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A [[Terran]] native from the plains of the '''Sibran region''', Astelan was a child when his land was conquered by the [[Emperor]]'s [[Thunder Warriors]], and he retained vivid memories of the massacres he saw for the rest of his life. Astelan was afterwards inducted into the [[First Legion]] - then the ''only'' legion - as one of the first ever 5,000 [[Space Marines]].{{Fn|4}} He next comes to prominence in Imperial record as a Dark Angels Legion Chapter Master, or '''Chapter Commander'''. Little is known of his previous career, though it is believed that his advancement from [[Sergeant]] to Chapter Commander took only fourteen years, and that he achieved his Chapter command before the Imperial discovery of his [[Primarch]], [[Lion El'Jonson]]. Indeed, he on occasion referred to being given his power and honours by the Emperor himself.{{Fn|1a}}, {{Fn|4}} However, other information about Astelan states that, as a recognised veteran, he was in fact appointed Chapter Master by Lion El'Jonson in the years following Jonson's assumption of command of the First Legion.{{Fn|3a}}

At the end of this five year period however, fate would bring both reinforcement and, two weeks later, a world to examine. Chapter Commander [[Belath]] and his fleet rendezvoused with that of Astelan, informing the Expedition leader that the Lion had ordered him to Astelan as reinforcement. Astelan had never heard of Belath before, but was unperturbed by this due to the rapid influx of [[Caliban|Calibanite]] Astartes into the Legion. He was surprised however, by the fact his fleet, which had apparently been assigned to an uneventful area of space, received reinforcement at all, ; Calibanite in men and material or otherwise.{{Fn|1a}}

In the aftermath Belath again urged open invasion, preferring a plan to attack all six world powers at once. Astelan however, upon detecting the existence of Committee of Nations, a diplomatic body made up of representatives from all the powers, decided to attempt negotiation once more. Making contact with the Committee, he arranged for himself and Belath to appear before them and parley. While initially going well under Astelan's direction, the negotiations were fatally disrupted when one of the world powers detected that the Dark Angels had positioned vessels in orbit above all the capital cities of the planet. This move, under Belath's order, precipitated a threat response in which the Byzanthians attempted to seize the two Legionnaires. Summoning his [[Terminator]] bodyguard, Belath ended the negotiation with the execution of the world's Committee of Nations. Angrily, Astelan had no choice but to follow through on this act and finally order a full-scale planetary invasion. Dismayed at the outbreak of violence, he remarked that he could not allow Belath's actions go unpunished. Unperturbed by the threat, Belath responded that ''he'' would not be the one to be punished; he had already sent [[astropathic]] messages concerning Astelan's 'cowardly' actions to [[Caliban]].{{Fn|1a}}

While it is not known for sure that Belath's actions in reporting the events of the Byzanthis campaign resulted in Astelan's reassignment, what is known is that, some fifteen years after the [[Sarosh|Saroshicampaign]] campaign and the subsequent dismissal of [[Luther]] and a substantial portion of the Legion to Caliban to act as a training garrison, Astelan was himself reassigned there in mysterious circumstances. Reassignment to Caliban was considered a form of exile by those stationed there, and a single, veteran Terran Chapter Master being posted there from the Great Crusade was thought baffling, especially as Astelan was himself apparently at [[Sarosh ]] and had avoided the initial reassignment cull. Luther however, quickly made a great show of support for Astelan and immediately assigned him command of one of the training Chapters. Astelan is noted to have been "won over" by Luther's personal charisma and the respect afforded to him. {{Fn|3a}}

Nearly half a century later, around the 200th year of the Great Crusade or a little later, rebellion broke out on Caliban, with certain sections of the indigenous population rising up against Imperial rule. While Luther was initially unwilling to commit his legion forces to combat his own people, he was eventually forced to use [[Astartes]] troops to investigate serious matters, such as the disappearance of the entire workforce and [[Imperial Army]] protection detail of a petrochem plant. Luther's lieutenant, the [[Librarian]] [[Zahariel El'Zurias]], was tasked with this undertaking and called for volunteers. Merir Astelan was one of the first to step forward, and Zahariel was glad to have the Terran veteran along on the mission, if a little curious as to Astelan's chosen battle-cry: "For Luther!" Zahariel and Astelan's force ultimately confronted and destroyed a localised [[Chaos]] taint], and both agreed to raze the entire site in the aftermath in order to keep what they had discovered from wider Imperial authorities other than Luther and Dark Angels Caliban command. {{Fn|3b}}

In the aftermath of this discovery, tempers grew frayed amongst the Calibanite Legion command staff, principally between the Terran Librarian [[Israfael]] and Luther himself, when deliberating on what course of action to take and where potential blame may have lain. When Israfael became particularly strident in his disagreements, Astelan was observed by Zahariel to slowly reach for his weapons, prompting the shocked, younger Librarian to intervene to keep the peace. Immediately afterwards, Luther placed Astelan in personal command of Caliban's [[planetary defence forces]] and ordered him to ready for a war footing. {{Fn|3c}}

After Luther had completed his subsequent effective complete takeover of Caliban, Astelan was contacted by one of his [[company]] commanders,[[Captain]] Merrean[[Melian]], with concerns about the direction things were heading in on the planet, particularly that the new Legionaries swore to defend Caliban instead of swearing allegiance to the Emperor. Astelan expressed ambivalence about Luther's changes, pointing out that that as a force ordered to remain on one world, without naval elements and apparently forgotten about, the Calibanite Dark Angels were effectively irrelevant to the progress of the Great Crusade and so may as well become take as much pride as possible in just being just a Caliban's planetary defence force as possible.{{Fn|4}}

However, on learning that Captain Merrean Melian spoke for a group of officers and veterans in his command who were preparing to take militant action against Luther in order for their concerns to be recognised, Astelan agreed to both listen to them and aid them in planning a more legal and bloodless move against the planetary commander. He suggested commandeering a secondary communications spire and sending messages to Terra and the Lion requesting restoration of the original Legion protocols and command structure until the Lion could assay the situation personally, while simply detaining Luther under close arrest. His plan was agreed upon by the conspirators, though not without them slightly warily noting that, under old Legion protocols, Astelan would become the [[Force Commander|force commander]]. Regardless, the plan was carried out; the bulk of the conspirators would head to the spire on a 'live ammunition training exercise', while most of the ringleaders - including Astelan - would confront and arrest Luther. Luther was surprised by Astelan's presence in the delegation that came to seize him, and also by what happened next. Astelan contacted the commander of the Army forces garrisoning the tower - [[Colonel|Marquesa-Colonel]] [[Tylaine]] - and ordered her to proceed with ''their '' previously agreed plan; the Army forces and a company of Dark Angels under the command of Astelan's subordinate, Captain [[GaladanGaledan]],suddenly attacked the conspirator's column. Realisation dawning, Luther joined Astelan in turning upon the ringleaders, and between themwith him, they slew them all. Most of the conspirators surrendered rather than fight other Space Marines, and the little rebellion was quickly over before it could truly begin. In fact, there were so many prisoners that Luther immediately pointed out that there wasn't enough space for them all in the dungeons of [[The Rock|Aldurukh]]. ; Astelan counselled that he Luther simply carve out new ones. Luther also questioned why Astelan had allowed the conspiracy to get so far along, rather than just reveal it to him immediately, suspecting that Astelan may have truly wished it to work and only switched sides at some later point to curry favour; after all, according to Luther, Astelan's dislike of Caliban and Calibanite ways was "well known". Astelan stated that he considered the Lion a taint, that in his opinion everything had gone wrong in the First Legion since discovering him, and that he would rather serve a more worthy lord...especially one who whom he suspected also wished to rid the legion of the Lion. Astelan dared Luther to say that he intended otherwise...and Luther remained silent.{{Fn|4}}

Luther's first act afterwards was to agree to promote Astelan's lieutenant, GaladanGaledan, to Chapter Master. Galadan Galedan confessed to his former commander that he was pleased that Merrean their previous comrade, the conspirator, Melian, had survived, intimating that he would be useful to them when Astelan inevitably attempted to depose Luther as Master of the First Legion. Astelan protested that he had no such plans...for now, at leastthe moment.{{Fn|4}} ==The Testimony of Astelan==''It should be noted that much of what follows is based upon information divulged by Astelan personally to various [[Interrogator-Chaplains]] of the Dark Angels Chapter after his initial capture as one of the Fallen. The truth and detail of his claims must therefore be considered thoughtfully.''