[hider=Eiohsa izva Bronakavh]
[center][h1]Eiohsa izva Bronakavh.[/h1][/center]
[center][b][i]The Lady of Iron. Primarch of the Sixteenth Legion. The Spear of Ultima. The Lady Premier of Saravata. The Breaker of the Rangda. The Scion of Kayaamat. [/i][/b][/center]

[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/667651180872204299/867942869992886282/unknown.png[/img][/center]

[h3]Gender:[/h3] Female (usually)

[h3]Homeworld:[/h3] Kayaamat (described below in Saravata section)


[h3]Appearance:[/h3]
Height: Variable

Eiohsa has no true form as a byproduct of extensive mutation, possessing an ability to modify her physical being to an extent nearly as great as that of the Emperor himself. At times, she presents the appearance of a man sporting the same features, though mostly identifies with and presents as a woman.

[h3]Personality:[/h3]
Eiohsa izva Bronakavh is an unusual figure for a Primarch. Before the events of the Rangdan Xenocides she was known as a jovial, kindhearted and conversational woman, downright flirtatious with even the most lowly of mortal humans, and deeply passionate about her dreams for the future. She was known to dress flamboyantly, to take pride in the culture of the world from which she had come, and to be both a great patron of the arts and sciences and a great artist and scientist herself. Her paintings and sculptures still reside upon Kayaamat, monuments to a Primarch who, in truth, died along with countless others during the wars against the Rangdan. She was known for wild behaviour, not in keeping with the dignified nature one might expect of a Primarch. She engaged in dalliances with mortals chosen seemingly at random to lookers on. She would change her form at will for the entertainment of friends and strangers. She wore exquisite, daring outfits in shimmering arrays of incandescent colors, chosen from artisans upon her homeworld. Above all she represented a vibrant, shining beacon of light and hope for the people of the Imperium.

In the aftermath of the Rangdan Xenocides, Eiohsa is a shell of a Primarch, a broken woman, suffering from trauma incomprehensible by any other. She carries upon her being the weight of countless lives, and the stain of the loss of countless more. Her mind is encumbered with the memories of death. Trillions upon trillions of deaths in pursuit of the unification of humanity. The scouring clean of all life of entire sectors of formerly Imperial worlds. The mind bending weight of a trillion souls wiped from existence in a sudden, violent moment. The abilities conferred upon her by The Emperor bringing with them the experience of others that surround her in every form. Every shred of agony, fear, terror, sorrow, grief, and anger felt by the dying resonates within her mind, and it is only by the superhuman fortitude of a Primarch that she perseveres - but even so she perseveres in action alone.

A husk of who she once was, she now merely takes the form of a plain, unimpressive woman, she rarely smiles, sustains herself upon nutrient paste, dresses merely in the unadorned robes of a civil servant, and above all has never allowed herself a moment of respite. To relax, to rest, to do anything other than work constantly to unite the Imperium is unforgivable in her eyes, for only in ultimate success can she find atonement for her failings. She tries, and fails, to block emotion from her mind, to reduce herself to nothing more than a servant of the people of the Imperium. She has accepted the cruel reality and cold calculus of the wars she is forced to conduct, relying upon a rigidly mathematical approach to its conduct. To reduce the millions of lives spent in wars of unification to numbers and formulae is itself a crime - but to allow yet more lives to be lost to human failings an even greater one To falter in her duties is to fail once more, and to allow harm to come to humanity when she could have prevented it - yet another unforgivable crime. The Primarch of the Sixteenth Legion works, every day, towards the same utopian dream she held as a child centuries ago - even if it is a utopia she does not deserve to share in.

The faith of the Primarch is surely the most polarizing, divisive element of her character. Introduced to it deep within the underhive of Hive Bronakavh, the faith known as the Good Creed or Veravselennya as it is called in the native language of Kayaamat, has provided the Primarch with a guiding hand and strong moral compass throughout her years. While it is far from the dominant theme in her life, her faith and her adherence to its tenets are a key piece of who she is. The faith worships a “Great Universal Being”, known in Kayaamatian as Devan, or “divine one”. This Being is further represented by its Aspects, each representing their own values, virtues, and flaws to be overcome. To follow the Aspects in their good forms is to practice the philosophy of “Good Beliefs, Good Speech, and Good Actions” with respect to each of their domains, while taking care to control and excise from one’s soul the vices and failings that together represent evil - known as “The Malevolent Forces.” Upon a soul’s achievement of enlightenment, when they have followed the creed and its teachings well and cleansed themselves of failings over many successive lifetimes, the soul will ascend from the mortal realm and unite with the grand gestalt of Dev. The soul rests among trillions who have come before, a distinct part of the greater whole and sharing in the euphoria of divine existence.

With the discovery of the Emperor and his Imperium, some have taken to believing that He and Devan are one and the same. This interpretation is strongly condemned by Eiohsa, for by not only her own intuition but the very gifts provided by him, she knows the Emperor to be a man, perhaps the greatest man to have ever lived, but a man nevertheless.

The faith holds that, as the faithful grow stronger and as their prayers, thoughts, feelings, and actions fill the mortal plane with good - then the heaven beyond will in turn reflect this and bring good to the Materium. The Malevolent Forces must be defeated and driven back, their corrupting elements excised from life, temperance, kindness, love, strength, perseverance, and wisdom established in all, for the good of not only the temporal world but of the Heavens too. In an age of the ruthless, of the cruel, Heaven will lie in turmoil and so its effects will bleed into the realm of the living. With the triumph of good over evil, prosperity will follow; with the prevalence of evil over good, the fate of all is that of misery and violence; such is the burden upon humanity and all life that follow the good path.

[h3]Skills:[/h3]
[indent][b]Empire Builder: [/b][/indent] Eiohsa is an empire builder. She built from scratch the prosperous realm of Saravata on the eastern fringe. A genius of administration and governance, as well as conquest.

[indent][b]Artificer: [/b][/indent] Perhaps her greatest skill - Eiohsa is a natural born inventor. Before the Rangdan Xenocides she would spend her off hours designing new technologies for the Imperium, creating new and improved forms of standard equipment both for the Astartes and for the average soldiery. From her mind would spring wonders not conceived since the old age of technology. She conceived the most fabulous, wondrous pieces of technology, and then brought them to life to the amazement of all. It could be said without hyperbole that this should have been her true calling had the Emperor not decreed she be used for war. Many of her siblings use equipment of unparalleled quality and sublime excellence, fashioned by her hand specifically for them.

[indent][b]Savant:[/b][/indent] Eiohsa possesses a mind akin to that of a supercomputer, able to process information and calculations with greater rapidity than even the most heavily augmented of tech-priests. She can understand binaric speech without an implant, capable of deciphering it in real time without issue. She can almost immediately process the full workings of nearly any concept or technology she is presented with, and in short order begin to improve upon it in ways not possible since the dark age of technology. Her mind is as a razor keen blade, and anything placed before it is quickly analyzed and categorized, potential improvements theorized and tested.

[indent][b]Skill at Arms: [/b][/indent] Like all Primarchs Eiohsa is a masterful combatant and represents the pinnacle of human martial skill. Though she is a formidable combatant at range, her skill at artifice allowing her to levy a terrifying barrage of heavy ordnance against her foes, she is likewise a fearsome combatant in close quarters. Though no equal of the likes of Sarghaul or Nelchitl, her immense psychic powers in concert with her own excellent skill with many weapons make her an awesome sight to behold in battle at range or in melee.

[indent][b]Artist: [/b][/indent] Though it is a skill never used since the Rangdan Xenocides, Eiohsa was a consummate artist and philosopher, a scientist and scholar in countless fields. She wrote poetry of such beauty it brought tears to the eye, crafted sculptures and painted scenes that spoke more than a thousand words ever could of her dreams for the future. Though she has not done so since those dark times, buried deep within her burns the same spark of creativity.

[h3]Wargear:[/h3] While she is capable of utilizing many weapons, including terrifying pieces of ordnance normally mounted upon Imperial tanks, she has a few distinct weapons she is known to use especially often.
[indent][b]Armor:[/b][/indent] While her armor does not bear a name, it is a distinct piece of equipment in its own right. The armor is not so much armor as it is a bipedal vehicle of war that she is located inside of. Standing six meters tall, the armor turns the Primarch into a walking artillery battery. Integrated into its systems are mounting points for a punisher rotary cannon, plasma cannons, and conversion beamers. Built into her armor are active defense systems designed by her own hand, Auspex scanners to monitor the entire battlefield and issue orders in real time, and sophisticated command and control hardware mounted within enables her to monitor and control the battlefield down to the most minute of details if need be.

[indent][b]The Maw of Yaman:[/b][/indent] A fearsome weapon named for the relativistic jet emitted by the enormous black hole near Saravata. Surrounded by an area of pure emptiness, the Void of Yaman has at its heart the voracious black hole, hundreds of stars swallowed up within its accretion disk, from which come the deadly jets of matter and radiation. Eiohsa’s favored armament takes the form of a rotary bolt weapon, capable of spitting out thousands of massive shells 50mm in caliber and with myriad different payloads. Her armor is designed with hardpoints to allow for the mounting of the weapon and its massive stores of ammunition with ease.

[indent][b]The Ends of Reason:[/b][/indent] Powerful conversion beam weapons embedded into the gauntlets of her armor, the weapons are designs of her own make based upon the conversion beamers employed within the Imperium. Capable of rending apart the armor of a foe with terrifying ease in a powerful explosion of energy, they are a formidable part of her arsenal.

[indent][b]Atonement:[/b][/indent] A masterwork force spear of a quality second to none capable of changing in size and shape to suit either her normal form or the immense suit of armor she dons for war. It is rare for the weapon to see any use except in a formal setting, for when she takes to the battlefield there are few opponents who can draw within its range before their annihilation at her hand. Even so, those who draw within such range are mercilessly and efficiently dispatched by her hand. Upon its blade are inscribed the words of an old Kayaamatian prayer for the dead.

[h3]Assignment Grade: Alpha[/h3]
The Primarch of the XVI Legion’s abilities are formidable, rivalled only by her brother Kaldun and sister Nimue. In addition to the usual formidable array of powers available to a psyker of such magnitude, she displays remarkable abilities in other notable areas.

[indent][b]Empathic and Warpsight Ability: [/b][/indent]
The Primarch Eiohsa is perhaps the most powerful Empath in the galaxy. Gifted powerful abilities by the Emperor himself that are active without end, without respite, she perceives, as if her own, the thoughts of countless beings. To stand amidst a throng of humanity is to stand amidst a swirling vortex of emotion and thought. Though this ability can be scaled down or disabled entirely - she is at present unaware of it. Upon declaring the first Exterminatus of her command, during the Rangdan Xenocides, the Primarch was rendered catatonic for a time, unable to process or comprehend the deaths of ten million souls at once. She was unable to speak for a full day, and emerged from it a haggard wreck of a being. Tied to this, Eiohsa possesses a keenly sensitive ability to detect and analyze various warp phenomena to a degree well beyond that of the normal “witch-sight” displayed by psykers. The Primarch, when gazing upon another human being, sees not merely the corporeal vessel of their body, but te glowing essence of their very presence in the warp - the soul. Upon death, she can see and feel the soul of the fallen as it leaves its body. She feels the agony of trillions of souls trapped within the eye of terror while in proximity to the gaping rift in reality. For the Primarch, the Immaterium is not an intangible, imaginary thing, but something she herself witnesses every waking moment.

[indent][b]Shape Changing: [/b][/indent]
The Emperor, in creating the sixteenth primarch, gifted her with the ability to alter her form - and the perception of her form by those around her - to a limited degree. However, upon the scattering of the Primarchs across the stars, her incubation pod landed within the toxic mire of the underhive. To save itself from the toxins and the radiation that surrounded her, her physiology adapted and mutated in response. This limited ability ballooned wildly - and now, much like the Emperor himself, she possesses a potent ability to modify her body and its appearance or to create the illusion of such to appear to the viewer however they might most wish her to - the Primarch can shrink herself down to the size of a normal human and cloak her being, going unnoticed by normal humanity except by other powerful psykers. She can grow in size to greater than any of her kin, towering over the battlefield in a masterpiece suit of armor. She can change appearance of her form at will, shaping her body to whatever desired or creating the illusion of such, able to take on the guise of almost anyone or to create an entire fake being from scratch. Seemingly only eclipsed in breadth only by the Emperor himself, it can be said that she has no true physical form. The mutant, as it is known, strays from the ideal form of humanity as it evolved upon Terra - but the Primarch of the 16th [i]has no form[/i], such is the extent of her mutation.

[indent][b]Object Analysis and Reinforcement:[/b][/indent]
Eiohsa has the ability to analyze and immediately understand an object in its entirety no matter the mechanical complexity or state of disrepair. She can see, clear as day, not only the function and operation of an object, the inherent inefficiencies in its design, but its entire history of use. The concept of creation comes as naturally to her as does the act of breathing, and within Saravata hums the rebuilt technology of lost ages rebuilt by her own hand. Tied to this ability of hers, and perhaps far stranger is her seeming ability to augment the function of any object. A knife held in her hand will cut sharper and more cleanly, armor will turn aside the greatest of blows that might else have defeated it, and even her own mind can be fortified against the torment she faces - for what is her purpose but to serve humanity?



[hider=Biography:]
When the Chaos gods scattered the infant primarchs to the stars, setting their pods adrift in the eddying currents of the warp, some pods lingered for only a short time within it. Other pods remained within for centuries. Some pods came to rest upon worlds close to Terra itself, and still others were flung to the furthest reaches of the galaxy. And so it was that Incubation Pod XVI, containing the infant Primarch who would come to be known as Eiohsa, hurtled through the contaminated atmosphere of the hive world of Kayaamat on the eastern fringe of the galaxy. Crashing through the top layers of the great slab-like hive cities, her pod tunneled through layers of rockcrete and plasteel, through the underbelly of Hive Bronakavh, and into where the toxic seepage of countless generations of humanity mixed with the semi-molten mantle of the world. The pod was buried within layers of molten iron, the heat of radioactive decay keeping the metal liquid through the years, and it was through this sheet of flame that she crawled. It was through layers of blasted, molten rockcrete and through lakes of burning waste that the infant Primarch forced herself. Subsisting on nothing but the detritus of the underhive and the flesh of what mutated beasts dared attack the infant from the stars, she crawled for days alone before discovery by another human soul.

Her first true memory was of her sitting on the shore of a vast lake of fire, toxic sludge and industrial waste burning in eerie green and blue flames that illuminated the darkness of the hive sump. She wondered why she was there, and where the sky was. She knew of the planets and the stars - yet all that loomed above her was blackness and the decaying husks of ancient machinery and architecture whose creators had long since faded from living memory. She knew that, beyond where she now sat watching the glow of eternal flames, lay a universe of endless possibility. She knew that she was no natural creation, but some artifice of a being of vast knowledge, created by their hand for some purpose within this universe. She looked around her, at the decay and stagnation that filled this place. Her mind seized upon every item, every smallest detail, nook and cranny. The ancient machinery that filled the place was in disrepair, and she wondered why, for the means by which to restore them were obvious to her. Was this place abandoned? Was she alone down here, with nothing but the remnants of humanity to keep her company?

Who was she, she wondered. She knew she was human, born of a pod that had crashed upon this world - but she saw no fellow humans around her, and this too she wondered why. A word came to her, drifting through the shifting shadows within her mind that obscured what she desperately hungered for - Eiohsa. That was her name, she realized. She was Eiohsa. But what did the name mean? She wondered this as she pondered the universe and her surroundings. And as she surveyed the world around her, information fell into place within her mind, was categorized and analyzed, and a conclusion was reached. She would fix this place, whatever had happened to it. Within her burned concepts and ideas, words she had never heard yet which seemed to her the entire purpose of her being. She would build this place into a great work of art and restore everything broken that surrounded her. The year was 756.M30, and the world of Kayaamat would be forever changed.

The first humans she met were cruel, vindictive, and superstitious. Upon seeing a lone child in the wastes of the dregs beneath even the underhive they responded with gunfire - only to be astounded by her survival, seemingly unscathed. She was taken by them back to the ramshackle city beneath a city in which they dwelt. When they spoke to her, she understood them, even having never known another face before now.

And slowly, more of her gifts began to manifest. In patches, the feelings of others began to drift into her mind. And the hell of Kayaamat’s underhive warped a kind soul into one born of the bleakest nightmares. She had clawed her way to the top of the hierarchy, brutally subjugating all who stood before her. The maelstrom of suffering that was the underhive had seemingly torn from her her love for others and care for humanity. Steeped only in rage, despair, anger, lust, and a thousand petty schemes, deprived the full comprehension of others and soaking in everything that surrounded her, Eiohsa devolved into a cruel warlord. A tyrant of the underhive, who mercilessly slaughtered and butchered whatever foes dared present themselves before her. Her empire within it grew rapidly, easily eclipsing all others within. None could dare challenge her, the woman who created masterwork weapons and tools seemingly from little else but her own intuition, she who forced the Underhive into order.

But within her burned that same dream, the same dream as when she first awoke upon the shore of a burning lake. Dreams of utopia, of art and science, of peace and prosperity. Even through the hell of the Underhive, that dream survived, buried.

They came to her in the year 761.M30. They slowly united in the deepest depths of the underhive, from where she herself had come, buoyed by a strong religious conviction that set them apart from the filth of their surroundings, and set them apart from all others she had seen. A devotion to the original spirit of the old faith of Kayaamat and its empire. The first time she had truly known kindness and compassion even as she looked down upon them from a throne of iron, this motley assortment of mutants, cripples, and aliens did not bow before her as was her law. They merely spoke - and despite herself, despite the monster she had become, she listened. And it was then that the young Primarch learned of Devan. The embodiment of good, of light, of hope and love. These were concepts she knew, as she had known so many things from her first moment upon the shore of a lake of fire. But to feel them before her, to truly understand for the first time - a transformation occurred. She saw the universe with new eyes and remembered clearly her first memory, and with recollection came purpose. A conviction to uphold that dream.

Her empire beneath the hive swelled to encompass the full breadth of the underhive. An era of peace and prosperity descended upon it, ruled no more by a tyrant, but by benevolent decree. The lives of the people within flourished, buoyed as she produced technological marvels unimagined by those living below, restored ancient machinery to its full glory with a seeming innate understanding of their function, and the fell beasts and dark cults that preyed upon the people were exterminated with haste. Strict rule of law was enforced, guided by her hand. No more would the strong prey upon the weak, no more would any suffer undue hardship at the hand of another. A thriving society developed in the detritus and refuse beneath Hive Bronakavh, and those above took notice.

Simmering discontent and righteous anger at their rulers had long been a facet of life upon Kayaamat. The people lived in squalid conditions, mear starving while the wealthy feasted daily and lived in opulence. Many began to flee further below, taking refuge within Eiohsa’s empire beneath the hive. In 769.M30, the nobility of the hive sent their armies down below to eliminate the upstart and to enforce their social order.

In short order, the entirety of the force had been wiped out to the last. Against the genius of a Primarch, and the powerful weapons she had created for them, their defeat was never anything but inevitable. The gangs of Hive Bronakavh had been honed into a fearsome army, one united in purpose against their oppressors, and as they advanced out from beneath the hive, the people as one turned against those above them, rising up in open defiance. Even with the formidable defenses of the hive, their advance was inexorable, and within the span of two months it had been taken in its entirety. And then she learned of what she had created, as signals and communications from across the entire world poured in. Across the world, trillions of souls had joined in the rebellion against Kayaamat’s rulers. Many hives had fallen to their hands, and over two thirds of the world was now under the control of the rebel coalition. Hive Bronakavh, the largest and most powerful of them all, was not only the central communications hub of the world but host to powerful batteries of anti orbital weaponry and the symbolic heart of the world. She was offered, and accepted, command within the rebellion - second only to the leader of the coalition.

Though not officially its leader, she soon became such in all but name. Her excellence in war was eclipsed only by the wondrous things she created, and the skill with which she reorganized the world’s economy. Before the end of the year, they had subjugated the entire world, and their rebellion took to the stars. They took the vital agri-worlds that fed Kayaamat, they took the nearby hive worlds of Manahs and Uttran, and they continued on.

In orbit around the hive world of Velahm, engaged in a protracted siege that seemed unending, the war changed radically. On board her flagship, she was brought a haggard, grievously injured soldier - one wearing the insignia of the rebellion. As she opened her mouth to rebuke her own for treating a comrade in this way, she was cut off by the woman’s cries for mercy. Startled, she demanded a full explanation - and learned, to her horror, that the leader of the rebellion had turned against her and against the entire rebellion. He had dealt with the leaders of the old order, and in exchange for promises of power and wealth had declared her traitor to the rebellion, ordering all to shoot on sight.

Many disobeyed his order, joining with her as she drove a wedge through erstwhile allies, conducting a fighting retreat to the world of Kayaamat where she was welcomed with open arms, those hives and armies whose commanders followed the orders of the treacherous leader of the rebellion were overthrown by those beneath them.

Within a month of her return, all Kayaamat was under her authority. Promptly, Eiohsa began to adjust the production of the hives personally, no longer bound by the interference of others, cutting wasteful excess and gearing the manufactoria to support the pressing war effort. The output of Kayaamat would be turned towards ensuring the defence of its people. A year elapsed, marked by austerity and militarizaton - but even so, the living standards of the people rose, as did the world’s total industrial output. The high city spires were torn down or repurposed for the use of the people. Generous programs of social welfare uplifted many from a crushing, miserable existence eking out the barest scraps to cling to life. The underhives were cleared, the former gangs and dark cults that thrived amidst them rehabilitated or purged, respectively.

The greatest confrontation loomed, and Eiohsa set about preparing the world for the inevitable invasion. The world of Kayaamat became a fortress, an unbreakable bastion, guarded by a vast army from all walks of life; professional soldiers, volunteers from the hives, former gangers from the underhives, factory workers, all massed under her leadership. She drilled them relentlessly in warfare in all its forms, and prepared her world to be the rock upon which the tide of the enemy would break.

Against her armies, outfitted with advanced equipment designed by her hand, they stood no chance. Against her fortifications, constructed with her meticulous eye, they broke as a wave upon a cliff. Against her leadership, buoyed by the love and support of the people whom she championed, they were doomed to failure. Within the span of two months the entire invasion force had been wiped from the face of the galaxy. An entire battlefleet captured, destroyed, or scattered to the currents of the warp in flight. Entire armies gone, their soldiers dead, captured, or pledging loyalty to her and to her dreams of a brighter future.

The rebuilding of Kayaamat, however, took decades. The world would need to be converted from the capital of sprawling excess of the old nobility and put towards the betterment of its people - but Eiohsa had departed the world not a year after her victory. Leaving behind detailed orders for those beneath her, including the woman who would become her most trusted friend and confidant - Ayushmatki, she began to carve for herself a new empire in the stars, subjugating world after world at the head of her armies. Many bent at the mere threat of her arrival, or capitulated as soon as they entered orbit. Others resisted, and were swiftly brought to heel, the rulers cast down and new ones designated by her put in their place. At every turn, the former elites were stripped of their power and punished for their crimes. In their places were formed the governorships of Saravata, each world ruled by a council of handpicked individuals to help guide them into a brighter future. No more would the resources of the people go to line the pockets of the elites, residing in ivory towers above the concerns of those they ruled.

Worlds fell before them as Saravata grew, within twenty years encompassing the entirety of Kayaamat’s former empire of some hundred worlds. But onwards Eiohsa brought her conquest. The empire would grow larger. She would unite the galaxy under her rule, bring peace to shattered peoples across the stars, and all would prosper in an enlightened, better future.

Throughout this, her fleet chased down the old rulers of Kayaamat. They were hunted down like the rabid dogs they were, at times by her own personal fleet. One world to which one of them had fled stood out - her own logs referring to it simply as a ‘forbidden jewel’. Limited recordings indicated that while the planet seemed perfect for life, some unspoken agreement barred them from setting foot upon it. This malevolent lord had chosen this world as a refuge, and as she commanded the orbital battle against his own armada, an unknown enemy force appeared within auspex range, engaging the enemy fleet from the rear. The strange ships tore asunder the enemy fleet in concert with her own, and in short order, the enemy fleet was little but a glowing mass of slag, adrift without power or life in the void. Reclamation teams were notified and began to make their way en-route to recover the hulks and salvage them. The mysterious vessels remained, though, and communications opened between the two. They were Eldari as they called themselves, hailing from Craftworld Ceartas, defending what they called a Maiden World from the encroachment of human settlers.

Negotiations were terse, at first, the Eldar wary of a human unlike any they had seen before. A Farseer, upon seeing her, had ordered her own vessels to return their weapons to an idle stance, a gesture reciprocated in turn. Negotiations lasted for hours, exchanges were made, and an understanding was reached. A simple treaty was hashed out, one that Eiohsa would enforce to the best of her abilities - humans from Saravata would not land upon the Maiden world nor interfere with the activities of the Eldar. The Craftworld would be protected from harm whilst in the borders of Saravata as long as they themselves did not fire upon any. In exchange, the Craftworld would tell her of the futures divined by their Farseers, should they concern her or her people.

Her conquests and empire building continued without pause from that point on, and by the year 838.M30 her empire encompassed a significant 777 worlds. It was then, as she lead her conquering army out to expand the empire even further, that she at last encountered the Emperor and his Imperium. Ships wholly unlike her own loomed ahead in the void, positioned in orbit around the very same world she had intended to besiege. Normally, she would have ordered her fleet to their battle stations and demanded the surrender of the enemy force - but something within her told her otherwise. Not only did their scanners indicate that the foreign fleet was a massive force to be reckoned with, an inexplicable sixth sense held her back. Something was… off.

With a hesitance and fear that she had never before felt, she opened communications with the foreign flagship - a massive vessel that overshadowed even her personal battleship. Throughout the exchange, something about the foreign vessel felt oddly familiar. Or rather, something within it, upon the bridge of the mighty warship watching her even through the heavy armor of her own vessel. A being whom she had some long forgotten connection to. As negotiations continued her patience wore thin. At last, they touched down upon the planet she had intended to conquer, and she beheld a man whose very being was as though the home star of Kayaamat burned before her eyes. To stand before him was to burn in the light of a supernova. His very presence struck awe within her, and for the first time in her life she knew what it was to be inferior to another being. This man, clad in golden armor and regalia, surrounded by a cohort of no less magnificent companions, served by armies in the most splendid of uniform - compared to such magnificence what was she?

The Emperor told her who he was - though she already knew it before he even spoke. The Emperor of Mankind, ruler of a vast empire spanning the galaxy, the one who would reunite the galaxy under one banner. She had known petty tyrants claiming to be Supreme King of all the cosmos, and all had fallen before her in rapid succession. This man, this Emperor of humanity, [i]her Father[/i] as he called himself - she knew his words were truth. She had at last found the one responsible for her creation, and she rejoiced. They spoke for hours, perhaps days even - time seemed to lose all meaning. She bowed before him, pledging her fealty to his Imperium and to its people, swearing her undying loyalty to this cause. Saravata became part of his Imperium, an autonomous region upon the eastern fringe under its own laws and own administration.

She learned also of the truth of her existence, filling in that which she did not already know - that she was one of twenty Primarchs crafted by his hand, that 19 others like her had been scattered across the galaxy just as she had been. She was the fourth to be found, and she dreamed of meeting all of those like her. What grand plans for the future they had created, what wondrous works of art and science and philosophy would she find? She learned of the Legion that awaited her, the Sixteenth Legion - nicknamed the Wolves of Terra. She learned too, of the Emperor’s Imperial Truth - and rejected it. With the very same abilities he himself had given her, with the powers of logic and reason that he himself championed, she knew it to be falsehood. The Emperor was to her as a stone wall, and she could not tell what he thought as she rejected his Truth. She kept her head high as he rebuked her, only reaffirming her loyalty and the many convictions they did share.

With him was a detachment of the Sixteenth Legion itself, the full Legion hundreds of thousands strong she was told. They were her daughters - an iron juggernaut against whose inexorable advance their enemies would break and splinter. Her reunion with her daughters was anything but a joyful one. The Sixteenth Legion, drawn from the former region of Ursh, had another nickname - the Corpse Grinders. They were as if impersonal automatons of flesh, a rigid, hierarchical Legion fanatically devoted to the Emperor and his Imperial Truth. The stories she heard of their conduct chilled her to the bone. Such beings, such monsters, such callous butchers on a galactic scale - how could they be of her blood? But even as she spoke to them, their similarities became obvious, for her daughters had inherited her same powers of analysis and mathematical reasoning. But what they lacked was her empathy, her love for every life that surrounded her. She wept bitter tears, for these daughters of hers were what she had once been - cruel tyrants and warlords, expending countless lives with as little thought as one would give to the crushing of a bug underfoot. The Legion itself lashed out against their Primarch - calling her fool, traitor, anathema. They had for years sought to be reunited with her - and they had found a Primarch so at odds with them that it seemed impossible, some cosmic mistake, a grand joke at their expense. As new blood filled its ranks, the geneseed of the Sixteenth Legion displaying a remarkable adaptability and an increased compatibility with bionics both of the Imperium and Saravata, the friction grew stronger. In spite of this, Eiohsa would love her daughters, and she would swear before them all that they were united singularly in the greatest cause of all - the unification of the galaxy under one banner. They adapted well to her tactics, and the Legion’s supply of tanks and other armored vehicles, artillery pieces of all calibers, attack craft, and more swelled to dizzying heights. Hundreds of millions of mortal humans from Saravata fought alongside them, not as expendable cogs in the machine of war, but as honored comrades in arms. As new blood drawn from Saravata swelled their ranks the tides shifted, many of the rank and file Terran Astartes became fervent supporters of their Primarch. The officer corps, however, remained cold and distant, resistant to her ideas of art and philosophy, of tolerance and compassion for all.

It was as she studied under the Emperor upon Terra, that she learned of the role her Legion would play, the role her Legion had been created to fill - that of a meat grinder. The Sixteenth Legion was designed for the explicit role of fighting those battles with the heaviest casualties by their very nature. Such was the role they had been used for up until now, and such was the role they would continue to be used for. The nickname of “Corpse Grinders” was an apt one, for moreso than any other the Wolves of Terra left a trail of broken bodies in their wake. In the strategy of the Wolves of Terra, lives were merely ammunition, to be used without thought except for the ratio of expenditure to resupply. She was, once more, horrified at how such beings could claim to be her own daughters. And still, the Emperor told her of her role: she and her Legion would be thrown into the heaviest of fighting, the bloodiest of sieges, the most appalling battles of attrition. The geneseed of the Legion, highly adaptable and highly tolerant of mutation, moreso than any of her brothers or sisters, enabled the Legion to sustain such losses with ease and continue to grow even larger. The Emperor brushed aside her objections, her aspirations of diplomacy, of art and science. And on the Emperor’s orders, Eiohsa found herself commanding the very same battles she had avoided at all costs. Her legion and its auxilia, now honed to a razor edged mechanized force, was thrown into the grisliest of sieges and the bloodiest of field battles across the galaxy. Despite her ideals, the Wolves of Terra waded through blood to achieve their objectives as she convinced herself that such sacrifice was needed for the betterment of all. On her orders, a memorial was erected on her new flagship, the Gloriana class battleship Ultima Ratio. It was simple, unadorned - a large screen upon the bridge of the vessel, scrolling through the names of every single individual who had died under her command.

She fought for the Imperium across the stars, leading her armies in a masterwork suit of armor with no equal save that of the Emperor himself. Every battle she ordered her daughters into was one she herself took part in. But always, she found herself at odds with the Legion’s officers. They still favored the tactics of old, and grated against her new methods. She would arrive to a detachment of the Legion to find it using the same tactics as before, its leaders unrepentant before her. She tried, patiently, and forcefully, to change them. Unwilling to raise her hand against her daughters, she wept for the thought of what must have been done to create such monsters.

The defining moment, the one that would mark the beginning and end of an era for the Legion, was the outbreak of the second of the Rangdan Xenocides. Not present initially, nor present at all for the first, Eiohsa was summoned with haste to the galactic north. The Rangdan, xenos from beyond the Imperium, invaded the worlds of humanity on a scale never before seen. When she arrived, she found utter chaos and devastation. In her absence, once more, the officers and generals of the Legion had ordered their soldiers into battle in much the same way as before. In a crushing, decisive defeat, two entire battle groups, a full one hundred thousand Astartes, would be lost to the Imperium. Sixty three thousand perishing in combat against the Rangdan, fighting to the bitter end in futile last stands as they were encircled and overrun by the enemy. Thirty seven thousand more faced an even worse fate, becoming the pawns of the Rangda, elite shock troopers in their armies, subverted, twisted, warped by the horrors visited upon them by the monsters from beyond the stars.

In that moment, something within her broke. She stood before the generals and officers of her Legion as they dismissed the casualties as a mere setback, dismissed her outrage and grief over the scale of such needless slaughter. They were unapologetic about their abandonment of Imperials worlds and their populations to the ravages of the Rangda during the subsequent retreat. There remains no record of what ensued in that instance, but Mironova Nadkavna Kaswan remained the only high ranking officer within the Legion - and even her memory of the incident was wiped in the aftermath. Some said she ordered them all executed on the spot - some even claiming her to have performed the deed herself, others claimed she ejected them from the airlocks of the vessel on collision course with the system’s star, still others whispered of darker rumors. Whatever their fate, the last vestiges of the old Legion had been purged, and new ones chosen by her were put in their place. In the climactic apocalyptic battles that would follow, entire Legions of the Astartes would be annihilated by the Rangda, whole sectors laid waste, fleets and titan legions wiped from existence without a single survivor. The Wolves of Terra would suffer in excess of two hundred and fifty thousand dead, all told; fighting on the frontlines with every ounce of their force committed from the first day to the very last. Tens of thousands of new Astartes would be cycled into the apocalyptic battles against them. As the wars progressed the toll weighed heavily upon her, the scale of the carnage unlike anything she had ever borne witness to before in her life. She changed over time, the light leaving her eyes, the joy fading from her voice. Those who knew her before the xenocides, or even during its early phases, spoke as though she herself had died upon the battlefields against the Rangda. The woman that remained was not the Primarch from before, she seemed herself to be drained of life and energy, a husk of who she once was.

She turned from her pursuits of art and philosophy, devoting herself wholly to the great crusade and to the unification of humanity. She forced herself to be a bulwark of iron upon which her Legion could rely, upon which all of the Imperium could rely - but it was naught but falsehood. How could she be relied upon when she had failed so many? How many countless trillions had died on her watch? Trillions more trapped within her mind, the last echoes of their final moments a constant presence upon her thoughts. Motivated only by the unforgivable debt she owed, by her need to atone, she became nothing but a hollow effigy of the woman she once was. A servitor in the guise of a Primarch, a broken woman - never resting even for a second.

In the aftermath of the Rangdan Xenocides, her Legion began to call themselves by a new name. They were her daughters, and their Primarch had been dubbed The Lady of Iron. So they became the Daughters of Iron - unbreakable and unbending. They continued on, under the leadership of the stranger wearing the guise of their Primarch, resolving that never would the Legion be found wanting in her eyes or the eyes of humanity ever again.

[/hider]

[hider=The Meeting:]
Eiohsa watched as the foreign vessel descended in a glimmering golden display. The magnificent vessel loomed large in the distance, like a brilliant gleaming bird of prey. Angled wings swooped back as if it were a hawk, diving towards its target. Something about it, however, seemed as though the majestic craft was understated despite its resplendence - as though its occupants… no, its occupant, far outshone anything else. Her own flagship, the golden battleship high in orbit, the resplendent fleet that followed it - nothing could compare to whatever lay within that vessel. Her mind seized upon it, even as she watched with bated breath. There were no designs for such a vessel within Saravata, of that she was sure - and her mind picked it apart piece by piece, turning over each of its component parts in turn, examining and evaluating their make. The shuttle was of exquisite design, surely, and even as she wished for this wait to end she could not help but appreciate its design.

Anxiety, that was what she felt. She was uncertain what lay before her, and for the first time in a very long while, she felt out of her depth.

She had felt it once before, facing betrayal and annihilation at the hands of her erstwhile allies. She had waded through blood to return to Kayaamat, preparing it as her great bastion upon which the enemy would break. Back then, she had not known if she could weather the storm - a single planet, even as great as it was, against the resources of a hundred. She had feared her endeavors doomed - indeed, many had called them such. But she had triumphed against them - but this, this was something new.

It was not the crushing fear and power of an almighty army that lurked within that shuttle. It was something far greater, a singular being of such extraordinary power that she felt weak just standing nearby. It was a strange, unwelcome sensation, being beneath someone. She had grown used to being the strongest, the most powerful, the most intelligent - but she sensed that what lay beyond was far more. Anxiety. She was so unused to it that she had to take a moment to examine it in her mind. This feeling of nervous sweating. Fluttering in her stomach. She had felt it from others before - but to feel it within her own body was truly novel. She wished for nothing more than an end to this suspense.

“Are you alright?” Asked a voice at her side, and Eiohsa turned, surprised to realize that her own perception of those around her had dimmed. She still felt them, but it was muted, as though hearing a voice through a wall or seeing a figure through hazy glass. Ayushmatki watched her, synthetic eyes laser focused on her being, an expression of deep concern on her features.

Eiohsa shook her head, “In truth, no.” She muttered, looking back towards the shuttle as it descended - how agonizingly slowly it seemed to climb down from the skies above as though gingerly picking its way down a long flight of stairs. “I have never felt this before, Ayu. I don’t… I don’t know what this is. Who this is. Who waits for me in that shuttle.”

A frown appeared on Ayushmatki’s lips, and she folded her arms. “You, of all beings, cannot sense this? Surely you jest. I have seen you know the names and faces of every soul within a crowd of millions - yet you claim whoever is within is beyond you?”

“Beyond me in ways I cannot properly express in words, dearest to my heart. Whoever is within that vessel created me, I am sure of it.  I am as sure of it as I am of anything. As sure as I was that I was not natural when I awoke upon the shore of a lake of fire, feeling my body burn with the energy of the stars.” She turned to Ayushmatki once more, only now remembering that a large crowd had assembled behind them. “Give us some space, please.” She asked, her voice devoid of its usual humor and good cheer. Hurriedly, the dozens of historians, scientists, dignitaries, and other myriad professionals that always accompanied her distanced themselves, watching the unfolding proceedings with trepidation. Eiohsa remained only dimly aware of their presences, and that fact perturbed her.

“Then what is it that makes you so sure? You are… well, we knew you were not like us. None other we have encountered is like you, changing form in a heartbeat, knowing the thoughts and emotions of everyone who surrounds you. You who built me this body from instinct alone. No, none would have believed you natural - but again, please, why are you so sure whoever leads the fleet above is the one you speak of?”


Eiohsa’s mouth twisted into a thin smile, and she shook her head slowly. “It is a simple feeling in my gut. Do you remember when we took Hive Yuzhantiy and you told me you knew your nemesis lay within? That you said I must not follow, and that it was a battle for you alone?”

Ayushmatki nodded, before frowning. “Yes, I do, though I am still surprised you agreed. It is fortunate you did, for sure - had you not, the enemy counterattack may have caught us off guard.”

“Precisely!” Came the reply, Eiohsa smiling more genuinely now, “I held off that attack with what little forces we had while the main army came to relieve us - but it was you who destroyed the witch-queen of Yuzhantiy, along with the whole hive spire.” She laughed after a moment, savoring the memory. “You had always spoken of how you detested that old form anyway. Ugly, crass, and inelegant was your term I believe.” She rested a hand on Ayushmatki’s shoulder, standing at the same height as her closest companion. “I fully admit, I cannot disagree. Some parts of it were interesting for sure - but the servo-tentacles? That was excessive, for sure. I am glad you came to your senses and settled for this. I have heard much better things from your partners, besides.” She smiled, “I am still owed an explanation, next time we sit for lunch.”

Ayushmatki moved to reply - but she was cut off as Eiohsa’s attention was drawn immediately to the shuttle. It had now touched down, plasma engines switching to anti-gravity impellers as it gradally lowered itself to earth, the landing gears sagging beneath its weight with a hydraulic hiss audible only to Eiohsa. Silently, she inclined her head towards her closest friend and moved away, joining the throng of others who watched the unfolding scene before them them with a mixture of apprehension and excitement.

From the shuttle emerged a figure, and though it was distant, she instantly felt that same sense of familiarity increase tenfold. “Father.” She murmured to herself, and began to walk towards the stranger almost as in a daze. “You have come…”

But as she drew close she was struck dumb. From the man burst forth a brilliant beacon of psychic energy, a bright, burning light that seared into her very being. To gaze into it was to gaze into the heart of a supernova, both excruciating and wonderful. Eiohsa collapsed to the ground, covering her eyes to block out the radiant energy that filled her with equal parts of pain, fear, and joy as she cried out from the overwhelming sensations that now filled her being. [i]This[/i] was the one who had created her. A being like this, a man of such sublime power and ancient knowledge - how long had he existed for? Was he as old as humanity itself? Older? She knew who he was before he spoke to her, standing before he now. It was as though the very same information had been imprinted on her mind since the day she had crawled from the incubation pod - and had only needed to gaze upon the man before her to resurface.

He looked down upon her, struck dumb with awe, weeping into the ground as though a beggar, and in an instant, the light dimmed. She beheld him as he truly was - one like her, in a sense. A man who appeared however he wished - but behind that she could still sense that brightly burning supernova of power. She could see him clearly now, a man - just a man, plain, unremarkable in truth - but possessed of such an immense timelessness that she struggled to reconcile the two. He spoke as she did, offering her a hand to pull her to her feet. He stood eye level with her - eye level with humanity.

“My daughter.” He said simply, nodding to her.

“The Emperor of Mankind.” She said in turn, eyes wide, her voice trembling with uncertainty, “My father.”

The man nodded, a smile upon his features. “At last, I have found you, my daughter, of iron you were born into this world, and of iron you have fashioned yourself. You are Eiohsa, my Sixteenth.” He looked upon her, and on his features was a mixture of pride, sadness, and most confusingly of all, disappointment. He surveyed her, and then surveyed the sky behind her, a smile touching his features. “You have achieved much.” He said, nodding to her. “You are undaunted. Unbroken. You have struggled through much, and you remain strong. Behind you lies an empire, with which you dream to unite the galaxy. You have pushed back the darkness, united all humanity that stood before you, clawed back understanding that was lost to humanity in its darkest times, and you have pledged yourself wholly to its betterment.” His smile broadened. “Truly, you are one of my creations.”

Eiohsa stared, struck dumb once more with awe. It seemed an eternity as she struggled to find the words to speak. “You know of all this?” She whispered hoarsely, scarcely believing what she was hearing.

“Of all this and more, my daughter.” Came his reply. “And I have come to take you with me. Your empire, your Saravata - it is a sight to behold. A model for the galaxy. What if I told you of one greater? An Imperium of Man, to unite the stars under one banner. A future where all are united under one prosperous banner. You will fight for me, for my Imperium, for [i]Humanity[/i]. You will banish the darkness, and Humanity shall reign supreme - no wars, no poverty, no hardship. Reason, logic, science, enlightenment, peace and prosperity for all.”

Eiohsa was silent for a time, before she nodded. Kneeling before him as tears of joy cascaded down her cheeks, she remained silent for a minute longer before she spoke. “I swear it, Emperor. I will lead your armies. I will help you unite humanity. I swear undying allegiance to all humanity and to serve the Imperium in its reunification of it.”

“Then rise, my daughter.” He said, resting a hand upon her shoulder. “The road ahead of you is a hard one, I will not lie. But few are worthy of it, and fewer still capable of it. When none else can be relied upon, you shall stand strong. Indomitable. Unbreakable. Unrelenting. You are the Lady of Iron.”

Eiohsa wept golden tears as she listened to his words. At long last, he had found her. Her purpose had been made clear, as she had known all those years ago in the deepest depths of Hive Bronakavh. At long last, she knew who she truly was.
[/hider]

[/hider]

[hider=Daughters of Iron]
[h3]Legion Name:[/h3] Daughters of Iron (formerly known as The Wolves of Terra)

[h3]Legion Number: XVI[/h3]

[h3]Legion Strength:[/h3] Currently at a strength of 250 thousand Astartes, countless more support personnel and non-Astartes augmented humans

[h3]Armour Appearance:[/h3]
[img]https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/016/108/080/large/adrian-smith-alpha-trooper1-coloured.jpg[/img]

The Legion does not have a predefined set of colors, instead opting to paint their armor in various shades and patterns to suit different combat environments.

The Legion symbol is simple and without ornamentation, taking the form of the numerals XVI.

[h3]Warcry:[/h3] “Unbroken iron!”

[hider=Dramatis Personae]
[list]
[*] Ayushmatki Nanavna izva Kuznekhtinsk: Equerry of the Primarch Eiohsa, Chief Biblitekaya of the Daughters of Iron, and Vice Premier of the Grand Union of Saravata. Born a deformed, hideous mutant amongst the lowest dregs of Hive Kuznekhtinsk, she quickly amassed significant power for herself as the leader of a gang not unlike her Primarch, replacing her failing body with bionics. The eldest member of the Legion, she is not an Astartes, and at her current age of 613 years she had been a full adult for centuries by the arrival of the Imperium or even the arrival of Eiohsa - and her body more machine than flesh for almost as long. She is, however, a formidable and potent psyker, second only to the Primarch herself, her control and knowledge of the warp only enhanced by those Astartes implants she was capable of accepting. A longtime companion to Primarch Eiohsa since the revolution upon Kayaamat, Ayushmatki’s advice is deeply valued by the Primarch. Unlike many in the Legion, she does not share Eiohsa’s faith, remaining an agnostic philosopher. Despite her role, she is rarely deployed with the Legion itself and frequently remains within Saravata to continue to oversee its function in the absence of Eiohsa.

[*] Nadezhda Tolokonnikovna izva Sarazma: The General Officer of the first Battle Group. The oldest General Officer in the Legion, Nadezhda is older than her own Primarch, and as such is far beyond the implantation of many Astartes organs. Despite this, her operational genius was key to the success of many of Eiohsa’s campaigns, and her extensive cybernetic enhancements have sped her cognitive processes to superhuman levels.

[*] Mironova Nadkavna Kaswan: The General Officer of the second Battle Group. The sole Terran Astartes amidst the upper echelons of command, Mironova’s disposition towards her Primarch is one of relative distaste. A fervent and loyal follower of the Emperor and his Imperial Truth, she is appalled by her Primarch’s rejection of humanity’s leader’s decrees. The youngest high level officer amongst the Legion during the Rangdan Xenocides, she had not yet become indoctrinated fully to its policies of callous disregard for the lives of the Astartes and mortal soldiers under their command, and became the only one to survive her Primarch’s subsequent purge.

[*] Dutta Limonovna izva Nefteyukan: The General Officer of the third Battle Group. Dutta is a career officer of the Legion. Strict, uncompromising, and severe, she is valued as the most skilled defender of the Legion, and Astartes from her Battle Group are the ones most frequently split from the Legion as garrison troops. Thus, her Battle Group receives a constant stream of reinforcements.

[*] Pelageya Eveivna izva Nimraati: The General Officer of the fourth Battle Group. A cautious, meticulous commander, hailing from the ash gangs of Kayaamat like many in the Legion. She rose to leadership of the Legion through her judicious tactics and the low casualties sustained by those under her command. Considered by far the commander most capable of transforming the unstoppable juggernaut of a Legion into something more subtle.

[*] Antonova Lisenka izva Nefteyukan: The General Officer of the fifth Battle Group. A bold, precocious woman, a youth by the standards of many, Antonova is but forty seven years of age, but has displayed a remarkable tactical and strategic genius for armored warfare. Rapidly rising through the ranks, her swift promotions have earned her the ire of many, but the admiration of many more. Her Battle Group is known as the most ferocious in battle, and is known for its tendency to conduct the most audacious and brutal of assaults. Despite this her Group’s casualties are roughly in line with the other Battle Groups, owing to her skilled use of terrain and innate knack for mechanized war.

[*] Vaidehi Kativna izva Shiravadaksa: Head Kapellaareksa of the Daughters of Iron. Compassionate and devout, Vaidehi would have never been mistaken for a soldier, and yet her desire to shield the innocent from harm outweighed all else. And when the Primarch Eiohsa searched her ranks, she found a soul wise beyond her years, fileld with a love for humanity and all life. Vaidehi loathes war, she loathes the act of killing, maiming, of bring any harm to any living being - yet she does so without fail, for to falter in this duty would bring yet greater calamity. When she stood before her Primarch, her essence blazed with a fiery determination and a love for all, and it was she who would become the spiritual guide of the Daughters of Iron.

[*] Lakshmika Mirzhandavna izva Tikhonovna: Head Yudsvashnika of the Daughters of Iron. Contrary to what one might expect as the leader of the Legion’s healers, Lakshmika is a taciturn, unapologetic individual. Though she administers mercies and tends to the sick and injured, her true callings are the purging of what she sees as threats to the sanctity of life. There is none that she loathes more than the Malevolent corruption of innocent life, and she leads the Legion in her loathing of the Abyssal Lurkers.

[*] Purshottamo Kozlovno izva Jagatapska: Head Abhirsvashnika of the Daughters of Iron. Not an Astartes, he is a mortal man of great age. His faith runs deep, and his love for all yet deeper. His body mangled from injuries sustained in the wars of unification waged by the Primarch Eiohsa, he is frequently unable to take part in the festivities he organizes - but he nevertheless delights in bringing smiles to the faces of the Legion, even if only for a short time.

[*] Priyanshki Sergeyevna izva Marvka: Head Takanesvashnika of the Daughters of Iron. Bright and energetic, she would have liked to become one of the Abhirsvashniki were it not for her impressive technical inclinations.

[/list]
[/hider]

[hider=Legion Structure]:
The Daughters of Iron are organized significantly differently from a normal Astartes Legion.

[list]
[*] Biblitekaya - the Daughters of Iron equivalent of a Librarian, a psyker of notable power charged with the defense of the Legion against warp-spawned threats.
[*] Kapellaareksa - The Daughters of Iron equivalent of a Chaplain. They give small sermons before and after battle, during the day, serve as counselors and guides for their Sisters, and strive to serve as the ultimate exemplars of upstanding morality in a galaxy beset on all sides by darkness.
[*] Yudsvashnika - The Daughters of Iron equivalent of an Apothecary. They strive to heal the sick and injured, regardless of whether or not they are Astartes, and to serve as the temporal wardens of their Legion’s wellbeing as the Kapellaareksa serve as their spiritual guides and guards.
[*] Abhirsvashnika - Literally “Joy Priest”, the role of Abhirsvashnika is to ensure the morale of the Legion in the face of a bleak, dark galaxy. They organize feasts, games, great celebrations, and more for the Legion and their mortal allies to partake in to maintain morale and to remind the Legion of that for which they fight.
[*] Voynanubhava - a term equivalent in usaget to that of veteran, it can be held alongside other titles and ranks. For an Astartes to achieve this honorific is an achievement many will never see, for their numbers are composed of those who have seen and fought through the harshest of campaigns, faced down the most daunting of foes, and who best embody the Good Path.
[*] Takanesvashnika - The Daughters of Iron equivalent of a techmarine. Staunchly independent of the Martian Mechanicum, they have a wholly irreverent approach to technology and machinery, and despise the veneration of machines by the Mechanicum, and the prioritization of machine over human life.
[/list]

The Legion is broken into five groups of fifty thousand Astartes, known as Battle Groups. These groups are deployed as independent roaming armies across the galaxy, and can be easily subdivided further to form fifty separate independent military units 1000 strong. The Battle Groups are under the command of a General Officer, and will frequently be composed of tens of millions more in Imperial Army units attached to the Battle Group. The Battle Groups operate as independent armies, under the overall control of the Primarch Eiohsa. The Legion is capable of splitting itself apart into two hundred and fifty independent units capable of their own autonomous waging of warfare across the entire galaxy if need be, and is frequently deployed as such - though they are more often deployed in greater numbers against particularly tenacious enemies.

Each Battle Group is a fully functioning independent military force with its own artillery, armor, air support, and more. They are divided further into Chapters, each 1000 Astartes strong. Each Chapter, likewise, contains its own artillery, armor, air support, logistics, and Imperial Army units attached, all integrated within the overall Legion structure but capable and frequently deployed on independent operation. These Chapters are composed of ten units of one hundred, known as Desayta (meaning one tenth). Each Desayta is thus composed of individual squads of 10 Astartes. Each squad is lead by a veteran Sergeant. A standard squad is composed of one Dracosan Armored Transport outfitted with a demolisher cannon or dual lascannon, the squad Sergeant equipped with Terminator armor with heavy weapons or other equipment suited for the battle at hand, supported by three Astartes equipped with heavy bolters, each of which is supported by two more Astartes equipped with the standard caliber bolters utilized by the Legion. The Legion is fully mechanized, and standard complement dictates the inclusion of a Wode tank, specific type variable (or Vardhana Vulcan heavy tank), with every squad for heavy armor support in addition to the dedicated support of a basilisk mobile artillery piece separate from the massive artillery batteries employed by the Legion.

Legionary vehicles are piloted by non-Astartes, augmented humans. All of these individuals originate from the empire of Saravata, many of them being Felinids or even xenos. A small device designed by the Legion’s primarch, analogous to a limited form of mind-impulse unit, permits the pilot to meld their mind wholly with the vehicle and control it with immense precision. Likewise, the Legion’s extensive artillery, air support, and so on are piloted and operated by these augmented humans - the Legion’s goal being to maximize the Astartes’ presence on the battlefield proper. A regular human, augmented cybernetically, while not the full equal of an Astartes in the role, is more then capable of providing near parity as the pilot of a Valkyrie, driver of a Dracosan, or operator of a Basilisk.

One of the most notable features of the Sixteenth Legion is its sheer size - larger than any other Legion by far. The Legion drawing not from a single world but hundreds, it also displays a remarkably adaptable geneseed, tolerant of far greater degrees of mutation or deviance from the human norm, and displaying an implantation success rate far and away greater than that of any other Legion. One of the side affects and methods of attaining this hypercompatibility is the inactivation of any nonessential organ that would cause rejection or failure in the implantation process. Should an organ pose a risk to the success of the implantation process, that organ will simply lie dormant or only activate in a limited capacity. 



[/hider]

[hider=Favored Tactics/Battlefield Role]:

The Legion is a strong, highly adaptible force lacking in any particular specialization for a specific tactical niche in warfare. Instead, they retain broad flexibility to fight and excel at nearly any type of conventional warfare. Designed explicitly from the moment of their creation by the Emperor to act as a Legion that would fight in situations that would cause heavy casualties by their nature, the Legion continues to fill this role across the galaxy. The Astartes of the Legion are rarely deployed as a wholly independent force, but instead operate in close concert with the forces of the Imperial Army assigned to them to take particularly stubbornly defended positions or to engage in colossal battles from which other Legions would struggle to replenish their losses. They deploy as mechanized heavy infantry, accompanied by extensive armored, artillery, and close air support. Daughters of Iron forces are most often deployed at the tactical level as the tip of the spear of an Imperial advance, or assigned the most crucial positions in a defensive action.

In combat the Legion prefers to remain at range. An Astartes of the Daughters of Iron receives the acceptable standard of training for melee engagement, but they truly shine during engagements at range where not only their superior individual marksmanship but their overwhelming advantage in artillery and tanks can be most effective. The Legion is deployed for nearly any type of conventional warfare imaginable - highly mobile armored large scale warfare, trench fighting within closely confined terrain, urban combat, siege warfare, and more.

In less static warfare, the legion will form massive breakthough artillery units, shifting them to where they are needed along a front. Their Legion doctrine stresses operational and strategic flexibility, relying upon firepower of pre-calculated artillery barrages and massed use of armored vehicles and aircraft to achieve penetration of the enemy lines. Massive reserves of both Astartes and Imperial Army are kept ready to attach to any attack that shows promise, and attacks that fail are halted and their best forces rapidly redeployed to reinforce those attacks that show success. On a successful penetration of enemy lines, the Legion focuses on destroying supply lines, communication, vital supporting infrastructure such as repair stations and supply depots, and capturing important infrastructure. The position of enemy forces is thus rendered untenable and they are forced to abandon their defenses and retreat so as not to be cut off. Once exposed and vulnerable, they will be subject to the coup de grace with a final massive assault supported by even more artillery, armored vehicles, and close air support.

In a siege, the Legion will maintain a similar aggressive approach, surrounding the area in question and creating powerful artillery batteries to shell key points into oblivion. Steadily they will tighten the noose, using armored vehicles as mobile bunkers and rapidly constructing earthworks and defensive positions around them. When the distance has been sufficiently closed the final assault will be conducted by a rush of the heaviest vehicles available bearing specially equipped terminator units and Thunderhawk deployed assault squads, supported by flamer equipped infantry dismounting from demolisher cannon equipped dracosans, Vardhana Vulcan heavy tanks, Baneblade and Banesword superheavy tanks, extensive close air support, and a constant barrage of heavy artillery. Due to the inherent losses intrinsic to siege warfare, the Legion is frequently first called upon to break the most fiercely defended of enemy fortifications, their remarkable geneseed adaptability enabling the rapid replenishment of those Astartes killed in action.

Despite this, the Legion is noted for the care with which they take avoiding collateral damage and harm to civilians - something that has at time lead to extensive friction with other Imperial forces. Yudsvashniki of the Legion tend to not only the injured and dying of their Legion and accompanying Imperial Army, but of wounded and dying of the civilian populace and captured enemy combatants. Refugee camps are erected far behind the Legion’s lines, and the Primarch and her subordinates take care to ensure these camps are well constructed and adequately supplied with food, sanitation facilities, and more. The Legion is constantly accompanied by a vast fleet of construction craft and engineers, and for every world they take, they leave behind thousands of new citizens who assist in the process of rebuilding.
[/hider]

[hider=Unique Legion Equipment]
[b][url=https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/016/108/080/large/adrian-smith-alpha-trooper1-coloured.jpg]Type 89 ‘Akhshti’ Power Armor:[/url][/b] A creation of Eiohsa herself in the early days of her leadership of the Legion, the T-89 ‘Lancer’ is a model of power armor equivalent in capability to that worn by the Astartes of other Legions, but sporting greater modularity in design for easier replacement and repair of damaged components.
(art credit [url=https://adrian-smith.artstation.com]Adrian Smith[/url])

[b] Type 72 ‘Khanda’ Pattern Bolter:[/b] A design similarly originating from Kayaamat, the M-72’s design is notable for its long barrel and its absence of a detachable magazine in place of a chain feed affixed to back mounted ammunition supply. As the Legion fights primarily at range, the Primarch and Legion hierarchy felt the limited capacity of the standard issue 30-round magazines was insufficient for sustained firefights, and an Astartes could only carry so many. As a time and space saving measure, the M-72 was developed, feeding from a reserve of five hundred rounds, with thousands more stored in a squad’s transport, the M-72 is designed for the extensive firefights in which a Daughters of Iron Astartes will frequently find herself.

[b][url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/4/47/TyphonHeavySiegeTank0000.png/revision/latest?cb=20180213000314]Type 14 ‘Parashu’ Super-Heavy Siege Tank:[/url][/b] Based upon the chassis of the Spartan Assault Tank, the Parashu Super-Heavy Siege Tank is a behemoth engine of war mounting the mighty Dreadhammer Cannon. Developed in response to the need for massive firepower capable of maintaining pace with the rapid advance of an Astartes force during an assault, the tank’s main gun is capable of reducing even the heaviest of fortifications to rubble with a single blast.

[b]Type 91 ‘Chakram‘ Bolter:[/b] The Chakram Bolter is an alternative weapon to the heavy bolter capable of outputting a truly staggering volley of ordnance in a very short time. Taking the form of a four barreled rotary weapon feeding from a large backpack mounted ammunition pool, the weapon excels at both fire support roles as well as in urban and siege combat owing to its astonishing rate of fire. It fires the standard .75 Caliber bolts utilized by the standard bolters of the Astartes, unlike the heavier 1.00 Caliber Bolts of the Heavy Bolter.

[b]Type 92 ‘Chakram Typhoon‘ Heavy Bolter:[/b] A weapon outfitted only to Astartes equipped with Terminator suits or affixed to armored vehicles, the Chakram Typhoon is truly deserving of its fearsome title. It is, in most respects, simply an upscaled version of the standard Type 91 variant, utilizing the significantly heavier and more powerful heavy bolter ammunition. Its punishing rate of fire and enormous recoil limit its use to those platforms capable of properly controlling it. When used properly, it can tear apart entire formations of the enemy in mere seconds or reduce a plascrete wall and anyone hiding behind it to rubble and giblets.

[b]Type 34 ‘Vel‘ Anti-Materiel Rifle:[/b] An even larger and significantly more potent variety of the lascannon repurposed into a particularly large antitank “rifle” greater in size than a mortal man. The Vel Anti-Materiel Rifle is deployed primarily in urban combat situations in which dedicated anti-armor vehicles are less practical than the two woman team required to operate this weapon. The weapon can be operated in a variety of environments using simple improvised concealment to mask their presence until a valuable target presents itself.


[/hider]

[hider=Legion Characteristics/Ideology]
The Sixteenth Legion is perhaps the strongest and most glaring example of a Legion whose culture changed drastically after their reunification with their Primarch. Where before the Sixteenth Legion, named the Wolves of Terra, had been a monolithic, unfeeling entity with souls as cold as iron they are now a bright burning beacon of light in the Imperium. Moreso than any other Legion, the Sixteenth views humanity - regular, mortal humanity, not the powerful nobles and military elite but the average citizenry of the Imperium - as their greatest liege. The Legion views themselves and all Astartes as the shields of humanity, their sacred duty to fight and to die in the defense of the people of the Imperium such that they might not have to. Even so, the Legion was created and continues to serve as a large force designed explicitly to fight battles that cause heavy casualties by their nature. As such, though the Legion abhors the wasting of even a single life and takes great pains to minimize their losses, the Daughters of Iron sustain the highest casualty rates of any Legion of the Imperium. Life is often short and ends brutally for many an Astartes, and as such the Legion encourages those within it to live as exemplars of humanity. Not only is the culture of one’s homeworld cherished and protected, but it will be celebrated by all. Art, poetry, artifice, and more are all treasured within the Legion - for to forget their humanity is to forget that which they fight on behalf of.

The Legion holds strongly to the ideals of their Primarch - moreso than anything else, perhaps. To be an Astartes of the Daughters of Iron is not only to be a sublime soldier of the Imperium, the shield of humanity, the iron wall against which the forces of darkness must surely break; but to also be a compassionate and worldly paragon of humanity. But the Legion is seen both by many their Primarch’s peers and seemingly by the Emperor himself as nothing but a nearly inexhaustible supply of soldiers to be thrown into battle to absorb the casualties they do not wish to suffer themselves. To be an Astartes of the Sixteenth Legion means to accept the threat of death, and to learn to meet it with dignity and poise knowing that each sacrifice is in the name of a better tomorrow. New faces are plentiful in their ranks, and the Wall of Memories grows ever larger with each campaign. The games, sports, songs, foods, arts, plays, stories, and more of thousands of cultures from hundreds of planets are incorporated into the Legion’s celebrations, fewasts, and recreation - not only as a celebration of them, but as a means of preparing themselves to fight and to die, that all this may continue to flourish and thrive even without their presence in the Materium.

The Legion fights not out of any sense of imposed duty to the Emperor or even to their Primarch, but the shared vision and faith in a brighter future for all which she has impressed on them. Her grand vision of a galaxy unified in one faith, living in a peaceful and prosperous future - one wherein the sanctity of life is held dear, where all live within a society with no hunger, no sickness, no war - a future of love, kindness, reason, knowledge, and equality. A world where the Immaterium, the grand plane beyond that of the mortal realm, is a serene heaven where the souls of those who have come before may reside in a perfect heavenly utopia.

This steadfast commitment to the wellbeing of the people of the Imperium above all else has earned them a conflicted reputation. On one hand, the Legion’s arrival heralds only brutal warfare, for it is the role of the Sixteenth Legion to be cast into the hottest forges of war. However, even in the heaviest of fighting Astartes of the Daughters of Iron will take great pains to protect the civilian populace, escorting refugees away from danger zones, pulling trapped civilians from rubble, shielding vulnerable units of the Imperial Army from enemy counterattack, and more. They can be seen conversing with the rank and file soldiery of the Imperial Army or engaging in simple entertainment with them in their free time. Their connection to their past lives is never severed or disturbed, and so each Astartes has her memories, thoughts, feelings, emotions, and attachments from before her creation. Additionally the XVI Legion is like their sister Legions of the XIV and VII in the use of the vitae womb to grow children from the frozen gametes of their Aspirants should they wish it, and many Astartes within its ranks have children of their own living throughout Saravata or even as crew on board their fleets. They treasure humanity for they are of humanity, and to deny this is to deny the purpose of their creation.

The contrast between the Legion in battle and the Legion at rest is a stark one. In battle they are grim, almost silent, taciturn soldiers who follow their orders with stoic professionalism and detachment. They do not view warfare as a joyous task to slay the enemies of the Imperium, but a grim necessity for the survival of the Imperium against the forces arrayed against it. At rest, the Legion is unlike near any other - spending their allotted free time engaging in a myriad of leisure activities of a broad and varying scope. Perhaps most controversially, the Legion is fond of recreational mind altering substances drawn from across Saravata, having developed a drug that temporarily shuts down the Oolitic Kidney. As well, they remain sexually active, as the Legion’s indoctrination schemes do not purge them of such inclinations like in many others.

The recruitment processes of the Legion are, like any Astartes recruitment, an immensely challenging and grueling training regimen designed to turn ordinary, mortal humans into the unstoppable transhuman warriors of the Imperium. The Legion has engineered a set of Trials by which Aspirants are to be judged. These Trials are conducted at different stages throughout the creation of an Astartes,

[hider=Trials of the Sixteenth Legion]
The First Trial, The Trial of Body - The first trial is one of pure physical aptitude. The Aspirants must run a punishing gauntlet of physical tests in order to prove they are of strong enough make to survive the process of Astartes creation. Failure at this stage results in no punishment other than being removed as an Aspirant - with the option to attempt once more in future should the Aspirant desire.

The Second Trial, The Trial of Love - The Aspirant is informed that they must bid farewell to all friends and loved ones in perpetuity, to sever all ties with their former life and devote themselves wholly to the service of humanity. This is, of course, a lie - but an Aspirant must be willing to make such sacrifices in order to benefit humanity and the Imperium. At the conclusion of the First Trial of Iron, the Aspirant will be reunited with their family and friends.

The Third Trial, The Trial of Generosity - The Aspirant must surrender all worldly possessions for a period of six months and live an ascetic life of service to others. How exactly this is performed varies from Aspirant to Aspirant, depending on their individual skills and inclinations. Failure at this stage results in no punishment other than being removed as an Aspirant.

The Fourth Trial, The Trial of Humility - A second stage of the Trial of Generosity lasting a further six months, the Aspirant must surrender their pride and very identity, living as a nameless individual and not permitted to refer to each other by name. This Trial along with the Trial of Generosity is designed to gauge the willingness of the Aspirant to surrender all dreams of pride, glory, or personal gain from becoming an Astartes - to be a selfless defender of humanity above all else. Failure at this stage results in no punishment other than being removed as an Aspirant.

The Fifth Trial, The Trial of Wisdom - The Trial of Wisdom is a series of simulated combat exercises, physical training courses, written examinations on knowledge, and more. Though the information gathered from this is useful, the Trial entails an instructor feigning fondness for an Aspirant and offering them a piece of knowledge of an upcoming test or course that could benefit them greatly and improve their ranking considerably. Aspirants are judged based on how they respond to this information. Aspirants that keep the information to themselves to improve their standing are removed as Aspirants and returned to their families, those that share the information with those in their assigned squad in order to make the group perform better continue on, those that conduct detailed analysis of the information provided and form contingency plans to test the veracity of the information are noted down by the instructors as potential future leaders.

The Sixth Trial, The Trial of Fire - The Aspirants are taken on a simulated combat patrol within the Ash Wastes. Issued with realistic weapon modified to be nonlethal they are ordered into a pre-prepared ambush created by the ash gangs within the area, operating in conjunction with the training personnel. The Aspirants are judged based on their performance in this simulated combat exercise. Those units of Aspirants that perform well based on a wide range of criteria continue with their training, those that do poorly are removed as Aspirants and returned to their families.

The Seventh Trial, The Trial of Will - The Aspirants are assigned to defend a position at all costs against a simulated attack by the ash gangs. It is almost impossible to succeed in this task, and the Trial is instead designed to examine the resilience and reaction of the Aspirants in the face of seemingly hopeless odds. Death, while a possibility, is exceedingly rare during this task. If an Aspirant is judged to have performed well, she will be moved along with her training. If an Aspirant is judged to have failed, they will be returned to their families.

The Eighth Trial, The First Trial of Iron, The Trial of Sacrifice - The Aspirants are taken on another simulated mission within the Ash Wastes of Kayaamat. They are to serve as guards and protectors of a small mining outpost within the wastes, housing several hundred civilians they are charged with the defense of. In concert with the ash gangs of Kayaamat, a simulated assault is conducted upon the outpost and the Aspirants are judged based on their reactions to the Trial. There are varying degrees of failure at this stage. An Aspirant who fails totally - via the abandonment of the civilians to the enemy - is never seen again; some whisper that they become servitors. Partial failure - via inadequate or incompetent response, results only in removal as an Aspirant.

The Ninth Trial, The Second Trial of Iron, The Trial of Character - The final trial before implantation of Astartes organs - the Second Trial of Iron is either the most important or second most important Trial of the Legion depending on who is asked. It is yet another simulated combat scenario made to fool the Aspirant into believing it is real, wherein the Aspirants are each assigned to lead trainee squads from the Saravati Defense Corps in a routine scouting mission into the wastes. Tasked with defending a group of scientists and other civilians as they perform their duties, each Aspirant’s unit will be confronted with a panicked convoy of civilians moving from one hive to another that have come under attack by a combined alliance of ash waste gangs - while at the same time their own position will come under attack as well. The Trial is designed as a no-win situation, and is designed merely to gauge the reactions of each Aspirant when placed into such a situation. Failure results only from the failure of the battle plan due to incompetence, or from dereliction of established duty. As with the First Trial of Iron, those who are found guilty of sacrificing those they were charged to protect to defend themselves are never seen or heard from again. With the conclusion of this Trial, the Trials exist not to weed out those unfit to serve but to measure progress and gauge their readiness for the next stage of implantation. After this Trial, the Aspirant will have her egg cells extracted and frozen, should they wish to have biological children of their own in the future via the use of the vitae womb.

The Tenth Trial, The Third Trial of Iron, The Trial of Blades - A duel with a fully fledged Astartes of the Legion. No longer Aspirants, the Neophytes must contend first with each other and then with the melee specialists of the Legion in a bout of hand to hand combat with practice weapons and with nothing but hands and feet. Success is almost impossible, and the Neophyte is judged based upon the manner and degree of failure.

The Eleventh Trial, The Fourth Trial of Iron, the Trial of Psychic Potential - The Trial of Psychic Potential is, simply, a series of tests to determine which Neophyes display psychic abilities, latent or otherwise, that can be harnessed to aid the Legion as the Biblitekaya.

The Twelfth Trial, The Fifth Trial of Iron, The Trial of Aptitude - This Trial serves to determine which Astartes show an affinity for the specialist roles within the Legion. Candidates for the Kapellaareksa, Yudsvashnika, Abhirsvashniki, and Takanesvashnika - if they have not been identified already - are singled out during this Trial and given the additional specialist training necessary for them to assume their roles.

The Thirteenth Trial, The Sixth Trial of Iron, the Trial of Artifice - The Neophyte must craft their own weapon, whatever form it may take. The Trial is passed when the Neophyte has created a weapon that meets the standards of the Legion’s Takanesvashniki and demonstrated mastery over it.

The Fourteenth Trial, The Seventh Trial of Iron, The Trial By Combat - The Astartes are once more sent into the Ash Wastes of Kayaamat and other dangerous environments around the many worlds of Saravata to prove their worth and assist in the continued peace keeping of the empire. Instead of mock combat exercises designed to fool the Neophytes into believing them to be reality, the Neophytes are plunged headfirst into vicious combat against the gangs of the wastes and the underhives. Death is a very real possibility that lurks around every corner at every waking moment, and the neophytes must be quick thinking and react with all the skill and lethality which their training has impressed upon them. They are forced into almost every kind of combat imaginable - highly mobile armored warfare on the wide open ash plains, claustrophobic urban combat amidst the dregs of the underhive, crawling through the ruined cities of the recently pacified worlds of the xenos who so foolishly invaded the Imperium, and more.

The Fifteenth Trial, The Eighth Trial of Iron, The Cumulative Trial - This is the final simulated combat exercise the Neophytes will experience as part of their training. It is intended to test every single facet of the soon to be Astartes' training, indoctrination, and implantation. The Trial can last for weeks or even on rare occasions months on end without respite and is designed to be almost impossible to defeat, and the Neophytes are instead measured in degrees of failure. No two Trials are alike, and every squad will be put through a simulation of battle more intense than even their previous combat experience throughout Saravata. Upon passage of this Trial, the Neophytes will be given their black carapace and their power armor. After this most harrowing of Trials, the worst yet remains - the final Trial.

The Sixteenth Trial, Final Trial of Iron, the Trial of Empathy - The Trial of Empathy is a simple Trial. The newly minted Astartes will face their Primarch within a sealed room, and one by one they will state their names to her. Each of them will be treated to a brief glimpse of the true breadth of their Primarch’s empathic abilities, sharing in what she feels from each of them in turn. As one, they will then experience the true test - experiencing the full impact of her day to day experiences in war. The howling maelstrom of emotion that swirls within her mind. Feeling the agony and terror of death inflicted by her hand and by those around her. They will know what it is like to die, both for a mortal human, and for an Astartes of the Legion. There is no failure of this Trial, though some cope with it better than others. Each Astartes, upon completing this Trial, will have a newfound understanding and empathy for not only their Primarch but the myriad mortal souls to whom they have pledged to defend until death.
[/hider]


[/hider]

[hider=Relationships]:
[b]The Emperor:[/b] Much like their Primarch, the legion holds a conflicted view of the Emperor. The Legion respects and admires the Emperor’s unparalleled genius, the magnifcent works he has created, the breadth of his power, and more - but like their Primarch they take a dim view of the Imperial Truth and believe the Emperor is not above human faults. What exactly the Emperor thinks of the Sixteenth Legion, and its Primarch, is uncertain. Certainly, they are far from his most favored of creations - but a Legion held too much in disfavor would not find itself entrusted to wage some of the most bitter struggles faced by Imperial forces, to lead some of the most vital and lethal operations. That he tolerates their noncompliance with the Imperial Truth is perhaps the greatest evidence, for a Legion held in lower regard might not have escaped his judgement so lightly.

[b]Malcador and the Administratum:[/b] As with the Emperor, relations between the Legion and Malcador are conflicted. Within Saravata, a shadow conflict is waged on its periphery by forces loyal to him and forces loyal to the Legion’s Primarch. Seeking to eliminate the governments put in place by her and replace them with those following the Imperial Truth’s doctrine of strict state atheism, many silent coups have been carried out upon frontier worlds of Saravata, and just as many have been silently eliminated shortly after. Despite this, the Legion pays perhaps greater heed to the needs of the civilian governments and their people than the demands of military hierarchy. Worlds conquered by the Legion are almost always left with the foundations upon which the Administratum can quickly be established in force. Care is taken to, if possible, ensure that vital civilian infrastructure and resources are left intact, to ease the world’s transition to Imperial administration.

[b]Imperial Army:[/b] The Legion is viewed with a mixture of love and fear by the Imperial Army’s rank and file. Viewing the waste of a life - any life - with nothing short of the purest disgust, the Legion does not throw the soldiers of the Excertus Imperialis into the attritional meat grinder as so many others are known to do and instead take upon their shoulders the most deadly sections of any engagement; for which they are widely beloved by both the rank and file and officers of the Excertus Imperialis. But the Legion is equally well known for the brutal warfare in which it is often engaged in. To be assigned alongside the Daughters of Iron is a death sentence for many, a deployment from which many will not return. It is to fight beside perhaps the most humanitarian Legion within the Imperium - and it is likely that one will die alongside them as well.

[b]Imperial Citizenry:[/b] Like the Imperial Army, the Legion’s image amongst many of the common folk is one of mixed fear and love. Well known for their aversion to collateral damage, famed for the lengths to which they will go to defend the people of the Imperium, the Legion has a well deserved reputation for compassion and humanity. However, the Legion is also one of those that fought throughout the entirety of the Rangdan Xenocides, including the brutal atrocities committed in its end, the purging of entire sectors clean of life to brook no risk of the return of the Rangdan. Even after such, the coming of the Legion heralds only war, for it is rare that they are the first to discover a peaceful civilization, and the arrival of the Sixteenth Legion inevitably heralds intense conflict. Many worlds have burned in their wake, and the bitter battles in which they are engaged can leave countless billions dead, injured, and broken. It is not uncommon for the very same Astartes who ordered the artillery strike that levelled a building to be seen desperately digging through its rubble afterwards to rescue survivors, or helping aid in the construction of temporary housing for those displaced. They do not remain aloof from the throngs of humanity from which they came, but always deeply connected to them.

[b]Mechanicum:[/b] The relationship of the Legion with the Mechanicum is a complex and strained one. Despised by many within the the ranks of the priests of Mars for their separate faith and their rejection of the divinity of the Emperor, the Legion nevertheless takes great pains to maintain at bare minimum polite relations with the Mechanicum.

[b]Eldar:[/b] Unlike most other Legions, the Daughters of Iron view the Eldar with something approaching curiosity and respect. While keenly aware of the fickle nature with which they may some times deal with humanity, there is an admiration for their knowledge of the Warp and its perils. The Legion adopts a cautiously friendly attitude towards Craftworld Eldar, but a kill on sight policy for Drukhari.

[b]Other Xenos:[/b] Case by case basis.

Other Legions:
Doomsayers: Highly favorable.
The Tears of Dawn: Favorable, Saravata provides the XX Legion with custom made armor.
The Abyssal Lurkers: Hatred, loathing, disgust.
Knights of Awe: Grudging respect.
Stargazers: Disdain and contempt.
Truthlayers: Distaste, try to avoid.
[/hider]


[/hider]

[hider=Saravata]
[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/667651180872204299/839373795587653652/Saravata.png[/img][/center]
Saravata is the realm of Eiohsa and the Daughters of Iron, an autonomous part of the greater Imperium. Unlike most Primarchs and Legions, the Sixteenth does not claim sovereignty and origin from a single homeworld - but instead rule over and administer an entire sector of the Imperium in their own right.

Saravata’s full name is the Grand Union of Saravata, and it holds 777 notable inhabited worlds. It is a fully functioning stellar empire within the Imperium, built by the Primarch Eiohsa over the span of a few decades. Located within the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy, Saravata is relatively isolated from much of the Imperium, and the dim light of the Astronomican is frequently shrouded by warp storms. As such, a series of miniature psychic beacons were erected upon key worlds before the discovery of the Imperium of Man. Only dim candles in comparison to the blazing lighthouse that is the Astronomican, these beacons serve only to aid in Warp travel within the confines of Saravata itself, and lack the range to extend beyond it.

Saravata is divided into four Sectors, ruled from the Central Administrative Region based around the enormous hive world of Kayaamat. Each of these sectors is overseen by a Maharaja appointed by Eiohsa herself. Every Sector is based upon a capital world from which the Sector is administered and overseen by its Maharaja. All of these are large Hive Worlds much like Kayaamat itself, supported by dedicated agri-worlds and mining worlds to feed their populations and support their fearsome industrial output

[indent]The Udīcī Sector is based around the Hive World of Vishnal, and ruled by Ravi Teretivi Gulativ. It is the second largest sector with 192 Worlds of Note. [/indent]
[indent]The  Avāchip Sector is based around the Hive World of Serilsk, and ruled by Pushnaya Svetla Petrovi Salani Satavelekar. It is the smallest Sector, with 107 Worlds of Note.[/indent]
[indent]The Prāk Sector is based around the Hive World of Sakwan, and ruled by Kusum Sinhisk Parshikova-Melshan. It is the third largest Sector, with 146 Worlds of Note.[/indent]
[indent]The Paścima Sector is based around the Hive World of Kerlaks-Machonilsk, and ruled by the Felinid and Mistress of Industry, Reznikova Raisa Petrovna. It is the largest and most populated of the four Sectors, with 251 Worlds of Note.[/indent]
[indent]The Central Administrative Region is based around the Hive World of Kayaamat, and ruled directly by the central government of Saravata. It contains 81 Worlds of Note, but despite this small size is the second most populous administrative region of Kayaamat, owing to both Kayaamat itself and the density of other hive worlds within its borders.[/indent]

In the aftermath of its invasion by a hostile xenos empire to the galactic east, a temporary governate has been established governing the 36 inhabited worlds formerly held by the now extinct xenos race that foolishly attacked the region. The human populations of the sector are being gradually brought into the form of Compliance practiced within broader Saravata, and are in the process of being deprogrammed from generations of indoctrination by their former overlords. Most of these worlds have had their infrastructure significantly damaged and it is currently being repaired and improved upon at top speed. The legal status of these worlds is questionable, but at present they are being administered by the government of Saravata.

When it was annexed into the Imperium during the Crusade upon Eiohsa’s meeting with the Emperor, Saravata became a state within a state enjoying significant autonomy from both the Administratum as well as the Mechanicum. While every citizen within Saravata is a subject of the Emperor - the true leader of the region is and always has been Eiohsa herself. When she is away on campaign, its leadership falls to her most trusted subordinate, Ayushmatki Nanavna izva Kuznekhtinsk. When both are absent, leadership is temporarily delegated to a handpicked council of representatives from each planet.
Below this in authority are the civilian governments composed of a hybrid of delegated and elected individuals. Unlike much of the Imperium, the civilian government is by far the stronger authority within the borders of Saravata when compared to the military it commands. Legally speaking, outside of the bounds of authority of the Primarch, even the 16th Legion itself holds authority over the civilian government only within the domain of military action. The government of each world is tasked not only with meeting their obligations to the Legion and the maintenance and upkeep of Saravata’s infrastructure, but upholding the wellbeing and prosperity of their people. Frequent inspections by the central ruling authority are a fact of life, and should a government be found not compliant with these simple mandates, it will be replaced with speed. The most common form of government upon the worlds of Saravata is that of worker’s councils and labor unions chosen to directly represent the interests of the people, rather than powerful ruling families or wealthy interest groups. As a result of this, Saravata’s living conditions, while frequently somewhat cramped on hive worlds, are generally comfortable and notably above that of many other Imperial worlds.

[h3]Important Worlds of Saravata:[/h3]
Name: Kayaamat
Segmentum: Ultima
Sector: Vedi Sector
System: Kayaamat System
Population: Tens of trillions
Affiliation: Imperium (Saravata)
Class: Hive World
Tithe Grade: Solutio Saravati
A vast hive world eight times the mass of Terra itself, Kayaamat is a blasted, toxic hellscape of acid rains, toxic oceans, volcanic ash swept plains, and sprawling hives. Owing to its higher surface gravity than earth (approximately fifty percent higher), it is unlike many hive worlds of the Imperium, its hives are not skyscraping spires but dense, multi-tiered slabs of plascrete that can span tens of thousands of square kilometers. Upon its surface are countless numbers of these hives, within them teeming countless souls. It lies at the center of Saravata and serves as its capital, and is its most populated planet, with a population even the bureaucracy of Saravata struggles to properly account for.

Kayaamat is blanketed in a great industrial monolith of endless Manufactora, belching forth endless streams of material. Its industrial output is sufficient to rival that of many forge worlds, and its population is an innumerable throng of humanity, with even uncountable Xenos present amidst its vast population. The vast expanses of ash wastes, almost uninhabitable by the standards of normal humanity, are dominated by enormous gangs that trace their origins to the hive cities. Those who did not follow the Primarch Eiohsa into her army and her new social order were expelled from the underhives in which they had previously dwelt. They now roam the ash wastes, warring with one another in vast fleets of vehicles - many curiously constructed from the aged, scrap-plated chassis of various tanks and armored personnel carriers - in a manner curiously reminiscient of the Daughters of Iron’s tactics of mechanized infantry and armored warfare.

The people of Kayaamat are somewhat divergent from the “human norm” - though whether they could be classed as true abhuman are a different matter. Significantly shorter than a person raised upon a world such as Terra, their average height is approximately 150cm for both men and women. Their bodies are correspondingly strongly built, with dense muscles built around denser bones - upon lighter gravity worlds, many are astonished at the feats of strength they can perform despite their height. Many of them show extensive cybernetic modification, from administrative clerks to factory workers to delicate artisans. Saravata as a whole is known for a prolific distribution of technological augmentation, but the people of Kayaamat are surpassed only by the Felinids of Kerlaks-Machonilsk in the scope of their utilization of it.


Name: Kerlaks-Machonilsk
Segmentum: Ultima
Sector: Paścima Sector
System: Sevatar System
Population: 16,180,000,000,000
Affiliation: Imperium (Saravata)
Class: Hive World, Death World
Tithe Grade: Solutio Saravati
Kerlaks-Machonilsk was described by the first outside visitor to step foot upon it with the simple term “Hell frozen over.” Its natural landscape is one of frozen, desolate wasteland. Sheets of ice and rock chilled to below zero battered by salty - punctuated by vast lava flows and powerful volcanic eruptions that spew their liquid fire across the landscape. The world, larger than Terra by some margin, is located outside of the habitable zone for most of its year, but the tidal heating from its elliptical orbit warms it enough to maintain life year round. Most life resides within its monstrous, churning seas. An array of horrors of varying sizes, the lowest forms of life are those that feed on undersea geothermal vents, or upon the things that feed on the vents - but the natural inhabitants of the world can range up to titanic semi-amphibious cephalopod-like shelled creatures that will at times leave the ocean to prey upon the limited land dwelling life of the world.

The world is honeycombed with gargantuan industrial hives and vast mining operations to extract its rich reserves of adamantium. Great plasteel forges burn at all hours of the day, and Kerlaks-Machonilsk is the second largest industrial hub within Saravata, eclipsed only by Kayaamat itself both in industrial output and population. The residents of Kerlaks-Machonilsk, however, are a strain of abhuman known as felinids. The second most common outside of baseline humanity themselves, the Felinids have become an intrinsic part of Saravata, found upon every single world. They closely resemble standard humans in height and build, with a wide variation of skin tones and personal appearance. The most distinguishing features they hold are the two catlike ears upon the tops of their heads and a feline tail sprouting from the base of their spine. Most individuals of this subspecies are heavily augmented with cybernetic technology, many of them rivalling the tech-priests of the Mechanicum in the degree to which their organic forms have been replaced with synthetic material, albeit with a much closer adherence to the human form than commonly observed in the latter.


[b]Light’s End:[/b]
Light’s End, located in the southern reaches of Saravata, is home to an immense construct orbiting one of the few worlds in its system. Second only to the vast orbital shipyards of Kayaamat, it is a true wonder - a mobile shipyard of a size incomprehensible until viewed in person. Operated by a crew of millions, the ships produced here are of the finest quality, and the system and its shipyard is under the personal supervision of Ayushmatki Nanavna izva Kuznekhtinsk.


[b]New Kayaamat:[/b]
A brand new colony established as Eiohsa lead her unifying army out into the broader galaxy, New Kayaamat is far from the only one of its kind - Eiohsa having personally overseen the settlement of some hundred worlds, most of which having yet to achieve any status of notability. New Kayaamat, however, is different. Buoyed by a favorable position within a stable warp current, it has become the pre-eminent hub of trade between Saravata and the broader Imperium, and has enjoyed a massive influx of migration from within and abroad. A gleaming jewel, its population already numbers in the billions, and its manufactora and artisan workshops are second only to the core worlds of the empire.


[h3]Other Notable Bodies: [/h3]
Beacon of the Eternal Guardian: A binary star system comprised of a blue hypergiant star being gradually devoured by a rapidly rotating pulsar on the verge of collapsing into a black hole. The system is considered a natural wonder of Saravata, and artistic depictions of it are frequently found on every world within, and several outside of it. Considered the border marker of the Eastern Imperium, in older times it was broadly considered a symbolic watchful eye over the region.


Craftworld Ceartas: An abnormally large, powerful, and populous Eldar Craftworld, Ceartas was one of the first to flee the Aeldari Empire. Now sailing through the furthest eastern reaches of the Galaxy, Craftworld Ceartas is an odd duck in comparison to many of its brethren. A much more "might makes right" Craftworld, they are run by a statocratic military council composed of the Autarchs of each of the different Aspects of the Path of the Warrior. The Farseers of the Craftworld, while given their due respect and careful heed is paid to their words, essentially lack the authority to do much more than advise the Craftworld on what actions it should take. Indeed, the prevailing cultural outlook upon the predictions of the Farseers is not so much that they are ironclad predictions of the future, but guides and warnings with which to carve out their own destiny. They are pragmatic above all, seeing no reason not to work together with humanity or other races if it should further their own goals of the eternal war against She Who Thirsts and Chaos as a whole, and preserving the wellbeing of the Craftworld and its population. Craftworld Ceartas is additionally known for the complex ornamental tattoos that cover much of their bodies, and the lightning fast sword duels between them held for multiple reasons: honor, to resolve disputes, ceremony, and the simple enjoyment of the act.


Void of Yaman:
A mysterious void of stars within the region, at the heart of which lies a massive black hole from which powerful relativisitic jets spew forth into dark space. The Void has developed an infamous reputation over time for ships becoming lost within it, never seen or heard from again. As such, it is given a wide berth by vessels both entering and leaving Saravata.
[/hider]