Tobit

Tobit was born in 904.M41 to his mother Sarai in the Hives of Mordian, where the sun can never be seen as the planet is tidally locked with its star and the inhabitable side is bathed in constant darkness.

Sarai had come to Mordian in her role as a Reclaimator and the hopes of scavenging the light/dark border for technological treasures from crashed ships and long forgotten xenos structures. Who his father was, he never got to know, but it did not interest him either. His mother filled his life with the faith of the Omnissiah and the Emperor and instilled in him a curiosity and attachment towards the machine spirits that would never let him go.

Indeed their forages to the border were very successful and as far as the prejudices about Reclaimators go, his mother fit the bill. By far most of their finds were sent on back to Mars, but the really interesting ones, they studied themselves in detail first and quiet often they upped their living standards by selling bits and pieces on the black market they did not deem worthy of sending to Mars.

Tobit would probably have become another Reclaimator for the Machine Cult or maybe even a Tech-Priest as his mother had planned for him to visit the Cult on Mars, but the Omnissiah and the Emperor had other plans for him.

One day his mother and Tobit met up with a regular customer, belonging to one of the many gangs on Mordian. Some of the items that his mother deemed not worth sending back to Mars had caught his interest again and they had met up to discuss the price. Yet their planned meeting had not gone unnoticed and the actions of the gang had caught the interest of the Dark Angels.

Tobit reacted instinctively when the first Bolter Shells started to fly through the little shag they had chosen as a meeting place and exploded on impact with their targets. The two guards their customer always toiled with him fell over in a spray of arterial blood and he quickly ducked behind some metal crates for cover. The Space Marines could and probably would storm the hideout, but for now the cover was good enough that he was safe from the fire raining in through the doors and windows. Tobit was far away from any solid cover but ducked under the table. From there he could watch the man pull a laser pistol from his long dark coat and aim it at his mother, obviously believing she had betrayed his trust.

His mother, ever slow in her physical reactions, and concerned about the items that were laid out on the table and now getting covered in debris and blood, did not even see it coming, before the shot hit her right between the eyes. For Tobit time passed in an agonizing slow pace until his mother’s dead body hit the floor. In this time he could study her features in detail till they were distorted from the shot wound and see everything he had experienced so far pass in front of his inner eyes again while she slowly fell to the ground.

From there on time seemed to pass at an even accelerated speed, but Tobit seemed to have no trouble of keeping up. His body acted on his own accord and before he even knew it, he had jumped from his hiding place and killed his mother’s murderer with a slim metal pipe, forced through his left eye socket that he had picked up along the way.

The Space Marines now storming the shack could only watch their prey slacking to the floor, slowly bleeding out. They weren't pleased having their valuable prey taken from them in this manner, but they had to acknowledge his prowess and therefore decided to take him to the Rock for the trials.

Tobit proved to be worthy of the Dark Angels interest and passed. Although he passed through the normal training procedures for any Neophyte of the Dark Angels Chapter, it was clear early on that not only his connection to the Omnissiah would never entirely fade, but also that he had a connection to the Machine Spirits that could prove valuable to the chapter. After the completion of his training and becoming a full-fledged Battle-Brother, Tobit was sent on to Mars to become a Techmarine.

Although Tobit had embraced the doctrines of the Dark Angels and had found a deep routed hatred for the Dark Powers slumbering inside him, that united him with the rest of his Chapter, he had still felt set apart from them in many ways. Coming to Mars, he felt like coming home, although he only had his mother’s stories before this moment, from a place, even she had never visited herself. Through his many years of training in the ways of the Adeptus Mechanicus, he became not only knowledgeable in the many ways of the machine spirits, but also his believe in the Omnissiah deepened day by day.

Tobit returned a fully trained Techmarine and was after distinguishing himself in many a battle made part of the Ravenwing where he proved invaluable tending to the machine spirits of the chapters Bikes as well as other gear.

When a term of service was offered for a Techmarine in the Deathwatch of the Jericho Reach, Tobit applied without hesitation. He took with him his augmented Servo Harness and nothing else.

He was joined on his journey by Israfil who was to join the Deathwatch for a term of service as well. Tobit had heard of Israfil although they had never fought together so far. His prowess was well known in the Chapter though and Tobit liked about him that he was of a quiet manner. They were both assigned to Kill-Team Stag under Watch Captain Heinrich, together with Brother Invictus from the Ultramarines, Brother Eric from the Space Wolves and Brother Jock from the Storm Wardens.

Tobit has not formed a closer bond to any of them so far though, as outside from training he is tending to the machine spirits of Watch Fortress Erioch and his Kill-Team, which he does with his usual dedication.

He was sent on his first mission with the Battle-Brothers from Kill-Team Stag in 051 999.M41 to extract Magos Biologis Vyakai from the moon Tantalus, which was about to fall to the great Devourer. His knowledge of the machine spirits and technical expertese proofed to be invaluable to the missions success.

Following up this mission the Kill-Team was sent to recover a geneseed sample from a genestealer to validate the data of Magos Vyakai. The supposed genestealer infestation on Avalos was confirmed, but the Broodlord could not be contained to gather a sample and was destroyed with a plasma grenade by Tobit.

Tobit got a second chance to recover a sample though when the Kill-Team boarded the Hive Ship to stall the invasion and succeeded in detonating the main node, but not before Tobit could clear his name and take a pure sample.

Tobit has come into possession of an artifact of unknown origin during the mission on Avalos which he has kept out of the official report so far.

On his next mission to Vanity Invictus found another xenon artifact that had uncanny resemblance with the one in Tobit's possession. Before Tobit could interfere, Invictus had inspected the artifact and activated its mechanisms by accident. This released the trapped C'tan shard within, which almost cost Invictus live. Tobit now knows that the other artifact must also be of Neuron origin, but is still clueless towards the corresponding dynasty and the usage of it.