PS:
Данная статья была не найдена в русско язычном варианте. А переводить мне честно - влом. Так что все кто знают англицкий. Прошу читайте и позновайте мудрость легионов титанов.

+++Titans Legions+++

Once the Tech-Priests had built their first temples on Mars and established the Tech-Guard to protect them, they also laid the basis for an offensive military arm for the Cult Mechanicus, the Titan Legions. They created weapons capable of functioning in the hostile environment now found on their planet. The vast fighting machines they built were Titans. These gigantic constructions are unlike anything ever seen on Earth, towering humanoid shaped weapons of destruction powered by plasma, or fusion, reactors and carrying mighty engines of destruction. On a world as barren as Mars now was the Titans could stride effortlessly over the hostile landscape where mere troopers of the Skitarii would be engulfed in the poisonous wastes and choking dust of the Martian deserts. Since that time the Titan Legions have formed the backbone of the armies of the Cult Mechanicus. Now, as a part of the Imperium of Mankind, they serve the Emperor.

Of all the galaxy’s fighting machines none can match the sheer size and power of a Titan. The largest Titans bristle with weaponed turrets and carry potent guns capable of destroying entire cities. Inside the Titan’s armored shell countless crew busy themselves with their duties. Some operate the throbbing engines that propel the machine enabling it to walk over the battlefield. Others direct its potent weapons of destruction, guiding its turrets and aiming its lethal missiles. A Titan is a ponderous battleship of the land. A machine of such size and complexity that it is accompanied by infantry and tanks so that it can deliver its substantial firepower in the most effective way. Some Titans carry troops into battle, their towering leg sections form mighty bastions from which squads of troops attack the enemy.

The construction of a Titan takes many years. Centuries of endeavor lie behind a single machine. The largest and oldest Titans of all are held to contain a spark of the Machine God’s divinity. They have a holiness invested in them by virtue of their antiquity and technical complexity, and the knowledge contained in their many machine spirits. The Tech-Priests bedeck the Titans with banners proclaiming their divine nature. On the eve of battle they anoint the machines with blessed holly oil and perform the Mass of the Cult Mechanicus before the entire legion. The sacred names of the Titans are chanted amidst readings from the Manual Technicanum Titanicus. To the Tech-Priests a Titan is more than a fighting machine it is an aspect of the Machine God, a holy and worshipful creation of Technology. To serve aboard a Titan is to serve the Machine God in person. To die there is to be joined unerringly with the spirit of the Machine God forever. Service aboard a Titan is the greatest that a mere mortal can perform.

When the Cult Mechanicus first started re-exploring the galaxy and establishing new Forge Worlds a complete Titan Legion of sixteen machines was sent to protect the new colony and crush its enemies. When the Emperor led mankind on the Great Crusade the Titan Legions of the Adeptus Mechanicus marched alongside the Space Marines. As the Imperium expanded the Adeptus Mechanicus took many worlds for themselves, planets which they settled and turned into the Mechanicus Forge Worlds. The became bases for the Titan Legions throughout the Galaxy, so today the Titan Legions are spread across the Imperium where they defend the scattered Forge Worlds of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
The exact number of Titans or Titan Legions is unknown, but as a minimum it must be conjectured that each of the over 1,000 Forge Worlds has a complete Titan Legion of sixteen machines. Demi-Legions are often dispatched to aid Imperial forces against great threats and, in times of emergency, whole legions may be sent to fight. In the recent Third Campaign for Armageddon the Adeptus Mechanicus dispatched four full Titan Legions, Ignatum, Invigilata, Tempestor, and Victorum. The Demi-Legion Crucius and the Quarto-Legion Magna were already on planet from the Second Armageddon Campaign, and the Demi-Legion Metalica represented the survivors, repairs, and new construction of the original Legio Metalica which was present on Armageddon at the time of the First Campaign.

A simple calculation of strength is not enough however. The Legio Ordo Sinister is the most elite and senior of the Titan Legions and consists of only twelve Imperator class Titans. Under the command of its renowned Grand Master Ferromort, the Legio Ordo Sinister has been used exclusively for inspiring terror and obedience in those who are in danger of disobeying the Pax Imperium. In this respect the Legion often works in conjuction with the Adeptus Arbites, the Inquisition and the Ecclesiarchy. The carefully planned assaults of Grand Master Ferromort are famous for their precision, ferocity and flawless execution. Great pains are taken to use the Legion as an example of implacable and faceless Imperial efficiency. The Legion remains an instrument of precision for the Imperium - a well-honed sabre rather than the sledgehammer of planetary bombardment or the broadsword of Space Marine intercession.

On the other hand, the Legio Destructor is probably the largest Titan Legion, comprising over a hundred machines of all classes. This is not surprising since the Forge World it defends lies only a hundred light years from the Eye of Terror and on the edge of the Ork empire known as Charadon. Led by their eccentric Grand Master Thaedius Wilson the Legio Destructor have fought off numerous Ork Waaaghs! and eruptions of Chaos from the Eye of Terror. It is rumored in some areas of the Adeptus Mechanicus that the constant exposure to Ork attacks has made the Legio Destructor increasingly unorthodox in its outlook and behavior, particularly in its attitude to battle and combat. The Princeps and crews of the Legio Destructor hunger for battle with an unusual exuberance. So far this thirst for battle has been viewed as a useful attribute, especially against foes other than Orks who find the Legion a highly unsettling opponents. But even the Fabricator General himself is believed to have expressed surprise on hearing that the Titans of the Legio Destructor are now fitted with sonic amplifiers so that the Legion can reply to the Orks’ howls with their own battle chant: " big death, Big Death, BIG DEATH!"

The sixteen machines of Legio Metalica were on Armageddon at the start of the first campaign against Ork Warlord Ghazghkull uruk Mag Thraka. After the assassination of the Legion’s Grand Master, Princeps Senioris Kurt Mannheim was ordered by the foolish and erratic, and now Traitor, Overlord of Armageddon, Herman von Strab to go out unsupported and destroy the Ork invaders. By Imperial law Princeps Senioris Mannheim was compelled to obey and the almost complete destruction of Legio Metalica forms an exemplar of duty and honor in the face of adversity for the entire Imperium of Man. Although outnumbered three to one the Legion destroyed many more than its own numbers of Ork Gargants and many of their supporting troops. Titan Steel Hammer commanded by Princeps Senioris Mannheim destroyed three Gargants before becoming seriously damaged but even then he pressed on into the heart of the Ork army before his plasma reactor exploded. The attack and explosion, and a flank attack by Servitor forces from Armageddon’s factories enabled some wrecked machines to be recovered and the damaged survivors to withdraw. At the end of the campaign Mannheim was posthumously awarded the Emperor’s Star for his bravery and loyalty to the Imperium. The Legion has been rebuilt and has won acclaim in the subsequent campaigns for Armageddon.

During the Horus Heresy a number of Titan Legions were corrupted or co-opted by the Warmaster’s forces. The most notorious of these was the Legio Mortis. The Legio Mortis was in direct support of Warmaster Horus before his daemon-possessed treachery against the Emperor. The Legio Mortis followed him willingly. When the Horus Heresy began by the virus-bombing of Istvaan III, it was the Legio Mortis which made the landings to scour the corpse-packed hives for the pitifully few survivors. Some say that it was mutated strains of this virus which brought about their final corruption. When the Legio Mortis landed on Earth to besiege the Emperor’s palace they were warped and mutated almost beyond recognition. The adamatium skins of their Titans were pocked and bubbled with foul effluvia, great tentacles of flesh and metal lashed and their titan heads had been transformed into drooling daemonic visages.

The remnants of the Legion fled to the Eye of Terror following the collapse of the rebellion and, from time to time, Chaos Titans bearing the tattered banners of the Legio Mortis have attacked human planets to wreak terrible vengeance on all living things for the defeat of their beloved Warmaster.

From the above examples it can be seen that the fighting power of the one thousand known Adeptus Mechanicus Titan Legions must easily exceed that of all the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes combined, and that with only the forces we know about. The numbers of the cohorts Knights and Castellians cannot be less than the number of Titan Legions and the number of their machines cannot be less than ten times more than the number of Titans. These forces spend most of their time protecting the planets of the Adeptus Mechanicus and so their true strength and numbers are not revealed.

Imperial Titans are usually in the basic shape of man, with a few exceptions such as the Warhound Scout Titan. Each titan is hand crafted in the hearts of forge worlds, and no two titans are the same. Imperial titans are built from admantium and plastisteel. These are some of the strongest alloys know to mankind, and many of the manufacturing techniques are highly guarded secrets of the tech priests. The Titans are powered by plasma reactors to fuel the massive power requirements. These reactors vary greatly in size for each Titan type, producing the exact power required, to minimize on weight. The titan legions can be generally put into different classes :
Scout Class - Reaver Class - Warlord Class - Emperor Class

The Emperor class contains the Titan Legions biggest titans, the Imperators. Imperator titans are the largest war machines fielded by Mankind on the battle field. They are walking strongholds, an entire military base contained within the hull. They have some of the largest weapons used by the Imperium, but fear is still their greatest weapon. The Emperor Class also includes the Warmonger Titans. They are elitist Titans that are only deployed in missions of the greatest urgency. They include weaponry used by the Mechanicus Ordinatus, and have great destructive power nearly rivalling the Imperator. The Warmongers have as much variance in design as the Scout Titans. The Tech Priests that create these titans are often on the verge of madness and their work represents their nightmares and fears. Many tortured minds have spawned a Warmonger, and the greatest Tech Priests create one as their last work before they die.

Imperial titan crew sizes vary depending on the Titans size, but every crew requires a Princeps. Titans are too large and sophisticated to be controlled using conventional methods, so the Princeps controls a titan through a direct mind link. Other crew members controlling sophisticated systems, such as firing the primary guns or communications, are also linked to the titan this way. The Princeps can give messages to these vital crew members with his thoughts, vastly improving the crew's efficiency. The amount of crew members connected to the titan depend on it's size. The Warhound commonly has only one member, the Princeps. The rest of the crew control the reactor and carry out repairs. In an Imperator, as many as seven crew members can be linked in this way, to keep the titan fighting effectively. Because each crew member becomes finely tuned to their titans neural network, changing titans if theirs is destroyed, becomes highly difficult. It's unlikely the link will be as strong as with their previous titan, if they are able to achieve one at all. Once settled, it may take a few years for the crew to return to their previous standard. The neural network technology used to control Imperial titans is a highly guarded secret of the Adeptus Mechanicus, no other race in the galaxy uses such a device. The Eldar are known to link with their war machines, from titan to falcon grav-tank, but they use their psychic abilities and wraithbone to achieve the same effect. The difference is that the Eldar can freely change from machine to machine and have the same strength link. This has stopped the Adeptus Mechanicus from including the technology in all Imperial war machines. Apart from titans, it is only used in Imperial space ships.