Honorbound

"There are many currencies that this galaxy deals in. Credits, precious metals, even life itself! But there is no currency more valuable than loyalty, and you will find that in ample supply amongst the ranks of the Ist legion."

- Heizo Renai, Master Of Kostillan

The Honorbound are a legion built on oaths sworn, each promise made is one that is carried to the grave. Dedicated warriors loyal without question to their Master and Primarch Heizo Renai, The Honorbound pride themselves on their ability to control battlefields, manoeuvring enemy forces to allow strikes at vulnerable positions. Skilled swordsmen, the legion has carved a reputation as fearsome close quarters fighters.

When Heizo Renai united his siblings and marched for secession of the Imperium, 5 of the legion's 6 Great clans followed him with unquestioning loyalty. Under the steadfast command of the Ist legion, the Traitor legions inflicted horrific casualties on their loyalist brothers that culminated in the climactic siege of terra which saw the tragic betrayal and murder of Warmaster Heizo and heavy losses to the legion as they refused to withdraw multiple times.

Now the Legion Resides primarily on the Daemon world of Tsugon within the Dark Imperium where they manage and organise dozens of large scale attacks and operations across the borders of segmentum obscurus, now loyal only to the will of their deceased primogenitor. Despite the legion's lack of a living primarch, they are still granted a seat on the Dark Imperium's ruling council.

The Unification Wars
The Honorbound were the 1st legion to be created by The Emperor during the Unification Wars in which they served alongside 4 other legions under the command of the now veteran Thunder Warriors. As one of the first Astartes legions to see frontline deployment, the legion were required to be adaptable or they would succumb, and adapt they did. In the opening weeks of the Legion's deployment to the frontlines, the 1st legion who were at that point known as "The First" adopted the tactics of their thunder warrior forerunners. The 1st hit hard, utilising their infantry as powerful shock troops while diverting the attention of the enemy away from their sibling legions and auxillia forces.

In 774.M30, at the battle of the Dawnbreaker amidst the scorching deserts of the Afrika campaign, the 1st led a brutal charge from the direction of the sunrise, catching their blinded enemies completely by suprise when the 3rd legion swiftly attacked from the opposite direction and only adding to the panic caused by the intensity of the initial attack. The Emperor dubbed the legion the "Dawn Titans" that day in honor of their bold and decisive strategy.

"'My Ist Legion. On this day you stand before me as warriors of consistent achievement, this title i grant to you to be held high as a banner of your deeds under the stars of a countless thousand worlds. My Dawn Titans, the rising sun to the setting of your foes, go forth and conquer!'"

-The Emperor following the Battle of the Dawnbreaker

The Thunder warriors were later relieved of their leadership within the legiones Astartes but a decade later, being reformed into a single formation and tasked with securing the dense mountain ranges held by the kingdom of Urartu but were tragically wiped to a single man in the Battle of Mount Ararat. Following the departure of their former commanders, Chapter Master Nazai Orekai of the Legion's 1st Chapter took overall command of the legion for the short remaining duration of the Unification wars and into the next century during the opening years of the Great Crusade.

Early Great Crusade
The Dawn Titans became a reliable force dealing with and redirecting the brunt of enemy attacks in the earlier years of the great crusade, often costing them significant losses in their stubborn refusal to let their allies suffer pointless casualties.

During the battle of the Midnight Divide, a world carved to shreds by vast valleys and deep canyons, 1 demi-company of marines held the highlands flanking great bridges against an army of over 18,000 militia troopers for 4 days solid without rest before relief arrived from the 11th legion and the 63rd Javec Rapid Assault Infantry. By the time the crusade reached Kostillan, the Titans stood at just over 10,000 strong.

Discovery of The Primarch and Reformation
It was in 805.M30 that the Great Crusade reached Kostillan in the outer regions of Segmentum Solar and with it the first of the primarchs was found. Heizo Renai, the master of Kostillan, having spent the last decade liberating his world from the grips of tyrants was brought aboard the Unification to meet his sons after months on Kostillan with his Father. Though keen to impose change for the legion, Heizo wisely decreed that though they would be changed by his coming. The achievements of his sons would not be forgotten, nor would their ways, thus the Dawn Titans were given the choice of a new name. After minutes of silence, the Chapter masters of the legion declared themselves his "Honorbound Legion" which prompted the Primarch to declare the 1st reforged as The Honorbound.

When their primarch returned to them, the Honorbound did not hesistate to accept change. They allowed themselves to be moulded by their primarch into warriors schooled in the ways and tactics of Kostillan. Even the oldest among them who had served under the Legio Thundera during the first days of the legion tempered their hands in the art of Venn sword form. Heizo recognised the significance of preserving the cultures already nurtured within his legion while also allowing new seeds to be planted. He divided the Legion into 5 Great Clans, each commanded by a Clan Master. The Great clans would then be divided into Companies commanded by the Clan Lords and then cohorts commanded by appointed Captains. With the exception of himself, the remaining clan masters would be picked equally from both Kostillian and Terran commanders.

Heizo personally commanded the Renai Great clan, leading its warriors by example alone, leaving his kostillian brothers to each command a great clan themselves. Haganè Shinro and Yabura Gankai of Kostillan took their place as the masters of the Shinro and Gankai clans respectively. The 2 remaining great clans were commanded by the veteran commanders of the legion who had lead the legion before their Gene Father. Nazai, the previous Legion Master of the 1st took his place as Clan Master of the Orekai Great Clan while the silent commander of the the legion's revered vanguard forces, Hidan, was granted command of the Sakea Great Clan.

Great Crusade Post-Primarch
As the Great crusade continued, Heizo and his clan masters continued to reclaim worlds in the name of the Imperium. Though spread over a number of different fronts, the great clans would occasionally unite to deal with particularly troublesome tasks though Heizo would mainly represent the legion during its larger operations.

The 1st legion saw some of the best of the crusade but they also took some of the worst of it, during the 1st Rangdan Xenocide the Sakea Great Clan suffered heavily at the hands of the extremely dangerous Rangdan xenos race. The Honorbound also took place in a number of large scale joint operations with other legions. Most notably they saw involvement in both the 1st and 2nd Rangdan Xenocides, The Aznertia Subsector pacification, The Vendrelac Campaign and the Infamous Hive Wars which saw the Honorbound suffer never before seen losses.

As the Legion Grew, Heizo assembled the clans to announce the creation of a 6th Great Clan. Saekanis Nakama, a young but capable commander from the Orekai Great Clan was selected to lead this new force and was granted a portion of astartes from each of the existing Great Clans that wished to follow under him. Saekanis and his Nakama Great Clan proved themselves valuable in the relentless defence of many imperial worlds.

As the Honorbound continued to grow and evolve, so did their formations. 843.M30 saw the introduction of the Ken Saishi to the great clans after being introduced to the Shinro Great clan some 2 decades earlier by Clan Master Hagane and he Gankai Great Clan became the host to the feared swords of the Kurogariki.

The Great Heresy
While the legion suffered heavy casualties during the Hive Wars, it slowed their thirst for conquest very little. In the wake of the campaign, the legion continued to wage compliance across the stars in their primarch's and The Emperor's name, though the legion was becoming deftly aware of the change in their primarch's humours following the death of the 9th Primarch during the Hive Wars. This culminated in the Ullanor Crusade in which Heizo was declared warmaster and The Emperor announced his departure from the crusade. The legion now felt sadness, not only because of their primarch's sorrows but also towards that of the Emperor's departure, which was felt by many of the legions.

In the wake of Ullanor, the legion slowed its progress and its deployments became more organised into that of Great Clans, consolidating their forces and deploying them in fewer fleets but with greater numbers. As Heizo's views towards The Emperor were changed by the master of mankind's actions and the half truths told by Raziel of the 5th, the Great Clans of the legion also faced similar changes and adjustments to their views and morals. With very little opposition, Hagane and Yabura of the Shinro and Gankai Great Clans secretly allied themselves with the warmaster, Hidan of Sakea or whatever claimed itself to be Hidan had all but guaranteed its allegiance in the months leading up to 005.M31. In the weeks before Heizo's Rebellion, the Great Clans were commanded to Rendezvous for a meeting of the Great Clans within the newly compliant Saangan Cluster, a world that the Renai Great Clan had freshly reclaimed.

With nearly every asset of the 1st legion present for this meeting, hundreds of imperial warships gathered above Saangan primus for the much anticipated grand meeting of the Clan Masters aboard the legion's flagship, The Dark Horizon. Within this meeting, where Hagane, Yabura, Hidan, Nazai and Saekanis all gathered after months and in some cases years apart, Heizo revealed his plans for succession, fully aware of the majority of his commander's true allegiances. Hagane and Hidan both revealed their Great Clans stood fully loyal to the Primarch with Yabura poised to purge his of those who remained loyal. Saekanis Nakama refused the pledge in a mixture of rage and horror, which only intensified when Nazai of Orekai declared he would pledge those loyal to him into the service of the warmaster. Outraged, the Elite bodyguard terminators of the Hanteki stormed the chamber at the orders of the Clan Master only to be butchered in the chaos by the Rippana and Kurogariki. It was in this chaos however that Saekanis escaped the vessel and returned to the Unyielding, his flagship. The majority of the Majority of the Nakama Great Clan's fleet was destroyed as they escaped the system while those who remained loyal to the Emperor within the Orekai and Gankai were purged from their vessels with viral weapons or total ship destruction.

Across the stars the 1st legion assisted their rebellious sibling legions in conquering significant strategic locations such as assisting the 14th legion in the sacking of Agripinaa, a blow that the forge world never truly recovered from. The Honorbound led the first, failed, offensive on the northern edges of the solar line, finally commanding the forces that breached the defences during the 2nd attack. The Sakea great clan fought a series of rapidly moving skirmishes against remnants of the 3rd legion led by Sepharim Galadred as they wrestled for control of the Tamarian Gate, ending in withdrawal by the Great Clan once the solar line was breached in the north.

The Gankai Great Clan was near instrumental in cracking open the 15th legion's defences on Tentrion as the Knights attempted to evacuate as many precious supplies and materials for the maintenance of the battered loyalist titan legions. As the traitors pushed themselves further towards terra, the great clans found themselves facing off against many other loyalist forces in their efforts to secure key positions for the warmaster. The most shocking blow struck came from the loyalist Nakama however, as they ambushed the Orekai Great Clan during the battle of Tentrion, decimating the command structure of the Great Clan and Saekanis Nakama personally ending the command of Nazai Orekai. The Orekai Great Clan was torn to shreds during the siege and saw very little action outside of smaller skirmishes for the remained of the heresy as they reeled from their losses.