Editing Commander Luitpold Barnabas Vorhale (section)

== Background ==
'''

[[File:Background_vorhale.jpg|800px|thumb|center|extract from the Imperial Navy Data Base]]

Luitpold Barnabas Vorhale is the third son of Laertes Timeo Vorhale and Drusilia Haekler-Vorhale, respectively Officer of the Watch and Dorsal Gun Capitain of the Chalice Battlecruiser '''''TRIUMPH OF SAINT DRUSUS'''''.
As it is customary in the Imperial Navy, the young child, as well as his four brothers and two sisters, served on board of the battlecruiser bridge as a cabin boy, as well on the dorsal gun macro-battery with his mother. It is there, among the thousands crewman toiling in the sulfurus fumes and the roaring thunder of the gigantic canons, that the young child knew what he wanted to be. he wanted to be the one pointing this majestuous weapons, the one ordering them to shout in anger and smite His Ennemies to smithereen.
Once old enough, he was sent to the Officer scholam in Port Wrath. It was harsh, for the Imperial Navy asks a lot to any one who want to serve Him among the stars, and the futur officers are not exceptions. But Luitpold did his best. He studied hard, especially geometrics, for a good gunner should know how to calculate a shell trajectory by head. But being a good Master of Ordnance is not mere calculus : it is an art. One must evaluate the trajectory his ennemy will take, discern the truth among the millions lies he will feed the sensors, ensure his crew will reload the canons perfectly and point them with the utmost precision, and weave a deadly schem of fire with shells to leave no escape.
An art, a craft that Luitpold learned, polished, and finally, mastered.
 
Luitpold spent all his career at the head of a gun battery, at first, on the very ship he was born - 5th Port Broadside Canon-, then the Lance Prow Gun-Captain of the Firestorm frigate '''''THE NAMELESS SAINT''''', and later, her Master of Ordnance.

Then, thanks to very good records, he was promoted as the Master of Ordnance of the Lunar Cruiser '''''SIRIUS'''''. For many years, it was he who launched and guided the volleys of the famous ship during her patrols in the Koronus Expanse. The '''''SIRIUS''''' is a very old ship, who served well in the Battle of Gethsemane during the Gothic War of 1436151M41; her crew is the very best of all Battlefleet Koronus. There, he honned and quenched his skills in battle against orks, eldars, pirates and reavers. His career was promising...

But, one day, all changed. In 811M41, the '''''SIRIUS'''''alongside the '''''GETHSEMANE''''' received and answered a distress call from a Mechanicus Convoy in the Cauldron.  They were under attack from a strong pack of pirates backed by the Ruinous Powers.
Once more, Vorhale's volleys were lethal, and both cruisers were obliterating the opposition. 'Alas, '''''GETHSEMANE''''' 's crew, still green according to the Navy, advanced too much. A dying Reaver ship boarded immediately the '''''SIRIUS''''', vomiting all his crew, aiming for the ship's bridge.

It was very, very close. The ennemy breached the bridge, and in the decompressive explosion that followed, Luitpold was the only officer still able to take command.  He did defend the bridge gallantly before the reinforcement arrived, but was heavily wounded. The ship surgeon thought he was lost... When the Magos in charge of the convoy offered him a cyber-resurection, in a sign of good faith for the rescue of his fleet.

It was painfull, and very weakened, Luitpold took almost three years to recover. And his recovery was too slow for the Imperial Navy, who decided to put him away in early retirment, with a shiny medal and a confortable stipend. After all, he was a good officer, but not much more : he was lacking some relations from noble-blood or high level friends.

For a man who only wanted to serve Hil once more, it was harsh. Especially that, once he was fully recovered, he was even more fit than before. 

It was when he was almost resigned to spend the rest of his life on a space station, that he was contacted by an envoy, from the Peregrine Dynasty....

[[File:Luitpold_barnabas_vorhale.jpg|500px|thumb|left|official portrait of Commander Vorhale, made in 814M41.]]