The Legio Oberon ("Death Bolts II") is a Titan Legion of the Collegia Titanica, one of the military arms of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Hailing from the Forge World of Anvari, the personnel of the Legio Oberon were famed for wisdom beyond their years.
Despite joining the Great Crusade in its final days, the Legio soon amassed a string of victories alongside the Ultramarines Legion, utilising the superior tactical knowledge of their princeps to unleash bold assaults intended to dismantle their opponents' tactics.
Legion History[]
Legio Oberon colour scheme as displayed by the Warlord-class Titan Panthera Rex.
Origins[]
The date of the Legio Oberon's founding lies not in the distant, darkened past like that of most Legios, but within the glory days of the Great Crusade, its creation sanctioned alongside the colonisation of a new Forge World.
Anvari, for that was the name bequeathed upon the Forge World, was established as a thrall domain of the mighty Accatran in an attempt to secure the latter's power within the Realm of Ultramar.
In honour of the Forge World's founding, the first colonists were gifted a fragment of the Legio Destructor's strength, the wardens of Accatran given leave to forswear their oaths to their homeworld in order to protect another. In recognition of this act, the god-engines took new names and assembled under a new banner -- that of the Legio Oberon.
In accordance with Accatran's desire to forge more steadfast bonds with Ultramar, much of the Legio Oberon's strength was seconded to expeditionary fleets in which the Ultramarines Legion served. Such extended service brought about numerous changes within the Titan Legion, not least the tempering of the warlike nature often displayed by princeps of the Legio Destructor, a divergence ever more apparent when both Titan Legions served alongside one another.
Indeed, the princeps of the Legio Oberon made great efforts to study the tactical plans supplied by the Ultramarines, incorporating them into the Death Bolts' own simulations and assessments.
Given the long service of the average princeps, it is unsurprising that the Legio Oberon soon became known as expert tacticians, adapting the standard tactics of the Collegia Titanica and proposing many amendments to its strategic guidelines. Though many were rejected, an outcome Legio Oberon personnel often attributed to dogma and the inability to accept improvements suggested by a young Titan Legion, the Death Bolts II displayed an aptitude and skill for warfare matched by few other Titan Legions.
Horus Heresy[]
The Legio Oberon Warhound-class Titan Feram Lex during the Horus Heresy.
By the end of the Great Crusade, the Legio Oberon had acquired a distinguished record of victories alongside the Ultramarines and, in recognition of their service, was ordered to muster at Calth in preparation for an assault upon the Ghaslakh Orks' xeno-hold.
As events have since shown, such a mustering was nothing more than a pretence through which the Warmaster Horus hoped to deal a fatal blow to the Ultramarines and their allies, including the Legio Oberon. The Death Bolts were to emerge from the calamitous events of the Battle of Calth largely unscathed, for the principal strength of the Titan Legion had yet to arrive when the Word Bearers embarked upon their campaign of extermination.
Such an outcome was a mote of light in an otherwise series of dark events yet it offered little solace to the Legio Oberon itself, for the catastrophic damage wrought upon both Calth and the numbers of the Legio Praesagius was seen as a stain upon the Death Bolts' honour.
In vengeance, many princeps of the Legio Oberon swore oaths of battle to never return to Anvari until the Traitors had been driven back and the strength of the Legio Praesagius restored. To fulfil this oath, the god-engines of the Legio Oberon were readily committed to the Crusade of Iron when Gantz dispatched a call for aid.
For the remainder of the Horus Heresy, much of the Legio Oberon's strength was committed to Ultramar in pursuit of the surviving god-engines of the Traitor Legio Infernus and the Word Bearers who fought alongside them.
Those princeps that had vowed never to rest until the Traitors were defeated did not return to Anvari until the fires of war had settled and those that did were few in number, the rest having gained redemption in the cold embrace of death.
The Death Bolts - Legio Honorum and Legio Oberon[]
The naming of the Legio Oberon caused much contention between the archivists of Mars' data vaults when news reached them of the Legio's existence. The founding of any Titan Legion is a momentous affair for the Cult Mechanicus, rife with pomp and much ceremony, yet the sheer size of the galaxy prevents the rapid transmission of information.
To facilitate the timely organisation and founding of new Legios, it was deemed only necessary for the details of their creation to be passed to Mars for ratification at the earliest convenience. Though a Titan Legion did not truly exist as part of the Collegia Titanica without Mars' acceptance it was, in most instances, little more than a formality assigned only minor importance by those Forge Worlds now tasked with sustaining a nascent Titan Legion.
Thus a solar decade passed before news of the raising of the Legio Oberon reached Mars, upon which it quickly became apparent that the cognomen assigned to the newly-founded Titan Legion, that being the "Death Bolts," had already been assigned to the Legio Honorum, a Legio founded upon Mars many solar decades before.
Following much contemplation it was agreed that the Legio Oberon's cognomen would from then forth stand as "Death Bolts II" in accordance with the precedent set by other Titan Legions such as the Legio Victorum and Legio Vulcanum.
It should be noted that the archives of Accatran, of which Anvari was a thrall domain of, are extensive and held records of battles where the Legio Destructor fought alongside the Legio Honorum prior to the founding of the Legio Oberon.
Whether the naming of the Legio Oberon was done so by mistake or as a deliberate act is unknown, but it was not uncommon for many Forge Worlds to undertake minor acts intended to create a stir amongst the Martian Mechanicum Parliament, often to draw attention to ambitious yet distant Forge Worlds.
Notable Campaigns[]
- Battle of Calth (005.M31) - The Legio Oberon was one of several Titan Legions called upon to muster at Calth for the campaign against the Orks of Ghaslakh. However, the Word Bearers Legion and their Adeptus Titanicus allies loyal to Horus' cause soon revealed their hand and at a prearranged signal the Traitors struck. Across Calth, on its sister worlds and moons, and in the void throughout the system, the Word Bearers and their allies unleashed a devastating surprise assault. The Loyalists would sustain severe losses and the surface of Calth would be rendered uninhabitable due to the perfidy of the hated Word Bearers.
- Shadow Crusade (007-008.M31) - When the Horus Heresy erupted, the Legio Oberon remained loyal to the Emperor. It served alongside the Ultramarines Legion during the campaign remembered as the Shadow Crusade, and fought with the Primarch Roboute Guilliman on Nuceria, the homeworld of Angron, the Primarch of the the World Eaters Traitor Legion. The Loyalists failed in their attempt to defeat the World Eaters and their allies the Word Bearers in the course of their genocidal campaign to eradicate the people of the world that had so abused the World Eaters' Primarch.
- Crusade of Iron (ca. 008-010.M31) - Tetaros Kast, master-princeps of Battlegroup Avalon of the Legio Oberon, was one of the few princeps to fight on Calth and return alive. He brought word to the Forge World of Gantz, homeworld of the Legio Praesagius, of the fate of their fellow Titans and the betrayal that had occurred on Calth. The Traitor Legions were at large among the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar, and their very survival was at stake. Princeps Dae Vergos, master-princeps of the Legio Praesagius Warlord-class Titan Pride of Konor, assumed the mantle of princeps ultima and swore vengeance upon the Legio Infernus. She vowed to purge the Five Hundred Worlds of the Traitors' god-engines. Already astropathic cries for aid were reaching Gantz, as the Word Bearers and World Eaters Space Marine Legions, alongside the Legio Infernus, Legio Audax and Legio Mordaxis, spread out from Calth, bringing ruin and despair to the Five Hundred Worlds. Heeding the call of Gantz, Mechanicum fleets gathered, Battle Titans in their holds. Vergos sent emissaries to gather the Legio Oberon and summon the Legio Lysanda back from the Eastern Fringe, while missives were sent to dozens of Knight houses throughout the Five Hundred Worlds, calling in debts of honour. Multiple houses heeded the summons, including House Orhlacc, House Vornherr and House Vyronii. In spite of the betrayal brought to the Five Hundred Worlds, Legio Praesagius gathered its allies and convened its councils of war; the horrors of that the Loyalist Titans had faced at Ithraca on Calth would not go unanswered. Princeps Ultima Vergos promised her allies and her fellow Princeps that the Fire Master of the Legio Infernus would face the fury of those still loyal to the Imperium, and wherever the Traitor Titans set foot upon a world, they would find only death. Other Imperial forces soon flocked to their banner and the Legio Praesagius and their allies repeatedly clashed with Horus' forces. This Crusade of Iron would leave worlds burned by its battles and hideous and terrifying weapons were unleashed, such as the Psi-Titans of the Ordo Sinister. While it raged, the Loyalists fought to preserve the Ultramaran way of life, while the Traitors desired only to leave ruin in their wake.
- Battle of Last Harbour (009.M31)
- Battle of Ulixis - The Wyrm's Lair (ca. 009.M31) - Ulixis was used as a staging ground by the Legio Infernus to both harm Ultramar and deal severe damage to the Loyalist forces. Ulixis was one of the principal producers of munitions in Ultramar and, knowing its destruction would deal a severe blow to the Ultramarines' effort to rebuild, Princeps Maximus Horgoth Nyr of the Fire Masters set upon the world. In truth, the Legion's invasion was the first step towards springing a trap upon the Loyalists. When a combined force of both the Legio Lysanda and the Legio Oberon were drawn to the world, they found its surface devoid of Traitor Titans despite reports to the contrary. It was then the Traitors sprang their trap, seizing control of the planet's orbit and unleashing a fierce orbital bombardment upon the Loyalists on the surface. Though the initial bombardment was devastating, most of the Loyalist forces were driven into the system of caverns beneath the surface, forcing the Fire Masters to commit to a series of running battles beneath Ulixis. For solar days the two Titan forces fought in the dark, their massive weaponry tearing apart the guts of Ulixis. It was within the Wyrms' Lair, a vast cavern littered with the remains of the burrowing creatures that had carved it long ago, that the conflict came to a head, both sides committing their forces in an effort to eradicate the other. As the fighting raged between the two opposing sides, Princeps Raynal Hess in his Warlord Titan Astra Obsurus, leading a Legio Lysanda Myrmidon maniple, charged out to meet Princeps-Maximus Nyr and his Warlorld Titan Mons Ingnum in battle. However, Hess was unaware of Nyr's fellow supporting Fire Masters Titans, which laid in waiting. Their combined volleys crippled the legs of Hess' Titan. However, before the Traitors could strike the killing blow, Hess overloaded his Titan's reactor, and the pitch darkness of the Wyrm's Lair turned to blazing day. When the explosion finally receded, those Princeps still in functioning war engines were surprised to see the light remained, for a massive hole had been blown in the cavern ceiling, and a stairway of rubble and broken Titans led up to it. More surprising still was the vox message that came streaming down across all bands -- the Loyalist fleet had returned with reinforcements, and the Traitors were in full retreat. Kast rallied Legio Oberon and the survivors of Legio Lysanda, and pushed the Traitors back. Though Nyr and many of his Titans managed to escape, their hold on Ulixis was broken, and perhaps most crucially of all, the Loyalists had driven the Fire Masters back, disproving the invincibility of their enemies.
- Ambush at Espandor (ca. 009.M31) - In the wake of the conflict on Ulixis, the Loyalists sought to press the advantage, working to divide the Traitors in order to more efficiently dismantle their strength. When word reached the Legio Praesagius of a gathering Traitor invasion intended to seize the Agri-world of Espandor, the Loyalists laid plans to intercept the Traitor efforts, focusing their forces on the Boreaus Agri-sprawl, a heavily developed area containing a maze of feed-towers and macro-granaries that would serve to negate the numerical advantage of the Traitors. Though only a handful of Titans from the Legio Praesagius could be mustered, they were supported by several maniples from the Legio Oberon, alongside dedicated companies of both Titan-killer infantry and super-heavy tanks. Amongst their number stood the Psi-Titan Occedentalis-Damysus, the Warlord-Sinister-class Titan lending its support to Princeps Ultima Dae Vergos' forces for reasons known only to its Preceptor-Intendant. Having marshalled their forces, the Loyalists hoped to spring a devastating ambush on the approaching Traitor force, consisting of Titans drawn from both the Legio Audax and Legio Infernus. Much to Vergos' frustration, Horgoth Nyr did not command the enemy Titans. Princeps Tesarius Orcan Rex, as pitiless a leader as Nyr, led the Fire Masters and, supremely confident of his gathered force, he strode into Vergos' trap without a second thought. Orcan's Warbringer-class Titan God Hammer led the Fire Masters into the Boraes Agri-sprawl, where the Loyalist forces laid in waiting. The Fire Masters' own supporting Secutarii and Dark Mechanicum war machines moved out into the ruins left by the Titans, their job to root out any stragglers or survivors. Beyond the edge of the storm, in the hinterlands surrounding Boreaus, Dae Vergos and the Loyalists waited. Only the Psi-Titan Occedentalis-Damysus advanced upon the city, cloaked in a shroud of psychic energy. The Occedentalis-Damysus, tasked with striking the opening blow against the Traitors, found its talents stifled by the forces the Traitors employed. With the Psi-Titan brought low by packs of Legio Audax Warhounds hiding amongst the very buildings Vergos sought to use against the Traitors, the Loyalists were forced onto the back foot. Utilising Ursus Claws, the Legio Audax wolf pack dragged the larger Titan to the ground, like a bear brought down by hungry wolves. In an effort to secure victory, Vergos ordered her forces into the city in order to limit the numerical advantage of the Traitors, drawing them into a bitter, close-quarters fight. Meanwhile, the remaining Loyalist Titans advanced from the woods, their weapons pummelling the invaders. Vergos raced to move her Titans into the city where they could take cover from the enemy's superior numbers. Amid the devastating crossfire, the storm-coils surrounding Boreaus were hit repeatedly, dozens toppling in flames. Without the coils to hold it back, the storm raced in to cover the city. In the gloom, rain and flashing lightning, the two sides met with a mighty crash, like gods of old fighting over the fate of Mankind. Filled with battle rage, Vergos bulled her way toward Orcan's Warbringer, leaving savaged enemies in her wake, and destroyed the God Hammer by squeezing its head into scrap with its power claw. Her rage receding, Vergos realised that, despite the death of Orcan, her force was still badly outmatched. Vox messengers were coming in from orbit, the Loyalist fleet was heavily engaged and calling for retreat, and reluctantly Vergos had to comply. Yet someone had to stay and cover the withdrawal -- and for this task the Legio Oberon stepped forward. Its Titans accepted their fate willingly to save Dae Vergos and the remaining True Messengers. For their Princeps it was a chance to repay a debt owed since the battle at Ithraca on Calth, where they could not save their allies from the Traitors' surprise assault on the voidport. As the Legio Praesagius drop-craft made for orbit and their waiting fleet, the last communication from the surface was from the Legio Oberon maniples striding into the teeth of the enemy's guns, their vox blaring with a single repeated phrase: "For Ithraca!"
- Battle of Drooth II (009.M31) - This battle represented the final confrontation between the Traitor forces of Horgoth Nyr and the Loyalists of Dae Vergos, bringing an end to the Crusade of Iron. Though the Traitors had achieved many victories, Nyr found his forces bloodied by the vengeful Loyalists that pursued him. In the eyes of both himself and those around him, Nyr's record of conquest and slaughter across Ultramar was tainted by his failure to eradicate every trace of the Legio Praesagius. As the rampage across Ultramar undertaken by the Word Bearers and World Eaters drew to a close, Nyr knew he must settle the running battle between Vergos and himself. Committing to luring his foe to him, the Traitor forces burned a dozen worlds, each an open challenge to the Loyalists that pursued them. Though it was clear such actions were committed to bait Vergos into a fight, the Loyalists had little choice if they wished to punish their enemy. Gathering what remained of those forces committed to the Crusade of Iron, the Loyalists set sail for Drooth II and the battle that awaited. Known for its burning sand-like mineral deserts, Drooth II was originally populated solely by a research station and listening outpost, placed there by the Ultramarines Legion to watch over the eastern edge of Ultramar. This outpost was quickly overrun by the Dark Mechanicum as war engulfed Ultramar and turned into a profane manufactorum capable of churning out debased weapons infused with powers pulled from the Immaterium. It was here that Nyr chose to make his stand against the Loyalist forces, aware that the veil lay thin and the entities within the Warp were easily called upon should the Traitors lose the advantage. In preparation for the Loyalists' arrival, the defences of the outpost were strengthened, denying approach from orbit and forcing any invader to land far from the Traitors. With both sides drawn to the world, the stage was set for a battle of cataclysmic proportions. Vergos chose her landing zones accordingly, and the Legio Praesagius set down in the desert 600 kilometres from the Traitor defences, their landing shielded by the curvature of the planet. Similar landings took place all around the outpost, the Legio Lysanda and Legio Oberon taking up position along with several Psi-Titans of the Chamber Occedentalis -- the Loyalist forces keeping their distance from the dark god-engines. Upon a signal from Vergos, the Titans walked, the shimmering desert dunes shuddering to their every step. On all sides of the outpost, dozens of Titans were fully engaged in brutal exchanges of fire. With unnatural speed and strength, the Traitor Titans fell upon the Loyalists, ripping and tearing at them like savage beasts. But, unlike on Calth, the Loyalists were prepared. From amongst the ranks of the Loyalist Titan Legions the Psi-Titans let their might be felt. The darkly majestic Warlords of the Ordo Sinister unleashed torrents of psychic energy into the Traitor forces rising against them. However, the Psi-Titans were caught unawares, as the Warhound wolf packs of the Legio Audax attacked the unsuspecting Loyalists from their unprotected flank, pulling the larger Titans down with their deadly Ursus Claws, like a ravenous packs of wolves pulling down a bear. Though the carnage and burning Titans, Vergos' Warlord, the Pride of Konor, pulled its way into the heart of the outpost, her guns tearing apart the structure and any who barred her path. Finally, she confronted her nemesis -- Princeps Maximus Horgoth Nyr and his Warbringer Titan Mons Ingnum. But as the two princeps fought one another in a deadly struggle, Vergos realised that Nyr's Titan displayed an unnatural Warp-enhanced endurance, which allowed it to rise like a revenant risen from the dead. Seeing no other options, Vergos fired her Titan's remaining Volcano Cannon upon the magnetic locks holding the research outpost's gravity elevator in place, causing the massive structure to collapse in on itself and down upon the battlefield, killing both Nyr and Vergos. Though the Horus Heresy would drag on for years yet to come, the Crusade of Iron ended that day on Drooth II. Whatever rage had driven Princeps Dae Vergos and her followers to hunt down Horgoth Nyr died with her, and the Legio Praesagius returned to Gantz to count its losses and rebuild its strength. By contrast, the death of Nyr tore what little unity of purpose remained among the Fire Masters, and its princeps fell even deeper into the thrall of the Warmaster Horus. Not until the dark days of the Battle of Beta-Garmon, the Titandeath, and the invasion of the Sol System itself, was the Traitor Legion to gather again in significant numbers, guided by the hand of a single grand master. By then, of course, the Legio Praesagius had rebuilt its numbers, and hastened to join the fight against their old foes, both Titan Legions playing their part in the final battles for the future of the Imperium.
- Plague Wars (ca. 111.M42) - The Legio Oberon came to the aid of the Ultramarines Chapter once again when it was counted among the Imperial forces dedicated to defending the Realm of Ultramar during the Plague Wars from the forces of Chaos in service to the Plague God Nurgle.
Legion Combat Doctrine[]
Years spent fighting alongside the Ultramarines during the Great Crusade saw the Death Bolts II's princeps learn much from the thorough tactics of the XIII th Legion. The Legio Oberon often employs trained strategisers whose sole duty is to watch the enfolding battle and devise counters to enemy strategies.
When the Titans of this Legio march to war their battlegroups advance in tight formation, each Titan supporting the next to stand resolute in the face of incoming fire.
The prosecution of war is, to the princeps of the Legio Oberon, an exercise in mental prowess, and their princeps participated in games of strategy when not upon the field of battle.
The use of Warhound Titans proved a key element of battlefield tactics within the Legio Oberon during the campaigns of the Horus Heresy. When enemy movements were known, maniples of Warhounds would often be dispatched to strategic locations long before the Legio marched.
Operating as a hidden vanguard, the Warhounds would conceal themselves until the enemy line moved past their position. When the remainder of the Legio Oberon engaged their foes in battle the Warhounds would emerge, assaulting the rear of the enemy, sowing disorder and panic in their ranks.
The Legio Oberon's fleshsmiths and mechnicians had a penchant for augmenting their Skitarii's cybernetic arms with heavy rotary cannons.
Legion Traits[]
The Legio Oberon's princeps were known to have complete confidence in their own ability upon the battlefield and rarely second-guess their own decision.
They are also known for commanding both Titans and Knights with great skill, directing their efforts even as they unleash their anger upon a foe.
Even amongst a Legio famed for their robust tactics, the princeps excel at developing near foolproof plans.
Notable Titans[]
- Corinthian (Imperator-class Titan) - The Corinthian was an Imperator-class Titan of the Legio Oberon that survived the Word Bearers' treachery during the Battle of Calth. The Titan was later captured by the Legio Audax during the Shadow Crusade's battle for the city of Meahor on the world of Nuceria.
- Panthera Rex (Warlord-class Titan) - Panthera Rex, depicted above before the ambush on Espandor during the Crusade of Iron, was armed in a manner favouring the bold and decisive tactics of the Legio Oberon. This Warlord was to play a significant role in the battle of Espandor, launching devastating counterattacks against the hunting packs of the Legio Audax. Though outmatched in terms of speed, Panthera Rex unleashed the power of its Volcano Cannon at close range, scarring its own hull as payment for the death of the Traitors. However, the Agri-world would prove to be the Titan's grave, as it would fall alongside those of its Legio who gave their lives so that the Titans of the Legio Praesagious could withdraw intact.
- Feram Lex (Warhound-class Titan) - The Warhound-class Titan Feram Lex, depicted above, took part in several notable campaigns during the latter years of the Great Crusade and the subsequent Horus Heresy.
Notable Personnel[]
- Master-Princeps Tetaros Kast - Tetaros Kast served as a princeps of the Legio Oberon during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. In the latter conflict he commanded the Legio's Battlegroup Avalon when the Word Bearers turned upon the Ultramarines and their Loyalist allies at the Battle of Calth. He was one of the few princeps of the Legio Oberon to survive the onslaught of the Traitors' initial attack and was able to escape and bring word of the Warmaster Horus' betrayal to the Legio Praesagius on their Forge World of Gantz. Once the True Messengers' learned of their brother Legio's catastrophic losses, their senior surviving princeps, Dae Vergos, sought vengeance against the Traitors. She took command of the remnants of her Legio and declared the beginning of the Crusade of Iron against the forces of the Arch-traitor. Master-Princeps Kast would later join the crusade and take part in the battle of Ulixis against the traitorous Legio Infernus, which ultimately ended in an Imperial victory.
Legion Allies[]
Knight Houses[]
Space Marines[]
Legion Strength[]
At the onset of the Horus Heresy, the Legio Oberon had existed for less than 200 standard years. Such a time frame precluded any chance of the Death Bolts II amassing vast numbers of god-engines, for the construction of such war machines remains a laborious process. As a result, the Death Bolts II were classified by the Collegia Titanica as a Tertius-grade Legio.
Like many newly-founded Titan Legions, the core of the Legio Oberon has come from another, far older Legio which equipped the Death Bolts II with over two dozen ancient god-engines that predated the Legio Oberon's founding by several millennia.
The composition of the Legio Oberon fitted the standard distribution as set down by the doctrines of the Collegia Titanica which consisted of a flexible mixture of Warlord, Reaver and Warhound-class Titans.
A notable exception was the presence of a single Imperator-class Titan, dispatched from Accatran, which remains the personal god-engine of the Legio Oberon's commanding grand master to this day.
Legion Appearance[]
Legion Colours[]
The Titans of the Legio Oberon are primarily painted orange with black striping.
Legion Badge[]
The sigil of the Legio Oberon is a black crown cleaved by a downwards striking lightning bolt. This symbol is centred within a white diamond, outlined in gold.
Sources[]
- Adeptus Titanicus: The Horus Heresy - Loyalist Legios (Specialty Game), pp. 144-149
- Adeptus Titanicus: The Horus Heresy - Rulebook (Specialty Game), "Selected Notable Engine-Wars of the Age of Darkness," pg. 15
- Adeptus Titanicus: The Horus Heresy - Shadow and Iron (Specialty Game), pp. 8-12, 14-15, 20, 25-27, 66, 68
- The Horus Heresy: Book Five - Tempest (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 13-69
- Warhammer 40,000: Rulebook (8th Edition), pp. 158-159
- Betrayer (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, pg. 302
- Butcher's Nails (Short Story) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, pg. 201
- Warhammer Community - Shadow and Iron: Crusades of Vengeance (05 February 2020)
Gallery[]
