L-XII-1884 Tiberius Thanatos
"Go and slaughter, sons of the Merciless. Let there be war."
- Captain Tiberius Thanatos of the World Eaters, Before the Atrocity of Isstvan III
Captain Tiberius Thanatos commanded the World Eaters 16th Great Company (L-XII-1884) during the times of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. A Terran Born veteran once known for his unmatched skills as a void commander, he was among the first to volunteer as a test for the Butcher's Nails soon to become widespread within the Legion. Unfortunately his implants were a particularly strong device and degenerated sooner than expected: after the battle for Isstvan V they had already eroded much of the man he was, allowing him only glimpses of the leader his men were used to and turning him into a colder, killing addicted monster who gladly broke his former self on the same anvil that twisted his father, and would do so again even knowingly. The following report was commissioned by the Holy Ordus Hereticus and compiled by Remembrancer-Archivist Nitrinus in 034.M32 using the personal registrations of Val Kheren, Thanatos' Senechal, and integrated with the wider recostruction of the World Eaters' 16th Company's history.
History
Great Crusade
“Aye. I too witnessed the glorious days of the Warhounds. I lived them all, one by one. And not a single day has passed since then where I did not thank my Primarch for making me a World Eater”
- Tiberius to Irex Nornas, Legate Commander of the Merciless
First born son of a Terran tech-barbarian warlord, Tiberius Thanatos was taken as a tribute and recruited in the Emperor's 12th Legion after his father was cast into submission at the end of the Unification Wars. He swiftfully emerged from the ranks, being the exact kind of officer the twelfth needed at the time: a brutal, cunning but noble leader driven by his own pragmatic honor code, as he had been raised up to be when he was meant to inherit the mantle of command in his tribe. When the 16th Company's Centurion died in the Siege of Hierotzelem, Tiberius won command over the Merciless by defeating every other pretendant in the ritual fights that followed: not yet satisfied, he also challenged those of the other two companies attached to the 32nd expedition along with the 16th, who too had lost their respective Centurions during the Siege. Bending or killing every opponent, Thanatos found himself alone to command a battleship and -at full strenght- three hundred Astartes, a position that would later be confirmed with a laughter of approval by the Primarch Angron. In the following years he proved himself a skilled void commander and a warm brother for all of the 12th Legion, respected for his insight and martial sense of humor as well as for his physical resilience and hand-to hand skills, but he was never animated by the same fervour some of his brothers had towards the Emperor of Mankind. To Tiberius he was a distant, brutal tyrant who destroyed the life he was meant to live and whom he was forced to serve by lack of choices. This is why when Angron came to the Legion with his tragic story and his bloody warrior code he was seen by Thanatos as a similar soul to him, and easily won his loyalty over that for the Emperor. In Angron, Thanatos found a true leader to follow and someone he would gladly fight for: such was Tiberius' devotion to his genesire that he was among the first to volunteer as a test for the cortical implants soon to become widespread within the Legion. The Conqueror's Apothecarion was nowhere near creating a stable, final product at the time, and as it would soon turn out, Tiberius' implants were too similar to those of his Primarch. Too strong even for an Astartes to endure, they soon took away the best from him -but he resisted them for long, stoic, functioning as best as he could as a leader for his men and never regretting this act of devotion to his genesire.
Horus Heresy
Isstvan III
Given Tiberius' admiration for his Primarch, it comes to no surprise that he sided with him in the grim events that would come to be known as “The Horus Heresy”.
The Captain had to personally choose those of his warriors who would be part of the initial assault to Isstvan III, and thus be betrayed and condamned to die under the virus bombs of their own fleet.
Ever obedient and loyal to Angron, he chose almost seventy Astartes and put Irex Nornas in charge of this spearhead.
Nornas was Tiberius' second in command and perhaps his closest friend, but he never even tried to hide his resentment for Angron's reshaping of the Legion: sending him to his death on Isstvan was unavoidable, though this -along with having to secretly betray almost a third of his warriors- would undoubtedly mark the breaking point for a caring officer such as Thanatos, whose only solace had been found in brotherhood for all the years of the Great Crusade.
He nevertheless followed Angron in his assault to the surface and shed the blood of his brothers, abandoning himself to the Nails and the comfort they offered in exchange for slaughter.
A persistent rumour claims that he managed to speak with a dying Nornas before he surrended his will to their artifical oblivion, while others believe that he personally killed his lieutenant.
In any case, it would later be said by many that Captain Thanatos never made it back to the Merciless, but that a broken monster with his name and face had taken his place at the head of the 16th company.
His cortical implants finally had the better of him, claiming one of the 12th Legion's most exteemed officers among their slaves in a bloody anticipation of what would soon become of all the sons of the Red Angel.
Isstvan V
The Merciless was part of the fleet that ambushed the Imperial vessels after the loyalist force was deployed on Isstvan V. Retrieved registrations from the wrecks of two different Raven Guard cruisers show Thanatos single-handedly killing the opposing Astartes Commander, leaving the defenders in chaos while his company methodically proceeds to slaughter every living-being on board. There is no sign of involvement on the surface's event during this phase of the conflict.
After the battle was considered won and Horus' main forces left Isstvan V, the 12th Legion indulged its bloodlust and remained on the planet for ninety-eight days more, stalking the black desert as feral predators needing to feed on loyalist survivors. The Merciless focused on the hunt for a well organized group of Raven Guard legionnaires led by a terran born Praetor named Huginn. Those desperate Astartes exacted an heavy toll on their pursuers and survived for more than two weeks, but were ultimately tracked down while retiring from a supply raid and crushed under the 16th's overwhelming force of blood thirsty berserkers, their skulls taken as trophies or used to create an enormous cairn in the place of their final stand. From the scarce sources we have, it seems like Praetor Huginn fell under a blood-crazed horde of World Eaters legionnaires. The event infuriated Thanatos greatly, as he wanted his skull for himself: this seems to be the first manifestation of an head hunting attitute which would come to emerge with greater clarity during the following years of the Horus Heresy.
Shadow Crusade
When his 16th Company attacked the Hive World Mardrion during the Shadow Crusade, Captain Tiberius Thanatos led the attack to Military Complex Alpha-51, rushing against a well prepared defense made up by the local PDF as well as a small continged of Raven Guard survivors from Isstvan V. The resistance was brutally crushed by the berserker assault of the Merciless, and Thanatos collected the head of Rahalderic Vosan, Praetor of the Raven Guard, as well as those of his terminator honour guards.
During the siege of Iulia Augusta, Thanatos was heavily wounded by a massive shard of ferrocrete that splattered his secondary heart and left him impotent and agonising on the ground, forgotten by his blood maddened brothers in their need to fight against the garrison of Salamanders defending the city. Captured by the enemy and taken inside the walls, he was imprisoned and questioned for a brief time. In truth, Captain Nocturus of the Salamanders had long been separated from his legion, and learned about the events of Isstvan V by the few Raven Guards that managed to escape slaughter on Mardrion. Perhaps he hoped that a traitor would be better informed about Primarch Vulkan's disappearence, or the ongoing galaxy-wide civil war. Whichever the case, the humiliation of being convicted and chained by the enemy set Thanatos' Butchers Nails aflame, and he didn't scream anything more than empty threats and meaningless farnetications. Those often concerned the atrocities suffered by the loyalists on Istvaan III and V, though, and Nocturus gave up to the rage, almost beating Thanatos to death. Tiberius' captivity did not last for long, for the freshly appointed Pit Champion of the Merciless, Solomon Drakon, soon led a new frenzied assault against the walls of Antroth's capital. Though the World Eaters were repelled by the defenders, damages to the power generators of Augusta resulted in an energetic black-out which allowed Tiberius to evade his prison and rejoin his brothers.
The chance for revenge presented itself after three months of bloody siege, when Thanatos met Nocturus at the heart of the breached city. As their troops clashed among the flames that consumed Iulia Augusta, the two praetors faced each other for the last time. At the end of a long and brutal fight Thanatos was beaten, his chest smashed by the Salamander's thunder hammer. Humiliated twice by the same enemy, Tiberius would also see the denial of any further possibility for vengeance: Nocturus, severely injured and alone on the battlefield, was finished off by Sergeant Lennar “Blooddrinker”. In the aftermath of the battle, Thanatos was recovered and brought to the apothecarion of the Merciless for recostruction.
Wargear
Gorebringer: A massive two handed chainsword crafted by Archmagos Veneratus Vel Kheredar, Gorebringer (or, as it's often called, “The Primarch's gift”) was given to Tiberius by Angron himself, not yet completely overrun by the Nails and the despise for his genetic sons, as a reward for the captain's vital contribution during the void war fought in Sarum's atmosphere. The weapon's teeth, made with a misterious xeno material found during the Golgothan Slaughter, proved enough to tear through a Tactical Dreadnought Armor during the dark times of the Horus Heresy.
