Nârik Dreygur

"How many times has Dreygur's Legion betrayed him, disavowed him, cast him aside? How long before a man like that has had enough?"

– Alpha Legionnaire Augustus Marcheur to Legate Autilon Skorr, prior to the Battle of Mezoa.

"Brothers, once more an oath to us stands broken. The Alpha Legion has abandoned us once again. Now we shall show that we do not renege on our vows. The dead of Stranivar and Mezoa both call for vengeance, and we shall grant it to them."

– Consul-Praevian Nârik Dreygur, having had enough

Consul-Praevian Nârik Dreygur, also known as the Gravewalker, was a high-ranking officer of the Iron Warriors Legion during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. He originally went along with the Legion when it turned against the Imperium, but after the Alpha Legion repeatedly used him and his troops as cannon fodder, he eventually switched sides again during the Battle of Mezoa.

Biography

Great Crusade

Dreygur was a Strategios-Minor of the IV Legion and an honored veteran of the Great Crusade. Like most Iron Warrior officers after Perturabo's rediscovery, he was constantly striving not to fail his primarch, knowing the fate that awaited anyone who displeased the Lord of Iron. He managed to walk this tightrope for at least nine decades prior to the Heresy.

Horus Heresy

Dreygur initially pledged to the traitor cause, and fought at Istvaan III and Istvaan V. In the latter battle, he was severely wounded by a Raven Guard Moritat, which immediately cost him Perturabo's favor. The primarch promptly tossed Dreygur aside, just as he'd done with Barabas Dantioch. This might have spelled the end for Dreygur, but fortunately for him he was noticed by the Apolakron, an obscure warrior society. They gave Dreygur a complete augmetic rebuild, grafting a cortex controller into his nervous system and inducting him into their order. This earned him the epithet of "Gravewalker". He thereafter became a Praevian, one of the Legion consuls who led maniples of battle-automata into war, and he eventually came to prefer the company of his automata to that of his Astartes brethren, many of whom followed Perturabo's example and shunned him. Despite this, he remained loyal to the IV Legion.

Along with the 114th Grand Battalion, he was deployed to Epsilon-Stranivar IX with elements of the Alpha Legion and the Death Guard. There, the Alpha Legionnaires repeatedly hung the Iron Warriors out to dry, and the grand battalion sustained heavy casualties; of six thousand Iron Warriors who made landfall on Stranivar, less than a third were alive by the end of the campaign. Dreygur was the senior surviving officer, and so was forced to take command. He vowed that he would avenge his fallen brothers, one way or another.

He later led the 114th in the Battle of Mezoa, where they once again were fighting alongside the Alpha Legion under Legate Autilon Skorr. Upon landing, the Iron Warriors were informed that any retreat would be met by orbital bombardment from the Alpha Legion fleet. Skorr proceeded to use the Iron Warriors as cannon fodder, hurling them at the loyalist forces wherever they were strongest while driving his auxiliary troops into the breaches. As Skorr was trying to end the battle quickly so he could proceed to Terra for the upcoming siege, he eventually ordered the battered 114th to launch a frontal assault against the strongest loyalist bastion on the planet, despite Dreygur's protests. The Iron Warriors made headway at first, but were eventually brought to a halt by a massive loyalist counterattack. The Alpha Legion once again left them twisting in the wind, sending in Headhunter teams to conduct surgical strikes behind enemy lines while the Iron Warriors were ground into the mud. At this point, the Salamanders Dreadnought Cassian Dracos approached Dreygur's position and offered him a chance at redemption, pointing out that the Alpha Legion had left him to die. Dreygur and the rest of the 114th didn't need any more convincing to turn on their erstwhile allies, and with their numbers added to the loyalists', the tide of the battle quickly swung against the Alpha Legion. Skorr was forced into a hasty retreat, losing an arm in the process. Dreygur become Dracos' confidant and second in command, and was a constant presence at the Iron Dragon's side throughout the remainder of the Heresy.

Tabletop

Dreygur is more or less a bog-standard Praevian with a few extra toys. His statline is WS5 BS5 S4 T4 W3 I5 A3 Ld9 Sv2+5++, which puts him in line with the likes of his nemesis Autilon Skorr and Saul Tarvitz. He comes kitted with artificer armor, a master-crafted bolt pistol, power fist, frag and krak grenades, a refractor field, and a cortex controller and designator. He can take a squad of Castellax or Vorax-class battle automata, and grants them either the Iron Warriors Legiones Astartes rules or Furious Charge, Tank Hunter, or Scout. They also gain Preferred Enemy against anything that Dreygur successfully pots with his bolt pistol (even if the resulting wound is saved) for the rest of the turn. He is not an Independent Character, but he also does not have Support Officer listed, meaning he could theoretically be taken as a compulsory HQ, unlike a normal Praevian.