Lemartes

Fury Unbound

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
-Dylan Thomas, Do not go gentle into that good night

Lemartes, the Guardian of the Lost – also known as The Cursed/Doomed Chaplain, is a chaplain belonging to the Blood Angels chapter of Space Marines. Lemartes is afflicted by the Black Rage but, unlike basically every other person in the history of the chapter (bar Mephiston, who beat it in some way, shape, or form), he has such immense willpower that he can control it to a point. Essentially this means he is always angry, all the time, and always on the brink of choking some bitch heretic. Because of this, he is kept in stasis between battles, only being let out to lead his afflicted brothers in the Death Company to rip and tear everything in their path. He has officially been championed the 2nd most 40K thing in all of 40K by /tg/, closely beat out by the drugged up ball of rage that is the Eversor assassin.

Origin and history

Lemartes was once like every other ordinary chaplain in the Blood Angels. He ripped, he tore, he rallied his brothers to battle in a fury of faith and storm, and performed his duties of leading his Death Company brethren into battle every so often. That all changed on Hadriath XI, when Lemartes himself fell to the black rage while fighting orks. Following the usual showers of blood and gore that came when the Death Company go out for a night on the town, Lemartes was found by Astorath to be completely lucid in thought rather than a berserk madman. Lemartes asked Astorath to spare his life, vouching that he could continue the good fight in the name of the Emperor. Astorath, normally used to the somber job of chopping his mad brothers’ heads off, was intrigued by the chaplain, and brought him back to Baal for study under the Sanguinary Priests. They too, found him amazingly controlling the curse through his own sheer power of will and strength, and thus the decision was made to keep him in stasis between battles, only waking him when the need for swift, bloody vengeance upon the Emperor’s foes required the forces of the Death Company. Basically like the ending of Halo 3, but much more grimdark. Since then, Lemartes has done such wondrous things as rip, tear, rip and tear, tear and rip, smash, bash, crash, whack, crack, snap the enemies of the Imperium into bloody pieces, and then follow it all with a nap. In his Lords of the Space Marines novel by David Annandale, Lemartes, Brother Corbulo, and the Captain of the 5th Company, Castigon, fight Khornate marines called The Blood Disciples on the planet of Phlegethon. The book does a great job of showing Lemartes’ thoughts from a first person perspective, which is to say, trying to not drown in a sea of never-ending rage and keeping his sanity. His tireless will allows him to save his brothers from a Khornate tornado of rage and blood that is slowly driving them insane, and eventually summons the Bloodthirster Skarbrand. Naturally, with the help of his afflicted Death Company brothers, Lemartes does what he does best, which is to say, beat the ever-loving shit out of the daemon and send him back to the warp kicking and screaming. Seriously, don't EVER make Lemartes even angrier!

Tabletop

WS/BS 2+ S4 T4 W4 A5 LD 9 Save 3+
The Blood Crozius: S+2 AP-2 D D3

Lemartes goes into battle with the same inherent wargear as other space marine chaplains – power armor, frag and krak grenades, a bolt pistol, a Crozius Arcanum, and a Rosarius. His special rules are, of course, And They Shall Know No Fear, Black Rage, and Jump Pack Assault. He differs, however, with his special mace – the Blood Crozius, the supposedly cursed mace of the original High Chaplain of the Blood Angels, which does considerably more damage against all enemies. Of course, he has his jump pack, and it wouldn’t be Lemartes without the same Death Company special rule of Black Rage. Furthermore, there are two more unique rules to Lemartes: Guardian of the Lost, where he can allow all friendly death company within 6' to use his leadership, and Fury Unbound, Where you can re-roll failed charge and hit rolls in the first phase of combat, this applies to all DC within 6". This guy makes deep striking DC, AND, getting a charge off in the same turn twice more likely.

3rd Edition Codex Speech

"The oldest legends tell of the noble Sanguinius, sire of the Blood Angels. They tell of his grace and beauty; his love of humanity; his pure soul and unwavering loyalty to the Emperor. Some claim that he had the power of prophecy, that his eye saw along the voiding tracks into the future. It is even maintained that he foresaw the terrible things to come, and was aware of his own doom long before the Emperor's realm was shaken to its foundations by the treacherous Warmaster. If this is true, then Sanguinius' acts are even more selfless because of it.

"Brave Sanguinius faced the Chaos Warmaster in his lair, when that foul beast was at the height of its powers. Even before he was imbued with the false energies of the Dark Gods, the traitorous Fiend was all but unstoppable. Yet, knowing this, noble Sanguinius still met it blade to blade, eye to eye. When the Treacherous Serpent whispered promises of glory and strength in his ear, Sanguinius did not listen. Even as the Great Traitor was poised on the brink of infernal victory, the Lord of the Blood Angels was not swayed, though he knew it would cost him his life. Like all true servants of the Emperor, the Noble Angel knew that his soul would be forever with the Emperor; a reward far greater than any in this mortal world.

"And so it was that they fought - the Angel and the Beast. Titanic must have been that struggle, between those two gods amongst men. Long must they have rained blows upon each other, until it seemed that the life of the universe itself hung in the balance. And yet, for all his glorious might at arms, and his noble and pure mind, Sanguinius was bested. The despicable trickeries of Chaos were his undoing. But at that last moment, even as the blade of death waited to strike him, Sanguinius would not turn from the path of Light. Thus it was that the noble Sangunius, Lord of the Blood Angels, passed from this world. He who was everything a man should be was taken from us by the Darkness. A thousand times a thousand years of lamenting will never atone for our loss.

"Therefore remember proud Sanguinius, young acolytes, when you are faced with hardship. When the armour of your faith is buckled and torn, see in your mind that magnificent hero. Think upon his deeds and be humble, for his like will never walk the galaxy again."

-Chaplain Lemartes' sermon to the Adeptus on the Cult of Sangunius

Gallery

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  His modern mini in all his rage-fueled glory.

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  A rare scene of Lemartes without his jump pack on.

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  The cover art of his book.

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  His old look...

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  ...and his old mini to match.

See Also

• Black Rage
• Blood Angels
• Chaplain
• Death Company
• Red Thirst
• Sanguinius
• Space Marines