Legacy of the Lion: an analysis of the 1st legion and Lion El Johnson What is a knights duty? To protect the helpless and uphold the honor of his kingdom at any cost? To serve a lord without hesitation and act on any orders he gives, or to think for himself and analyze the situation. The Adeptus Astartes are the epitome of the knightly virtue, they are the legends of the past given form in a distant future. Thus the tragedy of Caliban arises, this was a situation that developed due to misguided loyalty and honor. We begin with a unique Primarch and a unique world, unlike most of his brothers the Lion spent his early existence in the shadowed forests of Caliban, a world that was corrupted by the warp down to it’s very core. Now that should already be a cause for concern, but no Caliban had one other aspect that made it somewhat unique, it was a Death world. Process that for a few moments a death world, corrupted by chaos, and yet the population remained mostly pure( in no small part to the burning and extermination of anyone showing abnormal skills). These people were separated from Terra for five thousand years, and in that time developed a culture that valued the ancient traditions of the Knights. The discovery of the Lion was in effect the death sentence for Caliban, not simply as a world, but as a culture. While it is true that Death Worlds in no small part produce some of the Imperiums most capable and psychotic fighters, they are also hostile to all foreign life. The Lion was a random element that broke the traditions which were in place, which as we know from our own history is a difficult process, what the Primarch didn’t consider was that the traditions were the primary thing keeping Caliban from completely becoming a Chaos world. The Emperor was the executioners blade that Caliban was waiting for. The Adeptus Astartes brought their traditions and ideals with them, the sons of the Lion worshipped their gene-father. This is the interesting part, the first legion has among the largest number of successor chapters perhaps only in second place to Guilliman, why is that? The answer lies in the stability and perceived purity of their legacy. Yet as we know, purity can often mask a greater darkness, and with that we need to look at Luther. Imagine the young warriors of Caliban growing up with not one but two heroes of legend, the Lion and Luther one a gene bred post human demi-god, the other a pure human warrior brought about changes that few can claim. Even after the legion was reunited with their Primarch Luther still held almost unmatched authority, even transformed into a genetically modified human (my current theory is that the procedure used on him was similar to that of the original Thunder Warriors without the built in genetic time bombs), process that for a few moments, a mere human holding nearly as much authority as a Primarch in a legion. That should have been enough, but as we all know jealousy is a hideous beast, and even the best of us cannot escape its grasp. Luther corrupted nearly half the Dark Angels, but did he? Think for a moment, Astartes are trained from their initiation to follow the commands of their superiors, Luther was attempting to break away from the Imperium, a force he believed did not have Calibans best interest at heart. This is in effect true, the Imperium even in the early days before the Heresy saw warp taint as a cancer, with the only solution being exterminates. This is not an overreaction, merely a simple truth, think for a moment what this meant, the new recruits for the 1st legion were being trained and created on a world that for the most part should have been destroyed upon contact (again simple logic, if the planet is fundamentally a chaos breeding ground, annihilate it.) These new Astartes would follow the orders given to them by the legion masters, more importantly as we saw in descent and fallen angels the Lions sent a large delegation of his warriors Luther included to deal with maintaining Caliban, in those warriors’ eyes casting them aside. Luther saw the truth, his world was going to die, there was nothing he could do, and so a bargain with the forces of the warp needed to be struck in his eyes to save his home world. This makes him a traitor to the Imperium but it also attempts to hide some interesting facts regarding the Lion. The first being, how could any living being even a Primarch survive all that time without having chaos impact him? The answer is simple he was modified but on a more psychological level as opposed to a complete mutation. The Lion learned to survive, at any cost, a trait which is prevalent in his gene-sons, he also learned to take the long view much like Alpharius and Omegon. We read in the Primarchs his view regarding the Horus Heresy, he did not care who fought for what side, and he would be the balancing force. That in itself is a horrific idea, he wasn’t even interested in playing both sides, he simply took the approach that the war would sap his brothers legions and strengths thus forcing them to peace. Loyalty to the Emperor as opposed to loyalty to his brothers is not that difficult to grasp, but the lack of compassion and understanding is utterly frightening. We need to consider the Lion’s actions during the Heresy, he spoke with Fateweaver regarding his lack of concern for what were termed “lesser being”, decapitated his chaplain Nemiel out of anger (simply striking his head clean off) and breaking the edict of Nikaea by forcing his Librarians back into action simply brushing off the Emperors orders. Yet since his legion functions based on secrecy none of these events see the light of day. The Lion is seen as Loyal because he is the quintessential knight. He serves the ideal of the Emperor as “he” sees fit . His treachery is toward his family based on the idea that none may challenge his father’s rule. This brings us to the ten thousand year old quest to “redeem” the fallen, why is it that after ten millennia the sons of the Lion still hunt their wayward brothers? The answer is simple, secrecy is hard wired into their gene-seed, but it is also a matter of knightly honor. These weren’t simply traitor legionnaires, these were the sons of the 1st legion, they were supposed to exemplify the virtues of loyalty and purity, and if they could be corrupted what does that say about the rest of the legion. The fallen must be redeemed due to an undying fear, the fear that if the Imperium would discover the truth the sons of the Lion would face extinction. Does that seem plausible, considering that entire worlds have been burned to stop a single heretic what would the Inquisition do to prevent any future threats from forming? The simple answer is letting the fallen live in the eyes of the Dark Angels and the Unforgiven chapters is too great a risk. Secrets can and do come back to haunt you, the Dark Angels and the Lion thrived due to their nature, they never dreamed that their sworn duty would be tested. For ten thousand years they have attempted to correct a mistake, and will continue to do so until the Lion rises once more
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 00:17:01 +0000