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Playing Scythes of the Emporer, I need a character to represent Chapter Master Thrasius.
With input from fellow Dakka-ites, I've pretty much decided on Forgefather Vulkan Hestan...

The only problem is that I don't know what he actually is.
His title makes me think he's a Techmarine, or Master of the Forge - but he has none of the special rules for it.
Is he a captian?
Is he the Chpater Master of the Salamanders?
Is he just a regular marine, with lots of experience, who holds no offical battle rank?
There's a few others, like Brother Sgt. Cronus of the Armored Company... but you've got to put him in a tank, so he's not really a character, he just lends special abilities to the tank he's in...

Brother Telion of the Scouts definitely has the scout abilities, and it's clearly stated what he is.

I can't find anything in the flavor text that indicates what Hestan is... aside from his title of Forgefather, but that goes right back to the Techmarine quesiton...

Has there been any GW errata or clarification on this, or does anyone have any ideas what he's supposed to be... rank wise?

EDIT - I browsed this thread - http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/218725/386502.page but it didn't clarify much... unfortunately I'm at work, so I can't take the time to read the entire thread.. I'll look more at home, and see if I can answer my own question.

I have no idea. Sorry for the help

This is more of a fluff question then a rules question (and can be easily answered by reading the codex).

He used to be the captain of the 4th Battle Company. He was then commanded to take over duties as the Forgefather (and replace his former first name with 'Vulkan').

His duties are to find relics hidden by the primarch vulkan around the galaxy (think questing knight searching for the holy grail and you have an idea). Ruleswise he has the stats of a Capatin/Chapter Master but he does not have either's perks (no command squad, no honor guard, no orbital strike). This makes sense since he is no longer in direct command of a particular company or the chapter itself (the Chapter Master AND first comany captain is Tu'Shan). However He'stan can request aid from any part of the Salamander chapter, so he is still appropriately selected as an HQ choice.

HTH

He was the commander/captain of the 4th company, now he has no company but can ask the other captains for troops to help him on his quest.

He's looking for some items that the salanders primarch Vulkan made and hid around the galaxy for the sallies to find when the were ready.
Forgefather is the honorific title for whoever is chosen to do this job.

He is an H.Q. unit. AFAIK he's the only SM character that counts as neither a captain nor a master. (I'm assuming you're asking because you want to know if you can take an Honor Guard or Command Squad. Unfortunately it's neither.)

Ok, this clears some things up.
So he went from Captain to Forgefather - I got that from the text. I just didn't know if he still counted as a captain... looks like he doesn't.
So he's a special marine with some special powers to represent his appointed task - makes sense.

So my if I used the "Counts as" rule with Chapter Master Thrasius, he wouldn't (by the rules) be an actual Chapter Master... ok.
no Honor Guard or Command Squad makes sense for the SotE, as they're down to about 250 marines total.. and who knows how many veterans are left.