Arcos
Arcos was the Fourth Captain in the Fists Exemplar Chapter, when their Homeworld Eidolica was invaded by Orks during the War of the Beast.[1]
He would survive the invasion that left many of his Battle Brothers dead and under the command of Chapter Master Maximus Thane, he joined the Imperium's forces in fighting the Ork forces of the Warlord known as The Beast. Later in the war, he was given command of the warship Courageous and was among a group of four hundred Fists Exemplars, that were led by its First Captain Zerberyn. This group later became separated from contact with the Imperium, after they were attacked by The Beast's forces and were forced to jump blindly into the Warp. After, being unable to contact the Imperium, Zerberyn joined forces with the Iron Warriors Warsmith Kalkator's Grand Company and both sides worked together to strike back against the Orks ravaging the galaxy. This would later cause them to come into conflict with the Black Templars Chapter's High Marshal Bohemond, after Zerberyn was able to make contact with the Imperium following The Beasts' death. When Bohemond learned that Zerberyn had made an alliance with Kalkator he immediately led his Battle Barge, the Abhorrence, to confront them and teleported with a group of his Black Templars aboard Zerberyn's command ship, the Dantalion, where Kalkator was present. When Zerberyn refused to turn over the Warsmith to the High Marshal a conflict broke out and Bohemond was killed by Zerberyn.[1]
The First Captain then gave the order for his ships to destroy the Abhorrence, but Arcos and the commander of the warship Implicit refused; though only Arcos' warship, the Courageous, was able to escape, before the outnumbered Abhorrence was destroyed. Afterwards, he would make contact with Maximus Thane who had become the Chapter Master of the rebuilt Imperial Fists Chapter and was in command of the Phalanx aboard their Homeworld Eidolica. Thane had planned to honour his oaths and oversee the rebuilding of the Fists Exemplar, however when he heard of Zerberyn's treachery from Arcos, he became enraged. Instead of becoming the new Chapter Master of the Fists Exemplar who would lead them in regaining their lost honour, as Arcos had hoped, Thane instead ordered that the Fists Exemplars would be erased from history; for allowing such a large number of their Battle Brothers to fall to Heresy. Thane told the shocked Fourth Captain, that he was to go immediately to Eidolica and destroy all evidence of the Fists Exemplars existence from the world; which would now be left to another Chapter to possess. Afterwards, Arcos was stripped of his rank and the former Captain and the twenty two loyalists Fists Exemplars who had escaped aboard the Courageous with him, were ordered by Thane to join the Imperial Fists Chapter.[1]
Sources
- 1: The Beheading (Novel), Chapter 14
