Therion Cohort - Notable Therion Cohort Personnel: Caesari Valentinus Valerius - Valentinus Valerius was a proud member of the Valerius family, the planetary rulers of Therion and the youngest caesari to have ever been elected. Father to both Marcus and Antonius Valerius, Valentinus was only in his late fifties when the Warmaster Horus turned against the Imperium. Short of build and fair of hair, Valentinus was a competent and beloved leader, a former praefactor of the Therion Cohort and an experienced officer. Valentinus had fought in a great many battles of the Great Crusade, both alongside the Raven Guard and the Emperor of Mankind Himself. These battles had however left their mark on him -- he had lost one leg, half of his hand and one of his ears to the enemy, all of which required augmetic replacement. Wishing nothing more than to return to the battlefield, the pressing matters of ruling Therion and the insistence of his wife kept him from waging war alongside his sons.Sub-Caesari Marcus Valerius - Oldest son of Therion's ruling caesari, Marcus Valerius was, however, not the caesari's first child, yet as first male and eventual heir to the title of caesari, Marcus always had to follow in his father's footsteps. As Valentinus Valerius before him, Marcus would lead the planet's most honoured regiment, the Therion Cohort, to fight amongst the stars and in the Emperor's name. Drilled and prepared for this task since birth, Marcus Valerius was directly promoted to commanding officer of the Therion Cohort with the grade of a praefactor of the Imperial Army. Although it is unclear when this change of leadership occurred, Marcus saw much action alongside the Raven Guard Legion until the dire events which have since entered history known as the Drop Site Massacre. Although Imperial Army units would take to the black sands of Isstvan V and Valerius and his Therions volunteered to do so, the primarch of the XIXth Legion flatly refused -- in a war between Astartes, his argument went, a mere mortal Human would simply be swept aside. Ordered to remain on Deliverance, the Raven Guard's headquarters moon orbiting their homeworld, the Therion Cohort would rest, reequip and wait for news of what everybody expected to be a swift Imperial victory. As the solar weeks extended into months, Marcus Valerius began to be plagued by dreadful and recurring nightmares. The images these nightmares carried with them were all laden with impending doom -- a burning horizon and a blood-covered raven brought low. The recurring nature of these dreams which for a lack of a better word seemed prophetic bore heavy on Marcus' mind. Unable to stand it any longer, Marcus entrusted his visions to his manservant, Pelon, a man of trust who was oath bound to keep his master's secrets at all costs. Valerius then took his doubts to Commander Branne, the commanding officer of the garrison company of the Raven Guard that Corvus Corax had ordered to remain on Deliverance as a precautionary measure. Infuriated by what he considered was Marcus' lack of faith in the Emperor's finest warriors, Commander Branne refused to take any action or even join the punitive expedition over astropathic choir to confirm the Raven Guard's current status. Yet, the dreams still continued to visit Marcus Valerius each and every night, and still no news of the expected victory came down through the communication channels. Confronting Commander Branne with his dreams, Marcus narrowly missed being executed for witchcraft, but his words had awoken Branne's own doubts. Still the Raven Guard warrior refused to go against his primarch's order. Instead, Branne used his full authority as Regent of Deliverance to get the Therion Cohort and Valerius to stay put. However the situation could not last. With still no news of the XIXth Legion's fate, Marcus Valerius single-handedly decided that the Therion Cohort should mobilise. If  Branne would not move to aid his primarch, the Therion would. At the last possible moment, after a tense stand-off where Branne threatened to blast the cohort's ships from Deliverance's sky if they did not heed his words, Marcus Valerius took to the vox and convinced Branne to join them. He would take full and sole responsibility for the violation of their orders and would resign from his command if his actions proved unnecessary. However, as events came to pass, Marcus Valerius' prophetic dreams were correct. Far from winning the battle against Horus and the three Legions he had gathered around him, the Raven Guard, Iron Hands and Salamanders Legions had been betrayed by their brothers and almost completely annihilated in the Drop Site Massacre. The remaining Raven Guard, now numbering less than 3,000 warriors, were being mercilessly hunted down by the World Eaters, and had been prolonging their dire fate for nearly ninety solar days, but their time was measured. Commander Branne and Praefactor Marcus Valerius arrived just in the nick of time to extract the Raven Guard, who were gathered for a final, if ultimately futile, last stand against Angron's blood-maddened hordes. As the Therion Cohort's supporting aircraft held back the World Eaters, Legion Thunderhawks and Storm Eagles extracted the primarch and the rest of the survivors, but to reach the planet unheralded Marcus had to sacrifice his entire flotilla in a diversionary attack on Isstvan III. None of the Therions survived except for Marcus Valerius and his manservant Pelon, who Commander Branne had ordered transferred to his own battle barge, the Avenger. Resolved to continue the fight, Marcus Valerius would travel back to Therion and raise a new, augmented Therion Cohort which he would then command throughout the rest of the Horus Heresy.Praefactor Antonius Valerius - Second son of Valentinus Valerius and younger brother of Marcus Valerius, Antonius Valerius was an important figure within the Therion Cohort. Taller than his father and his brother, Antonius' face radiated confidence, an ability that had not been diminished by the gunshot wound that crossed his right cheek. Ascending to the rank of praefactor of the Therion Cohort following his brother's nomination as vice-caesari of Therion under their father, Antonius proved to be a sound tactician and a good warrior, quickly becoming a figure of inspiration for his troops. Serving under his brother did not seem to bother him, as the two siblings working in tandem would help to gain much honour as they were both covered in glory during the bloody battles of the Horus Heresy.Praefactor Magellius (KIA) - Magellius was the commander of the Therion Cohort's 2nd Phalanx during the Siege of the Perfect Fortress. He was slain by the Emperor's Children during the Siege of the Perfect Fortress on Narsis.Praefactor Tigurian (KIA) - Commander of the Therion's 3rd Phalanx during the Siege of the Perfect Fortress on Narsis. He was slain in the Emperor's Children-led counter-attack.Tribune Calorium - Assigned as Marcus Valerius' aide in the wake of the second foundation of the Therion Cohort, Tribune Calorium was Valrius' designated communication specialist, keeping the vice-caesari appraised of the overall situation and relaying his orders to distant parts of the battlefield. As stoic as every Therion-born, Tribune Calorium stood ever at Valerius' side, but was not above firing his own weapon or retrieving a lasgun in order to join the fight. Tribune Calorium was wounded during the Siege of the Perfect Fortress on Narsis.Vice-Tribune Callista - Callista was a tactical advisor and a member of Marcus Valerius' entourage on Narsis. She was believed slain in the fierce counter-attack during the Siege of the Perfect Fortress.Sub-Tribune Pelon - Manservant and aide to Marcus Valerius, Pelon swiftly learned to mind his place amongst the echelons of Therion's high aristocracy -- a privilege considering his own humble origins. Having accompanied Marcus Valerius since his tenure with the Therion Cohort, Pelon accomplished the every-day mundane tasks required by his master and maintained many contacts within the expeditionary fleets and the Imperial Army's black market to ensure his master lacked for nothing. Driver, dry-cleaner, secretary and cook for the praefactor, Pelon and Marcus had attained some kind of friendship, the praefactor occasionally asking for his manservant's advice and opinion. Pelon became the true confident of his master when Marcus Valerius began to have his prophetic visions of the Raven Giard's doom on Isstvan V. As Pelon was a convert to the cult of the Lectitio Divinitatus, he would introduce his master to its teachings of Emperor-worship, confirming the praetorian's beliefs that the Emperor was sending him these visions. Pelon's enduring loyalty allowed him to be rewarded with the title of sub-tribune in the Therion Cohort, an extraordinary feat for a man of such humble origin as Pelon.