Delvarus

Delvarus as a Possessed during the latter years of the Horus Heresy.

Delvarus was a former Centurion that served in the World Eaters Legion during both the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras. A notable warrior and pit fighter, he commanded the XII Legion's 44^th Company, specifically he commanded the elite Triarii - five full companies of the World Eaters' finest shipboard warriors that excelled in ship-to-ship fighting. They were honour-bound to defend the World Eaters' flagship Conqueror, however, Delvarus had a bad reputation for neglecting his duties and abandoning his post so that he could take part in his Legion's planetary assaults. Later, after his Legion fell to damnation and Chaos corruption, he became a "Secondborn" -- a Possessed Heretic Legionary -- whose body was host to a Daemon. Following the end of the Horus Heresy, he would continue to serve the Ruinous Powers and became the commander of his own warband, The Riven, willingly joining the Black Legion and serving Abaddon the Despoiler, to protect his flagship, the Vengeful Spirit. Delvarus was later killed during the 1^st Black Crusade in 781.M31 during an enemy boarding assault aboard the Vengeful Spirit.

History

Centurion Delvarus was born on the jungle world of Novus Principa, which was conquered by the World Eaters Legion in the early decades of the Great Crusade. He gained a reputation as a formidable fighter and for being undefeatable in the Legion's fighting pits, and when he was paired with Sigismund of the Imperial Fists, the pair won every fight to first blood in less than half a minute. Delvarus was one of the few World Eaters not to shave his head. The discomfort of hair in his helm was irrelevant; he'd never cut his long black locks. This may have been a habit derived from his former culture. In the fighting pits, he always wore it loose. His dark skin marked his genesis in the jungles of whatever world he once called home. Like many World Eaters, Delvarus was inducted from a planet conquered in the Legion's earliest solar decades rather than from a specific homeworld. No Legion except the Ultramarines was as diverse as the World Eaters, coloured by so many shades of skin from so many different worlds, reflecting a diversity of flesh overruled by the bonds of brotherhood.

During the Ghenna Massacre, most of Delvarus' squad was wiped out by the Ghennan "Simulacrums", including his commander, Captain Barca. Though a mere sergeant, Delvarus was able to hold his own against the numberless hordes of the enemy. Delvarus commanded the 44^th Company, specifically he commanded the elite Triarii - five full companies of the World Eaters' finest shipboard warriors that excelled in void warfare and boarding actions far beyond traditional Legion training. Five hundred of Angron's best warriors, led by the Legion's undisputed pit champion, all of whom were vowed and honour-bound to defend the flagship Conqueror. Delvarus had a bad reputation for taking part in planetary assaults with the rest of the XII Legion, often "neglecting" to inform command of his intentions.

After an unsanctioned planetary drop that left the Conqueror exposed to enemy boarders comprised of Ultramarines above the war world of Armatura during the Shadow Crusade, Delvarus was shot by the ship's captain, Lotara Sarrin, and confined to his quarters. When he was finally released, he was forced to fight twenty-six blood duels in the Legion's fighting pits, contrary to the normal limit of eight pit fights, before being humiliated when Apothecary Kargos "Bloodspitter" spared his life in a Sanguis Extremis duel.

Towards the end of the Horus Heresy, Delvarus had become Possessed. The daemon-possessed Delvarus went on to lead The Riven, a brutal Chaos warband comprised entirely of 'Secondborn' (possessed heretic legionaries). After the Great Scouring, Delvarus exercised his independent nature once again, and both he and the Riven later joined the Black Legion and become the guardians of Abaddon's flagship, the Vengeful Spirit. Delvarus later met his fate during the 1^st Black Crusade in 781.M31, when he was killed during the First Battle of Cadia by Thagus Daravek, a prominent Death Guard Sorcerer Lord, during a boarding action aboard the Vengeful Spirit.

Appearance & Wargear

When he was still mortal, Delvarus possessed dark skin and long black hair, an unusual practice most likely taken from his feral home world. He also possessed implanted iron teeth and wielded a Meteor Hammer in battle. Following his possession by a Daemon, he was blinded by black cataracts, though his other senses were greatly enhanced. In his daemonic warshape, he possessed massive wings and a crown of thorns.

Sources

• Horus Heresy: Collected Visions (Art Book) pg. 328
• Betrayer (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
• Angron: Slave of Nuceria (Primarch Series) (Novel) by Ian St. Martin
• Black Legion (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden