Absolom Raithe
Absolom Raithe is a Vindicare Assassin.[1]
History
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The following paragraphs contain spoilers for: | Iron Sight (Short Story) |
As his fifth assaingment, Raithe was once sent to kill an Alphus of the Burning Wyrm Genestealer Cult on Goviian. The Cult had staged an uprising on the Imperial world and though the 88th Tallarn were sent to destroy them, the Alphus had wreaked havoc on the regiment's command structure.[1]
As this was Raithe's fifth assignment, upon the Alphus' death the Vindicare would become a journeyman within his Temple. This meant he would no longer be assigned low ranking targets and would instead be sent to kill major threats to the Imperium that were classified as operational lynchpins. However, a Vindicare's fifth mission is always the most dangerous mission they had faced so far and is known as the Deadly number five. This almost proved to be the case for Raithe, as after 27 days of attempting to kill the Alphus, she and her pack of Atalan Jackals ambushed the Vindicare as he rode after them. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Raithe managed to destroy the Jackal pack and managed to finally kill the Alphus. However, he was made to do gruelling penance training afterwards, as the battle had left his Exitus Rifle heavily damaged and destroyed his Spy Mask.[1]
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The following paragraphs contain spoilers for: | Assassinorum: Kingmaker (Novel) |
Later Raithe was assigned to oversee an Execution Force consisting of the Callidus Assassin Sycorax and the Vanus Assassin Avaaris Koln to the Knight World of Dominion to assassinate High King Lucien Yavarius-Khau.[2a] Raithe hid his injured shoulder in order to undertake the mission as they plunged themselves into Dominion's world of political intrigue in order to get close to the High King and manage the political fallout of his death.[2b] At a grand ceremony at the Basilica of Dominion, Raithe, Koln, and Sycorax began their operation to eliminate Lucien.[2b] However, Sycorax, disguised as the Knight Armiger pilot Linoleus Rakkan, came under attack from rival court assassins. Raithe was forced to intervene to save Sycorax, exposing the operation.[2c]
At the midwinter tournament the Execution Force tried to assassinate the High King again as he now openly talked of secession. A bomb goes off during the tournament, which the team uses to get close to the King. As Raithe finally got close enough to fire his Exitus Rifle, it is revealed that the High King has long since been killed, a victim of his own court intrigue. Sycorax, under the influence of their Knight's Machine Spirit, fires their Thermal Spear at Raithe's proxy, cementing her status as a hero.[2d]
The team soon managed to quietly reunite and learned that the Court had been secretly controlling the King for years to avoid civil war. They then planned to manipulate the court and install their own candidate.[2e] Eliminating other potential candidates for the throne, eventually, Lord Bazile Daggar-Kraine was selected to become the new High King.[2f] However, at Daggar-Kraine's coronation, the conqueror_wyrm virus contained within the Crown of Dominion, the ceremonial Knight piloted by the High Monarch, corrupted him and led to his fall to Chaos. This, combined with the sudden re-emergence of the Dread House Morvayne, led to a number of the other Knights of Stryder and Rau betraying the Imperium and joining the Dread House.[2f][2g]
The loyalist Knights, rallied by the loyal Baroness Symphonia Dask engaged the enemy forces. Sycorax, no longer fighting against the machine-spirit of her Knight, fought with a newfound ferocity. She, with Raithe's help, were able to destroy the Throne Mechanicum and kill Daggar-Kraine.[2h] In the aftermath of the routing of the traitor forces, the real Rakkan became the new High Monarch of Dominion. Raithe and his team departed the world thereafter.[2i]
