Dukas Legion
Recruitment Zone: Trajanus, Fort Dukas, Forestport, Meyers Mine and House Dukas Dependencies
Beating Order: Combined forces officially sanctioned by order of Inquisitor Hraxis 419001 M42
No. of Active Companies: na
No. of Battalions: na
Class: Capital EstablishmentCommanding Officer: Colonel Tarleton
Post Amalgamation Battle Honours:
Litha (Gibsum's Waaagh)
Arthos (Scylla Crusade)
Kali (Scylla Crusade)
Battle of the Pyramids (Scylla Crusade)
Kali-Amyaans (Scylla Crusade)
Amun Tower (Kali Liberation)
At the close of the 27th Agrippa War, commonly known as the Scylla Crusade, rumors began to appear in military circles that House Dukas, one the preeminent house in Agrippa sector and in exile since the close of the Gibsum Debacle, was resurgent. Imperial officers reported contact with Andronicus Dukas, thought lost in the virus bombing of Litha. If true, Andronicus Dukas would have been in exile for 26 years.
When House Dukas was pushed into exile and declared heretical by Cardinal Duke Thrackos, their fleet (or the survivors of the Battle of Litha) jumped off into Warp Space. Their house ground forces, however, remained for the most part in the service of the Emperor, although many were considered suspect after Thrackos Excomunicado decree. The 14-17th Forestport Rangers, for instance, were fighting at Armageddon. The Woodhull Mounted Rifles were part of the Osiris Desert Force. The Myers Hill Independent Armor Regiment was in the process of loading into transports to join a force being assembled to face Hive Fleet Lazarus.
What seems certain is that many of these units received word that Lord Dukas was alive and rebuilding the fortunes of his house, although the means by which he assembled his Legion would probably not bear too much inspection. Campaign reports suggest that he started the force by recruiting local tribals on Arthos in Scylla Sector, using them to fight against the Eldar. But at some point some negotiation with one of the Eldar forces must have been accomplished, as the Legion was later allowed to train on Arthos and certainly possesses some Eldar equipment, such as gas masks and laser sights.
It would be pointless to guess the means by which Colonel Tarleton of the Forestport Rangers succeeded in moving almost a full battalion to Arthos without actually coming to blows with Imperial Authority, and the presence of almost two full squadrons of Myer's Hill Armor should be greeted with the same suspicion. The two troops of Woodhull Mounted Rifles almost defy belief, as the entire Regiment is listed as "killed in action" at the battle of Osiris IV.
However it was accomplished, the Legion's existence and timely arrival at the siege of Kali remain a matter of historical fact, as does the lifting of the ban of excommunication by Inquisitor Hraxis. Perhaps for services on Arthos, perhaps for other reasons, the shady methods used to gather the Legion were largely ignored by Imperial authorities, possibly with a sigh of relief.
- The term Legion was used in archaic times to denote a unit of Roman infantry. Subsequently, however, in the second and third millennia, the term was used to describe a mixed force of different types of troops, sometimes of an ad hoc nature. Sirius Constantius facit.