PsihoKekec
Swashbuckling Accountant
Speaking of Asier, now that he is Alpharius, will he start rebuilding/recreating the Alpha legion this way as well?
Warhammer The Iron Empire (Warhammer 40k)
- Thread starter Thunderscourge
- Start date
Thunderscourge
Emulating Kill em All Tomino in all Games
Yes and no. The Alpha Legion as it was essentially self-destructed in their Primarch's absence, and even before then began to be pulled in too many directions. It is one thing to have capable operatives who can adapt and work alone, but it is another to have no true cohesion.
Asier appears to be Alpharius as he was in Alpharius: Head of the Hydra where he personally led his Legionnaires and they were a sole entity (if a flexible one), something that appears to have only changed once Omegon was discovered and became the new face of the Alpha Legion (as Alpharius, with Alpharius taking the hidden role of Omegon at least for that time period). Without his twin there is only one true head to the Hydra, no longer competing loyalties and schemes behind the scenes, and so while tragic to be without his twin he has a great deal more experience than he ever did in the Great Crusade: he at one point in the novel started a Khornate rebellion on a planet by accident because he didn't know Chaos existed.
So rather than the Alpha Legion think of it as Alpha Legion 2.0, the way that the Iron Legion is a reformation of the Iron Warriors into how they were before they lost their way (and improving upon some of their regimental flaws in the process). Its tendrils spread far, but it does not have the full strength of the pre-Horus Heresy Alpha Legion since it is starting from scratch (wouldn't do to have operatives who are double-agents or tainted by Chaos). As is common with many Alpha Legion warbands Asier's personal followers make usage of mortal agents too to compensate for lack of numbers and to carry out tasks they as Astartes cannot.
Given the Mithril Dragoons were protectors of the Jarn family yet report to Asier could imply that Alpharius has had longstanding interests in Kimara's development (and could have been behind their rise to power). One possible point for when Jarn and Asier personally 'met' is the fall of Olympia given that it was one of his men who goaded him into standing up against their orders thus resulting in the Iron Legion's formation. Of course it could be independent, and Asier could have just seized upon an opportunity that presented itself, but this is the sort of thing I like to speculate on but leave open for interpretation.
It would perhaps be helpful to see Asier's bond with Jarn as a subconscious/conscious way to fill the hole left behind by the death of Asier's twin, someone who shares his ideals in this case and who possesses the skills and resources to help make those ideals into reality. They work in tandem, Jarn doing the physical legwork and Asier the behind the scenes operations, each aiding the other and not taking them for granted (something which plagued both the Iron Warriors and Alpha Legion as no-one really thanked them for their work). They may be different in technical stature, but they have respect built over countless years and battles and it allows their seamless cooperation. Similarly Asier has bonded with Tristan who is also fully loyal to Jarn's ideals, observing his growth firsthand as Brechung over a good span of time, but has not even revealed himself to Levente who lacks the same vision.
The Iron Legion is perhaps so named because it is in parts Iron Warrior and Alpha Legion, and upon the creation of their empire it would be as one: the Iron Warriors to lead the conquest and war machine, and the Alpha Legion to open the way. Asier's followers are fully entwined with the Iron Warriors they work alongside, and provided their visions remain aligned they will continue to have shared trust and camaraderie...even if the Alpha Legion sections mostly keep their secrets.
They also can all bond over their shared hatred of the Imperial Fists.
That seems like an odd path for the Alpharius. Too out in the open.
Of course...he could always just drop his chosen and breedable legion onto a 'lost' planet and let them go for a century of two.
Very good idea.All loyal SM from Traitor legions who are with Jarn should do the same.
I have only one problem with it - How could Iron Warrior cosplay as normal loyalist legion,if they could have children?
PsihoKekec
Swashbuckling Accountant
It's not like they will be taking their kids to campaign with them in a baby stroller and I doubt they will publicate their newly achieved virility with massive codpieces or other externally recognisable signs.
Thunderscourge
Emulating Kill em All Tomino in all Games
Correct. The goal as mentioned by Jarn is to essentially separate Kimara from the Imperium's gaze, so once they successfully go 'dark' they just need to keep a low profile.
They intend to launch their own Great Crusade when they have the numbers so masking their true presence comes naturally with that process. Having an 'official' presence of 1000 Astartes allows them to operate in limited capacity before they are ready while also preparing for said Crusade, both training in the field and sewing the seeds to one day take over other territories. From just Terra the Emperor launched the initial Astartes Legions, and while Kimara is not Terra it has its own benefits as well.
I ran population models and with the various factors at play the Iron Legion would grow to possess more than a Legion's worth of Astartes in a century, and that amount exponentially increases the more time is bided. As such the more time they remain out of the Imperium's notice and eye the better, but they aren't the only force at play and not everything will be smooth sailing...but they at least have a "win condition" that they can aim for.
After all, if you get 4 Astartes per parent Astarte the Iron Legion is starting at 4000 and has obtained Gene Seed to create many more. Even if just using the 4000 number, the next generation is 16,000 additional. The one after that, 64,000. A Great Crusade Legion was on average 100,000, so in 2 Generations they would be almost at that number.
Three generations of growth? The third generation would be 256,000. The one after that, over a million. Now I worked in premature death and such factors into the model I used so these numbers wouldn't be absolute, especially not if they lose some to Kimara's wildlife (Ixolotls are very dangerous), Xenos attacks, and other such threats. Still, it shows just how powerful population growth can be as a tool of conquest when you think of what so many Astartes could accomplish.
It's not quite the same thing, but this kind of growth is why Magnus, Daemon Prince, worked so hard to make sure that the Space Wolves didn't create a viable gene seed they could make successor chapters with.
PsihoKekec
Swashbuckling Accountant
Given all the differing roles that the Legion will have to take I reckon they will stray even further from the old doctrine that Astartes is a warrior and nothing else, serving in this role until he dies in combat or from old age. You already have a large number of Legion veterans being moved to support roles due to accumulated wounds and I reckon they were crucial in construction of Utopia. With Jarn pointing out that the must eventually move beyond just focusing on war, so I reckon that eventually there will be option for the Legion veterans with appropriate aptitude to retire from front line service (even if not crippled) and take up another role in the nascent empire, ranging from administration to research and industry, helping the smoother running of the complex machinery.
Born astartes aside, will the Legion(s) still supplement their numbers with promising outside aspirants?
Born astartes aside, will the Legion(s) still supplement their numbers with promising outside aspirants?
If you have a chrome dome, they will steal your head of your shoulders, that's why there are so few bald people on Kimara.
I can't imagine why they wouldn't.
Heck, you might even see a Sister Soritas force formed from those mothers that have already born their 8.
Thunderscourge
Emulating Kill em All Tomino in all Games
I can't say specifics, but you are on the right track with this thinking. Allowing retirement to a sort of 'reserves' in case of need would maybe be the way it was handled, but we will have to see.
Yeah, they plan on that with some of their spare Gene-Seed that they now have. Fittingly, it is Gene-Seed that had been stored on Kimara and now is being brought back there...if only there were some men still there to apply it to! Wonder what happened to them all...
On the flipside of things, I had a funny idea of them going fishing in someone's bathtub the other day, not figuring out that there are no fish there.
This was already the Kimaran way of handling their Sister of Battle forces that were a part of the Sisters of the Cerulean Rose, essentially having them bear their children before they go on to actually serve because Kimara can't afford to miss out on population growth as a Death World. Since it's already a practice at the Schola it could likely become widespread, especially as the practice aligns with Kimaran values and needs.
In this case however it would be less Sororitas and more female guardsmen, as not everyone is cut out to be a Sororitas but basically anyone can be a reserve Guardsmen.
I was thinking that these women would already be genetically gifted like our heroin. So would be aptly suitable for the Sororitas.
Thunderscourge
Emulating Kill em All Tomino in all Games
While they will be to a degree enhanced and gene-crafted like many Kimarans, Isolde is what happens when you invest heavily in that one gene-crafted individual being highly capable of various roles, just as Dairine is similarly heavily gene-crafted to be a pseudo-Imperial assassin. Most people won't have that tier of resources and effort put into them and so not all girls will end up like Isolde.
If the theories you guys have on her true identity are true, that she is a Jarn, then her being as heavily gene-crafted as they were makes sense given that she would be expected to not only carry on their legacy but help fight to re-obtain it. She has the height to command attention from most other Humans, standing taller than the already tall Kimaran males (with them averaging around ~6'4"), possessing physical beauty, having an intelligent mind, and being quite athletic (though not to a superhuman level, just a fairly gifted person's level who then spends their life training).
Kimarans are basically Toughness 4 baseline the way Catachans have been Strength 4 (new codex still has them keep this with +1 S in first round of melee), but Isolde is even tankier than the average Kimaran woman would be. What degree is her gene-crafting and what amount of that is her augments is uncertain, but since Kimarans value endurance it makes sense why she's so tough...especially if she is meant to be one of their leaders, like how a primitive warlord is expected to be strong.
Returning to the subject of others with the augments, it will take some time for them to become more widespread but I have a unit planned called "Iron Maidens" that fill a similar sort of role. This image I found fits pretty well I think as a concept.
PsihoKekec
Swashbuckling Accountant
Wherever, wherever you are
Iron Maiden gonna get you, no matter how far
Only if their plan to pull the world into warp via mass sacrifice ritual fails. Of course our heroes might have something to say about desirability and viability of those plans, discussion being mostly done via weapon fire.
Thunderscourge
Emulating Kill em All Tomino in all Games
This is correct. The Emperor's Children have a plan that, if they succeed, will doom Kimara to be a Daemon World and would result in the forces of Slaanesh overrunning the sector. They are currently few in number (with an ever-increasing horde of Wostyn mercenaries to supplement this) but so long as their plan goes well that wouldn't be an issue.
Their plans involve the Jarn family though, and he may have opinions to share about Emperor's Children corrupting his homeworld.
Words like "Commence bombardment", "Let none survive", and "Death to the false gods!".
Good plan - IF Iron Warriors and Palamedes do not come to say "goodbye,fuckers"
Becouse in that one case they would have the same opinion.
I could imagine them roasting slaanesh fuckers together and then coming back to kill each other.
"Bishop's Boundary"
Thunderscourge
Emulating Kill em All Tomino in all Games
BISHOP'S BOUNDARY
Tristan could not remember the last time he had found himself enjoying the quiet of the Eisernen's Dodekatheon, his creative process uninterrupted thanks to the complete lack of others present. As the days passed by his recovery had nearly finished, meaning Richter was not going to trouble him over leaving Ossus' office finally. This freedom earned by swift healing was used by Tristan to resume work on fixing his armor and integrating prototype weapons to better combat Palamedes in the future.
None of the other members of the Dodekatheon had been present, and rather than question it Tristan had just accepted the optimal work conditions…after all he barely knew the names of his fellow members, not out of disrespect but from his narrow focus in all matters meaning that he simply never bothered to get to know them. His solitary nature meant that even though they had shared a space for decades he felt no need to greet or acknowledge them, and as Iron Warriors their own grim natures meant they barely cared more than Tristan did about who was building something in the next workshop over.
This peace was not meant to last however, the heavy footsteps of the Warsmith in his full armor making themselves known well before Jarn ever spoke. Tristan had been so focused on returning to work once more that he had not bothered to contemplate why he had not seen any members of the crew, mortal or Astarte, and so like a misbehaving child surprised by the sudden appearance of their father Tristan felt a moment of apprehension.
He should probably be somewhere else right now, shouldn't he?
"While you no doubt enjoy the quiet for your work, there is a matter that requires your attendance as we arrive at our docks. You can resume your experimentation when you return," Jarn spoke in a tone halfway between warmth and bemusement, once again having to fetch Tristan from his work.
The Space Wolves' Helfrost weaponry being dissected and studied on his table spoke their own story of why Tristan was so focused, but Jarn would not chide Tristan over demonstrating the very traits of intelligence and determination that had Jarn recruit him.
Reluctant to leave his work half-finished, Tristan still pulled himself up from where he sat on the floor, having wanted to get close to the circuitry he was fiddling with and his height forcing him to abandon his chair to lower himself. Jarn's will was his own, whatever it might be, something Tristan had accepted many years ago.
To join the Warsmith Tristan moved past the remains of dissected AMBOTs acquired from Asier's Necromundan agents as well as the related blueprints and designs for large harvesting drones utilizing his capsule technology. His mind was that of an inventor with countless projects laying about him whenever he worked, shifting between them as his attention was drawn by one or when a discovery afforded him progress in another.
Jarn glanced at the various tasks Tristan had been engaged with and decided to humor his student and surrogate son and the two began to discuss his projects as Jarn led Tristan to their destination.
"Helfrost weaponry is effective, but limited. It is unfortunate that for all their similarities that Kimara does not possess the same power sources that Fenris does for them."
In sharp contrast to the entire weeks Tristan would go without speaking or terse conversations with the crew, when afforded the opportunity to speak of his inventions he did so at length. Perhaps his general exhaustion and aches from the conflict with Palamedes had lowered his restraint, but Jarn noted some degree of pride as Tristan spoke which begot pride from the one who led him down this path.
"One does not expect scientific progress from mere canines: even if their keen senses discover something noteworthy they can never truly understand its value. The sons of Russ share different values to us: their crystals afford them raw power to fuel their weaponry at the cost of limiting their production. With alternate power sources you can achieve similar results on a far greater scale, allowing the equipment of an army rather than a select few."
"Using the principles of their Helfrost weapons I believe I can create ammunition that will achieve similar effects, though I require more data to expand my research: the Hoarverns of Kimara have records in the Eisernen's databanks that lead me to believe further study would allow us to replicate their chemical 'frost-fire'."
"For now a handful of integrated weapons will have to suffice. I expect Palamedes to follow us to your homeworld, and after studying his physical composition from our last conflict's data I believe I can mitigate his agility advantage. He cannot avoid a wall of freezing chemicals compounded with the native temperature of Kimara: he is not invulnerable, only elusive and with high endurance that replenishes upon defeating foes. I cannot fully dictate the terms of the battle, but I can even the playing field for when he next appears."
Tristan's flow of consciousness explanation to Jarn came to an end when he realized they were headed to the Eisernen's primary hangar-bay. Having only been awake for a brief period of time and 'accidentally' having left his communication devices off, Tristan had no real idea as to why Jarn wanted to head to the hangar, but it had to be something important if he was being pulled into attending…along with many others if the rumbling down the dark hallway was any indication.
Tristan's senses may have been dulled by his physical condition but that did not prevent him from feeling the cacophony of celebration which lay ahead. Even upon a different floor it was obvious to him just where they were because of the residual effects of their noise, something only possible if they were all gathered in a location that could fit enough soldiers to coalesce into the noise just barely striking his ears.
He kept pace with Jarn as best as he could, but each thunderous step taken required Tristan to make usage of his longer legs to match the Warsmith's gait. Just why the Warsmith was leading him towards the Eisernen's hangar and why it sounded as if every available Astarte and mortal servant aboard was present there was beyond Tristan, as this was not their first time returning to their shipyards nor should it be the last.
"Excessive noise is Levente's domain. Just what would evoke such uproar from our taciturn kin?" Tristan mused, likely having meant to keep it to himself.
"There are moments for celebration, even for those such as us," Jarn held a hint of a wistful smile for a moment before he stopped at the entrance to an elevator that would raise them both to the hangar bay, "As for what has their spirits so high, you will see soon enough...first, however, I must ask something of you."
Jarn pressed a button to call for the elevator, but as its primary purpose was to lift heavy and sensitive materials for usage in the hangar it was a slow and laborious contraption that crawled ever so slowly towards them from floors above.
"Of course, Warsmith," Tristan bowed his head in deference, his loyalty to the Warsmith absolute even after all these years. He owed everything to Jarn and was quite aware of that fact, and so he did all he could to show the proper respect owed to his leader. That Jarn had been like a substitute-father to him all of these years was not lost upon Tristan, though he did refrain from outwardly acknowledging this fact to keep others from believing his merits lay in nepotism rather than elsewhere.
With a smirk Jarn guided Tristan to stand up straight, as if admiring how his pupil now stood well above even the abnormally tall Jarn, "You have exceeded even my expectations for every role I have granted you, even those you lacked faith in your ability to perform. Artillery bombardment, siege warfare, battlefield logistics, fleet command, you have been given the resources and time so few Astartes have possessed to come into your own mastery of these subjects evocative of my own mentor Forrix before his fall."
Uncertain what to say, and not sure what Jarn intended to ask of him yet, Tristan remained silent as his Warsmith continued on.
"All this time we have remained in the shadows cast by giants, entities that we never could hope to overcome...until today," the elevator arrived a moment later and so both Astartes boarded it, a single dexterous press of a button despite Jarn's armor showing the functionality of his Black Carapace. With this done their slow ascent began, and Tristan could hear the growing voices of the weirdly exuberant Iron Warriors above them.
"Warfare is all I truly know. We wished for greater ideals at the time of the Great Crusade, we had dreams for what could have been even if on our own our individual goals differed. Even now my Iron Legion has those who worship the Emperor of Mankind, yet others who despise him. It is by our shared traits, our shared values that I welded our wills to one cause, but a part of me fears that those after me will only ever know war, just as I have," Jarn admitted in a moment of sincerity and Humanity, showing that beneath the veneer of control and power he exuded he was still Human in spite of his augmentations and years mired in the depths of Humanity's worst excesses.
"Can one who has lived in darkness, in eternal war, be the one to bring true unity to Humanity? Of that I am uncertain, for at the end of the day I am just a man like any other. I was but a child when I joined the Iron Warriors, having fought for my life before and after and knowing nothing more...and yet after so long my war continues. I have had friends, I have had those that were family to me, but the ravages of time and war have taken them all from me. Of those I once stood beside so many are now gone, never to return, but I remain."
Jarn shifted so that rather than side by side he and Tristan stood in front of one another, Tristan turning when he noticed his Warsmith's intention. This done, Jarn placed a plated hand onto Tristan and looked into his eyes.
"This is not a battle between right and wrong anymore. As men we are judged by our actions and accomplishments, both by the living and history. The path we now embark upon is one of bloodshed, the destruction of entire worlds and civilizations. Innocent lives will be sacrificed so that countless more may live both now and in the future. As an Iron Warrior, as an Astarte, there is only one road for us and that is the one that leads to the end. Once started there is no going back, only the true victory of Utopia or the eternal damnation of death."
The elevator stopped, waiting further input to have the gate above open to allow its entry to the hangar as it was programmed to do. It would be inefficient to deal with vessels collapsing partially down an access elevator by landing in the wrong position, but this gave Jarn a moment to finish speaking before they entered the hangar he was bringing the recovering Tristan towards.
"I could not ask this of Levente, for someone who only understands the language of authority, might, and brute force could never understand the true weight of this question. As muted as you hold your feelings within, I have known the man you are since you first sought to save a woman and her child from a collapsing building, even from the moment you stared me down with solemn pride and anger in the ruins of your home."
In but a moment whatever warmth, compassion, and fatherly guidance had been present in Jarn's expression was replaced by the cold determination and stoicism expected of an Iron Warrior. The Warsmith's eyes studied Tristan like a dataslate, pouring over him with fierce analysis and discerning every minute detail of his Triarch.
"As Astartes we are expected to cast aside much of our Humanity for the sake of our species, but what I ask is more: are you willing to go all the way? Will you bear the burdens required upon your soul, pressing forward no matter the cost to you or others?"
From his very childhood the vision of the Iron Legion had been imprinted upon Tristan, and even without indoctrination he had come to see things as Jarn had. His mindset was what one would expect of a deeply analytical individual and the rationalist and pragmatic worldview they espoused fit his nature, while the idealism of Utopia fit with his history as the son of a noble knight.
His own goals, grudges, or feelings aside there was nothing Tristan would not do for the Warsmith and his goals, and so Tristan knelt down to affirm as much to the one he owed everything to.
"If there is but one road it is the one I shall follow you on to the bitter end, now and always."
"Very well then..." Tristan's answer seemed to content Jarn who nodded in response, helping Tristan back up to his feet with one hand while pressing the necessary lever to open the metal above them, "Now I entrust to you the key to our future, my son and Triarch."
His words were soon consumed by the noise of the crowd filling the hangar around them, the Warsmith and his right hand rising into the mass of Iron Warriors, their servants, and even the vessel's Ixolotl population all gathered together. While elsewhere things were crowded and some individuals were forced to stand atop crates, vessels, or even be boarded upon them, it was a sight to behold to see them all in one place: notably even armor belonging to remnants of the Luna Wolves could be seen nearby while even closer Jarn's Fallen guards stood present and kneeling before his entrance.
Standing taller than any other individual present allowed Tristan to see past them all and look outside of the Eisernen to what lay beyond...and what he witnessed actually left the Triarch stunned.
A new vessel had been crafted to join their fleet from the modular pieces assembled over decades and gathered at their dockyard, something that would be accepted readily by Tristan and without particular comment if not for the fact that he could finally now see what his resource gathering had been put towards.
Dwarfing even a moon in size lay a behemoth ship of Jarn's own design, incorporating elements of the The Abyss-Class Battleship, the Gloriana-Class Battleship, the Eisernen itself, Ramilles Star Fortresses, and even the fabled Imperial Vessel Phalanx into one form. No space atop it was wasted with every possible inch covered in offensive weapon batteries while beneath its armor was seemingly as thick as entire Battleships before its main hull could even be brought to harm.
In but a moment Tristan realized why his kin were celebrating, and he could not help but look in awe out towards a 'Battleship' that could contest the might of the Phalanx, or even outright defeat it. The peerless fortress which stood as a symbol of the Imperial Fists now had a challenger, a weapon in the shape of a ship that had firepower enough to lay waste to planets and whatever fleets protected them.
Put simply, a tool that could deter even the likes of the Phalanx if it came to threaten Jarn's homeworld of Kimara, and one which could tip the scale in a siege of the planet and allow them to force its compliance.
"Uwaaaaaaaaah!" cried the Ixolotls present in joy, their nature being to mirror their owners emotional state and their natural attraction to lustrous objects making seeing a ship larger than a moon strike right into the heart of their primitive joy. Unable to see over the Iron Warriors and crowds present they instead were found climbing on top of whatever they could or just standing beside their owner while completely oblivious to why they were cheering, instead pleased to be there with the surge of positive emotion in the typically dour Eisernen.
"Iron Within! Iron Within!" came the repeating chorus of Iron Warriors, no-one leading their chants and cheers but their uproarious celebration rejuvenated upon Jarn's arrival. The Warsmith held a hand up in recognition of their support, pleased to finally unveil what their efforts had gone towards creating piece by piece these many years. To witness such a feat of engineering and naval firepower was everything the Iron Warriors could have asked for, and with such a vessel nothing felt beyond their reach now: that now their dreams of Utopia could one day be achieved battle by battle with an unstoppable juggernaut that would fear nothing.
"Iron in Ice!" Iron Warriors from Kimara and Kimaran-descended crew cheered in honor of their world, now witnessing before them the way by which they could return and reclaim a world lost to them thousands of years before but never forgotten in their spirit. If the Imperium ever wanted to pry Kimara from their hands again it would have to defeat the largest vessel in Humanity's history, and each and every one of them would die proudly aboard it if it meant the freedom of their kin and the survival of their ideals.
"Vittoria mio Imperatore!" was another phrase chanted by Kimarans present, this time cheering the Warsmith by the title granted to him in absence upon Kimara's rebellion to the Imperium: the Emperor of Kimara, their Emperor, and the one they entrusted to fulfill the aspirations of their people and the Great Crusade. He was not only their Warsmith whose battle accolades were innumerable, he was the spiritual leader of an entire rebellion whose sheer force of will had inspired millions to take arms against all who would deny their vision. Those upon Kimara had proclaimed him their leader even as he fought his way through the stars to be reunited with them, and even if they had been quelled before his return those in his fleet still recognized the spirit of those who bravely fought the Imperial Fists and decayed Imperium for freedom.
The meaning behind Jarn's words and his inquiry were realized by Tristan as soon as he laid his eyes upon the vessel, for as leader of their Kheledakos it was now his to command.
The Warsmith and Triarch rose further as the platform they stood upon raised further above the gathered Legion. Beneath stood the Iron Legion's many components all crammed into the only space on the Eisernen that would afford them a view of the magnificent sight before them.
Jarn allowed the cries of victory to continue for a few moments more before he rose a hand and in a single moment commanded silence without a word, his soldiers and servants snapping to attention and waiting for him to address them. Even Tristan felt the need to kneel beside Jarn so as to not loom over him at such a moment, showing his utmost devotion plainly for all to witness.
With all fallen to silence Jarn addressed his chosen kin loudly, having raised his voice so that it boomed out across the hangar without requiring him to shout. Years of command had taught him how to modulate his voice accordingly, and so he spoke as a tempered veteran whose will carried in every word uttered.
"For years I have bid that you toil across the stars, taking all you can and sometimes giving all in return. While our ultimate ambitions have remained clear, to reclaim the Imperial world of Kimara such that it might serve as our unconquerable base of operations and serve as our own Utopia, it has been my prerogative to keep details scarce and known only to a few. For this, I do not apologize, for it was a necessary precaution given the weight of what I now share with you."
Gesturing outwards, Jarn shifted the attention from himself to his creation which had been pieced together in the time they had been gone. Years of building the pieces in secret had finally paid off, never once letting slip his full intentions for their 'fleet' lest some agent of Chaos catch wind.
"This vessel bear witness to is but one piece in securing our future, but it is an important one: should it have fallen to the grips of Chaos even Terra would not be safe from its firepower, for I have created it to serve as a deterrence to even the Phalanx of the Imperial Fists. Piece by piece it has been forged by our brethren who no longer can join us on the battlefront, and now after decades of their contributions it stands before you forged with the very resources you have fought to obtain."
"Each man standing here today is to credit with this feat of engineering: let it be known that I do not take your work or sacrifices for granted even if I cannot always share such sentiments. In appreciation for what you have accomplished I grant you the tool to achieve our Legion's ideal: the Utopia-class Star Fortress."
Upon the official reveal of its classification another outcry of cheers sounded throughout the hangar, for while the Iron Warriors were known for their stoicism under most circumstances they too were known for letting out their emotions upon the end of a siege: their long war to obtain what they needed for victory had ended, and now they had before them the fruits of their labor that they had long been deprived of.
Jarn gave time for the excitement to come down before he continued, not wishing to ruin the genuine moment of celebration his hard-working crew earned. Once he sensed the mood would permit him to continue on Jarn spoke again and brought his arms out in a grand gesture as he stood before his Legion in the revised armor of their Primarch.
"With this we may once again embark upon our conquest of the stars, starting with Kimara, and one day ending when the last planet in existence is united beneath our banner. A tool to bring about the end of war, once and for all," clenching his hands, Jarn stopped his speech for a moment to signal a shift before moving forward, "This is not the only boon I gift upon you today, for just as we must conquer to bring about our vision so too must we build the future we envision brick by brick."
It was with some bile choked back that Jarn broached the next subject, as if informing others of something he knew they would be disgusted by but which he had to share out of necessity.
"Within the Warp the servants of the Traitor Falk are forging a way to rapidly create new Astartes by perverting the Human form: using unspeakable methods they seek to one day create legions of their false Iron Warriors from the Warp-tainted and mutant bodies of captive females they surgically infuse Gene-Seed and men into. They have not yet perfected their dark craft, but it is only a matter of time until our fallen brethren do so."
Some of the vitriol held in his words no doubt stemmed from Forrix serving under Falk, a man who once was his subordinate and who had dragged the most honored son of Perturabo into the depths of Chaos. If he could there was little doubt Jarn would strike Falk down himself, but their fates were so divergent that such a moment was unlikely to ever come to pass.
Shifting from restrained disgust to pride, Jarn spoke not from arrogance but from accomplishment of what he had worked to establish, "But what those mockeries of our once Great Legion can only accomplish through the Warp we can surpass through technology and scientific inquiry. That is what makes us superior, and why we will be the ultimate victors of this war of attrition, not Chaos! This past century we have worked alongside expert Genetors, including the renowned Fabius Bile, to create complementary organs to the Gene-Seed you are familiar with."
While few among their ranks respected Fabius Bile as a person, fewer still doubted the man's capabilities when it came to this field of science. He was perhaps second to only the Emperor himself when it came to such knowledge, and so it lent instant understanding of the degree of quality their Warsmith had ensured in this endeavor…as well as the likely severe costs in resources Bile would have demanded for such service.
"These new organs, collectively labeled the Omnis Gravidae, facilitate the natural birth and growth of Astartes offspring. These implants enhance a female's reproductive organs the way Gene-Seed enhances a male's physical capabilities and become self-replicating in successive generations by altering the genetics of the bearer. Gone will be the days of finding candidates and hoping that the implantation process works: now children will be born Astartes or born capable of bearing Astartes children from their husband's Progenoid Glands."
Already in awe of the Utopia-class vessel that now would lead their fleet, it was no exaggeration to say that the Astartes present were even further astounded that their Warsmith had managed to bend even the nature of Astartes reproduction to his iron will.
"This advancement has been made possible through information acquired from the Emperor's own research gifted to his son Corvus Corax, along with the tireless efforts of our Apothecaries, and shall grant us an edge over our foes be they Human or Xenos. To this end, our chief Apothecary Ossus has traveled to Kimara ahead of our fleet to begin preparations of our Legion's rebirth: through his research and information acquired from the Emperor's own we have successfully bridged what gaps remained between Humanity and Astartes."
"Just as it is now, it will be the duty of each and every Astarte to cultivate the next generation. From each pairing eight children can be born: four male with Gene-Seed naturally incorporated into their being, and four female with their their Omnis Gravidae. While our ranks will grow slower at first, successive generations will exponentially increase our numbers and rival the Astarte Legions of old. In centuries we shall surpass even those, and none will be able to stand in the way of our vision."
"Once it was the fear of many Astartes that when our conquest was over, when our sole seeming purpose was fulfilled, that we would be discarded. Through this integration of the family unit to our existence we no longer will be set apart from Humanity, but rather become a step in its evolution. It may not have been the Emperor's intention for us to supplant Humanity, but we are no less Human than our Primarchs or the Emperor himself: our forms may differ from the Humanity of old, but as masters of our own fate we will adapt as necessary to survive not only in body but in spirit."
"It is no secret that in the Great Crusade our Legion took our mortal peers for granted, be it the forces assigned under our command or the civilian infrastructure back on Olympia. To meet the needs of our Legion Olympia's civil infrastructure was crushed, paving way to the decay that would one day bring the Iron Warriors low. If history were to repeat it would bring us to ruin once more, and so we shall form the bonds necessary to understand the struggles and triumphs of those we will work alongside to bring our vision to reality. We need to be more than we once were to overcome the darkness before us, and rekindling our Humanity will be one piece of that greater whole."
The Warsmith's words resonated with his men, many of whom were veterans going back to the days of the Great Crusade and who knew firsthand of the matters discussed. Through ignorance and perhaps even hubris they had mistakenly believed that their sole world of Olympia could fulfill every need they so desired, and when the time came that it broke from the pressure placed upon it so too did their Legion.
"Kimara may be nigh impenetrable, but prudence dictates that we do not call the Imperium's wrath down upon us before we are capable of repelling everything in its arsenal. Henceforth, to this end, our Iron Legion shall be known as the 'Iron Krakens' of Kimara, 'successors' of the Iron Hands of Medusa. With the shattering of their Legion upon Istvaan there exist unverifiable points in their personnel records and history, allowing our agents to exploit the Imperium's ignorance to our own ends."
"The Iron Hands possess an affinity for mechanized warfare, cybernetics, and ruthless logic: they are already our peers, and so there exists no better cover for our future operations. Our location upon Kimara will mask our affinity for artillery as being the world's own, and while we must hide our true numbers and actions we will draw no suspicion. Years of whittling the Imperium's knowledge of Kimara and isolating it will make even the 'Iron' of our moniker go unremarked by their cumbersome bureaucracy."
"In the Great Crusade the Iron Hands conquered thousands of worlds, earning the respect of even Roboute Guilliman of the Ultramarines. They sought to excise weakness from the Human race wherever it might be found, and so too shall we. In harkening to our 'official' history we too shall have justification to set out amongst the stars and bring order, our order, to worlds which have lost sight of the Great Crusade's ideals. We shall forge an empire of iron far greater than our true kin ever established, and in doing so we shall set right all that has gone wrong."
"We fight not for the Imperium, but for Humanity itself, for both its survival and prosperity! We shall free them from the shackles fate has cast upon them so they too can seize their destiny and forge from it a path thought lost to our race! From iron cometh strength! From strength cometh will! From will cometh faith! From faith cometh honor! From honor cometh iron! This is the Unbreakable Litany, and may it forever be so!"
As his speech came to its conclusion the spirits of all present had never been higher, and it would be days before even their most taciturn of members would be able to wipe a smirk off their face.
The Iron Warriors were a Legion once more.
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It was evident even to the socially lacking Tristan the honor afforded to him by being granted command of the first Utopia-class vessel, such was its inherent majesty as a Battleship and mobile fortress. As he poured over its details he found that even beyond its first glance the ship was utterly lacking in the heraldry of Imperial vessels or the runic markings of Chaos, yet standing as a piece of artwork to the Iron Warriors all the same from its sheer scale, armament, and plating. Designed entirely by Jarn from stern to bow, it incorporated the most effective and efficient technologies he had come to know to allow it to perform even beyond its relative size would suggest.
Built for their Legion's future and survival, the Utopia-class would require a Legion to properly crew much like the Phalanx. Knowing it would be some time until they could acquire such a force, Jarn had ensured that systems could be automated as necessary or carried out by basic laborers rather than Astartes. While inferior, automation was preferable to having most of the vessel without function until the far future while also allowing for command to be directly assumed from its primary bridge.
Said bridge was deeply embedded within the Utopia's nigh impenetrable hull, with damage that would punch through an entire Battleship instead just reaching the end of its easily discarded and replaceable ablative plating. Iron Warrior design philosophy had seen earlier vessels eschew counterintuitive choices such as unnecessary windows in favor of further plating, and this same ethos was applied to the Utopia's construction. Favoring function over form, the bridge was not mounted externally with glass separating vital staff from the void, instead being fully protected with redundant security systems in place for its staff commanding arguably the most powerful vessel to be created by Humanity in eons.
To leave such officers exposed would be to leave the Utopia-class vulnerable to capture or crippling, and while the segmented design of various systems allowed them to function without one another the bridge remained the brain to the Utopia's body. Secondary command centers existed throughout to oversee regional functions while they in turn were connected through the primary bridge with alternative methods available in case of system failure.
At the time of the Utopia's development the Iron Legion possessed around four thousand Astartes under its command, though of this only around a quarter were capable of being fielded in standard Astartes deployments due to the ravages of attrition warfare taking their toll upon the others. This left the remainder to fulfill support roles such as manning artillery and maintaining or building equipment, both of which allowed them to continue their service without sacrificing their form to that of a Dreadnought.
Levente considered such Astartes as beneath his notice and felt they ought to be grateful to still serve their more functional kin, unwilling to consider Astartes who no longer could properly fight as Astartes at all. Tristan, ever in contrast, passed no judgment on those who contributed to the cause: someone had to fill those roles, and he had worked alongside those crippled veterans for decades now in improving their technology at the Dodekatheon.
Did he know almost any of their names? Less than a dozen perhaps, but that was due to him never bothering to ask, itself a result of Tristan simply not caring: work was to be done and much of it was done in relative silence. Levente could name every warrior who had fallen in battle alongside him and sing stories of their valiant struggles, but it was Tristan who worked to minimize such casualties.
In this way there was a smooth transition when the Warsmith assigned the near entirety of their non-combat staff to the Utopia-class vessel to get it up and running under Tristan's command. The Triarch might not know them personally, but the 'Iron Lich' possessed a reputation that preceded him of caring for results rather than glory.
For those whose work was often thankless and without a shred of personal glory there was no better an overseer to possess than one who would value them by their craft rather than by what they could no longer accomplish. With Jarn forcibly removing any signs of treachery towards one's fellow Warrior the culture within the Iron Legion had diverged from the self-sabotaging ways of the 4th Legion's past, where Iron Warriors would undermine or tear one another down for their own success where possible.
The death of Constantin had reminded all of a traitor's reward, and in this way they worked to the best of their capabilities in whatever task they were granted. The bitter warriors would sometimes argue, but they shared in their successes and collaborated to overcome difficulties, the process by which they had built the pieces they would eventually assemble into the craft they now served upon.
Despite not caring for such frivolities, it was required of Tristan to grant their vessel a designation for others to refer to it as: when his suggestion of simple names like I-1, Iron, and so on were rejected by the Warsmith it taxed Tristan's limited creativity. Eventually, given its design as a bulwark against both the decayed theocracy of the Imperium as well as the Ruinous Powers of Chaos, Tristan settled upon the title Bishop's Boundary for the flagship and it was accepted without complaint.
With the completion of a ship capable of forcibly taking Kimara from the Imperium and safeguarding it eternally if necessary the Iron Legion in one fell swoop stood ready to march on their Warsmith's former home: there they could establish their roots and begin their conquest of the known galaxy without fear of ever being truly defeated, and there they would at long last have the ability to expand the ranks of the Iron Legion into a galaxy-spanning empire.
While it would be possible to rush their invasion directly after the Bishop's founding, it was the Warsmith's decision to first tie up loose ends and grant Tristan the time necessary to master the ins and outs of his new vessel. In this vein he took Levente and their active forces to scour traces of their collective activities, as while they could not prevent the forces of Palamedes from nipping at their heels, there still were measures to be taken to ensure others would not follow in their footsteps.
Of their fleet only the Bishop's Boundary remained with their dockyards, Tristan possessing the Warsmith's full confidence in handling things until they returned in a few short weeks. After all, it would take a sizable fleet of ships to even threaten a Utopia-class vessel, something compounded by their location making conflict with anything more than a single stray ship unlikely. With the sector devoid of outside activity Tristan was free to test out the Bishop's many systems and prepare it for the coming siege of Kimara.
Rather than jump right into testing the vessel's combat systems Tristan held true to his nature and first experimented with its inner forges, as they were what he felt were most crucial to its overall functionality and longevity. Incorporated into the Utopia-class design were massively spanning forges akin to those of Mars designed to take in resources from conquered worlds. These could not only rebuild their forces and equipment, but also to repair any damage to the ship itself in rapid fashion.
For his testing processes Tristan passed off his various designs for weapons, vehicles, machinery, and armor to the top Dodekatheon members placed under his command with past suggestions from Grund to better mass-produce them. Admittedly Tristan had not yet learned the names of these Iron Warriors placed in charge of his forges, knowing them instead by their service numbers in the fleet's databases, but he trusted that they would be able to bring his various designs to fruition with the documents provided.
While they focused on technological developments for the Legion's future operations Tristan began work on a more immediate need: staffing the Bishop entirely with his mass produced battle automata, since named the 'Ironshields' for their general purpose of reducing casualties via expendable machines. With their limited functionality mostly tied to the battlefield it took some additional effort to repurpose them to other staff roles, but Tristan did as he always had and used existing technology from other sources to complete the task efficiently. By borrowing the Bishop's own system data he could have the Ironshields serve as backups to manually engage in manning stations in case they were otherwise unstaffed and the automated systems were offline.
Ironshields were by no means the most effective combatants even before some had their systems redone to also take on manual labor and tasks, but a sub-par substitute for the Skitarii of the Mechanicus was perfectly acceptable when said substitutes were utterly expendable. Even if during a boarding engagement aboard the Bishop hundreds or thousands were destroyed defending it they would be replaced in short order by replacements fashioned from their remains with their skeletal frame's low resource cost and minimal circuitry. Even their only 'ascetic' choice also was one for functionality, with colored markings on their shoulders to show that specific unit's role, while the rest of their metal frames remained bare of any color except the uniform metals utilized in their creation.
Development of fighter craft piloted by Ironshields remotely controlled by the Bishop would be a later addition to their battlefield roster to protect the Bishop from smaller vessels while for now its own defensive batteries would handle that duty. The Ironshields would serve as the primary bulwark for the sparse Iron Warriors stationed throughout a ship meant to have far more manning it, and even once the Bishop was brought to its full potential by a full Astarte crew the Ironshields would remain valuable as supplementary forces. What's more, Iron Warriors with cortex controllers could serve as overseers to direct them to engage in basic repairs to hasten the Bishop's own automated repair functions.
The Bishop's Boundary was made to replace entire sections of its structure and so the relatively smaller task of producing automata was able to be handled in large batches once set up, easily facilitating Tristan's goal of filling the Utopia-class' hallways with Ironshields. Now with a veritable legion of automata now supplementing and guarding the Bishop Tristan moved on to testing its other properties, fully intent on utilizing every moment afforded to him by the Warsmith to understand this technological marvel meant for endless conquest.
As was his nature Tristan fully immersed himself on studying every single system and device within the Bishop that he was not already aware of from his prior work in the Dodekatheon concerning the fleet, having Ironshields bring him meals to meet his needs and sleeping only when he could not function without it. So detached from what lay beyond his work was the Triarch that he was wholly unaware that his tireless effort, wiry frame for an Astarte, usage of reverse-engineered Necrontyr technology, and horde of mechanical servants with skeletal frames all coalesced to further spread his growing moniker of 'Iron Lich'. While few knew of any stories like the one Jarn had read, plenty had come into contact with the Necrontyr who possessed 'Lychguard' and 'Phylacteries' of their own, so the general concept was well understood.
The Astartes under his command working on bringing the Bishop's Boundary to full operational status did not mean anything disparaging or derisive about the nickname unlike when it was spoken by Levente: rather respect had begun to further take root of their immediate superior given his technological accomplishments that aided them in their own work and projects. Tristan may have been given the tools to fully meet his potential and succeed by the Warsmith, but it was plainly evident to all why this Astarte had been chosen to receive such mentorship. For all his faults, Tristan was a familiar figure to many of their veteran members: those who had once served under Perturabo could recognize the single-minded attention to detail in one's work, as was his logical and rational mindset.
That Tristan lacked Perturabo's explosive temperament was an unspoken benefit to those veterans who had seen their Primarch brutalize their kin with little provocation, though this was not to say that Tristan was without fury or wrath: the ongoing development and testing of his personal armor and weapons during this period of time became well known to those working to replicate his discoveries on a greater scale, as was Tristan's constant loop of videos recorded of Palamedes' capabilities upon the battlefield. Said obsession went uncommented upon by his subordinates who almost all were his senior, for none could fault him for his deep-seated grudge and desire to overcome a servant of Chaos who sought to cut him down.
Despite Tristan's lack of social grace and cold attitude his record of not wasting his soldiers' lives stood out as empathetic for an Iron Warrior, for while it was born mostly out of pragmatism so too was it influenced by the Triarch's unflinching loyalty to their Legion and its members. Given his heritage he considered his fellow Astartes as if fellow knights and honored peers, and though his way of demonstrating it was rather indirect it still was appreciated by those who still lived thanks to his calculating methods on the battlefield.
Over the first few days Tristan ultimately would learn the names of the few ranking officers under his command so that he could better command them from the bridge rather than awkwardly avoid referring to them by anything but their rank or identification number. This could in turn be credited to Quidel who had made the suggestion as the chief of security aboard the Bishop's Boundary, having been one of the few non-retired Iron Warriors to accompany Tristan aboard. Quidel had no Astartes presently under his command due to the physical status of those on-board, and so instead was left to oversee the Bishop's Ironshield security detachment via an advanced cortex controller gifted to him by Tristan.
Organizing the Ironshields was a largely automated process once they were constructed and thus Quidel possessed plenty of time to offer counsel to Tristan aboard the bridge, only occasionally having to check in on the functionality of his security forces. There Quidel could better oversee the entirety of the Bishop's Boundary as well as attempt to lessen the gap between Tristan and his crew, knowing full well since childhood that if left to his own devices Tristan could spend a century without dedicating an ounce of brainpower to learning anything about them beyond performance records and ID numbers.
Tristan's mind was for numbers, schematics, and processing whatever data was necessary for his given role, so minutiae about his peers held zero interest and purpose to him so long as they were not in his way. When he was a part of a squad knowing those around him was necessary, but when overseeing thousands of others individual names greatly diminished in importance.
Joining them on the Bishop's Boundary was Captain Turner of the Eisernen, having been transferred from their former flagship to their fleet's new lead vessel. The Turner family's long service to the Jarn family dated back to the founding of Kimara, having served as the pilots of the transports which brought Kimara's initial settlers and remained alongside them. While possessing no supernatural skill or capabilities their disciplined and steady nature had seen to the Turners having a near flawless service record, their consistency naturally combining well with the pragmatic and workhorse battle tactics implemented by the Jarns.
A man in his prime, Turner possessed a youthful appearance that was mired by the stern expression one would expect of a Kimaran descendant. His medium-length jet black hair was slicked back and accompanied by sideburns that led down into a dignified beard that made him appear beyond his years in contrast to his spry, pale skin. Beyond commands to the crew beneath his command he was a man of few words, and that was something which Tristan appreciated the Captain for. When commanding the Eisernen the Triarch had relied on Turner to handle the actual implementation of his commands for the vessel while Tristan continued to follow the flow of battle, and so while not personally close the two had grown to work efficiently together.
Captain Ernust Turner was a credit to his lineage in his unflinching resolve and dedication to perfectly carrying out the orders granted to him, entrusting the tactical aspect of battle to his Astartes overlords while taking care of the mundane matters required to fulfill those tactical decisions. That the calculating Tristan had commanded the Eisernen without error gave his Captain full confidence the Triarch could properly handle the Bishop even with its unprecedented scale. Had he been placed under the command over the impetuous Levente instead Ernust might have possessed some reservation even if he would never voice it out of respect to his lords and their determination of what was best.
On a typical Imperial ship around one third of its structure would be dedicated to engines and reactors, but this proportion was skewed on the Utopia-class to favor firepower and structural reinforcement. This meant testing its propulsion was paramount when Tristan moved on from ensuring the Bishop's internal systems and processes were sound, for to overlook the vessel's ability to move entirely could result in disadvantageous battlefield conditions.
Despite its tests demonstrating the expected sluggish maximum speed the Bishop was surprisingly able to engage in pinpoint rearrangement and turning through utilizing engines throughout its structure in concert with one another. To turn in this manner would be to sacrifice what little speed the ship possessed, while in turn to move at its maximum speed would mean only minimal turning capability. Even to comparable vessels the Bishop was as fast as a glacier, but it was at least maneuverable in its otherwise graceless form.
Gained by this sacrifice of speed were weapon and defense systems designed to wholly counteract this flaw. Weapon batteries lined the entirety of the Bishop's hull, each taking inspiration from those upon the Eisernen and thus possessing far greater range than other Battleships could muster with their relative size. Hit and run tactics would not work on a Battleship that could wipe you out from any range, as there would be nowhere you could flee from the onslaught of batteries and Nova Cannons. Whereas the Word Bearers had utilized a prototype weapon system to possess incredible firepower aboard their Abyss-class ships, the Utopia instead favored a multitude of weapons that when fired together would possess similar effect as a far larger one. While not as specialized, there were no targets that the Bishop could possess that it would fare poorly against.
For protection the Bishop had not only the obvious armor plating visible on all sides that could deter even strikes meant to cripple a Battleship, but also a series of overlapping layers of Void shields capable of covering for one another when any one was overloaded. While not wholly impenetrable, the Bishop's segmented systems and structure meant that damage incurred in battle would be largely self-contained and easy to repair even during the heat of battle.
To test the Bishop's defenses and gauge any gaps that might exist Tristan had the Bishop steer directly into an asteroid field in the sector: to an outside observer the dark 'iron' colored vessel would appear as if a void in space parting the sea of debris, destroying those directly impacted and tossing aside the remains without showing any signs of damage to its reinforced hull. Perhaps unintentionally the natural color of the Bishop let it blend well into the darkness of space, only lacking the markings of distant stars to wholly separate it. It was by no means a subtle warship or capable of true stealth, but at a distance it did not draw attention to itself the way the colorful vessels of other Astartes may.
Testing the Bishop's weapon systems was simple, and by the time the Warsmith returned he would come to notice that there was one less planet to be found in their locale. By concentrating their searing lances and weapon batteries all on a single point the Bishop reduced its target to superheated fragments.
Tristan came to such an idea based on the recorded history of the Abyss-class vessel which inspired the Bishop's creation: the Word Bearers had intended to blast apart a moon to destroy Ultramar with its remains, so Tristan simply applied the same concept on a larger scale to devastating effect. Rather than a singular beam of energy to wipe out a given target the Bishop fired so many in close proximity to one another that it would give the appearance of a larger weapon like those found aboard the Abyss-class.
Smaller targets were able to be overwhelmed through sheer quantity of incoming firepower to make up for the Bishop's present lack of Astartes gunners, while larger ones actually were less worrying to Tristan given the ease at which they could be focus-fired and eliminated. With full 360-degree firing capabilities the Bishop could engage foes from any angle, even if some of its heavier weapons mounted upon its hull would prefer targets at a distance where their own firing arcs would prove most effective. Upscaled Nova Cannons were built to be fleet-killing tools of mass destruction, and while situational were potent given their area of effect, power, and unparalleled range.
The ability to simply remove antagonistic planets or moons from existence was one which Tristan appreciated, as there would be times where conquering a world was simply not worth the resources it would take to do so and where diplomacy was fruitless. Worlds with sufficient planetary shielding and other defenses could protect them to a degree, but unless they possessed the sheer redundancies of Terra or Kimara as modeled after Terra the Boundary would eventually win out in time.
The worst scenarios would be where a world had to be captured without widespread destruction, but Tristan prepared for this too with a second world in the region. Through the Bishop's powerful sensors meant to grant it detailed information even beyond its notable firing range Tristan was able to tune the firepower used by the Bishop to merely cleanse a landscape without further geological damage. Utilizing various forms of armor ranging from that of the Iron Warriors themselves all the way down to carapace and flak armor, Tristan ensured that few would survive such measured bombardment. Included also were various forms of personal defenses such as refractor fields and even the powerful Karceri Battle Shields to further provide comprehensive data.
Naturally Tristan tested this same process upon his own armor and left the Logos Incrementum with the other test subjects. Setting its systems to their maximum settings, Tristan fired upon it with the rest to see if it could withstand such firepower as there was always the risk of enemy naval support. By testing it ahead of time it would also allow Tristan to hypothetically call a strike down on his own position if overwhelmed by foes. Though Tristan aimed to never allow himself to be in such a vulnerable position to begin with preparation was something he did in excess, and so he would be ready should that time come. The Iron Warriors had reservations about 'Iron on Iron' attacks where their bombardment could harm their own soldiers so the implementation of such tactics would be rare.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Logos Incrementum was the only one left standing after Tristan had reduced everything else to ashes. His suit purposefully incorporated numerous redundant shielding systems, so while its power source had been taxed extremely the armor ultimately held and was able to be retrieved without issue.
Records of the Horus Heresy told of how the Imperial Fist known as Alexis Polux took command of their naval forces and in weeks of coming to his position managed to outmaneuver the far greater Iron Warriors force in the Battle of Phall as led by the Primarch Perturabo. Perhaps out of pride, perhaps out of disgust, the Iron Legion's own Astartes working to get the Bishop's Boundary up and running sought to surpass the legacy of their hated foe. If an Imperial Fist without experience could surpass battle-tested Iron Warriors and their Primarch with a pittance of practice then there was zero excuse to not master in short order their own craft for the battles to come. Days flew by in ceaseless testing and drills, and while they could not have known at the time they would prove vital in the weeks to come.
A standard Imperial month had passed since the Warsmith departed with the rest of their fleet when the Bishop's powerful sensors detected an anomaly in their once empty sector: Warp signatures heralding the arrival of an unknown fleet of Imperial vessels. The Bishop had been at rest preparing for another battery of propulsion tests when this sudden appearance of other ships drew the attention of Captain Turner, who in turn relayed this information immediately to his superior.
"Triarch, we are detecting an unknown force at the edge of the sector. By their composition they appear to be an Imperial Battlefleet, and more unknown signatures are inbound."
Information about their unexpected guests continued to pour in as Tristan mulled over this turn of events. It was immediately obvious that these interlopers had just departed from some battle, as their fleet showed grievous damage and while it remained in formation some vessels were only just barely able to do so…though one detail about their composition caught Tristan's attention immediately: the presence of Victory-class Battleships.
Far from common within the Imperium's ranks, the Victory-class was primarily utilized by the Iron Legion itself as well as the Kimarans who first built its fleet. Similar friend-or-foe codes emitted by the incoming fleet to those found aboard the Eisernen and its fellow ships would imply that these too were Kimaran in origin, but that did not necessarily mean that they were friendly: Kimara was under Imperial control, and it was wholly possible that this fleet had arrived here under orders to eliminate the Iron Warriors they once were sworn to.
How Kimarans had arrived in a sector unknown to all but the Iron Legion was unknown, as was the reason for their fleet's damage and what conflict they just departed from. Rather than blindly trust what could be enemies Tristan opened up communications with the approaching force while assigning two of the Bishop's lead engineers, Blohm and Voss, to redirect their crew to battle-readiness while Quidel prepared the Ironshields.
"Imperial battlefleet, you are addressed by Triarch Tristan Bertrand of Iron Krakens, successors of the Iron Hands. On your present course you will come into contact with our flagship, the Bishop's Boundary: state your purpose and presence here or we will be forced to take action."
The bridge of the Bishop possessed holographic technology not unique to it amongst Humanity's fleets, but the power of its transmissions allowed for them to transmit without the interruption and static others might. The Warsmith had spared no expense in the creation of his flagship, and Tristan being able to properly project his image was just one small benefit of this fact. Gear heraldry and Kraken symbols added to his personal armor to pre-emptively prepare for their cover story would help sell the persona he adopted, though this would prove unnecessary given the person who responded.
"So that Legionnaire spoke the truth…"
In return for Tristan's transmission came the projected image of an elderly officer of the Imperial Navy, dignified in countenance and possessing a face Tristan felt he had seen a thousand times before amongst the Eisernen's crew: if any doubt remained it had since been silenced by the sight of a man who so embodied Kimara's primary traits. While his hair might no longer be pitch black like his fellow Iceborn he would not be out of place with the Iron Legion's own crew, and could easily pass as Captain Turner's father…an observation Tristan made just before the officer spoke and further removed any doubt.
"I am Lord-Admiral Ewald Turner of the Imperial Navy, and loyal retainer of Kimara's true liege. We received these coordinates from an ally and were told we could find refuge here from the forces which beset us: though tasked with the eradication of a Tyranid menace, upon the completion of our mission we found ourselves entrapped by the damnable Word Bearers and their heretic followers. To fight one would be possible: to fight two fleets after expending our effort driving back the Tyranids was untenable."
That he spoke clearly and with minimal signs of pain was a credit to his people's stoicism, as from his holographic projection it was evident that Lord-Admiral Turner had sustained fatal wounds in the ambush he mentioned. Shrapnel remained in his torso where removing it would cause more issues than it would solve, and despite standing up straight with the discipline of a lifetime soldier he was already a dead man walking.
His mention of a Legionnaire conveyed to Tristan that Asier must have embedded agents within the fleet who in turn led them here, as Asier's advance party would have had the time and ability to do so. That Asier or Urkamus were not the ones transmitting this message would imply they were not present, likely still at Kimara itself, which oddly served to comfort Tristan since it meant they remained relatively safe. Despite his lack of sociability he still cared for his former squad, and Asier was his closest ally within the Iron Legion beyond the Warsmith himself.
"A contingent of our forces remain in battle with our assailants to slow them down. It is inevitable that they will fall shortly, leaving us little time," the Lord-Admiral spoke through obvious pain, pausing briefly to regain control over his voice rather than submit to the agony inflicted upon him, "The Deathwatch Astartes accompanying us to purge the Tyranids have stayed behind as well to buy us more time, and it is from them that we received these coordinates to grasp at a chance of salvation."
Cogs turned rapidly in Tristan's mind as the situation was explained to him, and while he had yet to determine the best course of action he knew that it began by saving the battle-worn Kimarans. These were the descendants of the Warsmith's people, and were sent here by the Iron Legion's operatives so that they might survive an otherwise perilous battle. Direct contact with Asier's forces had been kept to a minimum given their covert status, but they likely had learned of the Bishop's completion and arranged for this meeting aware of that fact.
The maiden voyage of the Bishop's Boundary was to be a trial by fire, as while the Chaos fleet had yet to arrive they would be there shortly in enough quantity to fill two Battlefleets. Given that many were between fifty to seventy-five ships of varying classes that meant that the Bishop was severely outnumbered…but, by Tristan's calculations, the Heretics were clearly outmatched.
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A/N: I have been alternating between working on a slew of updates in the production pipeline, so expect more content in the days/weeks to come. Thank you to those who have shown your support, and I hope to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
PsihoKekec
Swashbuckling Accountant
There is no better way to start a career of a warship than with a curbstomp battle. That is, as long as you are at giving rather receiving end, but given how they have guns and armor to eleven... Too bad Bishop's Boundary will not be a surprise factor for Palmedes, but you can't have everything.
Do the two also work on seaplanes in their off time?
That can o' whuppass is about get opened!
Thunderscourge
Emulating Kill em All Tomino in all Games
The Bishop's Boundary lacks subtlety, but by going all-in on raw brute strength it can kind of force victory against most possible matchups. It was designed with no true critical flaw, as its speed issues are mitigated by being built to aim in all directions and its range is such that you have to come to it, not the other way around.
This isn't to say it is invincible, it just wasn't made with a giant glaring flaw like the Abyss-class was with their prototype weaponry and ability to be exploded by setting off their reactor. No Death Star-like "instant loss" button and a hardy exterior make for a weapon of war that can steamroll its opposition barring similar superweapons or large enough enemy forces.
Bishop's Boundary is what the name Bismarck derives from in German: Biscofsmark. As such various pieces of the update allude to its real world inspiration as a vessel, and it should be known that the Bismarck had been named after a man known as the "Iron Chancellor".
The Bismarck was sunk in its first true battle however (technically the second part of a two-part conflict), so hopefully the Bishop's Boundary does not suffer a similar fate.