Draker Flense
Colonel Draker Flense was the commander of the Jantine Patricians Imperial Guard Regiment, and the son of General Aldo Dercius.
Biography
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This page contains spoilers for: | First and Only (Novel) |
After his father was executed by Commissar Ibram Gaunt, Flense's name, land and titles were stripped from him, and he was forced to make his way through the ranks of the Imperial Guard as a common soldier.[1h]
Seventeen years after Dercius' execution, Flense was a Colonel of the Patricians, and his regiment was deployed in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade alongside the Tanith First and Only, which was under Gaunt's command. Flense and his men took every opportunity they could to undermine or destroy the Ghosts in general, and Gaunt in particular.[1a][1b]
Though he believed he was loyal to the Crusade, Flense's hatred of Gaunt led him, and the Patricians, into becoming accomplices to Lord General Dravere and Inquisitor Heldane's attempt to usurp control of the Crusade from Warmaster Macaroth. This included abducting Gaunt's subordinate, Elim Rawne, to be experimented on by Inquisitor Heldane[1c], and, during the battle of Menazoid Epsilon, obeying Dravere's order to wipe out the entire Tanith regiment, after Dravere arbitrarily declared them tainted by Chaos.[1d] When he was not blinded by his hatred, Flense was lucid enough to feel terrified of Heldane[1c], and shamed at his betrayal of another Guard regiment.[1e]
However, when the Patricians took over 30% casualties in their attempt to advance against a detachment of the Tanith First - losing more than three hundred heavy shock troopers to only fifty lightly armed Scout infantry - Flense was so enraged that he forgot all notions of honour and cared only about confronting Gaunt.[1f]
Flense confronted Gaunt in single combat, seeking to avenge Dercius's execution (and thus, his own disgrace). However, before he could strike the killing blow, Gaunt killed Flense with his Tanith dagger.[1h]
The majority of the Patricians who had accompanied him were killed in a joint retaliatory attack by the Tanith "Ghosts" and the Vitrian Dragoons Third, whom the Tanith had aided on Fortis Binary. The regiment was all but exterminated, and, because of their treacherous actions, expunged from the Imperial record and never reformed.[1g]
See also
Sources
- 1: First And Only (Novel) — Gaunt's Ghosts: The Founding (Omnibus):
- 1a: Part Two, Section Four, pgs. 33-37
- 1b: Part Two, Section Eleven, pgs. 47-48
- 1c: Part Five, Sections Eight and Nine, pgs. 135-140
- 1d: Part Six, Section Nine, pg. 185
- 1e: Part Six, Section Sixteen, pg. 201
- 1f: Part Six, Section Nineteen, pg. 204
- 1g: Part Six, Section Twenty-One, pg. 208-210
- 1h: Part Six, Section Twenty-Eight, pgs. 228-229
