Reiner Karakus

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*"I will not lie to you of glory. I will not lie to you of accolades. I will not lie to you of the luxuries that our greater cousins rightly posses. No, I will tell you the simple facts of our existence. Our bodies are the concrete that paves the way for mankind, nothing more, nothing less. Be it against baleful witch-fire, misguided, blazing guns or the talons of some accursed alien beast; the 4th* *fights and dies*."

*- Legion Master Reiner Karakus upon his ascension to command during the Great Crusade*

Reiner Karakus, a relic of a time long past. Born in the height of the Unification Wars upon Terra, he was originally known by the singular and similar name of Karkarus, however its reputation was a far cry from that which eventually became known as Legion Master of the 4th. Brought forth from a mother whose own name was that of a designation, Karkarus was one of the uncounted children of the infamous warlord Karantra who led the Salviants of Destronos; a Tek-Encalve who once inhabited the deserted span of the Auro Plateau.

A prodigy by all accounts and a biological miracle of vigour, Karkarus was set on the path of leadership from the moment he emerged from the womb. But for all his might and cunning that he forged through his early life, Karkarus could not hope to challenge the forces of the Emperor of Mankind. Captured after severe injury and carted off to an unknown place far beneath the earth, Karkarus died with the city he was born in, and what emerged was that of Reiner Karakus: Astartes, grandson to the Emperor.

Fighting hard through the Sol System and beyond, Reiner was promoted time after time for his capabilities of command in the face of the foe, and one day found himself at the helm of the 4th, even becoming a close confidant to more than just one Primarch.

But with the founding of Perturabo, his own Primarch and Gene-Father, everything changed. Disagreements turned into arguments. Arguments turned into punishments, and soon Reiner was cast out from the front lines of the Great Crusade - forced to watch on as his brothers fought and died under the being he hated. Decades, even a century passed as he sat brooding, planning his justice until finally the Horus Heresy came, and the Legion Master declared undying loyalty to the Emperor at the edge of the Urgall Depression.

### His Journey

#### Utopian

Normality, if it ever could be called that, had been broken on Terra.

Rumours of a distant, unstoppable army had begun to spread across the planet; from the northernmost holdouts like Old Albia, to the nameless, barbaric tech-nomads who dominated the vast stretches of wasteland. These tellings of the impossible built in swell with each victory claimed by what some referred to as the 'Thunder Horde', 'Eagle Men' or more concerningly 'The Forces of Unity'. Beyond the statements that they were led by the Emperor of all mankind, a title not uncommon in the Age of Strife, it was known that they were not forgiving, and that if you did not bend the knee you would be destroyed. Two options, life and death, were laid before the innumerable and diverse peoples of Terra, and many opted for the latter.

Among the defiant were a Tek-Enclave known as the Salviants of Destronos that inhabited the Auro Plateau, the birthplace of a child that came to be called Karkarus. The details of his birth are, unlike most other space marines, entirely known to the man he is now. Discerned via technologies questionable in ethics and origin, Reiner discovered that his father, Karantra, was a prominent general in the army of the Salviants, a human modified by horrendous technologies into a creature that clicked and hissed garbled mixes of binary and forgotten languages. Winning costly campaigns that brought infamous wealth to the Salviants, Karantra possessed a vast brood-host of conquered women from which he brought forth his own lieutenants and enforcers, forcing the captives to birth the children that would become his most vaunted killers.

Karkarus’ mother was among this brood host, named as Quintrill-Z6. Young herself having been born from the host, she was groomed to become one of the best, given the extra rations and growth-hormones so that she could bear healthy offspring. But Karkarus was her first and final child; it being said among the Tek-Enclave that all the strength Karantra had poured into the host had been given unto the prodigal son.

One of the least mutated that the host bore forth, Karkarus had the benefits of a molested genome without many of the consequences. Larger and subsequently more mighty in muscular power and bodily endurance, Karkarus, even when a youngster, was on par with the line troops of the Salviants, his physical capability only matched by the potential his mind held.

Favoured above the rest of Karantra’s children, Karkarus was given countless lessons in the arts of warfare as well as the blasphemous forms of technology the Salviants possessed; often being taken to the command centres and workshops of the army to observe, absorb and practice. By the time he was fifteen, Reiner was taller than an average man; his biologically freakish skeleton bound in dense muscle that was littered with battle scars and crude augmetics designed to enhance rather than replace. Though infamous for his feats of brutish strength and inhuman endurance at such a young age having brought foes down twice his size, Karkarus’ brain was regarded as an equally strong organ.

Able to coordinate units with extreme effectiveness in the face of seemingly impossible goals, Karkarus’ rule was that of an iron fist amongst his men; driving them from the front with an inspiration that was made of both fear and awe. As a result of the young general's abilities in motivating his troops for the worst combat zones, his father placed much trust in him to continue such a habit, and Karkarus' victories were indeed monumental - although at a heavy cost. To Karkarus, it was a simple affair when regarding his men: keep up or die. In the midst of a siege, even when stuck in one position, the general never permitted medical aid or retreat even in the most dire of circumstances, often he and his personal guard being the only ones to walk out of a battlefield alive.

But despite becoming Karantra’s favoured successor over the course of a decade and a half, and being one of the Salviants most feared generals both by foe and ally; even Karkarus and his father could not stop the Thunder Horde.

It was a brutal yet decisively quick war, the worst one the Salviants had faced in decades. Every battle devolved into an arena of death in which the two armies would throw themselves without restraint, the brood-borne servants of the Salviants and the ogre-men of the Imperium clashing in giant melees, the clamour of bodies punctuated by point-blank volleys of gunfire and uncaring artillery strikes. Often, it was a pyrrhic victory for the Thunder Horde, barely more than a few squads left after the killing. If it was not that it became mutual annihilation instead, each and every last member of the battlefield clawing at each others throats till their last breath in the mires of muck and viscera. Realistically though, these delays would never win the war, and the final battle, known in ancient archives as the Sacking of Vuruk-Cere, was the end of Karkarus’ life.

*“-Fighting through the heat-rays of invisible death, the Titans of Himilazia trudged ever deeper into the City of a Billion Spines, now expending the last remnants of a crumbling foe in the face of the Imperium’s retaliative nuclear strikes. Clashing amid the blasted out and blackened ruins of the hive-spires, and committing to cybernetic slaughterhouses beneath the surface of Vuruk-Cere, the Thunder Warriors were exterminating every trace of the Salviants of Destronos. One last foe stood defiant against their victory, the same Son-General of Karantra who had detonated his own city’s nuclonic stacks. Karkarus was to be both their greatest challenge, and their greatest triumph.”*

*- Excerpt from the Chronicles of Thunder, Chapter Nine: Titans of Himilazia*

Laid low by War-Captain Atlas of the Ninth Thunder Regiment, Karkarus was taken as a war trophy in a display of respect for the Son-General; entrapped within the mobile camp of the Thunder Horde before being subjected to the ministrations of the new Emperor’s gene-wrights. This time was confusing, delirious even with the forbidden technology Reiner used for the ability of hindsight.

Days passed seemingly in seconds and never ending spans of time, the sun, moon and stars bearing down on the exposed cage he was trapped in. Words were said to him by the giants who’d captured him, screamed and spat mostly, their articulation lost in the haze of festering wounds, dehydration and starvation that held him tightly at all times. Only two constants remained in this period of semi-consciousness, the first being his cage, the only sense of solidarity in a constantly morphing landscape, and the second the cryptic words of Atlas which danced around in his skull through the endless bodily trials of captivity.

Something changed though, and the ever-burning sun was replaced for the harshness of artificial lights and metallic, sterile surroundings. Clarity returned soon enough, yet the alien situation Karkarus found himself in only increased in mystery, Atlas' words still echoing in his head.

Tests both mental and physical were ran every day, strange supplements for food were the only fuel for every moment of wakefulness, and esoteric, invasive surgeries were a constant inevitability looming over Reiner’s head. He’d found through the combative tests that he was not alone in his confusion, for many others similar to his age were either already among the laboratories or joined it after his own arrival. For all their different origins, a few similarities were clear, all were warriors of significant ability, willful and enduring, and all were from the Auro Plateau.

Some were recognised as mortal enemies or distant allies, but now they were united in a new purpose. Stripped of their past cultural identities and biases with any infraction punished with death, the group now known as Delta Program soon found brotherhood between each other; their indoctrination into the Imperial cause solidifying their structure as an elite, and progressively evolving transhuman fighting unit.

Quickly, as each change was occurring to them in a biochemical and cerebral way, the nameless scientists were replaced by harsh tutors that held a different air to that which could be considered human. Bound with steely muscle that made them terrifyingly powerful individuals and an equally unbreakable will, their names were of Lieutenants and Captains, led by a singular thing known as Legion Master. Delta Program noted the absence of any soldiers belonging to these officers, but were soon told they were to be the army they would lead. It took a few years, accidents happened, metabolic factors collapsed, the bar set and the blade sweeping, but the worthy few emerged from the trials laid upon them; no longer recognisable as their past selves.

Amongst them was Karkarus, now Battle-Brother Reiner Karakus, an astartes that stood over the rest of his brethren in height, and soon achievement.

Their first muster as the Fourth Legion was at Sek-Amrak, a familiar place in name for most, and their first blooding was to be the last wrought on the Auro Plateau. Led by their Legion Master into the draught-wastes still untouched by the transformative constructions of the Imperium, the Fourth Legion marched for two days straight under the gaze of Sol, blazing above in anticipation for the fire they were about to unleash on the defiant fortress. Intelligence indicated that the occupants of the fortress were a conglomerate rather than a defined group whose origin was still unclear, for the resources of the Imperium were focused elsewhere in the myriad battles of the Unification Wars. Caring not of their reasoning even if known however, the Emperor decreed their punishment to be total extermination regardless.

Reaching the nameless, crumbling fortress, the astartes of the Fourth Legion began their assault in earnest; Reiner accompanying the vanguard which came under a fierce retort of the Imperium’s authority. Rained down upon by weapons of various natures and origins, the defender’s identity was revealed through their armaments to be that of the remnants of the plateau’s numerous Tek-Enclaves, the Salivants among them with a now crippled Karantra at their head. Determined to crack the recidivists whose numerical disadvantage was far eclipsed by the sheer lethality of their weapons, the Fourth Legion laid siege to the fortress for two weeks without rest; bringing in their first requisitions of heavy ordnance to shatter what remained of the ancient building. Though only a battle-brother at the time, Reiner’s mind, already honed by the teachings of his father in years past, proved to be a great asset beyond that of being another gun – giving ideas to the officers of the fourth after being granted the privilege of witnessing their councils.

*Reiner stood over the thing that lead the Recidivists, a being whose very existence was an affront to humanity. He coughed and spat, the mechanisms in his chest whirring with damaged clicks.*

*"Your false Emperor... will die.." Karantra wheezed, a burning spark appearing in his chest as black ichor oozed from his mouthpiece "As the rest of them have."*

*Somehow the creature felt familiar, and the scream of a lost woman echoed in Reiner's skull. Something buried deep within him reached out, touching his frontal cortex with a message of anger, of justice.*

*"Well? Spe-"*

*The monstrosity's helmet exploded.*

Though costly for their first triumph, a trend soon to be repeated throughout the Legion’s history, the fourth had been baptised by fire and prepared for what innumerable tasks laid ahead; Reiner’s new legacy secured by the slaying of his former father in the height of the battle. Additionally promoted to the rank of Sergeant for his initiative during the battle as well as his tactical contributions during the siege, Karakus was soon set upon the path of leadership once again.

### Ways of War

An incarnation of the ancient commanders of the Iron Warriors before they even bore that name, Reiner is a living weapon on the field of battle in more ways than just simple expression. First and foremost, Reiner understands deeply his responsibility to his men, knowing that to continue winning battles in the future it is practical to be away from the dangers of the front. However, this does not place him aboard the ship in orbit, but rather the command squad that follows the battle itself, and rarely has he ever shunned an attempted defence against those who would wish to kill him.

Routinely positioned less than a few kilometres from the frontline and often at a point of higher vantage, Reiner is a commander that prefers to be within arms reach of his men; readily available to step in if need be and deliberately encouraging the foe to perform some daring, idiotic action which exposes a weakness early in his campaigns. Additionally, this puts him into a position of absolute priority when it comes to the concerns of communication to his men, for knowing the terrors of the Unification Wars and their barbaric simplicity, Reiner is aware that the technology he and his brothers employ could become useless at any moment.

And so it from such positions that the Legion Master directs his legionnaires in the ways of war, pushing them forward in attrition campaigns that others would seldom employ, his men ready to die in suicidal frontal assaults be it to gain just another minute in which their commander can formulate just how to break the foe.

However, just like the mentors he had when he was still a new blood in the ranks of the fourth, he is not afraid to commit himself to the battle.

A living weapon in the thick of battle, Reiner is both the unstoppable force and the immovable object - his body having been so extensively upgraded and modified that even fatal wounds do not make him flinch. Like a battering ram, he advances with certainty in his steps, the foes who stand in his way broken down by not a furious barrage of deft swings, but a constant, unceasing assault of heavy handed blows that can shatter and buckle ceramite even without the aid of a power field. Some say the ogre-like strength of the Legion Master is due to the fact he ascended to the ranks of the astartes in a time when Terra was still not unified fully, the process of the gene-seed still one of raw, untamed power. Others say it is the drive behind the visage of his helmet, the will to endure suffering and crush his foes practically branded into his skull from the ministrations of his old teachers and the callouses of twelve thousand years of warfare.

Forming the structure of the sentences that his melee blows punctuate, Reiner's firepower is also far from silent during battle, be it against a foe two hundred metres away, or one that is less than two feet away. Unlike the swings of his fists or Subjugation, his guns are unceremonious in their incessant choirs of destruction, focused on the absolute annihilation of whatever is unfortunate enough to be on the other end. Many charges have ended in the face of Fire's Reign, shredded to pieces or burned alive, and many more defenders still sat within their walls have felt the shattering hailstorms unleashed from Unity or Death, their halls transformed into slaughter houses slick with gore and viscera.

#### Unity or Death

Never renamed even after the events of the Horus Heresy, this archaic Reaper Autocannon was gifted to Reiner by the Martian Mechanicus after he ascended to the rank of Legion Master. Able to switch the kind of ammunition it fires on command via the integrated link to Reiner's Auto-Senses, this fearsome weapon can siphon between armour piercing, incendiaries and other kinds of specialist ammunition; later being modified to be able to fire the explosive shell that Reiner himself redeveloped after millennia of non-existence due to its technical loss.

#### Fire's Reign

Though a largely unmodified Grenade Harness mounted upon Reiner's Armour that was added when he reached Captaincy, Fire's Reign is more feared for the ammunition which earned it its name. Though the Legion Master still used Frag Grenades from time to time, he eschewed this limited option for anti-personnel. Instead, Reiner often loaded his with a deadly array of personal favourites, from Flechette Clusters to Tear Gas Capsules, and most famously the molotov-like Promethium Canisters which razed hell inside enemy fortifications.

#### Subjugation

Taken from the ruined chassis of Reiner's personal Domitar-Ferrum Battle Automata known as Sunder, Subjugation is a power hammer of ridiculous calibre. Usually wielded by machines with no sense of self preservation or ability to feel the jarring impacts of its use, Subjugation has been modified by Reiner to incorporate a retractable haft; enabling its use either as a one handed or two handed weapon. Though Reiner most often uses it alongside Unity or Death in the opposite hand, his wrath is tenfold when he wields the terrifying power weapon with both hands.

### What Lies Without

*Archives Unavailable....*

-R