Ahriman (Warhammer 40,000)
Ahriman is a male character who features in Warhammer 40,000.
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Biography
Ahzek Ahriman was a male human born on Terra during the time of the Unification Wars when the planet went through a period of conflicts to be unified under the leadership of the Emperor of Mankind. He came to found the Imperium of Man and orchestrated the Great Crusade to bring all of humanity under his leadership. This saw him creating the superhuman Adeptus Astartes to be his warriors with Ahzek Ahriman and his twin brother Ormand Ahriman both joining their ranks. he Ahriman brothers traveled to the stars alongside the Emperor and his legions as part of the Great Crusade, but five years into the expedition the Thousand Sons legion began manifesting psychic abilities, and with the manifestations began the terrible flesh-changes. Over time, the problem became so severe that many voices throughout the Imperium began suggesting that the Thousand Sons be disbanded. However, when the Crusade reached Magnus the Red upon Prospero not long after, the Primarch of the Thousand Sons was seemingly able to eradicate the threat of the flesh-change; although only a fraction of the affected marines survived the mysterious process. One of those who perished was Ohrmuzd Ahriman, whose passing instilled in his twin both great grief and a great dread of the flesh-change. In remembrance of his brother, Ahzek had Ohrmuzd's pendant that was the twin of his own where both gifts from their mother and worked into the shoulder-guard of his armour. Ahriman rose to hold the positions of Chief Librarian of the legion, Captain of the First Fellowship, commander of the elite Sekhmet and leader of the legion's most powerful cult, the Corvidae, all at the same time. Despite this impressive record, little is currently known of the bulk of Ahriman's career as a legionary. The earliest mention of him is a note of his five years' secondment to the Word Bearers legion, where he found himself uncomfortable with their expressions of belief in the Emperor's divinity without a knowledge-base to back it up. Despite this period being one he thought of unhappily, Ahriman did consider that he had become friends with the Word Bearers Astartes named Erebus during it. He is also on record as being in favour of the assignment of remembrancers to the Crusade forces, believing the documenting of his legion as being one way in which the wider body Imperium could learn to understand - and therefore no longer fear - the psyker. The earliest detailed mention of Ahriman in historical records currently known of was during the Aghoru campaign, a compliance action carried out by the Thousand Sons of the 28th Expedition towards the close of the second century of the Great Crusade.
Ahriman was later present at the great review of the Imperial military on the world of Ullanor at the conclusion of the Ullanor Crusade when the Emperor named Horus as the Warmaster of the Great Crusade. More importantly, Ahriman attended the great Imperial conclave known as the Council of Nikaea when the Emperor outlawed the use of psychic abilities within the Space Marine Legions and sorcery across the Imperium. To Ahriman, the Council of Nikaea felt instead more like a trial of the Thousand Sons. He felt betrayed once more by the Emperor's decision. Far worse was the fact that the first person to step forth and accuse the Thousand Sons of engaging in the malignant and dangerous practice of sorcery was the fellow Astartes he had believed to be his friend within the Space Wolves Legion, the Rune Priest Othere Wyrdmake. Betrayal seemed to hammer Ahriman from every side as it was also at this time that he first learned that Magnus had not only been aware of the Ruinous Powers' existence within the Immaterium, but that he had likely struck some form of malign bargain with them which had resulted in the end of the rampant mutations within the Thousand Sons Legion. Aghast at a revelation which gave some truth to the charges of heresy by the the Space Wolves and the Emperor's fears of allowing the practice of sorcery, Ahriman found his trust in his primarch further eroded, though Magnus ultimately used his own potent psychic abilities to remove the details of the deal he had struck with the Dark Gods from his Chief Librarian's mind before Ahriman could understand its full import.
During the Eye of Terror campaign, Ahriman's search for the Black Library came one step closer as he managed to find out how to get into the Eldar Webway; however, with the rather insufficient forces available to him, a combined force of Eldar Aspect Warriors and Harlequins forced him out.
Overview
Personality and attributes
According to Iskandar Khayon, in the years since Heresy Ahriman's face has been replaced with a screaming void. However, Ahriman was unaware of this fact and believed himself to be completely unaltered.
He had been respected commander even before his Legion's reunion with its missing Primarch.
It was noted that he believed in the tenet of knowledge being power.
Ahriman's lust for power had no equal, and he does not acknowledge Chaos as his master. Instead, he was constantly searching for any powerful artifacts or forbidden knowledge that would allow him to fully master the way of the sorcerer. Thus, he was a seeker of arcane truths known as Ahriman who roamed the galaxy in a quest to acquire every artefact, every tome and every scroll that harboured eldritch powers.
His main goal throughout the 41st millennium was to gain access to the vast repository of knowledge known as the Black Library that was hidden somewhere in the Eldar Webway.
Powers and abilities
Originally, Ahriman had been a human born on Earth until he was selected to be transformed into one of the superhuman Astartes.
During his tenure as an Imperial Astartes, Ahriman was equipped with the red power armour of his legion, a highly artificed bolt pistol that featured swept-back hawk wings made of gold on the casing and a stippled psychneuein-hide handgrip, and a hooked hequa staff of ivory and blue copper
Similar to many of his brethren, he began to display psyker abilities. Ahriman's keen intelligence and talent in warpcraft made him Magnus' foremost apprentice, but his greatest strength was his indefatigable will.
He was a wield of Tzeentchian magic that was capable of reshaping reality around the user. Thus, with a pass of the Black Staff, he was capable of twisting bodies unnaturally until nothing remains but bubbling flesh.
Ahriman was a powerful psyker who takes to the field crackling with arcane energies. As master of the soothsaying Corvidae Cult, Ahriman used his prophetic powers to guide allies on the battlefield – combined with his abilities as a field commander and close quarters combatant
It was under his guidance that the Rubric of Ahriman was first cast that was considered the single greatest act of sorcery for its time.
Ahriman was served by a daemonic Tutelary that was known as Aaetpio.
Notes
- Ahriman was created by Games Workshop where he featured in the setting of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Appearances
- Warhammer 40,000:
External Links
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