The Legio Fureans (Tiger Eyes) is a Traitor Titan Legion of the Dark Mechanicus that repudiated its oaths to the Emperor of Mankind and followed the Warmaster Horus into the service of the Ruinous Powers during the Horus Heresy. The Legio Fureans was a Titan Legion with a well-earned reputation for ferocity and unpredictability, nevertheless they amassed a war record of the highest distinction in the battles of the Great Crusade. It was this triumphant history and many martial plaudits that caused the more disquieting rumours that surrounded the Legio and its practices to be overlooked and ignored. Many of these unpursued reports pointed to occult and shamanistic beliefs held by the Legio 's members which, if accurately portrayed, would be contrary to both the Imperial Truth and the orthodoxy of the Machine Cult of Mars. With the clarity of hindsight, it can now be judged just what corruption such hidden rites and twisted mores left the Legio Fureans open to, and what darkness had always festered in its heart. At the end of the Heresy during the Great Scouring, the Tiger Eyes Legion was driven towards the Eye of Terror along with the rest of the Forces of Chaos. There they remained, trapped in eternal servitude to the Chaos Gods, fighting the Long War against the Corpse Emperor that began ten millennia ago.
Legion History
Legio Fureans Reaver-class Titan
The Legio Fureans owed its genesis and its destiny to the Forge World of Incaladion and the unceasing cycle of war, strife and invasion that had wracked it before it was liberated by the forces of the Great Crusade. Founded by a Mechanicum Sleeper-Ark during the Age of Strife on a world rich with an abundance of rare mineral resources as well as the necessary organic compounds for sustaining a biosphere, Incaladion ought to have offered a perfect locale to found a Forge World, but the same stable Warp-currents that had succeeded in carrying the Mechanicum to the world were, as time progressed, to bring a host of less-welcome voyagers. Records of its founding centuries remain fragmentary, but it seems certain that alongside the vast works of macro-construction and geo-forming the Mechanicum colonists undertook, conflict and battle were nearly constant against a host of invaders. As a result, the Incaladion Mechanicum, separated by vast distance from Mars, evolved into a distinctive and highly warlike faction, and one that was seldom united as individual forge-fanes often had to look to their own defence and survival unaided. Waves of xenos invasion spurred unusual avenues of technological development and the creation of vast fortified cities which dominated and defended the richest mineral seams and algae-rich seas, while hidden forge-fanes were sunk kilometres beneath the planet's crust. The Incaladine also adapted to the need to acquire additional human stock by raiding the feral populations of the world, which brought echoes of barbarous and macabre cultures that began to infect the increasingly schismatic Machine Cult propagated by the Incaladine Mechanicum.
Throughout this long and savage history, the Legio Fureans formed the principal military force of Incaladion's ruling Archmagos, known as the Preceptor-General. Its Titans served as the avatar of her will. No resource was spared in the Titan Legion's maintenance, and where possible due to lulls in the fighting, the expansion of its fighting strength. Their more common cognomen the "Tiger Eyes" also stemmed from this early period as a corruption of the name given to them by the feral tribes of the nearby world of Humardu, to whom the Titans truly were divine and terrible beings come to reap a sacrifice of the young and the strong to serve in the palace of the gods. Unlike some garrisoning Titan Legions before the Great Crusade, the Legio Fureans did not stand vigil as enforcers for petty empires of the Machine God's servants, but rather fought an unceasing war against a host of foes. For centuries the Legio Fureans unleashed their wrath against invading hordes of Ork marauders and the spiteful raids of Yldari corsairs, scavenging Tarellian war-packs and the colossal viscid horrors of meteor-brought Carnoplasm infestations from the Abyssal Reefs. Such ceaseless conflicts took their toll, however, both on Incaladion itself and the Legio Fureans who defended it.
Around fifty standard years before the Great Crusade would finally reach Incaladion, after a particularly brutal series of incursions and raids, the Taghmata Omnissium -- the feudal order upon which the defence and military hierarchy of a Forge World of the Mechanicum is based -- finally broke down. In the ensuing strife, the Preceptor-General of Incaladion was assassinated and the Forge World split into warring or isolationist factions, bereft of central control or co-ordination, laying it open to invasion and the devastation which followed. By the time the Great Crusade's advance elements reached Incaladion, it was a global battleground, disputed by a dozen different armies; Mechanicum, Renegade and xenos unleashing atomic fire and yet more savage weapons upon each other. During this time, overwhelmed and vastly outnumbered, the Tiger Eyes refused to retreat or retrench, and shattered its blade on foes uncounted until it became only a shadow of its former might, reduced to defending the last forge-fane of its dead regent.
After Imperial contact, Mars was determined to bring Incaladion into the fold of the Imperium, but the Great Crusade was as that time engaged in major battles on a myriad of fronts and much of the Mechanicum's military forces were tied up in on-going campaigns. It instead fell to the forces of the IV Legion (not then yet having taken the name of the Iron Warriors) to bear the brunt of the liberation campaign, with such supporting elements of the Legio Mortis and Martian Skitarii and Secutarii forces as could be spared to aid it. The resulting campaign was to prove the bloodiest in the IV Legion's history to that point, but after two solar years of guerrilla warfare, Incaladion joined the Imperium. In the aftermath, the lost forges and fortress-citadels were quickly reclaimed and repaired by the now ruling Imperium-backed Mechanicum faction. Warship squadrons, now permanently based in the Incaladion System, gave the Forge World respite from attack for the first time and the vast mineral wealth and production capacity of the planet was quickly put into action to fuel the ever-expanding Great Crusade. Oaths of loyalty and debts of blood to the liberators were affirmed, although in this Mars and the Legio Mortis were judged by the Incaladine Mechanicum to be their saviours, rather than the IV Legion who had expended so many lives in the war. As a key part of repaying this debt, the Legio Fureans was quickly reconstituted and rearmed, with the deep Titan-forges beneath the planet's surface put to continuous operations to fuel a second birth for the Titan Legion. Travelling beyond Incaladion, the Legio Fureans pursued conflict with an aggressive fervour and tempo of battle seldom matched by any other Titan Legion of the period, splitting their forces into demi-legios and strike groups operating alongside numerous Imperial Expeditionary Fleets and extermination forces.
Throughout this period, aside from an abiding alliance with the Legio Mortis, the Legio cultivated neither friendship nor overt feud with the rest of the Collegia Titanica, many of which came to regard them nevertheless as unpredictable and primitivistic. Feeding into this reputation, the Tiger Eyes were well-reputed for their disdain of sustained bombardment or other "stand-off tactics", preferring instead mobile, close-range fire-fights, melee combat, rapid flanking attacks and, when confronting superior forces, hit-and-run tactics carried out at the very limits of the reactor capacity of their Titans to maintain. It is said that some Tiger Eyes Princeps were willing to disengage or reduce their Void Shields in order to gain extra speed to employ these tactics; something that would be complete anathema to the standard practices of the Collegia Titanica.
One demonstration of this willingness to do battle in any theatre by the Legio Fureans was that they allowed even single Titans and their support groups to be split from their central command and attached for periods of solo deployment, an action that many Titan Legions would simply not have countenanced. This wide-ranging deployment pattern and the generations of warfare on Incaladion made the Legio Fureans one of the most battle-hardened and adaptable of the Titan Legions and contributed to their enviable reputation. However, willingness to do battle, even against staggering odds, and willingness to follow orders from outside the Mechanicum or indeed to follow ordained strategies, proved not to be one and the same as far as the Tiger Eyes were concerned, as many theatre-commanders found to their dismay. Rumours also ran rife of strange pre-and post-battle rituals conducted by their Titan Princeps and their crews -- like some macabre mixture of Omnissian machine-rites and the savage totemic rituals of a feral animal cult. But given the invaluable battlefield work of the Tiger Eyes and the rank unfamiliarity of most observers with the inner workings of the Mechanicum, many such rumours were dismissed or deliberately ignored.
When the wars of the Horus Heresy broke out, it was revealed immediately that the Legio Fureans had sided with the Warmaster Horus, as did both the Fabricator-General of Mars and the Legio Mortis. It is clear in hindsight in fact that the Legio knew of the planned treachery beforehand and were a key and willing part of the Warmaster's early battle plans and deployments from the start, such as the dispatch of a demi-legio of the Tiger Eyes to the Paramar assault force before blood had yet been spilt on Istvaan V. Quickly too would the darker rites of the Legio blossom into the twisted arcana of what would become known as the Dark Mechanicum in later years. Incaladion conversely, through declaring for the Traitors' cause fell quickly into a bloody civil war of its own, the absence of the Legio having stripped its new Preceptor-General's principal agency of overmatching power against his rivals.
Legio Strength
Divisio Militaris records extant for the latter years of the Great Crusade rated the Legio Fureans as a fully operational Titan Legion of the second rank. The Legio was rated with an estimated 110-140 God-Machines in active service at the time of the outbreak of the Horus Heresy. However, this may have underestimated the number of Titans in service with the Legio, which may have ranked as high as 170 various classes and types. The principal strength of the Tiger Eyes was split between two divergent classes: the Mars Pattern Warlord and the Mars Pattern Warhound, both of which, given sufficient time and resource, the Titan-forges of Incaladion were capable of independently producing. The Titan engines of the Legio Fureans, perhaps because of the unique arts of the Magi of Incaladion, were always regarded as possessing strangely bestial Machine Spirits, alien from those of other Legios, but still within the sanctified rites of the Mechanicum. During the later Great Crusade, the mid-range Battle Titans such as the Reaver and Carnivore were added in small numbers to expand the Legio 's order of battle and strategic reach while it was also known to favour the use of an idiosyncratic light-intermediate sub-pattern developed locally on Incaladion known as the Reviler. This pattern was designed to operate principally as a mobile Inferno Cannon platform and replaced the use of the heavier Knight classes in the Legion's core of retainers. In terms of the heaviest Titan units, it is not believed the Legio Fureans possessed any Imperator-class Titans or their analogues, although it did utilise at least five adapted "Deathbringer" Warlords, which served as the Legio 's heaviest assault units.
Notable Campaigns
- Lament of Shedim (Unknown Date.M31) - This was an Imperial Compliance action carried out against the Eldar upon the arid world of Anark Zeta between the forces of Craftworld Mór-ríoh'i and the Imperial forces of the Great Crusade, which included detachments from no fewer than four Titan Legions: the Legio Mortis, Legio Fureans, the Legio Atarus and the Legio Osedax. Overall command fell to Horus Lupercal, most-favoured son of the Emperor and Primarch of the Luna Wolves Legion. During the apocalyptic battle, the Legio Atarus was cruelly used, and without their foreknowledge, they were sent to probe the enemy lines of the Eldar, and were subsequently destroyed. The grievous losses suffered by the Firebrands due to the Legio Mortis and the Legio Fureans ' refusal to fight alongside them due to internal Mechanicum politics, was a grievous injury not soon forgotten.
Pict-capture of the Legio Fureans fighting alongside the Alpha Legion against the Legio Gryphonicus and the Loyalist Iron Warriors 77th Grand Company
- First Battle of Paramar (006.M31) - The world of Paramar V was the scene of an invasion and overthrow of the Paramar System by the Traitor Alpha Legion and the forces of the Warmaster Horus during the opening days of the Horus Heresy. Lying at the outer northern edge of the Segmentum Solar, Paramar was a vital staging post and supply terminus for Imperial Expeditionary Fleets, vital to the outward expansion of the Great Crusade. Paramar lies in almost direct conjunction between the Istvaan System and Terra. Before even the blood spilled in such great effusion in the Dropsite Massacre of Istvaan V had cooled, Horus' generals viewed Paramar V and the vast stockpiles of military supplies cached there with covetous eyes, and drew their plans against it. With typical guile and subterfuge, the Alpha Legion launched a massive assault, following in their wake came a second armada of Dark Mechanicum barques and mass-arks drawn from forces loyal to Horus, including the Titans of the Legio Fureans. The world of Paramar was the scene of several fierce battles during the Horus Heresy, amongst which the Traitor assault on Landing Zone Secundus of the Paramar Nexus was perhaps the most bloody. The Forces of Chaos, supported by a Sub-Legio of 8-10 maniples of Tiger Eyes Traitor Titans of various classes, strode into the deserted spaceport expecting little resistance. They were surprised to meet Titans of the Legio Gryphonicus, along with support troops and armour from the Mechanicum and Loyalist forces from the Iron Warriors' 77th Grand Company. The speed and overwhelming force of the Alpha Legion's attack took its toll and the battle quickly swung full force in the Traitors' favour. Against the massed firepower of the Tiger Eyes Titans, the final Loyalist base known as Terminus could not stand. The Paramar Nexus fell and with it Paramar V belonged to Horus, its stockpiles and industry intact.
- Scouring of the Ollanz System (Unknown Date.M31) - Titans of the Tiger Eyes Legion along with a force of the Emperor's Children Chaos Space Marines attempted to fend off an assault made by Legio Astorum Titans supported by three companies of the Iron Hands Space Marines.
- Battle of Balthor Sigma (Unknown Date.M31) - The Tiger Eyes Traitor Titan Legion battled against the Firebrands Titan Legion and the Eldar Titans of the Fir Iolarion clan of the Craftworld Lugganath.
Notable Titans
- Lyakarri - Lyakarri was a Warlord-class Titan active during the Great Crusade and opening days of the Horus Heresy. Destroyed by orbital bombardment during the First Battle of Paramar.
- Leyaka Rakis - A Mars Pattern Reaver-class Titan active during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras.
- Khara - A Mars Pattern Warhound-class Titan active during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras.
- Rahu - A Mars Pattern Warhound-class Titan active during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras.
- Blood Hunger - A Mars Pattern Warhound-class Titan active during the Great Crusade and opening days of the Horus Heresy. Destroyed by orbital bombardment during the First Battle of Paramar.
Notable Personnel
- Princeps Majoris Anjana - Anjana was the Princeps Majoris and the pilot of the Reaver-class Titan Leyaka Varr, and the commander of War Maniple IX during the Battle of Paramar V.
Legion Appearance
Legion Colours
The colours of the Tiger Eyes Legion are orange and black, and their Titans are often decorated with black flames.
Legion Badge
The Tiger Eyes Legion badge is a tiger's eye with an orange iris and eyeball, centered on an orange lozenge, on top of a decorative circle, located within the cog symbol of the Opus Machina, on a field of black.
Sources
- Adeptus Titanicus (1st Edition), pg. 32
- The Horus Heresy - Book Two: Massacre, by Alan Bligh, pg. 157
- The Horus Heresy - Book Three: Extermination, by Alan Bligh, pp. 28-30, 154-159
- White Dwarf 111 (UK), "Adeptus Titanicus", pg. 56
- White Dwarf 110 (UK), "Adeptus Titanicus: Eldar", pg. 67
- White Dwarf 109 (UK), "Adeptus Titanicus", pp. 14-15
Gallery
