Marassar | Imperium of Man | Errant Space Marine

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MARASSAR OVERVIEW » NAME: Marassar » ALIAS: Marassar of Ashmede » AGE: 205 » GENDER: Male » AFFILIATION: Imperium of Man; Vicars of Terra » OCCUPATION: Errant Space Marine » FACE CLAIM: OC » PLAYED BY: Pantor PROFILE THEIR ASPECT When the 82nd Ashmede Grenadiers were stood down after three decades of service in the Sabbat Worlds, the frigate Marassar Lord was assigned to bring them to the newly won settlement world of Hasran. When a former Ashmede captain had his first son, he named the boy Marassar in honor of the vessel that had brought his comrades to their new home. It was a fitting name. Tall and stately, all hard lines and sharp angles; Robust, able, and utterly stubborn. That was Marassar. When he was 16, the boy had his namesake’s heraldry tattooed on his chest by a mid-spire artist passing himself off as an ex-ganger. When the noble astartes collected him for the recruitment tithe he had still not been forgiven for it by his mother. An oddity among the Vicars of Terra, who hail from sun-scorched Miramar or the jungle world Druser as a rule, he has skin like rose gold and thick auburn hair. Thin, flat lips and an large, sharp nose are the hallmarks of all men of Ashmede, as are hooded blue eyes and heavy brows. As captain of the Vicar’s 3rd Company he was clean shaven, but since exile has worn a full beard. Marassar is short for an astartes, and stands at just over seven feet tall, but is broad shouldered and hale. He is typically filthy, often forced to go years at a time without proper treatment for his skin and hair, sometimes longer. The socket-plugs that dot his body are inflamed and itch terribly. Marassar’s wargear is nearly as pitiful. Difficult to keep in working order and impossible to properly maintian without support, it is slowly decaying around him. The right pauldron has lost its silver trim, the left only held together by molecular bonding studs. His Mk V helmet does not link with his armor properly. The aquila on his chest is tarnished and cracked, and his powerpack keens like a dying animal when stressed. The servos in his left gauntlet failed a number of years ago and so that hand is always locked in an uncomfortable rictus. The orange and blue paint has lost its proud luster, faded and chipped to expose the brown-grey ceramite underneath. Only his weapons, slung or held at his hip, remain unsullied. Their maintenance has been the only comfort Marassar has known in exile. Noteworthy Features » Auburn Hair » Filthy » Stiff Left Arm » Battered Armor » Soft Spoken THEIR PERSONA Born to a mother fascinated by the Emperor’s Tarot, it was foretold that Marassar would be a proud and willful man. When as a child he was quiet and humble, his mother insisted that it was a singular act of will to defy fate’s prediction. In his own way, she knew, the tarot had been true. When he emerged from the crucible of gene augmentation, those hidden traits had come fully to fruition. Though still soft spoken, brother Marassar quickly gained a reputation among the men of 3rd Company for unflinching determination. He would do what he knew to be proper until that brought him to the Emperor’s side. Some called it stubborn. Marassar called it strength of character. Pious and a would be theologian, he was at home amidst the Vicars of Terra. Unlike his brothers, however, he did not attend debates in the House of Remembrance, nor did he see popularity as a writer. There was no point in debate or discussion with Marassar. He was hardline, a dyed in the wool puritan, unwilling to consider any nuance or interpretation. At one time, during his tenure as sergeant of Squad Lyco, he was involved in a row with the captain of Seventh Company over the nature of the Emperor’s divinity. The captain, noted for his oratory and thoughtfulness, came to blows with Marassar when the young sergeant responded to his arguments by shouting quotations from Sebastian Thor and refusing to stop. Despite his reputation as an immovable object, or perhaps because of it, Marassar was popular with most of 3rd Company. As steadfast of a friend and warrior as he was a zealot and puritan, it was known that when pressed, he would be the last to break. It was that simple fact that won him glory on Trantine, or during the Purge of Subsector Dorsalia, and eventually the captaincy of 3rd Company. It was also what brought him exile, and cost his honor.  » POSITIVE TRAITS ✔ Loyalty ✔ Piety ✔ Determination ✔Propriety » NEGATIVE TRAITS ✘ Arrogance ✘ Stubbornness ✘ Wroth ✘ Willful Ignorance » LIKES ✔ Piety ✔ Honor ✔ Loyalty ✔ Valor » DISLIKES ✘ Capriciousness ✘ Selfishness ✘ Cynicism ✘ Tolerance THEIR CONNECTIONS Allies » Captain Balsor Zassus Captain of the imperial frigate Leoncoeur, which transported Marassar into the sector. » Father Follox Solom Itinerant priest with whom Marassar receives religious instruction when possible. » Cruor Marassar’s personal serf and attendant, a sickly old man who has been his only consistent companion for his decades of exile. Enemies » Kalbus Hox Thrice damned traitor and servant of the ruinous powers, it was Kalbus Hox that forced Marassar to shame his chapter and has now drawn him to this arm of the galaxy. » Inquisitor Gadarion Highhammer The man responsible for the death of Sontari and Marassar’s exile. » Warboss Mankicka The greatest of Marassar’s enemies acquired during exile and one that has continued to harry him in pursuit of their rivalry. THEIR APTITUDES Marassar is a duelist in practice and in ethic. There is artistry in a blade’s fluid motion and the patterns it describes. At the Feast of Blades it was his honor to act as chapter champion in lieu of Captain Ront who had been maimed in the Kuranian Moon Wars. Though defeated in the penultimate bout, it remains the singular moment of his life. Marassar is, even in exile, one of the chapter’s greatest swordsmen. The great powerblade has not left his side for close to a century. Though the Vicars of Terra train their members like other chapters, to be the greatest examples in all schools of war, only they profess a belief in the most unorthodox form of warfare for an astartes: the chemical. The flame burns away heresy, but chemical gas scours the soul clean. Nerve gases, corrosive acids, these are the specialties of the Vicars of Terra. Did the Emperor not restore their Betcher’s Gland to illuminate this truth? Though Marassar did not have the privilege of studying alongside the Magos Alchemicae of Hardura, he is still knowledgeable about most gases, toxins, acids, and poisons known to the Imperium. Apothecary Morasnan had made the offhand remark that during Marassar’s augmentation he had accidentally cracked the boy’s head against one of the medical arrays. Though Morasnan went on to insist that there were no obvious signs of trauma afterwards, that was the reason cited by his brothers for why Marassar’s aim was so poor and his mind so unchanging. Though still a commendable marksmen among mortal men, it has never been a secret that Marassar’s prowess with a boltgun is mediocre. The holes he shot into the deck of the fortress monastery’s firing range are his most physically enduring legacy among the Vicars of Terra. » STRENGTHS ✔ Swordsmanship  ✔ Dexterity and Speed  ✔ Chemical Warfare Specialist  ✔ Willpower » WEAKNESSES ✘ Mediocre Marksman ✘ Low Situational Awareness ✘ No Stealth Ability ✘ Little Emphasis on Tactics ACCOUTREMENTS THEIR WEAPONS » The Powersword of Brother Captain Boralus A keen, two-handed power blade forged during the 38th Millennium for Captain Boralus of the Knights of Lycoraphon. Its adamantine blade looks silver-blue after centuries under a power field, and the gilt aquila crossguard is tarnished towards the edge of the emitter. The hilt is wrapped in tattered red slik and the pommel is a blunt spike. The words, “Heed me Zarsalese!” are etched on the blade. » Godwyn Mark Vb Boltgun An unremarkable boltgun taken from the chapter armory before Marassar’s exile. The case is painted the same blue as his pauldrons and a single purity seal denoting a prayer for a previous owner is affixed to the magazine feed. » Two Homemade Acid Grenades A pair of crude, handmade grenades wrought by Marassar in the pattern of those used by his chapter. Filled with acid from his own Betcher’s Gland, crude aquila icons scrimshawed from ork teeth are affixed to the front. THEIR ARMOR Piecemeal Mk. V/MK. VII Power Armor Orange, blue, and trimmed with Silver, with a proud white helmet, this was a fine suit of armor once. With no maintenance or real repair for some fifty years, it is broken and battered. The helmet, a proud relic of the chapter, has ailing machine spirits and refuses to link with the rest of the armor.  The breastplate is bruised and cracked in a thousand miniscule ways, its proud aquila beaten down and sullied. The power pack, its fusion reactor reaching middle age, hums like an insect constantly, and when stressed it wails constantly. More than once Marassar has been mistaken for an oncoming vehicle. The gauntlets and greaves remain largely intact, despite their appearance. Only the left gauntlet and its hand have suffered serious damage. Caught in the power klaw of Warboss Mankicka, the servos were pulped and now remain locked in whatever position Marassar can force them into, often resting on the pommel or gripping the hilt of his blade. THEIR EQUIPMENT » Miscellaneous Utility Gear Festooned with worn leather pouches and canvas bags, Marassar has amassed a small horde of everyday objects of use for an errant warrior with no source of support. Lengths of cord, basic repair tools, sheets of metal, electrical components and so on. » Handheld Auspex Stolen from the Leoncoeur’s holds and made for hands much smaller than his own, it is the most useful tool Marassar has acquired for a number of years. Stenciled letters on one end read “Gamma Deck - Sub Level R.” » Heavy Leather-Bound Book Worn, dusty, and in serious need of repair, this veritable tome is a recounting of all Marassar’s deeds during exile. It is penned in both large, harsh letters, and a smaller, flowing script with shaky lines. BIOGRAPHY By decree of the High Lords of Terra, in 779.M37 Brother Captain Mortino of the Imperial Fists became Chapter Master of the Vicars of Terra following his victory at Eskaar. Another ork incursion of such strength on the edge of the imperial core would be disastrous, and so by fiat, largely thanks to the efforts of the Speaker for the Chartist Captains, a chapter was founded to protect the border between segmentums Pacificus and Solar. When, after several millennia, another ork force the likes of which had promoted their founding arose, the Vicars of Terra crushed it swiftly. At that time their reach had expanded to much of Segmentum Pacificus, including a recently won world by the name of Hasran. When Hive Fleet Wyvern threatened the world, the Vicars were there to shield Hasran. When the campaign was ended and rebuilding began they took their due, ten score able men for the chapter trials. Thus began Marassar’s life of real meaning. Though their recruitment range had widened over the centuries, the silent dunes of Miramar remained the chapter’s heart. When the serfs brought Marassar to the edge of the Dune Sea, and the Tenth Captain threw each initiate from the thunderhawk, he did not think it was real. The desolation of space brought down to a planet. An endless nothing of sand and heat, lorded over by a fat red sun. Watching the gunship arc toward the horizon was like dying. There was debate among the initiates, some discussion and boasting. They clamored when Marassar marched off in the thunderhawk’s wake. “The outpost is this way, fool!” “You aren’t impressing anyone!” “Go it alone, freak!” When the surviving initiates made their way to the meteorological outpost and completed the three week ordeal, Marassar was not with them. He walked into a frontier town a month later, a timezone away, and declared that he had completed the initiation trial. Though the Tenth Captain insisted that Marassar was an ignoramus, the Third Captain interceded on his behalf, insisting that the will required to survive two months in the dunes was becoming of an astartes. The wayward initiate had, despite himself, become one of the Emperor’s angels and won the favor of his new captain. Raised to the honorable rank of brother, Marassar first saw combat during the pacification efforts on Jurgast with the rest of Squad Lyco. Though he distinguished himself in combat against the insurgents and their xenos allies, he was censured by Sergeant Daruman for a ‘too literal interpretation of orders.’ Marassar had, when instructed to clear a building contested by insurgents and the local militia, burnt it. In the same engagement, he waded into enemy fire to rescue Brother Myadies who had been wounded by an autocannon shot to the knee, and cemented himself as a member of Squad Lyco. After deployments to Kurana, the Folthine Moons, and a long campaign on Qualon, Marassar achieved his first real honor during the Breaking of the Kat’Takt. With the xenos pushed back to their fortress world, the Rogue Trader with whom the Vicar’s compact was made was content to let 3rd Company take its leave. Third Captain insisted the task be finished, and a siege began that lasted nearly five years. With the help of Dursak Siege Infantry and an army group from Heliopol Secundus, beachheads were established and the great palace complex was encircled. With most of the company tied down with the Kat’Takt war engines, it was up to only a few squads to break the palace shields. Infiltrating by way of the palace catacombs, they were set upon by the Satrap’s elite guard and scattered. An element of Squad Lyco lead by Marassar were able to elude the bodyguards and make their way to the throne room, slaying the Satrap, overloading the shields, and bringing about the ruin of the Kat’Takt. When the race was declared extinct it was the Vicars of Terra, and in particular Marassar’s cohort, who were credited. Sergeant Daruman’s death meant that Marassar’s promotion to sergeant of Squad Lyco was inevitable. For the next six decades Marassar and Squad Lyco were drawn into the Harrowing of Sub-Sector Hadranax, the Vicars 3rd, 5th, and 6th companies a keystone of the defense against the traitor Kalbus Hox and his Saturnine March. Though the Archenemy claimed some two-dozen worlds in their advance, Battlefleet Hadranax and the components of three chapter fleets broke the traitor flotilla over Iakta Primaris and turned them to flight. Marassar and his squad were involved in the boarding of the enemy flagship and, though brief, encountered Kalbus Hox in a firefight toward the secondary bridge. Though their boarding efforts were repulsed, Marassar was awarded honors for his squads key role in crippling the ship. The course of the Harrowing had become too ponderous and slow, and it was impossible to maintain momentum as imperial forces ran circles across a hundred worlds in their efforts to drive the Saturnine March out of the sub-sector. At the turn of the last decade, command personnel from the Vicars of Terra, Brazen Lances, Lords of Baccalar, and the Cylonian 8th and 14th Armies broke with the Lord Militant Hadranax. Instead of trying to pin Kalbus Hox down and break the traitors in a fixed battle they drove towards Junis, Vaskar, Cantrani, and the few remaining worlds that formed the backbone of the march's supply network. After liberating Junis and razing Vaskar to the ground in only a few months, an element of the offensive force caught the primary traitor fleet at Cantrani, refueling after a year spent harassing the Lord Militant's forces. In a lightning strike that to this day is still commonly studied at the Hadranax Primaris Naval Academy, battlefleet elements under cover of Cantrani's rings destroyed the refueling stations and crippled the chaos warfleet.  Marassar, commanding the strike cruiser Arbitrary Justice in the absence of the Third Captain, caught up in the boarding of an enemy hulk, was vital in assisting the Brazen Lances battlebarge Implacable Wroth as it pursued Kalbus Hox's fleeing flagship. The two imperial warships took it apart. The Chaos cruiser was nimble and quick to act, but hammering of combined bombardment cannons was too great to simply avoid. When their target was destroyed, Marassar and the Brazen Lances Fifth Captain shared the glory of Kalbus Hox's death. The victory was soured only by the death of his mentor and longtime benefactor, the Third Captain, aboard the hulk of the enemy battleship, Hicoycthese. Upon the completion of the campaign and the Vicar's return to Miramar a council of sergeants named Marassar to the post of Third Captain. Named Master of the Watch as Third Company was rotated off of campaign, Marassar assumed responsibility for the defense of Miramar and its vassal worlds. He managed this for two decades, with victories against the orks at Jagast and Uraan, and tremendous efforts in redirecting if not defeating a tendril of Hive Fleet Wyvern. His first real - and indeed his final - failure as Master of the Watch was on the colony moon of Sontari. Chasing rumors of a heretical cult, elements of Third Company uncovered a burgeoning uprising backed by the unseen but apparently returned Kalbus Hox. With a demi-company and a strike cruiser under his command, Marassar made for Sontari to investigate. When he found the moon in rebellion and his trusted Squad Lyco dead, Marassar began a purge that lasted for nearly two weeks. When it became clear that no progress was being made and seeing his old enemy returned so close to him, he made a radical choice. Inquisitor Gadarion Highhammer, Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus Castra, was contacted. The oaths sworn by the chapter were broken, any responsibility for Sontari's care disavowed, and the entire world was put to the sword by the inquisitor's fleet before the taint could spread and damn the entire sub-sector. When the Vicars 1st, 4th, and 8th Companies, too far flung and caught up to respond with haste, finally returned and saw what steps Marassar had taken, there was nearly a battle over Sontari's corpse. Though he had stopped the taint from spreading beyond Sontari, appealed to the proper authorities, Marassar had sullied the chapter's vows and overseen the death of one of the Vicar's entrusted worlds. Chapter Master Valk and a majority of the company captains returned to Miramar, and a great trial was brought to bear against Marassar. There had been no crime or heresy in his actions, but to go against the honor and duties of the Vicars to defend the faithful and its sworn worlds was beyond the pale. Unable to agree that death was justified, a more fair-handed punishment was instead meted out. Marassar was to be stripped of his rank, expelled from the Vicar's worlds, and forbidden from returning until he had won such glory as to wipe away the shame his harsh actions had caused. And so, Third Captain Marassar had become Marassar, not even worthy of the rank of brother.  With only his attendant, the young serf Cruor, and the wargear already on his person, he left Segmentum Pacificus aboard a merchant ship, alone in the galaxy. In service to the merchant for a time, he crossed Segmentum Solar several times over; to Gathalamor, to Trepytos, to Venus, and even to Terra. Listless and bored as a bodyguard, despite the wonders he saw, Marassar broke with the merchant near Magdelon and attached himself to the staff of a Lord General headed into Segmentum Tempestus. Drawn with the general into a war against a minor ork warboss near Tallarn, there were a number of years spent headhunting xenos warriors on behalf of the Lord General. The campaign, which had been slow and grinding, came to a sudden and unexpected end when Zaxon Primaris, heart of the local war effort, was overrun by one of the warboss' lieutenants by the name of Mankicka in a lightning raid. Though Marassar was there to defend the Lord General, his efforts were in vain and the war against the orks was utterly undercut.  Fleeing aboard one of the few remaining imperial vessels in system, the frigate Leoncoeur, he made his way east towards the segmentum border. The frigate's captain, Balsor Zassus, was continually harried in his efforts to link up with the battlefleet by Mankicka and his mob, who had become determined to track down and kill the great warrior that had escaped him on Zaxon. They ran down through Vlax and Esco, into Segmentum Ultima, with Mankicka amassing his strength along the way, naming himself warboss before following beyond the segmentum border. There was a brief battle at Balion Major as the Leoncoeur refueled, and Marassar was nearly killed by Mankicka as the ork warlord overran the orbital dockyard. It was also there at Balion, during the brief respite among the other naval ships and waiting transports, Marassar heard that again, the thrice-damned traitor Kalbus Hox, had somehow escaped death and was abroad in the distant Corinthe Sector.  A new course set as the Leoncoeur fled, Marassar had finally found a first great step towards wiping his slate clean: the final death of Kalbus Hox. Though Mankicka continued to chase them across the eastern sectors he had become distracted and bored, slow to act and slower still to follow. Though still on their trail by the time they slipped into the Corinthe Sector, there was time enough still for the beleaguered Captain Zassus to deposit Marassar on Corinthe itself and at last take some respite. Though on Corinthe and closer than ever to his goal, Marassar had no direction or allies with the Leoncoeur so worn down. Forced to wander the underhive in search of any scrap of information, only the occasional spiritual reassurance from Father Follox Solom, one of the Imperium's many itinerant priests, and the support of the aging Cruor, to keep him true.

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