Saint Amyntikós

-A prayer to Saint Amyntikós, written in Low Gothic, for the Defenders of the City of Veritas, 826.M39.

Saint Amyntikós is a Ministorum sanctioned Saint of the Cult Imperialis, widely known across the Segmentum Ultima and in some areas beyond. He is a closely associated with the Astra Militarum, being the patron Saint of earthen fortifications, trenches, and foxholes. Entrenching tools manufactured across the Segmentum are embossed with a Saint Amyntikós medallion and blessed in the Saint’s name. An uncountable number of Guardsmen, huddled in dugouts under fire, have prayed for the Saint to intercede with the God Emperor on their behalf that their fortifications might protect them from ‘‘His’’ enemies.

Life
During the “Ghost War” of the 7th Black Crusade in M37, the Conditta Sub-Sector found itself in dire straits. Chaos raids along the edge of Segmentum Solar had caused Segmentum Ultima High Command to pull all available Imperial Guard forces out to reinforce that front. Meanwhile, The Blue Hand and Crimson Fists Space Marines were scattered and out of position, hunting the traitors across multiple fronts leaving the entire Mandavi Sector to its own depleted resources. Sensing weakness, Blubgrub, a lieutenant to the then Arch-Arsonist of Charadon, led his own Waaagh around the edge of the great Warp storms and into the undefended Conditta Sub-Sector.

Father Amyntikós, an Ecclesiarchical Priest on the world of Keter, rallied the populus to resist the Orks. Under his leadership, the Factorum City of Mechubaal resisted the Xenos hoard while the Capital and other cities were overrun. Amyntikós's passionate sermons whipped the Mechubites into a zealous frenzy and the sight of his stern visage upon the battlements steeled the nerve of the defenders. The city gradually drew the attention of more and more of the Orks, allowing the surviving PDF forces to regroup on the world's second continent before launching a counter-offensive to relive Mechubaal. However, by the time the PDF fought their way through to the City, Father Amyntikós had already departed. Leaving the defenders in good spirits, he had set out on a fast ship into the void.

Father Amyntikós would go on to travel miraculously quickly between five worlds spread across three systems. On each world he would lead the defense of a major city. He repeatedly forged bulwarks of flesh and faith against which the green tide would break, before being spirited away to the next world. In this manner was the Waaagh stalled along the outer edge of the Sub-Sector for months.

Death and Canonization
Amyntikós would continue to lead cities and worlds in resistance to the Orks until he was killed at the hands of Warboss Blubgrub after returning to Keter. However, by that time the ships of the Crimson Fists Chapter Fleet had already entered the Conditta Sub-Sector. The Chapter would crush the WAAAGH! following a short, brilliant campaign. Blubgrub would be slain, and Amyntikós's remains would be reclaimed from the Warboss's trophy collection. The people of Keter would bury Father Amyntikós in the valley of Sephiroth, below the high plains of the First and Last where he had been martyred.

There were those who called for Father Amyntikós to be made a Saint while he was still very much alive. However, in the wake of the his death, the Mandavi Sector was swept by calls for his canonization. Over the following decades, as Astra Militarum Regiments from the Sector were deployed across the Segmentum, the story of the Martyr Amyntikós spread through the Imperial Guard. Soon, Guardsmen from Ultramar to Catachan were invoking his name as they assembled fortifications. Chaplins would bless earthen defenses by invoking the trenches dug by the Keterine Martyr upon the World of Deirdre. Successful defensive actions and heroic last stands were held up as miracles worked by Amyntikós from the God Emperor's side.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that the Adeptus Ministorum acts in its own time. Worthy candidates for Sainthood can wait centuries while the Ecclesiarchy debates their merits. However, as many heretics can attest to, the Ecclesiarchy can act with remarkable alacrity when it feels motivated.

The Ministorum could not abide billions of Guardsmen venerating an unapproved Saint, but the Astra Militarum would not allow the purging of billions of men currently in service, without suspicion of corruption. So, in a compromise obvious to everyone, Saint Amyntikós was canonized in 874.M37, a mere 50 years after his death. The next year, Keter was consecrated as his Shrine World.

Veneration
As is the case with any popular saint, the Adeptus Ministorum sanctions many different forms of veneration for Saint Amyntikós. These differences reflect, not only the wide variety of ways the God Emperor is worshiped across the breadth of the Imperium, but also class difference and the difference between soldiers and civilians.

In High Church culture, Saint Amyntikós is often dealt with in the abstract. Most major cities and hives will have a Cathedral given over to prayers for the city's defense. Across Segmentum Ultima, such houses of worship are often dedicated to Saint Amyntikós, either alone, or in conjunction with other defensive Saints. There, Priests and devotees offer constant prayers for the defenses of the City, the World, and the Imperium as a whole. Among the many forms of High Church worship related to the Saint, few are as noteworthy as ‘‘‘Pro Martyr Keteris’’’. ‘‘‘Pro Martyr Keteris’’’ is the third arrangement for the Mass Imperialis by Karta Igleticus, the celebrated composer from the Cardinal World of Kurtzberg in the Mandavi Sector.

For the faithful of the Low Church, protective saints are anything but abstract. Saint Amyntikós icons, and small shrines are placed in the doorways of the lowest habs and poorest hovels on many Imperial worlds. These are to defend against mutants, evil spirits, and above all, the depravity of their fellow man. The most common design for a devotional item featuring Saint Amyntikós is the Munitorum J-304459 Medallion design. The J-304459 is a small disk of cheap metal roughly the width of an adult human thumb. On the surface is a raised image of the Saint bending to thrust a shovel into the receiving earth. Such fetishes are carried by the common people of the Imperium for personal defense, and given to conscripts by family members, in order to invoke the Saint’s protection.

On worlds where the Primarchs play a prominent role in the local version of the Cult Imperialis, Amyntikós is often depicted in service to Dorn. In Primton, the capital city of Sumaiya Prime, a great triptych mural hundreds of meters high is carved in bas relief into the misritite cliffs: it depicts the coming of the Final Day and the preparation for the Last War. On the left, the Great Khan rallies the souls of the Pilots of the Aeronautica Imperialis, the men of the Armored Fist Units and Scout Regiments, and all those who brought swift death to the Emperor's enemies. In the center, the Master of Ultramar gives order to the final muster in which are the souls of the Infantrymen, the Tank Crews, the men of Holy Fleet, and all those who have stood in the open and fell, for the glory of the Imperium. To the right, the Praetorian of Terra builds the Last Bastion with the aid of the souls of the Citadel Guardsmen, the Pioneer Garrisons, the Anchorage Gunners, and all those who held the the line against the night. Standing to Dorn's right, and a quarter his size, is the figure of Saint Amyntikós, haloed in light, digging the trenches before the battlements.

It is, of course, on the battlefields of the Astra Militarum that Saint Amyntikós is venerated in the truest form. His likeness is embossed on entrenching tools and painted onto dozer blades. Prayers in his name are said by Guardsmen while digging trenches and filling sandbags. Devotions are made, calling upon him to beseech the God Emperor’s protection, when Regimental Chaplins consecrate newly dug earthworks. One of the most recited prayer-mantras of the Guard is the Beseechment Against Artillery in Entrenchment: ‘‘‘Oh Blessed Saint Amyntikós, let these walls of earth protect my body as the HE alone protects my soul’’’.

Upon Keter, in the valley of Sephiroth, the Monks of the Brotherhood of the Keterine Martyr have their monastery, not far from the Saint’s tomb. The Monastery is built into the volcanic rock of the valley, cut into a series of hollow lava tubes running down from a long dead caldera. Deep within the labyrinthine maze of the tubes, amidst the relics of the Saint and the cells of the brethren, brother-scribes pour through the records of the Astra Militarum, shipped from Sector and Segmentum Commands on regular basises. These records are sorted, wheat from chaff, with offensive actions immediately returned to the Imperial Guard, while accounts of defensive actions are lovingly hand copied and added to the Brotherhood’s collection. There, within the Scriptus Sanctorum, is the largest collection of records pertaining to Imperial Defensive actions outside of the Imperial Archives upon Terra. These records are maintained, sorted, recopied and stored as a form of devotion to the Saint. A Pilgrim who has particularly impressed the Brethren with the length of their sojourn, the austerity of their asceticism, or (some would argue) the extreme generosity of their patronage, may be granted access to the library. Beyond these categories, only representatives of the Holy Ordos or Space Marines may have access to the the Brotherhood’s records, with even Lord Generals Militant being sent to fast and contemplate the God Emperor’s holiness, should they come seeking records of past campaigns.

Chaos Assault on Keter in M39
In 946.M39 an unknown Warband of Heretical Astartes assaulted Keter, seeking to defile the world and seize the holy remains of Saint Amyntikós. The 12 Holy Regiments, as those understrength Imperial Guard forces available in system would come to be called, were all that stood against him, aside from a handful of pilgrim militias.

These Guardsmen fought against the Traitor Space Marines, their Cultist thralls, and things far, far worse. On the high plains of the First and Last before the valley of the Sephiroth wherein lay the Saint's tomb, they stood and they died to the last in the God Emperor’s name. At the exact moment when the last Guardsman was slain, the clouds raining blood parted and drop pods containing the vanguard of an entire Preceptory of the Order of the Sacred Rose began to fall upon the traitors. Canoness Arabella Angustia led her sisters in a lightning assault that forced the heretics to give ground and eventually retreat.

The arrival of the Sororitas was later deemed to have been a miracle of the God Emperor. Likewise, the 12 Holy Regiments were declared holy martyrs, and their tombs are now part of the pilgrimage route for those seeking to pray before the tomb of the Saint.