Elias Dammerung

Elias Dammerung, also known as The Oracle on Corusco Parva and later the Grand Wyrm and the Empyrean Dragon during the Compliance, is the Primarch of the Obsidian Wyrms, the second of Legiones Astartes.

As one of the generals of the Imperial Compliance, Elias was known as one of the more restrained of the Primarchs and took great efforts to minimize damage to the infrastructure of subjugated worlds and their population. While many saw this attitude as too time-consuming and too soft compared to the brutal campaigns other Legions waged - and indeed, that Astartes had been designed for - the worlds conquered by Elias were able to provide more war material and supplies more quickly to see to the needs of the Compliance. Moreover, while the detractors of such methods claimed that the soft approach would make conquered worlds arrogant and prone to rebellion, this, in practice, only rarely materialized.

As a Primarch, Elias' demeanor was in line with that projected by the Legion. The Grand Wyrm was at the image of the mythological beast she was nicknamed after. Most of the time, she was withdrawn, reserved, observing, learning, gathering and hoarding knowledge while presenting herself in a respectful, refined and eloquent manner, her presence not lacking in majesty despite its apparent subduedness. Only in rare occasions did Elias show anger, and those occasions were terrible things to behold as they were the fury of a slumbering beast rudely awakened by those who did not realize what they were poking at.

While most of the Primarchs had a strong psychic presence and manifested it subconsciously in one manner or another, Elias' psychic presence among them was second only to the Crimson King's in raw potential, but unlike him, she never cultivated a wide breadth of abilities and powers, only using her own psychic might in the most dire of circumstances, and even then, only in a manner and shape that was driven by instinct and will rather than by sorcerous knowledge. These rough, unrefined yet formidably potent abilities, combined to her demeanor, were what would eventually give rise to the nickname of the Empyrean Dragon.

The Primarch Project
It is sometimes rumored that when the Emperor began work in the Himalazian Gene-labs on what would eventually become the twenty greatest warriors meant to second him and lead the Imperial Compliance across the stars, he had initially endeavored to create twenty domineering male spirits, but that one of his most trusted advisors and confidents had said - perhaps in jest - that he should make at least one or two to be female, to better temper the others' tumultuous attitudes and provide a binding force among the Primarchs. Whether even a single element of this story is true will never be known as there was no place more secret and more impenetrable at the time than the Himalazian Gene-labs, but the observable fact is the end result: One divergent soul, different in body and mind.

Alongside this exists another rumor more sinister this one. It is said that the formidable psychic might that Elias would later display were never part of the initial design of the Emperor and were gained at some point during the time between the moment when twenty Primarch Capsules were spirited through the Immaterium by the Dark Gods and the long years of exposure to the great Warp Storms that began enveloping Corusco Parva almost immediately after the arrival of the lone capsule. To one with all the facts, the timing of the two events and the outcome thereof were nothing short of troubling and suspicious, hinting to somber purpose of some kind...

Wilderness of Corusco
After its disappearance, Elias' capsule fell upon the peaks of a large chain of mountains at the center of the largest continent of Corusco Parva. The area was largely uninhabited and few creatures lived there as it was the territory of the eponymous, large winged reptilian beasts that would later give their name to the Obsidian Wyrms. The great beasts were territorial creatures, but they did not often hunt humans, finding them in poor taste with little meat for all the bone. Much more often, they were keen on playing practical pranks on humans - or simply killing them for sport if they showed hostility - for the True Wyrms were deceptively intelligent creatures, despite showing no sign of anything resembling a society. The beasts were curious creatures who were easily intrigued by strange things they had never seen before, and so when the pod crashed down from the skies, they were very much so intrigued.

The Wyrms observed from a distance at first as the infant Primarch was alone in the desolate mountainside, needing to learn how to survive without any help in this hostile environment of ashen smog and scarce food. Many of the shrubs and plants that made much of what was readily available were poisonous and in some case even lethal to the average human, but Elias was a Primarch and managed to survive on a meager mix of these, small critters and the nests of various birds that roosted on the mountainside. Eventually, she had grown enough to make the treacherous journey down the mountaintops, to the steppes and savannahs of snow-white tall grass below.

It is around that time that the Wyrms' curiosity led them to take a closer look. At the time, Elias was but a small child, and before her appeared an imposing monster nearly twenty meters long - with a maw large enough to swallow her whole if it so desired - folding its wings and staring with merciless animal cunning in its eyes, almost as if daring, challenging her. The Obsidian Wyrms of Corusco had the ability - psychic, some think - to sense fear as readily as a shark would blood in the water, yet it could sense none, for there was none to be found. There was only reciprocated curiosity towards this grand, majestic creature as the small child took a first step, then another and reached out, feeling the scaly, blackened hide of the creature's monstrous jaw.

From that day forth, the young Primarch was considered a welcome guest by the Wyrms of the mountains. Without speech, without signs, she was able to learn from them on a subconscious level which would later be tentatively hypothesized to have been a latent expression of her own psychic might which might have established some sort of connection between them.

The Warlords' bands
A few years afterward, as the Storms darkening the skies of Corusco Parva grew more intense and the first Hauntings began, one of the small roaming patrols of the Coruscoan Warlords passed by the foot of the mountains and encountered an adolescent Elias, clad in crude garments fashioned from the hides of local predators, yet as tall if not taller than any of their rank. The soldiers were startled by the appearance, and surprised that anyone could live in such a place. The Primarch did not know of the local language, but could surmise well enough intent and superficial meaning by observing tone, body language and gestures. Eventually, the soldiers decided to try and bring her to their Warlord, impressed by her ability to seemingly slay the predators with no weapon.

The trek on the large steppes rover was a long one, despite its speed, and to the soldiers' surprise, barely a few hours had elapsed since they set off and Elias was already able to understand and speak words and small fragments of sentences. This was when the soldiers realized something very off was going on. When they reached the field base, the strange, wild one had an audience with the officer in charge of the base, and while the Primarch could barely speak - at first - she seemed to understand every word without fail. She came to learn much the world she had ended on, and accepted to live alongside the soldiers for a time.

Less than a month had passed by the time Elias showed a complete mastery of not only the High Gothic that endured as the dominant language of Coruscoans, but of just about every piece of equipment available to the Warhost. She could forge exquisite melee weapons as easily as she could pilot the Aerospace assets on the base. There were many offers given - some by the Warlord in person - for her to join the host, with the promise of grand position at the right hand of the warband, but Elias was not interested. While she continued to live among the soldiers for a few years longer, the increasingly alarming news of hauntings and possessions across the world troubled her, and the Primarch eventually decided to return to the mountains to seek an answer to this odd predicament.

The Incursion and the Oracle
There was little need to wait, as upon her return to the mountains, she could find that much of the local wildlife - plant and animals alike - had been twisted and deformed by the touch of the Warp. What had once been benign and innocent species of small critters and birds had became vicious. Predators had become bloodthirsty and killed not for fun but for sadistic enjoyment. Even vines seemed to try to choke unwary travelers in their sleep. The only creature that was unaffected by the corruption hand of the Immaterium were the Wyrms, who ruthlessly exterminated both twisted local wildlife, but also the Abominations themselves wherever and whenever they intruded on their territory. It was then that Elias understood: She could no longer enjoy this peaceful life of discovery. If she did not do something, the world and its people were doomed.

Before long, Elias appeared before the court of the Lord-Grandmaster who ruled Corusco Parva as the anonymous Oracle, offering succor against the horrors that plagued the world. Using her connection to the land, innate strategic acumen, and latent psychic might, she was able to guide and advise the Lord-Grandmaster in how to effectively deploy his Warlords and defend his domain from the Abominations. The hidden cost that none suspected was that while she used her latent powers of foresight, Elias exposed herself to countless ravenous Neverwere, and for the several long years that followed, she had to battle for her own mind constantly. Even as she would later take to the field herself against the twisted creatures, she never knew a moment of true peace of solace again. When it was not battering with brute force, dark whispers delivered honeyed temptations even as she slept. The origins or cause of these, she knew not, and it was deeply concerning, but she did not yield to fear nor selfishness.

Meanwhile, the Primarch ascended to the rank of greatest and most trusted advisor of the realm at the Lord-Grandmaster's side, whom once again offered to bestow riches, land, titles and authority, just as the other advisors grew envious and bitter. Between those offers and the plots she could sense at her back, Elias could only ask herself if these voices she heard were truly something -out there- or if it was only some sort of twisted reflection of what was going on in the materium; perhaps a more egotistical part of herself whom she did not know existed and whom might have been more than willing to embrace all those things? Yet she could not, and had no time to spare for such trivial self-questioning. She had become the protector of the people of Corusco Parva, and would suffer no distraction from this path.

Then came the great Rifts. Where the Abominations were only attacking in small, covert packs before, now millions of them seemed to suddenly flood and infest the far steppes. The armies of the Warlords needed to mobilize in full, and they desperately needed the guidance of the Oracle. Thanks to Elias' lethal mix of psychic foresight, keen intellect and the strategic acumen only a Primarch could wield, the Warlords were able to bloodily repulse the assaults of the Abominations as they crashed by the gates of major cities in their tens - hundreds - of thousands, slaughtering whatever small settlements they found on their way. The line would hold, for now, but no matter how many casualties the Coruscoans seem to inflict on the Creatures, their numbers seemed to never be exhausted, while those of the Warhosts slowly suffered attrition.

Knowing that the fight needed to be brought to the Rift and that a way to seal it needed to be devised if there was to ever be any hope of victory, Elias dived into the ancient technological archives of Old Corusco. By combining various pieces of ancient, barely understood hardware from the Golden Age of Technology with her own arcane knowledge, the Primarch was able to create weapons as terrifying as the monsters that besieged them. These were weapons that harnessed the limitless energies of the Warp Storm that raged all around them and unleashed them back onto the foul Creatures with vengeful fury never seen before, nor since. Entire hordes of the Abominations could be wiped out with one single warhead, yet they were frightening enough that few dared to use them, and to those granted the honor of wielding the smaller, infantry counterparts? The power was almost intoxicating.

Thus armed, Elias, by now an adult, led the combined forces of every Warlord on Corusco to march upon the Rift. She herself wielded a massive power flail named Titansbane which was able to smash through entire ranks of massed Abominations with every single sweep as well as a teleportation device that allowed her to shift and phase across the battlefield like some sort of ethereal creature or phantom. Despite all of these advantages, however, the combined Warhosts took severe casualties in bringing the fight to the twisted horrors, culminating in one final and decisive battle for the scorched plains in which the Rift was taunting them, like a wound in reality itself.

At the height of the battle, a titan with a skin of rust and eyes and breath of sulfuric gas emerged from the Rift, wielding equally oversized great weapons of slaughter. The colossus quickly began to sow chaos and the lines of the Warhosts were quickly crumbling when Elias moved to engage it. Yet, even her own might seemed insufficient to fend back this new Abomination, and for a moment, all seemed forever lost. It was then that the Primarch unleashed the full extent of her psychic abilities in a burst that annihilated all of the lesser Nerverwere around her and the rust-red giant.

Though it is often said that Elias knew no fear, there was one thing that frightened her, and it was that very power. Where did it come from? What did it mean? Was there a cost to it? Was it tied to these dark whispers? She knew none of the answers, and a pragmatic view could only be cautiously pessimistic, yet there was no other choice. Now was the time to do or die, and so she did. Actively channeling the tumultuous powers of the storm around them all, Elias became visibly wreathed into arcane energies. Her wounds healed visibly, while the every strike of Titansbane impacted with the force of an artillery shell that detonated with more of those Aetherian energies. By playing this trump card, the titan of sulfur and rust appeared to be slain, and with its death, the Rift itself shuddered and dissipated, soon to be slowly followed by the very storms that shrouded the entire system. Corusco Parva was saved for now, but at what cost?

The Gilded Fleet Arrives
Shortly after the Warp Storms surrounding the Corusco System dispersed, the psychic presence hidden upon the surface of the ashen moon became suddenly visible, like a lighthouse unexpectedly lighting up amidst deep fog, and so the fleets of the Emperor immediately set course. There was much reason to worry about the ominous signs and portents that loomed around the world and the ultimate fate of the wayward progeny there. The Emperor prepared for a costly battle and for the potential terrible news, but it was not to be, and when he arrived in orbit over the shimmering moon, there was no sign of hostility.

The sudden appearance of creatures that matched the description of demons of old Terran Lore hellbent on the extermination of all life, and the appearance of a miraculous savior tended to push humans towards spirituality and mysticism, and Corusco was no different, despite the long history of rationalism and atheism of its people. In the wake of the victory at the Rift, Elias had to spend much of her days repeatedly arguing that she was no divine being; no god and no angel. Yet, despite this stubborn belief, it was obvious to everyone - and herself - that she was different from all the other humans on the ashen ball. This difference held no answer, and Elias was just about to try to disappear back into the wilderness when the answer delivered itself to the court of the Lord-Grandmaster.

The scene witnessed by the Emperor was quaint, and no small amount of amusing, but the reunion was not as pleasant as it could have been because the mark of the Immaterium was visible on the wayward progeny's soul. Still, Elias understood much of what had transpired and was yet to, before a single word was spoken, and when the Emperor asked to speak with her privately, she agreed readily. The first order of business was the most recent events, and when news of the Incursion reached him, the need to assess whether this newly rediscovered Primarch had suffered unredeemable taint from the experience became all the more urgent and necessary. Though none in the Imperium knew of the true significance or nature of what had unfolded, -he- did, with all of the potential terrible consequences.

Yet, Elias was not found wanting, and the experience seemed to have made her all the more wary about these strange creatures and the powers associated with the Empyrean Realm. After intense examination and questioning, it was deemed that she was, for a lack of better word, fine. From that moment, the tone and atmosphere changed drastically, and the two of them were able to discuss and catch up in a far more appreciable manner. While others had conquered their adoptive home worlds by strength of arms and cunning, Elias had instead protected it from a threat none had been expected to face and had done so while remaining humble and devoid of personal ambitions. In many ways, this, too, was uncannily familiar, yet it was a welcome thing.

Coruscoans were wary of re-integration in the Imperium, just as they were reluctant to see the 'Oracle' go, but Elias was able to persuade the Lord-Grandmaster and his court that this was for the best, not only for Corusco Parva, but for the protection of all of humanity from threats like those they had endured for five millenia. She managed to convince them that it was time to strike back and pay back in full the Xenos who had long preyed on their ancestors, but also that Corusco Parva could play a leading role in this campaign half of liberation and half of vindication. Before long, the world put its full resources towards furthering the Compliance effort.

From One Crisis To Another
After a token amount of time verifying that Elias was well equipped to lead, she was put in charge of the IInd Legion, then called the Terra Wardens. While many other Primarchs, once reunited with their Legions, enacted drastic change in the organisation and doctrines therein, it was not the case. Rather than try to impose a vision of warfare biased by her native homeworld, Elias instead sought to learn as much as possible about the Terran Principia Bellicosa. The Terra Wardens largely conserved their original organisation and rank, with only relatively minor changes. The greatest of which was that of aesthetics and heralds, as the IInd was renamed the Obsidian Wyrms in honor of the majestic beasts which had resisted the corruption of the Warp Storms, adopting the creature and its colors as symbol.

Yet there was little time for trite matters, be they of protocol or appearances. As Elias would soon learn, when the Emperor touched down on Corusco Parva, the IInd were in the initial phase of a large-scale war against a stellar empire of frightening power making use of artificial intelligence and other esoteric technologies. Its defeat was paramount, yet the means to achieve so remained nebulous, and it was now up to the Primarch to find the way to crack the demesne of these foes. This would also be her first contact with the Cult Mechanicus, whose envoys spare no efforts in trying to convince Elias that the enemy they face was more twisted and malevolent than any other for their use of said AI. Having no knowledge of the Men of Iron and being confronted with the jarring dissonance of being faced with a man who claimed want to exorcise mysticism from the galaxy through the Imperial Truth, yet accompanied by preachers of a 'machine god', Elias was rightfully rather confused. As well as skeptical, given the abominations she had been fighting some scant weeks prior.

Ultimately though, she cared little for the quirks and idiosyncrasies. If people were suffering under the tyranny of these machines, it made little difference to her what they called themselves, what their past was, or the strange and questionable behavior on display. All that mattered was that the captive populations be liberated from oppression. Needless to say, the obvious contradictions and other oddities made her suspicious that some deceit might be at play, but the Emperor was able to disarm every doubt, speaking much more sense than the red robes and providing insight in humanity's distant past.

Once again, Elias found herself thrust into the command of a force - this time exponentially larger than the Coruscoan warhosts - that faced an enemy so terrible that no true victory could seemingly be achieved without something turning the tides. Certainly, with enough fervor and determination, a victory could be secured - and these new allies had fervor in droves - but it would be an hollow, pyrrhic one at best that left but a shattered husk of the mighty warfleets entrusted to her command. This was not acceptable. Immediately, the Primarch set about to devise ways to break this mechanical empire whose beating heart - the Forge Worlds that produced all of their warmachines - still laid hidden, its location unknown. As the Legion prepared and the Mechanicus' auguries searched far and wide, the Wyrms were re-armed with the equally terrible weapons which had proven instrumental in securing victory against the Neverwere on Corusco Parva.

When the suspected location of one of the Forge Worlds was confirmed, Elias was at the forefront of the taskforce that made planetfall. Viradel was a shrouded world of shadows, uniquely built upon the solid under-stratum of a gas dwarf whose upper layers all but blotted out the faint light of its red star and was opaque to auguries. To find the enemy in such conditions would normally have been nigh-on-impossible, but the uncanny foresight and instinct of the Primarch allowed her to sense the path ahead. Said path was fraught with unfamiliar danger as whole swarms of chimeras and other twisted biological warforms fell upon the advancing Wyrms, again and again, numberless in their throngs, relentless in their fury, fearless in their suicidal charges. Slowly, steadily, inexorably, Elias lead the Wyrms closer towards Viradel's capital city through mounds and ridges of corpses and twisted biomass. Eventually, the teeming masses gave way to Bio-titans as large as the most imposing of the Collegica Titanicus' own God-Engines, but the advance continued undeterred still, and one by one the towering colossi were brought low. So impressed were the Archmagi of Viradel by this feat that they sent for parley and accepted to surrender without further fighting as long as they were allowed to study these new warriors whom had bested their most advanced creations.

The battles around and for Viradel, while brutal, would be but a mere appetizer compared to the campaign that set forth to reach and subjugate the renegade crownworld of Novae IV, its locations revealed by Archmagos Kadheron as part of the surrender. Despite the best planning, the Legion bled though its more challenging battles yet against a foe just as masterfully coordinated, excellently equipped and fearlessly driven as the Astartes themselves, yet with even more absurd durability and firepower. To limit needless losses, Elias hunted for the opportunity to enact a decapitation strike against the leadership of the rogue Forge World, and when one presented itself, she took it without hesitation, a task force screaming down into the heart of Flux City under the engines of Stormbirds and assault gunships.

Personally making her way through the grand halls of the Synod, Elias eliminated most of the ruling Magi in single combat, the renegades having deceptively human appearances yet being fearsome augmented combattants each in their own right. It was with no small amount of surprise however that she stayed her hand when one of the Magi hailed her for talk, rather than combat. The Magos carried an unique mix of resolute conviction and cornered desperation as she appealed for an end to senseless bloodshed, voicing that her people had done nothing wrong to deserve such aggression and that ancient treaties dating back to the Golden Age of Technology guaranteed their rights and trustworthiness both. This magos, by the name of Sigma Gaevran, made a passionate case built upon reason and logic, yet not bereft of humanity, and denounced the Cult Mechanicus, the Treaty of Olympus, and the blatant contradictions in what the Primarch had been sent to do and represent.

Up to this point - and ever since - Elias had always seen the purpose of her existence as being to protect and guide humans; to shield those who could not defend themselves from the twisted threats of the void and to topple tyrants and systems that built their everything upon the suffering and misery of humans. Yet, she could see none of what she had been told. The people of Novae IV were not under the thrall of any machine overlord, they were not suffering, and they were not even worshipping any false idols that would need to be cast down. Even the machines that sacrificed themselves to shield their masters against her very blows had seemingly done so out of their own free will; something that her uncanny instinct sensed to be true. Ultimately, the Primarch could only sympathize with Gaevran's pleas for her people, yet she knew that never would the Emperor nor the Mechanicum be satisfied with any terms of peace that allowed the continued existence of the Silica Animus. Redirecting assault vectors to stall for time, Elias continued to secretly negotiate with the Archmagos, trying to devise a plan that would allow humanity to prevail over savagery and fear this day.

A few hours later, conflict ended as Novae IV formally surrendered to the Imperium, refusing to acknowledge the authority of Mars, but accepting that of Terra alone through the Primarch - as Viradel had done previously - and the true, full terms of the secret agreement between the two remained hidden, known to no others.

Wargear

 * Wyrm’s Mantle - Essentially a heavily modified Cataphracti-pattern suit of Terminator armor tailored for the use of the Primarch of the Second Legion, the Wyrm’s Mantle also serves as the prototype for the Pulsar-pattern. It is the first suit of Terminator Armor to incorporate the modified teleporters that allow Pulse Riders to make repeated short term blinks. Like its successors, it is warded using secret techniques which dampen the effect of outside psychic forces onto its wearer slightly. Highly ornate with heraldries of golden beasts, a cloak of scales and diamonds frames it, marked with the scars of the battlefield.
 * Titansbane - Originally forged in the wilderness of the great Curoscoan mountains then later upgraded with power field technology, the Titansbane is a heavy power flail too massive and unwieldy for even the average Astarte to wield one-handed. Unlike other flails, its Adamantium striking head is not blunt, but instead features a number of large, sturdy spikes, combining both extreme blunt and piercing force, even before its power field is factored in. At rest, its true nature is not apparent as it uses the same type of energy field as Thunder Hammers. It is only when it strikes that the power field is revealed, with every thunderous shock accompanied by a highly visible, explosive burst of blue energy.
 * Wyrmsbreath - In appearance a relatively humble Heavy Bolter, it was modified to carry large box magazines rather than loose belts of Bolts and to be wielded one-handed by Elias using her prodigious strength. Wyrmsbreath is almost always loaded with a full complement of the rare Stormbringer Bolts used exclusively by the Obsidian Wyrms, which deflagrate not with conventional explosive charges, but with rending Empyrean energies.