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Chirurgeon

The Chirurgeon, the part-sorcerous, part-technological device attached to Fabius Bile's back.

Possessed of a darkling sentience of its own, the Chirurgeon is a complex, part-sorcerous/part-technological device attached to former Emperor's Children Chief Apothecary Fabius Bile's spine that extends its spidery limbs over his shoulders. It pumps life-giving ichor around his body, charged with the immortal energy of the Warp itself, resulting in vast variations in his strength and other physical abilities. It often gives him many of the immunities enjoyed by Daemonkind, whilst boosting his physical abilities to superhuman levels.

Bile made the Chirurgeon of his own design at the end of his training. It was originally a standard cybernetic harness intended to assist Bile in his duties as an Apothecary, but after the Emperor's Children Legion escaped into the Eye of Terror, it began to change under the influence of the Warp. It evolved into a semi-organic monstrosity with a chitinous shell and oozing, organic wounds. Most frighteningly, however, was that it began to develop its own consciousness. This circumstance was first expressed in subtle movements that occurred independent of Bile's mental commands, but later the Chirurgeon learned to move completely without commands from its master.

Bile suspects that the Chirurgeon has developed a degree of sentience over his years within the Eye of Terror, and often has dreams of the device scurrying about and conducting its own activities while he slumbers. Bile also suspects at times the Chirurgeon is responsible for the fits of pain he experiences that have become ever more common over the millennia.

One day the Chirurgeon disappeared for a long period of time, so Bile had to send his minions to locate it. When they found the Chirurgeon in an abandoned cargo bay, they were horrified to discover that it wasn't alone. It had laid a series of egg sacs from which miniaturized versions of itself hatched. Apparently the Chirurgeon had reproduced, although not even Bile could tell what it had mated with. After Bile reunited with the Chirurgeon, he discovered that the "mother beast" was telepathically connected to its offspring. Bile thought about vivisecting the Chirurgeon, but quickly dismissed the idea. In a world full of traitors, it is his only ally.

On the battlefield, Bile might also bestow the questionable gift of his enhancements to others, with uncertain results. Sometimes the experiment is a success, creating psychotic killers superhuman even in comparison to their corrupted Chaos Space Marine brethren, but sometimes the subject's metabolism disintegrates in the face of the stress, resulting in instant death. The Chirurgeon is a construction of Fabius' own invention and he has perfected it over a long period of time to more intimately bond with his body, enabling him to even perform surgery on himself with his own contraption. It has been said that the Chirurgeon is Bile's life's work and that it works to keep him alive.

Sources[]

  • Codex: Chaos Space Marines (6th Edition), pp. 63, 93
  • Codex: Chaos Space Marines (4th Edition), pp. 52-53
  • Chirurgeon (Short Story) by Nick Kyme
  • Fabius Bile: Primogenitor (Novel) by Josh Reynolds, Ch. 3
  • Fabius Bile: Manflayer (Novel) by Josh Reynolds, Ch. 2

Gallery[]

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