Achille Nibaasiniiwi

**Achille Nibaasiniiwi** was a senior officer of the Iron Bears ' First Grand Wartribe, commanding Clan Undak at the beginning of the 31st Millennium. He played a vital role in saving his Legion from destruction on the Day of Revelation , and became one of their most important leaders in the Icarion Insurrection.

Chief Praetor of Clan Undak and captain of Clan-Company Tacharian. Known widely as the Hero of Tidus, Nibaasiniiwi was a valiant but taciturn warrior. Born of Xephyr, he earned his moniker of "the Wolverine" by virtue of his ferocity and his unique augmetic hands, which concealed lethal power claws. Despite an impressive list of deeds, he was overshadowed by other commanders until the awful events of the Kataii Ambush came to pass. Nibaasiniiwi was one of the few who kept his senses when Daer'dd was slain, and began a retreat which saved hundreds of Iron Bears aboard the *Dark Sovereign*. Back about the *Dragon of Autumn* he would fight through the daemonic incursion, and with Cass broken in body the leadership of the First Grand Wartribe fell to him.

## History

A Xephyrite Legionary, Nibassiniiwi became known early on for his prowess in close combat, though not without suffering several grisly injuries. As a result, all his limbs were bionic by the time he took up his captaincy of Clan-Company Tacharian. It is perhaps unsurprising that he was known as a subdued, even dour soul by his Legion, outside of combat.

Nonetheless, his rise continued, as he ascended to lead Clan Undak, which placed him among the First Grand Wartribe's senior commanders under Lord Chief Cass and the Primarch Daer'dd himself. As part of this, he developed a peculiar friendship with the remembrancer Ellan Temeter. Having initially been sceptical of the remembrancer order to the point of hostility, he warmed to her enough to take her into battle during the Ouklid Campaign.

Nibassiniiwi fought alongside Metis Odyssalas of the Scions Hospitalier, and the two warriors grew close to the point of cementing a bond as "honour brothers" during the Laeran War. They subsequently served together under Daer'dd's command during the campaign against the marauding Knights of the Wraekan Dreor.

## Appearance and Character

Nibaasiniiwi had a broad, craggy face with a heavy beard which he dyed with copper before a battle. He bore materfully crafted augmetics in place of his forearms and lower legs.

By the standards of the Bears, Nibaasiniiwi tended towards brooding introspection and sometimes simmering anger, though this by no means prevented him from being a charismatic and open-handed commander. His redoubtable self-control was to prove vital to the Legion's survival.

## The Fires of Insurrection

The Kataii Ambush saw the Iron Bears suffer the most profound loss they had ever experienced, with Daer'dd slain by his traitorous brothers K'awil Pakal and Koschei Kharkovic. But for Cass and Nibaasiniiwi, the rage that overtook the Legion in the wake of his death would have doomed them. Nibaasiniiwi was one of the few on the *Dragon of Autumn* to keep his head, and brought back as much of his brothers as he could. However, he was unable to retrieve Thiazzi, foremost of the Wartribe's Praetors, who fell in the melee.

By teleport and gunship, thousands of Iron Bears were delivered to the relative safety of their fleet, but even after the surviving ships fought free of the trap, more trials were to follow. Grave Stalkers and Godslayers, along with cyborg killers of the Lasarine Mechanicum, had made their way aboard. Nibaasiniiwi scoured the ship of traitor Astartes, but worse was to come as the last of the Grave Stalkers partially collapsed the Geller Field.

It was all the chance that the Blood God's horde needed. Drawn by the fury and bloodshed aboard, Khornate daemons spilled through and assailed the Loyalists anew. At the height of the fighting, a Bloodthirster entered the fray and mortally wounded Cass before it was laid low by Knights of House Blinstrubas. With Cass and Thiazzi fallen, Aandeg Niimkiikaa declared Nibaasiniiwi the new master of the Wartribe. His first trial as Lord Chief would come weeks after, as the Iron Bears made their way back to the Sol System; only to find that the Insurrection was already there.