Primarch’s Name: Iskanderos
Homeworld: Apella
Background: Ruler
Psychic Potential: Normal
Gene-seed: Stable
Talent: Great General
Legio VI: Imperial Redeemers
Colors: Bronze, Gold, and Ivory
Battle Cry: For the Emperor! For Apella!
Primarch History
The life pod of the sixth primarch would come to land upon world of Apella in the near-Galactic West where he was discovered by king and queen of Apella's globe spanning empire. Apella was but one world in a fractured confederation dominated by conflict and threatened by a larger interstellar Sussan empire. Young Iskanderos grew up at court, immersed in intrigues, diplomacy and warfare. It was at this last discipline that he truly excelled and by the time he was 15 years of age he was the commander of all of Apella's armies while his adopted father began to gather the members of the confederation under Apella's banner.
The sudden deaths of Iskanderos' father to an assassin left the young general in charge of a small empire and he wasted no time in making a name. Iskanderos blamed the death of his father on petty lordlings and nobility who clung to old identities and customs even in the face of unity and the Sussan threat. Some of these little men even lived as vassals of the Sussans.
Iskanderos wasted no time in seeking justice for when the nobles and lordlings of the confederation gathered on Apella for the funeral services of Iskanderos' father he had them seized at the ceremony and put to death. With that Iskanderos seized control of their worlds and ruthlessly stomped out any resistance to his new unity and imposed Apellene culture, language and customs on every world. Despite its bloody foundations Iskanderos forged lasting and binding order and unity for the worlds of the Appellene empire.
With his power established and unchallenged in his own realm Iskanderos did what everyone knew he was driven to do - invade the Sussan empire. Here Iskanderos truly showed his mettle as a leader and commander. The Appellene armies advanced with rapidity, driven by Iskanderos' vigor and marched from victory to victory on his brilliance. Iskanderos crafted brilliant and ingenious strategies and tactics on the fly, improvising as well as planning for the long term.
The fall of the Sussan empire was bloody but swift and Iskanderos exacted a cruel toll for resistance. Cities and armies that failed to surrender were killed without a single survivor and the severed heads of the dead piled in great pyramids. When Iskanderos arrived in the Sussan capital it was ordered that no one of the city was to look upon their conqueror but to instead cast their gaze to the ground. When a single person failed to do so Iskanderos ordered that a punitive tax would be levied upon all the inhabitants - each would have a single eye put out for their insolence, and it was done without question or pity by the Appellene warriors.
With the Sussans now Appellene conquests Iskanderos once again rooted out any vestiges of the old empire and its culture. Tongues were removed for speaking Sussan and ears removed for hearing it. Temples to the Sussan gods were razed and even the Great Library of Issos was burned simply because the words on its books and in its databases were not Appellene.
As before the will of the Master of Apella could not be denied and within a few brief decades the Appellene empire spoke but a single language and lived in a culture dictated by Iskanderos and his chosen companions.
Proud in his achievements and victory Iskanderos also suffered great sadness and when final unity was achieved it is said that he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer.
In the context of such a melancholy it is no wonder that the arrival of the Emperor was greeted with such satisfaction for once again Iskanderos had purpose - the Great Crusade of the Imperium of Man was the ultimate expression of Iskanderos' greatest desires and he committed the Appellene empire to Terra's cause without hesitation. The sixth legion embraced their lost gene-father with zeal and Iskanderos named them the Imperial Redeemers for they would lift the lost worlds of humanity from darkness and into the light of true civilization and glory.
Legion Organization
The Imperial Redeemers are held up as the legion to emulate for organization and indeed the basic underlying structure for most of the 20 legions comes from the Sixth's ordering by Iskanderos. The base 10 formations of squad, company, chapter and the 10,000 strong Jond. The use of the term Jond to define the largest formations within a legion remains unique to the Redeemers despite their best efforts to introduce it into wider use.
Combat Doctrine
Iskanderos and the Imperial Redeemers pride themselves on being versatile and adaptable so as to be able to do anything demanded of them. The training process of the Redeemers requires all marines to cross train with all weapons and vehicles available to the legion and drilled to meet stringent aptitude requirements.
As such the legion is outfitted and prepared to meet any need or situation and adapt to the changing pressures and conditions of the battlefield with alacrity and vigor.
Legion Beliefs and Practices
The heart of the sixth legion is centered on three codas: discipline, order, and unity. This is expressed clearly in the crisp professionalism the Legion maintains within its ranks at all levels. It is also seen in the cultural uniformity the legion enforces on each world it conquers - each world brought into compliance is reshaped and reformed into a proper Imperial world modelled on the perfect model of Imperial administration. Namely that of the Appellene Empire. Appellene gothic is made the sole language spoken by the population outside of the adepts of the Martian Mechanicus. Appellene culture and practices replace those native to the compliant peoples and the old ways rendered extinct.
This is done in order to ensure the perfection and unity of the Imperium by fostering the most beneficial culture possible. That this culture is Apellene is only natural to Iskanderos and his astartes because it is their firm belief that Iskanderos was the most accomplished Primarch before being found by the Emperor and the Redeemers the most able and glorious of all the Legions. This measure of success is arguable as both the Lion Guard and the Peacekeepers have brought more worlds into the Imperial fold. In terms of productive and loyal worlds the issue is more firmly in favor of the Imperial Redeemers.
This belief translates into a cold superiority in regards to the other legiones astartes as the Redeemers rarely deign to interact with their cousins outside of official matters. Iskanderos differs from this in that he is rather warm and charming towards his brother primarchs and Imperial functionaries, wrapping his arrogance in a cloak of brotherly and clever charm. To this end the Imperial Redeemers often work closely with those that would otherwise scorn their cool aloof company.
The garb and decoration of the Redeemers shows their Appellene roots and helps to set them apart. Helms are decorated with black plumes and all astartes above the rank of battle-brother wear short black velvet capes thrown back over their right shoulder. All warriors of the Sixth legion wear a lacquered leather vambrace over the armor of their right forearm inscribed with their name, world of origin, and campaigns. It is written in such a way that it is meant to be read when the astartes has their fist over their primary heart in salute.
Recruitment and Gene-Seed
All of the recruits of the Imperial Redeemers come from the worlds of the Appellene Network. The Network comprises not only the core worlds of the original Apellene Empire but also those worlds brought into compliance by the Legion after it re-united with Iskanderos. It is considered the ultimate sign of unity and achievement among the Network's worlds when recruits for the legion are selected from the population of a world, especially worlds recently (in relative terms) brought into compliance. Such achievements are seen as the ultimate sign of the worthiness of their civilization and a sign of completed cultural assimilation. Recruits from these worlds join the legion with a worthy pedigree and a convert's zeal.
A significant number of his brother primarchs raised great objections to the formation and expansion of the Network, arguing that it smothered the diversity of human culture under an enforced uniformity as well as granting Iskanderos undue influence and power inside the Imperium. Iskanderos dismissed these arguments by pointing out that none of the worlds he has inducted into the Imperium have ever rebelled and that their loyalty and efficiency are buttressed by the presence of the Appellene Network.
The issue eventually became so contentious that the Emperor was forced to intervene and ask that Iskanderos halt the expansion of the Network for the sake of ending the argument. Iskanderos argued with his father and was able to reach the agreement that he would no longer mandate the cultural assimilation of compliant worlds but if such worlds chose to emulate Appellene culture and join the Network of their own accord, they could do so. While this officially laid the issue to rest Iskanderos critics hold the belief that the voluntary expansion of the Appellene Network is a sham and enforced assimilation goes on, if at a reduced speed for the sake of appearances.
The gene-seed of the sons of Iskanderos is stable, pure and effective. Normal in every way it lacks deficiencies as much as it lacks the peculiar strengths of many other more specialized legions.
During Heresy
As Iskanderos’ own Legion, the Imperial Redeemers took
central role in the events of the rebellion from the opening battle of the
civil war until its inevitable conclusion. At the Legion’s homeworld of Apella,
the Sixth Legion broke the back of the Council assault, in process crushing the
Illuminators and their supporting troops, while allying with the Iconoclasts
and the Gargoyles and forming the nucleus of the rebel forces. Moreover,
Iskanderos succeeded in neutralizing Mohktal himself, denying the Council the
services of one of the few Primarchs with advanced understanding of Warpcraft.
After dispatching the Gargoyles to galactic north and
Iconoclasts and newly converted Warblades to galactic south, the Imperial
Redeemers initiated a march toward Terra. Though the Council-aligned Doom
Reavers proved to be much more difficult opposition than Iskanderos had
anticipated, the so-called “death march” campaign, which saw the virus-bombing
of Agrippa VI on the orders of Marvus, had ended suddenly with the Eighteenth
Legion turning their backs on the Council during the destruction of Vindictus.
The latter act also allowed the Imperial Redeemers an unopposed passage to
their true objective – the Dream Conclave of Nirvana, which allowed them to
severely limit the reach of Terra for the rest of the conflict.
Pressing toward Segmentum Solar, the Imperial Redeemers
fought through multiple campaigns against the forces of the Steel Wardens, the
Peacekeepers, and ultimately Grim Angels and Lion Guard. At all occasions,
Iskanderos’ superior generalship allowed him to prevail even when outnumbered,
while his masterful use of powers of the Empyrean ensured that his enemies
remained in the dark on his plans, intentions, and capabilities until the very
end. In the end, the Imperial Redeemers stood at the gates of Terra herself,
where the final act in the rebellion played out in fratricide.
Even without the bulk of the Lion Guard and the Grim
Angels, Terra’s defenses were still very formidable, protected by the entire
Consecrators Legion as well as an assortment of Imperial Army units, Astartes
left behind by Rogr Hemri and Nyxos, loyalists from rebel Legions, and other
Imperial forces. The battle at Terra was hard-fought as Iskanderos and his
allies swarmed the loyalist defenses, struggling to secure beachheads and to
penetrate into the depths of the Imperial Palace. As it became apparent that
the promised loyalist reinforcements were unlikely to reach Terra in time, the
loyalist position became increasingly more desperate.
Knowing that even with the Warp storms on his side, he
could not count on Midnight Riders, Lion Guard, and Grim Angels staying put
indefinitely, Iskanderos personally led the assaults into the Imperial Palace.
Using subverted Liberators to spread misinformation and confusion amongst the
Council forces, Iskanderos managed to reach the Emperor’s inner sanctum mere
days before the reinforcements were supposed to emerge from the Warp.
When the Conqueror finally entered the place where he was
once created, he was greeted not by his father, but by Dyal Rulf, the
Thirteenth Primarch and master of the Consecrators. Though the battle was hard
fought, its outcome was never in doubt – even with the awesome powers of a
Primarch, Rulf was no match for Iskanderos augmented with the powers of Chaos.
Weary yet determined to continue, Iskanderos passed through the gates leading
to the deepest, the most obscure parts of the Palace, accompanied only by an
elite guard of Terminators.
Stories passed along of mighty battles and thunder
underground, of cataclysmic events unseen by mortal eyes as father met son in
the struggle for the soul of mankind. For three days and three nights, the
Imperial Palace trembled, and with it, the world itself wept in terror of the
darker age to come.
On the morning of the fourth day, Iskanderos emerged from
the secret depths, alone and exhausted yet victorious. None could tell what had
transpired underground, though the Conqueror claimed victory, declaring that
the Emperor has been dealt with once and for all, and that the time of
mankind’s ascension was at hand.
With their leaders slain or missing, the loyalist forces
on Terra quickly lost their will to fight, and were either slaughtered or
forced to flee for their lives. Without the light of the Astronomicon to guide
them, the Council reinforcements quickly realized that something cataclysmic
had happened, though they did not learn the story of the Fall of Terra until
they started to encounter the first haggard refugees. After much contemplation,
the remaining Primarchs of the Council chose to turn back to their own holdings
rather than to risk defeat at the hands of Iskanderos and his followers – who,
the Council realized, just managed to capture the most heavily defended world
in the galaxy and to neutralize or even outright destroy the Emperor Himself.
Post-Heresy
Though Iskanderos returned from his battle with the
Emperor, his victory was short-lived. Already given to moments of grim
contemplation and morose introspection, the Sixth Primarch became reclusive,
withdrawing even from his brothers and his closest companions unless his
presence was absolutely required. On more than one occasion, the Legion
officers noted Iskanderos acting as if he was distressed for no apparent
reason, heard the Primarch argue with someone only to find no other presence in
his chambers, or saw the haunted, uncertain look in his eyes. Even though
Iskanderos was still the charming, magnificent presence during all public
functions and strategy meetings, the few close to his confidence claimed that
his encounter with the Emperor had irrevocably changed him in ways they could
not comprehend.
On the tenth anniversary of the Fall of Terra, the
Imperial Redeemers seeking routine audience entered the Conqueror’s throne room
to find their Primarch dead. Iskanderos sat in state on the Imperial Throne,
armored for war yet with no signs of struggle, a beatific and serene expression
on his face as if he finally found peace in the embrace of death. As the Legion
banners fluttered in heavy silence, the fate of the galaxy had changed, once
again.
Within minutes, accusations began to fly and factions
started to form. The Imperial Redeemers, swelled to several times their
original size due to extensive recruitment program initiated by Iskanderos
before his death, did not take long to fracture as Lord-Commanders and Chapter
Masters began to accuse other Legions, the Council, and each other of foul
play. The other Legions once sworn to the rebel cause were quick to join into
the power struggle, which quickly escalated into full-scale war.
Without Iskanderos
to guide them or to provide unified leadership, the Imperial Redeemers were no
longer a singular force they once were, and were in no shape to deny the
ascendancy of Griven Kall in the Second Battle of Terra. While some of the
Sixth Legion’s factions accepted the Fifteenth Primarch’s leadership, the
majority of the Legion did not. Warlords who took extravagant titles and ranks
led their units and followers to the worlds of Apellene Network, or attempted
to establish their own kingdoms in the anarchic remnants of the galactic order.
Several factions of the Imperial Redeemers refused to accept their Primarch’s
death, and continued an insurgency against the rule of Griven Kall, though with
only moderate success.
A faction led
by the few surviving members of Iskanderos’ Companions, the highest ranking
officers once utilized as his advisors and delegates, returned to Apella with
the Primarch’s body. Refusing to accept the disintegration of the Legion, these
officers proclaimed that while they and their successors lived, they would
continue to govern the Apellene Network in the name of Iskanderos. Though most
of the splinter groups originating from the Sixth Legion scoff at such claims
of legitimacy, there is no denying that the current lords of Apella represent
both the largest, and the best organized fragment of the Imperial Redeemers.
The Apellene
remnant of the Legion is a cynical and bitter group, reminiscent of their
one-time supremacy and still considering themselves to be superior to every
other Imperial or rebel successor. Though their culture and the way of life
have been suffused with the worship of Chaos powers at every step, they still
see themselves as the legitimate successors of the original Imperial Redeemers,
and maintain the original Legion ranks, organization, and colors. They are led
by the Regency, the group of four warlords who are reminiscent of Iskanderos’
Companions and who hold the ceremonial ranks as well as the duties to go with
them.
The Regency
consists of positions of Lord Equerry, considered to have primacy in decision
making and military command; Lord Haruspex, considered to be the chief
intermediary to the Ruinous Powers and the keeper of the Legion’s lore; Lord
Diadochus, the master of the Legion’s administration, technological assets, and
armory; and Lord Archon, the master of recruitment and civilian government.
Before ascending to one of these positions, an Imperial Redeemer must have
proven himself in war and in peace over a long and industrious career
culminating in a sacred pilgrimage. Just like Iskanderos once traveled to the
edges of the known space, an aspiring Astartes warrior must travel far from the
homeworld, seeking enlightenment from the Ruinous Powers and returning with
mutations that would both prove his allegiance and show the favor of Chaos
gods.
Over the
millennia, many champions attempted to reunite the Legion and to take up the
mantle of the Conqueror, however, none were able to succeed. The very nature of
Regency at Apella mandates a degree of power sharing and makes it difficult for
one officer to suborn the others; the non-Apellene splinters of the Legion are
typically too few in number or too far removed from the Legion’s one-time ideal
to produce widely accepted leaders. The closest warlord to reunite the Sixth
Legion, one Deimos Mukhtabi, was on the verge of defeating the Apellene Regency
at the end of 36th Millennium, however, he was felled by
uncontrolled mutation on the verge of his ultimate victory, becoming a twisted
Chaos spawn and proving once and for all that the Ruinous Powers did not
approve of the reunion. Still, the Dark Gods are notoriously fickle, and who is
to say that another champion would not have their favor?
As of late,
yet another faction emerged amongst the Imperial Redeemers native to Apella.
These warriors, called the Jahid
after the nearly mythical followers of the earliest sea-kings of Apella,
believe that the reason Mukhtabi failed was because only one being could
reunite the Legion and make it a force to be reckoned with – Iskanderos
himself. Though the Conqueror’s body remains in stasis field on Apella, these
Legionaries claim that they witnessed the subtle signs of life from their
Primarch – the twitching of the eyelids, the curving of the mouth in the
beginnings of a smile, the heaving of his chest as if in breathing. While the
Apellene Regency tends to persecute these beliefs as foolhardy and unworthy of
the Sixth Legion, the Jahid beliefs
continue to spread amongst the ranks, gaining more adherents with each century
and perhaps even beginning to sway some of the Regents. After all, the Imperial
Redeemers are still eager to reclaim the heights of their glory days under
Iskanderos… and the very nature of Chaos defies the belief that death is final…
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