[hider=Primarch Augor Astren][b][u]Name:[/u][/b] Augor Astren [b][u]Gender:[/u][/b] Male [b][u]Homeworld:[/u][/b] The Forge World of Last Light in the Duodeculi Sector. [hider=Appearance]Augor Astren is a lifelong member of the Cult Mechanicus, and prior to the discovery was an Electropriest of the Corpuscarii amongst their lower orders. The Primarch still carries evidence of that upbringing with him and possesses heavy cybernetic modifications, bionic implants, and electoo outside of his armor. Augor stands approximately 3.35 meters or 11 feet in height. His skin coloration is an ashen grey due to a combination of drug regimes, continuous exposure to electrical current, heavy bionic installation, and the saturation of his bloodstream with trace amounts of bionic serum. He is completely bald, and his cranium is ringed by a massive surgical scar that does not heal (largely by choice), evidencing the installation of several cerebral bionics. The twelfth Primarch's natural eyes are absent, having burnt into molten rudiments due to continuous exposure to intense electrical current as is typical amongst the Corpuscarii of the Mechanicum. The missing organs have since been replaced by bionic prosthetics, although the Primarch is often known to forego them outside of the battlefield, especially in social or formal gatherings. Augor possesses six Mechadendrite prosthetics extending from his hips, lower back, and shoulders, all of a modular, multipurpose design. He also has a dorsal electrostatic generator running along the length of his spine, and no less than eight power capacitors integrated into the lengths of his arms and legs. Both of Augor's hands have been modified with implanted electrostatic Corpuscarii gauntlets, and he has numerous other unseen bionics and augmentations not immediately apparent at first glance such as the expected black carapace used by Astartes as well as a wireless MIU and an accessory parallel cogitator. Augor's power armor is highly stylized and adorned in ritual symbolism of the Cult Mechanicum, including in its design a decorated tabard and featuring several prominent [i]Cog Mechanicum[/i] motifs. All instances of the Imperial Eagle are replaced instead with deliberate depictions of the Aquilla Mechanicum, half-flesh and half mechanized. His armor is prominently Martian Red, with gold trim, Martian-ebony insets, and almost silvery electric-blue highlights. The armor is notable for having an extremely conspicuous servo-harness featuring not only six servo-arms, but also a mechadendrite hive centered on the back. Augor's armor has been specially modified with front-loaded gyroscopic mechanisms and weights balances to help offset the tremendous weight and shifted mass added to Augor's frame by the servo harness. The munitions and tools regularly employed by Augor's servo-arms are multifarious, but an almost regular sight is an integrated conversion beamer he has taken a shining to. Both in and out of his armor, Augor is never seen without his Omnissian Combi-Axe, which functions both as a standard power axe as well as a Fulgurite Electroleech stave.[/hider][hider=Personality]Augor is the archetypical zealous crusader and battlefield chaplain. His fanatical devotion to the Machine God and the Emperor as the Omnissiah drives him both to spread the glory of mankind to the furthest reaches of the Galaxy while also crushing xenos, purging techno heresy, and plunging into the darkest reaches of the stars themselves in pursuit of the Mechanicum's eternal quest for knowledge. Reflecting his Corpuscarii background, he is given to recitation of litany and is known for taking frequent breaks during work and campaigns to go on long - occasionally meandering and spurious - lectures or 'sermons' to everybody in the immediate environs. He is quick to lend the screed of the Mechanicum as advice to those he perceives as troubled, and equally quick to adopt the traditional tactics and habits of his adoptive culture. In quieter moments, Augor is given to cerebral contemplation and musing, or else examination of newly discovered or particularly intriguing ancient technology. His fanatical devotion to the Mechanicum and their views often leads him to paradoxical and difficult dilemnas of choice and consequence, and at times he can waver with uncertainty in the face of unclear problems. In a sense, despite his predilection for proselytizing and directing those around him, his beliefs often render him little more than a blunt instrument. While he is well-known for being a unifier and charismatic leader even in spite of his extensive bionics, he nonetheless also often fails to establish a common bond of camaraderie with those around him - for the flesh is fallible, and there is always another task to be performed or a secret to unearth. Augor is generally slow to anger, but extremely quick to take extreme stances and measures - and as a consequence, his behavior in minor skirmishes and utter crises tends to be identical. His extreme modes of thought also make convincing him of alternative viewpoints or strategies difficult - even when he knows others are sincere, he is likely to immediately decide they are likely mistaken or misguided if their thoughts and his should not align.[/hider][hider=Assignment Grade: Epsilon]Augor's original and native Psychic Grade (Epsilon) has never been meaningfully measured, and his relatively late discovery in addition to his initial service as an Electropriest of the Corpuscarii makes estimation of what his grade could have been difficult, arbitrary, and likely inaccurate. Further compounding the matter is Augor's usage of Psionic Amplification devices and chemical treatments intended to strengthen the power of his meditative and trance capabilities. Presently, Augor has several latent if untrained Psyker abilities which have manifested in-line with and according to his upbringing and duties. As an Electropriest and a past-member of the Corpuscarii, the following abilities have been observed, often manifesting in conjunction - and therefore almost indistinguishably - with associated actions upon the battlefield on his part. Biolightning intermingles with electrical discharge from his gauntlets and capacitors, causing enemies to burst into flame as they are electrocuted and tearing the very essence of life from the bodies of the few who survive. Inhuman insight visits him, overlaying his already redundant and overlapping senses and enhanced perception. His thunderous presence and earth-shaking litanies inspire allies to even greater action while overwhelming his foes with eerie sensations of dread and foreboding. All of these things are already inherent to the capabilities of the Mechanicum's Electropriests - albeit the Primarch, through the use of peerless technological amplification and bionics, has heightened those to tremendous degrees that beggar belief and stagger the senses - beyond that, to what degree his abilities are borne of his equipment and bionics, and what originates from his powers as a Psyker, remains unknown. [The following Psyker Powers can be reviewed [url=https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Psyker#Psychic_Disciplines]here.[/url]] [b][u]Smite Enfeeble Life Leech Haemorrhage Perfect Timing Scrier's Gaze Spontaneous Combustion Mental Fortitude Terrify[/u][/b] One of Augor's most deliberately practiced Psychic capabilities is his trance state, wherein he can suppress his conscious and unconscious mind in order to refocus and hone the entirety of his being and the holistic breadth of his knowledge in contemplation of any single notion at once. The intensity of this trance state is significant enough that it would normally place immense strain upon Augor's body or potentially even kill him outright if he did not mediate the trance state with a combination of integral and externalized bionics, life support systems, and cogitator cores dedicated to maintaining his body. If a large number of these devices were to fail or falter during one of Augor's trance states, it would lead to significant or even permanent deleterious side-effects.[/hider][hider=Skills][b][u]Gifted Orator:[/u][/b] Even in spite of his numerous bionic implants, Augor is eloquent, loquacious, and charismatic - he can effortlessly bolster morale wherever he goes with perfunctory speeches or turns of phrase, and excels at inspiring his subordinates to overcome failure and to aspire to greater heights of victory. [b][u]Titanic Presence:[/u][/b] Augor is anything but subtle. On the battlefield, he continuously screams a mixture of inspiring litanies or hellish torment, all the while ablaze with the power of a Pyroclastic flow, lightning and power radiating from him and being channeled across the battlefield in devastating arcs while enemy attacks turn to dust harmlessly against his voltagheist field. The very presence of him opening up with his weapons on the field is a tremendously galvanizing sight and bastion of power for allies, and a portent of dread and a harbinger of imminent loss for enemies. Of course, this same visibility makes him a very open and obvious target at all times... [b][u]Faithful Guidance:[/u][/b] Between his electromagnetic Electropriest perception, his latent Witchsight, his redundant bionic eyes, the various sensors bristling across his mechadendrites, servo-arms, the tactical Scryerskulls floating around him at all times and the heightened awareness gifted to all of the Primarchs - Augor possesses close to perfect localized perception. There is almost nothing in the whole of the galaxy that can evade his numerous senses, and his genetic and cogitator-assisted tactical ability allow him to predict most physical events immediately before they happen. He is even capable of perceiving Blanks and Nulls (within a certain distance) using his technological senses. [b][u]Motive Elemental:[/u][/b] Augor's extreme specialization between his bionics, equipment, and psyker abilities have turned him into a living, breathing electrical storm of such intensity and power that it would put shame to most plasma detonations. Most mundane energy weapons are utterly useless when directed against him - laser, plasma, power weapons and projectiles will all fade, dim, and be extinguished in his presence if wielded by a foe. Worse still, they will usually have their power grounded into his capacitors to be unleashed again upon his enemies. Most electronics and equipment with unhardened power sources will likewise prove extremely vulnerable to his influence on the open battlefield and either malfunction or fail entirely. [/hider][hider=Biography]Augor Astren was sent by the Chaos Gods to the distant Forge World of Last Light in the Duodeculi Sector of the Ultima Segmentum. One of the most distant forge worlds colonized by the Mechanicum's early navigator-thrall Explorator colony efforts, it lay precariously on the fringes of space where the light of the Astronomican would be at its dimmest and most distant, beyond which lay only the dark and nebulous reaches of the Ghoul Stars. As a child, Augor Astren was seized and quantified by the Tech Priests of Last Light - who proved so distant from the Imperial Realm that news of the Treaty of Mars had not yet even reached them. Augor's great warp presence was immediately noted and, rather than being inducted into the ministry or the ranks of the Skitarii for his exceptional characteristics, was stored in stasis for later experimentation and study of his abnormal warp-related qualities. It would not be until decades later when news of the Treaty of Mars and knowledge of the Emperor and his Primarchs reached Last Light that anybody would realize his true significance. Brought out of stasis amidst a drastic restructuring of Last Light's Mechanicum Hierarchy to be Treaty-Compliant, the Primarch was finally named Augor Astren - a Cant Mechanicum-corrupted High Gothic turn of phrase meaning 'Auspicious Starlight.' Having identified the young Augor as a potential Primarch and son of the Emperor, the Synod of Last Light wasted no time indoctrinating him amongst their ranks to serve as an exemplary representative of the Mechanicum's interests amongst the Emperor's children. It was decided that due the child's projected rate of accelerated growth and the need for him to attain full maturity unimpeded by excessive cybernetic augmentation that he would be inducted into the ranks of a caste of Tech Priests requiring comparatively few augmentations - the Electropriests and, more specifically, the Corpuscarii. The volatile ranks of the Electropriests nominally only required Electoos and a number of externalized and non-invasive bionics, while still being noted for their zealous and extreme devotion to the creed of the Mechanicum. Decades passed once more, with Augor quickly reaching maturity. News and confirmation of his nature had by this time been passed back down along the Astropathic chain of communication towards the Imperium proper, but had not yet received any response. Augor lived a deeply entrenched and isolated life of monastic study and discipline, devoting his years to the mastery of different realms of the Mechanicum's secrets and eventually attaining the official Cult status of Magos, and then Archmagos within the Holy Synod of Last Light. He was promised, repeatedly, that once the Emperor formally recognized him, he would be made the Archmagos Intendant of Last Light and become an officially listed Archmagos of the Holy Synod of Mars itself. He was not spoiled or spared the trials and deliberations of his office however. Knowing that he would not survive otherwise, the Mechanicum pushed him to strive and attain the deepest of sanctioned Mechanicum secrets, to proselytize to the indentured working citizens of Last Light, and to hunt down and destroy Hereteks in the deepest and darkest of Last Light's underforges. His eyes, much like those of every other Corpuscarii, were boiled inside of his skull to dribble as the Omnissiah's own tears from their sockets. Their molten and desiccated effuse, to this day, remain enshrined on Mars as a holy relic. Augor was encouraged to forgo the use of bionic optics until he had been confirmed as a Primarch, in order to hone his senses and simultaneously deepen his devotion to the Machine God. Eventually, Astropathic messages of response returned to Last Light: The Emperor and his agents were coming to Last Light to render it Compliant and Unify it with the Greater Imperium of Man, as well as to confirm the presence of a Primarch. The reception of the Emperor and his Legions was meticulously planned out, and Augor spent several weeks in deep contemplation in anticipation of his personal meeting with the Emperor. The Emperor arrived, and nearly everything went according to plan. Augor was confirmed to be one of the Emperor's Primarchs. Last Light was formally declared Compliant and unified with the Empire as a Forgeworld of the Mechanicum. Augor Astren was graced with the privilege of command over one of the Emperor's mighty legions. But the Emperor, not to be politically exploited and in order to remind the Mechanicum as to the inviolate and exigent nature of his command, issued a decree: Augor Astren would be permitted to retain their station as the Archmagos Intendant of Last Light, but he would be forever barred from holding any status or recognition upon Holy Mars or within its Synod - and was forbidden from ever setting foot on the Red Planet. The Emperor would accept the Primarch's exemption from acknowledging Imperial Truth - but the Mechanicum would never be able to use him as a political instrument as one of their servants assembled in Taghmata. He would forever be an independent and higher party of the Mechanicum itself, akin to the Ordo Reductor: Inviolate and, if acceding to their requests, never subservient. With his hopes of ever journeying to Holy Mars dashed but ultimately undaunted, Augor Asten then took command of the Twelfth Legion of the Space Marines, and renamed them the Stargazers. He would immediately reorganize their internal command structure hierarchy to mirror that of the Mechanicum, with the intent to create a dual, integrated extension of the Mechanicum itself. Driven by the decree of the Emperor, the Primarch become driven to transform the Twelth Legion into a true higher and independent extension of the Mechanicum to rival and eventually exceed even the Ordo Reductor itself. After a brief and cursory campaign alongside several other Primarchs and the Emperor himself upon Molech, Augor Astren's first campaign of true note was the immediate and consecutive Rangdan Xenocides. The crushing campaign would nearly destroy the Stargazers legion, which sustained a casualty rate of almost 85% during the struggle due to a combination of complications arising from their internalized restructuring and Augor's own inexperience, pitted against the most terrifying and advanced adversary the Imperium had ever known. To this day, the Astartes of the Stargazer legion have yet to fully recover from that brutal campaign - and for a time they were known primarily for standing as but another cadre of an expanded force of the Mechanicum, whose forces were called upon to fill the severely depleted and weakened Stargazers legion. Augor Asten would spend the next several decades a broken and disgraced figure, who spent their time at the furthest reaches and darkest fringes of space at the head of Explorator fleets, charting and finding little of significance or note while the survivors of the Stargazers licked their wounds. In the century to follow Augor Astren would personally lead the diminished legion to numerous laudable victories - but none that could make up for the shame and scope of his utter defeat in the Rangdan Xenocides. It would not be until 970.30m - an exact 100 years after the eve of his Legion's devastation - that Augor Astren would fully redeem himself for his folly and loss, by leading his legion to victory against a Cabal of Alpha-Grade Warp Witches who ruled over the Vaomir Reaches. During the long campaign, Augor Asten would personally make battle with the terrifyingly potent Psykers while his Legion would engage in protracted standoffs and sieges with their occult slaves. The conflict culminated in a legendary final battle where Augor would personally duel and defeat the Cabal Maven - a suspected Alpha-Plus Pysker - before the assembled forces, driving them all into a panicked rout that saw the Stargazers legion victorious with only minimal losses despite the terrifying potency and numerical superiority of their foes. Although Augor Astren would then spend the next several decades once more on the fringes of uncharted space heading Explorator fleets once more, thereafter the now once again widespread and partially recovered Stargazers Legion finally had a leader they could stand tall and claim to be proud of with neither shame nor apology. [A chronological list of Augor Asten's personal campaigns and accomplishments follows.] Compliance of Molech 869.30m. Augor Asten personally participated in the Compliance efforts along with several other Primarchs and the Emperor. - Rangdan Xenocides 870.30m. Augor Astren leads the Stargazers Legion to a disastrous victory alongside other legions. A combination of the enemy xenos' ferocity and advanced technology, coupled with the Primarch's inexperience and complications caused by their newly implemented Mechanicum-compliant Legion hierarchy, results in close to 85% casualty rates across the entire legion. - Crisis of the Hungering Gyre 891.30m. Due to the drastic reduction of his legion, Augor Astren would personally lead most of their significant military campaigns over the span of the next several decades, including here. Paramar V is made a vassal domain of the distant Forge World of Last Light. The Primarch spends the remainder of the decade as part of Explorator efforts in distant regions which come to little fruition. - Compliance of Tarsis 900.30m. The Stargazers come across the Human-inhabited planet of Tarsis, at the time rife with a powerful and influential occult polity. Unwilling to risk a lengthy war of Compliance with the advantage of surprise lost and no nearby Legions available to provide assistance, Augor Astren planned a campaign to capture the hearts and minds of the people of Tarsis by manufacturing great technological marvels he claimed would elevate their lives if they would abandon their superstitions and join the Imperium. After a full year of political jockeying and posturing, Augor Astren successfully reunified Tarsis with the Imperium of Man and vowed the Mechanicum would assure the planet's prosperity for all time. A large assembly of servitors and Tech-Priests journey to the planet, which eventually becomes a prominent Fleet Anchorage and Pleasure World, carefully maintained by the Mechanicum. A permanent detachment of the Stargazers Legion stands guard over the planet to this day in order to hold it secure against all comers. - Compliance of Tethonus circa 900~.30m. Augor Astren leads the Stargazers Legion in a protracted military campaign against a heavily entrenched xenos species. Drawing inspiration from the Ordo Reductor, Augor Astren has his legion reconstruct an unlisted siege engine template that breaks the xenos fortifications much earlier than anticipated. With several other Legions in attendance bearing witness, the event becomes widely publicized and cements the specialization and capabilities of the Stargazers in the eyes of the Imperium writ large. The Legion remains thought of and dismissed as an undermanned band forlorn pariahs, but they are finally acknowledged as a capable Campaign force in their own right. - Assault on Dahinta circa 900~.30m. Augor Astren and the Stargazers Legion encounter a world populated by self-aware machines called the Overseers. The Primarch immediately calls in the Ordo Reductor and a Titan Legion and, after a brief campaign, performs Exterminatus upon the planet with a two-stage Cyclonic Torpedo, completely coring out and reducing it to debris drifting in space. - Xenocide of Kamenka Troika circa 950~.30m. At the behest of a request directly from Mars, Augor Astren leads the Stargazers to eradicate an Ork Empire on the three satellites of Kamenka Ulizarna. The Emperor then declares a writ of war against the same empire and the Stargazers are joined by other legions. It is during this campaign that Andron Axaltus, the newly appointed Commander of the Ordo Astranoma's Skitarii Legion, begins to make a name for himself. During several ensuing fleet engagements and chases, Augor Asten comes to the conclusion that the Stargazers and their fleets are once more numerous enough to render traveling as a single amassed armada inefficient. The Stargazers fleets are split into a number of Macroclade groups that then begin to patrol and venture across the Ultima Segmentum independently. - The Fall of the Lords of Gardinaal circa 950s~.30m. Although not initially involved in the campaign, upon hearing the rebel forces involved possessed multiple STCs Augor Astren's personal Macroclade fleet performed an interstellar flanking maneuver which completely bypassed the defensive blockade of the Gardinaal system. They then seized the homeworld of the rebel empire in a surprise attack on its capital lasting only a few hours, forcing an unconditional surrender. - The Melkeji Salvation 957.30m. The Stargazers Legion Genetors fabricate a plague that exterminates a parasitic xenos species that had been controlling a population of Humans in Melkeji, who immediately surrender to the empire thereafter. The Genetor Solisios Carnelan opens a formal line of correspondence regarding a new innovative form bio-pogrom. - Persecution of Vaomir Reaches 970.30m Augor Astren and the Stargazers encounter several Alpha-grade Warp Witches who are immediately branded as Hereteks, resulting in a protracted but successful campaign to eliminate them. After a climatic confrontation with the Warp Witch Cabal Maven, an Alpha-Plus psyker, the Primarch Virus Bombs each of the planets involved. Augor Astren then declares the Twelfth Legion to have nominally recovered from the losses of the Rangdan Xenocides and officiates a change in Legion policy concerning communications with other branches of the Imperium. The Stargazers begin much more aggressively broadcasting and asserting their presence within Imperium-controlled sectors whenever present. Amongst other immediate effects, a mutual disdain begins to ferment between the Legion and the forces of the Imperial Army. - The Hunting of the Ak'Haireth 980.30m. The Stargazers Genetors once again fabricate a virus which utterly exterminates a species of xenos which had been predating Human colonies in a span of space. The same virus wipes out approximately 7% of all Humans in that sector, who had been infected with rudiment trace substances from the xenos species. Solisios Carnelan is formally granted privileged access to the Throne-Secret of Factor-CRWE in pursuit of developing a more effective xenocide pogrom. - Compliance of Nurth 999.30m. The Stargazers Legion responds to a call for help from a nearby planet. The legion immediately identifies a warp-tainted Heretech artifact and, using stasis munitions, isolate and quarantine it. The Heretech Artifact, a Black Cube, is seized for safe containment in a Black Vault. The planet is subsequently virus bombed.[/hider][hider=The Meeting]Augor Astren had been awaiting the arrival of the Emperor of All Mankind, Lord and Master of the Imperium - the Omnissiah - for several hours now. Waiting, tension mounting as he listened to the furious and jubilant cries of the citizens and priests lining the industrial causeway leading to the chambers of the Holy Synod as the Imperial procession slowly made its way forward. He had heard the sound of the tremendous Synod doors being opened, the uncountable tumult of armored footfalls that was the Emperor's Custodes vanguard. The high and aggrandized ritual sermon delivered by the Archmagos Veneratus. Eventually, the time came. As he remained still, kneeling before a private altar to the Machine God in his cell, he heard him. The singular, thunderous footfalls of divinity itself as it approached down the corridor. The Emperor. [i]The Omnissiah.[/i] Augor began to subvocalize the previously mental Cant Mechanicum litanies he had been reciting for the past half-hour, now muttering along to the audible Lingua-Technis static hiss of the nearby vox-caster. The door opened. Augor's breath caught in his throat. There it was - the electromagnetic bloom was his. Augor's empty eye-sockets were utterly blind, but he still had his Emperor-gifted Ether Sight. He raised his head, smoothly rose to his feet, and turned to gaze at glory itself. Perfection greeted him. The Machine God! A colossus of gleaming iridescent metal, precisely and gracefully curving and contorted into the shape of a Human skeleton - with three great sets of wings embedded with bionic eyes, each beaming like shining supernovas encompassing the whole of the room. The eyes of its skull were galaxies, and its crown ran over with fractal halos of birefringent sparks and lightning. The God's organs were gem-encrusted cogitators and veinous mechadendrites that pulsed in and out in divine binary, iterating the fundamental constants of reality itself - and its blood, winding and spooling through its veins of circuitry, churning betwixt great clockwork mechanisms, was pure molten auramite. Augor's eyes were gone, but his tear ducts still worked - he wept tears of rapturous and joyous awe. His voice abandoned him and he let out a wordless sound of self-annihilated bliss, his hands automatically falling into a muscle-memory pattern of benediction and ritual gesture of worship. Eventually he was able to cry out a single word as he bowed his head in simple reverence. "[i]Omnissiah![/i]" He choked. The silence that followed that word was deafening. A moment passed. Perhaps it had been decades, or centuries. What meaning was time, in the presence of the Infinite? "Augor Astren." The voice was hard - stern and...was that disappointment? [i]Shame?[/i] Perhaps even contempt - it was difficult to gauge. Augor looked up, and the Omnissiah was no more. Before him stood just a man. A man standing taller even than Augor himself, wearing immaculate golden armor, with perfectly chiseled statuesque features and a dazzling radiant aura - but just a man nonetheless, and nothing more. His features, if handsome and perfectly sculpted, were even somewhat plain. His eyes, though intensely penetrating, had but an ordinary sort of spark to them. Had he still eyes of his own, Augor might have blinked reflexively in confusion. He quickly gathered his wits together though - this was but a test. The Omnissiah was omnipotent - the dispersion of all knowledge and of the Motive Force was but a trial of the worthy, of their chosen people. Augor knew then that what he had just seen before had [i]truly been[/i] the Machine God. What he witnessed now - was its Human Avatar, the Omnissiah - embodying the limitations of fallible flesh even in its omniscient perfection, and itself a test of resolve and acceptance. "I am, Omnissiah!" He answered feverishly. "I - am I worthy of your lineage?" "...You are a Primarch. Of this, there is no doubt." The Omnissiah said in that same stern force. "Cease your gestures and stand honestly before me, not in worship or in praise. I am no god, for there are none and never have been. I am the Emperor of All Mankind - and I am not your Omnissiah." Augor instantly straightened himself to his full and intimidating height - still standing well short of the Emperor's stature - and relaxed his hands and arms. He understood. His worthiness was being tested. His true worth might hang in his answer. "Of course...Emperor. Your accord with the Mechanicum, the Holy Synod, and the Fabricator General of Mars was simply an arrangement of mutually beneficial political convenience for the sake of uniting all of Mankind. You have come here to impress upon me the imperative nature of the Imperial Truth, despite my exemption from it according to the Treaty of Mars. You are not a god, merely the Emperor of us all." Augor paused. "I pray, of course, that you will understand that despite knowing that truth...you shall always be, now and forever, my Omnissiah - my Emperor." "Your obstinacy is not useful - and sets a dangerous example." The Emperor replied. "It is just as you said. You and your brothers are far beyond the delusions and lies that lesser men will tell themselves and others. You must be greater than the childish fantasies than have been foist upon you. My arrangement with the Mechanicum was a necessary deceit for the betterment and unification of all mankind - a deception which will not survive our species' inevitable ascension. I have delivered my assurance already that I will honor the Treaty of Mars to the Synod of Last Light, but you will accept Imperial Truth - privately, if not publicly - here and now before me." Silence reigned as Augor considered the test the Omnissiah had laid before him - noticing, as he did, the deepening frown on his perfect and unblemished face. There. That would be his inspiration. The Flesh is Fallible. "Of course, my Emperor. Though I must, of course, do my part to ensure that for the sake of political convenience if nothing else, I continue to uphold the creed of the Mechanicum in public. The Imperial Truth is reality as it should be, but many would look askew if I were to ignore the Treaty of Mars. You have my assurance that the Imperial Truth shall be what I know, even if I must say otherwise in my guidance of others along the course of your greater plan for all mankind." "You cannot hide your true thoughts from me." The Omnissiah said, and Augor instantly knew it to be true, for the Omnissiah was omniscient in all manners and ways. "Your conceited and selfish adherence to the lunacy of the Mechanicum is nothing more than simple and base delusion. You will abandon it. There is no future for you in my legions unless you do so here and now." "My Emperor...I must confess the vulnerable nature of my flesh." Augor tried. "I have been taught nothing else in all my life. No other way or belief. I will genuinely endeavor to do as you say. To unshackle myself from these chains of faith of bind me. I will confront these delusions of my faith and attempt to rid myself of them - honestly and fully, with the most discerning rationale and skepticism that I can muster. I will try to embrace the Imperial Truth." As he spoke the tainted words, Augor knew that as he spoke, he must do in reality as well. If he were not wholly truthful, both to the Omnissiah as well as to himself, he would not be leaving this room. "I do however beg your lenience - these are not trappings I can abandon in the span of a single moment. Not even we, your sons..." He faltered for a moment, his voice almost cracking before he recovered and continued. "...Have your strength. Your will. Your conviction and certainty. I cannot accept your Imperial Truth - as I stand now, I am mentally incapable of doing so. I do promise however - I will, to the fullest extent I am capable, attempt to change myself so that one day - standing in your presence once more - I will be able to show you that I have made my peace and accepted it, wholly and honestly. Until then...I cannot assure you of what is not true. It is more than that I am merely exempt from the Imperial Truth - as I stand before you now, it defies me, for I am not worthy of it." The Omnissiah's expression remained hard. Stern, thin, and unamused. A faint trace of what could almost be anger stalked across its brow - or was that disgust? "I accept your promise." The Omnissiah said with a cold and stinging air. "You will remain here until I summon you." He then turned and left Augor's cell. Nearly a full minute after the Emperor had left, Augor's head sank once again in feverish ecstasy. "Your grace and your mercy are as boundless as your wisdom...[i]Omnissiah[/i]..." He whispered in Cant Mechanicum.[/hider][/hider] [hider=Stargazers Legion][u][b]Legion Name:[/b][/u] Stargazers (Originally known as Warhounds) [u][b]Legion Number:[/b][/u] XII [u][b]Legion Strength:[/b][/u] Due to the near devastation of the original legion during the Rangdan Xenocides, the present-day Stargazers Legion has only an approximate average of 40,000 Astartes. It is noteworthy however that the Legion has a vast number of subcults, orders, and legions from the Mechanicum filling out its ranks which in a sense, make the Stargazers legion drastically larger than most others in terms of numerical composition. [hider=Armor Appearance]A newly and fully-initiated Astartes of the Stargazers Legion who has yet to design their own servo-harness and whose tabard is lacking in personalized embroidery patterns. Note that most Stargazers Astartes possess self-designed decorative patterns for their tabards, usually signifying noteworthy campaigns they have participated in with mono-servitors weaving duplicates as necessary. [img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/699c48ee-7856-401c-99e8-d937987fe028.png[/img] Many of the Legion's Astartes, particularly past the rank of Lieutenant, are Tech-Marines with increasingly elaborate and personally modified armor. The standard tabard is typically abandoned in favor of elaborate ceremonial embellishment of the armor itself. [img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/dd374c9c-3ea9-4fe3-812c-8f89b8f30a3d.png[/img] Heavy bionic modifications and replacements amongst Captains and other veteran Astartes are considered ordinary, though they are not mandatory. A bare minimum threshold of sophistication and development for personalized armor and weaponry is required for most officers however. Captains in particular are expected to craft their own Iron Halos as part of their ascension rites, and the use of a servo-harness in some capacity becomes a requirement. The degree of personalization and development invested in each suit of armor by the rank of Captain is occasionally significant enough to qualify as Artificer armor, indicative of the technical prowess and proficiency of the Stargazers marines. [img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/bff00a52-a95b-402b-adef-179de90c7e7f.png[/img] The Legion's symbol, always displayed on the LEFT shoulder pauldron, is a single simplified eye, drawn as a horizon boundary looking upwards into a field of stars, with a number indicative of Macroclade affiliation. The RIGHT shoulder pauldron always displays, in contrast, the standard image of the Cog Mechanicum. Variations upon the latter symbol are typical to designate Battalion affiliation, with highly stylized and drastic flourishes being used to distinguish individual Companies. The more veteran and distinguished a Company, the more elaborate the insignia tends to become. [center][b][u]End of Armor Appearance Section[/u][/b][/center] [/hider][u][b]Warcries:[/b][/u] The most frequent battlecries recorded by Historitors are as follows: "For the Quest Unending!" "Remember Vaomir!" "Victory is Preordained!" "For the Omnissiah!" A discarded and defunct battlecry remains recorded in the form of "Remember Rangdan!", the use of which is prohibited by Legion regulation. [hider=Hierarchy]The Stargazers Legion, by deliberate design of its Primarch, has been completely restructured to mirror the hierarchy of Imperium Compliant Forge Worlds and that of the Mechanicum of Mars. It is referred to collectively as an Ordo (the Ordo Astranoma) rather than a Legion. Astartes Space Marines make up only a single branch of the hierarchy, itself being called the Astartes Legio, being a parallel to the Skitarii Legions normally entailed in the Mechanicum Hierarchy. The Ordo Astranoma does not have an analogue to either the Ordo Reductor or its own dedicated Titan Legion. However, it is to be noted that the Ordo Astranoma as a whole has a relationship to the Mechanicum similar to that of the Ordo Reductor, being treated as a largely independent and unfixed extension of the Mechanicum as a whole with broad privilege and command authority outside of its own Ordo hierarchy. All Astartes Officers within the Stagazers are considered to be Tech-Priests of the Mechanicum, although as they do not typically serve as Priests on a given Forge World they have no officially recognized status in the Holy Synod of Mars - giving them status that has been ascribed as honorary if nothing else. This status is treated with differing degrees of respect and consideration depending on the political affiliations of the individuals the Legion may be dealing with at any given time, as well as the actual technical proficiency and seniority of a given Officer. This does not bar them from becoming members of the Synod of a given Forge World, and it is not uncommon for Astartes Officers to hold Synod seats in distant and disparate Forge Worlds which may have been granted in reward for local campaign achievements. Officers can even be members of the Synod of multiple Forge Worlds in this way. In practice, most of these seats are entirely honorary, although it is not unheard of for venerable Astartes to partially retire and become full members of a given Synod they are seated in. [u][b][The Following is a stratified depiction of the Stargazer's Astartes Legion Hierarchy][/b][/u] [center][hider=Legion][u][b]Fabricator Intendant[/b][/u] Primarch Augor Astren (Full title Fabricator Veneratus Dominus Intendant) [u][b]Archmandriture[/b][/u] Mercaerath Kyrius, Legion Equerry and immediate successor to the Primarch (Full title Archmandriture Veneratus Dominus) [u][b]Archmagos Praetors[/b][/u] The Legion's Praetorian Guard. [b][u]Archmagos Consuls[/u][/b] Legion special representatives and chiefs, such as the Chief Apothecary. [hider=Macroclades]The Stargazer Legion consists of approximately 40 Macroclades, which are the equivalent of Legion Chapters. Each Macroclade contains approximately 1000 Astartes, 2000 Skitarii, 250 Legio Cybernetica Robots and Warform Servitors, and a varying number of affiliated conventionally ordained Tech-Priests. [b][u]Archmagos Dominus[/u][/b] Equivalent to the Lord Commanders of Chapters. [b][u]Archmagos Locum Praetor[/u][/b] Bodyguards for the Macroclade's Command elements. [b][u]Archmagos Locum Consuls[/u][/b] Senior Specialists and advisors, bearing additional titles indicative of expertise. [hider=War Cohorts]Each Stargazers Macroclade contains 2 War Cohorts, which are the equivalent of Legion Battalions. Each War Cohort contains on average 500 Astartes, 1000 Skitarii, 125 Legio Cybernetica Robots, etcetera. The Second War Cohort of every Macroclade is standardized and are highly uniform in composition. The First War Cohorts of the Macroclades are commonly heavily specialized or otherwise irregular in composition, with dedicated force allocations for a particular intended purpose. More First War Cohorts of the Macroclades are standardized than not however, and it is not unusual for multiple Stargazers Macroclades containing numerous uniform War Cohorts to have only a single specialized War Cohort amongst them. [b][u]Archmagos Locum Dominus[/u][/b] Equivalent to Battalion Commanders. [b][u]Magos Praetors[/u][/b] Bodyguards for the War Cohort's Command Elements. [b][u]Magos Consuls[/u][/b] Specialists and advisors, bearing additional titles indicative of expertise. [hider=Maniples]Each War Cohort is comprised of 5 Maniples, which are the equivalent of Legion Companies. Each Maniple has 100 Astartes on average with an according composition of supporting Skitarii and Legio Cybernetica elements. Depending on whether they are sorted within the First or Second War Cohort of a Macroclade, Maniples can either be highly uniform or irregular in composition. Even First War Cohorts lacking a distinct specialization might have irregularly arranged Maniples owing to some internal tradition or preferred order of battle. [u][b]Magos Dominus[/b][/u] Equivalent to Company Commanders. [u][b]Magos Locum Praetors[/b][/u] Bodyguards for the Company's Command Elements. [b][u]Magos Locum Consuls[/u][/b] Specialists and advisors, bearing additional titles indicative of expertise. [hider=Squads]Each Maniple is divided into four squads of 25 Marines each with an according composition of supporting Mechanicum elements. Each squad is further subdivided into 4 Fire Teams of 6 Marines each with 1 Sergeant in each Fire Team. All four Fire Teams are commanded by a single Captain. Although Fire Teams are distinguished between for organizational efficiency, it is against standard operating procedure for a Maniple to split up or disperse significantly - a left-over surviving habit of the days when the Stargazers were still newly diminished and overly cautious. The myriad battlefield conditions that would normally give rise to the necessity of splitting Fire Teams off from the main body of the Maniple are instead regularly delegated or entrusted to attached Skitarii elements, while the core Astartes Maniple serves as the ceramite-clad fist and heart of the formation.A standardized Maniple will contain a 2:1:1 ratio of Tactical Fire Teams, Devastator Fire Teams, and Terminator Fire Teams respectively on average. The Stargazers traditionally eschew the use of Assault and Scout Fire Teams due to their lower Legion numbers and in favor of dedicated Skitarii support elements. During larger and more protracted campaigns, it is common for multiple Fire Teams of the same disposition to aggregate into solid specialized Squads rather than retaining the nominal mixed Fire Team elements amongst each Maniple, which allows for appropriate force concentration relative to the scale of a given campaign or conflict. [b][u]Magos Locum Dominus:[/u][/b] Equivalent to Company Captains or Lieutenants. These are the most Junior Officers in the Stargazers Astartes Legion, but not within the greater Stargazers Ordo - comprised of the Skitarii Legion and Legio Cybernetica cohort which necessarily contain a myriad of Lower Priesthood and Laypriests. Sergeants, entrusted with directing and rallying individual Fire Teams, are often only accorded the authority of Squad Veterans and only informally comprise the Maniple's command elements.[/hider][/hider][/hider][/hider][/hider][/center] This hierarchy of the Stargazers Astartes Legion is integrated and parallel to the hierarchy of Tech-Priests in the Ordo. It is thus ordinary for Astartes Officers to lead non-Astartes squads as support elements attached to their Legion squad. This is not always the case however, and on occasion it has been known for high-ranking non-Astartes Tech-Priests to take command of Squads, Maniples, or even entire War Cohorts - although this occurring with Macroclades is almost entirely unheard of (with a few notable exceptions). In practice, the joined command structure means that the Ordo Astranoma is almost always deployed as a combination of both Astartes alongside conventional Mechanicum infantry and military elements as opposed to just one or the other as is typically observed with standard Astartes Legions and the Taghmata of individual Forge Worlds. The elaborate senior hierarchy of the Stargazers Astartes Legion alongside the regular uniformity of several of its constituent subgroups often grants a false impression of a rigidly structured and tightly coordinated force. In truth, the entire hierarchy is built upon the loose and somewhat lackadaisical foundation of the Maniple Fire Teams. A common criticism of the Stargazers by experts is that their entire force of regulars are haphazardly arranged around Cults of Personality centered around the Maniple Captains, with sergeants having only informally recognized authority and predictably leading to miniature power vacuums and interpersonal conflicts whenever a Captain dies or becomes either reprimanded or promoted. The reason for this slapdash disorganization at the foundation relates back to the Legion's restructured hierarchy being predicated on the organization of the Mechanicum's own Taghmatas, which structurally mirror the standard composition of an Astartes Legion except, critically, at the lowest level of organization. Many analysts have attributed this disorganization at the Maniples level as having been the leading cause of the Legion's catastrophic losses during the Rangdan Xenocides. In the proceeding century and a half since Rangdan, the dynamic has remained the same but has developed a new point of equilibrium. Each individual Stargazers Maniple practically adopts the culture of a subcult of the Mechanicum unto itself, with individual Captains approaching the renown of living saints within their 25-man universe, whose word is typically unquestioned and unopposed save by the higher pantheon of Senior Officers within the Legion. Exceptional Captains breed peerlessly capable Maniples while the incapable inevitably lead to dissolution and decreased productivity, which has contributed in part to the Stargazers slow rate of reconsolidation since the Rangdan Xenocides. The failing of a Maniple Captain often leads to the failing and redistribution of the entire Maniple - or at least those who survive. Despite these marked drawbacks, the unusual command structure or lack thereof at the Maniples level affords itself to a number of discrete strengths. The Maniple Lieutenants are always jockeying amongst themselves not only for approval and favor from the Maniple Captain, but also race and compete with each other to develop the most bleeding-edge technical proficiency and expertise amongst the Maniple in anticipation that one of them will some day be deemed worthy to ascend to Captaincy themselves in addition to attaining the vaunted title of Magos Locum, effectively becoming honorary Tech-Priests in the process. A reflection of this same jockeying and competition occurs amidst the Maniple Fire Teams. Stargazers Maniples therefore compromise, even compared to other equivalent Legion Squads, heavily modified, effective, and battle-tested armaments and munitions, and a plethora of knowledgeable and technicians and experts with a broad and diverse range of applicable battlefield skills and capabilities. Or in brief - Maniples that manage to solidify around an effective Captaincy form a comparatively superior fighting force compared to normal Legion Squads, with abundant adaptive and tactical capabilities that allow them to manuever and engage in warfare ordinary Astartes could not even begin to contemplate. Maniples that cannot manage to solidify in this manner tend to be lackluster, undriven, and prone to either dissolution or routing - especially and even substantially moreso in comparison to the Squads of other Legions. [center][b][u]End of Hierarchy Section[/u][/b][/center] [/hider][hider=Dramatis Personae][hider=Archmandriture Veneratus Dominus Mercaerath Kyrius]Archmandriture Mercaerath Kyrius originally hails from the planet of Tarsis, having aspired to join the ranks of the Stargazers ever since Primarch Augor Astren visited the planet in 900.M30 - being one of numerous individuals who elected to do so following the planet's compliance. He was the only one to survive the trials and treatments necessary to become an Astartes, and started out at the lowest ranks, working his way up to become one of the Legion's Praetors through what some might call an unremarkable string of participatory actions in largely successful and one-sided campaigns. He is one of the few Astartes in the upper hierarchies of the Legion who is not a devout worshiper of the Omnissiah or an adherent to the faith of the Mechanicum. He is, quite simply, the Legion's man, loyal only and singularly to the Primarch and the soldiers of the Ordo Astranoma. He can recite the creed Mechanicum from memory and is rated as a qualified theological scholar despite being forward with admitting he only upholds the principles and ideals of the Mechanicum because that is how the Primarch would want it. He and Augor have closely bonded over the years with Mercaerath always having a relatable word, story or proverb to share with the Legion which the Primarch would not otherwise be able to effectively impress himself. The simple Astartes soldier, in many ways, is able to solidify and humanize the cold and mechanical connections between the members of the Legion and add the personal spark to the Primarch's connections that would otherwise be absent. Augor has since come to rely on Mercaerath as the legion's father figure, able to connect with its soldiers where Augor himself is unable to despite his oratory skills.[/hider] [hider=Archmagos Apothecary Corneceus Sicanus]The senior-most Apothecary in the Stargazers Astartes Legion, Corneceus in infamous amongst Apothecaries, particularly amongst other legions, for refusing to administer the Emperor's Peace to even the most critically injured and anguished of fallen Astartes. Taking after the habits of the Mechanicum, he is of the opinion that no mortal injury is so great that a Marine cannot continue to serve the Omnissiah. He is quick to cauterize, amputate, and install bionic prosthetics - it is rumored that he has retrieved the Progenoid Glands of hundreds of fallen warriors only to then remove their still-living heads for installation upon a cybernetic chassis. His methods and his teachings, disseminated through the Apothecarions of the Stargazers, has left the Astartes of many other Legions filled with dread at the thought of fighting alongside the Stargazers only to become mortally wounded and subsequently 'saved' by the horrifying ministrations of Corneceus and his ilk.[/hider] [hider=Archmagos Explorator Mephitor Fabrigistus]Explorator Mephitor is the voice of Mars within the Ordo Astranoma. As half of the Ordo's purpose is to further the ascension of Humanity and to seek glory in the name of the Omnissiah, so too the other half is the Mechanicum's eternal Quest for Knowledge - overseen and observed by the scrutinizing gaze of Explorator Mephitor, who commands the Ordo's fleets in immediate seniority with only the Primarch and Archmandriture having greater authority. Although officially he is only present in the role of a consultant and advisor to the Primarch, there are few illusions that he is anything else other than the Holy Synod's voice in the Ordo's ear. His presence and influence in the Ordo, amongst other factors, adds to the suspicion amongst other Legions as to whether the Stargazers are as independent as the Emperor originally designed - or whether they are now purely a political tool of the Mechanicum.[/hider] [hider=Praetor Alpha Primus Andron Axaltus]The Commander of the Ordo Astranoma's Skitarii Legion. It is common knowledge that even most of Andron's brain is Genetor-designed neuron-circuitry, as he was a vat-grown soldier of the Mechanicum designed from conception to be one of the Skitarii. He is known for his unsettling but surprisingly disarming sense of humor as well as for his startlingly cogent and practical grasp of terrestrial and astro logistics alongside the practical realities of being a soldier of both the Mechanicum and the Ordo Astranoma specifically. He acts as an ear to the ground for Ordo Command amongst their own rank and file on top of his nominal duties, and he also holds the distinguishment of being the single most skilled melee combatant in the entire Ordo, having personally battled and executed no less than six Ork Warbosses and numerous Warp Witches in a series of duels and protracted firefights. He is considered to be the Legion's point-man and poster-figure, and even the Astartes find inspiration in his accomplishments - even if they are unsettled by the knowledge that his body mass is effectively less than 2% flesh.[/hider] [hider=Baron Sigveyr Archarnon]A Questor Mechanicum Baron from the Knight World of Caelrumoste. He and his entire lineage of retainers have been permanently assigned to attend to Ordo Astranoma, and have sworn new vows of fealty directly to the Ordo and its masters specifically. The Baron was required to abandon a decadent personal lifestyle in order to do this - and many of his armsmen were cybernetically lobotomized during their induction into the Ordo and permanently grafted into their armigers for the sake of efficiency, most of whom were close personal friends and bondsmen of the Baron. He is a very terse, private man - some speculate that such abandonment has largely drained him of the will to live, outside of battle and the opportunity to be one with the Machine. He is noteworthy for having a personal scryerskull that is hard-tethered to his cortex which accompanies him at all times, day and night.[/hider] [hider=Magos Veneratus Dominus Tienxia Urcurz]Originally simply a field command Magos of the Magos Secutarius, Tienxia is the only one of the exceptionally few historical cases of a Tech-Priest who has commanded Macroclades of the Ordo Astranoma as opposed to an Astartes. During the Vaomir Campaigns, a Warp Witch used a massive, chain-curse Warp Rite to systemically dismantle the command hierarchy of the Ordo's 13th Macroclade using tactical information thought to have been obtained from Warp Divination. Tienxia was the last surviving senior officer in the entire Clade. At the time, she simply took over command of the Macroclade and drove a breaching assault to disrupt the ritual site, precluding additional attacks of that nature and then surrendering Command to a Junior Astartes Commander from the 18th Macroclade who had been mobilized to retake control. Tienxia received a commendation for their vigilance under pressure and was graced with the honored rank of Veneratus. However, since that day, in every single campaign the 13th Macroclade has taken a part of, every Senior Commander leading it has either died or been incapacitated in a string of suspicious coincidences which have always led Tienxia to once more take temporary command over the Macroclade. Rumors abound that the Macroclade itself has been cursed, or that Tienxia is a secret Heretek Psyker. Ordo Command has formally investigated Tienxia no less than four times for suspected Techno Heresy and found her above reproach every time, but her presence within the hierarchy has begun to negatively affect morale and some think it is only a matter of time before she is cast out for good...[/hider] [Hider=Artisan Malagra Veneratus Prime Numilus Grirkov]A Lectro-Maester of the Magos Secutarius, Numilus leads the Ordo's own Mechanicum Subcult of Electropriests. As a Lectro-Maestro, he is hailed as a Prophet of the Omnissiah - and as a senior member of the Prefecture Magisterium, he bears the authority and privilege of declaring Excommunicate Traitoris as well as Edicts of Obliteration as writs of persecution against Techno Heresy. He is both a religious icon and an oppressive inquisitorial judge of character and propriety. He is infamous for his condemnation and summary execution of members of the Ordo Astranoma whom he deems have been found guilty of Techno Heresy, and his fanatic ideals have spread to his Acolytes - the Electro-Priests of the Ordo Astranoma. In addition to their normal combat roles in the Taghmata, they have also come to pull double-duty as military police, making them regular and unnerving sights amongst the Ordo's ranks. They are just as likely to sing high sermons of victory and glory for the Omnissiah and all mankind as they are to identify and publicly execute soldiers they find wanting.[/hider] [hider=Archmagos Biologis Genetus Veneratus Carnelan Solisios]The much-acclaimed Mechanicum Genetor Carnelan is credited with the development of numerous synthetic xeno-viruses used to utterly exterminate multiple Xenos species encountered over the course of the Ordo Astranoma's history, most prominently including the Melkeji Parasites as well as the Ak'Haireth Symbiotes. Although famed and praised for his extermination of xenos, he is originally a vat technician who specialized in the growth and creation of gene-modded Humans and Abhuman varieties - and rumors persist that he has been in ongoing communications with the Imperium Administratum concerning a secret project he has been working on with their assistance for some time. Whatever the truth of the matter, he has been classed as an Ordo VIP, with his own Praetorian Guard and permanent oversight from the Prefecture Magisterium. His Acolytes are omnipresent during the Ordo's campaigns, sampling not only xenos material, but also the material of disparate Human and abhuman cultures..[/hider] [hider=Magos Locum Veneratus Praetor Seydaros Tolerrus]An original Veteran who was a member of the original War Hounds legion, and one of the few who survived the Rangdan Xenocides. Thoroughly traumatized by the horror of the Rangdan crusade, Seydaros became a death-seeker who would throw himself into extreme combat conditions in the hopes of dying with glory. Unfortunately, he was simply too good at utterly unmaking his enemies and never encountered a circumstance so overwhelming that he would not come out on top. He was eventually warned by Senior Officers that his reckless behavior, even if it did not pose a great risk to himself, was jeopardizing the safety of his battle brothers in combat conditions - and that if he continued he would be severely sanctioned. Seydaros then resorted to the extreme in order to free himself of the burden of his mental trauma - he willingly underwent the Rite of Pure Thought, replacing the right hemisphere of his brain with a cogitator to rid himself of his fallible Human motives. This, too, did not work quite as he intended. Although the process reduced him to a taciturn and stalwart machine of cold logic for several decades, the ability of the Human mind and its ability to recovery and compensate for even severe neurological impediments over time won out. Slowly, over the course of a century, Seydaros has regained a semblance of his original emotional and creative ability due to the remaining left hemisphere of his brain adapting to the removal of the right. Once more haunted by the horror, shame, and guilt of the Rangdan Xenocides, Seydaros had in the interim become a veteran of the Stargazers Legion and particularly of the Vaomir campaign - and was finally able to live with his horrid memories, alongside the new ones.[/hider][/hider][hider=Tactical Doctrine]The tactical doctrine of the Stargazers Astartes Legion is simply one of combined tactical deployment with permanent attachments from the assembled Taghmata of Augor Astren's Ordo Astranoma, and vice versa. In a sense, the Astartes Legion has been swallowed whole by an independent and nomadic element of the Mechanicum. This is a wholly deliberate and intentional doctrine devised by the Legion's Primarch. Despite this doctrine of combined technological and military supremacy, the Ordo Astranoma's major deployments and campaigns, on the surface, are not altogether drastically different in composition from the campaigns of other Space Marine Legions. This is due to a combination of the Ordo being based around Macroclade-Based Fleetgroups, and the Astartes Legion's comparatively small number of Chapter-Equivalents compared to the other Space Marine Legions under the other Primarchs. The Ordo Astranoma has fewer Chapter Fleetgroups to spread around the galaxy than most of the Primarchs' more conventional Legions. The overall appearance of an Ordo Astranoma fleetgroup thus bears a strong resemblance to that of an Underpowered Legion composition with a strong reinforcement of Mechanicum ships and troops. The Ordo Astranoma's advantage lies in that their Astartes never fight alone, but with numerically significant Mechanicum support, and vice versa. The obvious disadvantage of this doctrine is that of slower tactical maneuverability overall. Although Astartes Techmarines have command-priority over Taghmata elements and can therefore direct Taghmata groups as though they were actual Tech-Priests, the sheer bulk of most Taghmata groups combined with the Astartes Legion results in more cumbersome maneuvers and tactics overall, as well as a higher rate of causalities and a lower projected immediate combat strength since Astartes do not do the bulk of the fighting in the Ordo despite always being present, simply by a degree of proportion given how numerically superior their Mechanicum attachments are. The strengths of this doctrine is that the Ordo Astranoma, overall, is highly adaptive in numerous different situations and is not limited by the specialties or expertise of a limited number of Astartes Legion veterans. The Ordo is also well-equipped and able to manufacture a solution to nearly any problem that presents itself if given the time to do so. The Ordo Astranoma, much like the Ordo Reductor, is well-known for the staggering and diverse array of advanced technology available to it that would normally be outside of the means of other Legions.[/hider][hider=Ideology]The Stargazers Astartes Legion are, almost as a whole, adherents to the faith of the Mechanicum and worshipers of the Holy Trinity of the Machine God, the Motive Force, and the Omnissiah. They are all exempt from the tenants of Imperial Truth (although not all of them reject it), and as a Legion embrace the Mechanicum's ongoing Quest For Knowledge as their primary pursuit, alongside the furtherance and elevation of Mankind as the galaxy's dominant species as well as for the glory of the Emperor in his aspect as the Omnissiah. All Officers in the Stargazers are honorary (and occasionally actual) Tech-Priests. Techmarines with servo harnesses and heavy bionic augmentation are not uncommon amongst them, and most of their number possess casual to advanced technical and mechanical proficiency. They are, in effect, an Astartes Legion acting as an extension of the Mechanicum, holding both the will of the Emperor and the aims of the Mechanicum up as dual - and equal - goals.[/hider][hider=Relations][b][u]The Emperor of Mankind:[/u][/b] There exists an unspoken underlying tension between the Emperor and the Ordo Astranoma - which exists wholly as a perversion of his Astartes Legion, an extension of his own will and power which has been reshaped and corrupted by the influence and resources of the Mechanicum. Officially relationships between the two bodies are cordial and reverent in turn - the Ordo Astranoma views the Emperor as a living god and follows his decree without hesitation or delay. The Emperor, however, is often given to handling the requests and issues of the Ordo Astranoma with more deliberation than often necessary, or otherwise deferring judgement for unusually long spans of time to the point where his simply unspoken snubbing of the Ordo has made clear to all who accept the Imperial Truth that the Ordo has fallen on the far side of his patience. [b][u]Adeptus Administratum:[/u][/b] The Ordo Astranoma possesses a hierarchy that mirrors that of the Mechanicum - and likely reflects the Mechanicum's connections and bureaucracy. The Ordo remains in constant contact with Terra via a distribution of Astropathic Relays from which the Administratum receives a continuous and unending deluge of reports, analytics, intelligence, requests, and even instructions. Even the immense volume of communications traffic in this vein, however, is but a drop in the ocean compared to the ongoing communications between the Administratum and the Mechanicum of Mars itself - and as such, the Ordo Astranoma tends to occasionally be lost, overlooked or otherwise mixed-in with the logs of its parent organization. They are rarely treated with explicit deference unless their communications are explicitly headed and authorized by a member of the Ordo's Astarte Legion or otherwise by the Primarch himself. [b][u]Adeptus Arbites:[/u][/b] Although typically informed of the Mechanicum and the Ordo Astranoma's writs through the Adeptus Administratum, the Arbites and enforcers of Imperial Law treat the decrees of the Ordo as if they were the decrees of the Mechanicum. Declarations of excommunication and decrees of obliteration called for by members of the Prefecture Magisterium are relayed to the Arbites where pertinent by the Adeptus Administratum - however slowly - and the Adeptus Arbites then enforce those declarations as the will of the Emperor himself. The Prefecture Magisterium derives its authority directly from the Treaty of Mars and the Exigency of the Emperor personally - meaning that however stern the relationship between the Emperor and the Ordo might be, their writ is taken seriously by the enforcers of Imperial Law. [b][u]Excertus Imperialis:[/u][/b] The Mechanicum of Mars was already predisposed to look down upon the mundane and purely Human Imperial Army and Fleets of the Emperor. The Ordo Astranoma, comprised of a mixture of holy figures and exalted commanders of the Mechanicum alongside a child of the Omnissiah and a Legion of the Emperor's own Astartes - looks long and far down upon the Imperial Armsmen and their forces, often treating them as tertiary support elements even in critical crusade sectors. This has resulted in the development over time of a level of professional disdain and mutual contempt between the two bodies - not yet quite spilling over into a rivalry, if only because the Ordo Astranoma is hardly even a fraction of the greater Imperial Army's size. [b][u]The Mechanicum:[/u][/b] Augor Asten has been forever barred from holding seat in the Holy Synod of Mars or from ever setting foot on the red planet. The effuse of his molten eyes is enshrined there as a holy relic however, and veteran and exalted members of the Ordo Astranoma are known to make regular pilgrimages to Mars as a matter of course. The Ordo enjoys a vaunted status within the Mechanicum, being treated as though it had analogous or ever superior authority to the Ordo Reductor over the rest of the Mechanicum as a whole. There are many who see the Ordo as the most blessed union of the Mechanicum's spiritual core and ideals embodied in a child of the Omnissiah and one of his mighty legions - and so, to an extent, the Ordo is venerated and held as one of the Mechanicum's most sacred institutions. At the same time, however, there remains small numbers of the Mechanicum's hierarchy who remain secretly convinced that the Emperor is no God - and that both he and his children are false prophets. Although these small factions can do little to oppose the Ordo itself, they can, where able, go out of their way to be needlessly bureaucratic and obstructive. [b][u]The Citizens of the Imperium:[/u][/b] The Citizens of the Imperium view the Ordo Astranoma much as they would view any other branch of the Mechanicum - as perplexing, mysterious, unsettling, and that of a necessary evil. The leadership of a Primarch and the presence of an Astartes Legion makes little difference to the common man, as those vaunted elements are rarely seen unless battle is at hand. Even those who think highly or are grateful to the Ordo remain reluctant to praise it to openly, for fear and confusion that entertaining and offering praise of the Omnissiah might somehow be in violation of the Imperial Truth they have already accepted. The Ordo as a whole is thus something to be acceded to and expedited along its missions and ventures, hopefully to not be seen again anytime soon.[/hider][/hider]