Menes Kalliston
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This page contains spoilers for: | Rebirth (Short Story) |
Menes Kalliston was the Captain of the 4th Fellowship of the Thousand Sons Space Marine Legion during the latter stages of the Great Crusade and the onset of the Horus Heresy. A member of the Athanaeans, he was part of a fleet element of his legion that was dispersed under secret orders by Magnus the Red prior to the Battle of Prospero. Approximately six months later he returned to Prospero, in an attempt to discover the fate of the other Thousand Sons.[1]
History
Nothing is currently known of Kalliston's career prior to his return to Prospero. Stationed amidst the Thousand Sons fleet, he missed the Imperial attack on the world and in fact remained ignorant of it for some time. Several weeks after dispersing, he became worried at his inability to contact Prospero, and decided to turn his vessel - the Geometric — towards home. Severe warp storms hindered progress, as well as attacks from Imperial forces he attempted to communicate with; it was six months before the under-crewed Geometric achieved orbit over a desolate and burned planet. Despite reticence from his second-in-command, Revuel Arvida, he elected to lead a ground party of Thousand Sons to the surface in an attempt to discover what had happened.[1]
Exploring the ruins of Tizca, Kalliston was shocked and angered to discover fragments of armour plate belonging to the Space Wolves legion, shortly before receiving a warning from the precognitive Arvida of an impending attack. Despite taking cover and returning fire, it became clear that Kallison's squad would shortly be overwhelmed by superior numbers. Ordering a retreat, Kalliston worked out too late that he had been herded into an ambush; knocked senseless by a missile strike impacting at his feet, he was taken prisoner by the attackers.[1]
Kalliston awoke to discover himself shackled to a chair, his telepathic powers weakened and confronted by an interrogator who remained in shadow. The interrogator questioned him closely about his designation and purpose on being on Prospero, as well as belittling both his blind following of Magnus' orders to flee, and his choice to return. Kalliston elected to string the interrogation out, in order for his powers to gain strength. Discerning that the interrogator was interested in learning of certain arcane secrets, Kalliston tempted him with such information, as well as criticise his typical Space Wolf ignorance. The interrogator responded with brutal violence, revealing, to Kalliston's shock, that he was not a Space Wolf; he was Captain Kharn of the World Eaters. His powers slowly returning, Kalliston was able to tell that some change had recently begun to affect Kharn, making him seem less like a ferocious martial warrior, and more like a maddened berserker. Kharn revealed that he was on Prospero to find a specific artifact, and had indeed already done so; he had located the Moon Wolf, abandoned in the Reflecting Caves after Magnus' failed attempt to save the soul of his brother, Horus Lupercal. Aware that it could be used in a similar manner once again, Horus had tasked Kharn with retrieving the item. Kharn explained this to Kalliston, and informed him of Horus' rebellion against the Emperor, as well as Magnus' actions that led to the damnation of the Thousand Sons who survived the Burning of Prospero. Stunned, Kalliston could not fully understand the intentions of Magnus and ranged them between either incomprehensible or evil. Deducing that Kharn was broken of mind and possessed of a wish to fix this state of being (and had in fact looked for solutions to this problem amongst the ruined libraries of Prospero), he offered his Athanean powers to heal Kharn's anguish and torment over the atrocities he had commited. After a moment, Kharn rejected the offer, decrying his state and declaring he could not be healed, attacking his prisoner. Desperate, Kalliston called upon all his available power, escaping from his bonds and launching mental strikes at Kharn while trying to avoid the World Eater's physical ones. Discovering that the berserk Kharn apparently possessed little sanity to attack, Kalliston succumbed to the assault. His last thought while being beaten to death was a recognition that both he and Kharn knew he could have genuinely helped the Captain of the World Eaters heal his mind, and that as powerful as Kharn's rage was at being pitied, it would be all the greater in the future, when he reflected upon his choice.[1]
Appearance and Abilities
Menes Kalliston possessed blunt, Astartes features, albeit with a patrician nose. Dark of eye and umber of hair, his skin resembled old parchment. The owl symbol of his cult discipline was prominently tattooed on his right temple. While his powers had waned in the aftermath of the Battle of Prospero, he fully believed he still possessed enough telepathic ability to mentally restructure Kharn's fragmented consciousness and heal his damaged mind. He was able to inflict psychic torture on others, making their brains perceive that they were in extreme pain. Concerned about the fate of his legion above following the orders of his primarch, Kalliston's powers allowed him to accept the truth of the Horus Heresy and Magnus' role in the destruction of the Thousand Sons with relative ease; dismissing his loyalty to a primarch either evil or so beyond comprehension as to be meaningless, he stayed a loyal Imperial Space Marine until his death.[1]
Notes
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