Excerpt from “An early History of the Great Crusade: Volume ***Redacted***





Near the galactic center, located in the maelstrom zone lies the planet Madrigal. Madrigal is a world of storms, but this was not always so. Milliena ago, Madrigal was a colony of Mars. By the standards of todays Mechanicum auditors, it is credited to have achieved the approximate status of Ultima Forgeworld.

In its earliest days, Madrigal; consisting of a large population with the psyker mutation, began to forge its own reputation as a center of Void navigation and ship construction. Its lunar shipyards are said to have been the envy of Saturn in its golden era. But, as time dragged on and the psyker mutations became more erratic and widespread, the projects within Madrigals forge-vaults become secretive affairs, esoteric and haunting.

It was in this time-shrouded era, that madrigal was believed to have fallen under the thrall of a machine lord recorded only as the Thunder King. Accounts from this time make reference to terrible, unfathomable experiments being conducted in the Thunder Kings vaults. While the natures of these experiments have been lost to the ravages of time, the consequences are laid bare to Imperial record. At the culmination of some heinous work, the surface of Madrigal became an irradiated nightmare of atomic fire and warp-spawned horror. So great was the psychic outburst of the planets death, that a large tendril of the warp anomaly known to imperial cartographers as the “Maelstrom” was pulled hazardously close to the planets orbit. Whether this was the goal of the experiments or some unforeseen side effect, the result remains the same. Every two Centuries (by Terran approximation) Madrigals orbit brings it passing through an (in system) warp disturbance.

Horrendous as this event was, life on Madrigal was not completely extinguished. The survivors of the Thunder Kings cataclysm found refuge high in the planets extensive mountain system; above the dense rad-storms, which clung to Madrigals surface.

There, the surviving Magi looked out from their mountainous Islands across a sea of storms and vowed to never allow such warp-knowledge to surprise them with destruction again. It was here that the first sky cities; anchored to the mountain fastnesses, were constructed. And within them, the first seeds of the of the mystic colleges were planted, eager in mourning, to once and for all quantify and understand the nature of the Warp so that its power is never abused.

It was to this world that one of the Emperors sons would be flung, the arrival of Icarion would forever change the fate of Madrigal.

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Thanks everyone for the interest in this creative endeavor. As this project is delving into unknown territory, I would be very open to suggestions on areas of the background that could or should be tweaked to better fit in with established lore. As the Lost legions are such a sticking point for some, the only way I can think to do them justice is to make their representation and history as period appropriate as possible.

I've always wanted to try and answer the great question of "What happened to the lost legions?" And I hope, that if done well, this log might inspire some other modelers to tackle the difficult questions of the Heresy, maybe even create their own Legion II or XI.

@SanguiniusReborn, The head on sergeant Dax is from the Death-shroud Terminators. And thank you for the compliment on the Legion Crest.

Honestly of all the little bits and pieces for this project, the three most nerve wracking to get right are the color scheme, the name of the Legion and the legion crest. I feel that If any one of these three things are faulty, then the project is doomed to fail.

Hopefully, I've come close to striking at those three things in a way that makes the IInd fit in with the established Legions.

Edited by Athrawes, 28 February 2014 - 01:45 AM.