Davian Thule

Captain Davian Thule on the world of Kronus during the Dark Crusade

Captain Davian Thule was the Force Commander of the Blood Ravens Chapter Space Marine deployment, consisting of 3 companies including elements from the elite 1st Company, sent to the world of Kronus during the Dark Crusade conflict that developed on that Tomb World in the late 41st Millennium; Captain Thule is deemed to be using the same ship, the Blood Ravens Battle-Barge Litany of Fury, as Captain Gabriel Angelos once commanded during the Blood Ravens operations on the lost world of Tartarus, but the whereabouts of Captain Angelos, the commander of the Blood Ravens' 3rd Company, during the events of the Dark Crusade is unexplained. Following his service on Kronus, Thule went on to command the defence of Sub-sector Aurelia (in the PC game Dawn of War II) from an attack by a splinter Hive Fleet of the Tyranids. He is badly wounded during this campaign and returns to the Chapter as a cybernetic Dreadnought.

History

Morga

When the Chaos witch Morga seduced the Planetary Governor of a once-prosperous and loyal Imperial colony, the Blood Ravens retaliated, purging the world of all life. Morga however, survived. She proved to be a deadly foe and slew the Blood Ravens' expedition Force Commander and most of his command staff of Veteran Space Marines. It was the young Initiate Davian Thule who ultimately killed her, proving his mettle early on.

Cadia

Before the Kronus campaign, Captain Davian Thule commanded the Blood Ravens' 4th Company on Cadia. There, his men dropped on the Iron Warriors Traitor Marines who were marching towards the city of Kasr Sonnen. The battle went heavily in the favor of the Blood Ravens. However, word came that the Black Legion was en route as well, and orders came down from the Chapter Master to withdraw. Thule resisted and pressed his advantages until the Chapter Master threatened to have him removed from command. Thule and the Blood Ravens left, leaving the Cadian Imperial Guard Regiments to fend for themselves against the Black Legion Traitor Marines.

Kronus (The Dark Crusade)

When Captain Thule arrived on the besieged world of Kronus, he sent an order to the planet's Governor-Militant and Imperial Guard commander General Lukas Alexander to evacuate all of the world's civilians and Imperial Guard personnel to allow the Blood Ravens to begin their purge of the planet. However, General Alexander refused, which forced the Blood Ravens to fight their fellow Imperial soldiers to achieve their objective. Thule regretted having to kill his fellow brothers-in-arms, an action for which he and the Blood Ravens later came under investigation by the Inquisition's Ordo Hereticus until they were cleared of all charges, but orders were orders -- Kronus had to be purged of the Necron and Chaos taint -- and it was through Thule's heroic efforts.

Aftermath of the Dark Crusade

When the Blood Ravens proved victorious in the Dark Crusade, they collected their spoils of war and preserved some of the Chapters' secrets on the planet. The Inquisition's Ordo Hereticus questioned their actions in assaulting fellow Imperials, but Captain Thule was eventually cleared of all suspicion by claiming that he was just 'following orders' from his Chapter Master just as General Alexander had been following the orders of his Segmentum Command. The Inquisition reported that the problem on Kronus lay with the Imperium's convoluted bureaucracy and lack of clear lines of command and not with the taint of Chaos or heresy. The darkest time for the Blood Ravens Chapter began after they completed the Dark Crusade. The survivors of the shattered 1st Kronus Imperial Guard Regiment bore a deep hatred for the Blood Ravens, even though Captain Thule had arranged safe transport for the Guardsmen who actually fought against his Marines, and Thule and the Blood Ravens Chaplain honoured the dead body of Governor-Militant Lukas Alexander for following his orders so fervently. They also, however, executed every one of the soldiers of the 1st Kronus Regiment' 5th Company for their rebellion against the rest of the Regiment.

Captain Thule and the Blood Ravens 2nd Company also succeeded in their mission to wipe out the Necrons of Kronus, with Thule personally planting the bomb deep within their catacombs beneath Kronus' Thur'Abis Plateau. The Second Company later adopted the motto "Victory Over Death" in reference to this great victory.

Sub-Sector Aurelia Campaign

Captain Davian Thule from Dawn of War 2

Thule had suffered grievous wounds in the final battle with the Necron Lord of Kronus, including the loss of one of his eyes which the Chapter Apothecaries replaced with a cybernetic prosthesis. Nevertheless, Captain Thule had survived the Dark Crusade and led the Blood Ravens to victory in their campaign on Kronus. Thule was next made Force Commander of Blood Ravens operations in Sub-Sector Aurelia, the Chapter's primary source of new recruits, and was charged with protecting the primary Blood Ravens recruiting worlds of Calderis, Typhon Primaris, and Meridian. During the Blood Ravens' first contact with the Tyranids of the splinter Hive Fleet assaulting the sub-sector, Captain Thule was badly wounded and poisoned by a Tyranid host that had swarmed over his defensive position. Injured and mortally poisoned he was incapable of commanding and was on the verge of death, until his replacement as the Blood Ravens' Aurelian Force Commander recovered a sample of the venom that was killing him from a Tyranid hive. After the new Force Commander completed the tasks needed to gain the cure for the Tyranid toxin, Davian Thule was removed from stasis, healed and had his ravaged body implanted with the cybernetic life support systems of a Dreadnought walker so that he could continue to serve the Chapter. It was later learned that CaptainThule had found and read the records that told the true story of the Blood Ravens' mysterious origins during the Kronus Campaign...but had destroyed them once he had learned the truth about the Chapter's Founding.

Wargear

Thule is armed with a standard-issue Chainsword and Bolt Pistol at the beginning of the Dawn of War - Dark Crusade campaign. When fully upgraded in the game, he carries a Daemonhammer and meltagun, as well as wearing heavily ornate Artificer Power Armour, with a backpack-mounted teleporter. In the Dawn of War II campaign against the Tyranids in sub-sector Aurelia, he is badly wounded and poisoned by the Tyranids. After the player recovers enough of a sample of the poison from the Tyranids, Thule's body is removed from stasis, detoxified and placed within the cybernetic sarcophagus of a Dreadnought. If Thule is further upgraded by the player he can become a Venerable Dreadnought.

Sources

• White Dwarf 305 (UK) "Index Astartes – Blood Ravens"
• White Dwarf 299 (US) (November 2004) "Index Astartes – Blood Ravens"
• White Dwarf 295 (US) (August 2004) "Index Astartes – Blood Ravens"
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade
• Tempest (Novel) by C.S. Goto
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II