Lore: Mekidius Sirak and the Avenged Warband (Part One)

by | Dec 14, 2013

Fear and Vengeance: The Tale of the Avenged (Part One)

The Avenged is thought to be a very small splinter faction of the Night Lords Legion. Their true size is unknown-it is entirely possible for them to have a wide net of cults and followers across and around the Eye of Terror. What is known is that there are very few Space Marines amongst the warband when last observed. It is thought that the group is composed of perhaps fifteen Space Marines (several of which serve as crew-members for tanks), and a few ageing astartes vehicles, namely a Thunderhawk transporter, a Rhino and one Predator. Although this is a pitiful army when measured in size, the warband specialises at covert attacks. Armies in their thousands have kneeled to their new master after  campaigns of terror, psychological warfare and assassination. 

The leader of this force is Mekidius Sirak, a former unit champion under the rule of the Night Reaver. The Night Reaver was a fearsome chaos warlord and veteran of the fifth claw. His fearsome intellect lead the Night Lords under his rule to many victories. But he had a strong contempt for Mekidius. Mekidius was not a true Nostraman. 

Whilst he had the tell-tale pale skin and amazing night sight that his brothers had, he was recruited from another night-world, Draconia, a fallen Imperial world which was sucked into the Eye of Terror and plunged into eternal darkness at the amusement of the Gods. all light was cut out by a curtain of daemonic energy. The only light came from terrifying daemonic faces; often in the form of dark purple, blue and white winged skulls flying above. This was to be an omen for a young Mekidius; the world would be taken as a recruitment world of the Night Lords.

Mekidius made very few 'friends' so to speak amongst the true Nostoman astartes. Although he was feared by the enemy and lead a small unit (also from Draconia), his blood-line meant he was never taken seriously by most. His only true companion has been an ageing Dreadnought, Nightmare. Whilst Nightmare was a mighty warrior capable of massive damage, the Night Lords didn't see him as an effective terror-weapon. His inability to speak meant he could not use voice amplifiers fitted on other Dreadnoughts in the legion to frighten the enemy with daemonic screams and roars. And so he was brought into battle less and less, eventually being left to rust in the confines of the battleship Terrorblade. Mekidius came across the towering Dreadnought by accident, chained up in the bowels of the Terrorblade. He found that he could communicate with Nightmare though a rudimentary language; the noise of Nightmare's Power Claw tapping on the ship floor and the roar of the Drednought's power plant in a series of patterns acted as a reply to the Night Lord. If one were to observe the practice without knowing, they would hear Mekidius speaking, but receiving no reply.

Mekidius and Nightmare developed a bond of trust; both were outcasts in their legion. Both wanted power, respect and vengeance. This is where the Avenged begins...