Bartolomé cannot remember when first he touched the Immaterium, but knows that since he became a man, he was able to temper massive waves of the Warp that would topple the sturdiest of men. However, this latent psychic abilities did not make him impregnable—he endured the trials of the Grey Knights, barely passing those focused on strategic ability. He spent much time on Titan amending this: pouring over historic battle plans and watching closely how his brothers conducted battle. In time, he felt valid enough to join the 8th Brotherhood, the Silver Blades. He venerated the Grand Master and eventually the two formed a bond on the battlefield. Yet tragedy struck when Bartolomé witnessed his battle brother struck down by a Keeper of Secrets. Since then, Bartolomé swore to become Grand Master and furiously flame their war against Chaos. That was, one day until his squad was engulfed by a warp storm on a secret mission and spat out in the PU-5 system, where they fight for their survival.
The Rubicund Champions are the first of their kind in Chapter 666: a partnership between the Prescient Brethren Brotherhood and the Armory of Titan to develop new psychic-laden technology to bolster the efficacy of Grey Knight armor. This group happened upon a material which seemed to combine the benefits of ceramite and adamantium into a single plate. With such breakthrough strength and durability, the Rubicund Champions quickly adopted the material, which they christened as Limodorum Marble due to its stark similarity to the old Terra material, with the signature quirk of its veins flowing with purple auras as its bearer taps into the Warp. However, the full nature of the Marble was unprovoked until the Rubicund Champions attempted their most intense psychic channeling ritual yet... the ensuing locus of psychic energy attracted deamons from leagues away; they opened a portal which engulfed the Rubicund Champions and sent them barreling through the Warp.
Mathis was new blood: created, not born, to be the voice of the Emperor. Through his days as a neophyte he was always seen as a faithful squire, protecting his comrades from enemy assaults. He learned the songs of old through numerous battles, and how to inspire his battle brothers onward to glory. With not only inspiration, but also vision, he also drew firstborn brethren to fight alongside him.
Mathis’s Questoris fleet has arrived to recover old relics, lost and taken by the xenos, and to discover new relics - ordinary wargear blessed through heroic deeds that can inspire new warriors in their crusade to cleanse this system and others of the crafty xenos.
Commander Purecod was not surprised to hear of random disruptions in communications around the PU-5 system. He had been tracking warp disturbances, a practice banned by the Ethereal Caste, however utilization of warp technology was recognized as strategically vital to those loyal to O’Shovah. Studying the talisman he had taken off a slain Imperial Psyker, he felt that a powerful psychic disturbance was in the process of being unleashed. Advance stealth teams had reported a dramatic build up of Imperial activity on the mining world of Yarnsaxa and when communications were lost, Purecod acted on his training and assumed the worst. Warp related mining incidents had a poor safety record in the Imperium, and in concern for the countless souls living within the system, the commander ordered all his forces to engage and opened up diplomatic channels with possible allies.
PU-5 had long been under the observation of the Enclaves. Always needing new recruits to fill the Gue'vesa ranks, the Tribunal was always placing pressure on frontier commanders to focus on fulfilling their assimilation mandate. The recent campaign against the Greenskins had discouraged many commanders and left them jaded, unwilling to trust any alien race to engage in mutually beneficial diplomacy. The large population in the PU-5 system had been marked as living under especially poor conditions, even by Imperial standards, violating a number of their rights as a sentient species. Scouts reported a large incarcerated population facing harsh sentences for often petty crimes and, coupled with the hive world nearby, would constitute a perfect source of recruits to serve the Greater Good. With his strategy firmly in place, Purecod descended to the battlefield at the head of his own squadron of XV-8 Battlesuits to liberate the system and prevent whatever calamity the Imperials were about to unleash on its inhabitants.
Purecod was a veteran of dozens of campaigns, fighting by O’Shovah’s side as a junior officer piloting an XV-8. After a near miss of his nether regions by a well placed Power Klaw, Purecod had an iridium codpiece attached to his armor for extra protection. Outstanding on the battlefield, Purecod rose through the ranks and ultimately followed O’Shovah in defecting from the manipulative Ethereal Caste. A legendary figure in his own right, Purecod has been well known to favor diplomacy as the first course of action, but when forced to don his battlesuit he also has a reputation for precision and ruthlessness.
"For it is in War that we attain self-knowing. Through this we embody Life and Purpose above all else, infinite in Animus beyond Despair's reach. I cast down your Soul and by my own Glory, Proclaim My Self."
Few walk the Path of the Warrior more readily than the Aspect Warriors of Biel-Tan, and fewer still are those who step into the Living War. Only those who feel themselves slipping to Death and Despair may join their ranks as a final means to stave off She Who Thirsts. Those who do sacrifice much, yet gain a Purpose beyond all earthly pursuits.
You are Nameless: your only Title shall be that by which your Enemy knows you.
You are Incarnate: you embody the Path and the Path is your Purpose.
You are the Living War: that Purpose is War, and through War, the Universe shall know itself and you.