Uriel Salazar

"I would prefer not to discuss Uriel Salazar."

-Gaspard Lumey, private correspondence.

Uriel Salazar
Title/Honours	None ever accepted, referred to as the Executioner or the Arbiter by some
Discovered (period)	circa.817.M30
Legion	Thirteenth
Heraldry/Sigil
Distinguishing Traits	Humility, fierce sense of both justice and duty, and unparalleld willpower
Flaws	Many
Fate	Shape-shifting Daemon Prince of Tzeentch

This page details people, events, and organisations from the /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. See the /tg/ Heresy Timeline and Galaxy pages for more information on the Alternate Universe.

Uriel Shawmar Chanakh Salazar Bakaran, almost always known as Uriel Salazar, was the Primarch of the Justicars, the 13th legion of the Legiones Astartes. Uriel lead the 13th to a multitude of great victories, many unsung, and kept a watchful eye over the Imperium and it's citizens during his life. Ultimately though, he would fall to Tzeentch, becoming an insane shape-shifting Daemon Prince.

History

Youth

When the Primarchs were scattered across the galaxy by the Ruinous Powers, the baby primarch that would become Uriel Salazar landed on the planet Tiberia V. His pod was discovered on the outskirts of the capital by a former soldier, turned canid and exotic animal trainer. This former soldier, though living in the slums and struggling to feed his three other children took Uriel in and raised him as his own. This former soldier would have quite an effect on the young and impressionable Uriel who soaked up every bit of wisdom his mother and father offered.
Tiberia had up to this point been in an uneasy truce after the last great war between the planets two remaining power blocs. But on Uriel's thirteenth year, war would return to the planet once more. Though only a young boy, Uriels primarch genes made him appear to be a young man, and when the recruiters came to form companies for the war, Uriel signed up, much to his mothers chagrin.
The war was unfathomably brutal and bloody. Uriel saw a lot of the worst the war had to offer, from tunnel fighting to relentless artillery bombardments. The war would play a significant role in shaping Uriel into the man he would later become, though sadly, little evidence of his experiences survives. The war concluded 7 years later, and Uriel returned home a man. Fate had been kind to Uriel; He had risen through the ranks, from Private to Sergeant Major, and had won many medals for remarkable deeds, and great respect from the rank and file who served with him. But upon returning home to the slums, Uriel found it overrun by gangers and lowlife dregs who had terrorised those family the soldiers had left behind. This awoke in Uriel a hatred he hadn't felt even during the war, and within 24 hours he had declared a personal war on the gangs.
His vigilante war spread quickly, and burned hot, and within a month his district was 'cleaned' of criminal influence. Quality of life became better for those living there, and they thanked Uriel. But Uriel heard stories of those surviving his war fleeing to other neighbourhoods and creating worse violence than before, as they fought with incumbent gangs for new territory. Seeing the consequences his actions had for others, Uriel sought to rectify this and by the end of the year he had cleared the entire slums of criminals.

This caught the attention of the planets Minister of the Interior, who presided over the secret police. The Minister, seeing Uriel's stature and speed was greatly impressed, but it was his sense of duty and justice which caught his attention. He recruits Uriel to become a detective in the secret police, whose duty was to hunt down criminals and rebels. The secret police had a reputation for brutality and never taking prisoners, but the minister convinced Uriel he would run his unit as he saw fit. He also promised Uriel that he and his siblings would be given full education at the capitals prestigious Collegium of Ghalylé.
Uriel spent every minute studying or tutoring his siblings, and was quickly top of his classes. But one night his brother would drag him away from his books and make him socialise. Fate plucked some strings and Uriel met Annastasya Keye, daughter of the Planetary Governor, with whom he quickly became close. Soon after Uriel graduated and started his job as a detective for the secret police. Uriels deep understanding of the streets, his determination, and his experiences in the war made him a potent detective, and he quickly won over entire districts, despite the reputation the secret police held. It was during a regular investigation that Uriel uncovered several disparate pieces of information. They seemed like nothing, just unconnected events, but Uriel saw something in them, though he couldn't say what, he felt it was bad, but with nothing else to go on, Uriel put the investigation on low priority while he continued his regular operations.
Much time progressed, and Uriels investigation into the events broke ground exponentially. And the more Uriel and his men learned, the less they liked. Only confiding in Annastasya and his brother, who was now working for the Interior under the Minister, Uriel showed them with great concern that a conspiracy seemed to be in play, controlling the rebels and even some criminal factions, the only reprieve being that Uriel was close to the truth.
Some more time would pass, and Uriels regular operations had destroyed much of the Rebels ability to fight. During one of these operations, Uriel's men uncovered a cache of intelligence detailing the locations of a major Rebel base. Minister, informed of Uriels find, personally allocated Uriel command of the attack, giving him control of a company of the Governors Elite Guards, and providing artillery and air support. At a critical point in the battle, Uriel and his men became targets of a sustained artillery barrage and air strike. Uriels men were obliterated, and Uriel badly wounded, even by primarch standards. Weak and wounded, Uriel was whisked from the scene and taken to a wide open field with a primarch sized grave dug out ready for Uriels execution.

Fate would once again intervene in Uriels life, and with uncanny fortune, Uriel was spared his execution by rebels, who claimed they were now friends and took the grievously wounded Uriel in. Uriel would soon discover that his wounds were the least of his injuries; his parents had been murdered by gangers, his sister had been kidnapped and would later be found slain also. Annastasya was in a coma, having been horrifically mauled. The state media claimed it was Uriel who had done this to her, as a failed attempt at a kidnapping when his true allegiance to the rebels was uncovered by the Interior Ministry. Uriel was affected deeply by this tragedy; they were not his real family, but they had shaped him and been there for him all his life. He did not dwell on his grief, instead throwing himself into a quest for vengeance. His target was clear: those who he had fought for, risked his life for, had betrayed him. Why? Uriel didn't know, though he had suspicions, and suspicion was all he needed for the war he had in mind.
His quest for vengeance saw Uriel uniting the few surviving old soldiers and the few police officers he trusted, with the rebels he had once hunted. He learned that the rebels were originally a plot devised by the Planetary Governor and various Merchant interests to gain power; creating a false narrative whereby the rebels were used to defeat opponents, unite the people with the Governor, and gain support for the subversion of the planetary laws and customs so that the Governor and his Merchant friends could exert total control. It had succeeded, but as the rebels recruited people under the pretence of fighting the government, genuine rebels flocked to the cause and soon hijacked the original leadership, and making the fake rebels real. The picture finally becoming clear, Uriel began his war in earnest, leading his misfit group of rebels, former-police, and old soldiers against the totalitarian regime of the Governor and the Merchant Cabal that controlled him. Uriels war was bloody, but Uriel was careful to never let innocents get hurt - utilising the lessons he learned as a Detective to win the people over paid dividends. The grief of losing his family and Annastasya began to weigh on Uriel however, and the momentum he had generated with his campaigns was slowing as the Governor began using his yesmen in the government to pass laws allowing the military to be deployed against him and his rebel alliance. So Uriel decided upon a risky plan - to assault the Governors palace, and kill the governor and as many of the leadership as possible. Fates influence once again apparent, Uriels plan coincided with the Unification celebration of the Governors ascension to planetary dominance in the very war Uriel had fought in as a child. So, leaving behind trusted men to lead the fight in his stead, Uriel lead a small team in a suicide assault on the Governor when he was surrounded by the most security, but as Uriel stated "When he'd be least expecting it...". The assault was a bloodier affair than anyone could imagine. Uriels team were so outnumbered and out-gunned it should have been impossible to pull off. But whether fortune, foul magic, or sheer adamant willpower, Uriel succeeded. At the crescendo of the suicide mission, a bloody and weary Uriel stood before his brother, gun raised.
An apology.
An excuse.
A judgement.
A pull of the trigger. And it was over. Reality returned and the rage left Uriel, as if some part of him was being supported up by a mysterious force, and he felt weaker. The Governors forces were broken, fleeing, the leadership dead in ways that would not be forgotten for generations. Only some of the Merchants escaped, but Uriel would not let them escape his justice for long.

Arrival of the Emperor

The day after Uriels surprising triumph, the rebels doubled their efforts. The Governor had retained power through using weak yes-men to enact his will, but without the Governor, these weak sycophants fell to their own weaknesses; inept leadership, greed, ambition, envy, and even indecision. Uriel ordered his forces to engage these broken factions and mop up any who rejected his generous offer of amnesty. It was here at the height of his triumph, as hollow as it felt to Uriel, once more fate would intervene, and choose that day to reunite Uriel with his true Father, the Emperor of Mankind.
With void ships obscuring the sun, the Emperor descended down into the bullet-riddled former-Governors Palace to meet with Uriel. the Emperors entrance was dramatic and ceremonious, flanked by towering lines of golden Custodes, and slightly smaller though still imposing, ceramite-clad warriors bearing XXXXX emblems on their shoulders. A tense scene ensued, as these intimidating titans stood beside the radiant figure that was the Emperor, with dirty, dishevelled misfits facing them, guns raised, though clearly the gesture was futile. Uriel stood resolutely with his men, his own pistol raised right at the Emperor, unwavering and ready. The Emperor greeted Uriel, and began explaining who he was, and who Uriel really was, and the destiny that awaited him.

Uriel's gun didn't waver. In no uncertain terms, Uriel informed the Emperor of his disagreement, and refusal of the Emperor; Uriel had unfinished business to take care of, and openly conveyed his distrust at a leader who styled himself as the Emperor did. The Emperor withdrew, but did not leave the planet, instead he ordered his Custodes to capture Uriel, without harming his men, while the ceramite warriors with the XXXXXX on the shoulders were ordered to mop up the remaining forces opposing Uriel and his victorious rebel alliance. Uriel's recent wounds, though already healing, prevented him from recovering enough strength to fight off his captors, who had strength nearly comparable to Uriels own, something Uriel had never experienced before. The Custodes escorted Uriel to the void ship that No-one knows what was said in that room. But 8 days passed, and on the 9th, the pair emerged to an uneasily unified world; Uriels men uncertain, looking to their leader for direction. Uriel notably did not kneel, as was symbolic, but he made it clear that the world of Tiberia V would enter a new-age of prosperity together, with the Imperium of Man.

Great Crusade

Sometime during 952.M30, Uriel requested a meeting with the Emperor and Malcador the Sigilite about a group of seemingly unconnected cults the 13th had been dealing with across the Imperium. With hindsight it would be clear these cults were dedicated to the Ruinous Powers, at the time Uriel was reaching out to the Emperor for guidance because he believed there was someone or something behind the cults, connecting them. The meeting itself was a private affair that only Malcador the Sigilite and the Custodes Captain-General were also privy to, and no minutes were kept. But what is clear is that after this meeting, Uriel would continue his hunt for the elusive connection behind these cults. And from recovered writings of the primarch himself, and those of his inner circle, Uriel's sense of duty and dogged determination to follow a lead would ultimately drive him insane and into the clutches of the foul god Tzeentch. With the key to Uriels fall obscured to us forever, one is left only with a wistful sense of irony at the guardian against chaos falling to the very same foe he was to face, but also a feeling of wasted potential from studying the history of this forever-damned traitor, once such a beloved and valiant example of what the Imperium could achieve.

Post-Heresy

It is not known when Uriel ascended to become a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch, but the first confirmed sighting of the primarch as a daemon was at Terra itself, when a nightmarish daemonic beast duelling with [insert primarch here] transformed back into Uriel, causing fighting to stop at the shocking reveal of a beloved primarch believed to have been killed or lost in the early days of the Heresy. Since then it has been confirmed that Uriel is indeed a foul shape-shifting Daemon Prince of Tzeentch. Though most primarchs would become dramatically different after their fall to Chaos, Uriel would retain a few of his defining traits; his sense of duty, humility, and dedication most notably, though they were corrupted to new and darker ends. However, he would also become deeply and thoroughly insane, and obsessed with creating order or anarchy, only to orchestrate a reversal in a constantly evolving cycle of change.

Uriels scarily accurate understanding of people would take a darker twist, with Uriel becoming a patron saint of the insane; in the same way that some people become animal whisperers, Uriel can reach the insane. He understands them, help them up from where they had fallen. He calms them, makes "the monsters" that plague them go away, so they no longer felt so alone, so everything was better. This consequently has caused the Imperium serious trouble, as Uriel raises up those among the insane that show promise, especially psykers who are prone to madness, and sets them loose, forming cults all over the Imperium; apostle like figures, all insane in one way or another, constantly advancing the agendas of Uriel and his new master, Tzeentch. Uriel would find insanity to be a great method of change, as it was rarely predictable, and the methods of sapping an individuals sanity were endless.

Uriel also has occasionally surrendered himself into Imperial custody, shared a wealth of information on the traitors, xenos, and events across the galaxy, then facilitated an escape, leaving the Imperium to act on his information, often foiling the agenda's of other chaos gods. However, on numerous occasions, Uriel has been successfully imprisoned for long periods of time by the Inquisition, and banished on several instances. At one point, a extremely powerful radical Inquisitor trapped Uriel within a daemonhost, but Uriel being more than an average daemon was barely held within the bindings, and soon escaped once more.

Personality

Uriel would most readily defined by an unrelenting sense of justice and duty, a startling and genuine humility, and being possessed of such sheer willpower and single-minded focus that had seen him referred to as a "force of nature" on many occasions. He was also favoured by fortune, events often breaking to Uriels benefit. This would seem to be a good foundation for the weapon against chaos that Uriel was supposed to be. However, in light of the forever-damned events of the Heresy, one must ask: how did the primarch created to be the Imperiums weapon against chaos, fall to those same Ruinous Powers?

To answer this, one must look first to Uriel's youth; Here we see that Uriel was involved with war from a young age, as most primarchs were, but Uriel's humility and low social standing afforded by his birth kept him from seeking power or overall command as most of his other brothers had done. The war was the most obvious start of Uriel's lack of trust in authority, but it also is likely the beginning of his high regard for teamwork; in spite of inept leadership, it was teamwork that allowed Uriels men to survive and thrive. Only Gaspard Lumey held a similar humility and appreciation of where he had started as Uriel did, one a superhuman journalist, the other a paranoid detective, both with a strong belief in the common man, justice, and a distrust toward authority.

The influence Uriels adoptive family had upon his development is also of great import; Uriel has been described as possessing a startling understanding of people. Much of this can be attributed to Uriels adoptive father, Enoch, a former war veteran turned professional trainer of canids and other exotic animals. Uriel has been recorded on multiple occasions of recounting wisdom his father imparted upon him, often relating the training of canids and other dangerous fauna to the controlling of men. Combining this with a grounded appreciation of the realities of life for the average civilian, derived from his own life in the slums alongside them, Uriel had a perfect combination of understanding and tough but fair discipline that would make him an inspiring and effective leader.These traits would be a significant reason for Uriel's popularity among civilians and enlisted soldiers, who saw in Uriel a strong leader, who genuinely understood them, and looked out for their interests and well-being before his own, and sometimes even before the Imperium proper. His methods were often unorthodox, and ruffled many feathers among Imperial nobility, but none could deny the sheer level of support for the Imperium Uriel aroused in conquered worlds.
Uriel was not an intellectual like some of his brothers, but he had an incredibly keen mind, that was especially perceptive, and intuitive; always alert and aware of events around him. He was often described in private as being rather quiet, thoughtful, and startlingly insightful, with an alarming analytical ability. Somewhat interestingly, remembrancer Kala Eiek, who shadowed the primarch personally for many years, stated that he was overly serious, punctuated by frequent bouts of dry and dark humour. She goes on to record he was remarkably candid about topics that the Inquisition has since classified or outright redacted, but had a tendency to become a completely different person once trouble began, switching from this serious but entertaining and honest individual, to a grim and stoically professional pragmatism. His remembrancer portrait depicts him smiling, but in reality Uriel is recorded as smiling rarely, more often prone to a scowl or a stoic face of grim determination.

Uriel was however afflicted with many faults; he had a paranoia and distrust of authority that quite often made him hard to work with, along with a frustrating habit of playing devils-advocate that could easily veer into simply being contrarian. His dryly sarcastic sense of humour and directness was often viewed as mocking or rude, even when not intended as such. He was also deeply bitter, cynical, and would even rarely fall into morose moods that would spill into self-loathing and regret over the events of his youth. Uriels single-minded determination and infallible sense of duty could also on occasion see him pursue a goal obsessively, well beyond reason, this ultimately being the reason he would fall to chaos.

Wargear

Uriel's armour

Uriel has an armoury that strikes some as unnecessarily extensive, and others as beyond paranoid; Most commonly however, Uriel is seen carrying several slug pistols, including a bolt revolver. Sometimes he wields a shotgun of a calibre one can only guess at. He is never without the pair of adamantium power daggers forged by his brother-primarch Brennus as a gift; they are nearly always concealed on his person with an alarming multitude of other assorted weapons. His right arm is a high quality cybernetic, replacing the hand he lost in his youth. His armour is of the highest quality, as befitting a primarch, but plain and simple in design, only sporting a plain black cloak for decoration. He is often accompanied by one of his canids or a pack thereof, and if the battlefield suits it, one of his cybernetically enhanced raptors flies above him transmitting a literal birds-eye-view of the surrounding area directly to Uriels helmet feed.