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Has anything further ever been mentioned about the Trefoil legions or is it a bit of a dumped plotline?

It was never a plotline, same as most lore. It's there to provide inspiration for your own armies, something to spawn interesting campaigns.

But sadly, no. We don't know more than that the Salamanders, Space Wolves, and Alpha Legion were created under separate circumstances than the other legions.

I think it's just in-fluff reason as to the Emperor's potential plans for the future of Astartes in a post-GC world, since they were specifically set apart for dedicated tasks. SW seem to be intended as a governing police force that keeps the planets within the Imperium in line, almost like Arbites. The Alpha Legion on the other hand seemed to be more in line with the secret police ala the Gestapo, basically the unseen hand that would unover and eliminate threats before they arise. Salamanders, especially with the way the Emperor prioritized Vulkan over others, seem edged towards being the humanitarian aspect of being an emergency response force to crises. So contrary to a lot of legionaries fears of becoming obselete, at least at some level the marines were going to be used in the Imperium and not just get Thunder-Warriored into oblivion.

What's notable is how in line these legions are with serving humanity, rather than ruling them, which matches with what the Emperor wanted.

Salamanders - Vulkan has been revealed as the Emperor's WMD specialist. But he had to be Lawful Good enough to never use them himself.

Space Wolves - Were designed to police the Space Marines as a whole. If one got out of line the Space Wolves would be sent.

Alpha Legion - Were designed to be spies. Much like Salamanders they have attachments to humanity that transcend the standard relationship most Space Marines have with humanity. In Legion, Alpharius easily convinces humans to join his cause on multiple occasions.

Did Alpha's have connections to humanity? Salamanders cared but I've never seen that in the AL. It's pretty easy to persuade someone to do what you say when you're someone that can be genuinely confused for a demigod.

From what I remember reading once, and I can't remember the reference, but I believe the Alpha Legion originally undertook the roles of the Custodes and Sisters of Silence before they came along. I believe there was even something about the Emperor creating the Custodes based upon an upgraded version of the alpha legion gene line

I think the current lore places the custodes as older than the space marines.

 evil_kiwi_60 wrote:
I think the current lore places the custodes as older than the space marines.

They are. The Custodes were up and doing shady stuff before Marines had their first fight.

pm713 wrote:
Did Alpha's have connections to humanity? Salamanders cared but I've never seen that in the AL. It's pretty easy to persuade someone to do what you say when you're someone that can be genuinely confused for a demigod.

The Alpha Legion was able to recruit the Geno Five-Two Chiliad into service. They weren’t strong armed from what I remembered. Instead “Alpharius” was able to convince them that what they were doing was for noble purposes.

DontEatRawHagis wrote:

pm713 wrote:
Did Alpha's have connections to humanity? Salamanders cared but I've never seen that in the AL. It's pretty easy to persuade someone to do what you say when you're someone that can be genuinely confused for a demigod.

The Alpha Legion was able to recruit the Geno Five-Two Chiliad into service. They weren’t strong armed from what I remembered. Instead “Alpharius” was able to convince them that what they were doing was for noble purposes.

I wouldn't call that a connection.

The alpha legion do seem to posses a better ability to mobilize normal humans than many other forces. One of their specialities is cult uprisings with limited space marine support. One way or another they basically produce almost fanatical loyalty from their followers

I think that's down to the fact they actually tried to as a matter of course rather than a special connection.

pm713 wrote:

DontEatRawHagis wrote:

pm713 wrote:
Did Alpha's have connections to humanity? Salamanders cared but I've never seen that in the AL. It's pretty easy to persuade someone to do what you say when you're someone that can be genuinely confused for a demigod.

The Alpha Legion was able to recruit the Geno Five-Two Chiliad into service. They weren’t strong armed from what I remembered. Instead “Alpharius” was able to convince them that what they were doing was for noble purposes.

I wouldn't call that a connection.

Just to clarify, they didn't recruit the entire Geno Five-Two, only certain individuals, and it was never quite clear exactly how they did. All the book mentioned is one minute they were super loyal to the Geno Five-Two, they'd disappear for a bit and come back and were super loyal to the Alpha Legion and really good all of a sudden at keeping that a secret. I feel like there was more to it than simply convincing them.
The AL weren't particularly compassionate about humans like the Salamanders were, but they definitely cared for their human agents, that is though, as long as they remain useful and loyal to the legion.

Salamanders: Fire and Rescue?