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War 11

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18 views2 pages

War 11

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Ciaphas Cain (pronounced KAI-a-fass KANE) was a commissar of the Officio Prefectus

who was assigned to service with the Astra Militarum and who was eventually hailed
as one of the greatest heroes of the Imperium of Man.

He was in active service during the last century of the 41st Millennium, and was
over 200 Terran years old when he was recalled into service during the 13th Black
Crusade of Abaddon the Despoiler.

It is certain that he survived more than a quarter of a standard century into the
42nd Millennium. Imperial propaganda made him out to be a great hero of the
Imperium in the 41st Millennium, although in truth by his own admission he was
primarily focused on his own survival during his long career.

However, Cain differed from many other Imperial commissars in that he would not
readily sacrifice his soldiers unless it ensured his own survival and he had no
interest in carrying out the savage discipline for which so many commissars were
known.

Cain tried his utmost to avoid engaging in actual combat, but usually was required
to do so to maintain his status as a "Hero of the Imperium," which ironically would
involve him in more dangerous situations than any he would usually have seen as a
simple commissar. He often found himself trapped by his own excuses, uncovering the
worst dangers of all in the very places he sought safety in.

He was responsible for many successful campaigns throughout his career and retired
to become an instructor for new Imperial commissars at a Schola Progenium. He
eventually died of old age and was buried with full honours as a Hero of the
Imperium.

Despite his death and state funeral at some point in the Era Indomitus, Cain is
still officially listed on active duty by the Officio Prefectus. Due to repeated
instances of Cain turning up alive when reports of his death were already fully
entrenched in Administratum records, as in the wake of his crash-landing on Perlia,
the Departmento Munitorum eventually issued standing orders that he should be kept
on the active roster at all times, no matter what reports anyone received to the
contrary. As the Imperium does not make mistakes, Cain is always officially listed
on active duty.

Contents
1 History
1.1 Cain's Memoirs
1.2 Origins and Early Life
1.3 Service History
1.4 Ghosts of Perlia
1.5 Tracking the Spawn of Damnation
1.6 After the 13th Black Crusade
2 Personality and Skills
3 Wargear
4 Sources
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History
Cain's Memoirs
Commisar Ciaphas Cain
Commissar Ciaphas Cain of the Officio Prefectus

In the early 42nd Millennium, Cain's private memoirs were published amongst the
ranks of the Inquisition. They were sequestered by order of the Inquisition, and
were kept and organised as the "Cain Archive" by Ordo Xenos Inquisitor Amberley
Vail with whom Cain had many encounters over his career, and shared a close working
and personal relationship.

Vail edited Cain's chaotic notes, and using information from additional sources,
such as the memoirs of Valhallan General Jenit Sulla, published 101.M42, made
available -- for the internal use only of the Inquisition -- first-person accounts
of several Cain missions, often annotated by herself.

It is worth noting, as Inquisitor Vail did in footnotes throughout the memoirs,


that Cain was a skilled liar and dissembler, however his narrative is refreshingly
honest concerning his shortcomings, and even, according to Vail, overly modest in
recording his victories against the enemies of the Imperium.

The Cain Archive was no intentional memoir; Cain apparently wrote it solely to
organise his own thoughts, and indeed expected that whatever Inquisitor found it
after his death would expunge the whole document. It should not be confused with
his official public memoir, To Serve the Emperor: A Commissar's Life. Inquisitor
Vail noted that the latter was not only far less candid than the private Cain
Archive, but comparatively poorly written to boot.

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