Sybarite Swinging an Agonizer
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Greetings Dakka, I have recently Joined a Deathwatch group and selected to create a Dark Angel Techmarine, before our first mission the GM gave me an Omnissian Power Axe as a special issue item (cause i was a newbie, and he wanted to sell the game to me), and I got to see how my stats and skills helped (in some cases, hindered) the rest of my Kill-Team. So I typed the below, a short two-page long short story summarizing the Life of the Tech-Marine Artanis to shed light on his stats, and the origins of the weapon he will never abandon. For those familiar with the role-playing game, my character's fellowship is among his lowest stats, while his intelligence is Highest, with his weapon and ballistic skills following in close 2nd and 3rd.
Let it be known that I had failed English a few times in high school, and any help with grammar or descriptive writing will be welcomed.
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When asked, Artanis remembers little about his life before joining the ranks of the Dark Angels. He recalls being selected and tested at the young age of 10 so many decades ago and his first assignment into the Dark Angel Tenth Company (Scouts). He had been involved in several scouting operations on a few outlying Eldar Colonies, during a One of these missions; the Scout Bike squad he was with had suffered damage at the hands of Eldar Rangers. With little knowledge of the workings of a Space Marine Bike, he had taken heavily damaged bikes and Jury-Rigged them onto standing ones to make mobile, make-shift cover to protect his squad from sniper fire until they were able to make an effective counter-attack. A few more times, utilizing little more that what was around him, he was able to turn certain death situations into barely survivable ones for his squad, allowing them time and time again to dig in and out-last the enemy until support came in.
These actions got Artanis notices by the Adeptus Mechanicus and he was soon temporarily reassigned and sent to Mars for training before he could truly “Earn His Wings”. On the forge-world of Mars, Artanis took the training and teachings of the Omnissiah very enthusiastically, and even volunteered to replace his left eye with a Mechanical one to show his dedication to the Machine God. Many decades later, the Dark Angels received a new Tech-marine to bolster their ranks. While his power-armor was painted the red-rust of the Adeptus Mechanicus, his shoulder plates still had a Wingless Sword to honor his Chapter and its traditions.
Due to the shortage of Tech-Marines to support the First Company’s innumerable amount of Terminator squads, fate would have Artanis, a marine barely the age of 100 (and still yet to earn his wings), become a Tech-Marine for the Dark Angel’s First Company: The Deathwing. Word of his age and lack of experience spread quickly among the Company, and everywhere he was shown distrust, scorn, and sometimes open hatred . . . with the exception of a few marines; the Master of the Forge whom mentored, and guided Artanis and his fellow followers of the Omnissiah. Rigorous dedication to his chapter over the following decades would grant him the privilege of wearing the Winged Sword of the Dark Angels, though the Broken Sword of Deathwing would not be gifted to him until after one fateful mission.
The First Company was en route to an old colony founded many centuries ago that was rumored to contain information on the Fallen, information that had to be seized and destroyed before the prying eyes of the Inquisitors could further sully the name of the Chapter. As (bad) luck would have it, after jumping out of The Warp, scout ships reported Tyranid Hive Ships, en route to the same planet. The first company made landfall as quickly as possible and informed the men and women of the Imperium of the approaching doom and made plans to evacuate what they could. However, the Company Commander stated that they would need to hold out for an uncertain amount of time before ships could be able to evacuate the civilians. This, of course, was a blatant lie that allowed two squads time to secretly carry out the mission that had brought them to this colony.
With Deathwing’s Veteran Terminator and Devastator squads backed up by Tech-Marines, the impending Tyranid hordes fell upon a heavily fortified colony and were torn asunder by Bolt Shells and cook alive in their carapaces by flamers. For 36 hours relentless waves of Bioforms threw themselves at the Deathwing’s defenses with little to no effect. But the dawn of the 3rd day of open combat the hive mind brought a new tactic for the Dark Angels to contend with. While administering field repairs to a few of the Terminator’s heavy flamers, Artanis heard a sickening crack and rumble beneath his feet. He had manages to cry out “BELOW US! TYR-” before a massive Trygon Prime tore the ground asunder. Before the Terminator squads could react, the Massive Creature began to cleave a gory trail through the ranks, and soon after the monstrous creature had begun its rampage, a brood of Raveners crawled out of the newly created tunnel. The proud, bold Terminators stood their ground during this surprise attack, neither advancing, nor retreating in the face of such an overwhelming attack, and inspired by their courage, Artanis took Power Axe in hand and begun to fight at the backs of the Terminators with his fellow Tech-Marines, and proceeded to slaughter any Raveners that dared to attack him. The Master of the Forge proceeded to single-handedly fight the Trygon Prime, armed with His Servo-Pack and an Omnissian Power Axe.
After what seemed like an eternity, the Company Commander sent word that the task was complete, and it was time to leave the surface planet and purge it from the heavens. Having killed a near endless wave of Raveners, Artanis lobbed a Grenade into the tunnel, collapsing it and preventing more Tyranids from killing more of his Battle-Brothers. Then, axe in hand, he ran to find and assist his Mentor. The Master of the Forge and the Tyranid Prime continued to battle one another, each trading blows with increased ferocity, neither giving up any ground regardless of any injury suffered. Though, The Master of the Forge had severed over half of the creature’s immense talons and scored several blows to its body, his own mechanical body was beginning to break. His left arm was severed, his right could barely support the weight of his axe, and his servo pack was badly damaged. The Trygon took advantage of its weakened adversary, and used its tail to knock the Master of the Forge roughly 20 meters into the fortifications damaging his mechanical body even further. Seeing its opponent on the ground and helpless, the Trygon moves in for the kill.
Artanis, completely infuriated at the thought of a fething Xeno wounding his Mentor, utters a loud battle cry and hurls his Power Axe at the Trygon, landing a solid blow on its body, and causing it to turn its attention away from the Master of the Forge, and charges the creature. The Master of the Forge uses his remaining servo-arm to toss his Axe to Artanis, who (after catching it) runs up to the creature, remove his power axe, and proceeds to kill the monstrous creature, one Axe swing at a time.
A week after this mission, Artanis was granted the right to wear the Broken Winged Sword of the 1st Company, and an Imperial Laurel.
At the Age of 160 before departing his Chapter to Join Deathwatch, the Master of the Forge gifted him his Omnissian War Axe, as a parting gift. To this day, Artanis refuses to use any other kind of close combat weapon, and will never abandon the Axe regardless of what condition it’s in (Though he takes care of it like any sensible Tech-Marine would).
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