LEGION XX ALPHA LEGION
Traitor Legion
The Alpha Legion is the Chaos Space Marine Traitor Legion about whom the least is known. The Alpha Legion was once the XXth Legion of Astartes created during the First Founding by the Emperor of Mankind to carry out His Great Crusade to reunite all of humanity in a new golden age under His rule. They are experts in infiltration, covert operations, misdirection and diversion tactics, and their armies contain many Chaos Cultists and other mortal agents in addition to regular Heretic Astartes.
Primarch Alpharius Omegon
Alpharius Omegon, also known as the "Aleph Null," "The Hydra," the "Threefold Serpent," "The Final Configuration" and the "Last Primarch", was one of the twenty Primarchs created by the Emperor of Mankind in the earliest days of the Imperium of Man, just after the end of the Age of Strife in the 30th Millennium. In truth, Alpharius Omegon was actually a pair of identical twin brothers, one named Alpharius and the other Omegon.
Of all the Primarchs of the Legiones Astartes, Alpharius was without a doubt the most steeped in mystery, legend, contradiction and deliberate falsification. The Primarch of the Alpha Legion shrouded himself in mystery, often moving unseen even amongst the ranks of his own Legion. However, when the time came to cast off the cloak of misdirection, Alpharius was as awe-inspiring a being as any of his brother Primarchs. Clad in armour forged in the manner of some terrifying beast of ancient Terran myth and armed with a fearsome panoply of weapons of unknown provenance, Alpharius bestrode the battlefield like a figure from legend.
Like the hydra he and his XXth Legion had taken as their symbol, Alpharius fought by repeated attacks from multiple and unexpected quarters. None could predict where or how the Primarch would strike, what weapons he would bring to bear or which of his many different forms would fight at his side. In many cases, the enemy were not even aware they were fighting the Alpha Legion until the very moment battle was joined, at which point they were already doomed to total and utter defeat at the hands of this most cunning, devious and duplicitous of all the Primarchs of the ancient Space Marine Legions.
Like the other Primarchs, Alpharius and his twin brother Omegon were transported from the Emperor's gene-lab beneath the Himalazian (Himalayan) Mountains of Terra through the Warp by the Chaos Gods and placed on a far-away world in an attempt to prevent the coming of the Age of the Imperium and the expansion of the ordered Imperium of Man across the Milky Way Galaxy. Alpharius Omegon was eventually rediscovered by the Primarch Horus and sent to meet his father the Emperor on Terra, who placed him (and secretly, his brother) in command of the XXth Legion, the so-called Alpha Legion, during the Great Crusade of the late 30th Millennium.
It should be noted that the Alpha Legion's trademark secrecy extended to the records of their Primarch. There is little recorded information on his biographical background or where his homeworld originated, and almost all of what is currently known by the Imperium about this enigmatic Primarch comes from the information provided by former Inquisitor Kravin of the Ordo Malleus. Inquisitor Kravin was subsequently believed to have been tainted by the Alpha Legion and his current whereabouts are unknown. Hence, much of the Imperial data concerning the Last Primarch could be considered suspect, and indeed there are some who believe the whole Kravin affair was an Alpha Legion plot to plant misinformation in Imperial records. The greatest secret of the Alpha Legion's Primarch is apparently told to no one outside the XXth Legion, and has always been thus. For, unlike any of the other Primarchs, Alpharius actually has an identical twin: Omegon. It is unknown if the Emperor intended this when He created the Last Primarch, or was ever even aware that His final Primarch's engineered embryo had split into two identical fetuses during their gestation before they were stolen away by the Ruinous Powers.
Alpharius and Omegon were both the co-equal Primarchs of the Alpha Legion, although "Alpharius" was the public face of the XXth Legion and appeared as the more senior of the two. T hough as both Primarchs were physically identical it is possible for them to switch places and have "Omegon" play the public role of the Alpha Legion's Primarch. They have been described as "one soul in two bodies" and collectively have been referred to as simply "Alpharius Omegon". While the Astartes of the Alpha Legion made attempts to all look alike, both Alpharius and Omegon were still somewhat distinctive. Taller than the rest of the Astartes in their Legion as Primarchs always were, slightly copper-skinned, bald and possessed of a heavy brow, they somewhat resembled their brother Primarch Horus.
Unlike the Lupercal, Alpharius and Omegon had piercing eyes that seemed to glitter, appearing to shift colour from a cold arctic blue to a shimmering green. The overall impression given by Alpharius Omegon was one of nobility and intelligence. One way to tell the twin Primarchs apart was when Omegon was serving as the commander of his Effrit Stealth Squad; large portions of his Power Armour and other gear were painted black and otherwise darkened. The armour worn by Alpharius for his part was not particularly different from that of an ordinary Alpha Legionary. When such theatrics were required, both Alpharius and Omegon -- or one of their surrogates -- could appear as regal and stunning as any other Primarch.
Like most of the Primarchs, Corax was blessed with an extensive armoury of artificer-wrought weapons, but he most often bore to war a pair of metre-long Lightning Claws and a coiled whip at his belt. The latter was carried as a reminder of the cruelty enacted upon the people of Lycaeus by the tyrannical guild of Kiavahr and with it countless enemies have been laid low. Though few even amongst his sons know of it, Corax is blessed with the ability to pass unnoticed should he will it, this preternatural ability allowing him to slip from the perception of his enemies even when he was in plain view. After the near-destruction of his XIXth Legion during the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V at the start of the Horus Heresy, Corax was desperate to rebuild his Legion. With the Emperor's permission, he and his Astartes delved deep beneath the Imperial Palace to recover the advanced genetics knowledge that the Emperor had used to create the Primarchs. Corax then made use of these techniques and a recovered, undifferentiated Primarch genetic template to accelerate the development of new Raven Guard Astartes. The repercussions of those actions came back to haunt him, leading Corax to eventually grant the Emperor's Peace to all the twisted, mutant spawn who emerged as the result of his experiments. In the wake of the Horus Heresy, Corax vanished into the Eye of Terror in search of penance for his shame. His current whereabouts and status remain unknown to his Chapter and the Imperium.
The Legion
Warcry
"Hydra Dominatus!" or "For the Emperor!" (Believed to be used as a mockery; but may actually indicate the Legion's true loyalty)
The Alpha Legion is the Chaos Space Marine Traitor Legion about whom the least is known. The Alpha Legion was once the XXth Legion of Astartes created during the First Founding by the Emperor of Mankind to carry out His Great Crusade to reunite all of humanity in a new golden age under His rule. They are experts in infiltration, covert operations, misdirection and diversion tactics, and their armies contain many Chaos Cultists and other mortal agents in addition to regular Heretic Astartes.
The Alpha Legion's Primarch was named Alpharius, and was actually one of the identical twin Primarchs Alpharius Omegon, two brilliant and secretive sons of the Emperor, one of whom was reportedly later killed after the end of the Horus Heresy by Roboute Guilliman, the Primarch of the Ultramarines. Despite its seeming allegiance to Chaos, a closer scrutiny of the Alpha Legion's known history indicates that their seeming service to Chaos Undivided might actually be the greatest deception they have played upon the Imperium. With accounts of the Heresy the purview of the Ordo Malleus and only known to the bulk of Humanity as legend and myth, records of most of the Traitor Legions are very hard to come by. This is even more the case with the Alpha Legion, because the XXth Legion embraced misdirection and stealth as its primary means of conducting war. The Alpha Legion was the last of the Legiones Astartes to be united with its Primarch, only serving under him for a few solar decades before the Horus Heresy erupted.
The Legion was known as secretive in the extreme, favouring cunning ruses and clandestine deployments, and as such very little is known of its deeds. While most accounts involving the Traitor Legions are unreliable, those that mention the Alpha Legion are regarded by most Imperial savants with outright skepticism. The misinformation surrounding the Alpha Legion even extends to the nature and identity of its Primarch. Known by the cipher "Alpharius," very little is known of the Legion's Primarch besides his genius in implementing the most cunning of stratagems and tactics. It is said that Alpharius revelled in fighting in such a manner that his enemies only ever realised they were under attack at the very last moment. Such tactics are said to range from conventional flank attacks timed to strike at the precise moment when they would precipitate the enemy's complete collapse, to extended campaigns of infiltration, exploitation of partisan groups, undermining enemy command and control assets and spreading fear and suspicion through compromised communication networks.
As Space Marines, the Alpha Legion was entirely capable of conducting the full range of military operations normally associated with these elite, superhuman warriors. However, it appears that Alpharius and his warriors were disposed towards the use of the stealth and guile, preferring such tactics to more mundane approaches to war. This is said to have caused acrimony between Alpharius and Roboute Guilliman when the Alpha Legion was tasked with conquering the world of Tesstra Prime. The XXth Legion executed a masterful campaign in which every possible ruse and stratagem was utilised and the enemy defeated before he even realised he was fighting for his very existence, by which time he had suffered an estimated 90% losses.