Aramus
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This article is about the Blood Raven; for the Blood Angel, see Dolor Aramus. |
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| Title(s) | Force Commander |
| Born | c.M41, Meridian, Subsector Aurelia |
| Active Period | M41 - Present |
| Species | Human |
| Type | Astartes |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Affiliation(s) |
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| Preceded by | Davian Thule (As Captain of the 4th Company) |
Aramus[1a], commonly referred to simply as the Force Commander, was the leader of various Blood Ravens strike forces including elements of the Blood Ravens 1st Company veterans [2b][2c] during the Aurelian Crusades.[2a][2b][3a][3b]
Contents
Biography
Before the Aurelian Crusades
Aramus is the youngest Blood Raven ever to reach the rank of Force Commander in the history of the Chapter. Many members of the Chapter are impressed by Aramus's prowess, but there also those who felt the promotion was premature. His promotion was mandated by Chapter Master Azariah Kyras and was sustained in the face of considerable resistance despite he himself never meeting Aramus in person. Records later revealed that the promotion was first decreed a full year before the Hadrian Campaign began and simply did not go into full effect until after the Campaign was concluded.[2a]
First Aurelian Crusade
Force Commander Aramus was sent to Calderis to help Captain Davian Thule against a massive Ork invasion. He was the only reinforcement sent by the Chapter with expectations that he would be enough to tip the balance of the war and save Calderis.[2a][2b]
Aramus and Sergeant Tarkus arrived via drop pods near Captain Thule's outpost and immediately pressed on to deal with Ork flankers while heading out to Thule's outpost. Aramus and Tarkus arrived just in time to save Thule and his Initiates, with Aramus leading a counterattack to save the outpost and start pushing back the orks. The group successfully held back the orks and destroyed an underground passage that denied an entry point against the outpost; once the remaining orks were killed every Blood Raven in the outpost was evacuated to the Strike Cruiser Armageddon.[2d]
Aramus' next mission was to retake Argus hamlet, due to it being a vital supply route: if it fell then all of Calderis would fall with it. The hamlet was guarded by a Devastator Squad led by Sergeant Avitus, but the squad was overwhelmed. Aramus and his men deployed into the hamlet and rendezvoused with Sergeant Cyrus as they quickly moved in to save Avitus. They gave him medical aid and called in additional reinforcements as they prepared the next assault. Aramus immediately started pushing back the orks and successfully secured the hamlet from the xenos.[2d]
With the hamlet secured, Aramus was tasked with assassinating two Ork leaders that were attacking key strategic regions and, if possible, uncovering any solid proof as to whether the Orks were being manipulated by a unknown entity.[2b]
Aramus's first target was a Ork Nob named Skykilla who was leading squads of Stormboyz as they razed Argus Settlement. Aramus and his men deployed as quickly as they could in order to save the settlement from destruction form the Ork raiders. Aramus and his men were successful in killing Skykilla and routed his forces.[2d]
With Skykilla dead, Aramus moved into his next target, an Armoured Nob named Gutrencha leading his own troops and raiding Tangier High Pass. Aramus and his men deployed in the sector, intercepted the attackers and eventually killed Gutrencha.[2d]
With both nobs dead Thule found evidence that the orks were being manipulated by an unknown force and assigned Aramus and his men to deal with them at Fellhammer Mine.[2b] Aramus and his men deployed on the outskirts of the mine and quickly destroyed nearby ork patrols before heading out. Along the way they found that the convoy tasked with retaking Fellhammer had been destroyed. While investigating the destroyed convoy, nearby orks attacked them from the high ground. Aramus's strike force was saved by Sergeant Thaddeus and his Assault Marines. With the ambushers dead they moved to a captured communication array held by the orks and started recapturing it to prevent the orks from using it. Aramus and his men captured the array then proceeded to Fellhammer Mine, where the group found Orks and Aeldari killing each other. The strike force attacked both factions and managed to destroy as many squads as they could until an Aeldari Warlock intervened to save his troops. Despite his psychic might, he was personally killed by Aramus.[2d]
Davian Thule was disturbed by the intel found by Aramus and his men and concluded that the Aeldari were stirring up the orks for an unknown purpose. He also received an emergency transmission from Typhon Primaris which relayed that the Aeldari were attacking the planet; he ordered Aramus to help aid Imperial forces there.[2b]
Aramus's first mission deployment on Typhon Primaris was to assassinate a Warp Spider Exarch leading an Aeldari strike force to disrupt their operations and finding any intel of their true plans for the Sub-Sector. During the mission he managed to destroy the majority of his forces and killed their leader.[2d]
Aboard the Strike Cruiser Armageddon, Captain Thule received reports of unknown xenos attacking citizens of Calderis. Cyrus was worried about the information but Thule chose to sideline it for now. Thule ordered Aramus and his men to return to Calderis to assist him and the planet's defenders against an Ork leader named Mek Badzappa attacking the planetary capital.[2b]
Davian Thule spread out his troops as he needed to defend the entire sector, while ordering Aramus to reinforce the defenders of Argus Gate and prevent it from falling. The strike force arrived on the outskirts of Argus Gate and destroyed Mek Badzappa's personal vehicle via drop pod insertion. The strike force chased the ork leader and killed his men along the way until they reached Argus Gate. Badzappa retreated while ordering his Boyz to continue attacking with waves of countless ork troops against Aramus and his men. The strike force successfully defended the gate from multiple waves and eliminated Badzappa; with the leader dead the entire ork warband was routed. Thule sent an emergency evacuation order to the Armageddon as they were attacked by an unknown force. The Argus Gate Defenders and Aramus's strike force refused and stayed to save Davian Thule and his men. Along the way Cyrus recognized the xeno forces who attacked them and feared that it was the Tyranids, the strike force desperately pushed towards Thule's position to save them. Tragically during the defence Davian Thule was wounded by a Tyranid Warrior and the strike force failed to kill the beast but had no choice but to evacuate to save Thule.[2d]
Onboard the Armageddon, Thule was rushed to the Apothecary to prevent him from dying of his wounds. Cyrus revealed important information regarding the new xenos threat and named them as the Tyranids as he fought them on Victoria Primus. Afterwards Aramus assumed command of the entire Fourth Company and the attached veterans of First Company.[2b][2c] Aramus ordered Martellus to contact the Chapter Fleets to assess the situation and warn them about the danger to the Sub-Sector. In the meantime he ordered the company to secure Typhon Primaris against the Aeldari.[2b]
Arriving on Typhon Primaris, Martellus identified the location of the Aeldari raiding party that threatened the supply lines for both planets and their leader called Ranger Nemerian. Aramus and his strike force deployed on the battlefield and then started destroying as many Aeldari base camps to prevent them from calling reinforcements. Along the way Aramus personally slayed Nemerian and eventually routed his raiding party.[2d]
After destroying the Aeldari raiding party and returning to Calderis, Aramus received a transmission from Captain Gabriel Angelos informing him that the entire chapter was making haste towards Sub-Sector Aurelia in order to save it. In the meantime Aramus was ordered to respond to any distress signal from any local Imperial forces within the Subsector while Gabriel and high command made plans to save the sector.[2b]
Aramus was ordered to assassinate the Tyranid Warrior who wounded Davian Thule as a way to both avenge him and use the creature's corpse to find a cure and information to defeat the hive fleet. The strike force deployed towards the location and managed to not only destroy its forces but also slay the beast. With the beast dead they sent it to the Armageddon for research.[2d]
Gabriel Angelos contacted Aramus then told him and his men about the plans made by himself and chapter high command. He was given three objectives: he must secure the Astronomic Array hidden on Typhon Primaris, he must obtain a pure gene sample of the Hive Fleet Bio-Toxins in order to poison the Hive Fleet and lastly he must secure Angel Forge in order to produce weapons to deliver the poisons against the hive fleet.[2b]
After receiving his orders, the Fourth Company went to Meridian and contact the Imperial Governor to gain access to Angel Forge. Once they arrived on Meridian, Governor Vandis assigned Elena Derosa as the Blood Ravens' liaison for any operations on Meridian. The Blood Ravens couldn't access Angel Forge due to strict protocols and only with the approval of Vandis and his council. In order to gain favours they accepted missions to assist local Astra Militarum Regiments against the Aeldari raiding party as they destroy important infrastructure and stealing supplies. While in orbit Cyrus ordered Techmarine Martellus to continue scanning for Tyranid presence on Meridian[2b]
Aramus's first objective was to destroy a Fire Prism tank and Aeldari outposts as they were destroying a major communication array and other important infrastructure. The strike force deployed and proceeded to destroy every outpost within the sector, eventually destroying the Fire Prism.[2d]
Elena Derosa contacted the Blood Ravens and forwarded a message from an Imperial Noble named Prelate Benetio from House Torril thanking them for dealing with the Aeldari raiders and recovering important goods. Aramus forwarded important information regarding the Tyranid threat to his liaison Derosa and she started reviewing the report. Meanwhile onboard the Armageddon, the Blood Ravens discussed their next course of action and reviewed their key objectives in order to save the Sub-Sector.[2b]
Bio-Toxin Samples
Aramus decided his first course of action was to concentrate his efforts on finding samples of the bio-toxins by eliminating as many Synapse Creatures on Calderis as possible. He quickly mobilised the Fourth Company into several missions to eliminate the creatures and gathering samples to not only develop a poison to kill the hive mind but also save Captain Davian Thule from death via a cure to his poison.[2b]
After several days of killing synapse creatures and collecting their samples, Apothecary Gordian managed to locate the Tyranids' primary hive on Typhon Primaris.[2b]
The Fourth Company arrived on Typhon Primaris and deployed on the Tyranids' primary hive with the objective to capture samples to help research the poison needed to kill the hive fleet. Aramus and his strikeforce deployed to Ladon Swampland and quickly searched the area for the primary hive while being ambushed by Tyranid creatures. Once the hive was found, Aramus himself gathered the samples while his men covered him from incoming Tyranid swarms defending the hive. Aramus successfully gathered samples and sent them to the Armageddon; they also used the data to cure Davian Thule's poison. On the extraction zone, The strike force was ambushed by a Hive Tyrant and was about to be overwhelmed until Davian Thule, now a Dreadnought, arrived via drop pod and challenged the hive tyrant to single combat. Davian won the fight and saved his men from a terrible fate then evacuated to the Armageddon.[2d]
Aboard the Aramageddon, Aramus sent the bio-toxin data to Captain Angelos. The Captain himself thanked Aramus for his efforts. Angelos was also glad to see Captain Davian Thule revived and able to continue his service to the chapter and save the subsector. Angelos continued to encourage Aramus to finish major objectives to save the subsector.[2b]
Securing Angel Forge
With the bio-toxin secured, Aramus then returned to Meridian and continued to assist Imperial Forces against Aeldari raiders.[2b]
One such objective was to assassinate a Aeldari Wraithlord who led his forces against several Astra Militarum outposts and pieces of civilian infrastructure. Aramus and his men deployed as quickly as they could before the Wraithlord escaped. The strike force succeeded in killing the Wraithlord and routed his forces. Before dying, one of the Aeldari Warlocks mentioned an Aeldari leader named Idranel and with that information the strike force checked chapter records for any information about her.[2d]
Onboard the Armageddon, Martellus completed a secondary scan on Meridian and found out that Aeldari interference was hiding evidence of Tyranid infestation on the surface. Long range scans confirmed the hive fleet was heading towards Meridian; additionally he made sure to secure their sensors against Aeldari sabotage. Elena Derosa contacted the strike force in a panic as the Tyranids were invading meridian and apologized to the Blood Ravens for not listening to their warnings. Aramus continued to assist Meridian against both the Tyranids and Aeldari raiders.[2b]
Aramus received orders from Gabriel Angelos about finding and eliminating Farseer Idranel as she was the one leading the entire Aeldari operations on Meridian. Aramus and his men deployed on Idranel's position within Hab Spire Legis and along the way destroyed nearby Aeldari Patrols and outposts. Once they found Idranel, the strike force proceeded to challenge her and, despite gaining the upper hand, Idranel retreated with some of her forces but not before she arrogantly mocked the Blood Ravens.[2d]
Onboard the strike cruiser Armageddon, Elena Derosa told the truth regarding Governor Vandis's true plan of stalling the Blood Ravens and leaving the sector to die while the Tyranids were invading. Despite her orders, Derosa secretly obtained the Master Control Codes for Angel Forge and transmitted it for Aramus and Gabriel Angelos's Fleet. To make matters worse, Angel Forge was under siege by Tyranid swarms and the local Astra Militarum garrison was almost overwhelmed.[2b]
Aramus and his men rushed to deploy to Angel Forge while Elena Derosa sent important intel regarding the generators: they were damaged and so there was no power for the defences and Angel Gate. The strike force saved Sergeant Merrick and his Tempestus Scions squads from Tyranid Warrior beasts chasing them. Merrick and his men thanked Aramus and retreated back to a rally point. Aramus then decided to assist Merrick's scattered troops along with repairing the generators in order to close Angel Gate and get the defences online. Aramus and his men found Ork Looters were the cause of the generators' sabotage and proceeded to destroy ork warbands. The strike force successfully repaired three generators and saved some squads along the way. Elena Derosa contacted Aramus and told him important information regarding repairing additional generators; these would would make the mission easier as additional defences would be online and assist in the defence of Angel Gate. Aramus agreed and proceeded to repair more generators and finally saved every squad under Merrick. After repairing all the generators, the strike force alongside Sergeant Merrick and his men proceeded to the gatehouse in order to close Angel Gate and protect it from the invaders. Aramus volunteered himself to activate the gatehouse while his strike force and Guardsmen covered him. Countless waves of Tyranids assaulted their position but despite their overwhelming numbers Aramus succeeded in close Angel Gate. After the mission, Tarkus volunteered to stay in Angel Forge to lead a mop up operation.[2d]
Onboard the Armageddon, Tarkus reported his findings to Aramus and Elena Derosa regarding the Orks' true objectives. They were attempting to raid a number of storehouses holding heavy firepower and equipment that could destroy Angel Gate.[2b]
Aramus and his men deployed immediately to Angel Forge but not before regrouping with Tarkus on the ground. Merrick and his men were ordered to hold Angel Gate while Aramus and his strike team headed out to the storehouses to prevent the orks from capturing dangerous equipment. Aramus and his men secured the storehouses, but not before discovering that Governor Vandis had stolen ancient Blood Ravens relics. While the Blood Ravens debated against Elena Derosa regarding the stolen relics, Idranel used the distraction to raid Angel Gate and destroyed it, with Merrick losing the majority of his men in the defence. Tarkus and his squad volunteered to stay and guard the relics while the strike force returned to Angel Gate and stopped Idranel and her forces. Despite the Aeldari ambushing the strike force, they pushed on but not before Elena Derosa warned Aramus about Angel Gate suffering power fluctuations, revealing that Idranel's true plan was to blow up Angel Forge to destroy the Tyranids on Meridian. Aramus and his strike force killed her bodyguards and quickly fought Idranel to save Angel Forge. The Blood Ravens were gaining the upper hand until Idranel revealed her trump card by summoning reinforcements to her position to destroy the Blood Ravens. Tarkus arrived just in time wearing Terminator Armour to save his brothers and he himself slayed Idranel, saving Meridian from destruction.[2d]
The Astronomic Array
With Angel Forge secured and bio-toxins researched, the company then shifted to its final objective: locating and securing the Astronomican Array hidden on Typhon to find the weakness on the Hive Fleet.[2b]
Gabriel Angelos contacted Aramus regarding an Ork Mob lead by Gorwazza heading towards the Tech-Priest base camp. The Greenskins posed a serious threat and if the Tech-Priest died then they would have no leads on finding the array.[2b]
Aramus' strike force deployed as quickly as they can because Gorwazza arrived at the base camp ahead of them. Once they arrived at the camp, Gorwazza rode a Looted Tank and attacked the strike force with overwhelming firepower. Eventually the strike force defeated Gorwazza but too late to save the Tech-Priest.[2d]
Aramus reported his findings to Gabriel Angelos and the only information they could gather from the Tech-Priest base camp was that an Ork leader named Rippa-Splitta stole the dataslate that had information on the exact location of the array.[2b]
Angelos ordered Aramus and his men to find and kill one of Rippa-Splitta's lieutenants named Mek Blitzzagga located on Calderis as he held vital information on the location of Rippa-Splitta. The strike force arrived on the surface and slowly destroyed several smaller Ork outposts to deny Blitzzagga reinforcements from his main headquarters. The strike force eventually arrived at Blitzzagga's headquarters and Aramus personally killed the Ork leader and gathered as much information as they could on the destroyed base camps for Rippa-Splitta's location.[2d]
The Fourth Company returned to Typhon Primaris and started raiding Rippa-Splitta's base camp for the dataslate. The strike force destroyed several camps and managed to slay Rippa-Splitta and successfully captured the dataslate then returned to the strike cruiser Armageddon.[2d]
After determining the exact location of the array, Aramus and his strike force deployed to the area and quickly moved to seize the objective. Along the way they encountered Orks and Tyranids fighting each other but the xenos were quickly killed. The situation escalated when an ork Deff Dread ambushed the strike force without warning and proceeded to attack them. The strike force managed to defeat the Deff Dread and continued towards the array. However, a Tyranid Lictor ambushed and killed one of their brothers before they could react, it was too late to save him and Aramus had no choice but to move on. Arriving at the array, they found that ork meks had looted the components and they had to kill them to recover the missing components and fix the array. The strike force successfully killed the Ork Looters and recovered the components then proceeded to repair the array. Once the strike force fixed the array, important data was sent to the Armageddon and they finally had the needed information to find the weakness of the hive fleet. Before they could extract, sensors picked up the location of the Tyranid Lictor who killed their battle brother and Aramus ordered his men to slay the beast to avenge their fallen brother. The strike force succeeded in slaying the beast then proceeded to extract back to the Armageddon.[2d]
Onboard the Armegaddon, Gabriel Angelos contacted the Fourth Company regarding the information found from the Astronomican Array and they found a weakness in the hive fleet. With this information they had the advantage in defeating the Tyranids and routing them from the Sector. After all their objectives were completed, the Fourth Company was now tasked with holding the sector by continuing to assassinate key targets, destroy major bases and assist local Imperial forces from being overrun until the Chapter Fleet arrived at Sub-Sector Aurelia.[2b]
The Last Stand
After several days of defending the subsector, Gabriel Angelos gave his final dire news: the hive fleet's presence was making it difficult to arrive in the Sub-Sector, along with the fleet's Astropaths and Librarians dying en masse to guide their fleet through the warp. Due to the situation at hand they might well have been lost in the warp forever but ordered the Force Commander to continue fighting the Tyranids and save the Sub-Sector. Elena Derosa contacted Aramus and told them about Gabriel Angelos giving her orders to send bio-toxins to him and his company. Additionally Derosa prepared several contingents of troops from the 85th Vendoland to assist the Blood Ravens on their critical mission. Many of them were veterans of Angel Forge and wished to fight alongside the Blood Ravens as a sign of their duty. Aramus accepted their help and they would be deployed via Valkyrie gunships once they arrived on the surface of Typhon. Apothecary Gordian would assume full responsibility in taking command of the Armageddon and Brother Martellus would assist the strike force onboard a Thunderhawk designated "Thunderhawk Two".[2b]
Aramus received his final orders from Gabriel Angelos with plans to poison the massive Capillary Tower that was feeding the main Hive Ship on Typhon Primaris. The bio-toxins would be enough to poison the hive fleet and with it the Tyranid swarms would be in disarray. Aramus then prepared his men for possibly his final battle.[2b]
Arriving on the surface of Typhon Primaris, Apothecary Gordian gave out instructions on how to poison the capillary towers via the veins found within the area. Slowly communications started being cut off due to the Tyranids but the strike force pushed on to regroup with Merrick and his men as they arrived early on the surface but their Valkryies were shot down. Regardless the troops moved to a nearby vein and started poisoning it. Martellus dropped several Tarantula sentry guns within their perimeter as the men dug in and waited for the Tyranid swarms. The Tyranids, sensing danger, responded by sending swarms of beasts against Aramus and his men. Despite being outnumbered they successfully pushed back the Tyranids and poisoned the first tower then proceeded to the next vein. Apothecary Gordian contacted the surface troops and informed them that the Armageddon was severely damaged and enacted emergency protocols to evacuate every battle brother to the surface, tragically Gordian died on the Armageddon. Aramus consolidated the survivors and ordered them to dig in as he started poisoning the second tower while Martellus dropped Tarrantula Sentry guns to aid in the defence. Sensing the second tower was being poisoned, the Tyranids swarmed the strike force's position again with unending swarms of beasts trying to overwhelm their position. Despite the countless assaults against them, the bio-toxins worked and nearby towers and beasts started dying en masse. With the tower poisoned but nowhere to retreat, Aramus and his men prepared to make a final stand when Gabriel Angelos and the Chapter Fleet arrived in system and proceeded to bombard the Tyranids' position. Merrick and his men were ordered to stay and dig in on the second vein while Aramus and his Blood Raven strike force moved towards the beacon to guide the drop pods to the surface of Typhon Primaris. Aramus activated the beacon and waited for reinforcements to arrive. Gabriel Angelos himself landed on the surface on Typhon and joined Aramus and his strike force to kill the Hive Mind's Alpha Creature that was guiding the swarm while reinforcements secured their flanks. The strike force located the Alpha Creature called Hive Tyrant Alpha and proceeded to attack the creature. The strike force successfully killed Hive Tyrant Alpha and with his death the Tyranid swarms fell into disarray and the survivors were then evacuated safely to the chapter's fleet.[2d]
Aramus and his surviving men were awarded the title "Heroes of Typhon"[3b] after the final battle against the Tyranids on that world.[2b]
Second Aurelian Crusade
One year after the First Aurelian Crusade, The Blood Ravens received an emergency distress signal from a beacon on planet Aurelia. Gabriel Angelos ordered Aramus and his strike force to investigate the signal.[3b]
During deployment Aramus and his strike force experienced interference with their drop pod navigation systems which forced them to different landing zones. While tracking the locations of their battle brothers, Aramus and Cyrus found an unnamed Astra Militarum patrol and their Sergeant forced them to hold their position. Cyrus tried to argue with the Sergeant but he and his men opened fire on the Blood Ravens, Aramus and Cyrus had no choice but to defend themselves. Aramus and Cyrus killed the guardsmen but they couldn't identify the name of their regiment and continued locating their battle-brothers. Aramus and Cyrus found Avitus and told him about the Traitor Guardsmen who ambushed them along the way. After regrouping, they headed out to the final landing zone where the traitors were waiting for them. Just as the traitors were about to open fire, Tarkus intervened and distracted the enemy, giving Aramus, Cyrus, Avitus and their men ample time to counterattack. After killing the traitors, the strike force regrouped with Tarkus who told them that he is the only survivor of the crash zone due to enemy anti-air fire. The strike force proceeded to the distress beacon and investigated who sent the signal; upon arriving at the location Cyrus immediately investigated the beacon. Cyrus revealed to the group that it was a standard imperial locator relay transmitting a generic distress signal using Blood Ravens codes: someone was used it to lure them there. Unbeknown to the strike force a forward observer was hiding nearby and relayed coordinates on the beacon's location to bombard the Blood Ravens with artillery before retreating to safety. The Blood Ravens, sensing the trap, evacuated the area as quickly as they could before the artillery killed them. After escaping the bombardment zone, the Blood Ravens discussed their next course of action, with Avitus suggesting to evacuate the area while Tarkus suggested to secure the area first to make extraction safer but Cyrus figured out that the traitors were using a broadcast array to make evacuation difficult. Aramus agreed with these suggestions and ordered them to find and destroy the broadcast array and then find a suitable extraction zone. Along the way they destroyed several Astra Militarum and Tempestus Scions patrols and eventually they destroyed the broadcast array to make extraction possible. The strike force headed out to their designated extraction zone and managed to secure the area. A Thunderhawk codenamed Talon Alpha was dispatched to the strike force's location and the Blood Ravens dug in and waited for the traitors' counterattack. The Traitors sent waves and waves of troops against them with the strike force barely holding the line until Talon Alpha arrived just in time to bombard the enemy, forcing them to retreat and then evacuated Aramus and his men.[3b]
Onboard the Strike Cruiser Retribution, Aramus reported his findings to Gabriel Angelos regarding the traitor Guardsmen using their own distress signal; this concerned Angelos, as he wanted to know how the traitors got their hands on Blood Ravens codes. However, the investigation was sidelined for now and Angelos ordered Aramus and his strike force to save a second strike team as they sent a distress signal. Tarkus was concerned about it being a trap but Angelos assured him that the signal was a full message and so was not a trap. Before launching the mission, Sergeant Thaddeus recognized the markings of the Astra Militarum troops who ambushed Aramus and the strike force as House Vandis militia: the private militia of Governor Vandis, the same governor who left the Sub-Sector to die.[3b]
The Fourth Company answered the distress signal. The Librarian Jonah Orion replied, reporting that all of his brothers were dead including Sergeant Endymion and that they were under attack by Aeldari raiders closing in on his position. Davian Thule, angered that the Aeldari killed Endymion (who was his second in command), vowed to protect his corpse and extract both Jonah and Endymion.[3b]
Aramus, Thaddeus, Thule and Tarkus arrived on the ambush site and immediately attacked nearby Aeldari raiders within the area and destroyed their nearby outposts. The Aeldari continued to attack the strike force's position when Orion arrived just in time before his battle brothers were about to be overrun. After killing the Aeldari troops, Jonah Orion told the strike force of how Endymion discovered a large unknown Xenos structure east of their landing zone and that was when the Aeldari attacked the group. Tarkus figured the structure was possibly a webway assembly and that they must destroy it before the Aeldari used it to invade the area. Thule stayed behind to protect Endymion's corpse while the strike force, including Jonah, set out to destroy the webway assembly before the Aeldari use it against them. Arriving at the webway assembly, an Aeldari Warlock managed to recover the Wraithguard and use them against the strike force. Despite being under fire from Aeldari Wraithguards, Aramus and his men destroyed the webway assembly and defeated their reinforcements. Meanwhile Thule sent a distress call that the Aeldari were attacking his position. Armaus then ordered his strike force to quickly return back to Thule but along the way more and more Aeldari reinforcements were sent in to ambush and intercept them. Despite this setback, the strike force managed to defeat the Aeldari and save Thule, then they all evacuated the area and returned to the strike cruiser Retribution.[2d]
Aramus reported his findings to Gabriel Angelos and was concerned about the Aeldari raiders and House Vandis militia attacking Meridian. Angelos ordered Aramus to intervene and relayed that Governor Elena Derosa would be providing important information regarding the mission. Jonah Orion was reassigned to the Fourth Company on Angelos's orders. Orion was honoured to fight alongside The Heroes of Typhon. Before leaving for Meridian, Cyrus voiced his concerns regarding how the Traitor Guardsmen and how it was suspicious that they managed to secure the Blood Ravens' codes as they were closely guarded secrets; he wondered who gave them the codes.[3b]
Arriving on Meridian, Governor Elena Derosa contacted Aramus regarding the situation; inside Angel Forge was getting worse as the Vandis Insurgents were waging a sabotage campaign to weaken their defences and her own troops were spread too thin. House Vandis militiamen lured orks outside Angel Forge to cause even more damage. The defenders inside Angel Gate were reporting positions being overrun and the traitors controlled several sectors within Angel Gate.[3b]
Aramus and his men deployed to the outskirts of Angel Forge in order to deal with ork looters in the area and to make sure they wouldn't cause anymore harm. Along the way they managed to kill an Ork leader named Bonesmasha; before dying, the Ork mentioned more "Space Marines", which concerned Orion. Aramus and his men successfully killed the Ork Looters and proceeded towards Angel Gate, arriving at Angel Gate the group received an emergency transmission from a Sergeant of the 85th Vendoland stating that he and his mens' position was about to be overrun before he was killed by unnamed Chaos Space Marine. Aramus ordered Thaddeus to use his jump pack to reach the command console on top of Angel Forge to open the gates and Thaddeus succeeded in opening the gate. Aramus and his men quickly reinforced the Vendoland troops and fought the Chaos Space Marine as he lured them to various traps. Vandis Militiamen were being reinforced by the Black Legion as they flanked the strike force but were destroyed by Aramus and his men. The strike force chased the Chaos Marine until they cornered him, he revealed himself to be Eliphas the Inheritor and he taunted Captain Davian Thule before leaving several troops and a Chaos Dreadnought to kill the strike force. Aramus and his men succeeded in destroying the reinforcements and Elena Derosa reported the Vandis Militiamen were in full retreat. Orion warned the governor that not only was she dealing with a rebellion but also full fledged heresy.[3d]
Onboard the strike cruiser Retribution, Aramus reported his findings to Captain Gabriel Angelos and his worries regarding both the Vandis forces and elements of the Black Legion invading the Subsector. He ordered Aramus and his men to hunt them down on Aurelia. Governor Derosa contacted Aramus afterwards regarding the location of the traitors' main base and they used it as a staging ground even during the Tyranid invasion. Derosa sent troops to planet Aurelia to end the heresy and assist Aramus and his men.[3b]
Arriving on Aurelia, Gabriel Angelos debriefed the Fourth Company regarding the location of the traitors' main stronghold, information of the facilities, how the traitors' fortifications and that the 85th Vendoland had set up a beachhead to attack the traitors. Before starting the mission, Tarkus and Thule raised concerns regarding if the Chaos Marine was the same Eliphas the Inheritor they fought on Kronus, as he was a very dangerous and cunning foe who was a constant thorn in the Blood Ravens' side during the Dark Crusade Campaign.[3b]
The strike force deployed near the 85th Vendoland Field Command Bunker as they were being attacked by both Black Legion Troops and House Vandis militia and about to be overwhelmed. They saved them just in time and routed the traitors back to their defensive lines. A Vendoland Sergeant thanked the Blood Ravens and reported his findings regarding the location of their main base in the centre of the facility with a large energy shield protecting it. Cyrus used auspex scans to locate the facilities powering the energy shield and the Sergeant reported the enemy was heavily entrenched with a large force of combined troops from both the Black Legion and Vandis Militiamen. After being debriefed by the Sergeant, Aramus and his men were about to move out when suddenly Traitor Artillery started bombarding the Vendoland Command Bunker. The strike force figured out that the communication array nearby was being used to call in artillery to bombard the command bunker. Aramus decided to capture the communication array in order to save the guardsmen from the bombardment while attacking the Traitors' positions. While heading towards the array, the traitors started summoning daemons to bolster their forces to defeat the Blood Ravens. Despite the Daemonic reinforcements, the strike force managed to capture the array and used the Traitors' own artillery battery against their own troops. After capturing the array, the leader of the Black Legion revealed himself on the Blood Ravens' vox channels and boasted how he, Araghast the Pillager, had pillaged thousands of worlds in the name of the Chaos Gods then threatened to destroy the Blood Ravens. The Blood Ravens ignored his threats and proceeded to their next objective: capturing the power station facility to shut down the energy shields. After killing the defenders and capturing the relay, Orion sensed that their main base was actually a temple dedicated to the Dark Gods of Chaos and that they must destroy it. Within the relay Cyrus found a recording that revealed that there was a traitor among the Blood Ravens who sold out their brothers and gave the distress signal codes that lead to the ambush on Aurelia. Aramus rallied both the 85th Vendoland and the Blood Ravens to assault the temple and successfully destroyed it. To their horror a Chaos Portal opened after destroying the facility, killing Blood Ravens, Guardsmen and Traitors alike. The strike force contacted Thunderhawk Talon Alpha for an emergency evacuation and successfully evacuated every loyalist troop from the battle.[3d]
Onboard the Retribution, Gabriel Angelos congratulated the Fourth Company on a successful mission in destroying the traitors. He also gave a report that the Black Legion were attacking Blood Ravens Scouts on Calderis and pillaging assets on Typhon Primaris. He ordered them to not only end the Black Legion raids but also keep the operations a secret from other Blood Ravens forces. After contacting Angelos, the strike force reviewed the recordings found within the relay as they were worried about the Traitor within the Chapter that sold out their brothers to the enemy.[3b]
Moments later, Governor Derosa sent an important message to Aramus that the Black Legion and House Vandis Militiamen had captured Spire Legis and requested any aid that he and his company could provide. Aramus accepted Derosa's mission and they headed out to Meridian. On Meridian, Derosa debriefed the Company regarding the situation at Spire Legis and how Astra Militarum regiments were having a hard time retaking the spire due to weapon emplacements and artillery batteries making large scale assaults impossible. The only way to give the Guardsmen a chance to retake Spire Legis was to destroy field generators and Black Legion temples used as staging grounds to protect key strategic targets within the spire. Before deploying, Thaddeus requested to be part of the strike force as he wished to protect his old home and wanted to save the citizens from the clutches of the Black Legion; Aramus approved his request and joined the strike force in retaking Spire Legis.[3b]
Aramus and his men deployed to Spire Legis and quickly assaulted key strategic targets protected by the Black Legion. To make matters worse on the mission, one of the Chaos Temples was used to call in bombardments on the strike force's position, making it difficult to complete their objectives. Despite this setback the strike force not only destroyed the temples but destroyed every field generator in the sector, making sure the enemy defences were offline then evacuating to the Retribution.[3d]
Governor Derosa congratulated and thanked the Blood Ravens for destroying the key strategic enemy assets. With the defences gone the 85th Vendoland would have an easier mission to retake Spire Legis.[3d]
Afterwards the Fourth Company headed out to Calderis to save their initiates. Gabriel Angelos briefed them about the situation where the Blood Ravens Scouts were being attacked by the Black Legion. Angelos disclosed the Scouts' mission; Sergeant Priam led a group of initiates to investigate signals emanating from the Calderis desert. The Scouts expected to recover brothers lost during the Tyranid war but they found the Black Legion waiting for them instead. Tarkus raised the trap had possibly been set up by Eliphas the Inheritor and Avitus mentioned the Traitor as well. Tarkus advised caution as Eliphas was a cunning foe and he had proved himself to be a deadly warrior on Kronus many times over. Before they would deploy, Cyrus demanded the Commander to be part of the mission because he personally trained Priam and scouts and he will never abandon his students; Aramus agreed and let him join the strike force.[3b]
Deploying at the Siwal Ruins, the strike force quickly moved out to save nearby Scout squads pinned down by Black Legion troops before they were wiped out. The first group was saved just in time and they were evacuated. During the mission the strike force learned the location of a Chaos Portal in the area and poised to find it. After finding the portal's location, they saw Blood Ravens scouts being pulled into the temple which angered Cyrus and they proceed to destroy the Portal to prevent more scouts being captured by the Black Legion. Once the portal was destroyed, they proceeded to rescue the other scout squads pinned down by the Black Legion. Aramus and his men successfully rescued every Scout squad and Jonah identified the Black Legion Sorcerer who led the traitors. The strike force attacked the sorcerer to prevent him from kidnapping more initates. Just as he was about to escape, Captain Apollo Diomdes intervened and executed the Traitor himself. Diomedes demanded Priam to report the situation. Priam told him about the Black Legion used a Chapter Locator Signal to ambush them and speculated that the traitors had found a way to obtain their codes. Diomedes shut down his speculation but not before Thaddeus cut him off and in his frustration told them how the Black Legion killed their scouts and kidnapped more. Before Thaddeus revealed more information Cyrus told him to be quiet and not reveal the traitor. Diomedes instead ordered all of them to stand down. Diomedes ordered Aramus and his men to return to his strike cruiser while Priam and his initiates were to be transported to Firebase Argus. Diomedes then demanded that the events of what happened were to be kept a secret and nobody outside the mission must know.[3d]
Onboard the Retribution, Captain Angelos told Aramus and his men to depart Calderis as soon as possible because Diomedes had initiated an order for all Blood Ravens on planet to stand down but Angelos encouraged Aramus and his men to continue hunting down the Black Legion. Thaddeus raised concerns on why Diomedes had done so with Thule answering that the Chapter Master dislikes contact with the Black Legion and Diomedes will enforce his will. Angelos revealed that the Chapter Master had pulled Blood Ravens back from battling the Black Legion before and he might even abandon the whole sector than face the band of traitors, which would lead the sector to be taken over by the Black Legion; Angelos continued to encourage the Fourth Company to continue stopping those raids.[3b]
Arriving on Typhon Primaris, Aramus accepted a mission from Gabriel Angelos regarding the Aeldari reappearing in the Sector. Angelos revealed that the Aeldari were congregating at the site of the climatic battle against the Tyranids. Despite the Black Legion being a threat, it was unwise to let the Aeldari operate in the sector and be a danger to the sector. After the Tyranid invasion, the battle exposed Aeldari ruins that drew in the Aeldari in large numbers, Angelos expected the Aeldari to have heavy firepower found within the sector. Additionally the Blood Ravens had erected several monuments for brothers who died against the Tyranids along with an Imperial shrine which stood on the site where Angelos and the strike force killed the Hive Tyrant. Before deploying for the mission, Tarkus requested to be part of the strike force as he wished to slay as many Aeldari as he could as he owed them a debt of blood and fury; Aramus accepted his request and he joined the strike force against the Aeldari.[3b]
The strike force arrived in the area and proceeded to attack nearby Aeldari Patrols and located the nearby shrine. Aramus ordered his men to kill the Aeldari defenders and once they were dead the strike force captured the shrine from the Aeldari's hands. The strike force continued to pursue and destroy as many Aeldari troops they came across in order to whittle their numbers to the point they couldn't pose a threat to the Sub-Sector. The strike force arrived at the location of their leaders and managed to kill several Warlocks. The situation worsened when the Avatar of Khaine was summoned and attacked the Blood Ravens along with Aeldari reinforcements aiding the Avatar. Eventually the strike force succeeded in killing the Avatar of Khaine and routing the Aeldari from Typhon Primaris.[3d]
Onboard the Retribution, Gabriel Angelos contacted Aramus and informed him regarding a distress signal made by Techmarine Martellus as he survived the Tyranid invasion.[3b]
The strike force deployed on Typhon Primaris with orders to rescue Martellus. The group managed to make contact with Martellus via vox channel and he was glad to see his battle brothers come to save him. Arriving at Martellus' position, he was wounded by a Bloodthirster but the strike force quickly eliminated the Black Legion and Daemons surrounding him. After reviving Martellus, he said that they needed to protect the Astronomic Array's data from the Black Legion. Martellus called in power generators to be used for the array to transmit data to the Retribution and Aramus ordered his men to hunker down and defend their position. Without warning Orks attacked their position but with Cyrus's suggestion they closed the gate to secure their flanks while the Orks would be redirected to the Black Legion. The Black Legion meanwhile called in reinforcements attacking the strike force's positions and destroying their generators. During the battle Martellus revealed to the strike force that he had hidden several relics from the crashed Thunderhawk within a storage area and recommended Aramus to retake the valuable equipment. Aramus agreed to his proposal and send some squads to retrieve those items before the greenskins looted it. The strike force successfully retrieved the gear just in time before the Black Legion's final assault, led by a Plague Champion. Despite spreading plagues and countless reinforcements, he was killed and his forces were routed.[3d]
Onboard the Retribution, Martellus thanked Aramus and the strike force then he gave a story about how he survived. Martellus's Thunderhawk was damaged during the battle but his Battle-Brother copilot managed to crash land in an area with the less tyranid presence but tragically he died in the crash. Martellus pushed on for a year until he saw the Astronomican Array and he gladly called in a distress signal. Afterwards Martellus revealed to the strike force regarding the space hulk called the Judgement of Carrion was about to arrive in the sector. They could use the data gathered from the Astronomic Array to pinpoint when the Judgement of Carrion would appear and use its machine spirits and logic engines to unmask the Traitor within the Chapter.[3b]
Arriving at the Judgement of Carrion's location, the space hulk appeared before the company. Cyrus meanwhile reported to Aramus his findings regarding the traitor and found evidence of the traitor's conversations in one of the ship's transmission tomes which revealed the Traitor was aboard the Retribution.[3b]
The strike force boarded the Judgement of Carrion guided by Techmarine Martellus. In order to access the logic engines they had to find several dataslates found within the hulk. While exploring the Judgement, they located a Blood Raven reductor vial containing the chapter's holy geneseed which belonged to Brother Bonaparte of the Fifth Company. Aramus recovered the geneseed and tasked his brother to recover more in the name of the chapter; Martellus contacted the strike team and made a worrying discovery that Brother Bonaparte still served in the Chapter. The strike force continued exploring until more geneseed was located and it belonged to Veteran Lucanus who fought on the Kaurava Campaign. Cyrus interjected having no recllection of Lucanus fighting on Kaurava. Martellus revealed more information that both Lucanus and Bonaparte served in an expedition onboard the Judgement of Carrion. Once The Blood Ravens recovered geneseed and dataslates, they made their way to the logic engine and saw another sample geneseed that belonged to Sergeant Sarpedon of the Fifth Company. He was part of the expedition, which was lead by Apothecary Galan. Arriving at the logic engine they were ambushed by a Hive Tyrant leading a Tyranid swarm. Eventually the Blood Ravens killed the Hive Tyrant and accessed the logic engine. Inside they found a recording from Apothecary Galan which held important information from the expedition; Galan recorded what was happening onboard during the expedition along with mentioning a great Daemon was haunting the space hulk and Galan hiding his Brothers' geneseed before the Daemon devoured them. Aramus sent the data to Martellus and he began to analyse the data.[3d]
Onboard the Retribution, Martellus continued to analyse the data found on the Judgement of Carrion while he tracked several distress signals across the Sector. The first transmission was found from chapter channels and revealed to be from Araghast the Pillager challenging the Blood Ravens on Aurelia and the second transmission was from Governor Elena Derosa informing the Blood Ravens that Meridian was being overrun by the Black Legion and Gabriel Angelos never sent in additional support. Governor Derosa requested Aramus for any assistance he could provide against the Black Legion.[3b]
Despite how dangerous exploring the Judgement of Carrion was, Aramus ordered the Fourth Company to continue to recover geneseed in the name of the Chapter. Aramus approved of Jonah Orion's request to be part of the expedition team to recover the geneseed as it was his duty as one of the Chapter's Librarians. Once deployed inside the Judgement, Martellus placed a time limit on the expeditionary team and automatically teleported the teams back to the Retribution in order to avoid chaos corruption and Tyranid swarms inside the space hulk. The strike force continued exploring and destroying Tyranid nests in order to gather geneseed. During the expedition they were ambushed by a Hive Tyrant who was guarding the main nests for the Tyranids inside the hulk. Aramus pushed on and destroyed the nest and killed the Hive Tyrant along with successfully recovering geneseed and found additional audiologs for Martellus to decipher.[3d]
After securing the geneseed, Aramus and his men departed to Meridian as the Black Legion were attacking Capital Spire. After arriving, Davian Thule reported to Aramus that the Master of Scribes had found additional messages from the traitor and to make matters worse the message was sent to Calderis and the Honour Guard; the corruption was worse than they thought. Moments later Captain Apollo Diomedes of the First Company Honour Guard relayed important orders to every Blood Raven to cease crusade, recruitment and other operations in Sub-Sector Aurelia. Every Blood Raven must return to their designated muster points and prepare to mobilise for the Ferox Rift Crusade. Gabriel Angelos contacted Aramus and ordered him to continue fighting the Black Legion and Angelos himself would confront Diomedes regarding the orders to stand down.[3b]
Aramus contacted Governor Derosa regarding the situation at Capital Spire, the Governor relayed important information that the Black Legion and House Vandis Militiamen were assaulting the planetary capital. Astra Militarum Regiments were redirected to the capital but they couldn't reach her on time and the defenders were outnumbered.[3b]
The strike force deployed to the Capital Palace and quickly reinforced the outnumbered and exhausted defenders against the Black Legion. Once the Black Legion were pushed back, members of the 85th Vendoland including Tempestus Scions were under the command of Aramus as he needed as many troops as he could to coordinate the defence of the capital. Once the Black Legion regrouped they sent another wave of troops against Aramus and his men and slowly they started deploying Daemons and armoured vehicles against them. Against all odds the defenders managed to push back the Black Legion. Governor Derosa relayed additional information regarding strategic assets found nearby and that capturing them would secure their flanks. Aramus agreed and sent some of his brothers and troops from the 85th Vendoland to retake the assets while he himself defended the palace. Both assets were captured and additional Blood Raven forces were sent to the surface along with additional 85th Vendoland troops securing the flanks and strategic assets against the Black Legion. The Black Legion, desperate to finish off the Blood Ravens, unleashed the full might of their arsenal as they sent in multiple waves of Daemons, armoured vehicles and Chaos Marines, assisted by House Vandis Militamen. Despite being outnumbered, Aramus and his men prevailed against the Black Legion and they completely routed the traitors from the field. After returning to the Retribution, Governor Derosa personally thanked Aramus and his men for saving Meridian from the Black Legion.[3d]
With Meridian secured, the Fourth Company mobilised towards Aurelia and responded to Araghast the Pillager's call to challenge. Tarkus agreed they should never fall back or retreat. Angered by Araghast's taunts, Avitus requested to be part of the strike force and kill the traitors himself; Aramus agreed and allowed Avitus on the strike force.[3b]
The strike force deployed to Minos Ironworks and proceeded to pursue Araghast the Pillager and kill him for challenging the Blood Ravens. Arriving at his location, he proudly boasted how weak the Blood Ravens were and how they were quick to flee the Black Legion instead of facing them in open battle. Araghast teleported to another location with the help of Eliphas the Inheritor and continued taunting them. Aramus and his men continued their pursuit while killing Araghast's men along the way. Arriving at the second location, Araghast personally challenged the Blood Ravens with the help of Cultists and Chaos Space Marines then attacked the strike force. Araghast, wounded from the fight, retreated to another location and sacrificed several cultists to heal his wounds. While pursuing Araghast the Blood Ravens located a shrine to the Emperor and found it desecrated by the Black Legion. Aramus ordered his men to retake the shrine and cleanse it of the corruption of Chaos. Once the shrine was secured the group continued hunting Araghast despite enemy reinforcements intercepting them. Arriving at the Chaos Marine's last known location, the Blood Ravens attacked Araghast while Cultists assisted him. Eventually the Blood Ravens mortally wounded Araghast and he demanded Eliphas to open a portal to escape. Eliphas refused and left Araghast to die in the hands of the Blood Ravens.[3d]
Onboard on the Retribution, Martellus reported to Aramus and the strike force that Captain Gabriel Angelos was declared a Traitor by the Chapter Master Azariah Kyras and Apollo Diomedes under the crimes of "refusing chapter orders, spreading heresy, raising arms against one-time brothers and stealing arms and relics from the chapter"; The Fourth Company refused to follow orders and would never raise their arms against Gabriel Angelos and his Company.[3b]
Martellus deciphered the additional audio logs from Galan's expedition inside the Judgement of Carrion. The logs mentioned Galan and his men found a survivor and saved a Librarian named Kyras, accessing more and more of the logs revealed Galan and his men were slowly being hunted down by a Daemon of the Dark Gods with the exits sealed and the beacons failed, which trapped the survivors inside the space hulk. Librarian Kyras saved their lives countless times but was slowly concerned about if he could defend them against the voices in the Dark. The rest of the logs are protected by ancient rites used by the traitor. The Fourth Company learned their Chapter Master was part of the expedition to the shock of many.[3b]
The Fourth Company departed to Calderis and after arriving, Martellus using the logic engine found from the Judgement of Carrion found evidence that the encoding rites used by the traitor are similar to those found from the Chapter Honour Guard. If Aramus managed to grab a copy of their codes then they could unmask the traitor. To obtain the codes, they had to destroy the Honour Guard Stronghold in order for the automatic signal from Diomedes's Battle-Barge then Martellus could intercept it. The Blood Ravens agreed to never kill their own brothers who were just doing their duty to Emperor and Chapter along with hunting down Apothecary Galan and corrupted members found within the Chapter.[3b]
Deployed near Firebase Argus, the strike force destroyed satellite bases to force their brothers to fall back and avoid unnecessary bloodshed. As the strike force continued sneaking around the Blood Ravens patrols they eventually found Apothecary Galan executing an Initiate right in front of them. Galan taunted his brothers and assumed they knew not only the corruption within the Chapter but a traitor within their company as well. The strike force immediately attacked Galan. Just as he is about to be defeated he called in Terminator reinforcements revealing members of the First Company had fallen to Chaos. Galan was personally mortally wounded by Aramus, for a brief moment Galan was freed from his Daemonic possession and revealed to them that the entire Honour Guard had been corrupted by Kyras with the sole exception of Apollo Diomdes but his pride had blinded him to the Chapter's corruption. Aramus and his men managed to destroy the stronghold and confronted Diomedes about the corruption of the Chapter and the Great Daemon Ulkair influencing them. Diomedes, upon hearing Ulkair's name and Tarkus revealing that Apothecary Galan was the source of the vital information, let strike force go as he was greatly disturbed of this revelation.[3d]
Onboard the Retribution, Martellus managed to unlock additional information from the Judgement of Carrion's logic engine; with it he could finally reveal the traitor's identity.[3b]}
Before departing to Aurelia, Martellus fully unlocked all of Galan's log on his expedition onboard the Judgement of Carrion. The logs revealed that Kyras was growing morose by the hour, Kyras told a story during morning prayers to the survivors about a great battle on a lost world on Aurelia. A Daemon beset the planet and summoned a massive warp storm, the Blood Ravens battled a Daemon at the Chapter Keep. Galan mentioned the story should have inspired them but Kyras made it a tale of woe, Kyras continued his story as his brothers died one by one binding the Daemon but called their sacrifices pointless. Galan's final log mentioned the Daemon's name, Ulkair. The strike force, disturbed by this discovery, must find the chapter keep and stop Eliphas from unsealing the Daemon.[3b]
Arriving on Aurelia, Martellus fully deciphered the Traitor's audio log and the Traitor's identity was revealed to be Avitus. Avitus managed to escape the Retriubtion and left an audio log for his brothers, he had betrayed his Brothers because in his eyes the Galaxy was broken, shattered and rotten to the core. Honour, Brotherhood and Duty were nothing more than delusions and lies; Using them to justify the Death and Destruction left in their wake and he couldn't tolerate it any longer. Avitus saw the rot that runs through the Chapter and it justified nothing. All of his memories filled with the screams of those he killed while others see life, in his eyes he can only see death. He knew that it all ends in blood.[3b]
The strike force deployed to Argent Glacier and avoided the Black Legion patrols as they didn't want to alert enemy bases nearby and calling in reinforcements. The strike force carefully snuck around enemy patrols and when they got closer to a nearby base they started destroying and overwhelming the defenders as quickly as they could before any alarms could be raised. After destroying one of Black Legion's bases, Avitus contacted Tarkus and revealed that he was personally invited by Azariah Kyras to be a personal agent within the Fourth Company after the final victory on Kronus. Avitus accompanied Kyras and his honour guard cleaned up the dark deeds on the Kronus Campaign. They both walked on the ruins of Victory Bay celebrating the slaughter Avitus had carried out there: at that moment Avitus saw how rotten the Chapter had become. The strike force pushed on and continued to avoid additional patrols and made their way to the last known base used by the Black Legion. The strike force succeeded in locating the last base and destroyed it as quickly as they could before any alarms were raised. After destroying the last base, Avitus contacted Tarkus again and he made another revelation regarding Chapter Master Azariah Kyras contacted him after the Tyranid invasion and asked Avitus to assist him, a man named Eliphas. With both bases destroyed, the Blood Ravens proceeded to Avitus's main headquarters and challenged the traitor but not before revealing to the strike force that he used Terminator Armour gifted to him by the Chapter Master to kill his own brothers. The Blood Ravens gained the upper hand due to Avitus being outnumbered but suddenly Avitus called in reinforcements from the Black Legion to assist him against his former brothers. Eventually Tarkus personally slew Avitus but not before taunting his brothers till the bitter end.[3d]
Onboard the Retribution, Gabriel Angelos contacted Aramus and his men and told them that Chapter Master Kyras and Captain Diomedes had declared he and his men traitors to the Chapter. Tarkus reported to Angelos about Avitus turning traitor and his death. With the identity of the Traitor discovered, the next course of action for the Fourth and Third Companies was to assault the Chapter Keep Selenon to prevent the Daemon Ulkair from escaping.[3b]
Before the main assault could start, Gabriel Angelos deployed two Predator tanks to destroy enemy outposts and destroy one of their main bases to open a landing zone for the Blood Ravens. Despite being outnumbered the tanks eventually destroyed one of Black Legion's main bases and opened a landing zone for Strike Force Fury, led by Angelos. Angelos landed his troops first before Aramus, they proceeded to attack incoming Black Legion forces and managed to push them back. Once Aramus and his men had been deployed they continued to assist Gabriel and his men in destroying more outposts and main bases used by the Black Legion to stop additional reinforcements. During the battle, Jonah Orion sensed the seals that bound Ulkair were slowly weakening and that he was feeding on the lives of their brothers who died during the battle. Angelos ordered Aramus and his men to redirect their efforts in stopping Ulkair before he consumed the Sector. Eliphas the Inheritor managed to block the strike force's path towards Ulkair and challenged Aramus to buy Ulkair as much time as possible. Aramus personally slew Eliphas but not before he taunted the strike team one last time. Arriving at the Chapter Keep, Aramus ordered his men to kill Ulkair and any Black Legion and Daemons defending him in order to save the sector. During the climatic battle Aramus personally killed Ulkair with a mighty blow from his Thunderhammer[4b] and saved the sector from destruction.[3d]
After defeating Ulkair, Gabriel Angelos celebrated their victory on his battle-barge. He declared Chapter Master Azariah Kyras a heretic and a traitor as he had found proof that he was the one who was corrupting the Chapter from within. Gabriel Angelos personally congratulated Aramus in standing up against the Black Legion, purging the corruption within his own ranks and standing together with Gabriel Angelos despite the Chapter Master declaring both men as Traitors to the Chapter.[3b]
Aramus would eventually rise to become Captain of the 4th Company, promoted by Gabriel Angelos to take the place of Davian Thule, who had been entombed within a Dreadnought.[3b]
Third Aurelian Crusade
The fate of Aramus during the Third Aurelian Crusade is unknown.[4b]
Equipment
The Commander wields a Chainsword and Bolt Pistol as default, but later gains access to virtually the entire Blood Ravens Armoury.[2c][3c] There eventually appears a Thunder Hammer named Hammer of the Nameless amidst the various weapons stored in said armoury, which is recorded as belonging to the youngest force commander in the chapter's history and rumoured to have been used to banish the Greater Daemon Ulkair.[4b]
Trivia
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Notes
- As the player character, the Force Commander has no official name in the game (allowing the player to name him).[2b] The Force Commander did not receive an identity beyond that which the player assigns to him until the Dawn of War II novel, in which he is revealed to be Aramus of the Fifth Company[1a], and a native of the planet Meridian, recruited at the same time as Thaddeus (previously stated to be the only recruit from Meridan in 700 years). This novelisation also differs in that it states that Aramus and Thaddeus were the only survivors of their Blood Trials.[1b][2a]
- The character in the novel adds some insight into the Force Commander character, notably his background and relationship with Thaddeus. The novel states that Aramus is around 40, unusually young for a Sergeant, but also that Thaddeus is of a similar age, likely to add a contrasting character to Thaddeus. Where Thaddeus is stated to be a member of a lower-hab, a street-kid, Aramus came from a high-hab family (middle class).[1]
- The reason for his early promotion differs in the novel; Aramus earned his promotion to Sergeant fighting the Tyranids on Prosperon to protect a sacred scroll from falling into the hands of the xenos. In addition, in the novel Aramus never receives an official promotion, instead named the acting Strike Force Commander, as the ranking Sergeant. This is due to the incapacitation of Davian Thule by a Tyranid Warrior and the death of Sergeant Merrick of the First Squad. In this novel, Aramus is Sergeant of the Third Squad with the veteran, Sergeant Tarkus, as his squad second, who is reassigned to the leaderless First Squad (until the battle's conclusion at his own condition). The novel concludes with a conversation between Aramus and Captain Gabriel Angelos, where they discuss the apparent death of Tarkus and the First Squad, and who will be the successor to Thule. Aramus suggests the Sergeants of 2nd or 4th Squad as suitable candidates and plans to pass on the Power Sword Wisdom (AKA, Alexian's Blade to the new Captain, when Angelos suggest that the blade is most commonly carried by Sergeants, suggesting that Aramus remains in his current rank, likely backed up by his comparative youth (only 40-odd years old).[1a]
- Due to the nature of the video games, Aramus has several alternative fates depending on playstyle; instead of being promoted to the Captain of the 4th Company, the Commander can be declared a renegade and work for Gabriel if he worked a tiny bit in chaotic wargear. He is sent on a hundred years long Penitent Crusade with his men if he dabbles even more with chaos powers. If he becomes too tainted, he is executed by Gabriel Angelos. If the Commander has fully converted to Chaos, he and his men take the Strike Cruiser Retribution to the Eye of Terror, joining the Black Legion.[3b]
