Wotan (Cyber-Mastiff)
Wotan is a completely mechanical cyber-mastiff that is the loyal hound of the Necromundan Bounty Hunter Kal Jericho.[1e]
History
He was originally owned by Jericho's sister Merelda, who served in the retinue of their mother, the Ordo Xenos Inquisitor Jena Orechiel. The Inquisitor wanted Jericho's help[1a] to destroy a powerful Necron[1b] weapon aboard the Space Hulk Kronos[1c] and so used the Adeptus Arbites in Hive Primus to flush the bounty hunter out. While Jericho was able to escape from the Arbites, he was subdued by Wotan on Merelda's orders and soon agreed to aid his mother. The bounty hunter also learned that Merelda was his sister, though she acted coldly to Jericho at first.[1a] Inquisitor Orechiel and her retinue then boarded the space hulk, which contained many other Necrons which slowly began awakening to their presence. Acting quickly, they located the chamber that held the slumbering Necron weapon known as a Setekh. However, they were not the only ones who sought it out, as Inquisitor Malva and a Death Watch Kill-Team arrived for it as well.[1c]
Malva, though, sought to recover the weapon instead and was aided in this by Orechiel's long-time retinue member Vanyan Kloss, who revealed he had been working for Malva. As the two sides had a standoff[1c], however, the Setekh awoke and began attacking them. Orechiel stated that the weapon was still not fully charged and ordered her retinue to attack the sarcophagus the Setekh was drawing power from. Merelda went to do so, but was severely wounded by the traitorous Kloss in order to ensure the weapon was recovered by Malva. The former Arbites was soon attacked by a vengeful Jericho in retaliation and was then killed by the rampaging Setekh.[1d] The inquisitor and her surviving retinue then escaped from the chamber and teleported to Malvo's warship and ordered the destruction of the space hulk. Due to having warmed up to each other during the mission, a recovering Merelda gifted Wotan to Jericho, who returned to his life of bounty hunting on Necromunda with the cyber-mastiff at his side.[1e]
Recently, Wotan was severely damaged while defending his master after Jericho's wedding to his fellow bounty hunter and sometimes partner Yolanda Catallus; he was attacked within Hive Primus's spire. After the attackers were defeated[2], Jericho sent Wotan to be repaired by professionals, who allegedly succeeded in doing so. Since his return, the bounty hunter has noticed that the cyber-mastiff will now sometimes suffer from glitches and other odd behaviour.[3a] Unbeknownst to Jericho is that some of this can be attributed to his foe and spymaster Nemo, who the professionals secretly worked for. Under the spymaster's orders they made modifications to Wotan as they repaired him which allow Nemo to see, hear, and record everything that the cyber-mastiff sees. The spymaster can also control Wotan to an extent, though this is limited due to the cyber-mastiff's stubborn Machine Spirit.[3b]