Icarus Dune - Astra Militarum Interlocutor

The rank and file of the Sethis 13th Regiment of Light Armour are of uniform origin, hailing from Sleepless in Hive City Omin’s lower hive.

Within the bowels of the Administratum’s sectorial headquarters on the shrine world of Macharia, the decision was made some two hundred solar years prior that it was good encouragement to the men to have them all grouped in accordance within the prefectures of the hive cities they grew up in that they may fight harder for their brothers. And if an entire prefecture’s men were wiped out in one assault on a bunker of greenskin Blasta Boiz armed to the teef or as the result of a “miscommuniqué” that had them hold a tide of xenos malefactors up until it was crater-bombed by Valkyries… Then such were the Emperor’s demands.

Among the Sethis 13th, the tithe has been merciful for a number of decades. The most recent war that the regiment - and all of Omin’s forces - fought in was the War of Glass, a successful excursion into xenos space that was ordered by the planetary system’s leader - Viserius Leeran-Janis-Voss - that saw the forces of the Imperium battling a little-known and little-advanced civilisation of slow-moving, telepathic and telekinetic glass-surfaced orbs, known to the men as the glass because the official High Gothic Periculo Mortiferum Vitrum Ovum is just too long. Unfortunately for Icarus, the glass were less helpless than he had imagined and, after discovering one of their species within a deep mine, he approached and attempted to communicate with it telepathically and maybe make friends… He was rewarded for his kind spirit with a telekinetic blast that microwaved his arm with some foul necrotic energy that caused it to wither instantly. Fortunately, his men were close at hand and the foul xenos was swiftly sawed into shiny chunks.

Returned to Omin, Icarus and his regiment have not seen war for some 7 years. In that time, he has had to set aside a sizeable portion of his income to pay for the medicines that restore his arm to proper use (the Astra Militarum only cover these expenditures during war time). He recently received his latest injection from magus biologis Unitarius Vorn in the Omin Synthfarm but needs to return every 3 months for further injections (1000 solars a pop). His arm will heal to normal use in due course.

ICARUS: at present, you are down-and-out. You are living in a district of Omin called the Dead Metal Exchange (Demex) at a boarding house called the Demex Mech Hab with your girlfriend Yulia. The Mech Hab is safe (it’s well monitored) but also dangerous. Boarders have claimed that those who don’t pay their 10 solars a night can find their rooms coming to life with ancient Ad Mech machinery that can variously swallow you up, eject you violently into the wall or otherwise hinder your stay…

Friends:

1. Yulia Passander
   1. Yulia is your “betty” (Ominite Low Gothic for a girl). You met 3 years ago at a bar called the Drip Drop in the Middle Hive prefecture of Middenheim. She worked the bar, you worked your charm and it all had a happy conclusion. Sadly, the days of drinking in an even vaguely respectable establishment are over as lack of work, your medicae burdens, and the recent lockdown of Omin under orders of the Lords Leeran (explained tonight) have kept you confined to the Demex and out of cash. You think she genuinely loves you but you also think you’re both genuinely in trouble unless you get out because the Demex is NOT a safe part of the hive and no place for the betty of a man with your aspirations and silver tongue.
2. Unitarius Vorn
   1. The magus biologis who administers your life-saving tissue stim. Unitarius puts on the show of being a jobsworth but your inclination is that, despite your laconic conversations, he takes some meaningful pleasure in being of service. Unfortunately, he is in the middle hive and you need to get cash and out of Demex if you ever want to see him again and/or not succumb to your arm’s insidious illness. He may, however, be reached by vox if you can find a way.
3. Ogvil de Grief
   1. Your wastrel of a mate. Ogvil is in the (currently defunct) 13th with you and also took part in the War of Glass, though he was in charge of driving rhinos and never saw true combat himself. Ogvil lives in the Mech Hab in the room adjacent to yours and Yulia’s and spends most of his income (wherever he can get it from) on kvatch - a soju-like booze that is the best friend of any real sauce man because it leaves a layer in any receptacle that holds it. Given a few days, water can be poured into an empty bottle to make fresh kvatch, though it is less potent. This can be done a number of times before one is effectively on plain old boring water.

Enoch - Adeptus Ministorum (Underthedral) Zealot

Regardless of these faithful intentions, ministration of the Creed is no easy matter and the Imperium’s millions of worlds and trillions of souls do not all belong to congregations officially sanctioned by the Adeptus Ministorum. This has given rise to two forms of church which go by a few names: the high church and the low church, the church enlightened and the church enshadowed and, most commonly, the cathedral and the underthedral.

To the latter belongs the lowly proselyte Enoch. His mind devastated by some act of providence (as he maintains), the few years of his squalid life that he can remember have been devoted to the low church of Omin (that is, the large network of unofficial but perhaps necessary ministers of imperial faith in the low parts of the city). In this capacity, he has earned himself a room in the rectory of the Underthedral of Saint Leopold of Keller in the Dead Metal Exchange (Demex) prefecture of the lower hive. From there, he works to tend to the flock of the underthedral’s ‘official’ priest, the Blessed Brome. His knowledge of scripture is not required (nor is it certain Enoch can read), however his strength of arms has made him an effective cudgel of righteousness and anyone thought guilty of a social ill or loss of faith (however proven), may find Enoch knocking at the door of their hab, demanding repentance and solars.

The great fear and hope of members of the underthedral is, of course, being noticed by the cathedral - those official Ministorum members who dwell above in the Cathedral Ward. Unless… perhaps your zeal can raise you to such heights… the edge of your chainsword could make it so.

ENOCH: you are a lowly enforcer of a lowly church. Omin has not enough men of the cloth, so we must make do with unsanctioned divine authority, lest heresy spread in its absence.

Friends:

1. Blessed Brome
   1. A man of few words, Brome leads the congregation of the Underthedral of Saint Leopold of Keller with steadfast faith. He is a pillar of the Demex, providing religious education (himself) and community support (you). The congregation relies on him, as do you for your habitation and employment. You’ve been in a scrape or two and know how to recognise one of your ilk. You don’t know if he likes you but then you never do.
2. Malbolg
   1. A friend and probable heretic. Malbolg is a dastardly type with few friends but many ideas about the nature of the Emperor and other forces. He is a voracious reader with sallow skin and Gollum-y bare features. He keeps to himself in a room above the Last Drop where, in secret, he drops eaves with technological support on all the drinkers. Despite the danger that might come with being exposed as acquaintances, you enjoy Malbolg’s company at times when you need a drink, fancy a discussion on the heretical subject of divinity and the Immaterium, or want to learn other people’s business. Crack a bloodbeer and chew the fat. Who knows what might come out.