Template:Infobox space marine chapter
- "An honourable and faithful death means nothing if the battle is lost!"
- —Chapter Master Avitus
The Solar legion are an Excommunicate Traitoris classified Chapter of vehement, prideful and rigorously honour-tied Space Marines that are notorious for their questionable loyalty to the Emperor and fluctuating effectiveness in their eternal battle against the threat within, without, and beyond.
To the battle-brothers of the chapter, honour is everything. Not once have they strayed from their strictly-maintained code of dignity and success and fallen onto the path of total failure, a reputation which has lasted for over several thousand years, and they strive to keep this practice well alive.
Regardless of their great power, efficiency, and tactical intelligence, the Solar Legion are well known to seethe with pretentiousness. Often they believe whole-heartedly in the superiority of their methods and own faith to the point where they look down upon lesser chapters; in their case, essentially all save those few steeped in legend and glory to a degree comparable to their own fantastical self-image. In the case of normal humans citizens of the Imperium encountered during their endless number of campaigns, they are treated less than the very ground they tread upon: like disgusting, weak, pointless vermin.
In centuries of practice and war they have amounted to little but earning a reputation as a chapter of arrogant, vindictive backstabbers, and are despised by Astartes and Inquisition alike for their brutal tendencies to eliminate opposition in violent purges to maintain a petty paranoid dominance over "their" campaigns, resulting in everything from accusations of a mutated gene seed born from unholy tampering during the 21st founding to adamant claims of their devotion to Slaanesh with a thirst for perfectionism in their own twisted, egotistical, and romanticised view of the galaxy and their purpose.
With their recent eradication of the 51st Vittorian Brigade rising from competition of orbital monopoly during the Vittorian Purge Campaign, the Chapter has since been stamped down as heretical and treasonous by the authority of the Ordo Hereticus. Their planned purge has yet to be undertaken, however the Chapter itself has very recently made a successful attempt to flee Imperial detection. In recent history, the Vermillion Knights and later the Iron Scorpions have been tasked with independent assignments to neutralise and/or contain the activity of the Chapter. Though the Iron Scorpions have eventually managed to latch onto their tail, the current status of the Vermillion Knights remains unconfirmed by the Imperium. Sparse evidence does suggest that they may have been destroyed by the Solar Legion in a spineless spatial ambush and boarding raid, however the evidence in question is merely two automated black box vox recordings of the event, both of which currently remain in the custody of the Ordo Hereticus.
Beliefs
The source of their gene seed and time of founding have all but faded away from records, and it appears that with a blank slate of a history combined with their obscene practises, strange and stagnant beliefs have developed. For much of their history, the chapter has been plagued by the fanatical belief that they are in fact the Second Lost legion, led by their dreadnought encased "primarch" Avitus vi Omnibus. This is a belief kept secret to the battle brothers of the chapter, fearing that they may be turned against by the entire Imperium were they to utter their origins.
According to Avitus, in the years before the Horus Heresy, he found himself in mortal combat with a greater daemon of an unnamed Chaos god. Being unable to inflict damage upon his immaterial foe, he was grievously wounded beyond all physical capability. Forcibly encased in a life-sustaining dreadnought to stave off certain death, the Emperor could not bare to look upon him, feeling enough shame in his son's failure to have him personally erase all records of the Avitus and his second legion. The Emperor subsequently banished them from the Imperium, commanding them never to return. Stories vary in detailing where exactly they were banished, with the most frequent explanation being a dark and unknown place that proved inescapable for thousands of years, however two competing theories include the webway, or the void beyond the rim of the galaxy itself.
Believing themselves to be entitled to worship, the legion has long practised a heresy of the Imperial Cult that includes a strict worshipping of both the Emperor and the first founding chapters, including as they believe, the Solar Legion themselves. This practice is indoctrinated into all worlds they colonise, and many variants and descendants of the faith remain the official religions of several Imperial planets throughout the Segmentum Obscurus that have been graced by the chapter, including the isolated world of Nyerushimiy.
Notable members
Primarch Avitus vi Omnibus
Many thousands of years old, Chapter Master and self-proclaimed Primarch Avitus is the agelessly wise commander of the Legion, a living example of the chapter's extensive history. Though long-confined to a Dreadnought, his ceaseless will to wage war still blazes brightly within his soul. He is possibly the last fully active ancient pattern dreadnought within the chapter, as the entirety of the other models consist of Contemptor Patterns. His mechanical sarcophagus is a sacred relic of time in itself, an ancient machine that has seen service long into the age of strife, perhaps containing the flesh of an unknown past occupant. However, all records which state such either no longer survive or have been erased by the chapter.
Praeclaritas Helios
The Chief librarian of the chapter.
Epistolary Solomon Candor
Notable librarian.
Fleet
When on long missions, and for the sake of transporting companies, the entire chapter has at it's disposal a impressive space fleet. Below are listed the most important and commonly seen vessels in the fleet, though usually a massive amount of associated crafts accompany them.
Flagship battle barge Silent Prayer of Hope.
- Silent Prayer of Hope- Battle barge, flagship of the Solar Legion's fleet, responsible for the transportation of the first company.
- Star Song of Brilliance- Battle barge, responsible for the transportation of the second company.
- Litany of Ancient Grudge- Strike Cruiser, responsible for the transportation of the third company.
- Puzzling Enigma- Strike Cruiser, responsible for the transportation of the fourth company.
- Charon; Cloaked Torchbearer- Strike Cruiser, responsible for the transportation of the fifth company.
- Candle of the Dituful Pledge- Strike Cruiser, responsible for the transportation of the sixth company.
- Neverending Odyssey- Strike Cruiser, responsible for the transportation of the seventh company.
- Sin's Immolated Reborn- Strike Cruiser, responsible for the transportation of the eighth company.
- Flight of the Astronomican - Strike Cruiser, responsible for the transportation of the tenth company.
- Xavier; The Bearer of The Pedestal- Strike Cruiser, responsible for the transportation of the eleventh company.
Gallery
Quotes
Feel free to add your own
About
- "I hold a growing grudge against the Chapter, and for proper reason! Their arrogance borders sin itself, and I wait for when their teachings drive them into the ground, where they'll be left cold and alone."
- —Iron Champion Oran Dzorhuus of the Iron Scorpions Chapter
- "By the Emperor! I've fought greater daemons with more humility than that self righteous bastard. There will come a day when they will answer for their hubris, and on that day, they will wish they had not slighted our generosity."
- —Invokers 4th Company Captain Eris Varn after his aid was "declined" by the Solar Legion.
- "We cannot do anything for them brother. We shall enact a recovery mission for geneseed and relics once the Solar legion move on. It is the least we can do for our lost Vermillion Knight brothers."
- —A single Squad of Obsidian Blades observe the decimation of the Vermillion Knights at the hands of the Solar Legion.
- "A fire burns brighter than any star within my heart, a fire fuelled by the hatred of the Emperor's foes. I find that these heretics fit under that category. "
- —Brazed Warden Soratus Arcun of the Incinerators Chapter.
- "I feel for these noble heroes. Everybody loves to hate a winner. It's chapters of marines like these that are the true tiger-force at the heart of the Imperium, and if they have to step on the toes of some jealous, mouth breathing chapters then so be it."