Like his brothers before him, Jonathan joined in service to the Emperor and to Mankind as a Guardsman. However, it took several attempts before the corps would accept him. It wasn’t his psych evaluations nor his physicals that prevented his acceptance, but rather, his age. While many young men went to great lengths to avoid being drafted into the Emperor’s Army Legion, Jonathan began showing up to recruitment centers as soon as he thought he could pass himself off as a man; as early as 13 years old. Sometimes he would travel for days to nearby towns and cities with groups of other recruit hopefuls for the chance that he would be accepted. Of course he habitually lied about his age to increase his odds. It wasn’t until he was 15 before he was finally accepted and began his career as a Guardsman.
Jonathan excelled at the physical and mental aspects of being an Imperial Guardsman, but failed miserably when it came to discipline and following orders; a carryover from his childhood growing up with a mostly absent father. As such, Jonathan found himself in constant hot water with his superiors, so much so, that after 5 years of service he never once qualified for a promotion, keeping his recruitment rank as a standard Guardsman grunt from the start. If it weren’t for his unnerving courage under the most extreme battlefield conditions, and his competence to successfully complete assignments that no one else would dare take on, Jonathan would have long been imprisoned, executed, or worse. Instead, his superiors endured his shortcomings as best they could by sending him on dead-man walking assignments, transferring him to the front lines, or to other units that had the highest casualty rates. Each time, the commanding officer would use and abuse Jonathan until they grew tired of him before shipping him off into the hands of another unsuspecting officer to deal with.
His raw tenacity and iron will served him well on the battlefield, and in one particular case, changed his life forever.
After spending some time on Morwen VI in the Calixis sector, a proving ground for Brontian Longknives Imperial Guard Regiment, Jonathan was sent to Protasia to assist in fighting the rebellion star system uprising there. Jonathan had just been reassigned to a small, understaffed, underequipped detachment stationed in the inner reaches of heavy Rebel forces. Their mission, as it appeared to Jonathan, was to wallow in hell-like conditions until they were put out of their misery by a stray Rebel cannon round or artillery fire, which they endured nearly on a daily bases. In truth, the sparse detachment was tasked with a seemingly impossible mission of holding their ground until the order was given to take Manaroth, a key stronghold of the Rebel forces.
On the fateful day when those orders finally came, a grim aura enveloped the entire regiment. There was no question many would die that day. Whether any would survive to fight again was another question entirely. After a relatively small reinforcement force had arrived with fresh supplies and fresh cannon fodder, Colonel Franz Muchek led his men into battle. The 8th Regiment made good gains early in the fight, taking the Rebels by surprise, but by the 3rd day of the attack, Colonel Muchek’s encroachment had ground to screeching halt and began taking heavy losses - men and machine. Many detachments across the battle lines began to wane, and several were routed, Jonathan’s detachment included. Colonel Muchek, seeing no end in sight to the massacre, reluctantly gave orders for a full-out retreat.
Jonathan Luther would have nothing of the sort. Shortly before the retreat orders were given, the men in Jonathan’s detachment turned tail and ran as far and as fast as their feet would carry them, all except for Jonathan. Taking heavy fire, he found a disabled tank, hopped into the gunner’s seat and began laying waste to the heretic Rebels. Not only did he hold off their advance for several hours, but he was able to tear a gaping hole in their lines. When the heavy gun was destroyed by incoming fire, Jonathan found another abandoned tank, only this one had no working guns. So Jonathan, as any able bodied solider should do, improvised. Taking advantage of the broken lines, he went on a tank shock rampage, plowing into the scattered Rebel troops with reckless abandon.
With the Rebel forces in disarray, Jonathan bulldozed his way straight into their main encampment, but not before jumping out moments before leaving a pair of live frag grenades in the tanks armory depot. The massive explosion started off a chain reaction of more explosions that left an array of out of control fires and destroyed bunkers. The event killed nearly a hundred Rebel men and knocked out their communications station. Those that didn’t die or retreat were systematically killed by a lone courageous Guardsman: Jonathan Luther.
Hell had been redefined by the looks of what remained of the Manaroth stronghold, and Jonathan Luther was its gate keeper. When a squad of Dark Angels arrived they found a bloodied and battle-torn Jonathan with a fully discharged Lasgun and a heavy slugger pistol with three rounds remaining in its chambers.
As the story is told, Colonel Muchek’s 8th Regiment was never expected to take the strong hold. They were simply expendable cannon fodder, with a mission designed solely to entertain the Rebel forces until the Emperor’s finest arrived to finish the job and recover an ancient Imperial artifact that the Rebels had no idea they possessed.
The memories of that day and the days before have long escaped the memory of Annihilus Manaroth – the given name of Jonathan Luther once he became a Dark Angel of death – an Adeptus Astartes. Normally the most prestigious and loyal servants of the Emperor do not recruit from the ranks of the Imperial Guard, but the unbridled tenacity of Jonathan’s actions that day inspired Master Chaplain Caleb Anaxius to reconsider.
These days, some of Annihilus’ superiors regret, and some even disdain, Master Chaplain Anaxius decision. They suggest Annihilus would have been better suited as a Blood Angel or Space Wolf. Others suggested he should have been left on the battlefield to rot. Regardless, the decision was made, and like it or not, Annihilus Manaroth is a full blooded Dark Angel Space Marine.
While the persona of Jonathan Luther was somewhat tempered during the conversion process, the root of the man that made him a tenacious, strong willed death-dealer still remains. As such, those empowering the Emperor’s grand wisdom suggested he be promoted to Sergeant to lead a small consignment of men on a “special assignment.” If Annihilus was able to conjure up the memories of his past, he might have experienced déjà vu; being reassigned to a shat mission in hopes that he would just go away or be destroyed in the process.
So here he stands, Sgt. Annihilus Manaroth, gathered with his men, a dispatch of tenacious rejects and misfits much like himself - Malak, Vitus, Bandon, Glovac, Revan, Nihilus, Desolous, Baras, and Angral – to serve the Emperor with honor and death.
Mike W's great backstory and character pic!
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