Welcome to Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum! Log in and join the community.

Orpheus Taelos

From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
(Redirected from Taelos)
Jump to: navigation, search
Captain Taelos on T'olku[2]

Orpheus Taelos is the current Captain of the Imperial Fists Chapter's 7th Company[7a], but also once led the 2nd[1] and 10th as well.[5a]


Biography

2nd Company Captain

As Captain of the 2nd Company, Taelos played a decisive role in the Nimbosa Crusade against the Tau. The Tau expansion to Nimbosa, led by Commander Bright Sword, caught the Imperium unaware and unprepared, leaving the world defended only by the Vostroyan Firstborn IX.[1] With reinforcements months away, the Imperium dispatched a diplomatic mission to T'olku to engage the Tau in protracted negations on the subject of Nimbosa, to which Taelos was attached as a military adviser. The diplomatic maneuver was not a genuine peace overture but intended as a delaying tactic. [2][3] However, the tactic failed and the Vostroyan Firstborn IX were destroyed along with the population of the colony.[1]

Taelos and High Marshal Helbrecht of the Black Templars lead the Imperium's military response. Nimbosa was successfully liberated and the Tau force was destroyed totally.[1] However, in the course of the reclamation, Taelos' forces sustained considerable casualties. During the battle of Koloth Gorge, elements of his 2nd Company and accompanying Imperial Guard units were pinned in a cross-fire and subjected to a three hour massacre.[3][5a] Captain Taelos was himself severely injured in the action. His wounds were grievous but because the Imperial Fists gene-seed had lost use of the Sus-an Membrane, Taelos did not enter into suspended animation. Consequently, he remained conscious and witnessed the deaths of the men lost under his command while unable to intervene in his wounded state.[5a]

10th Company Captain

Captain Taelos recovered from his physical wounds but remained emotionally anguished after Nimbosa. He believed himself responsible for both the extermination of Nimbosa's colonial population and those lost in the Koloth Gorge. He approached Chapter Master Vladimir Pugh and requested a warrior pilgrimage to atone for his failure. Pugh denied his request, citing the continued service Taelos was still capable of providing to the Chapter and transferred his command to the 10th Company. Initially, Taelos saw the honor in being trusted with procuring the Chapter's neophytes but also felt the sting of being deprived commanding a Battle Company. In time, however, he understood that Pugh's decision gave him the opportunity for atonement in seeing to the future of the Chapter, thereby in a sense replacing those battle-brothers for whose death he felt responsible.[5a]

Four years after the commencement of Taelos' service as 10th Captain, the Company joined Task Force Gauntlet on the world of Vernalis against the Arch Traitor Sybaris of the Emperor's Children and the Roaring Blades traitor guardsman.[5b] The Task Force also included elements of Captain Lysander's First Company and Khrusaor's 5th Company. After heavy fighting, the Chaos forces were defeated.[5c]

7th Company

Since the formation of the Great Rift Taelos has been declared Captain of the 7th Company, overseeing the defenses of the Phalanx in the process. He has secretly entrusted Auric Auxilia commander Talia Karsk to discover why the Custodes so freely gave technology from the Dark Cells to restore the Phalanx.[7b]

Trivia

Conflicting sources

However, in the novel Sons of Dorn, Taelos is determined to undertake this pilgrimage as atonement for what he sees as his failure on Nimbosa; his request is denied by Chapter Master Pugh, and he is instead assigned to the 10th Company. After the successful conclusion of the Vernalis campaign, Taelos is proud of having guided the new neophytes on their way to becoming full battle-brothers, and decides that he can best serve the Chapter by continuing on in this role, rather than going on his pilgrimage[5d].

See also

Sources