 As noted in one's previous record upon the subject, the early fifth legion were effectively a legion in name only. Given far lower priority in recruitment than others and thus limited manpower, they were habitually assigned to reconnaissance and outrider roles in the hosts of unity-era armies. Here, the survival culture of the Thulian Basin nomad tribes they were derived from found a natural home, with small legion forces of often less than a dozen operating in enemy territory for weeks, months, or even years, with no backup, support, or supply. These theatres necessitated an independence from broader command structures that was itself in turn enhanced by the aforementioned character of the legion itself, as the legacy of the tribes of Thul brooked allegiance to none but those who earned the fifth's respect. Each of these factors, the isolation, the independent streak, and the nature of their operations combined to influence the fifth legion's very early divergence from the structural tenets of the Principia Bellicosa, far earlier than their cousins in other legions, most of whom would only develop their own idiosyncrasies subsequent to terra unification or the solar reclamation. Even preliminary adherents during the days of the smaller tactical level engagements were effectively nominal, as while a squad of 10-15 Estartes was indeed part of a larger company or chapter, if they had to operate separate from that company in every capacity for months at a time, the connection was essentially ephemeral, especially for a legion so practical in its character. The largest divergence came with the earliest expeditions to leave the light of Sol, one that would come to define the legion for much of its early history. The Pioneer Company. Fifth legion pioneer companies were a formation completely unique to the legion during the Great Crusade, and can be seen as an effective scaling up of its Terran operations to match both the grander scope of the crusade and to better utilize the legion's new manpower, raised to full legion strength as it was by the conclusion of the Unification Wars. Each functioned in a fashion that could best be described as an augmented line company, comprising of up to 1,000 legionaries in an incredibly varied array of specialized detachments and equipment. Again, far more well equipped at the outset of their campaigns than similarly sized formations within other legions. This was not because the fifth were better supplied than their cousins, quite the opposite. The legion utilized their rits of supply and requisition far less frequently than others, for while initially well supplied, the pioneer companies ranged so far ahead of the front lines of the crusade and into space so uncharted that they simply could not expect to ever be resupplied. This also had the effect over time of radically altering the composition of each company, both in terms of material capabilities and overall fighting strength, with cultural difference similarly exacerbated by the distance each company had from others of their legion. The fifth was a legion in name only during this period is essentially undeniable. Other companies would routinely have more in common with other legion as a startes forces they had shared campaigns with than they could have ever had with their other brothers in the fifth, removed by distance incomparably vast. Recruitment, again an exigency of the diffused nature of the legion, was garnered from whatever source possible, with supply lines of aspirants from Terra remaining open but incredibly inconsistent. In fact this was taken to such an extent that several pioneer companies were formally rebuked by other legions for encroaching upon their recruitment fives, with Ferris Manus of the 10th legion Iron Hands being notably irate at this practice. Records place the number of 5th legion pioneer companies at as many as 800 by 800 M30, just over two decades into the great crusade. At this particular point in history the legion numbered at approximately 8,000 warriors, leading to the natural supposition that such pioneer companies contained 1,000 startes each. This is something of a fallacy as the pioneer companies ranged from as little as 200 startes to as many as 2,000. By the arrival of Jagatai Khan 65 years later, overall legion numbers had dropped to 70,000, a worrying indication that, had the legion not been reunited with its Primarch, it would have eventually been bled dry by the demands of the crusade, especially during that particular era circa the advent of the Rangdan Xenocides. Jagatai, the newfound Kagan of Chogoris and new Master of the 5th, implemented a series of sweeping reforms to his legion, formally ending the practice of pioneer companies by summoning every single one of them to a muster at Chogoris to be subdivided into new hordes of the now renamed White Scars. The division of the old 5th legion Star Hunters was deemed, albeit privately, of incredible import to the Khan, as each had developed a culture unique unto itself, ensuring the unity of his new legion, and usurping the old Star Hunters' cultures, was deemed, albeit privately, to be of incredible import to the Kagan, as each pioneer company had developed a culture unique unto itself, and unification was paramount in crafting a unified force from what was effectively 800 separate Demi legions. Jagatai was aided in this task by two things. The genetic predisposition of all Astartes possessed to obey their Primarch's wishes, and the sheer strength and primacy given to his own Chogorian culture within this newly recast legion. All the old veterans would soon find themselves in mixed units of newly ascended Chogorian legionaries, and former Star Hunters, whose pioneer companies had taken them in completely opposite directions. All acclimating to this strange cultural mix, all learning from each other's experiences over cooked meat and stumbling attempts at both Khorchin and Imperial Gothic. The process of reorganization was to take a solar decade, as many of the pioneer companies were so far flung across the galaxy, to such an extent that it would be decades after this, that some would formally be able to return. During this time, command structure of the new legion was formalized, after a fashion. The original Hordes of the White Scars are recorded to have numbered five in total, with the disparity in numbers of five thousand in the smallest to over twenty thousand in the largest. This is not a comment on either strategic speciality or recruitment preference, it is simply tied to the will and whims of the Hordes leader, the Noyan Khan. In keeping with one of the largest commonalities between the legionaries of the Old Fifth and the New, a fiercely independent character, the dispositions of each Horde were fluid, with warriors being reassigned with ease and the promotion of a new Noyan Khan, often heralding a large shift in manpower, should the newly appointed Khan wish it so. The subtle approached command hierarchies benefited the character of the legion greatly, and allowed them to maintain a tactical flexibility few others possessed. But did often have the effect of jarring badly with other forces in the Crusade, especially those more accustomed to, or embedded in, the broader imperial chains of command. It caused logistical headaches, beyond that instigated by any legion, save the twentieth legion-alpha legion, as divisio-militaris and departmento-immunitorium officials would often find it simply impossible to gauge white-scar numbers for the purposes of assignment and supply, often under or over supplying them based on what they assumed were standardized as Starty's organizational practices. This occasionally had tragic consequences, such as during the Theoran Secundus compliance. A force from the thirteenth legion ultramarines, in heavy conflict with the Fraal Xenos, requested backup, and, mistaking a nearby white-scar's horde for a force of much larger disposition, the divisio-militaris complied, assigning the fifth legion to aid their brothers in the thirteenth. While the white-scar's comported themselves with their customary ferocity and fully aided in the deliverance of victory, their smaller than anticipated numbers caused the ultramarines to endure far higher than acceptable casualties for such a campaign. The error in logistics was, in retrospect, understandable, but caused great consternation among the command of the ultramarines, who judged any deviation from the Principia Bellicosa harshly and as an inherent flaw of character. This view was obviously not shared by the white-scar's, who, in their customary self-confidence, considered the victory a well-fought and well-earned one, and spoke very highly and warmly of their comrades in the thirteenth legion, despite the implied snubs from the latter. The only other command-structure of note within the white-scar's is that of the brotherhood. But nominally under its banner, a brotherhood constituted no fixed number, and again its manpower appears to be entirely at the discretion of the Khan in command. Where they differed from the larger horde, however, is that some brotherhoods tended to favor much more specific modes of combat, and often possessed to starties of common experience in one field of warfare or another. The brotherhoods were almost always fully mechanized, although specialized divisions did exist to prosecute armored or siege warfare. It must, however, be clearly stated that these were in the extreme minority of the legion, and usually composed of Terran or general star-hunter veterans, as protracted sieges, or slow-paced tank warfare, were completely opposed to the well-accepted and well-ordered Chogorian hit-and-run doctrines of war that permeated the entire legion. The white-scar's excelled beyond any of their brothers in a highly mobile and fluid method of warfare that devolved significant tactical flexibility to individual Khans and squads. Battle was to be fought wherever possible at the highest speed possible, and mounted atop the fastest machines available. Typically, this took the form of jet-bike squadrons that formed the core of the vast majority of brotherhoods. Star-tees on foot were always to be transported alongside their mounted brothers in armored personnel carriers or attack speeders, or to be deployed from above by transport flyers. Heat of assault was to be maintained at all costs, as amongst the core doctrines of the legion was a primacy placed on denying the foe any chance to regroup and acclimate to the assault the scars place them under. Keep moving, hit-and-run, harry, flank and deny, be as the wind, punishing but ephemeral, an almost invisible force that could hit with the force of a hurricane. The weaponry of the Fifth reflected this, with notable preferences displayed for support weaponry that allowed for greater mobility, such as flamer or melter armaments. This is not to say that the legion did not possess, for example, static heavy weaponry. The Kagan was not one to deny his legion the value these armaments would bring during battle, but squads bearing them were always in the minority. Interestingly enough, these Astartes were not exiles from their mounted brethren, but instead honoured for the sacrifice they would make in denying themselves the exalted thrill of mounted combat in order to provide their brothers with heavy covering fire. The few pariahs the Fifth did possess were, however, to be assigned to destroyer squads, formations in great crusade-era legions who utilized prescribed radiological and toxicological weapons of annihilation. The customs as the scars were to the pristine plains of Chogoris, and due to the value they would ever place on the unblemished horizons of new worlds, the wanton devastation these squads would cause was seen as the ultimate of necessary evils, formations of last resort only. Named Karo Dlanlar, or Dark Sons of Death in Imperial Gothic, they were only to be deployed under the direct order of Jagatai himself, and only subsequent to the Primarch's consultations from the Omans derived by the Stormseer Council. This latter institution marks perhaps the greatest deviation the White Scars possessed from their fellow legions, and indeed from the Imperial norm in general. Uncharitably dubbed weather witches by those same Imperials who would refer to the scars as savages, the Zadian Arga, to give them their Chogorian name, were effectively the legions librarians, a formation of psychically empowered astartes that served the legion both in battle and in realms of the knowledge arcane. For the Ordu, however, the connection went deeper than that of their fellow legions, as the Stormseers embodied a Chogorian tradition that stretched back, apparently, into the planet's prehistory. On the plains of that world, the Psyker children of the tribes were quickly identified by older Zadian Arga, and carefully trained in the use of their fledgling powers, always bending them toward skills focused on telepathy, future scrying, and localized climate manipulation, the latter being the source of their common Gothic cognomen, or, to put it more accurately, slur. Despite how the disciplines of the tribes managed to avoid the hideous dangers of insane Psykers is unknown, and should the scars be aware, they would not say. To them, it was a talent, a craft like any other, only one rarer and worthy of a higher degree of nurturing from the wisest amongst them. The Stormseers of the legion were fonts for the legions' traditions more so than any other of their ranks, and even upon a Stardew's ascension, the Zadian Arga would apply the same rigours to the training of psychic aspirants as their tribal forefathers had done for centuries. When not doing so, they moved amongst their legion brothers, dispensing counsel, scrying possible futures, nurturing and overseeing the rituals, superstitions, and ceremonies of the Ordu. To outsiders, this was immediately taken on site as almost unspeakably primitive, redolent as it was of the barbaric shamans proselytizing mad pagan religions. Should any have cared to learn, they would have seen a rich tradition millennia old, and observed the incredibly valuable service the Zadian Arga provided as counselors and advisers to all, even the Primarch himself. On the battlefield, while imagery of this period is replete with white armour distartes conjuring blunt bolts of lightning, many white scars' combat record speaks of the Stormseers bending their aetheric power to subtler means, with cunning applications of it spoken as having carried the day on numerous occasions. But as with the scars themselves, the Zadian Arga were too often judged by their appearance, and the sight of shamanic figures, the decked in animal fetishes and bone trinkets conjuring the raw power of the warp, alarmed many within the Imperium for being far too redolent of the darkest days of the Age of Strife, and the unspeakable psychic horrors humans unleashed in that thankfully past epoch. Where this would ultimately lead is, however, a discussion for another record entirely. The white scars possessed other specialised formations, although they were often much smaller and less visible than the Zadian Arga. The Karo-Dlanlar destroyer cadres are a good example, as are their mirror opposites in the Echo-Dlanlar, the Legion's medical corps. Ritually opposed to the devastation of their brothers, this formation was not as organised, but served an expanded role beyond the standard Legion medicaid, responsible for the preservation not only of the bodies of their brothers, but their personal histories too. They were diffused amongst the various brotherhoods due to the understandable tactical necessities of their position, but would occasionally gather for the most obscure Chogorian rituals. Beyond this, the Karash was a title given to a less formal order, or a temporary formation, to be compiled under specific strategic circumstances, namely those that called for the employment of a shock assault or diversionary force. Quixotically, this could be both honour or punishment for 5th Legionist artis, depending upon the theatre of war, or the commanding Khan or Noyan Khan in question. Finally, there lies over all of this the grim spectre of the Wuhan Solban. It has incorrectly been stated in previous Imperial histories by less scrupulous chroniclers that the White Scars did not employ Dreadnaughts. This is simply untrue, although a perhaps not unforgivable lapse, given the position such war machines did in fact occupy within the Legion. The fate of Astartes, interred within the Dreadnaught sarcophagus, held to the 5th Legion in a special horror. To be denied the thrill of battle at speed, the wind on one's hair and the air beating upon one's face was surely the worst fate imaginable. They were in this regard, similar to their cousins in the 6th Legion, but unlike the Vilka Finrika, they did not regard the warriors who had fallen to this fate with revulsion. Their name, Wuhan Solban, is a clue to their purpose. As transliterated into Gothic, it is typically rendered as the Guardians of the Morning and Evening Stars. 5th Legion Dreadnaughts were assigned as tireless guardians of the Legion's gene-seed repositories on Terra and Chogoris. To safeguard in this way both the legacy of their brothers that had fallen, and ensure that the future of the Legion remained bright. Similar to the White Scars who bore the Legion's heavy weaponry in combat, they were honored for this sacrifice in allowing their brethren to feel the combat joy they craved, but were also avoided for the grim reminder of the fate they represented. The rare times these Dreadnaughts would be employed in open battle was almost always at their own request, as in the fevered dreams of their amniotic sleep they would seemingly divine portents or omens that called them to war once more. There was rarely a Khan that would deny such a request, even if the very presence of the Wuhan Solban in their horde was often whispered as a sign of an especially bloody or painful battle to come. By the outbreak of the Horus Heresy, it is estimated that, largely thanks to departmental immunatorium records provided by General Ilia Ravallion, that the White Scars possessed a disposition of approximately 95,000 Astartes, that they had fallen to perhaps 70,000 prior to the return of the Kagan, and fought through some of the bloodiest campaigns in the Crusade, is a testament to both the skill of Jagatai as a leader and the stability of their gene seed, as recruitment for the Legion was born from Chogoris alone. This did, however, render the fifth as one of the smallest legions amongst the surviving 18, eclipsing only the 18th Legion Salamanders and 19th Legion Ravenguard in size. They were also the most diffused at many points, they were also, at many points of the Crusade, the most diffused, with the old Starhunter inclinations to range ahead of the armies of the Crusade merged with a similar Chogorian wanderlust. A muster of sorts had seen the majority of the Legion concentrated at Ullinor at the behest of the soon-to-be Warmaster Horus Lupacal, and this force was subsequently assigned, for reasons to be later elaborated upon, to the Chondax campaign. As with the initial muster at Chogoris, the Khan had summoned his Legion's full body to this commitment, but scattered as they were by the sheer size of the galaxy, three full horus remain effectively unaccounted for in the earliest years of the Horus heresy. While the movements of the scars is difficult to discern during this period, recently uncovered records in a sequestered archival stack reference a betrayal at Chondax involving the 20th Legion, and this will be committed to record with all possible haste. 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