Vheren Ashurhaddon
"Victory is not an absolute. A warrior can triumph in battle and be lessened by it, for it is the end that sanctifies war, not the means. The warrior that fights for nothing more than blood has already been defeated." - Attr. Vheren Ashurhaddon[4b]
Vheren Ashurhaddon, the First Reaver was a Captain in the Sons of Horus Legion, during the Great Crusade, Horus Heresy,[4b] and Great Scouring.[4c] He was best remembered for his role in the Siege of Cthonia, when he attempted to stem the Sons of Horus' corruption and ruination by retaking their Homeworld.[4a][4b]
History
Ashurhaddon was born in the underground tunnels of Cthonia, and was recruited into the Luna Wolves soon after Primarch Horus was united with his Legion.[4d] A skilled commander, he rose to Captain of the 23rd Chapter of the Luna Wolves (later Sons of Horus). Over the course of the Great Crusade, he gathered great renown and was firmly loyal to his Primarch, although he never became a member of the Legion's inner circle.[4a] Ashurhaddon quickly developed a disdain for the Terran members of his Legion, seeing the ways of Cthonia as superior to any other way of warfare. Accordingly, he surrounded himself with Cthonians and devoted himself to honing the Cthonian traditions of gang warfare into strategies and tactics; for instance, he pioneered what later became known as the Reaver Attack Squad, earning the nickname "The First Reaver".[4d]
He followed Horus into treason, serving with distinction in the Horus Heresy. However, as the civil war developed, Ashurhaddon gradually realized the decline of the Sons of Horus under the corrupting influence of Chaos. This affirmed his view that the Legion had to remain devoted to the old ways of Cthonia, choosing honor over the increasingly senseless and brutal ways of war resulting from the Chaotic influences. Ashurhaddon gathered like-minded Space Marines around him, eventually rising to lead a warrior society called the "True Sons of Cthonia".[4a]
By the end of the Solar War, the calls for the internal reform of the Legion by Ashurhaddon and his followers were largely ignored by Horus and his inner circle.[4a] Despite becoming disgusted at what he perceived as the Legion's ruin, he could also not bring himself to actually opposing his Primarch.[4d] However, Horus eventually allowed the Ashurhaddon's traditionalists to attempt to retake their Homeworld Cthonia, which had been conquered by the Imperial Fists during the early Heresy. Ashurhaddon thus gathered his True Sons, by then numbering over 20,000 Space Marines, and numerous supportive groups belonging to Traitor Imperial Army units and the Dark Mechanicum. He was also joined by more enigmatic groups such as a strong Word Bearers force led by Zedak Mordakar and an Alpha Legion unit, perhaps naively believing his force stronger with instead of without these additional Marines. Ultimately, the Captain hoped that he could restore the honor and old ways by reuniting the Sons of Horus with their homeworld.[4a]
Thus, in 013.M31, as the rest of the Sons of Horus invaded the Imperium's Throneworld in the Siege of Terra, Ashurhaddon led his True Sons to free Cthonia from the Imperium's grasp. Ashurhaddon's initial attack succeeded in doing so, even as the Siege of Terra raged, and he destroyed the Imperium's orbital defenses around his Homeworld. With his fleet now dominant above the world, the Captain launched a counter-invasion that began to overwhelm the Imperial forces stationed on Cthonia.[2][4a][4b] Ashurhaddon developed a bitter rivalry with Evander Garrius, and the two nearly fought to the death over Horus' personal throne in the final stages of the battle at the Traitor's Gate. However while badly wounded, Ashurhaddon was evacuated by his Chieftain captain Ithan Ryaeve shortly before Cthonia was destroyed.[4c]
Wargear
Ashurhaddon wielded a power axe known as the Axe Serpentis and a pair of modified bolt pistols known as the Banestrike Fusilade.[3][4d]
Images
Trivia
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Ashurhaddon was an Assyrian King famous for conquering Egypt in the 600s B.C.
Sources
- 1: Warhammer Community: Decide the Fate of Cthonia With the First Horus Heresy Campaign Book (Posted on 22/03/2023) (Last accessed on 22/03/2023)
- 2: Cthonia's Reckoning (Anthology) - Traitor's Faith (Short Story)
- 3: Warhammer Community: The Commanders of the Siege of Cthonia Work Out Their Bitter Rivalry in Warhammer: The Horus Heresy (posted 30/4/2023) (last accessed 30/4/2023)
- 4: Campaigns of the Age of Darkness: The Siege of Cthonia
