Leman Russ

Leman Russ was found upon Fenris, raised among wolves and then among men until he ruled as a king of that killing world, and even the Emperor is said to have taken his measure carefully before claiming him. He was a giant of vast appetite and vaster cunning, a warrior who wore the manners of a barbarian lord as a kind of armour, letting his enemies mistake savagery for stupidity until it was too late.

As primarch of the Sixth he became the Emperor's chosen executioner, the sanction loosed upon those who strayed too far. It was Russ the Emperor sent to bring Magnus of the Thousand Sons to heel, and the burning of Prospero, meant as an arrest and twisted into annihilation by Horus's whispers, became the darkest saga of his life.

When the Heresy split the galaxy, Russ held loyal without hesitation, hunting the traitor Legions with the same remorseless purpose he had once turned upon his errant brother. He was no diplomat and no schemer after thrones; he was a weapon, and he knew it, content to be the blade in the Emperor's hand so long as that hand pointed him at a foe worth the killing.