| abstract | - Iacton Qruze was a venerable Astartes who had long served within the ranks of the Luna Wolves Legion. He stood as an anachronism amongst the ranks of his younger Battle-Brothers. Ancient and rather tiresome, he had been a Captain in the XVIth Legion since its inception on Terra after the Unification Wars, his once prominent position within the Legion entirely eclipsed once Horus had been discovered on Cthonia, repatriated and given command of the Luna Wolves by the Emperor. He had been a Captain for so long that he was as old as an Astartes could be and still count himself a warrior. Qruze could still recall fighting without Horus in command. He was the product of another era, stubborn and slightly cantankerous, a vestigial trace of the way the Legion had gone about things in its earliest days. When Qruze greeted his fellow Battle-Brothers he still had a habit, perhaps unconsciously, of making the old pre-Unity salute of the single clenched fist against his breast, rather than the sign of the Imperial Aquila, the double-handed eagle. He had a long, tanned face, deeply lined with creases and folds, and his hair was white. This venerable Astartes was an example of just how little even the Legion's Apothecaries knew about an Astartes' enhanced physiology. His face was as battered and gnarled as ancient oak, but his body was as wolf-tough, honed by years of fighting and not yet made weary by age. Qruze spoke softly, expecting others to make the effort to listen, and believed that it was his quiet tone that had, over the years, earned him the nickname "the Half-Heard." But his fellow Battle-Brothers knew that this was not so. Qruze's wits were not as sharp as they had once been, and he often appeared tired or inappropriate in his commentary or advice. He was known as "the Half-Heard" because his pronouncements were not listened to too closely. Despite their perceptions of him, Qruze was not ignorant to this fact. In truth, he knew full well why he was called "the Half-Heard," and it was not because he spoke softly. Qruze knew he was a relic of a time long passed for his beloved Legion. But he would never take his brothers to task for he was honourable and cared not for petty insults. Qruze believed he stood as a wise father-figure to the XVIth Legion, and no one had the spite to inform him otherwise. There had been several quiet attempts to deprive him of company command, just as Qruze had made several attempts to become elected to the First Captaincy of the Legion. By duration of service, he should have earned that position many times over. Captain Garviel Loken believed that Horus regarded Qruze with some pity and could not abide the idea of retiring him. Qruze was an irksome relic, regarded by the rest of his fellow Astartes with equal measures of affection and frustration, who could not accept that the Legion had matured and advanced without him. Despite his stubborn, tiresome ways, he continually proved that there was mettle in him still. Iacton Qruze followed a somewhat outdated, personal code of honour. Despite his years of combat experience the venerable Captain approached warfare with a neutral, sober approach, and was known for chastising those who attempted to interject levity into discussions upon this subject, such as Captain Tarik Torgaddon. Notable for giving particularly long-winded and extraneous opinions, Qruze also had a habit of loudly proclaiming his agreement with Horus' plans, which greatly annoyed many of his fellow Battle-Brothers. After witnessing this behaviour, Primarch Rogal Dorn of the Imperial Fists Legion once said Qruze was a sycophant willing to say anything in order to retain the favour of his Primarch. After Horus was mortally wounded on Davin's moon and his apparent "miraculous" resurrection in the Temple of the Serpent Lodge, many of the Legion's officers, including Iacton Qruze, detected a change in his character. Though he could not quite put his finger on it, Qruze knew in his twin-hearts that the XVIth Legion had "lost its way." The Warmaster proceeded to use the warrior lodge present in the XVIth Legion to begin to subvert his officers and their Astartes to the service of the Dark Gods and to build support for his plan of rebellion against the Emperor. He took up the Emperor's old offer and renamed his Legion the Sons of Horus. Horus was now allied body and soul to the Ruinous Powers of Chaos, and he had a new vision for the Imperium with himself rather than the Emperor at its head. Renouncing his oath to the Emperor, Horus led his Legion into worship of the myriad Chaos Gods. All too soon, Qruze found himself not placed in the order of battle for his Legion's pacification forces and was forced to watch his Battle-Brothers with undisguised envy as they made preparations for war. Captain Garviel Loken felt a stab of sympathy for the venerable warrior. Approaching Qruze before a campaign against the Sirenhold, Loken asked the old officer for a personal favour: to watch over the Remembrancers Mersadie Oliton, Euphrati Keeler and senior Iterator Kyril Sindermann. When Qruze inquired as to why, Loken informed him that they were personal friends of his and that they kept him honest, reminding him of everything they ought to be as Astartes. This was a good enough reason for Qruze, for he knew deep in his bones that there was something big just over the horizon that the Space Marines could not see.
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