Graucis Telomane
Graucis Telomane was a Grey Knights Epistolary who took part in the First War of Armageddon and had spent the last six hundred years since that battle's end preparing for the return of the Daemon Primarch Angron.[1a]
Biography
When the First War of Armageddon began, Telomane was a young Grey Knight who had just joined the ranks of its Brotherhoods and his mentor, Justicar Aelos, did not think he was ready. Though Captain Taremar Aurellian had asked Telomane to take part in the targeted strike against the Daemon Primarch Angron, Aelos repeatedly refused to give him permission to do so. In the Justicar's words, there was a reason the Chapter did not temper their youngest Grey Knights in battle. Telomane believed he was ready, however, and ignored his mentor's warning. This bitter parting would turn out to be the be the last time they ever saw each other. Telomane would then be among the one hundred and nine Grey Knights who attacked Angron, who was defended by the Bloodthirsters known as the Cruor Praetoria. While the Grey Knights were successful in sending the Daemon Primarch back to the Warp, they suffered heavy losses at the Daemons' hands.[1a]
Telomane was among the thirteen who survived the battle, but he was left severely wounded and his body never completely recovered from the damage it suffered. This included one of his legs, which was struck by a fragment of Angron's Black Blade after it was shattered by the Grey Knight Hyperion. The Grey Knights' Apothecaries were never able to remove the corrupted shrapnel, no matter how many attempts were made, and so Telomane had to live with the pain. At times this drove him to pain-fueled rages and at other times deep despair over the unfairness of what he suffered. Telomane eventually even thought of having the leg amputated, but decided against doing so and accepted the pain as his trial to bear. The biggest reason, though, was that the Black Blade fragment bound him to Angron and aided him in his quest to prepare for the Daemon Primarch's return to realspace.[1a]
The first inkling that Angron's return was near was when the Grey Knights sensed the portents representing bloodshed on a galactic scale. Telomane had risen within the Chapter's ranks at that time and took command of the Strike Cruiser Sword of Dione to aid in his plans to banish the Daemon Primarch once more. After the Great Rift's creation, Telomane believed that the Daemon Primarch would return to Armageddon, and so lay in wait aboard the Sword of Dione. However, after meditating and sending his psychic senses into the Warp, Telomane was shown visions of his past. This included his last meeting with Justicar Aelos and that of his deceased friend Nyramar. Unlike with his former mentor, though, this version of Nyramar knew it was merely one of the Epistolary's memories. Despite this, they continued the regicide match they had last played, both knowing that Nyramar died five weeks later, after having his neck broken in a battle. Telomane told his friend what he sought in the Warp, but Nyramar warned the Epistolary to be careful for what he wished for. A vision of an unknown desert world was then shown to the Epistolary, and Nyramar repeated his warning once more. But when Telomane looked upon Nyramar again, the Grey Knight looked as he did upon his death. Then, with a broken neck and a smiling face, Nyramar told Telomane it was his turn at the regicide board. This would be the last thing the Epistolary saw before Telomane's psychic senses returned to his body aboard the Sword of Dione. Knowing now that Angron's arrival was close at hand, and that the Daemon Primarch would not strike at Armageddon, the Epistolary began searching for the unknown world he had seen.[1a]
The world was eventually revealed to be Malakbael, and in the preparation for his battle Telomane journeyed into the Red Angel's Gate on Armageddon to obtain Angron's True Name by defeating the Daemon Prince Stovrwrath.[1b] Graucius and his Companions then set a trap on the world of Hyades, using a captured corrupted Astropath as a beacon to draw Angron away from Malakbael.[1c] In the final battle on Hyades, the Grey Knights sacrificed the world in order to potentially banish Angron permanently from the Materium by using their captive Astropath to enact a great psychic backlash. While the planet and many World Eaters were caught in the blast, Angron only suffered wounds and retreated back into space to the Conqueror.[1d]
Not giving up, Graucius and his surviving brothers teleported aboard the Conqueror and engaged Angron in battle. Piloting a Dreadknight, Graucis was nonetheless still defeated by the Red Angel. However, his Battle-Brother Dvorik then used Angron's true name, setting off a psychic storm within the Conqueror that blasted them into deep space. Graucis was mortally wounded by Angron as he plummeted back into Hyades's atmosphere, but cast his own soul into the Warp to prevent the Daemon Primarch from claiming it. His body, now an empty husk, was impaled by Angron's blade as the Daemon roared in anger.[1e]
Wargear
Telomane wielded a Nemesis Force Staff and wore a suit of power armour that was once worn by his fellow Grey Knights Eygon and Phox. The Epistolary also had the cherub familiar Young Pious MMXIV.[1a]
