[hider=Ashur Esarhaddon]

[b]Name:[/b] Ashur Esarhaddon ‘The Lion of Night’

[b]Legion:[/b] VI The Greycloaks (The Ashen Lions)

[b]Homeworld: [/b]Nemea

[center][img]https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/049/486/284/large/denis-sirenko-arid-3.jpg?1652627952[/img]
[i]Art by Denis Sirenko[/i][/center]

Nemea is a dry, arid superhabitable world dominated by vast polar deserts and glacial icecaps situated in Segementum Tempestus, and has a long and storied history with humankind. The system was first settled in some the earliest vast eon spanning migrations of humans from Terra, who extensively terraformed the inhospitable environment of Nemea, most notably melting much of the expansive polar ice caps to create a belt of interlinked inland seas akin to the ancient Mediterranean. Certain artificial intelligences were then designed to administer creches of genetic engineered fauna, releasing new species once it sensed the world had hit certain key markers.  With fertile farmland established and many small colonies thriving, the planet seemed like it would remain a pleasant if isolated and backward system in humanities burgeoning interstellar empire.

However the discovery of rich reserves of Adamantium in the planets northern pole would change Nemea's fortunes permanently. With access to this rare resource the Nemeans were able to redirect trade to their world and develop it both culturally and economically to new heights. It quickly became a centre of trade and a core world in the network of systems that bound early humanity together, establishing its control diplomatically and militarily over many of its neighbouring systems. However despite its involvement in the heavy exploitation of Adamantium and other rare resources, it never made the full evolution into a Hive World or Ecumenopolis due to the natural beauty of the manicured landscapes of its equatorial coastline, and the gorgeous turquoise-blue waters of the Great Apsu Sea. As such Nemea maintained a mixed but prosperous economy, with its equator serving as coastal hub for cities and coastal resorts, whilst the more arid and harsh landscapes of the Whispering Desert were left to mining and exploitation. Thousands of years of peace and prosperity reigned on Nemea even during this time; even the decline in the output of Adamantium could not hinder its growth as the trade lanes it had built had become ossified, ensuring its continued importance in trade in this far flung sector of human civilisation.

However much like Terra, Nemea suffered greatly in the fallout of Old Night. The eruption of warp storms disrupted the intricate network of interstellar trade Nemea had used to support itself and threw the planet into chaos. Even worse the Warp storms corrupted the intelligence of the ancient AI's of the world, leading them to vomit forth unceasing tides of increasingly monstrous fauna upon the mostly defenseless inhabitants until they were reduced to cinders and charred circuits by powerful atomic weapons. The surviving bureaucracy of the Dark Age of Technology bound itself together into powerful houses and declared war on each other in a brutal struggle for control over the badly damaged world. As such, what had once been one of the jewels of humankind was quickly engulfed in the savagery of technobarbarian warlords and powerful merchant city states as they sought to dominate and destroy one another in an endless cycle of bloodshed. Worse still, many of the monstrous fauna created by the old machines had survived their creators fall and now spread across much of the Whispering Desert, turning much of the world into a dangerous, hostile place beyond the narrow band of the equatorial coastlines, and fatally isolating the remaining civilisations from the raw resources necessary to bring their civilisations out of the Age of Strife. 

Currently the nations of Nemea are split between the opposing powers of Seluktar, Korshamash, Astarea and Balan-Ur who each control a corner of the vast equatorial sea lanes of Nemea. This fragile balance has been maintained for a century as whenever one empire turned upon another and looked to be succeeding, the others would assist in forcing it back. As such there has ruled a stalemate across Nemea for five generations, allowing the empires to gear up for a vast final confrontation. All would change however, when a flaming comet erupted through the skies of Nemea in 'The Year of Thunder', and bring with it a figure that would change the face of Nemea forever...

[b]Psyker Grade:[/b] Alpha

[b]Skills/Abilities:[/b]

[b]Administrator-[/b] Ashur is a highly competent administrator and organisational mastermind which enables him to sift through immense amounts of information and come up with decisive plans of action. This ability allows him to manage an immense bureaucracy with relative ease as well as strategies and engage in longterm planning which can stretch across centuries. As such, Ashur has the innate ability to bring order from chaos and control and guide an immense empire effectively, a talent that will become useful in the coming centuries.

[b]Propagandist-[/b] Ashur is excellent at harnessing the masses to his will and propagating ideological doctrines across the political and social sphere with startling rapidity as well as suppressing any dissent to his aims and ambitions. He is excellent at crafting a professional and respected public persona that is built upon both conciliatory and coercive means, bringing ideological opponents into the fold whilst removing those who cannot be swayed. A highly capable public speaker, he is a master of showmanship and has a natural instinct for managing a crowd, although he much prefers working behind the scenes than out in front of the people.

[b]Truesight and Telepathy-[/b] due to his immense psionic abilities Ashur has extremely potent skills in reading the minds of mortal men and picking apart their plans and ambitions behind the veneer of civility they paint over their desires. This ability feeds into Ashur’s abilities to plan around and defeat his opponents, as he knows them often as deeply as they know themselves. Only extremely powerful latent or active psykers - such as Alpha Class, Primarchs and the Emperor himself - are free from being read, dominated and crushed by his razor sharp mind. Ashur also has the ability to see through psychic trickery of the warp and read the lies and deceits of those that dwell within, being able to see things as they truly are and dispersing hallucinations and illusions with ease. This however does not come without its costs, as the maddening realities of the Empyrean cannot be hidden from his eyes, nor the nightmares and horrors within them. 

[b]Limited Precognition -[/b] Ashur exhibits a level of limited precognition that has been with him since his fall as a comet from the heavens unto Nemea. This ability has been a much of a boon as it has a curse, as even with his immense abilities there were moments where his precise plans would not follow their intended path. This precognitive sight allowed him to navigate such storms before they raised their head, or adapt quickly to changed circumstances and reorientate his strategies accordingly. It is however limited in function, able to give him occasional glimpses of the immediate future, but never giving him absolute foresight in all things, and much like his other psionic powers it is limited when encountering other potent psykers. Ashur has also been wracked by terrible images of a coming disaster since he awoke, causing manly sleepless nights and hours of fatalistic brooding to consume him. His administrative talents, the support of his companions and his single-minded dedication to his plans have kept him stable, but many a night he has seen a thousand worlds consumed in flame and the laughter of strange, horrifying gods echo in his dreams…

[b]Warlord-[/b]Although not as skilled as some of his more fearsome siblings, Ashur is nonetheless a dangerous and terrifying opponent in combat and very capable of bringing an incredibly dangerous mind to the field. What makes Ashur skilled in this is not necessarily his martial prowess nor his brute strength, nor even his psionic abilities - although all factors play a part in this - but his ability to adapt and counter the tactics and weapons of his opponents. Although Ashur may not win the first bout of every conflict, he will inevitably become stronger and more dangerous with each successive battle, until at last he overpowers and destroys his opponent.

[b]Shapeshifting-[/b]Ashur can engage in limited shapeshifting to change his size, height and appearance to those around him. Although this has its strongest effect on mortals he has shown in the past the ability to deceive even a Primarch for a time, although never for particularly long. This ability feeds into Ashur’s other skills as a diplomatic and political tool, allowing him to manifest himself as he desires according to his political intentions. He cannot however, alter his form beyond the baseline of human physiography, or alter his body into unnatural forms.

[hr]

[center][img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/0c/a6/a1/0ca6a1598ed09cc4bafeaa72ccb36244.png[/img]
[i]Art by Linda Marie Anson[/i][/center]

[b]Appearance:[/b] Perhaps the most enigmatic of the Primarchs, Ashur is at once both utterly unremarkable and simultaneously the shining image of Primarch. Much like his father the Emperor Ashur is capable of subtle changes to his appearance that can be used to emphasis or de-emphasis himself depending on the the situation. He can appear as a simple normal sized unadorned man, another unremarkable face in the crowd or as the shining demi-god in power armour with thunder roaring around his shoulders, burning with the wild flames of the Empyrean. Despite this ability, there is commonalities to Ashur’s appearance that stay constant when he chooses to appear openly, rendering him recognisable to his people and siblings.

Ashur as he tends to appear is a solidly built man with prematurely grey hair and brown Mediterranean skin, standing at perhaps twelve feet in height and with heavy lidded, somewhat haunted dark eyes. His grey hair is kept short - although upon landing he wore it longer - and he has a strong aquiline nose, which in combination with his heavy set eyes gives him an imperious air. A remnant of the time in the warp, his eyes are catlike and dusken orange in colouration. He sports a meticulously groomed and ringleted beard, which with his grey air gives him an older, authoritative, somewhat grizzled appearance. 

In physique Ashur is the middle road between his lither siblings and his more physically impressive brethren, which sums up his combined arms approach to warfare and his more adaptive and selective tactics. He has a statuesque build befitting of a primarch but can move with tigerish speed when required and can strike fast and hard.

[b]Concept:[/b] The intention behind the creation of Ashur was clearly as the Emperor’s chosen man for managing and suppressing internal dissent and ensuring ideological homogeneity. Ashur’s abilities for organisation, his mastery of propaganda and his capacity of controlling and managing an intricate bureaucracy clearly placed him in position to act as the emperor’s head of state security and propaganda minister. His close similarities to the emperor in personality and attitudes also suggest that the emperor wanted a Primarch that he could entrust to uphold his vision as regent whilst he was otherwise occupied, and an individual which he could be absolutely certain of their loyalty and obedience. The fickle gods of the warp however, perhaps had other designs in mind when they brought their changes upon Ashur when he and his siblings were scattered amongst the stars. What might have been their greatest bond of unity may now instead be their greatest hindrance, for Ashur has seen what the emperor has not; A bloodsoaked galaxy in flames, burning whilst dark gods laugh… [/hider]

[hider=Legion VI 'The Udug-Kai']
Legion Name: The Udug-Kai 'The Greycloaks' (The Ashen Lions)

Associated Primach: Ashur Esharhaddon

Concept: The Greycloaks function as an blunt instrument of state control in the nascent Imperium, forming the iron fist of the emperor in squashing dissent and brutally putting down any attempt at rebellion. The Greycloaks are drawn from the worst and most wretched hiveworlds of Terra and exhibit brutal and inhumane tactics in tackling the Emperor’s foes. Many traits and gang rituals developed in the blackest and most lightless pits of the Neo-Beybul have been adopted into the legion, such as the scarification of the flesh to mark the deaths of notable opponents, the flaying of their enemies for battleflags as well as headhunting. The Greycloaks get their name from the dyed grey leather cloaks that they wear over their shoulder of their right pauldron which is traditionally made from the skin of a Pacific Hydra, but sometimes is made from the skin of human opponents. As such, the organisation that would become the Ashen Lions is a brutish cudgel compared to the sophisticated machine they will eventually become.[/hider]

[hider=Yezerhim Mazdak]Character Name: Yezerhim Mazdak

Rank/Role: Fabricator-Mobad of Forge World Ctesiphon 

Appearance: The Fabricator-Mobad of Ctesiphon is typical of his people in the immense number of cybernetic components that have been grafted into his flesh. Whilst still a tech acolyte, Yezerhim Mazdak was a gaunt, hairless grey faced figure with high cheekbones and pale yellow eyes, similar to so many of those produced by the clone vats of the forge world. In his latter years his face was replaced by a blank faceplate with optical lenses, clad in off-white robes and with his cybernetic components gilt in burnished bronze. His body sidles forth on many articulated limbs whilst four massive machine limbs allow him to work upon his deadly projects. In the middle of his bared chest, a single opening reveals a small pure white flame protected behind chemically reinforced hyperglass, a symbol of his dedication to 'The First Technology' of the Ctesiphon Canticles. 

Biography: In the age of the Unification Wars, the Adept who would become Fabricator-Mobad of Ctseiphon was little more than one of many cloned tech-serfs in the employ of the Forge World of Ctesiphon. Here Yezerhim would remained if not for his incredibly sharp memory for the rites and ritualised sciences of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and his curious, questioning nature. In other Forge Worlds this latter aspect would have been a hindrance to his rise to prominence, but upon Ctesiphon, which had managed somewhat to recover from Old Night and the Age of Strife and rise into a new technological renaissance, it only enhanced his position as one of the most forward thinkers of his age. In the age of Ashur however, Yezerhim has not yet come into the prominence and influence of his latter years. A hundred years would pass before this would reach its nadir, and the Ctesiphon would bloom across the Satrapy of Nemea under the influence of its Primarch, the Lion of Night...[/hider]

[hider=House Shamashsar]
Faction Name: House Shamashsar

Faction Overview/Concept: House Shamashsar is a subject house under the Great King of Akkad that has stewardship over the Hive City of High Beybul in the time of the Unification Wars, one of the more important of the remaining major cities in the Akkadian region of Terra noted for the height of its spires and the depths of its industry. Expert biologists, House Shamashsar were recruited by the Great Kings of Akkad to help forge the Udug Hul into the fearsome warhost they are in the age of the Unification Wars. However their hard, burdensome work was met with little praise of acknowledgement by the Great King of Akkad, who took it as his right that he was due such gifts to be provided by his lessers. House Shamashsar’s standing was further damaged by an uprising arranged by the Great House Shamash-Eriba against the Great King of Akkad to attempt to claim the throne. Although House Shamashsar stayed loyal to the throne of Akkad and helped bring the revolt to a speedy conclusion, they were nonetheless rebuked and shamed before the other Great Houses for not recognising the perfidy of their masters prior to the outbreak of hostilities. Although they gained station as the only loyalist remaining House in Beybul - the others having been destroyed with Shamash-Eriba - they were not raised to the position of a Great House and were left merely the governors and stewards of the city, adding to the slights felt by House Shamashassur towards the Great King of Akkad. 

Since this point the House of Shamashsar has thrown itself into industry and the modernisation of its ancient hive city, as well as the development of new biological and technological weapons. Outwardly this is presented as an attempt to build up its name in the imperial court of Akkad and undo the damage wrought by the revolt of the Shamash-Eriba, but inwardly Shamashassur have long grown tired of the contempt the Great King of Akkad has laid at the feet of the Shamashassur. Now they look out upon the desolate plains of Terra looking for someone worthy of their services and loyalty…

Faction Assets: (Brief Overview of their Strengths/Capability) House Shamashsar controls a large centre of industry on Terra in a key position of the territory of Akkad in the form of hive city High Beybul. The foundries and forges of High Beybul, fed by trade in raw resources and deep core mining provide an immense amount of manufacture goods that go forth to feed the needs of Akkad. Its scientific facilities are also some of the most sophisticated in the region and were responsible for the development of the Udug Hul gene-warriors that have so terrorised the region and broken the armies of the Achaemenids in the brutal wars in the East. Despite their more administrative and scientific interests, the Shamashsar are no strangers to martial skills, and have provided many generals and warriors to the technobarbarian warlords that serve in the armies of the Great King of Akkad, as all noble houses should. 

Key Characters:

Shamashsar Sîn - the leader of House Shamashsar, Lady Sîn is a powerful figure within the family and a leading component in the houses revived prospects after the debacle of the Shamash-Eriba Uprising. A leading biologist and technobarbarian warlord, she has been at the head of Shamashsar’s developments into new genewarrior strains. Lady Sîn has become interested in the secrets of the Perpetuals after uncovering their presence upon Terra and wishes to acquire genetic samples to further her research. A beautiful, dark skinned, middle aged woman, she wears simple silver great silk robes and her greying black hair is shorn on one side, with one eye replaced by a yellow optical lens and several cortical implants networked into her brain through cords in her skull.
[/hider]