Sholen Skara - History: Sholen Skara was a notorious Magister of the Chaotic forces during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade who expressed his depravity in individual, vile ways, and commanded utter allegiance from the Chaos Cult troopers known as the Kith who served him. One of the Imperial Crusade's first encounters with Skara occurred in 760.M41 upon the world of Sverren. This world had been in Imperial hands since 758.M41 but it was overrun by the Chaotic forces after Archon Nadzybar himself launched a fierce and bloody counter-assault against the Crusade. This time the fighting was primarily focused on the tropical Southern Continent. Two years previously, the Imperial Guard's General Bulledin had faced the forces of the Archenemy, and though the previous land war on Sverren had hardly produced a glorious outcome for the servants of the Emperor, he soon found himself charged with the command of the Imperial forces in the second Sverren campaign. Bulledin was charged with denying the enemy an advantage and to hold Sverren's key fuel depots until Imperial relief forces could reach him.Determined not to repeat the mistakes of his earlier difficulties in the Sverren theatre, Bulledin vowed not to let the planet bedevil him twice. His determination proved pivotal in preserving the morale of the Imperial ground forces. By the time Bulledin's armies had been reached by the relief convoys, it was determined that they had been resisting the troops of both Magister Skara, commanding his atrocious Kith, and the hosts of Archon Nadzybar himself. The Archenemy forces were soon driven back to the jungle-walled cities of the Southern Continent, where they stood firm in the face of strong Imperial resistance. Skara and the Archon began a retreat after 16 months of intense fighting, for the forces of the Archenemy on Sverrin were broken, and they fell into disarray, the momentum of their counter-strike spent. Both Skara and the Archon Nadzybar pulled their forces off-world and retreated to their primary base located on the world of Balhaut. Had a less determined man than General Bulledin been in command of the Sverren holding forces, or if Bulledin had possessed a true appreciation of the forces arrayed against him, it is likely that Sverren would have been lost by midwinter 760.M41.In 765.M41, in preparation for a massive Chaotic assault on the world of Fabia, Archon Nadzybar brought his forces to Balhaut for a brief period of rearming and resupply. By that time, Balhaut had been under the control of Magister Skara for several years. Unbeknownst to the Archon, he had been expertly manoeuvred into committing a gross mistake, as the Warmaster Slaydo had spread rumours and hearsay amongst the Imperial fleet, suspecting correctly that it had been infiltrated by Chaotic agents. This ensured that the Archon's warhost was catastrophically surprised when the Imperial Crusade unexpectedly concentrated its full force against Balhaut before the Forces of Chaos were prepared to meet them. By hour 44 of the assault, intense ground fighting had ignited on the Western Plains as well as at Balopolis where General Currell's forces found themselves engaging Magister Skara and his so-called Kith. Curell was severely injured soon after hour 48, and forced to withdraw from the fighting.Inevitably, the Imperial forces made their way towards the dark heart of the capital city of Balopolis, to the Archon's fortress which was known as the Oligarchy. After assaulting it for nine days, Warmaster Slaydo finally confronted Archon Nadzybar in single combat, which resulted in both their deaths. The Imperials had won an important victory. As for the forces of the Archenemy, most of the Archon's brutal Magisters perished during the vicious fighting on Balhaut, though there were some lamentable exceptions. During the confusion at Balopolis, Sholen Skara and a large contingent of his Kith followers succeeded in escaping from the fires of Balhaut.Skara's fate at Balhaut remained unknown for several years following Nadzybar's death. In the aftermath of the fighting, as the Imperial forces secured their occupation, the legacy of the murderous Magisters was revealed. Skara's murder-camps on the Balopolis Peninsula contained hideous evidence of the genocide the Kith had wrought on the population of Balhaut, perhaps for no other reason than the pursuit of their own twisted entertainment. Imperial personnel who witnessed these discoveries were plagued by terrible mental distress and even insanity. Still others, most notably Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt were driven on in a relentless obsession to destroy the perpetrators of these atrocities forever.