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Kheron Ophion

Kheron Ophion, "The Coward," captain of the Night Lords Legion's 39 Company and commander of the cruiser Shroud of Eventide.

Kheron Ophion, commonly known as "The Coward" within the VIIIth Legion, was a line captain of the 39th Company of the Night Lords Legion and a member of the Kyroptera during the Horus Heresy.

Standing almost as an exceptional figure within a Legion of cutthroats and thieves, Kheron Ophion displayed a level of honour previously unknown within the VIIIth Legion, a fact many among the Night Lords saw as an aberration.

History[]

Born and raised in the gutters of Nostramo, the homeworld of the Night Lords, Kheron Ophion was a line captain of the 39th Company who faithfully served in the Great Crusade for at least seven Terran decades before the Horus Heresy engulfed the galaxy in chaos.

During this time, Ophion forged a reputation of solid service, but such stubborn bravery was mostly considered an aberration within a Legion dedicated to practicality and the subtle, if gruesome, prosecution of war. Many of his peers saw him as a flawed being and mocked him deliberately by naming him "the Coward".

Ophion's time of glory would come at the end of the Thramas Crusade, as the Dark Angels vented their rage against the unprepared fleet of the Night Lords, catching them in a devastating ambush. Two warships bravely held off the enemy fleet in order to allow many of their brothers to escape the slaughter.

The first of them was the Nightfall, the Legion's mighty Gloriana-class Battleship, the flagship of the entire VIIIth Legion, and the second was the Shroud of Eventide, a simple cruiser under the command of Kheron Ophion. Together, these two vessels turned certain annihilation into mere decimation.

This act of bravery saw Ophion promoted to the ranks of the restored Kryoptera, the shadowy council that now ruled the Night Lords in their primarch's absence.

At the head of 9,000 warriors, Ophion headed for the Nostramo Sector, where he intended to rally what scattered formations of the VIII Legion remained after their defeat with the ultimate goal of rejoining the greater war and Horus' final push on Terra.

Yet these plans were upset by the arrival of an unexpected foe in the form of the Ashen Claws.

It is generally presumed that Kheron Ophion was either lost or slain in the fierce battles for the Nostramo Sector, which quickly fell back into chaos and strife.

Wargear[]

  • The Bloody Aegis - The Bloody Aegis was a Combat Shield forged from the broken hull fragments of Ophion's first command, the Killing Whisper. The Killing Whisper was destroyed over Pragus when Ophion ordered his ship to hold off an entire Fra'al conclave in order to cover the 67th Expeditionary Fleet's retreat. Awarded by the 67th Expeditionary Fleet's Consul, the Bloody Aegis serves as a personal reminder, a cruel jest and a mark of shame of the cost of such bravery. A brutish piece of craftsmanship, the vicious barbs of serrated ceramite are highly durable and present a dire obstacle to the foe.

Sources[]

  • The Horus Heresy - Book Six: Retribution by Alan Bligh (Forge World Series), pg. 254
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