Targutai Yesugei
Targutai Yesugei was the chief Stormseer of the White Scars during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy.[2]
History
Born on Chogoris, when as a youth the boy named Shinaz was in service to a petty Khan and was tutored by a local shaman (or zadyin arga) called Uig. When he was 16 (12 in Terran years), he was ordered by his Khan to undertake a spiritual journey up the Ulaav Mountains on his homeworld in a challenge dubbed the Test of Heaven. While on the mountain, he had a vision of both the four Chaos Gods and the Emperor, and was overwhelmed by a desire to resist and flee from the former.[5a] However when he descended from the mountain, he found his own camp had been burnt by enemy soldiers. Chased through the plains of Altak, Shinaz used his nascent psychic abilities to attempt to fight back his pursuers. However in the end he was knocked unconscious, and when he awoke he found himself in the tent of Jaghatai Khan. Jaghatai announced that his name was now Targutai Yesugei, and he was an adoptive member of the Talskar Tribe. Becoming close not to just Jaghatai but also Hasik and Qin Xa, Yesugei fought under the Khagan in his quest to conquer Chogoris.[5b]
When the Emperor arrived on Chogoris, Yesugei was inducted into the White Scars Legion and became a Space Marine. Being appointed Chief Stormseer, Yesugei was known for his very close relationship to the Khan, serving as his chief adviser and de facto number two within the Legion. During the Council of Nikea, Targutai argued in favor of the responsible and limited use of Librarians and Psykers in Imperial use and said they would be a powerful weapon against the enemies of mankind.[3] At the beginning of the Heresy, Yesugei was based on Chogoris while the Great Khan was waging the Chondax Campaign, but sensing something was amiss rushed to meet up with him.[1a]
Yesugei's ship, the Sickle Moon, encountered a Sons of Horus vessel which turned out to have been captured from survivors of the Drop Site Massacre. Learning of the Horus Heresy from the Salamanders Captain Xa'ven, Yesugei and his new teammates journeyed to warn Jaghatai Khan of Horus' treachery, battling Word Bearers along the way.[1b] Plagued by dreams of Jaghatai's death, Yesugei and his new comrades eventually made their way to Prospero, where they found the White Scars fleet in the midst of an attempted coup and Death Guard vessels closing in on them. Yesugei directed his small fleet against the Death Guard, and was saved from destruction only thanks to Jaghatai Khan returning to quell the coup and rally the White Scars.[1c]
Four years later, Yesugei was one of the few White Scars who had not lost faith in victory or had become demoralized during the grueling attritional war against the traitors, and believed that a path back to Terra would be found. That path eventually materialized in the form of the Dark Glass station, which Yesugei boarded in an attempt to study. However as the Battle of Catallus raged, Veil, an agent of the Navis Nobilite who had infiltrated the White Scars fleet, managed to cause the station's destruction with vortex charges. As the station died, Yesugei attached himself to its command throne and painfully sacrificed himself to force open a portal into the Webway. As his body disintegrated, Yesugei sent his psychic goodbyes to his three closest companions: Jaghatai Khan, Ilya Ravallion, and Revuel Arvida.[2] The portal allowed the Scars to return to Terra, where they proved instrumental in defending against Horus' siege.
Trivia
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Yesugei was the name of father of Temüjin, better known as Genghis Khan, whom Jaghatai Khan is partly based on.
See Also
Sources
- 1: Scars (Novel)
- 2: The Path of Heaven (Novel) Chapters 21–23
- 3: A Thousand Sons Chapter 20
- 4: Black Library blog
- 5: Brotherhood of the Storm (Novella)
