| rdfs:comment | - Within a few years of his Legion's reunification with their Primarch on Nostramo, Zharost was one of the few ill-favoured and withering remnants of Terran Astartes that still served in the VIII Legion. He was disgusted by those who had come after him, the Nostraman criminals who supplanted the original Terra-born Legionaries, and now made up the majority of the Night Lords. A few centuries earlier, he had been born in the prison sinks beneath Albia, which was the realm of the banished and the condemned. He was raised from this hell when the Great Crusade had already left the light of Sol, though only by a few standard decades. That made him old compared to most of the Legionaries of the VIII Legion, but young compared to some. Zharost understood, better than anyone, that his Legion had bec
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| abstract | - Within a few years of his Legion's reunification with their Primarch on Nostramo, Zharost was one of the few ill-favoured and withering remnants of Terran Astartes that still served in the VIII Legion. He was disgusted by those who had come after him, the Nostraman criminals who supplanted the original Terra-born Legionaries, and now made up the majority of the Night Lords. A few centuries earlier, he had been born in the prison sinks beneath Albia, which was the realm of the banished and the condemned. He was raised from this hell when the Great Crusade had already left the light of Sol, though only by a few standard decades. That made him old compared to most of the Legionaries of the VIII Legion, but young compared to some. Zharost understood, better than anyone, that his Legion had become willing servants to terror after the reunification with its Primarch, merely for the sheer joy of it. When the Emperor passed His Decree Absolute following the Council of Nikaea, Zharost sought a private audience with First Captain Jago Sevatarion, who had been left in temporary command of the Night Lords in their Primarch's absence. He demanded that Sevatar render judgment against the Legion's Librarius -- and against him. Enraged by his demands, Sevatar leapt upon Zharost, and struck him in the chest with his deactivated Chain-Glaive, knocking the Chief Librarian to the chamber floor. He then rendered his judgement -- Zharost was cast out. He would no longer be of the VIII Legion -- his hands were to be stained red. The First Captain condemned Zharost to death should they ever meet again. As Zharost made to leave he tried to argue with Sevatar that their Legion had stood for something once. The First Captain rolled his eyes, and dismissively waved the disgraced former Chief Librarian away. Before he could stop himself, Zharost's rage got the better of him, and he summoned forth his innate psychic abilities. Before he was even aware that he had lost control, he had used his powers to slam the First Captain with a wave of power into the Primarch's command throne. As he slammed Sevatar's head into the throne, he angrily accused the First Captain and his benighted Nostraman brethren of having murdered the Legion with their cruel and sadistic ways. But before he could continue his diatribe, Sevatar utilised his own innate, and hidden, psychic abilities to strike back at Zharost. Shocked at the unexpected attack, the Chief Librarian staggered back, blood pouring from his mouth. Sevatar did not rise from the throne to follow him, and with an effort, he warned Zharost to get out of his sight. The Chief Librarian returned to Terra, to the place of his birth, amongst the prison sinks beneath Albia. Eventually he was hunted by an unknown assailant, an Astartes clad in plain grey and unburnished armour, and captured. Zharost believed that his executioner should at least know the truth about whom he was punishing, and if he was going to die, he would do it on his own terms. Facing his imminent execution, he utilised his psychic powers to telepathically show his would-be executioner his past. Zharost shared his personal history for an eye-blink of time, showing the other Astartes every moment of his life. When he had finished, he requested that he be allowed to see the light of the sun one last time before his death. And so Zharost used his powers to look into the other Astartes' mind, but was stunned by what he saw -- betrayal, broken oaths, and the deaths of sons at the hands of their fathers. He saw what the vision of Imperial Truth and light had now become in the broken galaxy beyond Terra. Zharost finally knew why the other Astartes had hunted him down. Once Zharost recovered from the revelation, the member of the Knights-Errant of Malcador the Sigillite who stood before him informed the former Chief Librarian that he had not come to judge him, for that right belonged to another. Zharost's fate following this encounter is currently unknown.
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