Legio X: Peacekeepers

Legio X: Peacekeepers

Primarch: Gideon
Homeplanet: Topia
Background: Ruler
Psychic Potential: Normal
Talents: Gunslinger
Legio X: Peacekeepers
Geneseed: Exemplary
Colors: Black and with white upper arms and pauldrons
Numbers: 200,000
Battle Cry: Lex Laurifer! Pax Invictus!

History:

At the separation of the Primarchs, Gideon was flung to the southern regions of the galaxy, to a planet named Topia. This was a world flung into disorder and anarchy, with small villages and towns serving as brittle safe havens against the raiders that roamed the planet-wide savannah. The tundra near the polar ice caps was equally hazardous, with many dangerous beasts that encroached upon the pitiful villages eking their existence from the poor soul. While Topian legends told of a great ancestral civilization destroyed through its own hubris, very few people still paid heed to them, considering such tales fanciful at best.

Gideon’s capsule landed near an equatorial settlement, where he was found and raised by the villagers. They were simple and unlettered people, and the young Primarch’s intelligence and strength seemed almost supernatural to them. While Gideon’s dark complexion was uncommon, it was not unheard of on Topia, with its population exhibiting numerous phenotypes; as such, very few had questioned his origins.

The Primarch’s interests had quickly outstripped the simple life offered by his home, but the villagers could offer him no answers. Illiterate and superstitious almost to a man, they had considered learning a taboo, and eventually conspired to exile Gideon from the village for his attempts to learn about Topia’s past. As the Primarch managed to decipher the carvings in an ancient ruin, telling stories of an ancient, star-spanning empire, the villagers accused him of being a warlock. As the anarchic mob sought to force the Primarch out of the village, Gideon looked at them with pity, and left the village behind without resorting to violence.

For the next year, Gideon wandered around the continent, seeking remains of destroyed Topian civilization while attempting to preserve any and all bits of knowledge he could find. Everywhere he went, the planet’s people gave him a wide berth, murmuring discontent and yet fearful of his stature, for Gideon’s fame soon gave him a reputation for being a fierce, unstoppable warrior easily capable of besting hundreds of ordinary men.

Finally, Gideon’s quest bore fruit. Amongst the northern highlands, near the ruins of an ancient city, the Primarch found the residence of Jacob, the Last Scholar, a hermit dedicated to preserving what little knowledge had survived from before the Topia’s dark age. Under Jacob’s mentoring, Gideon learned about the Age of Strife and the world-spanning civilization that collapsed in wake of Topia’s isolation. The Primarch learned about its customs and traditions, its technological accomplishments and social advancement, and he finally understood what he was meant to do. Arming himself with the relic pistols found in the ancient ruin and modified to fit his size and bulk, Gideon prepared to descend from the hills to lead the scattered Topians back to civilization.

Unfortunately, one of the many marauding bandit gangs infesting the highlands spotted Gideon leaving, and attempted to ransack Jacob’s dwelling for valuable artifacts and treasures. Finding nothing of use, they killed Jacob before the Primarch could return, burning the priceless tomes within out of spite and superstition.

The column of smoke warned Gideon that something was amiss, and the Primarch hurried back, only to find the scene of grisly carnage and total devastation. As the only person on Topia who shared his ideals, Jacob was as close to a surrogate father as Gideon ever had, and the old man’s murder drove the Primarch into murderous rage. He hunted the bandits through the hills, slaughtering them one by one until not a single one was left, leaving the bodies horribly dismembered for all to see. As the last of the bandits perished, Gideon could finally stop and reflect on what he had done.

The realization horrified him. Instead of feeling accomplished, he felt as if he was no better than the murderers he had exterminated. His earlier plan to lead Topians into a new, civilized age seemed naïve and doomed to failure, not when there was no order on the planet, and when only might made right.

After much contemplation, Gideon had his answer. The world could not be led into the light through the force of arms or the force of personality without degenerating to the same brutal, meaningless state in the process. The only way to bring peace and progress to Topia was through giving it order through new, just, and enforceable laws.

When Gideon returned to the village he was once exiled from, the village elders reacted with superstition and fear, however, the Primarch’s charisma, strength of personality, and dark legend he had forged during his journeys forced them to relent. Fearfully, they had allowed him back in, knowing that he would not be denied, and that from there on things would never be the same.

Gideon took to promoting his ideas through wisdom and learning rather than threatening villagers with violence. As improvements suggested by the Primarch increased the village prosperity, the people began to look to him for leadership, while any marauding gangs stayed clear of his territory in fear of his martial prowess. Soon, other scattered villages and tribes came to Gideon looking for leadership and safety. To all these people, the Primarch extended the protection of his ever-growing nation, and the benefits of its just, reasonable, and strongly upheld laws.

After two years of peace, leaders of multiple bandit gangs and towns that found themselves eclipsed decided that the growth of the young nation was a threat to their existence, and that the only solution was to destroy it. As the malcontents and the bandits gathered in strength to assault Gideon’s newly founded capital of Iacovi, named in his mentor’s honor, Gideon went out to meet them. However instead of violence, Gideon brought words, promises of prosperity, security and a future. One by one the warlords and bandit kings lay down their arms and accepted Gideon's vision for the future. With the threat of war removed, Gideon was finally able to spend all his efforts on restoring civilization on Topia.

By the time the Emperor came to the planet, Topia was a world transformed. Under Gideon’s able leadership, old technologies were being rediscovered, wilderness was being cleared out, and the population boom finally made true large cities possible. But most unusual was the government system created by the Primarch – where most other Primarchs reigned as clear and undisputed rulers, Gideon’s laws made leadership an elective position with a finite term to prevent possible corruption of rulers. Having established the order he had sought, Gideon chose to step down from power, allowing the citizens to vote on his successor.

The Emperor’s arrival was greeted with some fanfare by the Topians as a sign of upcoming reunification with the star empire Gideon claimed once settled Topia. As father and son reunited, the Emperor was highly impressed by the ordered, peaceful world offered to him, while Gideon humbly accepted command of the Tenth Legion of Adeptus Astartes, named the Peacekeepers after Gideon’s own mission on Topia.

Upon taking command of the Legion, Gideon presented its commanders with the twin books of law he authored while on Topia. It was, he claimed, the Legion’s and the Great Crusade’s mission to bring the benefits of law and order to human worlds scattered during the Age of Strife. He linked the galaxy’s situation to that of Topia, extolling his warriors to drive forward in the name of humanity, and to bring the benefits of the Imperial rule to the distant colonies.

The twin books, Lex Bellum and Lex Civitas, were adapted for the Legion use – the former providing the rules of war the Peacekeepers were to employ, and the latter to aid in organizing the worlds brought into compliance. While still an Adeptus Astartes force capable of tremendous brutality and violence, the Tenth Legion would be expected to conduct their operations honorably, treating all but the most irredeemable of human opponents under the rules of Lex Bellum, and even giving some xenos breeds deemed either sufficiently honorable or harmless a chance to depart their holdings peacefully. Those who had refused to accept the Peacekeepers’ offer were subsequently eradicated with no quarter given. The worlds it left in Tenth Legion’s wake after introducing Lex Civitas were prosperous, industrious and loyal to the Imperial Truth, providing additional recruits to the Peacekeepers to swell the Legion far beyond its original size.

As such, the Peacekeepers soon became known for the efficiency of their operations, and the number of ordered, peaceful worlds brought into the Imperial fold. While some of the more aggressive Primarchs had expressed concerns about the Peacekeepers’ preference for negotiations and non-violent conflict resolution wherever possible, the sheer number of worlds brought into compliance by the Tenth Legion had soon silenced most of the critics. The Legion’s highly ordered, scientific approach to warfare combined with a humanitarian streak uncommon amongst others made them highly favored amongst the Imperial citizens, with many accolades heaped upon Gideon and his warriors.

Legion Organization

The Tenth has organised its warriors into the traditional organization scheme adapted from the Thunder Warriors of Terra by Iskanderos. The sheer size of the legion has forced the adaptation of a higher level of organization beyond the ranks of the Captain-Generals who command 10,000 astartes and attached Army units. Above the Captain-Generals are the Captains-Martial whose power is theoretically above anyone's save the Primarch's, but in practice the Captain of the First Company - the commander of the Primarch's retinue and honor guard, the most veteran and experienced warriors of the legion - is acknowledged as their equal if not their superior.

Notably, the Army units attached to the Peacekeepers are organized on the lines maintained by the Legion. Drawn from many worlds brought into compliance by Gideon’s warriors, the Peacekeepers’ attached Imperial Army units are well-trained, highly motivated, and well versed in the rules of war as espoused by the Tenth Legion. The officers are expected to be familiar with both Lex Bellum and Lex Civitas, and are often called upon to become the Imperium’s representatives and governors on the worlds liberated by the Peacekeepers. In fact, some of the Army regiments receive special training for garrison duty, incorporating elements of law enforcement, counter-insurgency tactics, and civil infrastructure building. In this way, the Peacekeepers can free up the Legion’s Marines for front-line duties while fulfilling their duty to the Imperium by bringing compliant, productive and peaceful worlds into its fold.

The Legion does not employ Chaplains in the same capacity as the Ninth Legion, Grim Angels, as the Tenth Legion is more concerned with discipline than encouragement. As such, the Peacekeeper Chaplains, sometimes going by the title of Judges, serve as interpreters of Lex Bellum and Lex Civitas, ambassadors to other Legions or newly encountered cultures, and as officers responsible for spiritual and psychological well-being of the Legion’s Marines. In battle, the Judges are fierce disciplinarians, reprimanding any Peacekeepers whose discipline is found lacking and serving as examples of unrelenting courage even in the direst of circumstances.

The Peacekeepers have very few Librarians, who are mostly tasked with screening the populace of liberated worlds for signs of mutation or other taint, and with keeping the Legion’s records. The lack of predictability and certainty inherent in psychic arts had caused Gideon and most of the Legion to view the Librarians as dangerous and unstable, and while the Tenth Primarch is not blind to their combat potential, the Legion’s psykers are closely watched, with their powers called upon only in the direst of circumstances.

Combat Doctrine

Some of the other Legions see Peacekeepers as too passive of a force for Legiones Astartes, as they always prefer peaceful solutions over the use of force. Even when force becomes the only solution, the Peacekeepers’ tactics are slow, methodical, and even defensive. The Legion’s preference for ranged combat, owing to the influence of their Primarch’s early embrace of firearms technology, had alienated some of the more savage or aggressive Legions. Some of the more assault formations, such as Jaws of the Deep and the Gargoyles, had even gone as far as claim that the Peacekeepers’ adherence to their doctrines is cowardly, and that the Tenth Legion does not deserve the privilege of serving the Emperor’s Great Crusade.

These accusations belay a resourceful and downright stubborn nature of the Peacekeepers, whose convictions provide them with tenacity necessary to face even the strongest of foes and prevail. Those same convictions had almost led the Tenth Legion into confrontations with the more savage elements of the Legiones Astartes, most notably standoff against the forces of the Gargoyles during the Parias Massacre. Although the confrontation did not lead to outright combat between the two Legions, it did produce festering resentment between them – the Peacekeepers saw the Fourteenth Legion as brutal savages bent on genocide, while the Gargoyles, for their part, accused the sons of Gideon of letting their moral scruples get in the way of successful completion of a campaign.

Most of the Tenth Legion’s battle-brothers carry heavily customized weaponry in addition to their standard issue bolters and chainswords. The customized weapons are believed to represent the warrior’s connection with his spiritual side, and are often used as gifts to indicate bonds of brotherhood. When a Peacekeeper begins a particularly onerous endeavor, it is customary for him to mark the occasion by forging a new weapon. The weapon will then be used in combat during that endeavor, which is believed to give it a particularly honorable or vicious spirit, depending on the nature of an engagement. Such weapons range from combat shotguns and pistols to swords, heavily modified chain weapons, and even thunder hammers.

During an invasion the Legion seeks to minimize the number of confrontations, choosing to win the war in a small number of strategically important battles. While the Peacekeepers are capable of assaulting into well-prepared defenses if the situation calls for it, the Legion’s commanders prefer to establish well-fortified beachheads and to lure the enemy into attack. In this manner, the Peacekeepers believe they choose their own battlegrounds and terms of engagement. Notably, unlike most other Legions, the Tenth actively seeks to avoid civilian casualties wherever possible, earning them some admiration in the wider Imperium, but also inviting scorn of other, less scrupulous Legions.

When encountering xenos species, the Peacekeepers first evaluate them for threat potential to humanity. Any alien species deemed to be a threat are ruthlessly eradicated with the full force of the Legion. In order to avoid pointless, costly, and time-consuming conflicts, the Legion gives some reasonably advanced yet non-threatening xenos species a sole chance to vacate the disputed planets. If the xenos refuse, the Legion brings its full force to eradicate every trace of them. Any alien species found to be too primitive to understand communication or to have means to voluntarily exile themselves are usually left to the attached Imperial Army groups to exterminate, as the Peacekeepers Space Marines are too valuable to be bogged down in needless wars against low-technology opponents.

The Legion’s stance on the alien species has been a sore subject between Gideon and some of his brothers, particularly Griven Kall of the Hellhounds, who had espoused the ideology of total extermination of all non-human sentient species in the galaxy. At one point, Griven Kall had detachments of the Fifteenth Legion follow the Peacekeepers missions, ordering them to destroy any aliens spared by the Tenth as soon as the Tenth Legion left the area. It is rumored that the two Legions’ forced had even come to series of minor skirmishes, although the leadership of both vigorously denied it. The truth, such as it is, may never be fully known.

Legion Beliefs and Practices

The Legion’s beliefs are centered on the Peacekeepers’ role as the bringers of order to the lawless, anarchic galaxy, just as Gideon brought order and prosperity to Topia. In a sense, the Peacekeepers are following in their gene-father’s footsteps through their actions, thus lending their activities an air of almost sacred duty. These beliefs are reinforced by the twin treatises of Lex Bellum and Lex Civitas, the former being a collection of both the Legion’s tactical expertise and its rules of engagement, and the latter being the body of law designed for the best functioning of civilian society on the worlds the Legion comes in contact with.

Far from rigid, both texts are treated as works in the state of constant improvement and revision, with Lex Civitas being the most frequently updated tome. As new cultures and societies are encountered and experiences and customs are shared, the Legion’s officers may annotate particularly worthy and notable practices of the cultures they bring into compliance, incorporating them into the treatises upon Gideon’s review and approval. On occasion, Gideon had solicited input from his brother Primarchs, whose own experiences provided them with additional insight on what makes for viable, productive societies.

Where Lex Civitas is a free-flowing, encyclopedic body of work, Lex Bellum is a stricter, more streamlined book, describing the rules of engagement to be followed by the Legion, tactics proven to work against various types of enemies, and military knowledge drawn from both Imperial and non-Imperial sources. It also contains several Litanies – mantras and mental techniques used by the Legion in times of rest and meditation, negotiations, and in the heat of battle.

Every battle-brother within the Tenth Legion aspires to live by their Primarch’s words that

“through law, we triumph over the chaos and disorder that grips our cosmos, and achieve true peace that is eternal and unconquerable!”

While both Lex Bellum and Lex Civitas are intended largely as guidelines to assist with local decision making, some captains and battle-brothers take very literal and inflexible approach, using the texts as specific directions to be followed exactly. Others use the two treatises in more of an advisory capacity, using them to help the decision making process instead of guide it. These philosophical differences led to certain friction inside the Legion, often necessitating intervention by Judges in order to aid in best-suited interpretation of the Legion’s codes.

Outside of combat, the battle-brothers are expected to mingle and interact freely, sharing experiences and opinions at their leisure. Far from affecting the Peacekeepers’ discipline, this practice serves to strengthen the bonds between battle-brothers drawn from different worlds while promoting the highly meritocratic and diverse culture.

Recruitment and Flaws

Despite drawing heavily from the rapidly growing population of Topia, the Tenth is one of the largest Legions due to its propensity for recruiting from any suitable human culture in addition to its own homeworld. The gene-seed of Gideon’s line is known for both its purity and high acceptance rate amongst the initiates, resulting in significantly lower implant rejection rate amongst the new recruits. As such, the Peacekeepers are highly diverse in origins, appearance, and personal philosophies, with the Primarch’s teachings serving as the cement holding them together.

During Heresy

While the Peacekeepers were thought to be a natural addition to the Council forces during Operation Starfall, Gideon refused to contribute any of his men to the force including the Gargoyles. As a result, the Tenth Legion was still engaged in garrison duties and various other operations near Topia, with only token contingents remaining near Segmentum Solar. As the war drew on, Gideon kept the majority of the Legion on and near Topia, where his own vassal worlds could be kept safe from the ravages of the war, however, all available reserves were rerouted to protect the Council holdings as the situation grew more and more dire.

In the latter stages of the civil war, the Peacekeepers gathered some of their forces to protect the Core Worlds of the Imperium alongside Steel Wardens. Due to the Legion’s size and the number of detachments on independent operations, the majority of the Tenth Legion remained at large throughout the galaxy, allowing Gideon to use only a fraction of his overall forces. Already at odds with some Council members due to their callous tactics and use of less than savory methods to win battles, Gideon was further disgusted by what he thought to be the Council attempt to sacrifice innocent civilian worlds in a stratagem.

The massacre at Galen IV was the last straw for Gideon and the Peacekeepers. Despite Nyxos’ protestations that the virus bombing of that world was a dire necessity, Gideon could not forgive his uncompromising brother for the atrocity. Already disgusted with the Council tactics, Gideon ordered his men to withdraw from the Core Worlds and to undertake a long voyage to Topia, where they would seek to protect the Legion’s ideals of government and warfare rather than bleed for would-be tyrants.

As a result, Gideon’s formal declaration of secession was only inevitable. As the leader of one of the largest Legions, he was more than capable of enforcing his will, especially in the period of weakened Council authority, while the uniformly high quality of the Peacekeeper forces ensured that he had little to fear from similarly numerous, yet far more uneven Lion Guard. With Topia located sufficiently far from the front lines, Gideon set on a quest to create an enlightened yet formidable dominion capable of protecting its citizenry and their way of life.

The Lawgiver was at least sympathetic to Malcador’s attempted Imperium Secundus, however, his disillusionment with Terran politics and pragmatic understanding of his brothers’ ambitions kept him from taking part in Malcador’s endeavor. It is not, however, impossible that some of the relics once controlled by Malcador somehow made their way to Topia in the decades or even centuries after the fall of Puritania to Nyxos…

Post-Heresy

After the embers of the civil war died down, Topia became a center of a splinter state. The sons of Gideon took to example of their father, unifying disparate systems under the just rule of the Peacekeepers Legion and its Primarch while protecting their charges from the hostile galaxy outside. Though Gideon's guidance produced a stable, peaceful realm, he was not blind to realities of the universe, especially after the traumatic experiences of the civil war, and his warriors continued to patrol the warp lanes and the distant moons, staving off incursions by Chaos warbands, xenos marauders, and enterprising armies of other successor states.

The largest challenge to Gideon's rule came from Nyxos' invasion of Topia in M35. Seeking to reunify the domains of former Council of Terra, the lord of the Grim Angels led a force of hardened killers from his own Legion, Lion Guard, and any other warband he could sway, bribe, or intimidate against Gideon's dominion. Though the outlying garrisons of Peacekeepers fought valiantly, the invaders were numerous, outfitted with the best equipment their forge-worlds could provide, and led by merciless and capable generals who stopped at nothing to ensure victory. Faced with such an existential threat, Gideon elected to trade territory for time while gathering his forces for a decisive battle.

The lord of the Peacekeepers gambled that Nyxos would find Topia itself an irresistible target, and turned the Topian system into a virtual fortress. Airless moons were outfitted with world-breaking macrocannon batteries, and gun monitors crewed by human volunteers patrolled all approaches to the capital world. Tens of thousands of Peacekeepers hid in reserve, maintaining vox silence in their void-fortresses and waiting for a signal to spring forth and surprise the enemy. Orbital platforms above Topia teemed with activity as millions of workers and soldiers prepared for the inevitable attack.

Nyxos' fearsome reputation preceded him, and as the outlying observation stations and outposts began to go dark, there was little doubt in Gideon's mind who was responsible. Though Peacekeepers stationed in the outer system fought hard, eventually they were overwhelmed by massed assaults of Lion Guard Legionaries. Behind the defenders' lines, squads of Grim Angels performed missions of sabotage or outright terror attacks against any target they could find. Though Gideon ordered the evacuation of all civilian population to Topia, he was powerless to prevent the complete destruction of infrastructure, or the use of biological, chemical, and nuclear weaponry against the hab-blocks and industrial facilities.

The defenses of Topia held Nyxos and his followers for an appreciable length of time, but in the end, the sheer determination of Grim Angels and the numbers of the Lion Guard prevailed. Thousands of drop pods filled the sky, and for every one destroyed by anti-air batteries, ten more took its place. On the streets of Iacovi, Peacekeeper Legionaries fought against the Invaders, trapping them in enveloping fire zones, bringing the buildings down upon them, or catching them in a booby-trapped fortresses. For hours, the Peacekeepers kept the enemy at bay, however, that was not to last.

As the initial assault seemed to stall, Nyxos himself entered the fray. All the best efforts of the Peacekeepers could not stop the Ninth Primarch, who cut through them as if they were paper soldiers, and who evaded their every attempt to slow him down. The Peacekeepers fell towards the palace where the seat of Topian government lay, managing to keep their retreat somewhat organized in spite of the destruction being wrought around them. Sensing easy victory and feeling that the ruin of Gideon's dominion was at hand, Nyxos uncharacteristically abandoned all caution and led the final assault himself.

After cutting through the few Peacekeeper Honor Guard left standing, Nyxos started to grow increasingly concerned. He expected Gideon to lead his men from the front, or, failing that, to stand and die at the heart of his falling empire with everything he had once built. Instead, the Lawgiver was nowhere to be seen, and the few warriors, each a hero of the Legion in his own right, were no true challenge to a Primarch.

As Nyxos roared his frustration to the sky, venting his anger on the priceless artwork and ancient artifacts decorating the Topian palace, his scream was answered by the sound of displaced air as Gideon and an entire company of Terminator-armored elite Peacekeepers teleported into the palace, fully armed and ready to avenge their fallen comrades.

For this was Gideon's final stratagem, the plan he put into motion when he realized that his dominion would not survive total war even if he was victorious, leaving it too weak to protect itself against the dangers of the galaxy outside its borders. Instead of withdrawing all of his Legion's forces to Topia and dooming the rest of his realm, Gideon left most Peacekeeper garrisons and companies in their assigned sectors, taking only what he needed and sacrificing only the worlds on the direct path to Topia to defeat his enemy in one masterstroke. And now, the Peacekeeper reserves were unleashed from their secret hiding spots in a final, desperate gambit.

Trapped on the surface of Topia, Grim Angels and Lion Guard died in their thousands under bombardment from Peacekeeper strike cruisers emerging from the void. Without a chance to build any sort of defensive fortifications, the invaders were easy prey for Peacekeeper fire teams delivered from orbit in Thunderhawks and Stormbirds, or teleported to the planet surface from their warships.

In the palace, another battle was brewing. Though outnumbered, Nyxos was a warrior through and through, and he was more than a match for the Peacekeeper Terminators while his men died to keep enraged Gideon occupied.

In the end, when no Legionaries were left to kill, the two Primarchs met face to face. Furious at the damage to his world and people, Gideon was fighting with reckless abandon, while Nyxos struck out at him in measured, precise movements of his lightning claws. Gideon's guns were long out of ammunition, expended on the now-dead Grim Angels and Lion Guard, so the Tenth Primarch fought with a hammer that once belonged to one of his officers who died late in the Great Crusade, recovered from a captured Gargoyles vessel after the Council's shameful flight from Terra all those millennia ago.

Though Gideon was a hardened warrior after millennia of leading his dominion against every threat imaginable, he was not the merciless killer that Nyxos was. Despite all his fury, Gideon found himself outmatched against his brother, barely surviving instead of bringing Nyxos to long-overdue justice. A wayward attempt at a counter-parry left him open, and Nyxos took every advantage, laying deep into the Lawgiver's exposed side through armor, flesh, and bone. A rare smile cracked Nyxos' severe face; even with the odds stacked against him, he managed to prevail, quite possibly winning the entire war here and now.

Alas, his triumph was short-lived. Summoning the last bit of his resolve, Gideon took this opportunity to strike. Enveloping Nyxos inside his arms, Gideon put every bit of his prodigious strength to crush his brother, even as Nyxos' talons dug deeper into Gideon's body, rupturing blood vessels, destroying organs beyond any hope of recovery.

When the Peacekeepers finally managed to destroy the last organized invader formations falling back toward the palace, the warriors of the Tenth Legion found Gideon and Nyxos locked in a deadly embrace, bound in death like brothers they were in life. The Peacekeepers took their Primarch's body with them, locking it in stasis as a monument to everything they had achieved, and a reminder of their genetic and cultural legacy.

Some amongst the Legion's surviving leadership advocated unceremoniously destroying Nyxos' body as a retribution for the atrocities he and his men committed on their long march to Topia, but wiser heads prevailed. In death, they reasoned, Nyxos could serve a greater purpose than in life, or as a rallying cry to the remains of the Ninth Legion. Though most of the ranking Grim Angel officers were either slain in combat, or took their own lives to avoid capture, the Peacekeepers managed to take several line captains and sergeants prisoner. While most of the prisoners were paraded on Topia before being tried for war crimes under Gideon's laws, the Peacekeepers let a single Grim Angel sergeant go back with his Primarch's dead body, a broken sword taken from Nyxos' captured armory, and a message – he who comes with a sword shall perish by the sword.

With Gideon gone, the Peacekeepers held on to his ideals and legacy, but bereft of his leadership, found themselves in difficult straits. The outlying worlds of the Topian dominion drifted further away from the capital's reach over the centuries, with no central authority arising to take Gideon's place and to keep the loyalty of the Legion's surviving officers. Desperate to keep the dominion together, the master of the Legion took a drastic step and announced the creation of smaller Chapters from Legion companies stationed at distant planets. Each Chapter would be practically independent, left to govern its assigned systems to the best of its ability in accordance with Gideon's laws, while protecting the human populations from all external threats. The Chapters would have new names, new heraldry, and new leaders, who would only nominally answer to the Legion masters on Topia.

Though the Topian dominion is at best a loose confederation of worlds sharing mutual values rather than a true star-faring empire, this decentralization allowed much of Gideon's legacy to survive, though in altered form. When a particularly large threat emerges, the disparate Chapters tend to put aside their differences and zones of influence, uniting under the banner of Topia to protect their domain. Outside of war, the people in the Peacekeepers' domains are generally highly civilized, enjoying the benefits of technologically advanced societies and the protection of the warriors who still live by the tenets of the Imperial Truth abandoned elsewhere throughout the uncaring galaxy.