Editing Uriel Starikov (section)

=Personality=

Finding a ''complete'' answer to the question ''“Who is Uriel Starikov?”'' is likely an impossibility; He was an extraordinary and gregarious social actor with a diligent and ever-observant eye, manipulating everything and everyone around him, and controlling his public image, and that of his legion with unerring skill. <br/>


His incomparable talents for strategy, politics, and espionage were widely known, and commanded considerable respect from others, even if they did not trust or like Uriel as an individual.<br/>
Numerous secondary sources, notably the memoirs and correspondence of various Primarchs, depict Uriel as being remarkably gifted, showing deep understanding and innovative applications of everything from mathematics and the sciences, to the arts and philosophy; his ability to digest vast quantities of information and extract the most salient points with incredible speed was according to Hektor's memoirs "utterly astounding". Despite his wealth of knowledge, Uriel appears to have remained modest and personable, traits that one could certainly admire. Though Balotin questions whether this was Uriel's natural temperament, or merely a method of portraying power, noting that more was gained by modesty than by arrogance.<br/>
Uriel seems to have sought a balance between pure practicality and the aesthetic ideal - his flagship, the ''Eris'', was noted as having very little in it that served no purpose, but everything which did remain was of an exceptionally high quality and of exquisite artistic taste.<br/>

In the files [[The_Justicars#Notable_Personnel|Arkady Balotin]] recorded, he describes Uriel as "especially protective", and even "paternal", of his legion and their close allies.  Several other sources even portray Uriel as forgiving and generous, never punishing failure, even those which were incredibly costly to him. This succeeded in engendering loyalty in those around him, and served as an effective means of getting the most out of his subordinates who came to hate disappointing him.<br/>
In his last recorded records, that he updated even as he fled from assassins, Balotin ''wistfully'' reminisces of moments where Uriel had shown his appreciation of and flair for the dramatic, and fondly recalls a scene where Uriel outsmarted and cornered a notorious rogue gene-wright who sought to steal mankinds brightest minds to form a new Imperium, so convinced was he of mankinds extinction at the hands of a great shadow.<br/>
Balotin goes on to express bewilderment at Uriel's loyalty; prior to the Heresy, Uriel and the Justicars held a reputation as the "most trustworthy legion of the Great Crusade", Uriel himself possessing a close relationship with the Emperor. Balotin struggles to reconcile this, with the truth he had to his horror discovered in his legion. It is clear to us now that it was the corrupting influence of chaos, but in his characteristic implacable logic, Balotin highlights that such corruption cannot have been missed by Malcador and the Emperor in their many meetings with Uriel, and throws significant confusion onto exactly what transpired with Uriel to lead to his fall.<br/>

However, for all his positive spin and justifiably 'good' traits, Balotin and several of the other primarchs highlight a darker side to Uriel too. Piecing together their observations one sees another side of Uriel; an immoral, ruthless, and Machiavellian individual, with a deep cynicism and an almost-sociopathic aloof detachment. There is room for speculation on just how far Uriel was in control of his image, but it is inconceivable that he was not on some level actively manipulating people with his actions.<br/>
Balotin notes that a level of paranoia was present in Uriel too, although goes on to defend this as necessary preparation for the legions role as "executioners", as it manifested itself in countless contingency plans for eventualities that were simply inconceivable (prior to the Heresy at least).<br/>
One startling assumption of Uriels character was made by Hektor, who posited that Uriel's hyper-diligence lead to great boredom and a lack of feeling challenged. This in turn, Hektor theorised, pushed Uriel to develop ever more creative means of furthering the Great Crusades aims. Hektors theory arose from a discussion he had with Uriel on the "lost legions", of whom Hektor observed Uriel spoke with enthusiasm, implying to Hektor that Uriel had found enjoyment in the challenge of taking on fellow Astartes in a deadly game. Though Hektor elaborates on the topic no more than this, it does add a lot of indirect context to Uriel's fall and participation in the Heresy, and provides some potential insight into his motives for turning on the Imperium.<br/>