Dedaran Voldur

Dedaran Voldur was a Warsmith of the Iron Warriors Space Marine Legion during the Great Crusade. Unlike most of his brethern he refused to join Horus in his rebellion.
==History==
===Great Crusade===
Dedaran was inducted into the IV Legion not long after it's reunification with Perturabo. Olympian by birth into a family of stone masons he was recruited from one of Olympia's many city-states and successfully became an Iron Warrior.
Throughout the course of the Crusade, the Iron Warriors were selected for grueling sieges and garrison duties. He was a part of the 31st Grand Company, a veteran but ragged and often understrength force that was often tasked with the most dangerous operations. For much of the Crusade, Dedaran was a Breacher Siege Marine and would be for most of his life, always baring the brunt of the worst combat situations in the worst campaigns of the Crusade. Some notable examples was the Tunnel War of Obrak and Siege of Unsk. His prodigious skills as a fighter and as a leader of men under horrendous conditions made him the primary choice for such assaults by his superiors. 
Either it was tedious boredom or desperate fights for his very life and eventually began to suffer from combat fatigue. Like the rest of his legion, Dedaran slowly became bitter with both the Emperor and the Iron Warrior's role in the Crusade. In many ways, Dedaran's own service in the IV Legion closely resembled that of the Iron Warrior's to the Great Crusade and so This bitterness eventually extended to his own legion. 
However something happened during the Thersher Xenocide. His Grand Company was in the midst of laying siege to a alien xeno-hold. As always Dedaran lead the charge into the breach in the alien's defenses in order to secure their beachead. However the alien's defenses proved formidable and the attack stalled. He was about to be killed by an alien champion when it was distracted by a lone army trooper who stabbed it with his bayonet. The distraction was all that he needed to slay the alien and was able to carry the attack thanks to the impromptu charge of the 13th Thorakitai Regiment. Dedranan never thought of the mortals highly and so was greatly surprised by this act of courage. It would not be the last. Over the next several campaigns he began to see normal humans in a new light, fighting to unite mankind and free it from tyranny, fighting for a better tommorrow to inherit. In the tedious lull between battles, Dedaran thought about the abilities of the weak mortals and remembered that he was once human too, a weak and frail human that was made into something more. His will to fight was rekindled by the courage of normal men and decide that he would fight, not for the Emperor, but for Mankind and the ideals of the Great Crusade.
Despite the odds stacked against him, Dedaran was a survivor and persevered. Within a hundred years and after the death of his Warsmith, Dedaran became the new Warsmith of the 31st Grand Company.
===Horus Heresy===
Towards the end of the Crusade, the 31st Grand Company received grim news. They were slated for garrison duties on a Imperial world, Sebantus V, until further notice. For Dedaran this was crushing news. In his mind, after being put through the worst wars in the Crusade he was shelved. Even though he wished desperately to return to the frontlines he accepted his orders without fail, but was no less angry at his own primarch. 
So they remained on Sebantus V. He tried to convince himself and his men that while this was not a glorious mission, it was a vital one, that the Imperium needed a stable chain of supplies and communications to keep the Crusade alive, but it was all hollow. Mard in boredom, the Iron Warriors turned to what they knew best, siege craft. They actively began to extend the defenses of Sebantus, raising walls and bastions worthy of any works of the IV Legion. His greatest work would be the Sentinel Gates, a silver bastion that was situated on a high plateau that overlooked both the Sea of Stars and Sharda City, a fortress that he believed would make his Primarch proud. Years ground on with the Iron Warriors nothing to do but train and maintain the planet's defenses, running thousands of simulations and mock battles. With little to do on Sebantus Dedaran fervently wished to a return to conflict. Unfortunerly he would get it and not in the way he had imagined.
Among the wider Galaxy the Horus Heresy erupted at Istvaan III. When he received word, at first Dedaran did not believe it, that any legion, especially Horus of all people, would betray the Emperor. It had to be a malign rumour, misinformation spread by some as-of-yet unknown enemy. Nevertheless the 31st Grand Company went on full alert in preparation for conflict.
Then came the most crushing news of all. A fleet of IV Legion ships appeared in orbit over Sebantus V and the 31st welcomed their brothers. Unfortunetly it was Dedaran's rival, Warsmith Krulger of the 33rd "Iron Bloods" Grand Company. But from the start Dedaran felt that something was wrong. The normally abrasive Krulger was distant and gaunt, haunted by the message he bore. Krulger updated on the status of things and how the situation has descended into anarchy. Horus had rebelled against the Emperor alongside several of his brothers and their legions. Dedaran was horrified when he learned that Olympia had rebelled and the IV Legion had slaughtered their own people. Compounding this, Perturabo had joined Horus is his rebellion and the 31st Grand Company was ordered to use Sebantus as a staging area and secure the Traitor's lines of resupply for Horus' campaign against Terra. Sebantus V was a vital strategic point that would allow the Traitors to shorten their supply lines and securely outflank several Loyalist bastions.
For a moment he was completely dumbstruck, unable to process would he was being told. Collecting himself, Dedaran then made his decision. In a brief and pointed report, he refused to join Horus, he refused to rebel against the Imperium and he refused to comply with Perturabo's orders. Fighting broke out between Loyalists and Traitors and Dedaran and his Honour Guard attacked Krulger's men before they could respond. The in skirmish, the demi-legio of Legio Argentar on Sebantus strode to the battle and chose their side, winning the day for the Loyalists. In the aftermath of the blood shed, Dedaran confronted his old rival. When Krulger asked why he remained loyal to the False Emperor when he had so callously used their legion, Dedaran responded that he has not, that it was Mankind and the Crusade he was loyal to. Before being executed Krulger replied that he was bigger fool than he had imagined. After a skirmish the Traitors are driven off and retreated back into the Warp. 
Understanding that the time to act was now, the 31st Grand Company prepared to defend Sebantus V. Dedaran galvanised the planet's defenders, enforcing new discipline on the PDF troops and preparing the planet for the Traitor's inevitable return. Thousands of miles of trenches were dug, complete with steel bastions, bunkers, decoy positions, minefields and other suprises. Dederan beeseeched the Mechanicum forces of Legio Argentar and its Thallax Cohort, who had aided them againt the Traitors and convinced them of their loyalties. Dedaran successfully convinced the Princeps and the 31st and Argentar united against the enemy. The loyal men of the A10K Kill-Regiment who were stationed on the planet would join as well. However he knew that even with the six million pinnacle-grade fighting men; His Company, the PDF, the A10K Kill-Regiment, a Thallax Cohort and a demi-legio of Titans, his Grand Company was outmatched,
Privately Dedaran feared for the safety of his friends in the other legions, especially  those of whom were Terran-borne. He sent astropathic messages to his friends, trying to contact them. To his infinite relief he found that his friends Tylus and Shar of the Iron Hands and Salamanders Legions respectively, never made it to Istvaan V and were alive. Wishing them the best of luck, Dedaran bade them good hunting. However he found he could not reach Akila of the Thousand Sons on Prospero and was horrified to learn that the Wolves of Fenris had been unleashed on them. In his message to Warsmith Shazr, his oldest friend and commander of the 20th "Starborne" Grand Company  -who he knew would surely have railed against Perturabo's orders- he found that the 20th had turned on the IV Legion during the slaughter of Olympia and had broken off to reinforce the 31st on Sebantus V. Dedaran made contact and pleaded that he did not so that they were are not all trapped in one place. With the utmost reluctance Shazr complied, and left to reek as much havoc on the Traitors as possible.
===War for Sebantus V===
The Traitors returned with a vengeance. Among the bulk of the Traitor Legion's ranks, Grand Companies of the Iron Warriors returned to crush the Loyalists on the surface and launched a planetary assault. The orbital siege lasted for almost two hundred hours of silent void actions unil the Traitors cracked the Sentry Halo ending with the self-destruction of the Arx-Tyrar Voidhive. Whole cities were wiped off the face of the planet by merciless Traitor bombardments. But the Loyalists were also Iron Warriors and anticipated the bombardment and so hid their troops and citizens underground till the bombings subsided.
Traitor Marines deployed all over the planet, capitalizing on the bombardment with swift Drop Pod assaults followed up by a second wave of dropships. With the typical efficiency of the IV legion, Traitor Reconnaissance Squads scouted ahead while moved ahead as the forward vanguard would reveal the defender's defensive plan. Among the Traitor's ranks supported by companies of the Sons of Horus and one of the Emperor's Children.
However the Loyalists did not rise up just get, in the cities they remained hidden, letting the traitor columns roll past into prepared killzones. Rearward troops were already digging siege lines and bringing up their artillery while massive bulk carriers still had yet to descend and deploy their Traitor Titans. Once the enemy columns entered the killzones, they struck. 
(MORE TO FOLLOW)
==Personality==
Dederan was always a hardbitten fellow. Constantly being on the front-lines in the worst conditions quickly made him a very bitter person. Even so, as a son of Perturabo he was logical and methodical, able to keep calm under the most nightmarish conditions and rally his forces when they might have caved in. He was uncompromising and often seemed gruff but always had the backs of those under his command or those he fought alongside.
In spite his gravely nature, he had several friends outside his Legion, including Legionaries of the Iron Hands, Salamanders, and even Thousand Sons.
==Beliefs==
In the beginning Dedaran was bitter with the Crusade, the Emperor, and his own Legion. Being in the worst battles, he could not see past the waterlogged trenches that he occupied and the horrors of war.
Things began to change when he began to see the courage of mortal men, at one time being saved by one. He remained bitter about his role and even his own legion, but chose to fight for Mankind. He believed in the Great Crusade but not the Imperium or the Emperor.
Dedaran was mostly aloof to the other Legions, some of which he did not disguise his contempt for, especially "golden boy" legions such as the Emperor's Children, Ultramarines, and of course the hated Imperial Fists. To the surprise of this brothers, Dedaran did not hate or mistrust the Thousand Sons as many others in the Legione Astartes, in fact forming an unlikely friendship with a Librarian of the XV Legion. He held such Legions as the Iron Hands, Luna Wolves, and the Death Guard in high regard. Legions such as the Salamanders would later follow after he befriended Captain Shar and fought alongside them. Each of these Legions he believed were not afraid to dirty their hands and were worthy of his respect. It cut him deep that most of the Legions he respected were Traitors or were devastated.
==Equipment==
*Hardened Power Armour -
*Combi-Melta -
*Ferron - A custom and hand-crafted blade forged by Captain Tylus and Shar of the Iron Hands and Salamanders. While it was not extravagant in its appearance it was deadly effective. A spartan single-edged saw-toothed blade forged from some unknown black metal with a bizarre distruption field that they both refused to comment on it`s origin. Whatever the case it was able to cleave fully armored Astartes with ease.
==Relations==
===Friends & Allies===
Despite his nature as a hardbitten veteran, he made a number of lasting friends some of which were Legionaries of other Legions.
*Warsmith Shazr  - Oldest friend and fellow Loyalist during the Heresy. Warsmith of the 20th Grand Company. Dedaran knew Shazr for as long has he has been an Iron Warrior and Shazr often served as something of a role model and advisor. Often he disagreed with Shazr's more optimistic outlooks but in the end believe that he may have been right.
*Lieutenant Karver - Loyal second in command during the Siege of Sebantus V. Sacrificed himself to destroy a Traitor Dreadnought.
*Sergeant Tetante - Commanding officer of the Company's Reconnaissance Squads. Reportedly survived the War for Sebantus V.
*Captain Tylus Ztherix - One of Dedaran's closest friends and Legionary of the Iron Hands. As fellow Breacher Siege Marines the two held much in common, sharing similiar views on strength. During the Diaproxite Compliance they were both cut off from their legions and saved eachother's life. Together they fought back to Imperial lines and they became friends. 
*Captain Shar Nalsn - One of Dedaran's closest friends and Pyroclast of the Salamanders.
*Librarian Akila Salihah -  One of Dedaran's closest and most unlikely friend, Legionary of the Thousand Sons. The two met during Akila's secondment to the IV Legion and was attached to the 31st Grand Company. Despite their differences, Dedaran enjoyed Akila's scholarly nature and despite the odds became good friends.
===Enemies & Rivals===
*Warsmith Krulger - Rival Warsmith and commander of of 33rd Grand Company.
Category:DirgeOfCerberus111
Category:Characters
Category:Space Marine Character
Category:Deceased
Category:Horus Heresy