Ciaran

"Knowledge may be power, but information alone is useless in the hands of those who know not what to do with it."

- Watch Captain Ciaran

Ciaran is an Astartes of the Twilight Shadows Chapter and a Watch Captain of the Deathwatch Watch Fortress Malepertus. Born on the Twilight Shadows Home World of Scáth, Ciaran is something of an oddity of a officer due to his preference for operating alone.

History
The Twilight Shadows are a Astartes Chapter focused on gathering and hoarding information. Little is known about the life of even their most distinguished officers. Like all Twilight Shadows Ciaran was born on Scáth, a dim colorless world and follows the tradition of using a false name. Thus Ciaran is almost certainly not his birth name though for all uses and purposes it is his name. The earliest records of Ciaran are when he was already a fully fledged Astartes, serving in a Tactical squad focused on stealth to sabotage enemy defenses. From trapping traitor artillery, to bombing Ork tanks and Gargants, much of his actions would hardly seem glorious by the standards of other Space Marine Chapters despite his impressive kill count.

Infiltrator
After 30 years of service, Ciaran would be nominated for a unique and dangerous position within his chapter; Infiltrator. Unlike the Tactical squad he had previously served on, Infiltrators worked alone, (that in itself is unusual for Astartes), and instead of focusing on sabotage, worked more like assassins. Instead of planting bombs or Teleport homers or finding intel, Infiltrators focus on killing as many enemies (preferably commanders) as they can before being discovered. While extraordinarily useful for their ability to kill enemy commanders and greatly respected by the Chapter, many other Chapters look down on such cowardly tactics. Furthermore, unlike other marines who rely on their squad mates, once discovered, Infiltrators have almost no support from the rest of the Chapter and have only their owl wit, will, and equipment to rely upon to survive, often in the heart of the enemy.

For 30 more years Ciaran braved mission after mission, coming near to death countless times. Once after killing a Ork Warboss, Ciaran was discovered by the horde as it descended into infighting. After losing vox contact with Ciaran for a nearly a month as the Orks were being suppressed by the rest of the Chapter and Imperial Guard forces the Chapter was forced to declare him killed in action. Less than a week later Ciaran would walk into a Imperial Guard camp, clad in armor shattered beyond recognition and covered in wounds ranging from burns to lacerations. This led to the story among the guard of the unkillable Space Marine who stalked in the shadow of Death.

First Deathwatch Service
Being pressed by the Deathwatch to second marines for service, the Chapter Master of the Astartes decided to recommend Ciaran. Due to the stories of his kill and durability, he was excepted and inducted in the Deathwatch without hesitation. Given his past history it quickly became obvious what role he was most suited for and assigned to the position of Kill-marine. One set apart for solo actions that do not require the deployment of an entire Kill Team. For the entirety of his 50 years of service he would only call for aid in the field under the most extreme of circumstances. During which time he would also work alongside a great number of non Astartes as he was often deployed in areas not considered important enough to warrant deployment of the already overstretched space marines. He would fight alongside and even lead Rouge Traders, Imperial Guard regiments, Mechanicus fleets, and even Inquisitors. Either to defeat vile Xenos forces, or even just to secure transportation.

By the end of those 50 years, Ciaran returned to his chapter notably different. Having spent so long working alongside mortals having changed him. While he still preferred to fight alone, he had gained considerable leadership skills when it came to bringing multiple different forces to work together.

Second Deathwatch Service
After the Macharian Heresy, when the Deathwatch Watch Fortress Malepertus was established in the Eressa sector, Ciaran's skills were requested again by the Deathwatch, this time to serve as a Watch Captain.