Haqqan the Red and the Scarlet Wave

By author Patukov

The Twenty-First Primarch: Haqqan the Red

Name:
Haqqan the Red, Primarch of the Scarlet Wave. Titled as Master of the Fortress of Apophis and as Great Captain of the Free Armada. Also called the Night Ghoul or the Void-Witch.

Appearance:
Tall, even for a Primarch. Haqqan's form is lithe compared to his brothers'. Quick and agile both in and out of battle, the Great Captain moves fluidly with feather-light steps, sometimes described as almost snakelike. When using his psychic powers to help, he is for all intents and purposes invisible to any usual forms of detection.

His skin is pale as a corpse. His hair is a straight mane of deep red that is often kept neatly tied in a ponytail by gold thread. His features are sharp and possess some dangerous charm about them. His right eye is always covered by a simple black eyepatch. And his left one is coloured a deep green, seemingly ever twinkling in amusement of some joke that only Haqqan seems to get.

The Primarch also sports a variety of tattoos: esoteric symbols, mythical creatures and assorted scenes from Corsair culture and folklore. Only one of them is visible above his neck: a stylised black eye on his forehead, wide and staring.

Outside of battle, Haqqan alternates between paupery and splendour, oftentimes dressing in ragged, worn fabric and dull boots and often wearing silk, gold and jewels of such wealth and richness that it is downright gaudy and offensive. One thing that remains an ever-present constant with the Twenty-First Primarch, however, are the trophies he proudly displays: cords made of hair, furry scarfs, skin caps, collars and earrings made of bone and Soul Stones and an assortment of accessories produced out of body parts from enemies, xenos and human alike, defeated by the Great Captain.

In battle, Haqqan's armour is superficially simple, with little adornment or decoration, aside from the painted and repainted sigils and runes the Primarch retouches before each engagement and a few charms and fetishes tied here and there. The suit, despite its appearance, is a marvel of military tech, as befits anything worn by a Primarch. It incorporates archaeotech recovered from the Fortress of Apophis, giving the Great Captain, among other things, unparalleled surveillance and command capabilities while inside the black painted plate. Haqqan's own work on the suit is idiosyncratic and seemingly pointless rearrangements and modifications that do little to nothing for its functioning. But the Primarch insists that they are vital to his more esoteric work.

Talents and Personality:
Haqqan is as fierce and dedicated to breaking the Emperor's enemies as any of his siblings. But he does not believe in the Imperial Truth. Neither does he feel any particular attachment to mankind or the Imperium. Its welfare is a non-issue for the Primarch, and though he does a good enough work in toeing the line in official functions and saying the right words at the right times, it is an open secret that Haqqan the Red and his sons are not strict adherents to the principles of the Imperium.

In simple terms, Haqqan sees the galaxy as a constant game of prey and predator. Everything weaker than you is prey; everything stronger than you is a predator. Prey are meant to be used, abused and devoured as one wishes. If you are strong enough to do something, it is morally right for you to do it. If you are not strong enough to protect yourself, you deserve everything that happens to you.

This belief rules Haqqan's interactions with the universe. The Emperor is a predator, far more powerful than Haqqan and able to wipe him out with a thought. As such, Haqqan serves him because it is what the Emperor demands. Other Primarchs are peers. The Emperor wants them working together and focusing on his enemies, so Haqqan works with his siblings. But there is no true feeling of familial affection to either his creator or his peers. On the other hand, Haqqan sees all the rest as prey, prospective servants, food and playthings to stave off boredom.

The Great Captain also indulges in sadism and cruelty. Victims of this include prisoners, enemies, servants and even Astartes who have displeased him for some reason or other. Sometimes, when tormenting a hapless Imperial officer or one of his own sons, Haqqan makes a show of framing it as some form of twisted justice. But that is just window dressing, a fiction that most around him see for what it truly is, though none dare speak it aloud.

As with all Primarchs, Haqqan is capable of being charming and charismatic. In fact, the Great Captain is quite good at it. Before the Emperor reunited with his wayward son, Haqqan perfected the mask of the brave, witty and generous Pirate King: great to loyal servants, terrible to traitors and a dreaded monster, who could be rather civilised at times, to the poor wretches unlucky enough to be tormented by him. These days, Haqqan still maintains the air of relaxed, polite affability when dealing with others. The Emperor expects an obedient son. It keeps the prey relaxed and it is fun to see how long he can keep it up with his siblings even as he seeks to set them off and irritate them with subtle digs and teasing.

Haqqan is not a man prone to blowing up or losing control in his anger. The Great Captain is one who, in simple terms, gets mean. Verbal tics and jabs get downright petty, mixed with sarcasm and sardonic mockery.

Haqqan is also a cannibal. Or rather, he is very fond of eating human flesh. To him, that is not cannibalism, as he does not see himself as human. But tales of the blood feasts and the terrible fate that awaits the enemies of the Scarlet Wave have spread through the Imperium and beyond. In truth, Haqqan holds to the belief that all prey is fit for eating. Human, xenos, anything that ends up in his sights is fair game. Cooked, grilled, boiled, raw, alive and screaming or any other culinary variation. If nothing else, there is likely no better cook among the Primarchs than Haqqan the Red.

As with all Primarchs, Haqqan is a superhumanly talented and gifted individual. And like all Primarchs, the Great Captain excels even more in some fields.

For Haqqan, the first of these fields is void combat. He is a shipmaster and fleet commander with no equal among the stars. In the days before the Emperor, Haqqan plagued the stars with his armada of killers and thieves, robbing, pillaging, sacking, enslaving, extorting and terrorising everything on his path, dancing around his foes and systematically destroying each and every squadron or fleet sent against him. Now, in service to the Imperium, Haqqan and the Scarlet Wave have lent their great skills at void warfare to the Great Crusade. Besides commanding fleet engagements, Haqqan has also proven to be incredibly deft and piloting and driving a variety of vessels and vehicles of all sizes and shapes.

Haqqan happens to be a psyker of immense skill and power, a trait that also highly influences his conduct both on and off the battlefield. He shuns and mocks those who are wary of or hostile to psykers and he goes out of his way to try to goad or intimidate them with his powers. In the same vein, he absolutely despises groups such as the Sisters of Silence. And he holds a surprising amount of respect for Malcador, solely for the man's own psychic powers.

Haqqan's psychic skills cover a large array of fields, as the Twenty-First Primarch is always looking for more lore and knowledge to absorb. But among his more developed powers are those related to manipulation of the mind. The Void-Witch is capable of invading minds to insert illusions and thoughts directly into the brains of targets, while making ripping out information much easier. It gives Haqqan great pleasure to torture his prey solely through messing with their heads. It makes for a nice change of pace when a more hands-on approach gets stale.

Another area in which Haqqan excels is in using his powers to help his stalking of prey.

Due to his upbringing among the Corsairs, Haqqan has grown into a superstitious man, holding to a variety of odd and weird beliefs from a hundred different origins. These beliefs are sometimes strong enough to guide Haqqan's decisions.

In the heat of battle, Haqqan is a powerhouse of psychic might, slashing away at his foes with a sabre wreathed in Warpfire, jumping, floating and sprinting around with speed and agility few could match while wreaking destruction all around him with barely any care for collateral damage. Oftentimes, this ends up with many forgetting that Haqqan is also a very dangerous fighter even without tapping into the Warp.

Homeworld:
The Adaran Nebula is a stretch of the galaxy ravaged by endemic Warp Storms and other galactic phenomena that make navigation in and out of it from notably difficult to impossible. The few safe paths are hard to find and even still dangerous gambles and not always permanent.

That made the Nebula into a place impossible to colonise and control for whatever local polities survived or grew out of the ashes of the collapse of the Terran Federation. It did not, however, mean that the Adaran Nebula was devoid of life. Before the Age of Strife, it counted a network of human colonies and a gaggle of minor, friendly (at least until then) xenos civilisations.

When the Warp Storms appeared, due to the birth of Slaanesh, those colonies and scattered peoples were locked inside.

The effects of the Age of Strife were as disastrous inside the Nebula as in the wider galaxy. Civilisation collapsed. The details are lost to time. But by the time Haqqan landed in the Cradle of Set, the Nebula had become a haven for pirates, slavers, raiders and all manner of reprobate criminals. With exclusive knowledge of the routes through the storms, the Nebula was the perfect hideout for scum like that.

And their main haven was the Fortress of Apophis, a massive and massively ancient space station from the Golden Age of Technology, a mix of habitat, industrial centre, shipyard and military facility. The years were not kind to the Fortress of Apophis. But even the haphazard repairs by its inhabitants were enough to keep it not only functional but an actual challenge to any would-be challenger.

These days, with a Primarch's mind and the vast resources of the Imperium and the Mechanicum at its disposal, the Fortress of Apophis is recovering in remarkable fashion. Meanwhile, the Cradle of Set has been opened up to Mechanicum explorers looking for lost tech and to the XXI's own Initiates as part of their training programs.

The rest of the Nebula, however, has changed little since the Imperium's arrival. The Scarlet Wave has established several scattered facilities through the area. The pirate bands aligned to Haqqan have been made into a local aristocracy. Whatever human populations still survive now have a little easier time surviving, at the cost of burdensome taxes. But the Primarch has gone out of his way to keep most of the xenos species of the Nebula alive, if completely devoid of spaceflight capabilities. The purpose of this move is to provide convenient targets for training exercises and entertainment for the Astartes.

Psychic potential:
Large. Haqqan is one of the more Warp-attuned Primarchs, bolstering his innate power with extensive and eclectic training from a diverse array of sources. The Great Captain commands a wide array of psychic powers fit for almost any situation.

Background:
Haqqan's pod crashed into a Space Hulk. That, more than anything else, shaped the monster that now sails the stars looking for his next prey. There was no one to stumble upon the toddler inside the Cradle of Set. No loving couple to take him into their hearth. No king to drag him to a grand court. Not even a slaver to put the infant Primarch in chains.

The toddler stumbled out of the ruined pod into the utter darkness of a twisted, damp chamber in the bowels of a Space Hulk somewhere out in the stars. He took his first few tentative, faltering steps into the wet, slimy floor and found out he was not alone.

Degenerated descendants from lost human colonists, xenos, mutated animals. To this day Haqqan cannot say what it was that he met outside his pod, nor does he truly care. The prey was not even sentient. But it was prey nonetheless. It was Haqqan's first hunt, though at the time the infant Primarch did not have the consciousness or the words to categorise the event. It was all instinctual self-defence. And later, still stuck in that lightless chamber, as his small bloodied hands wrenched flesh and bone apart into more manageable chunks for eating, Haqqan's psychic gifts manifested for the first time as he absorbed the thoughts of his victims. These were disjointed, primitive feelings rather than consciousness. But for the Primarch, that was, at the time, astounding. It was his first interaction with another living thing. It taught him little in comparison to the great lore he would absorb from future prey. But it was a watershed moment for the Primarch. And more urgently, it taught him how to leave the chamber through the paths his prey had used.

Time passed, how long Haqqan does not know. He grew, he stalked, he feasted and he learnt from the degenerate things inhabiting the Cradle of Set. Haqqan explored the bowels of the Space Hulk always looking for his next meal, because he knew nothing else. He had no company but the flesh of his prey and the ever present whispering that sometimes was even helpful. It was an indistinct thing, of more feeling than actual, because Haqqan knew no language, human or otherwise—only the braying and howling of beasts.

In time, after coming into contact with semi-organised tribes of mutants living in the ruins, Haqqan also took a few habits from them, namely the taking of trophies and fashioning of rudimentary clothing and weapons. Haqqan did not need such trifles. But he knew the effect he had on the tribesmen, who thought him a daemon or a thing of the underworld come to haunt and punish them. And the Primarch sought to slip fully into the act to properly torment them.

Then, one day, Haqqan found new prey. He was exploring a new section of the Space Hulk when he happened upon the crew of a pirate vessel. These were humans and xenos, beings completely alien to the Primarch. His curiosity got the best of him and Haqqan decided not to gorge himself immediately upon these newcomers, instead electing to observe and learn.

For weeks he followed, watching and studying as these interlopers blindly stumbled their way through the ruined levels of the Space Hulk. They even found some of his own displays and trophies. That, more than anything else, seemed to frighten them. And oh, how good it made Haqqan feel.

Eventually, soon enough, Haqqan had learnt enough of their language and of their purpose here. But even then there were many gaps in his mind. He had no idea what many of the words and concepts the pirates spoke of truly meant. His previous experiences could offer pitiful little analogies or comparisons. But he understood enough to know they were seeking something and that the deeper they went the more terrified they became. But still, whatever they were seeking was apparently important enough to stop them from turning and running.

Haqqan did not contain himself to just watching. Rather, he helped the pirates from the shadows, clearing nests and camps in their paths, opening paths and leaving clues. It was new and exciting—something else to do besides the endless hunt for more flesh. The pirates knew there was something helping them. And that relieved and terrified them in equal measure. With his help, the pirates recovered some sort of large device from the bowels of the Space Hulk and wasted no time in leaving the way they came.

And suddenly Haqqan was alone again. Back to his usual routine of stalking and feasting. But it had got so boring. No matter how deep he explored, how much he sought out new prey, nothing could fully stave off the boredom.

To his luck, Haqqan eventually made his way to a (to him) new section of the Space Hulk, one that had been used on-and-off as a lair and hiding spot by scattered raider crews. By this time, Haqqan was skilled enough to infiltrate the camp with ease, and to spend days concealed within the pirates' midst, observing them. But even that was not enough anymore. There was no grand quest being undertaken by these pirates to follow along or influence.

So the pirates became prey too. Haqqan started slowly, dragging one or two unfortunate wretches into the shadows whenever they left the illusory safety of the hideout. Devouring the first pirate provided an intoxicating rush of information to Haqqan: so much knowledge, so much beyond the dark confines of the Cradle of Set. It was such a revelation that the second wretch almost escaped Haqqan—the operative word being almost.

Aware that the universe was much bigger than merely the Space Hulk he had called home ever since he could recall, a new kind of hunger was born within Haqqan. It was one that he would eventually go to great lengths in a futile attempt to sate.

In the meanwhile, the Primarch toyed with the pirates, playing the part of a horror monster to perfection for weeks, slowly whittling down their number until the brigands broke and fled on their starship… unknowingly carrying Haqqan in their hold.

The pirate ship made her way to the Fortress of Apophis. A grand and old relic from the Golden Age of Technology, the massive space station now served as the main hub of pirate activity of the Adaran pirates. It was the closest thing to neutral ground they had.

For the wider population, the incident passed on without much incident. Terrified crews returning with dreadful tales from the void have been common ever since Man first sailed the waves. That this particular crew had just returned from a Space Hulk just meant that their tale had slightly more credence.

Thus the pirates sought out booze to drown their fears and mourn their comrades while the Primarch slipped away unseen to explore this whole new world.

It was one of Haqqan's most joyful moments. An unknown environment so new and different from what he knew with so much to see, watch, learn and so many new prey to gorge himself on.

Soon enough, new rumours and tales started spreading around the Fortress of Apophis's dark corners about a new terror haunting its old, decayed corridors, a dreadful thing lurking in the shadows, savage, cruel and sadistic in its craft in such ways that even some of the more hardened buccaneers were shocked. As with all the rumours, it initially went ignored. For the Fortress was a bloody, ruthless place at the best of times. Whatever order and control was enforced by its masters was minimal. But as the mangled, half-eaten corpses started piling up and more and more important personages were felled by the so-called Night Ghoul, the authorities of the Fortress were forced to act.

And they did not do so alone. For the Adaran pirates were ever ones to take matters into their own hands. This was a mostly counter-productive affair, as different bands and crews were more interested in blaming each other and settling never-ending blood feuds than actually hunting down the Night Ghoul.

Then Haqqan was caught. No-one was more surprised than the Primarch himself. But he had grown lax and complacent in the intervening months, underestimating his prey even as he made himself aware of the efforts to track him down thanks to his feasting on the memories of his prey. Had he wished, the Primarch could have fought his way out of the trap he had found himself in. It would be bloody work, but achievable. And yet he knew that from then on it would be harder to stalk through the Fortress of Apophis's halls. The Primarch had also, in spite of everything else, been left with a feeling of respect for the band of would-be enforcers that managed to corner him. He planned to kill them all later to prove his inherent superiority, but for now he was willing to entertain them.

Besides, the whispers were urging him to go along peacefully. The whispers now had words and actual voices in his mind: a whirling typhoon that sounded like all those he had devoured.

The shackled Primarch was brought before the Good Masters, the group that ruled the Fortress of Apophis. Before this assembly, Haqqan wove a pretty tale, intermingling truth and falsehood, masking the true extent of his powers and skills. This was an act to make himself look like an useful pawn for the eminent Corsairs while not being too powerful that he would be seen as too big of a threat to keep around.

It worked. And it was then that Haqqan received his name and his first tattoo: a slave brand on his shoulder. In no time the Primarch was put to work. As a servant, soldier, crewmen, engineer, mechanic, pilot, witch, spy and assassin, the enslaved Primarch excelled in every task put before him. In doing so, he earned himself a reputation as the Good Masters' loyal lapdog and the confidence of said masters, even as they worked around the clock to secure further contingencies against him—just in case.

Haqqan ascended through the pirate hierarchy relatively quickly. His unmatched skill and competence gave him the results that prompted ever-greater privileges and responsibilities upon his shoulders. The ripple effects of his work did not take long to manifest. And in these terrible, joyful, bountiful years of learning, through Haqqan's work, the Good Masters strengthened their hold over the Adaran pirate bands, evolving from merely the guardians of their main hub to an actual ruling authority, which, if not absolute, was at least respected enough within the Nebula. Meanwhile, outside, the scourge that came out of Adara grew ever more destructive and threatening. Through the potentates and polities ravaged by the pirates, rumours spread of a new Corsair lord, a monstrous and bold creature leading raids against ever-bigger targets.

As Haqqan's legend grew outside of Adara, so it did inside the storm-wracked Nebula. His star was rising fast among the pirates and raiders. His power and influence were starting to worry the Good Masters. They were all too aware of how dependent their rise had been on "Heinous Haqqan". Not only that, but Haqqan's excesses and cruelty also disturbed many around him, even as just as many others took the slave captain as their role model.

Matters reached a breaking point for the Good Masters some eighteen years after he was first branded. Haqqan had grown too powerful, too wealthy, with too many followers and starships. Even his status as slave was seen as a mere formality. The Primarch was treated by many as an equal to the Good Masters, while a few even whispered he could do a better job. To make matters worse, outside of the Nebula, the sheer scale of the pirates' depredations had led to the creation of a coalition among the disparate human and xenos states of the surrounding stars, putting aside conflicts among themselves to work together against the pirates. Pickings were growing slim and the Good Masters devised a plan that would, if successful, rid them of these two great problems.

Secret communications were made. Covert negotiations started and a shadowy deal was struck. And when Haqqan next departed with his large squadron from the Fortress of Apophis, heading towards the Hive World of Paratys for his latest sacking expedition, the Good Masters sent a secret signal ahead and started their own part of the plot.

Upon arriving at Paratys, Haqqan found himself facing a formidable armada assembled from far and wide. Immediately he realised he had been betrayed and immediately he set off to salvage the situation. Neither side bothered offering terms or demanding surrender, and battle was joined.

Haqqan was outnumbered and outgunned. But his raiders were veterans of a thousand void battles and their leader was a living god of war. Yet, even if Haqqan could have pulled off a stunning victory against the assembled coalition, he knew that his true enemy did not stand above Paratys, but back in the Fortress of Apophis. And he would need a fleet to drag down the cursed Good Masters from their perches and onto his dining table.

The whispers counselled likewise.

But even retreating would be a tough order. His foe was canny and hungry for revenge, to wipe out the worst of the Adaran scourge once and for all. Seeing no better solution to this conundrum, Haqqan lunged for the enemy's throat. Identifying the enemy flagship and leading a massive, desperate assault through boarding pods and teleportation, Haqqan and his followers stormed their way through halls and bulkheads of a massive xenos battlecruiser. Nothing could stand before the Great Captain. Soon enough, the enemy admiral had been reduced to a burnt smear of gore along with his command staff.

The loss of their commander and flagship did not break the coalition fleet. But it gave Haqqan and his raiders enough breathing room to make an orderly withdrawal.

Yet that was not the end of Haqqan's misfortunes. In scattered, confused and patchy communications with his partisans within the Nebula, the Great Captain found out that the Good Masters had launched a widespread purge against his own faction. Respect grew amidst the thunderous rage. Once again Haqqan found himself defeated because he had underestimated an enemy.

Haqqan found himself ambushed once again as soon as his fleet left the Warp in a dead system used as secret hideout for raiders outside of the Nebula. The Good Masters had sent forces to several of these places as part of their purge against Haqqan and as safeguard in case any of his fleet managed to escape the trap at Paratys. But now, Haqqan found that his supporters still fought. And though his arrival did not shift the tide of numbers and firepower, his skills were more than enough to trounce the foe at hand.

With the battle over for the moment, Haqqan used the time wisely to rally and reorganise his forces. Gathering all that could be taken from the hideouts and torching the rest, his battered fleet left the system, aware that soon more foes would come.

The next months would be spent waging a running war against both the Good Masters and the coalition's fleets. Grossly outnumbered and outgunned, Haqqan found himself forced into a corner, lacking the men and ships to truly strike a decisive blow against either foe. Until one day, one of his scouts brought word back of a single, great golden starship at the edges of known space, near where his fleet was currently in hiding.

Interest piqued, the Primarch led a squadron to hunt for this new prize. She was a ship unlike anything he had ever seen. And his mind soon was seized by the thought of him commanding such a wonderful machine, bringing death and destruction to his prey. Yet his mind also argued that even if he managed to seize the starship, a vessel of this size would be beyond his current capabilities to maintain. Not even considering the fact that whomever could build something like her was not someone to attack lightly.

Before he could make up his mind, the golden starship contacted Haqqan's own vessel. The Primarch found himself taking the message and laying his eyes upon the Emperor for the first time.

The XXI Legion: the Scarlet Wave

Name:
The Scarlet Wave. Called the Stellar Vanguard before the Emperor rediscovered their Primarch.

Insignia and Appearance:
The main insignia of the Scarlet Wave is a stylised blood-red wave on a deep blue background.

The basic Power Armour of the Scarlet Wave is of dark blue colour with red trimming and highlights. But in the Legion's culture the average Astartes is not only allowed but expected to decorate his armour with trophies taken from defeated foes and successful hunts, ranging from fine jewellery to bits and pieces of worked bone and patches of skin. Besides trophies of victory, Astartes of the XXI are also fond of painting runes and sigils and assorted imagery from their respective homeworlds. There is little to no enforced standardisation when it comes to displaying these trophies and fetishes.

Gene-seed Status:
Unstable and mutated. The Scarlet Wave passes through large numbers of prospective Aspirants to make a single Astartes, when compared to its sister Legions. The Primarch's return to his sons has helped somewhat with this matter, but it did not fix the issue. To this day, the XXI Legion remains among the smallest of the Legiones Astartes despite consuming Aspirants at a high rate. Acceptance rate is proportionally larger among psykers. And those tend to be stronger on the average.

The two main stable mutations of the Scarlet Wave are an overdeveloped Omophageia, which makes them much more adept at gaining information from their foes at the cost of an ever-present hunger for flesh and blood that is now part of the Legion's culture, and a Melanchromic organ that in the absence of sunlight leaves the Astartes as pale as death but reacts very strongly to any UV radiation, usually darkening the skin to a void-like black colour in environments that would cause no reaction in healthier Legions.

Legionary Assets:
The Scarlet Wave stands at 75,000 Astartes, putting it among the smallest Legions currently fighting in the Great Crusade.

The Scarlet Wave's flagship is a Gloriana-class battleship christened the Bosom of Tiamat. She is a formidable vessel, heavily modified as any other ship fielded by the XXI. Her most distinguishing features are the decorations upon her hull, mixing the standard Imperial fare of Aquilas and thunderbolts with figures of mythical voidbeasts.

When it comes to auxiliaries, the XXI Legion fields large numbers of naval forces drawn to complement their own considerable void assets, recruited from among regular Imperial Navy squadrons and assortments of reformed pirates and brigands. When it comes to ground forces, the XXI fields a core of Imperial Army units that have been serving under their direct oversight ever since their reunion with the Primarch, switching away and drawing complementary forces as necessary for the current campaign.

The Fortress of Apophis, an ancient space station built in the Golden Age of Technology, is the XXI Legion's major known fortress-monasteries. It is one of the few that the Legion maintains. Static defences and long, gruelling combat are not part of their doctrine. The Scarlet Wave prefers to field mobile fleets equipped with the means and gear to operate as autonomously as possible and to keep their haunts and hideouts in backwater, out-of-the-way star-systems, secreted away from the wider galaxy.

Legion Organisation:
The XXI Legion is divided into seven Great Bands, formed around mobile fleet formations. The idea behind this organisation is that each Great Band would be theoretically able to operate as its own force, fighting its own campaigns, adapting and modifying tactics and strategies as necessary without much oversight from the Primarch. They band together to face foes that are too strong to be overcome by a single Great Band.

On all levels, the XXI tends to be organised around starships, with companies, squads and platoons identified firstly by their flagship, then squadron, fleet and Great Band.

Special units:

The Dark Sabre—The Legion's elite force are known as the Dark Sabre, clad in black Terminator armour and equipped for bloody, close-combat assaults.

The Ghoul Guard—The Primarch's personal bodyguards.

The Void-singers—The high number of psykers, called Void-singers, within the XXI and the esteem in which they are held within the Legion leads to many of them being officers themselves. Void-singers in the Scarlet Wave also tend to gather in covens where they can pool efforts together to study the Warp and train their powers to grow more powerful.

Expertise and Combat Doctrine:
The Scarlet Wave, even before reuniting with its pirate father, was a Legion renowned for its skills in void warfare. They were at the forefront of innumerable successful naval actions during the Great Crusade.

Under Haqqan, the Legion doctrine emphasises what he perceives as the Legion's three main assets: its war-fleet, its Void-singers, and infiltration and deception tactics.

An ideal campaign against the average stellar polity starts with stealthy raider starships (often specialised ships, often merely captured hulks common to the area of operations posing as harmless civilians) deploying small infiltration teams to gather intel and carry out on-the-ground reconnaissance. Meanwhile, the Scarlet Wave squadrons (painted proudly in dark red) will start the war among the stars, whittling away with hit and run tactics, raiding and harassment of enemy shipping, forcing the foe to either split his naval forces or let the target planet be cut off, before a mighty war-fleet delivers the blow that swipes away all opposing naval forces.

The ground assault starts with orbital bombardment cracking open the strongest defences, followed by massive waves of Imperial Army regiments thrown against the enemy frontline. The Astartes then descend upon remaining enemy strongpoints in a veritable red wave on their drop ships and drop pods, wielding awesome mobile firepower and psychic powers alongside terror tactics to break the planet's defenders for good and allow the Space Marines to hunt their new prey at leisure.

Legion Weaknesses:
Static defence is not, as a rule, something the Scarlet Wave considers worthwhile. They can stand behind parapets and man fortifications. But neither their efforts nor their engineering is particularly praiseworthy. Likewise, they often struggle to overcome an enemy that can withstand their shock-and-awe tactics, often having to employ excessive orbital bombardment to achieve the expected breakthrough.

Likewise, long and gruelling campaigns are something best avoided as far as the officers of the XXI Legion are concerned. Their low numbers and predilection for quick and devastating does not lend itself well to attrition warfare. The focus on close-quarters combat of their doctrine also leaves them somewhat lacking in long-range engagements.

Their depraved behaviour on and off the battlefield earns them scorn from all corners, making interactions with other Legions an awkward affair at best.

Said behaviour also lends itself to a Legion that sometimes lacks discipline and is prone to internal conflicts. Woe to the XXI if they were to ever lose the unifying figure of their Primarch.

Beliefs and Practices:
The Scarlet Wave has embraced their Primarch's twisted mindset of prey and predator, seeing themselves as great hunters in a galaxy filled with delicious food, servants to lord over, and thrilling challenges to face if one is brave enough to step forward. And if you are wearing the armour of the XXI Legion, it is assumed you have that kind of bravery.

They have little regard for mortals as a rule, seeing them as little better than servants below the power that is an Astartes or prey to be hunted down and feasted upon at one's pleasure. Life for Legion serfs is harsh and unpleasant.

Like their Primarch, many of the Scarlet Wave still keep to their own superstitions and what the Imperial Truth calls "outdated beliefs". Those few brave Iterators who have tried to challenge this status have found themselves as the evening entertainment for Space Marines wanting to hone their stalking skills.

Outside of battle, the Scarlet Wave are a rowdy and cruel bunch, taking in much of the Corsair culture of the Adaran Nebula and mixing it with the thousand and one beliefs and practices of the homeworlds of its Space Marines, alongside customs and philosophies developed by the Astartes themselves out of this eclectic mix.

Recruitment and Discipline:
As the Adaran Nebula lacks the population numbers to safely keep the Scarlet Wave's numbers up, their ranks are maintained mostly by the Levy system, whereby every time the Scarlet Wave forces a planet into Imperial Compliance they drag masses of the planet's surviving children into their ships to provide replacements. Most of these boys will at best wash out and be reduced to serfs. If the Levy is not providing enough manpower to meet the Legion's needs, the Scarlet Wave officers will call upon nearby worlds to provide more children for their trials.

Those children taken in by the Levy or drawn from the half-savage tribal populations of the Adaran Nebula are immediately subjected to a harsh and abusive training regimen at the hands of chapter serfs and Astartes officers. They are made to endure hell and fight each other and an array of animals, convicts and assorted vile creatures for food, warmth and shelter. Many would-be Initiates soon learn to band together in little gangs for their own protection. Sometimes these gangs survive well into the Legion, with the surviving Astartes becoming true blood brothers who would gladly lay down their lives for each other. Sometimes they break up in tragedy. If nothing else, the training ground masters find the whole thing amusing.

Once the Aspirants are chosen, their training and conditioning continues to be a sordid, cruel affair, aimed at imparting upon them the skills and philosophy expected of a Scarlet Wave Astartes.

Those Aspirants who hold psychic talent are taken aside for a separate training regimen that is no less brutal, focused on turning them into powerful Void-singers, ever hungry for more knowledge.

Characters of Interest:
Fleet Master Eneph-Trah—The Stellar Vanguard's former Legion Master and chief Librarian and current right-hand man of the Primarch, Eneph-Trah has embraced his Primarch's philosophy from the first day and with uncommon fervour, dedicating his all to seeing the Scarlet Wave reshaped according to the Primarch's vision.

High Captain Hazar-Harin—Leader of one of the Legion's Great Bands, Hazar-Harin is the Legion's most skilled field commander below Haqqan. Another Terran-born, Hazar has followed his Primarch's lead and adopted the new customs of his Legion, but with less enthusiasm than Eneph-Trah and many of his brothers.

The High Captain is perhaps one of the most diplomatic officers of the Legion. He is often seconded to smooth over ruffled feathers and run constant damage control whenever issues arise between the XXI and any other Legion it is currently cooperating with.

Captain Thulda Mûr—A skilled squadron commander and powerful Void-singer, Thulda hails from one of the myriad worlds brought into Compliance by the Scarlet Wave, taken in as part of the Levy as a young child. He knows little else of life besides that of a man of the Scarlet Wave. A rising star within the Legion.

His greatest moment of glory so far has been during the purge of ES-0292, an Eldar Maiden World where Captain Mûr faced and overcame an Eldar witch leading the planet's defence, making him and his retinue the main course of his celebratory banquet and turning the leftovers into his most prized trophies.

Great Seer Jogur Zand—The chief Librarian equivalent to the Primarch's own Great Band. Jogur Zand's close work with the Primarch has made him a great authority of sorcerous lore within the Legion and beyond. Having access to writings and knowledge from many different traditions in his private library, Jogur Zand sees himself as first and foremost as researcher blazing a new path in the field of psychic power.

Battle-cry:
"Ride the wave!"

"Up and after the prey!"

"Light the fire and set the table!"

Due to their particular skillset and doctrine, Scarlet Wave Astartes are also fond of letting out howling and discordant wailing before engagements. In particular cases, they can access the memory of their victims to taunt particular foes when the situation allows for it. Void-singers are known to lead choruses of warriors into battle.

Legionary History:
—The Adaran Campaign

Immediately after meeting the Emperor and receiving his Legion, Haqqan was tasked with bringing not only the local polities into Compliance but also his former comrades within the Adaran Nebula.

It was a quick campaign overall. None in the region could withstand the might of a Space Marine Legion even under normal circumstances, much less one led by a Primarch. The affair was a cathartic experience for Haqqan, who finished off the campaign with a celebratory feast in the Good Masters' chambers within the Fortress of Apophis.

—The Zamoran Reach Compliance

The Zamoran Reach was a slice of space home to a variety of squabbling xenos and human star states. The Imperium's arrival led to most of them banding together in the hopes of staving off Compliance. The XXI Legion's extensive raiding and harassment campaign helped speed along the collapse of their war effort and a wide spread humanitarian crisis as supply and shipping lines were ravaged by the Scarlet Wave. The following planetbound campaigns were as, if not more, destructive. And the xenocide efforts saw even more devastation wrought upon the Reach. The Levy taken at the end was just the cherry on top.

—The Purge of ES-0292

An Eldar Maiden World, the XXI Legion's war effort on this world brought greater awareness of the Eldar species to the Scarlet Wave, and a deep hatred for them on the xenos' part. On the Astartes' side, the Eldar are considered good, challenging prey. From this point on, trophies from campaigns against the Eldar are prized, sought-after trinkets.