Tarhal

Before the days of the Star Guardians, the IVth Legion walked the cosmos as the Dark Watchers, gaining a fearsome reputation as stalwart line troops, capable of holding nearly any ground no matter the foe. There was one however who gained another reputation, not as one to hold ground, but as one to take it, and in doing so soak it in crimson blood. His same soon became one of renown within the IVth Legion; Tarhal, soon known by his appropriate epitaph; the Slaughterer.

Throughout the lifespan of the IVth Legion, be they Dark Watchers or Star Guardians, Tarhal fought with unashamed ferocity, tempered with a stoic, detached demeanor that matched with the IVth. Rising to the rank of Lieutenant, in charge of the rightly feared 8th Assault Battalion, itself an oddity within the IVth Legion, focusing on pure offence, charging the enemy with a mighty eviserator in hand, rather than the normal shield walls of the other Battalions. Indeed, within the IVth Legion, it was said only two could best the mighty Lieutenant in the chaotic swirl of melee combat, and even then, only one who could do so with equal arms and armour, those being Commander Sirvan Golz, and Lord Commander Crikon Hanfer himself. It was this specialisation that led to Tarhal becoming one of Shaaa’s most trusted officers, even if he never was chosen nor sought to rise to the higher ranks of the legion, his Primarch entrusting him with combat in open ground more so than almost any other commander, and it was also this that led to his damnation at his own hands.

Tarhal was present alongside the 8th Assault Battalion when Shaaa answered his brothers call to the world of Nuceria, answering the call of Khnum and hearing first hand of the Butcher's Nails in use their, watching Shaaa’s attempts to undo their ruination. In the wake of the failure of his lord to crack their secrets, it was Tarhal that suggested the use of the Butchers Nails within the slave caste of the IVth Legion, those already used in suicide charges at enemy defencive positions would benifit from such a device, and in doing so benifit the IVth and the Imperium as a whole. With only minor modifications to them, Shaaa agreed and gave orders to begin implantations of the nails into those already destined to die.

For years, Tarhal watched as even the meekest of slaves were turned into a brutal, fearless killing machine, and in his darkest moments, began to envision their use beyond merely the slaves, within his battalion as a whole, perhaps even beyond, something Shaaa had expressly forbidden, a promise made to Khnum binding him to his word. Tarhal however had made no such promise however, and in secret, alongside one of his battalions Tech Marines, he worked to refine the Butchers Nails, to undo the changes that Shaaa had wrought upon them to ensure their fatal nature after a few short hours, finally giving the order that would see him forever changed, willingly going under the knife to mutilate his own mind and prove once and for all the validity of such a weapon within the Legions.

Soon, Tarhal awoke from his experience, but he was changed, tearing his way free from the table he had been remade upon with a howl of rage, the Butchers Nails now singing in his mind, enhancing his aggression and pain tolerance far beyond that which even the gene-engineered flesh of a member of the Space Marine Legions was capable of under normal circumstances. None could stand before him, Tarhal leaving a broken trail of bodies behind him, before finally he was found by one who could once have matched him, Sirvan stepping before him, arrayed in his artificer plate and wielding the powered down form of The Drifts Due.

The pairs fight was titanic, where once Sirvan could have eventually beaten the Assault Lieutenant, now the Commander came to the striking realisation that even in his superior armour and wielding a  weapon against the crude blade that Tarhal held, Tarhal was slowly but surely gaining the upper hand. Sirvan could stand against him, but Tarhal was relentless, and there could only be one outcome, Tarhals's rage and the unexpected assault turning the tide against the legion champion.

And then, before that happened, Shaaa appeared, grasping the raging form of Tarhal and pitching him across the deck with enough force to knock the Lieutenant out cold. When he finally awoke, it was in chains, but in his own mind once more, Shaaa demanding to know what madness had seized his son, before his eyes fell to the still raw form of the Butcher's Nails within his skull. Shaaa knew all too well the irreversible nature of the Nails, and let out a roar of his own, his rage eclipsing even Tarhal’s as he brought his hammer around, fully intending to smite his disobedient son. The blow never connected, smashing through the bulkhead beside Tarhal, but leaving the Lieutenant intact. Shaaa could not slay his son, even as the betrayal that he had leveled against Shaaa ate away at the Primarch, lamentations of a promise broken on his lips, even if it was not by his own hands. In that moment, Tarhal earned name was forever changed, the Slaughterer falling as the Fallen rose to take his place.

Soon, Tarhal returned to lead the 8th Assault battalion, but it was no longer as an honoured warrior. Now it was merely as one who could kill better than any within the IVth Legion, one fully expected to perish in his role as Assault Lieutenant, but one who continued to survive, time and time again walking from battlefields that had claimed countless others. From the void above Ullanor to the soil of the very world of Terra that had once been his home, Tarhal the Fallen survived, Tarhal the Fallen killed, and Tarhal the Fallen thrived, none daring to stand before his wrath.