[Lord_Tyrion]

Name of Chapter

The Praetorian Brotherhood (Previously the Praetorian Legion)

Chapter Derived From..

No-one. They are an orginal Legion, the missing 2nd.

Chapter Advantages/Disadvantages

None, they use the Dark Angels Codex.

Fluff

The Praetorian Brotherhood are a First Founding Legion. They are the 2nd Legion to have been created. Yet, no records are kept of this legion - anywhere at all, it would seem to the naked eye. They have been expunged from every and all Imperial records. Why they were expunged remains a mystery, and as no-one knows of thier existence, and the Praetorians themselves are unaware of thier removal from history. Because of these reasons, no theory has ever been put forward as to why they were elimated from the ancient records, but one thing can be sure - it was the will fo the immortal God-Emperor, and He shall not be questioned.

They were fine martial warriors with a unique command structure - and every unit had a special name, all seemingly taken from the Roman Legions of ancient Terra. Here is a short translation :-

Space Marine Captain/Leader - Legatus Legionis
Chaplain - Tribunus Laticlavius (Or Tribune for short)
Librarian - Legati
Banner Bearer - Aquilifer

Terminators - Centurions
Dreadnought - Praefectus Castrorum

Space Marines - Legionarii
Scouts/Initiates - Milites Gregarii

Now we may continue. The Praetorian Brotherhood were always a proud legion, yet they lacked one thing all others didn't - right the way up to the Heresy. A Primarch. Without the guidance of such a noble figure, the Praetorian Brotherhood was placed under the indirect command of the Warmaster, and it is to be noted that he treated each and every Legionarii as if they were one of his own. It is however accepted that Lion El'Jonson must have made a considerable impression on the Legion, as they adopted the unusual organisation structure of the First Legion.

Hence, when it came to the heresy, Horus had a large sway over the legion - and over 9 and a half thousand of the warriors turned their back on the Emperor, broke their oaths of loyalty, and went to follow the mighty Warmaster.

This however, says nothing of the near 500 warriors that refused to turn. Indeed, once Tribunus Laticlavius Tribune Daedalus learned of the imminent trechary, he and the 500 Astartes aboard the the Strike Cruiser 'Valor Dues Imperium' orderd the crew to break off from the bulk of the Praetorian fleet, and make a direct path for Terra.

Before they could get far enough away from the fleet to make a leap for Terra however, a collosal Warm Storm engulfed the entire fleet, sending Strike Cruisers, Grand Cruisers and Battleships cascading around like stones in the sea. Most of the fleet was torn to pieces by raw energy, or brutally hacked apart by tides of unearthly creatures.

Yet, one ship escaped the tide of death. The 'Valor Dues Imperium' was flung across the stars, crash landing on a planet far, far from Terra - a world now named Praetoria II by the resident Astarets. It was a plentiful world, but lacked intelligent life of any kind.

It may be worth pointing out at this point that a crew of 500 Astartes and 4,000 assorted crew was very small for a Strike Cruiser - this was for two reasons. One was that the orginal Praetorian Legion had an incredibly large fleet for an Astartes Legion, and so few Astartes manned each ship, but furthermore its cargo took up a considerable chunk of the available space. It was carrying a large detachment of vehicles - 4 Land Raiders, 8 Predators, 4 Vindicators, 5 Rhinos, 2 ancient Dreadnoughts and a dozen Landspeeders. But most importantly, it was carring the Valor Praetoria, nothing less than a Warhound Titan.

For years they have trained, fought, recruited and grown on Praetoria - having no sense of direction with no Astropaths or Librarians, there would have been no point attempting another warp jump to Terra. The Legion was even renamed, due to the shame of being associated with those that fell to Chaos. The Strike Cruiser became a home aswell as a ship, and soon its population of crew had double and was getting close to tripling. Over 200 new Astartes were recruited out of the crew (That by now, had populated the plent to a large extent) and in the thousands of years they lived there it was peaceful. But something happened that would change the the now peace filled lifes of the Praetorians forever. Thousands of years after crash landing, a psyker of incredible potential was born on the Valor Dues Imperium. Space travel and Warp Navigation were finally possible once again, and after a short meeting, it was decided. Tribune Daedalus would constantly monitor the boy, and raise him to be a loyal and faith infused Librarian. For 50 years, the boy, Vulcan, was not ready for the collsal task of navigation the Strike Cruiser through the Warp. But to an Astartes, especially ones as ancient as the Praetorians, 50 years is nothing but a drop of rain in a thunderstorm.

Now, finally, over 10,000 years after leaving, The Praetorian Brotherhood are returning to Segmentum Solar.

Notable Figures in the remainder of the Praetorian Brotherhood

Tribune Daedalus
Commander Icarus
Fighting Company Champion Diomedes
Apothecary Cardeon