenos they could be in command of and how to use and integrate them into battle plans. Even if this consumes time that the legionaries would have used for other pursuits.
[][Children] Push Through
The legion continues to use the xenos as they can but does not put in extra effort into integrating them into battle plans beyond ones that can easily fit a quick idea of what they can do.
[][Children] Mortal Commands
The xenos auxiliaries are trained in their own styles of warfare, all the auxiliaries are. The legion will set up a looser command structure in the auxiliary cores, allowing them more ability to act in battle to their strengths.
Cassian Vaughn puts out the order; the legion responds, the ships leave, and a thousand men put shovels to the soil. Bunkers and trenches—it is not the traditional warfare of the XVIIIth, but the legion is able to adapt, to use their strength and knowledge, and in the time before the Eldar land on the world, a killing field has been laid down. The xenos warriors are a hard foe, their plans wily and their forces able to slip between the fire of a heavy bolter. Their elegant vehicles were able to dodge the cannon fire of the Legion's armor.
The trenches are a puzzle for their foes, though. Against a legion like the Iron Warriors or the VIIth, no Eldar would be able to slip around the lines. The XVIIIth were not a legion for siege warfare, so as the Eldar tested their positions and struck against the line, they slipped through, striking at the legion's back. Disrupting enough that despite the casualties, the Eldar advance is able to push against the Legion.
The legion's reinforcements have yet to arrive, but the Eldar are making pushes into the line. As each position falls to cunning and trickery as well as the nimble weapons of the enemies, the Legion had to change their tactics.
[][Flames] Pull Back
The current position is not tenable. Pull back to the more naturally defensible mountains. A dangerous gambit, but perhaps the only one with a chance.
[][Flames] A Prisoner's Use
Desperate times call for desperate measures. As the Eldar attack, the XVIIIth change their strategy, moving the captured civilians to the front of the battle line to hopefully blunt the attacks.
[][Flames] The Fire that Burns Twice as Bright
The line was held, but only just. Heroes of the legion were born, those that took on impossible odds, suicidal charges, and despite meeting their deaths, these torchbearers let the line be held.
[][Flames] Break The World
The Legion did not falter, the Legion did not break. The foes would be made to die; the line would be made to hold even if the lush world was turned to ashes.
He would not live as an Astartes; his brain was far too damaged, but he was proof of Fabius' ideas. A Pariah artificially induced, one made at great cost, and the chances of survival would be even lower for men who were not brain dead. However, it was evidence that Fabius had access to the knowledge and skills required to create a null. A marine's strength and power combined with an oppressive aura, a force to weaken mortals and to slaughter psykers.
His failures in that field had caused him great annoyance. While he had found the secrets behind the creation of a null, a far rarer creature than a psyker, the induction of psychic potential into a body had never succeeded. His current consideration was that it was because of the brain death of the subjects he had access to. The Selinar woman was back on Luna running tests with live mortals for comparison. The results so far were dim; if extrapolated to Astartes, only one in a thousand were even viable for the process and only a thousandth again could survive all steps. It was a high price, one he doubted his own legion would be willing to pay.
So Fabius reached out for aid through hidden channels to make his project a reality.
[][Fabius] The Selinar
While he would not have access to the power of Astartes, making humans into low-ranked nulls will allow the creation of the Null Auxilia, a weaker force than the Sisters of Silence but one that is far more numerous.
[][Fabius] The Emperor
It is a long process to have an audience with the Emperor himself, but Fabius is able to gain that honor. Guilliman is unwilling to sacrifice the men needed to make a force of Blank Astartes but offers a path. Fabius helps create a process for a new dreadnought that uses an Astartes Blank of his creation to become heavy forces against psyker positions.
[][Fabius] The Legion Master
In the end, the best one to go to would be his own leader. So he approached the legion High Command and spoke to him of his discoveries, his processes, and what they could offer. As he predicted, they would not agree to the use of this technology, finding it too grim and ineffective for its cost. However, with his research known, he gets more support for his projects with the psyker.
[][Fabius] A Sigillite
An agent, an unknown serf, had seen Fabius and watched him. He reported back, and an entire network slowly relayed the information to the spider at the center of the web. A man who is very interested in this project. The blind guide of the Emperor, the Sigillite himself, approaches Fabius.
The Legion did not have time for games; it did not have time for those who would spit on the gifts of the Empire. They had to be shown the ways that the xenos auxiliaries could be used. Commands were made, and the Legion began to limit their deployment of the Solar Auxilia elements with them and the other human elements. The captains and other legionaries are made to work with abhuman and xenos elements.
However, what quickly becomes apparent is the xenos do have a distinct difference in battle compared to humans. Where humans were largely the same and, outside of the largely standardized armor and weapons, did not vary much in abilities beyond simple skills, abhumans were specialized, largely having unique traits making them better in some roles than others. Xenos more so. While some were largely equivalent to humans or an abhuman in ability, the Xeno Auxiliaries could vary wildly in capabilities. Small crustaceans that piloted small swarms of automata. Lumbering shelled brutes the size of tanks with a sonic attack that paralyzed the enemy. Each Xeno could take a while to integrate into a larger command structure.
Ironically enough, the xenos auxiliaries have been performing worse than the human ones, a state of affairs caused by the lack of skills in the command of such a diverse force. The legion tackles this issue…
[][Children] Chapter Focus
The xenos will be categorized broadly into the roles that they can fit easily. Then each chapter of the Legion is tuned into commanding and directing these categories. The xenos auxiliary as they arrive will be sent to the appropriate chapter.
[][Children] Supreme Doctrine
This is a feat that would take a Primarch to truly reach—a unified codex of all possible ways to command mortal troops. While the Supreme Doctrine is not the absolute authority of war, the Legion hones their understanding of every possible xenos they could be in command of and how to use and integrate them into battle plans. Even if this consumes time that the legionaries would have used for other pursuits.
[][Children] Push Through
The legion continues to use the xenos as they can but does not put in extra effort into integrating them into battle plans beyond ones that can easily fit a quick idea of what they can do.
[][Children] Mortal Commands
The xenos auxiliaries are trained in their own styles of warfare, all the auxiliaries are. The legion will set up a looser command structure in the auxiliary cores, allowing them more ability to act in battle to their strengths.
Cassian Vaughn puts out the order; the legion responds, the ships leave, and a thousand men put shovels to the soil. Bunkers and trenches—it is not the traditional warfare of the XVIIIth, but the legion is able to adapt, to use their strength and knowledge, and in the time before the Eldar land on the world, a killing field has been laid down. The xenos warriors are a hard foe, their plans wily and their forces able to slip between the fire of a heavy bolter. Their elegant vehicles were able to dodge the cannon fire of the Legion's armor.
The trenches are a puzzle for their foes, though. Against a legion like the Iron Warriors or the VIIth, no Eldar would be able to slip around the lines. The XVIIIth were not a legion for siege warfare, so as the Eldar tested their positions and struck against the line, they slipped through, striking at the legion's back. Disrupting enough that despite the casualties, the Eldar advance is able to push against the Legion.
The legion's reinforcements have yet to arrive, but the Eldar are making pushes into the line. As each position falls to cunning and trickery as well as the nimble weapons of the enemies, the Legion had to change their tactics.
[][Flames] Pull Back
The current position is not tenable. Pull back to the more naturally defensible mountains. A dangerous gambit, but perhaps the only one with a chance.
[][Flames] A Prisoner's Use
Desperate times call for desperate measures. As the Eldar attack, the XVIIIth change their strategy, moving the captured civilians to the front of the battle line to hopefully blunt the attacks.
[][Flames] The Fire that Burns Twice as Bright
The line was held, but only just. Heroes of the legion were born, those that took on impossible odds, suicidal charges, and despite meeting their deaths, these torchbearers let the line be held.
[][Flames] Break The World
The Legion did not falter, the Legion did not break. The foes would be made to die; the line would be made to hold even if the lush world was turned to ashes.
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- Location
- Canada
[X][Fabius] The Selinar
[X][Children] Chapter Focus
[X][Flames] The Fire that Burns Twice as Bright
[X][Children] Chapter Focus
[X][Flames] The Fire that Burns Twice as Bright
[X][Flames] The Fire that Burns Twice as Bright
The line was held, but only just. Heroes of the legion were born, those that took on impossible odds, suicidal charges, and despite meeting their deaths, these torchbearers let the line be held.
[X][Children] Supreme Doctrine
This is a feat that would take a Primarch to truly reach—a unified codex of all possible ways to command mortal troops. While the Supreme Doctrine is not the absolute authority of war, the Legion hones their understanding of every possible xenos they could be in command of and how to use and integrate them into battle plans. Even if this consumes time that the legionaries would have used for other pursuits.
[X][Fabius] The Selinar
While he would not have access to the power of Astartes, making humans into low-ranked nulls will allow the creation of the Null Auxilia, a weaker force than the Sisters of Silence but one that is far more numerous.
The line was held, but only just. Heroes of the legion were born, those that took on impossible odds, suicidal charges, and despite meeting their deaths, these torchbearers let the line be held.
[X][Children] Supreme Doctrine
This is a feat that would take a Primarch to truly reach—a unified codex of all possible ways to command mortal troops. While the Supreme Doctrine is not the absolute authority of war, the Legion hones their understanding of every possible xenos they could be in command of and how to use and integrate them into battle plans. Even if this consumes time that the legionaries would have used for other pursuits.
[X][Fabius] The Selinar
While he would not have access to the power of Astartes, making humans into low-ranked nulls will allow the creation of the Null Auxilia, a weaker force than the Sisters of Silence but one that is far more numerous.
[X][Children] Chapter Focus
[X][Flames] The Fire that Burns Twice as Bright
[X][Fabius] A Sigillite
[X][Flames] The Fire that Burns Twice as Bright
[X][Fabius] A Sigillite
[X][Children] Supreme Doctrine
[X][Fabius] A Sigillite
[X][Fabius] A Sigillite
[X][Fabius] The Selinar
[X][Children] Supreme Doctrine
[X][Flames] The Fire that Burns Twice as Bright
[X][Children] Supreme Doctrine
[X][Flames] The Fire that Burns Twice as Bright
[X][Fabius] The Selinar.
[X][Children] Supreme Doctrine.
We are talking about Emperor's Children. They either give their 110% or there's no point in this.
Beside, other military formations in the Imperium, could then reuse The Doctrine and add to it. The III Legion would basically create "The Art of War: Galactic Edition" for other forces in the Imperium to use, including other Legions when commanding mortal auxiliaries themselves.
[X][Flames] The Fire that Burns Twice as Bright.
The greater the sacrifice, the greater the hero.
Also, @Planetary Tennis, a minor nitpick but I found this jarring.
Also, the next sentence doesn't start with capital letter, was this a mistake or is this a grammatical exception? I heard that in certain cases you can start the next sentence with small letter instead of capital letter, but I don't know if this applies here.
[X][Children] Supreme Doctrine.
We are talking about Emperor's Children. They either give their 110% or there's no point in this.
Beside, other military formations in the Imperium, could then reuse The Doctrine and add to it. The III Legion would basically create "The Art of War: Galactic Edition" for other forces in the Imperium to use, including other Legions when commanding mortal auxiliaries themselves.
[X][Flames] The Fire that Burns Twice as Bright.
The greater the sacrifice, the greater the hero.
Also, @Planetary Tennis, a minor nitpick but I found this jarring.
I know Eldars are Space Elves but calling them, straight up Elves just feels jarring. I think Aeldari, Eldar, Craftworlders or just Xenos/Alien would have worked better.
Also, the next sentence doesn't start with capital letter, was this a mistake or is this a grammatical exception? I heard that in certain cases you can start the next sentence with small letter instead of capital letter, but I don't know if this applies here.
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