Rylanor

Ancient Rylanor, known as Rylanor the Unyielding, was a venerated hero of the III Legion and its "Ancient of Rites" who was mortally wounded battling the Eldar decades before the Horus Heresy and was interred within the adamantium shell of a Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought. Rylanor was only part of Primarch Fulgrim's honour guard through tradition, though he was increasingly troubled by the direction the III Legion moved in after the assault on Laeran. At the last minute, he traded places for the combat drop onto Istvaan III with Captain Saul Tarvitz of the Tenth Company, who was supposed to go instead as one of the Emperor's Children Loyalists marked for betrayal and death. Betrayed unto death by the duplicitous actions of Warmaster Horus, Rylanor rallied the surviving Loyalist Emperor's Children and fought against the Traitors during the Battle of Istvaan III but it is unknown whether he met his ultimate fate at the hands of his former brothers.

History
The III Legion was created alongside its brother Space Marine Legions during the latter phases of the Unification Wars on Terra, with many of its finest warriors drawn from the courts and blood vassal populations of Europa. In later decades, other Terran dynasties followed the example of Europa, filling the ranks of the III Legion with the flower of Terran youth who seemed well-matched with the aristocratic blood of its Initiates, forming a martial brotherhood whose ancestry in war stretched back into the lost ages of human history. Rylanor hailed from this first generation of the Emperor's Children. Rylanor had the singular honour of fighting beside the Emperor during the Unification Wars, with the battle honours Roma and Thule etched into his armour. His history was the history of the Legion, and he had been the first to carry the Palatine standard into battle alongside his newfound Primarch. When he fell grievously wounded in battle against the Eldar his salvation was internment in a Dreadnought of his Legion.

Rylanor became his Legion’s Ancient of Rites, presiding over the Emperor’s Children’s Ceremonials of Induction aboard the Emperor's Children capital ship Andronicus, as well as lending his might to the line of battle for many decades until the treachery of the Warmaster tore his Legion apart from within. When the atrocity on Istvaan III came, Rylanor's unshakeable loyalty to the Emperor marked him for death in his Primarch's eyes and he was assigned to the first wave assault, but instead survived the first murderous blow of betrayal. While serving aboard the Adronicus, Tenth Captain Saul Tarvitz had discovered something amiss in the changing character of his Legion. Though he had the honour of leading the speartip of the initial assault upon Istvaan III, he made an unusual request of Ancient Rylanor, requesting to remain aboard the Andronicus to function as Lord Commander Eidolon's senior staff officer.

Tarvitz was supicious of Eidolon's motives, for it was highly irregular for one of Fulgrim's favoured Lord Commanders not to take part in the speartip. Eidolon normally never passed up the opportunity to flaunt his martial prowess and for him to appoint another in his stead was unheard of. Though an unusual request, Rylanor honoured Tarvitz's request and took the captain's place in the assault. Once the Warmaster revealed his treacherous intentions and the fighting began in earnest, Rylanor soon became a priority target for the traitors, his power dooming scores of his former battle-brothers to their deaths wherever he fought, while his mere presence became a rallying cry for those loyal Emperor’s Children battling out to the bitter end. To the Loyalists on Istvaan III Rylanor was a living icon of the Legion’s glory and the perfection and righteousness of their loyalty to the Emperor. Reported destroyed several times Rylanor, increasingly damaged, somehow managed to endure for much of the fighting on Istvaan III, but his final fate remains unknown.

Ultimate Fate
Ancient Rylanor's ultimate fate following the events on Istvaan III are unknown. After the final orbital bombardment of the capital city, the venerable Dreadnought took himself off into the depths of the Precentor's Palace, never to be seen again. It wasn't like Rylanor to run from a sight, though the traitor Lucius, who initially fought on the side of the Loyalist before turning against them, overheard Captain Tarvitz mention something about the honoured Ancient guarding something. Though he didn't known what it was. Rumour was that he'd found some kind of underground hangar, but it that were the case, then why didn't the renegaded Imperial Governor Vardus Praal utilise it to escape when the Legions arrived? Rylanor's fate ultimately didn't matter to his former traitorous kin, for whatever Rylanor's purpose, they believed that it was doomed to failure, and that he was buried beneath thousands of tonnes of radioactive slag.

Wargear

 * Smoke Launchers
 * Searchlight
 * Kheres Assault Cannon - The Kheres Pattern Assault Cannon is an ancient pattern of the weapon that was commonly deployed on Contemptor Pattern Dreadnoughts during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. It maintains a higher rate of fire than the standard pattern Assault Cannons used in the late 41st Millennium.
 * Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon - This weapon consisted of a large Dreadnought Power Fist with inbuilt Heavy Flamer.
 * Automatic Shielding – One of the Contemptor pattern’s most distinctive features is a series of defensive field generators mounted inside its armour plating and powered by the enhanced Atomantic power core within.