[hider=Primarch Sheet] [b]Name[/b]: Iniephor The Scholar [b]Gender[/b]: Male [b]Homeworld[/b]: The world of Knosson was perhaps one of the most ideal areas for Iniephor to find himself on. A vast world that had been colonised and recolonised no less than four times, it was perhaps not quite a death world but certainly desired to be one. The surface of the planet was fragmented and riddled with asteroid impacts, the tectonic plates wild and crashing, and all manner of strange creatures inhabited and had inhabited the planet's surface. Despite this however, the people that lived on the planet thrived, in large part due to the huge protective domes that were built around major cities. Knosson surface however was just the beginning. Although brutal warp storms besieged the solar system and made travel in and out of the system impossible, the planets within the system had all seen some measure of human activity. Knosson's twin moons of Minos and Phaistos showed now-destroyed settlements, and across the entire solar system there was the indelible ink of intelligent activities. [b]Appearance[/b]: Iniephor's appearance is as malleable as clay is to a sculptor, but all his forms have one thing in common; a pair of curling horns that start just above his temples and end in line with his jaws. Because of this, Iniephor rarely shows his hair, his head normally covered with a wide hood that conceals the one part of his inhumanity. Despite the malleability of his form however, Iniephor normally chooses a fairly reasonable shape, at least for a primarch. Iniephor's standard appearance measures around twelve-foot-tall in total, with burnished bronze-brown skin and a shaggy mane of brown hair, the ends lightening to a pleasant blond. In terms of dress, Iniephor is loath to don his proper armour. Instead, he much prefers his academic's wear, garb similar to that of what scholars and philosophers have traditionally worn on Knosson for generations. Besides the vast hood he also wears a loose- fitting sleeveless chiton for warmer climates or a sleeved tunic for cooler ones, tight-fitting yet tough wearing trousers and, in very cold climates, a heavy cloak. [b]Personality[/b]: Iniephor is a strange sort of individual. Studious, yet rarely found in a library, adventurous yet spending most of his time studying he is simultaneously one of the greatest scholars possible and the worse student. Apart from these contradictions, Iniephor shares much with his father. Relentlessly proud of his psychic potential, he revels in opportunities to use it and to explore the limits of his power. In addition, he has a fascination with human nature and evolution. Firmly believing that humanity must become psychic or perish (something he unknowingly shares with his father, although his outlook is more extreme) his moral compass can oftentimes dip into some severely questionable areas, something he has few qualms about. [b]Skills[/b]: Iniephor's excessive psychic power renders him with no small variety of interesting and unique skills. Besides the ability to reshape large aspects of his physique, he is a master in almost all of the recognised Imperial disciplines, the exception being divination, a field which requires him to take significantly more steps before he can truly see things that have not occurred yet. Outside of his psychic power, Iniephor is also superlatively intelligent, hence his moniker of 'the scholar.' An accomplished academic and writer, his books on the nature of the vast sea and its pelagic currents are the seminal works on these subjects- literature which no librarius could do without. Besides warp studies, he is also accomplished in natural and unnatural sciences, languages (having studied Eldar and Orkish, as well as another, more ancient language that he does not know the origin of) and far, far more. [b]Assignment Grade[/b]: Alpha-Plus. Iniephor's active psychic power is second only to that of the Emperor himself, and he has the mental fortitude to bear witness to this. Iniephor's feats when his mind was still developing surpassed that of the few 'magicians' that lived in Knosson, and his fully grown and well-curated mind surpasses those of his brothers with an almost contemptuous ease [b]Biography[/b]: Iniephor would arrive on Knossos in some of the worst conditions the planet had ever experience. His cradle fell into the ocean, swept along by roaring storms and beating waves. Thrust out of the sea, he was found by an astonished fisherman and quickly taken back to land, where he was cared for by his wife for a number of days. His extraordinary growth and the horns that rapidly started jutting from his head would draw the attention of Knosson's 'magicians' and it took very little psychic knowledge to recognise the prodigious power contained within his mind. Taken to the palace at age three (now fully grown) Iniephor would astonish the ruling family with his still fairly nascent psychic powers. Taken in as an advisor and good luck symbol, he would study under the court's finest psychic powers, only to surpass and exceed them in every way within the year. None on Knosson could match his keen mind, and so it was that by age five he was already considered to be the greatest mind Knosson had ever seen. Leading digs and research missions across the planet, he would quickly find out that his people were not the first, nor were they the only ones. Digs on Minos showed evidence of great battles, and when he set foot on Phaistos, he encountered xenos for the first time. As he and his men established a research camp, they were approached by mysterious, slender humanoids who had monitored the tomb world that the primarch had unwittingly landed upon. The farseer of the eldar- for, indeed, that was what they were, sensed the psychic power radiating from Iniephor. Unsure of exactly what he was witnessing, but realising the impact the young man would have on the galaxy at large, the eldar would only give a warning before melting back into the shadows, leaving the young man confused, yet intrigued. By the time that the Emperor made planetfall, Iniephor had long since been crowned Scholar-Emperor of Knosson and the newly reclaimed Minos. Although not understanding the true significance of what lay beneath Phaistos, he had heeded the words of the strange figures he had spoken to so long ago and had left it alone, instead focusing on turning Knosson and Minos into a relative paradise. Great domes and walls held the unnatural weather at bay, whilst psychic tuning relays soothed the minds of newly born psykers, who would be taken to great universities to train and educate in the ways of the Vast Sea. [hider= The Meeting] Iniephor awoke in a cold sweat. Someone was in his dreams. He had feared this. Of course, he had feared this. In his scrying into the Vast Sea that lay beside their own universe, he had felt uncountable evils crawl their way across his skin, drilling at his flesh and pricking at his mind. He had read of those before him, the shoulders that he had used to climb to the heights he was now, men driven insane and ravening, tearing at their own eyes or going berserk, frail scholars tearing men apart limb from limb. He had thought his own iron will to be strong enough to surpass these beings, but now there was a shape in his mind. His eyes would stare up at the ceiling of the room he was in, blankly looking at it without absorbing anything, and then he would stand up and walk across to his vast desk. One of the greatest trees had been felled to construct this desk, and so it was that when he rummaged through it for a pen and a sheaf of paper, it would take him a little while to physically extract them from it. Setting the paper down, he would write out everything he remembered from the dreams. Most men now, in his shoes, would frantically rush for the stimulants, attempting to steel themselves to stay awake as long as possible, but not him. Not in the slightest. Instead, he would run his finger across the keratin of one of his horns, wipe the sweat from his forehead and settle back into his bed, feeling his otherworldly energy course through his veins. As soon as his eyes closed, the person appeared again. It said four words. "We will meet soon." Then, it disappeared. When Iniephor awoke again, he squeezed his eyes closed, trying to remember the appearance of the individual. It... He... He couldn't. He just couldn't. Every time he felt like he had seized upon what they looked like it would slip from his mind, the scholar reluctantly noting it down before he fell back into an uneasy sleep. [hr] The next day, he would emerge from his bedroom and stagger to the open-air scrying pool. He gazed down at the liquid inside, black as night, and at first, he would see his own reflection. A longer gaze, a deeper gaze, and then he would begin to see behind him, shapes appearing in the sky. Ships, craft far larger and more imposing than the ones that he used to move about the worlds they inhabited. He stared deeper, at every element of the craft. When would they arrive? Was the figure last night in them? He continued staring, until a scream brought him back to reality. Looking towards the source of the noise, he saw a woman clutching one hand over her mouth and pointing to the sky with the other. Turning around, his eyes widened. He flicked between the scrying pool and the sky, realising now that he had not been seeing the future, like he was so accustomed to, but instead the reflection of the sky. Dashing inside as quickly as he could, he would don his scholarly robes and begin his sprint, magics welling at his command. From above the sky shapes would begin to plummet, and by the time he had reached the centre of Knosson's capital, he would see strange figures emerging from them. Aliens? No, no, they looked nothing like those strange sarcophagi, nor like the humanoids he had encountered once, with their high cheeks and knife-like ears. These were blocky, rough and heavily armed. They would scan the crowds that assembled around them, and for the briefest of moments, Iniephor felt a strange kinship between him and these bizarre newcomers. They too, he realised, had abilities much like him. He could sense the power throbbing beneath their veins, but then... A power far greater was descending. His eyes would turn skywards, towards where a vehicle descended like a celestial from upon the heavens. Its blocky shape would roar, thrusters activating as the huge shape slowed its descent... Although not enough for a perfectly smooth landing. With a [i]crack[/i] that spoke of the road beneath splintering and shattering it would come to a stop, the sense of overwhelming power pressing in on Iniephor's mind. Slowly, the doors of the craft would open themselves and there would stand the figure that Iniephor had seen in his dreams. Almost immediately the scholar would launch out his mind, invisible magics whirling through the Vast Ocean towards this figure, this god among men, whose power threatened to drag even the superhuman in front of him to his knees. With a gesture that could have been a man swatting the fly the figure would dismiss the magic, chuckling as they did so. Then they stepped into the light. Golden. Shining. Imperious. His eyes were a vortex, one that Iniephor's gaze was pulled into almost instantly. The figure would step forward and reach for the primarch, his hand coming to the vast hood that concealed his face. It would push the cloth back, brush past his horns, and then the man would let out another deep booming chuckle. "You really are one of my creations then." [/hider] [/hider] [hider=Legion Sheet] [b]Legion Name[/b]: The Lantern Bearers (Formerly Aeon Scribes) [b]Legion Number[/b]: I [b]Legion Strength[/b]: Around eighty-five thousand astartes. This makes the Lantern Bearers a small legion, but the psychic potential of an unusually large proportion of its recruits more than makes up for this flaw. [b]Armour Appearance[/b]: [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/WcmeYrf.jpg[/img][/center] The Lantern Bearer's chapter symbol is a holdover from before Iniephor's time, to when they were named the Aeon Scribes. It displays a feathered quill alongside a sword, and many have noticed that it bears no small semblance to an eagle's wing and claw grasping a sword, drawing comparisons to the Aquila. Why the original design is the way it is is unknown, even to Iniephor. [b]Warcry[/b]: [list] [*]THROUGH KNOWLEDGE, POWER! [*]FACITA MEMORIA! (High Gothic, lit 'Become A Memory') [*]STRIKE THEM INTO THE RECORDS! [*]FOR INIEPHOR! [/list] [b]Dramatis Personae[/b]: Diomedes Meldetires: One of Iniephor's close friends from his time as Emperor of Knosson. His Malcador, a man who was made a space marine almost too late, and serves as advisor and librarian, although not as a combatant. Megistias Elloren: Chief Librarian of the Lantern Bearers. Flighty, capricious, but a highly capable divinator, intensely passionate researcher and one of the only people to ever be able to ask Iniephor a question he had to mull over. Ajax Demtrion: Known as the "Butcher of Bulmeros." A freakishly strong, even for an astartes, individual, he is the Lord Executioner of the Lantern Bearers. His psychic powers are very much power over finesse- he can squash a man like a bug with his mind, but gently placing something down would be difficult for him. One of the few people in the entire legion Iniephor does not like but still holds a significant role. [b]Favoured Tactics/Battlefield Role[/b]: The Lantern Bearers are a force that is easy to underestimate. Rarely coming together in great numbers, they instead tend to act as Iniephor's personal expedition assistants most of the time. It is only when Iniephor's ire is roused enough to fully commit to an assault does their full power become clear. Most individual members of the Lantern Bearers share in some level of psychic potential (and Iniephor's gene seed is noted to awaken psychic potential in those that might otherwise never realise it.) Through careful training, the legion has learned to pool together their psychic might, creating a gestalt field of energy that can be tapped into by those among them powerful enough to manipulate it outwards. This is particularly obvious when the first chapter takes to the field. Even when not utilising storms of psychic power offensively, they can still cut a bloody swath through their foes. Precogniscents and biomancers dodge and weather fire superlatively, allowing for marines to march through a tornado of steel and take very few losses. When they emerge at the other end, an overwhelming deluge of returning fire coming from storm bolters, witchfire and promethium, annihilating enemy positions rapidly and efficiently, the ends of their foes meticulously noted down in the annals of the chapter's history. Even in melee combat, the lantern bearers are no slouches. Force weapons are a common sight amongst the legion, Lantern Bearers generally choosing hammers and staves which smash through armour and bone as if they consisted of Styrofoam. [b]Legion Characteristics/Ideology[/b]: The Lantern Bearers are, first and foremost, researchers and archaeologists, much like Iniephor himself. They meticulously and studiously study all manner of subjects, from mundane pottery to the depths of the human mind, uncovering the past of humanity to hopefully plot the future. Because of this, almost every Lantern Bearer march into battle searching for more to curate and add to their history- the chapter also has a truly prodigious amount of remembrancers amidst their numbers, all of whom are respected just as much as the chapter serfs are. When it comes to planetfall, the Lantern Bearers tend to set up rather organised societies. Planets touched by the Lantern Bearers are fairly easy to recognise, as the legion has the tendency to organise things similarly to their homeworld of Knossos, with administrative functions centred in 'castles' which the rest of the cities are centred around. [b]Relationships[/b]: The Lantern Bearers are perhaps the most interesting when it comes to their interactions outside of the legion. Despite showing none of the typical traits which would endear the mechanicus to them, they have nonetheless earned the respect of the Cult of Mars through Iniephor's constant tendencies to unearth all manner of tech and STCs through his incessant rummaging across the galaxy. Because of this (and aforementioned rummaging) they boast a somewhat more varied arsenal than might be expected of them, with a not-insignificant amount of artificer armour counted in their ranks. When it comes to warp denizens, the Lantern Bearers have already been noticed. Of course, they would- Iniephor's mind shines almost as bright as the Emperor's, and when they pool their psychic power they create a beacon so powerful that it could blind an unprepared daemon. Many of the legion have unwittingly wrestled with these foes, although it is the Lords of Change who have taken particular interest in meddling with the First Legion. If this will materialise into something more sinister remains to be seen. The Lantern Bearers, as the name suggests, often operate on the uncharted edges of the Imperium. Even for the Great Crusade they tend to roam farther and delve deeper into worlds. Because of this, they are oftentimes the first interactions once-cut off worlds have with the Imperium at large. Their ordered nature, psychic powers and highly stylised armour means that they're often mistaken as akin to gods, something which they rectify as quickly as possible. The Lantern Bearers do not leave behind feral worlds. Lastly, the legion's relation with their father- not Iniephor, but the Emperor itself, is built on shaky foundations. The Emperor's desire to control psychic humanity and antithetical attitude to religion puts him at odds with the often-spiritualistic Lantern Bearers, who view their gifts as something to be cherished and shared, not fiercely denied. Although Iniephor would be rightfully horrified at the touch of chaos, going [i]renegade[/i] would not be out of the question. 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