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Periclitor the Foresworn is a Daemon Prince of Chaos. In his days as a Chaos Lord of the Word Bearers Legion, he earned the eternal enmity of the Howling Griffons Chapter.[2]


Biography

Periclitor was a Chaos Lord of the Word Bearers whose rise to daemonhood began with the Castile V massacre in 832.M33. There, he sealed a pact with the powers of the warp by sacrificing a thousand souls, among them missionaries of the Ecclesiarchy and members of the Adepta Sororitas.[1]

In 888.M33, he martyred Saint Jerome after eviscerating each of his followers before his eyes. By bribery and sedition he orchestrated the unwitting sacrifice of a hundred thousand souls in the Alcmena Nebula wars of 012.M34, and in 739.M35 he wiped out the 5th Armoured Terran Praefects. He even bested a force of Grey Knights when he led an army to breach the Sentry Vault on Urus Prime.[1]

Ambush at Arios Point

The ambush at Arios Point was the event that began his feud with the Howling Griffons. The Chapter was preparing to celebrate the 5,000th anniversary of their founding in 220.M38. To mark the occasion, Periclitor intercepted the Battle Barge of Chapter Master Orlando Furioso as it traversed the Arios Beacon en route to Mancora. His elite crippled the ship in a boarding action, forcing the survivors to evacuate to the surface of Arios Quintus. There, the 8th Company as well as the sizeable force of 1st Company veterans that accompanied the Chapter Master were surrounded by Periclitor's warband of Word Bearers, Night Lords, Chaos Cultists, and a host of summoned Daemons. Refusing to surrender, they killed hundreds, but were butchered to a man.[1][2]

A month later, the Howling Griffons discovered the desecrated body of Furioso, which had been impaled on the nose of a Thunderhawk transmitting its location throughout the system. The Chapter vowed to avenge their fallen and destroy Periclitor no matter the cost.[1][2]

Ascension

After centuries more of dark work, including corrupting the Sanctity IX Pedagogue to the worship of Chaos in 237.M38, Periclitor was gifted with a great vision on Candlemass Eve 789.M38. Chaos spoke directly to him, promising him Daemonhood was close at hand. Periclitor immediately launched an assault on Bray, teleporting into the cathedral to murder the Cardinal as he delivered his Candlemass Day sermon. The demonstration of the planet's weakness prompted its self-righteous leaders to build an extensive orbital defence, paid for by a new tax. Each time a new tithe was proposed and rejected by the government, Periclitor would strike again, forcing them to accept ever higher costs to protect against the attacks.[1]

It time, the populace could pay no more. First Bray, then the entire Trans-Kurani Sub-Sector erupted into civil war. By 187.M39, the entire sector was in open rebellion against the rule of Terra, with regiments of the Astra Militarum, companies of Space Marines and fleets of the Imperial Navy mobilised to quell the Braun IV tithe wars. In some places, the conflict rages to the very end of the 41st Millennium.[1]

Periclitor was rewarded with ascension to a Daemon Prince over the ruins of the Cathedral of Bray, lifted to the sky in a nimbus of black light before emerging minutes later with arms the size of cannon barrels, a bestial face, and wings spanning five metres.[1]

Destruction

When Periclitor emerged from the Eye of Terror in M41, the Howling Griffons hunted him across the Eye to settle their ancient grudge. They found the Throne Temple of Periclitor on a daemon world, carved into a mountain range rising from a sea of daemons that stretched to every horizon. One of the dozens of eyes in Periclitor's face was that of Chapter Master Furioso himself, forever rolling in pain.[3a][3b]

Many of the Chapter fell to the Daemon Prince's blade, including the Captain of the 4th Company, before Chief Librarian Mercaeno was able to kill him after battling for a night and a day atop the mountain peak. The Chapter does not suffer Periclitor's name to be spoken in their presence by outsiders.[3a][3b]

See also

Sources