Orestis Neritos

## Character

### Title(s)

The Paragon of War, The Battle Paragon, The Giant of The Pits, The Crimson Liberator, Neritos of the Pits, The Lord of the Red Sands, The Unbowed Hound, The Unbroken, The Fell Blade

### Language(s)

High Argothic, Multiple Low Argothic Languages, Multiple Xenos Languages

## Physical Description

### Weight

1940 (Unarmored)2700 (Armored)

**Orestis Neritos**, also known colloquially as the **''Paragon of War''**, or simply the **"Battle Paragon"**, **''The Giant of The Pits''** and sometimes referred to as the **"Crimson Liberator,"** but originally known as **"Neritos of the Pits,"** the **"Lord of the Red Sands,"** the **"Unbowed Hound"**, the **"Unbroken"**, and **''The Fell Blade''**. The foreboding Luminarch of the XIIIth Legion; the mighty Warhounds of Anatelikós Imperial Legion. Few Luminarchs could epitomize the sheer physical power wielded by Orestis when he took to the battlefield.

Raised amongst the Gladiatorial Slaves of the Arena world of Anatelikós, he evoked a keen understanding of the value of combat. Indeed, when he took to the pits, though sparse, he had been clad in battle armor more suited to one of the war walkers fielded by the Anatelikan High-Born Militancy than a mortal warrior. But to his Legion and the wider Stellar Imperium he was the **Auburn Ethnarch**, surpassed only by his leonine brother Za'mana Mu-Damik in ferocity, and rivaled only by Llucerian Morningstar and Aesmodon Rinallis in the skill of blade work. Several Luminarchs, the Imperial High Chief included, often lost duels to this titan of a brother.

As a Lord, Orestis presided over his planetary realms just as he ruled his Legion; a benevolent king, and one beloved by the common man. His initial Imperial campaigns served to unify these two halves, culminating in the creation of a fearsome and devout system of auxiliary forces to support the Warhounds Legion. But just as he is a benevolent Lord, when the need arises He quickly becomes one of the most bloody-handed and savage of the Luminarchs. Quickly showing himself to be a masterful tactician and adept commander, but Orestis nonetheless was most at home in the crimson mists of melee, as His vast strength made him a match for any mortal foe, and under his command the XIIIth Legion earned a great tally of glories. Both becoming bloody conquerors of the strong and liberators of the weak. Under most Imperial remembrances Orestis and his Legion are seen as Legends amongst the stars.

## History

### Homeworld

**Anatelikós**, the brutal and unloving homeworld of the Warhounds' Luminarch; Orestis Neritos.

Imperial Historians speak of Anatelikós as a technologically advanced world, surrounded by densely populated colony moons, and the central heart of the extrasolar Reksium Empire organized primarily of 5 star systems and their surrounding Wild-Space domains held deep within the Proxima Orientus of the galactic East.

The Five worlds of the central borne Apamea System, the Solar domain of which Anatelikós resided, was ruled over by the wealthy elite An'dreshna and Llaskan Dynasties as their vassal domains were ruled by Lesser Nobles and Freeholders. These Ruling Dynasties of which had lived in decadent opulence whilst the greater populace of their colonies would live in abject poverty within the slums that surrounded or sat below their walled palaces and lush villas built atop orbital platforms.

To distract this dejected populace from their abject poverty, the oligarchic Apamean rulers held regular gladiatorial deathmatches in their massive arenas, namely the ones residing upon Anatelikós itself. These oligarchs used their cybernetically-enhanced gladiators who battled to satisfy the endless bloodlust of their oppressed people. The Apamean rulers used the grand spectacle of the gladiatorial arenas either on planet or across Reksium Holo-Channels to slake their population's bloodlust, and to remind them of the penalty for thoughts of revolt.

### The Lord of the Sacred Crimson

The young Luminarch of the XIIIth had been born and raised into bloodshed and death, but had never permitted its embraces to claim him. Much like the rest of his Luminarchal brethren Orestis as an embryonic infant had been spirited away from the Emperors Gene-labs under the Imperial Palace of Terra. And like them he had been psionically inseminated into a Mortal mother, though his birth mothers identity has been lost to Imperial records.

Orestis would therein be born upon the technologically poor feudal moon of Anatelikós; Phaistos Primary. The early months of the young Luminarchs life are all but lost to the ages. But what is known of the Battle Paragons youth, is that as a child, upon the Anatelikan moon - Within one of the moons villages he was found bloodied and wounded, surrounded both by the mangled corpses of what were thought to be raiders that prowled undefended regions of the moon, as well as men and women suffering deadly piercing scorch wounds indicative of las weaponry fielded by the raiders.

The amnesic child, seemingly barely a few years old and only knowing his own name had been taken in by those who found him, was fed, clothed, and his wounds tended to, and according to their traditions promptly sold into slavery to repay their generosity. Given his obvious skill in the combat arts, he was sequestered to the moons orbiting world of Anatelikós, to be forced first into small-time pit-fighting, and inevitably was traded to the worlds Palace Praxica, the ruling seat of the An'dreshna Dynasties power over the world, and center of their planetary Domains of the An'dreshna Solice. It was here that he was sold to the clans second son, Lord Pavlos An'dreshna. And as the youth's obvious potential as a gladiator was soon made apparent, he would soon be sent to fight in one of the worlds more popular arenas. There, the young Luminarch was armed and armored. And eventually, the child was forced to fight in his first match within the capital's most revered and favored gladiatorial arenas.

There, he would be corralled into the Arena, of which consisted of a single ziggurat where he was surrounded by hundreds of other slave warriors. But before the young Luminarch could fortify his resolve, acid began to fill the pit, and to the cheers of the spectators Orestis was eventually forced to kill all around him to remain standing upon the ziggurat's uppermost platform and survive. Shedding an innocent tear for the last time, the child was proclaimed a promising newcomer to Anatelikós' arena combat.

Throughout his gladiatorial career, the young Luminarch would quickly grow to a formidable size, a fact mirrored by his monstrous strength and prodigious skill. And after only a few solar months of continuous battles, as he was continually forced to take part in the ever present gladiatorial games of Anatelikós, he would accrue an enormous fan following across the Reksium Empire. As during his tenure, Orestis had become a proud warrior of fearsome skill and an even stronger sense of honor, known to the crowds as *"The Fell Blade."* He would break hundreds of the gladiators who he faced in martial combat, but those who fought well he always spared.

Though born simply as Orestis. The pseudonym *Neritos* would be the name the baying spectators had given him. It had been the Familial Name of the long Extinct Militant clans of the Neritide Dynasty, the Patriarch of Which, known to Imperial Historians as *Arion Neritos*, was said to have shared both his militant countenance, long umbral hair, fiery temperament and storm gray eyes with the young Gladiator. Though it was his warriors who Orestis would favor in his actions, as the Neritide Dynasty had been a people of war and honor who truly abhorred both the Arenas of Anatelikós and the actions of their contemporaries of the An'dreshna and Llaskan Dynasties.

For this, the Neritides went to war with their contemporaries over these differences. A series of conflicts that would see the Neritides extinguished and their Intrasolar Domains seized by those they sought to dethrone. The Name becoming a byword for failed Rebellions and a symbol of the fallibility of any weapon turned against the Ruling Dynasty’s of the Apamea System.

It would be a name Orestis took to with pride, like a Fish to Water once he learned of its Past. Yet, ever-eager to boast the brutal reputations of his fighters and to both Shame his once Proud Contemporaries, Lord Pavlos had given Orestis another nickname - "Neritos the Unbroken", the greatest gladiator the Arena’s of Anatelikós had ever known and the Last of the Shamed Neritide Dynasty. But, the Emperor in his machinations had made his Son to be more than a bloodthirsty taker of blood slick skulls. For as both the Luminarchs titanic frame and brazen reputation grew, the latter only emboldened as he fully claimed the forgotten name of the Neritides, his frustration at the failure to live up to his *‘ashamed’* namesake only tripled.

#### Alkestis - The Scarlet Harrower

Reaping many victories, Orestis soon became a fan-favorite of Anatelikós, and even the wider Reksium Empire, soon coming to gain the moniker of "The Warhound." Although he feigned a mask that seemed to enjoy the life of a gladiator and the adulation of the Anatelikan crowds, and those of the wider Reksium Empire who flocked to his Arenas, Orestis secretly - well, near-*openly* - resented his slavery, and was always plotting to escape. And as such, He proved to be a troublesome champion, prone to escape attempts whenever he saw an occasion, but such efforts always failed due to the hurdles posed by the technology employed by his Captors.

During this time, Orestis as a burgeoning young man had been mentored by many elder gladiators during his earlier years as a slave. The most prominent being a woman named Alkestis, once an honor guard of the An'dreshna Dynasty, she had been forced to participate in a failed alchemical experiments program, who's goal was to create superior warriors. Deemed a failure, she was later sold into gladiatorial slavery, and soon she formed a deep bond with her young ward upon their first meeting, quickly becoming somewhat of a mother-figure to the impressionable warrior. Together, the two inhuman warriors slew a deadly tally in Anatelikan gladiatorial arenas, which culminated in an astounding victory against a trio of berserk Seluecian Plateí War Brutes that had been surgically equipped with the deadly cybernetic implants known as the '*Crimson Butcher's'*.

Their momentous victory, however, proved short-lived as their An'dreshnean masters demanded that the two gladiators fight one another in a duel to the death. The fiery Alkestis refused and openly insulted her Anatelikan masters. This slight against the pride of Lord Pavlos, would result in the taking of Alkestis in the dead of night and her having the *Crimson Butcher's* implanted as a form of punishment. These crude spinal-neuron implants had been hammered into the woman's skull, and spine and surgically grafted to her cerebral cortex and nervous system.

These ancient relic devices from the Golden Age of Technology, cortical-spinal implants used to artificially boost a warrior's adrenaline through the usage of Microfactories that rooted themselves deep within the victims body - draining them of their biological reserves to create artificial combat stimulants, resulting in greater strength and aggression in battle. However, they bleached a warrior's mind of all reason, all caution, all human instincts of mortality as well as making them a gaunt wraith of wrath only held together loosely by the cybernetic bloodlust. This *'Red Mist'* that the Butchers rewarded after receiving the payment of bloody slaughter, gave the suffering Berserker spurts of electrochemical pleasures, tingling synapses and utterly killing the enjoyment of all else. No better machine for slaughter had ever been contrived by the minds of men.

And it was within the deep cells below the massive arenas of Anatelikós' capital had become a home to a number of several thousand gladiators, all implanted with the *Crimson Butcher's -* their enraged nightly howls as endemic to the capital as if it was little more then wind.

And Alkestis would soon take her place amongst them.

Following the successful mental disfigurement, Alkestis and a group of Berserkers ferried from the Deep Cells and into the baser Gladiator Cells were loosed upon Orestis as he rested in his own captivity. Alkestis, the strongest of the nine rabid warriors, clawed and dug into her friend and son in a blind, murderous berserk frenzy.

Orestis shocked out from his sleep and sent reeling from a wound struck against his eyes tore apart his would-be assassins in a defensive blur. Using the strength of his superhuman frame, and innate battle instincts, tore through the frenzied warriors, sundering the nine howling beasts into piles of ripped muscle and cracked bones. Once his enemies were naught but viscera and gore. He was able to calm and rest his mind as his preternatural healing aided him in regaining his sight.

Orestis, with eyes designed to perceive the most minute details no matter how dark, realized the sin he had committed upon seeing the blood strewn tears that flowed from his now dead mentor. The Luminarch ashamed by the horrible transgression he had committed against his mentor and mother, was driven to such depths of despair that it was said that he unleashed a horrible bestial howl that lasted for several solar days.

The death of Alkestis proved to be too much for Orestis to bear. His hatred of his masters had reached an overflowing fever pitch, and he swore that one day, he would make good his escape and make the An'dreshna Dynasty pay dearly.

### The Bronze Lord; Unbroken, and Unbowed

> "Upon the shadowed hill we saw.
>
>
> A figure wreathed in crimson red.
>
>
> With a hallowed mist upon him rising.
>
>
> He somber sang to the newly dead.
>
>
> "Do not give what cannot be taken,"
>
>
> His mouth meekly, somber move.
>
>
> "There is no country for us,
>
>
> and no fruit within this grove."
>
>
>
> - An Excerpt of the Poem; "Longing in Crimson," a poetic retelling of the Battle of the Ae'nonian Ridge upon the world of Nauplíos within the Heraclea System, written by the Freed Gladiator Manos Rodeas
>
>

The fact that he and his fellow gladiators were being forced to fight and kill for the pleasure of their masters, and that of the baying crowds who themselves had their very humanity wrung dry by the hands of the Ruling Dynasties. Their bodies and minds mutilated for their amusement, mutilations imposed upon them to provide for *better sport*. The replacement of arms with crude hooks or blades having become notorious in the arenas of Anatelikós. Orestis saw this practice all as an attempt to steal the only things the slaves still possessed; their dignity and sense of self.

And worst of all were the psycho-surgical procedures imposed upon the slaves known as the '*Cruciamen Extremus*', a collection of cybernetic cortical implants that dated back to the Golden Age of Technology, capable of direct implantation into the human brain, turning the subject into little better than a mindless drone, dictated by the specific Cruciamen Implants, with those of the Butchers barely controlled between each gladiatorial bout. And finally after his adoptive mother suffered this same fate, Orestis focused all his will into escaping the clutches of his vile puppet masters.

Within a few standard years Orestis' fame had spread to every corner of the Reksium Empire. And under his training, the gladiators of the Anatelikan Arenas soon became the greatest the empire had ever seen and none could dare stand against them.

Yet Orestis also learned, following a final failed escape attempt, that he would never succeed alone. But as his unbending warrior's code and sheer combat skill had made him a well-respected leader amongst the Anatelikan gladiators, and when the largest death games ever held on Anatelikós were to be announced, Orestis planned his most daring escape attempt.

For these new games, the Arena, under the desire for more spectacles within the matches were allowed to stage a vast combat bout that would involve every gladiator within. And as the crowd had been swelled to innumerable size as billions of Reksium citizens filed in from across the five star systems - the following cheers from the crowd soon drowned out the sounds of battle. Planning for this, Orestis' gladiators turned on their armed guards, butchering them and fighting their ways to freedom. The walls were made high and the guns of their guards were powerful, but using his natural talent as a warrior and leader of men, the Demigod found a way.

Orestis' meticulous and inspired planning saw to it that the Gladiator forces took control of the arena with a minimum of casualties, with Apamean political dissenters, Rival Dynasty and other gladiatorial supporters soon taking control of the surrounding areas in the mayhem, but the bloodshed that followed shocked him to his core. With freedom in sight, many of his gladiator brothers and sisters who had been implanted by the Butchers Crowns had become uncontrollable in the wake of the growing level of battle stimuli, and with the remaining guards routed, continued to fight their cowed enslavers rather than make good on their escape. And in the height of their blinded furies, many of the berserkers turned on the fleeing crowds and even, in their madness, their gladiator brethren.

Yet the once routed guards, armed with destructive plasmor weaponry and other relics of the Long Night, who now faced mindless, and tactless berserkers, the overall casualties that followed were to be grievous. Even whilst nearly 130,000 slaves, and freemen would survive to escape into the streets of Anatelikós' Spire-City's, stealing what weapons, supplies, and commandeering what merchant and sol-jump capable vessels they could before fleeing into the stars under cover of the already flocking vessels of the mayhem, and passing the orbit of Phaistos, the Anatelikan moon of Orestis birth, and into open space.

Though the gladiator army escaped into the stars, without the greater strength and number of their berserker brethren, who remained to kill and be killed. The experience brought home to Orestis that without an iron-willed self-control that even the unaugmented gladiators could possibly lose themselves to the call of the crimson mist. The look in the eyes of his blood-drunk brothers he had been forced to kill that day convinced Orestis that he himself along with his warriors must never suffer that fate.

While the gladiator flotilla fled into the wild-territories of the north-eastern Reksium Empire, the An'dreshna Dynasty, who were now shunned by the other High-Born Clans of the Reksium Empire for it was *their* slaves whose uprising upon *their* world that had created a cascade of not just slave uprisings, but complete citizen revolts across the Reksium Empire. The An'dreshna Dynasty under *recommendation* from the other High-Born clans, would then assemble and dispatch an armada of mercenary ships to chase down the gladiator flotilla.

But in their overconfidence, Orestis and his now freed brethren ambushed the ill-disciplined soldiery, stripped them of their weapons, provisions and ships, and left them stranded on wild worlds untouched by the Reksium Empire. Other mercenaries were sent back limping back to Anatelikós, with their soldiers bloodied or outright broken and ships shattered by boarding charges and battered by stolen weapons as warning not to pursue them any further.

However, with word of Orestis' escape spreading further across the small Empire and the insult against the very authority of the High-Clans solidifying in the minds and hearts of millions. And with the growing unrest among the gladiators, and citizens across the Empire, this was not something the High-Clans were simply willingly able to ignore. Fearing for their grip on power, and no longer underestimating this 'simple gladiator', the High-Clans of the Petratide, and Martoen Dynasties sent a force of a million strong each to aid the An'dreshna Dynasties own mercenary army. The 3 Armadas would fully mobilize and were sent to scour the worlds of the north-eastern Reksium Empire.

But against such overwhelming force, Orestis' only option was to press further and further into the worlds of the north, until they reached Nauplíos; a mining world surrounded by thick orbiting asteroid cover, and within the farflung north-most Heraclea System. There, upon the Ae'nonian Ridge of Nauplíos, where the Dynasty Armies would be forced to disembark their warships and board smaller vessels and land onto the world. And with nowhere left to go, Orestis and his brothers prepared to make their final stand as they took their vessels and retrofitted them into a makeshift fortresses ready to defend against the military triad.

### The Coming of The Emperor

In the time since the loss of the Luminarchs, the Emperor would not sit idle. The Throne ships of the Imperial Legions guided by an inbuilt and unparalleled psychic link would home in on their lost masters. And so it was as Orestis and his army prepared to engage in the hopeless battle to come, Imperial ships of the Great Crusade hastily entered the crowded orbit, spearheaded by the then as of yet unadorned *'Crimson Mercy'.* Unwilling to risk losing his son before they had even been reunited, the Emperor ordered that Orestis be teleported aboard, but Za'mana Mu-Damik; the Luminarch of the IIIrd Legion, who had been accompanying his father, urgently counselled against it. Za'mana's peerless insight into a warriors psychology recognized that to whisk a true leader to safety while his army was butchered against such an insurmountable force would be an intolerable grievance. He saw that such an act would irrevocably taint the relationship with bitterness and resentment from its very start.

Za'mana would successfully convince his Father that there was a better way, and when the sun rose on the mountain, the armies of the Dynasties were faced not only by Orestis' collected freemen army and what few ships they could employ on the ground, but by the Master of Mankind and his Blazing 10,000, the Great Lion, and the Imperial Marines of both the Scarlet Lions and the as of then still orphaned XIIIth Legion. Against such powerful adversaries, the slaver's forces were easily routed. And as they fled the field in disarray, Orestis approached his father through the smoke, and knelt in supplication, recognizing the bond between them, and respecting the true nobility of the Emperor and His cause. Accepting the inevitable, most of the Reksium Empires ruling elite quietly stepped down from power, and the Reksium Empire rapidly acceded into the Stellar Imperium.

Following the compliance of the Reksium Empire, Za'mana quickly took Orestis under his wing, educating him in every aspect of the Stellar Imperium. In doing so, he was able to assuage his brother's lingering doubts that he would simply be swapping one set of chains for another; that the Emperor was far from being just another slaver who wanted him to fight and die for his own amusement. Their first meeting upon Nauplíos had gone a long way towards this, and the presence of Za'mana and his Scarlet Lions and the XIIIth overcame Orestis' initial misgivings about the implants and psycho-conditioning that becoming a marine would entail. At first, the process seemed to be eerily similar to the aggression chips, spinal implants and cybernetic implants that the slavers had forced upon the gladiators, and which had made them less than human. However, after seeing the Angelus in action, Orestis knew that such things were merely tools to make them more efficient warriors, and with rigid self-control they were not monsters to be feared, but a force to shake worlds. When the Thirteenth Legion finally was ready to formally meet their Luminarch, Orestis was ready for command.

But Orestis had not forgotten his old comrades, and the army of former slaves were the first sons of the Reksium Empire to join his legion. The Crimson Butcher's` were cast off as tools of the oppressor, and the legion was dedicated to the course of martial honor and iron-willed self-control. Berserker fury became a shadow of the past; a legacy of their enslavement that would never again be permitted. Committed to the glory of the Stellar Imperium and the Emperor, they would be masters of their own fates. Some aspects of his past - such as his own name - Orestis retained, and even embraced as reminders of what they must always fight against. Back in the arena, the slavers called Orestis and his fellow gladiators the 'An'dreshnan *Hounds of Battle*' to brag to the other Dynasties of how violent and frenzied they were. Thus, to the surprise of members new and old, he chose it to remind them of the darkness against which they must always guard. He renamed the XIIIth Legion the Warhounds of Anatelikós, warriors of the Unbroken and Defenders of the Unbowed.

### Neo Reksium Ultima - The Pride of The East

The true measure of this unity became apparent within a few short years, in which the Newly Fathered Legion became an imposing force of astonishing might and bronze-clad honor. Certainly, within the reach of there foster Stars there was no shortage of foes ready to test the Legions abilities. Treacherous Sects of the irascible High-Lords had powerful foes, and the ascension of an Anatelikan Slave who wore the name of a forgotten Dynasty to Lord of not just one system, but the entirety of the Reksium Empire - to even whispers of the very same *Slave* being the *Prince* of a *Wider* Empire they had not even known about - had offended these other Lord-Houses who had ruled unmitigated for millennia.

And with whispers of strange new armies of giant men led by Titans circulating, it took only a few months for icy politicking to turn into outright violence. Retributive and Preemptive attacks were made, aiming to deprive this reborn "*Neritide Dynasty*" of their power and standing, only to falter when Orestis' newly restructured Warhounds joined and unleashed their might against these foes. Once it became clear to the rival lords that the growing tales of an army clad in burnished Yellow and Scarlet capable of shaking worlds were true, the fighting took on a new intensity.

Orestis' growing preternatural genius for the forging and design of weapons was applied to the armies that served his people. Perhaps most importantly, he refined the power armored enhancements used by his Legion, and while it did not approach the warplate which later adorned the Emperor’s Legions during the Armageddon Wars, it gave his Legion a crucial edge. Meanwhile his understanding of true war only grew, and away from the battlefield, a dream began to take form in the warrior's mind.

Studying whatever scattered history he could find upon those worlds smart enough to bow - he was enthralled by the image they painted of a prosperous, united society. Mere dominance did little to stir his blood; the vision he conceived, in contrast, was electrifying. He began to extol it, winning allies among the Heraclea Systems Dynasties. As these clans believed in his ideals as much as they venerated his growing strength that would have already drew them to his side.

Messengers were dispatched to Seluecia Pieria and the Olbia Twin Systems, carrying his message to any willing to hear it. Many scorned it, but some accepted eagerly. First, a scattering of idealistic warriors took leave of their Dynasties, risking or even embracing banishment from their Lord-Houses as the price of serving Orestis. Soon, as the last swathes of the Shattering Reksium Empire and its surrounding territories drew their lots and either fell under the sway of Orestis, or stood against him. As entire Lesser Houses and their Armies added their strength to his. Foremost among them were the Demarkos, Makrakis, and Burallis Dynasties of the Heraclea System, who had committed to his cause early on, as well as the Llaskin Clan of Seluecia Pieria.

Others resisted, however, cobbling together alliances in a vain effort to hold back the tide. Their hatred curdled into obsession, and drove them to deeds which frightened off many who might have stood with them. Some delved into sorceries prohibited among the psionic orders of their own worlds. Others took to the void of space and hunted for spoil among the wreckage of old battles. The most bitterly determined would slink away from the surrounding systems entirely, seeking even more extreme ways to oppose Orestis' advance. They alone would survive the unification of the Reksium star systems.

### Melded and Alloyed

"*You shall no longer be Berserkers my sons, but Hounds of tempered steel and cradled flame, fierce and hardy, ready to take the light of the Imperial Truth to all corners of the galaxy and feast until the final sunset of the universe!*"
— Orestis Neritos declaration upon taking command of the XIIIth Legion
Twelve years of war and diplomacy saw Orestis firmly in control of what he dubbed Neo Reksium Ultima, The Pride of The East or the "Orientis Superbia" to use its High Gothic name. By the time he was fully ready to embark on the Great Crusade, these names served for a Legion Ruled Protectorate of Five star systems, and 23 worlds, though raiding and skirmishes continued along their borders. Moreover, Orestis rejoiced to finally meet the rest of his Brethren introduced to him by Za'mana.

Orestis mandated that his sons would become protectors of his realm as well as crusaders but also invited them to join him in shaping the next generation of their Legion. The now Veteran Anatelikan-Born Warhounds traveled the length of Neo Reksium, watching the trials of aspirants as they themselves learned the ways of the cultures and ways of the armies he would have them fight beside.

The ease of this transition was fortunate, as politically Orestis' realm threatened to cause serious religious discord between Neo Reksium and the Jovian Mechanicus. Not only had Forge colonies been conquered, but now their doctrines were heavily diluted, their inhabitants bound by oaths they were unwilling to sever. Meaning that neither the Masite Phaestian Guilds, or the Scholars of the Oreus Forges were regarded warmly by both the Tech-Guilds of Terra, and the Vixite Technoclurgy of Jupiter. Now denied both the status of Forge Worlds and the Tech-Priesthood of their members despite their massive size, skill and output.

Orestis found himself master of a Legion which, although it had been one of the largest after the Unity of Terra, had long since found itself eclipsed by faster-growing Legions. That he integrated it so seamlessly into the fabric of the Reksium Empire was a testament to the extended implantation period. Upon the first intake of Reksium recruits achieving the status of full Angelus, Orestis fully renamed the XIIIth as the Warhounds. Extensive reforms to its structure would follow over the next ten years, but for now the Legion threw itself back into the Great Crusade, adding another three systems to Neo Reksium. In these wars Orestis found the last of those who had opposed his Legions earlier conquests, allied with xenos or corrupted by forbidden technologies and sorceries. Perhaps the most loathsome were the Labotas Dynasty of Olbia Major, who harnessed the sciences of genetic manipulation and cloning to create abhumans of monstrous strength and savagery, which they then fashioned into automata and servitors of a power to test even the Angelus. Across three systems Orestis led his forces against them, until the last fortress tumbled under the guns of the Legio Auris and the cloners were put to the sword.

With Tésserai completed, Orestis took his place in the wider Crusade, and finally the Warhounds began to grow into one of the mightiest Legions, fed by the pocket empire. As with so much of the early Stellar Imperium' campaigns, the historiography is often maddeningly limited; while some remembrancers established close bonds with their hosts, there was a limit to the things an Angelus will speak of. In several campaigns all we can tell is that Orestis was mentored by a brother, and the Warhounds gave an excellent account of themselves. Others are better documented, and we see the shared kinship of the Bulls Palatine and Scarlet Lions continued in their new incarnation, as well as Orestis' role as unlikely mentor to Sendolphen Alaric.

But even with their newfound strength, it took a further Six years until the Warhounds could campaign independently of any other Legion, and a further half-decade until Orestis could form multiple expeditionary fleets. Their auxiliary forces were to prove vital in enabling the Warhounds to fight effectively despite their limited numbers.

The rare quality of their wargear set both the Legion and their auxiliaries apart, and terrestrial war machines featured heavily in their line of battle. Conversely, the Warhounds took an incredible pleasure in close combat, and often used their armor to deploy and quickly engage their enemies. There was logic to this as well as a love for the melee; nowhere else did a Angelus, and later a Luminaires enhancements count for more, and Orestis led these attacks wherever possible. Frequent injuries were the price paid for this tendency, however, leading to a high rate of limb cloning and augmentation among the Legion. Nonetheless, the Warhounds proved extremely hard to kill, and this as much as anything enabled them to grow steadily as a Legion over the course of the Great Crusade.

In the eyes of the mortal soldier and citizen, the Warhounds became heroes to stand beside the Sons of The Morning and Scarlet Lions. Against human cultures, their ferocity was measured, tempered deployments meant to overwhelm the defenders and stave off the devastation of longer conflicts. Against xenos they were the bringers of oblivion, leveling empires across the breadth of the Galaxy. Orestis' ideals and conduct earned him close friendships with several of his brethren, though others had little regard for the XIIIth. This was perhaps one of the reasons why Orestis was not considered by many as a potential candidate for the post of High Chief. At the same time, he was not a political animal to the degree of Llucerian and Mikha'el; as he preferred to delegate such matters to trusted subordinates within his realm and Legion and dedicate himself to campaigning.

## Personalty

Though many perceive Orestis as "*the most bloody-handed and savage of the Luminarchs*," there exists a nuanced perception of him as the ultimate advocate for peace within humanity. Despite his outward bravado and gusto for war, Orestis is, at his core, an artist who seeks to create rather than destroy. He views war as another form of art, albeit one he would rather avoid.

In contrast to his Luminarch brethren, Orestis possesses a mastery that extends beyond personal combat skills and tactical acumen. He has achieved victories in wars through sheer strength and his astute understanding of battle, devising weapons that triumphed solely through the force of bronze and steel. This reliance on physical prowess has led him to place his trust in the expertise of his commanders, who surpass him in the realm of tactical brilliance. Nevertheless, Orestis never fails to motivate them with his awe-inspiring displays of strength.

Legends tell of Orestis personally taking down Xenos and Human Titan Constructs, teleporting onto their colossal hulls and tearing his way into the cockpits, swiftly dispatching their crews. One particularly notable tale from his early days recounts him flipping an Orrukai Beast Titan, a feat that defied the laws of sheer strength and showcased his unmatched power.

Orestis, with his paradoxical nature, embodies the intricate duality of an artist and a warrior. Through his unorthodox methods and unwavering determination, he strives for a world where artistry reigns over bloodshed and where peace can prevail through the pursuit of creation.

## Wargear

* **The Apollonian Null-Spear:** Forged upon The Daemon World of Armageddon, the Null-Spear is only one of six. Borne of The Primordial of Deaths’ own rib. The Spears only partially exist within the material universe allowing them to pierce the most potent of defenses. It, along with the rest of its Kin are capable of granting true death to even the most powerful of Never-born. But the Apollonian was quenched in the ocean of blood that flowed upon Armageddon and now reborn It would be laced with psycho-reactive energies, making it a powerful tool to be used against the Warring Hordes of The Twin Gods.

* **The Crimson Gladium:** An Anatelikan gladius of exquisite quality, its monomolecular edge and disruptor field made it perfect for Orestis' preferred method of sudden and efficient, precise kill-strokes. It was said to have been forged from a Fero-adamantine alloy.

* **Gods Bane:** Looted from the corpse of a slain Greater Daemon during the onset of the Armageddon Wars, the once possessed ‘Gods Bane’ was Extensively reworked within the XIIIth Legion’s forges, with arcane seals and runes laced through the shield. Through cleansing and blessing, the shield would be finally fitted with a field generator creating a tool that could negate both material and psychic artillery.

* **The Warhounds Fury:** The product of many years’ of refinement, these unique force gauntlets and sabatons contained archeotech disruptor-cells of a rare potency, surpassing almost any full-sized power fist in sheer power. Coupled with the Luminarch’s native strength, speed and skill, they sealed the fates of a boundless number of foes.

* **The Honored Break:** An ArtificedHeavy Arc Pistol, and One of Orestis Neritos’ favored side arms when in open battle was a heavily customized Heavy Arc Rifle which he was able to wield as deftly as one of his Luminaries might handle an Arc Pistol. Dubbed by him the ‘Honored Break’ for the matters it settled, it was tooled to tolerances beyond any but the Scholars of the Oreus Forges could fathom, while its Arc Rounds were hand-crafted by the finest Ordnancer-Perioeci of the Masite Guilds and fitted with micro-atomic compression warheads.

* **The Spartiate Panoplia:** Known in the legends of his Legion as the ‘ever-forged’, it was said that Orestis himself had this set of Artificer Armor remade and adapted countless times if ever a flaw or weakness was discovered in battle, and at various times the artisanship both of Jupiter, Oreas, and his fellow Luminarchs Shaka Zawadi Mzuzi, Manniitok Tikaani Mauja, and Bellok Phegos influenced its ever changing design.