Prince Yriel

Yriel is a scion of the ancient house of Ulthanash and the supreme naval commander of Iyanden, a craftworld already half-emptied by catastrophe. Gifted with a genius for war and cursed with a pride to match, he served as his people's High Admiral until a bitter clash with the craftworld's Farseers drove him into self-imposed exile. Rather than bow to their counsel, he abandoned the craftworld altogether.

In exile Yriel became a corsair, gathering a pirate fleet he named the Eldritch Raiders and roaming the void beyond the craftworlds, beholden to no authority but his own. For a time he made himself a legend among the reavers of the stars, raiding where he pleased, his skill undimmed by his estrangement from the home that had spurned him. Yet Iyanden was never truly out of his thoughts.

When the great devourer came, and the tyranid swarms of Hive Fleet Kraken fell upon Iyanden and all but annihilated it, Yriel could not stand aside. He returned with his fleet at his people's darkest hour, but found the craftworld so gravely wounded that ordinary weapons would not suffice to save it. In desperation he broke open the Shrine of Ulthanash and drew forth the Spear of Twilight, an artefact holding the baleful energies of a dying star, so mighty that it slowly burns away the soul of whoever wields it.

With the Spear in hand Yriel turned the tide, slaying a Hive Tyrant with a single stroke and severing its swarms from the will of the Hive Mind. Iyanden was saved, and Yriel was restored to his rank as Autarch and High Admiral, but at a terrible price. The Spear cannot be set aside without killing its bearer, and so it sustains his life even as it steadily consumes it, binding hero and curse together beyond any parting.

In later days Yriel's doom took a stranger turn still. Slain in battle, he was raised again by the prophet Yvraine of the Ynnari, who revealed that the Spear of Twilight was in truth one of the croneswords, the god-slaying blades her cult seeks. Restoring it to its true form, she returned him to life to lead Iyanden once more, weaving his tragic fate into the great and desperate gambit of the Reborn.