Obsidian Guard

''“When you listen to the Remembrancers’ tales of the Legiones Astartes you get the picture of statuesque, divine angels. But that illusion was shattered the moment I laid eyes on the Obsidian Guard. Their armor was pitted, scorched, and dented in places, their bearing ominous and mournful, and there was a distinct lack of wings. They are not the Emperor’s Angels, they are His dogs of war and I’m glad they’re on our side. An angel wouldn’t have deigned to sully themselves to dig sap trenches alongside us. An angel wouldn’t have walked through a shell crater to pull me out from beneath a pile of rubble. I owe nothing to angels, I owe everything to the Obsidian Guard.”''

- Tiberius Scaro, 2541st Solar Auxilia Cohort

The Obsidian Guard are the Xth Legion of the Legiones Astartes, descended from the Primarch Lukas Keath, and specialists in siege warfare. Throughout the Great Crusade they became for their courage, discipline, and humility, prosecuting every campaign with quiet dignity. It was this attitude that earned them the admiration of many and the scorn of others. With each victory and accolade their detractors either fell away or grew ever more furious though if you asked the Guard themselves about the latter they would shrug and continue on unfazed. They did not wage war for their own self-aggrandizement but to expand the Emperor's domain and carry His Imperial Truth to the darkest corners of the galaxy with fire and sword.

It can be said that no legion, except the Twelfth, could rival them in their mastery of siege warfare and their extensive list of achievements in the field give credence to their appellation as the Emperor's finest fortress breakers. It can also be said that the Obsidian Guard numbered amongst the few legions that looked upon the mortal soldiers of the Imperial Army with naught a hint of contempt, forging an unbreakable bond over the course of the Great Crusade. They would face their greatest trials during the dark days of the Ruins.

Origins
Like the rest of the Legiones Astartes the Obsidian Guard trace the start of their history to the final years of the Unification Wars, fighting under the direct command of the Emperor while he was yet known as the Lightning Lord and not as the Master of Mankind. The first of their number were raised from the region of Jermani following its pacification, which would have a lasting effect on the culture of the Tenth. Their most notable of their actions on the Throneworld were the Sieges of the Merican Hive Cities, capturing fortresses that had held back the mortal soldiers of the Imperial Army and the Thunder Warrior regiments alike for decades in the span of months.

The Tenth Legion's next objective was to liberate the humans of the Saturnyne rings from the dominion of their xenos overlords, a task they carried out with brutal efficiency. The only warning the enemy received of their imminent doom was the sudden and ferocious bombardment of the surface in preparation for the legion's landings. Before a meaningful response could be organized by the aliens the doors of their strongholds were blown inwards by breaching charges and rank upon rank of Astartes streamed inside, bolters at the ready. The luckiest were killed by in the initial blast or bolter fire but others were burnt alive by flamers or atomized by melta guns. In a matter of hours the fighting was over, the Astartes of the Tenth hailed as liberators and the vital shipyards of the gas giant's great rings secured.

Following the conclusion of the Saturn campaign, if indeed such a brief engagement can be called such, the Tenth were dispatched beyond the boundaries of the Sol System to carry the fight to humanities enemies wherever they may hide amidst the stars. Throughout the following three decades they earned many accolades and battle honor, sundering the greatest enemy fortresses and raising cities out of the rubble before departing for the next warzone. During this time they also earned numerous epithets but none were ever adopted as an official name, retaining their simple moniker of "The Tenth".

Discovery of Lukas
The name that history would know them as, the Obsidian Guard, did not come until they were reunited with their Primarch in the year 837.M30. After completing a particularly grueling xenocide against the Ork Empire of Da Bloody Bladez Klan the Legion Master, Augustin Rymann, received a summons from the Emperor to gather the full might of the legion to the Northeast of Segmentum Solar. Rymann complied with the order and when the Tenth arrived, all fifty thousand of them, they were greeted by the sight of the Emperor's flagship surrounded by the fleets of the Primarchs Alexandros Darshan VonSalim and Koschei Kharkovic sitting in orbit over a planet that they were informed was called Feuerstadt. Alongside the legion's high command Rymann descended to the surface where he was introduced to Lukas Keath, the gene-sire of the Tenth Legion. What this meeting resulted in was Lukas being brought back to Terra to be schooled in the ways of war, philosophy, the psychic arts, and the sciences. For two years Primarch and Legion were transformed into a lethally effective fighting machine. Few legions had as easy of a time in this respect, as Lukas and the newly christened Obsidian Guard fit each other like a glove. Their trial by fire, their crucible of battle, was the campaign that was retroactively titled the Feuerreich Crusade, so named for the sub-empire it would create. The Obsidian Guard emerged from the Feuerreich Crusade as the unparalleled siege masters of the Imperium, the final and greatest sanction that could be levied against a recalcitrant human world or tenacious xenos race. They would cleanse the planets they conquered with fire and sword and from the ashes create a greater civilization than that which was laid to ruin.

The Great Crusade
For a year the Obsidian Guard stayed in the Feuerreich to ensure any embers of resistance that may have remained had been snuffed out. Once that task was complete however they joined the Crusade proper. Lukas was possessed of almost boundless passion and insatiable drive to see the Great Crusade to a successful conclusion to the degree that calling it an obsession would be accurate. He pushed his legion to ever greater heights but unlike some of his kin his motivation was not personal glory or satisfaction but merely genuine belief in the rightness of his father's cause.

Propelled forward by their Primarch the Obsidian Guard set a break-neck pace of compliance, eager to reclaim humanity's birthright as hegemons of the galaxy.

Genetic Flaw
The geneseed of the Obsidian Guard is exceptionally pure, stable, and easily implantable but this comes at a cost. Despite the efforts of the Emperor's gene-wrights, the Magos Biologis, and the Legion's own Apothecaries the Obsidian Guard are afflicted with a flaw that elongates the maturation period of their progenoid glands from five and fifteen years for the neck and chest sets respectively to ten and twenty-five years.

Legion Structure

 * Corps - 10,000 Astartes
 * Battalion - 1,000 Astartes
 * Company - 100 Astartes
 * Squad - 10 Astartes

Rank Structure

 * Feldmarschall - Commanding Officer of both an entire Corps and Expeditionary Fleet
 * Marschall - Commanding Officer of both a Battalion and a battlegroup of warships
 * Hauptmann - Commanding Officer of both a Company and a single line warship
 * Fahnrich - Commanding Officer of both a Squad and an escort ship

Specialist Ranks and Formations

 * Castellan - Operating outside the standard rank structure are Castellans, who each command the garrison of a legion fortress such as those that for half a decade surrounded Ullanor, which is where the Castellans originated from. After the Ullanor Crusade ended the Castellans were dispatched back to Terra and Feuerstadt in equal measure to put their talents to the fortification of the throneworld and the Legion's home. Their efforts saved many lives, and perhaps even the Imperium itself, during the Ruins.


 * Obsidian Hand - The handpicked bodyguard to the Primarch is composed of the most powerful and experienced Librarians of the Legion, chosen for both their martial and psychic aptitude but also their unquestioning loyalty. They are sworn protectors, confidants, and envoys of Lukas, his eyes, ears, mouths, and blades when required.
 * Drachenkrieger - The "Dragon Warriors" are the elite of the Obsidian Guard, siege warfare experts in a legion of siege warfare experts. There is no fortification that a unit of Drachenkrieger cannot crack open like a ripe nut, making way for the rest of their brothers. Each is a veteran of over a dozen campaigns before they are considered for service in the Drachenkrieger.

Legion Beliefs
No legion, except perhaps the Halcyon Wardens, are as devoted to the Imperial Truth as the Obsidian Guard, who are fervent supporters of the Emperor's grand dream of a humanity holding dominion over the stars and dedicated to science, logic, and reasoning. For this goal there is nothing they would not do, no distance they would not travel, no obstacle they will not surmount or tunnel through, no amount of blood both the enemy's and their own they would not shed.

Recruitment
The Obsidian Guard's approach to the recruitment of new aspirants is heavily influenced by the culture of their homeworld and the distinctly pragmatic worldview. Any prospective recruit is first subjected to standard medical screenings for mutation, fitness, and any underlying health issues. Then they must win the Volcano Brawl, the Vulkanschlägerei in Feuerstadt's low gothic dialect. The rules are as simple as they are unflinching, two teams of recruits must race through an obstacle course located within the Drachenmund, largest of the still active volcanoes. Obsidian Guard Techmarines have made additions so death is not immediate just a very strong possibility and before the event begins the recruits are offered enviro suits if they want them. It would be good to point out here than no one who has ever worn an enviro suit has succeeded. No weapons are provided the recruits, anything that they cannot make themselves from the materials found in the tunnels of Drachenmund they do not need. Starting at different entrances the two teams must ascend the volcano to the caldera within twelve hours to capture it.

The first team to the top has the advantage of time, being able to prepare for the coming fight which starts once the second team arrives. It is not strictly to the death as yielding is permitted by the victors are under no explicit obligation to accept. A killer may be reprimanded if the dead aspirant showed promise but no overt punishment is given. When one side has all surrendered or been killed any survivors are airlifted out. The victors are inducted into the legion as neophytes and the losers given any necessary medical attention before being tossed back to the general populace, perhaps to attempt the Vulkanschlägerei again in the future.

Funerary Rites
The life of a Space Marine is wrought with danger and none have ever died in their beds of old age. When a Battle Brother falls in battle it is the responsibility of his squadmates to guard his body long enough for an Apothecary to arrive. If time is unavailable the Apothecary will simply extract the geneseed however the preference is to retrieve the body. In such a case the dead Astartes will be returned to his company's ship where the body will lie in state for some time. When on campaign the body will be stored until the ship next returns to the Feuerreich where a full ceremony will take place.

Often there are several dozen fallen Obsidian Guard to be honored at any given ceremony, attended by hundreds more living. Eulogies are given by a dead brother's squadmates and superiors to be followed by a vigil. The next day a Thunderhawk will airlift the bodies to drop them into an active Volcano.

Combat Doctrine
In the Obsidian Guard war is a great equation, to be solved through the proper application of strategy, firepower, and lives. To some this sounds cold, even ruthless, and it is; however the Obsidian Guard take no pleasure in such acts nor are they without sorrow for those who fall in battle. It is only without emotion that a clear picture of the battlefield can be ascertained and the path to victory determined, mourning can be reserved for after the dust settles. So it is with this mindset that they approach the most brutal of theaters, siege warfare. It is no understatement to say that the Obsidian Guard are without equal in this specialty except by the Twelfth Legion, Fire Keepers. Each Obsidian Guard Astartes is a master of his craft, capable of calculating precise trajectories for artillery pieces or discerning how to tear down a wall at a glance. These skills are instilled by training and honed by years of experience in the crucible of war.

In more practical terms the Obsidian Guard's tried and true strategic plan is to force the enemy to face them in a single decisive battle where they can defeat the enemy in one fell swoop. To accomplish this the Obsidian Guard will launch devastating attacks that infuriate the enemy and deprive him of his ability to wage war, thus forcing him to fight on the ground of the Obsidian Guard's choosing or face annihilation through attrition. When the enemy inevitably goes for the latter he is crushed utterly by the Astartes in a single blow, his armies scattered by relentless artillery strikes and obliterated by massed formations of black ceramite and grim discipline marching inexorably forward.

War Disposition
Of all the Legions the Obsidian Guard were amongst the greatest in pure military might. In 011.M31 their 215,000+ Astartes were divided into 21 Corps, formations 10,000 strong akin to the chapters of other legions. At the onset of the Ruins five Corps, the 2nd, 3rd, 15th, 19th, and 21st, were stationed across the Feuerreich on garrison duty alongside the nascent 22nd Corps which was being built up to full strength. The 1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th Corps were accompanying Lukas in a campaign against Waaagh! Grimjaw with the 8th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 16th, and 20th on similar missions throughout Segmentums Solar and Obscurus. 7th, 9th, 10th, 17th, 18th, and 20th Corps were deployed alongside the Kercolla Crusade, fighting against a particularly stubborn xenos empire.

Oathbound to the service of the Legion were uncounted regiments of Aschehunde and the Albion Ironsides. The Aschehunde were organized and equipped in the manner of the Solar Auxilia whilst the Albion Ironsides were a regiment of the Old Hundred and wore archaic power armor.

The Obsidian Guard’s fleet, numbering two hundred capital and cruiser class vessels as well as four times as many escort and auxiliary ships, was dispersed between the different corps with the greatest concentration being present with the Kercolla Crusade. To augment this was Battlefleet Feuerstadt which was based exclusively within the Feuerreich and counted another hundred capital and cruiser class vessels as well as three times as many escort and auxiliary ships.

Notable Obsidian Guard

 * Lukas Keath - Primarch of the Xth Legion
 * Sebastian Kahler - Commander of the 1st Corps
 * Harrion von Maul - Newly promoted Master of Ordinance
 * Jakob Tannen - Champion of the Legion and Commander of the Obsidian Hand
 * Leopold Erlach - Member of the Obsidian Hand and Obsequearius
 * Augustin Rymann - Former Legion Master and current Commander of the 3rd Corps
 * Lothar von Hausen - Reclusiarch of the Obsidian Guard
 * Gunther Tyne - Head of the Mars-Trained Techmarines and later leader of the Eightsworn Brotherhood, a Traitor Insurgos Warband