Legio Vulcanum I

The Legio Vulcanum I (The Dark Fire) is a Traitor Titan Legion of the Dark Mechanicus that repudiated their oaths to the Emperor of Mankind and followed Warmaster Horus into the service of the Ruinous Powers during the Horus Heresy. There is very little information in Imperial records about this Titan Legion's founding, though it is believed that they were founded before the Age of the Imperium during the Age of Strife. The Legio Vulcanum I hailed from within the Vulcanis System upon the Forge World of Stygies VIII in the Ultima Segmentum, a large moon orbiting a massive ringed gas giant on the outer fringes of the star system.

Legion History
Stygies VIII was once home to two Titan Legions, the 1st and 2nd Legios Vulcanum. While unusual for a single star system to support two Titan Legions it is far from unknown, as Mars itself supports three. Stygies VIII was granted two Legions due to its close proximity to the Eye of Terror and the attendant risks of Chaotic attack on this important Forge World. Most of the twin Legions' war engines were on crusade with Warmaster Horus when the Horus Heresy began. In a series of bloody surprise attacks, a core of Chaos Cultists back on Stygies VIII seized control of the Forge World’s manufactorum facilities. Reduced to a small group of Loyalist Tech-priests, these valiant defenders protected the planet's Temple of Knowledge against the robed cultists and the hastily-improvised berserker machines that they had produced. Trapped and on their own, the Loyalists expected that death would eventually follow, but unanticipated liberation came on the thirty-first day of the siege in the form of the graceful Eldar Titans and hundreds of Jetbike-mounted warriors of the Saim-Hann Craftworld who smashed the servants of Chaos. They had not come to help the Mon-Keigh, but to deny to the Forces of Chaos such a strategically potent manufacturing world so close to the Eye of Terror. When the Horus Heresy finally ended, both of the Traitor Titan Legions of Stygies VIII fled into exile within the Eye of Terror. The planet is now home to a third Titan Legion, the Legio Honorum, which was raised to restore the Forge World's honour in the eyes of the Emperor.

Notable Campaigns

 * Shi'Hu'Gal Purge (Unknown Date.M31) - The Legios Vulcanum I & II supported the Night Lords Legion during the infamous xenocidal purge of the Shi'Hu'Gal Dominion during the Great Crusade.
 * Siege of Vraks (813-840.M41) - During the Siege of Vraks, a battlegroup of Chaos Titans belonging to the hated Traitors of the Legio Vulcanum I (known in some sources as ‘the Dark Fire’), were seen accompanying the Chaos forces drawn into the steadily escalating conflict on Vraks Prime. The exact number of enemy Titans deployed was not confirmed, although post-battle reports claimed 14 enemy Titans of the Warhound and Reaver-classes were destroyed during the campaign. If so, then the Legio Vulcanum paid a heavy price for its involvement, and their hated enemies from the Loyalist Legio Astorum can claim a famous victory over their ancient enemy.
 * 13th Black Crusade (999.41) - When Abaddon the Despoiler led the largest Chaos incursion into Imperial space in 999.M41 since the Horus Heresy as part of the 13th Black Crusade, the Legio Vulcanum I were one of the Traitor Titan Legions that had a suspected presence in the campaign. There were four unconfirmed assaults led by the Dark Fire on the Imperial worlds of Belisar and Kromat.

Notable Titans

 * Venataris Mori - Perhaps the most infamous of the Dark Fire's Titans is the Warhound-class Titan identified by the Imperial Logos Tactica as an ancient and thrice-cursed war machine named the Venataris Mori, a corrupted Warhound Titan of the Mars pattern. The Mori’s history is known to date back to long before the Horus Heresy and it was said to have accompanied the Night Lords Space Marine Legion on their infamous xenocidal purge of the Shi’hu’gal Dominion; a campaign of such fury and viciousness it remains a legend of the Great Crusade, even after the Warmaster’s betrayal of the Emperor.

Notable Personnel
None listed in current Imperial records.

Legion Colours
The colours of the Legio Vulcanum I are olive green with details in yellow and black.

Legion Badge
The Legio Vulcanum I's badge is not listed in current Imperial records.