L-IV-2139

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103rd Grand Battalion
L-IV-2139
103rd Battalion livery.jpg
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Legio

Legio IV

Legio Name:

The Iron Warriors Legion

Designation:

L-IV-2139

Cognomen:

"The Iron Perimeter"

Allegiance:

Loyalist

Owner:

User:Tpurves

Loyalist.png


History

The 103rd Grand Battalion of the IVth legion.

Leading up to the dark events of the Horus Heresy, the 103rd grand battalion had an overall strength of some 1100 Astartes and about half as many human auxilia, tech priests, and void crews. Its core was formed by the second grand company (some 600 infantry), which represented its main fighting strength of seasoned space marines. The 103rd also contained one full armor century, a company of battle automata, a specially devised "Interdiction" company (mostly jetbikes, recon teams and a wide variety of dedicated materiel and vehicles for space-to-planet insertion), as well an assortment of specialist Astartes devoted to fleet operations and void based warfare.


Breacher-vidcapture2.jpg

vidcapture of members of the 14th Breacher company disembarking from their land raider during a reconaissance check

Like many battalions and companies of the IVth, the 103rd had accepted a long-term garrisoning and interdiction assignment in the far edge of the Halo Stars, within a cluster of systems located relatively near to both the Glimmerveil worlds and the Manichean Commonwealth. These systems, while relatively barren in terms of life or resources, were bitterly contested by the Mitu Conglomerate, and, as such, were deemed by Rogal Dorn to perhaps bear either xenotech holdings or some other resource that was difficult detect, but of potential use to the Empire. Preferring to keep other legions at the tip of the crusade, Dorn, with the backing of the Emperor, assigned the uncomplaining IVth to the task of maintaining a strict cordon around these systems, with orders to hold them inviolate at all costs until such time that a skilled exploratory mission could be assembled to understand what the Mitu considered so valuable about them.

The 103rd has been under the command of Warsmith Loge Marnasaad for decades, and the Warsmith himself was of Terran origin , and a long term veteran of the legion. He accepted the garrisoning and interdiction assignment with an Iron Warrior's usual non-grudging assent, and ran a tight cordon around the cluster, which soon came to bear the designation "The Geode Cluster" (so named for the ancient terran stone formations that appeared to be simple balls of mud, but upon cracking are discovered to have stupendous crystals). Over time, Marnassad devised and built a series of high orbital platforms that served as watch-stations over the barren worlds. The platforms also formed a series of barrack spaces, docking and repair ports for their significant naval assets. The efficiency of his cordon was of such reliability that the Empire elected to place several astropathic relay stations within the area, adding to the communication grid, and allowing more fluid contact with the farther reaches of the Halo stars. The maintenance and protection of these stations was added to the responsibility of the 103rd and formed a regular part of their patrol patterns. Dorn, himself, was said to have named the 103rd an "iron perimeter", and the appellation stuck as the unofficial name for the battalion for years afterwards.


Vidcapture destroyer-2.smaller.jpg

At the time of the Heresy, the 103rd had been basically forgotten by the rest of its legion, and it is doubtful that either the whisperings of Horus or the escalating madness of Perturabo made their way to such a remote posting. Throughout the early parts of the unfolding civil war, the 103rd maintained its strict cordon of the cluster and continued to bar access to any who might try to come too close, though they shunned anything beyond routine contact with outside legions or agents of the imperium. While it is true that the Astropathic relays continued to operate through the cluster, the actual allegiance of the 103rd remains unknown.


The 103rd after the Kug Arkal: a considered shift of allegiance

It was during a routine re-supply mission that the Cruiser, the Fist of Malanos, made a emergency stop at Dogon Station. Under the command of Delegatus Trise Paximandra, the Fist of Malanos was forced to alter course due to a surge in warp storm activity, and headed for Dogon station as soon as it broke from the immaterial. Upon arrival, the first away team was unexpectedly attacked by a well armed group of Astartes and forced to defend themselves. Following the skirmish, which saw the aggressors fully destroyed, the surviving members of the team inspected to bodies and made the determination that they were possibly from the Raven Guard, but bore some discrepancies in both livery and equipment. Following the initial encounter, small strike forces from the Fist of Malanos were dispatched to the surface in pursuit of other bands of the same Astartes, but Paximandra never learned the full truth of what drove these legionaries to attack their brethren, as each encounter led to 100% casualties on one or both sides. Paximandra dispatched several astropathic messages back to the Iron Perimeter, and attempted to make the journey back through the warp. The messages were received but the Fist of Malanos was never heard from again.

Last Record of Epistolary Carnyssa.jpg

One thing that is certain is that the communique's from the Fist of Malanos were enough to harden Marnassad's cordon of the Geode Cluster and to consider any Astartes, or indeed any Imperial force, to be highly suspect. It is reported that several other strike cruisers, including the heavily armored "6th Passage", were dispatched to collect what information about the current state of the empire, and to make contact with other disparate Astartes postings, 4th legion or otherwise, within the Halo Stars. Despite the strange times, the Iron Perimeter would continue to maintain its Imperial orders without fail.

Combat Reports for L-IV-2139

Campaigns

Imperial Search....No Result


Battles

Battle Name Date Planet Battle Outcome Battle Summary
Blockade attempt: Kug Arkal 003.007.M31 Kug'Arkal Loyalist
            • transmission via Astropathic Relay 0086557******
            • from Breacher Sgt. Teliastis, mission debrief, Command deck-Fist of Malanos******
            • My Warsmith, I am the last person expecting to ..→
Hostile Encounter: Dogon Station 627.007.M31 Kug'Arkal Loyalist

Stopping for a routine re-supply at Dogon Station, enroute to our garrison posting in the Iron Perimeter, our small away had an encounter with a group of mysterious black-clad Astartes. They opened ..→

Intervention Report: Kug'Arkal 701.007.M31 Kug'Arkal Loyalist
      • via astropathic relay node 66275scriptum12***
      • from Praevian Consul Rahim Lanarkos, acting commander***
      • I am delayed with this report and wish that we had full comprehension of the events ..→

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