Avitus

The canonical Angry Marine.

"You are purging yourself of a weakness, Thaddeus, but there are more to come. You cling to hope, which just brings despair. We are weapons. There is the Emperor and there is war. Nothing more. (Tarkus: "There is the Chapter, Avitus.") And its secrets. And its lies. Who ever heard of a Chapter that has forgotten its Primarch? We would sooner forget our own name! There is something dark and hidden there]. And look at Captain Thule, a shadow of his former self who can barely stay conscious for a single battle. That's what heroism gets you. War is all we are. Killing is all we are good for. The rest is delusion."

– Avitus, Dawn of War II

Avitus was a Space Marine Devastator in the ranks of the Blood Magp- uuh I mean, Blood Ravens and was featured with the rest of the Blood Raven squad in Dawn of War II. Was, because while it isn't directly said, it's heavily implied that he was canonically the traitor during the events of Chaos Rising. (By process of elimination, Cyrus, Tarkus, Martellus, and Jonah are returning loyalists in the next game. Commander Hairgel is exempt by dint of being the Player Character, and Davian is exempted because Bitch, please. Thaddeus was taken off the list because he wasn't on Kronus; Tarkus mentions that the Traitor had been there, and Avitus was explicitly noted to have taken part of the final battle against the Guard there.) Avitus was well known for his extreme hatred of anything that wasn't a Space Marine (you tryin' to imply something Avitus?). Now, you may think Avitus is your classic SPESS MEHREEN MUST KILL DA HERESIES, but in reality he is a hulking mass of pure negative emotions - a mixture of rage, contempt, and generally being a bitter, hateful person with a pessimistic outlook on life, implied to include self-hating. This tends to leave him at odds with Thaddeus, who is idealistic, Spike Spiegel, who is emo, and Tarkus, who does not like smack talk about other servants of the Emperor.

One thing everyone can agree on is that Avitus should have been an Angry Marine.

History

Avitus, like many of the other Blood Ravens, was a veteran of many battles, but more specifically, the Kronus campaign where the Blood Ravens fought against the Kronus Liberators in the Battle of Victory Bay. The Blood Ravens won, but Avitus was still pretty fucking angry at the guardsmen for killing some of his battle-brothers, calling them traitors and weaklings which seems to have been a foreshadowing of future events and the start of a long history of hilarious outbursts regarding the Imperial Guard. This also wasn't helped by his home on Typhon being terrorized on a regular basis by a corrupt Guard regiment, resulting in Avitus projecting his hatred on the entirety of the Imperial Guard, including regiments that were actually decent like the 85th Vendoland .

Dawn of War II

Avitus's squad is with you from the start of the game, appearing in the second mission. While tenderizing some Orks his squad fell, but Avitus survived (too stubborn to fall, as Cyrus put it). He's a good source of hilarious quips revolving around the reduction of enemies into meaty salsa, and quickly becomes Cyrus's ally in dispensing a tide of morbidity. Most notably, he foreshadows the fact that Azariah Kyras is a traitor by noting that the chapter has far too many secrets and lies to be fully legitimate.

His one moment of kindness is forming a kind of respect for the Imperial Guard during the final mission when it seems like the mission is going to end in a last stand and the local sergeant (implied to be Merrick) decides they should all stand strong and take down as many Tyranids as possible.

Chaos Rising

"I can almost hear your mewling now. "How could he betray us?!" "Why, Avitus, why?!" Look at this planet! Look at it! That is why! The entire galaxy is the same: Broken. Shattered. Rotten to the core! Honor, brotherhood, duty — they are no more than delusions and lies. We use them to justify the slaughter left in our wake. I cannot tolerate it any longer! I have seen the rot that runs through our chapter's honor — and it justifies nothing! My memories are full of the screams of those I have killed. Where other see life, I see only death. We all know how this will end. We have always known. It ends in blood."

– Avitus' parting message after his treachery is exposed

In Chaos Rising, Avitus remains more or less identical to his previous appearance. In the first mission, he gets to accompany Commander Hairgel to kill some traitor guard, which is more or less his wet dream apart from him saying he was just starting to respect them. He generally advocates doing pragmatic things that will up your corruption meter, such as blowing up the gate to Angel Forge. If he turns traitor, Avitus becomes the only heretic to use Terminator armor against you, along with a cyclone missile launcher and assault cannon. This still leaves him nowhere near a certain Chaos Champion or a Techmarine in annoying boss fights, but he will still wreck your shit if you ever give him the chance to fire any of his ranged weapons at you, especially with his cyclone missile barrage on Primarch difficulty.

During the fight the true extent of his grief spills out, with a greater loathing expressed than ever before. The nature of Kyras and the extent of his corruption demolish the pillars of sanity he had invested in the Imperium and the honor of the Chapter. Having held the rest of the galaxy in contempt prior, suddenly he did not even have the cause of the Space Marines to laud above that which he had loathed. The prior conviction he had toted in killing his foes was gone, and the dead returned to plague his conscience. Everything he had been taught was a lie; the galaxy was not the divine right of mankind and the God-Emperor - it is nothing but a nihilistic void that only demands endless killing. Which is entirely correct. In truth, Avitus did not fall to Chaos in the way his brothers might have understood it, instead he fell to the truth. He saw the galaxy for what it was once stripped of the comforting veneer of morality and higher purpose ingrained into him as a Space Marine; understood what it meant and could not stomach it.

This makes Avitus a notable example of a 40k character becoming "self-aware". It isn't his love of violence or any lust for power or the corruption of Kyras that turns him traitor, but a sudden awareness of the galaxy in the way we as spectators understand: it is a hopeless meat grinder, and nothing more; the setting exists for violence alone, for our pleasure. Avitus had been grappling with this doubt since the events of Victory Bay in Dark Crusade, and Kyras' cavorting with Eliphas pushes him over the edge. When he betrays the Imperium, it isn't because he suddenly hates it or his brothers or suddenly loves Khorne, but because of his new perspective. When Avitus betrays the Imperium, it is because he is a proud man with nothing left to ever take pride in again. Where he once held conviction he was only left with a death wish and he sought his demise in the only way he could ever respect it: amidst the heat of battle, in blood and fire, where the raging dead can be drowned out under the roar of bolter fire. In the end, Avitus died staging his last stand not against the alien, heretic, or loyalists, but against the whole cruel, uncaring universe.

Retribution

The Ancient implied that Avitus was the canonical traitor, saying that a friend of his from Kronus was corrupted by Kyras. This automatically discounts everyone but Avitus, since Davian Thule, Jonah, Martellus, and Cyrus are still loyalists and Thaddeus was recruited after the Kronus Campaign. Furthermore, no one but Avitus is known to be familiar with Tarkus from before the events of Dawn of War II.

However, it was probably meant to be kept open to interpretation since no one was specifically mentioned, and we can thank THQ for keeping the door open on Captain Hairgel, a known and dangerous hairetic. However, do note that it was unlikely that Hairgel was friends with Tarkus on Kronus. Perhaps Tarkus was jealous of his flowing locks.

Gameplay

In the game, he provides suppression with heavy bolters, high single-target anti-vehicle damage with missile launchers and high area-of-effect damage with plasma cannons, which is balanced by his squad's relative fragility, necessity of standing still to fire, and complete lack of capability in melee. If you are tactically deficient you can equip him with a bolter, and you will deserve everything that happens to you. He becomes more useful for some playstyles in Chaos Rising, where he makes artillery strikes and cyclone missile barrages energy-costing abilities and gains access to lascannons for superior single-target anti-vehicle firepower (the missile launchers are compensated by access to frag missiles for mulching blobs of infantry).

This makes him a well-balanced unit in a force containing Tarkus, Cyrus, and Davian Thule, meaning that he is hopelessly outclassed in damage potential by the latter two, and in health by the former. Overall solid, but not necessarily the optimal choice for a Powergamer's squad. Unless you used him with a special heavy bolter which never ever needs to reload.... Throw this with him never having to set up AND causes mini-explosions with each shot in focus fire (also handy when he gains energy from every kill he makes) he will rape everything in his arc of fire. Of course, the moment he gains Terminator Armor and a good Assault Cannon, he will cause everything short of heavy vehicles to suffer critical existence failure the moment he uses focus fire. And with the Terminator power fists, be can just punch said vehicles until they stop moving if you don't want to give him the Cyclone Missile Launcher (which incidentally becomes energy-based with the right perks).

Codex Avitus

Now you too can play as everyone's favorite Angry Marine wannabe, either as a Devastator Sergeant, Terminator Sergeant, or a Chaos Terminator Champion (to represent him after he is exposed as a traitor).

	Pts	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Sergeant Avitus	80	4	5	4	4	2	4	3	10	3+
Avitus the Traitor	100	5	5	4	4	3	4	4	10	2+/5++

Unit Type:

• Infantry (Character)

Unit Composition:

• 1 Unique

Wargear:

• Neverending Hail of Devastation: Only usable as Sergeant Avitus. Can be swapped for Lament of Mars for 15 pts, Daystar for 20 points, or Cleansing Light of Dawn for 25 pts. If Avitus chooses to take the Crusade Eternal, then he automatically swaps any weapons he has for the Neverending Hail of Obliteration and the Cestus of Terror, and may also take a Cyclone Missile Launcher for 25 points. Avitus the Traitor must replace these weapons with the Khorne's Whisper and the Persephone's Liberation, and may take a Cyclone Missile Launcher for 25 points.
• Power Armour: Sergeant Avitus only. May be swapped for Cuirass of Prathios for 10 points or Crusade Eternal for 25 points. If the Crusade Eternal is taken, Avitus can only join Terminator Squads.
• Terminator Armor: Avitus the Traitor only. May be replaced with Aegis of Obliteration for 30 points.
• Frag Grenades
• Krak Grenades

Special Rules:

• And They Shall Know No Fear (Sergeant Avitus only)
• Chapter Tactics (Blood Ravens): Sergeant Avitus only. As per the rules for all Chapters who do not know their primogenitor Chapter, the Blood Ravens do not have a unique Chapter Tactic. Instead, the player can elect to use any existing Chapter Tactics from Codex: Space Marines and any Forge World supplements.
• Champions of Chaos (Avitus the Traitor only)
• Crusader (Crusade Eternal only)
• Preferred Enemy (Infantry)(Aegis of Obliteration only)
• Mark of Khorne (Avitus the Traitor only)
• Rage (Persephone's Liberation only)
• Fear (Cestus of Terror only)
• Stubborn (Cuirass of Prathios only)
• Tank Hunters (Cleansing Light of Dawn only)
• Hatred (Imperial Guard)
• Focus Fire: Once per battle, for the duration of one turn, declare that Avitus and his squad will initiate Focus Fire. For the duration of Focus Fire, Avitus and his squad may not move in the Movement Phase, but gain a +1 to BS and may re-roll all failed to-hit and to-wound/armor penetration rolls in shooting.

Name	Range	Strength	AP	Type
Neverending Hail of Devastation	42	5	4	Heavy 5, Pinning, Hail of Fire

• Neverending Hail of Devastation: Scores of xenos were cut down like chaff, but still they came. Bolts ripped through their lines as the Blood Ravens desperately held the line against their endless foe to protect their fallen sergeant. When the bulk of the second company arrived in response to the distress calls, the body of Sergeant Martinus remained untouched by alien claws, and the last remaining battle brother collapsed... still firing his heavy bolter. The Neverending Hail of Devastation is a heavy bolter.
  • Hail of Fire: During the Shooting Phase, Avitus can sacrifice the ability to Overwatch on the current turn and shooting on the next turn to make the Neverending Hail of Devastation Heavy 10.

Name	Range	Strength	AP	Type
Lament of Mars (Frag)	54	4	6	Heavy 2, Master Crafted, Blast
Lament of Mars (Krak)	54	8	3	Heavy 2, Master Crafted, Armourbane
Lament of Mars (Flakk)	54	7	4	Heavy 2, Master Crafted, Skyfire

• Lament of Mars: After the Blood Ravens pacification of Victory Bay, the Techpriests are said to have looked upon the wreckage of the vehicles used by the treasonous Imperial Guard and wept. This missile launcher was responsible for much of their sorrow.

Name	Range	Strength	AP	Type
Daystar	48	7	2	Heavy 1, Blind, Large Blast, Gets Hot!

• Daystar: Facing the incalculable horror of the Nightbringer, a veteran devastator of the Angels Sanguine leveled this mighty cannon at his foe and fired a burst of plasma that seemed brighter than the midday sun on a desert world. Daystar is a Plasma Cannon.

Name	Range	Strength	AP	Type
Cleansing Light of Dawn	60	10	1	Heavy 1, Master Crafted, Lance, Precision Shots

• Cleansing Light of Dawn: "Those who stand in the shadows, plotting against the God Emperor, shall face the light of dawn and be cleansed." Cleansing Light of Dawn is a Lascannon. Avitus and his squad gain Tank Hunters when equipped with this weapon.
• Neverending Hail of Obliteration: The withering hail of explosive bolts fired from this mighty assault cannon has broken entire armies and quelled enormous Ork uprisings throughout the galaxy.

Name	Range	Strength	AP	Type
Unrelenting	30	7	4	Heavy 5, Master Crafted, Rending, Obliterate

• • Obliterate- When a model is killed by this weapon, roll a d6; on a 6, place a Blast marker on the model's unit that hits for S5 AP5.

Name	Range	Strength	AP	Type
Khorne's Whisper	30	7	4	Heavy 5, Soulblaze, Rending, Whispers of the Blood God

• Khorne's Whisper: Each Space Marine to have wielded this weapon swears that it was the voice concealed in the roar of its fire which compelled them to turn it upon their comrades. Khorne's Whisper is an Assault Cannon.
  • Whispers of the Blood God: All allied units gain Furious Charge when charging a unit that has taken a wound from this weapon.

Name	Range	Strength	AP	Type
Cestus of Terror	-	2x	2	Melee, Specialist Weapon, Unwieldy

• Cestus of Terror: Brother Captain Leo Niveus used this power fist to crush the life out of a planetary Governor he considered treasonous. This act triggered a general uprising that ended with an inquisitorial Exterminatus. The Cestus of Terror is a Terminator Power Fist. Avitus and his squad cause Fear when equipped with this weapon.

Name	Range	Strength	AP	Type
Persephone's Liberation	-	2x	2	Melee, Specialist Weapon, Unwieldy, Concussive

• Persephone's Liberation: Bound by a Chaos Sorcerer of the Thousand Sons, Battle Sister Persephone sent psychic messages to an old ally, Librarian Uriah Kos, calling for help. Upon his arrival, Kos fell under the power of Chaos and slew Persephone in cold blood. Persephone's Liberation is a Terminator Power Fist. Avitus gains Rage when equipped with this weapon.

• Cuirass of Prathios: "Brothers, though the secrets of our great chapter's past are still clouded and uncertain, we will forever be vigilant in our quest to both unearth hidden lore and to smite the foes of mankind in His name. Knowledge is power, Guard it well..." - Chaplain Prathios of the Blood Ravens. The Cuirass of Prathios is a set of Artificer Armor that gives Avitus the Stubborn USR.

• Crusade Eternal: A piece of Captain Trythos' holy dreadnought was forged into this suit of Terminator armor. As a result, the captain's undying fury manifests in the wearer, allowing them to sustain the most ferocious of attacks. The Crusade Eternal is a set of Terminator Armor that gives Avitus the Feel No Pain USR on a 5+.

• Aegis of Obliteration: Stripped from a mortally wounded Astral Claw renegade during the Badab War, Techmarine Domitus believed it was his duty to restore this relic for use against the enemies of Man. He did not succeed. The Aegis of Obliteration is a set of Terminator Armor with a 4++ invulnerable save and grants Avitus' entire squad Preferred Enemy (Infantry).

See also

Avitus' betrayal, set to amazingly emotional music picked by the ever glorious BigDickCheney, a word of warning; this scene can cause manly tears as you see the despair of a man broken by the grimdark of the 41st/42nd millenium