Auric Arachnus
Auric Arachnus is an Imperial Freeblade Knight.[1][2]
History
With blade and battle cannon, the Knight known as Auric Arachnus wades into battle against the Imperium’s foes. With its distinctive bright yellow livery and contrasting stylized arachnid symbol, the bold Freeblade is designed to draw attention and the enemy’s fire. From whence the Knight came there is no clue, nor does its pilot ever emerge. When the shadow of Hive Fleet Behemoth fell across the Ultima Segmentum, however, the legend of Auric Arachnus began. As Imperial armies rallied to repel the foe, the Knight Paladin was a tower of firepower, and when eventually overrun, its reaper blade scythed down swarms of foes.[2]
As the Tyranids pressed in upon the Ultramarines in the First Tyrannic War, the Chapter was forced back to its Homeworld, Macragge and Auric Arachnus traveled with them. There, the Freeblade earned great renown by slaying a Dominatrix in the Battle for Macragge.[2] The Freeblade would also aid in defending Cold Steel Ridge during the invasion, until the Ultramarines' Chapter Master, Marneus Calgar, gave the order to retreat. Auric Arachnus was then able to regroup with the Imperial forces defending Macragge's Southern Polar Fortress, where the Freeblade proved to be instrumental in the fighting that broke out there once the Tyranids attacked it. Very few survived defending the fortress in the last hours of the invasion, but when an Ultramarines relief force later arrived at the fortress, Auric Arachnus was found standing tall amongst the dead Xenos and the warriors the Freeblade had fought beside. Due to its efforts during the Battle for Macragge, few Imperial Knights or Freeblades can lay claim to the glorious accolades Auric Arachnus earned in the invasion.[3]
Sources
- 1: Codex: Imperial Knights (6th Edition), pg. 37
- 2: Codex: Imperial Knights (7th Edition) — Freeblades
- 3: White Dwarf 5 (2014), pg. 15 - Creating Your Own Freeblade
