Dolan Chirosius - The Apostate Cardinal: Only a few decades after the death of High Lord Goge Vandire and the ascension of Sebastian Thor to the Ecclesiarchal throne in the 36th Millennium, Cardinal Bucharis headed a diocese centred on the world of Gathalamor to the galactic southwest of Terra. Gathalamor was not a rich diocese, but Bucharis, driven by jealousy of his peers' achievements, vowed to build one of the largest temples to the Emperor's glory on his Cardinal World. After brutally enslaving the population of Gathalamor, Bucharis still needed more men and resources. Using an army of thugs and cut-throats, he conquered the nearby world of Rhanda. With access to the richer mines of that world, Bucharis' wealth grew. It was also in the Rhanda System that Bucharis joined forces with the Renegade Imperial Navy Admiral Sehalla and the commander of the 25th Rigellian Imperial Guard Regiment, Colonel Gasto. With Imperial Guardsmen and Imperial Navy warships at his disposal, Bucharis carved out a small pocket empire to the galactic west of Terra and within the next seven standard years, fifty star systems had fallen under his control.Bucharis' realm was cut off from much of the Imperium by a dense concentration of Warp Storms that raged at this time, and news of Sebastian Thor's ascension as Ecclesiarch and the reorganisation of the Adeptus Ministorum had not yet filtered through to that part of the galaxy. As Bucharis now controlled interstellar travel in his empire, he continued to suppress any information regarding the events on Terra that brought the Reign of Blood to its end. Using evidence from the time of Vandire he declared himself the true Mouth of the Emperor and the new head of the Adeptus Ministorum. To those who heard his elegant speeches, Terra was a lost cause and Gathalamor was the centre of the Imperial faith from then on. The Plague of Unbelief spread and Bucharis' teachings became the word of law. The worlds under Bucharis' control became intolerable places filled with looting gangs and power-hungry nobles. Neighbour fought against neighbour and families split over the spoils produced by this chaos.Those who rose to prominence amidst such turmoil caught the eye of Bucharis and were rewarded with more power. Companies of his Renegade Imperial Guard and Planetary Defence Forces were despatched to enforce order in the name of Bucharis, led by those fortunate enough to have Bucharis' favour. Those who served the Apostate Cardinal well were suitably rewarded and those who failed him were appropriately punished. In this way, Bucharis' dominion spread to the stellar north and west. Cautious of approaching too close to Terra until his power was total, Bucharis continued to enforce his conquest across his region of the galaxy.The northerly advance of Bucharis eventually brought him into the territories under the protection of the Space Wolves Chapter of Space Marines. Bucharis' arrogance would prove to be his undoing, for one of the star systems in his path contained the Death World of Fenris, the homeworld of the Space Wolves, who would ultimately blunt the further expansion of his pocket empire. Bucharis' ultimate undoing, however, would come from a different quarter.