[BC] A Vulgar Display of Power: Data & Character Thread

[Necronaut]

Black Crusade Campaign:

 

A VULGAR DISPLAY OF POWER

 

 

+ Setting Information +

 

 

"Oh ye blind fools, heed these words! The red star burns darkly across the Howling Gyre, bringing ruin, bringing fire! The Vile Comet draws nigh! They are coming! The Bleak Heralds march forth to their muster, and the vile maw yawns wide! Doom follows in their wake, and their currency is death! Hie thee to safety! By the Throne they are coming!"

 

- the last words of Astropath Primaris Virgil Antilles

In the Hell-realm of the Screaming Vortex, time has a tenuous consistency, a fleeting connection to reality at best. Years may pass like grains of sand falling through an hourglass, while days may span veritable eons. And yet time marches on; the grist-mill of inevitability continues to grind down all in its path and feed the only constant in the universe. The Screaming Vortex is a benighted, hateful canker-sore upon reality, upon whose desolate rocks the dregs of the galaxy may wash upon when their luck has finally run out. It is here that the servants of Entropy congregate, building new homes for themselves amongst the detritus, eking out a cruel existence before they are devoured either by their gods or their fellows, and the cruel wheel of fate turns on, uncaring, perpetually in motion...

Edited August 3, 2023 by Necronaut

[Necronaut]

+ Dramatis Personae +

 

"Scratch the heresy and you will find the leper. Every battle against heresy wants only this: to keep the leper as he is."

-Umberto Eco

 

Here follows a record of vile betrayal and base heresy. This data-log will contain the details for the members of this Black Crusade.

 

The Warband
Lysimachus - Sergeant Oswyld, Aspiring Champion of Chaos
Machine God - Yorean 'Darksoul' Phentari, Aspiring Chaos Sorcerer
Trokair - Sakal, Akkadian Renegade Shock Trooper
Lord Ikka - Nul Abraxas, Outcast Alpha Legion Hunter-Killer
Petragor - Ollykyrax, the Heretek Battle-smith
Xin Ceithan - Khyran Ar'zuul, Sorcerer-chirurgeon

A.T. - Lord Valeyard, Apostate Rogue Trader

Mazer Rackham - Iorek "The Bear" Redfang, Mercenary Chosen

 

Retired Characters
 

What drove your character to embrace chaos? What brought them to the Screaming Vortex? What has your character, in their overweening pride, fixated upon as a path to power, and how has that affected them? How has your character debased or otherwise disgraced themselves, and how has that affected them? What are your character's driving motivations? What does your character hate above all else?

Try to answer these questions, in brief, when describing your character below. Please provide a rough description of their appearance, personality, and a short character history.

++ Please post your character profiles below ++

Edited December 3, 2023 by Necronaut

[Necronaut]

+ Special/Campaign-Specific Rules +

Special Rules:

• All Heretic Astartes will begin play with the talent "Our Hands Bring Death"
• All Heretic Astartes will begin play with an additional 500XP at character creation.
• All Human Heretics will begin play with an additional 500XP at character creation.

Power Armor:
For this campaign, both the Black Crusade and some of the Deathwatch (Rites of Battle) power armor rules will be in play. This will work as follows:

• If starting play as a Heretic Astartes, roll on Table 3-9 (Rites of Battle, p152) to determine power armor mark. Otherwise, skip ahead to Power Armor Customization.
• Determine the number of applicable armor histories and roll on Table 3-10 (Rites of Battle, p153)
• Roll on the Power Armor Customization Table (Black Crusade Core Rulebook, p176)
• Determine functioning power armor sub-systems as described in the section on Power Amor Sub-Systems (Black Crusade Core Rulebook, p175)

Campaign-Specific Starting Acquired Item Rules:

• Acquired weapons may not exceed Common Craftsmanship.
• Acquired suits of armor may not exceed Common Craftsmanship.
• Acquired wargear & cybernetics may not exceed Common Craftsmanship.
• The above restrictions do not apply to starting equipment as provided by your character's archetype as specified in the Black Crusade Core Rulebook.
• Starting equipment can/will be customized or altered based upon character backstory 

Black Crusade Infamy Tests for Items and Services:

• Consult Table 9-11: Acquisition Test Modifiers (Black Crusade Core Rulebook, p306), and Table 9-13: Example Service Availabilities and Modifiers
• Determine Item Availability as specified in the Black Crusade Core Rulebook Armory (Chapter V, starting on p146) or any of the Tomes, and compare against Table 9-11
• Adjust Item Availability up or down depending upon the number of applied upgrades and downgrades (maximum of 1 downgrade per item)
• Determine Item Amount per Table 9-11
• Determine Item Craftsmanship per Table 9-11
• Determine Item Rarity Modifier based on current location (specified by GM)
• Tally all of the modifiers from steps 2-5
• If the Heretic is offering an item in trade, they may consult Table 9-11 and the Trade special rule box on p308 and repeat steps 2-5 for the item in question, and tally these modifiers. Subtract from the score determined in step 7.
• Should the final score from step 7 (or 8) add up to 100 or more, the Heretic acquires the item without challenge; if the final score from step 6 is less than 0, the item cannot be acquired at the current location, and the Heretic may not test against their Infamy for the item in question.
• Roll 1d100 vs Infamy Characteristic with the added modifier from steps 7 or 8.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Necronaut

[Necronaut]

Campaign Data-Slate

Edited March 29, 2022 by Necronaut

[Lysimachus]

Brother Sgt Oswyld

Second Squad

Lions of Alba Third Company

 

A faithful Knight scorned. Sgt Oswyld believes absolutely that his Chapter was betrayed by the Emperor himself, and is oathsworn to seek vengeance by whatever means necessary. He has been sent by his Captain to forge alliances with renegade groups operating out of the Screaming Vortex and goad them into striking back against the Great Betrayer, as well as against the Imperial fools who are too blind to see his treachery.

 

Oswyld is honourable, stern and quietly disdainful of any who fail to meet his exacting standards. He typically shows little emotion, striving to remain detached and professional. However, if one looks deeply enough into his dark eyes, his rage at being forsaken and his burning desire for revenge are clearly visible.

 

The Lion is also a consummate swordsman, a skilled duellist in the manner of both his Chapter and their Imperial Fists forebears. Oswyld even earned the honour of reaching the last sixteen in the 812th Feast of Blades, knocked out of the competition by the warrior who would go on to claim the title that century.

 

In combat Oswyld carries his powered duelling sword and an ancient plasma pistol. His bolter, while well maintained and ready for use, is usually kept holstered as he prefers fighting at short range. He takes great pride in his battle plate, one of the few suits of MkVIII 'Errant' armour received by the Lions of Alba before their excommunication. Parts of it have been heavily artificered, showing numerous honour markings, including a Crux Terminatus. Other sections have of necessity been replaced by older pieces taken as spoils of war, but Oswyld always ensures that such additions are swiftly repainted in the beloved yellow and white of his Chapter.

 

Among the nobility of Alba - now extinct, wiped out along with the rest of the population by the cyclonic torpedoes of the despised Heralds of Light Chapter - the practice of raising, training and flying birds of prey was very popular. This tradition continues to be practised by many of the officers of the exiled Chapter, Sgt Oswyld among them. Curan, a ghostly grey Albaran Cyber-Owl, is the Lion's constant companion, flitting soundlessly above his head or perching atop his power pack and glaring at anyone that approaches with huge, unblinking, icy blue eyes. While Curan poses little physical threat to even the lowest fighter, the various enhancements within his avian form enable the silent raptor to identify and locate his master's enemies with ease.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 4, 2023 by Lysimachus

[Mazer Rackham]

Iscario

Iscario

Former Rank: Assault Marine

Former Chapter: [REDACTED]

Geneseed: [REDACTED]

Hair: Chestnut Brown, cropped short

Eyes: Iron grey

Hatred: Ecclesiarchy (The Order of the Martyred Vision of St Jaeda)

Pride: Foresight

Disgrace: Destruction

Motivation: Vengeance

Archetype: Forsaken.

Iscario is on the run from a Writ of Purgation issued by the Ecclesiarchy. Penned by Cardinal Shase-Loran, his Chapter was deemed wanting, and driven to destruction by a combined force of several different Precepts and Commanderies of Sororitas and Frateris Militas.

The crime of his chapter was to provide sanctuary fleeing the persecution of Goge Vandire during the Age of Apostasy, claiming neutrality. Their belief in the Emperor only as a man, led to later friction with the Ecclesiarchy, with former allies now broken away and submerged by continuing schisms, turning on them.

Forced to fight his way off-world, as it burned, Iscario commandeered a shuttle and slaughtered the Ecclesiarchus occupants, making for the corners of the galaxy which might provide him succour from the enemies now hunting him. Tainted and irredeemable, he claimed the denunciation as a title, and became what he now calls himself.

He quickly fell in with a band of human mercenaries, the Black Iron Reivers, lending his skills to them, and finding solace in passing on his training -or as much as possible to mortals - as well as rising in their ranks until he commanded his own warband under their general banner. His past caught up with him in the Uraldis Sector, where the Reivers were slain in a carefully laid trap by Cardinal Shase-Loran and Inquisitor [REDACTED] of the Ordo Hereticus.

Narrowly escaping, he had no choice but to flee in the only direction left to him, and find the lawless places where the Imperium could not go.

Betrayed by the Imperium, and even by the Beloved Primarch, who he sees as failing him and his Chapter, he plots his return, and the eventual death of the Cardinal...

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by Mazer Rackham

[Machine God]

Yorean Phentari

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Former Rank: Apothecary

 

 

Former Chapter: Star Scorpions

 

 

Geneseed: Not Known.

 

 

Hair: Bald

 

 

Eyes: The ancient saying that the eyes yes are the window's to the soul, is especially true with Yorean 'Darksoul' Phentari. His eyes are two deep pools of utter black.

 

 

VDM: The skin of his throat, neck and bald head is covered in runic tattoo's

 

 

Hatred: Orks!

 

 

Pride: Craftsmanship (an artist who cares for his kit and strives to fulfil a picture of the Vision)

 

 

Disgrace: Greed (He will claw your arm off for the last piece of Corpse Starch or that Shiny Thing that you just found!)

 

 

Motivation: Arcane (The Vision demands the acquisition of new spells and materials)

 

 

 

 

 

Archetype: Sorcerer.

 

 

 

 

 

What his name was he dimly remembers, it matters not now. He was an Apothecary within his chapter and the world that he was on was plagued by an explosion of Feral Orks. Endlessly slaying the Xenos and administering to his comrades to save them and preserve the precious gene-seed of his chapter. It wasn't his home world or even his chapter world, it was just another battle site.

 

 

 

 

 

As he fought the Xenos, the Ork in it's myriad form, his training was shattered and then reforged upon the anvil war, he had doubts. The first time that he had the Vision was after a tense fire-fight. He was the sole survivor within a jungle clearing, his squad were dead at his feet together with half a dozen dead Orks. He was out of ammunition and he had resorted to using his Narthecium to slay. As he administered to his squad he noticed that one of the Orks had knocked over a small cairn of rocks. The world had a small population of primitives who worshipped the Emperor, so he began to rebuild the cairn with his gore stained gauntlets. It was then that he was subjected to the full power of the warp in a Vision of an ancient edifice steeped in arcane power. He attempted to build the cairn in this image, but he could never get it quite right.

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually the Orks were slain and he left the world with his chapter, but he wasn't the same anymore. Haunted by the Vision he used the opportunity of his chapter turning to Chaos, to leave and seek other war zones to face the thieving Orks. During this time alone he further attempted to create copies of the vision in various mediums and ever more exotic materials. Success in his endeavours allowed him to shed his former life as an Apothecary and successfully transition into his apotheosis as a Sorcerer.

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually his former chapter became The Pure. He was reborn as Yorean Phentari within the Screaming Vortex, a swordsman with skills for hire.

 

 

 

 

 

His cannibalised Power Armour is stained by a chaotic purple scheme that bedazzles the eyes of the viewer. He wears fine Sacrificial Robes and he bears Bloodrazor, his accursed Force Sword that he uncovered on a deathworld.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Machine God
Added Chapter and a tidy up.

[Lord_Ikka]

Nul Abraxus

Legion: XX

Past Affiliations: Red Corsairs, Savage Spectres

 

Archetype: Chosen

Pride: Foresight

Disgrace: Deceit

Motivation: Nihilism

 

A cameleoline cloak covers a dark figure, blurring edges and only briefly showing blackened armor wrapping the body, meticulously cared for but scoured of all insignia or heraldry. Silent bolts shoot from the hidden figure, striking down enemies unseen before the warrior leaps into battle with booming bolt pistol and venomous powerblade. Looking down upon his enemies, the warrior gives no sign of pleasure or disgust- for him the battle was over before it began, the enemy not worthy of further thought. He slips away, disappearing into the shadows and looking for his next target.

 

Abraxus was an unloved son of the 20th Legion, the Alpha Legion. Created in these later days of the Long War, a mere 400 years ago, the legionnaire was trained in the Alpha Legion's favored tactics of stealth and subtlety, though due to his status as a New-Blood never gaining enough status or respect to satisfy him.

 

His tattered cloak covers a suit of blackened mk VI armor. If one looks closely, past the innumerable scratches and blemishes of constant war, faint outlines of scales and chains are still inscribed. Underneath the battered plate lies a meticulously cared for center, with as good as possible repairs made from one without a warband or dedicated tech-helot. 

 

Becoming disillusioned with the Legion's schemes within schemes, Abraxus broke with his brothers and set on the road of the mercenary. Hiring out to various renegade warbands both large and small has increased the assassin's skills and merciless nature. Like many of his former Alpha Legion brethren, Abraxus views the Chaos Gods with a wary eye as he watches others fall into madness or decay. He stalks the battlefields of the Long War, searching for something to fill the void in his heart- a leader to follow, an ideal to uphold. Nothing has proven worthy so far... 

 

 

 

Power Armor

Power Armor roll - 4 = Mk6 Power Armor

Customization roll - 5 = Careful Maintenance

     Subsystems active (5) = Auto-Senses, Vox Link, Sustainable Power Source, Nutrient Recycling, Osmotic Gill

Gear

Starting

Mk6 Legion Power Armor, Legion Bolt Pistol (2 magazines), Legion Combat Blade, Painless (modified Legion Bolter, 3 magazines regular bolter rounds), Hydrafang (powerblade)

Acquired

Cameleoline cloak, 1 magazine of Stalker bolt shells (24 rounds)

 

XP

Starting - 1000 (500 base + 500)

Purchases (All are Unaligned)

- 250 Ballistic Skill Simple Advancement

- 500 Marksman (tier 2) 

Retained XP - 250

 

 

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by Lord_Ikka
Updated with character creation stuff

[Trokair]

Sakal, Naram-Sin 1st Legion

 

Pride: Fortitude

Disgrace: Wrath

Motivation: Perfection

 

While many a Lord of the Eight Pointed Star will considerers themselves satisfied and blessed by forces of fanatics to conquer their enemies with and raise their status with the Gods. Some however find such hordes of fanatics as no more than rabble and cannon fodder, a tool of necessity at times, but not something to strive for. For such, a more disciplined and trained army is the intent, something to match and exceed that bulwark of the corpse emperor and his Astra Militarum.

 

The Sargonic Lords of Akkad count amongst their number, and their professional and well equipped armies and navies have allowed them to conquer and secure an entire subsector for several hundred years, repelling all attempts by the corpse emperors to retake his lost systems.

 

From time to time the Sargonic Lords would send their forces out into the wider galaxy, for their own goals or as support for other followers of the Eight Pointed Star. It was one such assignment that saw Sakal posted to the Screaming Vortex, alongside 8 regiments of his fellow Akkadians. That was nigh on two decades ago.

 

With their generals dead, bought or seeking their own glory, scattering and shattering the regiment under their command in the process not much was left for Sakal. While still loyal to the Eight Pointed Star and the distant Sargonic Lords he is for now commanderless, free to forge his own path. Formally a member of the elite Naram-Sin 1st Legion, the best equipped of the Sargonic Lords forces, their bodyguards and shook troops. Three squads had been dispatched alongside the 8 regiments, and to his knowledge he was the last, not counting those that had sought to be Lords in their own right in the turmoil of the Vortex, forswearing their oaths.  

 

Amongst the Akkadians those that are faithful the Eight Pointed Star worship the pantheon in equal measures. From the eight major gods, The Warrior, The Grandfather, The Scholar, The Youngling, The Prince, The Smith, The Teacher, and The Other , one for each cardinal direction of the star, and many a lesser. Individuals might favour one or another in their devotion, but the undivided whole always take precedence.

Edited August 28, 2023 by Trokair

[Petragor]

Ollkyrax "The Battlesmith"
Heretek
Former Skitarius

 

Pride: Craftsmanship

Disgrace: Destruction
Motivation: Violence

"Forging tools of war is a great honor, second only to using them."

A former Skitarii Alpha promoted to Tech-Priest, this warrior detested the Mechanicus' impersonal ranged tactics, and never lost the taste for close quarters battle. Eventually, during a deployment against chaos forces, he gave in to whispers of great power and forbidden innovation, betraying his fellows in favour of the Chaos Warband they were fighting against. Sabotaging critical wargear and creating a gap in the perimeter, the battle was over before it began. Upon officially joining the forces of Chaos, he gave himself the seemingly random name Ollkyrax, which is in fact based on his old Skitariius designation "011-Killer-Ypsilon/Radex".
 

Ollkyrax has since participated in many frontline battles, and forged many tools of war. The most infamous of these is the aggressive Strife-Pattern War Servitor, but Ollkyrax aspires to invent even greater things. The Heretek himself is aggressive in the extreme, and rather charismatic when it comes to advocating for a violent solution to any given problem, even if doing so could destroy useful resources. As it is with many followers of chaos, war is not a means to an end for him, but an end in itself.
 

Physically, Ollkyrax is lean and strong for his size, often charging into melee with his swift bionic legs and desecrated Omnissian axe, cut in half and parted with its holy tools in favor of a more specialized Heretek toolkit. His face is the only part visible under his armor and tattered mechanicus robes, and even that is covered in protective layers of metal to ensure any charge into glorious combat is successful.

Now, Ollkyrax seeks to expand his influence in the Vortex, to secure the materials and facilities needed to construct instruments of violence, and hopefully to slaughter some of his former comrades in the Mechanicus for their cowardly ways along the way.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Petragor

[Xin Ceithan]

 

Khyran Ar’Zhuul

Red Corsair Arcanist , former Mantis Warrior 

Pride: Foresight

Disgrace: Betrayal

Motivation: Ascendancy

 

Background

 

Shipwrecked   while seeking allies to the cause of Huron Blackheart and his Red Corsairs among the pirate bands of the Jagged Helix, Khyran Ar’Zhuul has been drifting among the worlds of the Screaming Vortex. 

 

Increasingly intrigued by the mysteries and opportunities offered by the Vortex, the former Librarian has began wandering, selling his services as a warrior, a sage and a healer.

 

Given the current state  of his mission as well as the nature  of the Tyrant of the Maelstrom, he is more than aware that he would  be ill advised to return empty-handed. Lately, he has begun wondering if he should return at all…

 

Appearance

 

Though scratched and scorched, Ar’Zhuul’s armor still  retains the red and black of the Red Corsairs. 

 

The horned skull of the Librarius still leers from the right shoulder guard of suit of MK IV Plate which has quite obviously been refitted, repaired and restored so  many times over centuries, perhaps millennia of service that it seems unlikely to retain any piece left over from the time it’s original forging.  Thus, some  of the pieces might even date back to the Great Crusade, while others have  obviously been more  recently joined to the mongrelized warplate and while great care has been taken to ensure their overall function, less care has been put into obscuring their  origin. 

 

Here and there, one might glimpse the remains of Imperial Heraldry ranging from individual battle honours to  more distinct shapes such as the somber cross of the Black Templars, the sprawling invocations of The Exorcists or the draconian iconography of the Salamanders, even if all of these have been meticulously been broken and defaced a long time ago and delicate runic  script has been etched into the heat scorched plate.

 

On the left shoulder, a collection of mummified claws and finger bones which were preserved in galvanized metal and wreathed in barbed wire form the distinctive claw and lightning icon of the Corsair between which a set  of red eyes still seems to peer out  from to time to time. 

 

A small orb  dangles from his neck, a focusing charm that on closer inspection contains an actual  eyeball encased in armoured crystal and sheathed in a thorny braid of barbed wire in a manner that once formed  the  seal of office for the Librarius of the Astral Claws. Most people soon refrain from looking at it too closely, however, after realizing that the not only eye seems to blink every so often and  can not quite shake the impression  that the eye is somehow staring back..

 

Flowing drapes of cameoline cloth double as  hood, cloak and robes, the fabric uneasily settling  in dark rippling shades of black, blue and purple by default while  inactive, not only concealing some of the motley warplate but also a collection of various flasks, pouches and vials,  a wide selection of charms, bones, dried strips of skin as well as an assortment of  needles and blades.  

 

Belted at the waist, Khyran keeps his trusted bolt pistol holstered on left hip, along with a ritual blade along with several data-scroll cylinders and the battered remains  of three Astartes  gene seed repository vials among pouches containing further  tools of the Ars Medicae as well as a set of argent bowls along with a selection of various ingredients for yet another prized form of art - that of enjoying a cup of tea. 

 

During his travels, Khyran Ar’Zhuul rarely removes his helmet, trusting the improved auto-senses of  the VII Corvus pattern to supplement his own awareness. among the often hostile environment of the Vortex. This helmet, framed by the jawbones of some xenos beast, still retains most of the artful embroidery and ivory finish, as well as the distinctive red plumage as a clear reminder of its former owner Chorgorian origins, remains one of the Sorcerer’s most prized trophies. 

 

Even without his helmet,  Khyran prefers to keep his featured hidden inside the hood of his cloak, accounting for the  ashen complexion of a skin shot through with delicate geometric patterns  formed of coppery green wiring which slash across his cheeks and dart up around the cranial plug-in-ports on his temples. His scalp remains mostly shaven but for a tightly bound long braid of matching light hair. His polychromatic eyes remain one of Khyran’s most distinct feature, one emerald, one sapphire- a sign of witchcraft as old as mankind. 

 

“ Joyful Dance of the Black Dragon’s Soul” is never far from his grip, linked to his psychic gifts by the  sorcerer’s art, a force weapon once taken from a champion of the Invocators during a raid on a rival stronghold inside the Maelstrom. 

The long hefted pole arm is bound  in mutant hide and made from strange alloys seemingly more likely to be grown rather than just forged.  The blade itself seems to have been made from some sort of volcanic glass, whose sheen flows from  the nocturnal darkness of the moonless ocean to the angry green of a storm wracked  seas the  songs of the Great Ocean  drift wordlessly in and out the back of those minds close it, rolling like waves. 

Legend has it that the Black Dragon Soul was crafted  by the mage-artisans of fabled A’sall, but despite his studies, Khyran Ar’Zhuul has not mastered the psychic tempest bound into the weapon. Not yet, at least….

[A.T.]

Lord Valeyard, aka the Corsair Imperator

Noble / Apostle

 

Pride: Charm

Disgrace: Deceit

Motivation: Perfection

 

The roar of the departing lander still echoed across the barren landscape as he raised his pistol to the warp-witchs' head and pulled the trigger. What worth her guidance if she couldn't even fortell this mutiny. One shot they had left him and more mercy than he would visit upon them in due.

 

Smashed to pieces nearby his only loyalist, a guard hound built of servos and ceramite around the first of his prizes - a sonic weapon of ancient terran design radiating power too lethal for a mere man to carry. The impervious heart of the beast that even now slowly pulled itself together once more in defiance of all natural law.

 

The fools knew not its value nor cared as they spouted superstition and empty platitudes to the Emperor. Damnable Ecclesiarchy, he had seen their towers of gold and the truth of them as they bled dry the great empires and looked ever inwards to grasp every last throne to their dying breath.

 

The worlds beyond the astronomicon held riches and terrors in equal measure and he had held them within his grasp... so terribly close as they were snatched away by fools. They dared quote the naval code at him as if their lives were not well spent, millions died each day in wars over mud and rock while he wagered but thousands against the bounty of worlds and stars untouched since the dark age of humanity.

 

This setback would not be the end of him. Debts would be claimed and bargains entered, the universe had not seen the last of the Valeyard.

Edited August 9, 2023 by A.T.

[Mazer Rackham]

Grey Hunter, Ex-Red Corsair, Iorek 'The Bear' Redfang.

 

Race: Space Marine (Space Wolf)

Archetype: Chosen

Eyes: Cobalt Blue

Build: A demigod made flesh. 9' 1"

Skin: Bronzed from the heat of innumerable suns

Hair: Jet black - hair is plaited and lacquered, beard is the same so his helmet will seal.

 

Acquisitions: Meltagun (Slow Recharge), Refractor Field.

 

PA: Mk V, Well Maintained, Autosenses, Osmotic Gill, Power Supply, Recoil Suppression, Pain Management System

 

Further description:

 

He wears slate blue-grey, 'a cloudy sky given over to storms' the muzzles of wolves snarl from artificed angles and reliefs, some partially melted by some powerful weapon. A ragged pelt adorns his shoulders, broken toothed fetishes at his waist. His warplate is unequally washed with soot and scratches of the metal below.

 

This armour has seen war, as the owner has seen hell. The dust of Armageddon lingers in an ephemeral tint, nothing Imperial, though, a more barbaric and primal feel, eking from him, a harkening back to the Space Wolves of old, his right Pauldron is wholly black - and carries the Mk V bonded studs, in a dark bronze colour. On his left Pauldron, the Chapter heraldry has been partly excised, instead replaced with a white (colour inverted) claw of the Blood Reaver on toothed black and red field. (Don't know the heraldic name for this, see image).

 

Even this is faded and chipped.

 

His helm is the whale-grille of the older Mk V too, lenses arterial crimson. Upon his brow is the mount for a gem, but this is gone, leaving an empty, aurumite cartouche, a diamond lozenge of ancient gold, the glory long tarnished.

 

His left kneecap repeats the maw design, this time with a white Pack Marking. A single Runic Amulet hangs from his neck, and his armour carries runic incisions throughout, warding harm from the vulnerable joints and fibre bundles. Despite all the damage, the suit purrs, the care of lapping powder and rote mechanist attention mark it out as mostly superficial, and cannot hide the puissance wrought so long ago. His weapons do not hang - they adorn him, works of dark, galactic metal and a hint of the terrible power he can bring to bear.

 

For all his raiment, all his mastery, it is easy to see that he is alone, come from somewhere frightening, to rest somewhere worse. His mien is of the professional, but the potential for violence radiates off his mammoth frame as sure as the blood he must surely have waded through on Armageddon.

 

EDIT:

 

(Second row, last on the right.)

 

Character Detail (discussions with GM):

 

He's in Desolace for a very simple reason: he's got nowhere else to go. I thought to keep it simple, allow for options.

 

His Disgrace is Betrayal, so I think he's likely run with a few packs since banishment, using them as either cover or simply somewhere to rest in between movements. Maybe Skyrar's Dark Wolves, (thanks for that nibble!) but he found no home there. Then the Corsairs (his involvement there was from Sarah Cawkwell's Gildar Rift where one of the guys was a SW. He was a decent bloke, captured when the Strike Cruiser Wolf of Fenris was captured by Red Corsairs, and one of the survivors signed on.

 

They were a means to an end - disposable. His attitude verges on nihilism, not cause. There is no cause, only war, and what he can get his hands on. 'I am out to get mine'.

 

He served under Warleader Assam Huttush, a Chosen of the Corsairs, and an ex-White Scar, but his age and scope of operations may have separated him from Khyran to arm's length. It's possible they know of each other. Huttush was a means to an end. And he met that end on the point of Iorek's combat knife.

 

He despises the Inquisition, so any raids or action against them is, to his mind, completely fair and sanctioned. Currently he's been working with bounty hunters and a group of mercenaries called the Black Iron Reivers (thanks Iscario), but this is not his home.

 

Outwardly, he carries himself as confident and disdainful of Chaos worshippers. He doesn't like anyone, but if the pay is right, the company is tolerable, and the aims align just enough, he's on board. It helps that his aims are generally = practice killing so he can better at killing faster. He cares not for favour, nor the pantheon of the warp. He's seen enough on Armageddon to respect it - he's not a clown, but he knows it will just use him more than he'll get from it. He still harbours an ingrained suspicion of the Chaos powers - he is, after all, in their territory.

 

Who knows how he will end?

Edited December 1, 2023 by Mazer Rackham