Ghesmei Kysnaros

Ghesmei Kysnaros was an Inquisitor Lord active in the first half of the 41st Millennium. He is known to have participated in the First War for Armageddon, and was commanding the Inquisition task force that sought to contain sensitive information regarding the existence and role of Chaos in that war from being revealed to the wider Imperium. In the course of that operation, he led his task force into violent confrontations with the Space Wolves Space Marines that threatened to erupt into a full-fledged civil war between that Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes and the Inquisition. During this turbulent internecine campaign Kysnaros was killed by Great Wolf Logan Grimnar of the Space Wolves in 445.M41.

Origins
Kysnaros was an aloof, secretive, and inscrutable figure, even to other members of the Inquisition, which has secrecy and inscrutability as part of its mandate and daily operation. No reliable information is known of his past prior to his involvement in the Armageddon campaign and the purge that followed. During that operation it was rumoured among his task force that he earned his rank and title through a number of succesful small-scale crusades and minor, street-level purges. However the rumours were likely untrue, as it takes centuries of actions and the building of powerful alliances and friendships (as well as proven ability) before one ascends to the rank of Lord of the Inquisition.

The mystery was enhanced by another unusual fact: Kysnaros was an Unaligned Lord, working outside of the Ordos of the Inquisition, and leaving no evidence trail available to them; his record, reports, and logs were likely filed with superiors acting in non-Ordo capacity and position, such as a Sector Conclave Grand Master.

The Armageddon Containment
The First War for Armageddon (444.M41) was fought and won for the Imperium under the overall command, strategy, and tactical planning of the Space Wolves, and specifically, their Chapter Master, the High Jarl Logan Grimnar. The Inquisition, along with a force of Grey Knights, became involved when the nature of the enemy was revealed: Chaotic hordes numbering millions of Children of Sanguinary Unholiness, a Khornate army led by the Daemon Primarch Angron and his elite guard of daemons (the Cruor Praetoria). A hastily mustered Inquisition force made swift passage to the planet in order to join the ultimately victorious fight.

Although Grimnar should have known that the Inquisition would have to coldly and brutally suppress the truth of the war after it was over, he made clear that he expected them not to. As there was already mistrust and suspicion of the Space Wolves Chapter within the Imperial hierarchy over past disputes, and the Wolves' disregard of Imperial authority, Grimnar's demand seemed either naive or an excuse to start a fight. However Grimnar was genuinely sympathetic to the human element on Armageddon, and questioned the wisdom of saving a planet if its inhabitants and defenders would then have to be "processed" by the Inquisition for the sin of knowing about the existence of Chaos or the secret Imperial organisations arraigned against it.

The Inquisition would not be moved, or deviate from its position that it was by law and the Emperor's decree the ultimate arbiter of what is right for the Imperium and Humanity: the truth had to be contained. In practical terms, it made sense to the Inquisition to contain the situation on the planet itself, as this would affect a relatively small number of Imperial citizens compared to the damage control that should have to take place if any escaped the planet. The Armageddon containment was the result of a conclave by the Inquisition forces on duty at the planet, and had several directions. One was the quarantine (virtual life imprisonment) and sterilisation of the entire surviving civilian population. Similar fate (or outright execution) awaited the human defenders of the Armageddon Steel Legions and other forces, who valiantly faced the Chaos hordes that invaded the planet. Exterminatus in order to keep the war's secrets was not an option: the manufactory capacity of the planet was too important to the Imperium at large.

Kysnaros had overall command of the containment. His attitude to the Armageddon purge was typical of the Inquisition's pragmatic and calculating position: better to sterilise or kill millions on suspicions of taint, than to have to eventually kill billions in order to prevent the possibility of taint from spreading. As the war was winding down, over the objections of Grimnar (which were broadcast to all Imperial forces in orbit), he ordered the start of the first phase: Inquisition Storm Troopers began to evacuate the remaining hive cities and to herd the population into camps for "vaccination" -- in reality, sterilisation by injection. The civilians were told that the evacuation was a "temporary security measure."

The Space Wolves on the surface engaged in only minor disruptions -- as they were clearly overmatched on the ground by the more than 100,000 Storm Troopers and other Inquisition forces. However, they had the advantage in space, with 16 ships to the Inquisition's 12 -- additionally the Wolves' ships were generally bigger, better armoured, and better armed. Grimnar's plan was to help the human defenders and civilians escape the Inquisition by making sure their transports safely jumped into the Warp at the first opportunity.

Escape from Armageddon
Soon, the first such transport, loaded with defenders and civilians, was en route to the system's Warp jump-point, escorted by a Space Wolves frigate. The ship never made the Warp jump, as its Warp-Drives were disabled by a Grey Knights vessel; these were the first shots (and the first casualties) of the internecine war that followed. For their part, the Space Wolves did not retaliate against the firing vessel.

Following this episode, Grimnar ordered all the remaining loaded transports off-orbit at the same time, each protected by his own vessels, who put themselves in the Inquisition ships' line of fire with orders not to fire back in any circumstance; with this strategy, at least some of the transports would safely make it to Warp jump-points. Kysnaros, who had tried to reason with Grimnar in an exchange that descended into insults and terrible threats, countered by ordering his fleet to fire at the interfering Space Wolves escorts. However before the order could be carried out, Space Wolves reinforcements lead by the Battle Barge Gylfarheim translated into the system, presenting overwhelming naval superiority. A triumphant Grimnar then bade Kysnaros to call off the attack and the chase, which the Inquisitor Lord had no option but to do.

Cross-Sector Purges
With the witness-bearing transports now safely off-system, the Inquisition plan went into the appropriate contingency. Every person, installation, or world that came in contact with Armageddon escapees, even in the most temporary and fleeting manner, was now liable to be "cleansed" by the Inquisition. Kysnaros apparently had an extraordinary cross-Sector mandate and freedom of action, as his armada ranged far and wide, raining death to anyone or anything whose misfortune was to have crossed paths with Armageddon survivors. At the same time, attached Grey Knights were frustrated over the course of events, and the fact that they were being used outside of their mission parameters -- they gave the campaign the moniker "Months of Shame". In their eyes, the situation was made worse by the fact that Grimnar, even if misguided, seemed to hold the high moral ground as the Space Wolves never fired back during engagements. These sentiments were also held by others within the Inquisition forces. In the meantime, following Grimnar's strategy, the Wolves managed to safely disperse several human cargoes to a variety of far flung systems.

Parlay betrayed
After several months of the cat-and-mouse game, Kysnaros asked for a parlay, to which Grimnar agreed. The opponents decided to meet (with weapons and shields down) in Haikaran, a neutral space. Kysnaros however was deeply mistrustful of the Space Wolves, who had in previous situations misled and waylaid a variety of Imperial servants. Having no prior experience with Astartes, he had relied throughout the campaign on the counsel of Lord Joros, Grand Master of the Grey Knights 8th Brotherhood, who was leading the Knights attached to Kysnaros' force. Joros had advised in favour of appealing to the Wolves' instincts, who respected strength and boldness above all -- they were to meet them, at all times, from a position of strength. As the campaign stretched into months, Joros proposed that they capture Grimnar. In his opinion, this would result in the Chapter's capitulation, and Kysnaros readily authorised the plan. So, as soon as the Space Wolves flotilla (consisiting of Grimnar's flagship, the cruiser Scramaseax, and four escorts), translated into Haikaran realspace, the assembled and waiting Inquisition force opened fire. Four Space Wolves vessels were destroyed with all hands, while the Scramaseax was heavily damaged. Kysnaros then "invited" Grimnar to meet with him and discuss his surrender, the end of the conflict, and the reintegration of the Space Wolves in the Imperial Hierarchy.

Grimnar agreed, or pretended to. He and three remaining Wolf Guard travelled to the Fire of Dawn, Lord Joros' flagship. All the Inquisitors under Kysnaros were present, accompanied by their retinues. Also present was the entire Grey Knights detachment, at Company strength, lead by Lord Joros. Kysnaros tried to explain the reasons behind his betrayal of the terms of parlay, and offered the Space Wolves peace in exchange for their surrender, or endless and inevitably ruinus conflict if they did not. Grimnar however had not come to surrender or be captured -- but to find out who was responsible for violating the "sacred" oath of armistice. Lord Joros admitted that he, with heavy heart, had given the order to fire on the Space Wolves vessels. In a blinding display of speed and ability, Grimnar then beheaded him. As everyone on the Inquisition side was ready to fire on Grimnar, Kysnaros ordered them to hold. Over Joros' body, he again tried to alternately appeal to, and threaten Grimnar. The latter was unmoved. He treated the Inquisitor Lord with disdain, and had furthermore correctly guessed the feelings of the Grey Knights towards the containment campaign. He and his Wolf Guard managed to teleport back to the Scramaseax after drawing more Grey Knights blood. Kysnaros, outplayed and forlorn over the episode and the Wolves' intractability, let the badly wounded vessel and its passengers sail away.

Escalating conflict
After the failed parlay and attempt to capture Grimnar the conflict intensified. In the months that followed, the Space Wolves no longer kept their wrath or their guns in check, and actively engaged the Armageddon containment forces, destroying several vessels including Grey Knights ships with their crew and complement of Astartes. The Inquisition sought reinforcements, securing the support of the entire fleet and strength of the Red Hunters Chapter, among others. Casualties on both sides mounted, as the armed engagements escalated. In the meantime the Inquisition containment campaign continued with increasingly less success, even as the number of its victims reached in the billions. It was clear that the Armageddon containment was a failure: too many survivors had been dispersed to too many unknown destinations thanks to the Wolves' superior cunning and strategy. However this was a hollow victory, as it made the Chapter indirectly responsible for the deaths of the innocents purged by the Inquisition.

Among the Inquisition dissenters, things were reaching a boiling point. A widespread conspiracy to assassinate Kysnaros, supported by ranking Inquisitors and respected Grey Knights, was taking shape among elements of the containment armada. It was the belief of the conspirators that only Kysnaros' death would stop the internecine conflict and prevent it from developing into a full-fledged civil war. As the plan was gathering steam, Kysnaros finally tacitly admitted that his strategy had failed. In early 445.M41, after 8 months of campaigning, the Armageddon containment was abandoned. Kysnaros announced a new approach: all containment assets were ordered at speed to Fenris, the Wolves' lightly defended home world. In a last ditch gambit, Kysnaros intended to hold the planet hostage in order to force Grimnar to agree to the Inquisition's demands. These demands by now had nothing to do with Armageddon, and everything to do with limiting the independence of the Space Wolves Chapter.

Fenris
Kysnaros' armada, including a multitude of Inquisition warships, Grey Knights vessels, and the Red Hunters fleet, arrived at Fenris and surrounded the planet in high orbit while targeting The Fang, the Space Wolves' fortress-monastery, for a devastating orbital bombardment.

The planet was virtually undefended as the vast majority of the Space Wolves and their Chapter fleet were dispersed on missions across the galaxy. Kysnaros, directing operations from his flagship, the commandeered Imperial Navy battle cruiser Corel's Hope, again asked for a parlay with any ranking Space Wolf available. The few Space Wolves present agreed, and a delegation consisting of Kysnaros, the Grey Knights Battle-Brother Hyperion (who commanded respect amongst the Space Wolves) and Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Annika Jarlsdottyr, a native Fenrisian, arrived at The Fang for the meeting. The Space Wolves had awoken the Venerable Dreadnought Bjorn the Fell-Handed to deal with the Inquisitorial party. The ancient warrior, who had once fought beside the Primarch Leman Russ during the Great Crusade, immediately received the unbidden respect and reverence of the Inquisitorial delegation, and was thought to be a more temperate and wise representative for the Chapter than Logan Grimnar.

Kysnaros asked for the Space Wolves' express obeisance to Imperial authority and chain of command, and a Penitent Crusade to be undertaken to expiate the Chapter's guilt for attacking the servants of the Inquisition. In exchange, the Inquisition and the Imperium at large would take no other action or censure against the Chapter. Bjorn was not impressed, countering that Kysnaros was asking a proud, storied Chapter that had served Humanity for millennia to kowtow to faceless bureaucrats who ruled according to expedience rather than honour. Further, this was demanded while the Inquisition's guns were locked and loaded on Fenris. He asked Kysnaros to make a more rigorous case, but before the latter could start, and to everyone's surprise, the Space Wolves' Chapter fleet under command of Logan Grimnar translated from the Warp near Fenris. The negotiations abruptly ended, and the Inquisition delegation made haste to Corel's Hope.

Following yet another short and fruitless exchange between the near-panic Kysnaros and the snarling Grimnar, over ship-to-ship vox, an all-out close-quarters naval battle broke out over Fenris. Despite the presence of senior Naval officers, Kysnaros took command of the Inquisition side. His near-panic disappeared, and he exhibited remarkable calmness under pressure and intricate knowledge of large-scale, complex battle tactics. He ordered half of Inquisition assets to commence conventional bombing of the Fang, and upon detection of Space Wolves boarding torpedoes, ordered the Red Hunters to counter-board the torpedo-firing vessels. While the battle was raging, Grimnar had the Scramaseax come abreast of the Corel's Hope, where the Astartes' vessel superior shields, armour, and broadside, was a deciding factor -- and indeed the Corel's Hope Void Shields failed first. Immediately, Grimnar and his Wolf Guard teleported from the Scramaseax to the Corel's Hope bridge.

Death
As the Wolf Guard caused mayhem on the bridge, Grimnar sprinted towards the command throne, where Kysnaros stood. Despite resistance by Hyperion and one other Grey Knight, and assisted by Inquisitor Jarlsdottyr, who was one of the anti-Kysnaros conspirators, the Great Wolf quickly reached the Inquisitor Lord. Kysnaros was unarmed, yet he was a powerful psyker with telekinetic abilities -- however, either he didn't care to defend himself, or he didn't have time to react, given the Wolf's speed and ferocity. Grimnar, in one swift move, unceremoniously decapitated the Inquisitor Lord.

Kysnaros' death was not enough to placate the enraged Space Wolves who continued their rampage, only to stop when Bjorn the Fell-Handed teleported to the bridge and bade everyone to "stop this madness." Thanks to his timely intervention and mediation, hostilities ceased and a truce was declared among the combatants.

Kysnaros' death and the cessation of hostilities also did not settle the deeper, and by now even more bitter institutional dispute between the Space Wolves Chapter and the Inquisition. The terms of the truce pleased neither side, and they were accepted only out of necessity. Even as the truce was put into effect, both sides were secretly keeping their options open. In fact, the Inquisition almost immediately started exploring other avenues of bringing the Space Wolves to heel.

Abilities
Kysnaros had no imposing physical presence, and avoided the display of arms, even ceremonial ones, carrying instead only his Staff of Office when it was appropriate. Apart from the Inquisition sigil he avoided onstentation of any sort. He kept his psychic abilities well hidden, and his past actions, history, and connections even more so. He showed undeniable tactical ability during the unconventional Naval engagement over Fenris, proving he could see the larger picture during battle, though where he acquired such specialised knowledge remains unknown. Additionally, unlike other Inquisition Lords, he had no retinue or servants, and seemed to keep his own counsel. Kysnaros was a mystery, and perhaps not the right person to be dealing with the Space Wolves. He himself admitted that he had no prior experience in dealing with Astartes in general. Considering that the Space Wolves were among the most idiosyncratic of Astartes Chapters, this made his task even harder.

Following the ad hoc Inquisition conclave that decided (though not unanimously) to go ahead with the Armageddon containment, he proceeded as if this was a routine Inquisition purge. However, as the dissenters were pointing out, victorious Imperial forces had never been purged on this scale before. Secondly, Grimnar had made his intentions clear as soon as the Inquisition force translated in Armageddon space -- and then repeated it several times before the start of the containment. Fenrisian Inquisitor Jarlsdottyr called Kysnaros a "fool," implying that he completely misunderstood the Space Wolves and their ways. Indeed he seemed out of his depth when dealing with Grimnar, who outsmarted him at every turn, and was much better in getting his point across.

However, Hyperion (who was for a time an anti-Kysnaros conspirator bent on killing him) had a private audience with Kysnaros, and came away with the impression that Kysnaros was completely sincere in his belief that he was doing the right thing. Hyperion thought that Kysnaros acted as if he carried "the weight of all the worlds of the Imperium of Man on his shoulders." Hyperion was probably one of the most potent psykers of his time, with stunning telesthesiac ability; he probed Kysnaros' mind in depth and found no deception present. At the same time he realised that Kysnaros was probably his equal in psyker power, and wondered why he did not use this power on Grimnar. Kysnaros, forever the pragmatist, had understood that such coercion was bound to be obvious, and would do nothing to convince the Space Wolves to change their "heretical" ways.

Indeed Kysnaros was often shown to be holding back in the confrontations with the Wolves. He was paralysed with fear that he would cause another civil war within the Imperium, and was visibly saddened when he heard the containment campaign referred to as the "Months of Shame." To his credit, he tried (unsuccesfully) to resolve the issues without undue violence, and absolved Lord Joros of all responsibility for the advice Joros gave him. He also recorded all his numerous flawed decisions in the reports to his masters. His crowning mistake was threatening Fenris, a move that no Space Wolf Jarl would react to in any other way than with extreme and justifiable violence. It seemed that his interactions with the Wolves during the "Months of Shame" taught him very little. He paid for it with his life.