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Vance Theren

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Lord Commissar Vance Theren[2]

Vance Theren is a Lord Commissar in the Orpheus Salient.[1]

History

The most senior Commissar in the Orpheus Salient, Theren has presided over matters of military discipline since the first day of the Salient’s foundation. A veteran of many conflicts, Theren has served both on the ground alongside the Imperial Guard, and as a Fleet Commissar with the Imperial Navy, giving him valuable experience in a variety of theatres of war, and making him an ideal choice for such high authority. His oversight onto all Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy activities within the Salient is carried out through the means of thousands of lesser Commissars stationed aboard starships and deployed within Imperial Guard regiments.[1]

A dutiful and honorable man, Theren does not suffer the wasteful use of the Emperor’s armed forces, regarding the lives of the Emperor’s servants as something not to be expended frivolously or rashly. Indeed, quite at odds with the archetypal image of the Commissar, Theren cares about the men under his authority. This has caused him to clash with the Generals under his jurisdiction on several occasions, even going so far as to veto the battle plans of General Derian Arkelius more than once, and having executed several senior Imperial Guard officers for negligence over the years of the Achilus Crusade. Further, he has reprimanded several of his subordinate Commissars for being overzealous in their punishments. The lives of the Emperor’s servants are valuable and it is the responsibility of their leaders to ensure that the dutiful efforts of even the least of men are employed wisely, as Theren is swift to point out to his subordinates. In spite of this atypical outlook, Theren is a stern disciplinarian, having established a collection of penal companies in order to deal with those who step out of line, and commandeering a special battalion of veteran troops to serve as military police, as he has found that squads of exceptionally disciplined men, unbound by regimental loyalty, make effective enforcers.[1]

A devout servant of the Imperium, Theren cannot help but regard the Space Marines with due reverence, and long years of service within the Jericho Reach, interacting with Space Marine commanders, has given him a deep respect for their abilities, and the morale-bolstering effect their presence can have. Given the current state of the Orpheus Salient, he is ever willing to stand in support of the Space Marines and to accept their aid in fighting back against the Tyranids. Part of the Achilus Crusade from the very start, Theren served closely with General Mikal Curas, and he held the General in high regard almost from the outset. Curas’ death was a blow to Theren, though his stern demeanor will not allow his sense of loss to show. He has begun to doubt the teachings that have defined his life in the face of an enemy unlike any he has ever faced. In spite of this, Theren is one of the few individuals holding the Orpheus Salient together, his discipline and sense of duty maintaining order in the most terrible of circumstances.[1]

The deception maintaining the illusion of General Curas’ continued service was Theren’s idea, and he maintains control over it, mediating between the Arkelius siblings who form the rest of the Triumvirate, and providing overall command in spite of their familial rivalry. Amidst all this, he liaises with Space Marine forces within the Salient, cooperates with the Deathwatch, and handles much of the inter-organisational politics that so frequently blights Imperial operations, wrangling with the demands of the Administratum, Adeptus Arbites, Adeptus Ministorum, and Adeptus Mechanicus, while endeavouring to win an extremely costly war. In short, it is Theren’s iron will that is the greatest factor in both the deception that General Curas still lives, and rallying the Crusade forces that the General once commanded.[1]

It should come as little surprise that Theren seems withered and exhausted to those who meet him in person. The cost of the Orpheus Salient’s seemingly inexorable collapse weighs heavily on any man, and like his compatriots in the Triumvirate, the strain is taking a toll. Amidst this pressure, Theren is gladdened by the increased Space Marine presence within the Salient, and the more widespread deployment of Deathwatch Kill-teams, for every Space Marine who stands beside the mortal guardsmen and shipsmen of the Orpheus Salient lessens the weight upon his shoulders and those of every officer under his command.[1]

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