De Marche
De Marche was a Radical Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus and follower of the Xanthite cause.[1c]
History
De Marche assisted the Space Marines of the Fire Claws Chapter in an operation to cleanse the Space Hulk Captor of Sin when it was used by a Chaos Space Marine warband to attack the Stygies System. The Fire Claws strike force, led by Epistolary Decario, boarded the Hulk and initially made good progress with Terminator Assault Squads overwhelming the Chaos Marines in several actions. All of that changed, however, when the Fire Claws reached the main enginarium, where they engaged the warband's leader, a Champion of Tzeentch known as the Excoriator.[1a]
In the battle against the Excoriator, several Space Marines were killed and Decario was wounded. In desperation, Decario reached for the nearest weapon available and used it to decapitate the Excoriator, only to discover that the weapon he had wielded was the Chaos Champion's own daemon sword. Weathering a mental assault from the daemon trapped within the blade, de Marche assisted the Librarian and was able to get him to drop the sword. Decario threw himself at de Marche's mercy, only for the Inquisitor to reveal that he was a Xanthite - a follower of a Radical philosophy that posited that tools of Chaos could be used against Chaos itself. De Marche proceeded to absolve Decario of any sin as, in his eyes, defeating the Excoriator was the Emperor's will.[1a]
Following the events on the Captor of Sin, the Fire Claws renamed themselves the Relictors and dedicated themselves to seeking out Chaos artefacts that could be used against the servants of the Ruinous Powers.[1a] De Marche went on to give a number of such relics to the chapter, including a shard of an axe that was wielded by the Daemon Primarch Angron during the First War for Armageddon.[1b][1d]
Eventually, however, the Ordo Hereticus found out about de Marche and the Relictors' methods. The Relictors, threatened with the destruction of their chapter, had no choice but to hand over de Marche and undertake a penance crusade.[1a] De Marche was executed by the Ordo Hereticus and his name was stricken from Imperial records.[1c]
