Selwyn Jaeger

## Character

### Title(s)

Lord Kalga, The Pale Rider, The Barren Prince, The Scarred Lazarean, The Pale Father, The Insipid Father

### Aliases

Ze-Ze (By Haldora Voyu(Daughter)), Lord Ravima'lákh (By the Legio Seraphim), Imperial Lord Prince (By most Imperials),

### Language(s)

High Argothic, Multiple Low Argothic Languages, Multiple Xenos Languages

### Beliefs/Worships

The Rittean Remembrance Sagas,The Stellaris Divinatum

## Physical Description

### Weight

1130 (Unarmored)2500 (Armored)

**Drotti** **Selwyn Jaeger** (pronounced DROH-tee SELL-win YAY-ger), also known as the **"Pale Rider"**, the **"Barren Prince"**, the **"Scarred Lazarean"**, the **"Pale Father"**, the **"Pale Dragon"**, the or simply as the **"Insipid Father"** after he took control of his Legion, Is one of the 20 Demi-God Luminarchs created by the God Emperor of Man.

Lord and master of the VIIIth Legion, the Scythes of Lazarus, Selwyn is a grimly cold and calculating man with an even grimmer outlook on life, relying upon resilience and relentless attacking as the only true way to victory, he is a master at wars of attrition. Imbued with an intense disdain for not just those innately psionic in nature, but also an undying hatred for the Necromechanical Xenos of the Destroyers, due to the vile acts committed by the oppressive Necro-Overlords of his home planet upon the populous.

## History

### A Poisoned Cradle

Ritter-0A4, a Death World, and the largest of the Seven Tyberian moons orbiting the poison wreathed gas titan Tyberous, a world orbiting near its scarlet dimmed sun deep in the territories of the southern Proxima Obscurus. The Tyberian Moons are characteristically marred with a thick, miasmic set of atmospheres heavy with toxic chemicals due to their proximity to the poisonous titan. The most virulent of these gases often rose through the perpetual cloudscape of the moons towards the heat of their star, making the realms beneath a dismal place of shade-light, unbroken by nearby starlight and with short, shadowy days.

The Death Moon of Ritter is one of the only truly hospitable Tyberian moons, but with an atmosphere breathable by humans existing only in the lowest of planetary elevations, upon flat moors and in the deep forest-choked valley basins of the jagged, stony mountains which spined the moon. It'd be expected that, due to the catastrophic onset of the Long Dark that split humanities golden empire - the horrific environmental conditions of the Tyberian moons from which Humanity had already been forced to eke out an already abysmal sense of survival, quickly reduced what was left of the original Rittean colonies to a pre-feudal state.

The once industrial population of the world had been split into three groups: the controlling warlords; inhuman necromancers with terrible Void-derived psionic abilities, the Iron-Eros Skorval Militant, a group of Human warriors brought under innumerable banners in reaction to the necromancers, and the Human settlers, who had long been trapped on the planet millennia before and were now forced to eke out an existence of subsistence farming in the poison-free valleys of the moon, fearing the wrath of both the Overlords along with their foul creations, and the totalitarian armies of the Eros Skorval coming to enact on their 'Pale Levies' - wherein they took what they wanted from the struggling settlements.

### Youth

Long ago, When the twenty Luminarchs of the Imperial Legions were scattered across the galaxy in a mysterious accident, and metaphysically implanted into mortal mothers, one would come to be born on the largest moon of the planet Tyberous, Ritter-0A4, a moon wreathed in deadly fogs where the most advanced technology was that of primitive diesel power.

Much of Selwyn's early life has been either unevenly or sparsely documented, though it is of great debate whether the Young Luminarch was born to his Matriarchal Family as other Luminarchs had been, or would be later adopted by a second.

But what is known, is that the young Selwyn would be raised by a home-stead family residing in one of the moons many sparsely laid settlements, raised as the youngest son in a family of 8 Daughters. Selwyn would be sired well by Ignata Jaeger, a Farm-maiden and Zoculen Jaeger an aspiring Steward of antiquity, attempting to regain as much lost knowledge as he could. Zoculen, and Ignata would both teach their young son, who early in his life had shown to have a highly keen intellect and voracious appetite for knowledge; and from them Selwyn learned everything from crop placement, to battle doctrine and ancient art, harvest dates to arcane secrets and tradition, from hand-tailored artifice to battle-line stratagem and stories of mythological lore.

Selwyn like the rest of his Luminarchal Brethren had not just been a sponge for information, but would grow at an elapsed rate. And soon at the age of 8 standard Terran years Selwyn would prove able to fulfill all the obligations and more of the adult laborers, and farm hands. And He soon came to understand the ramshackle Rittean mining and farming technology with an intuitive ease that allowed him to begin to modify it with his extraordinary technical acumen, dramatically increasing its severely declining efficiency. At the age of 16 Selwyn now long since fully grown, had already increased the efficiency of his people to a degree that only those who didn't help the settlement would go hungry. Soon later, before the Terran standard age of 20, Selwyn would gain the title of *'Drotti'*, a derivative title hailing from an Ancient Rittean Agricultural Myth.

So effective had his rule been, that under Selwyn's leadership the settlement would prosper, walls would be constructed to protect the farmers and their livestock. And through organized manpower - redirected and filtered rivers brought pure water and bolstered crop development. Soon migrating pilgrims would settle in the area, fleeing from the encroaching pinch nooses of both the Overlords, and the Eros Skorval. These destitute' would be welcomed by Selwyn, and given lodging and food as long as they could aid in supporting the area in which they now resided. The once debilitated settlement that was destined to rot into oblivion like the hundreds before it had prospered and evolved into a growing hub, its people happy and protected from the ravenous beasts that once tormented their ancestors.

### The Garrauw Tragedy

With his settlement prospering, Selwyn believed it was the duty of the newly strengthened to bring their cousin settlements to the same level of prosperity. To this goal, Selwyn along with his most trusted retinues would begin to routinely embark to other settlements bringing hearty food, and clean water along with the means to begin to produce their own. But all wouldn't be right in the world for the now unprotected settlement, as Forces belonging to an Overlord housed deep within a nearby mountain had been growing in response to the growth of the settlement. Feeling the growing concentration of souls in the centralized area, The Overlords readied a cruel response. With there forces waiting in the deadly mists as Selwyn left once-more on one of his humanitarian missions.

The slaughter had been intense and terrible, and even with the forces of armored guards left garrisoned upon the walls of the settlement, men of arms that had once been trained by Selwyn himself to defend the settlements walls, the vile hordes still marched on. Their undead mass held loosely together by metallic bound sinews.

But the uncountable horde had not been without ally, for they were supplemented by Eros Skorval thrall-bound - corrupted with lies of strength and armed in their now otherworldly armor empowered by things too wretched to name - who would beat against the gates until a terrible breach had been made. The Valiant men and women who fought that day had cut into the desecrated flesh and bone of the enemy. But whenever a member of the Gaunt horde would fall, mere moments later in a flash of Psionic Green light they'd be returned back to the carnage.

Eventually under the continuously renewed siege the defenders had begun to buckle - with the final strike of the blade coming in the form of the Overlord - Gaunt, spindly and many limbed, its tattered black cowl and robe’s billowing in the poison mists as it took to the field.

With Psychic flame the Overlord sundered the settlement, It's ever-shifting scythe tore through the armored forms of the defenders, silver metal blackening as hearts blood stained the armament. And with the deaths of heroes martyred - one by one the Overlord made its way to the settlements defensive bunkers, structures wherein the civilian population had been hiding. And with strike after strike the reinforced metal had begun to be horribly rended open, terrible scraping could be heard throughout with each strike punctuated by the cruel Laughter of the Overlord. Until the final defense of the settlement too, had failed its inhabitants. And the Laughter of thirsting monsters could be heard amongst the screams.

Met with vile Void-Fire, the Overlord burned its prey to cinders. And only when the final screams were silenced by the ashes would it depart, moving on to the 2nd as it repeated its cruel operation. Tearing into the steel walls its scythe shrieking with each strike, until like the first its terrified prize would be discovered, and in a cruel blast of Void Fire the screams would've been silenced once more. Until in a flash its form disappeared from the sight of the harrowed eyes.

It seemed the cruel dagger of fate smiled upon the men and women of the settlement for the Drottinn and his retinue had barely been a few miles from the Settlement Territories before they turned back due to a miscalculation in their supplies. It can be gleamed by historical Rittean Remembrances that once close enough to the settlement, some odd 10 miles, that he ordered silence from all who followed him, and as such they complied. The Drottinn stood their transfixed in an almost daze like state, until the most trusted of his confidants Khoron Zurroathe questioned him on his actions. It was only then, that in a show of speed impossible for mortal warriors, and even those of the Imperial Legions to replicate, that he charged back to his home.

And once returned, it was in the fire of his wrath that he tore through the Horde. Reaching the Overlord before he could immolate the terrified survivors of the second bunker completely. Selwyn tore into the beast with a fervent rage never before seen by his people, his sword slicing into the giants form, Its Steel edge blackened by the burning blood of its enemy, and from there he began to battle the beast. His retinue had finally returned following after their Lord, and they too tore into their hated enemy protecting their still surviving people and giving relief to the haggard defenders, this showing of valor emboldened the spirits of those warriors still heavy in the fight, the name of their Lord, and praises of honor heavy on their lips.

Selwyn kept up his wrath, moving faster and faster with each bladestroke, his speed and agility contradicting his size. Void Fire beamed from his eyes, like a Legend of antiquity the Demi-god battled the Monstrous Sorcerer. Clashing over and over, Selwyn only slowed his strikes to give orders to his warriors, telling them to evacuate their people. But the Overlord wouldn't be deterred by the Drottinn's fury, their battle moved throughout the settlement. Its Taunting Laughter ringing through the entrenched valley.

Until with a strike of its mighty Scythe the Overlord sent Selwyn flying into a building. His form broke through its patchwork walls, and with a laughing shriek the Overlord readied its hands once more - sparking a funnel of terrible Void Fire - and scorching the building down. The intense searing heat of the eldritch fire scorched the left side of Selwyn's form, a wound that even centuries later hasn't healed.

The Pale Prince arose once more, bleeding and scorched but standing. He readied his sword, prepared for another bout. And in the flames did the Beings clash once more, Selwyn's sight impaired by his wounds, but the blurred sight of the fiends Grinning Maw filled him with ever renewable hatred. He tore into its cloaked form, the bite of Artificed Rittean steel making the Necromechanical form of the Overlord bleed thrice over once more. Until Selwyn finally heard it. His genehanced ears picking up the faint cries of a child against the roaring flames. He turned to see the crib, the hellish flames inching closer ready to consume the infant. The Overlord saw it too, and with a cruel smile the monstrosity moved to the crib with glaring speed ready to bring its scythe unto bear upon the child.

Selwyn, with preternatural speed he moved his body into the arch of the blade, the scythe piercing through his chest, lacerating and burning. Its Psionic edge searing into his flesh. The Drottinn, exploiting the lessened range - launched his sword deep into the chest of his enemy, pulling upward into an arc that freed the foul ones head from its shoulders in a crackling execution. And with the death of their Overlord the Scrambling Horde was without a synaptic leader, and would be routed by the surviving warriors.

These valiant survivors, in their victory cries would witness their Lord emerge from the dying empyrean Flames, looted Scythe and Infant in hand, his chest split open and bleeding, until he collapsed.

Buckling over, Selwyn had to use the ever shifting armament to catch himself. His wounds hadn't been healing like they should, but he kneeled triumphant.

### The Archo Lazarean

Selwyn would be determined to have died by his people, along with the child he tried to save. And in a mournful Rittean burial procession they laid their Lord and their dead to rest within a tomb in the outskirts of the settlement. And for 6 days and nights the survivors wept for the passing of their Lord as they tried to rebuild. Until on the 7th day a terrible storm reached their settlement, and for another 6 days and nights the storm raged.

Until on the final 14th day when the sun finally rose after the storm dissipated, he was seen. Selwyn was there, the burial wrappings of his entombment wreathed upon his barren and scarred body and left to flow aimlessly in the poisoned winds of Ritter. But under them his perfect form was seen by all, and even with the newly acquired scars of the conflict Selwyn stood there renewed and invigored. His skin had been without blight, his pale eyes pools of placid gray with the metamorphic blade that took his life in hand, along with the orphan child he saved during the Overlords siege.

He stood shimmering in the pale light of the Rittean dawn, and there he was sentinel as he peered over the cooing infant girl in his hand. And for hours he stood there in the dawn light acknowledging those few who passed him, until the child finally fell asleep in his arms. Only then did he move, embarking to the largest building in the settlement - for in the 14 days of Selwyn's death it had been made into a makeshift hospital, therein the few surviving wounded had been housed.

Selwyn would bring healing to those wounded survivors of the battle, using herbs that had grown thick in the area surrounding his burial tomb to create an aid that healed even the worst of wounds. And to those even he couldn't aid, he would bring a final peace. For hours he toiled in the hospice - A Lazarus in a house of dying.

### Pilgrimage of The Rittean Wastes

There had been nothing left for them, the settlement was cleaved of most of its life, the fields burned, and farm animals slaughtered. Many of the settlements people were killed in the onslaught and even more died from disease after the fact. So in leaving from the village that had once been their home, and heading for the Rittean valleys Selwyn took the final few survivors with him, less than a 50 battle ready men and women, along with less than two hundred farming folk. And together they broke through the poisonous mists and pale forests, rebreathers filtering the absolute worst of Ritters atmos.

The Pilgrims discovered that the Overlords had made prey of many other villages. And worst, many of the Necromechanical hordes and monstrous beasts were in fact the same species as them, they had once been human but through the Overlords Psyonic Biotransferance they had become scramblers and gorgons of the Hordes. And worst yet the Eros Skorval - the order that promised to protect their people with the deal of the Pale Levies - had rather left the depleted peoples to defend themselves against the encroaching hordes, or worse - those valiant few who kept their promises of defense would be corrupted by the Overlords and made into beasts, their armor becoming living coffins. They would swear to deliver their people from these ruthless duel oppression.

The people of Ritter, for no true fault of there own were slow to accept these gaunt strangers arrayed in armors and banners hailing from lands far from their home, but Selwyn and his Retinue had been given a chance to prove their worth when creatures enthralled to another Overlord attacked the village. Seeing that the peasants were unable to effectively fight back, These armored Warriors joined the deadly fray - Selwyn, now wielding the massive morphing blade as his own made short work of the much weaker horde of flesh beasts. The attacking Overlord gave its cruel smile when Selwyn advanced upon him and withdrew to the apparent safety of the deadly mists, only to be pursued and butchered by the inhumanly resilient Luminarch.

Accepted into the village without much further reservation, The Retinue began to train the villagers in all they could. And soon, representatives from other villages journeyed to learn from Selwyn and his pilgrims - and soon the villages scattered across the valleys of the world were transformed into strongholds. But the most trusted of Selwyn's retinue would travel from settlement to settlement, teaching, building and raising militias to defend their people.

But conflicts would be had elsewhere, for these strengthened strongholds would no longer forfeit their Levies to the oppressors of the Eros Skorval. Enraged by this, the Eros Skorval would attack those who denied them their prize, and in retaliation the Villages fought back. These conflicts would swiftly become pitched battles as even more villagers gained the strength to defend themselves, and soon the Eros Skorval could no longer support itself, disintegrating under the pressure. These '**Freeblades**' would either become assimilated by the villages they once oppressed becoming '**Penitents of The Daravek,**' or simply the **'Daravek Penitents,'** some few became roving marauders - living short bloody lives within the valleys and low cliffs, whilst others soon came under the cruel employ of the Overlords - often to be made into something *far* less than human.

Selwyn, ever the pragmatist, began to recruit the physically toughest, and most resilient would-be warriors found in the villages he encountered, forming them into small to medium unit militias that trained under his primary supervision. He would enlist the aid of blacksmiths, craftsmen and artificers to create suits of armor and weaponry that would allow the men to travel through the poisonous fog even further, and to battle what was met there. As each battle in the mists was fought, Selwyn and his growing *'Scythes of Lazarus'* would learn how to better adapt the armor, and themselves, to reach the more poisonous heights of their world's moon.

Eventually, only one peak denied the army access, the one on which the Moon's final Overlord had made its home.

### Coming of the Stellar Imperium

Despite the danger of the ruthless necromancer and the ultimate peril of the ascent of the mountain, Selwyn still felt reluctant to call off the planned attack but on the advice of Khoron Zurroathe, who warned his Lord that the Scythes had not yet been ready to face the High Overlord even with their new suits of armor. He and his army returned to the newly built settlement that stood as a stronghold against the mountain, Selwyn and his command retinue had their moods darkened when it was found out their people talking not of their victories achieved on their pilgrimage but of the arrival of a benevolent stranger who promised salvation to the people of Ritter.

Finding this stranger in conference with the village elders, Selwyn claimed that his people needed no outside help. The large stranger who stood even taller than Selwyn commented that even He and his Scythes were having trouble pacifying the final Overlord, and offered a challenge. If Selwyn could defeat the High Overlord, the stranger would leave. If not, Selwyn would have to swear fealty to the stranger and the Stellar Imperium he represented.

Ignoring the protests of the Scythes, Selwyn left alone to confront his final enemy, motivated by an innate compulsion to prove himself to the large stranger below. The confrontation was brief. The air surrounding the High Overlord's fortress was so poisonous and toxic that even the reinforced parts of Selwyn's armor began to rot and waste away.

He almost collapsed at the gates of the Overlord's citadel, bellowing challenges to the Overlord. Selwyn limping and weary stood to challenge the beast. The final thing Selwyn saw at the edge of his mind before he almost blacked out into unconsciousness was the final Overlord of Ritter-0A4 coming to kill him and mocking him for his weakness and failure. The Overlord readied his weapon to take the Demi-Gods head, but was stopped by a screaming clash of war-claws. Selwyn bore witness to the stranger from the foot of the mountain, now clad in his full wargear. He barked an indiscernible order to Selwyn, and swiftly the Luminarch stood to his feet.

The two battled the High Overlord together, almost instinctively moving together as their combined bladewind synced to deadly effect. The stranger's curved sword cleaving deep into their shared enemy, with his violent talons dismembering the multi limbed spider-serpent form of the beast. Selwyn followed the larger man's lead, where he carved away at limbs, Selwyn pierced deep into its midsection impaling deep into vital areas. Until with a final arching slash of his war scythe he took the head of the High Overlord. His final enemy of his world was brought down dead, Selwyn looking to the stranger finally collapsed under the poison inhaled during his ascent, his energy spent in the battle.

When he finally recovered, Selwyn swore fealty to the stranger as he had promised, due to his failure to defeat the final Overlord of his world by himself, the stranger would reveal himself to have been Selwyn's Brother, the Luminarch of the Scarlet Lions Imperial Legion; Za'mana Mu-Damik. The man granted Selwyn command of the VIIIth Imperial Marine Legion, then known as the Twilight Harbingers, who quickly adopted the name, iconography and dogma of Selwyn's Lazarean Scythes.

### Legion Unity

True to his oath, Selwyn would bend the knee to his new-found Brother as soon as he was sufficiently recovered to do so, although his final act of defiance on Ritter-0A4 would leave physical scars upon him that could never fully heal. A skilled warlord in his own right, Selwyn was immediately given command of the VIII Legion of Angelus which carried his genetic inheritance, and did so on his own terms.

Gathering them before him, a grim and spectral figure robed and bearing the great black war scythe that had once belonged to his first nightmarish enemy, it must have seemed to the Terran-born sons of the Pale Rider that an ancient, graven image of the Grim Reaper had come before them as their new-found father and master. His words were simple and delivered in a creeping harsh whisper that nevertheless carried to each and every one:

> *"You are my unburdened blades. My Scythes. By your hand shall the universes justice be delivered, and the doom we will bring shall stalk a thousand worlds harboring the enemies of man."*
>
>

The Legion's name was then changed in accordance with this decree, and Selwyn's words were engraved above the airlock door of the Throne Ship; *The Pale Scythe* in honor of that moment. By this simple decree the Twilight Harbingers were no more, and the records and annals from that day forward would carry this new name as one to strike fear into the hearts of Mankind's enemies.

The VIII Legion's Marines had been primarily Terran-born before Selwyn took the helm of the Legion; after that time almost all of the Legion's Initiates were drawn from the Feral World of Ritter-0A4. This changed the culture and traditions of the Legion somewhat drastically, so much so that by the beginning of the Armageddon Wars, there had been increasing tensions between the Ritter-born Angelus and the Veteran Terran minority who remained in the Legion and who remembered the Twilight Harbingers' earlier martial traditions brought out of Old Terra.

## Personalty

Selwyn, like most Rittean Natives has a grim outlook on life, but as such has a heightened reliance and respect for Familial bonds and ties and due to this he is also highly driven in purpose. He believes that for humanity to be truly free of oppression and terror that the total extermination of mankind's enemies has to be done without mercy no matter the cost. Often believing the Ends to fully justify the means of bringing about this goal, much to the chagrin of his brethren.

He also has an intense disdain for not just those innately psionic in nature (though he is willing to accept the Imperial Psiots of the Legions and his own Brethren), but also an undying hatred for the Necromechanical Xenos of the Destroyers, due to the vile acts committed by the oppressive Necro-Overlords of his home planet upon the populous.

He is cold and calculating, but unlike the aloof razor-like coldness of Viscardi Ingram, Selwyn does not possess the emotionalism and pettiness of his brother.

The *'Drottinn'* is often viewed as an outcast and a freak by Imperial Scholars when comparing him to the Radiance of his fellow Luminarchs, but that is farthest from the truth. However aloof Selwyn seemed when brought before the public eye, behind closed doors Selwyn was known to be a most trusted confidant of many of his brethren.

He believes that resilience and relentless attacking is the only true way to victory, and is a master at wars of attrition.

## Wargear

* **The Animus Anathame/Decimatus:' *A weapon of truly ancient mystery, the ever-shifting spear of Selwyn has gone by many names. To the Remembrancers of the Great Crusade, it is called ‘*Decimatus**, a dark legend carried during the Age of the Long Dark where it passed through the hands of warlords and tyrants. But to the Lazarean Scythes of Ritter it has always been The ‘*Anathame*’ -- the Scythe of the Pale Rider -- taken in battle as a blood-brought prize of victory. Ultimately, Decimatus is a metamorphic weapon, capable of shifting its shape to meet the needs of its Master - often taking the form of a Master Crafted twin-sided Power Glaive, a thing of terror and blood against which no armor can stand as the Weapons sliver-white blade inexplicably darkens as it kills, first to the deep red of heart's blood, and then to a fathomless, glittering black.

* **Resurrections End:** An ancient archeotech Krak-Light pistol, salvaged and retrofitted by Selwyn, its origin is shrouded in mystery.

* **The Lazerian Ward:** Selwyns war panoply is of his own design, drawing cosmetically little from standard Imperial patterns. Yet by fusing ancient Power Armor technology upon his own lore, he has rendered the esoteric functionality of Ritter-0A4 in adamantine and carbonite. Its systems would be near continuously overhauled due to the damage inflicted through exposure to rad-weaponry, the Luminarchs physiology proving more resilient than his own wargear against such baleful energies.

* **The Valthunite Harness:** Selwyn, for all the destruction he wrought in battle with the use of his and his Legions Wargear, was a man of balance and rebirth. As such the Valthunite Harnesses of the VIIIth, named after an ancient Agrarian God, an Archeotech Agri-Generation Tool of truly Arcane function whose Schematics were found upon Ritter itself, are capable of generating a miasma of Agrokinetic vapors around its bearer - these vapors are capable of reverting an Irradiated Battlefield -Even those sundered by Compound-P- into a verdant grassland, often in the same moment.

* **Extraplanetary Life Support Systems:** Due to the atmosphere of the Tyberian moons forcing mankind to specifically evolve to adapt to their specific atmospheric conditions, Selwyns armor, similarly to most native Ritteans, is designed not only to protect him in battle but augment the local atmos for his own singular physiology and environmental needs, synthesizing trace elements of Rittean atmospheric vapors to mix with the air he breathes, in a sustained effort to ever adapt to local atmospheric properties. Though, as the Drottinn *is* a Luminarch it should be noted that his preternatural physiology should be more than capable of surviving the most harshest of conditions, it is believed his choice of War-Gear is one of either nostalgia or solidarity with Rittean natives, rather than pure efficiency or necessity.