‘The Primarch has vested his trust in me and I intend to repay this honour in blood – both mine and that of the enemy.’
– Captain Ferren Areios
The newly promoted Captain of the Sixth Company, Ferren Areios, was one of the first wave of recruits to be transformed into a Primaris Space Marine. Formally awakened during the earliest days of the Indomitus Crusade, he has since forged a reputation as an incredibly effective battlefield commander.
Originally known only by his forename, Ferren was born and raised in the bowels of a hive and was one of thousands of youths taken by Archmagos Belisarius Cawl to form the first generation of Primaris Space Marines. For millennia, Ferren was confined to the Ark Mechanicus Zar-Quaesitor, subjected to endless experimentation, training and thousands of years of enforced sus-an hibernation. Upon Roboute Guilliman’s resurrection, Ferren was among the recruits designated the Unnumbered Sons. It was known that Ferren had Guilliman’s genes, yet it had not been decided whether he would join the ranks of the Ultramarines or one of their many successors. Ferren’s training record came to the attention of the Primarch, who bestowed upon him the rank of Lieutenant before he had even been awakened. Ferren would serve as an adjutant to Captain Messinius of the White Consuls, and benefited greatly from this veteran officer’s experience.
It was Messinius who gave Ferren Areios the second part of his name, taken from ancient Martian myth. Alongside Messinius, Areios fought with distinction as part of Indomitus Crusade Fleet Quintus, participating in the Battle of Machorta Sound, in which he personally slew a Khornate Daemon Prince. As the years passed, Messinius came to rely more heavily upon Areios, granting him ever greater command responsibility, which he repaid with effective service. The Battle of Srinagar, fought against the Word Bearers, saw Areios suffer grave injuries at the hands of the Dark Apostle Pridor Vrakon. Upon recovering, Areios was expected to be fully inducted into the White Consuls Chapter and to continue his service alongside his mentor, Messinius. Roboute Guilliman, however, had different plans. Instead, Lieutenant Areios was inducted into the Sixth Company of the Ultramarines and immediately dispatched to participate in the ongoing fighting on Garrovire.
Within days of Ferren’s arrival, Captain Maximus Epathus of the Sixth, along with Lieutenant Varos, was slain by a possessed ally, leaving Areios as the most senior of the Company’s surviving officers. Assuming command of the depleted Sixth Company for the remainder of the campaign, Areios proved himself beyond all expectations. Leading a successful assault on a Blackstone Fortress, he oversaw the defeat of its complement of Traitor Legionaries and Chaos Cultists and personally slew the Butcher King, a member of the secretive group of Black Legion champions known as the Hand of Abaddon.
When he returned to Macragge, Ferren Areios met with Roboute Guilliman and was officially recognised as Captain of the Sixth and Master of the Rites. Thereafter, Areios joined Captains Ventris of the Fourth Company and Fabian of the Third Company in mopping up operations on worlds affected by the recent Plague Wars. It is this duty that has brought Ferren Areios and his company to the very border of the 500 Worlds of old, isolated in what has become part of the Plague God's domain. How Ferren will handle being pushed to the limits of his Chapter's creed by the Death Guard remains to be seen.
