Solar Auxilia

"Let my epitaph be this; I was born nameless and abandoned in the gutter of a sunless pit, but I have died a conqueror of worlds."

- Reputed last words of Lord Militant Erais Slaithe, Commander 74th Expeditionary Fleet, The Fall of Golgothea Terax, 0322884.M30

Of the myriad regiments and battalions of the Imperialias Auxilia, more commonly referred to as the "Imperial Army", the Solar Auxilia were among the most elite, disciplined and well-equipped fighting forces of the burgeoning Imperium of Man during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras in the 30th and 31st Millennia. Widely considered by many second only to the superhuman Legiones Astartes in their military effectiveness in battle. While some observers may point to singular units and individual regiments whose skill, power and reputation may arguably exceed that of the Solar Auxilia, such as the legendary Lucifer Blacks or the gene-wrought Marnean Armsmen, what marks the Solar Auxilia apart is they are not simply a single regiment raised from a particular culture or displaced from a warlike Compliant world to serve the Imperium, but a pattern; a culture of warfare and an order of battle which had successfully been replicated on hundreds of worlds. As a result, the Solar Auxilia Cohorts and regiments have formed the backbone of the Imperium's military forces since the dawning of the Great Crusade. While the Space Marines of the Legiones Astartes have been both the standard bearers of the Great Crusade, and without doubt its principal and unstoppable strength, the Solar Auxilia have often been its indispensable pathfinders and its most reliable foot soldiers. And, as the Imperium expanded to encompass thousands of worlds, its first line of protection against those who would destroy it from without or disturb its peace from within.

The Origins of the Solar Auxilia
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