Oros Telemar
Oros Telemar was the prideful Clan Champion of the Iron Hands' Garrsak Clan in 237.M38.[1]
History
When the Clan was deployed to the Herevok Sector to help put down an insurgency that had gripped more than twenty planets, Telemar accompanied his battle-brothers. Once there they discovered their ancient enemies the Emperor's Children were behind the insurgency and fell upon them with relish, cleansing them from planet after planet in the name of their Primarch Ferrus Manus. Leading the Emperor's Children was Lucius the Eternal and once Telemar learned of this he swore a battle-oath to hunt him down and kill him. Taking a handful of Battle Brothers with him, Telemar crossed the sector in pursuit of his quarry, eventually chasing him down to an airless asteroid on the outskirts of a long-abandoned planetary system. There, Telemar and his men engaged Lucius, who easily cut down the Iron Hands accompanying Telemar until only the Clan Champion remained. A game of cat and mouse began between the champions that lasted for seven days and nights and ranged across the barren surface of the asteroid. Eventually, Telemar prevailed, striking the traitor down and taking his sabre and whip to display as trophies of victory on the Iron Hands' home world. When he returned to the clan, the war was over, and the Iron Hands departed for Medusa.[1]
When the ship carrying Telemar arrived at their home world it was silent and drifting, causing a group of Iron Hands to enter the ship. When they entered they bore witness to a scene of mass carnage, as every single occupant of the ship had been slain; all bar one – Oros Telemar himself, who was missing, along with the remains of the traitor Lucius. The Techmarines of the Chapter used the ship’s logs and internal surveyors to piece together what had happened. To their horror, they discovered that over the course of the journey, Telemar had begun to change, ritually scarring himself and repainting his armour in wild and sickening colours. Eventually, his will had snapped and he had rampaged through the ship, killing all the crew and passengers with the weapons claimed from the traitor, before entering a saviour pod and disappearing into the depths of the Immaterium.[1]
The Iron Hands concluded that Telemar's pride at killing such a notorious Chaos Champion had weakened his mental armour through which the Ruinous Powers corrupted his soul. The tragic tale of Oros Telemar is now recounted whenever a new warrior of the Iron Hands takes up the mantle of Clan Champion, as a reminder that pride taken to extremes is a deadly flaw. To this day the Iron Hands are unaware of Lucius' dark gift of immortality from his master Slaanesh, which allowed Lucius to be reborn within Telemar's body claiming it as his own. Later sightings of Lucius in war zones across the Imperium have only added to the Iron Hands' mystery of Telemar's fate.[1]
Source
- 1: Index Astartes: Company Champions, pgs. 15–17
