Master of the Laniidae

'Space Marines are not the noble heroes sung of in legend, as much as the Imperium wants them to be. They are murderers. Killers bred for one purpose, the extermination of life. The House has seen this time and time again. It was the murder-lust of your Corpse-Emperor's sons that led humanity back into the dark ages of now. And yet, Juriakon, scion of Corax, you are that rare creature. An Astartes that I find fascinating. I would piss on Inquisitor Isut's offer, but for your presence. My Knights will walk with you alone, Master of the Laniidae'

Knight-Baroness Oula Sammanta, Pilot of 'Omenstrider', Matriax of the House Erritian. Spoken at the Red Concord.

Master of the Laniidae. First of the Thorn Wreath. These titles belong to the Captain of the First Company of the Crimson Shrikes, a position currently occupied by Faaial Juriakon. A resolute warrior, Juriakon has led the First for fifty-two Terran years, and brought nought but victory to the Shrikes.

Juriakon deployed exclusively with the Laniidae during the Shrine War, using the teleport homers carried by the Scouts of the Tenth to bring instant and cataclysmic assaults upon rebel mortals and later Traitor legion elements. Yet Juriakon's greatest achievement is one that took place away from the battlefield. During the first meetings with the ancient Knight House of Erritian, Inquisitor Judia Isut, the leader of the Imperial battle group assigned to the Shine War found his efforts to recruit the House's allegiance were met with blunt refusals. In the last meeting, known as The Red Concord, Isut believed that a show of force was required to show the House that the power of the Imperium was not to be ignored. A request for a Crimson Shrike escort was granted, and the honour guard was led by Juriakon himself.

The House was not moved by this overt display of force. A lesser opponent may have been coerced by the terror of the war-plated transhumans in their court, but the Matriax of House Erritian was not moved. The House was brutal and merciless in combat, and their warriors were nobles in name only. Matriax Sammanta met the Shrikes with only a deep cackle of disgust. The Shrikes bristled at this insult, and for a few tense moments it seemed that the room would be filled with slaughter and the sound of bolters. However, Juriakon was not only famed for his leadership of the Thorn Wreath, but for his abilities as a wordsmith. He had written treatises and lectures that had spread around not only his Chapter, but amongst the whole of the Astartes brotherhood. He requested that the Matriax engage with him, crone to Marine. Sammanta consented to this, and they retreated to her private quarters for one day and one night. No record of their talks are kept, but after they returned to the court the Matriax pledged her support to Inquisitor Isut, with a special note exclaiming her respect of Juriakon and the Shrikes.

Seen here wearing his Terminator war-plate, and carrying the relic blade 'Termination Shock', Juriakon placed himself and the Laniidae under the command of Ryylo Koridas, providing the anvil to Koridas's hammer-blow of rapid strikes from his company. Although the Knights of House Erritian were in essence an independent force within the Imperial battle lines, the respect shown to Juriakon meant that he and the Laniidae were nearly always supported by at least one Knight, the sound of merciless laughter broadcast on loudhailers as the Knights began their attacks.

Addendum - After the House of Erritian was destroyed on orders from Inquisitor Isut, Juriakon was reported to have spent ninety-nine days in mourning and etched the House symbol into his left greive. It appears that the respect given by House Erritian was mutual.

The Black Hammer

'The true prize of any war is to be able to write history to the terms of the victor. The truth of it ends up in the gutter with the bodies of the vanquished.'

Inquisitor Judia Isut, known as the Black Hammer.


'That bastard Isut used us as a scalpel, a tool to exise the cancer that was the Ethnarch. Only he knew that the blade would break in the process.'

Olunis Varajaisn, Chapter Master, Crimson Shrikes Adeptus Astartes.

'The Fourth Shrine War. An event that resulted in the loss of millions of lives, the death of two planets and the destruction of an ancient Knight house. All of this can be attributed to one man, Judia Isut. His ruthless pursuit of the Ethnarch led the heretic to seek refuge upon Kerishian Alpha-Seven, and Isut played this fortune like a viola.

Knowing that the Crimson Shrikes Adeptus Astartes used Alpha-Seven as a recruitment world, Isut let the Ethnarch take root within the shrine-cities of the world, building his forces and spreading his taint throughout the sector, concealing this from the larger Imperium. A heinous crime indeed, but one that was undertaken as a matter of need. The shadow war had been fought between Isut and the Ethnarch for over a decade, and Isut believed that the time to escalate the conflict into an outright war was now. The Shrikes, elements of Knight Household Erritian and various Astra Militarum regiment were sequestered, while the Scions of Harlens World were requested as the personal combat force of Isut himself.  Indeed, Isut was to be seen as an active combatant, leading from the front even in the heaviest of the fighting, free of the need for secrecy and knives in the night.

The initial strikes against the Ethnarch crippled the rebels high command and ability to co-ordinate assets. However, this first wave of success was blunted by the arrival of a Traitor Legion force drawn from the Black Legion, the Sons of the Arch-Heretic. Their guidance and leadership helped the Ethnarch to begin a strong and lasting counter-battle, one that would lead to the death of the Shrikes Chapter Master and massive losses to House Erritian.'