Uriel Salazar

Uriel Salazar
Title/Honours	The Emperor's Justice, Keeper of the Solar Seal, Master of the Thirteenth Legion, Lord-Protector of Tiberia V
Discovered (world)	Tiberia V
Discovered (period)	circa 817.M30
Legion	Thirteenth
Heraldry/Sigil
Distinguishing Traits	Humility, strength of will
Flaws	Curiosity
Role	Traitor. His actions cripple the Entombed early in the war.

This page details people, events, and organisations from the /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. See the /tg/ Heresy Timeline and Galaxy pages for more information on the Alternate Universe.

"Once a person has reached enlightenment in one thing, he will have an enlightened mind and understand many things."

– (Ancient Terran wisdom)

Uriel Salazar was the Primarch of the The Justiciars, the 13th legion of the Legiones Astartes. Among the Primarchs, he was long considered the most trustworthy and reliable, until his fall into the service of the Chaos God Tzeentch.

History

"When a being looks back on their life, it is commonplace to see a simple path leading from one place to the next. Such views only reveal a simplicity of understanding. The deeper truth is that each life is a maze of opportunities, teasing questions, and riddles that cannot be solved without the key of a new epoch."

– Uriel Salazar, Confessions

In the Forty-First Millenium, few outside of the Space Marine Chapters and the Inquisition are privy to the tales of the Traitor Primarchs. Even in these limited circles, true knowledge of Uriel Salazar's life is evasive. Although he was not the most secretive of the Primarchs, the ravages of the Heresy and the Scouring destroyed much of the evidence that might have lent credibility to the tales of Uriel Salazar. What follows is an accepted account, but perhaps an entirely flawed one.

Youth

"Sin is everywhere in the world of men. The only refuge of virtue is the human spirit."

– teaching of the Good Men

The life of Uriel Salazar began deep beneath the Himalayza Mountains, in the laboratory of the Emperor of Mankind. He was the product of advanced science and psychic arcana, a god-like being intended to usher humanity from the darkness of the Age of Night into a new era as the masters of the Galaxy. But like almost all of his brother Primarchs, Salazar was stolen away from the Emperor by the forces of the Ruinous Powers and transported to the far-off world Tiberia V. Like many human realms of the day, Tiberia V was a world much in need of a saviour. Psychic mutation was common, leaving the planet under the thrall of sorcerer-kings and tormented by the perils of the Warp. Although resistance to the sorcerer-kings was never truly wiped out, long centuries of repression had forced resistance into mystical forms. Rather than attempt an uprising, dissenters met in secret to practice religious rites condemning the material world for its harshness. Although condemned by many names, the representatives of this cult preferred to be known as "the Good Men" and they were much-admired by common people both for their courage in the face of repression and the simplicity of their lives. Thus, when a star fell from the heavens near Aglos Baños and was found to have borne a child to earth, the humble people of that village delivered the heavenly infant to the brothers Salazar, two Good Men who preached their teachings in the region.

The Salazars had once been prominent businessmen and lived luxurious lives until the elder, Matías, fell into a deep despair. When his brother Bruno went to reason with him, Matias confessed that he was overwhelmed by the emptiness of their comfortable existence. The two had talked throughout a long night, gradually convincing one another that they had to set aside material plenty in order to nourish their spirits. They left their old families behind and lived the life of the Good Men for a decade before being presented with a child by the people of Aglos Baños. Matias and Bruno were reluctant to take on the burden of an infant and feared that they would only endanger the child and themselves, but on laying eyes on the Primarch they could not deny that he was special. Bruno named the child Uriel, which meant "the Light guides me" in the tongue of Tiberia V.

It was an apt name. Uriel Salazar grew and learned swiftly in the care of the brothers. He not only understood their mystical teachings, but was quick to point out new insights to his guardians. Yet in his third year on Tiberia V, by which time he already had the stature of a grown man, the Primarch confessed to the brothers Salazar that he could not take up the life of the Good Men. Although at first he rationalised his decision as the need to end the repression of the Good Men's teachings, Uriel Salazar finally admitted that something within him yearned to walk in the material world and do battle with sin directly. Matias and Bruno were understanding and patiently answered their ward's questions on profane matters to the best of their ability, though for years they had thought little on such matters.

For some years, Uriel Salazar wandered Tiberia V in the manner of the Good Men. But he did not simply preach a simple life and mystical salvation. He gathered unto him those who were willing and able to fight to against the wickedness that beset their homeworld. These hardy souls were forged by Salazar into a brotherhood of warrior-ascetics with the strength of will and unity of purpose to fight against the sorcerer-kings of Tiberia V. Uriel Salazar's Hand of Fate, as they came to be known, first carried out their actions from the shadows, using stealth and surprise to assassinate psychically-endowed tyrants. These first pin-pricks paved the way to Tiberia V's salvation, but the Hand of Fate would not deliver their homeworld from evil until they transformed into an army and broke the armies of the sorcerer-kings in the field of battle. Even then, the mighty psykers who had ruled Tiberia were terrible threats in their own right. Uriel Salazar took it upon himself to slay the tyrants and one by one they fell by his blade. Finally, the Hand of Fate stormed the Sanctum of the Mage-King Balthazar, the last of the tyrants. Although even the mightiest of Tiberia V's psykers was no match for a Primarch, Balthazar had a trump card. He tore the weft of reality and opened a rift to the Warp as Uriel Salazar stormed into the inner sanctum. The Primarch was sent tumbling into the Warp once more. All that remained of Uriel Salazar was one of his short blades, thrown at the last instance and lodged in the black heart of Balthazar. Tiberia V was free, but her liberator was gone.

The Great Crusade

"Those who see a process of life from one side sometimes fool themselves into believing that they know it. Strive to avoid this error. True knowledge belongs to those who have walked many paths."

– Uriel Salazar, Confessions

Before the planet could settle into a new pattern, Tiberia V was thrown into fresh upheaval by the arrival of mighty golden armoured warriors from the heavens. Led by the giant figure of the Emperor of Mankind, the First Expedition Fleet of the Imperium had come to claim another world for the Great Crusade. More than that, the Emperor had sensed a powerful presence and hoped to find the first of his lost Primarchs and a worthy second for Hektor Cincinnatus. Yet by the time His fleet arrived at Tiberia V, the only trace of the missing Primarch was the legend of Uriel Salazar. Disappointed but ever adaptable, the Emperor bade his servants set a course to the next lead on the missing Primarchs, a path that would take the First Expedition Fleet to Whitestone and a reunion with Arelex Orannis.

On Tiberia V, the process of Compliance with Imperial law went smoothly. Many members of the Hand of Fate were enthusiastic about the vision of humanity emerging from a long night of ignorance and cant. These disciplined warriors formed the core of Imperial Army regiments recruited to spread the Great Crusade further into the stars. Those who were less impressed simply retreated from the world and dwelled as hermits, ignoring the Imperial Governor and his decrees as best they could. Nobody expected that Uriel Salazar would return as mysteriously as he had vanished - and yet, ten years to the day after he had been thrown from realspace by the Mage-King Balthazar, Uriel Salazar came back to Tiberia V.

After a short period of reorienting himself and deducing the events that had brought him to this point, the Primarch was not well-pleased with the changes wrought to his homeworld in his absence. Uriel Salazar had been cast out of a world almost liberated from the yoke of sorcerers by a dedicated corps of warriors. The Tiberia V he now found himself in seemed to have been conquered by psykers from the stars. Worse, the Hand of Fate had disbanded and the greater part of his followers had betrayed their oaths to serve a star-faring sorcerer-king. Outraged and defiant, Uriel Salazar began to rebuild his guerilla organisation and lead raids against the Imperial garrison. He did not, however, invite veterans of the Hand of Fate to join his new army, styled The Serpents. The alleged autobiography of Uriel Salazar, the so-called Confessions, attributes this decision to the Primarch's newfound belief that the Hand of Fate was a flawed organisation, ignorant of their responsibilities to galactic humanity. Others suggest that Uriel Salazar simply felt betrayed by so many of his former followers swearing loyalty to the Imperium and craved a fresh start. Regardless of his reasons for setting aside the Hand of Fate, Uriel Salazar's Serpents were a distinctly different organisation. Where the Hand of Fate had aimed to throw off Tiberia's shackles in their own lifetimes, the Serpents were taught to see the rule of the Imperium as a long-standing evil that they could attack and poison, but perhaps never defeat.

Despite their fatalism, the Serpents were effective. Tiberia V's garrison was mainly local militias, supported by a regiment of Saturnine Hoplites under the command of Legate-Colonel Marsimus Cassiel. Uriel Salazar was more than a match for the Saturnine officer, repeatedly baiting Imperial forces into abandoning high-priority targets or falling into ambushes. Within a year of his reappearance, the Primarch had raised a guerilla army, assassinated the Imperial Governor, and reduced the garrison to barely a thousand combat effective personnel. Worse yet for Cassiel's beleaguered command, the Serpents had made a point of targeting psykers so by the time the crisis became acute there were no astropaths left to sound the alert. Were it not for First Legion serfs monitoring reports of rebellions in newly-Compliant sectors, Tiberia V might well have completely thrown off Imperial rule before any reinforcements arrived. As it was, the vigilant serfs noticed that initial reports of terrorism on Tiberia V had not concluded with the customary notice of the outlaws being brought to justice. Instead, the planet had simply gone silent.

Their analysis was quickly passed up the Legion chain of command to Hektor Cincinnatus himself, who was then planning a second expedition to the troubled Parthorum Sector. Privy to the Emperor's motives in first going investigating the planet and suspicious of how quickly Cassiel's command had been silenced, Hektor passed the responsibility for Parthorum to Leonidas Manisicus and instead took a small force to Tiberia V. On arriving at the troubled world, the Primarch relieved Marsimus Cassiel of command and started the hunt for his missing brother. Unlike the mortal soldiers who had been out-foxed by Uriel Salazar at every turn, Hektor's Space Marines quickly began to round up cells of the Serpents. Interrogation of those rebels who had met the Serpents' leader backed up Hektor's hunch. Within a month of campaigning, the Master of the First Legion cornered his missing brother. Had both warriors benefitted from the advanced technology of Mars, a confrontation between the two Primarchs would have been a close-run thing. But with Hektor Cincinnatus clad in Power Armour and wielding his great shield and spear, Uriel Salazar stood little chance of victory. Only Hektor's desire to apprehend rather than slay his brother prolonged their duel, but it could not alter the outcome. Captured by Hektor Cincinnatus, Uriel Salazar had to endure the long journey to the Solar System. His jailor daily plied Uriel with tales of brotherhood and common cause, but such blandishments fell on deaf ears. The slain tyrants of Tiberia V had tried to claim kinship as well, thinking that they could turn a deadly enemy into a pawn. Due to his defiance Uriel Salazar, alone among the Primarchs, was brought before the Emperor in adamantium chains.

This inauspicious beginning did not stop the Emperor and Uriel Salazar from winning one another's respect and loyalty. The Emperor patiently explained His works to His wayward son, demonstrating many of the safeguards that He employed against the perils of the Warp but also showing how the Immaterium was the key to lifting humanity out of the darkness of Old Night. During a long stay on Terra, Uriel Salazar was won over to the Imperial cause and proved himself worthy of taking the reigns of the Thirteen Legion, then known as the Iron Angels. The 13th had won a solid reputation for discipline and valour in combat, but their ranks had been sorely depleted in the hard fighting on Messonia during 813.M30. Samples of Uriel Salazar's genetic material helped to strengthen the Legion's gene-seed, but the Primarch also played a key role in instructing fresh cohorts of recruits - many of them Tiberian-born. One of the Primarch's first acts was to decree the Legion's old nickname overly boastful and instruct his men to see themselves only as Humble Fellow-Soldiers of the Emperor and His Justice. This unwieldy name was shortened in popular use to The Justiciars. A less famous early command to the Thirteenth concerned the fate of Uriel Salazar's Serpents. Hektor Cincinnatus had commuted the traditional death penalty for these rebels, believing that the wholesale slaughter of his brother's warriors would sour relations. However, when Uriel Salazar took command of his Legion, the men who had fought alongside him against the Imperium were suffering in hard labour camps on Tiberia V. Unwilling to see loyalty go unrewarded, the Primarch commanded that the Serpents be secretly given the Thirteenth Legion gene-seed. Despite the advanced age of these warriors, perhaps one in a hundred survived the gene-seed and took their place in the Legion's ranks. In order to ease suspicions, Uriel Salazar gave these men the name of his more reputable organisation, The Hand of Fate. The name stuck and despite changes in personnel it would be used for the Primarch's bodyguard throughout the Great Crusade.

Decades of faithful service elevated Uriel Salazar high in the esteem of the Imperium. Many of the thrall-realms brought into Compliance honored the Primarch with patents of nobility. His most prominent honor, the Emperor's Justice, was a consolation for the Justiciars being withdrawn from the front ranks of the Great Crusade. This move did not reflect any weakness of the Legion but was mandated by the vast expanses conquered in one and a half centuries of expansion across the Galaxy. Although rebellion was not common, with over a million worlds already under the Aquila and more being added every year there was always a call for Imperial forces to fight against rebels. Particularly worrying was the role of psykers in leading revolts. For much of the Great Crusade, the Sisters of Silence had been responsible for putting down would-be Sorcerer-Kings, but the now-vast Imperium and an escalation in the frequency of rogue psykers made a supplement necessary. Uriel Salazar and his Justiciars were ideally suited for this task. However, the struggle against emerging witch-cults began to fray at the Primarch's mind. Uriel Salazar began to feel that these events did not take place at random and that there was some kind of guiding principle or logic that governed the emergence of corruption. He began to spend more and more time on investigating secret lore, even embarking on a fruitless quest to track down the arcane libraries of the Eldar. Such distractions kept the Primarch's attention from the brewing political crisis in the Imperium and only the Council of Nikaea roused much interest from the Justiciars. Even then, Uriel Salazar sent his deputies to the Council and abided by its decrees without comment.

The Heresy

"All of your life, you have been taught that you do things. What does this mean? We do not say that inanimate objects do anything, even when they are connected to the event. Doing, it seems, is a matter of making the world closer to your will. But this way of looking at the world is an illusion. When you follow the commands of another, you are not doing - it is the commander who does through you. Follow that chain all the way to its point of origin."

– Uriel Salazar, Confessions

Allegations that the Voidwatcher had used sorcery to attack Terra were enough to pull the Lord of the Justiciars from his secret project. Uriel Salazar obeyed Hektor Cincinnatus' call for a Tribunal to investigate the claims and took his retinue to the world of Olmer to hear both sides of it. However, the Tribunal turned out to be a failure as an instrument of justice. Only seven of the Primarchs attended, and Tiran Osoros and Rogerius Merrill departed after the first day. As a means of enlightenment, however, Olmer was a great success. Aubrey the Grey revealed to Uriel Salazar a secret collection of Xenos artefacts from the world of Caria that shed new light on the mysterious logic of corruption that the Justiciars Primarch had obsessed over for so many years. Hektor Cincinnatus' resolution that the extraordinary proclamations coming from Alexandri of Rosskar and Malcador the Sigilite were signs of a coup on Terra was a small thing by comparison. The Justiciars would support the Warmaster's war, but their real aim was seeking the Truth.

During the Traitors' lightning campaign toward Terra, Uriel Salazar carefully studied the relics Aubrey had provided him. The inhuman texts were difficult to decipher but a Primarch's intellect is easily capable of such feats. As his translation grew more profound, Uriel Salazar learned that the nameless Xenos writer grappled with the same mysteries of creation. If the primitive alien mind was flawed in seeing such mysteries as a conscious entity - "The Architect of Fate" - many of its insights were striking. When Hektor suffered his setback at Kuniat and dispatched the Traitor Legions to gather new forces for a second campaign, Uriel Salazar was quietly exultant. He would take the opportunity to seek out more Xenos lore at Caria and solve the mystery once and for all. Such wisdom would make squabbles between Malcador and Hektor easily solved - or render the petty dispute irrelevant.

Searching Caria posed certain risks. The world was located close to the Homeworld of the Entombed and despite the enthusiasm of their emissary to Olmer the sons of Golgothos had not thrown in with Hektor. Uriel Salazar had little wish to fight the Loyalist Legion and hoped to simply talk his way out of a conflict - but he had to take precautions. Before the Traitors divided their fleet, Johannes Vrach had been good enough to provide the Justiciars with samples of a bioweapon developed from samples of Golgothos' genetic material. According to the Lifebringers Primarch, this weapon would weaken any Entombed warriors and be harmless to other life forms. Although Uriel Salazar was doubtful that Vrach's weapon would entirely thwart any Loyalist interlopers he felt that an instrument of limited lethality would help to avoid a battle that might destroy irreplaceable texts. Such hopes were only partially fulfilled. When the Entombed arrived at the Caria system they ignored Uriel Salazar's polite greeting and warning not to interfere and carried out a landing in force. However, the Life Bringers' weapon worked far better than expected. Of the Entombed host that landed on Caria, only those warriors protected by Dreadnoughts or advanced Terminator armour survived, and these were too few to do anything but withdraw. Uriel Salazar broadcast his regrets for the incident and returned to his investigations.

Careful study of the Carian mysteries revealed a recurring pattern. The hero set out to struggle against the Architect of Fate but in the course of their struggles undid themselves and furthered the plans of the god. So enlightened, the hero matched their will with that of the Architect and began a new life as a conscious servant of the god, rather than a mere pawn in its schemes. Uriel Salazar could not help but see a certain parallel to his own situation. He had sought to unravel the mystery, fought against it, made sacrifices to hunt it, and yet, in looking back - what had been achieved? Brushfire rebellions across the face of the Imperium were no longer a problem because they had been subsumed into Hektor's revolt. The same revolt that the Justiciars had joined. Such thoughts might have troubled Uriel Salazar in the past, but now he only felt excitement.

Uriel Salazar took the final step, and became something else.

Now truly understanding his place in the plans of the Architect - the Chaos God Tzeentch - Uriel once more took his place at the head of the Justiciars. The Thirteenth Legion was called on to assist Hektor's campaigns at Destoona, where Johannes Vrach found the enlightenment of Nurgle, and down the Pathorum stream to Sol itself where they fought in the final battle against the Emperor's Legions. At Terra, Uriel displayed new talents as a sorcerer though he was personally vexed by Shakya Vardhana, and he was present to see Hektor struck down by the Emperor. But throughout this campaign, the daemon-primarch knew that his role was only to ensure a partial victory for the Traitor Legions and see the Imperium of Mankind crippled. Triumph at Terra would only have led to stagnation and the ascendancy of Nurgle's rot. For Tzeentch's plans to be fulfilled, human souls must still be stirred by hope.

Post-Heresy

After the death of Hektor and the retreat of the Traitor Legions from Terra, Uriel withdrew from his Legion, leaving his men to decide for themselves whether to make spiteful last stands against the advancing Loyalists or to flee back to the Eye of Terror. The Daemon-Primarch's objectives were more subtle than a military campaign now. He began writing a sinister text known as The Confessions, a seemingly innocent collection of philosophical observations that gradually corrupts the soul of anyone unwise enough to read it. The Confessions is all the more dangerous to the Imperium because its copies have been known to transform themselves in order to foil identification.

Personality

Throughout his life, Uriel Salazar saw himself as a servant in a great cause. He built the Hand of Fate to liberate Tiberia V, led his Justiciars in the Emperor's Great Crusade, and finally found his true calling as the champion of Tzeentch. As a result, Salazar was humble and cool-tempered for a warrior, and wore insults to his own character easily. However, he was less tolerant of attacks on his causes. During the Great Crusade, any questioning of the Emperor's projects quickly roused the Primarch to anger. When Gaspard Lumey visited ancient Terra, Salazar initially tried to mentor his "little brother", but was incensed by Lumey's sharp-tongued critique of the state of the homeworld's populace. Accounts of the dispute vary from a screaming match up to Custodes having to pry Salazar from Lumey's prone form.

Wargear

Uriel's armour

Uriel has an armoury that strikes some as unnecessarily extensive, and others as beyond paranoid; Most commonly however, Uriel is seen carrying several slug pistols, including a bolt revolver. Sometimes he wields a shotgun of a calibre one can only guess at. He is never without the pair of adamantium power daggers forged by his brother-primarch Brennus as a gift; they are nearly always concealed on his person with an alarming multitude of other assorted weapons. His right arm is a high quality cybernetic, replacing the hand he lost in his youth. His armour is of the highest quality, as befitting a primarch, but plain and simple in design, only sporting a plain black cloak for decoration. He is often accompanied by one of his canids or a pack thereof, and if the battlefield suits it, one of his cybernetically enhanced raptors flies above him transmitting a literal birds-eye-view of the surrounding area directly to Uriels helmet feed.

A fan's Attempt at Rules

	PTS	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Uriel Salazar:	410	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	10	2+/4++

Unit type: Independent Character, Infantry.

Wargear: Adamantine Blades, Adder's Plate, Uriel's Arsenal.

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Bulky, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Fearless, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, Master of the Legion, Precise Insertion, Preparation.

Adamantine Blades: Uriel's paired daggers. Adamantium blades, often coated in poison. S:U-1 AP1, Paired (+1A), Poisoned 2+,

Adder's Plate: provides a 2+ armor save and a 4+ invulnerable save. Grants the Stealth special rule.

Uriel's Arsenal: Choose as many of the following as you're willing to pay for.

Assault Bandoleer: (30pts) Not a literal bandoleer, but a collection of hardpoints and pouches attached to Uriel's armor. Has the following benefits: Counts as assault and defensive grenades, and twin-links all shooting attacks.

Breacher: (60pts) A shortened, lighter version of the thunder hammer, designed for close quarters fighting. S+2 AP2, Sunder.

Disruption Hub: (20pts) A backpack with a bunch of advanced techy shit. All units deepstriking within 10 inches double their scatter and Subtract 1 from their mishap rolls.

Demolition Charges: (25pts) A bunch of bombs. S8, AP2, 12", Ordanance, Heavy 1 , 7" blast,

Target Locator: (75 pts) Basically what it says on the tin. S:D, AP1, Heavy 1, 7" Blast, Infinite Range, Ordnance, 1 use.

The Twins: (65pts) Uriel's favored weapons for a melee, an axe and a revolver. Because Uriel is from Texas, I guess. Uses the following profiles: S:+1 AP2, Master Crafted, Paired (+1A) or S5 AP3, 16", Assault 2

Xetan Diplomicy: (40pts) A big goddamn shotgun. S7, AP4, Assault 2, 2" blast, 24", Shred, Rending. At half range gains +1S and -1AP.

Zael's Laurels: (50pts) The being known as Zael is purely fictional; the name of this Archeotech halo is purely coincidental. Offers a 3++ invuln save, and for one game turn of your choosing reduces the strength of all incoming attacks by 3

Precise Insertion: Uriel may either Infiltrate or Deep Strike without scatter.

Preparation: Always know your enemy. Words to live by. Uriel has Preferred Enemy: Everything, and confers it to all units with Legiones Astartes: Justicars within 6".