Ralis Sinderion
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.
"A touch so light and swift, you never see the hands and you barely feel them. If it weren't for the bleeding hole, one would doubt they had ever acted."
-Ku'Motsk, the Void King, The Motskyar, Vol II
Ralis Sinderion is quite unlike many harakians, he has no great lust for the visceral thrill of melee. The satisfaction that the 3rd captain finds in war is of a different sort, that of besting an opponent in a high-stakes battle of wits. He has served under Ku'Motsk since their time together in the imperial fleet before the fall, in fact it was the Void King himself who gave Sinderion his nickname long ago. He has been an essential, if often unseen, part of Ku'Motsk's rise to power.
Sinderion was the son of an eldar intelligence officer. His father taught him the ways of grand strategy from a young age, and the importance of seeing the entirety of a given situation. It was not long before the young Ralis began applying these teachings to his interactions with others, finding a talent in understanding their motives and needs from the cues of body and voice. When he was of age, Sinderion followed in his father's footsteps and joined the military. He was assigned to the Imperial Fleet and would serve for many years without note before being assigned to Ku'Motsk's command. The two would serve together for over a decade before the fall, forming a bond of mutual respect that would serve them well in the coming years.
The Hidden-handed was there when the imperial fleet was thrown into the depths of space, and it was he that suggested the means for its survival. The crafty eldar stressed caution, and his intelligence reports were the deciding factor in whether or not a planet was set aside for war or trade. There were few matters that he was not consulted on, his skill for the subtleties of war was unmatched by any in the fleet. When Ku'Motsk decided to move forward and conquer, Sinderion held his tongue. When he watched the broken body of Argen Vel tumble into the frenzied warriors, he was grateful for his decision.
When the fleet arrived at the port of Uris, Sinderion was with Ku'Motsk as he dined with Duke Nakhar. He watched their interaction silently, carefully appraising each of the men. Sinderion thought he could easily become a player within this house, his talents toward intelligence-gathering and spy work would be valuable toward any noble, but this duke did not impress him. His ambitions were much larger than the petty squabbles of the dark city, and all he had witnessed in the past decade showed that Ku'Motsk was the surest avenue for making them a reality.
Over the next two decades, Sinderion worked with his former admiral and now captain in unseen ways. Ku'Motsk was ill-suited to the underhanded business that was life in the dark city, it was only through the Hidden-Handed's careful interventions and counter-plots that the captain avoided death by the many hidden blades at his throat. The captain's chief rival and commander, admiral Otelhar, was the orchestrator of many of these plots, but Sinderion's counter-plays made him look like a sneaking child by comparison. When the admiral arranged for Ku'Motsk's trip to the void in a vain attempt to seize power, Sinderion stayed behind and assured that his captain's counter-coup would go off without a hitch.
Sinderion would be an essential part of the empire's rise, it was his suggestion to take Waken, and he was the first to reach the planet. He and his men infiltrated deep into the society, sabotaging its manufacturing bases and seeding disinformation into the populace. For two years, the forward agents hid among the populace, planting the seeds of rebellion and suspicion. When Ku'Motsk and his fleet arrived, Waken was reduced from a mighty stronghold to a fragmented and inefficient place. So it would be on many planets following Ku'Motsk's ascension, Sinderion's hidden hands touched all.
The Hidden-Handed's rise to the position of 3rd captain was not won through skill with the blade or blaster, rather he took his title in the manner he was most suited for. He faced Silys Vath in the Anuk Harai, and Vath promised to make it difficult for him. As the sovereign signaled them to start and Vath charged him on his mighty jetbike, pistol at the ready, but Sinderion did not move. Many who bore witness thought he had frozen in terror. As the mounted warrior was about to reach his opponent, he pulled the trigger of his blast pistol. The gun exploded in his hand as the bike's grav-engines gave out simultaneously. Vath was out cold, Sinderion was the victor, and the watching Ku'Motsk and Kieries could not stop laughing.
In the years since, Sinderion and the 3rd fleet have remained the empire's peerless spymasters and saboteurs. When a siege cannot be broken by sheer force, the 3rd is called in. The Hidden-handed is also the Void King's greatest diplomat, his charming manner coupled with his deep understanding of the minds of others has benefited the empire's relations with other eldar. Vrkovan Exodites and Noble Commorites alike have expressed a deep fondness for the captain. He typically does not enter the battlefield once war turns hot, but when he must he arms himself with only long-ranged weapons such as dark lances and dresses in thick ghostplate armor, preferring to stay far from direct combat.