Iarto Khoura
Iarto Khoura was a Chaplain in the Word Bearers Legion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy.
After the Edict of Nikaea was given, he was assigned to the Raven Guard Legion, to ensure the ban on the Librarians was enforced and later fought beside them in several wars, though he remained an unpopular figure with the Raven Guard, as he was considered an unwanted presence. Despite this though, when the Heresy began and the Word Bearers left to confront Horus on Isstvan V, Iarto did not join his Legion. He instead requested from the Raven Guard's Primarch Corax, that he be allowed to remain on Deliverance, where he could continue his instruction of the Legion's latest recruits. The Primarch agreed to this and Iarto stayed behind with a small force of the Raven Guard, while Corax led the majority of his Legion to Isstvan V. However, when the remnants of the Raven Guard returned to Deliverance after the Dropsite Massacre, where the treachery of the Word Bearers was revealed, Corax immediately ordered that Iarto be placed in a cell. He was later interrogated by an enraged Corax, who told him of the Word Bearers betrayal and proclaimed the Chaplain had been sent by his Primarch Lorgar to corrupt the Raven Guard into joining Horus' forces. Though Iarto protested his innocence, Corax did not believe him and told the Chaplain he could smell the taint of Chaos on him, before the Primarch snapped Iarto's neck and ordered his body be thrown into a furnace.[1a]
After Iarto's death, Commander Branne Nev ordered a survey of all communications logs that the Chaplain had access to between Deliverance and Kiavahr and was informed some time later when several anomalous were discovered. When he saw them, Nev believed that agitators sent by Horus were communicating with pro-Guild sympathizers on Kiavahr and thought it might be the prelude to an attack on the Raven Guard. He had no definite proof though and decided to investigate further before he informed Corax, since the Primarch was preoccupied with rebuilding his shattered Legion[1b]. However, Nev would not get the chance to do so, before the Battle of Ravendelve began.[1c]
Sources
