[hider=Victor Thelin] [b]Name:[/b] Victor Thelin [b]Gender:[/b] Male [b]Homeworld:[/b] Kyria - A death world made violent not by its natural environment, but by the one created by colonists. Originally a standard human settled world, corruptions in their technological advances and manufacturing led to humanity and automated war machines being locked in a brutal conflict. [b]Appearance:[/b] Victor is of average height for a primarch, standing at eleven feet tall exactly. He cuts the figure of one that is strong and hardy, but also deceptively agile and dexterous, distinctly less broad and built than one would expect of a warrior primarch. His hair, a dark charcoal, is cut close and does well to compliment his full face, yet carefully trimmed, beard. Alongside the scars of war that adorn his pale face, his most distinct feature is his missing right eye, a simple black cloth eyepatch replacing the sibling of his remaining amber brown eye. In armor, Victor prefers a customized personal version of armor similar to the powered recon armor used by Reconnaissance squads of the Legions. Built with a specialized Cameleoline offshoot, it is able to both depict the heraldry of the legion, but also adapting to his surroundings as needed in combat operations, serving as on-the-fly camouflage. Victor prefers to arm himself rather mundanely for a primarch, preferring a bolter equipped with a gunsight and matching sidearm, both personalized for reliability and optimization in combat rather than any aesthetic form. [b]Personality:[/b] Victor is an inherently distant man. Not out of spite or dislike for others, but simply because he prefers to observe, speaking and acting only when necessary. When he does act, it is with intense confidence and determination, his words nearly immovable, his actions nearly unstoppable. His force of will is like a blade, tempered by pragmatism and only unsheathed for a decisive strike before withdrawing back to his preferred silence. However, behind this is a simple fear that shapes all of Victor's behavior. Loss. Victor avoids personal relationships because of how devastating loss was to him as a youth. This means his professional demeanor is his only demeanor when not alone, and not even a primarch can withstand isolation forever. [b]Skills:[/b] Victor's experience lies in special operations tactics, focusing on covert and rapid strike movements on high value targets and specialized objectives. Assassination, arrests, search and destroy, sabotage and demolition, if it is a single high priority target that needs to stop being a concern, Victor knows how to do just that. [b]Assignment Grade:[/b] Kappa - Though not consciously controlled, Victor's psionics manifest themselves as a natural intuition and highly tuned reflexes and reaction time in combat scenarios, allowing him to react to the chaos of battle with an almost imperceptible quickness. [b]Biography:[/b] Victor's arrival on Kyria nearly saw him killed before he ever set foot on the surface, automated defense systems run by a malfunctioning war network nearly annihilating him before his incubator could even arrive to be recovered. Surviving his initial hazard, he was recovered by and adopted into one of the remnant groups of the original human colonists, who had become a society of hardened soldiers fighting against their own former tools of defense and battle. This placed Victor into a life of war he would get very little reprieve from, when he was able to hold a gun, he found himself on the front line, striking at automated manufacturing plants, power stations, computer banks and more, his unnatural size and skill easily taken advantage of by his fellow human survivors, written off as something caused by the rampant technology found the world over. Life on Kyria was brutal and short for most, Victor outliving everyone who had originally found him, and many of their descendants. While he was the only bastion of stability for his group of survivors, this left him forced to watch as anyone he cared for or open up to being snatched away by the war machines, leaving him to silently reset and fear loss while forging a stern and determined outlook around which the others could rally. The arrival of the Imperium was the most welcome relief the people of Kyria could have ever asked for, all too happy to agree to their terms unilaterally in exchange for allies in the war against the automated rampage. Victor himself was immediately recognized by the Astartes that had arrived, ushered into space and the wider Imperium to have his place explained in the world by the Emperor. After meeting his father, the Emperor, Victor was all too willing to take his place at the head of his gene-legion in return for the Imperium helping the people of Kyria. Victor was surprised to find his sons trained in skills very similar to those he and the people of Kyria had developed in war, and was all too happy to take upon himself the role of the Imperium's scalpel, eliminating and securing high value objectives and targets throughout the crusade. From rebelling planetary lords to vital enemy infrastructure and everything in between, Victor and his men devoted themselves to the wetwork, sabotage, and other small unit strikes of the campaigns in the crusade. [b]The Meeting:[/b] Safety was a sensation wholly unfamiliar to Victor, a near-alien mindset. As he stood in the chamber of the vast Imperial ship he'd been brought aboard to meet the enigmatic Emperor of Mankind, Victor kept anticipating an attack that never came, watching for the robotic war machines and automated kill-drones that roamed his home. But all that came was a sensation of awe. Victor felt the Emperor before he saw him, his presence practically radiating through the bulkhead as he approached. As the Emperor entered the room, proclaimed by a herald, Victor felt the man, if he could be called one, peering into his very heart. "I don't doubt the people of Kyria are grateful for your Imperium's assistance in exchange for…compliance." Victor said after greeting the Emperor with a partial bow. "But I don't understand why your soldiers asked me to meet with you personally. Kyria has no semblance of even remotely unified leadership, I can't possibly represent the entire world." The Emperor, upon hearing this, shook his head. "You are not hear to represent your world. That will be handled. You are here because of who you are." Confusion traced across Victor's face as the Emperor continued. "Long ago, on the ancient homeworld of humanity, Terra, I forged from my own genetics twenty elite beings, my Primarchs, to lead my armies in reuniting humanity. Alongside them, I forged armies from their genetic code, creating my most elite soldiers. However, before they could take their place at the head of my armies, my Primarchs were scattered to the stars by forces beyond my control. As I continued my conquest of the stars, I've slowly recovered them. You, Victor Thelin, are one of them." Victor could only offer a simple nod as his world view was completely reshaped in a moment. "I see… I presume you wish me to join you, then. If you will promise the support of your armies to the people of Kyria, I will join you." "Your people will have the help they need." "Then I look forward to meeting this army built from me." [/hider] [hider=Legion I - The Emperor's Lightning] [b]Legion Name:[/b] The Emperor's Lightning, a name given to them from the earliest days of their operations for the precision and speed of their attacks. [b]Legion Number:[/b] I [b]Legion Strength:[/b] 55,000 - The legion's tactics favor a far smaller pool of Astartes than most others, preferring to recruit from a smaller, far more elite cadre of aspirants. [b]Armor Appearance:[/b] The following is the Legion’s official livery, featured here on a suit of Mark II Power Armor, though they only wear their Legion colors when standing on ceremony and attending other official functions. In any combat operation, the Legion prefers a camouflage pattern of paint matching the area of operations, and generally prefers the powered Recon Armor issued to Reconnaissance squads of other legions, or Mark III armor more suited to breaching and boarding assaults. [img]https://i.imgur.com/4lpLVV4.png[/img] [b]Warcry:[/b] "Service Before Self." [b]Dramatis Personae:[/b] The primary significant figure in the Legion, outside of the Primarch himself, is Legion Master Zuriel Cladius, the head of the Emperor’s Lightning prior to Victor’s rediscovery, and currently second in command of the legion. Zuriel is a staunch proponent of what’s quickly becoming a full-blown Terran Marine “faction” within the Legion, a staunch holding of the “old guard” who call for a “survival of the fittest” mentality within the legion, and that those who let their squad-brothers down should be put under de facto exile to the most far reaching corners of the Crusade for their perceived failure. Victor and Zuriel often find themselves at odds on many occasions, though in the end Zuriel remains dutiful to Victor’s position as Legion Primarch. [b]Favored Tactics/Battlefield Role:[/b] The battlefield focus of the Emperor's Lightning is devoted to rapid small-scale special operations ranging from search and destroy, sabotage, high value target extraction, reconnaissance, and more. Their organizational structure is built around squad operations of around 5-10 Astartes, with their primary transportation method being airborne insertion or light armored transportation. Legion Reconnaissance and Breacher squads serve as the primary infantry formations in the legion, outfitted with a combination of bolters, Astartes sniper rifles, and Astartes shotguns as circumstance requires. In addition to frag and krak grenades, squads generally utilize blind grenades to aid in clearing out objectives or securing targets, and melta bombs as demolition equipment. Special weapons utilized are primarily plasma guns, with meltaguns for anti-armor operations and lascutters as additional breaching equipment. Heavy weapons, rarely utilized by the legion, primarily consist of missile launchers and heavy bolters. Cameleoline cloaks and camouflage recoloring of their armor, often alongside enhanced infravisor equipment, are often issued as well, to make stealth and scouting operations easier. The primary field tactic of the legion is to divide squads into fire teams of two to four Astartes, carefully positioning themselves out of sight before engaging with an objective or target. Fire teams position themselves to cover as many angles of approach as possible to prevent escape and ensure the operating zone is swept clear. Similar tactics are used in building and ship breaching operations, as well as larger scale missions, though the legion focuses on avoiding larger deployments as much as possible, preferring to operate as smaller detachments within larger campaign theaters. The Emperor's Lightning prefer to operate as independent attachments to larger Imperial operations, and as such do not field in significant numbers, nor do they find themselves accompanied by Imperial Army forces or similar. Any given theater can generally find themselves supported by a unit of the legion engaging in small unit raids and similar on high value targets in the theater. [b]Legion Characteristics/Ideology:[/b] The Emperor's Lightning's internal culture is built around squad camaraderie, the same unit being raised together from aspiranthood into full legionnaire status. This extends to the wider company and chapter formations within the legion, its smaller size creating a more unified and insular community. This tends to create an effect of isolation away from the wider Imperium, which alongside their independent operations in the field leads to them finding themselves as outsiders in a campaign, keeping to themselves in field camps and similar. This tends to leave them without a real stance on the politics of the Imperium, focusing instead on their duties and orders. Policies such as psykers, the Edict of Tolerance, and the Imperial Truth are simply laws to uphold as necessary, rather than any basis for internal conflict with the Imperium. The squad-based intra-legion culture has also led to the creation of two distinct camps within the Emperor’s Lightning, divided along Terran and Kyrian origin. With battle-brothers serving in the same squad from aspirtanthood to full member status, squads who suffer enough losses to be disbanded are folded into others of similar fate to form so-called “Survivor Companies” within the legion’s chapters. Terran Marines, who view such loss as a failure of the squad’s cohesion, tend to look down upon these companies with disdain and pity, with Terran officers favoring to give them the most dangerous and costly assignments when able. Kyrian Marines, on the other hand, having first-hand experience with losing many of their closest loved ones as youths on their hostile world, tend to look upon those companies favorably, as legends and wise veterans to be followed and respected. [b]Relationships:[/b] The isolation of the legion leads to them having very little in the way of direct relationship with much of the Imperium, their contact being rather limited and professional. One exception is the Cult Mechanicum, who members of the legion from the homeworld of Kyria as well as the Primarch himself find utterly detestable given the similarities between the war machines of the Machine Cult and the rogue automatons of their home. [/hider]