Welcome to Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum! Log in and join the community.

Urian Vendraig

From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
Jump to: navigation, search

Urian Vendraig was a First Legion Grandmaster, who led them during the Great Crusade following the death of his predecessor, Hector Thrane.[1a]


Biography

He was born on Terra and joined the First Legion after the ending of the Unification Wars, taking part in the Great Crusade. Vendraig would rise to become Captain of the 14th Company of the Legion's 8th Chapter and earned a grand record of victory to his name. To the surprise of all, Vendraig was later nominated by Malcador the Sigilite to succeed Hector Thrane, after the Legion's upper echelons could not agree on who would become the next Grandmaster. The Sigilite's reasons for doing so were simple: Vendraig was a Captain who was not enmeshed within any of the Legion's numerous factions and groups. This simple fact would allow Vendraig to be accepted by the Legion's upper echelons. He was soon proven correct, as the First Legion's Council of Masters voted unanimously for Vendraig to succeed Thrane.[1a]

As the Legion's new Grandmaster, Vendraig was tasked with unifying a divided Legion and returning them to the Great Crusade. As a warrior first and foremost, Vendraig saw the value of having the First Legion serve outside of the fringes of the Great Crusade. They would take their rightful place at the head of the other Legions and, in order to ensure this, Vendraig allowed a small contingent of carefully-selected remembrancers to join his entourage. The remembrancers would also have limited access to the Legion's archives in order to bear witness to the Legion's ascension. After that was done, Vendraig felt he needed a foe that would unite the First Legion together in their hatred. His chance soon came, when word arrived of the discovery of the Rangda Xenos species on the far rim of the Great Crusade. The Xenos were considered to be a growing threat to the Imperium and Vendraig brought the First Legion down upon them in the Advex-mors System. The battle that followed cost the lives of 5,000 Legionaries, but the Rangda were defeated and the Imperium was reminded of the First Legion's might.[1a] What followed, though, was a hunger for glory that caused Vendraig to lead the Legion in reckless actions that earned them renown and victories. This eventually led to Vendraig's personal downfall.[1b]

The First Legion joined the efforts to bring the Fortress World Karkasarn, which had so far resisted the attacks of the Primarch Guilliman, into Compliance. The Primarch had set up a patient strategy that would bring victory, while minimizing the losses the Imperium's forces suffered; Guilliman had expected Vendraig and the First Legion to follow his orders, but the Grandmaster refused to do so. Both he and the Legion saw a chance to snatch victory and humble Guilliman and so swiftly invaded Karkasarn. In the attack that followed, a force of 10,000 of the Legion's warriors breached the world's defenses at the cost of hundreds of lives. They continued to advance into Karkasarn's inner workings, which forced Guilliman's hand. The Primarch ordered the Ultramarines to follow Vendraig's Legion, but they did so slowly while securing objectives along the way. This led the Ultramarines to suffer minimal losses, while the First Legion suffered a disastrous blow when the overlords of Karkasarn detonated an atomic bomb. This occurred just as Vendraig was to secure victory by claiming a citadel that lay in the center of the world. The bomb, however, had lain beneath the citadel and the Grandmaster was among the Legion's numerous warriors that died in the explosion. Vendraig would succeed in uniting his Legion in hate, however, which was born with his death and their ignominious victory on Karkasarn.[1b]

Sources