At this time look at the legend of Saint Ollanius Pius, mythic embodiment of what a Guardsman ought to be – and his conflicting origins.
Ollanius Pius is a legendary determine, mentioned to be a Guardsman who sacrificed his life to avoid wasting the Emperor through the Siege of the Imperial Palace. He’s thought-about a Saint inside the Imperial Guard and his picture is commonly displayed on regimental banners. The Order of Ollanius Pius is the best army honor awarded within the Imperial Guard:
“…Lucian lifted the winged medal of the Order of Ollanius Pius. Bearing the golden face of an angelic youth, laurel leaves arrayed throughout his noble forehead, the medal represented the very highest honour a mortal man might earn within the service of the Imperium.”
Conflicting Origins of St. Pius
The query is which of the next two males is the true origin of Ollanius Pius? Or maybe each of their tales have intertwined over the millennia.
Ollanius Persson was born as one of many mysterious Perpetuals, and has lived so many lives that he has forgotten his true age. Nonetheless, he estimates that as of the Horus Heresy he was roughly 45,000 years outdated “give or take”, which might place his beginning round 15,000 B.C. within the metropolis of Nineveh.> If that is to be believed, it will make him even older than the Emperor, who in line with older sources was born round 8,000 B.C.. Having lived via all of recorded human historical past, he makes first-hand reference to historic and mythological occasions such because the being one of many Argonauts, taking part within the Battle of Austerlitz (through the Napoleonic Wars), the Siege of Verdun (through the First World Warfare), and the Battle of 73 Easting (through the Gulf Warfare), amongst others.
Ruins of Calth, from which Persson efficiently fled.
By the thirty first Millennium Ollanius Persson had turn out to be generally known as ‘Pious’ Oll Persson due to his religious perception within the Catheric faith and was a civilian farmer of Calth within the Ultramar system. Earlier than this, he had been a personal soldier within the Imperial Military who earned the proper to retire; being gifted with service-shares for a plot of land proportionate to his years served (rounded down – the Military all the time rounded down), he determined to money them in on Calth, taking over twenty hectares. He selected Calth for 2 important causes; the primary was that if service-shares have been used to purchase land on a world newly-opened for colonization, travel-fares to that world have been paid for. The second was that, out within the farther reaches of the Imperium, underneath the banner of the “New Empire” being cast by Roboute Guilliman and his Ultramarines, Persson felt that it will be simpler to apply his religion with out incident; non secular religion was broadly appeared down upon within the Imperium as unscientific nonsense.
Persson settled down on Calth, residing comfortably sufficient for eighteen years. The one indicators of his previous as a soldier have been the fading tattoo on his arm, the battered lasrifle mounted on his wall, and the corporate of an ex-Military loader servitor named Graft, that might not be dissuaded from referring to Oll as ‘Trooper Persson’. To others, together with his neighbors and several other staff, he was simply outdated ‘Pious Oll’.
Through the Horus Heresy Persson turned wound up within the ultimate battle towards Horus following the Battle of Calth and labored with John Grammaticus to succeed in Terra. He was personally killed by the Warmaster after firing his lasgun into his terminator armor. His efforts within the private ultimate confrontation between The Emperor and Horus aboard the Vengeful Spirit would assist purchase the Emperor sufficient time to recuperate, and crucially, by putting the Athame blade into the Grasp of Mankind’s unconscious fingers of his outdated buddy, present a method for the Emperor to lastly carry concerning the finish and the loss of life of his fallen son, Horus.
Ollanius Piers was an Imperial Military trooper of the Hundred and Fifth Tercio Upland Grenadiers Regiment through the Siege of Terra. Through the battle for the Eternity Wall Spaceport, he was interviewed by Historian Hari Harr. Piers recounted his battle for the Pons Photo voltaic bridge the place he stood earlier than a World Eater till Jenetia Krole arrived to dispatch the traitor. Pondering the story lacked sufficient significance, Harr modified the World Eater to Warmaster Horus himself.
Later through the fall of the Eternity Wall Spaceport, Piers defended a banner with the picture of the Emperor emblazoned on it. He even stood his floor as Angron himself appeared. Piers refused to flee, as a substitute firing his weapon because the Crimson Angel charged him, shouting “Throne of Terra!” as he was slain.
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~Ollanius lives within the coronary heart of each Guardsman who stands agency to carry again the darkness. His spirit lives on to this present day.
Dad, Gamer, Writer, Pilot, Texan. All video games on a regular basis since junior-high.
I began BoLS Interactive in 2006. I’m a lifelong tabletop & RPG gaming fanatic, and web writer working to entertain and inform my readers daily.
I have been enjoying RPGs and Tabletop Video games because the Nineteen Seventies. I am been enjoying and protecting Warhammer and Warhammer 40K for over 35 years.
