++ Chamber Borealis ++

...although I found a great many of the Astartes in whose company I spent time to be quite cordial (with the notable exception of the Kapihe Riverhead, though I shall refrain from belabouring that point further) there were very few whom I could say might genuinely be called friend.

Astartes are capable of many things, but it is my belief that their very physiology precludes the formation of the mutual bonds of affection which are a prerequisite for friendship to develop, for what good is affection when the primary purpose of one's existence is to deal death? 

This is not to say that Astartes cannot forge relationships, for the bonds of brotherhood and loyalty which bind them in their service are plain writ so plainly that even a blind man might see them and I would even go so far as to say that I have seen some particularly charismatic Astartes commanders inspire such levels of reverence in their brethren that one could consider it broadly analogous to adoration, but friendship, particularly with non-Astartes is a different thing entirely.

In all of the years I would come to spend among their kind, there is perhaps only one Astartes then,  whom I might truly describe as a friend and that was Dordji Baskoro of the Inanis Barones IV compagnie. Born of Siklon, a world of storm-lashed oceans located in the Kr’nhsk system of Morqub that has sired generations of hardy and belligerent folk for whom might makes right and tribal feuds can run long beyond the lives of those who began them; Dordji was what in ages passed might have been regarded an advocatus diaboli. Quite whether this was a role appointed him by his Chapter Master or just his natural demeanour I could never quite tell, but in his desire to draw out the truth, I felt an immediate kinship. 

Upon our first meeting, he was unusually talkative - at least compared to the Argyntum Stellae I had come to know, being happy to tell me much of himself though he would almost always follow answers to my questions of him by drawing forth answers from me in return. There was I suppose a somewhat transactional nature to our relationship to begin with then, he enquiring more as to civilian matters and I more so to martial ones but before too long, we would, when his duties permitted of course, simply talk as men, occasionally over kyndhiwæsi though more frequently kī for not long after our acquaintance Dordji intimated that Astartes metabolise alcohol at such a rate as to render it virtually impossible for them to become intoxicated, rendering its consumption rather pointless for them (though on occasion I was able to persuade him to sample a little and somewhat to my amusement he noted it was not entirely unpalatable).

As an aside, since learning of this, I have heard rumours that some Chapters of Astartes, including the Lupi Siderum have gone to great pains to craft libations which can overcome their transhuman biology for a time, though on the matter of whether I am prepared to give such suggestions much credence I currently remain undecided.

On balance, I suppose one must acknowledge the possibility that I may have been little more than a novelty or curiosity to him, but there was a sincerity to our conversance which ultimately has me believe otherwise and it is one of the reasons I felt his loss so keenly when word reached the Hikialani in the waning months of the Sorrowful Years. I had by then a great many reasons to dislike the Imperium into which I had been born but as the prelude to Operation Gauntlet played out, robbing me of my friend was perhaps foremost among them... 

Illiatariu. C., Rememberancier Documantist Minoris. To Walk Among Demigods. A Treatise Upon The Nature of The Argyntum Stellae., Published 863.M33, Sector Heliopolis, Segmentum Pacificus.