Saint Valerius is a much-venerated figure within the Askellon Sector, his gaunt, stern likeness carved into a thousand stone edifices and rendered in faded stained glass the length and breadth of the region. The saint is regarded as the "saviour of Askellon", an intercessory figure said to watch over its people and its masters and to provide protection in time of need. Numerous legends relate "a wide array of tales regarding the early life and miracles of Saint Valerius, and while most vary widely in events, dates, and scope," all describe the saint rallying the people of Askellon against some overwhelming outside force. In some versions, the invaders are ravening xenos from the voids beyond the sector’s trailing margins, at other times hideous creatures coalesced from the raw stuf of the Pandaemonium itself. "One variation holds that the saint was originally a great general who served in the wars of the opening years of the Age of Imperium, returning to Askellon to find it overrun by those who had renounced their oaths to humanity and sought to enslave the sector’s worlds."
“Gather tears for the sins of ye fathers, o children of Askellon.”
–Valerius, Introit to the Apocrypha Askellios
“Worry ye souls, for the Storm rages anew.”
–Valerius, from the Apocrypha Askellios
From Basilica of Valerius Risen:
the sector’s pre-eminent saint, ... a legendary figure about which very little is actually known, but who appears to have been instrumental in converting the people of the sector to the worship of the Emperor early in its history.
From Harlequins:
They are first mentioned in the Lay of Askellios as capricious “painted dancers,” who came to the aid of Valerius in a battle against Daemons of the Warp. The Harlequins and the saint would later come to blows over ownership of several scattered artefacts in the wake of the battle, fighting Valerius to a standstill before escaping with fully half the cache, leaving him to fire the remainder into the heart of a star and destroy them utterly.