Darnik Atanis

*"We will fight where you wish my Lord but remember that though we war against those who would bring Humanity down, we are still wolves and when treated with disrespect, we are liable to show our fangs."*

## Origins

***Wolf in the Shadows***

Hidden from the world at large, the being that would become Darnik
Atanis, spent the early years of his life fighting to survive in the
slums of a Terran hive sat near the edge of the Panpacific Empire. Born
in the shadows beneath the earth of Terra he was spared from being
drafted to fight the enemies of the tyrant Narthan Dume. His life was
one of shadows and violence. To survive he would strike from the shadows
 of the hive to take what he needed to survive from those who were
unfortunate enouh to fall into his trap. Over time, more vagrants and
violent ne'er-do-wells drifted towards him and after he tired of beating
 them to leave him alone he had the idea to form a rag-tag clan. Over
time they cut out a slice of the hive for themselves, the hives rulers
distracted with the war on the world above.

Eventually, the staus
 quo had to break. The empire fell to the forces of the Emperor of
Mankind and his post-human Thunder Warrirors. Great changes fell across
the Empire. Churches torn down and burnt, the Imperial Truth taking
their place. The forces of the Emperor occupied the hives of the Empire
and brought order to the shadowed streets.

One day, Atanis's gang
 were set to ambush a passing group but when they sprang from their
positions they found a patrol of heavily armed and armoured soldiers.
Most were gunned down but Atanis and a few others were taken. Taken to a
 dark place far from their known world.

Years later Darnik Atanis
 emerged from the Gene-lab that had forged him into an Astartes. A
near-perfect killing machine. Transhuman warriors of the highest order,
trained and ready to bring the will of the Emperor to the stars.

***War in the Pack:***
Shortly after the
ascension to his new Trans-Human form, despite the fact that the process
 was still incomplete, Darnik was sent out on a training exercise into
the Wildlands of Terra. He and a number of his fellow scouts were tasked
 to go out and harry the supply lines of the Emperor's dwindling enemies
 in the remaining Techno-Barbarian states. It took almost a week to
reach their destination, having been forced to travel on foot across the
 inhospitable environment, a painful test of their endurance and
determination. Throughout this time Darnik, ever the ambitious sort,
pushed himself above and beyond the others to appear superior to his
fellow warriors. He was always ahead of the group, moving faster,
stealthier and further than his squadmates. However, he was not the only
 warrior with lofty ambitions for another scout, Kastor, felt the same
urge to rise above and so found himself in direct competition with
Darnik.

When they eventually arrived at their destination, Darnik
 and Kastor preceded the others by a few minutes. They held position in a
 small clutch of trees on a ridge overlooking a narrow natural passage
in order to recuperate their strength. Hiking in deep breaths, the two
locked eyes with one another and, in an instant, a week's worth of
frustration and resentment bubbled to the surface.

Almost in
unison, the two scouts dropped their weapons to the ground and barreled
into each other. They landed with a crash and both were knocked to the
ground with the force of their blows. Hammer strikes were leveled
against heads and blood flowed freely as the two tore at each other with
 abandon. For what felt like hours the two fought, oblivious to their
surroundings. The hard precision taught to these two Scouts was soon
forgotten and soon they fought with brutality as their only aid. The
contest seemed even until an unexpected sound in the distance broke
their vicious confrontation.

With hard drilled instinct, the two
 looked to the sound and ran to retrieve their hastily discarded weapons
 before making for cover. They dove behind a thick fallen boulder just
as a hail of gunfire erupted. A spray of solid shot erupted from the
distance and started to chip away at the edges of the cover they rested
against.

Bloody faced and angry at their contest being disrupted,
 the pair exchanged a brief look before springing from behind the rock,
returning fire with accuracy at their unseen attackers. Precise Bolter
fire filled the air and with every *Crack* of their weapons, another assailant dropped. However there were simply too many and they were running low on ammunition.

Darnik
 peaked his eyes around the cover behind him to see their foes
encircling them. With a sigh he passed Kastor his remaining clip and
drew his combat knife. Kastor grinned and rounded the corner, spitting
off rounds to draw the attention of the enemies whilst Darnik ran the
other way. Kastor moved from cover to cover, keeping his head low and
his muzzle hot. He quickly spent through his final clip before moving
onto Darnik's and finding it half spent already. With a grimace and a
spit he loaded the clip into his weapon and waited. And waited. However,
 the sounds of gunfire had died out replaced only with the screaming of
the wounded and the light knocking of loosed debris.

Kastor
leant out from cover to see a field of corpses, many of whom bore the
horrifying mark of Astartes War. However, a fresh ring of carrion had
formed around his new location, with two figures in its center. One was
tall, for a human, and wielded a long bladed and fierce looking knife in
 one hand whilst holding onto the head of the second. With a trained
motion the knife split open the throat of the kneeling man and the body
fell away, leaving the dismembered head in the taller man's grasp. The
now lone figure, whom Kastor recognized as Darnik, walked over to the
second Scout and threw the head towards him. He instinctively grabbed
for it and looked in distaste at the sightless eyes staring back at him.
 He realized a moment too late that he had been distracted. When he
looked up from the severed head, fear eternally locked in its eyes, he
caught only a glimpse of the stunning blow coming towards him. It
impacted with devastating force and Kastor was knocked to the ground,
breathless.. When he blinked away the blow he looked up to see Darnik,
blood smearing his smug grin. Behind him, on a small hill overlooking
the clearing stood a group of familiar looking warriors. The other
Scouts had finally arrived, a little too late for the battle but prompt
 enough to see Kastor knocked low.

Darnik and Kastor had a
troubled relationship after that, and were regularly kept apart.
However, upon their promotion to full Brothers, their exemplary
performance in training, both physically and tactically, saw them both
elevated to Sergeant. It seemed a new contest had just opened up for the
 two embittered Space Marines.

## Current Events

***Pacification of Luna***

The first mission of the Great Crusade was to secure the Gene-Labs of Luna, so the Emperor can use the adavnced Gene-tech to mass produce his Legions Astartes, the armies of Space Marines to conquer the galaxy in his name. Darnik, and squad Hellevore under his command, were part of the force sent to secure a beachhead. Upon arrival the squad distinguished themselves in the slughter of vast hordes of enemies and a collosal mutant behemoth. Darnik made a personal mark by engaging an intimidating mutant in single combat and by landing the brutal, but precise, final blow against the collossus.

Darnik and his companions, Squad Hellevore, were instrumental in the assault against the gene-labs and the Tetrach that commanded it. Darnik distinguished himself in this conflict by utilising his jump pack to take the head from the snake, incapacitating the Tetrach and removing and command over the gene hordes.

Having secured the labs, surpassing their assigned task and earning great honour from themselves, Squad Hellevore descended into the lowest level of the Luna compex as a pathfinding force. Having no idea how deep to go, the squad opt to go, once again, for the head. They descend to the lowest level of the base and encounter a bizare creature comprised from a micro-star used to power the complex. A lengthy battle ensued, in which Darnik was heavily wounded trying to buy his squad enough time to weaken and eventually defeat the creature.