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"To the righteous we bring hope. To the tainted we bring fire."

— Castellan Garran Crowe
Castellan Crowe by majesticchicken

Castellan Garran Crowe - leader and Brotherhood Champion of the Grey Knights' order of Purifiers.

A Grey Knight Purifier is a member of a select order apart from other Battle-Brothers of the Grey Knights Space Marine Chapter. The Purifiers epitomise the Chapter's sanctity of purpose. Purifiers recruit only from those amongst their Battle-Brothers whose souls are considered to be utterly incorruptible and resistant to the temptations of the Warp - even by the exacting standards of the Grey Knights. So careful is the selection that there are seldom more than a few score Purifiers.

Role

The Chambers of Purity lie deep below the Grey Knights' Fortress-Monastery on Titan, at the entrance to the ancient and shadowy vaults of Mount Anarch, the better to ensure that the Purifiers guard against the evil that slumbers therein. Only the Chapter's Grand Masters are permitted to enter these halls unbidden. This edict has proved something of a challenge to Neophytes over the centuries. Some return to the chambers above following a brutal beating to reinforce the lesson that the Purifiers trust not even their Battle-Brothers where some secrets are concerned. Other intruders do not return at all, their fate a mystery to all. Purifiers are dour and taciturn, and their eyes burn with a black fire that borders on fanaticism. There is neither training regime nor set process by which a Grey Knight can join these ranks. Membership of the Purifier order is not granted through skill, valour or a tally of grim deeds soaked in blood. Indeed, a Grey Knight can serve his Chapter with distinction for centuries without end, yet still this ultimate honour may well be denied him. Rather. Purifiers recruit only from those amongst their Battle-Brothers whose souls are considered to be utterly incorruptible and resistant to the temptations of the Warp - even by the exacting standards of the Grey Knights. So careful is the selection that there are seldom more than a few score Purifiers. Yet never has thought been given to relaxing the restrictions of induction, lest the sanctity of the order be compromised.

Fortunately, the limited numbers of Purifiers have never yet been too few for the task at hand. Whether this is due to some strange quirk of fate or the machinations of some higher power is impossible to say. Perhaps it is part of the natural order of things for there to exist a handful of unblemished warriors, whose purpose is to combat Daemons on all their forms and to ensure that the fire of victory is never extinguished. This is perhaps of scant comfort to the Purifiers, who inevitably form the Chapter's spearhead in these dark times. But for them, as for all Grey Knights, duty comes before personal survival.

Wargear

Psychic Powers

  • Cleansing Flame - The Purifiers are able to send forth the fire in their souls to consume their foes.
  • Hammerhand - Focusing the raging power of their minds, Grey Knights can augment their already prodigious might. Even unarmed, such a warrior can crush flesh and bone -- given blade or hammer there is little limit to what they can slay.

Notable Purifiers

  • Castellan Garran Crowe - Garran Crowe is a notable hero of the order known as the Purifiers. Crow is both the leader and Brotherhood Champion of this Grey Knights' elite order. Crowe is charged with the wardenship of the powerful artefact known as the Blade of Antwyr, a daemonic sword that continuously brings him into both physical and spiritual peril by tempting him with Chaotic promises of power or seeking to bind his will with black sorcery. Crowe must be forever on guard, for the sword's sibilant whispers echo endlessly through his mind, offering to lend its strength to his own in the pursuit of victory. Many men would embrace such a chance, gambling that their will would be strong enough to control the sword 's bounty without becoming corrupted in return. Yet no matter how dark the hour or desperate the battle, Crowe has never succumbed - his thoughts and actions are his own. He is the guardian of the Blade, incorruptible and inviolable, and will remain so until the day of his death.

Sources

  • Codex: Grey Knights (5th Edition), pp. 31, 42
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