The Blooding

The gene-seed of every legionary is vital. It is through their gene-seed that a normal human adolescent is transformed into one of the Astartes, a warrior without peer and without it and the effects it has upon the human body, the Legiones Astartes would be nowhere near as fearsome in war as they are. However, there was no official method that was used in order to activate the gene-seed within an aspirant and so each of the legions adopted its own way of doing so, often rooted in its homeworld's culture. In the Crimson Lions, the process by which the gene-seed is activated in an aspirant's body is known as the Blooding.

The Blooding is the final test of an aspirant and only the toughest and most ferocious of Mycenae's young warriors reached it. They are cast out into the wilds of Mycenae to fend for themselves, with no weapons save a small dagger and their bare hands and the entire plethora of Mycenae's deadly fauna hunting them just as they are in turn hunting it. Only if the aspirant slays one of Mycenae's many predators and brings its body back up Mount Æsgard will the Lion's Gate open for him. However, while outwardly this test may appear to be purely one of martial skill it also tests the mental fortitude and endurance of an aspirant. All the while that he is hunting and being hunted by his quarry, the aspirant's body will be battered by the elements and worn down by exhaustion, for to fall asleep alone in Mycenae's wilds is to invite death. Many an aspirant has fallen asleep in the snow to never wake up again or been overwhelmed by one of Mycenae's predators as exhaustion and his foe's ferocity overcomes him. Only those who are worthy of joining the ranks of the Crimson Lions overcome their body's exhaustion and frailty to the elements to battle against the predators hunting them and prevail.

Once he has slain the predator, the aspirant then drags its body back up Mount Æsgard where the Lion's Gate will open for him, as he has proved himself worthy. He and those other aspirants who succeeded in their hunts will then drink from a bowl containing the blood of the hunter they killed mingled with the blood of one of the Cneassai who will speak the words "You knelt as cubs. Now rise as lions". So it is that they are blooded and the gene-seed within their bodies activated, turning them into true warriors of the Crimson Lions, ready to take their places in the ranks of the getae and fight as gods of war.

[[Category:T]]