Sholen Skara
Sholen Skara was a Chaos warlord and cultist leader during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade.
Biography
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This page contains spoilers for: | Ghostmaker (Novel) |
One of several Magisters serving under Archon Nadzybar,[2][3a] Skara led a Chaos cult known as the Kith, who were devoted to Khorne.[1]
He and the Kith first appeared as part of the force contesting the Imperial presence during the Second Battle of Sverren, where he served directly under Nadzybar.[3d]
Prior to the climactic battle on Balhaut, Skara acted as governor of that world, and commanded extermination camps which slaughtered over a billion Imperial citizens in various "inventive" ways.[1][3b]
According to Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt, Skara and his followers were obsessed with death, either their own or that they dealt to others; to them, death of any kind was a glory to Khorne. Gaunt himself fervently wanted to capture and punish Skara, and was rankled when the Magister escaped Balhaut in the wake of Nadzybar's defeat.[1] The discovery of Skara's murder camps, along with the remnants of Magister Asphodel's experiments on human test subjects, was enough to drive many Guardsmen of the Crusade force insane, while many more, like Gaunt, swore to avenge their victims.[3b]
Skara reappeared during the Crusade as commander of an enemy fortress on Sapiencia. The Imperial Guard's assault on the fortress went badly wrong, but by chance a raiding party from the Tanith First and Only got inside the walls, led by Trooper Dermon Caffran. While fleeing the enemy guards, Caffran collapsed a large manufactorum tower with demolition charges, which inadvertently tricked Skara into thinking his fortress had fallen to a much larger force. He gave the order for his troops to commit mass suicide (which was duly carried out) but was captured before he could take his own life.[1]
In recognition of his actions, Gaunt granted Caffran the honour of executing Skara. But Caffran, noticing how avidly Skara seemed to welcome death, refused, advising Gaunt that life was the worst punishment they could inflict. With his life suddenly spared - the greatest blasphemy for a devotee of Khorne - Skara began to scream and beg, and would live to do so over and over again.[1]
He was eventually handed over to the Inquisition.[3c] During transit to the Inquisitorial custody on Khulan, Skara managed to stage a breakout on the vessel transporting him and fled to the Hive World of Valens 160. Using sleeper agents, he was able to stage a mass uprising amongst the hive populace before being killed by a squad of Iron Snakes. Despite his death, Valens 160 was considered lost to the Imperium, as the vast majority of its population had been killed or turned to Chaos worship.[4]
Appearance
At the time of his capture on Sapiencia, Skara was a tall, shaven-headed human male who wore tight-fitting black robes that displayed his powerful musculature.[1]
Sources
- 1: Ghostmaker (Novel) — The Founding (Omnibus), Chapter Nine
- 2: Necropolis (Novel) — The Founding (Omnibus), Chapter Eleven, pg. 636
- 3: The Sabbat Worlds Crusade (Background Book)
- 4: The Blood Bound (Short Story) — Sabbat Crusade (Anthology)
- 5: The Sabbat Worlds Crusade (Background Book) (2019 Edition), p. 70-71
