Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So I've read Legion and Praetorian of Dorn. Both those books and others which talk about the Alpha Legion got kind of irritating and are full of contradictions.

1 - Alpharius

A recurring theme is that the Alpha Legion Primarch can be imitated by any member of his legion and he can often take the guise of a normal marine. Nobody truly knows who Alpharius is.

Which is completely ridiculous. If you look on the cover of Praetorian of Dorn, Alpharius is clearly depicted as being as tall as Rogal Dorn; ie 14 feet tall. Theres no way Alpharius could pretend to be a normal astartes or that a normal marine could pretend to be a Primarch. Even if you maintain that hes the smallest Primarch and the Alpha Legion marines are slightly taller; that's not going to make enough of a difference. Even if both came to ten foot Alpharius would be much shorter than a normal Primarch and the marine too huge.

Plus, even more important, its stated repeatedly across all of the Heresy novels that Primarches are these super natural demi gods. People are immediately awe struck and stunned. Psykers see their presence blaze in the warp. Everyone can instantly tell how these are gods cast in the image of men. Where this is not the case, say Angron, its only because he has had that brutally torn away from him leaving a deformed husk. Its so intrinsic a part of what a Primarch is that the World Eaters hate that Angron is not that. So, how exactly can Alpharius conceal that? This is clearly something supernatural and beyond simple mannerisms. It also doesn't make sense that he could conceal this from psykers or his own Primarch brothers.

2 - Spec Ops Super Spy Marines

Is ridiculous. How on earth can an eight foot tall ogre in hulking bright blue power armour be sneaky or blend in? The whole point of being a spy is that you can be incognito and look normal enough to blend in. Eight foot tall super humans stick out like a sore thumb. Yet we have these secret commandos having to awkwardly stow away their power armor to blend in and then magically put it back on whenever there needs to be a fight.

Also, if every member of the Alpha Legion, all several hundred thousand of them have this training and weaponry then why do they even have things like fleets, dreadnoughts, tanks etc? Theres a reason special forces don't also take on the role of the navy and army; they have a niche role. So either the Alpha Legion are good at the sneaky thing and bad at being a conventional army; or they're an unrealistic faction. Because near as I can tell they are an incredibly dangerous conventional army which is portrayed as THE Legion that would swing the Heresy for Horus.

Plus if the Legion Operatives are so good and valuable at what they do then why would Alpharius even get involved in huge attrition battles like Istvaan or in space? He'd lose thousands of irreplaceable operatives.

3 - Chaos?

So, this faction, has been duped into siding with an army that's fighting for daemonic gods? A primordial and eldritch force that has corrupted Primarchs and everything else it touches. You're telling me that after joining Horus and slaughtering trillions of humans, burning worlds and all that doesn't remotely corrupt the Legion. I mean its a wider issue within the Horus Heresy storyline that Chaos seems to take its sweet time corrupting these people. But with the Alpha Legion its even more ridiculous because they are actually trying to beat Chaos...by helping Chaos.

4 - The Plan

Is the most stupid thing I have ever heard and is nearly as bad as Horus seeing the 41st Millenium and not realising that HIM and the Traitor Legions caused that; not the Emperor. For the masters of manipulation they sure have been easily duped by these aliens.

5 - How does Chaos and Horus not know?

We're talking about the Dark Gods who managed to trick Magnus into joining them. You're really telling me they can't deign the ulterior motives of the Alpha Legion? Also, how can Horus be that stupid not to question or interrogate why Alpharius is helping him?

6 - They're too good

Pretty much the cardinal sin. They don't seem to have any real flaws and are a little bit too authors pet. I do know what happens at the end of Praetorian. But the mere fact that they're able to do what they're building up to is really ridiculous considering how much has been made of Terra's defences. So impenetrable that Horus has spent seven years cutting Terra off just to get all nine of his legions ready to take a planet currently only defended by one legion...That its even implied the Alpha could win is too far in my opinion.

I'm still working my way through the Horus Heresy Books, so I may be way off.

Artwork, yep, that's definitely artistic licence.

You are aware that the Alpha Legion has two Primarchs (at least its how I have read it), Alphareas and Omegeton (I think). Its entirely plausible that one is the super human demi god, and the other is the 'runt' so to speak. The knowledge of the second Primarch is actually a carefully guarded secret, I assume the other Primarchs are aware, but I doubt it is generally known. I would presume the genetic material to create the legion would have come from both - so part of the legion are super human space marines we expect, but the genetic material from the runt would most likely produce the 'operatives'

Also, the alpha legion is working for the primordial annihilator, do we know that this is the same as chaos? I actually considered this could be the tyranids - they sort of fit the description.

I assume the Primarchs can hide their psychic aura if they wish too, they just generally have no reason to.

Like I say, I am still working my way through the Horus Heresy books

He's not a psyker so he shouldn't be able to control his aura.

Well I don't know why he takes on Dorn in close combat if Dorn is near twice his size...

When Forgeworld does his model I really doubt they won't make him same scale as other Primarchs. He has the same stat line as a Primarch so I d expect him to.

The Primordial Annialator is Chaos. It's just that the Heresy novels can be extremely weird with Chaos. It's hard to seperate this from the characters ignorance but I feel sometimes they to portray Chaos as something different than what it is in 40k.

 Totalwar1402 wrote:
So I've read Legion and Praetorian of Dorn. Both those books and others which talk about the Alpha Legion got kind of irritating and are full of contradictions.

1 - Alpharius

A recurring theme is that the Alpha Legion Primarch can be imitated by any member of his legion and he can often take the guise of a normal marine. Nobody truly knows who Alpharius is.

Which is completely ridiculous. If you look on the cover of Praetorian of Dorn, Alpharius is clearly depicted as being as tall as Rogal Dorn; ie 14 feet tall. Theres no way Alpharius could pretend to be a normal astartes or that a normal marine could pretend to be a Primarch. Even if you maintain that hes the smallest Primarch and the Alpha Legion marines are slightly taller; that's not going to make enough of a difference. Even if both came to ten foot Alpharius would be much shorter than a normal Primarch and the marine too huge.

Covers aren't canon. If they were, Ferrus Manus's model would've had a giant wrench and a 50 gallon drum strapped to his back.

Plus, even more important, its stated repeatedly across all of the Heresy novels that Primarches are these super natural demi gods. People are immediately awe struck and stunned. Psykers see their presence blaze in the warp. Everyone can instantly tell how these are gods cast in the image of men. Where this is not the case, say Angron, its only because he has had that brutally torn away from him leaving a deformed husk. Its so intrinsic a part of what a Primarch is that the World Eaters hate that Angron is not that. So, how exactly can Alpharius conceal that? This is clearly something supernatural and beyond simple mannerisms. It also doesn't make sense that he could conceal this from psykers or his own Primarch brothers.

Or Corax or the Khan. Neither of which present as immensely awe-inspiring individuals. It's something the primarchs can suppress. And besides, every primarch's got something special about them. What's to stop Alpharius's being the ability to remain inconspicuous always?

2 - Spec Ops Super Spy Marines

Is ridiculous. How on earth can an eight foot tall ogre in hulking bright blue power armour be sneaky or blend in? The whole point of being a spy is that you can be incognito and look normal enough to blend in. Eight foot tall super humans stick out like a sore thumb. Yet we have these secret commandos having to awkwardly stow away their power armor to blend in and then magically put it back on whenever there needs to be a fight.

Also, if every member of the Alpha Legion, all several hundred thousand of them have this training and weaponry then why do they even have things like fleets, dreadnoughts, tanks etc? Theres a reason special forces don't also take on the role of the navy and army; they have a niche role. So either the Alpha Legion are good at the sneaky thing and bad at being a conventional army; or they're an unrealistic faction. Because near as I can tell they are an incredibly dangerous conventional army which is portrayed as THE Legion that would swing the Heresy for Horus.

Plus if the Legion Operatives are so good and valuable at what they do then why would Alpharius even get involved in huge attrition battles like Istvaan or in space? He'd lose thousands of irreplaceable operatives.

You really need to read more about the Alpha Legion, as you're missing everything that was presented in HH3: Extermination. Which is that only half of the Alpha Legion operates the way you describe. There's no point in going further with this conversation until then.

Corax and the Khan are noted as being otherworldly. I am not sure where you're getting the idea people don't notice they're Primarchs.


That's just Forgeworld making excuses for how to represent the Alpha Legion on the tabletop. They're not going to say the legion doesn't use all their big expensive tank and plane kits. The black library books which are more concerned with telling the story focus on the black ops element with them just randomly wheeling out the bugs guns. There's no distinction between the two, it's very much shown as one organisation.

If we re going off the FW Horus Heresy books then why does Alpharius have toughness 6 and str 6 if he has the same body as a normal space marine? Shouldn't he be toughness and strength 4; 5 tops?

 Totalwar1402 wrote:
He's not a psyker so he shouldn't be able to control his aura.

Well I don't know why he takes on Dorn in close combat if Dorn is near twice his size...

When Forgeworld does his model I really doubt they won't make him same scale as other Primarchs. He has the same stat line as a Primarch so I d expect him to.

The Primordial Annialator is Chaos. It's just that the Heresy novels can be extremely weird with Chaos. It's hard to seperate this from the characters ignorance but I feel sometimes they to portray Chaos as something different than what it is in 40k.

Which of the Primarchs fought Dorn (as like I said, the Alpha Legion has two - twins). Ok, I wasn't sure about the Primordial Annihilator, at one point I thought the Primordial Annihilator was the Emperor - in that he would destroy chaos (the Primordial stuff of the universe), the Alpha legion is working with a group of Xenos that oppose the emperor, who they often seem to refer to as the Primordial Annihilator. So I don't know if these xenos are working for chaos, or have their own agenda. They have a vested interest in Horus winning the war, but only because they don't want the Emperor destroying Chaos. That may mean they are working for chaos, or they have their own reasons for not wanting chaos destroyed.

That's my understanding so far, it may change as I get further through the books. .

 Totalwar1402 wrote:
That's just Forgeworld making excuses for how to represent the Alpha Legion on the tabletop.

This is an completely asinine response as the entirety of the Horus Heresy is an excuse for why the same models are fighting each other, so to say that any lore is added, "Just as an excuse for the tabletop" can be applied to every single piece of 40k lore.

The black library books which are more concerned with telling the story focus on the black ops element with them just randomly wheeling out the bugs guns. There's no distinction between the two, it's very much shown as one organisation.

Then you also haven't read the Tallarn stories either, or the battle of Paramar, or Chondax. All three show the Alpha Legion making use of their heavy weaponry with little to no subterfuge. A completely different fighting style from the other half of the legion, which rarely, if ever, even wears their own colors.

If we re going off the FW Horus Heresy books then why does Alpharius have toughness 6 and str 6 if he has the same body as a normal space marine? Shouldn't he be toughness and strength 4; 5 tops?

Do you see anyone else in this forum pulling up TT rules? No? Then feth off with that nonsense. Doubt you'd even bring it up unless you only had the Red Books available to you.

So you're saying it's reasonable that Alpharius is only the size of a regular marine but has stats like that on the tabletop and in one book goes toe to toe with Dorn?

I didn't say they don't fight with all their kit. I am saying that it doesn't mesh with their skill set and they shouldn't be good at both. It makes them Mary Sues who have no downsides or flaws.

In Praetorian of Dorn their operatives on Terra wear their bright blue power armor. Despite the whole mission being covert.

The distinction between the spec op and regular branch is not made in the novels. This is exactly the same as Raven Guard. They're just marines plus they can do all the sneaky stuff on demand.

So you don't think an eight foot tall warrior would stand out and could never pass un noticed among normal humans? That the whole notion of marine spy's is really dumb?

To hide a tree, use a forest.
Alpha Legion infiltrates Space Marine Chapters - shows some real trust from the Empra right? - James Bond would stand out for being a midget in Space Marine ranks so they use Space Marines.
Maybe Alpha Legion were good at pretending they were Orks as well.

As part of my modelling of a rogue trader-run spaceport on the fringes of the Imperium, I've created a mercenary character using an AoS Blood Reaver as a base model. It stands head and shoulders above normal humans.

The fluff regarding him is that no-one really knows what he is, where he's from or what he's up to. Rumours abound that he's a genetically augmented technobarbarian, or a surviving Thunder Warrior, or a rogue Astartes, or a khornate warrior blessed by the gods, or (importantly) an Alpha Legion operative.

In a universe where humans range in size from a Ratling to an Ogryn, with enough disguise an Astartes could definitely blend in enough to get specific missions done.

Firstly, rules =/= fluff.
Rules are made to be balanced, not fluff.

Then, you can't add or substract 1 in the 40k system without a BIG impact.
Maybe, on a system with 100 points and not 10, Dorn would have a strenght of 70 when Alpharius only would have 61. So there is a difference, but not shown in 40k (the rpg books, like Dark Heresy, are really interesting for this !)

Then: they infiltrate marines ! You can't spot them, once there are amongst others marines.

And finally: there are two different Alpha Legion, working together, that's the key.
Duality is a key word for describing this legion:
Alpharius and Omegon
Traitor or loyalist ?
The "hidden blade" and the conventionnal army.

It is easier to infiltrate them, if they think you are just another standard Legion.


About their fall to Chaos: the plan isn't that bad: mankind can't win against Chaos, because Chaos is fuelled by mankind. However, by doing a noble sacrifice, mankind could destroy Chaos. Simple. And, apparently, they chose to bretray mankind in order to save the galaxy.

Chaos Gods may be aware, but they don't care. They just want war, not victory. Chaos is fuelled by war and despair. And Alpha Legion did not succeed their mission, so may be Chaos was aware they couldn't change anything, and let them.

They may or may not have been corrupted since The Heresy, but I think it is commonly accepted that they now are corrupted.
And IIRC, it is hinted that a part of the legion is working against another part. So half of the legion may had been corrupted already during The HH.

 Totalwar1402 wrote:
So you're saying it's reasonable that Alpharius is only the size of a regular marine but has stats like that on the tabletop and in one book goes toe to toe with Dorn?

Potentially. Stats on the TT don't equate to the fluff necessarily, as has already been mentioned.

I didn't say they don't fight with all their kit. I am saying that it doesn't mesh with their skill set and they shouldn't be good at both. It makes them Mary Sues who have no downsides or flaws.

They do have downsides. They're not able to meet most of the other legions in their area of strength. They're just very, very sneaky.

So you don't think an eight foot tall warrior would stand out and could never pass un noticed among normal humans? That the whole notion of marine spy's is really dumb?

No, I don't. In a galaxy where mega-sized warriors aren't uncommon, I think it's actually quite reasonable. Between marines, servitors, ogryn, mutants, genetically (or chemically) enhanced warriors, and any other kooky thing you can concoct, there are plenty of ways for the Alpha Legion to blend in to the background. Check out Ravenor vs Eisenhorn. There are definitely ways for Marines to pretend to be something other than Marines and not be called out.

 Totalwar1402 wrote:
So I've read Legion and Praetorian of Dorn. Both those books and others which talk about the Alpha Legion got kind of irritating and are full of contradictions.

1 - Alpharius

A recurring theme is that the Alpha Legion Primarch can be imitated by any member of his legion and he can often take the guise of a normal marine. Nobody truly knows who Alpharius is.

Which is completely ridiculous. If you look on the cover of Praetorian of Dorn, Alpharius is clearly depicted as being as tall as Rogal Dorn; ie 14 feet tall. Theres no way Alpharius could pretend to be a normal astartes or that a normal marine could pretend to be a Primarch. Even if you maintain that hes the smallest Primarch and the Alpha Legion marines are slightly taller; that's not going to make enough of a difference. Even if both came to ten foot Alpharius would be much shorter than a normal Primarch and the marine too huge.

Plus, even more important, its stated repeatedly across all of the Heresy novels that Primarches are these super natural demi gods. People are immediately awe struck and stunned. Psykers see their presence blaze in the warp. Everyone can instantly tell how these are gods cast in the image of men. Where this is not the case, say Angron, its only because he has had that brutally torn away from him leaving a deformed husk. Its so intrinsic a part of what a Primarch is that the World Eaters hate that Angron is not that. So, how exactly can Alpharius conceal that? This is clearly something supernatural and beyond simple mannerisms. It also doesn't make sense that he could conceal this from psykers or his own Primarch brothers.

As mentioned, artistic license. Alpharius is actually smaller than some of his Legionnaires, which is mentioned in PoD. Obviously, Dorn being amazeballs sees through this while only two other guys so far has been able to do so, afaik.

 Totalwar1402 wrote:

2 - Spec Ops Super Spy Marines

Is ridiculous. How on earth can an eight foot tall ogre in hulking bright blue power armour be sneaky or blend in? The whole point of being a spy is that you can be incognito and look normal enough to blend in. Eight foot tall super humans stick out like a sore thumb. Yet we have these secret commandos having to awkwardly stow away their power armor to blend in and then magically put it back on whenever there needs to be a fight.

Also, if every member of the Alpha Legion, all several hundred thousand of them have this training and weaponry then why do they even have things like fleets, dreadnoughts, tanks etc? Theres a reason special forces don't also take on the role of the navy and army; they have a niche role. So either the Alpha Legion are good at the sneaky thing and bad at being a conventional army; or they're an unrealistic faction. Because near as I can tell they are an incredibly dangerous conventional army which is portrayed as THE Legion that would swing the Heresy for Horus.

Plus if the Legion Operatives are so good and valuable at what they do then why would Alpharius even get involved in huge attrition battles like Istvaan or in space? He'd lose thousands of irreplaceable operatives.

They need time, and it doesn't always work. Furthermore, it's not that all Alpha Legionnaires are super-infiltrators. They just focus on a whole on unconventional warfare, be it biological, political, or guerrilla. Also, it's stated in HH3 that nobody really controlled the Alpha Legion, and it's very likely they were not meant to be that many, but became a law unto themselves, like a rogue CIA.

 Totalwar1402 wrote:

3 - Chaos?

So, this faction, has been duped into siding with an army that's fighting for daemonic gods? A primordial and eldritch force that has corrupted Primarchs and everything else it touches. You're telling me that after joining Horus and slaughtering trillions of humans, burning worlds and all that doesn't remotely corrupt the Legion. I mean its a wider issue within the Horus Heresy storyline that Chaos seems to take its sweet time corrupting these people. But with the Alpha Legion its even more ridiculous because they are actually trying to beat Chaos...by helping Chaos.

They're not duped. They were convinced in 2 pages that betraying the Emperor would eradicate Chaos, by sacrificing humanity. That then Chaos existed before humanity is a mind-boggling plot hole Dan Abnett's responsible for.

 Totalwar1402 wrote:
4 - The Plan

Is the most stupid thing I have ever heard and is nearly as bad as Horus seeing the 41st Millenium and not realising that HIM and the Traitor Legions caused that; not the Emperor. For the masters of manipulation they sure have been easily duped by these aliens.

Que?

 Totalwar1402 wrote:

5 - How does Chaos and Horus not know?

We're talking about the Dark Gods who managed to trick Magnus into joining them. You're really telling me they can't deign the ulterior motives of the Alpha Legion? Also, how can Horus be that stupid not to question or interrogate why Alpharius is helping him?

The Chaos gods win though. They were never interested in beating humanity. Humanity at war makes them all stronger.

 Totalwar1402 wrote:

6 - They're too good

Pretty much the cardinal sin. They don't seem to have any real flaws and are a little bit too authors pet. I do know what happens at the end of Praetorian. But the mere fact that they're able to do what they're building up to is really ridiculous considering how
much has been made of Terra's defences. So impenetrable that Horus has spent seven years cutting Terra off just to get all nine of his legions ready to take a planet currently only defended by one legion...That its even implied the Alpha could win is too far in my opinion.

Um... But your facts are wrong. In PoD they lose a Primarch, a substantial portion of their fleet and manpower, and their mission is total cock-up. I made a list of battles the Alpha Legion have won post Dropsite Massacre in another thread. It was a behemoth two-point list. They take over a Mechanicus ship and win a Pyrrhic victory over the IWs at Paramar. Otherwise, they've been fighting themselves or having their asses spanked by the following Legions:
Space Wolves
White Scars
Raven Guard
Blood Angels
Iron Hands
Salamanders
Imperial Fists

Granted RG, IH, BA, and SA were all present at Epsilon-Stranivar IX, they are becoming clownishly bad, on par with the Word Bearers.

Some older fluff portrayed the AL as generally taller than standard Astartes, so if you combine that with the primarchs being shorter than regular primarchs then Alpharius/Omegon disguising themselves as regular space marines is plausible. The background also has mixed descriptions of primarch and space marine heights relative to each other

There are plenty of much larger humans around, as has been mentioned. Also it isn't unprecedented to have stealthly space marines; the Night Lords and Raven Guard are both capable of stealth

As for point 6 the Alpha Legion were already operating by their own rules long before the Heresy began. They already had guys on Terra

The power level of the XX depends on perspective. They embrace methods other legions consider beneath them and dishonourable and still lose fights. Too much pride is their flaw and that's been shown to work against them many times

Another key point to remember is that the alpha legion make a massive use of non space marine operatives in their legion. These are the guys that go to a planet and do the espionage, plant rumours and get the local populace riled up and ready for the armoured savoirs to come and rescue them from the oppressive government.

They are also like the S.A.S in that they do the roll up and shoot everyone no stealth approach when called for because they have still been trained as dangerous armed killers. It's just they do additional training in subterfuge and assasinations etc. It's like saying the Iron Warriors shouldn't be good as line infantry because they specialize at siege warfare, how can they be as effective on an open battlefield when they apend all their time sitting in one place

 ChazSexington wrote:


They're not duped. They were convinced in 2 pages that betraying the Emperor would eradicate Chaos, by sacrificing humanity. That then Chaos existed before humanity is a mind-boggling plot hole Dan Abnett's responsible for.

Unless they were misled about the fact that destroying humanity would destroy the Chaos Gods. We know they existed before humanity, but I doubt the in-universe characters do...

A few reasons this all might be rational:

Primarchs were all raised on different planets, and their environment affected their physical and intellectual growth. We don't know anything about Alpharius' origin. He could have grown up on a world with 2x Earth's gravity, leaving him smaller and a lot tougher than he may have been otherwise.

Artists depictions of Imperial figures tend to be flattering. The artwork on the cover of a novel is likely not canon, but - if it were - it's totally reasonable to consider license and dramatic effect as reasons for why Alpharius is depicted this way.

If you go back to the 2nd edition rulebook, there were descriptions for equipment that allow users to change their physical appearance. I believe this included height and body mass.

From that perspective - perhaps he could have been 14 feet tall, then gotten smaller. Don't tell me a primarch at the time of the Heresy could not have gotten hold of these.

With regards to Spec Ops marines - the world of the Imperium is populated by a lot of mutants, who come in all shapes and sizes. I would not choose conventional depictions of humanity as a reference point. If Astartes are giants compared to normal humans, it's not unreasonable to think there are many other giants stalking the halls of Imperial settlements.

I picture a 5'10" commissar walking down a hallway and just as he passes by a door slightly ajar two big meaty hands grabbing him in. Later when meeting with the Lord general I see a 7 foot tall hulk hogan wearing very small and very torn commissar uniform talking with the Lord general and no one noticing.

They are the true heroes of the story that is been told in 40k. These are the ones who listen to the wise aliens and decide to end the insanity. This gives them a certain amount of extra plot armour and plot skills ; )

From what I understand Primarchs all have some of the awesome power of the big E. And part of the power of said big E is to change the way he appears to mere mortals. It is said in one of the HH novels that Sanguinius also has part of that ability, and it might be possible that Alpharius and Omegon also have that ability to change the way they appear, to bland in with their legionnaires...

Primarchs are the special snowflakes of special snowflakes, they have power above and beyond what is readily comprehensible. E goes beyond that.

How can Alpharius blend in with his troops even if he's a 12-foot giant? Because he can...

It's just a thing he does, like how Sanguinius is a freaking angel and Ferrus has arms of living metal...

To the OP.

Read, "Prospero Burns" (It explains Primarchs being able to change their size, Such as Magnus and Russ)

Then Read, "Deliverance Lost", It really shines a light on the Alpha Legion, and should explain most of you questions.

Furthermore, remember all the Primarchs have some crazy super power that is unique to them. Magnus super Psyker freak (prospero burns and T-sons), Vulkan, Kurze and Roberte's super unique gifts come to light in "The Unremembered empire" ( must read for you nightlord fans FYI)
I do not recall Alpharius and Omegon super power being exposed yet, I gather it has something to do with chameleon like abilities and visual manipulation. But "Deliverance loss" really shines alight on Alpha Legion and exposes true purpose.

True, Corvax has the ability to walk amongst people and not be noticed/remembered, not exactly invisibility and more of a mind trick.

No I'm alpharious

My headcanon - and I have no evidence whatsoever to suggest it's anything more than that - Is that Alpharius/Omegon's "superpower" is that he can remotely possess his marines, "assuming direct control" style. So when they say "I am Alpharius", they're sometimes telling the literal truth.
But I should stress that's just headcanon, not anything official.

It was noted in most of the HH novels that the Alpha legions are kinda tall and Alph and Om (he's a secret ) were kinda short. Every legion for better or worse was meant to be specializes. Alpha was always meant to confuse everyone which in a meta example, yea they are confusing.

Secondary note to problem 2: Going to be vague to avoid spoilers but there is a novel set in the 41st Milennium where an Alpha Legion Marine wanders around without armour and is just taken for a cybernetically-enhanced gladiator of some sort. Musclebound seven-foot beatsticks are sufficiently commonplace that there are situations where they won't attract notice, in lower levels of hive cities and the like.

Don't try to get the Alpha Legion. It is deliberately written to be mysterious.
40k is not science fiction, it is science fantasy. A lot of things happen that are not logically explainable. The Primarchs and their special super powers is one of those things. All Primarchs have their own special trick. That of Alpharius is that he can appear as a normal Marine and that he can let a normal marine assume his appearance and power.

Also, don't read Praetorian of Dorn. It is bad. Really bad.

Also, if you think they are too good and are an author's pet, you have not actually read any of the BL series on them. They lose virtually everything and they are usually mistreated really badly by the author. The only other legion treated this badly are the Iron Warriors.
The real author's pets are the Ultramarines and especially the Imperial Fists.
The Alpha Legion and Iron Warriors have been degraded to being the saturday morning cartoon villains of the series.

 Iron_Captain wrote:
Don't try to get the Alpha Legion. It is deliberately written to be mysterious.
40k is not science fiction, it is science fantasy. A lot of things happen that are not logically explainable. The Primarchs and their special super powers is one of those things. All Primarchs have their own special trick. That of Alpharius is that he can appear as a normal Marine and that he can let a normal marine assume his appearance and power.

Also, don't read Praetorian of Dorn. It is bad. Really bad.

Also, if you think they are too good and are an author's pet, you have not actually read any of the BL series on them. They lose virtually everything and they are usually mistreated really badly by the author. The only other legion treated this badly are the Iron Warriors.
The real author's pets are the Ultramarines and especially the Imperial Fists.
The Alpha Legion and Iron Warriors have been degraded to being the saturday morning cartoon villains of the series.

I keep hearing that about the book. How bad are we talking?

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
Don't try to get the Alpha Legion. It is deliberately written to be mysterious.
40k is not science fiction, it is science fantasy. A lot of things happen that are not logically explainable. The Primarchs and their special super powers is one of those things. All Primarchs have their own special trick. That of Alpharius is that he can appear as a normal Marine and that he can let a normal marine assume his appearance and power.

Also, don't read Praetorian of Dorn. It is bad. Really bad.

Also, if you think they are too good and are an author's pet, you have not actually read any of the BL series on them. They lose virtually everything and they are usually mistreated really badly by the author. The only other legion treated this badly are the Iron Warriors.
The real author's pets are the Ultramarines and especially the Imperial Fists.
The Alpha Legion and Iron Warriors have been degraded to being the saturday morning cartoon villains of the series.

I keep hearing that about the book. How bad are we talking?

A chainsword to the face.

 Totalwar1402 wrote:

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
Don't try to get the Alpha Legion. It is deliberately written to be mysterious.
40k is not science fiction, it is science fantasy. A lot of things happen that are not logically explainable. The Primarchs and their special super powers is one of those things. All Primarchs have their own special trick. That of Alpharius is that he can appear as a normal Marine and that he can let a normal marine assume his appearance and power.

Also, don't read Praetorian of Dorn. It is bad. Really bad.

Also, if you think they are too good and are an author's pet, you have not actually read any of the BL series on them. They lose virtually everything and they are usually mistreated really badly by the author. The only other legion treated this badly are the Iron Warriors.
The real author's pets are the Ultramarines and especially the Imperial Fists.
The Alpha Legion and Iron Warriors have been degraded to being the saturday morning cartoon villains of the series.

I keep hearing that about the book. How bad are we talking?

A chainsword to the face.

And "No it Wasnt a Body Double"