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A Chapter forged in secret as an immediate response to the Nova Terra Interregnum. In order to quickly deal with the new separatists a number of highly skilled infiltration specialists were drafted from other chapters and combined into an elite task force directly under the orders of the High Lords of Terra. The force (made of strictly Codex-adherent chapters) adopted the name Legion of Shadows as it suited their mode of operation.
The Legion of Shadows used their long range combat and stealth skills to great effect during the Insurrection. The 1st leader of the unit has a name lost to time but commanded a force of about 100 men. The units deployed in a wide range of area but were hardly ever engaged in combat. The Legion’s goal was to obtain information and report it back to the High Lords of Terra; they were deployed in the long term and worked with officio assassinorum and other imperial agents to accomplish their objectives. There were only about 37 actual engagements across the 9 centuries of the insurrection and the marines proved that although they moved as shadows, they fought as astartes.

After the resolution of the Nova Terra Interregnum the unit was now without purpose. The unit requested permission to become a chapter and it was accepted because of the 22nd Founding which was about to take place. The geneseed is believed to have been taken from the Raven Guard as it approved of the new chapter’s fighting style. A chapter master was officially named and the new-found chapter set out on its first campaign.
The Chapter Master was named Raphael Lucius and would lead the Chapter in their campaign. This campaign took place in Segmentum Ultima where the Legion of Shadows was informed of a sizeable presence of chaos space marines primarily consisting of Thousand Sons; the Legion of Shadows began it primeval operational types and deployed many scout and recon teams around the area. The Legion, after a long period of information gathering, conducted a raid on Holda via drop pods. Holda was the planet where there was the majority traitor activity. A strike force of the 3rd Company led by Raphael Lucius followed an orbital bombardment of the traitor marine encampment. Raphael Lucius and his honor guard found a sorcerer coven performing rituals outside of a large temple. After being spotted the traitors pulled into the Temple of Tzeentch. After giving chase and setting up a perimeter the vanguard forces entered the temple. The pointmen of the Legion of Shadows fell into a trap and were cut down by dozens of well positioned Rubric in the narthex. The attack by the Legion of Shadows was furious and well-coordinated however and they managed to push into and secure the narthex. The traitors’ presence in the sector was diminished. After the force was off the planet the Legion of Shadows Virus bombed the 5 planets in the area; these planets were named Holda, Naoddon, Dunet, Berier and Datan. Without informing any other Imperial forces the Legion of Shadows bombed all 5 worlds and exterminated all of the heretics and cultists on the planets before they could mobilize or prepare to mount a counter-attack.

After the bombing of the 5 planets recently home to the traitors the Legion of Shadows wound up in orbit of Thranx due to a request of the High Lords. Groups of settlers were to arrive within days and the High Lords (still on good terms with the Legion) requested the Legion of Shadows help in destroying the Dark Eldar raiders in the sector. The 4th Company volunteered for the honor to assist the settlers. During a wrap up operation in the short campaign the Legion of Shadows found feral but honorable tribe members roaming the wastelands of the planet that was believed to be barren. The Captain of the 4th Company made contact with these tribesmen and were praised by them as “The Great God’s Shadows”. The tribe numbered in the tens of thousands and because of these numbers the Legion of Shadows made Thranx their recruiting world. All their recruits would come from Thranx for the time to come.

Soon after this event the Legion of Shadows located 3 Ork “Roks” in a neighboring sector. The Chaptership, the Night Sentinel, and it’s supporting spacecraft engaged the Roks in Space Combat. After the Daemon Smiter Destroyed 1 Rok and second one had its engines disabled. The Chapter began multiple boarding actions via boarding torpedoes and inserted elite squads in a number of vital areas. The Night Sentinel launched its compliment of Caestus Assault Rams at the disabled Rok. In the ensuing combat, led by Raphael Lucius, the Legion of Shadows exterminated all the orks on the Rok they boarded. While searching the ship for survivors the Warlord Jawpuncha attacked Raphael Lucius in single combat. The Ork Warlord was from the Deathskullz clan and fought ferociously in the tight confines of the hallway. Raphael, however, came out victorious after cutting the warlord’s arm off and beating him with it. This engagement proved that the Legion of Shadows were very truly Angels of Death and not merely 500 soldiers of the imperium (The Chapter, from action or otherwise, had never raised their numbers to full strength). The search of the Rok also uncovered Adeptus Astartes technology including 2 Land Raiders. These Land Raiders were defiled by the Orks and were sent to the Mechanicus for repairs and to heal the 2 machines’ Machine Spirits. The 3rd Rok ran scared but was soon destroyed by a precise lance flurry from the Pure Fury before it could escape.

For the next 15 years the chapter fought in only a few local confrontations as they were attempting to raise their numbers to 1000. The Mechanicus gifted the Legion of Shadows with 5 suits of Tactical Dreadnought Armor suits and the 2 Land Raiders they recovered on Warlord Jawpuncha’s Rok. Soon after these gifts were received by the Legion of Shadows, the Chapter dispatched half of the 1st company and all of the 3rd company to investigate a Space Hulk where there was rumored to be a contingent of fallen marines. The scouting party led by the Chapter Master was ambushed by Possessed Chaos Marines and multiple sorcerers of the Thousand Sons. The Legion of Shadows forward party was decimated and Raphael Lucius was the first Legionnaire slain by a spell cast from the Sorceror Lord aboard the hulk. He didn’t allow himself to die without a fight and ripped the jaw from the traitor marine as well as stabbing his power blade into his stomach. The marines still on the ship were immediately sent to the hulk and began to purge the vessel in its entirety. Overall 56 Marines were killed on the Hulk and a few sorcerers were identified as the same ones from Holda. All the relics and Geneseeds of the Legion of Shadows were recovered and a new Chapter Master named Antonious Raptor was elected. The Chapter, now under orders by their new Chapter Master, obliterated the Putrid Space Hulk and then retreated back into more friendly imperial space.

Although distraught by the number of men lost in the incident the Legion saw the effectiveness and need of Psykers and began a hunt for young psykers. Antonius believed the new librarians would make it easier to locate and determine the numbers of enemies in combat areas. Of course the chapter already had Librarians but now the numbers of the Librarium rose to approximately double the size recommended by the Codex Astartes. The new Librarians were also used to update and sustain files in the library. A number of Psykers were also trained in deceptive techniques to help mask marines and turn them invisible. This served the legion well and their scouting and information gathering rose in effectiveness exponentially.

The following centuries were rather quiet besides small engagements or information gathering missions and allowed the Legion of Shadows to reach a full size of 1000. During this time Antonius Raptor crafted the first companies’ squads into an elite stealth oriented force relying on superior marksmanship and ability to defeat opponents. The Techmarines were also tasked with experimenting on the Vengeance rounds. They eventually perfected them to the point of where the shells no longer have the chance to explode when fired. These squads were re-termed Ghosts and were often deployed by squads but worked in small teams (normally between 1 and 4). The captain of the 1st Company also became commander of the Ghost squads and specifically dealt with their deployments and coordination.

3 of the companies were patrolling space near Dimmamar in the Segmentum Obscurus when the Legion of Shadows heard a report of heretic forces on Dimmamar itself. The 2nd and 5th companies immediately responded to the threat. The world was torn between loyalist and heretic forces. The Legion of Shadows deployed 2 Ghost Squads to wreak havoc behind the battle lines and to gather information. After 3 days the 2nd and 5th centuries launched their very first attack straight into the suspected heretic headquarters. The 2nd and 5th centuries were at full strength at the time of the attack and inflicted massive casualties on the unprepared heretic forces. The captain of the 2nd Company commanded the attack and showed some of his tactical prowess by purposely creating a distress call that seemed to be produced by the heretics. By the time the enemy reaction force responded the Legion of Shadows were well fortified in their positions with demolitions rigged on the road. As the convoy approached the explosives were detonated and the rear vehicles of the convoy were destroyed leaving the rest of the vehicles with one choice, to move forward. The Legion of Shadows had sprung a perfect ambush. The Legion took a heavy toll on the heretic forces while decapitating the enemy command structure in a single night. The Legion of Shadows changed the tide of the world wide and helped secure the world for the imperial forces. The 3rd and 5th companies withdrew to orbit and returned to their recruiting world.
The Legion of Shadows were ready to refill their scout ranks. They also decided to add a second scout company to provide improved force reconnaissance assets, in order to do this however, they removed their reserve assault company. The companies around the universe began to reconvene at Thranx. After finding 150 more tributes to fill out the depleted scout squads the chapter headed out. Antonius Raptor received a message from the inquisition.

The inquisition requested the chapter deploy 3 full companies to the planet of Joura in the Segmentum Pacificus and expressed the interest of the High lords, fearing the loss of their unusual ally Antonius decided that he had no choice but to oblige the inquisition and deployed the 2nd, 5th and 7th centuries along with his honor guard and himself along with 3 full Ghost Squads. Enroot to Jauna the inquisitor (a xenos inquisitor) told the Legion of Shadows that the orks were mobilizing for a Waaaagh and that they were being led by a particularly smart and who was a particularly potent psyker. The leader of the Waaaagh named himself Mindhamma and was very cocky in stature. The ship he used was an old imperial freighter and he commonly stayed there in his “free time”. The Ork enjoyed watching the open spaces and supposedly looked for signs of Mork or Gork. The Legion of Shadows used one of their stealth cruisers to transport the Ghost Squads and half of the 2nd Company to the cruiser with minimal action against the ork fleet. Although Mindhamma saw the ship visually the orkish ships’ scanners did not as the signals given off were covered by sets of counter measures and wave absorb materials throughout the ship. The ship launched boarding torpedoes and the legionnaires took over the ships quickly and efficiently. The inquisitor who accompanied them used a weapon loaned to him by the Ordo Hereticus to completely remove all psychic presence in the area. Mindhamma was completely unprepared for a real hand-to-hand fight and was utterly massacred by the chapter master and inquisitor. The ork fleet dispersed in fear at how their leader was so easily defeated and dispersed and was easy pickings for stealth cruisers as they slowly destroyed 26 Ork ships.

2 centuries later rumors of a Tzeentchian cult formed on Thranx. Librarians believe the use of infiltration would be the best course of action. All the Ghost Squads deployed for these. The infiltration teams worked extremely and within months, 18 cults were neutralized. The teams were too few however and a massive warp rift appeared. Demons fled out of the portal and citizens were slaughtered in the millions. The whole chapter was deployed around the world and key hive cities were fortified by the 8th and 9th Companies (unlike the codex the 8th chapter is a devastator reserve company). In these defensive actions the Legion of Shadows used the Stalker Bolt Gun constantly as the further range and more discreet firing provided much more effectiveness against demons and renegades. The 2nd through 5th Companies were deployed in strike operations on renegades around the world. The plains tribes survived longer than expected and put up a very good defense but were severely diminished by the warp entities. Eventually the Thousand Sons and their demon primarch arrived. The 1st Company deployed with support from the entire 3rd and 6th company. The 3rd Company was completely annihilated yet they held the flank of the line until some reinforcements were repositioned to cover them. These new forces were not strong enough to save the 3rd company and there last moments were witnessed by the devastators from the 6th company. Chapter Master Antonius Raptor met the demon primarch in solo combat. Of course the Chapter Master had no chance of defeating the primarch but he lasted long enough for the 1st company to put out enough fire to weaken Magnus to a point where he was forced to retreat. Antonius Raptor was slain and Tyco Revre (Captain of the 1st Captain) took the position of acting chapter master for the rest of the invasion.

Any thoughts?

Why would Space Marines be used for infiltration?

They're huge and very distinctively looking, 9 foot tall men with uneven skin and inhumanely swollen musculature.

It isn't unheard of. There are chapters that prefer stealth to brute force, or they at least balance it, Raven Guard, Raptor, Mantis Warriors, etc.

Stealth is a touch different from infiltration.
Infiltration is more like pretending to be one of them.
Nothing wrong with stealth...

i applied Infiltration by the definition of intruding on enemy territory...definition 2

Besides that.....Anything else?

looks good so far....like ninja's eh? it seems this is a stealthy version of the deathwatch (deathwatch are fairly stealthy ) ....some of the Background contradicts itself......maybe because 20% of the text is off screen...otherwise looks good dude

Not sure about the screen part but where is it contradicting?

Oooh, are you talking about codex adherent and then where they have more libbys than normal and replace an assault squad for devastator squad (i think i did that right?)

I would like to bump this as it has been updated

What exactly did you change?
Also i'm not sure how much you know about space but there's a reason this "The Chapter deployed their newly developed stealth ships (Electronic wise only) which could completely absorb any sound waves giving the impression of open space." can't work.

Why can't it work? and i made some changes but after reading it over and digging more deeply into the history i will rehaul it again.

Space is a vacuum. Sound cannot travel through a vacuum. Having a space ship that absorbs sound waves is about as helpful as a chocolate toaster...

Doh! that completely slipped my mind :L
Thank you for reminding me.