Drakkan Koval

**This article, Drakkan Koval, was written by VyrVorsa1. It may be linked to any page without asking for the author's permission.**

## Character

### **Language(s)**

* High Gothic
* Low Gothic
* Voidborne cant

## Physical Description

### **Weight**

* 753 Pounds (342 Kilograms) Unarmored
* 1172.8 Pounds (530 Kilograms) Power Armor

**Drakkan Koval** is a Firstborn Veteran, and Lieutenant of the 2nd 'Kyndzhal' Company of the Voidborne Space Marine Chapter. He is serving the Long Vigil with the Deathwatch. Rising to prominence in his Chapters Breacher Company, the 7th 'Pazur', Drakkan has created a reputation for himself as a joyous melee combatant who relished clashing with the enemy face-to-face. His acts of valour and precipitous personality have landed him on a task in the Deathwatch, both to sharpen his skills and dull his recklessness.

## History

### Pre-ascension

Born in 826.M41 on the Macrohauler 'Furia Magenta' somewhere in the Nephilim Sector, Drakkan's life was set to follow a familiar route of ship-to-ship work until he eventually passed it to his children. The vicissitudes of fate would not, however, see him follow that path in life.

In 826.M41, when he was but a child barely strong enough to carry a fuel pipe, there was an uprising on the ship. A civil figurehead, one whom the lower-deck crews revered as their leader, demanded better food rationing and sleeping accommodation so that the workers might delve into their labor more efficiently and without fear of starvation and death. The rebellion, for that is what the corrupt shipmasters called it, was immediately pronounced heretical and all the force of the onboard militia was put against the rebels. The masses were simply too many and as soon as guns levelled, the rebellion exploded into outright war.

It was only by the intervention, intended or not, of the Angels of Death that the rebels were put down, literally. The Voidborne, with the blessing and writ of the Noble house controlling the Macrohauler, stormed through the rebels like a scythe through wheat. The rebellion was put down in a mere two days and mop up operations for the next week. The experience scarred the young human to his core and left him cold and furious. He hated the Angels who killed his family and the shipmasters who betrayed them. He bashed their armors, scratched their faces, and squirmed as they took him away. The fighting spirit in him ensured he would be put into the trials for ascension.

For the next several months, Drakkan would be starved, dehydrated, and tortured with all manner of tests to examine his viability, and when all was said and done he was barely a husk of a boy standing in an arena with his erstwhile friends, weapon in hand, instructed to kill or be killed. Physically broken and mentally traumatized, only one boy came out of that fight alive.

### Ascension and Initiate Company

Drakkan passed through the ascension process without much difficulty, as much as that could even be said for such a process, his earlier personality, memories, and traumas were wiped or suppressed by psycho-somatic indoctrination. Given Mark VII armor and a Boltgun and pressed into months of combat training and drills, he would be molded into a killing machine like so much clay.

His initial ventures into the tactical doctrina of his chapter placed him as middling at best, both in skill level and zeal. To steel him and give him experience in the field, he was seconded to the 10th squad, 10th Company under Sergeant Burian Voyta, a strict and experienced Battle-Brother. The squad saw their first alongside his brothers in the 6th Company, seconded as reserves and backfield objective holders in 846.M41 during the Battle of Nuriya against an Aedari corsair fleet. They raided a smaller Eldar vessel that had been damaged and left to float in space meeting decent opposition. This was Drakkan’s first foray into the abhorrent Aeldari culture of war-making and he took to his task with renewed zeal. The fight was brief, but bloody leaving two of his squad, and some of the 6th Company dead and the enemy slain and beaten. They blew up the ship after retrieving their objective, the nature of which was never revealed to Drakkan.

Now bloodied, the squad would continue their campaigns for the next seven years, developing unbreakable fraternal bonds in the process.

### Mortar and Shield

‘Mortar’ and ‘Shield’ are the twin Reserve companies of the Voidborne dedicated to Fire Support and Close Support roles respectively. While Drakkan has never really excelled at ranged combat, scoring regularly in the mediocre 97th percentile of training scenarios, his duty in ‘Mortar’ lasted for eleven years seeing him deployed in engagements against Aeldari, T’au and Tyranids.

His true worth surfaced during his service ‘Shield’ company where he took on the Breacher role. The Breachers were an ancient role oft used in the wars of Heresy ten millennia ago and discarded by most Chapters in the Dark Millennium. The Voidborne keep a solid backbone of Breachers and Assault Marines, both utilized for blitz warfare within confined space, each in their own environment. Where the Assault jump pack was inadequate due to claustrophobic conditions, the Breacher excelled. With bolt and blade, they wade into the enemy entrenched in choke points on voidships. Drakkan found his worth and his passion with the Company, deployed on many ship boarding actions. He spent sixty years in the Reserve company, honing his skills before he was transferred to ‘Talon’ Company where his true path began.

### Talon Company

’Talon’ Company was perfectly suited for Drakkan and he spent the next seventy years fighting alongside his Breacher and Jump-pack armed brothers. After several campaigns against corsair fleets of traitor Imperial Navy vessels and Tau expeditionary forces, Drakkan was promoted to Sergeant of 5th Squad which he led with his familiar abandon and carelessness. Such was his self-confidence and overwhelming feeling of smugness that he often put his squad in dangerous battles. Missions were completed, objectives captures, and brothers lost because of him. It did not go unnoticed.

Being of great skill and even greater ego Drakkan would readily challenge others of his Company to honour duels in the sparring ring, often leaving them face down and humbled. Not until his duel with Honoured Chaplain Vasile Dinescu did he taste defeat. The Chaplain looked to make an example of Drakkan for the sins of glory-seeking and self-importance. The Chaplain waited patiently, knowing his brother’s aggressiveness and tendency to storm in head first. It was all he needed. With Drakkan’s blade smashed out of his hand with one well-placed hit, Dinescu smashed the bellicose Breacher’s teeth in and slammed him into the sparring arena’s floor until his face but mulch and bruises. He gave a lesson to the other headstrong marines looking on in disbelief at the breakage of sparring rules.

"*The enemy cares not for your posturing or glory-seeking. They are willing and able to murder you with a blade, shot, and thought. What is your skill worth when your brothers do not return because of your conceit? That you are still overburdened with ego shows you are yet unfit for command and I shudder at the thought of you leading these men into battle.*"
—Chaplain Vasile Dinescu to Drakkan Koval and the gathered Astartes
Humbled and with a wounded ego Drakkan saw himself to the Apothecarion where his injuries were treated. Not one to take his Chaplain’s words lightly, from that day Drakkan would ask honoured brother Dinescu for guidance to self-reflect on his actions. With the Chaplain’s help, he would eventually overcome his own self and become a leader to be proud of.

### Lieutenant of ‘Dagger’ Company

The seventy years spent in ‘Talon’ Company as a Sergeant and, eventually, a Lieutenant made Drakkan an ideal candidate for Captain. His ego, while everpresent, had been channelled towards the enemy instead of inward, and with the senior officers’ help, he had focused himself and made better of his command. He thought himself worthy of higher demands. The Voidmaster, however, saw things differently. Vaslav Daro saw through Koval better than any other and knew he would yet need more experience and more mentoring to achieve his designated goal. Daro saw in him potential, but not yet the makings of a Captain.

Thus he was handed to Captain Aspar Bassa of the 2nd Company as a Lieutenant. Drakkan took the news with stoicism on the face of it, but inside he was confused and fuming. He had seen ‘Dagger’ Company as little more than glorified scouts and beneath his skill level. The ego soared again but he would find the experience humbling and reformative.

It took him years to fully learn, understand, and implement Bassa’s teachings, so far removed was he in thought and deed from what the 2nd was made to do. Eventually, however, he did grasp and master the ways of his new Company and found much to his liking. The thrill of the hunt, the exaltation of the hidden kill, he enjoyed all of it and excelled at it. He would expertly implement his new skills in striking against the Aeldari Craftworld Taldandresh, a minor Aeldari world-vessel hiding in the Eastern Fringe. The Chapter would assault the vessel in force and bring it down within two months for near-constant battles. Here Drakkan's knowledge of the Aeldari, learned from past campaigns and his own studies on the matter, would come as a boon to his Captain and Company. With Bassa's guidance and Drakkan's knowledge, 'Dagger' Company occupied each objective they were tasked to do, bringing the campaign to a swift and timely cause.

It was after the Taldandresh purgation that the summons came, of his Long Vigil and secondment to the hallowed Deathwatch where he would, no doubt, learn much and face even more.

## Appearance

Drakkan is of average height and weight for a Transhuman Astartes. Shoulder-length black hair is kept trimmed at all times, while his trimmed salt-and-pepper beard forms a rough thicket on his chin. Facial scars, while not prominent, are present on his brow and chin, while several wrinkles show on the corners of his lips and brow. His right eye is a large, red biotic, one good enough to allow him to view over greater distances and in darkness even without his helmet.

## Personality

As it is with all Voidborne Astartes, Drakkan has two personalities, one for his brothers and one for outsiders. It is the culture of the Chapter to keep themselves isolated which often brings into sharp perspective their drawbacks in cooperating with other Chapters in the Deathwatch. Though he is more generally a joyous man who, much like is primogenitor, relishes in the thick of combat, knife drawn and slashing, he is also reserved when around strangers, keeping his thoughts to himself and speaking mostly when spoken to. He rarely, if ever, voices his opinions to non-Voidborne allies, unless it asked of him. Despite these drawbacks, his temperament in war often leads to good relations with more bellicose Chapters, especially those of the Khan's lineage, and in time Drakkan could and would develop relationships to rival those with his gene-brothers in the Voidborne.

## Abilities and Traits

In centuries past Drakkan’s skills have been closely knit with his Chapter's assault doctrina. Such was his joy and yearning for combat that he would bound heedlessly into enemy ranks once unleashed. One of the best close-quarters combatants in the Voidborne, his skills would inflate his ego so much that he would brush off any attempts at moderating his recklessness, even from his superiors.

This careless abandon and tendency to charge into potentially overwhelming odds, as well as his substantial skill which made him a valued asset, forced his superiors to try different approaches to restrain him. He was seconded to the 2nd Company as their Lieutenant in lieu of receiving his own Captain command. The move was seen as controversial by some Battle-Brothers who shared Drakkan’s sensibilities, it nonetheless put him under the watchful eye of one of his Chapter's most stoic and cautious brothers, Captain Aspar Bassa.

With his new commanding officer's modus operandi clashing so much with Drakkan’s frame of mind, the transition was fraught with difficulty. Never one to shirk his duty, Drakkan took to his command position with moderated enthusiasm, entirely aware of why he was placed there. It took time and effort to be sure, but eventually, he slowly acclimated and learned from his Captain. His desire for close combat never lessened but was supplemented by stealth and subterfuge which became the norm. Drakkan found in these doctrines a new way to focus his impulses — instead of rushing in on pylons of flame, the killing blow would be dealt swiftly, from stealth, and from unexpected angles.

### Speciality

* **Close-quarters combat** - Drakkans speciality is melee, making him a mediocre Fire support and Battleline choice
* **Stealth and subterfuge** - The hidden killing blow is Drakkan’s preferred way of taking out the enemy which often clashes with his desire to rev a chainsword in the foe's guts. Still, he keeps his desires balanced as best he can.
* **Assault tactics** - when all pretence of stealth is lost or when the situation requires decisive action it is better to don a jump pack than run at the enemy

### Traits

* **Loyal and Dutiful** - the core of his personality is Loyalty to Chapter and Duty to the Emperor
* **Reliable and Punctual** - one can expect Drakkan to be punctual, focused, and well-grounded, especially on mission
* **Self-reflective** - during his time in the 2nd Company, Drakkan has developed in a way where he can set goals for himself and reflect on his own actions, be they beneficial or detrimental
* **Articulate** - Drakkan chooses his words carefully around outsiders and communicates his intent and thought efficiently
* **Organized** - his private space and wargear are always well-maintained. Everything has its place.
* **Curious** - Drakkan likes to read in generals, but specifically he likes reading anatomy and natural sciences so as to prepare for any eventuality
* **Observant** - keeping a weather eye on everything is a necessity in the Astartes, Drakkan goes just that one step further
* **Confident** - Drakkan is certain in his own abilities and realistic about his tasks. If he says something can be done, it will be done.
* **Violent** - rarely, but enough to be noticed, Drakkan may burst out in physical conflict instead of keeping arguments to word. This is situational to someone who particularly annoys or disrespects him, usually Ministorum or Mechanicus mortals.
* **Authoritarian** - belief in Humanity’s manifest destiny and a strong guiding hand at the helm tends to create a disregard for the plights of morals. Everyone has their place in the galaxy. Do you work, or someone else will in your place.
* **Tactless** - honesty in Drakkan’s case, seems to be somewhat of a crutch. His chapter’s lacing for a need to glorify their deeds often reflects Drakkan’s brash and no-nonsense sincerity, even toward his superiors.
* **Moody** - his self-reflective nature creates certain expectations of himself. If he does not meet those expectations, no matter what others see, his moods are likely to swing
* **Rebellious** - Astartes can be ambitious, vainglorious, and downright stupid in their pursuit of personal glory. Drakkan rebels against such commanders, often voicing his opinions openly, despite wounded honours and egos.
* **Conceited** - Drakkan has a high opinion of his own skills, sometimes even looking down on those he sees as inferior.
* **Overly ambitious** - his rise through the Chapter’s ranks has instilled in him a necessity to do better and reach higher. Sometimes he will see himself as a better choice for a particular task or command, in spite of the established order of battle.

## Equipment

### Armour

Drakkan wears a suit of Mark VIII ‘Errant’ armour modified with an additional armoured abdominal plate, Mark VI ‘Corvus’ power unit, mag-mounted combat blade on the right pauldron, and a prominent Deathwatch rondel on his left.

### Used Weapons

* **Witherbrand** - personal Reaver Pattern Chainaxe
* Combat knife
* Seeker-pattern boltgun
* Plasma pistol

### Munitions

* Frag Grenade
* Stun Grenade
* Krak Grenade
* Blind Grenade
* Incendiary Grenade

## Relations

### Allies

#### Kabaliyi (Sefs) - the Korda family

The Kabaliy is an honored tradition and position paid great respect and care in the Voidborne, and the Korda family has bound itself by oath to the Chapter, and Drakkan specifically, as helpers and custodians of holy wargear. A family of Machine God worshipers with close ties to the tech priests of mars and the Chapter armory, they are artisan weaponsmiths and technicians by duty and choice. In fifteen generations, the Korda have never reneged on their oaths and continue to be honored cogs in the Voidborne machine.

##### Venka Korda

Venka is a void born human and elder sister of Orlin Korda. She is a tech-adept in the Adeptus Mechanicus and part of the Chapter's armory serfs seconded to Drakkan Koval to maintain his holy wargear with the proper lamentations, prayers, and holy oils. She is the second generation tech-adept of the family, her mother being the trailblazer for her.

Her relationship to Drakkan in private is familial and they call each other sestrychka (little sister) or bratan (brother) respectively. In public she calls him *velmozha* (lord), in keeping with the Chapter's culture of keeping their own language and relations as secretive as possible.

Venka's attitude towards outsiders is often strained, unless they're Voidborne or Mechanicus aligned, due to her experience with ignorant and religious baseline humans in their fleet. Towards other Astartes she is formal and courteous, but never subservient.

##### Orlin Korda

Orlin is a void born human, younger brother of Venka Korda, and once-aspirant for a Voidborne Astartes Chapter who did not pass his trials. Instead he has remained a Kabaliy, a serf of the Chapter in service to Drakkan Koval, just as his father was before him.

His relationship with Drakkan in private is familial, where Drakkan names him *bratan* (brother) despite their genetic gap. Though Orlin tends to keep his addresses to the Battle-Brother formal and names him *velmozha* (lord), he shares the same sentiments about Drakkan and considers him family.

Orlin's attitude towards outsiders, especially other Astartes, is reserved and untrusting, but never hostile if they be in the Emperor's service.

## Quotes

### By:

"*By the Khan I feel it again. The cold shiver before the storm, the boil in my blood pushing me to engage. A joyous feeling, indeed.*"
— Brother Drakkan Koval, just before the charge against Waaagh! Godchewa, 899.M41
"*You challenge me to a duel? Me, of all our brothers here? You wish me to humiliate you, I shall oblige.*"
— Brother Drakkan Koval, speaking to Chaplain Vasile Dinescu before being humbled in a duel, 901.M41
"*The enemy is in front of you yet you remain unseen. How would you dispatch him? With chainsword and bolt round, or a swift knife in the back? Honour and glory are one thing, but fighting an honourless enemy with honourable deed makes for a swift death, Initiate.*"
—Lieutenant Drakkan Koval, reprimanding an Initiate of the 10th Company during the raid against the Charnel Butchers Warband, 996.M41