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Post-Heresy Daemon Head

The Latros Sacrum, Badge of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion

Periclitor, also known as "Periclitor the Foresworn," is a Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided who was once a Chaos Lord of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion.

Periclitor first began his quest for ascension to Daemonhood by leading the Castile V Massacre in 832.M33. He followed up this accomplishment with other triumphs in the name of the Dark Gods, including the martydom of the Imperial Saint Jerome, who was known as Jerome the Pure to the adherents of the Imperial Cult but "Jerome the Fool" to Periclitor's warband; the destruction of the 5th Terran Armoured Praefects Regiment in 739.M35; victory over the Grey Knights in the Sentry Vault; and the massacre of the Howling Griffons Chapter Master Orlando Furioso and much of his 1st Company on the 5,000th anniversary of the Chapter's Founding in 220.M38 at Arios Quintus in the Arios Point System.

Periclitor's murder of the cardinal of Bray was the incident which touched off an assault by Periclitor's mixed warband of Word Bearers and Night Lords forces on the Trans-Kurani Sub-sector. These assaults had the unintended side effect of causing the sub-sector to explode in rebellion against the Imperium over the issue of increased taxation intended to enhance the defence of the sub-sector's worlds.

The outbreak of this conflict, later designated the Braun IV Tithe Wars, necessitated a major Imperial military response. Following this last triumph, Periclitor was rewarded by the Ruinous Powers with ascension to Daemonhood.

The Howling Griffons finally reaped their vengeance against the Daemon Prince in the 41st Millennium, when they tracked Periclitor down to his Daemon World in the Eye of Terror and slew him, incurring many casualties in the process. However, as a Daemon Prince, Periclitor was simply banished to the Warp for a period of time, and will eventually be able to return to plague realspace once more on behalf of the Dark Gods.

History[]

Arios Point Massacre[]

Periclitor's most infamous act was the Arios Point Massacre he unleashed against the Howling Griffons Chapter in 220.M38. It was this massacre that finally pushed the Howling Griffons far beyond the tipping point in their lust for vengeance against the Word Bearers.

The Chapter Master of the Howling Griffons at that time was Orlando Furioso. He was travelling aboard one of the Chapter's battle barges, along with the 8th Company and much of the Veteran 1st Company. They were en route to the Chapter's homeworld of Mancora, to celebrate the 5,000th anniversary of the Chapter's Founding. When the battle barge stopped in the Arios Point System to resupply, Periclitor, then still a Chaos Lord, led a combined force of Word Bearers and Night Lords Chaos Space Marines in ambush against the Loyalists.

The Howling Griffons were caught tragically unprepared for battle against so overwhelming an enemy force. In short order, their ancient vessel was destroyed after a brutal boarding action. The surviving Space Marines made landfall aboard their Thunderhawks on the surface of the nearby world of Arios Quintus.

The barren world offered little protection for the outnumbered members of the Howling Griffons. In short order, those who survived the destruction of their battle barge were overwhelmed by the coordinated assault of the Traitor Legionaries. None were left alive, and the Chaos forces seized much of the Chapter's wargear, including precious and virtually irreplaceable equipment that had been the province of the 1st Company and the Chapter Master's honour guard. The bodies of those slain were desecrated and their gene-seed either destroyed or stolen.

The only body recovered by the Chapter was that of Chapter Master Furioso. The Traitors mounted it upon his Thunderhawk and left it in orbit of Arios Quintus, as a sign to any who might see it. Solar months later, other members of the Howling Griffons tracked down the missing starship and company, and recovered the Chapter Master's body and gene-seed.

After this tragedy, all members of the Howling Griffons Chapter swore oaths of vengeance against Periclitor, who eventually ascended to become a Daemon Prince, and the Word Bearers. As each new member is recruited, the oath is recited once more. The two forces engaged in countless skirmishes and even several major conflicts following the massacre.

Ascension and the Tithe Wars of Braun IV[]

After a series of further atrocities, including corrupting the Sanctity IX Pedagogue to the worship of Chaos in 237.M38, Periclitor was gifted with a great vision on Candlemass Eve in 789.M38. The Chaos Gods spoke to him directly, promising him that if he continued to serve them so well, ascension to Daemonhood as a Daemon Prince was close at hand.

Periclitor immediately launched an assault on the world of Bray in the Segmentum Obscurus, teleporting into the cathedral to murder the world's cardinal as he delivered his Candlemass Day sermon. This demonstration of the ease with which the world's defences could be breached prompted its leaders to build extensive orbital defences, paid for by a new tax lewvied on the population. Each time a new tithe was proposed and rejected by Bray planetary government, Periclitor and his warband would strike again, forcing them to accept ever-higher costs to protect against the Chaos raids.

It time, the populace could pay no more. First Bray, then the entire Trans-Kurani Sub-sector of which it was a part erupted in civil war. By 187.M39, the entire sector was in open rebellion against Imperium, with regiments of the Astra Militarum, companies of Space Marines and fleets of the Navis Imperialis mobilised to quell the so-called "tithe wars" of Braun IV. These conflicts raged for Terran centuries, with some lasting well into the 41st Millennium.

For the chaos and violence he had spread in Imperial space, Periclitor was rewarded by Chaos Undivided with ascension to a Daemon Prince over the ruins of the Cathedral of Bray, the sight of his great triumph. He lifted to the sky in a nimbus of black light before emerging solar minutes later with arms the size of cannon barrels, a bestial face, and bat-like wings with a five-metre span.

Death[]

When the Daemon Prince Periclitor emerged from the Eye of Terror in the 41st Millennium with his warband of Word Bearers, the Howling Griffons hunted him across the region to settle their ancient honour debt.

They discovered the Throne Temple of Periclitor on a nameless Daemon World in the Eye of Terror, carved into a mountain range rising from a sea of Daemons that stretched across the world's surface. To their horror, one of the dozens of eyes in Periclitor's hideous Daemonic face was that of Orlando Furioso himself, the Chapter Master of the Howling Griffons Periclitor had slain on Arios Quintus, forever rolling in pain.

Many of the Chapter fell to the assault of the Daemon Prince, including the captain of the Howling Griffons' 4th Company, before Chief Librarian Mercaeno was able to slay Periclitor and banish him back to the Warp after battling for a solar night and a day atop the mountain peak.

In the wake of their victory, the Howling Griffons do not allow Periclitor's name to even be spoken in their presence by outsiders.

Sources[]

  • Codex: Space Marines (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex), pg. 63
  • Deathwatch: Honour the Chapter (RPG), pp. 66-67
  • Imperial Armour Volume Nine - The Badab War - Part One, pg. 124
  • Chapter War (Novel) by Ben Counter, Chs. 5, 17
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