Titus Mordelai
Titus Mordelai[1b] is a Silver Skulls Deathwatch Watch Sergeant of the Watch Fortress Keep Extremis and is the leader of Kill Team Mordelai.[1a]
History
He served his Chapter for over a century, before Mordelai joined the Deathwatch and rose to become one of Keep Extremis' heroes and a skilled veteran commander. The Watch Sergeant was present when the Great Rift's creation placed the Watch Fortress within the Imperium Nihilus and it became repeatedly attacked by Traitors. During these battles, Mordelai would employ the abilities taught to him by the Silver Skulls to defend Keep Extremis and his Deathwatch Battle Brothers. This included expertly reading the tides of war and to seeking out the signs and omens that would lead him to certain victory. However, while the Traitors were defeated each time they attacked, the Watch Fortress suffered substantial casualties in doing so. Mordelai was deeply troubled by this, as the losses were in defiance of the omens he had followed to attain victory. The deaths shook his reputation as a commander and made the Watch Sergeant doubt the battle culture the Silver Skulls had taught him. But Mordelai recovered himself by blaming the losses of his Battle Brothers on the foes besetting the Imperium and the Sergeant sought to gain strength from the hatred he felt towards his enemies.[1a]
Sometime after this, Keep Extremis received a request for aid from the Imperial world Vigilus, during the War of Beasts. Despite its forces being greatly reduced, the Watch Fortress would agree to do so and sent Watch Captain Tannister to help defend it, with a Watch Company and the Strike Cruiser Remorseless. It was in the process of forming the Company, that Kill Team Mordelai was formed from the survivors of the most badly mauled Kill Teams. They quickly forged a swift bond, though, due to all of them losing comrades during the defense of Keep Extremis and now having a desire to claim vengeance. By the time they reached Vigilus, Kill Team Mordelai was ready to fight together.[1a] However as soon as the Strike Cruiser reached its destination, the Remorseless received distress calls from across the Vigilus System. Captain Tannister reacted to this new development by splitting his Watch Company into its individual Kill-Teams and sending them to answer each distress call. Kill Team Mordelai would not fight on Vigilus and was instead dispatched to aid the settlement of Vain Hope on Falsehood. They deployed on the Death World via the Corvus Blackstar Alien's Bane and sought to set up ambush points to attack the Drukhari that were raiding the settlement. This would be ruined, however, after the Kill Team was set upon by a giant creature known as a Carnivosaur. Though they were victorious, the Kill Team's battle drew a group of Drukhari to their location, which quickly fell upon them. Despite this, the Xenos were all killed - except for one that Sergeant Mordelai captured. After a brief and violent interrogation by him, the Drukhari revealed the location of one of the Xenos' encampments on Falsehood. The Kill Team then attacked it and while the Drukhari there were able to regroup, Sergeant Mordelai called down the Alien's Bane and the Corvus Blackstar's firepower destroyed them.[1c]
