Niceg Vamberfeld
Niceg Vamberfeld (sometimes known as Vambs[1d]) was a Verghastite Trooper of the Tanith First and Only regiment.[1a][1b]
Biography
Early Life
Prior to the Siege of Vervunhive, Vamberfeld worked as a commercia clerk for Guilder Naslquey. He lived a quiet life in a hab in Spine Low-231 and was engaged to an apprentice seamstress. This came to an abrupt end when the Zoicans attacked Vervunhive - he lost his wife, his home and his job, the latter two to Zoican artillery shelling, and was forced to hide in the ruins of the hive for the duration of the war, fighting to survive.[1d]
Sabbat Worlds Crusade
Vamberfeld was amongst those Verghastites who chose to accept Warmaster Macaroth's Act of Consolation and enlist with the Imperial Guard fighting in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade after Vervunhive had been ruined over the course of the Siege. Vamberfeld became a member of the Tanith First, the so-called "Gaunt's Ghosts".[1a][1d]
He first saw action with the Ghosts on Hagia, fighting to retake the Holy Doctrinopolis from the Infardi.[1a] While the operation to clear the city was underway, he started to suffer from the mental stress that accompanied fighting for one's life, living in a state of constant terror.[1d]
Vamberfeld was later part of the regiment forced to remain in the Doctrinopolis rather than joining the honour guard sent to retrieve the remains of Saint Sabbat in preparation for the evacuation of Hagia due to the impending arrival of Archenemy reinforcements. Vamberfeld's officers, Colonel Corbec and Captain Daur, had also been left in the city due to injuries and had been experiencing visions of the Saint beckoning them to her resting place; when Corbec decided to take a Chimera and follow the visions, Vamberfeld was one of five Troopers who accompanied him on the journey, as he was also experiencing visions.[1b][1c]
In addition to the Tanith Troopers and officers, the Guardsmen recruited an esholi named Sanian to guide their route and a driver named Greer of the Eighth Pardus Armoured to operate their Chimera.[1b] Greer, however, did not believe in visions of the Saint - he was instead convinced to come by Daur, who told him that they were actually after a stash of gold hidden in the hills by the ayatani (the priesthood of Saint Sabbat).[1c]
The group travelled overland for days, avoiding the Infardi cultists active in the region.[1d] They eventually made their way into the hills by navigating a series of chelon trails, where Vamberfeld had another vision - that of a young chelon shepherd girl with a jiddi-stick. On waking from the vision, he found that he was still holding the stick, but by that point the Guardsmen were already on their way and it was too late to return it.[1e]
After a while, the group was forced to abandon the Chimera and ascend the Ladder of Heaven to reach the Saint's Shrinehold.[1f][1g] There, they met the rest of the honour guard, who were trying to defend the Shrinehold against an Infardi army.[1h] During a lull in the fighting, Vamberfeld made his way to the shrine's sepulchre, clutching the jiddi-stick, convinced that it was the Saint's own. Trooper Bragg found him there and tried to calm him down, but the two were confronted by Greer, who was convinced that the gold was hidden in the sepulchre and that the others were trying to steal it from him. Greer shot Vamberfeld and Bragg with his autopistol before being killed by Daur, who had been drawn to the sepulchre with the other Tanith officers by the sound of gunfire.[1i] However, this also meant that all of the Tanith who had received visions of the Saint were now present before her remains. Sensing their presence, a psychic weapon buried beneath the Shrinehold stirred, filling the Tanith with the knowledge required to activate it and defeat the invading Infardi.[1i][1j]
At this point the Infardi renewed their attack on the Shrinehold.[1i][1j] While the Tanith medics were resuscitating Bragg, Vamberfeld slipped away from them, made his way to the back of the Shrinehold and, guided by a final vision, took a silver trinket of the Saint that Daur had been given back in the Doctrinopolis. Vamberfeld clutched the image of the Saint and, even as the Infardi shot him repeatedly, stumbled to a great corundum pillar. As he reached the pillar, he was shot for a ninth and final time by an Infardi bolter, allowing him to sacrifice himself to activate the psychic weapon. The minds of the attacking Infardi were annihilated and their reinforcement fleet in orbit was scattered, preventing Hagia from falling to Chaos.[1j]
After Vamberfeld's sacrifice, Colonel-Commissar Gaunt had him buried in a post tomb next to the pillar before the honour guard departed.[1k]
Sources
