"We live in peace and pretend at it. But in truth there are always wars, thundering unseen around us, just beyond the curve of our sight. The greatest foolishness is that no man wishes to know the truth, his is happy to live his life as silent guns cut the sky above his head."
- — Ignance Karkasy
The Great Crusade-era Palatine Aquila
Ignace Karkasy was a Remembrancer who accompanied the XVI Legion's 63rd Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade. Karkasy was not the most morally upstanding of men, and was known for his acerbic nature and love of drink, but his poetry also stood out for always telling the truth as Karkasy saw it, a trait that earned him the respect and political protection of of the Luna Wolves Legion Captain Garviel Loken.
Following the pacification of the world designated Sixty-Three-Nineteen, Karkasy was amongst the first Remembrancers allowed into a Legiones Astartes warzone. He cared little for the stratagems of the Imperium and the ongoing Great Crusade or its plans to reform the conquered planet's culture. Eventually he found himself wandering into the ruined capital city to find a muse to inform his next poem. Following his return to the Luna Wolves' flagship Vengeful Spirit, Karkasy composed some inspiring new poetic verses based on the deviant graffiti that he had come across.
He was later accosted and nearly beaten to death by Imperial Army personnel after they overheard Karkasy's subversive comments that the Imperium would not endure the millennia that would come to pass. He was saved by Captain Loken, who intervened on his behalf. Following this incident, he was soon destined to be shipped back to Terra, but was spared this fate after Loken, once again, intervened on his behalf and became his sponsor. It was the captain's personal belief that the expeditionary fleet needed an individual like Karkasy, for he always told the truth, no matter how ugly it might be.
Ezekyle Abaddon, the first captain of the Luna Wolves Legion, ran into Karkasy on multiple occasions, such as when the poet saw the Warrior Lodge coin passed between the first captain and Erebus of the Word Bearers as they shook hands at the end of Horus' speech on Davin. This occurred just before the assault by the newly-renamed Sons of Horus Legion on the Renegade Planetary Governor Eugen Temba and his rebel Imperial Army regiment located on Davin's moon.
Following this action and the Primarch Horus' resulting corruption by Chaos in the Temple of the Serpent Lodge on Davin, Loken often found himself interposing himself between Karkasy and his fellow Sons of Horus more and more often, especially after the Remembrancer wrote his inflammatory screed The Truth Is All We Have. This controversial work condemned the acts of both Loken and his fellow Mournival members following their careless actions after they brought an unconscious Horus aboard the flagship when the primarch was mortally wounded by the mysterious Anathame sword wielded by the Nurgle-corrupted Eugene Temba.
In their desperation to save their primarch, the Sons of Horus accidentally trampled 27 civilians to death on their way to the flagship's Apothecarion. The unwitting victims had gathered aboard the flagship to catch a glimpse of the fallen Warmaster when he was brought aboard. Due to the horrific nature of this incident, Karkasy began to print newsletters warning of the hypocrisy of the Legionaries' actions. This understandably angered many within the XVI Legion.
Ignace Karkasy would ultimately meet his fate at the hands of Maggard, the mute bodyguard of Petronella Vivar, Horus' personal Remembrancer, who was sent to silence him by the increasingly paranoid Horus, because of Karkasy's subversive ideas and controversial writings. Maggard, who Horus had made a new civilian enforcer, was sent to the Remembrancer under the primarch's direct orders under the guise of handing Karkasy a note; the note was actually a forged suicide note, and immediately after reading it to his horror Karkasy was shot in the head by Maggard's Bolt Pistol.
Maggard then planted the weapon in the dead man's grip to give credence to the notion of his suicide. Karkasy's remains were found shortly after by his close friends among the Remembrancers, Mersadie Oliton and Primary Iterator Kyril Sindermann.
Sources[]
- Horus Rising (Novel) by Dan Abnett, Part One, Ch. 3, Ch. 5; Part Two, Ch. 3
- False Gods (Novel) by Graham McNeill, Part Two, Ch. 12; Part Four, Ch. 21