Outriders

The Outriders are one of the 20 legiones astartes. Under the command of the Primarch Varkas Almahraqa, they served the forces of the Imperium for nearly 200 years and later joined the rebellion of Warmaster Heizo as the legion saw The Emperor walking the path of the tyrant and sided against him. Following the Great Heresy, Varkas became disillusioned with what his rebellious siblings stood for and decided to distance himself from their Dark Imperium, choosing instead to occupy the barren regions between the two empires and establish some new purpose.

In the later days of the crusade, the outriders were generally the legion with the most relaxed atmosphere, the 19th legion specialise in swift and naturally flowing warfare that is both beautiful to observe at work but deadly to receive, striking at rapid pace. They gained a reputation as the "Gentle Killers" during the great crusade on their habit of wiping out combatants and leaving civilian settlements untouched, choosing to approach them under the banners of trade and parley.

Origins
As part of the last wave to join the unification wars, the legion was to do without the Thunder Warriors as their commanding officers and so immediately took to the frontline as a fully astartes commander force. Seeking to earn a name for themselves, the legion immediately took to the few remaining uncharted and contested regions across terra and beyond, beginning their own personal crusades of annihilation against the Imperium's enemies. Unlike the 5th and 9th legions who, in that age, were silent and tried to remain unseen, the 19th had no such qualms and left a trail of shattered and splintered armies in their wakes, powering through them as the tip of a spear and rarely ceasing their activity until directly ordered by The Emperor or when the risk finally outweighed the rewards gained by pressing onwards. While not contributing much to the final years of the unification wars, the legion's activities in the early wake of the Great Crusade's beginning earned them the moniker of the 'Vanguard Legion', a title that the legion bore with great pride.