Tigerius Ferrox

**Tigerius Ferrox**, also known as *"The Bloodfang"*, *"The Ferocious"* and *"The Great Tiger of Malkier"*, was one of the 20 Genetically-Engineered Primarchs created by the Emperor of Mankind to lead the armies of the Imperium during the great crusade.

Tigerius is the Primarch of the XI Legion, the Emperors Fangs, during the Great Crusade and Heizan Heresy. Tigerius was eventually gifted with the title of the Emperors Executioner, being sent to put down insurrections and rebellions throughout the Imperium. Tigerius led his Legion during the later years of the Great Crusade and also during the Heizan Heresy. Although surviving the Heizan Heresy, with great costs to his Legion, Tigerius eventually went missing during *the Scouring* shortly after the Heizan Heresy.

Although Tigerius was known to be generally distrustful of the Emperor, he was a fiercely loyal servant to the Imperium of Man but was also just as fierce a combatant, known for his excessive use of ambush and CQC tactics.

## History

### On Malkeir

#### The Bloodfang

The 11th Primarch originally landed in the east of a medium-sized jungle planet by the name of Malkeir, within the ‘country’ known by its inhabitants as Torinth. When he landed, he quickly adapted to his new surroundings, quickly learning how to survive in the dense jungle environment. During this time, the Primarch earned a fearsome reputation amongst the locals after repeatedly butchering their livestock and the occasional hunter. Legends soon spread of the savage known as Bloodfang, but as all legends are, these were highly exaggerated tales, often making it seem as though he were a skinchanger that transformed into a fierce tiger to terrorise the populace.

Because of the reputation he had grown, a local minor Clan Leader, Galvanax Ferrox, decided that it was time he put an end to this monstrous savage. He spent weeks searching for the Bloodfang, countless days following the corpses of butchered Bulltigers and Coilwhips, only to finally find him sleeping within the hollowed-out corpse of an abnormally huge albino Bulltiger. When he saw that this Bloodfang was nothing more than a child, he took him as his own son, bringing him back to his small hold and naming him Tigerius, of Clan Ferrox

#### The Young Conqueror

Clan Ferrox was a relatively small clan, situated in a small piece of land in the far east of an area known as the Silverwood Peninsula. Once Tigerius was brought in by Galvanax, he was taught many things, mainly in relation to war and battle strategies. Galvanax would not rest until his Clan stood as the rulers of Silverwood. Once Tigerius was grown, this was relatively easy. With the help of the Primarch, armed with two axes with heads of darkstone, Clan Ferrox quickly took control of the other small clans around their area, even taking the large trading city of Estport. This was until they faced their first obstacle, the barbaric Clan Kadav, rulers of Skullhall. Even though Galvanax had achieved what he had wanted, Tigerius was not happy with having Kadav blocking them into the peninsula and began a guerilla war against Kadav, against his father's wishes. With the large amount of savage fighters serving under Kadav, storming Skullhall with their relatively small army would not work, even with the Primarch. So, Tigerius and a small squad of men instead quietly broke into Skullhall in the dead of night, and viciously slaughtered Viktor Kadav, leaving his corpse as a message for all who oppose him. With their leader dead, the savage horde quickly broke and scattered, leaving Skullhall for the taking.

With Kadav dead, and the rest of Torinth within their reach, Galvanax rejoined his son in the rise to power, spreading Clan Ferrox’s influence throughout Torinth. Any who opposed the rule of Ferrox met a swift death; the druid clans of the Great Tree, the mole-like Clans of the Ghorian Mines and even the odd blood-cult Clans of the western salt plains all met their bloody execution at the hands of Tigerius Ferrox. Soon enough, most of Torinth was under the banner of Clan Ferrox, united under fear of the Bloodfang. But Torinth was soon not enough, Tigerius needed a war to fight and he would find one to the south, in the marshes and swamps of Ratulan

Although the swamps of Ratulan were strange and foreign places to most of Tigerius' army, the people they found were mere savages and thus, they were able to swiftly kill any resistance they found. This was until they came into contact with the Mudlion Riders, the only relatively organised resistance found in Ratulan. The Mudlion Riders controlled most of southern Ratulan, centred on their city, Deepwood Gorge. The Mudlion Riders were lead by who came to be known as Clan Katatoth, an ancient bloodline that built Deepwood Gorge and were the first people on Malkeir to tame the large lizard creatures known as Mudlions. Due to the Torinthians never having faced mounted cavalry before, it was the Mudlion Riders that gave them the most difficulty during their conquest, taking many years until Tigerius had led his army to the Deepwood, which he was able to quickly take, but with severe casualties due to various traps set by the Riders. By the time Ratulan was sufficiently conquered, Galvanax was growing ever older and retired to the Lionhold to live out the rest of his life, ordering his son to stop any further conquests, which Tigerius followed quickly.

#### The Grieving Son

As Galvanax’ health continued to deteriorate, the more time Tigerius spent with him in the Lionhold. Although his enemies originally saw this as an opportunity to revolt, Tigerius’ close Lieutenants quickly put down these would-be revolutions. Although respect for Tigerius had decreased, the regime he had started was still to be feared, led by his close friends. Torinth and Ratulan lived in relative peace for a time, the regime that would be called the Great Ferroxian Empire also had relatively peaceful relations with Garator and left the mysterious island of Bhari’l alone. In return for the Empire not invading Garator, the mountainous country supplied the Empire with darkstone and other precious metals, however, as Tigerius quasi-isolation in the Lionhold continued, the Clans of Garator slowed their shipments more and more. Mostly all was peaceful until the Night of a Red Moon arrived. The Red Moon was a deadly omen throughout Malkier, and left devastation in its wake when it decided to show itself. On this particular night, Galvanax Ferrox took his last breath and the screams of Tigerius could be heard from the highest points of the Lionhold.

The Great Clan Dakragh, the chosen leaders of Garator, took this as an opportunity to attack the Empire, denouncing the Empire and Galvanax Ferrox himself. Tigerius, in his grief, saw this as a personal sleight against his father's death and quickly raised his armies to attack the most obvious entrance into Garator, Darkstone Ridge. He wanted his enemies to know where he would be, and he wanted them to be there. When he arrived, most of the Clans had assembled their armies, with almost 1 million in total, against the 300,000 that Tigerius had quickly assembled.

The exact atrocities that happened that day were left unrecorded by history. What was noted down was that the entirety of the Dakragh clan and the eldest 3 generations of every other Clan present were wiped from the face of the planet, and the name ‘The Crimson Ridge’. The rest of Garator quickly surrendered and the relatively new Clan Sarkal were assigned as the new puppet leaders of Garator.

#### The Barbarian Warlord

Following the pacification of Garator, the island nation of Bhari’l sent a message to the Empire, stating that they would be happy to undergo transformation into a vassal state if it meant no wars ever grace their shores. Due to this, Tigerius went to Bhari’l to allow their leaders to show their fealty to him. Although they were technically now part of the Empire, many people, including Tigerius, still distrusted these odd foreigners. This was mainly in part to their religion, which worshipped the large volcano within the centre of the island. Rumours had spread that the Bhari’lese often sacrificed people to the volcano in order to satisfy its bloodthirst. Although this would be nothing but rumour that would be largely disregarded, some still believed it.

Now that the entire planet had been united in the Ferroxian Empire, there was some worldwide technological progress, as Tigerius led firmly in the first few years of the worldwide Empire. The towns and villages that littered the Empire had increased in size, and the largest ones ,such as Deepwood Gorge and Estport, transformed into bustling cities with great stone walls and other general protection against the dangers of the wild. Some of these great cities even mustered their own militias in order to defend themselves against bandits and beasts alike. However, the vast majority of villages remained unchanged and unguarded, with many being slaughtered by Bulltigers, Nightdrowners and other horrors. Due to this, Tigerius formed the Order of Blades, a force dedicated to protecting smaller villages from dangerous wildlife, for a price.

This went well for many years, until Tigerius grew tired of the endless politicking and subterfuge. He was sick of having to deal with petty rebellions and uprisings. So he locked himself in the Lionhold, and decided he would rather live out his days hunting in the Lionholds vast expanses than leading an Empire he wanted nothing to do with. So he did, and the Empire suffered. Though his lieutenants managed to keep the Empire whole, the small city states started to take more autonomy. Old rivalries between clans resurfaced as they began to fight amongst themselves. The Order of Blades had devolved into a band of cutthroats and mercenaries, forgetting all they had once stood for. Technological advances stopped as people refused to cooperate. This was all until fears began to rise near Estport. Something even their militia couldn't deal with. Originally Tigerius had ignored their pleads for help until he saw what it was they feared, and Tigerius went on the hunt. A Giant had appeared in his lands, and he would be damned if he wasn't the one to take its head.

## Quotes

### By Ferrox

"*"What do you take me for? A mindless berserker? Do you take me for some halfwit savage who knows no mercy, no knowledge and no civility? Sure, when I first took Malkier, I murdered, I pillaged, and I butchered. I killed men, women, children, anything that got in my way. But those were the actions of a stupid young cunt who only knew conquest and nothing else. Do I regret it? No, because sometimes it is what has to be done. So don't you come at me with your accusations of honour and chivalry. You know where honour gets you? It gets you in a mass grave along with all the other fools that think that they are too good to get their hands dirty. Brutality is often be the quick path to victory, and I will exploit that as much as I deem necessary"*"
— -Tigerius Ferrox