Wednesday, May 25, 2016

III Legion Formation and Ranks

Introduction

The Emperor's Children were organised in a manner that suited the ideals of Fulgrim and their own exacting nature.  As with every other aspect of the Emperor's Children nothing was left to whim or chance; everything was deliberate and assessed for its aesthetic and function value.

Authority descended through an elaborate and multi-tiered command structure which reached from the Lord Commanders through the Praetorate which in turn comprised Commanders, Lieutenant Commanders, Masters, Sub-Commanders, Tribunes Palatine and Ordinary, Captains of various divisions, to Consuls, Equerries, Ancients of various functions, through Centurions and Heralds to the Praefectors and Sergeants who commanded the Legion's individual squads, down finally to the Legion's warriors.

The Emperor's Children also had a number of highly specialized or elite units specified, such as the Phoenix Guard (Fulgrim's personal honor guard of 200), the Palatine Blades (who specialized in dueling), the Sun-Killers (Lascannon support squads), etc.

Despite the apparent precision of the Emperor's Children's organization, insufficient detail has been provided to us of all of the finer points of the Legion's structure.  Here is what has been gleaned so far:


Legion

The Emperor created twenty space marine legions to take part in the Great Crusade in what was later known as the First Founding.  All the space marines of a legion were augmented with DNA samples of a single primarch.

The leader of a legion is known as a Primarch
The Primarch of the III Legion, or the Emperor's Children, was Fulgrim.
It is estimated that the III Legion consisted of about 110,000 Space Marines.
Fulgrim also had an honor guard of 200 Phoenix Guard and his legion command.


Millennials

The III Legion was divided into approximately 30 Millennials (aka Chapters) of approximately 3,500 space marines each.  The first 10 Millennials were led by Lord Commanders (as may be represented by Praetors in 30K) and the remainder presumably by Commanders.  The ten Lord Commanders were: Anteus, Ariston, Cyrius, Eidolon, Iddinam, Illois, Lelanthius, Lothreal Sabine, Teliosa, and Vespasian.




Company

It is believed that each Millennial was divided into numerous Companies of 100 space marines each.
The leader of each Company was known as a Captain (as may be represented by a Centurion, or Consul if a specialized role in 30K).  The second in command to a captain is a Lieutenant.

It is possible that a series of companies were grouped together into a Cohort or Battalion of say 500 space marines each led by a Lieutenant Commander.  Nevertheless each of the companies in the Legion appear to be consecutively numbered, as Krysander is listed in Angel Exterminatus as a Captain of the 102nd Company.

Squad

It is estimated that each company was divided up into 5 - 10 Squads of 10 - 20 space marines each.  The leader of each squad was known as a Sergeant.

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