Name: Paran Prekar
Organisation/Adepta: Adeptus Astartes, Mantis Warriors
Personal Demeanour: "Tread softly and carry a big gun." a phrase that Paran lives by. He has a fondness, perhaps overfondness, for heavy weapons. His thoughts constantly dwell on the Battle Haze that Mantis Warriors may fall into... It is a curious sensation, one he may describe as "Fear" had he had the ability to feel as such.
Character Type/Rank: Captain of the Mantis Warriors First Company
Power Armour History: Not much is known about the middle-history of this suit of MkVIII Errant armour, forged by the Techmarines of the Marauders and given to their successor as a gift for their valor in their assistance on a Crusade. The Armour was made for a captain, shortly before the Badab war, sadly, the Captain fell when they turned on the Astral Claws, falling before Lugft Huron himself. After that, the armour was recovered and severed to protect many Captains of the First Company. The previous owner of the armour was the current Chapter Master of the Mantis Warriors, who donned a suit of Terminator Armour, giving this armour to Paran.
Description: Like all Space Marines, he is never seen without his armour. His armour is in the heraldry of the Mantis Warriors, Green, Yellow and Gold. The right leg of the armour has a pair of gold insect-like wings protruding from a silver skull. the chest is adorned by a pair of praying-mantis arms reaching out from the Aquilla, the scythes on the arms pointing down, from across the chest. His Shoulder Pad has a Solid Obsidian carving of the Mantis Warriors symbol.
His face has multiple scars from the centuries of battle that he has sustained. His right eye is a mass of scar-tissue and cybornetics with a crimson lense that ensures maximum accuracy from his heavy weapon. His hair was obviously brown at some point, wearing it with short sides and a full top and back of brown, greying hair. He also has a greying goatee. However, his face is usually obscured behind his helmet a MkIII Iron Armour helmet that he rescued from a mission to a Space Hulk.
Skills:
-Terminator Honours: Although he rarely exorcises this skill, he is fully versed in the use of Terminator armour and, in fact, has a suit of Terminator Armour that he may don. However, he rarely dons the armour, unless going into a confined battle-space. Otherwise, he prefers to be able to move fast.
-Heavy Weapons proficiency: Having always had a fascination in the heaviest weapons in the Imperium Arsenal, he always chose to weild a heavy weapon when possible. Even when he ascended to Captain, he broke the rules of the Codex Astartes by utilizing a Heavy Bolter.
-Hand-to-Hand combat proficiency: Although he prefers to utilize a heavy-calibur weapon, having to fight hand-to-hand is usually unavoidable. However, those that think he is useless without his heavy weapon will find themselves being quickly defeated by their own underestimation. His skills may not be as remarkable as those of legendary beings such as Dante or The Great Khan, but, in the Mantis Warriors, his melee skills are surpassed only by the Chapter Master. One does not become Captain of the First Company by lacking an ability to wield a sword.
-Charismatic Leader: Nobody is entirely sure what it is about him, but all those that see his commanding presence feel compelled to follow his orders.
History: Born on one of the planets in the Maelstrom, he grew up like most orphans, scurrying around the hives underbelly, searching for what scrap was worth selling, in order to survive. When he grew to adolescence, he was taken in by a gang. He started working as a pickpocket, stealing from the rich nobels of the upper hive, but soon, he was forced to change lodgings again, when a squad of Space Marines burst into their base and subdued them. The Mantis Warriors fleet had arrived and received permission to take any hive-scum they wanted to replenish their numbers. Paran was one of them.
He survived the implantation and indoctrination process and was made a Neophyte. After many long decades of training, he was finally given his Combat Armour and allowed to join the 10th Company as a scout, as all initiates do. His first mission was to scout an Ork Kamp during a campaign against the vile beasts. After reaching the insides of the camp, they began to set charges, in readiness for the arrival of the main assault force. It was just as he was setting a charge on the engine compartment of a Wartrukk that he was spotted by a Gritchen. They saw each other at the exact same time. However, Paran was much quicker than the Ork and managed to draw his knife and throw it, hitting it square in the forehead, before the goblin could sound the alarm. However, this wasn't good enough, as a Nob spotted the corpse of the Goblin fall to the ground and began to charge. Paran was saved by one of his brothers opening fire with his Heavy Bolter, felling the great beast. However, his brother was quickly beset by the others. Paran and the veteran sergeant that was with them, rushed in and managed to pull their wounded brother out. During this time, Paran grabbed the heavy weapon and opened fire into the advancing Orks, falling back with the others, just before their explosives went off, sending the camp up in flames, Stormravens appearing to finish off the rest of the Greenskins. It was there, standing with the Heavy Bolter in his hands, watching the enemies of the imperium engulfed int flame, that he decided that he had found his calling.
Upon his promotion to full Brother, he was given the choice between becoming a Tactical, Devastator and Assault. It was little surprise to any of his brothers that the call of the heaviest weapons in the Imperial Arsenal was too strong for him to resist. He served the chapter well during the 4 centuries that he spent as a Devastator, before finally joining the Sternguard of the Hallowed First Company. He served for a further 3 decades before their sergeant was killed in a combat. It was then that it was decided for Paran to become the squads new sergeant. Although he disliked that Combat Doctrine deminded that he surrender his Heavy Bolter in return for a Sword and Plasma Pistol. He served with honour and distinction, until the Battle of Batten Forge. The massive foundry world had come under attack from the forces of the Dark Mechanicus, determined to corrupt the forge with the ruinous powers.
The battle had raged for days, not a single man was without damage, all of the armour scarred and scorched from the battle damage and the splashback as the viles machines to crawl from the warp were plunged into the holy lakes of molten magma that were used to cool the Titanic warmachines. As the battle drew to a close, the corrupted Warpsmith entered the fray and faught a bloody and vicious battle with the 1st companies captain. After a long and drawn out duel, the Warpsmith's mechanical arms were able to get the better of the captain and his company were forced to watch him be dismembered in front of their very eyes. With the Captain gone, the resolve of the First company only grew. Paran vaulted the barracades and charged, screaming, at the Warpsmith. Firing his Plasma Pistol wildly, they got into melee combat. The Warpsmiths mechanical arms were everywhere and they managed to gouge the Sergeants eye out, he gave a great roar as he felt the grey fog fall upon him. He could feel the world slowing around him as he neared death. He shook it off as the world seemed to return to normal, he began to fire wildly with his plasma pistol, not letting it cool, he could feel it reaching critical mass in his hand. In one final gambit, he grabbed the Warpsmith's armour by the lip at the front and stuffed the Plasma Pistol's barrel in the gap, before jumping for cover, the Plasma Pistol exploded, taking the Warpsmiths head with it, leaving the headless giant to fall over.
After that, the Skitarii had swarmed the foundry and secured it. For his bravery in the battle and the courage he had showed, he was awarded Captaincy of the First Company during a ceremony in which they buried the previous captain. Since then, he has served the First Company and the Chapter with great distinction and power.
Equipment and Armament:
Mk VIII Errant-Pattern Power Armour: When wearing this, he is equipped with the following.
-Mk III Iron Armour helmet
-Heavy Bolter
-Master Crafted Power Sword (Scimitar style)
-Bolt Pistol
-Frag & Krak Grenades
-Iron Halo
Indomitus-Patter Terminator Armour: When wearing this, he is equipped with the following.
-Master Crafted Power Sword (Scimitar style)
-Power Fist
-Iron Halo
-Cyclone Missile Launcher
Miscellaneous: Being a Mantis Warrior, the chapter are prone to a condition called Battle Haze. Battle Haze is a condition, not too disimilar to the Blood Angels "Black Rage" only, instead of going completely out of control, they merely become focussed only on killing their enemies. Whereas, they will never attack an ally, they will not rush to their aid, either, unless the aid they require is a large pile of dead enemies. This state is irreversable. Those that go through the change are put into a "Praying Mantidae" squad. This change is something that Paran dislikes thinking about going through. He considers those who do not go through the change to be very lucky and prays to the Emperor that he stays in those lucky few.
Forces at Their Disposal: Being the captain of the First Company, he has the finest, living, warriors that the Chapter have ever produced under his command. Sternguard, Vanguard, Terminators, Dreadnoughts and Land Raiders, all ready to deploy at his behest. Due to the size of this operation, the Chapter Master, for the moment, has chosen to stay aboard their Battle-Barge "Endless Redemption" in order to coordinate with the rest of the Imperium's forces, leaving him in command of the entire of the Chapters ground forces. The Mantis Warriors considerable airforce (Including their vast fleet of Thunderhawk Gunships) are still under the command of the Chapter Master.