Ahriman

Ahzek Ahriman was born on Terra and inducted into the XV Legion alongside his twin brother Ohrmuzd. Both served during the Great Crusade while the Thousand Sons suffered from the flesh-change that twisted many of their warriors beyond recognition. Ohrmuzd eventually succumbed to the affliction. Ahriman survived and rose to become First Captain as well as Chief Librarian of the Legion. He also led the Corvidae whose discipline centered on precognition. After Magnus was reunited with his sons Ahriman became one of his closest officers and studied the psychic arts of Prospero. The Council of Nikaea and the later betrayal of Othere Wyrdmake hardened his distrust of those who condemned the Thousand Sons while practicing powers of their own. During the Burning of Prospero Ahriman fought the invading Space Wolves and ultimately escaped with Magnus and the Legion when they were transported to the Planet of the Sorcerers.

The flesh-change returned among the surviving Thousand Sons after their fall. Ahriman became convinced that Magnus would not save them and secretly gathered a cabal of powerful sorcerers. Using knowledge from the Book of Magnus they created the Rubric of Ahriman. The spell halted mutation but produced a catastrophe of another kind. Thousand Sons with strong psychic ability became more powerful while most of their brothers were reduced to dust sealed within their armour as mindless Rubricae. Magnus condemned Ahriman for what he had done and banished him from the Planet of the Sorcerers. Ahriman refused to accept the Rubric as irreversible and began searching the galaxy for knowledge capable of restoring his Legion.

Ahriman eventually gathered followers known as the Prodigal Sons and pursued forbidden archives across realspace and the Webway. His search repeatedly drew him toward the Black Library because he believed its hidden knowledge might contain the answer he needed. He later attempted a second Rubric intended to restore his brothers. The ritual was manipulated by Magnus and produced further consequences before Ahriman eventually used the Necron Key of Infinity to alter the sequence of events and prevent the Pyrodomon from spreading through the Thousand Sons. He emerged from the ordeal still determined to reach the Black Library and undo the fate of the Rubricae regardless of what powers must be stolen or mastered along the way.

Appearance: Ahriman wears towering power armor in deep blue and turquoise with silver trim and gold detailing, giving him a tall, heavily built silhouette. His helmet is fully enclosed and crowned with a high crest and a pair of enormous ribbed horns that sweep upward. The faceplate is long and ornate with layered ridges, a narrow central point, and tusklike tubes curving down from the mask. Large rounded shoulder plates flare out at the sides, and the armor across his chest, abdomen, arms, and legs is covered in segmented plates, engraved lines, raised emblems, cables, studs, and jewel-like settings. A large red gem sits at his waist, and several bone-like ornaments and small skull details hang from his armor.

He is draped in rich crimson cloth that hangs from his waist and beneath his armor in broad layered panels. A pale cloak falls behind him, and additional straps, cords, and hanging talismans frame the suit. His left hand is armored in a dark glove, while his other hand carries a long staff with a black shaft and an elaborate headpiece fitted with curved blades, metallic fittings, and suspended ornaments. Behind his upper body sits a mechanical backpack structure with several rounded canisters and protruding components rising over his shoulders.

Personality: Ahriman is patient and relentlessly intellectual. He believes knowledge is the only reliable defense against ignorance and destruction. His greatest failures rarely convince him to abandon a goal. Instead they drive him toward deeper study and increasingly dangerous methods. He can sacrifice lives on an immense scale while convincing himself that the result will ultimately justify what was lost. The Rubric remains central to that contradiction. Ahriman genuinely sought to save his brothers and still seeks to restore them. At the same time his certainty that he alone can correct the mistake has led him through sorcery and manipulation that repeatedly serve Tzeentch even when Ahriman believes he is acting independently.

Magnus is the most important relationship in Ahriman’s life. Ahriman once revered his Primarch but repeated lies and the failure to protect the Legion damaged that trust long before his exile. Their relationship now moves between hostility and reluctant cooperation because neither can entirely separate himself from the fate of the Thousand Sons. Ohrmuzd’s loss gave Ahriman his earliest hatred of the flesh-change and helped drive his later obsession with curing it. Lemuel Gaumon was once his mortal student until Ahriman’s willingness to sacrifice another life for knowledge destroyed their friendship. He also regarded several Thousand Sons such as Phosis T’kar as genuine friends even though Ahriman often recognized the depth of those bonds only after they were gone.

Ahriman is one of the most powerful human psykers still active in the galaxy and possesses extraordinary mastery of sorcery. Precognition was his original specialty and allows him to perceive possible futures before choosing how to act. His abilities extend far beyond divination. He can project devastating psychic force and manipulate minds while moving his consciousness beyond his physical body. He can summon or bind Warp entities and perform rituals capable of affecting entire groups of Astartes across enormous distances. His knowledge of the Warp has accumulated for more than ten thousand years and allows him to combine formal Thousand Sons disciplines with sorcery learned after his exile.

His principal weapon is the Black Staff of Ahriman. The force staff channels his psychic power and can be used as a lethal close-combat weapon when he is forced into physical battle. He also carries an enchanted bolt pistol loaded with Inferno bolts that can penetrate heavily protected targets. Ahriman wears ornate power armour that has been altered by centuries of sorcerous influence and commonly travels upon a Disc of Tzeentch when greater mobility is required. Despite his immense psychic power he remains an ancient Space Marine with enhanced strength and resilience beneath his armour.