Merek Grimaldus

Chaplain Grimaldus, the Hero of Helsreach is the Reclusiarch of the Black Templars Space Marine Chapter. Grimaldas is also a noted veteran of the Third War for Armageddon. During the Battle for Hive Helsreach, Grimaldus led the defense of the Temple of the Emperor Ascendant, which had stood since Armageddon's colonization. The battle became so heated that the building itself collapsed around them. It was believed that all had perished in the building until Grimaldus, bloody but unbroken, climbed out of the rubble bearing three of the temple's artifacts - a column from its Major Altar, the Banner of the Emperor Victorious, and holy water from the Stoup of Elucidation. Apothecaries who examined him later were amazed that Grimaldus had survived, much less found the strength to climb from the ruins. When the war ended, the citizens of Hive Helsreach honored him with the title of "Hero of Helsreach."

History
Chaplain Grimaldus is a veteran of a score of successful Crusades. His rise through the ranks of the Black Templars Chapter was meteoric, for he once stood as the youngest Sword Brother in the Chapter's history. He was soon raised from his Marshal's Sword Brethren and inducted into the mysteries of the Reclusiam after the Battle of Fire and Blood. The Chaplains were impressed by the faith and devotion to the Emperor displayed by the young Grimaldus, for he had the makings of a powerful warrior priest. As a young Chaplain novitiate he learned under the venerable and stern Reclusiarch Mordred. The young Chaplain took his vows before the shattered Sword of Dorn aboard the Eternal Crusader, and soon justified the Chaplains' faith in him by zealously leading the warriors of the Black Templars in battle. Many times, he suffered many grievous wounds in the thickest of the fighting, but always, steadfastly refusing to succumb.

In 987.M41 the Shadow Wolves' homeworld of Varadon was ravaged by the foul xenos of a Tyranid splinter fleet. The Shadow Wolves attempted to defend their homeworld from the predations of the merciless Great Devourer. Astropathic distress beacons were transmitted through the Warp weeks before the attack, before their Fortress-Monastery finally fell to the enemy. Chaplain Grimaldus and the Black Templars swiftly answered their brother Chapter’s summons, and attempted to penetrate the swarms of Tyranids besieging the ruins of the Shadow Wolves' fortress-monastery, but the unrelenting ferocity of the alien tide hampered their efforts. Grimaldus had been there at the end, standing witness to the actions of the handful of Shadow Wolves that remained, their blades broken and their Bolters spent. They died in honourable battle as they made their defiant last stand, still intoning the litanies of hate against the alien, chanting their bitter fury at their foes even as they were annihilated. A lone Shadow Wolves Battle-Brother, though horrendously wounded and on his knees beneath the Chapter's standard, attempted to maintain his Chapter’s honour to the last, for the Shadow Wolves' War Banner could not be allowed to fall whilst one of the Astartes of the Chapter yet lived. The doomed Space Marine held it aloft defiantly, keeping the banner upright and proud even as the xenos creatures tore into him. He died in what Grimaldus could only describe as a beautiful death

After a century of faithful service, Grimaldus was elevated to the esteemed role of Reclusiarch of the Chapter and accompanied High Marshal Helbrecht to the war-torn world of [Armageddon in 998.M41, to stop a massive Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. Three Crusades were despatched to Armageddon and, under the direction of the High Marshal, deployed in the areas where the fighting was thickest. Grimaldus was charged by his Chapter Master to lead one of these Crusades to Hive Helsreach. Grimaldus's forces were supported by the 101st Armageddon Steel Legion Imperial Guard Regiment and Titans of the Legio Invigilata. Before the battle started, The Purest Intent, a derelict Space Marine Strike Cruiser from the extinct Shadow Wolves Chapter that had been requisitioned by the Orks, was badly damaged by Armageddon’s orbital defences after it drifted dangerously close to the planet and crash landed just outside the Hive City of Helsreach. The Black Templars investigated the wreckage of the once-proud vessel and performed the distasteful duty of eradicating any Ork survivors. They performed their duty flawlessly, though it left a bad taste in their mouths - more so, to inspire confidence and light the fires of faith in the mortal defenders of Helsreach. Their duty done, the Black Templars pulled their forces back into the walls of the hive city.

Soon Helsreach found itself besieged by thousands of Orks who swarmed the hive from a vast fleet of submersibles launched from the icy Deadlands far to the south. One of the main bastions of resistance was centred upon the Temple of the Emperor Ascendant, a vast basilica that had stood on Armageddon since the earliest days of colonisation. A great horde of Orks attacked the templa and, for nearly two months, the defenders held the Orks at bay before the Greenskins finally penetrated the temple precincts, looting and destroying priceless holy relics in equal measure. The hive militias and Imperial Guard units fled, but the Black Templars would not yield as Grimaldus bellowed defiantly, "I have dug my grave in this place and I will either triumph or I will die!"

Such heroism hardened the hearts of the fleeing defenders and they turned and fell upon the Orks. The battle degenerated into a bloody melee in the heart of the building that was only ended when the entire structure collapsed in a maelstrom of rubble and fire. All were feared lost, but a day later the bloody, but unbowed, form of Chaplain Grimaldus crawled from the ruins, bearing the last replicas of the temple and vowing that all would remember the lives that had been lost for this world. A retinue of three Cenobyte servitors -- augmetic servants, vat-grown by the Chapter’s Apothecaries and augmented to haul the Temple’s artefacts. None of the mindless wretches bear a name; just a relic that represents all the Reclusiarch could do to ease his guilt at such a shameful defeat. The carried the last surviving relics of Hive Helsreach's Temple of the Emperor Ascendant: a column from the Major Altar, the remains of the Banner of the Emperor Victorious and blessed water from the Stoup of Elucidation. These were the most precious items of Armageddon's ancestors, for they were the peoples' by right and legacy of blood. The Chapter's Apothecaries who later treated Grimaldus's wounds exclaimed that it was a miracle that he still lived, let alone had the strength to climb from the rubble of a destroyed building. Upon commencement of the Season of Fire, Grimaldus was honoured with the greatest honour the inhabitants of Armageddon could bestow, that of the title 'Hero of Helsreach.'