Thunder Warriors - Notable Thunder Warriors: Arik Taranis, the "Lightning Bearer" - Arik Taranis was a Thunder Warrior whose name was famous throughout the Imperium and could awe even a modern Astartes with its historic resonance. There is not a Space Marine amongst the entirety of the Adeptus Astartes that does not know the name of Arik Taranis; the historic battles he helped to win, the foes he slew and the great honours he earned fighting in the Emperor's legions during the Unification Wars. Arik Taranis was history wrought into living form: the Victor of Gaduaré, the Last Rider, the Butcher of Scandia, the Throne-slayer -- these and a hundred other battle-honours earned by this warrior were scattered throughout the histories written about the foundation of the Imperium. All these tales culminated in the end of Taranis' life atop a once-flooded mountain during the final battle of the Unification Wars. Taranis was given the title "Lightning Bearer" in the aftermath of the Battle of Mount Ararat in the Kingdom of Urartu. The Imperial chronicles record that he died, succumbing to the damage caused by his wounds once he fulfilled the singular honour of raising the Emperor's Banner of Lightning at the final declaration of planetary Unity for Terra. Taranis and his Battle-Brothers had all been slain in this final battle of the great conflict, dying to win the last and greatest victory for the Emperor and establish his new Imperium of Man. The truth, however, was very different, for Arik Taranis survived the Battle of Mount Ararat, and also knew that the Emperor had founded his Imperium by betraying the men who had fought so ferociously for him. Amazingly, Taranis bore no ill-will towards his creator for his monstrous betrayal, for he understood better than anyone that the Thunder Warriors were merely a means to an end. He and all his kind had been cast aside by the Emperor in favour of the Legiones Astartes gene-template for the good of Humanity. Arik Taranis was one of only a very small number of Thunder Warriors who managed to escape the cull. Yet Taranis had learned what he could from his creator in the years of the Unification Wars, and came to master much of the ancient science of genetics that the Emperor had used to create the Thunder Warriors. Unfortunately, Taranis did not possess enough knowledge to halt his own deterioration, but just enough to desperately cling to life as a crime lord in Terra's Petitioner's City long enough to one day play a final role in the history of the Imperium during the Horus Heresy.Ghota - Ghota was a Thunder Warrior who served during the Unification Wars and also somehow managed to survive the Cull alongside his former commander, Arik Taranis. Ghota continued to faithfully serve as Arik Taranis' lieutenant after he had taken over the Petitioner's City on Terra and become the feared crimelord known as Babu Dhakal. Ghota enforced the will of his master and the Dhakal Clan crime syndicate upon the Petitioner's City. Despite coming across as being somewhat of a simpleton and unintelligent, Ghota was fully aware of his and his brother's failing physical condition and understood what was needed of him to achieve prolonged life like his genetic successors, the Astartes. Ghota normally carried a huge Thunder Hammer into battle, and was more than a match for most Space Marines in one-on-one combat.Skand - Skand was the first Thunder Warrior to fall in battle during the Unification Wars. His name was etched into the shrine of The Comet.Dahren Heruk - Heruk was one of the few Thunder Warriors to survive into the era of the Horus Heresy. He was a veteran of the Unification Wars campaigns for Arat, Hy Brasil, Urhs, and Albia. Heruk had banded together with several other survivors of the Thunder Legion to fight in illegal gladiatorial combats in the Outer Palace region of the Imperial Palace complex on Terra. Heruk intervened during the Solar War when Alpha Legion Heretic Astartes infiltrators and their allied Chaos Cultists were attempting to carry out acts of subversion to prepare the throneworld for the coming invasion of Horus and the Siege of Terra. Heruk discovered a Possessed Alpha Legionary leading a group of eight cultists in a sacrificial ritual in the catacombs beneath the Outer Palace. Heruk aided one of the Legio Custodes in killing the group, though he was mortally wounded in the combat and asked the Custodian, Tagiomalchian, an Ephroi, to grant him an "Honoured Death," which he received. Heruk suffered, like many of the surviving Thunder Warriors of this period, from constantly reliving his past moments of military glory during the Unification Wars. These visions began to occur at all times, interfering with the Thunder Warriors' ability to differentiate reality from memory.Kabe - Kabe was one of the few Thunder Warriors to survive into the era of the Horus Heresy. He had banded together with several other survivors of the Thunder Legion to fight in illegal gladiatorial combats in the Outer Palace region of the Imperial Palace complex on Terra. Kabe had fought in many of the battles of the Unification Wars, including against the Kievan Rus at the Sibir ice plain at Urhs, against the Hoth Grendal clans at Albia, and at the siege of Abyssna. However, he proved unable to defeat a chrono-gladiator and was mortally wounded. His opponent was slain by another Thunder Warrior, Dahren Heruk, who jumped down into the gladiatorial pit and gave Kabe an "Honoured Death" by stabbing him in the heart.Gairok - Gairok was one of the few Thunder Warriors to survive into the era of the Horus Heresy. He had banded together with several other survivors of the Thunder Legion to fight in illegal gladiatorial combats in the Outer Palace region of the Imperial Palace complex on Terra. Gairok eventually succumbed to the madness claiming all the Thunder Warriors in which he was unable to distinguish between the present and the memories of his past in battle. He was killed in a bar in a run-down portion of the Outer Palace known as "the Swathe" by Dahren Heruk after he became lost in one of his memories and began to slay all of the other patrons, and could not be roused back to the present.Vezulah Vult - Vult was one of the few Thunder Warriors to survive into the era of the Horus Heresy. He had banded together with several other survivors of the Thunder Legion to fight in illegal gladiatorial combats in the Outer Palace region of the Imperial Palace complex on Terra. Gairok had fought at the battle at Abyssna during the Unification Wars, where he had ordered his unit of Thunder Warriors to charge into the fray and take the northern tower of the enemy's fortifications alongside the Legio Custodes. Vult was attacked in the catacombs beneath the Swathe in the Outer Palace district by a Possessed Alpha Legion infiltrator and his cell of Chaos Cultists. He was tracked down by his partner and former comrade in the Thunder Legion Dahren Heruk who thought that he had also succumbed to the madness of the aging Thunder Warriors when he attacked and mortally wounded Tarrigata, the blind old man who had owned the Thunder Warriors gladiatorial lutus. When Heruk found him, Vult was already dying and made clear in his final moments that he had not fallen prey to the madness after all -- the real culprits were the servants of Chaos.Ushotan -  Ushotan was the primarch or commander of the IV Legion of Thunder Warriors, who were known as the "Iron Lords" and were specialists in siege warfare. He had been chosen for the position due to his superlative command skills and was genetically no different from his fellow warriors. Despite the biological and psychologiacal instabilities that all the Thunder Warriors displayed, Ushotan was considered a superlative combatant and general by most within the Imperium's military, gaining the respect of even the likes of Captain-General Constantin Valdor of the Legio Custodes. He displayed the savagery and dark humour typical of many of the Thunder Warriors, most notably during the Battle of Maulland Sen. After the massacre and what Ushotan and his brethren viewed as the betrayal of the Thunder Warriors at Mount Ararat, he and other survivors of the Thunder Legion went into hiding. They later emerged to aid Grand Provost Marshal Uwoma Kandawire during the Imperial Palace Coup near the end of the Unification Wars out of a desire for revenge against the Emperor and in the hope of being granted an honorable death in battle rather than from their own rapid metabolic decline or growing insanity. During the coup, Ushotan personally battled Constantin Valdor of the Legio Custodes and for a time managed to hold his own against the Chief Custodian. However, in the end Ushotan was struck down by the preternatural skills of Valdor. Yet, as he lay dying, Ushotan remarked that he pitied the captain-general, for while Ushotan had lived only a short life, he nonetheless had lived as a true Human, had truly lived, even if only for a short time, while Valdor was devoid of all emotions or Human desires save for his need to carry out his duty since he had been genetically-engineered almost since birth. Valdor fully agreed with Ushotan's assessment before executing him to end the dying warrior's agony.