The Emperor’s Angel of Death

“. It’s not just the fleet, the legion's auxiliary forces will also continue to be improved and built. We aim to train 25 million elite mortal soldiers by the year 42,000. At that time, the Unbowed Army will be a powerful armed force integrating Astartes, mortal troops, Adeptus Custodes, and knightly houses, sufficient to destroy any enemy attempting to infringe on human interests! And when the Imperium falls into chaos and turmoil, it will become a key force in stabilizing the situation.

“To achieve this series of goals, in addition to external construction, the structure of the Astartes, as the core force, also needs to be adjusted. We must truly unite as a legion!”

“Firstly, to ensure the progress of new recruit transformation, the Apothecary Associations of the Star Knights and the White Templars will be merged and divided into three parts: the Transformation Department, the Field Medical Department, and the Unity and Integration Department. The Transformation Department is responsible for the transformation of all new recruits in the legion. The Field Medical Department is responsible for dispatching apothecaries to various companies and regularly checking the health of the gene-seed of the warriors. The Unity and Integration Department is responsible for preserving the gene-seed of non-legion bloodlines and negotiating the number and proportion of various gene-seed transformations according to the needs of each company. The heads of the three departments are of equal rank and are all called Chief Apothecary. Important decisions of the Apothecary Association will be resolved through consultation among the three apothecaries. If the consultation fails, I will handle it.”

“Secondly, the armories and Reclusiams of the two chapters will also be merged. However, the merger of the armories is not a personnel merger, but the establishment of a higher-level department, the Legion Armory Department. This department will统筹管理all existing and future produced weapons and equipment of the legion, formulate the legion's equipment production plan according to the needs of the force construction, and conduct statistics on the existing equipment quantity to promptly check for deficiencies and omissions. The existing chapter armories will be renamed the First Armory and the Second Armory. More may be added in the future as appropriate. In addition, the Legion Armory Department also has departments such as the Pushtiban Armory, the Vashtih Armory, the Fighter-Biker Armory, and the Knight Armory. The daily management of the Legion Armory Department is hosted by a joint committee composed of 3 Astartes, 2 Mechanicus priests, 1 general, and 1 knight.”

“. The merged Reclusiam will not only be responsible for the spirit and thoughts of the battle brothers, but also be responsible for managing and supervising the instructor system of the mortal auxiliary forces. The person in charge of the Legion Reclusiam will be directly appointed by me.”

“. I wonder if everyone has noticed that although we are now battle brothers of a legion, our combat mode and combat habits still maintain the appearance of the chapter era.”

Saying that, Soshiyang took a thick-skinned book delivered by a wobbly servo-skull and held it up with a smile.

“The Codex Astartes is indeed a good thing. It taught the Astartes, who originally fought in large corps, how to fight in small formations. However, it also has a prerequisite, that is, the Imperium will never encounter opponents as powerful as those during the Great Crusade and the Great Rebellion, and the Imperium will never be forced to the edge of life and death again. Under this premise, the chapters sprinkled across the galaxy like rain can extinguish crises in the bud, ensuring that the Imperium does not encounter large-scale wars and crises... Facts have proved that it is effective, but only effective for less than two thousand years.”

“. When the green-skinned remnants of Ullanor rose again in the 32nd millennium, the defects of the Codex Astartes were finally exposed. The scattered and independent chapters could not even cope with a sector-level war, and the strict power barriers prevented the chapters from uniting the armed forces around them, such as the Imperial Guard, the Navy, etc. If it were not for the last insurance left by the Primarch of the Imperial Fists, then the whole situation would be unimaginable. However, the lesson that mankind can learn from history is that mankind has never learned the lesson. The War of the Beast did not change anything until the end. Perhaps the only change was that the last high wall was destroyed forever, and the Deathwatch organization appeared. But since then, the role of the Codex has only been to simply restrict. The Great Raider Abaddon grew from a stray dog to a confidant under the eyes of the Imperium. The distant T'au developed their empire at the doorstep of the Ultramarines. The dynasties of the Necrons recovered one after another, and the Tyranid Hive Fleets treated the Imperium as their food bowl. None of the real crises can be extinguished, and the restricted chapters can only continue to use one pyrrhic victory after another to temporarily curb the speed of the Imperium's decline.”

“. But everyone can see that the speed of the chapter's fall is far faster than the speed of the Imperium's decline. Does everyone know how many chapters have been removed from the Astartes brotherhood so far in this 41st millennium (statistics are for the millennium from 41k-42k)? 65, a whole 65 chapters, 65,000 battle brothers either died in battle, or defected, or disappeared. This does not include the personnel losses of the existing chapters. And how many new chapters have been added in the entire 41st millennium? 14, only 14. The newest chapter is the Sable Swords, which replaced the Star Knights.” (These are data roughly researched by Old Mo, which may be slightly less)

Saying that, Soshiyang threw the Codex Astartes aside. Before it fell, two servo-skulls had already caught it and flew away wobbling.

“. Whether it is for fighting or survival, we must abandon it. The command structure of the legion will be completely rebuilt to ensure that the legion can effectively respond to wars of various scales. After all, the strength of a single company is too weak, and the number of an entire chapter is too large. For this reason, I will add a composite battalion to the organizational structure between the combat company and the chapter.”

As Soshiyang spoke, display panels floated up from behind him, forming a very large screen. Then, a detailed chapter structure diagram appeared on the screen.

“. The tactical squad, as well as the company-level personnel and organization, will remain basically unchanged, but the equipment configuration will be modified to a certain extent. For example, each company will guarantee at least one tactical dreadnought (terminator) squad. Companies and tactical squads mainly support planet-level operations, while the core of the composite battalion is composed of three tactical companies, one dreadnought squad (3 units), and one super-heavy armor squadron. But since it is a composite, it is not just Astartes. It also includes at least fifteen Vashtih regiments and three Pushtiban regiments, one combat robot battalion, one Mechanicus support regiment, and a certain number of naval and air force forces configured according to combat needs. The composite battalion mainly supports galaxy-level operations. In addition, the composite battalion is not a fixed organization and is only temporarily formed when combat is needed.”

“On the surface, the chapter still maintains a thousand-man organization, but the original Star Knights and White Templars only exist as administrative and foreign affairs organizations. The real combat chapter is composed of no less than five companies or three composite battalions. At the same time, a chapter will contain at least forty Vashtih regiments and ten Pushtiban regiments, two combat robot battalions, two Mechanicus support regiments, a knightly house gunline (twelve knightly mechs), and naval and air force support provided by a main fleet.”

“To adapt to the new structure, the original titles will also be adjusted. The centurion and chiliarch systems will be abolished. The company level and below will remain unchanged. The title of Consul will be added above the company level. This is both an honorary title and a combat position. In principle, the temporary commander of the composite battalion will be appointed by the acting legion commander, and the chapter commander will be the Consul, and he also has the power to appoint a temporary composite battalion commander.”