Uriel Starikov

"I would prefer not to discuss Uriel Starikov."

-Gaspard Lumey, private correspondence.

Uriel Starikov
Discovered (world)	Unknown. Homeworld listed as Perfidiae V, though considerable doubt as to the accuracy of this exists
Discovered (period)	circa.817.M30
Legion	Thirteenth
Heraldry/Sigil
Unique Weapon	Various.
Distinguishing Traits	Gregarious, calculated, highly-observant, highly-intelligent
Flaws	Immoral, sociopathic, manipulative, Machiavellian
Role	Traitor. Started the Heresy as its first heretic.
Fate	Whereabouts unknown. Confirmed to be Daemon Prince.

This article or section has been selected for Exterminatus by the Ordo Editant. The Emperor Corrects.

++ Report Request Pending... ++
++ Alpha-Omega Clearance Required. ++
++ Clearance Challenge: Recognised. ++
++ Report Request Accepted. ++
++ Subject: Legio XIII: The Justicars ++
++ Topic: Primarch, Uriel Starikov. ++
++ Authored by: Departmento Logistica, Logistician Merlynn Xavius. ++
++ Accessing// ++
++ Welcome, Inquisitor. ++

When I was assigned the task of documenting the Justicars for the Administratum's record, I not once imagined it would become my life's work. I have spent over 140 years studying and researching the XIIIth Legion, and despite being recognised as the Imperium's chief expert on Legio XIII, I feel that I know as little about them now than I did at the beginning of my research; their reputation for counter-intelligence was and still is (frustratingly) well deserved.
But my feelings aren't relevant here, only my observations and professional opinion, so I shall digress, and get to the point: Uriel Starikov is the key to understanding the Justicars, but also, perhaps unsurprisingly, the biggest enigma of all. But having analysed every known source available to the Imperium on the Primarch, I believe I have the best picture of who he was, and insights onto who he is now.

The best evidence to the elusive 'true' portrayal of Uriel Starikov come from two sources. The first is drawn from private correspondence; Uriel spent a significant effort in maintaining contact with a countless number of important and influential individuals throughout the Imperium, cultivating and maintaining deep alliances and friendships across the burgeoning Imperial territories. He is remarkably candid in these letters, and though doubt does exist to the veracity of Uriel's character therein, there is certainly at least some level of Uriel's true character in them.

The second are sources from within the legion itself. Several of the legions leadership maintained detailed records on the legion and Uriel himself, including the legion's last great bastion of Justice, Arkady Balotin, thanks to whom many of my theories were confirmed. Many of these sources fortuitously fell into Imperial hands during the Scouring, when a well hidden intel-storage cache was discovered on Bessiter Primaris, deep beneath the Capital. This cache contained millions of records on the legions operations, personnel, crimes, and even blackmail on high-ranking Imperial figures.
Most of these files were painstakingly decrypted and analysed by my esteemed colleagues in the Departmento Logistica, with invaluable assistance from the Inquisition and Adeptus Arbites investigators, though a great percentage of these files are still encrypted to this day with cryptography and machine-spirit encoding that is frankly bewildering. Praise the Emperor that over 50% of these files have been decrypted and analysed.

The findings have been most illuminating.

History

Youth

"Uriel Starikov's youth is an actual mystery. No story exists at all. Not even in the legion's own logs from their recovered archives is there record of Uriel's youth or upbringing. Why no story exists, official or otherwise, is quite perplexing, though it should be noted that Imperial records do not even report of Uriel being 'found'. The first mentions of Uriel in Imperial record start in 817.M30, but the source simply mentions that this is when he introduced himself to Hektor at an Imperial celebration of Hektors latest victory. Whether this means Uriel had found the Imperium himself, or merely erased all evidence of his discovery after the fact will forever remain an unanswered question.

However, we can induce from his personal traits and characteristics that his youth involved a great deal of education, as evidenced by his remarkable intellect. His paternal and manipulative traits, combined with his supposed callousness and Machiavellian deviousness point to a background in a high-powered political background, though his clear mastery of espionage and counter-espionage implies a background in the intelligence world. However, the veracity of these inductions is limited; Uriel also exhibits a strong understanding of strategic theory and practice, and is by many accounts a capable fighter. So while his skills at his "reunification" are indicative of his youth, they are so broad and in line with the Primarch norm that we can only guess at the true nature of his upbringing.

Great Crusade

Author Note: Despite being clouded in ambiguity and mystery, Uriel Starikov's participation in the Great Crusade has far more documentation, and despite significant doubt still remaining, the sheer weight of material at least provides us with a guideline of his actions. I believe that the following account is as accurate as one can say for anything regarding Uriel Starikov.
- Merlynn Xavius
++

While his youth may be an enigma, what is clear, is how quickly the inscrutable Primarch set about integrating himself and his legion with every facet of the Imperium; He had a purpose, and he set about achieving that purpose with haste and diligence. Uriel quickly earned himself a reputation as a reliable and remarkably well-informed individual, and became a valuable asset to both Hektor and the Emperor. Uriel also seemed to take to his legions role as “executioner” with characteristic seriousness, and made great strides on and off the battlefield to improve the Imperium, going as far as to counter and prevent crime and dissent. However, what is perhaps most striking is that Uriel made a point of supporting economic and cultural growth after the conquered worlds had been subjugated.

He was renowned as being implacably loyal to the Emperor and the Great Crusade, putting every asset and resource toward further their goals without any (apparent) selfish thought. However, it is worth noting that Uriel and the XIII were politically 'savvy' and went to great lengths to control public perceptions of the Imperium, and their own image especially. This PR-spin extended to Uriel himself, who was careful to portray exactly the image he needed to achieve his aims, which throws some level of doubt as to the accuracy of how close Uriel truly was with the Emperor. What is apparent from wider research however, is that Uriel built a cult of personality around himself, and by extension the legion, within non-Astartes forces and civilian circles alike. This engendering a trust and loyalty that in retrospect should have been rather worrying. It was his ties to the Emperor however that encouraged others to look past concerns, and cemented Uriel and his legion as the “most trustworthy and reliable” of the Great Crusade.

Despite his reputation for strategy and espionage, Uriel faced many setbacks. Though these would be given a positive 'spin' to play down their significance, research does show that Uriel and the legions leadership had to think on his feet regularly. Occasional intelligence failures and strategic mistakes, incompetent or inexperienced allies, and effective strategies employed by opponents all culminated in creating a myriad of problems for Uriel and his legion to overcome on a regular basis. Uriel managed to overcome these setbacks and challenges and cemented himself and his legion as a premier force of the Imperium, despite not having as many victories as some of his other brothers, or as many heroic victories.

Personality

Finding a complete answer to the question “Who is Uriel Starikov?” is likely an impossibility; He was an extraordinary and gregarious social actor with a diligent and ever-observant eye, manipulating everything and everyone around him, and controlling his public image, and that of his legion with unerring skill.

His incomparable talents for strategy, politics, and espionage were widely known, and commanded considerable respect from others, even if they did not trust or like Uriel as an individual.
Numerous secondary sources, notably the memoirs and correspondence of various Primarchs, depict Uriel as being remarkably gifted, showing deep understanding and innovative applications of everything from mathematics and the sciences, to the arts and philosophy; his ability to digest vast quantities of information and extract the most salient points with incredible speed was according to Hektor's memoirs "utterly astounding". Despite his wealth of knowledge, Uriel appears to have remained modest and personable, traits that one could certainly admire. Though Balotin questions whether this was Uriel's natural temperament, or merely a method of portraying power, noting that more was gained by modesty than by arrogance.
Uriel seems to have sought a balance between pure practicality and the aesthetic ideal - his flagship, the Eris, was noted as having very little in it that served no purpose, but everything which did remain was of an exceptionally high quality and of exquisite artistic taste.

In the files Arkady Balotin recorded, he describes Uriel as "especially protective", and even "paternal", of his legion and their close allies. Several other sources even portray Uriel as forgiving and generous, never punishing failure, even those which were incredibly costly to him. This succeeded in engendering loyalty in those around him, and served as an effective means of getting the most out of his subordinates who came to hate disappointing him.
In his last recorded records, that he updated even as he fled from assassins, Balotin wistfully reminisces of moments where Uriel had shown his appreciation of and flair for the dramatic, and fondly recalls a scene where Uriel outsmarted and cornered a notorious rogue gene-wright who sought to steal mankinds brightest minds to form a new Imperium, so convinced was he of mankinds extinction at the hands of a great shadow.
Balotin goes on to express bewilderment at Uriel's loyalty; prior to the Heresy, Uriel and the Justicars held a reputation as the "most trustworthy legion of the Great Crusade", Uriel himself possessing a close relationship with the Emperor. Balotin struggles to reconcile this, with the truth he had to his horror discovered in his legion. It is clear to us now that it was the corrupting influence of chaos, but in his characteristic implacable logic, Balotin highlights that such corruption cannot have been missed by Malcador and the Emperor in their many meetings with Uriel, and throws significant confusion onto exactly what transpired with Uriel to lead to his fall.

However, for all his positive spin and justifiably 'good' traits, Balotin and several of the other primarchs highlight a darker side to Uriel too. Piecing together their observations one sees another side of Uriel; an immoral, ruthless, and Machiavellian individual, with a deep cynicism and an almost-sociopathic aloof detachment. There is room for speculation on just how far Uriel was in control of his image, but it is inconceivable that he was not on some level actively manipulating people with his actions.
Balotin notes that a level of paranoia was present in Uriel too, although goes on to defend this as necessary preparation for the legions role as "executioners", as it manifested itself in countless contingency plans for eventualities that were simply inconceivable (prior to the Heresy at least).
One startling assumption of Uriels character was made by Hektor, who posited that Uriel's hyper-diligence lead to great boredom and a lack of feeling challenged. This in turn, Hektor theorised, pushed Uriel to develop ever more creative means of furthering the Great Crusades aims. Hektors theory arose from a discussion he had with Uriel on the "lost legions", of whom Hektor observed Uriel spoke with enthusiasm, implying to Hektor that Uriel had found enjoyment in the challenge of taking on fellow Astartes in a deadly game. Though Hektor elaborates on the topic no more than this, it does add a lot of indirect context to Uriel's fall and participation in the Heresy, and provides some potential insight into his motives for turning on the Imperium.

Appearance

"The first things people noticed about Uriel, were his easy smile, and his large, knowing eyes - described as both alight with mischief and predatory alertness. He often raised his right eyebrow questioningly in response to unforeseen circumstances. His chin was well defined on his jaw, and his cheeks were gaunt. His hair was dark brown, and kept short, high and tight; the top combed over neatly to the back. His face was clean shaven or lightly stubbled. He stood at a middling height among his Primarch brothers, neither tall, nor short. He was strong but not thick-set.

Now a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch, Uriel is a shape-shifter. He has been recorded as adopting many forms, from small children to, to his original form, to well-known public figures, to twisted daemonic visages of insanity. There is some evidence to suggest Uriel is not entirely in control of this power, evidenced chiefly by his surprise at his apparent "reveal" on the steps of the Imperial Palace at the Siege of Terra, though given his and his legions propensity for pranks, it could have been intentional.

Wargear

"In accordance with his favouritism for balancing aesthetics with pure practicality, his battle armour is no different from any other marine from his legion, apart from being crafted to a higher standard as befitting a Primarch, and larger given his stature over his fellow marines. He wields a one-handed war-hammer, wrought from a silver-adamantium alloy, a curved Perfidian power sabre that had been crafted by his brother Brennus as a gift for their first meeting, and 2 small adamantium power-daggers that are concealed on Uriel at all times, also forged by Brennus. He also uses a master-crafted Grizwold-pattern Bolt-Revolver, which has an over-sized cylinder holding 24 shots.

Uriel likes to collect weapons and other artifacts, and has an awe-inspiring personal armoury; some are gifts from other primarchs and important individuals, some Uriel commissioned from the Mechanicus, others are 'appropriated' from their homes. He appears to consider himself both a collector, and a fighter, selecting whichever he feels like using on a whim, or planned he would need. His armoury includes some artifacts believed to date back to the dawn of mankind, as well as various patterns of Imperial and non-Imperial weaponry.

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