Erusar

"I am a Reaper, cast from the light unlike the rest of my brothers - who answer to my Primarch's whims. Instead, I lurk in the shadows and await those who will truly test my abilities, before I take their lives. I am not a Lion, I am a Reaper."

- Erusar the Fallen Angel

Once a proud member of the mighty First Legion, Moriat-Prime Erusar was among the five hundred space marines that, alongside Luther the Arch-Betrayer, were sent back to Caliban during the Great Crusade. Despite his pleas to go with his gene-father and undertake suicidal missions that others were unwilling to complete, Erusar's superiors declared that the Lion had no use for "paltry assassins". Stricken with grief and with his head hung low, Erusar joined his brothers upon Caliban. He would go on to eagerly join them in Luther's rebellion against the Primarch, striking down a dozen of his former comrades before being sucked away into the Sea of Souls, and would not appear for another millennia.

The Angels
Erusar would not be seen for another several millennia after Caliban's destruction. Awakening upon the surface of Kerus Prime - an Imperial Mining World within the Segmentum Ultima - Erusar would go into hiding for many months until a terrible fate befell Kerus Prime. Out of the darkness, deep underground, did an ancient and powerful race awaken from their 60 million Terran year slumber. The Necrons of Kerus Prime killed all in their sight, and it soon looked as though the world would fall into the hands of the dreaded xenos.

As the Imperium responded to the threat by sending various regiments of Imperial Guard, Erusar waged his own war against the Necrons. Forced out of hiding, the people of Kerus Prime finally bore witness to the Fallen Angel that had lived among them for so long as he tore his way through the ancient xenos race. Those who fought against the Necrons saw the mysterious Angel accomplish many spectacular feats upon the battlefield; from tearing the head of a Necron Cryptek from its shoulders, to slamming his heel down upon the grotesque Wraiths, it seemed as though nothing was capable of defeating the enigmatic warrior. They were soon proven wrong.

While Erusar's presence upon the battlefield unwittingly inspired the Imperial forces, they were still suffering a tremendous amount of casualties. Eventually, word spread that the only hope for Kerus Prime was the mystifying warrior dressed in a regalia of black power armor. This caught the attention of a particular group of Space Marines, known to the galaxy as the Angels of Vengeance. The Chapter mobilized their First Company, led by Grand Master Urtael not to combat the Necron threat, but to see if this so called savior was actually a member of Luther's Fallen Angels.

Personality
Ever the cynic, Erusar's relations with the rest of his Legion were incredibly strained. Many believed that Erusar secretly held a death-wish for some past crime he had committed previously in his life; whether it be before or after his indoctrination into the Legion. He held no love for the shackles that were Legion organization - from chapters to battalions to companies, preferring to accomplish tasks with his own - often more dangerous - methods.

While he did take up the unofficial mantle of Moritat - a position given to those astartes that disregarded combat doctrine and displayed suicidal tendencies - Erusar was more lionhearted than suicidal. He would often take up what others considered to be impossibilities as meager challenges, and indeed, he was able to accomplish the impossible.

During his "sentence" to Caliban, Erusar's pride in his Legion slowly waned as the thought that he was no longer wanted by his gene-sire kept spinning in his mind. His pride became malice, Erusar often taught those young novices that came to him for guidance that they would not be accepted unless they submitted to their beck and call, and that they should instead seek not to be accepted by their brothers, but live for themselves, as he now did. So it was that Erusar's love for the First Legion disappeared, instead replaced by a burning fire of antipathy.

By
"Come hither, Sons of the Lion! Let me see how you roar!"

- Erusar to the Unforgiven

"I do not doubt that you are one step ahead of your foes, but you should know that I am two steps ahead of you."

- Erusar