Ahazra Redth

Ahazra Redth, the "Dust Prophet" was the Chief Librarian of the Mantis Warriors Space Marine Chapter and one of the greatest Librarians in the Chapter's history. He became the de facto Chapter Master of the Mantis Warriors during the final days of the Badab War. He is believed to have been killed during the Chapter's defence of Tranquility II from the final Loyalist assault, though his body was never found.

History
Ahazra Redth was born into the deep desert tribes of Tranquility-III, also known as Bittergyre to its indigenous people, his psyker gifts surfaced early. When he was still a child his family undertook the dangerous pilgrimage across the erg sands to the Valley of the Nine Winds in order to present him to the Mantis Warriors for judgement. Although too young to begin the transformation into an Astartes warrior, nevertheless the Chapter's Librarians sensed a great future for the boy, schooling him in the control of the mystic arts. From the day he had been brought forth, he showed a potential seen perhaps once in a hundred generations. As time progressed, Redth grew into a skilled Neophyte fighting as a Space Marine Scout in a score of campaigns, where his burgeoning gifts of prognostication allowed him to advise and improve upon the plans of Veteran Space Marines five times his age. His powers grew exponentially after joining the Mantis Warriors Librarium and learning the deeper mysteries of the Chapter. He quickly gained a reputation not only as a master of ambush and an expert field tactician, but also as a master of prophecy and divination whose word was trusted by all that heard it. Ahazra Redth would go on to become Chief Librarian and both a powerful battle-psyker and a wise strategist. He would become one of the greatest Chapter Librarians in the Mantis Warriors' history. Known to both the Mantis Warriors and the people of the Endymion Cluster as the "Dust Prophet" for his abilities and writings, when the Badab War went against his Chapter, it was his leadership that managed to outwit the Loyalist commanders for so long and preserve his brethren in the face of the storm.

The Badab War
At the outset of the Badab Conflict when they first joined the Secessionists in 903.M41, the Mantis Warriors were somewhat below full strength, having recently conducted several heavy raids into the fringes of the Maelstrom, and suffered significant losses to their 4th Company purging a Genestealers infestation on Verkruz. The reason for the Mantis Warrior's involvement in Lufgt Huron's Secession was a simple - they were fiercely territorial and loyal to their allies, and considered the oaths of brotherhood taken when the Maelstrom Warders were formed as utterly inviolable. They saw an attack on one of the Warders, even by the Imperium itself, as an attack on all. But by 908, the Chapter was starting to have grave misgivings both over the course the Secession was taking and the true nature and goals of the Astral Claws, and their leader Lugft Huron - particularly after the death of the Mantis Warrior's Chapter Master Yarvan Sartaq in the Tyrant's company during the attack on the disastrous parlay at Grief. But by this point the die had been cast, and too much blood had been spilled on both sides for anything but a violent resolution to be reached as to the Mantis Warriors' fate.

Chief Librarian Ahazra Redth stepped forward, taking the reigns of leadership and effectively becoming master of the Mantis Warriors until the end of the war. Ahazra Redth further distanced his Chapter from the machinations of the Tyrant of Badab, but true to their word, both he and the Mantis Warriors remained a fighting part of the Secessionist cause until the bitter end. It is a testament both to Ahazra Redth's skill as a commander and the strength of his divinatory powers, that even isolated, vastly outnumbered and facing the murderous onslaught of the Carcharodons Chapter towards the war's end, he and his dwindling forces managed to avoid extermination, let alone inflict losses their foes in defence of their domains. Ahazra Redth's fate remains unknown, and although he is said by some to have perished in the last day of fighting on Tranquility-II, his body was never found.

Wargear

 * Talisman of Sundered Souls - A relic of the Chapter, this gorget is studded with shards of Eldar wraith bone taken in battle from the dead. It is a powerful artefact capable of negating the perils of a Warp attack by other psykers.

Source

 * Imperial Armour Volume Ten - The Badab War, Part Two, pp. 69, 171