Obitiel is probably one of the oldest
mortal beings alive in the galaxy, he was one of the first of the
current era space marines the emperor created after the primarchs was
lost, one of the first members of the first legion. He commanded
soldiers in the Emperor's name during the unification on Terra and
helped wipe out the thunder warriors when their time came.
When the great crusade departed he stood proudly amongst the finest officers of the fist legion.
When the great crusade departed he stood proudly amongst the finest officers of the fist legion.
When the emperor
discovered Caliban, and was reunited with Lion el'Johnsson, Obitiel
was one of the first to kneel before their primarch, it is said there
were tears rolling down his face as he did so, finally the first and
greatest primarch had been found, now finally the dark angels would
be given the place they rightly deserved. Or so he thought, but the
lion insisted that Obitiel and many of the space marines that had
followed the emperor from Terra would remain behind on Caliban to
train the next generation of initiates, the lion figured that the
oldest wisest and best must make sure the knowledge they had gained
be preserved.
Those left behind didn't
see it them same way, they felt that the lion had set them, who had
conquered the galaxy for centuries in the name of the emperor, aside
in favour for his new recruits who had followed him on Caliban.
The resentment grew and
when Luther rebelled against the lion Obitiel was one of the first to
swear him fealty. But as we all know Luther's rebellion failed and
the fallen, as Luther's followers would come to be called, was
scattered though time and space.
Obitiel however was merely
scattered though space. He found himself on a backwards world at the
western fringe of the galaxy and it is believed he spend several
centuries there before being discovered by humans. A rogue trader by
the name of Venator Dedicatus found him and rescued him, a favour
which Obitiel rewarded by beating down the trader and stealing his
ship leaving him stranded on the planet in return.
He had probably intended
for the rogue trader to stay lost forever but he underestimated the
resourcefulness of Venator Dedicatus, who from debris that had been
deposited on the planet by the same warp storm that had brought the
fallen there constructed a beacon to signal his plight.
Those who
picked him up were members of the dark angels chapter (although
chapter records are very vague on which company rescued him). While
he knew to much of their secret the dark angels saw much of
themselves in the trader so instead of killing him they enrolled him,
he would be their eyes and ears looking out for fallen, in particular
Obitiel (once again quite who made this decision seems to be
mystery).
He never knew the full truth of who he hunted only that it
was a space marine that somehow had crossed the dark angels. And
hunted he did, from that day until his death nearly a century later
(the time dilation of warp travel accounts for Venator's long life)
he hunted Obitiel, from one side of the galaxy to the other. Finally
Venator and his dark angels allies tracked Obitiel to the mining
world Sempura Secundus where he gave his life caving in the mining
complex to destroy the fallen (chapter record hold that no less than
three fallen where hiding out in the tunnel complexes of the hollowed
out planet, though it fails to specify any of them apart from
Obitiel).
His story is one told to recruits of the dark angels
chapters to remind them that if a mere man can have the will to do
what must be done so must they when they one day become space
marines.
It was generally believed
that Obitiel had been destroyed on Sempura Secundus but roughly one
thousand five hundred years later (early m.33) he reappeared
convincing several systems in the Segnetrum Obscuras to rebel against
the Imperium. The angels of Absolution chapter of the unforgiven
tracked him down and while they failed to take him alive back to the
rock they claimed to have seen his dead body.
There is an unconfirmed
sighting of this fallen during Abbaddon the despoiler's attack
el'phanor, but it was later dismissed at the urgings of the grand
master of the angels of Absolution.
The angels of Absolution
would however need to take back those words when he was once again
spotted by members of the the Consecrators Ravenwing in m38 fighting
in the 9th black crusade of Abbaddon. When imperial forces
reclaim the Antecanis system the Consecrators make battle upon dark
armoured and robed space marines led by a man who claimed to be
Obitiel. While the ship he probably was on was destroyed by the
unforgiven, the Consecrators spends an additional fifty years in the
sector officially protecting the system while it rebuilds,
unofficially searching for the fallen. In the end they give up and
report and unconfirmed kill to the tower of angels.
Obitiel reappeared in the
years leading up to the Gothic war committing several planet wide
genocides all dedicated to the chaos god Nurgle to whom he appears to
have sold his soul. When the unforgiven arrive he is already gone but
captured cultists claim that he has been gifted with the ability to
steal life from living beings by touching them.
From what is extracted
from the cultists it appears that the ancient space marine has found
a way to prolong his life. It does however suffer diminished returns,
lasting less and less the more he does it. This way he is always kept
spreading fear and despair amongst the humans of the galaxy, feeding
the god Nurgle with their despair, while himself being freed from the
direct fear of death, but kept in a perpetual state of dreading it.
Several similar genocides
are reported in the years following the gothic war, but Obitiel's
presence is never confirmed. Obitiel's warband has assumed the name
the Angels of Reaping.
Obitiel yet to this day
stands unaccounted for, he is to be considered extremely dangerous
for Obitiel has be granted the true aspect of angel of death by his
dark god. Obitiel is one of only a few fallen that it has been
decided by the greater circle of the unforgiven that there should be
no attempts to take alive. He is to be killed at sight and his body
recovered and destroyed.
And that's it for today.
