Fleuri picked up his glass and took another drink. "And if anyone here disparages you, they're a fool. It is because of the valor of knights like yourself that they, not Phoran Cal and his treacherous cronies, celebrate tonight within the Crown of Thaln. Granted, not everyone who sided with the monarchy did so for unselfish reasons, but they all gained from the efforts of those who took up arms against those traitors."
"Oh I'm well aware of that. It just gets tiring after a while. All the staring and whispering." The Naga shrugs again, opting to eat more of the meal they'd been provided with than to engage in idle chatter; seemingly at ease in their bubble of silence. When the Princess made her entrance, Mari offers Fleuri an amused grin. "It would appear that we have been summoned." Taking a brief glance around the hall, Mari catches sight of Jarde making for one of the exits. Frowning slightly, the Naga turns back toward Fleuri. "If you'll excuse me a moment, It appears I'll be taking a brief detour before joining the rest of the party at the head of the hall."
With that, Mari trades her half finished palate for her quarterstaff and slips through the crowd towards Jarde. Gently tapping him on the shoulder, Mari speaks quietly to the younger knight. "Turning down a royal summons? That is kind of bad form you know." The Naga says, grinning slightly.
"No crazier than me, though that's not exactly saying much. Trouble really follows you two wherever you go, doesn't it?"
Stefan pipes up as he tromps over from Ivan's ship, still resting the broken tip of the Ultralisk kaiser blade over one shoulder. Stepping over to the super-solider, Amanda pulls out a couple of hydralisk spines that Stefan missed. "Yeah well, we come by it honestly." Stefan snorts in amusement. "Ain't that the truth. Now, if you don't mind I need to borrow a comm unit." "Right, the drop would have fried yours, or was it the impact?" Amanda replies cheekily, supplying the requested device. "Oh shush you." Stefan says absently as he quickly punches a code into the device before returning it to Amanda.
A few moments later, there's a low rumble as a small cargo pod launches itself out from on the Fury of Terra's hanger bays and lands next to Stefan a minute later, spraying dirt in all directions. Opening it up, the pod is filled to the brim with weapons and military equipment. Replacing his fried electronics, Stefan straps on a powered exo-frame, slinging an absolutely massive blade onto it's back rack; the absurd weapon being somewhere between a zweihander and a buster sword. Next, he loads up on demolition charges as well as what can only be a mini-nuke. Finally, the super-soldier straps some sort of heavy plasma weapon to the underside of his left arm.
Now armed to the teeth, Stefan turns back to face the group. "Aright here's the plan. I'm going to go finish off the Hive and it's supporting structures. While I'm doing that ya'll need to clean up the remaining Zerg. Use Cleansweep 3 as the basis for your op, that should cover the basics. My mercs will know the details. Any questions?" Stefan states, one hand resting on the hilt of the massive sword.
The Naga offered Sir Jodeau a shrug. "Well enough, I suppose. Things could be a lot worse, no one's fainted or demanded that I leave yet, so that's a positive." Mari pauses, taking a moment to savor a slice of pork. Wiping a spot of sauce from the corner of her mouth, the Naga continues. "If I'm being honest, these sorts of things don't really hold much interest for me. That said, there is something rather entertaining about watching nobles struggle to interact with a supposed "beast" who has a solid grasp of formal etiquette." Mari says dryly, a wry smile crossing her face.
"So, What about yourself?" She asks absently, returning the question to Fleuri ask she watches the exchange between Tyaethe and the young nobleman out of the corner of her eye.
Holy Terra, The Imperial Palace, Avenue of Sacrifice:
As the parades from the Sworn Brothers, Night Watch and Knights of Iron began to clear out, a relative quiet started to fall throughout the Avenue of Sacrifice. With what seemed like an end to the excitement, the nobility & elites turned inward toward their private circles. As such, it was the commoners on the streets looking up who were the first to catch sight of the void-born Primarch.
Only visible at first from the firing of their jets, the tiny specks of the Primarch and his escort of Void Guard against the crowded sky quickly grew as they hurtled towards the place grounds. Forgoing a straight shot to the Ascensor's Gate, Atherel instead wove in between the colossal spires of the Imperial Palace, skimming the surface of the towers by mere feet. The Void guard followed suit, albeit with less grace and more caution than their Lord. With his speed and proximity to the spires, the Primarch did far more than just ruffle the feathers of the elite, both literally and figuratively.
A young nobleman, leaning perhaps a bit too far out over a balcony, found himself pulled over the edge by Atherel's tailwind. As a collective gasp escaped the onlookers, the Primarch seamlessly altered course, moving to carefully catch the mortal without killing him. Sweeping upward, Atherel gently deposited the young nobleman on the balcony from which he had fallen. Still holding one of his hands, the Primarch paused only to offer a silent bow in compensation before letting go and flipping back over the edge; leaving an embarrassed and breathless young man in his wake.
Continuing to weave through the towers, the Primarch eventually touches down at the end of the Avenue of Sacrifice, outside the Ascensor's Gate as the Void Guard land in three prefect semicircles facing back down the Avenue around him. Briefly removing his helmet, Atherel gives the crowd a boyish grin & a wave followed by a bow; a roar of cheering & thunderous applause the crowd's reply. Turning back towards the gates, Atherel silently dismisses the Void Guard, but not before issuing a brief order over a direct vox line to Marcus Castivar, Commander of the Void Guard. {{Find the Astartes in charge of the Night Watch's xenos auxiliaries and have him extend my commendations to those under his command. Their service to the Imperium has not gone unnoticed.}} Marcus replies with a brief vox burst of acknowledgement; the Void Guard moving toward the parade staging area as Atherel continues on to join his brothers.
Appearance: Small by Primarch standards, Atherel appears positively waifish when compared to his larger siblings. Barely a head taller than the Astartes he commands, Atherel has a lithe and willowy figure due to growing up in an environment that didn't always have gravity. Still, by mortal standards, Atherel is a towering and elegant individual, as sleek as he is powerful.
Psyker Status: N/A
Life and Times: While the other Primarchs found themselves on various planets, Atherel's pod found itself in the Scepteri System. Decimated eons ago during the war in heaven, all that remained of the system was an aging red giant star, multiple asteroid belts and most notably, an ancient derelict xenos star fortress of colossal proportions. More importantly, burried within the star fortress was a malfunctioning warp beacon. (akin to the Astronomican or Pharos device) While the beacon's signal was overpowering within the system itself, (preventing Navigators from seeing out of the system) the nature of it's malfunction caused the beacon's signal to rapidly decay over longer distances.
With the passing decades, ships would occasionally be drawn into the system, only to be trapped by the by the malfunctioning warp beacon. And so, the Scepteri System became the prison of it's unsuspecting visitors. The trapped survivors came from all walks of life and races; Rogue Traders, Ork warbands, Aeldari Corsairs, to name but a few. Over time ramshackle space stations were built out of the trapped starships, most often in close proximity to the star fortress as it was the best source of new supplies.
This was the "world" that Atherel found himself in.
Atherel's pod was discovered by a mining and salvage crew. Comprised mostly of Humans and Abhumans, there were also a few Aeldari and a smattering of the less disagreeable space-faring races. Like his fellow Primarchs, Atherel grew up quickly, outpacing his teachers on anything he was taught in a matter of years. As such, Atherel quickly became a master pilot, void combatant and explorer, to name just some of his talents.
By the age of 10, he was the new unofficial captain of the crew, though he would frequently leave Michael Calix, his adoptive father figure and the former captain, in charge while he would venture out on solo expeditions into the star fortress for new supplies. By 15, Atherel had gathered multiple crews to his name, making him one of the most powerful and well known individuals in the system.
A few years later an Ork WAAAGH found itself pulled into the Scepteri System. Relatively small by WAAAGH! standards, it was still large enough to pose a significant threat to the systems other inhabitants; especially once the WAAAGH! had absorbed all of the various small Ork warbands wandering about the system. Atherel immediately understood the threat they represented and quickly rallied the system's disparate factions under one banner in the name of survival. Even so, the WAAAGH! still outnumbered the united survivors 2 to 1.
The next several weeks would prove to be a grueling hell as Atherel prosecuted a a hit and run war against the Ork WAAAGH. Where Atherel led, the alliance would win, outmaneuvering, isolating and eliminating the Orks one piece at a time. But the Primarch couldn't be everywhere at once, and so slowly but surely the alliance began to lose a war of attrition. In an act of desperation, Atherel baited the Ork Warboss into chasing him into the star fortress, a hostile environment that he knew well from years of exploring.
Unbeknownst to the Primarch and his crew as they fought the Ork Warboss and his bodyguard within the otherworldly environment of the star fortress, a new arrival had joined the space battle outside. The Emperor had arrived at the head of the Great Crusade. Trapped between two fleets and now massively outnumbered, the Ork WAAAGH! was annihilated in short order. Knowing that only a Primarch could have the charisma to unite so a disparate group, the Emperor sought out the leader of the alliance. By the time he and his Custodes made it into the star fortress, the battle inside was already over. There, the Emperor found the Warboss & his boys slain and Atherel grieving over the his dying adoptive father.
On an instinctive level, Atherel immediately knew who the towering golden figure that stood before him was, but lacked the knowledge to put that feeling into words; as such "Who are you?" were the first words the Seventh Primarch spoke to the Emperor of Mankind. As the conversation began, Atherel took no initial interest in superfluous speech. Upon establishing who the Emperor was, Atherel first saw to the immediate needs of his crew, then the status of the forces he had mustered before letting the conversation flow naturally.
Ideology: Atherel is a bizarre mix of ruthlessly cold-blooded pragmatism and an almost naive sense of optimism & curiosity. Growing up in borderline derelict space stations frequently required making harsh decisions that required sacrificing the few for the many. This is something that Atherel hated. So when the Emperor spoke of his grand plan of a united Imperium of Man, Atherel was immediately on board. In regards to Xenos & Psykers, Atherel approaches both with his signature pragmatism; Employ those who are willing to serve and eliminate those who prove to be a threat.
A hyper intellectual, Atherel understands that he and his fellow Primarchs were created as a tools to serve humanity, but also knows that at their core, despite their superiority, they are still very human. Atherel accepts that he exists to serve as a grand cog in the machine, but takes pride in the importance of his role. He refers to the Emperor as "Father", though this is as an honorific out of respect to his creator rather than a traditional child-parent relationship.
Wargear: Atherel has a sleek suit of masterfully wrought artificer armor equipped with a multitude of micro-thrusters for maneuvering in 0-gee and enhancing his movement in gravity. He wears a trimmed-down jump pack free of any superfluous ornamentation. The device in question also bears two other unique systems.
First, buried next to the jump packs reactor is a truly ancient archeo-tech anti-grav device that can render Atherel and his equipment nearly weightless inside normal gravity. Second is a turreted, short-barreled, gatling-lasgun. In addition to scything down light infantry, this weapon is purpose built for anti-missile point defense thanks to it's unique machine spirit which bears an advanced target acquisition system.
For weapons, Atherel has the following: - First Light: A trimmed down and souped-up lascannon that has been repurposed as an anti-material rifle. - Hullbreaker: A hand-and-a-half power axe with a variable bore plasma gun running down the handle. - Bulwark: A massive tower shield purpose built for boarding actions. Has mag-locks along the edges so it can be emplaced as semi-mobile cover. Also features an array of retractable micro-flamers for crowd control and hallway clearing. - Silence: A scimitar-esque exotic Aeldari power weapon that is little more than a long knife in Atherel's hands. He has had this since before his recovery by the Great Crusade, though whether it was a gift from a fellow survivor or a trophy from a fallen foe, the Primarch has yet to say.
Other:Between the education he received from Farseer Eldrion and his firsthand experience fighting cultists twisted by the energies leaking from the malfunctioning warp beacon; Atherel has as solid of an understanding of the Warp as one can without an active connection to it. As well as its uses and a healthy respect for the dangers it holds.
Astral Hawks
Legion Number: VII
Legion Strength: 48,750* (This is the official max strength of all 15 of the Astral Hawks fleets, though due to the attrition of war and meticulous recruitment, the actual number of effectives is somewhere around 36,550 or 3/4ers strength.)
Homeworld: None. The Astral Hawks are a fleet based Legion.
Favoured Legion Tactics: The Astral Hawks are masters of void and aerial combat. As such they specialize in lighting assaults and mobile, fluid & highly reactive battle lines. To support this, they rely on Despoiler & Breacher squads for their assaults & boarding actions. For their mobile gun lines, the Astral Hawks deploy their unique Ranger squads; astartes armed with boltguns and equipped with jump packs. In contrast, Devastator and Tactical squads are almost only ever employed to counter enemy boarding actions or to support the legion's auxiliaries in defense of static locations.
Their vehicle armory follows a similar pattern. While their tank complement is significantly under strength by most legion's standards, the Astral Hawks make up for it with a massive number of drop-pods, boarding & strike craft, bombers, gunships and interceptors.
Legion Leadership/Organization: The Astral Hawks differ strongly from their fellow Legions as they are fleet based. Broken up by fleet instead of chapter, each Fleet is led by an Admiral. Each fleet is divided into 3 wings; Command, Support and Vanguard. While each Wing is led by a Wing Commander, the different wings very somewhat in composition. Within each wing are 3 companies each led by a Company Commander. Each company is comprised of multiple platoons or lances each led by a Lieutenant or Lance Captain respectively. In turn, the platoons are made up of several squads or squadrons with a Sergeant in charge of each.
. The Command Wing is embarked entirely in the Fleet's Battle Barge and is comprised of the Assault, Outrider and Sternguard Companies. The fleet's Admiral, command staff and escort are also embarked. (979 effectives including command structure) - The Assault Company has 5 assault platoons, all of which contain two 10-man Breacher Squads, two 10-man Despoiler Squads and a 10-man Terminator Squad. (290 effectives including command structure) - The Outrider Company contains 3 ranger platoons, 2 grav lances and 2 aerial lances. The ranger platoons contain two 10-man Ranger Squads, two 10-man Ranger Support Squads and a 10-man Vanguard Veteran Squad. The grav lances contain three 10-man Sky Hunter Jetbike Squadrons, two 3-strong Landspeeder Squadrons and three Javelin Attack Speeders. The aerial lances contain three 9-strong Xiphon Interceptor Squadrons and three Fire Raptor Gunships. (344 effectives including command structure) - The Sternguard Company contains 5 sternguard platoons, all of which contain two 10 man Tactical Squads, two 10-man Devastator Squads and a 10-man Sternguard Veteran Squad. (290 effectives including command structure)
The Support Wing employs 3 Auxiliary Companies, each of which are embarked on their own Strike Cruiser. Auxiliary Companies are comprised of 1 grav lance, 2 ranger platoons, 2 assault platoons, 1 sternguard platoon and 1 aerial lance. (see previous for details) (381 effectives per Company, 1158 total, including command structure)
The Vanguard Wing employs 3 Strike Companies, each of which are embarked on their own Vanguard Class Light Cruiser. Strike Companies are comprised of 2 assault platoons, 2 ranger platoons and 3 aerial lances. (see previous for details) (312 effectives per Company, 947 total, including command structure)
Each Officer of the rank Lieutenant or higher has a command staff featuring a Librarian, Chaplain, Apothecary and Vox Master. Company Commanders, Wing Commanders, and Admirals also have their own personal bodyguard complement.
All told, once you factor in the additional Astartes in auxiliary support roles (techmarine pilots, ship-board section sub-commaders, etc.) Each fleet has around 3250 Astartes each. Also, each Wing of an Astral Hawks fleet is supported by an escort of 9 frigates of various classes; a total of 27 per fleet.
Notable Legion Members & Elements: - The Void Guard: Atherel's personal bodyguard. Equipped with artificer armor, jump packs and storm shields. For weapons, they typically carry power weapons and volkite calivers or plasma guns.
- The Second Wing: An informal/unofficial group that forms Atherel's personal inner circle. Mostly consists of the surviving members of his "family" that he grew up with, though there are some new members from the Terra-born and crusade-recruited Astartes.
- Michael Calix, first Archangel: An older man, Michael took it upon himself to serve as a father figure to Atherel when the Primarch was discovered as a baby. It was Michael who taught Atherel the basics of flying and instilled the Primarch with his sense of curiosity and love of space. In the final battle against the Ork WAAAGH!, Michael was fatally injured and interred into a Dreadnought sarcophagus. Unwilling to see his adopted father never be able to fly again, Atherel had his Techmarines integrate his cybernetic coffin into a modified Xiphon Interceptor. Since then Micheal has served as the Primarch's Wingman and trusted confidant.
- Ishta Bechareth and Fanai Eldrion: A former Craftworld Aeldari Ranger and Farseer respectively who were trapped in the Scepteri System. Both were members of Michael's crew when the Primarch was found. When Atherel was recovered by the Great Crusade, they chose to remain in the Primarch's service. Their wargear is an eclectic mix of what wraithbone they've been able to maintain and bit and pieces of Imperium technology to fill in the gaps.
- Rafael Acastian, High Admiral of the Astral Hawks: Formerly the Legion Master before the Primarchs arrival, Rafael now serves as Atherel's right hand and immediate second in command. When one directly takes to the field, the other will remain back in a command support role. Rafael's wargear includes a suit of artificer armor, jump pack, volkite caliver and a vaunted relic blade from the golden age of mankind.
- Marcus Castivar, Commander of the Void Guard: A child of the Scepteri System, Marcus grew up in Micheal's and later Atherel's crew. Once the Primarch was reunited with his legion, Marcus was the first non-terran born initiate of the Astral Hawks. Working as hard as he could, Marcus rose through the ranks before eventually earning the honor of leading the Void Guard. Marcus' wargear includes a suit of artificer armor, jump pack, storm shield and a powerfist with an integrated dual plasma pistol on the back.
- Starfury: a Gloriana Class Battleship and Atherel's personal flagship.
- Void Falcon: A highly modified Stormbird that serves as both Atherel's personal transport/gunship and a test bed for experimental systems. About 20% of the ships original transportation capacity has been sacrificed for additional support systems.
- Archangels: After the successful integration of Michael's sarcophagus into a Xiphon Interceptor, the practice quickly spread to the rest of the legion. Dubbed archangels, more than half of the legion's entombed veterans now pilot Archangels rather than Dreadnoughts.
Inspirations: What if the Elysian Drop Troops were Astartes, and what if their Primarch grew up in space? Alternatively, what if the Belters from The Expanse were used as Astartes recruits?
Assigned Armies: - The 1st-135th regiments of the Falconaire Auxilia: The dedicated auxiliary support forces of the Astral Hawks. Each regiment includes both naval & ground forces. Each fleet of the Astral Hawks is accompanied by 9 regiments and is further broken down with 3 regiments to each Wing.
Gotcha. Her staff is blessed, but I'm not sure about the former. If she is a part of the clergy, she's probably not the most traditionally devout member. What requirements are there to be one?
Letter Bee
Zarkun
Noctis
