Shattered Legions - Salamanders: Vulkan - Vulkan was the Primarch of the Salamanders Legion. He was an extraordinary craftsman and stout war leader. Vulkan was one of the few Loyalist Primarchs to survive the events of the Horus Heresy and the Great Scouring, though he would later disappear mysteriously.Cassian Vaughn, "The Fallen Master" - Cassian Vaughn, known also as Cassian Dracos and "the Fallen Master", was the first Lord Commander of the XVIII Legion from the time it was Founded on Terra during the Unification Wars until the discovery of the Primarch Vulkan on the world of Nocturne during the Great Crusade. Cassian was mortally wounded in battle against the Orks, but such was the esteem in which Vulkan held this warrior that he undertook to fashion for him a unique Dreadnought sarcophagus known as the Dracos Revenant, or the Iron Dragon. On Isstvan V he fought with unmatched fury, until he was struck by an orbital Lance strike that glassed an entire battlefield. When Xiaphas Jurr and the crew of the Ebon Drake arrived at Isstvan V a standard year later, they were to uncover the battered shell of the Dragon Revenant, far from intact but not yet willing to surrender to his final inevitable death. Called "The Twice-Dead" and the "Avatar of the Sacred Flames" by his brothers, Cassian Dracos returned to the battlefields of the Imperium to enact his vengeance, but he would not be as once he was. His time beneath the black, blood-soaked sands of Isstvan V had left him changed, fey and of unpredictable temper and able to exert a disturbing control over the creations of the Machine God and those bound to them.Artellus Numeon (Fire Ark & Charybdis) - Numeon was a Terran-born Salamanders officer who served as the First Captain of the Legion's elite 1st Company, known as the Firedrakes, during the last days of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. He also served as Equerry to the Primarch and commanded Vulkan's elite personal Honour Guard, the Pyre Guard. Numeon miraculously survived the Traitors' trap and eventually made his way off the scoured planet, to carry on the war against the Warmaster's Traitor Legions. Joining a group of Loyalist survivors led by one of Ferrus Manus' former bodyguards, Numeon was then recovered by the Salamanders' Strike Cruiser, Fire Ark. Fighting a guerrilla war against the forces of the Traitor Legions, the Loyalists around Artellus Numeon picked up the trail of a Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers and his quest for a terrible weapon, rumoured to be the Emperor's power made manifest, upon the world of Traoris. Numeon was unsuccessful in his attempt to retrieve this artefact, when he was betrayed by the Perpetual, known as John Grammaticus. Awakening in agony, he saw that both Grammaticus and the weapon were gone. Numeon managed to depart the planet and succeeded in re-joining the Fire Ark, only to be taken prisoner by another Word Bearers force embarked upon the Shadow Crusade. Fortunately for Numeon, the Word Bearer vessel was boarded by the Ultramarines of Sergeant Aeonid Thiel, and Numeon was liberated and escorted to Macragge, where he reuniting with the remnants of his shattered Legion and his fallen Primarch. Considered by many to be the rightful Legion Master of the XVIII Legion, Numeon -- secretly convinced that Vulkan was still alive or might be resurrected -- convinced Roboute Guilliman to let them depart upon the Charybdis, a Salamanders' vessel, in an attempt to break through the Ruinstorm and bring Vulkan's body back to Nocturne. After many trials and tribulations, the Numeon succeeded in his epic quest. Vulkan's body was taken to the sacred ground beneath Mount Deathfire. However, once the proper rites had been conducted, Vulkan didn't emerge from the fiery pit he was submerged in. Waiting for over a solar week, this turn of events sufficiently broke Numeon's spirit. As the next Time of Trials drew near, Numeon renounced his rank and position. Stripping off his Power Armour, he departed from his fellow Legionaries and stealthily wandered away into the burning ash wastes around Mount Deathfire, where he offered himself as a final sacrifice so that his father and Primarch could be restored.Rahz Obek, "Firebearer" (Chalice of Fire) - Rahz Obek was a senior officer of the Salamanders Legion, and a captain of one of the companies of the Firedrakes, the XVIII Legion's most dangerous and able warriors. Chosen to be left behind with a small garrison and a few voidships on Nocturne's moon, Prometheus, whilst the bulk of the XVIII Legion travelled to Isstvan V, Captain Obek struggled deeply with the task at hand. When the first rumours of Vulkan's death reached Nocturne, Obek and his men were overcome with grief and shame. The company became "the Unscarred", erasing the honour markings upon their armour, refusing to bear new honour scars and even abandoning their individual names as a sign of their shame. Some Firedrakes chose to join the expedition assembled on board the Ebon Drake, but many remained on Nocturne. When Artellus Numeon brought Vulkan's coffin back to Nocturne and isolated himself in meditation, Obek was approached by Forgefather T'kell to join him in his endeavours to fulfil the Primarch's final wish: to hide and safeguard the seven powerful artefacts the Forgefather had been able to save from the Primarch's personal vault. To make sure that these artefacts would never fall into the wrong hands, Vulkan had revealed the existence of a secret armoury, designated as "The Wrought". Obek took what was left of his group of veterans, a mere fifty-one warriors, on board the mighty Forge-ship Chalice of Fire, first of the artefacts and departed Nocturne, not knowing that he would never return. Upon reaching "The Wrought", the Salamanders found the location swarming with Mechanicum Skitarii and Servitors, which soon proved to be hostile. The enemy commander, none other than the treacherous Warmaster's own advisor, Regulus, had gained knowledge of "The Wrought" and now sought to obtain the precious artefacts and powerful weapons he suspected therein. After much fighting against Regulus' personal cadre of Sons of Horus Legionaries, and the tragic death of Forgefather T'kell, Captain Obek nevertheless accomplished his Primarch's wish, to safeguard the artefacts that had been saved by T'kell. Roughly ten thousand standard years after the events of the Horus Heresy, the drifting Chalice of Fire was recovered by the Salamanders Chapter, Captain Obek's maglocked armour still standing vigil over the heart of the Chalice of Fire, unbowed, unbroken and bearing the many wounds he had sustained in fulfilling Vulkan's last command.Chaplain Zau'ul "Firefather" (Chalice of Fire) - Zau'ul was a member of the Igniax, whose existence preceded the formal existence of a Reclusiam within the XVIII Legion. Zau'ul was also a member of the Unscarred, that company of Firedrakes that was ordered by Vulkan to remain behind on Prometheus as the rest of the Salamanders Legion travelled to Isstvan V. Chaplain Zau'ul suffered an existential crisis upon learning of the death of his gene-sire. Contrary to many within the Legion that maintained that Vulkan somehow yet lived, Zau'ul believed Vulkan to be truly dead. Artellus Numeon's failed attempt at bringing Vulkan back to life saw the last embers of his hope and faith die. Yet his mission as a Chaplain was to comfort those of his fellow Legionaries in need of spiritual guidance, so he kept his convictions secret. When Captain Obek and Forgefather T'kell called for one last voyage, Zau'ul gladly accepted the mission to escort the Forgefather and the sacred artefacts of Vulkan to their final resting place. Chaplain Zau'ul remained on board the Chalice of Fire during most of the fighting in the Khorion System, standing vigil over Vulkan's artefacts, distressed at not being able to help his brothers on the ground. During one of his vigils he made a fateful decision: to take one of Vulkan's sacred artefacts and use it against the enemy if necessary. When the deluded Kastigan Ulok tried to seize the Chalice of Fire and the artefacts it contained, Zau'ul faced Ulok's henchman, a former Raven Guard swordmaster who killed many of Zau'ul's Battle-Brothers and severely wounded the Chaplain himself. With his fading strength, Zau'ul made use of his artefact, the Song of Entropy, killing the former Raven Guard on the spot, thus safeguarding Vulkan's legacy before he died.Firedrake Terminator Sergeant Gor'og Krask "Wyvern"(Chalice of Fire) - Member of the Unscarred, Squad Sergeant of Captain Obek's onlyTerminator Squad.Firedrake Sergeant Zandu "Firefist"(Chalice of Fire)- Member of the Unscarred and Captain Obek's second-in-command. Slain defending the Chalice of Fire.Firedrake Vexillary Ak'nun Xen "Flamesmote"(Chalice of Fire) - Like his name indicates,Ak'nun Xen was a member of the Unscarred, the company of elite-warrior Vulkan had ordered to protect the Legion's homeworld in his absence. As Vexillary of the entire company, Ak'nun Xen was a member of Captain Obek's inner circle, yet the two warriors did not get along well. Xen's fighting skills, were second only to those of Captain Obek himself, and yet instead of becoming Company Champion or Captain himself, the Primarch had made Xen a Vexillary. Xen's ambition had always been to one day join the Pyre Guard, the Primarch's inner circle. On him, the Legion's values of brotherhood and humility had been lost. Yet this changed with the fighting on Khorion XII. When Captain Obek was captured by the enemy, and the Salamanders mounted a rescue mission, it was Xen that saved his captain's life as they were fighting in "The Wrought", almost losing his in return. Reaping a fearful tally of dead with his twin weapons, Drakos, a serrated spatha, and Ignus, a falchion Power Sword Xen had forged himself in the fires of Dragonspire Mountains, Xen gained much honour that day, but the death of so many of his brothers finally awoke his humility. For the long vigil Captain Obek held on board the Chalice of Fire, he had no sturdier ally than Ak'nun Xen.Phaestus Var'kir (Charybdis) - Phaestus Var'kir was a member of the Igniax, the formation that preceded the Reclusiam inside the Salamanders Legion and one of the first pupils of the great Nomus Rhy'tan. Sole Chaplain amongst the warriors of the Pyre, Phaestus Var'kir would stand countless vigils over his Primarch's dead body on Macragge after the events of the Death of Vulkan. Embarking upon the Charbydis with his fellow Salamanders, Var'kir, lacking Artellus Numeon's conviction that their Primarch could be reborn, provided counsel but very little guidance, having lost his faith. Most notoriously, he tried to convince Numeon to abandon his fruitless quest of reviving the Primarch, claiming that the notions of rebirth of the Promethean Creed were only spiritual, and could not manifest as true. It would only be after facing the horrors of the Neverborn and seeing his brothers' nascent faith in their task that Var'kir would revise his judgement. Through his mastery of the art of divination, Var'kir would succeed with Epistolary Ushamann to guide the Charbydis and reach Nocturne. But fate being a fickle mistress, this was not to be, as Var'kir would never tread the soil of his home world again. As the Charbydis approached their final destination, they were attacked by both the Death Guard and the Word Bearers. The courageous Chaplain decided to remain aboard the doomed ship and defend the bridge, while Numeon and the surviving Battle-Brothers of the Pyre covertly brought Vulkan's casket planetside.Ushamann (Charybdis) - Member of the Pyre, the fellowship of warriors on board the Charybdis on their dangerous voyage back to Nocturne during the dark days of the Horus Heresy. Epistolary Ushamann was a telepath of great skill which had served the XVIII Legion before the Edicts of Nikaea. Ushamann had been a student of the reputed Ra'stan whose training techniques focused on abstention and denial of power. Reinstated into the Librarius after the Dropsite Massacre, Ushamann would struggle to re-use his power, but would however prove of paramount importance, not only in battle but also in plotting the Charybdis’ course. After the death of the Charybdis’ Navigator, Ushamann -- working in concert with Chaplain Var'kir -- would take the Charybdis to Nocturne, an act he would pay with his life, but a sacrifice he was all the more willing to make in order for his lord Vulkan to be restored.Nomus Rhy'tan, "The Voice of Fire" - During the Great Crusade era, the direct promulgation of the doctrines of the Primarch Vulkan, influenced by the teachings and culture of his adopted world of Nocturne, were already being distributed by the "Voices of Fire" -- a body of chosen Legionaries of which Nomus Rhy'tan was one. Many of these Astartes went on to become the Legion's first generation of Chaplains, and Rhy'tan, already highly regarded as a confidante of his Primarch and a renowned orator and instructor, became senior among them by popular assent of his peers. Before departing for Isstvan V, the Primarch bade the Lord Chaplain to remain behind at Prometheus with the Legion's Neophytes and instructors as regent in his stead, and with a heavy heart Rhy'tan obeyed, and in doing so was destined to survive, the future of his Legion in his hands.Xiaphas Jurr, "The Prophet of Fire" - Xiaphas Jurr was a member of the Igniax, the formation that preceded the Reclusiam inside the Salamanders Legion. He was trained as a Chaplain by the great Nomus Rhy'tan in the final years of the Horus Heresy, never seeing battle as part of the Emperor's Great Crusade. Reckoned amongst the most promising of the officer-recruits who remained on Nocturne in the wake of the muster in the Isstvan System. He was later chosen by Nomus Rhy'tan to lade the mission to investigate the Primarch's fate. It was Chaplain Jurr's fervour which drew the dispirited men under his command to him, in the wake of the rumours of the catastrophic events that played out at Isstvan V, and bound them to him in the dark odyssey that followed.Umojen - Lord Umojen was the Salamanders' Chief Librarian during the later part of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. Umojen had to disband the Legion's Librarium in accordance with the Edicts of Nikaea. Umojen was not present on Isstvan to witness the Dropsite Massacre, but events situated him on Terra prior to the Siege of the Imperial Palace. His mission there as well as his ultimate fate remain unknown.Atesh Tarsa (Sisypheum) - An Apothecary of the Salamanders Legion, 24th Company, who miraculously survived the Dropsite Massacre. Following this disaster, Tarsa led other Salamanders survivors to the Iron Hands vessel Sisypheum, and joined its disparate crew of fellow Loyalist survivors, to continue engaging the forces of the Traitor Legions in a guerrilla campaign."Saurian"(Obstinate) - This unidentified Apothecary of the XVIII Legion was encountered by Captain Obek and Forgefather T'Kell on board of the Obstinate, a vessel of the Shattered Legions. Saurian was a survivor of the horrendous Drop Site Massacre and long believed himself to be the sole living gene-son of Vulkan still alive in the galaxy. To encounter a full demi-company of his kin in a backwater system like Khorion XII came as a shock to him. True to his oath as an Apothecary, Saurian cared well for his wounded brothers, his medical skills saving the lives of several of Captain Obek's Firedrakes while they were his new master's prisoners. Most importantly, perhaps, Saurian kept Forgefather T'Kell alive after he had shot himself to burn out the scrap-code infection that was making him turn on his brothers. Saurian had no love for the commander of the Obstinate, Iron Father Kastigan Ulok, for he had turned to the proscribed knowledge of the Keys of Hel to turn its crew into undead cybernetic automata. With the sole remaining living Iron Hands Legionary onboard and the reawakened T'Kell, Saurian chose to betray Ulok by shutting down the blasphemous machinery at the heart of the Obstinate. Though he died in the fight that ensued, Saurian had made sure that the wounded Salamanders could all be retrieved by the Chalice of Fire before the Obstinate, and the monsters it carried, were destroyed.Heka'tan - Heka'tan was a former Captain of the Salamanders Legion. He was present during the Drop Site Massacre on Isstvan V, making a heroic last stand in the Urgall Depression, where the bloodiest of the fighting raged between the Loyalists and the Traitors. He somehow survived the nuclear fire of the Iron Warriors' fierce missile barrage that obliterated a good portion of his Legion. He was dragged away by a fellow battle-brother to an awaiting Stormbird, and miraculously escaped the surface of the ravaged planet. Heka'tan later joined another fellow Loyalist, Arcadese of the Ultramarines, a fellow 'forgotten son' who had been revived from a Sus-an-induced coma, far from the battlefields of the Heresy. The two continued their duty to the Imperium, despite the insanity that was occurring throughout the galaxy. Acting as the Imperium's ambassadors, the two Legionaries arrived on the world of Bastion, which had remained neutral thus far in the civil war, in order to instigate diplomatic negotiations in order to court their support for the Loyalist cause. But their mission didn't go as planned, as they uncovered a Traitor plot and foil an attempted assassination attempt on the Warmaster's own ambassador, Vorkellen, in order to implicate the Imperium in underhanded dealings. To ensure their forced compliance, a lone Iron Warriors Legionary conducts sabotage beneath the planet's capital city, planting several powerful nuclear bombs to detonate beneath the planet's crust -- a consequence for going against the Warmaster's wishes and courting the Imperium. After the assassination attempt failed, the bombs detonated, and began to tear the planet apart. Heka'tan and Arcadese hunt down and kill the Lacrymole assassin, then move to secure the surviving dignitaries to Vorkellen's ship. When the landing pad collapses, Heka'tan sacrifices himself to save the enemy ambassador. As the ship flies safely away, Arcades swears to avenge the fallen Salamander's death.Khi'dem (Veritas Ferrum) - Khi'dem was a Sergeant in the Salamanders Legion's 139th Company, who miraculously escaped the Dropsite Massacre, leading fellow survivors of all three Loyalists Legions aboard the Thunderhawk gunships, Cindara and Hammerblow. Both vessels were picked up by the Iron Hands' vessel Veritas Ferrum in low orbit, after Khi'dem convinced Iron Hands Captain Durun Atticus of the 111th Clan-Company, of their identity. Khi'Dem would later take part in the boarding action on the Emperor's Children's Battle Barge Callidora. When the Veritas Ferrum landed upon the Death World of Pythos, he later came into conflict with Captain Atticus when civilians who landed upon the inhospitable world were being slaughtered by large saurian beasts. The Salamander refused to stand by and watch innocents being killed and began to fight off the beasts. During the final battle, Khi'dem was killed by a giant saurian while buying time for Atticus to escape.Karo Nar'Shak - Legionary Nar'Shak was one of the few Loyalist Astartes known to have escaped the Drop Site Massacre aboard the Salamanders Thunderhawk Ohidoran, and participated in the seizing of the Night Lords vessel Warlock before that voidcraft left the Isstvan System under heavy fire. The arrival of the Warlock and its cargo of Legiones Astartes at Agathon, having evaded capture and destruction for nine solar months, was near miraculous. Nar'Shak served as a part of Battlegroup "Revenant." This ad-hoc Loyalist Company of surviving Legiones Astartes was known to have conducted a series of pin-point orbital assaults on key Cyclothrathe Dark Mechanicum installations on Numinal, successfully disrupting the unity of the Dark Mechanicum forces. Legionary Nar'Shak's ultimate fate following the Horus Heresy is unknown. 	 	<a href="https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/a/a7/Forgefather_T%27kell.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20161115112642" class="image"><img alt="Forgefather T&#39;kell" src="https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/a/a7/Forgefather_T%27kell.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20161115112642" decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="250" height="189" class="thumbimage" data-image-name="Forgefather T&#39;kell.jpg" data-image-key="Forgefather_T%27kell.jpg" data-relevant="1" data-src="https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/a/a7/Forgefather_T%27kell.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20161115112642" /></a> 	 		 			 		 		 		 			Forgefather T'kell battles the traitorous Sons of Horus 		 	 T'kell (Chalice of Fire) - Legendary Techmarine and Master of the Forge of the Salamanders, T'kell built the Vault beneath Mount Deathfire where the ashes of fallen Salamanders are immolated in lava upon the Pyre-slab, their essence returned to the heart of Nocturne. T'kell built the Vault under the watchful eyes of Vulkan himself. Prior to Vulkan's departure to Isstvan III, T'kell was given the honour of becoming the first Forgefather. Fearing what havoc the weapons he had forged might cause if they fell into the wrong hands, the Primarch ordered T'kell to destroy all of the relics that were stored in the Primarch's Great Vault. T'kell pleaded with his Primarch to leave some legacy behind, to which Vulkan eventually agreed. Vulkan gave T'kell the privilege to choose seven of the relics that he would leave to his Legion -- one for each of the ancestral realms of Nocturne. Yet with this gift came also a terrible burden: to see to the destruction of the remaining artefacts. Furthermore, Vulkan tasked T'kell with a separate mission, to hide the remaining seven relics in a secret armoury of the XVIII Legion known as The Wrought, which Vulkan himself had established in the Boron XIII System somewhere during the Great Crusade. Without advising Lord Chaplain Nomus Rhy'tan of his intent, T'kell left Prometheus at the head of the Prometheus garrison onboard the Chalice of Fire, the first relic he had chosen to safeguard. However, upon their arrival in the Boron XIII System, the Salamanders discovered that the enemy had located The Wrought, preventing the Forgefather from accomplishing his mission. Worse yet, the detachment's military commander, Captain Obek, had been captured by the Sons of Horus while conducting a reconnaissance mission. As part of the same mission, T'kell himself narrowly escaped capture but had his mechanical parts infected by an unknown form of malignant scrap-code that hid deep within his augmetics. When the rescue mission mounted to free Captain Obek succeeded in opening The Wrought, the scrap-code took control of T'kell, forcing him to open the gates to the Sons of Horus and their Dark Mechanicum allies. In a desperate attempt to save his brothers, T'kell took his own Plasma Pistol to his head and shot, burning out the augmented part of his brain and falling into a deep Sus-an coma. The venerable Forgefather awoke several solar weeks later to a situation that was much changed. He was on board the Obstinate, a vessel belonging to the Shattered Legions whose master had resolved to obtain the forbidden knowledge of the Keys of Hel and the dark science of cybernetic resurrection to transform his fallen warriors into undead revenants. The Salamanders and the Shattered Legions had allied to track down the enemy commander, the Mechanicum Adept Regulus. But upon learning of the true nature of the Chalice of Fire's cargo, Kastigan Ulock of the Shattered Legions decided to seize the Chalice of Fire and the powerful artefacts it contained. Moved by the motives of one of Ulock's few remaining living Battle-Brothers, T'kell sabotaged the dark machinery at the heart of the Obstinate before trying to escape. However, T'kell's escape was thwarted by the undead minions of Ulock, who captured T'kell as he was going to board a gunship and leave the Obstinate. Refusing to help the deluded Iron Hand, T'kell ordered the Chalice of Fire to destroy the Obstinate while he was still on board.Grenn - Once, Ancient Grenn was Consul-Centurion Shar'rac Grenn of the Realm of Epithemus, well respected in the Salamanders Legion for his devotion both to duty and the teachings of Vulkan. The honour markings on his kneepads and the embossed seal of Nocturne on his Dreadnought chestplate recalled the glories of his long career, which culminated in the brutal fighting on Isstvan V from which he barely escaped, alongside a handful of his brethren. It was on Dominica Minor that the tattered survivors, known as the Cadre Sulphaeon, heard rumours of Vulkan's death and the total destruction of their Legion, and when the dread fleet of Mortarion appeared in orbit of their refuge, they pledged to die in its defence rather than flee before their gene-father's murderers. Grenn's ultimate fate is unknown.