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====The Rise====
[[Image:AhrimanProspero.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Ahriman during the [[Great Crusade]]{{Fn|22}}]]
Ahzek Ahriman was born on [[Terra]], among the wealthy tribes of the [[Achaemenid Empire]], whose kings had allied with the [[Emperor]] during the [[Unification Wars]] early. Because of this alliance, Ahriman's tribes were largely spared the horrors of the atomic wars and proto-Astartes invasions of the Unification period. Following the Emperor's victory and Terra's alliance with [[Mars]], Ahriman and his twin brother [[Ohrmuzd Ahriman|Ohrmuzd]] were selected to be inducted into the ranks of the [[Legiones Astartes]]. The Ahriman brothers traveled to the stars alongside the Emperor and his legions as part of the [[Great Crusade]], but five years into the expedition the Thousand Sons legion began manifesting psychic abilities, and with the manifestations began the terrible [[flesh-change]]s. Over time, the problem became so severe that many voices throughout the [[Imperium]] began suggesting that the Thousand Sons be disbanded. However, when the Crusade reached [[Magnus]] upon [[Prospero]] not long after, the [[Primarch]] of the Thousand Sons was seemingly able to eradicate the threat of the flesh-change; although only a fraction of the affected marines survived the mysterious process. One of those who perished was Ohrmuzd Ahriman, whose passing instilled in his twin both great grief and a great dread of the flesh-change. In remembrance of his brother, Ahzek had Ohrmuzd's pendant (the twin of his own, both gifts from their mother) worked into the shoulder-guard of his [[Power Armour|armour]].{{Fn|1a}}
Ahriman rose to hold the positions of [[Chief Librarian]] of the legion, [[Space Marine Captain|Captain]] of the First [[Fellowship]], commander of the elite [[Sekhmet]] and leader of the legion's most powerful [[Cults of the Thousand Sons|cult]], the [[Corvidae]], all at the same time.{{Fn|1}} Despite this impressive record, little is currently known of the bulk of Ahriman's career as a legionary. The earliest mention of him is a note of his five years' secondment to the [[Word Bearers]] legion, where he found himself uncomfortable with their expressions of belief in the Emperor's divinity without a knowledge-base to back it up. Despite this period being one he thought of unhappily, Ahriman did consider that he had become friends with the Word Bearers Astartes named [[Erebus]] during it. He is also on record as being in favour of the assignment of [[remembrancers]] to the Crusade forces, believing the documenting of his legion as being one way in which the wider body Imperium could learn to understand - and therefore no longer fear - the [[psyker]].{{Fn|1b}} The earliest detailed mention of Ahriman in historical records currently known of is during the [[Aghoru]] campaign, a compliance action carried out by the Thousand Sons of the [[28th Expedition]] towards the close of the second century of the Great Crusade.{{Fn|1}}
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And with that the Chief Librarian of the legion turned the Thousand Sons away from Magnus' design and led them in the desperate defence of their homeworld in the doomed battle that would come to be known as the [[Burning of Prospero]]. Though he knew much knowledge would be lost or destroyed during the battle, Ahriman vowed to restore all of it, no matter the cost. Recognising that, despite all their powers and strategies, there was only one person on Prospero who could decisively alter the fate of the Thousand Sons, Ahriman regularly implored Magnus to come to his Sons' aid during the battle; Magnus did not acquiesce. With signs and portents of the end building up all around him - as well as finally achieving understanding of a vision he had recieved received on Aghoru concerning the fate of his legion and their works - Ahriman issued orders for the surving surviving legionaries to mount a last stand defence, while he attempted the kind of unorthodox tactic only available to the Thousand Sons.{{Fn|1j}}
Sensing Othere Wyrdmake's presence in the approaching horde of Space Wolves, Ahriman made psychic contact with him, dragging him into the [[Warp|aetheric plane]] to confront him there. The two psykers duelled for a time, before Ahriman eventually gained the upper hand, using the opportunity to link minds with Wyrdmake and 'dump' the truth of the matter into the consciousness of the Space Wolf. Wyrdmake learned it all - Horus' betrayal, the setting-up of the Thousand Sons and Space Wolves and the mistakes that had led them to this point. Returning both himself and the dazed Wyrdmake to the mundane dimension (but still keeping their minds free of their bodies), Ahriman paused to look around the battlefield, witnessing Leman Russ kill Thousand Sons by the score and the Space Wolves' mindless destruction of all that he cared about. In a moment's reflection upon vengeance, instead of releasing Wyrdmake (and therefore potentially allowing the Rune Priest to spread his newly acquired knowledge of the truth behind the conflict to his fellows), Ahriman spitefully cast Wyrdmake's soul to the waiting [[daemons|void-predators of the Warp]]. Returning to his material body, Ahriman chose to fatalistically accept the consequences of his action, believing his own imminent death and that of all his legion was now inevitable.{{Fn|1j}}
This belief was proved false, however, when Magnus the Red finally chose to enter the fray, entering a duel with Leman Russ that stilled the battlefield, allowing Ahriman to pull the remaining Thousand Sons back to Great Pyramid of [[Tizca]]. There, he learned that Magnus, while unsure of his own fate, had forseen foreseen that Ahriman would survive this day and so had bequeathed to him the [[Book of Magnus]], the Primarch's own tome of collected knowledge and incalculable sorcerous power. In psychic communication with him even as he fought the [[Leman Russ (primarch)|Wolf-King]], Magnus instructed Ahriman to do one last thing for him, and to receive one last gift; as Magnus fell, he transmitted a huge burst of his own aetheric power into Ahriman, using the Chief Librarian as a psychic and sorcerous conduit to all the surviving legionaries. Used as a vessel for Magnus' great spell, Ahzek Ahriman and all the other Thousand Sons vanished from Prospero.{{Fn|1j}}
===Heretic===
After the [[Siege of Terra]], witnessing the survivors of his Legion continue to suffer the flesh-change, Ahriman determined to free himself and his brethren from its threat. Using the Book of Magnus and enlisting the aid of a [[Cabal of Ahriman|cabal]] of senior surviving members of the legion including [[Hathor Maat]], [[Amon]] and [[Sobek]], Ahriman conceived a spell that aimed to permanently rid the Thousand Sons of the curse of the flesh-change.{{Fn|1k}} The result of this so called '[[Rubric of Ahriman]]', while imperfect, is said to have satisfied Ahriman in its consequence. In essence, it turned all the warriors without psychic abilities into mindless automata, and greatly amplified the abilities of all who had more then a spark. Ahriman was a veteran Thousand Son from before the coming of Magnus the Red, and Ahriman's revulsion at the corruption of the Legion was so great that even the terrible price of reversing it was not too high.{{Fn|2}}
Magnus was not of like mind, however. So great was his wrath when the [[Cabal of Ahriman|cabal]] was discovered that the Primarch threatened to obliterate them utterly, but the very patron who had worked the mutations upon them in the first place was said to have intervened. Who can say what the most enigmatic and capricious of entities intended? In any event, the [[Daemon Prince]] stayed his hand, instead banishing Ahriman and his [[Cabal of Ahriman|cabal]] from the [[Planet of Sorcerers]] and condemning them to wander the [[Eye of Terror]] and beyond in a hopeless quest to understand the [[Gods of Chaos|Chaos god]] god [[Tzeentch]].{{Fn|2}}
===Exile===
When Ahriman was Exiledexiled, at first he served master to master, trying to cling on to what life he had left. For a time he went by the identity of a lowly sorcerer named ''Horkos'' in [[The Harrowing]] warband. However , his true identity was discovered by [[Tolbek]] as the Warrior warrior met with [[Gzrel]], the lord of The Harrowing. Realizing his identity had been compromised, Ahriman released his latent powers against all present in an attempt to escape, killing most The Harrowing's leaders as well as nearly succumbing to a suicidal mental trap constructed by Tolbek.{{Fn|9a}} Ahriman eventually discovered that he was being sought out by [[Amon]] who was sending an array of agents to kill the exiled Sorcerer. Ultimately Ahriman was able to infiltrate Amon's warband and kill the Sorcerer, taking Amon's armor for himself.{{Fn|9b}} Afterwards Ahriman took up the Army and fleet he had built up during his entire time in exile and formed his own warband, the [[Prodigal Sons]].{{Fn|9}} Ahriman eventually agreed to form an alliance between the Prodigal Sons and [[Abaddon the Despoiler]] and his [[Black Legion]].{{Fn|10}}
Now across the ensuing millennia he has become a scourge, raiding ancient museums, librarium, scholaria and reclusia, places of learning, religion and contemplative thought. He seeks to acquire artifactsartefacts, data, or even persons he believes can lead him to mastery over the way of the sorcerer. He fosters cults on dozens of worlds at a time, providing cult magi with sorcerous power until such time as they have acquired some antiquarian trinket or satisfied another of Ahriman demands before turning the wrath of his warband upon them. Notably, he went out of his way to locate and acquire the lost and otherwise forgotten writings of [[Mahavastu Kallimakus]], personal remembrancer to Magnus the Red during the Great Crusade.{{Fn|2}}
====Saga of the Second Rubric====
[[Image:AhrimanUndyingArt.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Ahriman, Sorcerer of Chaos{{Fn|28}}]]
Ahriman and his Cabals second Rubric had dire unintended consequences. Creating a devastating affliction known as the [[Pyrodomon]], Sorcerers of the Thousand Sons began spontaneously transforming into Rubricae while existing Rubricae simply combusted. Guided by the [[Pariah]] [[Maehekta]], Ahriman and his Cabal begin a new journey to cure the Pyrodomon, fighting the [[Iron Warriors]] warband [[Born of Iron]] under [[Hargoron]] over an ancient [[Necron]] artifactartefact.{{Fn|30a}} The artifact artefact later reveals the preserved body of [[Setekh (Phaeron)|Setekh]], an ancient [[Cryptek|Chronomancer]] of the [[Hyksos Dynasty]]. Setekh agrees to lead the Thousand Sons into the [[Webway]] to recover the [[Key of Infinity]] in order to reverse time and cure the Pyrodomon.{{Fn|30b}} However upon arriving in the heart of the Necron Tomb in the Webway, Setekh betrays the Thousand Sons and intends to use the Key of Infinity to alter the past to ensure his Dynasty's supremacy. Ahriman is able to seemingly kill Setekh and disable the Key of Infinity, but the Pyrodomon still remains a problem.{{Fn|30c}} The solution comes when [[Ctesias]] and [[Ignis]] journey inside the mind of [[Helio Isidorus]], diving into the domain of the Rubric itself. Isidorus is revealed to be the vessel of the Pyrodomon{{Fn|30c}}, while Ignis succumbs to it and is transformed into a Rubricae. Ctesias sacrifices himself to destroy Isidorus' memory, containing the spread of the affliction for the time being{{Fn|30d}} but also inadvertently erasing Ahriman's memory.{{Fn|30d}}{{Fn|28a}}
Still trapped in the Webway, Ahriman is eventually able to regain his memories and formulates a new plan to stop the Pyrodomon, which has reactivated inside Isidorus and is spreading throughout fleets of the Thousand Sons.{{Fn|28a}} Setekh is reborn afflicted by the [[Flayer Curse]], and both he and Ahriman travel into the past using the Key of Infinity.{{Fn|28b}} Allying with his Cabal in the past, Ahriman battles a group of [[Daemon]]s known as the [[Bitter Kin]] that have been sent from the future.{{Fn|28c}} The Pyrodomon spreads to the past, converting [[Gaumata]] who launches an attack on the rest of Ahriman's Cabal.{{Fn|28d}} Ahriman is seemingly killed by the Bitter Kin, but Ctesias is able to enter his mind and communicate with the Sorcerer.{{Fn|28e}} Ahriman hatches a plan to have Ctesias erase his mind once more, adopting the name "Horkos" to hide from the Pyrodomon and reach the Key of Infinity. Ctesias agrees at the cost of his own life just as Setekh and his [[Flayed Ones]] attack their flagship Hekaton.{{Fn|28f}} Both Ahriman and Setekh are able to enter the Key once more, restoring his identity and using the device to have the Necron Overlord completely consumed by the Flayer Virus and trapped within his own device.{{Fn|28g}} Ahriman is able to use the Key to reset the timeline, traveling back to the moment of casting the Second Rubric and erasing Isidorus' soul. Ahriman reappears on [[Sortiarius]] just a few days after the casting of the Second Rubric, preventing the creation of the Pyrodomon. Fleeing the Planet of the Sorcerers a second time, he declares his objective to find the [[Black Library of Chaos|Black Library]].{{Fn|28h}}
Sometime shortly before the [[13th Black Crusade]], Ahriman was summoned back to the [[Planet of the Sorcerers]] by Magnus himself. Magnus agreed to once again work with Ahriman towards a common goal.{{Fn|15b}} During the subsequent [[Siege of the Fenris System]] the two fought together in mutual vengeance against the hated Space Wolves.{{Fn|12}}
Ahriman has of late turned his relentless predation upon the [[Eldar]], determined in his belief that the lost knowledge he seeks can be found in that darkest of halls of enlightenment, the vast repository of arcana referred to in whispers as the [[Black Library of Chaos]].{{Fn|2}} To that end he led the [[Prodigal Sons]] warband during the [[13th Black Crusade]] to the world of [[Arcadia (Eldar)|Arcadia]] in order to plunder the ancient library there and gain entrance to the Webway. This scheme was foiled by the actions of members of the [[Blood Ravens]] and Eldar [[Harlequins]].{{Fn|3x}} Another of Ahriman's schemes centered centred around using the captured [[Inquisitor]] [[Czevak]] and a long forgotten webway portal on [[Etiamnun III]].{{Fn|4}} At one point, Ahriman captured the [[Daemonifuge]], [[Ephrael Stern]], intending to use the former [[Sister of Battle]] against his rivals after conquering the Black Library.{{Fn|5}}
Despite summoning a [[Leviathan (Daemon)|Leviathan]], a giant flying [[daemon|warp beast]] and Ahriman bringing horrendous casualties on both sides of the conflict; Ahriman was ejected from the Webway, his goal unattained, Inquisitor Czevak captured by Harlequins, the webway gate Ahriman used was sealed, never to be opened again. Nevertheless it is believed that his star is on the rise with Magnus once again, mostly due to the great chaos caused by his battles in the Webway, prowess in capturing Inquisitor Czevak, and ability to come close to entering the Black Library.{{Cite This}}
