Bayard

Bayard was an Emperor’s Champion of the Black Templars Space Marine Chapter, recorded as having fallen at Hive Helsreach in the Third War for Armageddon. The title belongs to the warrior of a Black Templars crusade who carries the Chapter’s sacred oath of vengeance and is expected to stand at the front of its battle line. Bayard is known chiefly through that final campaign; his origins, the crusade in which he was chosen and the length of his service are not established in the material available to Orrery.

The Third War for Armageddon began in 998.M41, when the Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Thraka returned to the Armageddon system with a far larger Waaagh! than in the earlier wars. Black Templars were among the forces committed to the defence of Hive Helsreach, where Chaplain Grimaldus is recorded as a leading figure of the Chapter’s presence. During the fighting the Imperial defenders repeatedly held the Orks at the hive’s approaches, then were pushed back by weight of numbers. Accounts of the battle record Bayard among those killed in these engagements, before the survivors withdrew to the gates of the Cathedral, held by the Adepta Sororitas, and the Ork Mega-Gargant known as the Godbreaker approached.

Bayard’s standing rests on his place in the Black Templars’ long tradition of champions and on the Helsreach defence, one of the best-known episodes of the Third War. His death is placed in 998.M41 on Armageddon, alongside contemporaries such as Grimaldus and the Sisters of Battle who garrisoned the Cathedral. Later Black Templars crusade history is led by other figures, notably High Marshal Helbrecht, and Bayard is listed as dead. Details of his personal duels, his relationships within the Chapter and the identity of his successor are not attested here and should not be assumed.