- also inspired to make an omake, a Shadow Guard Infiltraitor/ former Chaplain Aspirant
Looking forward to it!
[X] Plan: Seeds are Grown!
Now for someone a bit different who can serve as either a friend or foe to the Shadow Guard.
Name: Meralinda the Honest Advisor, amongst many others
Faction: Slaanesh/ Tzeentch (rumored)
Rank: Daemon Prince
Quote: "Trusf me. I know that my idea seems unconventional, but have I ever steered you wrong before?"
Meralinda the Honest Advisor, aka Remcalla the Servile, aka Ambition's Folly, aka the Loving Wife, aka the Faithful Adjutant, amongst other names, is a rather atypical Daemon Prince of Slaanesh, so much so that some daemonologists claim her true loyalty is to Tzeentch and is running a very, very long game. She, for that appears to be her preferred form, is largely honest, rarely uses sorcery, and most Imperial citizens who encounter her don't even realize it. She does not hunt the souls of average Joes, for she sees that as beneath her, but instead seeks to corrupt the great and the good, or occasionally aid the truly corrupt in exchange for future favors.
Meralinda does not seem to seek to rule in her own name, but to guide others to rule in theirs. Her operations commonly start when she possessed an untrained psyker. In order to prevent burning out the flesh sack, she usually has to hold back most of her power, but she considers the sacrifice worth it. Meralinda has a preternatural eye for talent, and hunts down individuals who have the seeds of greatness within them, but have not yet achieved it. Usually she goes after members of the Ecclesiarchy, but has been known to aid nobles, merchants and even the occasional Inquisitor. She rarely aids members of the military, for her strategic skills leave something to be desired, but does occasionally help out a firebrand commander with the politics of the job. Meralinda's reputation is such that several would-be Chaos Lords and radical Inquisiors summon her for advice. Her political skills are such that she can take a preacher responsible for a small shrine and turn him into the Cardinal. According to legend, she has done just that. Merchants become cartel leaders, nobles become leaders of planets or even whole sectors. Inquisitors grow in power and influence. Some say that Meralinda has brought individuals to seats among the High Lords.
Eventually, Meralinda gains the unquestioning trust of the lord she serves. Things often go downhill from there for the mark. The Cardinal's sermons start to include heretical themes. The merchant lord starts dealing in goods of questionable provenance. The noble begins to seek greater and greater depravities. The Monodominant Inquisitor becomes more and more certain of his righteousness, and less and less able to separate the wheat from the chaff of Imperial society. Sooner or later, the forces of Order come to purge the former hero. By then, though, Meralinda is nowhere to be found.
The fall of Meralinda's target in this way is not as common as the Ordo Malleus would think or prefer. More often, the mark's soul goes on untainted. Commonly this occurs when Meralinda chooses a noble as her target. Instead of merely being an advisor, she becomes his or her spouse. She then bears them children, each of which is born corrupted by their mother's touch, but never externally through mutation. They all appear outwardly to be loyal servants of Him-On-Terra, but hide dark depravities within their soul. Often she seemingly dies in childbirth or while the spouse is pregnant, only to be reborn in the babe to corrupt the next generation. The glories of the ancestor fuels the corruption of later generations. Through this, whole lineages fall from His Light and many of them become Daemon Princes in their own right.
More often, Meralinda arranges it so that the lord remains pure, but his or her successor is less so. Then the original lord is killed or dies, the successor takes over and begins corrupting those under their authority, usually sidelining Meralinda so she doesn't interfere. Meralinda then contacts the Inquisition and uses the reputation gained serving the previous lord to attach themselves to a new one of higher rank, and the cycle repeats itself.
Something similar occurs when she is summoned as an advisor. She gains her summoner's trust and uses that trust to bring them to great heights, until they reach what she considers their peak. Occasionally this peak is the title of Daemon Prince, although not always loyal to the same God they originally served. The favors promised during the summoning then become exceedingly valuable. However, when Meralinda finds one of his subordinates to be more competent, she ensures the subordinate becomes the lord. The new lord always assumes that they are too smart to fall for her tricks, just like the their predecessor.
Needless to say, Meralinda doesn't much like it when her mark gets killed by some renegade Astartes. She has been known to blow her cover and burn out her host to get revenge in such cases. She also has been known to use her eye for talent to ensure that the best qualified individuals are in charge of the local defense forces or house guard to prevent such an occurrence. Alternatively she may choose to aid a renegade warband subtly in order to maintain her cover while simultaneously hurting the Imperium. This is more likely if she is between masters, or had her current one killed by the local authorities. Also, she may be an ally if she thinks she can use the chaos to free one of her children, whom she loves as best a Daemon Prince can, destroy evidence of her activities, or use the warband's activities to help motivate her current master to seek high office to prevent a similar scenario from happening again.
