Uriel Ventris

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Captain Uriel Ventris is a character from the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe. He is the young captain of the Fourth Company of the Ultramarines chapter of Space Marines and the main protagonist of the Black Library's Ultramarines series of novels (McNeill, 2004a; McNeill, 2004b; McNeill, 2005).

[edit] History

Uriel Ventris became captain of the Fourth Company of the Ultramarines Chapter, formerly a Legion of the First Founding, when its former captain, Idaeus, died on Thracia in a desperate last-ditch attempt to stop a Night Lords offensive. Despite his disquiet at Idaeus' unorthodox methods (he viewed the Codex Astartes as a guide rather than holy writ) Ventris saw merit in them, and in time would become just as unconventional as his mentor.

His first mission was to Pavonis, escorting an Adept, Ario Barzano (later revealed to be an Inquisitor), of the Administratum and ensuring his safety as the Adept sorted out the lack of tithes and general incompetence of the planetary government. Added to this was a series of raids by the Dark Eldar which had been going on for six years. Ventris successfully handled both problems, defeating a civil insurrection by disgruntled nobles and crushing the Dark Eldar and their human collaborator in the tomb of the C'tan known as the Nightbringer. Unfortunately for the living races, the Nightbringer escaped into the cosmos...

Ventris' next task was the defence of Tarsis Ultra, a world threatened by a Tyranid hive-fleet. Despite the best efforts of the Ultramarines, the Mortifactors and Inquisitor Kryptmann of the Ordo Xenos, the outlying worlds of the system were lost and Tarsis Ultra itself almost overrun. Only the destruction of the Norn (hive) Queen at the hands of Ventris and the Deathwatch kill-team saved the planet from destruction. But in destroying the Hive Queen, Ventris had deserted his men, and upon returning to Macragge a furious Sergeant Learchus reported this breach of the Codex Astartes to the Chapter leaders.

Ventris was spared the expected execution and instead given a death-oath by Marneus Calgar: he and his faithful companion Sergeant Pasanius were to seek out "a place of dark iron" where twisted reflections of the Space Marines were being wrought. Shortly after departing Macragge, Ventris' ship was seized by a daemon, the Omphalos Daemonium, and the two Marines found themselves deep within the Eye of Terror on Medrengard, home to the Iron Warriors Traitor Marines. The daemon, seeking his rival's destruction, sent them forth, and Ventris soon linked up with a band of renegade Space Marines and two surviving Guardsmen from a previous Iron Warriors victory. At the same time, Warsmith Honsou, under whose fortress the twisted Marines were being created, was under siege by his rivals. As the fighting raged, Ventris and Pasanius succeeded in destroying Honsou's labs and unwittingly releasing the Heart of Blood, enemy to the Omphalos Daemonium. Later Uriel, Pasanius and a group of Unfleshed, mutant rejects of experiments the Iron Warriors were attempting to make space marines escape on the Omphalos Daemonium's daemonengine transport. Honsou acquires a newborn clone trooper of Uriel from when he was inside the womb of a Daemonculaba, the giant brood monsters that Uriel and Pasanius were sent to destroy in the first place. Honsou then travels to the remainder of the renegade Marines and offers them a place in his Grand Company. Honsou is accompanied by a newborn Iron Warrior whose' features are identical to Uriel's.

Uriel and Pasanius have escaped however (albeit the fact Honsou had Pasanius' bionic arm cut off), and are now attempting to reach their homeworld, as will be revealed in the long-delayed, upcoming book The Killing Ground.

[edit] References

• The Ultramarines series of novels
  • McNeill, Graham (2004a). Dead Sky, Black Sun. Nottingham: Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-148-X. 
  • McNeill, Graham (2004b). Warriors of Ultramar. Nottingham: Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-262-1. 
  • McNeill, Graham (2005). Nightbringer. Nottingham: Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-163-3.