Task Force Eclipse, now formally recognized within the Dawns March Defense Force (DMDF), represents the apex fusion of Spartan-II power, multi-domain operational mastery, and strategic precision unmatched in the United Colonial Group's history. It exists at the razor's edge between conventional military supremacy and special operations lethality, capable of striking with planetary-shaking force or vanishing into shadow before an enemy can comprehend the scope of their losses.

Formed during the height of the Regime expansion campaigns, Task Force Eclipse was designed as a strategic scalpel and sledgehammer in one, a force capable of dismantling hardened xeno fortresses, crippling insurrectionist networks, or shattering enemy fleets in joint orbital-surface strikes. Its six Regiments, each commanded by a legendary Spartan-II, combine specialized combat disciplines into a unified operational organism, able to transition between roles seamlessly under battlefield conditions.

Operating under the banner of the UCG Regime elite, the Legion serves as a strategic deterrent to all who might test the authority of the Regime. Eclipse is not a hammer brought down in anger; it is a total solar eclipse, extinguishing an enemy's strength in silence before delivering the final, obliterating strike.

I. Hierarchical Framework

Task Force Eclipse's internal hierarchy is designed to ensure rapid adaptability without sacrificing command discipline. As a Legion of the Dawns March Defense Force, it mirrors the UNICOM rank structure. Still, it adds specialized operational departments built to leverage its hybrid Spartan-II special operations and full-scale warfighting capabilities. The Legion's chain of command is deliberately lean at the top, giving Regimental leaders direct access to the Commanding General and Executive Officer without the bureaucratic layers typical in other Legions.

Legion Commanding General (LCG) – Chief E146 David "Zeus" Reilley

• As the supreme commander of Task Force Eclipse, Zeus defines the Legion's operational priorities, strategic direction, and wartime philosophy. Every deployment order, alliance coordination, and inter-theater maneuver ultimately passes through his authority. His leadership style combines measured patience with decisive strikes, always keeping the Legion's human cost at the forefront. In his presence, orders are delivered not as cold directives but as shared commitments, an ethos that has forged the Legion into one of the most cohesive units in the DMDF.

Legion Executive Officer (LXO) – Chief E339 Sarah "Enyo" Palmer

• Formerly the commanding officer of Spartan Operations within the UNSC, Sarah Palmer is a figure both revered and feared in military circles. During the aftermath of the Spartan Purge, Palmer, disillusioned with the UNSC’s fractured command and political interference, defected alongside Zeus, bringing her unmatched operational experience to the United Colonial Group. As LXO, she is the Legion's operational fulcrum:
• Oversees daily readiness drills, logistics coordination, and personnel rotation schedules.
• Acts as acting commander during Zeus's absence, ensuring no lapse in operational tempo.
• Direct liaison between the Legion's Regimental Commanders and the DMDF's higher echelons.
• Maintains oversight of the Legion's inter-theater coordination with GBA assets, especially in black ops and counter-insurgency theaters.
  Palmer's leadership style is uncompromising and results-driven. While Zeus inspires loyalty through deep personal bonds, Palmer enforces discipline and efficiency with surgical precision. Between them, they form a command dyad, Zeus as the unshakable shield, Palmer as the relentless spear.

Legion Command Council

• This advisory and decision-making body meets under Zeus's authority but is often chaired operationally by Palmer. Members include:
• Six Regimental Commanders (All Spartan-II veterans, each a specialist in their respective operational domains).
• Legion Chief Intelligence Officer: Manages SIGINT, HUMINT, cyber operations, and predictive threat modeling.
• Legion Chief Operations Officer: Coordinates operational timelines, force readiness, and multi-domain engagement plans.
• Legion Chief Logistics Officer: Oversees war materiel procurement, resupply, field maintenance, and long-term sustainability plans.

Here’s the expanded Primary Departments section for Task Force Eclipse, written in full UCG Regime wiki style with a Spartan assigned to lead each department.

Primary Departments of Task Force Eclipse

While the regiments of Task Force Eclipse form the Legion’s battlefield teeth, its Primary Departments serve as the nervous system, the specialized branches that ensure the Legion’s operational readiness, strategic precision, and survivability across every theater of war. Each department is commanded by a Colonel or Lieutenant Colonel–ranked Spartan, chosen for their mastery in their respective domain and their ability to translate that expertise into decisive combat advantage.

1. Operations Command

Commander: Colonel E184 “Hyperion” Vassilis – Spartan-III
Specialization: High-intensity mission coordination and adaptive command execution.

Operations Command is the nerve center of Task Force Eclipse. It directs mission planning, oversees live battlefield operations, and maintains the Legion’s command network, a hardened, multi-tier system capable of functioning even under conditions of orbital jamming and ground-based ECM. Hyperion’s leadership style is characterized by rapid decision cycles, enabling Eclipse units to outpace enemy reaction times in both large-scale engagements and black ops missions.

Key Functions:

• Live oversight of all deployed Spartan and Myrmidon elements.
• Real-time redirection of units based on shifting battlefield conditions.
• Coordination between regimental commanders and fleet support assets.

2. Intelligence Division

Commander: Lieutenant Colonel E191 “Mnemosyne” Kaelis – Spartan-IV
Specialization: Strategic and tactical intelligence gathering, infiltration coordination.

The Intelligence Division serves as Eclipse’s hidden blade, providing real-time threat updates, enemy movement projections, and deep infiltration capabilities. Mnemosyne, named for the ancient Titaness of memory, is a master of synthesizing fragmented data streams into coherent, actionable intelligence. This division maintains its own network of classified reconnaissance assets, including stealth-dropped Myrmidon teams and orbital sensor buoys hidden in contested space.

Key Functions:

• Planetary and orbital reconnaissance.
• Counterintelligence operations against UNSC, ONI remnants, and xeno powers.
• Management of black-list infiltration missions ahead of major deployments.

3. Logistics & Support

Commander: Colonel E203 “Hephaestus” Rhon – Spartan-IV
Specialization: Advanced systems maintenance and rapid equipment refit cycles.

Logistics & Support ensures that every Spartan, Myrmidon, Titan, and orbital drop system within Eclipse operates at peak performance. Under Hephaestus, this department has refined the art of combat-zone resupply, capable of delivering ammunition, replacement armor plating, and even modular weapon systems directly into active firezones. This includes specialized Spartan system upkeep, from Mjolnir armor calibration to post-mission Titan reactor cycling.

Key Functions:

• Maintenance and refit of Titan war machines and Spartan combat systems.
• Rapid-deployment supply chain management in active combat theaters.
• Field engineering for fortification or breach operations.

4. Strategic Warfare Division

Commander: Lieutenant Colonel E159 “Prometheus” Hale – Spartan-III
Specialization: Theater-level campaign design, fleet-ground force integration.

Strategic Warfare Division crafts the grand operational picture, determining how Eclipse fits into multi-system campaigns and ensuring perfect integration between planetary forces, orbital weapons platforms, and the Legion Fleet. Prometheus is renowned for his anticipatory warfare models, crafting campaign plans that remain effective even when 40% of variables shift mid-operation.

Key Functions:

• High-level campaign coordination with the DMDF High Command.
• Planning and execution of planetary invasions and orbital blockades.
• Integration of spaceborne firepower into ground offensive doctrine.

5. Medical & Rehabilitation Corps

Commander: Colonel E174 “Chiron” Damaris – Spartan-IV
Specialization: Augmentation health, battlefield medicine, and combat rehabilitation.

The Medical & Rehabilitation Corps safeguards the Legion’s most valuable assets, its operators. Chiron, a Spartan-IV with both combat and surgical training, leads a corps capable of performing augmentation upkeep in the field, reversing severe trauma under combat conditions, and restoring wounded Spartans to operational status in record time. The division also oversees post-augmentation integration for new Spartan-IV ascensions from the Epilektoi.

Key Functions:

• Spartan and Myrmidon combat medical care.
• Augmentation and Mjolnir neural interface upkeep.
• Rehabilitation programs for returning wounded to frontline readiness.

The result is a two-headed command structure, Zeus provides the grand strategic vision and ethical compass, while Palmer ensures that vision is executed flawlessly, without hesitation or compromise. This balance of principled leadership and operational ferocity is what allows Task Force Eclipse to function at peak efficiency even under extreme conditions.

II. High Command Integration

Task Force Eclipse (TFE), as a fully recognized Legion within the Dawns March Defense Force, sits at the intersection of frontline operational command and the Regime's strategic reserve. Its integration into High Command is unique; it is both an active combat asset and a strategic deterrent under constant direct oversight from the UCG's military leadership.

Command Chain Position

• President Supreme / Lord Commander of the DMDF → Grand General of the DMDF → Legion Commanding General (Zeus)
• Unlike standard Legions, TFE bypasses intermediate Corps-level bureaucracy for most Mission directives, reporting directly to the Grand General for deployment orders and strategic coordination.

Direct Oversight Responsibilities

• Grand General Ethan Hunter Sanders serves as the Legion's immediate operational superior, ensuring TFE's deployments align with the broader Regime war doctrine.
• The High Minister of War Doctrine is kept continuously briefed on Eclipse operations due to their potential political impact and strategic sensitivity.
• Imperial Directorate Inquisition (IDI) and Galactic Bureau Agency (GBA) maintain advisory liaison officers within TFE command structures for intelligence sharing and covert asset coordination.

Operational Autonomy
While most DMDF Legions operate within assigned sectors or defensive zones, Eclipse enjoys strategic mobility privileges. This means it can be redeployed inter-theater within days, often without prior public or even inter-military notice. High Command grants this mobility because:

1. Eclipse operations are often classified at Regime Level Ω (Omega), the highest secrecy rating in the UCG military.
2. Deployment decisions require rapid response to fleeting opportunities, a chain of approval involving only the Grand General and Lord Commander.

Strategic Role within High Command
Eclipse is regarded as the Regime "Black Banner Legion", a force whose mobilization signals to allies and enemies alike that a campaign has entered a decisive phase. In High Command war councils, the phrase "The Eclipse has fallen " is shorthand for the moment when victory is expected to become inevitable.

III. Unified Combat Command Integration

Within the Unified Combat Command (UCC) framework, the Regime's cross-branch operational coordination body, Task Force Eclipse, is classified as a Multi-Domain Special Maneuver Legion. This designation places it in the rare category of units designed to integrate seamlessly with all operational branches: ground, naval, aerospace, and unconventional warfare.

Cross-Branch Integration

• Naval Command: Eclipse Regiments regularly deploy aboard Legion Fleet capital ships, including Orion-class carriers and Leviathan-class dreadnoughts, often forming the tip of the spear for planetary assault or boarding actions. Naval fire support coordinates directly with Athena's Wardens for precision bombardment.
• Aerospace Command: Works alongside DMDF Air-Legions for rapid atmospheric insertion, Titan deployment drops, and air superiority sweeps preceding ground offensives.
• Special Warfare Command: Maintains embedded joint-operational protocols with the GBA's clandestine units for deep infiltration, sabotage, and assassination missions beyond conventional warfronts.

Operational Doctrine under UCC
TFE's integration into UCC is based on three operational principles:

1. Multi-Domain Convergence: All operational elements (ground, air, space, cyber) act in concert to achieve simultaneous force dominance.
2. Rapid Strategic Exploitation: Eclipse's role is not only to create a breach but to exploit it fully, denying the enemy any capacity to recover.
3. Parallel Warfare Capability: Capable of running simultaneous primary operations across multiple theaters, with each Regiment functioning as a self-contained task group while still under unified Legion command.

UCC Operational Access

• TFE Command has Level-1 Access to UCC's Joint Strategic Operations Network, enabling real-time coordination with every Regime combat arm in-theater.
• Zeus and Palmer are both authorized to issue Joint Task Force (JTF) Activation Orders, granting them temporary command authority over DMDF, Naval, and Aerospace assets assigned to their operational theater.
• During Omega-class missions, Eclipse assumes Theater Command Authority, effectively making Zeus and Palmer the operational heads of all UCG forces in the AO until Mission completion.

Cultural Perception within UCC
Eclipse's presence in any UCC battle plan is considered a force multiplier of exponential scale. Their ability to synchronize multiple service branches in the heat of combat has led to them being called the "Harmonic Blade" of the Regime, each Regiment a perfectly tuned edge, striking in concert with the others for devastating effect.

IV. Regiment Structure (Six Regiments)

1st Regiment: "Zeus' Thunderclads" (Chief E146 "Zeus")

• Specialization: Rapid insertion & shock assault.
• Role: Decapitation strikes, breakthrough operations, and high-speed planetary assault drops.
• Deployment: First wave in planetary assaults, often from high-orbit insertion craft, Titans, or stealth Drop pods.

2nd Regiment: "Hera's Sentinels" (Chief E147 "Hera I")

• Specialization: Defensive warfare & strategic fortification.
• Role: Holding ground against overwhelming force, protecting vital installations and Regime assets.
• Deployment: Garrison in high-value planetary positions, orbital defense boarding operations.

3rd Regiment: "Hades' Hellraisers" (Chief E108 "Hades I")

• Specialization: Heavy assault & psychological warfare.
• Role: Battlefield devastation via siegecraft, demolitions, and morale-shattering assaults.
• Deployment: Urban annihilation operations, anti-fleet planetary bombardment coordination.

4th Regiment: "Poseidon's Tempests" (Chief E177 "Poseidon")

• Specialization: Covert operations & deep infiltration.
• Role: Sabotage, intelligence gathering, systems disruption.
• Deployment: Stealth ships, underwater/spaceborne infiltration, pre-invasion destabilization missions.

5th Regiment: "Ares' Warbringers" (Chief E151 "Ares I")

• Specialization: Large-scale engagement dominance.
• Role: Frontline shock troops, spearhead armor assaults, relentless pressure warfare.
• Deployment: Sustained combat zones requiring high attrition tolerance.

6th Regiment: "Athena's Wardens" (Chief E167 "Athena I")

• Specialization: Strategic coordination & battlefield intelligence. Covert Operations and Assassinations.
• Role: Intelligence gathering, covert operations, black ops, stealth ops, assassination, command, and coordination of entire Legion operations.
• Deployment: Embedded with all Regiments to maintain synchronization and strategic oversight.

V. Command Philosophy & Deployment Doctrine

Task Force Eclipse operates under the Doctrine of Convergent Force, a battlefield philosophy that views war as a symphony of precision, timing, and overwhelming momentum. Rather than relying on blunt attritional campaigns, Eclipse's operations are designed to collapse enemy resistance through synchronized, multi-domain strikes that leave no avenue for recovery.

Core Principles

• Precision Over Attrition
• Every operation is a calculated strike against the enemy's center of gravity, whether that be leadership, logistics, communications, or morale. Eclipse avoids protracted engagements unless they serve a larger strategic collapse.
• Rapid Adaptability
• Eclipse is trained and equipped to reconfigure Mission parameters mid-operation. If intelligence changes, the Legion shifts seamlessly. What begins as a stealth insertion can transition to a full-scale assault within minutes.
• Unity of Force
• The Legion operates as an interconnected organism. Each Regiment is a specialized limb, but they strike in harmony. Zeus and Palmer ensure no operational seam exists for the enemy to exploit.
• Information Dominance
• Athena's Wardens ensure that every move is made with superior intelligence, feeding real-time data to all Regiments. The Legion treats actionable information as a weapon on par with its most powerful ordnance.
• Speed as a Weapon
• Eclipse seeks to overwhelm not only physically but mentally, attacking faster than the enemy can process or respond, creating the perception of inevitability.

Deployment Doctrine

Eclipse is rarely deployed in its entirety unless the operation's strategic stakes warrant Regime-level mobilization orders. Most often, it operates in paired Regimental strike packages, tailored to the Mission:

• Shock & Breach Package (Zeus + Ares)
  Designed for rapid breakthroughs in heavily fortified positions.
• Covert Collapse Package (Poseidon + Athena)
  Sabotage and intelligence operations ahead of major offensives.
• Siege & Secure Package (Hades + Hera)
  Ground dominance and area denial in drawn-out campaigns.

Full Legion Deployments are reserved for:

• Omega-class planetary invasions.
• Strategic deterrence missions (show-of-force operations).
• Joint Regime-GBA deep-strike campaigns into hostile or contested sectors.

The doctrine emphasizes operational rhythm:

• Initiate with covert disruption.
• Strike with rapid force concentration.
• Exploit through overwhelming maneuver dominance.
• Consolidate under fortified control before the enemy counter-attack.

Eclipse's hallmark is that every phase flows into the next with no operational pauses, an unbroken chain of decisive actions that suffocate enemy options.

VI. Key Personnel Table (Updated & Completed)

“People think war is decided by the size of the fleet or the number of boots in the mud. They’re wrong. War is won in the moments your enemy realizes they are already beaten, when the strike has already landed, and the blade is already at their throat. Task Force Eclipse exists for that moment. We are not here to bleed our people dry in grinding wars. We are here to end them before they begin. That means every man and woman under my command comes home, or I do not come home at all. If you serve with us, you will learn one thing quickly: I am not the kind of commander who counts victories in territory. I count them in lives.”

— Spartan Legion Commander E146 “Zeus”

I. Cultural Ethos

Task Force Eclipse's culture is forged from the convergence of Spartan-II brotherhood, exceptional operations adaptability, and the doctrinal discipline of the UCG Regime. Its members are not simply soldiers; they are practitioners of war as both science and art, viewing combat as a craft to be perfected. Every operator is indoctrinated into the belief that "Victory is not survival, victory is control," emphasizing that success is defined by the ability to shape the battlefield and dictate the Enemy's fate.

Eclipse warriors see themselves as guardians of decisive outcomes. They reject the notion of wars won by attrition; instead, they believe in ending conflicts before they can consume resources and lives unnecessarily. Loyalty is personal, built not on blind faith in the Regime but on unshakable trust in their Legion, its leaders, and their brothers- and sisters-in-arms.

At its core, Eclipse's ethos is anchored to the Convergent Force Doctrine: that precise timing, unity of effort, and multi-domain dominance will always triumph over sheer numbers. In this belief, every Spartan of Eclipse carries a dual role: executor of war and guardian of those who cannot fight for themselves.

II. Symbolism and Mythic Identity

Task Force Eclipse's identity is built on the deliberate fusion of mythic archetype and operational legend. The Regime understood from the beginning that elite forces fight not only with weapons, but with the weight of their own story, and so, each Regiment's name was chosen to be more than a designation. It is a living standard, a mantle of identity that shapes the Regiment's combat philosophy and inspires both its members and those who fight alongside them.

Every Regiment is commanded by a Spartan whose callsign is the same as their Regiment's name, binding the force's reputation directly to its leader's battlefield record. This creates a dual legacy effect:

1. The Spartans shape the Regiment: Infusing it with their approach to war.
2. The Regiment shapes the Spartan: Amplifying their name into a living myth across the DMDF and beyond.

Regimental Symbolism

• 1st Regiment: Zeus' Thunderclads (Chief E146 "Zeus")
• Symbol: Lightning bolt striking through a blackened sun.
• Meaning: Supreme Command, decisive strikes, and shock action. Zeus himself is the embodiment of swift, overwhelming force, making his Regiment the archetype of the "first blow, final blow" philosophy.
• 2nd Regiment: Hera's Sentinels (Chief E147 "Hera I")
• Symbol: A golden crown encircled by an unbroken iron ring.
• Meaning: Protection, loyalty, and unyielding defense. Hera's Regiment stands as the bastion against all assaults, their name a warning to enemies that this ground will not fall.
• 3rd Regiment: Hades' Hellraisers (Chief E108 "Hades I")
• Symbol: A skeletal hand rising from fire.
• Meaning: Dominion over destruction, mastery of fear. Hades' warriors excel at siege, psychological warfare, and the kind of relentless devastation that breaks an Enemy's will to fight.
• 4th Regiment: Poseidon's Tempests (Chief E177 "Poseidon")
• Symbol: A trident piercing waves of silver.
• Meaning: Control of hidden paths, mastery of infiltration. Poseidon's Tempests strike from unexpected directions, from beneath oceans, from space, from deep cover, their assaults like sudden storms.
• 5th Regiment, Ares' Warbringers (Chief E151 "Ares I")
• Symbol: Twin crossed crimson spears.
• Meaning: Unrelenting martial fury. Ares' Regiment is pure offensive might, specializing in shock and awe tactics that overwhelm opponents with raw force and aggression.
• 6th Regiment, Athena's Wardens (Chief E167 "Athena I")
• Symbol: An owl's head crowned with laurel.
• Meaning: Strategic wisdom, battlefield oversight, and precision coordination. Athena's Wardens are the Legion's brain, ensuring every Regiment moves as part of a perfect whole.

The Legion's primary emblem, the black sun in total Eclipse, flanked by curved silver arcs, binds all six Regiments together, symbolizing unity under a single purpose. The arcs themselves are said to represent the six shields of the gods, each one the protective strength of a Regiment covering the others.

III. Behavioral Customs

Task Force Eclipse operates under a culture of discipline, adaptability, and deep personal loyalty. Their customs are designed to reinforce the interdependence of all Regiments and the living-myth persona of each commander.

Cross-Regiment Familiarity

• Eclipse Spartans train with multiple Regiments throughout their careers, ensuring that if one Regiment falters or a commander is incapacitated, others can seamlessly take over their operational role.
• It is common for Spartans to carry secondary heraldic patches of Regiments they have served alongside, worn on the inside of their armor as personal talismans.

Battlefield Address Protocol

• In combat, ranks are not used when referring to Spartans; they are addressed only by their god-name callsign (Zeus, Hera, etc.). This reinforces the Regiment's mythic presence and focuses attention on the Mission, not formalities.

The Shield Exchange

• Before major multi-Regiment deployments, each commander presents a symbolic "shield", a personalized piece of armor, to another Regiment. These items are worn into battle as a visible declaration that the Regiments will defend each other to the death.

After-Action Circle (Eclipse-wide)

• After any operation, surviving Spartans form a silent circle in the Drop bay or rally point. The commander steps into the center, names the fallen aloud, and the circle repeats each name once in unison before dispersing. The ritual is as much about honoring the dead as reaffirming the living bond between survivors.

Readiness Customs

• Three-Minute Rule: All Spartans are expected to be combat-ready and in complete kit within three minutes of an alert, regardless of location or activity.
• Cross-Skill Rotation: Spartans periodically rotate into other Regiments' training programs to broaden skill sets and prevent operational stagnation.

These customs foster an internal culture where individual pride is secondary to collective performance, and where every action reinforces the Legion's identity as a single, unified war machine, even when deployed as separate Regiments.

IV. Ceremonial Rites and Traditions

• Oath of the Eclipse: Upon joining the Legion, Spartans swear a private oath in the presence of Zeus and Palmer. The exact words are classified, but it is known to bind the warrior to the lives of their comrades as much as to the Mission itself.
• The Black Banner Unfurling: The Legion's war banner, a jet-black field with the eclipsed sun sigil in crimson and gold, is only displayed in full-scale Legion deployments. Its unfurling is a signal that the operation is of decisive strategic importance.
• Return of the Fallen: No Eclipse Spartan is ever left behind. If recovery of the body is impossible, a fragment of their armor is taken back to the Legion hall, where it is interred in the Wall of Shadows.

A particularly feared tradition among enemies is the "Silent Descent", a full-scale multi-Regiment Drop in which no comms chatter is broadcast, no lights are active, and the only warning is the sudden, synchronized impact of hundreds of Drop pods and Titan landers.

V. Worldview and Enemy Perception

Eclipse views enemies not as faceless masses, but as systems to be dismantled. The individual soldier on the opposing side is not their focus; the structures enabling that soldier to fight are. This clinical approach aims to strip emotion from tactical decisions without losing their humanity toward their own.

However, once an Enemy demonstrates the will to commit atrocities or target non-combatants, Eclipse shifts from strategic dismantling to total neutralization, a campaign designed to ensure that such a threat never rises again. Within the DMDF, this is referred to as invoking "The Final Eclipse."

In return, the Legion is perceived by adversaries as an inescapable omen. Rebel cells and Enemy officers alike often use the phrase "When the sun dies, so do we" to describe the hopelessness of facing Eclipse in the field.

VI. Legion Mantras & Cultural Lexicon

Common Mantras:

• "Strike together, strike once."
• "The Eclipse falls without warning."
• "We are the shadow before the dawn."
• "Victory is control."

Operational Lexicon:

• Black Banner: Code for full Legion mobilization.
• Eclipse Point: The moment at which the Enemy's resistance is mathematically unsustainable.
• Shadowfall: Coordinated multi-domain strike involving at least three Regiments.
• Solar Silence: Temporary blackout of all Legion comms before decisive action.

VII. Legacy and Cultural Influence

The legacy of Task Force Eclipse within the UCG Regime is one of living myth and feared inevitability. In the years since its formation, the Legion has become more than a military formation; it is a symbol of decisive action, a reminder to both allies and enemies that when the Eclipse falls, the battle is already lost.

The Eclipse logo: A stylized black sun in total Eclipse, flanked by two sweeping, blade-like arcs, has transcended its role as a mere military insignia. In Regime propaganda, the emblem is always depicted as emerging from the darkness, the arcs gleaming gold or silver, suggesting both the encircling shields of the six Regiments and the lethal strike of their unity. Within the Legion, the logo is revered as a battle standard and a bond mark, worn on left pauldrons, etched onto the chest plates of ceremonial armor, and burned into the banners that hang in the Legion's great hall.

For civilians across UCG space, the sight of the Eclipse insignia carries complex meaning:

• To Regime citizens, it is the assurance of safety that the strongest shield and sharpest sword in the galaxy is ready to act.
• To rebel factions, insurgents, and hostile species, it is a harbinger of annihilation. The moment the black sun rises on their world, they know the fight is already decided.

The cultural influence of the logo is so strong that entire DMDF recruitment drives have been built around its imagery, accompanied by the slogan "Stand in the Shadow, Strike with the Light." In military academies, the Eclipse is held up as the model of unified multi-domain warfare, studied for its perfect integration of specialized forces under a singular operational vision.

Over time, the emblem has also become a mark of finality. War correspondents, Regime Fleet crews, and even civilians in contested zones have adopted the phrase "The Eclipse is here" as shorthand for "This will be over soon." The very shape of the logo has appeared carved into Enemy walls, burned into the ground at landing zones, and painted onto the hulls of shattered warships as a silent, psychological weapon.

In the Genesis Saga timeline, the Eclipse logo stands alongside the Regime phoenix and the DMDF shield as one of the most recognized symbols of power, a constant reminder that the United Colonial Group's will is not just enforced but inevitably victorious when the Eclipse falls.

“We don’t fight for banners, planets, or medals. We fight for each other. And when we fight, we fight as one, a single shadow moving across the field, blotting out the enemy’s hope before they even see us. That’s the Eclipse. That’s who we are.”

— Spartan Legion Commander E146 “Zeus”

I. Purpose in Flame

Task Force Eclipse publicly frames its existence as the Regime shield of decisive action, a force whose role is to prevent wars from dragging into prolonged attritional campaigns by ending threats quickly, surgically, and with minimal loss of Regime life. In official DMDF declarations, Eclipse is described as the "Flame that burns away the darkness before it can spread," a sentiment meant to assure the citizenry that the Legion stands as the final safeguard against existential dangers.

While its classified operations often reach far deeper than publicly acknowledged, the stated purpose is clear. When Diplomacy fails and the standard DMDF formations cannot bring swift resolution, Eclipse is deployed to extinguish the threat with precision and unity. This openly declared mandate reinforces the Regime narrative of strength, control, and inevitable victory.

II. Publicly Declared Objectives

The DMDF maintains a short, high-impact list of objectives for Eclipse that are regularly repeated in Regime broadcasts:

1. Rapid Conflict Termination: Resolve active hostilities in the shortest possible timeframe.
2. Asset and Territory Security: Ensure critical Regime worlds, stations, and trade routes remain secure against incursions.
3. Civilian Protection: Publicly positioned as a guardian of the civilian population in warzones, with the stated aim of minimizing collateral damage.
4. Strategic Deterrence: Serve as a visible reminder to potential adversaries of the Regime readiness to commit elite forces if provoked.
5. Crisis Containment: Quell insurrections, pirate coalitions, and hostile foreign operations before they escalate beyond control.

These objectives are carefully curated to portray Eclipse as both protector and enforcer, a unit equally concerned with defense and offensive dominance.

III. Messaging, Propaganda & Symbolic Presence

The UCG's propaganda machine makes extensive use of Task Force Eclipse's mythic identity and striking logo. Public broadcasts feature high-contrast imagery of the black sun Eclipse emblem unfurling above battlefields, accompanied by slogans such as:

• "Stand in the Shadow, Strike with the Light."
• "The Eclipse Falls for You."
• "One Shadow. One Victory."

The Imperial Authority News Network (IANN) under Regime influence often "embeds" controlled footage of Eclipse deployments, showing Spartans in perfect formation, banners snapping under orbital light, and Enemy strongholds reduced to smoking ruins. The emotional tone of this media is always one of assurance; the Eclipse arrives not out of desperation, but out of measured and deliberate choice.

The Legion's presence at military parades is ceremonial but symbolic: six banners representing each Regiment flank the primary black Eclipse standard, a visible reminder of unity in diversity of specialization. In these public displays, the Spartan commanders are often seen standing together in full armor, silent, imposing, and unmistakable.

IV. Political Alignment and Ideological Role

Officially, Task Force Eclipse is apolitical within the Regime's internal power struggles, claiming loyalty only to the President Supreme and the DMDF chain of Command. In reality, Eclipse serves as a political tool of stability; its very deployment is a signal of the High Command's absolute commitment to an operation and a warning to political rivals that the Regime's most elite forces are engaged.

In ideological terms, Eclipse reinforces the Bifurcated Mandate Doctrine through action: decisive, centralized control, and the projection of overwhelming power in moments of strategic choice. Public speeches from Regime leaders frequently cite Eclipse as proof that the UCG's military structure is the most efficient in human history.

V. Promises to Regime & Civilian Populace

Eclipse's public promises are woven into the Regime's greater propaganda narrative:

• "We will end the fight before it comes to your door."
• "We will shield your home as we strike at the Enemy's heart."
• "Every Eclipse deployment is a promise kept: no drawn-out war, no wasted lives."

These assurances are repeated in recruitment campaigns, public broadcasts, and during Legion commander appearances at Regime events. The tone is not one of boastful arrogance, but of measured certainty, the belief that with the right force, the right moment, and the right leaders, no conflict is unwinnable.

VI. Legacy and Influence Across Systems

Even in systems untouched by conflict, Task Force Eclipse's reputation has an almost mythic reach. In frontier colonies, stories of the "Black Sun" arriving in the skies serve as both comfort and intimidation. In contested systems, Eclipse's deployments are studied by Enemy strategists, often with the grim admission that "Once the Eclipse falls, retreat is the only victory left."

The Legion's influence also extends to military Doctrine across the DMDF. Other Legions have begun adopting scaled-down versions of Eclipse's multi-domain convergent strike model, and the black sun insignia has become a status symbol among Regime-aligned forces, appearing unofficially on armor plates, ship hulls, and even civilian craft as a declaration of loyalty."

“We do not come to prolong wars. We come to the end of them. Our shadow does not fall to cover the sun; it falls to cover you until the danger has passed. And when the Eclipse rises again, you will know: the enemy has already been defeated.”

— Spartan Legion Commander E146 “Zeus”

Classified Operational Mandate - Regime Level Ω (Omega)

I. True Operational Purpose (Eyes Only, Grand General / Lord Commander)

Task Force Eclipse exists not simply to end conflicts swiftly, but to shape the political and strategic battlespace before war even breaks out. Publicly positioned as a "shield and sword" of the Regime, internally the Legion serves as the executive enforcement arm of UCG High Command's will.

Its missions often include:

• Preemptive neutralization of political opponents or separatist leaders before they can rally support.
• Surgical destruction of infrastructure in targeted worlds to create strategic dependency on the UCG.
• Suppression of emerging foreign military capabilities via sabotage, assassination, or psychological warfare.
• Retrieval or destruction of high-value Regime assets compromised in hostile territory.

II. Covert Objectives & Strategic Leverage

• Political Enforcement
• TFE can be deployed as a show of force within UCG space to quell dissent without a formal war declaration. Entire Regiments may appear in orbit over a rebellious world purely to force compliance.
• Foreign Subversion
• Poseidon's Tempests and Athena's Wardens are often embedded within the Galactic Bureau Agency (GBA) 's clandestine operations to destabilize hostile alliances or manipulate public opinion in contested systems.
• Strategic Weapon Testing
• The Special Technical Operations (STO) branch uses TFE as a proving ground for Regime black projects, from advanced Titan frames to high-yield orbital strike systems, under live combat conditions.
• Enemy Leadership Decapitation
• Hades' Hellraisers and Ares' Warbringers are authorized to execute Omega Decapitation Protocols, the coordinated elimination of entire Enemy leadership chains within hours of campaign initiation.

III. Propaganda Manipulation & Information Control

While the public sees only carefully curated footage of Eclipse's battlefield heroics, the Legion's Information Control Liaison Office works to:

• Suppress independent media coverage of deployments.
• Plant stories in foreign media portray Eclipse as either unstoppable or absent, depending on psychological objectives.
• Stage "victory moments" in which the Enemy surrenders or symbolic objectives are timed for maximum public morale impact.

IV. Political Alignment - Internal Reality

Publicly "apolitical," internally, Eclipse operates as a direct arm of the Lord Commander and has been used to sideline or remove DMDF officers, planetary governors, and even high-ranking Senators who posed a threat to Regime unity.

High Command recognizes that the myth of the Eclipse is as valuable as its actual combat capabilities, a reputation weaponized not just against external enemies, but also to maintain internal discipline within the Regime's vast power structure.

V. Unspoken Promises to the Regime

Eclipse's actual oath is not simply to defend the populace, but to preserve the Regime's supremacy by any means necessary. The classified version of their operational Creed includes lines never spoken in public:

• "We will act before the Enemy knows there is a battle."
• "We will leave no witness who can deny the Regime's victory."
• "We will erase threats from memory as well as from existence."

VI. Covert Influence Across Systems

In systems where TFE has deployed covertly, rumors of the "Black Sun" persist without official acknowledgment. Enemy commanders vanish without explanation, uprisings collapse overnight, and entire fleets are found adrift without a shot fired in public record.

The Legion's mythic fear factor is thus cultivated not only through open deployments but through unattributed, deniable operations. The result is a psychological deterrent so pervasive that even the possibility of Eclipse intervention is enough to alter foreign strategic planning.

“The public sees us as saviors. The enemy sees us as executioners. The truth is, we are both, because in this galaxy, you cannot be one without the other. We are the shadow that moves before the dawn, the hand that ends the fight before the first shot is fired. This is not glory. This is necessity.”

— Spartan Legion Commander E146 “Zeus”

I. Role Within the DMDF

Within the Dawns March Defense Force, Task Force Eclipse is the Legion of Last Resort, deployed when ordinary formations cannot guarantee success without unacceptable losses or delays. Where other Legions are designed to hold sectors, pacify colonies, or execute drawn-out campaigns, Eclipse is tailored for decisive resolution: to conclude engagements in the Regime's favor before the Enemy has the opportunity to adapt.

Eclipse is directly integrated into the DMDF's High Priority Response Command (HPRC), a select group of formations given the authority to bypass standard mobilization bureaucracy in emergencies. When a theater crisis reaches an Omega-class designation, Eclipse can be mobilized within hours, often arriving in-system before news of their deployment reaches the broader DMDF.

Their inter-theater mobility is unmatched, with dedicated carrier groups, Titan detachments, and stealth-capable troop ships permanently assigned to the Legion. They possess their own autonomous logistics wing, allowing for independent operation deep beyond friendly lines without the need for DMDF Fleet resupply.

Culturally and tactically, they operate as both the Regime's symbol of inevitability and as a multi-domain kill network, integrating ground, orbital, cyber, and psychological warfare under a unified battle plan. Other Legions may specialize in one or two domains; Eclipse dominates them all.

The result is a force that High Command can insert into any theater, confident in two outcomes:

1. The Mission will be completed.
2. The Regime enemies will be left with no opportunity to recover.

II. Regiments

1st Regiment, "Zeus' Thunderclads" (Chief E146 "Zeus")

Specialization: Rapid insertion & shock assault.
Role: Decapitation strikes, breakthrough operations, high-speed planetary assault drops.
Deployment: First wave in planetary invasions, often from high-orbit insertion craft, Titan deployments, or stealth Drop pods.
Motto: "Fulmen Cadit, Victoria Nascitur", "When the lightning falls, victory is born."

Operational Profile:
The Thunderclads are the Legion's shock-spear, built for rapid, high-intensity decapitation strikes. Each strike formation is centered on a Spartan spearhead team, supported by Spartan strike elements and a concentric layer of Blackguard Myrmidons. This integration allows the Regiment to hit with supersoldier precision while maintaining the sustained combat presence of elite infantry.

Blackguard Myrmidons in Thunderclad formations act as force multipliers, breaching alongside Spartans, setting up suppressive fire arcs, and rapidly securing perimeters so that the spearhead can keep advancing without pause. When an operation calls for extreme precision or the neutralization of Enemy elite units, Blackguard Epilektoi accompany Spartan assault elements directly, often forming mixed-unit breaching squads capable of operating independently for short durations behind Enemy lines.

Insertion is typically via high-orbit stealth Drop pods for forward Spartan elements, with Myrmidon squads following in Titan-supported orbital Drop transports. Operations are designed to cause total Command disruption within the first thirty minutes of contact, with the Regiment withdrawing only once the primary objective is secure and the Enemy response capacity is crippled.

Culture:
The Thunderclads live by the Creed that speed and precision are survival, shock is supremacy. Within the Regiment, the synergy between Spartans and Myrmidons is a point of fierce pride. Myrmidons are not "attached support" but battle-brothers and sisters, drilled until their movements are indistinguishable from their Spartan counterparts.

The Regiment's pre-assault ritual, the "Lightning Oath", is performed by mixed Spartan–Myrmidon strike teams, where each member locks gauntlets with the warrior to their right and left before the Mission, forming a chain of unity that symbolizes lightning's unbroken current. Many Myrmidons in the Regiment wear lightning-bolt insignia etched into their vambraces, a tradition granted only to those who have completed three or more consecutive successful shock-drop operations with Spartan teams.

2nd Regiment, "Hera's Sentinels" (Chief E147 "Hera I")

Specialization: Defensive warfare & strategic fortification.
Role: Hold ground against overwhelming force, protect vital Regime assets and planetary positions.
Deployment: Permanent or semi-permanent garrisons at critical installations, planetary choke points, orbital defense platforms, and strategic fortresses.
Motto: "Murum Tenemus", "We hold the Wall."

Operational Profile:
Hera's Sentinels are the Wall the Enemy cannot breach, defensive masters whose lines hold under the most extreme pressure. In every defensive deployment, Spartan squads serve as anchor points within the formation, positioned at strategic chokepoints or critical infrastructure. Around these anchors, Spartan formations and Myrmidon platoons form interlocking defensive grids, overlapping kill-zones, and adaptive shield-wall formations capable of absorbing sustained Enemy assaults.

Blackguard Myrmidons in Sentinel service are trained in fortress warfare and counter-boarding operations. They can seamlessly shift from static defense to short-range counter-offensives, clearing breaches before Enemy forces can consolidate. The Epilektoi within the Sentinels are used as mobile gap-sealers, elite squads capable of redeploying instantly to threatened points, often arriving via grav-drop insertion inside their defensive perimeter.

Hera's forces frequently operate in planetary garrison roles for months at a time, fortifying positions with layered defenses, automated turret networks, and Titan-guarded shield walls. When deployed aboard orbital defense stations, they are infamous for repelling boarding forces even when heavily outnumbered, maintaining control until reinforcements arrive or the Enemy Fleet is destroyed.

Culture:
The Sentinels' culture revolves around loyalty to the ground they stand on and absolute trust in the warrior beside them. The seamless pairing of Spartans and Myrmidons is not born from necessity but from design; every defensive unit trains as a cohesive shield team, with Spartans serving as the immovable core and Myrmidons forming the living ramparts.

A long-standing tradition among the Sentinels is "The Wall's Mark": after a successful defense, each Spartan and Myrmidon in the unit inscribes the defended world's name on the inside of their gauntlet or shield plate. For the Epilektoi, these markings are often engraved into ceremonial armor worn during official Legion gatherings, symbolizing the walls they have held and the worlds that still stand because of them.

3rd Regiment, "Hades' Hellraisers" (Chief E108 "Hades I")

Specialization: Heavy assault & psychological warfare.
Role: Battlefield devastation through siegecraft, demolitions, and morale-shattering assaults.
Deployment: Urban annihilation campaigns, sustained orbital bombardment coordination, deep strike penetration against hardened targets.
Motto: "Mortem Cum Honore", "Death with Honor."

Operational Profile:
The Hellraisers are Task Force Eclipse's blunt instrument of annihilation, specializing in operations where devastation is the objective and the psychological toll is as crucial as the physical destruction. Each strike is structured around Spartan siege leaders supported by Spartan breacher elements and reinforced with massive Myrmidon heavy weapons squads.

The Blackguard Myrmidons in this Regiment are trained to operate siege Titans, breaching artillery, and heavy demolitions. They are often the ones to emplace the massive plasma-cutters or hull-drills used to breach fortress walls, after which Spartan and Myrmidon elements surge through the opening. Epilektoi units in the Hellraisers are particularly feared; they are deployed to execute "Fear Break" maneuvers, precision strikes on key symbols, leaders, or infrastructure designed to shatter Enemy morale mid-battle.

The Regiment's operational Doctrine favors overkill as deterrence: orbital fire support coordinated with ground-based bombardments, massed breaching assaults on fortified cities, and the calculated use of firestorm weaponry to create an overwhelming sense of inevitability.

Culture:
Hellraisers believe that fear is a weapon as potent as any rifle or blade. To them, the battlefield is a stage, and their performance must leave the Enemy unwilling to fight again. Every Spartan in the Regiment is paired with a Myrmidon team specifically trained to complement their assault style, whether in explosives placement, suppressive fire, or flanking action.

It is a point of pride for the Hellraisers that no Myrmidon in their ranks fights "behind" a Spartan; instead, they fight shoulder-to-shoulder, sharing the risk and the glory. After major campaigns, units hold the "Ashmark Ceremony", in which Spartans and Myrmidons alike mark their armor with crimson ash to signify a city or fortress they've consigned to history. The Epilektoi carry these marks permanently, often etching them deep into their armor's plating.

4th Regiment, "Poseidon's Tempests" (Chief E177 "Poseidon")

Specialization: Covert operations & deep infiltration.
Role: Sabotage, intelligence gathering, systems disruption.
Deployment: Stealth ship infiltration, underwater and zero-g penetration, pre-invasion destabilization missions.
Motto: "Unda Subita, Fatum Certum", "Sudden wave, Certain Fate."

Operational Profile:
Poseidon's Tempests are the phantoms before the storm, operating in environments where infiltration, sabotage, and precision disruption decide the battle before it starts. Spartan operatives lead the deepest penetrations into Enemy space, accompanied by Spartan infiltration teams and Myrmidon recon cells trained in environmental adaptation, whether in deep ocean trenches, vacuum exposure zones, or hostile planetary atmospheres.

Blackguard Myrmidons in the Tempests serve as insertion pathfinders and operational amplifiers, experts at placing sensor disruptors, sabotaging Enemy logistics hubs, and seeding targets with tracking beacons for follow-on strikes. Epilektoi squads in this Regiment are renowned for "Trident Missions", simultaneous three-pronged strikes that neutralize Command nodes, power generation, and mobility assets within minutes of each other, often without the Enemy ever realizing they were under coordinated attack.

The Regiment deploys via stealth corvettes, submersible strike craft, or covert Titan insertion, always with the intent to leave no trace until the moment of decisive action. By the time the rest of Eclipse arrives, the Tempests have already hollowed out the Enemy's ability to resist.

Culture:
Tempests live by the philosophy that a perfect strike is one the Enemy never sees coming. In training, Spartans and Myrmidons operate as indistinguishable elements, cross-drilled in stealth, sabotage, and survival skills to the point where any member can step into another's role without hesitation.

A long-standing tradition is the "Ripple Dagger Oath". Before an operation, Spartan leaders and Myrmidon dip their ceremonial daggers into water, reciting the Regiment's Creed about the wave that follows the unseen ripple. Only those who have completed a deep infiltration Mission with zero casualties are permitted to carry a dagger permanently engraved with a triple wave motif, a mark of the Trident Mission legacy.

5th Regiment, "Ares' Warbringers" (Chief E151 "Ares I")

Specialization: Large-scale engagement dominance.
Role: Spearhead armored assaults, relentless pressure warfare, and breaking Enemy front lines.
Deployment: Sustained high-intensity combat zones, planetary siege fronts, capital ship boarding operations.
Motto: "Sanguis et Gloria", "Blood and Glory."

Operational Profile:
The Warbringers are the hammer of prolonged war within Task Force Eclipse, the Regiment designed to dominate large-scale engagements where sheer force and attritional pressure are required. They deploy Spartan spearhead elements at the tip of armored breakthroughs, supported by Spartan assault formations and entire Blackguard Myrmidon mechanized battalions.

Myrmidons in the Warbringers are specialists in armored infantry tactics, operating alongside or from Regime Titan assault walkers and siege tanks. Their role is to maintain relentless momentum, reinforcing gains before the Enemy can reorganize, keeping the pressure constant until front lines collapse. The Epilektoi of Ares are infamous for their "Red Tide Maneuver", where a heavily armed elite unit crashes directly into the Enemy's most fortified point, surviving just long enough for the main assault to pour through.

Warbringers are typically the second or third wave in a planetary-scale assault, ensuring that the breaches created by the Thunderclads or Hellraisers are widened into irreparable gaps. Their attritional dominance Doctrine aims to drain the Enemy's ability to fight faster than they can inflict casualties on the Legion.

Culture:
The Warbringers view combat as the Forge in which warriors are made and victories are tempered. Spartans and Myrmidons in this Regiment share a deep mutual respect born from fighting side-by-side through the longest and bloodiest campaigns in the Legion's history.

Their pre-battle tradition, "The Blood Oath March", is a slow, deliberate advance toward the Enemy in full view, a psychological assault before the physical one begins. Spartans lead these marches, but the Myrmidons form the Wall behind them, creating an image of unstoppable unity. Armor scars are cherished in the Regiment, and many Epilektoi go so far as to have their armor plates reforged with visible battle damage as a permanent testament to survival.

6th Regiment, "Athena's Wardens" (Chief E167 "Athena I")

Specialization: Strategic coordination, intelligence dominance, and covert eliminations.
Role: Command and coordination of Legion-wide operations, high-value target assassinations, and black ops.
Deployment: Embedded in every multi-regiment campaign as the strategic brain; also deployed independently for decapitation missions.
Motto: "Sapientia Vincit", "Wisdom Conquers."

Operational Profile:
The Wardens are the nerve center and shadow blade of Task Force Eclipse, simultaneously the Legion's Command intelligence arm and its most precise covert strike force. At the strategic level, Spartan officers in the Wardens coordinate real-time Convergent Warfare execution, ensuring every Regiment's movements align with the master battle plan.

On the tactical level, Spartan infiltration cells and Blackguard Myrmidon recon teams gather battlefield intelligence, intercept Enemy communications, and plant false operational data to mislead opposing commanders. The Epilektoi of Athena are deployed for the most sensitive missions: targeted assassinations of Enemy leaders, elimination of high-value assets, and black operations so classified that even other regiments may not know they occurred.

Wardens are embedded across the Legion, from frontline units to deep-cover forward positions. They can operate independently for extended periods using stealth dropships, cloaked insertion corvettes, or encrypted slipspace infiltration pods.

Culture:
Wardens prize intellect and precision above brute force. Within their ranks, a perfect Mission is one in which no one outside the Regiment ever knows they were there. This philosophy is drilled into both Spartans and Myrmidons from the moment they join the Regiment.

The Regiment's most sacred tradition is "The Silent Assembly", a ceremonial gathering in which every successful covert Mission is acknowledged in silence, with no names spoken, only the display of the Mission's insignia on a black marble Wall within the Athena Hall aboard Oblivion's Mantle. This anonymity reinforces the Warden's belief that their duty is to the victory itself, not personal recognition.

Epilektoi in Athena's service are whispered about even among other Spartans; their identities are often sealed, their armor markings stripped of anything identifying except for a single gold chevron, a silent badge that speaks volumes to those who know its meaning.

Blackguard Myrmidons (Special Operations Troopers of Task Force Eclipse)

Specialization: Elite special operations infantry integration with Spartan-led units, providing special operations taskings and skills, advanced tactical support, breaching, heavy weapons, and battlefield sustainment.

Role: The Blackguard Myrmidons serve as the primary trooper backbone of Task Force Eclipse, operating seamlessly alongside Spartans at every echelon, from small fireteams to full regimental operations. They provide the additional workforce, specialized skill sets, and combat endurance necessary for prolonged engagements while amplifying the speed, precision, and survivability of Spartan strike teams.

Deployment: Myrmidons deploy in direct integration cells, squads, or demi-squads permanently assigned to Spartan elements. They enter combat via the same insertion methods as their Spartan counterparts: high-orbit Drop pods, Titan-mounted assault landers, stealth infiltration craft, and direct boarding assaults. Epilektoi detachments are deployed for the most dangerous and high-profile missions, often as forward breachers or as protective "Shadow Guards" for Spartan commanders.

Motto: "Umbra Custodit", "The Shadow Protects."

Operational Profile:
The Myrmidons are trained to mirror and complement Spartan combat patterns, ensuring that they can act as both independent operatives and force multipliers. Their training encompasses advanced breaching, demolitions, orbital and zero-g combat, Titan operations, close-quarters battle, reconnaissance, and defensive emplacement building.

Each Myrmidon is conditioned to operate under Spartan tempo, the high-speed, relentless pace of augmented supersoldiers. This ensures they can keep up in direct assaults, maintain combat pressure during prolonged firefights, and execute precise actions in synchronicity with their Spartan leaders. Myrmidon squads are fully modular: they can be reassigned between regiments without retraining, adapting instantly to the specific operational Doctrine of Zeus' Thunderclads, Hera's Sentinels, or Athena's Wardens.

The Epilektoi: The elite within the Myrmidons receive augmentation-enhanced reflexes, command-level tactical schooling, and access to restricted Regime technology. Their role is to handle the operations too dangerous or politically sensitive for wider dissemination, often involving black operations under the Codex of the Black Sun.

Culture:
Myrmidons take immense pride in their role as the shield and sword beside the Spartans. They are not mere support troops; they see themselves as equals in the fight, the unaugmented warriors who can match pace with legends. Myrmidon culture revolves around unity of movement, a philosophy that teaches there should be no visible difference in how a Spartan and a Myrmidon engage the Enemy; their strikes, spacing, and reactions should be as one.

They maintain the tradition of the "Oath of Shadow" before every major operation: each Myrmidon touches the left pauldron of their assigned Spartan, silently affirming their readiness to follow into any hell the Mission demands. Those who complete twenty-five operations with the same Spartan are awarded the "Shadow Bond" insignia, a black sun eclipsing a crimson blade, worn on the inner right vambrace, with the Spartan's Sigil, worn on the inner left vambrace, never displayed outwardly to outsiders. Once the "Shadow Bond" is earned, the Myrmidons will not be reassigned unless they earn the status of Epilektoi.

For the Epilektoi, cultural pride is tempered by absolute discretion. They are ghost-soldiers even among their peers, their identities closely guarded, their missions rarely spoken of. In the Legion's halls, it is considered bad luck to ask an Epilektoi where they've been deployed, only to nod in acknowledgment when they return.

III. Strategic Role in Galactic Campaigns

In the larger strategic picture, Task Force Eclipse serves as the linchpin force in the UCG's Doctrine of Convergent Warfare, the simultaneous application of pressure across every operational domain to collapse an opponent's strategic coherence.

While most DMDF forces commit to theaters for prolonged campaigns, Eclipse is reserved for moments when the Regime must:

• Break a stalemate in a contested sector.
• Force surrender from an Enemy unwilling to negotiate.
• Neutralize a high-value target whose survival alters the galactic balance.
• Demonstrate Regime supremacy to allies and rivals alike.

Their Regiments are deployed in parallel but interdependent operations:

• Zeus' Thunderclads breach planetary defenses in coordinated shock drops.
• Hera's Sentinels fortify captured assets, preventing counter-offensives.
• Hades' Hellraisers shatter Enemy morale with visible devastation.
• Poseidon's Tempests dismantle Enemy infrastructure and communications before the main force even lands.
• Ares' Warbringers push sustained offensives to exploit the breach.
• Athena's Wardens orchestrate the entire battle network, ensuring each strike feeds into the next.

In campaigns, Eclipse's arrival often signals the beginning of the end. Their operations are planned to compress what might be months of war into days, sometimes hours. This is achieved through synchronized kill-windows, where multiple regiments act in a precisely timed sequence, leaving the Enemy no chance to regroup or counterattack.

The strategic role of Eclipse is not just to win battles, but to shape the post-conflict environment. By concluding campaigns with overwhelming speed and decisive force, they send a galaxy-wide message:

• The Regime enemies will not only be defeated but denied the dignity of a prolonged fight.
• Potential rivals will think twice before challenging the Flame.

In the UCG timeline, every major deployment of Eclipse has altered the political map, from the annihilation of insurgent leadership on Mesra to the lightning decapitation of Covenant remnant fleets in the Torvos Expanse. In each case, the pattern is the same: they arrive, they execute, they vanish, and the war ends.

IV. Reputation and Legacy

Across the galaxy, Task Force Eclipse carries a reputation that exists in two distinct forms, one for those under the protection of the Regime and another for those who stand in its way.

Within the United Colonial Group's territories, Eclipse is regarded as the embodiment of the Regime promise: swift, decisive, and unshakable in defense of humanity's Order. Civilians in core systems speak of the Legion in reverent tones, repeating tales of their lightning victories and impossible rescues. For frontier colonies, their arrival in orbit is a signal that the Regime has taken their plight seriously, that the black sun rising over their skies heralds safety, not destruction. Veterans of the DMDF, even outside the Legion, aspire to serve alongside Eclipse at least once in their careers, if only to experience the operational precision and lethal harmony that has become their signature.

In Enemy territory, the perception is starkly different. Among rebel coalitions, pirate syndicates, and alien warbands, the phrase "The Eclipse has fallen" has become shorthand for the end of resistance. Entire insurgent cells have abandoned fortified positions without a fight upon confirmation of Eclipse deployment, knowing that survival is unlikely once the black sun appears in their sky. Covenant remnant fleets have broken ranks mid-engagement to flee before the whole Legion could enter the battlespace. Even mercenary states, whose leaders profit from defiance, have been known to dissolve contracts upon hearing rumors of an inbound Eclipse strike group. A near-perfect operational record defines the legacy of Eclipsed. In the Genesis Saga timeline, their deployments at Mesra, Xi Boötis, and the Torvos Expanse each became case studies in Convergent Warfare, studied both within the DMDF academies and by foreign militaries hoping to avoid a similar fate. Unlike other elite formations whose fame comes from drawn-out heroics, Eclipse's renown is rooted in the brevity of their wars. The common theme in historical records is that they do not fight long wars; they fight final ones.

This efficiency has given rise to the Legion's most enduring symbolic identity:

• To allies: They are The Black Sun, casting a shadow that shields those who stand with the Flame.
• To enemies: They are The Silent Extinction, appearing without warning, ending the fight, and leaving nothing but the Regime flag in their wake.

Even within the DMDF, there is an unspoken understanding that Task Force Eclipse is not merely a Legion; they are the Regime's instrument of absolute certainty. When their banners are unfurled, there will be no stalemate, no retreat, and no negotiated peace. Only the Regime victory, carved into history as another entry in the ever-growing ledger of the Eclipse's legacy.

"We do not replace armies, we end wars. Each Regiment is a god's hand, but together we are the storm that blots out the sun. That is why they fear the Eclipse, and why the Flame will always prevail."

— Spartan Legion Commander E146 “Zeus”

I. Diplomatic Stance and Strategic Posture

Task Force Eclipse (TFE) maintains no formal diplomatic Corps of its own; instead, its "foreign policy" is expressed through presence, posture, and action. The Legion's role is to embody the Regime's military intent in any given theater, to serve as a visible, undeniable reminder that the UCG's will is enforced through elite force projection.

In practice, Eclipse is deployed when Diplomacy has failed or is no longer considered an option. Their arrival in orbit over a foreign world, whether hostile or neutral, is a calculated move that signals to all observers: negotiation is over; Regime terms now dictate resolution. This reputation has made TFE both feared and respected, depending on the observer's alignment with UCG policy.

Strategically, TFE operates under a preemptive deterrence model. The Legion's posture is aggressive, leaning on the idea that a visible, capable threat in readiness prevents open conflict. When prevention fails, their application of force is swift, overwhelming, and absolute.

Foreign Threat Index, Regime Level Ω (Omega)

Compiled by: Legion Intelligence Directorate: Chief E229 "Pallas"

Authorized Access: Lord Commander, Grand General, Legion Command Council, GBA Liaison Officers

Threat Rating Key

• Ω-Prime: Existential threat to Regime sovereignty or survival.
• Ω-One: High-intensity war-fighting opponent; requires multi-theater mobilization.
• Ω-Two: Regional destabilization risk; capable of significant attrition if unchecked.
• Ω-Three: Localized but persistent threat; elimination requires surgical strikes.

II. Relations with the UNSC / UEG / ONI Remnants

Status: (Loath – Hate)

• Threat Rating: Ω-One

Eclipse's relationship with the fractured remnants of the United Nations Space Command (UNSC), the United Earth Government (UEG), and surviving Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) cells is one of deep-seated hostility.

• The Legion's Spartan-II leadership, many of whom were forged in the fires of the Human-Exiled War, carry personal history with the UNSC, much of it defined by betrayal, political manipulation, and the Spartan Purge.
• To TFE, the UNSC is not a legitimate governing power but a collapsed relic clinging to authority it no longer has the strength to enforce.
• The Regime official stance mirrors this sentiment, but TFE's hatred is personal; they have fought UNSC forces directly in multiple post-war flashpoints, and these battles often leave no prisoners.

For ONI remnants specifically, there is no quarter given. Eclipse views them as the architects of their former chains, manipulators of lives and futures, and has standing operational orders to dismantle any ONI network encountered.

III. Relations with ONI Spartan Operations

Status: (Pity – Look Down On)

• Threat Rating: Ω-Two

The Spartan Operations program of ONI, once led by Chief E339 Sarah "Enyo" Palmer herself, is regarded by Eclipse with open disdain. Publicly, they acknowledge the skill of individual Spartan-IVs, but privately, the Legion's Spartan-IIs view them as a diluted echo of what a true Spartan should be.

• TFE regards ONI's Spartan-IVs as political tools rather than warriors forged for the preservation of humanity.
• Chief E339 Palmer's defection and integration into Eclipse's Command structure only deepened this cultural divide; her open criticisms of the Spartan-IV program are echoed throughout the Legion.
• On the battlefield, captured Spartan-IVs are given the option to surrender, and after an extended period of observation and intensive testing, are sometimes offered positions within TFE. These Spartan-IVs are considered compromised by indoctrination and design flaws, though under Zeus, he believes that any Spartan can be saved if given a chance. Yes, also to Zeus, chances ... have limits.

IV. Relations with Alien Powers and Xeno-Species

Status: (Marked for Extermination)

• Threat Rating: Ω-Prime

Eclipse's standing Doctrine toward alien powers, whether Covenant remnants, independent xeno-empires, or emergent hostile species, is eradication of military capability followed by absolute neutralization of any threat to the Regime.

This stance is rooted in two beliefs:

1. The historical record of alien hostility toward humanity during the Covenant War.
2. The UCG's ideological rejection of foreign influence over human destiny.

TFE's operations against alien powers are not framed as war, but as "sterilization campaigns", methodical dismantling of an Enemy's ability to fight, often culminating in orbital bombardment and planetary lockdown. Unlike with human opponents, Eclipse rarely offers surrender terms to alien militaries; annihilation of Command and war assets is considered the default outcome.

V. Relations with Insurgent Forces and Rebel Worlds

• Threat Rating: Ω-Three

Eclipse treats human insurgents and rebel colonies as domestic threats rather than foreign enemies, but with equal operational priority. The difference lies in the objective:

• With insurgents: The aim is to break their will to resist, often through targeted leadership elimination and infrastructure collapse, followed by Regime-directed reconstruction to reassert control.
• With rebel worlds, Eclipse will deploy in full force to either compel surrender or forcibly integrate the system back into Regime governance. Civilian casualties are minimized only if doing so does not endanger operational success.

Eclipse's arrival in a rebellious system is often enough to trigger mass surrenders; the Legion's reputation as an unstoppable force precedes it, making resistance appear futile.

VI. Relations with Neutral Powers, Mercenary States & Minor Factions

Neutral powers and mercenary-led states are approached with measured intimidation. Eclipse rarely engages such entities directly unless they interfere with Regime objectives. However, the Legion is frequently used as a political bargaining chip; a visit from an Eclipse strike group can be enough to push a neutral faction into compliance without a single shot being fired.

For mercenary companies, the message is clear: work for the Regime, and you will be paid and protected; work against it, and Eclipse will erase you from the star charts.

VII. Known Enemies of Legacy Significance

• The Spartan Purge Commanders: Former UNSC leaders responsible for the attempted eradication of the Spartan-II program in the post-war years.
• ONI Black Level Assets: Surviving rogue intelligence operatives conducting anti-Regime operations.
• Covenant Remnant Warlords: Alien leaders still commanding fragmented fleets or strongholds.
• The Outer Rim Insurrection Council: A coalition of rebel worlds and pirate lords opposing UCG territorial control.
• The Veydan Compact: A xeno-mercenary alliance specializing in anti-human private warfare.

These enemies are not simply opposed in the field; they are actively hunted across the galaxy as part of ongoing Legion operations.

VIII. Diplomatic Symbolism and Planetary Perception

The black sun Eclipse emblem has become a symbol with layered meaning in foreign policy:

• To UCG allies and vassal states, it is a "Seal of Protection", proof that the Regime has committed its most elite warriors to defend them.
• To hostile powers, it is a "Death Warrant", a silent signal that the Regime has decided their fate, and resistance will be answered with annihilation.
• To neutral systems, it is a "Negotiating Pressure Point", the visible reminder that neutrality is only tolerated while it aligns with Regime stability.

The mere transmission of the emblem in pre-battle communications is often enough to alter an Enemy's plans, in some cases, to trigger surrender before a single Eclipse Drop pod leaves orbit.

“We are not diplomats. We are the reminder of what happens when diplomacy fails. Our emblem in your sky is the last warning you’ll ever need. Ignore it, and you will not live to regret it.”

— Spartan Legion Commander E146 “Zeus”

Codex of the Black Sun

Regime Legal Codification, Level Ω Access

I. Foundation of the Eclipse Laws

The laws of Task Force Eclipse (TFE) are founded on the DMDF Codex Juris Bellum, the supreme martial code governing all forces of the United Colonial Group. Within that overarching framework, TFE maintains its own Codex of the Black Sun, a specialized legal structure tailored to the Legion's unique role as a rapid-deployment, multi-domain strategic force.

The Codex is not merely a list of prohibitions; it is a binding warrior Creed, blending law, operational Doctrine, and cultural ethos into a single system of accountability. It ensures that every Spartan, officer, and auxiliary under Eclipse Command adheres to the Three Pillars of the Legion Law:

1. Discipline Above Self
2. Mission Above Glory
3. Unity Above Division

While the Codex is publicly acknowledged to exist, its full contents are classified at Regime Level Omega. Only Legion leadership and designated legal officers are permitted to carry the unabridged version.

II. Structure and Creation of Laws

The Legion Command Council, composed of the Legion Commanding General (Zeus), the Legion Executive Officer (Enyo), the six Regimental Commanders, and the Legion Intelligence Director (Pallas), is the sole legislative authority for additions, revisions, or repeals of Codex laws.

Once ratified, a new law is recorded in three secure repositories:

1. The Black Codex Archive: A quantum-encrypted data core housed aboard the Legion's flagship.
2. The Wall of Black Flame: A physical, engraved record located within the Legion's hall on the Anchor Station Oblivion's Mantle.
3. Command AI Repositories: embedded within authorized Legion combat AI systems to ensure laws can be recalled in the field.

No external DMDF or UCG authority can alter the Codex without the direct consent of the Legion Command Council, though the Codex remains legally subordinate to the Juris Bellum.

III. Core Eclipse Laws

• The Law of Absolute Obedience in Theater
• Once an operation begins, all Legion personnel are bound to follow the chain of Command without deviation unless given counter-orders by Zeus or Enyo directly.
• The Law of Mutual Preservation
• No member of Eclipse may abandon a comrade in combat unless doing so endangers the Mission and is explicitly authorized by Command.
• The Law of the Black Banner
• When the Black Banner is unfurled, the Legion operates under total war protocols, no withdrawal without explicit Command, and no compromise to operational objectives is permitted.
• The Law of Strategic Silence
• Operational details are never to be spoken of outside authorized channels, even among other DMDF units. Breaches are punishable as acts of treason.
• The Law of Flame and Shadow (adapted from Juris Bellum)
• Every strike must either protect Regime lives or remove a threat to Regime sovereignty. Gratuitous destruction is forbidden unless sanctioned under Omega protocols.

IV. Enforcement of Laws

Enforcement falls to the Legion Military Tribunal, a three-officer panel appointed by the Command Council for each case.

• Investigations are typically led by the Legion Intelligence Directorate (Pallas) in cooperation with the Legion Provost Corps.
• In-theater, Regimental Commanders have summary authority to adjudicate violations that compromise active operations.

The Tribunal operates on accelerated timelines; most cases are heard and resolved within 72 hours of offense identification to maintain combat readiness.

V. Punishments and Penances

Standard Disciplinary Measures:

• Reduction in operational authority.
• Reassignment to non-combat roles.
• Formal censure was entered into the Regime records.

Severe Offenses (Codex Breaches):

• Confinement aboard the Legion's flagship until the Tribunal verdict.
• Expulsion from the Legion (rare; considered a fate worse than death for most Spartans).
• Permanent branding as "Severed from the Shadow", armor stripped of insignia, name removed from the Wall of Flame.

Capital Offenses (Omega-Level Violations):

• Summary execution by the Regimental Commander authority (field conditions).
• Formalized execution ceremony, "The Black Dawn" carried out aboard Oblivion's Mantle for symbolic impact.

VI. Flexibility and Reach of the Law

The Codex of the Black Sun is adaptive, designed to remain relevant across varying theaters of war. The Command Council can issue Temporary Combat Amendments for specific campaigns, which automatically expire upon completion of the operation unless formally integrated.

Legion law applies to:

• All Spartan and auxiliary personnel assigned to Eclipse.
• Any non-Legion DMDF unit operating under Eclipse Command.
• Civilian contractors embedded within Eclipse operations.

Even outside Regime territory, the Codex is enforced with extraterritorial authority, meaning violations in foreign systems are judged as if committed within Regime space.

VII. Legacy of Legal Fear

The Codex is feared both within and outside the Legion. To Eclipse warriors, it's a violation that can erase a lifetime of service. To allied DMDF units, the Codex's reach is a warning: service under Eclipse Command means zero tolerance for insubordination or compromise.

Enemy combatants who have fallen into Eclipse custody often speak of the Law of Strategic Silence with dread; many never learn what fate befell those who broke it. Within the Regime, the Black Sun Codex is held up as the purest form of military law untainted by politics, unflinching, incorruptible, and absolute.

“The Codex is not a list of rules. It is a covenant between every warrior in this Legion and between the Legion and the Flame itself. Break it, and you do not just fail us; you break the shadow that shields the Regime.”

— Spartan Legion Commander E146 “Zeus”

I. Education Structure and Purpose

Task Force Eclipse (TFE) maintains an education architecture designed to produce two outcomes in a single human frame: unbreakable battlefield competence and incorruptible strategic Judgment. Education is not ancillary to TFE; it is its prime weapon system. Every syllabus, from neuromotor drills to legal Doctrine, is engineered to survive contact with reality: alien ecologies, collapsing polities, information war, and moral shock.

Structure at a Glance (Institutional Lattice):

• Strategic Pedagogy Council (SPC): A tri-chamber board (Spartan High Command, Blackguard General Staff, and the Eclipse Scholarium) that sets curriculum outcomes and failure thresholds aligned to the Juris Bellum.
• Eclipse Scholarium & Forge Schools: Distributed academies aboard Fleet arks and fortress-world bastions; deliver core sciences, applied warcraft, and moral-law integration.
• Regimental Faculties (I–VI): Each Regiment (Zeus, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Ares, Athena) runs a Faculty of Practice that tunes the common core to its Doctrine, shock, bastion, siege, environment, attrition, and clandestine.
• The Mnemonic Net: Secure AI tutors and adversarial red-team engines that generate evolving problem-sets (logistics sabotage, counter-deception, law-of-war dilemmas) and grade to operational consequence, not rote.

Purpose (Ends-in-View):

1. Total Adaptation: Produce operators who can change roles mid-mission without loss of tempo, Spartan or Myrmidon.
2. Moral Primacy Under Stress: Encode decision-making that keeps faith with the Law of War and Flame when the cost is personal.
3. Convergent Warfare Literacy: Ensure every graduate can read, shape, and exploit the whole battlespace, kinetic, informational, civil, and ecological.
4. Doctrine as Reflex: Reduce critical skills to preconscious execution (breach math, casualty triage routing, deception hygiene), freeing cognition for Command and creativity.
5. Evolution as Habit: Curricula are live-fire and living; modules are retired when enemies solve them.

TFE's measure of success is stark: a graduate arrives, adapts, prevails, and leaves a battlespace more lawful, stable, and survivable than they found it.

Key Principles of the Education Model:

• Total Integration:
• Spartans and Myrmidons train together from day one. This ensures that Myrmidons can operate at augmented combat tempo and Spartans can leverage Myrmidon strengths in sustained, multi-squad engagements.
• Cross-Regiment Familiarity:
• Even if assigned to a specific Regiment, every operator is taught the doctrines and operational methods of all six regiments. A Sentinel-trained Spartan may be tasked to lead Tempests in a deep infiltration, or a Warbringer Myrmidon may be attached to a Thunderclad strike.
• Adaptive Battlefield Mindset:
• Training scenarios constantly shift mid-exercise, turning a defensive garrison drill into an extraction under orbital bombardment, or a covert infiltration into a high-intensity firefight. These conditions enable operators to adapt without hesitation.
• Doctrine Before Tactics:
• Every action, from marksmanship to Fleet coordination, is tied back to the strategic principles of the Flame Doctrine. Trainees are taught not only what to do, but why it matters to the Regime's greater purpose.

II. Foundation of TFE Education

TFE education is a fusion lineage, drawing hard lines from three ancestral streams and forging a fourth that belongs to the Regime alone.

1) Ancient Spartan Agōgē (Terran Antiquity):

• Transposed Elements: Communal hardship, contest-based rank proving, mentor–apprentice pairing, and public accountability for failure.
• Why It Persists: Builds edge discipline, the calm cruelty to oneself that makes mercy for civilians possible and panic unlikely.

2) UNSC/ONI Spartan Programs (Interstellar Precursor):

• Transposed Elements: Neuro-muscular augmentation literacy, squad autonomy, mission-focused pedagogy, and scenario-over-syllabus training.
• Regime Corrections: Replaced opacity with lawful oversight, embedded Juris Bellum modules at every rung, and broke the cult of the "indispensable individual" in favor of indispensable teams.

3) DMDF Forge Doctrine (UCG Era):

• Transposed Elements: Whole-of-theater thinking, population protection drills, logistics sanctity, and civil–military interlock (engineers, medicae, jurists).
• Amplification: Added Codex of the Black Sun countersubversion education, operatives learn to spot and refuse the seductive logic of expedience that collapses legitimacy.

4) The Eclipse Synthesis (TFE's Own):

• Core Invention: Convergent Pedagogy, every lesson links a skill (e.g., breach geometry) to a moral frame (non-combatant corridors), a political outcome (public Order), and a deception posture (deny Enemy narrative).
• Delivery Mechanisms:
• Ashline Cycles: Brutal, time-compressed evolutions where sleep-loss, atmospheric stressors, and information fog are layered until decision quality either persists or the candidate is cut.
• Dual-Track Mastery: Each candidate pursues a blade track (kinetic specialty) and a mind track (systems, Law, psy-ops, or enviro-warfare). Passing requires competence in both; excellence in one cannot mask failure in the other.
• Red-Room Law: Weekly adversarial tribunals run by Judge-Instructors where candidates must defend an ugly choice in code, citing Juris Bellum, collateral calculus, and operational necessity, then execute the corrected version under fire.

Ethical Spine (Non-Negotiables):

• Primacy of the Innocent: Civilians are not "terrain." They are the point.
• Proportionate Force, Absolute Finality: End threats cleanly; do not linger where fear can grow.
• Accountability in Victory: Every success is audited for how it was won, not just that it was won.

Selection Reality: Admission to TFE's pipeline is deliberately hostile to mediocrity. From each Warden Year Group, only 0.9% are even permitted to attempt Eclipse formation; of those, fewer still reach Spartan designation, with Myrmidon selection capturing exceptional candidates whose gifts peak outside full Spartan thresholds. The foundation exists to break what must not go to war and shape what must, and it is unflinching.

III. Stages of Education and Training

(Pipeline begins after Dawns Wardens Corps graduation at ~17; selection for TFE occurs at Sparta at ~18; Spartan Boot Camp runs ~19–22; Regimental Evaluation/Selection follows.)

1) Post-Wardens Crucible (Age ~17 → 18): The Sparta Gate

Fresh from the Dawns Wardens Corps, candidates who request Eclipse consideration enter Sparta Gate, a one-year filtration where the body is stripped of softness and the mind is stripped of certainty. The year alternates week-long deprivation cycles (sleep rationed to 90 minutes, caloric deficits, hypoxia drills) with hyper-learning blocks (language bootstraps, theater logistics, deception hygiene, battlefield Law). Instructors replicate the classic Spartan-II adversity model, obstacle gauntlets, "no-win" mock patrols, wilderness evasion, and multi-week stealth games, updated for Regime ethics and scale. Historical UNSC methods, shock-wake PT, wilderness survival, and live-force opposition, inform the cadence; TFE incorporates these ruthlessly while binding them to AI-led theory modules (systems math, history, Fleet/ground integration), echoing the old Mendez/AI Déjà pairing that fused physical brutality with classroom rigor.

Gate Standards (illustrative):

• Painland Equivalency: Ten-hour obstacle evolutions interleaved with explosive hazards and mineswept runs; candidates must map the field with improvised sensors under live blank-fire and shock charges, an homage to the legendary "Painland" endurance blocks and minefield problem-solving.
• Water/Zero-G Missions: Paired underwater/void tasks with sabotaged lifelines to force theft, improvisation, and team ruthlessness without losing moral bearings, an explicit inversion of the Emerald Cove sabotage lesson.
• Opposed Exercises: Candidates routinely face veteran assault troops in jungle/urban maneuvers, continuing the tradition of pitting trainees against elite units to harden tempo Judgment.

Only 0.9% of the Warden Year Group makes the Sparta Gate cut to sit for the complete TFE Spartan Selection.

2) TFE Spartan Selection - "Black Verdict" (Age ~18)

Held at Sparta (TFE's selection enclave), Black Verdict is a ten-day, 240-hour event designed to decide, without romance, who can shoulder Eclipse. There is no safety net: injuries are treated on-lane; quits trigger immediate expulsion.

Core Blocks:

• Hour One: Shock-wake assembly, gear issue, legal briefing; violation of Juris Bellum during training is grounds for dismissal.
• Hours 2–72: Ashline I, relentless PT, forced marches with 50–70kg loads, submerged breach drills, killhouse rotations in blackout, and live-capture rescue trials. (This phase explicitly preserves the Spartan-II cadence of predawn rousts, merciless PT, and unforgiving instructors, now codified under Regime Law.)
• Hours 73–144: Ashline II, team autonomy blocks: navigation across irradiated test ranges, long-gun stalks, and week-length "stealth tag" eliminating opposing teams through silence and patience, a direct spiritual heir to Fenyot Basin stealth/sniper games..
• Hours 145–240: Convergence Trial, combined arms with drone armor, breacher carts, and multi-layered civ-corridor control while an adversarial AI tries to lie to you (misreports casualties, forges orders). Candidates must keep formation discipline and moral clarity intact.

Outcomes:

• Spartan-Track Select: Rare; sent to Eclipse Spartan Boot Camp.
• Myrmidon-Track Select: Exceptional performers who fall short of Spartan thresholds but display decisive strengths (combat, stealth, siegecraft, mech, med, ISR, etc) are retained for Blackguard training as Myrmidons.
• Return to DMDF: Honorable washbacks.

3) Eclipse Spartan Boot Camp (Age ~19–22): "The Forge Years"

Three years of total conversion. The Forge Years mirror the SPARTAN-II blend of lethal physicality and academic rigor, obstacle megacourses, killhouse evolutions, and opposition from elite units, while expanding academics (operational Law, history of rebellions, Fleet piloting sims, crash procedures) and technical mastery (demolitions, field surgery, combat psychology).

Year One - Body & Baseline

• Metabolic Recode: Nutritional austerity, heat/cold shock, hypoxia chambers; failure to recover between evolutions is grounds for recycling.
• Movement Doctrine: Breach math, room geometry, stairwell economics; error budgets are tallied in "lives lost" by the Mnemonic Net.
• Scholarium Blocks: Algebra → systems calc, trigonometry for ballistic solutions, comparative campaign history, and battlespace Law, explicitly echoing Déjà-style academics that taught Spartans math, history, and theory alongside the pain.

Year Two - Team Violence & Theater Thinking

• Opposed War-Games: Month-long urban/jungle exercises versus veteran strike companies; trainees are expected to out-decide, not out-muscle, mirroring classic UNSC practice of pitting trainees against elite-grade opposition. In this training environment, candidates will be pitted against veteran Myrmidons.
• Killhouse Black: Live-fire in multi-story targets under smoke, noise, and false civilian feeds; candidates must maintain ROE under deception pressure.
• Aero/Space Sims: Multi-craft piloting, including Longsword-line predecessors, EVA breach with crash-landing protocols, continuing the historical focus on simulated piloting and crash response.

Year Three - Convergence Mastery

• Red-Room Law: Weekly tribunals where squads defend ugly decisions with citations to the Juris Bellum; corrected plans are executed under stress the same day.
• Black Sun Immunity: Psy-ops, counter-subversion, and anti-indoctrination drills; AI adversaries impersonate Command to lure you into unlawful shortcuts.
• Final Anvil: A 21-day continuous operation: zero-G hull crawls, underwater power-plant sabotage, city-core evacuation under bombardment, and a last-night decapitation run. (Grading is holistic: tempo, ethics, logistics, deception.)

Parallel Track - Myrmidon Formation
Candidates slotted Myrmidon receive many of the same Forge blocks with emphasis on armored infantry, siege mobility, and fortress warfare, tactics, and standards aligned to Regime Doctrine and modern Spartan Training & Education practices of advanced, iterative qualification.

4) Spartan Regiment Evaluation & Selection (End of Year 3 → Assignment)

At graduation, Spartans submit Top-Three Regiment Preferences (Zeus/Hera/Hades/Poseidon/Ares/Athena). Final assignment follows a two-week evaluation cycle:

• Doctrine Rotations:
• Shock & Breach (Thunderclads): 48-hour Drop → decapitation strike → clean exfil.
• Bastion & Hold (Sentinels): Defend a node against escalating force; maintain civ lanes.
• Siege & Fearcraft (Hellraisers): Synchronized demolitions with morale effects.
• Enviro-Infiltration (Tempests): Underwater/zero-G trident strikes.
• Attrition & Breakthrough (Warbringers): Continuous advance under logistics pressure.
• C3/I & Black Work (Wardens): Deception grids, HVT removal, and campaign synchronization.
• Selection Board: Mixed Spartan/Myrmidon cadre and Scholarium assessors review:
• Tempo Integrity: Did candidates keep timing under compounded stress?
• Moral Cohesion: Were legal constraints preserved when the plan bent?
• Cognitive Economy: Did they reserve brainpower for Command, not re-learning basics?
• Regimental Fit: Skill constellation vs. Doctrine needs; preferences weighed but not guaranteed.

Assignments are read in silence at the Hall of Names. Those not selected for Spartan lines may be offered Myrmidon elevation if their performance indicates excellence in desired fields.

IV. Education Level within the TFE (General - Descriptive)

The Gradus Scientia Continuum inside Task Force Eclipse is not a ladder; it's a Forge. Candidates move through Tier III → Tier VI not by time-in-grade, but by repeatedly surviving environments that crush certainty, punish vanity, and reward only lawful outcomes under maximum stress. Across all disciplines (special operations, intelligence, Command, medical, engineering, AI/battlespace), the spine remains the same: Convergent Warfare anchored to the Codex Juris Bellum and shadow-tested against the Codex of the Black Sun. What changes from tier to tier is the scale of consequence you're allowed to touch.

Tier III - Ascension Academies ("Make the Body a Promise, Make the Mind Keep It")

Tier III is where TFE takes already-exceptional wardens and grinds off anything decorative. Days begin in the dark with ashline PT (oxygen-restricted runs, hypothermic immersion, weighted climbs), and end inside killhouse Law labs where squads execute room geometry. At the same time, an instructor-jurist grades trigger discipline and civilian corridor control. You'll field-strip a breacher lance with numb hands, drag a casualty through caustic fog, then argue your choices before a Red-Room board that cares less about excuses than how your plan protected the innocent.

Academics are not a relief; they're a second battlefield. Systems math, deception hygiene, operational history, and population protection are taught by Spartan cadre, Myrmidon masters, and Scholarium jurists as a single fabric: if your trigonometry failed, your shot line crossed a hospital; if your logistics failed, your platoon stole from civilians. Every module ends with an adversarial AI trying to trick you into unlawful shortcuts. You learn to feel the difference between fatigue and failure, between pain and panic, and you know that only the latter two get people killed.

What Tier III grants: a body that obeys, a mind that refuses dirty wins, and the first proof that you can execute under punishment without dropping the Law.

Gradus Scientia Continuum Courses in this Tier:

• Special Operations | Tier III | Ascension Academies | Close Target Reconnaissance & Helios Breach Lab (live-fire CQB, hull-cutting, decompression entries)
• Intelligence & Cyberwarfare | Tier III | Ascension Academies | Information Warfare & Signals Deception (red-cell intercept, spoof nets)
• Command & Staff | Tier III | Ascension Academies | Regimental Staff Foundations (orders process, orbital logistics interface)
• Medical & Human Performance | Tier III | Ascension Academies | Field Medicae & Augment Stabilization (combat triage, augmentation aftercare)
• Engineering & Siege | Tier III | Ascension Academies | Orbital & Subterranean Breach Engineering (plasma cutters, hull-drills)

Tier IV - Strategic Function Institutes ("See the War, Not the Fight")

Tier IV shifts the frame from rooms and blocks to districts, networks, and atmospheres. You plan raids that must dovetail with planetary governance, grid power realities, xeno-containment rules, and information war. Your teams no longer just hit targets, they shape mornings: turning a city's traffic into evacuation lanes, its weather into radar, its rumor mill into a shield.

Training alternates war-floor labs (campaign design in 12-hour sprints, with real-time injects and civil unrest models) and opposed field blocks where you must bend terrain and communications until the Enemy supplies their own defeat. Nights end in Doctrine Night-Court: you argue why your fire plan met proportionality, why your deception didn't manufacture atrocities, and why your staff work won't break when a minister calls mid-assault. Fail to protect a clinic in the sim? You wake to austere med rotations and write a new plan with bloody hands and clear logic.

What Tier IV grants: operational eyesight, staff composure, and the habit of fusing kinetic, legal, and narrative effects into one clean line.

Gradus Scientia Continuum Courses in this Tier:

• Special Operations | Tier IV | Strategic Function Institutes | Inter-Theatre Raiding Doctrine (SPECOPCOM Joint) (campaign-linked raiding math, sustainment under fire)
• Intelligence & Cyberwarfare | Tier IV | Strategic Function Institutes | Planetary SIGINT Architecture & Counter-AI (grid design; ethics in Command)
• Command & Staff | Tier IV | Strategic Function Institutes | Operational Design & Planetary Governance (infrastructure, resource control, Command ethics)
• Medical & Human Performance | Tier IV | Strategic Function Institutes | Warfighter Longevity & Ethical Command (return-to-fight Doctrine)
• Engineering & Siege | Tier IV | Strategic Function Institutes | Megastructure Logistics & Resource Dominion (starport grids, siege-sustainment)
• Xeno-Containment | Tier IV | Strategic Function Institutes (UNIXCOM liaison) | Biocontainment Governance & Quarantine Law

Tier V - Imperial War Temple ("Orchestrate or Be Orchestrated")

Tier V stops teaching you how to win and starts demanding you write endings. Here you stand on the orchestration dais and move multiple regiments, fleets, and ministries as one score. The Temple pairs you with live formations during controlled crises; your decisions pull real fuel, re-route real medevacs, and place real people under real fire. The bells that toll when you cost lives are not metaphorical.

War-Temple syllabi are brutal for the soul: grand-campaign synthesis, counter-species campaigning, population resilience, and Doctrine revision under hostile audit. You will be made to defend a plan that crushes a rebellion in eight hours and leaves the power on for the old and the newborn. In the Silent War practicum, you fight a theater where most victories are absences, no riot, no hunger, no martyr, because your staff work and clandestine effects quietly strangled the possibility.

What Tier V grants: orchestral Command, lawful finality at scale, and the calm to carry irreversible authority without becoming monstrous.

Gradus Scientia Continuum Courses in this Tier:

• Special Operations | Tier V | Imperial War Temple | Convergent Warfare Orchestration (multi-regiment timing, deception basing, fatal-tempo design)
• Intelligence & Cyberwarfare | Tier V | Imperial War Temple | Doctrine-Engineered Info Dominance (theology of truth control; succession studies)
• Command & Staff | Tier V | Imperial War Temple | Grand Campaign Synthesis (theatre-scale maneuver, Flame Doctrine revision practicum)
• Medical & Human Performance | Tier V | Imperial War Temple | Population Resilience in Total War (morale-biologics, civilian load-management)
• Engineering & Siege | Tier V | Imperial War Temple | The Theology of Siege (eradication v. absorption calculus)
• Xeno-Containment | Tier V | Imperial War Temple | Counter-Species Campaigning (eradication Doctrine debates)

Tier VI - Custos Ultima ("The Hand Behind the Curtain")

Tier VI is not a school; it's a quiet permission. There are no classrooms, only Eminence Protocols, sealed briefs, and mentors who will never admit they taught you. You learn cataclysmic denial for when a world must not fall intact; executive preservation when regimes hinge on a single pulse; memory-layering and redaction hygiene so victories survive politics and time.

Your exercises are whispers with consequences: merge two wars into one so both end; keep a senate voting while a Fleet burns at orbit; remove a name from history because leaving it risks ten thousand graves. You will practice total redaction on simulations that feel too real, and you will be judged on restraint more than reach. Selection never ends; Tier VI is revoked the moment you confuse necessity with convenience.

What Tier VI grants: stewardship of the Regime's long memory, and the burden of deciding which battles no one should ever know were fought.

Gradus Scientia Continuum Courses in this Tier:

• Special Operations | Tier VI | Custos Ultima | Praetorian Shadow Mandates (clandestine Command, sealed-name operations)
• Intelligence & Cyberwarfare | Tier VI | Custos Ultima | Memory-Layering & Neural Conditioning Practicum (classified)
• Command & Staff | Tier VI | Custos Ultima | Eminence Protocols (executive preservation, black Command)
• Medical & Human Performance | Tier VI | Custos Ultima | Psycho-physiological Excisions (sanctioned; need-to-know)
• Engineering & Siege | Tier VI | Custos Ultima | Cataclysmic Denial Protocols (final-resort systems)
• AI & Battlespace Systems | Tier VI | Strategic Function Institutes / War Temple | Aetheria-Linked Construct Integration & Command Delegation (ALC orchestration at Division/flag levels)

How the Tiers Interlock

• Tier III makes you trustworthy under pressure.
• Tier IV makes you valuable to a planet.
• Tier V makes you decisive in a war.
• Tier VI makes you dangerous to history if you forget who you serve.

Across every tier, two rules never change:

1. Proportionate force, absolute finality. End the right thing completely.
2. If your plan cannot be defended before the Law of War and Flame, it is not a plan; it is a crime.

V. Access and Differentiation

Access is brutally selective. From each Warden Year Group, only ~0.9% earn a TFE assessment slot; an even smaller fraction passes regimen trials to be badged as Spartan (Chief) or inducted as Blackguard Myrmidon. Those routed to TFE must already meet Ascendant standards and then clear Eclipse-specific filters for physiological superiority, cognitive acceleration, and genetic compatibility, criteria explicitly flagged for Eclipse induction.

Differentiation inside TFE tracks mirrors Tier progression:

• Spartan Candidates (Post-Ascendant): Begin at Tier III pipelines (Ascension Academies), then accelerate into Tier IV war-college equivalents for operational design. Only those demonstrating command-caliber cognition and survivability are advanced to Tier V Temple studies or attached as staff to multi-regiment campaigns.
• Blackguard Myrmidons: Selected from exceptional Ascendants who narrowly miss Spartan augmentation, they enter Tier III specialty schools (breach, mech, medicae, signal), then Tier IV institutes for mastery in a principal trade (armor, recon, engineering, info-ops). The most lethal and reliable are Epilektoi candidates and may be seconded to Tier V Temple cadres as assault-doctrine exemplars.

All candidates (Spartan or Myrmidon) are re-evaluated on the five-year cadence and may be laterally reassigned to fit evolving Regime priorities. This is not optional; it is the moral economy of the Flame: excellence or replacement.

VI. Education Structure and Purpose

TFE's education lattice is built to produce operators who are lethal at any speed and scale. The structure is simple to state and brutal to endure: every lesson is taught twice, first to move the hands under exhaustion, second to discipline the mind under ambiguity. Instruction cycles pair live-fire evolutions with doctrinal tribunals, so that muscle memory never outruns moral memory.

Core Academic Pillars

Codex Juris Bellum (Law of War and Flame).
The Codex is taught as both scripture and screwdriver. Candidates argue proportionality at 0300, then demonstrate it at 0315 in a killhouse seeded with non-combatants and misdirection beacons. Red-Room boards force Spartans and Myrmidons to justify shots, corridors, and collateral in operational Latin and civilian plain-speech, because a commander must speak to ministers and mothers right after talking to guns. Failure is not graded; it is re-fought until lawful muscle memory replaces instinct.

Codex of the Black Sun.
This pillar inoculates against the corrosion of expedience. Instructors weaponize lies, fake orders from "trusted" voices, doctored intel that makes cruelty look efficient, scenarios where quick victories promise long disasters. Students learn counter-subversion cues, signature hygiene, and the discipline of saying no to easy. The lesson is savage: illegitimate wins rot the state. You will be punished more for a convenient atrocity in training than for a clean tactical loss.

Regime History & Political Doctrine.
War without politics is a waste. Modules trace the Regime rise, Senate mechanics, ministry authorities, and how legitimacy is earned, not inherited. Staff labs require students to plan operations that keep power, water, hospitals, and courts functioning during a seizure or siege. Misread the policy, and your next week is spent fixing the consequences with manual labor and public apology in-sim.

Sixfold Eclipse Doctrine.
The Regiment faculties (Zeus/Hera/Hades/Poseidon/Ares/Athena) each maintain a Faculty of Practice. Every graduate must be literate in all six modes: shock, bastion, siege, environmental, attrition, and clandestine, so that in a crisis, one team can change shape without waiting for relief. Doctrinal labs culminate in Convergence Weeks, where mixed platoons must choreograph all six at once across a live city-grid.

Xeno Threat Analysis.
Treat non-human adversaries as systems: biology, culture, logistics, myth. Cadets analyze xenobiology for vulnerabilities and protected values, draft quarantine Law, and rehearse contact/no-contact ladders. Field evolutions stage ecology-as-enemy events (atmospheric poisons, symbiotic riot-beasts), forcing squads to win without burning the biosphere their civilians need tomorrow.

Strategic Ethics & Psychological Warfare.
You will break an Enemy's will, or you will be hurt by your method of breaking them. Instruction covers information dominance, rumor-economy, martyr-prevention, and the lawful use of terror's absence. Practicums grade not just surrender rates but post-conflict rumor profiles, no "ghost stories" that make future wars. If your plan breeds a legend, you failed.

Integrated Spartan–Myrmidon Instruction

TFE rejects segregated classrooms. Spartans and Blackguard Myrmidons are educated together at every tier, trading roles so that breach leaders understand logistics choke, and mech drivers understand room geometry. Mixed-fireteam drills rotate Command bracelets every six hours; whoever wears it briefs ministers, argues the Codex, and signs the op. A Spartan who can't run a siege ladder under fire is recycled; a Myrmidon who can't Command a stealth corridor is sidelined. The Regiment that fights together learns together, and bleeds in the classroom so it doesn't have to on the street.

Integration is physical as well as cerebral: paired PT under oxygen debt, buddy-breath rebreather swims, joint EVA hull crawls where one heart monitor governs two suits, if one panics, both fail. Debriefs demand mutual critique with rank immunity: the newest Myrmidon can veto a Spartan's plan on the board if they cite Codex and consequence. That veto must be earned and respected.

VII. Philosophy of Learning

“Punish error here so the world forgives it nowhere else.”

TFE's pedagogy is adversarial care. Instructors are brutal because reality is worse. The philosophy rests on five axioms:

1. Reality-First. Simulations are starved, noisy, and unfair. Sleep, calories, and certainty are rationed. If a scenario feels staged, it's thrown out. Learning happens where surprise begins.
2. Law Before Victory. Any win achieved unlawfully is evaluated as a strategic loss. Students are taught to love clean endings: short wars, intact utilities, silent morgues.
3. Team Over Talent. Individual brilliance that cannot be translated into unit survivability is beaten thin until it spreads. No one "carries" a Mission; Doctrine carries missions.
4. Confession Without Excuse. After-action boards require the speaker to name their own errors first. Excuses are considered a second error. Humility is a survival trait.
5. Evolution or Replacement. Curricula, tactics, and leaders are retired the minute the Enemy solves them. Loyalty is to outcomes, not to traditions.

Pedagogy alternates theory under calm with practice under crisis. A morning lecture on proportionality becomes an afternoon block where a child runs across your sightline, and a friendly feed screams for help. The correct answer hurts now so that it won't kill later. Students leave with two reflexes: move first toward the problem, and think first toward the Law.

VIII. Closing Remarks

Task Force Eclipse educates for a future where the Enemy is not just on the hill but in the story, in the power grid, in the rumor you tell your child to make them sleep. Our schools, therefore, make you hard without making you hollow. They teach you to end things, wars, lies, monsters, without ending the people who must live with the aftermath.

When the door blows and the room blooms with chaos, your hands will know what to do because they have done it a hundred times without light, warmth, or praise. When the calls begin, ministers, mothers, and captains, you will know what to say because you argued those words while your legs shook and your lungs burned. And when the city wakes to a proper ending, few will remember your name. Good. That is the measure: victory that needs no story.

Sapientia Vincit. Fulmen Cadit. Murum Tenemus. Mortem Cum Honore. Unda Subita. Sanguis et Gloria.
Learn the six. Become the seventh: the one who chooses which of them the day requires.

“We don’t educate you to be fearless, we educate you to be faithful. Faithful to the Law, to the lives behind you, and to the end state we promised before we ever laced a boot. TFE education is a forge that punishes lies: the lie that talent can replace a team, that speed can excuse cruelty, that victory without restraint is anything but rot. We starve you of comfort, drown you in doubt, and grind you against problems that bleed when you touch them, because the galaxy will. When the door blows, your hands move because we burned hesitation out of them; when the minister calls, your voice steadies because we nailed your judgment to the Codex; when the innocent stand behind you, they do so because you learned the only lesson that matters: end the right thing completely, protect everything else absolutely. If you want glory, look elsewhere. If you want to carry the weight and leave the world standing, welcome to Eclipse.”“We teach more than how to fight. We teach how to think, how to endure, and how to win when the universe has already written your defeat. Eclipse does not breed soldiers, it forges war itself into human form.”

— Spartan Legion Commander E146 “Zeus”