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The Legio Vulpa ("Death Stalkers") is a Traitor Titan Legion of the Dark Mechanicum that repudiated its oaths to the Emperor of Mankind and followed the Warmaster Horus into the service of the Ruinous Powers during the Horus Heresy.

The Legio Vulpa was originally based on the Forge World of Anvillus. Its current location is unknown.

The Legio Vulpa's personnel valued the honour of close quarters battle, where they could see the eyes of their foes -- or in the case of Titan warfare their armoured heads -- and feel the concussive force as their weapons smashed into them.

The Legio Vulpa always had a reputation for excessive cruelty, and their fall to Chaos has only made them more deadly.

A killing fury is common to many Titan princeps, the thrill of a felled foe echoed by a raging Machine Spirit (artificial intelligence) and feeding back through the neural link of the Titan's MIU. Death Stalkers princeps often give into this battle madness, riding the wave of exhilaration and letting their attacks become almost instinctive.

Legion History[]

Legio Vulpa Warlord Titan

Legio Vulpa colour scheme as displayed by the Warlord-class Titan Iconoclast at the time of the Horus Heresy.

Origins[]

The cognomen of "Death Stalkers" remains an aptly chosen honorific for the Legio Vulpa, for the ancient Titan Legion has an extensive reputation as expert hunters possessed of great savagery and cruelty. The founding of the Titan Legion was undertaken during the Age of Strife upon the Forge World of Anvillus shortly after its colonisation, motivated by the appearance of the Jindarii, a species of nomadic bio-mechanical hunters that had, centuries before Mankind's arrival to Anvillus, established a proving ground in the neighbouring sub-sectors. Records indicate that the Human colonisation of Anvillus galvanised the local Jindarii tribes into enacting frequent raids against the ancient Mechanicum enclave.

Against the practiced guerrilla tactics of the Jindarii cadres, or Oxalthixduls in the xenos' own language, Anvillus' Taghmata forces stood little chance; the Jindarii are recorded to have made frequent use of highly advanced armaments such as pulsar and needle technology that proved effective at shredding the toughest armour the Forge World could produce. In answer, the first demi-legio of the Legio Vulpa was raised. Unsuited to hunting down mobile groups of infantry, the god-engines of the Legio Vulpa invaded the Jindarii hunting ground, falling upon the temple complexes of the xenos to draw them out. After a solar decade of fighting, the efforts of the Legio Vulpa had pushed the warfront away from Anvillus, bequeathing the Forge World time to build and expand the ranks of the Legio Vulpa.

The conflict between the Jindarii and the Legio Vulpa did much to shape the ethos of the Titan Legion, for the xenos proved immensely cunning and highly adaptable. When faced with a threat far beyond the skill of their normal warriors, the Jindarii began a programme of experimentation and genetic manipulation, implanting the bodies of its most seasoned warriors into gene-wrought organic constructs that rivalled the strength and size of a god-engine. The archive of Anvillus, which maintained detailed records on the threat of the Jindarii, highlight that the initial Jindarii Titan analogues compensated for a distinct lack of ranged weaponry with stealth and speed at odds with their size.

With the advent of the Jindarii's new weapons, the conflict entered a new phase, resulting in seven solar decades of war, during which the military minds of the Legio Vulpa conceived and published the first edition of its Libraxus Tacticae Vulpa, the Titan Legion's battle bible. Heavily influenced by the hunting tactics of the Jindarii, the Legio Vulpa favoured tactical deployments that involved direct engagement with the foe, utilising bold assaults combined with misdirection and calculated manoeuvring to entrap enemies and slaughter them without mercy.

Thoughthe exact date of the war's conclusion is lost to time, the archives of Anvillus record the final battle between the Jindarii and the Legio Vulpa being fought on the moon of Yythe, located in the third closest star system to Anvillus. There, a demi-legio of 32 Legio Vulpa Titans achieved a decisive victory over the Grand Matriarch of the Hyzebaru tribe of the Jindarii; Legio Vulpa legends state the matriarch, who had led the Jindarii war effort against the Titan Legions for two solar decades, stood 43 metres tall and slew seven god-engines before being slain in turn.

Soon after, the Jindarii surrounding Anvillus withdrew in full, no doubt departing for richer, less troublesome hunting grounds. Their departure was marked by a two-kilometre line of Jindarii skulls left along one of Yythe's great rivers, each one engraved with a stanza that, translated, ended with the line, "Here our greatest blades rest, firm in belief they knew death's art, taught instead by those who stalk beneath its shroud." From that day forth, the Legio Vulpa bore the name of "Death Stalkers" with pride.

Great Crusade[]

Legio Vulpa Reaver Titan

Legio Vulpa Reaver-class Titan Immitis Venor as seen at the time of the Horus Heresy.

In the centuries following the great victory of the Legio Vulpa, the Titan Legion proved instrumental in the expansion of Anvillus' domain, increasing the Forge World's holdings to include dozens of worlds including the Knight Worlds of Niagmarr and Slestra and the ore-rich world of the Anvil Reach. The wide dominion controlled by the magi of Anvillus proved a valuable asset to the Great Crusade upon contact between the Imperium and the far-flung Mechanicum fragment. Though negotiations began tersely, an agreement was achieved with little discord, treaties ensuring Anvillus retained the worlds it laid claim to.

In concordance with the agreed upon pacts, the principal strength of the Legio Vulpa was deployed to the forefront of the Great Crusade while Anvillus became a crucial part of the crusade's supply chain, with tithe records showing that the Forge World and its holdings produced nearly one-fifth of all materiel supplied to expeditionary fleets deployed within the Ultima Segmentum.

Rated as a Primus-grade Titan Legion, the strength of the Legio Vulpa was readily welcomed amongst the hard-pressed expeditionary fleets expanding the boundaries of the Imperium in the galactic east. Such sentiments soon gave way to concerns about the practices of the Titan Legion and the aggressive mien of its princeps, who were vocal in their desire to crush any deemed too weak to survive. Numerous acts of callous cruelty are attributed to the Legio Vulpa during their time serving in the Great Crusade with perhaps the most infamous example occurring during the Imperial Compliance action on the world of Dendritica -- in service alongside the Legio Solaria, the Death Stalkers refused offers of negotiation while besieging the city of Biphex.

Instead, the Legio Vulpa fell upon the city despite the objections of their fellow Titan Legion, burning it to the ground and slaughtering its inhabitants as they fled. In doing so, the Death Stalkers earnt the undying enmity of the Legio Solaria. Clashes with other Titan Legions proved a common recurrence for the Legio Vulpa; on Mars, the Death Stalkers seeking to expand the honorary holdings they had been gifted by the fabricator-general by encroaching on the forge-fane of the Legio Honorum.

Horus Heresy[]

Shadowed by a grim reputation for cruelty the bellicose and savage Legio Vulpa were easily subverted by the Dark Mechanicum, willingly turning against the Emperor. Indeed, the Death Stalkers proved eager to hunt their fellow Titan Legions, its princeps frequently sporting trophies claimed from fallen Titans upon the carapace of their own god-engines.

While the Legio Vulpa wholly committed itself to the cause of the Warmaster Horus, the Forge World of Anvillus fell into civil war, cutting off the Death Stalkers from their ancestral home. Few sightings of the Legio Vulpa Titans were recorded within the boundaries of the Anvillus Forge Empire during the Horus Heresy, suggesting a distinct lack of interest in the domestic affairs within the Titan Legion's ranks. Indeed, the savagery of the Legio Vulpa grew more debased during the conflict, its princeps becoming consumed by bloodlust and a thirst for battle.

Innumerable war zones suffered the predations of the Death Stalkers, its number becoming increasingly scattered as it carved a bloody path across the galaxy.

When the Schism of Mars erupted, the Traitors of the Dark Mechanicum sent the Legio Vulpa to eliminate their rivals the Legio Honorum, who had remained loyal to the man they believed to be the Omnissiah.

The Traitor Legio launched a devastating surprise assault upon the Death Bolts' Legio fortress in which the Loyalists lost 19 of their Titans, though the Legio Honorum managed to ultimately escape destruction and survive to fight on in the Emperor's name.

As the Horus Heresy progressed, the personnel of the Legio Vulpa hearkened to the teachings of the Word Bearers Dark Apostle Vorrjuk Kraal, and ultimately dedicated themselves to the worship of the Blood God Khorne, whose savage theology most closely matched their own aggressive tendencies and desires for close-ranged melee combat between god-engines. Blood sacrifices and dark rituals soon became commonplace among the Death Stalkers.

Notable Campaigns[]

  • Schism of Mars (005-006.M31) - Kelbor-Hal, the fabricator-general of Mars, declared Mars' secession from the Imperium and rejection of the Emperor in a planet-wide betrayal co-aligned to that of the Warmaster Horus at Isstvan III. The Traitor Dark Mechanicum scoured the surface of the Red Palnet of those still loyalt to Terra, plunging the world into bitter civil war that would see the extinction of several ancient Titan Legios and dozens of Knight Houses. The Legio Vulpa took the opportunity to turn their ire upon their hated rivals from the Legio Honorum, whom they long harboured resentment and jealousy -- both of their enviable record of achievements and victories, as well as solar decades' worth of disputes involving ancient territorial rights along the borders of the Lunae Palus and Arcadia regions. As hostilities erupted across the Red Planet, what had previously been confined to heated debate erupted into outright warfare as Princeps Senioris Ulriche of the Death Stalkers unleashed his engines upon the fortress of Grand Master Maxen Vledig's Deathbolts. The Legio Honorum had been invited back to Mars to reaffirm the vows they had once taken and show solidarity with the Fabricator-General. The invitation of the Grand Master and a delegation of senior Princeps and Moderatii had not been a cordial invitation, but a calculated one. Caught by surprise, the Deathbolts lost nineteen engines in the first hour of battle, before withdrawing into the frozen wastes of the Mare Boreum and seeking refuge in the dune fields of Olympia Undae. Their calls for reinforcement went unanswered, for all of Mars was tearing itself apart as the plague of war spread across the planet in a raging firestorm.
  • Isstvan III Atrocity (ca. 007.M31) - The campaign known in later times as the Isstvan III Atrocity began when the Imperial planetary governor of Isstvan III, Vardus Praal, had been corrupted by the Chaos God Slaanesh whose cultists had long been active on that world. In 205.M31, Praal declared his world to be independent from the Imperium of Man. Unaware of the change in Horus' loyalties following his corruption by the Chaos Gods on the world of Davin, the Council of Terra charged the Warmaster with the retaking of that world, primarily its capital, the Choral City. When the Imperium finally gathered its forces, the Sons of Horus, Death Guard, Emperor's Children and the World Eaters Legions arrived in the Isstvan System, mustering in orbit above the doomed planet. Under the guise of putting down the rebellion against Imperial Compliance, Horus hatched the plan by which he would destroy all the remaining Loyalist elements of the Legions under his command. He purposely gathered those Astartes who were not loyal to him and used them in the assault on the non-Compliant world. With elements of the Legio Mortis, the Legio Audax and the Legio Vulpa Titan Legion in support, the invasion of Istvaan III then began in earnest. The Legio Vulpa undoubtedly played a part in the campaign, but sadly none of its exploits are currently present in Imperial records.
  • Battle of Molech (009.M31) - Molech was a Knight World ruled over by House Devine ever since the Emperor Himself led an expedition to bring it into the fledgling Imperium and left a significant garrison there. The planet thrived under the rule of Devine, the populace of its capital city of Lupercalia never knowing the true reason why the Emperor had taken it upon Himself to lead the force that claimed it. Unfortunately for the citizens of Molech, the traitor Horus knew exactly what lay beneath the city that had been name in his honour -- a Warp Gate which, it was said, had allowed the Emperor to convene with the Ruinous Powers themselves. When Loyalist forces became aware of the Traitor fleet's approach, they mustered at Molech. As well as a trio of Titan Legions -- Legio Gryphonicus, Legio Crucius, and Legio Fortidus -- there were elements of each of the Imperium's fighting forces, including nearly a dozen Knight Houses which owed fealty to Devine. The Traitor force was equally impressive, featuring no fewer than four Titan Legions: the Legio Vulpa, Legio Interfector, Legio Vulcanum I, and the infamous Legio Mortis. As the Warmaster unleashed a massive coordinated assault, the planet's defenders were thrown into disarray when the Plasma Reactor of an Imperator-class Titan was destroyed. Thousands of Loyalists were immolated in a blinding flash as a miniature sun erupted from the Titan's core to leave a smoking crater half a Terran mile wide. In the wake of the catastrophic blast, the spearhead of Traitor Titans marched through the gap in the Imperial lines. At the height of the battle, House Devine revealed its true allegiance to the Warmaster, its treachery unveiled at a pivotal moment, heralding a slaughter from which only a handful of Loyalists escaped. Caught between the treacherous Knights of House Devine and Horus' rampant forces, the shattered remnants of Molech's defenders were slaughtered without mercy. They were totally defeated, so brutally that only one in a hundred of the troops of the Imperial Army survived the campaign. After his passage through the portal into the Realm of Chaos, Horus won the full blessing of the Ruinous Powers as their champion. His drive on Terra seemed unstoppable.
  • Battle of Beta-Garmon, "The Titandeath" (006-013.M31) - The Legio Vulpa took part in the long and savage Beta-Garmon campaign, which included hundreds of war zones across dozens of worlds. Even before the greater armies of the Warmaster Horus reached the star cluster, the battle lines had long since been drawn, and fighting had been going on for many Terran years. It was a cauldron of battle that would consume millions of lives before its end and see the demise of entire Titan Legions, earning this campaign the dire moniker of the "Titandeath." The Legio Vulpa fought against the Loyalist forces in the Beta Garmon System as part of the preparation for the Traitors' final assault on Terra. The Legion fought primarily on Beta-Garmon III and Theta-Garmon V, and was supported by the Knights of House Devine, House Hyboras, House Ioeden and House Niagma. During this conflict, eight princeps of the Legio were possessed by Daemons and placed within Warlord-class Titans under the command of the Dark Mechanicum Magos Ardim Protos and the Word Bearers Dark Apostle Vorrjuk Kraal. These represented the first known Banelord Titans.
    • Hammer of the Legion (317.012.M31) - With the Imperial armies and fleets spread out across the cluster, Horus unleashed the full measure of his Titan Legions against key targets. On Delta-Garmon II and Theta-Garmon V, sieges that had lasted for Terran years were brought to a sudden and brutal tipping point. Titans of the Legio Mortis led the way against the harvest domes of Delta-Garmon II, the airless wastes growing thick with the twisted wreckage of Loyalist tanks. On Theta-Garmon V, the Legio Fureans and Legio Vulpa maniples marched across the great Garmonite shipyards, their guns tearing open the fortress docks and leaving clouds of frozen corpses in their wake. Only the swift arrival of Legio Astorum and Legio Solaria maniples prevented both star systems falling completely into the Warmaster's hands, though both Loyalist Legions find themselves hard-pressed by the vast number of enemy Titan Legions arrayed against them.
    • Second Battle of Nycron City (403.012.M31) - The war finally came to Beta-Garmon II in full force. Having bled the Loyalists in the outer systems, the Warmaster unleashed his maniples of Death's Heads, Tiger Eyes and Death Stalkers into the wastes surrounding Nycron City, while his fleet attacked the planet from above and hundreds of Traitor Imperialis Auxilia regiments stormed the hive cities themselves. In what would become known as the Second Battle of Nycron, the Titans broke through the hundred-kilometre defences of the PanCrypta Dust Clans, Solar Auxilia and Nemesis Brigades. Warp Runners maniples led the Loyalist Titans to make a stand in the shadows of Nycron's gate, but ultimately fell, opening the way for the Traitors to flood into the city. With the city under their control, the Traitors moved swiftly to conquer or destroy the rest of Beta-Garmon II.
    • Hive War on Beta-Garmon III (643.012.M31) - While Beta-Garmon II had all but fallen to the Traitors, Beta-Garmon III remained loyal to the Imperium, though its hives were under constant assault by the Sons of Horus and Iron Warriors siege battalions. Legio Defensor Titans mustered around its hives, defending against ground assault, while other Legios patrolled the storm-covered wastes repelling battlegroups sent across the void from Beta-Garmon II. On the shores of the Chymist's Sea, Legio Solaria Titans opposed landings by neuro-slave armies of captured Garmonite soliders, the Loyalists forced to annihilate their former allies and drive their formations into the caustic ocean.
    • The Needle Breaks (013.M31) - In the closing days of the Titandeath campaign, Traitor forces sought to silence the Carthega Telepathica on Beta-Garmon III. The Battle of Diviner's Needle was one of the Imperium's last attempts to halt the Warmaster Horus' inexorable advance on Terra. While the Imperial commanders were focused upon the war raging in Nyrcon City, and the unfolding fate of Caldera Primus, Horus sent his veteran Titans to destroy his true objective -- the Carthega Telepathica, Beta-Garmon's asto-telepathic link to Terra. Only a handful of damaged Loyalist Titans and battered Knight banners defended the spire, the greater measure of the Legios drawn away to defend Beta-Garmon II. Though conventional forces and fortifications covered the slopes leading up to the Needle, these were as nothing to the Legio Mortis maniples and the maniples of other Traitor Legios, including the Legio Vulpa, that followed in their wake. On the treacherous mountain top the two sides met, the boiling storm clouds rolling around the peak and concealing everything below it. The Traitors used this to their advantage, emerging from the clouds at different points to divide the already weakened Loyalist defences. To even the odds arrayed against them, the Legio Solaria, Legio Astraman, Legio Atarus and many other Loyalist Titans made their stand on the spurs of mountain ridges, where only individual god-engines could face each other at a time. All the while, the astropathic choirs of the Diviner's Needle cried out for aid, until the mountain top became flooded with psychic screaming. Some Loyalist maniples and Knight banners would find their way to the battle before the end, their craft smashing through the blockading battlefleets around Beta-Garmon III and making reckless landings on the mountain's slopes, their Titans and Knights smashing their way out of the tangled wreckage of their landing craft to join the fray. In the end, however, the defences of the Diviner's Needle were broken by the Legio Vulpa and their allies, and the spire itself was brought down amid a screech of twisted metal and the piteous wails of the astropaths within.
  • Siege of Terra (014.M31) - The Siege of Terra was the final battle of the Horus Heresy waged upon the surface of the Imperial Throneworld itself against the overwhelming forces of the Warmaster Horus. The Legio Vulpa were one of several Traitor Titan Legions that took part in the intense fighting that determined the fate of the Imperium of Man and all of Humanity.
    • Burning of the Hive City
  • 13th Black Crusade (ca. 999.M41) - The Titans of the Legio Vulpa were among the forces of Chaos that participated in Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade.

Legion Wargear[]

  • Plasma Gargoyles - Few aspects of a Titan cannot be weaponised, and the Death Stalkers often fitted their plasma vents with dispersion nozzles shaped in the visage of leering gargoyles to spray the discharged scalding plasma over as wide an area as possible.
  • Disruption Emitters - The Death Stalkers quickly developed a taste for close-in combats during the Horus Heresy. Not the natural environment for many Titans, the Legion made modifications to their war machines, fixing disruption fields to armour plates and limbs to enhance the destructive potential of close encounters.

Notable Titans[]

  • Benediction of Blood (Warlord-class Titan)
  • Iconoclast (Warlord-class Titan) - Close combat weapons are rare on Titans as large as the Warlord-class, such as the one utilised by the Iconoclast depicted above, with most princeps adhering to the accepted wisdom of the Collegia Titanica that the proper role of the Warlord Titan is that of heavy ranged fire support. The Death Stalkers are among those who do not adhere to this school of thought, favouring close combat and weapons such as the Titan-grade Arioch Power Claw, that gives the wielder the strength to tear the plasma generator heart from another Titan in melee.
  • Nuntio Dolores (Warlord-class Titan) - Titan of Princeps Majoris Terrent Harrtek of the 7th Maniple. By the end of the Battle of Beta-Garmon Nuntio Dolores ("The Herald of Sorrow") was possessed by a daemon of Khorne and became the first Banelord Titan.
  • Omnia Sangui (Warlord-class Titan) - Destroyed by Legio Solaria Titans during a battle for Theta-Garmon V.
  • Tenebris Vindictae (Warlord-class Titan) - Titan of Princeps Bennif Durant of the 7th Maniple.
  • Ultimate Sanction (Warlord-class Titan) - Titan of the 7th Maniple.
  • Ars Bellus (Reaver-class Titan) - Titan of the 7th Maniple.
  • Dust of Ages (Reaver-class Titan) - Titan of Princeps Maklaren of the 7th Maniple.
  • Immitis Venor (Reaver-class Titan) - This Reaver-class Battle Titan depicted above was typical of those deployed to Beta-Garmon by the Death Stalkers. Armed with a rapid-firing Gatling Blaster and Power Fist, it would fight alongside other Reavers, often as part of a Corsair maniple, conducting punishing hit-and-run attacks against more conventional Titan formations. It also illustrated that few Death Stalkers Titans or Titan maniples marched to war without at least one Titan close-quarters weapon.
  • Ithonian Lorga (Warhound-class Titan) - Warhound Scout Titans, such as the Ithonian Lorga, were truly the hunting hounds of the Legio Vulpa at Beta-Garmon III. Working in squadrons they excelled at luring larger Titans into killing zones and the close confines of ruined cities or broken landscapes, closing off a chance of escape once their prey was in position. On Beta-Garmon III, amid the roiling toxic storms, Loyalist Titans simply disappeared, neatly carved away from their maniples by these wolf pack tactics.
  • Kitsune (Warhound-class Titan) - Fought with the Sons of Horus Traitor Legion during the Horus Heresy at the Battle of Molech.
  • Kumiho (Warhound-class Titan) - Fought with the Sons of Horus Traitor Legion during the Horus Heresy at the Battle of Molech.
  • Death's Monument - Destroyed by Legio Atarus Titans during the battle for Theta-Garmon V.

Notable Personnel[]

  • Princeps Senioris Ulriche - Ulriche was the master of the Legio Vulpa during the time of the Great Crusade and the Schism of Mars.
  • Princeps Majoris Terent Harrtek - Harrtek commanded the Warlord Titan Nuntio Dolores during the Battle of Beta-Garmon.
  • Princeps Bennif Durant - Durant commanded the Warlord Titan Tenebris Vindictae during the Battle of Beta-Garmon.
  • Princeps Maklaren - Princeps Maklaren commanded the Reaver Titan Dust of Ages during the Battle of Beta-Garmon.
  • Princeps Averna - Averna refused to renounce her vows to the Emperor and was killed by her former friend Terent Harrtek.
  • Duluz Casson — Carson was the personal servant to Princeps Majoris Terent Haartek and also a Chaos Cultist.

Legion Allies[]

Knight Houses[]

Space Marines[]

Legion Strength[]

Imperial Divisio Militaris records, detailing the strength of the Legio Vulpa following the incorporation of Anvillus into the Imperium, rate the Death Stalkers as maintaining a strength of 154 god-engines, making it a Primus (Minoris)-grade Legio.

The principal strength of the Legio Vulpa was invested in Reaver and Warlord-class Battle Titans, supported by numerous examples of esoteric Titans, including several Nemesis-class Titans and at least two examples of Imperator-class designs.

Despite the notable hunting ethos of the Legio Vulpa, the Titan Legion made use of only minimal numbers of Warhound Titans, preferring hard-hitting direct methods of war to hit-and-run tactics. Commonly, Death Stalker god-engines would wield close-ranged Titan-grade weaponry such as turbo-lasers, chainfists and Arioch power claws, its preference for such Titan-grade melee armaments increasing during the course of the Horus Heresy as the hold of the Blood God increased upon the Legio's princeps.

Legion Appearance[]

Legion Colours[]

The god-engines of the Legio Vulpa march in rust red and purple with bone trim.

As the Horus Heresy drew the Death Stalkers deeper into the blood madness of Khorne, their Titans were often coated in the rust red remains of their murderous exploits.

Legion Badge[]

Legio Vulpa Legio Heraldry

Legio Vulpa Legion heraldry, dominated by the savage xenos creature called the Vorpus Sabrefang that is native to the moon of Yythe.

The heraldry of the Legio Vulpa is dominated by the Vorpus Sabrefang, its skeletal frame clad in armour. The Libraxus Tacticae Vulpa, the battle bible of the Death Stalkers, often references this ancient extinct beast as the epitome of the hunter's virtues -- cunning in its pursuit and savage when it strikes. Its prominence within the iconography of the Legio Vulpa lies in the important role it played in cementing the Death Stalker' demeanour following victory over the Jindarii.

The Sabrefang itself was not in fact native to Anvillus but rather the nearby moon of Yythe, recorded as once possessing a humid climate and numerous jungles in which Sabrefangs made their lairs.

Recognised as the final battleground of the war between the Forge Empire of Anvillus and the alien Jindarii cadres, Yythe was later established as a protected hunting ground for the Legio Vulpa. An early practice of the Legio Vulpa involved prospective princeps hunting down a Sabrefang to one of two ends; slaying the beast and returning with its pelt or capturing it alive. In all instances, the princeps would complete their task on foot, denied all but the most rudimentary of tools and required to scavenge from tech-caches deposited on the moon.

Less than half of those that took up the task would return victorious and of those only a rare few would return with a living beast -- those who did so quickly rose in prominence amongst the Titan Legion.

By the time of the Great Crusade, the Vorpus Sabrefang had long been extinct, no doubt as a consequence of overhunting. Nevertheless, the elite of the Legio's princeps seniores were known to keep facsimile versions of the Sabrefang as pets, creations of bio-manipulation and cybernetic-crafting that prowled around the princeps' feet or coiled around the base of their command throne.

So pervasive is the iconography of the Sabrefang among the Death Stalkers that its skulls are incorporated into the signum mobilis or banner of its maniples and used as decorations on the edges of its heraldry and even armour plating.

Sources[]

  • Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Titandeath (Specialty Game), pp. 55-59, 91-95
  • Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Doom of Molech (Specialty Game), pp. 7-11, 72-73
  • Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Rulebook (Specialty Game), pp. 14-17, 72-73
  • Codex: Eye of Terror (3rd Edition), pg. 16
  • The Horus Heresy - Book One: Betrayal (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 40
  • Vengeful Spirit (Novel) by Graham McNeill, Ch. 13
  • Mechanicum (Novel) by Graham McNeill, Ch. 1.03, 3.01
  • Titandeath (Novel) by Guy Haley, Chs. 7, 20, 21, 22
  • Saturnine (Novel) by Dan Abnett
  • Mortis (Novel), Ch. 4, by John French
  • Games Workshop Online Store - Adeptus Titanicus: Legio Vulpa Transfer Sheet.
  • Warhammer Community - Titandeath: The Legions of the War for Beta-Garmon (18 Jan 2019)

Gallery[]

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