[B]Name: Lyras [/b] [B]Age: 245 [/b] [B]Legion: Emperor's Children [/b] [B]Planet of Origin: Chemos[/b] [B]Physical Description:[/b] [INDENT]While one of the older legionaries in the Emperor's Children, Lyras, like other Astartes in the III Legion, shows little sign of age or wear. His features are sharp and his angular face is framed by long silver hair in the manner of his primarch, Fulgrim. Despite a few small nicks and minor scars his face is otherwise unworn by battle damage. Much like the rest of his legion, his appearance is characteristically as close to perfect as can be achieved by anyone less than a primarch, or the Emperor himself. His armour is somewhat less perfect and preserved in its appearance. Once vibrantly purple and gilded with gold ornamentation, it is now blackened by scorch marks and caked with blood and earth, scratched, and in some places, chipped. His crimson cloak is tattered towards the bottom and blackened with the viscera of war.[/INDENT] [B]Skillset:[/b] [INDENT]As with the majority of Emperor's Children legionaries, Lyras is exceptionally skilled in swordsmanship. While devoted to the perfection of all forms of warfare, this particular legionary values close combat, duels and assaults over other courses of action.[/INDENT] [B]History:[/b] [INDENT]Raised on Chemos, Lyras' childhood was strewn with competition and the need to perfect whatever activity he took part in. One such sport which Lyras sought to perfect in his early years was that of swordsmanship. Starting with sticks and metal bars, he eventually found himself competing in small, though increasingly larger, bouts with recreational swords. Frequent victories, both in official duels and in back alley brawls, lead to Lyras acquiring an unashamed sense of pride and accomplishment which would serve to drive him in later years. While not necessarily impressing, but perhaps simply catching the eye of an Astartes on Chemos while duelling during a large gathering for a recruitment drive, Lyras was sponsored for the initial trials of the III Legion, the Emperor's Children, who at this stage were still suffering the effects of the virus, known as 'the Blight' on Terra which had reduced the numbers of the III Legion to critical levels. As an Astartes of the III Legion, Lyras fully committed himself to the mastery and perfection of warfare. As a child he had been driven by competition, but as one of the Emperor's chosen he was wholly consumed by a desire to outmatch any he came across as he partook in the Great Crusade. Aligned with his early life, Lyras devoted himself to the art of sword fighting, now having access to unimaginably powerful and elegant weapons. As the Emperor's Children and their fleet accompanied that of the Luna Wolves in the Crusade, Lyras took part in numerous compliance measures. Some were insufferably peaceful and cooperative, and other worlds provided him with the means to test his swordsmanship. After decades of compliance wars against uncooperative human planets, extinction of xenos races, the slaying of enemy combatants and efficient leadership of his men, Lyras was gradually granted captaincy of one of the chapter companies, a rank at which he stayed until the events of Istvan III. Having exterminated the Laer during their compliance, fought the Megarachnids on On-Forty-Twenty, the planet to become known as Murder, to assist the Blood Angels, Lyras fought with the expeditionary forces of the Emperor's Children against the most vile enemies of the Emperor of the time. It was the same devotion to the Emperor that would find him planetside on Istvan III, hand picked by Fulgrim and Horus, along with thousands of others from several different legions, to oversee the compliance of the former imperial world. The betrayal he witnessed hours into that war tore him to his foundations. The men he had fought alongside against the enemies of the Emperor now declared Him an enemy and his own primarch, the god-like being who he so looked alike, as did many of the III Legion, and who he had bled with, had sentenced him and thousands like him to death by virus bombing. Hundreds of rebels fell to his sword and bolter in the streets of Chorral City, and in the overcrowded, dark caverns beneath during the ensuing war against the planetside traitor elements of the fleets in high anchor above the planet. Thousands fell to his company, who had all been consigned to oblivion alongside him. A small number of his men fell to the rebels, with the majority of them dying in battle against traitors of the World Eaters, Emperor's Children and Death Guard legions. Innumerable men fell to him in close combat, including sergeants and line commanders of the traitor forces who found themselves locked in sword duels with Lyras and felt the full force of his rage. He briefly locked swords with Captain Lucius of the 13th Company when it was revealed that he was among the enemy forces, though was unable to see the duel come to fruition as he was lead away to a small starcraft in the urban jungle of the capital city, kept safe from the maelstrom of war in a covered hangar, capable of taking what few dozen or so of his company still lived after months of warfare. Sheer luck, and the size of the craft, allowed Lyras to narrowly escape Istvan III, though he soon found himself upon a planet sympathetic to Horus' cause, and it was there that began continuing his compliance of worlds, gradually losing his men while spreading the wrath of the Emperor to those who had turned against him.[/INDENT] [B]Psychological Profile:[/B] [INDENT]Lyras displays the Emperor's Childrens' typical obsession with perfection, and devotion to the Emperor. The events of Istvan III have in no way dissuaded him from this mindset and he considers himself to remain one of the few true Emperor's Children, refusing to accept that those who turned traitor belong to the same legion as he. The events of the betrayal destabilised what was once a calm and calculated countenance, and Lyras periodically finds himself overcome with animal rage in combat, not dissimilar to that of the former War Hounds legion. This rage often exhibits himself when he remembers the faces of those he had once called friends and brothers and how they were now cavorting with enemies of the Emperor. The mere mention of his primarch is an almost surefire way to trigger fatalistic wrath. While almost alone, with few loyalists remaining from the III Legion, he vows to continue the Great Crusade, and to partake further in the compliance of worlds.[/INDENT] [B]Equipment:[/B][LIST] [*] Mk II Crusade Pattern power armour [*] Power Sword [*] Phobos pattern boltgun & sling [*] Ikanos pattern boltpistol & holster [*] Frag grenades [*] Combat knife [/LIST] [b]Notes[/b]: Accompanied by Sergeant Alypius. A veteran marine from Lyras' company who had survived the events of Istvan III. Armed with a flamer, bolt pistol and combat blade.