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Imperium Portal

This article is about the Regent of Terra, for the the Super-Heavy Tank see Malcador (Heavy Tank)

Malcador the Sigillite, First Lord of Terra.

Malcador the Sigillite, also known as Malcador the Hero by decree of the Emperor¹ was the First Lord of Terra as well as the Grand Master of Assassins² during the Horus Heresy. He was a powerful psyker who could communicate over long distances. He was a close advisor to the Emperor during the Battles of Unification, and the man credited with founding the Administratum of Terra.

As the Emperor's primary representative, Malcador often acted in his stead, or preceded him, the intent being for the Emperor to make his presence known only in the event of Malcador's failure. One such event was the humbling of the Word Bearers in the ruins of Monarchia.^4a

Very soon after the outbreak of the Horus Heresy, the Emperor told Malcador to summon "men of character, skill and determination" who would be tested and trained to become an elite group of investigators with the task of rooting out treachery and Heresy. This marked the founding of the Imperial Inquisition. Among the first Malcador approached for this duty were Death Guard hero Nathaniel Garro and former Sons of Horus Marine Captain Iacton Qruze³. Malcador would subsequently task Garro with recruiting a select group of individuals for him in aid of this endeavour; these individuals would be termed (at least for a time) Malacodor's Knights-Errant.⁵ Qruze was retained closer to home, acting as Malcador's "hand" in investigative matters such as the case of Solomon Voss.^6a

Malcador was active in many ways during the Heresy. As well as orchestrating the above inquisitive endeavour and aiding Rogal Dorn in organising the defence of Terra, he would use his secret postion as Master of Assassins to attempt to have Horus assassinated several times. Whilst several of his despatched Assassins - including the first ever Execution Force - came close to their target, none connected, and the attempt was eventually permanently given up, on the orders of the Emperor himself.⁷

During the final chapter of the Heresy, the Emperor told Malcador that he had to take his place on the Golden Throne - providing the psychic sheath to protect the human-built sections of the Webway. His original choice of replacement on the throne had been the Primarch Magnus but since he had sided with Horus, Malcador was now his chosen successor. He is noted for having given the Chaplain Edict at (presumably) Nikaea, a group of Marines that would maintain the order and discipline of their fellow Marines, and to keep watch for heresy and psychic powers, the former to be dealt with summarily, the latter to be referred to the Legion Librarium.

Though he was a powerful psyker in his own right, Malcador's mental powers were nothing compared to that of the Emperor, and so when Rogal Dorn brought the severely injured ruler of mankind back to the Golden Throne, he found Malcador sitting wasted, energy lashing across his shrivelled body, tortured by the psychic bombardments of the Webway. He was almost dead. Tech-priests then made the exchange - disengaging Malcador from the machine. As he was removed, the last flicker of life left him and the dust of his corpse blew across the stone floor.¹

At the instant of Malcador's death, the Emperor awoke from his coma - Malcador had saved a last kernel of strength and passed it on to the Emperor so he could give his servants their final orders.²

Appearance and Abilities

A slender and unassuming figure dressed in pales robes, Malcador possessed more power than just Imperial authority. The aforementioned incident at Monaachia is notable for clear demonstrations of his powers; as well as his telepathy, he showed physical durability unnatural for a man of his apparent age and frailty; when smashed from his feet by the primarch Lorgar, he landed on broken ground after a distance of some twenty metres, and survived with but a few broken bones. He also demonstrated telekinetic ability at this incident, retrieving his fallen staff and bringing it sharply into his hand.^4a

Sources

• ¹:Horus Heresy: Visions of Death by Alan Merrett.
• ²:Nemesis (Novel), p. 47.
• ³:The Flight of the Eisenstein by James Swallow.
• ⁴:The First Heretic
  • ^4a:Chapter Three
• ⁵:Garro: Oath of Moment
• ⁶:Age of Darkness
  • ^6a:The Last Remembrancer
• ⁷:Nemesis