Tearlach Rosenstein

Tearlach Rosenstein was a pupil of Phillip Ancalya before he was appointed as full-fledged inquisitor in 490M41. His works include numerous studies on human and alien psykers and he wrote many books and thesises about future human evolution. That granted him a brand of radical and it was no surprise that he was accused of being part of polypsykana faction. Tearlach's works were so upsetting that Arch-Cardinal d'Anglos finally set number of witch-hunters after him.

After d'Anglos Incident 491M41, Tearlach Rosenstein was declared Excommunicate Traitoris and Extremis Diabolus. Even now, in 999M41, Tearlach haunts in stories and rumours, and regular reports of him are made in Bassenheim Triangle. But what are the chances, he must be almost 550 years by now.

Imperial records
Nothing about Tearlach is commonly known and only inquisitors associated with him in some way or another came to know him. After his fall from grace, even those few denied they ever knew this wretched man. Great deal of mystery shrouds Tearlach and his story.

Early Life
Tearlach Rosenstein was born sometime around 445M41. Most likely he was born in a city of Rosenstein, on Velgram's World in the Trail of Saint Seren sector. In 450M41, Velgram's World got attacked by an unknown force that took most of the Rosenstein City's habitants as captives and left. Imperial forces were too slow to react for that outrageous act from unknown faction but it was of no use. Velgram's World had lost one of its most thriving cities.

Tearlach, in turn, didn't get caught or killed during that day. But the ruins of Rosenstein City were lethal for four year old kid and he was starving. Young child grew into instict-driven beast, ate dead humans and after they were gone, he started to hunt birds and rats and other animals that populated the place. In couple of years, Tearlach grew into his teens and as he grew in strenght and lenght, also his psychic abilities started to awaken then. He became "vermintongue", psychic talent of left-alone psykers, who create bonds with animals by psychic means. This in turn turned Tearlach even more feral and inhuman.

This much was concluded by inquisitor Phillip Ancalya of Ordo Hereticus, head of Ancalyan's Cabal, when he came to investigate the area near and around Rosenstein City. It was then said that city was tainted by devil and not even outlaws set their foot inside the city's former borders. Tearlach's evergrowing psychic abilities made poltegeist effects and other unusual phenomena inside the city that scared the people of Velgram's World. As inquisitor Phillip Ancalya had no more pressing matters in his hands, he was assigned by Ordos Bassenheim to investigate the city. With his first pupil, Ceridwen Lothringen, inquisitor found out that rogue psyker had lived unnoticed inside the area. Instead of destroying this tainted creature, Phillip Ancalua decided to capture it. In time, Tearlach was captured by inquisitor and his acolyte and shipped on An Romos Prime, where his headquarters were stationed.

Back to human
It took ten years to retain Tearlach's humanity. During this time, Ceridwen Lothringen was granted a title of inquisitor and she was the one who dubbed Tearlach as "Vermintongue". Phillip named this poor creature after his dead son and the place he was founded and so the rogue-psyker that had terrified the whole planet almost for a decade, was named Tearlach "Vermintongue" Rosenstein, his status as human retained and he was assigned to Schola Progenium Heios. Before his reposition into Schola Progenium, Phillip Ancalya set encarta maleficarum in him, a set of protecting wards incorporated into his cerebral cortex.

After all the efforts Phillip Ancalya saw for Tearlach, his new acolyte became stable psyker, and powerful one indeed. In 460M41 Tearlach's psychic powers were considered as Delta-minus and he became ever more powerful due the rigorous training in Schola Progenium. Phillip Ancalya had also asked primaris psyker Hugh Hanson to teach everything he knew for Tearlach.

When Tearlach reached an age of 25 years in 470M41, his psychic powers were granted a stamp of "extreme psychic aptitude", Delta-plus. He served as a servant for Canoness-Superior Angelique of Order of White Maiden on Saint Seren's Hope for three more years after what Phillip Ancalya took Tearlach under his wings for good and granted him a title of explicator. Phillip Ancalya shamelessly used Tearlach's natural talent of mind probing psychic powers for interrogating purposes in his investigations. Tearlach even managed to uncover the secrets of forbidden art of changing memories, which is known in certain cirles as Memento Extremis.

Year before the Incident
Tearlach Rosenstein, after his mentor and master gave him more freedom, started his own studies with Phillip's blessings. Tearlach took part in Ordo Xenos's chamber militant's, Deathwatch's, operations and captured great number of psychicalle highly active samples such as Eldars and Raxan xenos. In his fourties, 485M41, Tearlach worked on his little project, named as "Project Assignment", which consisted of massive amount of mind probed data from various races. It was said, that a Deathwatch marine stood for the whole project just behind Tearlach, ready to shoot him if seemed neccessary.

Tearlach published two thesises in 488M41. First one, "Psyche of Living Beings", consisted mostly of different views of psychic aptitude and average specialization of particular races's psychic powers. Second one, "Homo Sapiens Psykana", was Tearlach's own thoughts and proven points about future human evolution. He thought, that the whole humankind will turn into psychic race, such as Eldars (at least in his accounts). It is no wonder, that his thesises were met with such an outburst that Tearlach was on the edge of being burned as heretic, some even compared him to an ancient inquisitor-scholar legend Inquisitor Bassenheim, who was burned in M34.

With the influence the Ancalyan's Cabal possessed, Tearlach Rosenstein survived this occasion, though his works were strictly restricted for inquisitor eyes only. After couple of years work for Phillip, Tearlach gained a rank of inquisitor which was dubbed due his nature as "scholar-inquisitor". His psychic powers were considered as "extremely dangerous psychic aptitude" Gamma-plus, year was 490M41.

Crucible of Malediction
Even Phillip Ancalyan's best effort had not worked. Tearlach's psychic powers were for some reason unendingly growing and they were just reaching the critical limits.

Tearlach Rosenstein, unlike his tutor Phillip or acolyte colleague Ceridwen, joined Ordo Xenos and started his work with Dust Region. His breakthrough was, when he discovered a Haven Spire, Eldar corsairs's space station, deep inside the Dust Region and managed to destroy it with no more than eight Deathwatch space marines. During the event, Tearlach came accross an item which led him to a journey of discovering its origins. With highly advanced technical devices of Deathwatch he managed to define box's properties, which was essentially: souls. As Tearlach left for his journey, he kind of disappeared from every record, which possibly means he traveled on some rogue trader's vessels.

It was these times, when High Cardinal Astral d'Angols got his hands on Tearlach's thesises and decided to destroy this heretic inquisitor. As his suggestions and demands were sent to deaf ears in Ordos Bassenheim, he hired four witch hunters to track down Tearlach. He eventually succeeded in 491M41, when Tearlach landed on d'Anglos system for unknown reasons.

d'Anglos Incident
Tearlach, being silent and a bit pitiful man, silently accepted witch hunters's actions when he was captured and sent into d'Anglos's jails.

These news were nevertheless fast to travel accross, and it took no more than two weeks before Ceridwen Lothringen came to rescue Tearlach from the hands of corrupted cardinal. Before that, cardinal demanded a trial against Tearlach, for what the two inquisitors grudginly accepted, it was not their ground then. So a trial was set, major people of the planet sat in high seats and trial begun. After a while Ceridwen and Tearlach came into conclusion that it was no ordinary trial, but a trial to dispose them both for soem hideous reason yet undiscovered. The trial went for many hours until its climax, from where it all began.


 * “It doesn’t matter to us who walk in the light of the God Emperor of mankind. This Tearlach Rosenstein is a dangerous witch and by the guidance of the God Emperor he shall be purified through the cleansing flames!” said the Pontifex Urba Gotthard.
 * Ceridwen decided to rise of her chair, as Pontifex Urba was just preparing next line, and screamed so hard it made everyone's ears ache.
 * “I will not tolerate talk like that from a petty preacher of some pathetic frontier world on the edge of a sector!” Ceridwen screamed at Gotthard and whole High Court. “You are only big mouthed hypocrites that firstly have no right and secondly no real reason to scrutinize, not to even talk about judging an agent of the Holy Inquisition, the only institute in this God forsaken sector that works even near properly!”

These particular lines finally cracked the camel's back and the real point of the trial was there for everyone to see. Armed thugs surrounded the inquisitors and launched volleys of autogun fire against them. Unarmoured as they were, Tearlach was forces to push protective field around the two inquisitors. Hundreds and hundreds of projectiles were captured in a sphere of psychic energy that Tearlach manifested. Unable to run away from the situation, Ceridwen tried to reach the planet's Arbites forces in vain. It all took just couple of minutes when Tearlach's focus got bit loose and one bullet hit his shoulder. This launched series of psychic cacophonies that streched over the cardinal's palace killing weaker stronger minds and disintegrating those of weaker one. Tearlach's psyche was finally pushed too far and he had cracked encarta maleficarum runes that had been infused in his cerebral cortex.

So Tearlach's raw psychic energy was unleashed in unfashioned ways disintegrating anything it touched. Sphere of deamonic psyche exploded in every direction burning bodies in green flames and sending souls straight into warp. Devastation of his psyche was unexplainable. Ever-growing psyche was gamma-plus before encarta maleficarum was destroyed, after the runes were destroyed, it was something between beta and alpha class psyker. Ceridwen Lothringen, stood by Tearlach's side and watched the devastation, as she was like a sister to him, and he could not harm her. Raw power of warp flowed like an unstoppable tide accross the lands rasing buildings to ground and setting their ruins into flames. "In the name of the Emperor, what have I done?"

- Tearlach Rosenstein to himself after d'Anglos Incident

When ever-raging warpflames and witch-fires were set upon the ruins of d'Anglos metropolises, Tearlach's psyche got ever more brutal and uncontrollable. Ceridwen's report explain that the shape of man itself was shifting, changing and bubbling with furious fashion.

Finally, a warp gate was opened in/around the planet that furiously spat demons and their unholy bile on the planet's ever darkening ground. Ceridwen, unable to kill his brother (of a kind), ran away from the planet and saved her own skin, the cardinal world d'Anglos Prime was doomed anyway. After informing every possible authority on planet to evacuate everyone possible out of the planet, she took her private lander and flew away, leaving Tearlach bursting his unholy energy on planet and cursing her cowardness.

Official records state, that an unknown source declared inquisitor Tearlach Rosenstein Extremis Diabolus. This was later, by astropathic research, confirmed to be Tearlach Rosenstein himself. Though it was after Ceridwen Lothringen had given her report to Ordos Bassenheim's High Conclave, so all records were destroyed.

Following Years
After the warp-gate opened around d'Anglos, the world was consumed by demons and it could not be destroyed by the drifting warp-energy around it. The gate swelled into storm in a matter of weeks and is now known as Storm of Tears.

Anything conserning Tearlach Rosenstein himself was more or less unbelievable, mythic and contradictionary. After hundreds of sight-reports, Phillip Ancalya recruited his former pupil, Ceridwen Lothringen, for the hunt of Tearlach and so they started to root out the mystery. In 491-497M41, Tearlach Rosenstein seemd to be in two places all the time. Many pictures and materials of him were brought in front of Phillip and Ceridwen, that stated that Tearlach had been confirmed on planet's on the same day, separated by hundred of lightyears. After 497M41 it suddenly stopped and all became more clear for hunters.

Ceridwen, nevertheless, got after Ancalyan's Cabal's istvaanian nature and in 502M41 he exterminated Phillip Ancalya, Joseph Ancalya, Ansgar Fex, "Black Crow" and many other inquisitor's that had been participated in Ancalyan's Cabal. During this time all sources about Tearlach's whereabouts got fewer and fewer and when former leader of Ordos Bassenheim High Conclave was burned ofr heretic beliefs in 506M41, there was no sign of Tearlach anywhere. Like he had vanished in thin air.

Legacy
After Tearlach's mysterious disappearing in 506M41, there have been some stressing news of ever-growing warp activity in northern sectors. Prior the Time of Ending, this was not regular, but when Time of Ending starteed in 750M41, many other things drew Ordos Bassenheim of ever-growing danger of demons and abomitions in northern areas.

Tearlahc Rosenstein was never found.

Quotes
"Don’t worry Vermintongue, I’ll get you out."

- Ceridwen Lothringen to Tearlach.

"I don't need you to answer me, I can find the answer just as easily myself"

- Tearlach Rosenstein when questioning Callidus assassin.

Trivia
According to http://www.behindthename.com/ Tearlach means "instigator".