Vadhán
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This page contains spoilers for: | Spear of the Emperor (Novel) |
Vadhán[1a] is a Primaris Space Marine[1b] of the Emperor's Spears Third Warhost who was formally Lieutenant Commander Amadeus Kaias Incarius of the Mentors Chapter.[1a]
History
His transformation began in the aftermath of the Great Rift's creation, when the Mentors began to organize a mission, to travel to Elara's Veil in order to determine if the Imperial region still held firm[1c]. Incarius, as Vadhán was known then, volunteered for the task[1d] and was told by his Chapter Master, Nisk Ran-Thawll, that he would also act as emissary and observer to the Emperor's Spears and Celestial Lions Chapters, who defended the Veil. With his objectives given to him, Incarius took command of the Sword Frigate In Devout Abjuration and also the highly trained Helots Kartash Avik, Tyberia Volos, and Anuradha Daaz, who would aid him in his mission. With that, the Abjuration crossed the Great Rift into order to enter the Straits of Epona, which was now the only entrance into Elara's Veil[1c]. The journey was fraught with danger, however, and by the time they reached the Veil, the Sword Frigate was heavily damaged and thousands of its crew lay dead. Worse still, the ship's crew knew the Abjuration would not survive a return trip across the Rift and they were effectively trapped in the Veil. As the Abjuration limped its way to the Emperor's Spears Homeworld, Nemeton, however[1e], Incarius disregarded this and vowed they would return to the Mentors after they completed his mission. Once they arrived at Nemeton, Incarius explained his mission to the Spears, but he was met with a less than warm welcome by Lord Brêac, of the Chapter's Third Warhost.[1c]
The Lord realized that Incarius' true mission, was to make sure the Spears and Lions were still loyal to the Imperium, but what truly angered him was the lack of reinforcements the Abjuration carried. Brêac explained that since the Great Rift's creation, the Worlds of Elara's Veil had been invaded by the Pure and their Exilarchy hordes, which vastly outnumbered the Veil's Imperial forces. The Rift had caused the Veil to become isolated, and in desperation the Spears had sent several of their warships into the Straits of Epona, to ask the Imperium for aid. None had returned, nor had there been any sign of reinforcements, until the In Devout Abjuration had arrived. Incarius would then confirm to Brêac, that he knew of no records of the Spears' warships having made contact with the Imperium, which had been completely unaware that the Veil had been invaded. This, plus the Mentors wearing the colors of the Star Scorpions, the Spears' now lost Brother Chapter, instantly caused Brêac to gravely dislike Incarius[1c]. Nevertheless, the Lieutenant Commander and his Helots would gain the Spears' approval to accompany Brêac aboard the Strike Cruiser Hex, though many of the Third Warhost began to demean Incarius, by calling him a False Scorpion. He would ignore this though and focused on completing his mission, as the Hex left Nemeton to continue the battle against the Pure.[1f]
Soon afterwards, the Hex began to pursue the Pure warship Venatrix Candidus[1g], but was ambushed by it in return and then boarded by the Warband's forces. In the battle that followed, Incarius and his Helots Tyberia and Anuradha were among those captured by the Pure, before the Warband returned to the Venatrix and escaped, from the stricken Hex[1h]. Aboard the Pure warship, the Chaos Lord Nar Kezar took a personal interest in Incarius, and began interrogating him. Through Kezar, Incarius learned that the Pure were infact the corrupted remains of the long lost Star Scorpions, who now sought to take dominion of the worlds of Elara's Veil. But in truth, the Chaos Lord was interested in learning about the Mentors, as they had been created to replace the Scorpions and bore their colours as well. No matter how much Kezar interrogated him though, Incarius refused to talk, even as the Chaos Lord began committing horrific tortures upon him, that mutilated the Commander's body. All hope was not lost though, as the Hex had been pursing the Venatrix since it fled. The Strike Cruiser's crew had coordinated with other Imperial warships in the Veil to attack the Chaos warship and the Celestial Lions' Strike Cruiser, Blade of the Seventh Son finally ended the chase. The Lions' warship rammed the Venatrix and this allowed the Son and Hex's Space Marines to board the Pure warship[1j] and free their captured comrades. For Incarius, though, it came too late. The damage the Chaos Lord inflicted upon him had shattered his body, and there was little, the Third Warhost could do to repair the extensive damage done to him.[1k]
His wounds prevented Incarius from even being able to operate a Dreadnought and the Druid Ducarius, thought he could only be saved, by being heavily rebuilt with Bionics. If it worked, Incarius would not be able to physically fight anymore though and at best, the bionics would allow him to continue the war against the Pure, by commanding one of the Spears' warships. As the Third Warhost fought to achieve even that much though, Incarius was slowly dying from his wounds and drifted in and out of consciousness. It was during this time, that he was visited by the freed, but traumatized, Helot Anuradha[1k]. Though she had been saved in the boarding attack of the Venatrix, Anuradha's fellow Helot Tyberia, had been killed by the Pure's Mutants, by then. Bizarrely she then fervently exclaimed that Incarius's other Helot, Kartash, was responsible for Anuradha and Tyberia's capture. When the Hex had been boarded, the Helots had tried to escape the Pursuing Pure's forces when Kartash had suddenly knocked them out and then left them to be captured. The most strange detail of her story though, was that before that happened, Anuradha had seen Kartash quickly kill one of the Pure with a glowing green sword. She had told the Warhost about this as well, but though Kartash's room and possessions had been searched the sword was not found. The Helot remained free as a result and had begun worming his way into the Warhost's good graces, while she remained beside the Lieutenant Commander. After hearing this, Incarius sorrowfully apologized to Anuradha and wished he had fought harder against the Pure, to ensure she and Tyberia had been able to escape capture. With that he fell unconscious again and left Anuradha in shocked contemplation. To her, the detached Lieutenant Commander had seemed to see the Helots as nothing more than tools to aid his mission, but his apology had been truly heartfelt and genuine. This drove Anuradha to do everything she could to ensure Incarius' survival and began looking at his injuries to see if the Spears' had missed anything. She soon discovered that Incarius' best hope to survive was to undergo the operation to become a Primaris Space Marine. The Spears had no knowledge of the procedure, due to Incarius not fully trusting the Chapter yet to share it with them, but Anuradha's showed them the Mentors' information about the procedure and they agreed to try it[1l]. With the aid of Ducarius and others the Primaris operation was successfully completed and Incarius emerged fully healed from his wounds.[1b]
However, despite his survival, the Lieutenant Commander had to relearn everything, as his new body was greatly stronger and moved differently than his old one. The process was difficult and Incarius became increasingly frustrated and rageful. These outbursts of emotion, plus finally accepting he was truly trapped within the Veil, seemed to break down the logical and detached personality the Mentors had instilled upon Incarius. This led the Lieutenant Commander to begin doubting himself as a Space Marine and his abilities as a warrior[1m]. Incarius was still contemplating his new reality, when the Celestial Lions' Chapter Master, Ekene Dubaku, later arrived aboard the Hex with an armed escort. Despite the Spears outnumbering the Lions, it was Dubaku who led the Imperial forces defending the Veil and he was beloved by all. The Chapter Master had come asking Brêac and the Third Warhost, for aid though, as the Lions' Homeworld, Elysium IX, was now in the path of the Pure's forces. It was too late to save the world, but he had ordered an evacuation to begin and asked if the Third Warhost could protect the fleeing civilian ships. Brêac readily agreed, but shortly after that, Dubaku was suddenly decapitated. Mayhem erupted as the Chapter Master's body fell and the Space Marines fired upon a fleeing shape, whose speed allowed it to evade their fire. In the confusion though, Incarius and Anuradha were blamed for Dubaku's death, as they were outsiders who were the only ones likely to have done it. They were quickly placed within a prison cell[1n] and an outraged Incarius realized at once that the Mentors must have known about Kartash from the start. He was convinced that his Chapter had willingly aided the Inquisition in dealing yet another blow to the Celestial Lions and had used him as a sacrificial pawn to do it. The full truth of the Mentors' betrayal shook him to his core and made Incarius question the training and knowledge he had learned from them. Luckily for both Incarius and Anuradha, however, the Druid Ducarius later used his psychic powers to view their memories and saw that they were innocent. They were then freed and Ducarius showed them a piece of bloody torn cloth, that was found in the room Dubaku was killed in. It was from the robe of a Mentors' Helot and as Anuradha had not been shot, it pointed to only one culprit: Kartash.[1d]
As Incarius joined the hunt for the traitorous Helot, he ordered Anuradha to return to her room for her safety. However, Kartash later went to Anuradha's room to ask her to aid him in escaping from the Hex, in return for promising to free her from being a Helot. As he talked to her, though, Anuradha was both able to signal Incarius and use the Void Grenade she had secretly armed herself with. When Incarius and Brêac soon arrived, they saw that Kartash was in fact a shape-shifting Callidus Assassin, who trying to escape the Warp rift the Void Grenade had created. The two Space Marines would not given him that chance though and launched an attack that killed Kartash by cutting his body in half[1d]. Afterwards, the Spears began a coverup that would ensure the Mentors and the Inquisition never learned that Dubaku had been killed by their assassin. To add a finishing detail to their plan, the Hex then traveled to the Straits of Epona and shot an emergency beacon pod into it. The pod contained a message, stating that the Spears had found the wreckage of the Sword Frigate In Devout Abjuration, with no survivors aboard it. They did, however, discover evidence that the Inquisition had plotted to continue their vendetta against the Lions, by interfering with the Chapters protecting Elara's Veil. Because of this, the Spears swore that any Imperial ship entering the Veil bearing the symbols of the Mentors or Inquisition would be immediately destroyed on sight. With that done, Incarius and Anuradha willingly cast off the colors of their old Chapter and were welcomed by Brêac into the Spear's Third Warhost. The former Lieutenant Commander would soon embrace the Spear's culture, but before that began Anuradha suggested a new name for him, translated from Brêac's Vargantes tribal dialect. When he heard it, Incarius readily accepted it and with that, he became known as Vadhán or in Low Gothic, False Scorpion.[1a]
Sources
