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Inquisitor Razer's Warband - Gaz Woods
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Inquisitor Razer's Warband
Inquisitor Razer
Inquisitor Razer is very young in comparison to other members of his order, at only 38 years old. He is a member of the daemon hunting Ordo Malleus, and as such, has access to members of the Grey Knight chapter of Space Marines, as well as the legendary anti-psychic Psycannons and Psyk-Out grenades, as used also by assassins of the Culexus Temple. He prefers close combat to ranged warfare, although carries a stubber and pump-action shotgun around with him for when nothing else will get the job done.
Razer is not his real name, only an alias. His real name is known only to a select few, including his late mentor, Inquisitor John Woo. Also, he wears a helm with the appearance of a wolf's head at all times when with others, and the few living Inquisitors which have collaborated with Razer have never seen his face. Even within the Inquisition, Razer is quite an enigma.
Razer has psychic powers and prefers to use these, in conjunction with his Force Sword, to become as a monster in close combat. Indeed, his psychic powers seem to be rare elemental powers, which he can channel though his sword, giving it properties of fire, ice or lightning.
As far as his philosophies go, he is relatively open-minded when it comes to aliens and mutants. He believes that some aliens pose little or no threat, such as the Eldar, and the emerging Tau. Mutants also are mostly caused by environmental change, and Razer sees this as evidence of evolution, or at the very least, climactic adaptation. Instead of fighting these relatively minor threats, Razer believes that Chaos is the greatest threat to mankind, and having personal experience as such, hates all things Chaotic.
He even bears a hatred of Wyrds, unsanctioned psykers, as these can provide a gateway for Chaos to break though into the mortal realm, and follows the thought that complete control must be maintained over prospective psykers, if Chaos is to be prevented. He has been known to execute any Wyrds, which he finds on the worlds he visits. This belief has, on occasion, brought him into conflict with other members of the Emperor's Holy Inquisition, especially those who follow the Xanthite philosophy. Those who utilise the powers of Daemonhosts in particular have felt his wrath.
As Razer is only young, he often makes rash, impetuous decisions. He has found himself in undesirable and difficult, but avoidable, situations many times, by not using his head.Razer has quite an ego for a servant of the Inquisition, and as such, takes little heed of advice from those wiser and more experienced than him. He dresses in a practical, if flippant manner, wearing a black leather trenchcoat over his carapace breastplate, as well as combat fatigues with an urban camouflage pattern.
Razer's history with the Good Fight starts at an early age. He was one of two brothers, both with latent and undetected psychic powers. Around puberty, their powers began to emerge and the two brothers began to receive dreams from the evil powers of chaos. While Razer resisted the evil force, his weaker willed brother succumbed to it, and in a fit of psychic madness, killed his parents. Razer was forced to kill his brother in order to save his own life. When the event was discovered, all that remained was a young boy, crying, surrounded by the dead bodies of his family.
Inquisitor Woo came to investigate the case and after many tests, concluded that the boy was free of Chaotic taint and ruled him innocent of any crime. He saw the potential in the boy, and adopted him as his aide, training him in the ways of the Inquisition. Eventually, when Woo was killed by a cult of the Chaos god of Tzeench, Razer was granted the privileges of a full member of the Emperor's Holy Inquisition and given free reign within the Imperium. In the twelve years since his ascension into the ranks of the Warriors of the Emperor's Left Hand, Razer has scoured a number of planets, destroying icons of Chaos, and eliminating cults of the dark powers, as well as foiling the plans of other men to harness the dark energies of the warp for their own ends.
Razer's current retinue includes Battle Brother Octavius of the Grey Knights, Imperial Guardsman Goliath, of Niholis, Tech Priest Acolyte Gareth Woods, of Mars and Umbrael, Inquisition Psyker. It is rumoured that he is also working with a member of the Eldar race, but this is unconfirmed. Also in Razer's service are the dozen crewmen of his personal transport ship, the Razer's Kiss, of whom Tech Priest Woods is the Chief Engineer.
Currently, Razer is tracking a highly dangerous Chaotic Artefact that has made its way to a highly populated hive world. Other parties are in pursuit also, including members of rival factions of the Inquisition, and possibly even the Eldar. The Artefact has the power to harness death itself, using the dark magicks of the warp. In its current state, it is propagating a plague of brain-dead zombies, which are an affront to life itself. However, if used properly, the artefact could grant Immortality to whoever harnesses its power. It must be destroyed at all costs.
Battle Brother Octavius of the Grey Knights
Octavius is like many of the Grey Knights. From the 3rd company, he fights in Power Armour, and with a gauntlet-mounted Storm Bolter, and using the Nemesis Force Halberd. He also has training in the Daemonology discipline of psychic powers. Recruited from among the Initiates of Saturn's moons, of which Titan hosts the Knight's base of operations, Octavius has shown himself to be as honourable and capable a warrior as many of his brethren, and has experience of being assigned to solo missions.
His latest assignment was to accompany Inquisitor Razer on a mission to destroy a Chaos cult of Khorne, which had succeeded in summoning a small number of Daemons into the mortal realm, including a dreaded Flesh Hound of Khorne, as well as two Bloodletters. Thankfully, their aim in summoning a Bloodthirster was prevented in time by Razer and Octavius, who managed to plant the explosive charges that destroyed the unholy altar and relics used in the vile ritual. However, Octavius nearly died during that mission, as the intelligence gathered by Razer's agents was inaccurate.
Unknown to the two warriors, the cult was aided by a Chaos Space Marine of the World Eaters chapter. While Octavius was fighting against the cultists, he was shoulder-charged by the Berserker who then knocked him to the ground. The Berserker had his chain-axe raised, and it would have been all over for the Knight, if Razer hadn't jumped down from setting the charges and, swinging his Force Sword down in a great arc, removed the Khornate Marine's head from his shoulders.
For this act of valour, Octavius pledged to protect Razer's life. Little did he know how great a task this would turn out to be, as Razer endangers his life recklessly on an all-too-regular basis. Many a time has Octavius been the only person standing in the way of Razer and a particularly nasty situation. Thankfully, Razer seems to listen to the advice of his trusted companion more than that of anyone else.
Since then, Octavius has been a loyal member of Razer's retinue, and while he does not accompany Razer on most missions, on the occasions he does, he always ends up saving Razer from himself. When he is not accompanying Razer, for instance when Razer is amongst the civilian populous, gathering information etc., he remains onboard the Razer's Kiss, meditating or using the training facilities.
Imperial Guardsman Goliath, of Niholis
Goliath was orphaned at an early age, as his mother died of an incurable malady, and his father died fighting the brutal Orks with his regiment, the Niholis 12th. He was adopted by the Schola Progenium, like many war-orphans, and wished to follow in his father's footsteps in joining the Imperial Guard. At the age of sixteen, he consented to join trials of an experimental medical technique, similar to that which promotes muscle and skeletal growth in Space Marines. The idea was that the technique would produce stronger and tougher men, but in a much shorter time than would take to create a Space Marine.
Of course, the growth in strength would be nothing like as extreme as that of a Space Marine, but would result in more resilient troops and superior shock troops than normal. However, this would only work on an adolescent male, as they are still in the stages of growth, and so still producing of growth hormones. The tests were carried out on these willing subjects, however there was an unforeseen side effect. The technique partially blocked cerebral neuro-transmitters, meaning that the subjects' mental capabilities were severely reduced. The test was ruled a failure, as there was no way to prevent the mental loss, and the experiment was abandoned. The unfortunate test subjects were however allowed to join up to the guard as they had originally planned, as their IQ levels were mostly still in acceptable limits, i.e. around the 70-75 mark. While this meant that they had little initiative of their own, they followed orders to the letter. And of course, they were stronger and tougher than the regular troopers.
Goliath joined Razer's warband when he was investigating trafficking of illegal artefacts on Niholis, including Xenos and possibly tainted Artefacts. Razer had surveyed the site where a trade was going to occur, and needed someone with heavy-weapons expertise. Razer went to the commander of the Niholis regiments, who informed him of one such individual on planet. Trooper Goliath.
Goliath even came with his own Assault Cannon, perfect for what Razer had planned. It seems that Goliath had literally picked up the Assault Cannon from the battlefield. Originally, the weapon would have been mounted on a wheeled unit, but Goliath's enhanced strength was enough to tear it off its mount, and carry it around. Since that day, Goliath has become quite attached to his gun, going so far as to name it “Charlene”. Also, it is worth noting that Goliath considers Charlene to have a personality and refused to use other ranged weapons, as Charlene would “become jealous”. His experience with heavy weapons has become quite substantial now, and he can load belt-fed weapons in half of the normal time.
In the assault on the Rogue Traders that was to follow, Goliath proved his worth many times. Not only did he pin the enemies down, but showed no regard for his own safety. He seemed not to care about the hail of fire coming in his direction, only for the safety of Razer. It was after this selfless display that Razer decided to take Goliath into his retinue. Since then, the two have bonded, and Goliath will do anything for Razer, his only friend.
Tech Priest Acolyte Gareth Woods, of Mars
Like Razer, Acolyte Woods is also young and ambitious. He has an excellent grasp of all things mechanical, which is only further enhanced due to his highly advanced bionic brain. He also finds the study of universal mechanics fascinating.
Like many members of his order, Acolyte Woods has had parts of his body replaced with mechanical parts. Also, he sports two extra arms, both bionic. One arm ends in a decapitator, a vicious close-combat upgrade. The other arm is a multi-tool. This personally customised attachment includes all manner of devices to operate mechanical and computer equipment, including a Las-cutter, a codifier-jack, a nano-lockpick and a chainsaw.
Acolyte Woods was one of the members of the Adeptus Mechanicus who oversaw the construction of the Razer's Kiss on Mars. As such, he has knowledge of the ship like no other. When Razer approached Acolyte Woods and offered him the position of Chief Engineer, he couldn't refuse a chance to explore strange new worlds and seek out new challenges.
He prefers not to fight in combat, but instead maintains the weapons used by the other members of Razer's retinue, and is the only other person allowed to touch Charlene. In the event of combat however, he does have the implant-decapitator and the attachments on his multi-tool to fall back on. For ranged combat, he carries a Mars pattern Lasgun, a reminder of his homeworld, and a deadly accurate weapon.
As far as philosophy goes, Acolyte Woods does not follow many of the traditional views maintained by members of his order. While machines are sacred to him, they are not as much objects of reverence, but machines to be utilised by man. If man can keep a stronger hold on his tools than he did during the time that led to the Dark Age of Technology, then he can accomplish anything. He also has no qualms about modifying existing technology, or even using that of aliens.
Acolyte Woods wants to be recognised amongst his order, however, and his ethics are less than would be expected from a servant of the Emperor. His ultimate goal is to find an intact STC, or even the legendary Omnicopaeia.
Umbrael, Inquisition Psyker
Very little is known about Umbrael except that he is an ancient and very powerful psyker. He wears a long, black, reflective robe at all times which obscures him completely. He never even speaks, preferring to communicate telepathically, reading the thoughts of those who cannot communicate telepathically themselves. He projects a psychic aura of darkness also, so that his enemies cannot see him in battle. This makes him able to completely hide in shadows, where he can destroy enemies using the power of the warp. He carries no weapons, save for his considerable powers.
His mission is unknown to Razer, except that it comes from high in the echelons of the Inquisition. Razer's orders are to let Umbrael follow him to his destination. Umbrael seems to show an interest in the artefact that Razer is pursuing.
Lady Corvidae - Mutant daughter of a Noble House
Her father had been born lower down in the food chain of the trading houses on a hive world, but worked his way up into a position of authority and respect. He had been born with wings himself, that had been removed when he was a baby, but he had never been told of this. When his daughter had been born, it would not have done for the daughter of a nobleman to show evidence of mutation, but not wanting for her to be killed, she was cast down to live in the underhive in exile. She was took pity on by a poor family, who raised her. However, she had to learn to defend herself from an early age from the many dangers of the underhive. Her wings made her stand out, but this extra, often dangerous attention only honed her abilities for survival.
She had the natural grace and beauty of a noble family, and an athletic capability and natural quick wit that served her well growing up. She learned early on the best way to survive was stealth, and a silent kill. Eventually, she developed a reputation as a "bird of prey", one who hunts at night. She uses her wings to good effect, swooping down like the hawk to launch rapid knife attacks against anyone stupid enough to cross her.
One day, she ran into a bounty hunter who occasionally did unofficial jobs for those higher up in the hive. He recognised her as belonging to one of the noble families, and informed her of the likelihood of her noble descent. This, he later confirmed, for a price. Since then, she has been far more active in the underhive. She has been trying to get back up into the main hive, so she can confront her father, and if necessary, shame and discredit him for his actions. In acknowledgement of her noble descent, she has become known as Lady Corvidae.
