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Liber Challenge IV - Inquisitor Selene Antonis

Doctor Perils

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Doctor Perils Venerable Brother

Doctor Perils

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This is my topic for my Liber Challenger IV entry - Inquisitor Selene Antonis. I will be updating it over the next month.

 

Origins and Early Life

Selene Antonis, Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos and Count Exemplar of Ghast's Reach, was born in 685.M40, on the Celestine Fort. The Celestine Fort is a Star-Fort in orbit around the Fortress World of Diamellòn, and is the main port of the Sarment Fleet. Her parents were two high officers of the Fleet, but she grew up alongside the children of the crew of the Fort, learning the ways of petty crime and dissimulation. She soon learned that she would win more money by spying on various officers of the Fleet and the Guard.

Unfortunately, both her parents were killed during the Ashen Crusade, and she was sent to the Schola Progeniam on Universitat. Her grades there were exceptional in every domain, and she was admitted into Commissariat and Tacticae training. She had just graduated as a Junior Commissar in 703.40, when Universitat was visited by the young Inquisitor Silas Ketch, searching for acolytes to join his retinue. Antonis suddenly felt that this could be her chance to be someone important, and returned to her old ways of her life on the Star-Fort : she decided to spy on the inquisitor so that she could find the qualities he was looking for. Unsurprisingly, a couple of days later, Ketch announced that he had picked the young lady as his new acolyte, though, she would discover much later, not for the qualities she had shown in the testing procedures, but precisely because she had decided to spy (even inexpertly) on him.

 

Becoming an Inquisitor and Forging a Retinue

She rose through the ranks over the next years, and was an interrogator by the time that Ketch confronted the Daemon Engine possessed by the Greater Daemon Xazabal-Zuavor in the Underhives of Anster on Nosterdam, his own homeworld. Because of pivotal role during this investigation, which had lasted twelve long years, Ketch awarded Antonis her own Inquisitorial Rosette in 728.M40. Ketch did not only make her an Inquisitor, he also gave her the first and most loyal member of her retinue, the Crusader Dariel.

During her Interrogatorship, it was also discovered that Antonis was a relatively powerful psyker (delta level). This skill would be very important to her in the years to come. Her psychic potential was only upgraded when Lord Inquisitor Gimhoek of the Sarment Conclave psy-bonded the cherubim Abbàn to her.

Antonis soon went on to lead her own investigations for the Ordo Xenos, exterminating genestealer cults, warding off corsair and dark eldar attacks and plotting against the Phryx to recapture Xirus and the other lost planets of Ghast's Reach. During these years, she started forming a band of mercenaries who fought for her and the Ordo Xenos, the Ghastly Yeomen. To command them, she recruited one of her old class-mates of Universitat, Corporal Nate Simms, who had fought for many years with the Upsilic Specters, Universitat's regiments of the Militarum Tempestus ; and to keep a tally on the logistics of this "Personal Guard", she demanded a Lexmechanic from the Forge-World of Salvia-10, and was eventually granted Marcel Standarmbrust and his two heavy-weapons servitors.

Finally, the more she found that her Yeomen's standard weapons were ineffective against most alien threats, the more she wished to trade in contraband to bring the mercenaries up to a higher fighting standard. This led her to meet Silara Calys, an eldar corsair merchant, with whom she agreed upon a a trade of the corsair's favoured weapon, the lasblaster, for natural resources difficult to find in the void. To seal the pact, Calys became a hostage of Antonis, whilst she lent a full company of Ghastly Yeomen to the Wyrd Vulture corsairs.

 

New Phryx War

The New Phryx War happened nearly a century after the Seventh Phryx War, in which Inquisitor Natheel Dolchschild of the Boromeanites had taken part.

Over these years, a tentative peace had settled and, though there was officially no trade between the two Nations, there were definitely resources passed from hand to hand.

This all came to an end when Archmagos Krummschwert became the Fabricator General of Salvia-10. Fabricators of this Forge World often modelled themselves as reincarnations (if such a word can be used in the case of the Techpriests of the Mechanicum) of the legendary Archmagos Salvia, who long ago led his own Expiditionnary Fleet during the Great Crusade. In this sense, Fabricators of Salvia-10 would pretend to lead their own Mech-Crusades, but these never gathered much power thanks to the iron gauntlet of the Governor Sectoris Sarment, who never failed to put the Techpriests back in their place.

Krummschwert however arrived in power merely three months after the coronation of a new Governor Sectoris, who was then five years old. With no one to stop him, Fabricator Krummschwert declared a new Mech-crusade against the vile xenos, in an aim to reclaim the worlds of Karthagan and Xirrus, two important strongholds of the Adeptus Mechanicus. With him were the combined might of more than fifty Skitarii Cohort, six Knight Houses - including the venerable House Barcca, and the Freeblade Uther - the reforged Explorator Fleet RB-491.D of Birdget Danànn, a full Titan Legion and, especially, the Ordinatus Lenticle.

Interestingly, this Grand Army of Krummschwert would only see itself be joined by forces of the Ordos Machinum and Xenos, including many Kill-Teams of Lithuan's Deathwatch and Dolchschild's Frakkers; though these units were powerful in their own right, the Fabricator General would have preferred to sway the young head of the Sector into joining his War.

 

The New Phryx War would end up being the first conflict that Antonis took part in as an independent inquisitor. Though many would consider her contribution small compared to some of the bigger names taking part in the Bloodshed, the true value of her hand in it was more inquisitive in nature, for she was the first to capture and dissect two of the species of Mastodon commonly used by the Phryx - the Ankylodon and the Tuskran - and was able to uncover some of their weak points, which no doubt saved many thousands of Imperial Lives.

During this Phryx War, the Yeomen also had their first blooding, and they would be the first - and only - humans to mount Mastodon in battle against the Xenos. They were then able to test Antonis's discoveries, and were even able to recapture three Imperial Knights of Houses Barcca and Maher, that had been taken by the Phryx during the Seventh Phryx War.

 

The Mech-Crusade would end in disaster for the Adeptus Mechanicus : not only were they not able to take hold of the main planetary objectives, but also vast amounts of resources were expended to fight the Xenos. Krummschwert, dishonoured, would later claim that the Sons of Hashût had parleyed with the Phryx and had helped the Aliens against the forces of the Imperium by surprising them on their flank, but historians, tacticians and scholars alike do not believe such allegations.

 

Defense of Carmelost

Probably one of the most important battles of the New Phryx War, yet one of its most secret, took place on the relic-world of Carmelost. But to understand it, one must know of another battle that happened on the same planet, millenia before.

 

Ten thousand years ago, during the Great Crusade, Carmelost had already been the site of an immense battle against the ancient Xenos race that had held sway in that region before the arrival of the 314th Expeditionary Fleet. Little is known about it, except that more than one hundred and sixty thousand Imperial Soldiers lost their lives, and that the battle was only won thanks to the heroic actions of Commander Roland Janvier of the Imperial Army. After holding a major strategic pass for several days against the Xenos, he was finally killed by them, yet he had already bought enough time for the Iron Warriors Astartes contingent of the force to exterminate the last aliens.

Through his previous acts of Valour, Janvier had already earned the right to be the Count of the Sub-sector they were fighting for. Posthumously, he was further honoured by certain select members of the High Command of the Expeditionary Fleet, including the Lord Commander Thierry Celestin and the Warsmith Setal Berdax: they decreed that any person that could brandish Calandan, Janvier's Power sword - which he had planted at his feet at the moment of his death in the rock of the very pass he had defended - would be considered his spiritual successor and would be granted the title of Count Exemplar. In the years after this declaration, Janvier would become one of the focus points of the worship of the followers of the Lectitio Divinitatus, and would eventually become an Imperial Saint; and later still, Carmelost would become a cardinal-world of the Adeptus Ministorum, and the capital of the sub-sector.

However, all knowledge of the Xenos beings that were fought in this sub-sector was lost. All except for the name, that was transmitted through the unofficial name of the region: Ghasts' Reach.

 

During the New Phryx War, one of the Phryx Armies, led by a certain Malaand - or General - Ralban, managed to reach Carmelost, notably with his innovative use of certain technologies from Xirrus. Upon Carmelost, they lay siege to the Imperials.

 

Boromeanite Conflict

 

 

Lord Commander Thierry Celestin was the general of the 314th Expeditionary Fleet - the so-called Pioneers - one of the two expeditionary fleets that conquered the Sarment Sector during the Great Crusade. The Celestine Fort, his flagship, was a Syracuse-class Starfort, and had been under his family's command for many generations.

Once the Sarment Sector had been bought into compliance, Celestin was granted settlement rights one of its sub-sectors, henceforth known as the Celestor Sub-sector.

When the Horus Heresy broke out, the Celestine Fort became and important bastion for the Imperial Navy, and it has ever since been Battlefleet Sarment's main port of call, staying in orbit around the Fortress World Diamellòn, which provides the majority of the fleet's mariners and arms-men.

 

Inquisitor Antonis was a member of the radical faction known as the Boromeanites, as Inquisitor Ketch was, and his mentor - Inquisitor Dolchschild - before him.

The creator of this faction was an Inquisitorial Scholar, an acolyte in the Ordo Militum who lived around M33. His line of thinking was that all Inquisitors should have easy access to a Militant Chamber, in a similar manner to the Deathwatch of the Ordo Xenos and the Grey Knights of the Ordo Malleus. He believed that such an influence could be of great help when dealing with powerful opponents. This rhetoric is said to have influenced Sebastian Thor when he called the Convocation of Nephilim when the Adepta Sororitas became the Militant Arm of the new Ordo Hereticus.

Over the Millenia, this philosophy has developed, meaning that Inquisitors of this faction often created their own personal armies when they believed that they did not have enough access to any official Militant Chamber. Though perceived as dangerous by some, these armies often did prove effective, and so were tolerated by higher organisations.

 

Ghastly Yeomen

The Yeomen are mercenaries recruited from all over the Ghast Reach, and sometimes beyond... Unbeknownst to the Imperium at large, they are equipped with Xenos weaponry, like Eldar Las-blasters. Eventually, this was discovered by agents working for Inquisitrix Ilse Rosenkrantz of the Ordo Hereticus, and was one of the triggers of the Boromeanites conflict.

At their peak, more than fifteen hundred men made up the Yeomen, including a few rare Xenos members, but their numbers were whittled down to a mere 300 during the Defence of Carmelost.

Officially disbanded following the Boromeanite conflict, the Yeomen are still at large in the Sector, sometimes acting as Pirates, or defenders of Imperial Worlds, but generally offering their services to the highest bider.

 

Champion Dariel - Crusader

Dariel was a Crusader from the House of Spades of Cardinal World of Sarment Prime who was sworn to Inquisitor Ketch. When Antonis was given the Seal, Ketch transferred his oath to her. He has since that time saved her life more times than Standarmbrust can count. Unfortunately, he was killed during the events of the Defense of Carmelost.

Silara Calys- Eldar Outcast

Silara Calys was a descendent of the founder of the Wyrd Vultures, Casta Calys, who was the eldar lover of the Viscount of the Livonias Sub-sector. Most of the original Vultures were Eldar Exodites who had been pushed out of their Maiden World - Lilithuan - by the Viscount, when he was being examined by the Ordo Xenos.

Silara is a great diplomat, and is the one who brokered the trade of weapons from the Corsairs to the Yeomen. She has fought alongside Antonis with her voidsaber for the past twenty years, and a certain fondness has grown between the two.

Corporal Nate Simms - ex-NCO of the Upsilic Spectres and later Captain of the Ghastly Yeomen

Nate Simms studied at the Schola Progeniam on Universitat at the same time as Selene Antonis, but whereas she was given over to the commissariat, he continued the training of the Storm Troopers of the regiments called the Upsilic Specters. It was their old friendship that bought Antonis to solicit his help in creating the Ghastly Yeomen when he retired from the Upsilic Spectres. He has since become their commander in chief since Antonis was promoted to Count Exemplar of Ghast's Reach.

Lexmechanic Marcel Standarmbrust - Lexmechanic, accompanied by his two heavy-weapons servitors

On first glance, Standarmbrust does little more than a cogitator, counting, calculating and chattering in binary. Yet he is a genius in his own right, his organic brain's natural capacities augmented heavily by his augmetics, allowing him to predict the outcomes of different choices through the analysis of causalities, statistics and parameters chosen by Antonis.

Though he has a body that seems feeble, the titanium-ceramite alloys that make up his structure and the hydraulic pistons that replace his muscles make him incredibly resilient and strong, if a little slow. He has been known to destroy an opponent's weapon using one "hand", or to crush an enemy in a bear hug. Yet his main combat potential comes from his servitors, TS95-ZO9 and KL34/8/74-4, whose plasma cannon and multi-melta have extraordinary precision.

Abbàn - Cherubim

A familiar, psy-bonded to Antonis by Lord Inquisitor Gimhoek when she received the Holy Seal of the Inquisition.

 

 

 

 

Inquisitors

Boromeanites
Inquisitor Natheel Dolchschild (Ordo Machinum)
Inquisitor Silas Ketch (Ordo Malleus)
Opponents
Inquisitrice Ilse Rosenkrantz (Ordo Hereticus)
Lord Inquisitor Gimhoek (Ordo Malleus)

 

Astartes
Dread Lords
Chief Librarian Gal'Harion
Chapter Master Livio Aita
Deathwatch
Watch Commander Aron Starek
Kill-Brother Henrik Fuchs

 

Astra Militarum
Carmelostan Knights
Earl Marshal Zachary Marlow
Lord Baron Yvain Hendry
United Guard of Sarment
Lord General Esquire Ealer Mac Alistar (Lord General Militant)
Tactician-Commissar Ludovica Gentile

 

Xenos

Aduamar Craftworld
King Karthar Aduan
Farseer Aerin Taur-Sen
Phryx

Malaand Ralban

Hestath Corthdàin

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Doctor Perils Venerable Brother

Doctor Perils

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Thanks for the compliment!

 

I actually plan on writing stories about her, her mentor (Silas Ketch), and his mentor before him (Natheel Dolchschild). They would take the form of short stories I think, rather than a/several novel kind stories.

Really, my main inquisitor is Natheel Dolchschild, so his stories should end up being the longest.

 

All of this is part of the Sector I am developing (the Sarment Sector), and I always like to have a Universe set out quite nicely before writing much (I can't tell you the amount of times I've started writing books and stories, just to start over because the way the rules of physics or the interactions between people(s) didn't appeal to me in the end), so you might have to wait quite a long time before you see any of these stories actually written down on the net. Hopefully though, I'll be coming out with Indices relatively regularly.

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