Ryylo Koridas and Vanguard Sqaud Ithcal

'The Black Legion returned Lasker to us with whatever they consider honour, as if the word had any meaning from those that betrayed Humanity in the name of their foul gods. We honoured them in return with the subtle knife in the night.'

- Captain Ryylo Koridas, III Company, Crimson Shrike Adeptus Astartes

After the death of Chapter Master Lasker and the realisation that the Shrine War, at least for the Shrikes, would be mainly Astartes vs Astartes combat, the newly promoted Captain of the Third Company Ryylo Koridas requested the remainder of the Chapter involved in combat operations in the sector divert their attention to Kerishian Alpha-Seven in order to reinforce the battered Third, and formulate new tactics aimed at de-stabilising the Traitor Marines' grip on the city of Ikartian.

Koridas had been promoted from with the Chapter's First Company, informally designated as the 'Thorn Wreath'. Turning back to his former brothers, Koridas requested that a number of Vanguard squads within the First be placed under his direct command to assist in counter-Astartes actions, and equipped accordingly. Along with the Third being resupplied with Marines from reserve companies and Scouts from the Tenth, this allowed Koridas to change the methodology previously employed by the Third. Whereas the Company had previously only used guerrilla warfare as a fall-back when squads were below strength or cut-off, now this became the standard tactic used to ensnare Traitor Marines into ambushes and asymmetrical warfare. Indeed, many PDF troopers still involved within the conflict on Kershian noted that although before they had seen the Shrikes engaged in many actions, they almost disappeared from mortal eyes, with only the remains of annihilated Traitor Marines being occasionally found by forces as the Imperial battle-line slowly crept forward.

Koridas can be seen here alongside Vanguard Sqaud Ithcal. Squad Ithcal acted as Koridas's retinue for the majority of the campaign on Kerishian, and were armed specifically for destruction of power armoured foes up close. As can be seen, the weapon of choice in the unit was the lightning claw, a weapon that required an archaic fighting style, but proved utterly deadly in the hands of Ithcal.

Koridas himself is armed with an ancient blade drawn from the relics of the Shrikes, known as the 'Unkindness'. This massive blade would be enough to kill even a fully armoured Astartes without power, and can cut through even Tactical Dreadnought Armour when turned on. Koridas also uses a plasma-based jump pack, providing more height and boost to any leaps made and also allowing a devastating arrival into close-combat.