Erwin Ramas

Erwin Ramas was the Flag-Captain of the Gothic-class Cruiser Drachenfels duiring the Gothic War at the beginning of the 41st Millenium. A captain of legendary renown amongst his peers, he led his mighty Drachenfels for over 50 years from victory to victory against Ork, Eldar and Chaos opponents. A tactical genius in his own right, Ramas was nevertheless most renowed for the fact that he had been entombed in a Dreadnought-like life support system and directly linked to his beloved ship after being mortally wounded in an engagement.

History
Like most officers in Battlefleet Gothic, Erwin Ramas hailed from the world of Cypra Mundi in the Gothic Sector. An officer with a knack for tactics and outmanoeuvering his opponents, he quickly rose trough the ranks, first becoming Flag-Lieutenant, then Captain of his own Escort. When about 30 years before the start of the Gothic War, the position of Flag-Captain of the Gothic-class Cruiser Drachenfels became vacant, Ramas was promoted to the position. Ramas spent the few following years on convoy duties, protecting the vulnerable Imperial Navy supply runs from opportunistic Ork and Chaos raiders. His tactical acumen served him well, and his success rate in escorting the vulnerable transport ships to safety was one of the best in the history of the fleet.

This would almost come to a definitive end about 20 years before the start of the Gothic War, when one of Ramas' convoys was unexpectedly attacked by the Eldar. The Eldar holo-field technology played havoc with the human cruder Auspex, and allowed one of the Eldar ships to close in with the Drachenfels unmolested. Appearing seemingly out of the void, the Eldar ship released a full spread of sonic torpedoes at the Gothic-class Cruiser, gutting its command tower and taking it clean out of the fight. The Eldar then contemptuously spurned to finish off the blinded human Cruiser, and went to slaughter the convoy instead. When hours later, relief parties finally reached the bridge, they found their Captain pinned through the hip to one of the bridge stanchions, visage and limbs charred, yet impossibly still alive.

The extent of the damage done to Ramas' body made any reconstruction through augmetics almost impossible, so the Magi of the Adeptus Mechanicus did the next best thing: they rewired what remained of Ramas' central nervous system and installed him in an armored amniotic tank, similar to that of a Titan Legion Princeps. This Strategium shell was then connected directly to the Drachenfels' Machine Spirit, allowing Ramas to litteraly become one with his ship. Unlike a Titan Princeps or the Astartes pilot of a Dreadnought, Ramas had virtually no direct control over any of his ship's systems, the sheer size of the Gothic-class Cruiser making it impossible for a human mind to accomplish. He acted more like a centralised hub to where all information went, and all decision came from. The major advantage for Ramas was that he could commune with his ship directly, recieving data and assessing situations much quicker than through the normal chain-of-command of a starship. This, combined to his own tactical genius allowed him to pull manoeuvers and tricks that left his allies in awe, and his ennemies quite dead.

When the Gothic War broke out, Ramas was quickly reassigned to front-line duties. His first notable action was being put in command of the fleet charged to defend the planet of Helia IV. Working alongside Flag-Captain Leoten Semper's Lord Solar Macharius and three other Cruisers and accompanying Escorts, Ramas managed to put to rout the invasion fleet, destroying or severely damaging a half-dozen enemy capital ships with only losing one of his own. Working in tandem with the Macharius, Ramas and Semper co-ordinated their fire, the Macharius' broadsides stripping the enemy ships of their Void Shields before the Drachenfels Lances gutted them. When the Macharius came under boarding attack from the Slaughter-class Cruiser Virulence, Ramas quickly interceded, chasing off the Chaos ship with precision firing from his Lances before the Virulence could come about and launch another boarding wave.

After the battle of Helia IV, the taskforce of Captain Ramas was rasked with overseeing the evacuation of the planet Belatis. Belatis had been identified as Abadon the Despoiler's Planet-Killer next target. Unable to defend the planet from the unknown weapon and accompanying armada of ships, the Imperial Navy settled for evacuating who and what they could from the planet's surface before its destruction. Ramas spread his task force around the planet, with himslef patrolling the system outer reaches.

The Chaos Cults on Belatis seizing the capital's defence laser grid was the signal for the Chaos vanguard to attack, and Ramas soon founf himself under attack from the Murder-class Cruiser Charybdis and his 4 escorting Infidel-class Raiders. Keen to do battle, Ramas started by retreating toward Belatis at speed, luring the Infidels away from their heavier but slower capital ship. When he judged the gap between them sufficient, he led is crew in performing a shortened U-turn, by burning his retros along with his directional thrusters. This dangerous manoeuver is not often attempted due to the stresses it puts on a ship's structure: if the deceleration is too brutal, the ship can simply snap in two. But thanks to his link with his ship, Ramas could feel its behaviour and led the Drachenfels in a perfect half-turn, first presenting and opening up with his Lance-studded flank, obliterating two of the Infidels, while taking only two torpedo impacts who did minor damage. Completing his half-turn, he pointed his own torpedo-armed prow towerd the Charybdis. Ramas watched as the Charybdis' commander prudently ordered his remaining Infidels back and slowed down, unwilling to face off against such a canny opponent with his primary objective of securing the system's Warp exit point complete.

With the Charybdis unwilling to pursue further, Ramas managed to return to Belatis to find the situation on the ground had devolved beyond any hope of control, and Ramas ordered the convoy to depart. He was quickly contacted by Flag-Lieutenant Hito Ulanti of the Macharius who reported that Captain Leoten Semper had not yet returned from Belatis. The young Lieutenant beseeched him for the authorisation to launch a rescue mission, but Ramas sensibly refused him, softening his harsh words with a few words of reassurance that Semper could and would be avenged another day.

Later during the evacuation, Captain Semper managed to reach the Macharius with the help of an Astropath. Ramas again refused to allow the Macharius go back to Belatis, stating that the Macharius had no hope to fend off the Planet Killer's escorting armada on his own, but matters were taken from his hands by Adeptus Arbites Marshal Byzantane, who, having learned that the traitor who had lured the Planet Killer to Belatis still lived, commandeered the Macharius and ordered it back. Ramas then voxed to his second in command to have the battle repairs from both Helia IV and against the Charybdis double checked, carefully phrasing his words so that his Flag-Lieutenant would understand that he actually wanted an immediate full stop. Ramas knew that the Macharius would need help when he returned from his rescue mission, so he resorted to the trick of having his crew report battle damage to the Drachenfels' Plasma Reactors in order to be allowed to lie in wait.

Ramas precaution would prove immensely useful, for when the damaged Macharius tried to rejoin the convoy, it was harassed by the Slaughter-class Cruiser Virulence, intent on avenging themselve of past humiliations. Ramas waited until the last moment, then powered his ship up and put a full spread of torpedoes into the Virulence, destroying it, and allowing both Imperial ships to make good their escape.

Personality
A stern and harsh taskmaster, Erwin Ramas was considered a stone-hearted, flin-edged terror by his underlings, equals and superiors alike. Irascible and plain-speaking, the master of the Drachenfels never hesitated to put any who he considered erring in his place, and demanded excellence in all things. However, his crew was honored to serve under him, for he did not ask of others what he would not ask of himself, and if one could look past the irascible facade and the battle-wound disabilities, they would find a rather congenial man who enjoyed discussing tactics.

Due to his entombment in the Strategium shell, Ramas could no longer truly sleep or be off-duty, so he passed his "off" time analyzing his past engagements, and formulating strategies for the future ones.