Uriel Starikov

Uriel Starikov
Discovered (world)	Perfidiae V
Discovered (period)	817.M30
Legion	Thirteenth
Heraldry/Sigil
Distinguishing Traits	gregarious, calculated, observant
Flaws	sociopathic, manipulative
Horus Heresy role	Traitor. Carefully manipulated events to ensure his legion are seen as Loyalists.
Disposition	Unknown

This page details people, events, and organisations from The /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe.

Uriel Starikov, Primarch of The Children of Armok

I would prefer not to discuss Uriel Starikov.

(Gaspard Lumey, private correspondence.)

Personality

In a word, Uriel is contradictory.

Affable, gregarious, friendly, social, and with a gift for both levity and brevity.

Yet also sociopathic, amoral, manipulative, secretive, and ruthlessly calculated.

A pragmatist, who puts purpose and practicality above all else, but also an aesthete; a man with an eye for the arts, food, drink, and luxury.

He seems careful, and guarded, but also genuine and understanding. Of course, he is a consummate actor, and an excellent judge of both character, and personality, able to read individuals and audiences, and tailor his approach accordingly.

He has a great deal of intelligence, and burning thirst for knowledge, be they secrets or history and science.

He knows how to use leverage, bargain, negotiate, and cross-examine.

Wargear

Uriel himself has a set of weapons, considering himself both a collector, and a fighter, using a selection of whichever he feels like on a whim, or planned he would need. Its hard to tell why he does anything.

Although he mainly uses his custom Soltek pattern bolt pistol, the power warhammer and the power sabre, his interest and enthusiasm for exotic weapons, has lead him to have a considerable collection of close combat weapons, which he sometimes uses on a whim.

- He normally wields a power warhammer, wrought from pure silver encircled with bands of adamantium.

- A power sword in the shape of an ancient curved Perfidian Kazakh horseman sabre.

- A custom Soltek pattern bolt pistol - it's a revolver-style bolt pistol with 24 shots in a drum style magazine.

- And 2 adamantine combat daggers that are always concealed on his person, and seem to appear from nowhere.

He also has power weapons in the forms of kukri, scimitars, claymores, fencing sabres, falchion, gladius, khanjar, seax, machete, kris, dao, katana, halberds, spears, glaives, flails, morning stars, maces, khopesh, yataghan, tomahawks, and bearded axes. Some are gifts from other primarchs or Imperial forces, some Uriel commissioned from the Mechanicus.

Appearance

The first things people will notice about Uriel is his easy going smile, and his large, knowing eyes - both alight with mischief and predatory glee. He often has his right eyebrow raised questioningly. His chin is well defined on his square jaw, and his cheeks are gaunt. His hair is dark brown, and kept short, high and tight, the top combed over neatly to the back (think like Ralph Fiennes in Schindlers List), and his face is lightly stubbled, his upper lip most prominently stubbled. Uriel has light, but not pale skin.

Uriel Starikov stands at a middling height among his Primarch brothers, neither tall, nor short. He has an incredible command of social interaction and a beguiling way with words - able to put someone completely at ease in one moment, and get them spoiling for a fight in the next, only to put them in hysterics after that.

His beguiling, friendly manner plays well into his mischievous facade. He loves pranks, and tricks, having learnt sleight of hand magic tricks and illusions in the courts on Perfidiae V as a young boy as a way to impress and beguile the lords and ladies with whom he spent most of his time. One of the smartest of the Primarchs, where most of his brothers intellects took them into the fields of medicine, technology, architecture, science, and the occult, Uriels intellectual pursuits brought him into the world of Politics and Espionage. Despite being a Primarch, and a skilled politician, Uriel is comfortable being in the background. He doesn't need fame, he courts it for political purposes, and political purposes alone.

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 to reflect his stature over his fellow marines. He wields a Power Warhammer, wrought from Silver, or a Power Sword in the shape of an ancient Perfidian curved cavalry sabre.

Youth

The world Uriel was found on, was rather advanced by most standards. They had even started to progress into space travel once again. But the world of Perfidiae V was still divided by nation states, with their armies and political agendas. Recovering in the aftermath of a great, world spanning war, the nations of Perfidiae V were forced to use politics, espionage, and intimidation to achieve their agendas. It was in this 'Cold War' state, that Uriel arrived on Perfidiae V.

Uriel was only a baby when Fyodor Zhilov found him in the forest located on the grounds of Fyodor's mansion. As a general, and spymaster of the formidable, and world-renowned KSB-13 intelligence agency, Zhilov didn't have much time for babies, but despite the cunning, ruthless, patience he was known for, Zhilov took the baby in anyway, putting the boy into the care of his many servants. Once he was of age, Uriel began to play games with the staff and children, occasionally getting into trouble by entering rooms Zhilov was using to hold meetings with government officials and his officers under his control. Uriel was an inquisitive child, always eager to learn, and this thirst for knowledge would be what saved Uriel. Uriel still very young, had walked in on Zhilov and his right hand man, Reinhardt Gerhlen. They were talking worriedly about the fact one of their spies had been caught by MAI, an enemy intelligence agency.

Gerhlen was insistent on killing the spy before he could spill any secrets, when Uriel asked a simple question "Why?" At first, Zhilov was furious, and was about to beat Uriel, but as he raised his fist, the question sunk in - why indeed? Zhilov laughed, confusing both Uriel who thought he was about to be beaten, and Gerhlen for the sudden change of mood.

Zhilov explained that the spy only knew so much, so he was worth more to the MAI as an active asset - thus Gerhlen could feed the spy new lies to tell along with the real truths he did know - sure the KSB13 would lose a bunch of established but still minor assets they had painstakingly developed over the years, but they had gained a much more valuable thing: a way to control the MAI's moves. Gerhlen caught on, so Zhilov explained to Uriel, that if the MAI thought that the KSB13 didn't know they had captured the agent, they would 'turn' him, or make him work for them instead, but continue to pretend to work for the KSB13. This way, MAI would believe the intelligence and secrets the captured agent would give them. But because the KSB13 *know* that the agent is working for the MAI, they can tell him lies, and mislead the MAI, or make them do things they wouldn't do otherwise.

Zhilov noted that Uriel seemed to understand, and decided to educate the boy as if he were his own son. As his education progressed, Uriel's thirst for knowledge, and aptitude for learning did not diminish, and his love for games and play lead him to Regicide. At first he didn't quite get how to think a few moves ahead, but due to the demanding standards Zhilov had Uriels mentors keep him under, Uriel prevailed, learning in the process that patience is a virtue, and that things fall into place over time, just like learning. As he grew into his teens, Uriel was able to beat almost everyone at Regicide, anyone except Zhilov, who was always 10 moves ahead of him, and sometimes Gerhlen who was actually a good match, despite the huge age difference.

Zhilov, a former world champion Regicide grand-master, who had in-part earned his moniker 'Starik' (meaning 'Old Man') through the patience and meticulous forethought that Regicide had imparted on him during his own youth, decided to shape Uriel into a grand-master too. It took some time to get Uriel to see so many moves ahead, but as Uriel grew up, the concept stuck, and Uriel became very good at predicting people's behaviour to stimuli. There was however, an unforeseen circumstance of teaching Uriel this; Uriel began pulling elaborate pranks on people, predicting how they would act, and laying his prank accordingly. At first Zhilov was frustrated by Uriel's apparent change of character, but Gerhlen would point out that to him that it's because Uriel was reading people and playing them against themselves - exactly what any good spy would do. With this new perspective, Zhilov ordered Gerhlen to take Uriel on as a trainee, and teach him the ropes.

And so once he had come of age, Uriel entered the world of espionage. Gerhlen placed Uriel in the field, under the direct supervision of an Ambassador, and would periodically check up on Uriel to see how he was getting on. Life under the Ambassador, Valentin Hesse, was not what Uriel had expected, or indeed trained for; He spent most of his time talking with dignitaries and accompanying Hesse on diplomatic trips to rival states leadership. But his thirst for knowledge still drove Uriel, and so he studied up on everyone he met, learned their likes and dislikes, and crucially, how best to play to them as an audience. Under Hesse, Uriel's verbal abilities increased to impressive levels, and as Uriel's accelerated growth kicked in, Uriel gained a commanding presence in whatever room he walked into - and it didn't take Uriel long to learn how to use that as a tool for his aims too. Despite his still rather minor role with the KSB13, Uriel had gained considerable political clout, having demonstrated his aptitude for understanding the positions and importance of the conflicting nations of Perfidiae V.

As the years passed, Uriel rose rapidly through the ranks of the KSB13, surviving purges, political and military flash-points, and even the capture of his friend and mentor Gerhlen, all the while learning secrets and finding ways to manipulate events well in advance, so that when the time came to deal with an identified threat, Uriel had already beaten them.

On his 27th year, Uriels adoptive father Zhilov passed away. Uriel was saddened by his loss, the old man having been instrumental in his rise, and responsible for the man Uriel was. The KSB13 chose Uriel to be the new leader, and giving him the moniker 'Starikov', meaning Son of the Old Man, as a sign of respect; acknowledging that Uriel was truly like 'Starik'(Old Man) Zhilov, a master of the 'Great Game' that is espionage.

The Coming of The Emperor

The arrival of the Emperor was not entirely the great event it was meant to be.

The Emperor's arrival was used as a weapon by the MAI, discrediting the various nations that worked with the KSB13 as working with 'Aliens' and 'Powers of Great Evil'. Uriel saw the situation unfolding, all caused by an event he couldn't have foreseen, it frustrated him. But he met with the Emperor, surrounded by the huge metal warriors he brought with him, and was informed of his true purpose, and a new plan formed in his mind. Uriel manipulated every contact and asset he could, using every last secret he had in his library - all in secret from behind the scenes. He covertly left for the border between one of the MAI's allied nations, telling the Emperor that he was merely going to fetch an important gift. Now in a position where he could enact his plan, he began his great ploy, and immediately got the result he wanted - total war at last. It was bloody right from the start, with every nation on the planet involved. Huge armies clashes all around the globe, and countless lives were lost in the first hours alone. It was with his 'scene' set, that Uriel enacted the final part of his great gambit - he allowed himself to be captured by the MAI.

Threatened with torture, and execution for espionage, Uriel's life was literally on the line to achieve his ends, and utterly destroy the KSB13's enemies, and all nation's who opposed their complete hegemony. What he had counted on, was a father protecting his child - and the Emperor was no different in that regard. The great metal warriors the Emperor had brought with him arrived to save the faux-surprised Uriel, slaying the MAI forces in the immediate area, and most importantly, took fire from the MAI. Due to the incredible armour, only one of the great metal warriors died, but this was enough to complete his goal - the Emperor's forces launched an all out attack on the MAI and all the armies of the nations who backed them. The Great War that Uriel had provoked was over by the end of the week - and the KSB13 were the only people in a position to capitalise on it.

The Great Game was over. Uriel had won. And he thanked his father, the Emperor, and took his appointed position at the head of the great legion put before him.

The Great Crusade

Before the discovery of Uriel, the Children of Armok were known by a different name, that has since been lost to the annals of history. Upon being reunited with Uriel, the legion was renamed the Children of Armok, Armok being Uriel's adoptive father Zhilov's codename during the 'Great Game'. It was one last acknowledgement of the great man by Uriel, who immediately set about reorganising his legion, and having them train hard to adopt the new methods he would bring with him. Being born from his genetic code, the Children took to the new methods of manipulation and espionage with great affinity - their own innate thirsts for knowledge, and aptitude at deceit pleasing Uriel.

Post-Heresy

Work In Progress

The Children faced some difficulties post-Heresy, coming under scrutiny from Lumey - but ultimately got through it