Varidus Alvaritus

"I have always served the Emperor's vision, always remained loyal to His Imperium of Mankind. Where these traitors stride, they sow destruction, chaos, and mayhem across the Imperium of Mankind. I was freed from the grasp of the warp in a time too late to save Dorn and the rest of my legion, but I have not allowed these losses to cease my service. No, my service only ends in death - and death has not taken me yet! Prepare yourselves, mortal servants of the Emperor! We march!"

-4th Lord Varidus Alvaritus

## History

#### Origins

Varidus Alvaritus was once a regular human, birthed upon the world of Inwit before the Imperium's coming to the frozen planet, and with an entirely different name. There, the Primarch Rogal Dorn had already begun forge a great power and Varidus was quick to fall under his command. Behind his leader, Varidus sought the greatest of feats and challenges to earn his place higher within the ranks of Rogal Dorn's following, though this fate would not be fully realized until the Emperor's arrival and Dorn's joining with the Imperium. As a warrior of some renown and a steadfast follower, Varidus was afforded the opportunity to become a member of the Adeptus Astartes of the Seventh Legion - so he did, and survived every further challenge offered by the augmentations to his mortal shell.

To honor a warrior close to him, who had fallen during the process, the newly-risen Astarte took on the name of the warrior to forge himself anew - Varidus Alvaritus. This action earned Varidus respect amongst many of the Astartes created from the denizens of Inwit.

#### The Great Crusade

Where Rogal Dorn went, the Imperial Fists followed and fought in the name of Imperium of Mankind, decimating any Xenos race that fought back against the conquering forces of the Emperor. During this time, Varidus was ushered from his position in a tactical squad into the ranks of a breacher squad; Clad with a massive shield that defended a vast majority of his body, Varidus became one of the first to step foot upon the vessels and battlefields of so many wars - with every victory and battle survived, Varidus' name spread even through the ranks of the Terra-born Astartes. By the time of the Ullanor Crusade, Varidus was offered a power sword to wield beside his shield, the honor of being the first into combat for the squad, as well as leadership of said squad.

Varidus had earned the right to be a leader, and he served this purpose well - with no hesitation and unquestionable loyalty to the Imperium and his gene-father. His skills would be tested in the many coming years.

#### The Horus Heresy

The betrayal of half of the Emperor's legions shook the very Imperium of Mankind to the core, plunging it into chaos and bringing its fate into question. Even so, the loyal sons of the Emperor fought on in the name of the Imperium they served, and Varidus did not question this path even once. With every vessel boarded, every traitor slain, and every world battled over, Alvaritus' resolve did not shudder in the slightest.

Unlike many of those who had been set under the command of Sigismund or other notable leaders, Varidus found his place under the command of Alexis Polux, who had taken command of the Retribution Fleet after the death of Yonnad during the warp storm that claimed two hundred Imperial Fists vessels. As with the rest of the remaining forces, though Polux did not think himself the best choice, Varidus followed the orders of the fallen Yonnad and served Polux faithfully and without question. At the command of Polux, Alvaritus and his squad trained ceaselessly and remained in an eternal battle-stations. Then the Iron Warriors fleet arrived and attacked without warning.

The strike was harsh, utterly decimating vessels of the Retribution Fleet with little time to react. As one ship was destroyed, another soon followed, and another after that until the Iron Warriors ushered themselves forth too far and the Imperial Fists' defense rebounded as the shock of the strike subsided. Connected to a faster vessel that struck at the right flank of the Iron Warrior fleet, Varidus and his squad were sent forth to board as many traitor vessels as could be handled - and so they did. The breacher squads knew no mercy for any traitor within the vessels they grasped, Varidus' blade cleaving apart armor, flesh, and bone with every slash and sweep until, one-after-another, the ships were destroyed and Alvaritus' squad, lessened in number in most cases, returned to their vessel of origin. Polux, even so, had received a message from Rogal Dorn and had been commanded to return to Terra in its defense. Fortunately for Alvaritus, his vessel was not destroyed as the Retribution Fleet withdrew from the battle and took to the warp for Terra.

The Retribution Fleet never reached Terra due to the machinations of Kor Phaeron, and his creation of the Ruinstorm, leaving the vessels scattered in the massive warp storm. Finding the beacon of Sotha, the navigator of Polux's vessel freed the Retribution Fleet and Polux lead the remaining forces down to Macragge. In order to aid Polux and Primarch Roboute Guilliman in the defense of Ultramar, Varidus was tasked with aiding the loyalist Iron Warrior Barabas Dantioch upon Sotha alongside the injured Polux - a time that would see much returned respect for the Iron Warriors that remained loyal to the Emperor while their Primarch had failed to do so. Yet unknown to the forces, Primarch Konrad Curze had freed himself of the Dark Angels and assaulted their position. While Varidus and his forces battled Night Lord forces beside the defenders of Ultramar, Polux battled Curze and could not kill the Primarch - only when Guilliman and Lion El'Jonson arrived did the traitorous Primarch truly meet his match.

For the remainder of the Horus Heresy, Varidus was kept close at-hand to aid Polux wherever he went.

#### The Great Scouring

With the defeat of the traitor legions, the remnants of the loyalist legions sought to pay back every betrayal in blood; As such, with zealous fury the loyalists set out after the fleeing traitors. Fighting in battle after battle against traitors, Alvaritus eventually found himself sent away from the command of several breacher squads, and into smaller squads of veteran Astartes - this is where Varidus relinquished his shield, bestowing it upon his successor, and began to wield a new two-handed power sword. Furthermore, Varidus had upgraded his armor to better suit his new position in the veteran squad. Before long, the Imperial Fist legion would set upon the Iron Warriors in one last display of supposed superiority - the Iron Cage.

The Iron Cage was the most devestating battle fought by the Imperial Fists during the Great Scourging, veteran and novice alike falling at all sides of Varidus as he waded through rivers of blood and cleaved apart Iron Warrior traitors. And while he was most certainly a skilled combatant, even he took considerable wounds during the battle - including several bolters rounds piercing his armor and several power weapon slashed across his body, though none were maiming. By the end of the battle, with the coming aid of the Ultramarines, the Iron Warriors had fled and both of the starting legion's numbers were heavily depleted. Yet, from this would-be catastrophe rose three new chapters of veteran Astartes in the Imperial Fists (which Varidus stayed a part of), the Crimson Fists - lead by Alexis Polux, and the Black Templars - lead by Sigismund.

Though the Imperial Fists had taken on the Codex Astartes and split, Varidus was trusted with further responsibilities as his service to the chapter elevated him to the rank of Commander. With the return of the Imperial Fists to the battlefields of the Imperium of Man, Varidus commanded a vessel of his own across the stars. Thousands of years spent fighting for the Imperium of Man, beside fallen and yet-living allies had finally ushered him into the life of command.

#### The Warp's Grasp

Enroute to offer aid to an Imperial world on the fringes of the Imperium of Man's holdings, Varidus' navigator took to the warp and made way towards the assaulted planet - hopefully to reach the world in time to save it from the grasp of whatever had tried to lay claim to it. Unfortunately, when Varidus had retired to the planning chambers to relay orders for his subordinates, the navigator was slain by an Alpha Legionnaire hidden amongst the loyalist forces. As the navigator had been slain, the vessel was lost to the warp and Varidus' force was proclaimed fallen with no hope of return. Another of Dorn's greatest slain by the machinations of the warp, like Yonnad and many others. As learned from Polux, however, Varidus kept his Astartes drilled and at battle-stations until the Alpha Legionnaire was slain during an attempt to assassinate Alvaritus. The warp, while still stopped by the gellar field of the vessel, locked the occupants of the vessel in the warp and kept them all from aging with the many years passing them by in real space. What seemed like one hundred years, ushering in the deaths of those mortals living on the vessel, was revealed to be thousands upon the miraculous return of the vessel into real space - as if the vessel was spit out by the warp itself for whatever reason. The milennium was unknown until the vessel descended upon a nearby void battle between loyalist and traitor vessels.

#### Forgotten Defenders

Commander Alvaritus struck hard upon the traitor's vessel, the surprise attack catching both the loyalists and traitors seemingly off-guard as the ancient Imperial Fist vessel's transmission reached both bridges. Alvaritus was still clad in his old armorer, named himself to the battling parties and went about boarding the traitor vessel. Slicing through traitorous guardsmen and their Word Bearer allies, Varidus and his forces made easy work of the enemy and set their vessel's power cells to explode. Leaving the vessel with his forces, Varidus waited for the vessel's destruction before receiving any further information from the loyalist forces - in which case the loyalist vessel sent several Ultramarines to Alvaritus' ship. There, it was revealed to Varidus that Alexis Polux, Sigismund, and Dorn had all fallen to either Xenos or traitors. Revealing the year in which he had taken to the warp, the Ultramarines relayed that Alvaritus had re-emerged in M36. It was not long until Varidus Alvaritus, and his forces, were tested for corruption by the warp.

Found to be free of the warp's taint, Commander Alvaritus and his forces were approached by the Grand Marshal of the Knights Syndicate, sent by an unknown entity upon Terra. Speaking with the Grand Marshal, Varidus was offered a position of high importance as the Marshal of the Knights Syndicate Fifth Company due to his extensive experience and unshakeable loyalty to the Imperium of Man - backed by his veterans and supplemented by further incoming recruits, Varidus set out on missions to reclaim sleeping dreadnoughts of loyalist Iron Warrior forces and other such tasks for the Knights Syndicate. Risen to such new heights, Alvaritus could no longer wear the heraldry of the Imperial Fists - even if he would have wanted to return to the chapter of his origin - his duty lie with this new chapter and the warriors he brought into it.