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Short part:Legion: 2nd Legion, The Grave Walkers
Commander: Lost Primarch of the Imperial 2nd Legion Paxus Tul
2nd Origin: Demon "mirror" world, Khorne controlled
Troops:
Uses genetically modified clones grown in tanks for marines.
Marines are both female and male
Genetically strong females can be used to create more marines.
Religion:
Animisim - Paxus and his family worship their dead ancestry. which is pretty
much everyone that dies in the legion. It is these spirits that give them
protection in the warp and sorcerous powers.
Technology:
Very advanced in energy, cybernetics, biological and anti-gravity fields.
RoE:
Negotiate peace before war. If there must be war make it quick.
Doing so defeats Khorne and denies him his feast.
The Grave Walkers are mercenary in their application "peace" and profit
greatly from each incounter.
Forces use special beacons to gate troops in from orbit in mass numbers,
similar to teleportation but safer or more effeicent.
The GWL will never fight a war it cannot win without minimzing losses.
The Primarch
Paxus Tul is one of the Emperor's Primarchs that was never found. This is mainly due to the fact that he was on a demon “mirror” world on the outskirts of the Eye of Terror. Paxus was taken in by a Tullian Demon whose “people” were slaves to the Khorne demon lord Ghaz'Uros. Paxus was never accepted by the other Tullians and was shunned,ridiculed and abused most of his childhood years despite the interventions and protections of his adoptive mother Bosheia'hex.
In time the slavers came for their village. Paxus and many others were taken to Ghaz'Uros's great brass keep. Ghaz'Uros recognized the power within Paxus and provided him special freedoms and rights not given to the others. In time Paxus, naive to the games of demons came to serve Ghaz'Uros as a Stalker.
He spent many years hunting down individual demons of great power and returning to Ghaz'Uros with their skull to place at his throne.
Paxus was young when he was found by Bosheia'hex and had not much time with her. The influence of Ghaz'Uros had caused him to forget much of his short past as he became more and more short sighted telling time by the number of skulls he collected than the rotation of the planet.
As Ghaz'Uros consumed Paxus' will Khorne polluted his soul, but not even the power of the god of war could enslave the Primarch Paxus completely.
On a day lost to time a change occurred within Paxus causing him to rebel against Ghaz'Uros. Within the ruins of a village Paxus searched for his next skull, but instead found his destiny within a bombed out Tullian worship center. He has never spoken about what took place within, but the magnitude of it was evident. That day Paxus began what became known as the Walker's war.
For the first year Paxus fought alone. He became known by the Khorne demons as the Grave Walker f Paxus would hide among the vast fetid corpse fields and ambush the bloodletters from the towering graves. In time other Tullian demons began their own resistance against Ghaz'Uros and soon Paxus was called upon to lead them against the forces of the Blood God.
For Ten years the Walker's war raged on. Every year more and more Tullians, Hexins, and half breeds joined his forces. The war ended with the siege of Ghaz'Uros's brass keep in a battle that was fought continually over the course of 3 days. It is said the so many died on both sides that there was no ground to fight on within the Keep let alone a mile around it. Such was the magnitude of slaughter that over two dozen greater demons of Khorne were attracted to the battle.
In the end Paxus reached Ghaz'Uros's throne of skulls and faced him in personal combat. None were witness to this monumental battle, but many saw Paxus exit the throne room tears streaking his blood encrusted face. In one hand he carried his massive blade. In the other he cradled a Tullian skull.
The 2nd Legion
It took close to a thousand years for Paxus to build up an empire large enough to begin uncovering the secrets to creating his own Astartes. Using demons, half-demons, humans, and other xeno races in his employee he scoured the space near the Eye for the equipment he needed. It was during this time that the Emperor's crusade had begun and Paxus longed to join it, but felt that he would be shunned by his people for the way he looked and the choice of allies he had made. Paxus did not know many details of his brother Primarchs. He did not know some where mutated as he was. Paxus skin was corpse white and his hair a mercurial silver. His eyes were like the void for there black surface reflected back what the warp saw. His pupils were small flecks of incandescent red, unnerving to stare into as the reflection they held was eerily disturbing. His mucosa, tinged light blue, gave him a cadaverous look His teeth were pointed and sharp like a carnivores. In many ways he appeared more like a demon than a Primarch. Combined with his close ties with half breed demons and lesser demonkin he felt he would surly be seen as a enemy not an ally. In many ways he would have been proven right. The Imperial Truth would have judged him harshly. He set out to create his own forces and fight for his Father separately so that he may be judged by action and deed not appearance and association.
An Eye for an Eye
He had not head of Horus's betrayal until the traitor legions arrived in the Eye of Terror. He felt as if he had failed his father by not seeking him earlier. He took out his anger on the traitors, but only managed to set his work back as his hidden assets were uncovered, destroyed or captured during the many wars against the Traitor Legions. The 2nd Legion fled the area and Paxus swallowing his pride set his sight on finishing the process to create his own marines. In time he planned to eradicate the Dark Legions, but for now getting his own rogues gallery of xeno's and demons killed did nothing to further that cause.
It took over 700 years before Paxus was able to create a stable Marine. It took another century to perfect it. Soon after that massive cloning vaults were installed in his fleet each housing from 500 to 2000 tanks with the largest concentration being 10,000 on his flagship.
The marines were created using a genetically superior female ovum and fertilized with his own genetic material. The growing life form (in the beginning they were not all human) was altered and perfected as it grew in vitro. Over the incubation time of 5 years the clone was subject to Recorded Educational Embedding Program done in the voice of Paxus and its Matron as this strengthened the initial bond between the marine while educating it. The marines entire growth, education, and training worth 20 years was compacted to 5 years of accelerated development and when he or she exited the tank they could be combat ready within an hour.
The first line of clones were made from Tullians and Half Breeds involving over 50 Matrons. The administrative pool used to handle the cloning process were mainly hired from outside the legion initially,and consisted with many displaced Imperial citizens, but within a century Paxus replaced them with his own clones created for the job.
Paxus also sought to gather more human Matrons for his Legion and started lowering the cloning rates on the other races. This caused some upset among the Matrons and there “children” but loyalty stood strong and Paxus' vision of what the Legion was to be was well understood – a pure human legion just like the Emperor intended.
Once the Legion reached 100,000 marines Paxus implemented his plan of conquest through diplomacy. He realized long ago that war glorified Khorne and if the god of blood was to be defeated it could only be through the lack of killing. The 2nd legion became mercenary warriors for scores of planets embroiled in war. From wars between states , countries or worlds the 2nd Legion sent its Diplomats to negotiate peace. If peace proved to be impossible it was the Diplomats place to determine the side the 2nd legion would take to end the warfare. More than once the Legion had to take its own side and pacify the warring parties independently.
The Diplomats
As a marine experiences war and bloodshed it is natural that he becomes hardened to such things and finds killing a easy if not routine task to perform. This is a potentially dangerous trait for any to take on.
A marine who shows restraint and patience in the face of war demonstrates the most powerful weapon utilized in warfare – wisdom.
Diplomats are marines who have shown this trait time and time again. Having risen through the ranks and led there brothers and sisters with more than just courage and bravado.
Wisdom wins wars. Wisdom determines if the war should be fought or fled from. Wisdom keeps passion from taking over as passion is what kills more people than any weapon.
Diplomat's usually undergo a certain amount of cosmetic alteration so as to be more presentable as a human-like being instead of a ghostly demon. Negotiations generally take no more than 1 year and as little as a few days to settle peace. Once a treatise is signed a Legion Protectorate Force is placed on the planet to ensure the treatise is adhered to.
With each peaceful resolution Khorne wails in agony, deprived of his sacrifices. If war is to be inevitable then the 2nd Legion wages it quickly and with as little death and destruction as possible.
The Matrons
Life givers of the 2nd Legion. Mothers, caretakers, and spiritual leaders are just some of the important roles they play. A certain few go beyond the nurturing aspect of their position and take up weapon and armor to lead their children into battle against the enemy. It is said “The warp has no fury like a matron scorned” and most would agree. Matrons fight with a level of viciousness that is unbecoming of one held in esteem as a life giver. Their children that follow her gain the same viciousness when led into battle making it hard at times to keep the kill count below the restricted levels.
Every female marine that is “born” is measured for the qualities and genetic purity to become a matron. If they are qualified their eggs are harvested and placed in stasis. After 5 years of duty they female marine has the option of becoming a matron-in-training or remain at her position on the line. To date all have become Matrons.
Some of the Matrons have begun following in the footsteps of the Prime Matron and study the deeper aspects of Animism. These matrons are able to control “magic” similar to Librarians and Eldar, but tend to draw their strength from the dead or dying.
While nearly all the Grave Walkers adorn their armor with scrolls of the dead. Each bearing the name of a fallen friends or family members some matrons are taking it a step further.
Many of the War Matrons that follow the Prime adorn their armor with the bones of their dead children. In some cases a few of them have completely covered their armor in skulls, ribs, femurs and other parts. Not only a testament to the mother's sadness within her but also a proclamation to her enemies that no matter what the cost is they will certainly fall before her.
The Marines of the Line, Grave Walkers
Composed of both male and female troops the 2nd Legion resembles the Imperial Guard more than the Adeptus Astartes. If it wasn't for the 7-8' tall bodies and sculpted muscles one might make that mistake. Paxus did not have everything he needed to make exact copies of the Astarte marines. The Grave Walkers do not have psycho-induced brainwashing, progenoid glands, or gene-seeds. His marines where created with genetic manipulation starting from fertilization and monitored to 1 year. Some for a full 5 for quality check purposes.
While Grave Walkers fall short in some areas of the Astartes they are equal on the field of battle and much easier to reproduce.
Fraternization is allowed between marines as all males are sterile and females temporarily so. The relationships and other love interests are always secondary to the prime objective set forth by Paxus and after centuries no major problems have resulted from inter-legion fraternization. Xeno-fraternization on the other hand has lead to many problems worthy of the ancient poets, and in one such case it led to a 3 day war which ended in the double suicide of a female walker and eldar rogue- bound forever together in a soul stone.
Still Paxus put no restrictions on his children and simply hoped those involved learned and realized the death they caused within the family.
With so many marines and so few Matron's many other services have been installed to aid the psycho-social aspect of such a large family in one place. The newest trend is allowing human mates from visited worlds to join the legion in some non-combat role so that they may start their own family. Some have even been allowed one child by reversing the sterilization, but this is strictly tied to rank benefits.
The Cybernetic Schism
The 2nd Legions high level of technology allowed for the implementation of cybernetic replacement and enhancements earlier in marines life. It didn't take long before many of the younger marines wanted cyber enhancements to make them better. It got so bad that for some it was a race to see who could become the best cyborg in the legion. They even invented their own sports games to compete against one another in.
The heaviest converted ones tended to eventually lose touch with life and become very despondent except on the battlefield where the officers found them increasingly difficult to control.
A sect of Matrons who believed in genetic purity lobbied against the use of excessive cyberware. Their argument was a simple one and believed by many, for each piece of flesh you replace with metal you lose part of your spirit with it. Too much metal and you have too little spirit.
While the Diplomats loved fielding cyborg units due to their amazing performance abilities in the field they did see the change in the men and women in the level of discipline.
After much debate a protocol was created for cybernetic adaptation to all Legionnaires.
More research had also begun into the Mechanus-Animus theory and to find a better solution using post birth modifications.
Pacification
With their goal of limited life loss in war the 2nd Legion must strike their blows quickly and decisively. Once the assigned diplomat believes pacification is necessary a requisition for fleet support and ground forces are made. Within a matter of weeks a Pacification Fleet arrives. It's job is to secure orbit sweeping it clean of any satellites, probes, platforms and other enemy constructions. If there is an enemy fleet it will attempt to cripple the vessels if they do not pose a great threat to the Legions own ships.
Once orbit is clear the massive portal matrix's are prepared for the troops and vehicles as beacon probes are launched at the planet in the thousands. The beacons are used to teleport whole companys down into one area allowing them to rapidly create a base of operations planet side. There have been times where the beacons where fired at governmental complexes in order to allow cyborg assault teams to go directly for the enemy hierarchy. This practice is limited due to the fact that the cyborgs tend to rack up to high of a kill a count and often “fail” to disengage once the mission is completed.
Once the enemy has surrendered a Planetary Pacification Force is established. It consists of an entire “Chapter” of Legionnaires numbering 10,000 strong. Anti Gravity tanks, Cyborg Hunter-Killer speeders and Bastion Heavy tanks to thwart resurgency.
The second wave consists of administrative personal and cultural experts to help in creating and integrating a new culture for the inhabitants. Hopefully one that wont cause strife and warfare among them.
