Origins of the Astartes
Long ago, an ancient and highly developed race favoured by the dragon gods called the Masari developed in a distant galaxy. They resembled humanity, or more correctly, Elves. They were lovers of beauty and spirituality; devout followers of the Dragon gods and the Primordials, and to them a Dragon was a creature far more sacred and precious than any other form of life, but despite these beliefs their technology, magic, and psychic prowess was developed to a great degree. They decided to share their gifts with the universe at large, and went from world to world, uplifting many races, but always reshaping them to resemble the Masari. The Novians for example; were originally a race of what humans would call "Sapient Terror birds" before the Masari altered them to resemble their mammalian forms.
They visited the Earth some two hundred and fifty thousand years ago, and they took the hairy, ugly bipedal apes that were humanity's ancestors and altered them to make them beautiful like they were. They gave a few select groups some of their technology in exchange for following their beliefs. One Masari ship stayed on the Earth, but the rest left the world in search of more to share the gift of civilization with. Eventually, the Masari would meet the Zolkri; a species already at a spacefaring level, but one threatening to self destruct as they were desperate for resources their galaxy couldn't provide anymore due to their voracious industry.
The Masari gave them what they needed to survive, but when they tried to alter the forms of the Zolkri; seeing their skinny, mouthless, large brained forms as hideous; the Zolkri rose up against the Masari who in retaliation closed off their entire observable universe off to them. But a hundred thousand years ago, after ten thousand years of war with something known as the thought sin, the Masari simply vanished. But their other uplifted races began to develop, though in the case of humanity, only certain enclaves of the species were given the full gifts, if inferior to the original, gifts of the Masari. The most prominent of these would be the Ordo Astartes, lead by one Gabriel Thule, who would lead his order to sheperd mankind throughout the ages, fighting menaces mankind was better off not knowing about as they spread across the stars to form the Starbourne Imperium.
The Astartes is founded on the principle that Mankind in all of it's forms is destined to go forth in a grand crusade and unite all the multiverse into one, benevolent empire where there will be no further need for strife. While the alien does not have mankind's destiny, the Alien is welcome to join humanity in it's glorious quest to bring peace through power to the whole of the universe. But soon they encountered their mortal foe; the Black Hand, lead by the vessel of the dark scion of time Alderymora; Vrakmul.
And for two hundred and fifty thousand years the Astartes and Black Hand would wage war, even as the rest of mankind fully developed; the Astartes remained hidden until it could no longer do so; leaving the Earth save for a token guard force in the year two thousand, but not before they took with them an orphaned boy from Maple Valley; Washington. But that is not his story, this is the story of the fallen son of the Astartes.
Xaraghoul The Ravager
Born on Earth over a hundred and fifty thousand years before the rise of the Sumerians, The self styled Warmaster Xaraghoul was brought into the "Order of the Talon" one of the Knightly orders of the Ordo Astartes at the age of 5 and became a fully fledged Talon Knight-Errant soon after reaching the age ten and earned his battle armor by the time he was fifty. His psychic powers being discovered at about the same time he earned his power armor. He became a sergeant at age one hundred thirty after proving his martial valor by gunning down a large number of hostile Urtraghians rushing from cover and throwing a frag grenade at their position and slaughtering them all with his auto-crossbow, urging along many of his friends to join him in his charge.
Fifty years years later earned his teutonic honors and became a Lieutenant by leading his Champion squadron to jumpjet into the middle of a milbot mass, placing thermobombs on three of the tanks and used his power sword to carve up another and taking out their lead Guard with his plasma pistol while his squadron took out two others with their chain swords and destroying a third with autobolt pistols before jump jetting out, destroying a force which threatened the flank of the Fell Hounds and earned Lord Varitus', head of the Ordo Astartes' respect.
He would become company commander within twenty five years by teleporting three squads of teutonic knights into the heart of an Orkish WAAAGH! and managed to take out the Orkish Warboss, thus causing the WAAAGH! to collapse under itself through infighting and thoroughly impressed Varitus and Thule, who whispered that he could perhaps become new saint material. A tremendous honor, for to rise from the rank of the Beati to those of the Saints was a very rare occurance indeed, and to become one of the immortal Saints was to be virtually a god.
By the age of two hundred fifty he became grand company commander by winning a Black Hand held world for the Astartes by deepstriking in the midst of the ruling Lich's fortress, a daring maneuver considering that the Black Hand is the mortal foe of the Astartes and knows nearly all there was to know about their tactics. He crushed the vile Lich's member's head with a single mighty blow from his lightning hammer and slaughtered his undead retinue while his forces destroyed the entire cell, not letting a single Black Hand servant return to their dread Triad or council of nine; managing to free most of the slaves and victims of arcane experimentation, though a great many of them were far beyond saving.
For many more millenia the Astartes' rise went onwards, with the knightly orders at the forefront, and Xaraghoul was made one of the saints of the Ordo, one of the leaders of the Starbourne Imperium after conquering a thousand Black hand held systems in the name of their draconic deities and Masari forebearers, and was adopted by Gabriel Thule himself, bringing him into his family. He ascended to his position and was filled with pride as he was sworn into service and promised to serve the Dragon deities who in turn served the Primordials, and especially Talorak; the lord of the Primordials and the Dragon Emperor of Time itself. He was even given a part of Thule and Theodora's genesede, making him truly their son.
He fought faithfully alongside his "father" and "mother" rising to be the most favored of the many saints of the Imperium, he was immensely beloved by his adoptive parents who had watched over him since he was a boy and he swelled with great pride from the adulation of the people of the ever expanding Imperium. He thought himself to be immensely well off, leading a grand crusade to expand the Imperium's borders all across the universe, conquering entire galaxies at a time with the Order of the Talon at his beck and call. He spread humanity all across the universe, discovered mighty Masari artefacts, found far scattered human like civilizations and strange aliens that were encompassed into the empire, and all was good.
But this was not to last; for during a bloody campaign into a massive Black Hand held sector of space; Xaraghoul was visited by strange whispers brought forth by beings who claimed to be opponents of the Black Hand and showed him visions where his name would be reviled by humanity and mere children would be the prophecized heroes of legend, and unfortunately for the Astartes, their Masari forebearers did not warn them of Chaos. Intrigued by their offers of how to better fight the Black Hand and enraged by the visions he received, he accepted it, and was indoctrinated into service of Chaos. Xaraghoul managed to hide his deception from the Astartes until he finished his conquest, and then he turned to his brethern after corrupting many of his fellow Saints and their orders and soldiers.
When the war of Daemon and Dragon began, the Galaxy bore witness to a vast civil war in humanity's celestial empire. Whole galaxies were shattered and uncounted star systems put out during this war that shook the very universe to it's core. Every day, more died than have ever lived on the planet Earth a million times over, and Xaraghoul was at the forefront of this mass slaughter and massacre. Thule's children on both sides died in droves, with Xaraghoul slaughtering many loyalists himself. Other species caught up in this war were often wiped out overnight by simply being within the crossfires of the war of the Daemon and the Dragon. Seven years later the war of the Daemon and the Dragon reached the Alpha Centauri system; capital of the Astartes and the forces of chaos surged towards the world of Chiron.
For two years the bloody siege of Chiron raged as the overall war was brought into the heart of the milky way galaxy. The forces of Chaos and the powers of the Draconic gods dueled one another in the very heart of the Imperium. Thule orchestrated a mighty defense while Xaraghoul lead his most faithful traitor saints into the heart of their father and mother's domain. He fought his brothers and sisters as he thrust his poison blade into the heart of what he had fought so hard to create. He sought not to destroy it, but to remake it in the name of Chaos, to create a greater Imperium that ever before united under the ruinous powers.
Defender and attacker were nearly evenly matched; so to break the stalemate, Xaraghoul engaged his gambit. He would teleport into the chamber of Thule himself and challenge his former idol to mortal combat to break the will of the Astartes. Xaraghoul had been bloated by the power of all four chaos gods, Xaraghoul casually slaughtered Thule's most faithful daughter who was long exhausted from fighting his hordes and then maimed Imperator Thule who still believed that the lord of the Talon was redeemable, though when Xaraghoul brutally massacred Thule's wife Theodora who was just trying to save her husband and leader the Astartes' master saw he was beyond redemption and released the full measure of his power, which obliterated much of his fleet, erased whole worlds from existence, flared out in all directions and only miraculously leaving the milky way relatively unscathed through conscious effort and devastated Xaraghoul, rending his skin and flesh and flaying his soul, leaving him a broken mess that was only painfully revived by the fickle lords of the Aether.
He would return to plague the Astartes later on as he was withdrawn by his defeated troops, and was enraged to find that Varitus took on the role of acting Imperator while Thule was encased in a saintly dragoon shell. and became absolutely livid when he found the identity of the newest saint that was said to be the scion of prophecy. A small boy by the name of Johnathan Edenson. A prophecy that said that he would be one of those who would rise up to destroy the Black Hand, one that Xaraghoul always believed was describing himself. After his defeat, he renamed the Order of the Talon and it's hangers on the "Adeptus Nox". Though utterly corrupt, he still believes to this day that he will do good by destroying the Black Hand and uniting humanity under an Empire of Chaos, and his actions will be justified.
Xaraghoul is quite active on earth, trying to manipulate events on it to his own ends and those of Chaos. Thus he often supports motives that cause the most stress and strife on the world or will drive people towards the service of Chaos. Whether they know it or not. To this end, he has sponsored numerous chaos cults on the planet that secretly influence events. Sometimes he even deigns to give certain beings the grace of his presence, although dealing with the Champion of Chaos is as dangerous as dealing with one of the great daemons and princes of the ruinous powers.
Physical traits
Height: 8'9
Weight: Eight hundred pounds of Chaos mutated Flesh, Organs, and Muscle.
Hair: Brown at birth, now bald
Eyes: Hazel at birth, now milky white
Personality
Xaraghoul has an brutal but charismatic air to himself, he is the type of person that the degenerate of society love to follow and the type of person who most would unhesitatingly call Evil. He enjoys bringing the slaughter that Khorne Demands, he enjoys inflicting the pain that Slaanesh desires, he enjoys unleashing the plagues that Nurgle loves, and he enjoys the civilization wrecking change that Tzeentch craves. He throughly likes killing living things, inflicting pain upon others, destroying entire planets and civilizations, and bringing devastation on a Galactic Scale.
Powers
- Mark of Chaos Ascendant: Xaraghoul has the benefits of all the marks of chaos, these benefits are exuded in an aura that also aids those allies near him. It is comprised of five parts. The mark of chaos undivided renders him immune to fear and imbues this fearlessness upon allies near him. The mark of Khorne increases the physical strength of himself and those around him and allows them to attack more frequently in melee combat in a given amount of time. The mark of slaanesh increases speed and reaction time. The mark of nurgle increases durability and renders one immune to pain. The mark of tzeentch increases psionic/sorcerous ability and creates or enhances energy/forcefields.
- Super strength: He is easily in class one hundred plus, and that's before you factor in the armor, the marks, and his sword. He can crush Adamantium with his bare hands out of his armour.
- Super Durability: Self explanatory. He is incredibly durable and possesses an advanced healing factor equal to John's.
- Intelligent: it is difficult to survive as long as Xaraghoul has without being extremely intelligent, charismatic, and cunning. .
- See the unseen: due to special detectors in his helmet, he can see the invisible. Doesn't work without his helmet.
- Super Speed: Xaraghoul can move at incredible speeds even in his armour, and has been able to keep pace with the speed of the new set of loyal saints. He peaks at 6c
- Super Senses: Xaraghoul's senses are easily the equal of Lord Johnathan's, perhaps even superior given his daemonic enhancements .
Psykers and warp sorcery: Possessing the power of a Alpha plus level psyker, Xaraghoul has terrifying psyker abilities in addition to his enormous physical prowess. He can break his foes with a barrage of deadly warp powers and he can enhance himself with powers that create shields around himself such as force dome as well as other varied abilities. Additionally, he has other more conventional psionic powers, such as telekinesis, telepathy, and mind reading. However, overusing his combat powers bears the perils of the warp, which can cause him injury as the power of the warp goes uncontrolled through his body. With his mind alone he is capable of devastating planets with incredible warp assaults. With his warp powers, he can also fly. With Warp sorcery he can also call upon warp powers that are based around the abilities of the gods he calls upon.
Saint of Entropy: Each of the saints of the Astartes are given dominion over a certain few powers. Xaraghoul, upon his apotheosis, gained governance over entropy, which he still controls to this day. With his control over this form of chaos, he can cause anything to decay to a simpler form, structures become rubble, ice melts to water, worlds become free-floating masses of photons, people age into dust, tanks rust into scrap, magic fizzles away. Such is the power of entropy, and he can reverse it's direction for whatever purposes he should so wish.
Spell and Psionic resistance: Self explanatory. He is tremendously resistant to spells and psionics of a non-warp based nature.
Blackguard powers: Take John's paladin powers and replace anything describing positive energy with negative energy, Instead of healing people with his lay on hands, his touch causes life to shrivel up and die, his very step causing plants to wither and animals to pass away. Rather than turning or destroying the undead with positive energy, he can rebuke or mind control them with negative energy. Rather than call upon a holy mount, he can call upon a Daemon of Chaos and an Undead servitor. Rather than smiting evil and chaos to deal greater harm, he can smite good and order for greater damage. He is still granted a sort of corrupt grace that helps defend him tied to his personal magnetism.
Master of battle: A survivor of thousands of years of unholy war, Xaraghoul has a mastery of combat that few could even begin to comprehend.
Truenaming: The greatest source of his power, Xaraghoul's mastery of the arcane art of truenaming is truly vast in scale and scope. He can easily use either variation; the High Draconic Shouts with their simpler words but requirement of reflection on the meaning of the words used, or the Primal tongue speech with it's fiendishly complex pronunciation and rules of grammar. Since his betrayal, his knowledge of the Language has been expanded greatly by the powers of Chaos, and he has used the truenames of many Daemons to bind them into his service.
Weapons & Equipment
- Fist of the Nox. on Xaraghoul's left hand lies a power talon with a double-bladed autocannon loaded with psychic inferno shells bolted onto it, capable of melting and punching through even the heaviest of armour while pumping out death at dizzying rates while tearing open holes into the warp that damage the very fabric of reality and let daemons spill forth into the materium. The strength of this arm is squared due to the mechanisms of the fist of the Nox. This weapon can claw, punch, or tear through any material due to it's power fields, though energy/forcefields defend normally against it. The weapon also has a twin that he can bring out and has since had daemons bound to it. He keeps the second weapon in the safe keeping of an enslaved daemon prince.
- Kral'krar: An ancient daemonic sword of great power. This sword can cleave through normal power weapons, tanks, adamantium, force-fields, lesser daemonic weapons, flesh, bone, spirits, daemon-flesh, and stone alike with nonexistant effort. This sword also attempts to devour the souls of those it injures, which could instantly kill them if they fail to resist the thirty bound greater daemons and thirty bound daemon princes in the sword. In addition, the sword massively increases his strength and durability greatly making him a virtually unmatched beast of combat. It is bound to him, he cannot be disarmed of it against his will and it still grants it's boons to him even if he's not using it, while attempting to devour the souls of those who try to use it without his permission as if they were hit by the sword every single second they hold it. It is one of the only weapons capable of matching the weapons of the fated of the Primordials such as Rose's Thorns of Destiny or John's hammer Scmallmharu in the entire universe. The sword has a sister blade named Hyr'gan and both blades can shapeshift to take the forms of mauls, axes, or pole arms. The second blade is in the hands of his sorcerer lieutenant.
- Teutonic Armor: Xaraghoul posseses a suit of Daemoniacally enhanced corrupted Divine Steel Teutonic Armor, which massively increases his strength and durability, and laughs at most anything. While it is practically impervious, it does not quite block out all impact, so concussive force is the best way to defeat him. .
- Banner of Chaos: Those who gaze upon Xaraghoul have their morale and sanity damaged thanks to the horrifying banner formed from human and alien faces imbued with Daemonic power.
- Black Rosarius: acts as a force field, The shield has three sets of three layers, the first set perfectly deflects 75% of all incoming attacks, the second set absorbs 75% of the damage, and the third set is a typical "collapses after sustaining enough damage" shield.
- Teleporter: self-explanatory.
- Havoc launchers: Shoulder mounted frag missile launchers with a seemingly bottomless supply of ammo. These missiles are quite simply devastating to soft skinned targets as they are showered in a lethal spray of anti-personnel fragments that rip their bodies apart. It is however, significantly less useful against hardened and armored targets, at least that is what the conventional version does. The ammunition is infused with chaotic warp energy that drastically increases it's power and allows it to tear open portals to the warp that tear apart reality and summon forth daemons while also burning opponents down to their very souls, bypassing most forms of armor as they violate the very laws of physics. He also carries stormbolters with similarly daemonic munitions along with underattatched flamers and daemon blade bayonets for special occasions, although he often passes out these weapons to his lieutenants.
Weaknesses:
Overconfidence: Years of unbridled success and rising to power has made Xaraghoul over confident and disdainful of his opponents, often underestimating them.
Plays with his prey: Perhaps born out of his overconfidence, Xaraghoul is very prone to turning fights into a game for his own amusement, frequently costing him opportunities to win a fight.
Kra’Kal: While the Daemon Sword is immensely powerful and he is the greatest non-daemonic champion of chaos around, no non-daemon can truly master such a potent Daemon weapon, thus using it carries the risk of the blade injuring himself as he fights to keep the bound daemon under his control.
What is this stealth you speak of?: Xaraghoul's capacity for stealth and subtlety on a personal scale is quite frankly nonexistent. If he comes into battle with an opponent, they'll see him coming a mile away.
You have failed me: Xaraghoul is notorious for being incapable of handling failure from his subordinates, so much so that he kills promising commanders beneath him for failing once. Thus, his officers prefer to be deployed as far away from their warmaster as possible.
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