The Gene-Witch

The Gene-Witch is a clone/mind-copy of Dr. Lydia Xammeroon. She accompanied Barotta's back-in-time expedition to establish a presence on Amazonia, where she set up her secret labs, gene-forges, and birthing chambers.

She worked on the remnants of the 2nd Legion, bringing it up to acceptable strength. She also worked her gene-magic on the 11th Legion, bringing about a new era of cloned super-soldiers not naturally born of Aurum.

She's probably also responsible for the exotic alien beasts that roam Amazona. Some of these creatures are so deadly and exotic they can hardly have evolved naturally - and definitely not on the same world.

Kymeria, the Lost Daughter, 2nd Legion Primarch

 

Kymeria is the Primarch of the 2nd Legion, whose original name has been purged from history. There is no record of her "homeworld" and some think she grew up on Terra. It is, however, more likely that she was indeed found elsewhere, then brought back to the homeworld. She promptly escaped custody, killing an entire company of 2nd Legion Astartes as they sought to bring "their" Primarch into the fold.

The problem was that the 2nd Legion Astartes were all male, as they had been created from unmutated gene stock, whereas the Powers of Chaos had turned the Primarch into a woman. A kill order was issued from the highest echelons of command, and Kymeria was hunted down and slain in the underhives of the North Afrik Archipelago. 

Or was she? Some claim she escaped with the aid of the 11th Legion, the Granite Guard. I'm sure you've heard of this legion even though all records were erased...

Kymeria is physically larger than normal women, nearly the height of a male Astartes, but not quite as bulky. Don't let her size fool you: as a Primarch, she's far stronger and faster than any mortal Astartes. She's highly intelligent and perceptive, but woefully uneducated, a true Amazon warrior, fierce and relentless.

With access to the Primarch's genes, the gene-forges of the Dark Age of Technology was able to replicate the gene-seed of the Astartes to create the female equivalent of Astartes. Due to limitations in the female genome, these women Astartes are smaller and weaker than their male brethren but have 2 additional organs to compensate.

Sister Superior Riga of the Angelic Touch

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Dark and brooding, Sister Riga doesn't really look the part of a sweet sister of the Orders Hospitaller. Her healing touch cannot be denied, however. Nor her skill with the tools of the interrogator. Or her eagerness in other matters.

Riga would always wear white. In battle or in peace, in bed, or in the torture pit. Always white. Until the day she failed Barotta, and allowed mutation to creep into his Astartes. Then she failed to tell him the sorry state of affairs. Now she wears black to remind her of the price of failure.

She comes from the same simple origins as Karla Omega. And like her fellow Daughter has had to go above and beyond what she trained for. Perhaps the strain has been too great, or her skills not sufficient. Perhaps, after all, she's a pretty thing to look at, and a fun toy, but not more.

Primaris Kay, Duskborn Wyrd, Trained Sorceress

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Light of hair and blue of eye, fair Kay looks like the angel she is not. Born on the Feral World of Dusk in Calixis, she's a former Black Ship prisoner, freed by the Light (or Chaos reavers attacking the Imperium). Trained as a sorcerer by the Salt Witches on Queensworld (Diamantina).

Attached to Barotta early on and has followed him on all his adventures. At some point, either before or after meeting Barotta, she became a disciple of Samus and was possessed by a Daemon. She no longer has Samus' dubious blessings, as the Daemon was ultimately banished by the Banner of Terra (she also doesn't have Nurgle's rot).

She's got very few memories of her life under the Daemon's thumb, and have had to rediscover (or reinvent) herself. With unlimited access to the Ever-changing Library, her powers have grown by leaps and bounds. Truth be told, Barotta has no idea what she can or cannot do these days. Her mind is equally unreadable; those few who experience possession and live are either driven insane or hone their minds harder than adamantium - or both.

Kay has a false sanctioning brand to go with her equally fake devotional tattoos, but they are hardly needed anymore. Who would dare lay hands on the Lady next to Barotta?

Lady Adeptus Karla Omega

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Karla Omega is a Daughter of the Spiked Fist, trained in the ways of the Machine, but no true tech-priest. Due to a desperate lack of proper Mechanicum adepts, she was forced to do a lot of stuff she wasn't really qualified for. But when your Chapter takes the plunge into a warp vortex, leaving you hanging dry, what can you do?

Half woman, half machine, Karla Omega is still a passionate creature, far removed from the cold logic of the Mechanicus. She diligently explores the pleasures and pains of the flesh, while seeking to unlock the deeper mysteries of the Machine God, following paths of her own (if you wish to listen to rumors, she's seduced and tortured her way to many secrets).

In battle, she wears a unique suit of artificer armor designed and made by herself. When not dressed for battle, she favors a clinging body-suit of black, worn under flowing robes of golden mist-silk that reveal more than they conceal. Her head she leaves uncovered, to show off the pure chrome of her skull.

Aun'Ui Velk'Han Tu'Lur Tu'Kutur (Tau Ambassador)

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Tu'lur Tu'Kutur is the Tau Ethereal ambassador of the Velk'Han Sept to the Jericho Sector. His personal name means something like Great Personal Integrity and Unflinching Will, while his title can best be translated as Prelate (or possibly just Ambassador) of the Kingdom of the Broken Star-paths.

He was the one that negotiated the release of hostages on Argoth and oversaw the establishment of diplomatic relations, the Maw trade route, and the expulsion of humans from Tau-held worlds. He's currently residing on Carmyn where the embassy is located. He's accompanied Barotta on diplomatic missions several times.

He's a hard Xenos to read, both in terms of body language (aliens all look the same, don't they) and psychically (his alien mind is just full of gibberish). What you cannot understand you should never trust. On the other hand, if actions speak louder than words, he's been a lost useful connection for the Jericho Sector. So what's more important? Trust or profit?

Archmagos Hextrix of the Lathes

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Hextrix is a trained and anointed Magos of the Lathes, from the days before the place fell to Chaos and became corrupted. Barotta found him on a backwater planet in Calixis, and persuaded him to join him on his great quest.

He has served well - and risen high - and is by far the most important and competent of the (way too few) tech-priests serving the Jericho Sector. No wonder he commands the Mechanicus of the Sector and personally controls one of Argoth's three main hives. 

He's not above exploring dark sciences and Xenos tech, but takes a dim view of Dr. Xammeroon and her "old-fashioned and dangerous ways."

Arch-Prioress Tanith Baal

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The Arch-Prioress is an older (compared to the girls under her command at any rate) woman, stern and grey-haired (by choice, not old age). Her origin and her past are not known, but presumably, she saw service with the Daughters before there was a Coven of the Vile Huntress. Some of the others whisper that she has stood in the presence of the Prophet, and received his blessings.

With the rise of the Jericho Sector, her star is in the ascendant: of all Barotta's servants, she is the one in charge of overseeing the spread of the Word and the Will of the Prophet. She's performed admirably, save one slipup when she failed to keep the Chapter Master informed about the mutations affecting his men.

Who knows what magic she worked, what dark pacts she called upon to get out of that one...

Captain the Honorable Earl Jarex the Elder, First Minister of Commerce and Lord High Chancellor of the Guild Commerica (Vizier)

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Born on a voidship somewhere in Segmentum Obscurus, Jarex is a spacer born and bred. His true lineage is a big unknown, but by the time Barotta met him on Diamantina, he was a self-proclaimed Rogue Trader - without the Queen's Charter. 

His map to the Jericho Maw Warp gate proved most useful, and when Barotta found himself in need of a commercially inclined individual, he remembered Jarex, languishing under the Mad Queen's thumb. Truth be told, Jarex was the only trader he had really spoken to, so the shortlist was very short indeed.

Initially intended to traffic the future-past route to Vanity on his galleon, Jarex somehow ended up as the de facto head of all things commercial and trade-related. In fact, he has not visited the past even once and is unlikely to do so.

If you overlook his money-grubbing ways and lecherous attitude towards women, his constant lies and embellishments, and the childish need to award himself titles of all kinds, he's done - and is doing still - a tremendous job filling Barotta's coffers.

Dr. Lydia Xammeroon (Vizier)

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Dr. Lydia Xammeroon is a former geneering specialist turned Remembrancer. She's the grandchild of Hubert Xammeroon, the famous Remembrancer who follower the 1st Legion as they ventured into the Milky Way following the recovery of their Primarch.

By chance - or fate - she was assigned to the Night Lords fleet Barotta visited on the eve of the Heresy. And by chance - or fate - she was aboard one of the ships to cross back to M42. She was none too happy when she found out what had happened, but she took it in stride, and her entrepreneurial talents soon propelled her into a position of prominence and power.

She's a woman who believes in logic and science. She puts on a polite face and mumbles the prayers, but doesn't really believe. Many from the past do not. But her job is not to believe. It is to produce resources for the Jericho Sector. Let that be her sacrament to the Gods.

She's recently adopted a full-body cybernetic prosthesis of Tau manufacture. This hasn't sat too well with a number of people, Archmagos Hextrix included. But what can he do? His true master not only tolerates the Tau but trades with them and uses their technology for his own ends. And is it not she who fuels the forges of the Adeptus Mechanicus?

Characters of the Jericho Deathwatch

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Vandar Ilych: Old Imperial Fist Techmarine. Recovered from the Andronicus Watch-Station. Now resides at Erioch, overseeing the fortifications, armories, and forges there.

Taurus 'Beastmaster': Black Ravens (possible, but not confirmed, Raven Guard successor) Codicier, the last Astartes of his Chapter, his brothers having been wiped out by the Chaos Warband known as 'the Harvest'. Recovered from Hethgard. Master of Tyranids by his own indomitable will (though he is perhaps not entirely sane nor pure anymore).

Steingrim 'Bloodhaze': Space Wolf Veteran and ex-Wolf Priest. Exiled from the Fang (before its destruction) for killing another Wolf. Recovered from Hethgard. His senses - and ability to interpret what he senses - are nothing short of extraordinary. For example, he seems to be able to smell mutation. In a strange twist of fate, this is the man who is primarily responsible for training new Sons...

Echilus: Novamarine (UM successor Chapter), hates Xenos with a passion (especially Tau, but any Xeno will do) greater than most Astartes. Recovered from Hethgard. Kept busy roaming the sector aboard the Phaedas, looking for more Deathwatch survivors and doing scouting work. Could become a problem later.

Watch-Sergeant Garrus: White Consuls. Recovered from Watch-station Arkhas, deep in the Orpheus Salient.

3x Storm Wardens: Survivors of the Fall of Calixis. Recovered alongside Garrus.

Codicier Jon Castus: Fire Angel Librarian, recovered from Iobel, having fled there from Midael.

4x Various Chapters: Survivors of Midael.

The Beast

The creature known simply as "the Beast" was recovered on a nameless world on the fringes of the Adrantis nebula. It hid there, posing as a simple refugee, together with thousands more that had fled the destruction of Calixis. Barotta and his men captured it, but soon found out there was nothing simple about it. Rather, it was perhaps the most fearsome assassin ever created.

The Beast seems to have once been a human, and even claimed to remember fragments of a life before. According to the Beast, he was born on Scintilla, where he lived a life of crime. He was taken by the Abrites and sentenced to a life of toil. Instead, he ended up in the clutches of the Holy Orders of the God-Emperor's Inquisition. Using arcane techno-magic, Xenos transfiguration engines, and the darkest warp-craft, he was remade into a deadly assassin.

How much of this is true? No one can know for sure. His memories were fragmented, confused, contradictory. Some of them were undoubtedly implanted, designed to either control the Beast or enable him to operate undercover. It could be that he was no memory of his original life, if ever he had any, but only bits and pieces of the lives he has assumed.

The Beast is a shape-changer, able to take any humanoid form, including that or a Space Marine and an Ork. He can summon fell warp energies to tear apart starship bulkheads and armored Astartes with equal ease. He disappear into shadows and walk through walls. It is incredibly hard to kill, and quickly regenerates even mortal injuries, but can be incapacitated and immobilized by extreme use of force. 

The Beast also has a "rest" state, where he is a docile, featureless, and vaguely human creature with no face or gender. When in the rest state, he can be given orders to kill. The creature will then use its considerable skills and powers to find the target and eliminate it. Then it will return to its master and resume the rest state.

The Beast is currently on Vaxanide. After assuming the form of an Ork, it killed the Ork Warlord assaulting Vaxanhive, but didn't return and revert to the rest state. Instead, it became the next Ork Warlord, and the Ork horde readily flocked to its banner. It was last seen armed with an Axe of Khorne, in addition to its usual warp-klaw.