Vaylund Cal

Vaylund Cal, Iron Thane of the Atropos War Clan, High Artificer of the Sons of Medusa Space Marine Chapter. Vaylund Cal is the undisputed master of the Atropos War Clan, serving in the dual role of his War Clan's master weaponsmith and war leader. He is considered to be a soullessly cold and emotionless figure, made all the more imposing in his hulking black and emerald Power Armour. Durinig the lamentable conflict known as the Badab War, Valund Cal and the Sons of Medusa were treated with suspicion by their fellow Loyalists both because of their widespread deviation from the tenets of the Codex Astartes and because of supposed ulterior motives for their involvement in the conflict. But they soon put any doubts to rest as to their effectiveness when fighting Secessionist forces.

History
Iron Thane Valund Cal is the master of the Atropos War Clan of the Sons of Medusa Space Marine Chapter contingent that took part in the Badab War. Clad in his hulking black metal and emerald armour, it is almost impossible to tell where the man ends and the machine begins. Vaylund Cal's augmetic body is a testament to his lifetime's work and what little remains of his organics are shot through with bionic and auto-sanguinary systems that increase his strength and endurance beyond even the superhuman levels of a Space Marine. The Sons of Medusa follow closely the tenets of their Iron Hands forebears, purging the weakness of the flesh with the purity of the machine, and indeed go even further than their progenitors in this regard thanks to the dangers they face as a space-born crusading Chapter.

As a fanatic believer of the Moirae Sect of the Cult Mechanicus, Cal is renowned for employing Devastators Squads with extremely high levels of deliberate cybernetic augmetics in his clan forces, skirting what some more traditional Astartes would see as a heresy against the Emperor's divine order. These squads are then deployed in a implacable advance against the enemy, ruthlessly and systematically gunning down their foes.

During the Badab War, the inhuman Valund Cal and the Sons of Medusa were treated with suspicion and barely concealed contempt by their fellow Loyalists for their Chapter's widespread deviation from the tenets of the Codex Astartes and because it was believed by many that they had somewhat ulterior and perhaps darker motives for their part in the war. The Sons of Medusa joined the Loyalist cause in the Badab War in direct response to Legate Inquisitor Jarndyce Frain's call for Space Marine re-enforcements after the Secession had been declared heretical.

Their stated principal aid in the war was the punishment of the Renegade Astral Claws and the other Secessionist Chapters whom they saw as demanding destruction for their sins. Although Iron Thane Valund Cal deferred to the Magister Militum, Lord-High Commander Carab Culln of the Red Scorpions, in strategic deployment and the use of his Chapter, no Sons of Medusa answered to the orders of any but their own Chapter superiors at the tactical level. Lord Commander Culln however had fought alongside the Sons of Medusa before in his career during the defeat of Waaagh! Skullcleava thirty years previously and knew them well, while the Red Scorpions also had the Sons of Medusa's respect as a Chapter.

This past history aided considerably in the relations between the two who might have been otherwise in discord owing to their disparate characters, and Lord Commander Culln wisely deployed the Chapter where its strengths and tenacity would provide their greatest effect. The Sons of Medusa took part in multiple engagements during the conflict, including the scouring of Cygnax of Secessionist forces as well as leading assault raids against the outer worlds of the Badab Sector, Decabalus and Eshunna. The Sons of Medusa most famously conducted the subjugation campaign against the rebel world of Galen. The last major engagement the Sons of Medusa took part in was the hard-fought assault on the orbital fortress of Sentinel-Sigma in preparation of the final attack on Badab Primaris.

It was Vaylund Cal at the head of the Atropos Terminators who fought his way to the star fortress's main engine vaults and severed the fivemetre thick plasma couplings to silence the station's guns, at last allowing the Loyalists free rein to attack the station's surface. The eventual conquest of Sentinel-Sigma shattered the Badab system's 'Ring of Steel' defences and allowed the final assault on Badab itself to begin.

Wargear

 * Artificer Armour
 * Servo-Harness
 * Thunder Hammer
 * Iron Halo