Zashlun

In the Imperium, the mutant is something to be shunned and
abhorred. The most militant and Puritan factions of Imperial
doctrine demand mutants be slain on sight. More merciful
Imperial agents merely push for their enslavement as a second
class work force, so they can excise the sin of their twisted
bodies by labor to the God-Emperor. Some mutants are not
properly grateful for this chance for absolution, however,
and when they rise up against their masters, the resulting
rebellions are some of the most brutal and violent wars in
the Imperium.
Zashlun is a product of one of those uprisings: the wars on
the hive world of Tranch. The vast mutant labor force on that
world was inspired to rebellion by a secret cabal of mutants
known as the Shroud Masters. These leaders organized the
oppressed mutants into a terrifying force of rebellion known
as the Pale Throng. Zashlun was little more than a child labourer
in Tranch’s Soot Warrens when the rebellion began,
but she joined the rebellion wholeheartedly. She quickly rose
through the ranks, and was newly inducted into the Pale
Throng when the war began to go against them.
Despite ever-mounting losses, the Imperium poured more
men and materials into suppressing the rebellion, drowning
the Pale Throng in an inexhaustible tide of war. At the same
time, agents of the Inquisition used cats-paws and double
agents to divide the Shroud Masters and convince them to
tear themselves apart in vicious infighting. Few of the Shroud
Masters survived the resulting bloodbath, but Zashlun was
one of them, escaping off-planet in a transport commandeered
by her loyal followers.
In the time since then, Zashlun’s hatred of humanity and
her zeal to help her oppressed brethren has only increased.
She has travelled the many worlds in the Calixis Sector,
sowing rebellion and discord amongst the mutant underclass.
She dreams of a time where the humans of the Calixis Sector
are put to the pyre that her kind has suffered for too long, and
mutants rule triumphant in their place.
Zashlun’s primary goal is to recreate the Tranch Rebellion
on one of the Calixis Sector’s primary worlds, such as Malfi,
Solomon, or even Scintilla. The Tranch Rebellion left her
home world a gutted shell, and she wants to see that happen
to the Imperium’s seats of power beyond all else.
Zashlun’s tactics rely on the mutant under-classes of
the worlds she subverts, therefore she usually operates on
hive worlds (where mutants exist in great numbers). With
her powerful oration and stirring rhetoric, she can usually
convince a sizeable portion of the mutant population to follow
her. Once she has their support, she begins training cells of
activists, saboteurs, and fighters. For practice, she authorizes
small attacks against enforcer stations, minor officials, or
public spaces. Once her cadres are trained, she begins her
rebellion with overwhelming assaults on prominent Imperial
targets, Arbites precinct houses, Ecclesiarchy cathedrals, PDF
barracks, and the hive spires of Imperial nobility. These attacks
are as widespread as possible, to prevent her opposition from
concentrating their defense. Her hope is that if she completely
overwhelms her enemies quickly, she can consolidate her own
defences before the Imperium mobilizes. Thus, the first 24
hours of her rebellion are the most crucial, and easiest for her
enemies to disrupt.
Zashlun’s love for her fellow mutants is only matched by
her hatred of humanity, and she does all in her power to protect
her brethren. This can prove to be her undoing, however,
as canny Throne Agents may attack the mutant population
directly in order to lure her into a trap. When Zashlun fights,
she is always accompanied by several bodyguards (2d5 Twist
Hulks armed with chain-axes). She is unafraid of throwing herself into the
fray, but attempts to stay alive if at all possible, even retreating
if things look dire.
Zashlun’s experiences on Tranch have given her a healthy
fear and respect of the Inquisition. If she learns Throne Agents
are looking for her before she begins her rebellion, she is
perfectly willing to cease her work and vanish, travelling to
another world to begin anew.