Lucius the Eternal

"Brothers! Welcome to the feast! Tell me, which among you will be the first course?"

- Lucius the Eternal

Lucius the Eternal is the Champion of the Chaos God Slaanesh and a Lord Commander of the Emperor's Children Traitor Legion. Lucius is also known as the Soulthief, Fulgrim's Champion, and the Scion of Chemos. Lucius has been blessed by Slaanesh so that when he is slain, no easy task in itself, his killer will eventually transform into Lucius if he takes any pleasure or satisfaction from the killing.

The Great Crusade
Lucius was once the Captain of the Emperor's Children Legion's 13th Company. He served alongside his friend and fellow Astartes officer, Captain Saul Tarvitz of the 10th Company, during the Great Crusade of the 31st Millennium. Lucius' friendship with Tarvitz often displayed those character flaws that lead to Lucius' ultimate damnation. Where Tarvitz was a grounded and mature Astartes, Lucius was often childish and egotistical, but already known within his Legion as a superlative swordsman.

Lucius's character changed greatly during the early days of the Horus Heresy. The most obvious change was the appearance of the scars he carved ritually into his face, changing him from a flawless Space Marine into a corrupt tyrant who gloried in the sensation of dealing out pain. The reasons recorded for this disfigurement have varied. Some claim they express Lucius's "devotion and piety" towards the Chaos Gods, others that they were intended to deflect comments that he looked more like a boy than a warrior. In reality, Lucius met a Slaanesh-corrupted Remembrancer and painter who accompanied the 28th Expeditionary Fleet named Serena D'Angelus. After showing Lucius her hideously scarred forearms, she explained that each scar was a memorial to one of her victims. Lucius, who had had his nose broken by Garviel Loken of the Luna Wolves, understood that his appearance would never be flawless again, and so scarred his face without remorse. After this meeting he added a scar to his body every time he met a worthy opponent, such as before duelling with his former comrade and best friend, Saul Tarvitz.

The Horus Heresy
Lucius' descent into the clutches of Chaos only deepened during the Battle of Istvaan III after Horus betrayed the Loyalists within his own Traitor Legions to cleanse his troops of any who remained beholden to the will of the Emperor. Originally forced to fight on the side of the Loyalist Astartes during the three-month-long battle on that devastated world because his friendship with Tarvitz had made the Legion's leaders believe he would not support their decision to betray the Emperor of Mankind, Lucius' pride and jealousy eventually overwhelmed him. Lucius came to resent Tarvitz's role in their success against the enemy and the respect he commanded from the other Loyalist Astartes. Lucius contacted Lord Commander Eidolon and promised to deliver Tarvitz -- and break the Loyalists' defences -- for the Warmaster in return for being reaccepted into the Legion. Eidolon accepted the proposal. Lucius slaughtered a group of 30 Astartes who were defending the Loyalists' lines to open the way for the Traitors' final assault against their former brethren. Lucius succeeded in this assassination with the aid of Captain Solomon Demeter of the 2nd Company of the Emperor's Children, who had also remained a Loyalist and realised too late that Lucius had tricked him into attacking a group of Loyalist Astartes. Lucius slew the wounded Demeter just after he realised with horror the full extent of his mistake and Lucius' betrayal. With his place restored in the ranks of the Traitors, Lucius then challenged Tarvitz to a one-on-one duel to finally determine who was the better warrior. Tarvitz emerged the victor, but Lucius fled the battle and returned to the arms of his Traitor Legion, having fulfilled his side of the bargain.

After the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V, the Astartes of the III Legion had no idea that their beloved leader was clawing ineffectually at the bondage of his own mind in which he was held. Only Lucius had appeared to realise that something was amiss with Fulgrim, but even he had said nothing. The Daemon-Fulgrim had sensed the burgeoning Warp touch upon the swordsman and had presented him with the silver daemonblade within which the Laer had bound a fragment of its essence, as he now wielded the far more potent Kinebrach Anathame, a gift from Horus. Though the Laer Daemonsword was now bereft of its spirit, there was still power within the blade, power that would empower Lucius in the years of death to come.

After the conclave aboard Horus' flagship, the Daemon-Fulgrim and the Emperor's Children Legion were ordered to Mars to aid the coming civil war within the Adeptus Mechanicus by the Warmaster. But instead of following his brother's orders, the increasingly mercurial Primarch decided to disobey, and instead ordered his Legion to assault an Adeptus Mechanicus crystal Mining World called Prismatica V. Unable to deal with his lord's mercurial temperament as well as his fellow senior members of the Legion, Lord Commander Eidolon questioned the Primarch's orders. This proved to be a tragic miscalculation on Eidolon's part. Unable to placate his angered lord, the few words he managed to speak on his own behalf inadvertently provoked the Primarch further. The paranoid Primarch believed that the Lord Commander was mocking him and planned to betray him. Quicker than the mind's eye could follow, the Primarch withdrew the Anathame from its scabbard and slew his once-favoured son. He then held the severed head of the slain Eidolon over the opened casks of victory wine, the viscous blood dripping from the grisly trophy and mixing with the potent drink which was then shared amongst the senior members of the III Legion's inner circle.

Far from upset at the death of the much-despised Eidolon, the ascendent champion of the Emperor's Children, Lucius, took note of yet another example of Fulgrim's increasingly capricious behaviour. Contemplating upon the change in his lord, Lucius was inspired to investigate further after receiving a series of dark dreams concerning the painting of the Primarch that hang in La Fenice, which had been cordoned off and sealed by a detachment of the Phoenix Guard after the  Maraviglia had worked its corrupting influence upon the Legion. Already concerned by his lord's erratic behaviour and strange moods, Lucius proceeded to scrutinise the Primarch's every move. His concerns grew even more when he noticed Fulgrim's lack of brotherly-camaraderie and observance of Legion rituals and tradition. But what truly aroused Lucius' suspicions was the realisation that Fulgrim's swordsmanship was suddenly inferior to his own superlative skills. His Primarch was not whom he appeared to be. His suspicions were further confirmed when he witnessed Fulgrim employing powerful psychic abilities in open combat against a Warhound-class Titan of the Adeptus Mechanicus during the III Legion's assault on Prismatica V.

Lucius continued to receive the strange dreams in his sleep, and began to follow the threads implanted by these prescient visions. Breaking a standing order, Lucius defied the Primarch and went to investigate La Fenice, the theatre located aboard the Emperor's Childrens' flagship Pride of the Emperor. This is where the Emperor's Children had truly fallen to the corrupting influence of Slaanesh, awakened by the operatic symphony known as the Maraviglia. Investigating the ruined chamber thoroughly, Lucius discovered above the stage that a great portrait hung above the smashed wreckage of the proscenium. Even in the dying light, the portrait’s magnificence was palpable. A glorious golden frame held the canvas trapped within its embrace, and the wondrous perfection of the painting was truly breathtaking. Clad in his wondrous armour of purple and gold, Fulgrim was portrayed before the great gates of the Heliopolis, the heart of the flagship, the flaming wings of a great phoenix sweeping up behind him. The firelight of the legendary bird shone upon his armour, each polished plate seeming to shimmer with the heat of the fire, his hair a cascade of gold. The Primarch of the Emperor’s Children was lovingly portrayed in perfect detail, every nuance of his grandeur and the life that made Fulgrim such a vision of beauty captured in the exquisite brushwork. No finer figure of a warrior had ever existed or ever would again, and to even glimpse such a flawless example of the painter’s art was to know that wonder still existed in the galaxy.

Gazing at the eyes of the painting, Lucius could see the horror within his Primarch's eyes, a horror that had not been rendered by the skill of a mortal painter. The perfect, exquisite agony burned in the portrait's gaze, the dark pools of the painted eyes seemed to follow his every movement. Lucius came to the conclusion that somehow, his Primarch was trapped within the painting, and that the entity that paraded around as their Legion's lord was an imposter. Determined to free his Primarch by any means at his disposal, Lucius secretly convened the Brotherhood of the Phoenix -- the exclusive warrior lodge of the III Legion that only allowed warriors of officer rank to join because of the Legion's love of hierarchy. This had to be done with the utmost secrecy, for by this time the corrupted senior officers had become powerful, volatile and self-obssessed with the pursuit of their individual pleasures. Also, many of these senior officers carried a loathing for Lucius, whom they viewed as a despised upstart. Through his skilled oratory, the swordsman was able to persuade his mercurial brothers that the Primarch was not himself. He further challenged their egos and stroked their vanity, tempting them into boldly capturing their Primarch. Shortly after, the Brotherhood of the Phoenix ambushed the Primarch, and despite taking several casualties, manage to subdue their lord by rendering him unconscious.

The Primarch was then taken to the Apothecarion of the III Legion's Chief Apothecary Fabius Bile, where he was strapped down to one of the examination tables. Here, Fabius, Lucius, Julius Kaesoron and Marius Vairosean attempted to drive forth the daemonic entity from their lord's mortal shell through a protracted torture session known as excruciation. Fulgrim willingly submitted himself to his tormentors' ministrations, and continuously spoke of his perceptions of reality, events that were currently taking place in the galaxy as Chaos grew in power and the envisioned path for his Legion. During the torture session, Lucius suddenly realised that they had been misled. Misinterpreting the situation, they had been duped by their lord. Lucius immediately bended his knee and prostrated himself before his Primarch as Fulgrim easily tore himself free from his restraints. His fellow conspirators all bowed to their lord and master. Content that his favoured sons had learned from the experience, the Primarch did not punish them for their transgressions, for he was not the daemon-possessed shell of the Phoenix as he had allowed his Astartes to believe, but the man himself.

Fulgrim decided to share with Lucius his motives for such an elaborate ruse. He revealed that he had indeed been possessed by a daemonic entity for quite some time, an entity that had trapped his disembodied spirit within the great portrait that had hung in La Fenice. Unwilling to accept his fate, the Primarch had bided his time and used the tormenting experience to learn of Warp-craft and the infallible ways of daemonkind. He eventually was able to use this newly acquired arcane knowledge to force the daemon out of his mortal body -- swapping places with the foul entity -- and trapping it within the portrait for all time. Presumably, it was the daemon that had been sending Lucius the dark dreams in order to attempt to free itself from its prison. In an attempt to further educate his favoured champion in the unfathomable ways of Chaos, the Primarch's apparent inferiority in his sword techniques was merely a ploy to manipulate Lucius into challenging him. The Primarch went on to explain that his mercurial moods and lack of interest in camaraderie and the III Legion's rituals were a natural evolution of his nature to achieve perfection along the path laid out by Slaanesh. Fulgrim announced that he intended to go further than anyone in the realms of sensual experience, intent on pushing the boundaries of reality to the extreme. Fulgrim didn't merely want to accomplish these things for the sole acquisition of power, but to experience the journey -- a journey he wanted his sons to undertake with him. He explained that he had ordered the assault on Prismatica V to claim the crystal the Mechanicus had been mining there so that it might be used to erect a wondrous new city of mirrors dedicated to the exploration of sensual pleasure and self-enlightenment through sensation. But the next step on the Emperor's Children's path towards enlightenment through Chaos, was to rendezvous with the Primarch Perturabo and his Iron Warriors Legion.

After these events, Lucius eventually rose to become one of the 2 Lord Commanders of the Emperor's Children, after that Traitor Legion had been cemented in thrall to Slaanesh. Lucius did not obtain that position easily, however, for he was actually slain during an Emperor's Children gladiatorial game by the Chaos Space Marine he had challenged for the rank, Lord Commander Cyrius. Lucius' death was described as an experience of such "transcendent pleasure" that it caused Slaanesh himself to intervene and to reincarnate Lucius within the body of the previously victorious Cyrius; the latter's soul became a trapped, screaming face within Lucius' Artificer Armour by the will of the Prince of Pleasure.

Lucius now stalks the galaxy as an arrogant slaughterer who can never truly be killed. Whoever slays him and takes even a moment of satisfaction from the act will find themselves transforming, slowly and painfullv, into Lucius. The twisted, howling visages of those who once killed him writhe within his armour, affording Lucius endless gratification. His ornate sabre and a Warp-infested whip have tasted the blood of champions and kings across the galaxy. He leads his warband of Emperor's Children with total confidence, welcoming death with as much passion as he inflicts it upon his foes.

Personality
Lucius was always defined even before his corruption by Chaos as a superlative swordsman, more skilled than any other Astartes of the Emperor's Children Legion. This skill was Lucius' pride and joy and the source of his extreme egotism. Unfortunately, Lucius was immature, selfish egotistical and impulsive, though initially these were qualities that he reconised as flaws and hoped to overcome with the aid of his friend Saul Tarvitz. Lucius often displayed a blind devotion to his Primarch Fulgrim, and he exemplified one of the primary aspects of his Legions' pursuit of martial perfection: ambition.

After the Heresy, Lucius was primarily motivated by the pursuit of true challenges in combat and came to equate pain with success, delighting in the thrill of battle. Due to his egotistical pride, Lucius was said to only fight at his best when a "worthy" opponent was present to test his skills.

Wargear
Lucius is able to constantly reincarnate within the body of any character that manages to kill him, effectively making him immortal. So long as the killer takes some measure of satisfaction from the victory, this will result in the victor's body transforming and their soul becoming trapped in Lucius' suit of Power Armour. This armour is powered by the thousands of souls trapped in it, giving the Chaos Space Marine enhanced protection from any onslaught he encounters.

Lucius is armed with an ancient Power Sword and his personal daemonic weapon, the whip known as the Lash of Torment. Millennia ago, following the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V, the Greater Daemon of Slaanesh who possessed the body of the Primarch Fulgrim presented the Daemonsword Fulgrim had recovered from the homeworld of the xenos known as the Laer to Lucius as a sign of his favour. This alien, single-edged blade once contained the captured essence of the daemon that possessed Fulgrim, but lost much of its power once the daemon was freed from imprisonment within the sword to inhabit the unfortunate Primarch's body. Now the blade is an ordinary Power Sword of an exquisite curved, single-edged design, but in Lucius' hands it remains as lethal as any blade that has ever been forged.

Lucius also bears the mark of Slaanesh upon his armour of shrieking souls and is equipped with Slaaneshi combat drugs intended to heighten the sensations of battle, and is empowered with the powers wrought by Slaanesh's favour and daemonic physical strength and durability. Lucius has mutated considerably in the millennia since his fall to Chaos and among the "gifts" he has received from the Prince of Pleasure are a pair of goat-like cloven hooves.

The Fall of Medusa V
Lucius was created as a model for the Fall of Medusa V worldwide campaign in the summer of 2006 for use in the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop miniature wargame. During the Fall of Medusa V campaign Lucius fought in several different locations, including Hive Edethor and Hive Hydra.