Kejene Teward Reiner

Kejene Teward Reiner is the Primarch of the XIXth Legion, the Midnight Host. He is a simple and down-to-earth Primarch: he leads by example and strives to instil bonds of brotherhood and loyalty in his Legion, especially from their transition as the Forlorn into the modern form. He may not have a mind for the big picture and intricacies of politics, but he is a skilled tactical commander and an inspirer of his men.

Landing on the frontier of an interstellar human empire, Kejene would join the Cassian Territories in their fight against invading xenos. However, when rebellions arose against the Commonwealth, Kejene became a wandering mercenary, fighting xenos and daemons as the defender of the frontiers. Eventually discovering the peaceful world of Melian, Kejene vowed to become its defender, recruiting and training the local militia into a fighting force capable of defending against both xenos and human oppressors. With his strength and reputation growing, he went on the offensive and within a few years had conquered the Cassian Territories and reforged them into the Cassian Commonwealth. It would be from this position of strength that he met with the Emperor and joined the Imperium.

Origins
Kejene Teward Renier’s pod cracked open on the frontier world of Tamonso, on the edge of the Cassian Territories, an interstellar human empire emerging from the Old Night that was continually harassed by Xenos pirates. Adopted by a family of hunters, Renier grew up, as all primarchs do, quickly, and before long he was working alongside the adults of the settlement doing odd jobs. It was here that he learnt not just the skills of the frontier but the importance of cooperation. He would grow to appreciate and value the opinions of others, never putting himself as their superior despite his obvious differences.

Renier eventually joined the Cassian Territorial Army after a bad harvest season. Here, Renier stood out like a flame with his enhanced physique, and showed a natural talent for combat and leadership, and was given a commission which quickly led to brigade command within a few years as the Territories continued to fight off Xenos.

Renier grew to dislike the negligence and iron-fisted mentality of the Cassian colonial overlords, which were much more interested in making profit for the aristocracy of the capital system and stamping rebellions than investing in the colonies or driving away the Xenos. He was on the frontlines when the rebellions, which had always been a smouldering problem, erupted into open war after several plagues disrupted trade networks. Deployed to Tamonso, Renier was given command of pacifying the planet. While his efforts bore some success, the rest of the Army were incapable of dealing with the frontier folk as equals and made relations far worse. After almost a year, with rumours of the plague spreading to Tamonso and no closer to destroying the rebellion’s local command, the General decided on a full-scale purge of key settlements on Tamonso and orbital bombardment of the rest. Appalled and unwilling to let this go on, Renier considered firing on the other Territorial Army units, but his brigade almost mutinied when word got out of the possibility. Defeated, Renier left his unit with a group of loyalists and seized control of a transport ship. As they left Tamonso, Renier watched the Army rain death on his homeworld.

In the chaos of the plague and rebellion, Renier’s desertion slipped under the radar, and he and his group of loyalists spent several years as wandering mercenaries, defending frontier worlds that had slipped from Cassian protection from the increasing Xenos raids. During this time, Renier began to innovate on his unit’s tactics and even parlayed with some Xenos groups, turning them against each other in an effort to stall the attacks. During this period, Renier worked with frontier militia and even Xenos groups in several operations to destroy what is now known to be Daemonic incursions into realspace and shutting down Dark Age abominations.

These years took a toll on Renier and his mercenaries and eventually they made landfall on Melian, a fertile and bountiful frontier world barely under Cassian control. War had not reached Melian yet, and Renier convinced the colonists to let his force be the “Aegis of this world” and stay, training and expanding the militia and allowing he and his veterans to recover and move into semi-retirement. For a few years the Aegis militia quietly built up defences and readied itself, but before long the Xenos raids picked up pace again, taking advantage of Cassian weakness, and Melian was in their sights. The Aegis held firm under Renier’s leadership, but a frontier agri-world would not be able to stand up to advanced aliens without the Territories’ help. Reluctantly, Renier broadcast a request for assistance. Cassian help did not arrive until Renier informed them that he and his men were deserters and willing to face punishment only if the Cassians helped Melian. It was only then that help arrived, but instead of arresting Renier and his men and leaving to deal with other Xenos raids, the occupation forces stayed put and began to impose a new government on Melian. When Cassian troops forcefully ‘requisitioned’ the harvest, it was too much. The Aegis rose up and freed Renier, who then expelled the occupiers from most of Melian, forcing the Cassians into fortified strongholds.

Understanding that the rebellion was his fight now, Renier expanded recruitment and increased the proficiency of the Aegis during this campaign, singling out the most promising to form the Raiders, a mobile force to “take the fight” to the Cassian strongholds. Outfitting civilian and militia bikes with modifications and weapons, the Raiders conducted years of successful campaigns disrupting Cassian outposts across Melian and seizing supplies that came from off-world. When the Cassian commander offered surrender, Renier accepted. Intelligence taken from the surrendered garrison revealed that many of the humans enslaved by Xenos pirates had been sold back to the Cassian government to work in black site projects.

This victory, and his track record in the past, caught the attention of several rebel factions who approached Renier, asking for his assistance. Knowing full well that the Cassian colonial governments would rather oppress, enslave and burn their own worlds than deal with outside threats, he willingly joined the cause. Over the next few decades, Renier struggled to maintain peace between the factions of the growing alliance. When some of his men attempted a coup against the rebel leadership to install Renier as commander, he sided against his loyalists and executed them himself, not wishing to be a ruler and believing in the cause of the rebels.

Renier’s tactics further evolved during this time, fully leveraging dropships and including heavy armoured units into his forces. The Raiders could now harry much further into the enemy’s lines, setting up guerrilla campaigns while the main Aegis force could now stand toe-to-toe with the best the Cassians could muster. Eventually, Renier discovered that the slaves that had been bought back by the Cassian government were in the capital system of Lorecad Epsilon, working to reactivating Dark Age technology for the Territorial Army in a desperate gamble to end the war. Going against the advice of the rebel leadership, Renier led a strike force of most of the Aegis and several rebel groups onto the capital world of Lorecad Prime itself, taking heavy losses but decapitating the Territorial leadership and shutting down their god-weapons before they were brought online.

With the war won, Renier was part of the process of reforging the Territories into a more equitable union under the new Cassian Commonwealth. When heading the garrisoning of one of these rediscovered dead worlds in the Dursaz system, Renier discovered an interstellar communications device and several now-standard Warp Drives which would have been far beyond anything the Commonwealth had seen. The Warp Drives were installed into prototype ships within the year, but the first few test ships were deemed lost when they did not return. However, these ships had worked, and they had entered Imperium territory. Swift capture and interrogation by an Expeditionary Fleet led to the Imperium realising this was a moderately advanced and stable interstellar polity, and the testimony of one of the Commonwealth’s leaders being an unparalleled warrior and leader fit the description of a Primarch too well. The Emperor himself caught wind of this intelligence while the Fleet dithered and he immediately dispatched the Expeditionary Fleet to the Commonwealth while he set forth to meet them. When the Fleet showed up in the Dursaz system Renier was one of the first to meet them, prepared for battle. A tense stand-off ensued, with the Fleet demanding Compliance while aggressively burning towards the system’s main planet of Dursaz VI. Days passed until the Fleet almost entered range of Dursaz VI’s orbital defences, when the Emperor Himself unexpectedly showed up in orbit ahead of schedule. The Emperor ordered the Fleet to hold outside the range of Dursaz VI while He met with Renier in a secluded location on Dursaz VI. He recognised His son for what he was and explained the glorious role that lay in wait for Renier. Renier explained that the decision to join the Imperium was not his to make, as he was not the ruler of the Commonwealth and would require deliberation with his government. A long discussion continued between the two as the Fleet waited, until its commander, apprehensive and worried, ordered the Fleet to enter orbit and begin bombardment. Before the Fleet could begin, a large Cassian armada exited the Warp, flanking and surrounding the Fleet. Before either group could open fire, the Emperor ordered the Fleet to stand down and hold at the edge of the system. Renier had convinced the Emperor to give him time to ask the Commonwealth to join the Imperium peacefully, with guarantees to an autonomous status.

Wargear

 * Artificer Armour
 * Combi-Plasma with attached power bayonet

[[Category:K]]