+ inload: Brother Aper Vipsanion +

+inload: Brother Aper Vipsanion+

+ Aper Vipsanion is a native of Manes Otra, an obscure system rimwards of Macragge. Manes Otra orbits its star closely, but habitable zones exist near the Marco Culumo mountains thanks to the prodigious amount of cloud generated through hyper-evapotranspiration. As a result, the people live in mist-shrouded heathland despite the vast majority of the surface being rad-scarred wastes.

Legionary Vipsanion

+ Manotrans, as the natives are called, traditionally wear great torcs around their necks fashioned from sea-ivory that turned from peach to a blotchy pink under dangerous levels of radiation. Since Compliance in the mid-decades of the Great Crusade, these have been replaced with rad-counters, but the natives continue to regard items worn around the neck and chest as protective. Such superstitions, though officially frowned-upon, are generally tolerated as part of the cultural heritage of the planets of Ultramar. Guilliman regarded diversity – where it did not conflict with the Imperial Truth or the aims of the Imperium of Man – as beneficial; offering unique insights into specific theatres of war.+

+ Vipsanion has hinted at his heritage by decorating his chest armour with the legend 'CXC'; a numeral representing the 190th Chapter to which he belongs. Besides this forgiveable indulgence, Vipsanion has embraced the culture of the Legion like almost all Astartes, subsuming his personal desires to the good of the squad; and to the Legion as a whole. This is demonstrated not least through his name – like almost all Ultramarines, he has chosen a new name from the Core Worlds of Macragge, substituting it for his birthname Jorés Joréssen as an act of personal compliance.+

+ The mark II power generator pack is Martian standard; containing a stacked fusion core. The mark IV suit saw number of marked improvements over the Crusade armour, most notably in the 'under the hood' power generation. 

+ This pattern of power pack produced prodigious amounts of heat, which needed to be vented through three fanned heat sinks, and necessitated bulky cabling vulnerable to attack. It also produced a low hum that set the teeth on edge when brought in close proximity; though autosenses inherent to even the earliest helmets filtered this out.+

+ Vipsanion has a white helmet stripe running down the crest of his helm, a common tactical marking on campaign that marked the marine out as a standard line trooper. This was largely redundant, but it was nevertheless common amongst older Legionaries, or those who preferred to keep campaign armour markings where they did not interfere with current duties.

+ This shot also shows the chemical snows upon which the 190th were deployed during the lamentable campaigns of the Olympian Hegemony Clearances, a notorious set of actions that foreshadowed the actions of the Great Scouring. The Clearances involved a number of Chapters, though the 190th, under their Honour-Captain Sulla Proxemides, were notable for their aggressive prosecution of the Iron Warrior defenders. A number of Ultramarines of the Chapter were censured following the campaigns.+

+ Vipsanion has been deployed with an augmented auspex set to defeat rad-interference and the iron Warriors targetted baffling measures. Early in the campaign, many Ultramarines of the 121st were lost to minefields shrouded to even sophisticated narrowband auspex scans – a lamentable oversight that well illustrates the dangers the Imperial forces faced when attacking rebels loyal to Horus, who had access to standard protocol measures.

+ The augmented auspex set required heavy cabling to feed its prodigious power consumption, and the high-gain pick-ups also required modifications to the bearer's armour to override interference – these can be seen embedded on Vipsanion's forearm bracer.+

+ Having served for just over fifty years in the Legion, which included Compliance actions on thirty-eight planets, numerous xenocidal campaigns, and seven tours of duty following the Calth Atrocity, Vipsanion was killed in action during the Clearances by Iron Warrior action in the Carybid pass of Sorrow Peaks.

His body was unable to be reclaimed in the narrow pass, and his geneseed had unfortunately decayed beyond viability by the time the Ultramarines could force the route.+

+++