Kleisthenes

Kleisthenes
Title/Honours	The Emperor's Champion, The Eternal Warrior, Commander Kleisthenes
Discovered (world)	Europa
Discovered (period)	833.M30
Legion	Seventh
Heraldry/Sigil
Unique Weapon	The Sword Dawnbreaker
Distinguishing Traits	bravery, martial prowess
Flaws	single-minded
Role	Loyalist
Fate	Slain by Hektor, his body lies uncorrupted in state on Europa

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Kleisthenes was the Primarch of the Scions of Europa. His warlike spirit combined courage with nobility, the essential qualities of a true warrior. Of all the loyalist Primarchs, his memory is the best-loved by the people of the Imperium and countless billions revere Kleisthenes as a saint.

Appearance and Personality

The Emperor's Champion stood a head taller than a Space Marine and his powerful frame exuded confidence and strength. His looks were stern, but fair enough, framed with a short crop of light-brown hair. Kleisthenes' steely gaze alone could shrink the hearts of the boldest enemies of the Imperium.

In recognition of his heroism, the techpriests of Mars forged awe-inspiring power armour for Kleisthenes. Dubbed Valour, the suit is patterned in the color scheme of his legion, polished bronze with gold trim. Its protection is all but unmatched - the Emperor himself, perhaps, dons finer armour. The sword of Kleisthenes was known as Dawnbreaker. It is a hand-and-a-half power sword with a shining adamantine blade and a handguard fashioned in the shape of a bronze eagle. Befitting his status as the Eternal Warrior of the Imperium, Kleisthenes was always ready for battle.

Later generations would come to see Kleisthenes as a perfected, flawless being. In truth, he was prone to melancholy and intensely disliked long periods of inactivity. During warp voyages, the Primarch would pace the bridge of his flagship, pausing only to review tactical and strategic information that he had already committed to memory. He made few friends among the other Primarchs, though he was scrupulously polite to his brethren.

Youth

Kleisthenes' gestation pod landed in the wastes of the Hive World Europa. Like the goddess for which it had been named, the planet had been ravaged, but Europa yet possessed a formidable culture and fairly advanced technology. Tragically, the competing hives used what remained of their proud human legacy to make endless war upon one another. The infant Kleisthenes was discovered by the heir to one of the leading families of the rising Vitruvian Empire. He was given a patrician's education, learning history, rhetoric, art, statesmanship, and warfare. Kleisthenes excelled in all fields, but particularly the last. His fast maturation and great strength was not unnoticed and he soon came to the attention of the Ten Thousand, the heads of the patrician houses that ruled Vitruvia and its dominions.

Appointed first to the command of a small unit, Kleisthenes rapidly rose through the ranks to become the foremost field commander of the empire's armies. His martial prowess saw Vitruvia subjugate its foes, finally uniting Europa's hives under one government. But for some among the Ten Thousand, an equal share of the whole planet was not enough. The wars of unity had been done barely a year when civil war broke out in the Vitruvian Empire. Kleisthenes was appalled by the reckless ambition of his fellow patricians and generals. He pledged his might to the one man on Europa who did not seek to rule the world for his own sake.

The only sincere man who came to Kleisthenes was his old mentor, the philosopher Diokles. As a slave, the thinker could not put forward a claim to rule Europa and he did not pretend to such. Instead, he had one more lesson for Kleisthenes. The man who the Primarch sought was himself. Every other general had manoeuvred and looked to his own advantage. If Kleisthenes wished to put the least-bad man upon the throne of Europa, he would have to take it himself.

The wisdom of Diokles moved Kleisthenes to action. He gathered up the veterans of his old campaigns and set his sword to the task of reuniting the empire he had built once before. Though the wars against old friends and comrades were hard, Kleisthenes and his partisans emerged triumphant. At last, Europa would know peace - and Kleisthenes, trapped as her monarch, would endure a life he despised to guard it.

The Coming of The Emperor

Kleisthenes ruled his homeworld for ten years. He drafted laws, put down slave rebellions, and supervised the construction of new transport hubs and public buildings. The whole decade was one of miserable, unrelenting duty. Though he did not begrudge his world its long-deserved tranquility, Kleisthenes knew that he had not been born to be a king. When reports came of star-farers landing, the Primarch hoped only that the gods above had sent him a new enemy and a new purpose.

To some, it seems, fate is kind.

The Emperor of Europa put his armies on alert and instructed his envoys to make contact with the newcomers. To Kleisthenes' bemusement, he was informed that a mighty off-world warrior identifying himself as the "Emperor of Mankind" wished a personal audience. Confident in his personal prowess, he accepted the request and offered to meet at his summer palace - a luxury resort barely used due to the demands of rule. Some accounts have it that at first sight of the Emperor of Mankind, Kleisthenes fell to his knees and wept with joy, pledging himself to the service of the rightful ruler of the human race without needing to hear a word. In other versions of the story, the Primarch is persuaded by a few simple statements. None doubt that Kleisthenes saw his destiny in the golden-armoured stranger and never questioned that this was his father, come to claim him for his rightful purpose.

The Great Crusade

Kleisthenes was granted command of a mighty Legion of Space Marines. The Seventh, imbued with his won gene-seed, already resembled the men he had fought alongside on Europa: laconic, courageous, and dutiful. His presence only heightened these traits among the Legion. Unlike other Primarchs who took some time to assess or reshape their Legion, visit Holy Terra, or deal with administrative concerns, Kleisthenes' only concern was to join his men on the field of battle. Once united with the Seventh, he led his armies with skill, creativity, and bravery. His fulsome dedication to war made Kleisthenes, for a time, the natural choice to handle some of the most difficult campaigns confronting the crusading army.

His valour and selflessness impressed many of the other Primarchs, especially the foremost of the brotherhood, Hektor Cincinnatus. Kleisthenes played a key role in the great war against the Orks of Ullanor and the Triumph that celebrated that victory. Though he was uncomfortable in that pageant, the Primarch could not have known how soon he would long for the days of triumphs and parades.

The Heresy

The Scions of Europa were fortunate enough not to be one of the legions betrayed in the Drop Site massacre, and as such, fought ferociously throughout the rest of the Hektor heresy. Their struggle culminated at the Siege of Terra, where the Scions fought alongside the Crusaders, Sand Keepers, and many others against the Traitor legions. Though Thomas Gaudin and Darius Cyaxares were superb warriors and their Legions mighty, the unshakeable resolve of Kleisthenes and his sons was the rock on which the Emperor's defence rested.

Towards the end of the Siege, as the Loyalists prepared to sell their lives in the defence of the Imperial Palace, Darius Cyaxares came to visit Kleisthenes. Solemnly, the Sand Keeper declared, "Today you die, noble Kleisthenes." The Emperor's Champion did not wither in the face of fate. Knowing his destiny, Kleisthenes solemnly drew on his mighty armour with the help of his mystic brother. He then went to face the Warmaster aboard the Sun Chariot, and fell in battle. Kleisthenes' sacrifice allowed the Emperor to claim at least a pyrrhic victory over Chaos.

Post-Heresy

The body of Kleisthenes was recovered by Thomas Gaudin and carried back to Terra along with that of the Emperor. Once the lines of communication back to Europa were cleared, an honour guard of Scions of Europa conveyed their fallen lord back to his homeworld. There his mighty form was put on display that the people of Europa might mourn him. But it was not merely Europans who came to pay their respects to noble Kleisthenes. Travellers from across the Galaxy came to see the great martyr of the Imperium. As centuries went on, the travellers became pilgrims, come to entreat Saint Kleisthenes for a miracle. One hundred centuries on the Primarch still lies in state, his body immaculate from the corruption of decay and marred only by the wound inflicted by his brother Hektor.