Darnik Atanis

"We will fight where you wish my Lord but remember that though we war against those who would bring Humanity down, we are still wolves and when treated with disrespect, we are liable to show our fangs."

Origins
Wolf in the Shadows

Hidden from the world at large, the being that would become Darnik Atanis, spent the early years of his life fighting to survive in the slums of a Terran hive sat near the edge of the Panpacific Empire. Born in the shadows beneath the earth of Terra he was spared from being drafted to fight the enemies of the tyrant Narthan Dume. His life was one of shadows and violence. To survive he would strike from the shadows of the hive to take what he needed to survive from those who were unfortunate enouh to fall into his trap. Over time, more vagrants and violent ne'er-do-wells drifted towards him and after he tired of beating them to leave him alone he had the idea to form a rag-tag clan. Over time they cut out a slice of the hive for themselves, the hives rulers distracted with the war on the world above.

Eventually, the staus quo had to break. The empire fell to the forces of the Emperor of Mankind and his post-human Thunder Warrirors. Great changes fell across the Empire. Churches torn down and burnt, the Imperial Truth taking their place. The forces of the Emperor occupied the hives of the Empire and brought order to the shadowed streets.

One day, Atanis's gang were set to ambush a passing group but when they sprang from their positions they found a patrol of heavily armed and armoured soldiers. Most were gunned down but Atanis and a few others were taken. Taken to a dark place far from their known world.

Years later Darnik Atanis emerged from the Gene-lab that had forged him into an Astartes. A near-perfect killing machine. Transhuman warriors of the highest order, trained and ready to bring the will of the Emperor to the stars.

War in the Pack: Shortly after the ascension to his new Trans-Human form, despite the fact that the process was still incomplete, Darnik was sent out on a training exercise into the Wildlands of Terra. He and a number of his fellow scouts were tasked to go out and harry the supply lines of the Emperor's dwindling enemies in the remaining Techno-Barbarian states. It took almost a week to reach their destination, having been forced to travel on foot across the inhospitable environment, a painful test of their endurance and determination. Throughout this time Darnik, ever the ambitious sort, pushed himself above and beyond the others to appear superior to his fellow warriors. He was always ahead of the group, moving faster, stealthier and further than his squadmates. However, he was not the only warrior with lofty ambitions for another scout, Kastor, felt the same urge to rise above and so found himself in direct competition with Darnik.

When they eventually arrived at their destination, Darnik and Kastor preceded the others by a few minutes. They held position in a small clutch of trees on a ridge overlooking a narrow natural passage in order to recuperate their strength. Hiking in deep breaths, the two locked eyes with one another and, in an instant, a week's worth of frustration and resentment bubbled to the surface.

Almost in unison, the two scouts dropped their weapons to the ground and barreled into each other. They landed with a crash and both were knocked to the ground with the force of their blows. Hammer strikes were leveled against heads and blood flowed freely as the two tore at each other with abandon. For what felt like hours the two fought, oblivious to their surroundings. The hard precision taught to these two Scouts was soon forgotten and soon they fought with brutality as their only aid. The contest seemed even until an unexpected sound in the distance broke their vicious confrontation.

With hard drilled instinct, the two looked to the sound and ran to retrieve their hastily discarded weapons before making for cover. They dove behind a thick fallen boulder just as a hail of gunfire erupted. A spray of solid shot erupted from the distance and started to chip away at the edges of the cover they rested against.

Bloody faced and angry at their contest being disrupted, the pair exchanged a brief look before springing from behind the rock, returning fire with accuracy at their unseen attackers. Precise Bolter fire filled the air and with every Crack of their weapons, another assailant dropped. However there were simply too many and they were running low on ammunition.

Darnik peaked his eyes around the cover behind him to see their foes encircling them. With a sigh he passed Kastor his remaining clip and drew his combat knife. Kastor grinned and rounded the corner, spitting off rounds to draw the attention of the enemies whilst Darnik ran the other way. Kastor moved from cover to cover, keeping his head low and his muzzle hot. He quickly spent through his final clip before moving onto Darnik's and finding it half spent already. With a grimace and a spit he loaded the clip into his weapon and waited. And waited. However, the sounds of gunfire had died out replaced only with the screaming of the wounded and the light knocking of loosed debris.

Kastor leant out from cover to see a field of corpses, many of whom bore the horrifying mark of Astartes War. However, a fresh ring of carrion had formed around his new location, with two figures in its center. One was tall, for a human, and wielded a long bladed and fierce looking knife in one hand whilst holding onto the head of the second. With a trained motion the knife split open the throat of the kneeling man and the body fell away, leaving the dismembered head in the taller man's grasp. The now lone figure, whom Kastor recognized as Darnik, walked over to the second Scout and threw the head towards him. He instinctively grabbed for it and looked in distaste at the sightless eyes staring back at him. He realized a moment too late that he had been distracted. When he looked up from the severed head, fear eternally locked in its eyes, he caught only a glimpse of the stunning blow coming towards him. It impacted with devastating force and Kastor was knocked to the ground, breathless.. When he blinked away the blow he looked up to see Darnik, blood smearing his smug grin. Behind him, on a small hill overlooking the clearing stood a group of familiar looking warriors. The other Scouts had finally arrived, a little too late for the battle but prompt enough to see Kastor knocked low.

Darnik and Kastor had a troubled relationship after that, and were regularly kept apart. However, upon their promotion to full Brothers, their exemplary performance in training, both physically and tactically, saw them both elevated to Sergeant. It seemed a new contest had just opened up for the two embittered Space Marines.

Current Events
Pacification of Luna

The first mission of the Great Crusade was to secure the Gene-Labs of Luna, so the Emperor can use the adavnced Gene-tech to mass produce his Legions Astartes, the armies of Space Marines to conquer the galaxy in his name. Darnik, and squad Hellevore under his command, were part of the force sent to secure a beachhead. Upon arrival the squad distinguished themselves in the slughter of vast hordes of enemies and a collosal mutant behemoth. Darnik made a personal mark by engaging an intimidating mutant in single combat and by landing the brutal, but precise, final blow against the collossus.

Darnik and his companions, Squad Hellevore, were instrumental in the assault against the gene-labs and the Tetrach that commanded it. Darnik distinguished himself in this conflict by utilising his jump pack to take the head from the snake, incapacitating the Tetrach and removing and command over the gene hordes.

Having secured the labs, surpassing their assigned task and earning great honour from themselves, Squad Hellevore descended into the lowest level of the Luna compex as a pathfinding force. Having no idea how deep to go, the squad opt to go, once again, for the head. They descend to the lowest level of the base and encounter a bizare creature comprised from a micro-star used to power the complex. A lengthy battle ensued, in which Darnik was heavily wounded trying to buy his squad enough time to weaken and eventually defeat the creature.

Allies
- Luna Wolves

Enemies
- Sergeant Kastor