[hider=Forgepriest Lelandros: Born in Fire]

Name: Forgepriest Lelandros

Chapter: Salamanders

Chapter Demeanour: Compassionate, Methodical. The Salamanders are known for two things besides their burning flames; their careful consideration of the actions they take, and their compassionate nature towards the citizens of the Imperium that are caught up in the constantly violent maelstrom that swirls through the galaxy. Lelandros is endemic of the first quality- each strike of his servo-harness or gout of flame is carefully placed to maximise its impact, but the training he has been put through has dulled the latter quality in him. He is colder than the average Salamander, but his fire burns yet hotter.

Personal Demeanour: Unlike many Salamanders, Lelandros never returned to Nocturne after his ascension to Prometheus. Although the chapter's values of compassion and protectiveness were imbued upon him by proxy, the Omnissiah's cold logic and the training of the Deathwatch have rendered him far icier than the typical Salamander. In a more literal sense however, he is far from icy- like all of Vulkan's sons, he has an extreme proclivity to reach towards melta and flamer, his time spent burning out xenos, root and stem certainly contributing to this.

Unusually for a space marine, he acts quite aloof when it comes to his comrades-in-arms, preferring the company of machines over man. If given the choice between a conversation with a chaplain and blessing the machine spirit of a land raider, he will always choose the latter. This, however, should not be taken as a lack of morale, cohesion or willingness to both take and issue commands- in battle he can match an Imperial Fist with his stalwartness. If ground is to be held, you can be sure to find Lelandros's boots firmly planted into said ground, and if a location is to be taken, he will apply every aspect of his training and arsenal to capturing it. 
Speciality: Forgepriest (Techmarine)

Rank: If he was a regular marine, his seniority would place him as a sergeant, but techmarines operate on a separate axis. 

Power Armour History: Like all Salamanders, Lelandros' armour has been extensively modified and changed by the marine himself. It has served many brothers before him, but it was under his tutelage that it was wrought into its current form, green and red mingling together with gunmetal inlays where gold would lie. Although once a thing of beauty, its appearance has been rather tarnished by the heavy-handed application of black, and the machine spirit of Lelandros' armour hasn't forgiven him for what it views as an irredeemable insult. Lelandros frequently has to placate the ancient machine spirit, and more than once he has felt it pull at him as if to complain. 

Description: All Salamanders share a peculiar change in their geneseed- slowly, over the course of their lives, their skins will turn a pure, charcoal black. Lelandros skin turned onyx decades ago, and his eyes smoulder an evil-looking red, although perhaps they make him seem a little too much of an intimidating figure. Above his eye gleam no less than four service studs- showing him to be a veteran of no less than eighty years of glorious combat under the Salamanders.

In addition to the honours implanted in his head, his armour also displays an unusual sight. The right side of his armour, rather than being totally blank, instead holds the image of a roaring bonfire, the intricate symbols within showing Lelandros to be a member of the honoured Order of the Fire of Ry'lan. In addition to this, his back is adorned with a great drakeskin cape. With this billowing behind him and the roar of flames around him, Lelandros' form has been the last thing many enemies of the Imperium have laid eyes upon.

Skills: Lelandros has laboured long over the fires of a forge. His form, charcoal and adorned, has been scorched by flames countless times, and each one of these scorchings counts as a lesson into the art of making the broken whole, the simple complex. Like most Forgepriests, Lelandros' skill in engineering weapons of war is impeccable, and his hands have produced works of art as lethal as they are beautiful. 

Beyond forging, Lelandros battlefield repair skills are second-to-none. Less-than-gentle coaxing of the machine spirit on his part has brought back artillery and vehicles alike across the scattered worlds of the Imperium. Even beyond this mechanical expertise, Lelandros is certainly no tactical fool. His veterancy has given him similar insight to a sergeant- and if it came down to it, he would have no difficulty in providing direct, accurate commands to other brothers.
 
History: Many Salamanders share a similar story when it comes to their forging into a battle brother. Born an unusually strong youth, Lelandros' early childhood growth already put him ahead of his youths. In playfights he often came out on top, and he was the quickest when it came to gathering supplies and the sharpest when it came to his learning. This intelligence and strength were not missed by the leader of the tribe in which he lived- a Salamanders Devastator Marine named Agamites. Agamites would see the strength within Lelandros and, with the whole-hearted acceptance of his parents, begin to guide him through the difficult path that would see him ascend to Prometheus as a fully blooded member of the Salamanders.

Although well rounded in most aspects of his training, Lelandros showed particular ability when it came to craftsmanship and engineering. Whilst others in his position were still learning to assemble a stubber, he was hammering out copper inlay for a flamer. When others were busying themselves with flak armour, he was putting the finishing touches on a carapace bodyplate. After he had captured his first Fire Drake and received the genetic implants, it took little time before he was shipped off to Mars, where he learned the ways of the technocracy at a startlingly speedy pace. Returning as a revered Forgepriest, Lelandros would set off on his first true campaign- the eradication of a splinter of Hive Fleet Jormagundr, which, having buried itself deep within the ground, required the sort of deep scorching that could only be found in blessed promethium. In wretched tunnels and mineshafts deep beneath the surface, Lelandros would time and time again be the bulwark of the squads that fought there, fixing damaged armour, weapons and vital equipment, his flamers searing corruption from metal and restoring brilliance to the machines which his battle brothers used. Alas however, these fights would be in vain- as the Imperial forces worked their way deeper and deeper into the planet, they would find themselves in vast crypts, filled with strangely metallic skeletons. The Salamanders would end up detonating the tunnels they had fought so valiantly to clear, buying as much time as they could for the citizens on the surface to flee before the assorted fleets above the surface discharged their payloads- volley after volley of armaments unloaded until the very mantle was rent and the world was turned into an asteroid field from which the necrons would eternally rest.

From there, he would be redeployed to another world beset by dug in xenos that could re-emerge: Orks. This, he took to with even greater zeal, the forgepriest's most notable action being the assistance he leant to a tank column of Imperial Guardsmen- repairing and resanctifying their flame-spewing Chimeras during one particularly hellish push into the Orkoid lines. It was from this battlefield that he was plucked from, his armour to be blackened and his services required by the Deathwatch.

Equipment and Armament: Perhaps the most obvious piece of equipment that Lelandros has is not, strictly speaking, even 'equipment.' His servo arm- a single long, powerful mechanical limb forged in brass and green carries its own tools and weapons, vital to both the upkeep of equipment under Lelandros' oversight as well as for destroying those foolish enough to stand in his way. The ends of these servo-arms can be customised somewhat, but generally he sticks with one of the most common configurations- a plasma cutter/welder that can be used to slice through even the toughest of armour whilst also reforging shattered plasteel. 

Apart from his servo-arm, he carries two main pieces of equipment; One is the standard techmarine Omnissan Axe- intricately designed head making the blade look like both cog teeth and flames gushing from the mouth of a great red drake, whilst the other is a potent combi-bolter, made by his own two hands in Nocturn's forges. Underslung to an already astoundingly artistic bolter is a slightly oversized flamer (for combi sizes,) capable of unleashing two scorching gouts of holy promethium per deployment. Lastly, across Lelandros' back is perhaps more of an indication of his chapter than his blackened armour, for there sits a drakeskin cape, the fireproof scales flowing like water with each movement he takes.
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