View source for Azariah Kyras

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|quote = <sup>"Faithful... enlightened... ambitious... bretheren. In but a single decade -a few mere swipes of the pendulum- we have gathered a sacrifice to [[Khorne]] that will be made legend. Though it was a simpler, weaker voice that illuminated me during my centuries upon the [[Judgement of Carrion]]...it was [[Maledictum|Khorne's messenger]] who showed me the true path of freedom from our pathetic corpse [[Emperor]]. And what is this path? This meaning, this purpose to which we gather the skulls of our foes? It is nothing. There is no meaning, no purpose. We murder. We kill. It is mindless savagery, this UNIVERSE is mindless. In mere hours, [[exterminatus|billions will die!]] Innocent! Guilty! Strong and weak! Honest and deceitful! ALL of them! They will scream, they will burn, and for no purpose but that mighty Khorne may revel in their bloodshed! And united in this void of purpose, fear, or duty... we shall at long last be free! Blood for the blood good! Skulls for the skull throne! Let the galaxy BURN!"</sup>
|source=  <sup>- Azariah Kyras{{Fn|2}}</sup>
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'''Azariah Kyras''' was the leader — [[Chapter Master]] and [[Chief Librarian]] both – of the [[Blood Ravens]].{{Fn|2}}

==Biography==
{{spoiler|source=Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising}}
[[Image:Kyras.JPG|thumb|right|300px|Azariah Kyras{{Fn|1}}]]
Relatively little is known of the leader of the Blood Ravens. What is known is that 1,000 years before the [[Black Legion]]'s invasion of [[Subsector Aurelia]], planet [[Aurelia]] disappeared during a [[Warp Storm]] after being pushed sufficiently out of orbit for the planet to be covered with glaciers and almost the whole population killed. Just before the planet was taken by the [[Warp]], Epistolary Kyras managed to imprison a wounded [[Great Unclean One]] of [[Nurgle]] by the name of [[Ulkair]], after his master [[Moriah]] was killed fighting it. Soon after, the Warp took the planet, and Azariah Kyras with it.{{Fn|1}}

Assumed dead, Kyras was posthumously awarded honours for bravery. Kyras returned five centuries later{{Fn|4}}, appearing inexplicably before the battered elements of the Blood Ravens 5th Company aboard a [[space hulk]] called the ''[[Judgment of Carrion]]''. Kyras aided [[Apothecary]] [[Galan]], the leader of the expedition, in fighting the daemons and [[Tyranids]] infesting the hulk. Though the Space Marines had found a lost Battle-Brother, they were still marooned, unable to escape. Their "exits sealed, and beacons failed," Galan and his Marines were given to despair. Galan was haunted by a daemonic presence, which was given name when Kyras regaled the other survivors with his tale of losses endured by their Chapter in imprisoning Ulkair. The daemon reached out from his imprisonment within the Warp-swallowed world of Aurelia, tormenting the Blood Ravens and hungering for their [[gene-seed]]. Kyras did nothing to hinder the defeatist mood, and spread the taint of Chaos into his brothers instead. Eventually Kyras made a pact with Ulkair for their release from the ''Judgment of Carrion'', which required that Galan be possessed by a daemon of the Warp.{{Fn|1}}

Both Galan and Kyras escaped the ''Judgment of Carrion'', and Kyras' return was hailed as a blessing by elements of the Blood Ravens, but not by the Captain of the 3rd Company, [[Gabriel Angelos]] who viewed the return of Kyras as an ill omen. Sometime thereafter, Kyras rose to the ranks of both Chief Librarian and Chapter Master. Galan was stationed as an Apothecary within the [[Honour Guard]].{{Fn|1}} Angelos subtly investigated Kyras' actions.{{Fn|4}}

===The Second Aurelian Crusade===
The [[Black Legion]]'s invasion into subsector Aurelia finally revealed Kyras' corruption. The Blood Ravens attached to the 4th Company boarded the ''Judgment of Carrion'' and discovered evidence left behind by Galan and Kyras, suggesting chaotic influence and revealing the pact with Ulkair.{{Fn|1}}

Kyras himself was not present in the subsector during the invasion, instead having sent Captain [[Apollo Diomedes]] of the Honour Guard to represent his authority and order a withdrawal from any contact with the Black Legion. However, according to Galan's confession as he lay mortally wounded by [[the Force Commander]], Diomedes himself was not corrupted; only some of the men under his command had been tainted.{{Fn|1}}

Gabriel Angelos and [[Aramus]] disobeyed the Chapter Master's order to withdraw and stayed to defeat the stirring Ulkair on Aurelia. The ending of the game states that the "renegade" Blood Ravens plan to depose Kyras, creating a prologue for a Chapter-wide civil war.{{Fn|1}} Kyras declared Angelos and his follows traitors and ordered the Marines loyal to him to hunt them down.{{Fn|4}}

===Kyras the Ascended===
Ten years after the Second Aurelian Crusade, the subsector remained in turmoil as remnants of the Black Legion, Orks and Tyranids continued to cause further chaos on the Imperial worlds. The civil war amongst the Chapter also continued, which combined with the chaos, forced the Inquisition to declare [[Exterminatus]] on the entire subsector. In order to prevent this, Captain Diomedes investigated the allegations made by Captain Angelos, resolved to either prove Kyras' corruption, or to redeem him.{{Fn|2}}

The resulting investigation proved that Kyras had fully committed himself to Chaos, orchestrating the events in Subsector Aurelia to force the Exterminatus. Diomedes confirmed that, while the whispers of the Great Unclean One Ulkair started Kyras on the path to Chaos, it was ultimately the [[daemon]] of [[Khorne]] released from the [[Maledictum]] by [[Gabriel Angelos]] on [[Tartarus]]{{Fn|3}} that fully convinced Kyras to forsake the [[Emperor]]. Kyras eventually extended this offer to Diomedes, but was rejected.{{Fn|2}}

With the Exterminatus under way, Kyras went to [[Cyrene]], a former Blood Raven recruiting world that had been subject to Exterminatus years before. There Kyras' ascension to [[Daemon Prince]] was interrupted by Blood Ravens forces under Angelos. Though Kyras severely wounded Angelos in the course of ensuing battle, he was ultimately defeated and killed.{{Fn|2}}

Angelos succeeded Kyras as Chapter Master{{Fn|2}} after a bloody purge of the tainted elements of the Chapter.{{Fn|4}}

==See also==
*[[List of Chapter Masters]]
*[[List of Daemon Princes]]

==Sources==
{{Citation issues}}
*{{Endn|1}}: [[Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising]]
*{{Endn|2}}: [[Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution]] — Space Marine Campaign
*{{Endn|3}}: [[Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War]]
*{{Endn|4}}: [[Deathwatch: Honour the Chapter]],{{Cite Marker End}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyras, Azariah}}

[[Category:Characters (Blood Ravens)]]
[[Category:Characters (Deceased)]]
[[Category:Characters (Khorne)]]
[[Category:Characters (Space Marine Psykers)]]
[[Category:Dawn of War II]]