[hider=Strahlender Viktor]
Name: Strahlender Viktor

Gender: Male

Homeworld:
Sometime in the far, distant past Abenteuer was originally a tropical world. Humid, covered in vast and lush vegetation and inhabited by a large number of different mega fauna alien species that came in herbivore, carnivore and omnivore varieties. Originally it was settled in the hopes of turning it into a farming world, be it for plants or its animal population. This hope proved... unfounded. The soil proved ill suited for sustaining edible corps on a mass scale and the mega fauna was discovered to be uncooperative to domestication.

Despite these setbacks, Abentueuer's colonization continued. Rather than food production, it turned into a scientific hub as botanists and biologists from all over humanities worlds flocked to investigate what Abentueuer had to offer from its native life. It also proved to be a remarkable tourist destination for various big game hunters in the galaxy who were interested in the planet's mega fauna and the stories and trophies they could provide. It helped that a lot of them actually tasted pretty damn good when cooked.

When the Age of Strife struck and isolated the world, both scientist and big game hunter factions banded together for the sake of survival rather than fight a pointless war for dominance. After all, they were stuck there for the foreseeable future due to the rampaging warp storms, so they might as well get comfortable and make themselves at home.

Many years later in the modern day, about a third of Abentueuer's landmass has been converted into man made settlements and structures while the rest of the planet remains its flora covered self. One would think at first glance that this was a death world situation in which humanity had fought tooth and nail in order to claim what it had from the world but this is actually not true: Their scientific and hunter ancestors both had a deep respect for the natural world, even if for different reasons. As such, they largely invested their time and resources into developing and making use of 'green tech' in order to preserve as much of the world of Abentueuer as possible while allowing themselves to have comfortable lives.

Even if they are no longer bound to the resources of Abentueuer, its people continue to show the same respect their ancestors did. After all, if you hunt all of a species to extinction then the next generation isn't going to be able to make hunting stories of their own.  

Appearance:
Strahlender is a giant of a man at 14 feet tall. While he is incredibly physically strong, he is actually somewhat naturally chubby in both body and face. His hair is brown and kept short, while his mustache is generally kept prim and proper while the rest of his face is kept clean shaven with a few exceptions (namely, long term campaigns in which there is little time to break and stop fighting).

Strahlender's power armor was originally based on an early design for terminator armor, but like the rest of his legion it has been combined with the designs of Abentueuer's 'Knight Armor' in order to maintain the same functionality and purpose, but have that familiar feel of home. The primary difference between Strahlender's personal armor and that of any of his legionaries is that of scale, since he tends to tower over them.      

While prone to changing up his weaponry in response to battlefield conditions instead of using a singular weapon, Strahlender is best known for the usage of his custom made powersword that is almost as big as he is. [i]While[/i] Strahlender could use it one handed if needed, he is much more comfortable wielding it with both hands. 

The story goes that it was originally the primary melee weapon of a Armiger-Class Knight who was fighting alongside the 8th when they heroically covered a withdrawal of the Imperial Army from an armored ambush at the cost of the user and the almost complete destruction of the knight itself. Strahlender would honor this fallen hero of the Imperium by claiming the large powersword they used and using it to finish the fight against the foes that had killed them. Strahlender has kept it ever since.    

Personality:
Strahlender is a jolly, polite and honorable man who desires to travel the universe in the name of adventure, witness the wonders that it holds and collect and share stories of it. A moral man, it isn't strange for him to feel honor bound to defending those who cannot fight back or refusing to engage those who clearly aren't fighters. It is actually rather difficult to incite his ire with insults or aggression, but cruelty and indifference to the suffering of others will rile up a response. Never afraid to lead the charge into battle, but willing to ask himself if the battle needs to be fought before jumping in.

While he is very much onboard with the grand quest of uniting humanity from all across the stars, Strahlender is one of the Primarchs that doesn't judge others for their species and has no ill intent towards xenos races solely because of them being xenos. For him, they are just another interesting part of the universe and more reason to explore it. That being said, the [i]actions[/i] of these species can quickly result in Strahlender making it a personal mission to wipe their breed of evil from the universe but even then he'll still be prone to sparing civilians in the event that the species in question understands the concept of non-combatants.

Orks are an interesting species in that Strahlender doesn't hate them. In fact he honestly enjoys fighting them! The savage greenskins always make for an epic tale of battle and glory on the battlefield and their actions against humanity, while horrible and clearly needing to be stopped, actually lack the malice intent that normally incites his ire. Granted there are individual orks who trigger it by being sadistic bastards, but Strahlender cannot help but feel that the greenskin's vile actions off the battlefield are caused by the fact that to them, there is no concept of a place that isn't a battlefield. To them the Orks aren't butchering civilians, they are merely fighting the poorly equipped and trained dregs of an enemy force. They clearly have to be purged to make a safer universe of course, but at least the fighting will be interesting until their final days.

Prone to festivities, drinks that have been designed to be strong enough for the legionaries to be able to enjoy and the collecting and telling of stories, Strahlender has a charisma about him that makes people see the universe the way that he does; To want to be apart of a universe where adventure is possible and that the honorable are remembered for their deeds for eons to come.

Skills:
[b]Leader of Men:[/b]
Strahlender is a strong, charismatic man who fundamentally feels that humanity doesn't need to be driven like sheep, but led. He will never ask someone to do what he is unwilling to do himself and if battle must be fought, he will always be among the first leading the charge. These convictions bleed over into his words and actions and inspire loyalty and a desire to follow him on his cause and to do the best that they can in its name.

[b]Weaponsmaster:[/b]
Strahlender makes use of a number of different weapons, depending on the battle in question he is about to fight. He knows how to use [i]all of them[/i] at an inhuman, master level.

[b]Strength of Conviction:[/b]
Strahlender is an honorable knight who follows his own code of chivalry and glory. He will follow this code of honor above the laws of men and Emperor. There is no force in this universe that would make him deviate or abandon it, consequences be damned.  

[b]Science Nerd:[/b]
Despite being an adventuring knight with a code of honor and a desire for glory, Strahlender is rather intelligent and highly educated in various fields of science and technology.


Assignment Grade:
Kappa

Strahlender really doesn't have much in the way of psychic ability, nor has he ever tapped into it before. Maybe one day he might sit down and actually explore this side of himself but for the time being he has better things to do.

Biography:
No one knows the details of Strahlender Viktor's early life apart from Strahlender himself and he doesn't speak of them. While many might find such a thing odd, the people of Abentueuer understand that Stranhlender is embodying the knightly virtue of demut: Humility. While the knights of Abentueruer and later the 8th legion have a practice of telling heroic tales of their exploits, it is considered highly improper to tell the stories of one's own achievements; Abentueruer knightly tales are designed so that the group in question will all take their part telling the story, enshrining the virtues and achievements of their comrades and allies rather then their own.    

What is known is that one night, lucky residents of Abentueuer looked up into the sky and witnessed what appeared to be a shooting star. Those of a more astronomy bent even calculated the trajectory and found that its course found it crashing into a section of their homeworld far from civilization and generally home to some of the more aggressive predators on Abentueuer.

For the most part this was just viewed as an interesting tidbit of information. Something to talk about with friends or coworkers but not really an earth shattering event... despite the fact that the point of impact likely suffered its share of earth shattering because of it. With one exception.

A group of young knights, who were planning an expedition into that region anyway in order to prove themselves and earn some stories and glory, not only saw the falling star as a good omen for the hunt but also decided to make finding and collecting it an objective in its own right. They were going there anyway, might as well make the adventure all the more interesting by seeking out a hunk of star metal that crashed down.

The adventure of this group of young knights was an epic tale in its own right filled with heroism, comradery among brothers and sisters in arms and tales of combat deserving of song, but when they reached their destination the story encountered a twist that would make it the foundation of legend. It took them over a year and a half in order to reach the area of their quest and their search for the 'fallen star' proved surprisingly easy. It was hard to miss the pod in the middle of a boneyard of various animals of the region.             

While one would have thought those bones were caused by the impact itself, that idea was quickly disbanded due to the the fact that some of the dead were fresh and had clear signs of having their flesh and meat cut off... alongside the small boy that was sitting by a campfire by a leanto made of a mixture of bone, leather, wood and other plant materials. This seemingly six year old boy, wearing makeshift hide clothing and cooking a stew with a hand made stone pot with stone and wooden tools carefully placed around a camp in the middle of one of the most dangerous regions on the planet, looked up at the arriving knights and tilted his head in curiosity for a moment before beckoning them over to join him.

What followed was a surreal meal. The child didn't seem to understand the knights at first, but was a remarkably quick learner and before the stew was ready to be served up they had clearly learned enough to at least be able to understand what was being said... or at least the underlying intention behind the words. In return he didn't speak because the knights suspected he didn't know how, but the boy proved to be very good at charades when it came to imparting meaning of his own, even if it wasn't as detailed as he might have wanted it to be.

At any rate, after some discussion and a day or two at this camp site, everyone agreed to head back to civilization and to take the pod with them. Considering how long the journey back was, the young boy would spend a lot of time with this band of knights. Within the first month he was able to fluently speak to them. Within six months he had gone from a remarkably effective but brutish method of fighting which had been developed to survive out in the wilds to the fourth best fighter of the band of knights, despite the fact that he was still much smaller than they were. By the end of the year he had not only grown into the body of a teenager, but he had taken the undisputed title of the best duelist of the group.

By the time they had returned to civilization, the leader of the young band of knights Herrliche Tapferkeit had unofficially adopted the strange boy from the stars as family and gave him the name of Strahlender Viktor before personally vouching for him to undergo official training for knighthood. This was largely just a formality, since by this point Strahlender was more skilled at combat then most veteran knights and the band had done a solid job of teaching him the various codes, oaths and ideologies of being a knight, but as they were willing to admit that while they were officially recognized as full knights there were better, more experienced teachers. Everyone agreed that Strahlender's time with the band (and the time alone before that) counted as far as proving himself a full knight via questing was concerned.

Unsurprisingly Strahlender officially became a full knight of the order within record time, though he credited the achievement largely to his friends and family in arms for giving him a solid education to work from. Rather than go on a quest like most newly minted knights did, he instead turned his focus towards the scientific.

The scientific community on Abentueuer was still active after all this time, though one might have found it was heavily slanted towards certain fields; While the planet had originally served as a hub for science research, it had largely been focused on researching plants, animals and biological factors of the planet. Cut off via the Age of Strife, this resulted in having limited resources on other fields... if they had resources at all. As such, much had to be developed from scratch. In all fairness they had done a remarkable job of retaining what they had while expanding their knowledge base from practically nothing in a lot of cases over the length of the Long Night.

Strahlender taking part in the scientific community took the hard work of all those who came before and accelerated it beyond their wildest dreams. Optimistic estimates had placed the first manned mission into space as Abentueuer's first step to reclaiming their spot in the stars between 40 and 60 years. Because of Strahlender, they were able to land a manned craft on the planet's moon and return within 3. 2 years after the first trip, a colony had been established as probes and satellites were sent out as plans to visit the rest of the system were being made before a Rogue Trader detected one of the probes and followed it back to its source.

The visit proved rather beneficial for both parties, with the Rogue Trader finding a pretty good world with a respectable human population open to joining the Imperium and picking up a fighting force of the planets knights in the process because they wanted to go on an adventure to see the stars and Abentueuer in turn was brought to the attention of the Imperium... and quickly drawing the personal eye of the Emperor himself after the Rogue Trader met the giant science knight that had pushed the planet to take to the stars so quickly and flagged him as a possible Primarch.

The Emperor arrived soon afterwards and quickly confirmed this and welcomed his lost son to the Imperial fold, as well as putting him in charge of Abentueuer. Strahlender in turn decided that the local government had been doing a pretty good job of things as it was and more or less empowered them to continue doing what they were doing as he went with the Emperor to study and learn from the best that the Imperium had to offer before he took control of his legion.

When Strahlender learned about the 8th and their brutal but effective nature which reminded him very much about how he once was, he sat at the top of a staircase that led to a training field that was used by the elite forces of the Emperor's personal guard and pondered deeply for eleven hours and twenty three minutes. When one servant of the Imperial Palace asked Strahlender if he was alright, Strahlender was rather jolly in his response as he answered 'Oh, yes. I was just pondering how to turn my poor lost children away from the savagery that they have had to use to survive and remake them to be paragons of ideals they were meant to be. Some might consider that an impossible task, but the more impossible the task, the greater the tale when it is achieved!'

The solution that Strahlender came up with was to reorganize his legion from the ground up. This would take time, since it would require getting legionary production from Abentueuer's knightley stock up and running in record time, but it was manageable. Rather than sending new recruits to reinforce the existing legion structure, he instead called the various task forces of the 8th to Abentueuer one at a time in order to break them up and implant them into the new task forces. Officially this was a 'Veterans teaching the rookies' kind of scheme in regards to combat on the galactic stage, but Strahlender made sure that in whatever force they were a part of, the Terrans would be in the minority. Nor were they the highest ranking authorities.

This created an interesting environment where the Terran's hard one experience and knowledge was valued due to the fact that a number of foes that would be encountered upon the Great Quest to unite Humanity were completely devoid of honor or just complete bastards and these lessons would prove vital to many of the Abentueuer marines going forward, but the overwhelming Abentueuer culture would encourage the Terran marines to become their better selves and follow the example of their Primarch. This wasn't a perfect system, for more then one Terran marine rejected the possibility of becoming something better than a savage brute in tactics or ideals. Since these often proved to be the most monstrous and sadistic of people who revealed the atrocities they committed, they would usually be executed via being killed in an honorable duel with Strahlender without anyone missing them. With one exception.

Sergent Metzger, when challenged to a duel by Strahlender due to his inhumane, dishonorable and cruel actions on the field of battle, murdered two of his former squad mates and tried to hijack a thunderhawk to flee. Strahlender subdued Metzger, but took him alive and dragged the murderous traitor back to his flagship. That was the last time anyone saw Metzger alive and while there are numerous theories ranging from throwing Metzger into a plasma reactor to dangling him outside of the ship via a cable and then entering the warp, if asked Strahlender will insist that Metzger is very much alive and will remain as such for the foreseeable future.
                    
The Meeting:
Abentueuer had been expecting a proper Imperial delegation to further cement the diplomacy that Rogue Trader Roberts had started. In a manner of speaking, they got more than they bargained for when it arrived.

Strahlender had donned his armor and stood at attention in the ranks of the other high ranked knights as part of Abentueuer's diplomatic welcome. His choice of position at the end of the line put him right next to the science representatives, physically making him the link that overlapped both fields and honoring his achievements in both. He had not been expected to speak during the welcoming ceremony; There would be a chance to have conversations with the Imperials later, but despite all his achievements earning him the honor of being apart of the welcoming party, he was not of a position of authority to speak for Abentueuer to a foreign power openly.

There was something about the Imperial landing craft that drew his attention to it, even before he had been able to see it up in the sky. Granted, the transport itself was a sight to behold; The amount of light from Abentueuer's sun that was reflecting off of it was almost blinding, as if a second, smaller star was descending. Only once the craft had properly landed that the reason for the sheen was the amount of gold that seemed to be covering the whole thing, carefully crafted to look artistic and impressive instead of gaudy like the Rogue Trader's own personal transport had appeared with its decorations.

As the landing ramp lowered and the figure strode forth, Strahlender stared at the Emperor of Mankind; There was simply no way that the shining, gold covered figure before him could be anyone else. Someone who, despite having never seen them before... he felt a deep connection to that he couldn't explain right away. As the speaking members of the delegation went forward in order to greet this guest to their world, the figure... ignored them. Walked right passed them as if they weren't there as he made his way with total authority right towards where Strahlender was standing. Their eyes met, despite the fact that his head was covered by his helmet.

When the Emperor came to a stop in front of Strahlender, there was a moment of silence that hung between them. It surrounded the whole area, as all watched this breech of decorum with a mixture of shock, awe and confusion. Until at last, Strahlender was the first of the pair to speak. Despite how loud and proud his voice naturally was, the knight spoke with a gentle softness that might not have been heard if there had been any other noise at the time "Do not worry. We will talk soon enough. I'm not going anywhere. But we both have our duties and obligations and you're being awfully rude right now." before with a simple gesture beckoned towards those that the Emperor should have been speaking too right now.

For his part, Strahlender got to see the small look of surprise as the Emperor turned and seemed to notice the diplomats for the first time. There was another moment of silence before the Emperor offered a small, barely noticeable nod and turning in order to greet the representatives of Abentueuer.

The two would talk later and the discussion would prove enlightening in many ways. In fact, the fact that the Emperor of Mankind had, for a brief moment, forgotten himself and his duties as Emperor due to finding one of his long lost children after an accident separated them while Strahlender was a baby many years ago not only excused his slip in protocol, but ended up wiping away any lingering doubts of the Abentueuer people swearing their loyalty to him and his Imperium. Once Abentueuer had officially joined the Imperium, Strahlender was proud to kneel and swear his services and loyalty to his lord, master and father and rose as a Primarch of the Imperium.
[/hider]


[hider=The VIII]
Legion Name:
The Honorbound (Stralender's rename)
Condemned Ravagers (Their former name)  

Legion Number: VIII. The Eighth.

Legion Strength:
93,000

Armour Appearance:
The standard suit of power armor for The Honorbound is the Mark III, with the Mark II and IV being assigned to its supportive units. The bulk of the armor plating is painted a light shade of gray, with the joints being a darker shade of gray. The pauldrons are the only part of the armor that get touched by other colors, both of which are painted in heraldry.

The left pauldron is always painted in the coloration and symbol of the marine's original squad; The one they joined when they officially became a true legionnaire after proving themselves as an aspirant. There are some rather byzantine rules when it comes to the design of a squad heraldry and all new ones are checked against the record of heraldry before meeting approval. The left pauldron of the Honorbound will always bare the original heraldry, no matter what happens or what kind of career the marine in question leads. It will of course be touched up and redone, but it will always be the same imagery and coloration.

The right pauldron bares the heraldry of the marines current squad. Unlike the left pauldron, the right one is prone to change and will be repainted in the event that survivors of two or more squads need to be combined into a new squad. Generally, the 'new' squad will continue to bare the heraldry of one of the squads that made it up, normally decided by the number of marines from each squad and the biggest number winning: In the event of a tie, a new heraldry altogether is designed and submitted, normally taking aspects of all the former squad heraldry as inspiration.      

Warcry:
"I am [i][u]insert name here[/u][/i] of [i][u]insert planet of origin[/u][/i] and you will feel my WRATH!"
"HAVE AT THEE!"

Dramatis Personae:
Herrliche Tapferkeit - 
The leader of the band of Abentueuer knights that discovered Primarch Strahlender and who would later adopt him into the family and gave Strahlender his name. Herrliche was one of the first Abentueuer’s to undergo the process of becoming a legionary of the 8th and continues to serve as one of its primary leaders under his adopted kin. 

Much like the Primarch, Herrliche uses a larger than normal powersword that he wields with both hands as their primary weapon of choice.  

Sergeant Metzger-
Sergeant Metzger served in the 8th since the Wars of Unification on Terra itself. The exact crimes that brought him to the attention of the Condemned Ravagers have long been forgotten, but he was well known within the 8th during its time as the Ravagers and later the Honorbound as being a cruel brown noser who presented a respectful persona as he sucked up to his superiors while being a nightmare to those under his command. 

When his actions and behavior finally caught up with him and the sinful sergeant was going to be given the chance at an honorable death, his cowardace revealed itself as he ended up murdering two of his fellow legionaries to try and escape his fate on a stolen thunderhawk. His escape attempt failed and currently the only person who knows of his fate is Primarch Strahlender himself, who’s only answer if asked about Metzger is that he is alive and will remain as such for the time being.   


Favored Tactics/Battlefield Role:
The Condemned Ravagers and later The Honorbound both favored a straight up melee fight and both had a very similar method of operation: They would select a location on the battlefield or some objective and and assault it in force, the front elements wearing the heaviest armor in order to tank enemy fire while charging to close the distance and start fighting while the lighter armored supporting units would provide covering fire, medical aid or mobilize to help in the event of changing circumstances such as a surprise enemy flanking attack.

The primary difference between the two was in the nature of their targets. The Condemned Ravagers tended to favor weak and poorly defended positions or just outright civilian targets altogether, since terror tactics to insight emotional responses among the enemy was part of their play book; Ideally, the longer the campaign lasted the more the enemy would fear, dread and [i]hate[/i] the Ravagers to the point that it would compromise their ability to think and operate clearly, alongside dealing with the issues that the blows to the civilian infrastructure was causing.

The Honorbound will by their nature always aim for a military target, the stronger the better. Despite what their critics might say through, they're not stupid about this. They're not going to charge over a minefield if they can help it after all. While there is much honor and glory in fighting a strong opponent, getting your comrades and brothers in arms killed in the process isn't ideal but in certain situations is grimly understandable if there are no other options; Getting them killed in a battle that didn't need to happen because you were a glory hungry idiot is a deep mark of shame and often personal guilt.

The Honorbound will actively seek to aid allied forces where they can. Their record and reputation for doing this is such that if the 8th cannot dispatch anything to answer a call for reinforcements or aid, the situation they are currently in is so intensive and dire that they [i]physically[/i] cannot spare a single marine without risking defeat.  

The Honorbound are also known for their views on civilian life. Namely, they will not harm or kill civilians unless there is literally no other option to take. This applies to enemy civilians; If an enemy civilian pulls a weapon, an Honorbound marine will actually try to subdue them and resort to killing only if lives are actually in danger. This applies to [i]xenos[/i] civilians as well. Of course, this is dependent on the xenos race in question actually understanding the concept of civilians and not being horrible hive mind like monstrosities, but the Honorbound will invoke the EoT in order to protect a xeno civilian population of an area they have taken by force. Normally the 8th will have moved on to the next campaign before the ruling on if the species is accepted or failed EoT requirements is made.             

Legion Characteristics/Ideology:
In the past, when the Legion was called the Condemned Ravagers, the 8th held a sinister reputation. They were the ones that the Emperor and the Imperium sent in when the target needed to be made a brutal example of and many of the old guard took a sadistic delight in the work that they did. They would recruit from the worst elements of humanity, often giving brutally violent criminals that under any other circumstances would have been condemned to die for their actions a chance to serve the Imperium in a manner more... suiting their temperament and skills.  

The Imperial Army hated working alongside them due to the Ravagers habit of using, abusing and discarding their soldiers in a heartbeat en masse if it meant achieving their objectives and ends. In pursuit of victory, any cost in lives was acceptable... not their own lives, of course but the cost of human soldiers was perfectly fine.

The arrival and take over of Primarch Viktor changed the 8th on a fundamental level. Instead of the worst in humanity, the legion strives to embody the best humanity has to offer. The practice of recruiting the scum of humanity was abandoned and those who refused to abandon the monstrous practices of the past despite the Primarch's efforts to reforge the 8th into a new legion were given the small mercy of an honorable death at the hands of their disappointed genesire; The one shred of honor they could call their own after a lifetime of vile, wicked deeds.

It took decades of time and effort, but the 8th managed to prove that the change in their character was real to the Imperium and the Imperial Army via their deeds and actions. It isn't strange for members of the Honorbound to take on small 'quests' of their own creation while stationed on a world or passing through a system that is dedicated to aiding or improving life in that area for the people living there. For younger marines who were recruited after the return of the Primarch, these quests are done purely out of a sense of adventure and a desire to improve the lives of others. For the older members, these quests often serve as a self imposed penance for their actions back when they were Ravagers.

Despite the change, there are places within the Imperium where the dark legacy of the 8th remains even after all these years. Systems that still remember what happened when the Condemned Ravagers were sent in to deal with the situation.

The 8th has an... interesting relationship with Xenos races in that they are not inherently xenophobic. This was true even back during the dark days of the Condemned Ravagers, as shocking as the idea might seem. They are not xenophiles either. Rather equal in its treatment of humans and xenos alike, the 8th in both renditions has generally always dealt with either with the same mentally: If diplomacy can get reasonable results without having to spend resources or waste lives, great! If not, war it is.          

Relationships:
The 8th has a... complicated history with the various branches of the Imperium. It's dark actions and reputation as the Condemned Ravagers linger still in some places for both the Imperial Army and the civilian administration of the Imperium have long memories, but in the modern day and after decades of hard work the deeds and actions of the Honorbound have largely banished most of the actions of the Ravagers to the pages of history. It's not strange for the average Imperial to mistake the Honorbound and the historical Condemned Ravagers as two completely different legions.   

Of all the enemies the Imperium has faced, the Honorbound favor fighting Orks the best. This isn't because they hate the Orks in as much as they actually like fighting the bastards. They're fun! Make for some truly epic and sometimes funny stories!

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