Luthael Balthsarian

Armorial of the Dark Angels.

**Luthael Balthsarian** is a Primaris Hellblaster of the Dark Angels Chapter serving the Long Vigil with the Deathwatch. Luthael is a proud Dark Angel and wears his one pauldron of his chapter’s colours with pride but he serves the Long Vigil out of a need to repent for a past sin. He harbours an inferno of hatred within his hearts for the Aeldari, for they were the ones who orchestrated the moment his greatest shame.

He acts as heavy fire support in battle, unleashing the power of his master-crafted Plasma Incinerator into any enemy that dares face him but he always carries a plasma pistol by his side, one that he aquired after a traitor marine wearing black armour dropped it but was allowed to keep by his company commander as Luthael had been vital in the takedown of that mysterious marine in black (Luthael does not know who they were at the time and cares not, all he cares about is where he can aim his Plasma Incinerator). Despite his specialisation as Hellblaster, he is still an expert swordsman and will happily engage his foe in close combat with the power sword he inherited from his fallen brother

## History

Luthael was once a boy recruited by the dark angels chapter from the planet of Saxonius back in the 31st Millennium. He was the son of Saxonius's grand chronicler, he still holds one of the first copies of his Father's Magnum Opus to this day, and he was a squire for a year. Shortly after he had become nine the Dark Angels arrived on the world and choose Luthael as one of the first recruits to be taken from Saxonius and as the first Balthsarian to become an Astartes but he would not see active combat until the 41st millennium as he was instead taken by Belisarius Cawl to mars where he was forged into a Primaris Marine and kept in storage until the Lord Regent Roboute Guilliman returned to Terra after 10,000 years of sleep. From then on he had served with distinction in the Indomitus Crusade, fighting alongside brothers from other lineages until the Unnumbered sons were sent to their chapters.

Luthael, now a lieutenant of the Unnumbered Sons, was sent to serve with the Dark Angels chapter and took up the role of lieutenant of the 3rd Company and often found himself serving alongside his brothers of the Deathwing. He is not a member of the Dark Angels inner circle but his skills were used to capture many fallen, being inducted into the Primaris Inner Circle that had formed before the Dark Angels officially welcomed the Primaris Marines into their Inner Circle but he never became a part of said inner circle. During a battle with the Aeldari of Craftworld Beil-tan, Luthael's Plasma incinerator misfired and destroyed his brother lieutenant; a sin that still haunts Luthael to this day. This accident was caused by an Aeldari farseer who used her power to fire Luthael’s weapon into his brother so she could escape but Luthael has blamed himself and only himself for failing to resist the Aeldari witch’s manipulation of his weapon’s machine spirit.

He stepped down as a Lieutenant and joined the Long Vigil of the deathwatch, swearing to spill the blood of 1 million Aeldari souls by his own hands to pay for the life of the brother that the Aeldari Farseer caused him to take. As of now, he is far from completing this task but even if the task is beyond futile he will see it done no matter the cost. He now serves as a plasma weapons specialist in the Deathwatch, using his expertise and the connection formed with his weapon’s machine spirit to unleash hell upon the Xenos scum; seeking to quench his thirst for Aeldari Blood. Until he completes his goal, he will not return to his chapter without being absolved of his sins either through death or returning to The Rock covered in the blood of a million Aeldari. He has taken the blade of the brother he killed and swore to drive it into the heart of the Aeldari Witch who made Luthael kill his brother.

## Appearance

Luthael wears his hair shortly cut and has a short beard. His face holds many scars which include a burn mark upon his left check inflicted by the witch-fire from a Aeldari witch and a long gash across the right side of his face, inflicted upon him by the power sword of a Heretic Astartes. Outside of his armour his build is fairly standard for marines of his lineage and would be hard to discern in a crowd of similarly dressed Astartes. He also possesses 3 silver service studs above his left eye, next to a large scar upon the left side of his forehead; one inflicted by a lucky shot from an Ork Gretchin, ever since that embarrassment he has always worn a helmet in battle without failure and it has been a moment to laugh at for his brothers of the Deathwatch.

## Personality

Luthael often puts on a stern and emotionless face, often acting distant from those outside of battle but respectful and encouraging. To those he's well aquantied with he acts more like a wise old man without the majority of the wisdom. But for those he has become more comfortable with he is more open, more like the Luthael Balthsarian before his great sin. But when he’s in the middle of battle, he acts like a child again; roaring war cries and seemingly enjoying the slaughter, sharing laughter with his allies in the heat of battle. Many a brother have said that Luthael in battle is a better companion than Luthael outside of battle. Despite the amount of overcharged shots he fires, he is far from reckless as he knows his Plasma Incinerator and Plasma Pistol better than any other hellblaster knows theirs both thanks to his experience from the Indomitus Crusade and as a part of the Dark Angels Chapter.

It must also be stated that Luthael retains many memories from his life before he was taken to become a Space Marine; he does not know how or why he retains them, but he can only assume that either his mind-wipe during psycho-indoctrination went wrong somehow or his retention of his memory was an intentional action of Cawl.

However his overzealous use of plasma weaponry and his battle thirst has caused him to cause unnecessary damage whilst in battle. The most infamous example of his recklessness with Plasma weaponry in battle was the incident when he was dispatched to capture a ship overrun with Genestealer cultists, he ended up destroying the entire ship's bridge with an overloaded plasma cannon he 'recovered' off the corpse of a fallen brother of his squad; said mission's parameters were for 'minimal damage'. It must be stated that he possesses Kleptomaniacal tendencies when it comes to plasma weapons, recovering any Plasma weapons dropped by fallen brothers or taking plasma weapons off the corpses of traitor Astartes. Though most are gifted back to the Armouries, some have been put on display by Luthael but many more have been destroyed recklessly.

But this stoic façade is broken when another uses his past sin to insult him, revealing the raging anger of a man who hates himself for a single lapse, but it is also made manifest when he sees Aeldari of Craftworld Biel-Tan. It is not often that Luthael's anger is spurred but whenever it is, the subject of said anger will often suffer under a barrage of angry words or the hellfire of his Plasma Weapons.

It is also clear that he hates the Aeldari above all Xenos, taking pleasure in killing Aeldari when in battle and taunting them whenever he can but such hatred often clouds his mind as Luthael has killed many non-combatant Aeldari, many Aeldari children have been slain by his hands and he revels in it for he makes them feel a pain comparable to his, and non-astartes allies have been caught in the crossfire of his enraged plasma barrages. His blinding hatred for the Aeldari has caused Luthael to stray from some missions so that he may slaughter as many of their number as possible, thought this has its benefits he has ended up compromising several missions. Though various reprimands have made him control his rage more as of late, he has still let his rage out upon his foes when pushed enough.

Despite being a Hellblaster, he enjoys getting into thick of battle with his power sword and slicing his foes apart whenever the situation calls for it. He has also made a habit of collecting any spirit stones he can from fallen Aeldari, reveling in the fact that he is denying the Aeldari their sacred artefacts but he does not fully realise why said spirit stones are so important to them, all he knows is that the stones are precious to the Aeldari.

It must also be noted that he views the black of the Deathwatch as symbol of his need to repent, which was why upon his initiation into the deathwatch he painted his Master-Crafted Plasma Incinerator the same colour as his armour for it is the very weapon that killed his brother and for it to return to his chapter colours, it must give itself a new coat of paint from the blood of the Aeldari Luthael has sworn to kill.

## Abilites and Traits

Luthael knows his plasma weapons well, if the need ever arises he can use any hand-held plasma weapon if his own fails. He has also figured out how to force plasma containment field failures to turn plasma canisters or weapons into plasma grenades, he always views this as a last resort as it denies him ammo and/or a weapon, he will still pick up spare plasma weapons just to use them as either as back up weapons or as improvised plasma grenades. This is why he never carries any grenades because he can readily jerry-rig them.

Despite being a Hellblaster, he is still an adept swordsman who prefers to observe and adapt to his foe. If given enough time he can adapt his strategy to his foe which makes him dangerous against more predicable foes but leaves him open to those who are expert at breaking the guard of their foes. His experience against the Aeldari has made him adept at fighting swifter and more elegant foes but this has had the side effect of making him overestimate slower foes

## Wargear

* ***Modififed Mark X Tacticus Power Armour***: His armour has been modified to increase the amount of plasma canisters he can carry for his plasma weapons and his back has a scabbard to it so he can sheave his power blade behind him, leaving more room on his belt for Plasma Canisters and ammo. His helmet has been fitted with a kill tracker so he can keep count of the Aeldari he kills and it has also been fitted with a more advanced targetting system to aid him in aiming shots at the limits of his range.
* ***An Angel's Wrath***: A Master-crafted Plasma incinerator he was gifted for his service during the Indomitus crusade. Luthael painted it black alongside his armour, as a sign of his shame for it took the life of his Brother Lieutenant and if he is ever absolved of his sins, he will paint it red again alongside painting his armour with the green of Caliban or it shall be painted red when another's hands wield it.
* ***Contrition's Lantern***: An ancient plasma pistol he was gifted for his aid in the capture of a fallen, it's machine spirit will only co-operate with an individual who seeks to repent for a past sin.
* ***A Brother's Vengeance***: A Power Sword from the brother his death caused, decorated with chains covered in the Aeldari Spirit stones he as stolen as an insult to the Aeldari.

## Quotes

### By Luthael Balthsarian

"*My hands are stained by the blood of our brother, my hands shall be washed with the blood of the xenos who damned me, my hands shall be the ones to choke the life of the Aeldari witch who used me as a tool to kill our brother. I shall see my duty done or I shall die to see myself absolved.*"
— Luthael to his brothers before he leaves his chapter to serve the Deathwatch.