Hey guys, I've been a long time lurker on the site, but this is my first time in the fan fiction section. I've always liked to write, and since I had a free night this evening I decided to start a background saga for the leader of my army. I put this together in about half an hour, so I think it might seem a little rushed and it might read as such. This is the introduction of the main character and his antagonist. The character's name, as I'm sure alot of you will notice, is a combination of horror master Lon Chaney and creature hunter Van Helsing. I'm a huge sci-fi fan, which is why I'm so attracted to the 40k universe, and one of my favorite "stories" is that of the 13th Legion of the Space Wolves. So, without further rambling, I give to you the first installment of the saga of Inquisitor L. Chaney van Helsing. Hope you all enjoy, and as always critiques are much appreciated.
The night was dark but crisp. Silence penetrated every shadow in a manner quite familiar to the veterans of the noble Imperial Guard. This was not the natural silence of a world at sleep; rather it was the eery, bone chilling silence of war. The kind of silence that preceeds an inevitable attack. It was for this reason that the men who held the line on the midnight shift were so unneasy. Trigger fingers itched and boots tamped as they waited, and waited and waited for an attack from an enemy they knew was out there, but had yet to see.
The catestrophic effects of this mysterious enemy had been seen for months before this night. A missing guardsman found mutilated, vox casters unexplainably sabotaged, rations discovered with thousands upon thousands of maggot like ceratures having seemed to appear overnight. But not once had any of the sentries heard or seen a trace of these ghostly assailants.
Suddenly, the silence was broken by the hollow fffwump of a grenade launcher, followed by a splash of green light as the flare illuminated the Imperial camp. What stood before the midnight sentries, on that crisp and eery night, was more terrifying than any alien or heretic the veterans of a thousand combined wars had yet witnessed. Glowing eyes were all most saw, but those lucky enough to be able to identify their attackers were the ones who had already been torn to shreds.
Only about half of them managed to get off but a single volley before their terrific foe was upon them, rending and tearing with tooth and nail. Blood splattered the ground and tents of the camp, while shreds of uniform floated on a light breeze. The screams were beyond comprehension, beyond fear and terror. These were screams from men who had but one thought on their mind: survival. As the ground became soaked with ichor, and blood and gore began pooling in the walkways of the camp, the clouds broke revealing a bulbous, ghost-white moon. And in the shaft of light before the last surviving trooper stood a fearsome creature, neerly 3 meters tall and another 2 wide at the shoulders; one that had only been spoken of in myth and legend for millenia. The blood of it's victims matted its fur and dripped from its claws. Slowly, the creature lowered its eyes to the level of the cowering trooper whom lay at its feet. As the beast snarled, revealing hideously wicked fangs, the trooper happened to notice a small shimmer in its eyes. That shimmer! oh how the trooper missed that shimmer, for it was the gleam so familiar to him that belonged to his life long friend, the friend who had disappeared two months prior. It was unmistakeable, the trooper had stared into those eyes from the day of his birth, for these were the eyes of his own brother. And then, as the beasts ghastly gang encircled the lone trooper, each of them let out a long, low, spine tingling howl. And then there was but one brother left.
Many hours after the beasts departed, bellies full with Imperial blood, a lone boy crawled from beneath a pile of ration crates. He had been living amongst the troopers for almost 7 years, following them and learning all that he could of their way of life. For all intents and purposes he was an orphan, never knowing who or what became of his parents. By no short miracle had these troopers rescued him from the streets of a nameless ghetto on a world that no longer exists. This boy was a ghost, but a lucky one in the eyes of his new found family. Until tonight. As the boy watched his pseudo family torn to shreds, not a single tear was shed. Such was the fear and anger this boy felt towards these horrendous creatures, that he had become instantly numb to all feelings as those he had come to love were anarchically annihilated before his very eyes.
Why he had survived while all others had perished, he had no idea. Nor did he care to know, for this boy, who had no home or family or even possessions beyond the clothes on his back, now had but one solemn purpose. He had sworn, as he watched the last trooper devoured in an orgy of blood and claw, that he would destroy any and every one of these creatures that the universe had released upon the citizens of the Imperium. This was the night that L. Chaney van Helsing considers the night of his birth.
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After that horrid night, Chaney had been picked up by a scheduled patrol and taken in for questioning. Although most of the investigators brushed off his story as little more than an ignorant boy misidentifying a known species, he remained adamant of what he had seen and of the evidence he believed proved his encounter. Were it not for the brief intervention of Inquisitor Massimo Ricci, the boy's sanity would most definitely had been questioned to the point of imprisonment. However, the passing Inquisitor intervened for reasons unknown, and from that point onward the boy's fate was seeled. With little other options, Chaney was thrust into a unit of the Cadian 108th Regiment where he quickly excelled in both physical and mental training. Although he never stood out as an exceptional marksman, his abilities in close combat impressed all of those, from the enlisted officers all the way to the high command of Cadia itself; for 12 years straight he was the title holder in the annual Cadian Trooper/Navy boxing tournament, an accomplishment that has yet to be matched. After years of service among the Shock Troopers, he was deployed alongside the Howling Griffons during the Valerian Purges. After numerous battles and too many close calls, this lowly, near anonymous trooper's tactical and physical prowess could not be helped but be noticed by the Griffons. Because he was well past the normal recruitment age, he was unable to join the ranks of the Adeptus Astartes. However, Chief Librarian Mercaeno of the Howling Griffons contacted Inquisitor Ricci with the information that he had an "abnormally adept individual who would prove to be of enormous benefit to his staff."
Be it coincidence or the God Emperor enforcing his mysterious will, Lon Chaney van Helsing was whisked into the care of Inquisitor Ricci, where he recieved tutelage in battling the xenos threats the Imperium faces. After many years of service, Chaney was nearing the completion of his training, and had it not been for the untimely death of Massimo Ricci at the hands of renegade inquisitor Quixos he most certainly would have been promoted to a full inquisitor much sooner. However, communicaes between Ricci and his tutor Lord Inquisitor Thorken revealed that Chaney was, in the eyes of his mentor, more than ready to conduct battle on a much larger scale against the xenos threat. In a series of unprecedented hearings, Chaney proved himself to a masterful tactician and highly competent inquisitor.
Finally, after all these years, he had the tools and clout necessary to battle the benevolent force that haunted him for all those years. Given near unlimited reach and the ability to recruit at his discretion, he began tracking down every bit of information he could about these mysterious creatures. He began immersing himself in the myth and legend of countless worlds over the course of millenia, and through this research he came to the conlcusion that he was dealing with nothing short of an infestation of the lycanthropic variety. Werewolves had officially been discovered in the Imperium.
Please keep in mind this is only the background of the main storyline, and the details of the Inquisitor aren't necessarily the focus. I realise that the part where he is "promoted to a full inquisitor" might not necessarily be the most accurate representation, but he is supposed to be an above average individual (even for those selected for inquisitorial service) with a singular devotion in life. Everything he does is in attempt to rid the universe of the werewolves, so I'm trying to establish a sort of "universe is working in mysterious ways" effect to help the character along. Hope you all enjoyed, and I'll be sure to get the next chapter started right away.
