Ollanius Piers
Ollanius "Olly" Piers was a Corporal in the Hundred and Fifth Tercio Upland Grenadiers Imperial Army Regiment, during the Battle for Terra. His fate would become heavily tied to the legend of Ollanius Pius.[1a]
History
He was named after his grandfather, but he disliked his first name so much that he went by Olly instead. Piers was known to be a boisterous person, who liked to tell stories about himself that were usually lies or extremely exaggerated[1a]. He was also secretly a worshiper of the warrior-goddess Mythrus and believed in the divinity of the Emperor. Though due such beliefs being against the Imperial Truth he made sure to be careful who he shared this with. As the forces of the traitorous Warmaster Horus attacked the Imperial Palace, Piers was among the Imperial Army forces sent by convoy to defend the Eternity Wall Spaceport. During the journey he struck up a friendship with the historian Hari Harr, who was among the small number of Remembrancers that Kyril Sindermann had created at the Primarch Dorn's request. As Hari looked through his dataslate, Piers discovered that he had a copy of the Lectitio Divinitatus on it, which led him to speak about his religious beliefs to the historian.[1b]
As they neared the space port, however, they can under attack by Horus' forces and the convoy was destroyed. Piers, escaped from the wreckage with Hari and a few other survivors, but they were soon pursued by Daemon possessed humans. As the most senior rank amongst the survivors and knowing they could not reach the space port in time, Piers prepared the group to defend themselves. When the possessed neared them, they opened fire at Piers' command, but while they were able to kill many of the Daemons, the possessed soon closed in on the survivors. The Daemons' began killing them and any organized defense broke down, as the survivors fought to defend themselves. Piers heroically defended Hari and managed to single handily kill a few of the Daemons before he ran out of ammo. As they faced their deaths, Piers apologized to Hari, as the Daemons closed in on them, but it was at that moment their deliverance arrived. The Sisters of Silence Knight-Commander Jenetia Krole had also been making her way to the space port and intervened to save the survivors. Her Blank powers, caused the Daemons to retreat, but because of her abilities they made her invisible to most people. While Hari and the other survivors had seen the Daemons retreated for no reason, Piers could see Krole and mistakenly believed she was the goddess Mythrus, who had heard his prayers. He then prostrated himself before Krole and thanked her for saving them, though, to the Hari and the others it looked like he was talking to no one but air.[1c]
Afterwards, Piers and the others reached the space port, where he began spreading his exploits to anyone who listed. He was later among the Imperial forces that defended the Pons Solar bridge, that connected the space port to the Eternity Wall. Hari was beside him, despite Piers constant attempts to get him to leave, as the front-lines were no place for civilians. Hari refused, though, as it was his job to record what happened during Terra's invasion. Soon afterwards, however, the Warmaster's forces attacked in strength and swept away the defenders. As their comrades fell around them, Piers grabbed Hari and began leading him away to safety, though, they both knew he wanted to escape as well. They then came across two soldiers struggling to lift up a banner of the Emperor, after their three comrades who had aided them, had been killed. Hari was suddenly struck with a desire to help in anyway he could, even if it was insignificant, and rushed to help lift up the banner. Piers quickly joined him and other surviving soldiers saw the banner aloft and rallied to their side as well, as the bridge's defenses fell apart. Soon a large number of soldiers were at their side and they began praying to the Emperor as they held his banner. Just then, however, a World Eater approached them, and fear threatened to overwhelm them as they fired upon the Traitor. Their firepower could not stop the Chaos Space Marine, but just before he reached Piers and the others, Knight-Commander Jenetia Krole intervened once more and killed the World Eater with a single blow. Like before, however, only Piers could see her and for the others it appeared that the Emperor had answered their prayers and struck down the Traitor. As they gave thanks to the Emperor, Krole got Piers' attention and signaled that they should retreat. He then rallied the others and claimed the Emperor and Mythrus had saved them as he led them away further into the space port[1d]. Afterwards the Imperium's forces began to prepare for the Traitors' next attack, after the Pons Solar bridge fell to them, and Piers started to repair the damage done to the banner the soldiers had carried. It was at that time, Hari arrived and told Piers he wanted to record the soldier's life as part of the histories he was collecting, during the battle. At first Piers refused, but relented as long as Hari used the name Olympos, as he felt it was a more heroic name than Ollanius. Hari refused, but then Piers asked that he at least made his story appear grander than life. Instead of saying he helped carry a banner bearing the image of the Emperor, Hari was encouraged to write that Piers defended the Emperor himself from the Warmaster Horus, during the battle. Hari once more refused, as he felt no one would ever believe it.[1a]
Later during the fall of the Eternity Wall Spaceport, Piers defended a banner with the image of the Emperor emblazoned on it. He even stood his ground as Angron himself appeared. Piers refused to flee, instead firing his weapon as the Red Angel charged him, shouting "Throne of Terra!" as he was slain.[1e]
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