Acherius Erinyes

"There is only one law in this galaxy; kill or be killed. I certainly intend to kill."

- Acherius Erinyes Known to many as The Vulture, Acherius Erinyes is the leader of the all-Night Lord Raptor Cult known as the Hell-Screamers, and is perhaps the prime personification of what it is to be a Chaos Raptor. Selfish, sadistic, egotistical, and generally considering himself everyone's better, Erinyes and his fellow Raptors stalk the fringes of the galaxy, selling their services to any Chaos Warlord who might give them the opportunity to sate their bloodlust in battle.

Nostramo
Like many Night Lords, Erinyes grew up on the blood-stained streets of Nostramo, fighting every day just to survive. Yet strangely, while many died or where transformed into psychopathic killers, Erinyes found a way to thrive despite all the odds. He did through a very simple method, playing to all sides; he would join one murderous gang, only to feed their rivals information about their strengths and weaknesses. When the two factions inevitably came to blows, Erinyes would spread rumors throughout both sides to fan the flames of their conflict, and so the two gangs would eventually destroy each other. When all was said and done, only scattered criminals remained of the two factions, and thus Erinyes would assume a position of leadership, crafting a new faction of ruthless criminals from the remnants of the old ones. By the time he turned thirteen, Acherius Erinyes had become a feared Nostramoan Crime Lord, renowned for his guile and cunning.

Then the Night Haunter came, and tore down everything that Erinyes had built. With weeks his mighty syndicate had been reduced to a pile of corpses, Erinyes only escaping the slaughter by going into hiding and ceasing all of his criminal activity. A wise choice, it seemed, for Konrad Kurze had more dangerous foes than a pre-pubecent child to worry about, and thus Erinyes fell from his notice. However, despite the fact that the Night Haunter had ruined all his hard work over the years, Erinyes never blamed him for it. In fact, he largely admired him, seeing him as a sort of twisted role model for his future endeavors.

Those endeavors never came, as by his fourteenth birthday, Nostramo had fallen under Imperial compliance with the coming of the Emperor of Mankind. Three days later, Erinyes was taken from his homeworld by the newly formed Night Lords Legion as a recruit. Later, he learned that Konrad Kurze himself had named him as a prime candidate for his new Legion.

Amongst the Night Lords
While loyal to his Legion, Erinyes did not exactly make a exemplary Space Marine. Rather, he was cunning, sadistic, and extremely ambitious, a dangerous combination, but one that did allow him to rise quickly through the ranks and become a full Space Marine much more quickly than anyone else had anticipated. Having established himself as a dangerous cutthroat, Erinyes was posted as a member of the 35th Night Raptors Squad within the Night Lords' 13th Talon.

As a Night Raptor, Erinyes found himself amongst like-minded individuals, and even becoming Huntmaster of his squad after the unfortunate demise of his former commander on the Industrial World of Siren Primus (although there were rumors that Erinyes orchestrated his death). Fighting alongside his fellow Night Lords at the forefront of many notable campaigns, Erinyes eventually became known as The Vulture, due to his tendency for picking off the survivors of any of his squad's assaults one by one.

It was Erinyes' ambition to become a member of the Kyroperta, the inner circle of the Night Lords, as to become a confidant of Konrad Curze himself. Thus he frequently went out of his way to display his worthiness, usually through larger and bloodier acts of violence against the Night Lords' enemies, yet the recognition that he thought he deserved never came. Yet again, Erinyes did not blame his genefather, instead blaming his fellow Night Lords for stealing his glory. Thus did he vow to become the greatest and most powerful of their number, as to outshine his "rivals" and claim the honor and praise he believed were due to him. However, this vow only served to inflate his already enormous ego.

Turning Traitor
When the Night Lords did join the corrupt Warmaster Horus in his revolt against the Imperium, Erinyes did not question his Primarch's judgement, putting the loyalist Legions to the sword at the Drop Sight Massacre and the Battle for Terra. Like the rest of the Night Lords after Horus' death, Erinyes and his Night Raptors, who had long since become known as the Hell-Screamers during the Horus Heresy, spread terror throughout the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy. Their momentum was only stopped when the news came that Konrad Kurze, the Night Lords' beloved progenitor, had been killed. Erinyes was shocked by this revelation, for he had always considered the Night Haunter to be beyond the grasp of death, for He was death itself. With this news Erinyes swore bloody vengeance against the one who killed his genefather, only to have that vengeance denied when Kurze's killer, the Callidus Assassin M'Shen, was killed by former Night Lord Apothecary Talos Valcoran.

That single act was what finally drove Erinyes away from the Night Lords, for in his eyes, Talos being the one to avenge Kurze's death was the ultimate insult. It should have been him, the most ardent of the genefather's children, that returned to the Legion carrying M'Shen's skull in one hand and a bloodied blade in the other. His ego simply couldn't stand the "humiliation", and thus he and his Hell-Screamers planned to depart from the bulk of the Traitor Legion, but not before they had bolstered their numbers.

Erinyes contacted the leaders of two other Night Raptor Squads, the Night Blades and the Daemon-Reapers, requesting that they meet with him to discuss "plans for the future". Chosing to meet aboard the Strike Cruiser Avenging Shadow, the Raptors gathered on the bridge of the ship, yet Erinyes and his Hell-Screamers were nowhere to be seen. Sensing deception was afoot, Therak "The Flayer", Huntmaster of the Night Blades, turned to his Raptors... and facefirst into a blast of plasma that punched a hole clean through the Night Lord's skull.

Erinyes emerged from the shadows behind the two group, the barrel of his Daemonic Plasma Pistol still venting heat, and proclaimed that a change of management was in order, he was taking control of both Raptor Squads. Syveris Jokoth, Huntmaster of the Daemon-Reapers, bristled at this proclamation, and demanded that his Raptors kill Erinyes. In his rage, he never saw his lieutenant Kyber Rann impale him from behind with his Lightning Claw. Erinyes had bought Rann off with the promise of a high position within the Hell-Screamers. The rest of the Raptors, seeing how easily Erinyes had dealt with their respective Huntmasters, pledged their allegiance to The Vulture.

With more than 30 Raptors under his command, Acherius Erinyes set off from the Eastern Fringe aboard the Avenging Shadow, his newly-formed Raptor Cult in tow.

Personality
"How am I not superior to the common breed of Astartes? Let the the rabble fight their Loyalist kin tooth and nail, we of the Raptors shall simply wait until they have worn down their defenses... then we shall STRIKE!"

- Archerius Erinyes, at the Battle of the Cadian Gate