Anastasia Sophia Victoria and the Silver Gryphons
By author Whiteshore
The Second Primarch: Anastasia Sophia Victoria
Name:
Anastasia Sophia Victoria, First Marshal and Supreme Director of the Elysium Sector, Protector of the Flame of Mankind, Guardian of all Elysians, Harbinger of Justice, and Supreme Commander of the Silver Gryphons.
Appearance:
Anastasia Sophia Victoria is considered to be a universally attractive woman by those who have seen her in person. This attractiveness was a trait of the Primarch from her early days in Elysium, when she was considered to be the "most beautiful maiden in all Elysium" from a young age with her fiery red locks, sparking purple eyes, and generally pleasing features. Even scarred by war both in her home system and in the broader Imperium, Anastasia Sophia Victoria is still considered to be amongst the more beautiful of the Primarchs, near-universally recognisable due to her tall and slender frade and her long mane of red hair.
When it comes to the outfits that she wears, in combat, Anastasia Sophia Victoria wears a silver-coloured suit of armour which is notable for how it is etched with designs full of the gryphon emblem of the Legion and with floral decorations as well. The said suit of armour has been her trademark from when she was but one of the many feuding warlords and petty rulers of Elysium and as such was custom-designed to her own personal specifications as a result. In addition to her highly decorated silver armour, Anastasia Sophia Victoria goes to war wielding the same weapons that she did when she fought the wars of Elysian unification. Her weapons of war since the time she was but a mere warlord are a Power Sword named Harbinger and a special bolter titled Fury.
Outside of combat, Anastasia Sophia Victoria often can be found wearing fairly elaborate dresses, with her favourite being a long red dress made of the finest silk (to match her long red hair) with a cape made out of gryphon fur, befitting how the gryphon is the emblem of her Legion.
Talents and Personality:
Anastasia Sophia Victoria could be described as outwardly the paragon of what the Primarchs should be but is also is troubled by her past experiences. This has shaped her personality and traits as the Primarch of the Silver Gryphons. While she is devoted to the Imperium and its people, always at the front and often comfortable at public events, her experiences when she was but one of the warlords and petty rulers of Elysium who fought to unify the shattered world, along with her actions as a Primarch, have led to her fighting with the demons of her past, who often trouble her behind closed doors. As a woman, she often broods over those she had lost, first when she unified Elysium under her banner and later during the Great Crusade, often spending time alone in her room to mourn them. This leads to bouts of depression from the Primarch. In addition, her experiences of treachery in her wars in Elysium has given her a sense of paranoia that often clouds her judgement and can lead her to make some bad decisions which could aggravate terrible events and lead to self-fulfilling prophecies occurring as a result of these terrible decisions.
Despite how her troubled past troubles her and shapes her with her melancholy and brooding nature along with her grim paranoia at times, she genuinely cares about those people around her and possesses a natural charm towards her. As Primarch, she is a stern, ruthless, and strict, but fair and efficient administrator and ruler. She has a paternalistic (or more accurately, maternalistic) approach towards governance of the Elysium system and nearby worlds which have fallen under her rule. In many ways, she is as comfortable as the administrator of Elysium and its surrounding systems as she is as a commander, even if she enjoys the thrill of battle, which allows her to vent her pent-up energy as she leads the Silver Gryphons into battle. Despite her love of battle, she also could be described as a fairly cultured woman with her love of literature, art, and philosophy as well.
When it comes to her personal beliefs, Anastasia Sophia Victoria is devoted to the Imperium as a whole, though she is proud of her Elysian heritage. This has led to her ruling Elysium and the surrounding worlds in a fairly autonomous manner. However, she considers herself a loyal defender of the Imperium of Man and herself as the representative of the Emperor in Elysium, even if she would prefer to rule Elysium with a fairly strong sense of autonomy. In addition to this, she views it as her duty to protect the people she rules over and guide them to a better future, a bright future where they can enjoy peace, prosperity, and happiness. This maternalistic viewpoint has led to both her being someone who could be considered ruthless in her suppression of any whiff of rebellion but also someone who works with her allies to build a bright and prosperous future for Elysium. Finally, her view on the Imperial Truth is that, while she is not exactly a "true believer" in it, she sees it as serving a useful purpose: unifying the Imperium under a single ideology and fostering a sense of unity.
Homeworld:
The Elysium system was once a wealthy and prosperous star-system which thrived during the Golden Age of Technology as one of the greatest star-systems of ancient mankind. However, this golden age was long gone. The name of the system, once denoting how it was a wealthy and prosperous centre of mankind, was in many ways a grim mockery of its former self as a result of the collapse of mankind's first golden age. Technological civilisation persisted in Elysium, though reduced to a level that the resources of the Elysium system could sustain owing to being cut off from the rest of the galaxy. With the collapse of the old Terran Federation, Elysium was a system of squabbling realms and petty states similar to the nation-states of Ancient Terra which often clashed with one another. This was what the Primarch found herself on Elysium IV-B.
When it came to the natural setting of the worlds of Elysium III and Elysium IV-B, the main habitable worlds of the Elysium system, the former was a world which looked like a paradise to the first colonists who explored the world but the arrangement of the continents and climate patterns meant most civilisation was maritime and connected around fertile coasts and archipelagos. The latter was a Venus-sized habitable moon of a gas giant planet, much like Jupiter or Saturn in the Sol system. However, what is most distinct amongst the creatures of Elysium would be gryphons, winged hexapodal carnivores named after the beast from ancient Terran mythology owing to their resemblance to them. These would be tamed by the Elysians as beasts of war with these gryphons being the symbol of the Silver Gryphons, who often mount them at times of war as well.
In modern times, Elysium is unified under the banner of its Primarch, who has assumed the titles of First Marshal and Supreme Director of the Elysium System, basically its ruler, accountable only to the Emperor of Mankind himself. Under her rule, Elysium has entered a new golden age of peace and prosperity, with economic, scientific, and cultural spheres all seeing great development during her rule, but who knows what the future holds for Elysium, especially with how Anastasia Sophia Victoria has been someone who, in addition to Elysium, has gained control over various other worlds close to the Elysium system both before reuniting with the Emperor and during the Great Crusade.
Psychic potential:
Anastasia Sophia Victoria has limited psychic powers, not having the most powerful range of psychic abilities of any Primarch. However, this doesn't mean that she has no psychic powers, even if it is limited to telepathic powers and short-term clairvoyance as opposed to anything flashy.
Background:
Once, the Republic of Sordland was but one of the squabbling nation-states which fought for control of lands of Elysium IV-B, with few expecting it to, one day, be the foundation on which the Elysium system's reunification would occur. In fact, Sordland, for all its wealth and prominence, was probably what could be called a "middle power" in Elysium IV-B, the habitable moon of the gas giant of Elysium IV. However, what few could have expected when a meteor landed on the lands of Sordland. The meteor landed on a farm in Sordland. The owner of the farm, a certain Olympia Blackwood from a well-off, if not exactly elite, family, would find the capsule, with a red-haired infant girl inside the pod. Having lost her husband and children in an unfortunate accident a few years earlier, Olympia would raise the young girl, whom she would name Anastasia Sophia Victoria.
From a young age, Anastasia Sophia Victoria Blackwood, as the infant who had fallen from the skies of Elysium IV-B would come to be known, excelled at school, becoming notable both as a child prodigy and for her beauty from a young age. Little did any of those who knew the young Anastasia during her time as a little girl in Sordland know of her otherworldly origins as one of the Primarchs of the Emperor of Mankind, even if the story that she was found in a capsule/pod by a farmer was something that many knew. By the time she was eighteen, having graduated from the finest university of Sordland at the age of fifteen, Anastasia joined the Sordish Army under the mandatory service that all Sordish citizens after the age of eighteen regardless of gender, except for those who are exempted due to studies or special conditions, would have.
After her mandatory term of service in the Sordish Army had ended, Anastasia Blackwood remained in the Sordish Army, distinguishing herself as a war heroine in the various wars that Sordland fought against her enemies. In the wars of Sordland, she rose through the ranks of the Sordish military and became a popular war heroine in the wars of Sordland against her neighbors, often riding into battle on her gryphon. She rose to the rank of a Colonel in the Sordish Army at the age of twenty-eight, the youngest Colonel in the Sordish Army.
As a result of this rise to prominence, the Committee for Sordish Renewal, a secret association of military officers which sought to overthrow the Sordish government, sought to use a popular officer like her to provide a figurehead for their coup against the Sordish government, especially with the political chaos and instability which marked the Sordish Republic in the past few years. Anastasia Blackwood, having seen the instability which marked Sordland in the past few years, proved to be enthusiastic about the coup d'état. It was largely quick and bloodless, placing the Committee in charge of the Sordish Republic in a swift seizure of power.
However, if the officers were convinced that Anastasia would largely be content to serve as a figurehead while older, more experienced officers actually ran things, they were wrong. A fierce power struggle ensued between her and those officers who sought to use her as a puppet. This power struggle would lead to her becoming a more paranoid and troubled figure, especially with how some of her old friends amongst the officer corps of Sordland would end up backstabbing her in her rise to power.
At the age of thirty-one, Anastasia Blackwood was now the unquestioned leader of Sordland, taking on the title of the First Marshal of Sordland. She used this to enact a wide series of reforms which would turn the country into a centralised, prosperous, and stable machine, a machine which would eventually be the core of the future Elysian Union that would take over not just the system but become the base of a Space Marine Legion in the future. These reforms transformed the country into an economic and military powerhouse, led firmly but fairly by the First Marshal herself, a woman who commanded the loyalty of the Elysians, especially with the superhuman abilities and talents that the First Marshal had.
However, Anastasia was not a woman who would be content with being ruler over the ruler of but one nation in Elysium, especially with how the histories that she had read told of how Elysium had once been under one government until a great catastrophe sundered the peoples of Elysium. As such, she dreamt of a future in which Elysium would be under her banner and hers alone. And she would do so via any means possible, especially with the technological flourishing that has occurred in her lands as part of her policy of ensuring that her people could look forward to a bright future under her gaze. This bright future that she now envisaged involved the grand unification of all of Elysium under what she saw as her benevolent gaze.
However, Anastasia knew that a war of conquest, if not properly conducted, would lead to her campaign to unify all Elysium under her rule becoming a catastrophic failure. Instead she opted for a campaign of piecemeal absorption, a campaign that would involve as much her natural charm and diplomatic savvy as it did the application of military force. In many ways, the unification of Elysium IV-B was arguably Anastasia's greatest achievement. At the age of forty, she now stood as the effective master of Elysium IV-B, even if Elysium IV-B would not truly be formally unified with those who submitted to the authority of her rule peacefully retaining a sizable degree of autonomy. Despite this willingness to give those who accepted her demand for a peaceful surrender autonomy, those who resisted her or went back on their part of the bargain they had reached with her were punished accordingly. The Primarch was not afraid to get her hands bloody when it came to the task of unifying Elysium IV-B, wearing her silver suit of armour while wielding Harbinger and/or Fury into combat.
However, during the final days of the Elysian unification war, there was a failed coup attempt which sought to overthrow her. This was something that Anastasia, now simply referred to by many by her personal name of Anastasia Sophia Victoria, would not forget or forgive, especially with how the would-be assassin was an old friend of hers who confessed he was planning to eliminate her out of jealousy at her. As a result of this, Anastasia Sophia Victoria would grow increasingly paranoid, leading to the creation of a force trained loyally from childhood to be loyal to her. Despite this paranoia, Anastasia Sophia Victoria remained universally popular, even as she became increasingly stern and harsh. She oversaw a renewed era of prosperity in Elysium IV-B, finally unified at last by the time she was forty.
However, the governments of Elysium III remained firmly but fiercely independent, even if there were increasing voices in favour of a united Elysium, inspired by the achievements of the First Marshal and Supreme Director of Elysium in turning Elysium IV-B into a wealthy and prosperous world. For her part, Anastasia Sophia Victoria supported pro-unification agitation in the world of Elysium III, presenting the option of union as something that would be to the good of all of Elysium, touting what had been carried out under her leadership in Elysium IV-B as proof of why all Elysium should be unified under her leadership, especially with the technological development, economic growth, and general stability that had occurred during her time as Elysium IV-B's ruler with how the unification of Elysium IV-B had led to a golden age in said world.
However, the Final War, when it came, would turn out to be a brutal and arduous conflict. Despite technological developments that Anastasia Sophia Victoria had unleashed, the conquest of Elysium III was still something that would take multiple years, especially with how supply lines from Elysium IV-B to Elysium III were overextended. The brutal conflict would in many ways test the First Marshal. It saw many of her friends and companions fall in battle, something that would haunt her long afterwards. Her mourning for those she had lost was a major factor in her brooding nature. Despite this, after a seven-year struggle, Anastasia had subjugated all of Elysium III under her control, even if guerrilla fighting would continue in the vast deserts which the continents of Elysium III had.
The wars to unify the Elysium system, when they ended, had cost the lives of over a billion people. However, by the end of the conflict, Anastasia Sophia Victoria was now the unquestioned overlord over all Elysium. The First Marshal instituted a stern but fair-minded administration over all of the Elysium system and preside over the reverse-engineering of archaeotech from the ancient times. This would lead to the Elysium system becoming the centre of a small stellar empire as Anastasia Sophia Victoria expanded the Elysian State, as the unified Elysium under her banner came to be known, to nearby star-systems with a dozen systems pledging fealty to the First Marshal where they received protection (and, in the case of "feral" worlds that were subjected under her control, technological uplift).
This situation of what was once a squabbling set of nation-states being turned into the core of a small stellar empire was what the Imperium of Man encountered when the Great Crusade came upon the Elysium system. While Anastasia Sophia Victoria knew that she had come from somewhere else on the stars as a result of how she was known from a young age as the girl who fell from the sky in a capsule and inferred there was something special towards her as she became a youthful prodigy and she retained her physical and mental state as a young, tall, and beautiful woman even in what would be her advanced years, the revelation that she was a Primarch still surprised the ruler of Elysium. However, with the knowledge of her true heritage came a renewed purpose as the Emperor of Mankind, the father she never knew existed until then, would give her command of the II Legion. She accepted on the condition she be allowed to rule the Elysium system and her satellite worlds as she saw fit.
The II Legion: the Silver Gryphons
Name:
The Silver Gryphons.
Insignia and Appearance:
As their name suggests, the symbol of the II Legion is a silver gryphon, a winged beast which is found in the Elysium system which often serves as a mount for the soldiers of the Silver Gryphons as a result of this. In addition to this, the armour of the Space Marines of the II Legion is silver-coloured, if far more plain than the armour of its Primarch with the only visible decorations being a simple "II" and an image of a silver gryphon which serves as the emblem of the Legion in contrast to the custom-designed armour that its commander wears into combat.
Gene-seed Status:
The gene-seed of the Silver Gryphons is for the most part stable, even if there are some quirks within the gene-seed of the Silver Gryphons which make them quite distinct from other Space Marine Legions. The gene-seed of the Silver Gryphons gives them a natural bond with their war-beasts. It also gives the battle-sisters of the Legion the same natural beauty as their commander, even if it doesn't give them her red hair, purple eyes, or light complexion.
Legionary Assets:
The Silver Gryphons, being a force which emphasises quality over quantity, are a relatively small Legion with 150,000 or so women under arms. However, what they do not have in numbers of Space Marines, the Silver Gryphons certainly make up in their industrial base. The worlds of the Elysium system and surrounding worlds which have fallen under the authority of their Primarch have become one of the richest and most prosperous regions in the Imperium thanks to the First Marshal's leadership. These troops are equipped with some of the finest military equipment the Imperium has. The Silver Gryphons compensate for their relatively small numbers due to their emphasis on quality via having a larger-than-average number of armour, artillery, and other heavy equipment to crush the enemy beneath their feet along with their use of gryphons as mounts and war beasts in combat.
The fortress-monastery of the Silver Gryphons is a grand palace in the mountains of Elysium IV-B, a grand palace complex which was initially meant to be the residence of the Primarch when she was the ruler of Elysium whenever she wanted to relax from the business of ruling the Elysium system. However, after reuniting with the Emperor, her palace in the mountains would be transformed into the fortress-monastery of the Silver Gryphons, with what was originally meant to be an area where she could relax and unwind becoming a place where she and her troops would assemble at times of peace, even if her quarters in the palace would remain palatially grand.
Legion Organisation:
The Silver Gryphons are organised along a fairly simple but effective system that is based on a decimal system of units based on ten for the most part.
—A squad is of 10 Space Marines.
—A company is of 100 Space Marines.
—A chapter is of 1,000 Space Marines.
—A division is of 10,000 Space Marines.
—A Corps is of 50,000 Space Marines, led by a Great Captain. This is the largest subdivision, under the full Legion.
The Corps is the most notable exception to the decimal system. The First Corps is a force under the personal command of the Primarch while the Second Corps and Third Corps are commanded by the Primarch's most trusted subordinates, the women whom she trusts most and has built a bond with.
Special units:
The heavy equipment of the Silver Gryphons (be it in the form of armour, heavy artillery, or air support) are usually in independent formations attached to a Corps or a Division. Their deployment depends on what the commander of the Corps or Division deems to necessitate the use of heavy equipment in the middle of the battle.
Expertise and Combat Doctrine:
The Silver Gryphons have a military doctrine based on a synthesis of mobile warfare and firepower-based tactics. In many ways they are the masters of combined-arms warfare, perfecting the art of combining artillery, infantry, mobile troops, armour, and air power into a single unified force ready to crush the enemy under a barrage of firepower followed by mobile and heavily armed troops. The Silver Gryphons seek to destroy the enemy on the operational level through making breakthroughs all throughout the front, seeking to ensure that the breakthroughs against the enemy not just at certain points but throughout the theatre of operations.
Once the enemy is broken through the application of firepower throughout the front, the Silver Gryphons use their mobility to encircle the enemy force, using their armoured fighting vehicles and riding their war-beasts, the gryphons which give their name to the Legion. The enemy is destroyed piecemeal as the Silver Gryphons move to drive deep behind enemy lines to destroy the rear lines of the enemy and prevent the possibility of the enemy regrouping.
Legion Weaknesses:
Amongst the main weaknesses of the Silver Gryphons could be considered how they are a force which, even by the standards of the Space Marines, are a force which heavily emphasises quality over quantity. While it could be a strength at times when a few skilled troops could turn the tide of battle, the Golden Gryphons are not exactly best-suited for a long-term attritional campaign. They specialise in quick military operations, lest they become understrength as a result of brutal attritional warfare drawing them. As a result of this focus on quality, the Silver Gryphons are notable for their emphasis on rapid victory through firepower or mobility, if not a combination of both. In a long campaign, the Silver Gryphons are at a disadvantage.
Being a mechanised force, the Silver Gryphons are notable as well for how they are not as good at melee combat as the Astartes of other Space Marine Legions, owing to them being a force which emphasises mobility and firepower. Said emphasis on mobility and firepower has also led to them heavily relying on large quantities of fuel and ammunition in order to enact their way of war as well, something which an enemy force which relies on hit-and-run tactics or gains space superiority can easily exploit.
Beliefs and Practices:
The Silver Gryphons have beliefs that mirror those of their Primarch. They view themselves as strict and firm, but fair, guardians of mankind, devoted to the Emperor and never losing touch with their humanity. As such, the Silver Gryphons could be described as approachable and polite, if utterly ruthless towards those whom they deem to be the enemies of the people they are meant to protect. In times of war, they are notable for their ruthless prosecution of warfare against their enemies but are also notable for, when absorbing new worlds in the Imperium, their efforts at ensuring that new governments are able to work efficiently and be able to provide for their people as part of their reintegration into the Imperium of Man.
When it comes to the Imperial Truth, the Silver Gryphons, like their Primarch, see it as a unifying ideology to glue together the Imperium. However, despite supporting the Imperial Truth on these grounds, they take a pragmatic approach towards religions in the worlds that they take over. The Primarch views religious leaders as moral teachers and religions as philosophical guides, not as superstitions to be stamped out or as something which somehow shows a supernatural view on the universe.
Recruitment and Discipline:
The Silver Gryphons recruit from young girls from Elysium, associated worlds, and worlds which the Silver Gryphons brought into the Imperium. They use a system in which said young girls are taken away from their families at a young age after government officials move through the area of Elysium, collecting a quota of young girls who are taken to the fortress-monastery of the Silver Gryphons to receive rigorous training in the ways of war and basic education while at the same time receiving the modifications that are needed to be a member of the II Legion. Those who fail the rigorous tests are still allowed to join support/auxiliary staff of the Legion. When it comes to how a member of the Silver Gryphon gets their position, members of the Silver Gryphons are assigned to their rank and role depending on how they perform during said rigorous training from a young age with officers being selected from the young girls deemed to be the most intelligent of those selected as part of this while those who are part of the specialist units are selected based on whether they have any special skills or talents that are deemed to make them worthy of a special position.
The Silver Gryphons take a flexible approach towards discipline, with the level of punishment and how the soldier is disciplined being determined based on the offence in question on a case-by-case basis, even if standard Imperial law provides a basic backbone for how discipline is enforced in the Legion.
Characters of Interest:
Ophilya Herington—Great Captain of the Second Corps of the Silver Gryphons, Ophilya Herington has stood by Anastasia Sophia Victoria from the time when the two were but officers in the Sordish Army. As such, Ophilya has been rewarded with command of the Second Corps and the de facto position of second-in-command of the Silver Gryphons. She is basically Anastasia's closest friend and ally with the two being "as close as sisters". She is among the main people the Primarch trusts as a result of this close bond. While not as legendary as Anastasia, she is still viewed as the premier example of a Space Marine amongst Elysians with how she always is at the front during operations as well.
Sabine—Great Captain of the Third Corps of the Silver Gryphons, Sabine is among those in the Legion who had fought in the II Legion while Anastasia was still rising to prominence in Elysium. She fought in the earlier campaigns of the II Legion during the Great Crusade. After the Legion was reunited with its Primarch, Sabine, having distinguished herself both as a warrior and as a leader, was given command of the Third Corps as part of the reorganisation of the II Legion done by its Primarch after she was given command over it. In many ways, Sabine is more loyal to the Imperium than to the Primarch as a result of how she joined the Legion early on and as such could be considered the opposite of Ophilya.
Ambyr Bayley—commander of the Fleet of the Silver Gryphons. Much like Ophilya Herington, she first came to prominence as one of Anastasia's closest friends and allies during her time fighting to unify the Elysium system. As a result of this close bond between the two, she would be rewarded with command over the fleet of the Silver Gryphons, for she had commanded the space force that Anastasia had assembled during her wars to unify Elysium under her banner. While not as good a fighter as Ophilya or Sabine, she is a good tactician and commander. This is reflected in how she has been named commander of the Silver Gryphon fleet as opposed to becoming commander of one of the Corps of the Silver Gryphons.
Tyeffaine de Gaucourt—Commander of the 1st Company of the Primarch's Chapter of the Legion. Born to a wealthy and prominent family on Elysium III, she was a young girl when Anastasia Sophia Victoria took over the world, finishing her unification of the Elysium system. During the occupation of Elysium III, she was pressed into service into the personal guard of the Primarch as part of how her paranoia after a coup attempt led by one of her old friends led the Primarch to set up a force which was recruited from children taken away from their roots to be the loyal retinue of the ruler of Elysium. Despite being taken from her family at a young age, she would grow up to be amongst the most loyal guards of the Primarch. As a result of this, she would be named commander of the 1st Company, the Primarch's bodyguard.
Psyclodia—First Sword of the Silver Gryphons. Born in one of the worlds that the Silver Gryphons liberated during the Great Crusade, Psyclodia was a little girl when the Silver Gryphons liberated the world with the young Psyclodia bring the attention of the bureaucrats which followed the Silver Gryphons to help establish the new government (and recruit promising young girls into the Silver Gryphons). As such, Psyclodia, at the age of ten, would find herself conscripted into the Silver Gryphons, undergoing the rigorous training of a member of the Silver Gryphons has before being formally inducted into the Legion. After being inducted into the Legion, she would distinguish herself as a fierce warrior and gain the attention of the Primarch herself as a result. She would be inducted into the personal retinue of the Primarch as a member of the 1st Company of the First Corps, eventually gaining the title of First Sword of the Silver Gryphons.
Hedwig Krausser—Battle-Sister in the Silver Gryphons Legion. Coming from a world conquered recently by the Silver Gryphons, Hedwig Krausser is currently in her mid-twenties but has gained a reputation as one of the fiercest warriors in the chapter, a reputation that grows by the day with her recently gaining the attention of the Primarch herself after a recent battle where she single-handedly turned the tide of battle.
Battle-cry:
"The gryphon roars!"
"We are the First Marshal's daughters, let us not fail her!"
"For the Imperium! For the First Marshal!"
"We are the Silver Gryphons and your days are numbered!"
"The First Marshal stands with us!"
"Glory to the Imperium! Glory to Elysium!"
Legionary History:
The II Legion has fought in many battles of the Great Crusade, starting from when they were first founded. By the time they met their Primarch, now ruler of the Elysium system and various surrounding worlds, the II Legion had already distinguished themselves in various campaigns and battles, particularly in the conquest of the great Orkish empire run by Truzgard, who boasted that he was undefeatable with his conquests before the Silver Gryphons brought down his empire in less than a single Terran year, during the Great Crusade. In addition to the destruction of Truzgard's Ork empire, the II Legion were notable for their conquest of multiple petty empires which had sprung up during the Age of Strife in areas where some degree of civilisation remained present during this period.
When Anastasia Sophia Victoria, the Second Primarch of the Imperium of Man, was reunited with her Legion, she reorganised it along the lines of her personal guard, with the women who made up her personal guard, along with her close personal friends and allies, being incorporated into the Legion. In addition to incorporating new blood from Elysium and surrounding worlds into the Legion, the Legion's Primarch reorganised the structure of the Legion, reformed the doctrine of the force into a mobile rapid-reaction force, and introduced the practice of recruiting girls at a young age to guarantee maximum loyalty and strengthen their esprit de corps.
Even if the II Legion had achieved an amount of success in the Great Crusade, being reunited with the Primarch would be the prelude to their greatest successes during the Great Crusade so far. Under the leadership of Anastasia Sophia Victoria, the Silver Gryphons would, working together with the Bronze Shields and their Primarch, defeat the Twin Dark Eldar Cabals, bring down the Eldar Craftword of Y'ranlone, which had terrorised the human colonies of the Pleiades Cluster until her forces liberated the cluster from the nightmare Y'ranlone brought it, and took down the Hegemony of Chelmion, which, ruling from the titular forge world, had created a sizable empire that ruled over 300 worlds and hundreds of billions of subjects. The defeat of the Chelmionian Hegemony was arguably the most brutal campaign the Silver Gryphons faced to date. It took them four years to break the Hegemony and a further two years to mop up pockets of resistance in the form of isolated colonies or guerilla forces which refused to surrender after the collapse of the central government and its last Hegemon's surrender.