Saturday, February 26, 2011

Calix Primus Soutenir

Name; Calix Primus Soutenir
Rank; Calix Primus. Head of the Lamenters Apothecarium. First Among Equals. The Keeper of the Past.

Soutenir fell at Malvolion along with most of his chapter, however for the Calix Primus... the leader of the Sanguinary Priesthood of the Lamenters Chapter it was a fate he welcomed. Cursed with the growing sorrow in his heart and with the memories of the past growing ever stronger with each passing day, it was almost a relief for the Calix when a Hive Tyrant decapitated him during the final minutes of the Fall of Malvolion.

Recruited from an advanced culture in 922.M41 Soutenir was not taken at random by the Lamenters but chosen for his exceptional abilities to resist mental stress. The young recruit had measured beyond the standard scale for mental resistance to both psychic and emotional abuse even compared to a seasoned veteran and he was inducted into the Priesthood as an acolyte as are all who will become the Calix Primus. Although for any Codex or most non Codex chapters this process is a position earned, respected and one of trust the Chief Apothecary of the Lamenters, their spiritual centre... like any other Calix Primus had to be special even before recruitment.

The curse of Sanguinus runs strong in the blood lines of the successor chapters, however unlike any other of their brethren chapters the Lamenters are doubly cursed. Corbulo of the Blood Angels.... can see the future... it haunts his visions just as it did his Primarch. But the Lamenters are a dark reflection of their cousins in several ways and in this it is no different. Calix Primus Soutenir only can see the past in his visions.

Calix Primus, like all Calix is dressed in the silvered armor of the Seplucher Guard. Soutenir lost his left eye in 969.M41 after a particularly vicious struggle with a Champion of Nurgle in which a single drop of liquid spilt on his face. It was only his skills as a Apothecary that led Soutenir to a cure... removal of half of his entire skull. On his right and left shoulders are displayed the heraldry of the Calix Primus the chalice, the same device is repeated on his chest. In his right hand he carries "Remember" the traditional armament of the Calix Primus an artisan crafted combi-plasma weapon.
Model was designed as follows. Chest is a DC specific chalice one, same with the shoulder pads and legs and backpack. The right arm is from the Apothecary SM command, the left arm and weapon from the SM Commander. The head is the SM commander head as well. When I put him together I got as much stuff with chalices on it as I could find from the remains of my DC sprues and just kept mixing things in till I found the right mix of a chalice style theme. I think it mixes well, unsure of the weapon in retrospect, but it seemed to fit him quite well.

The Lamenters curse is one which goes to the heart of the Blood Angels and the Calix Primus represents that heart spiritually in the Lamenters chapter. The blood that runs in the chalices of the Lamenters Apothecaries is that of Sanguinus, the priests are the living vessels of that blood as well.... just as it is with their cousins the Flesh tearers, The Blood Drinkers and the Blood Angels themselves. The rituals are similiar to their cousins but different and even now at the end of the 41M to any Imperial agency or even another scion of Sanguinus their are haunting similarities between the Lamenters and their cousins. But there is a darker secret that began in 32M that haunts the Lamenters and burdens them well past what their cousins could ever know, the ability of the Calix Primus is only the tip of the iceberg of the dark secrets that envelop the Chapter.

Soutenir's curse however to see past events and his predecessors has saved the Lamenters from destruction. Soutenir recalls in his visions similar battles that the Lamenters face, problems that they encounter and manages to advise his Chapter Master with all of the past knowledge at his disposal. It was Soutenir's knowledge of several worlds that Sanguinus had walked upon when he lived and campaigns that long dead Blood Angels had fought with their primarch that haunted his sight and allow him to tell of how the Primarch and legion triumphed or failed....

The Calix Primus adornments are quite familiar to other scions of Sanguinus such as the Blood Angels and Blood Drinkers.



However like every Calix Primus before him, the cost becomes eventually too great, infused with the essence of the visions of Sanguinus's past and the past of their forebears and those failures that are not recorded, of victories lost, of worlds destroyed that eventually lead every Calix Primus into a state where they are totally lost in the past, trapped reliving battles now long gone.


For Soutenir that moment came when the Tyranids first arrived at Malovolion. He sat silently even as the Chapter roused itself for battle and alone in his cell he began to live the events of the Imperial Siege. Soutenir fell at Malovolion, but for him it was fighting against the traitor legions at the gates of the Palace, watching as his Primarch rose up and struck down the traitors, defending the Emperor to the last.

3 comments:

  1. Looking great mate! I love the background fluff for him as well. If only I was so creative!

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  2. Thankyou Red... Glad you like.

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  3. That's a really nice model and the colour scheme is just superb in my opinion.

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