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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
→Great Crusade
===Great Crusade===
In the earliest days of the [[Great Crusade]] the First pushed out of the [[Sol System]], cleansing the [[Oort Cloud]] and keeping watch along the Heliopause border for terrors that sought to slip into the Emperor's new realm. They also liberated the outermost edges of the Sol System, recovering whatever few Human survivors could be found. By this point the Legion had become isolated and developed a complex culture of ciphers and rituals alongside the creation of the first specialized [[Orders of the First Legion|Orders]]. Upon their return from the outer Sol System their grey armor had been changed to pitch black. Upon their return they mustered at [[Saturn]], where the Emperor gifted them a fleet of ancient but highly advanced warships. In the ensuing Great Crusade across the greater Galaxy the First Legion continued their role as exterminators, using forbidden [[Archaeotech]] such as [[Gene-Phage]]s and [[Rad-Wave]]s to annihilate enemies deemed too terrible to face in open battle. As other Legions and [[Expeditionary Fleet]] oversaw the colonization and compliance of countless worlds The First fought nightmarish creatures and [[Xenos]] without hesitation or complaint. Many of their campaigns, such as those as at [[Behtelgen IV]], the [[Osiryne Cluster]] or the [[Sealing of the Black Gate|Black Gate]] have been deemed classified and thus to many the early career of the First Legion seems lacking.{{Fn|50c}}
These trials would face the Legion into a fearsome weapon and its [[Legion Master]] stood as the Left Hand of the Emperor. This role continued even as early [[Primarch]]s such as [[Leman Russ (Primarch)|Leman Russ]] were rediscovered, with the Legion Master being 3rd in the Imperial Court after [[Malcador (Character)|Malcador]] and [[Horus]]. However amid the countless battles the Hosts of the [[Hexagrammaton]], once an ever-shifting body of knowledge that changed to meet each challenge, had become stagnant. The warriors of the First assumed they had reached the apex of skill and could learn no more. Recruitment from outside their enclaves on Terra was minimal and each battle led them further down the path of arrogance. Tradition and ritual became more valued than innovation, and each Order and Host jealously guarded their small fragments of lore. The Legion began to turn in upon itself as other Legions such as the [[Luna Wolves]], [[Ultramarines]], and [[Imperial Fists]] had grown in prestige and number of triumphs. The final blow for the Legion's fragile pride came at [[Canis-Balor]] where the First was overcome by an unknown [[Xenos]] breed and [[Exterminatus]] was enacted at the cost of Grandmaster Thrane's life.{{Fn|50c}}
