Lyster Larrey

Lyster Larrey
Title/Honours	High Genetor, The Mad Magos, Larrey the Lunatic
Discovered (world)	Mars
Role	Traitor. One of the four Autopostates of Mars

This page details people, events, and organisations from the /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. See the /tg/ Heresy Timeline and Galaxy pages for more information on the Alternate Universe.

High Genetor Lyster Larrey was the foremost Magos Biologist of the pre-Civil War Mechanicum, and considered the foremost master of Genetics outside of the Selenar Cults of Luna. He would become closely bound to the Life Bringers legion, and would share in their fall, becoming a dark master of genetics and biology, using the gifts of Nurgle to create yet more misery for the Imperium of Man.

History

The Time of Monsters

Lyster Larrey began life as an inhabitant of Mondus Gamma, the third strongest of the Martian Forges and part of the great Tharsis Quadrangle. Mondus Gamma was a centre for Robotics and was the mightiest stronghold of the Legio Cybernetica on Mars. However young Larrey’s interest was not towards the Robots, but rather the men who served them. He excelled in biology and the study of the human condition. With no chance to further this in Mondus Gamma, Larrey left the forge and headed for Olympus Mons, where he found and was accepted into the ranks of the Ordo Biologis, considered the most unusual of all the orders of the Mechanicum. The Ordo Biologis did not study machines, but rather man, treating the biological form of man as a machine worthy of study. Larrey excelled in his studies and soon rose to a prominent position within the Ordo Biologis where he took up a new field of study.

His initial interest was in the degradation of the human genome after centuries of nuclear holocaust, and how damaged the genome of Terran humans was. The Sol System of the time was rife with all manners of mutants and monsters, the legacy of both Terra and Mars’ own Nuclear Wars of the distant past, reactor leaks, genetic experiments gone wrong and more. Larrey had been part of several hunts for Martian Mutants, and having examined the recovered bodies he was interested if a similar fate yet lay in store for the hapless humans of Terra and whether they had deviated enough from the human baseline to no longer be considered as human and thus worthy of purgation, a belief that was common within the Ordo Biologis at the time. Towards this end, he spent much of his time studying dead and live humans brought back from Terra by the Martian Expeditions periodically sent to Terra to recover the vast hauls of archeotech still left there. His preliminary findings were that the Terran Genome was in a long decline, and within a thousand years would be no longer classifiable as human.

However as the Unification Wars gained pace, he found that there was less and less material being brought back to study. The armies of the Terran Warlord known simply as ‘The Emperor’ seemed to be very hostile to the Martian visits and the kidnapping of Terran civilians and he often launched strikes on Martian camps, slowly driving the Mechanicum from Terra itself.

On one of the final expeditions to Terra, a new subject was brought back for Larrey to study. Among the corpses and terrified human captives brought back from Terra was the hulking corpse of a Thunder Warrior, one of the gene-modified shock troops spearheading the Emperor’s drive across the Planet. This corpse proved to be a revelation and a turning point for Larrey. The Terran Emperor, long discounted by the lords of Mars was proven as a master of biology, converting humans into elite soldiers for his conquest of Terra. Furthermore, this meant the Emperor might yet be able to stabilize the genome of the Terran survivors and prevent the decline into mutant monsters like the Martian ones the early Mechanicum had exterminated.

His interest piqued and a new avenue opened up for himself, Larrey set aside his study of human genetics and thrust himself into the study of the Thunder Warrior, noting the many modifications made to the standard human form, including increased size, boosted muscle, modified bone-structure and implants to increase aggression and combat ability. Unfortunately, he could only retrieve only so much data from what samples he had, and with Terra now off-limits to the Mechanicum he needed to look elsewhere for more information on the types of genetic modification the Emperor was employing. Fortunately, there was one place in the solar system which specialized in such knowledge and which also lay just within reach of the Mechanicum’s armies.

The Raid on Luna

The Gene-Cults of Luna were a party apart from both the Terran Warlords and the Martian Mechanicum, insular and content to ignore the squabbles of both. They were also regarded as the greatest repository of information on genetics anywhere in the Sol System, to the disgust of the Ordo Biologis who had long envied and coveted their lead in genetic research.

With his work of the Thunder Warrior giving Larrey enough importance to place him within the inner circle of the Ordo Biologis, Larrey now used his newfound influence to press for an expedition to Luna to try and recover as much material as he could from the Gene-Cults there. The Selenar would certainly not expect an attack from Mars, being preoccupied with Terra just below them. They could surprise the Selenar, break in and in a single day equalize the gap between the Ordo Biologis and the Selenar in knowledge and understanding.

With the threat from Terra growing by the day and the potential for knowledge that could help neutralize the Thunder Warriors and safeguard Mars, his request was granted. It took over a year to muster a powerful enough force to assault Luna but in 780.M30, a mighty force including a single Ark Mechanicum, the ancient and powerful ‘Omnissiax’ and two Mechanicum War Arks, supported by dozens of Kraken Servitors and Martian Cruisers was dispatched to Luna.

Luna’s defences were tough and several ships were lost attempting to force a landing. But the sheer might of the Omnissiax and its Temporal Rift cannon ground the Selenar defences into ruins. Larrey and a powerful force of Skitarri, Cybernetica and Praetorians, with a maniple of Warhound Titans of the Legio Tempestus landed upon Luna and forced their way into the Gene-Forges of Pallas Eugenesis, considered the foremost practitioner of the art and thus the foremost target for the Martians.

As the Martian forces broke into Pallass forge and reduced her defences the furious Selenar counterattacked with both the Selenar Pavisiers and Luna’s own answer to the Thunder Warriors: The Selenar Ironclads, gene-modified superhuman soldiers every bit as fearsome as the Thunder Warriors. Their bodies were thick with muscle and armored with subdermal plates, and they were filled with implants that increased their speed and stamina, helped them heal quickly from light wounds and could even keep them going after receiving mortal wounds just long enough to bring down their killers.

The Martian troops found themselves surrounded and cut to pieces though the Cybernetica Robots proved resilient and able to deal with the Ironclads, foreshadowing their enhanced ability to cut down Astartes during the Rebellion over two hundred years later.

The distraction caused by the Mertian Forces was Larrey’s plan all along. Even as the Martian forces drew the Selenar defences upon them, Cydonian Tech-Assassins secretly dispatched by Larrey found their targets and swiftly secured them, before retreating to the waiting Martian Ships. The Titans and Cybernetica swiftly followed, and once they were embarked the Martian fleet cut and withdrew, leaving the remaining Martian troops on Luna to their fate.

Though most of the Martian assault force had been destroyed, many dozens of data slates and Selenar gene-wrights were captured, as well as the bodies of several Ironclads. Larrey considered the action a resounding success. There was more than enough material to study for years to come. Once safely back on Mars Larrey busied himself with the new trove of data and even began to experiment with creating genetically modified super-soldiers himself using criminals normally condemned for Servitorization, though these experiments were only on a small scale and not sponsored by any within the Martian Mechanicum.

The success of the Selenar Raid also gave Larrey the credibility and status to become elected as ‘Biologis Prime’, the supreme head of the Ordo Biologis. His election was celebrated across the Ordo Biologis as he had done more than any to make the Ordo Biologis acceptable and even celebrated within the ranks of the flesh-hating Mechanicum. So Larrey could well bask in his success.

What Larrey did not know was that the ‘quantum leap’ the Selenar material had provided had not completely closed the gap between the two. What was worse was that Pallas had secreted a Selenar Assassin of her own who had been able to steal and send back to Luna areas of Martian research that had eclipsed the Selenar’s own work, thus keeping Luna comfortably ahead of Mars in the field of Biotechnology.

Oblivious to all this, Larrey’s work on learning how to counter these gene-bred enemies that all of Mars’ enemies were now fielding in bulk was more productive. He knew that the best weapon was to target their enhancements directly and neutralize them, thus defeating them while allowing those unmodified to advance safely. His finest creation was of a nerve gas specifically keyed to the additional organs of the Thunder Warriors and Ironclads, shutting them down and leaving those troops crippled and unresponsive while the Skitarii, Thallax and Cybernetica could freely advance without anti-gas equipment required.

The New Breed

His star ascendant, Larrey planned another raid on Luna to test his new weapon and recover yet more material for study. Troops has already been mobilized and the assault was mere weeks away when the news came that Luna had fallen to the Emperor’s armies, armies spearheaded by a new type of gene-modified warrior, the Astartes. The news of the existence of Astartes did no shock Larrey, on the contrary knowing that Thunder Warriors were highly unstable their replacement by a superior model was only a matter of time. But he had hoped that Mars could respond to terra before the new breed of super-soldiers could be rolled out. Larrey did not know how these Astartes differed from the Thunder Warriors, and feared his weapon would not be rendered useless.

His fears were proven when Martian forces returned to Terra under Fabricator General Valran Burija. Larrey was not present for the battle, remaining with the Martian Warfleet in orbit. But his Nerve-Gas proved utterly useless against the Astartes and he could only look on in horror as rank after rank of Skitarii and Tech-Thralls were overrun and the ancient and honoured Imperator Titan Martialis Hyaenidae was scuttled to avoid capture.

Larrey was fortunate in one aspect. A number of dead Astartes had been captured by the retreating Martian forces and were turned over to Larrey for study. Larrey vowed that he would uncover the secrets to their creation and find a way to defeat them, a common call in the wake of such a humiliating defeat.

Larrey’s initial findings were not good. These new warriors were light years ahead of the old Thunder Warriors. Their implants were almost seamlessly integrated into their biology. They were not as strong as the Thunder Warriors, but they were faster, smarter and more deadly by far. Larrey promised results to the Martian Parliament, but he could not guarantee an effective counter before the Emperor’s armies arrived over the red planet. Worse, he soon exhausted his samples and had no way to get more. He could do little to help should the Emperor invade Mars. Fortunately this never came to pass, and Larrey found himself working with Astartes in a far different way.

In the Emperor's Service

In the wake of the union of Mars and Terra, Larrey was recommended by the Fabricator General to be the Martian liaison to the Legion Apothecarion School on Terra, there to learn more about the Space Marines and their unique biology so that Mars could use that information to perfect their new forms of armor and equipment. It was during this time that Larrey met and befriended a member of the XIIth Legion's Sacred Band with a deep interest in genetics named Wilmut Sachs. This connection would later bring doom to both. His time with the Apothecarion was short but productive, and Larrey could now add a deep and growing knowledge of Astartes Biology to his many talents.

Shortly after the Treaty of Mars, Larrey's old rival Pallas Eugenesis recommended that he take responsibility for supervising the gene-seed of the Second Legion. This gesture came as a great surprise and Larrey was greatly moved by the apparent conversion of Pallas from a petty and grasping monarch to a believer in Imperial unity. He was even more delighted to find that the work involved bringing the newly-discovered Primarch Arelex Orannis into his laboratories to provide tissue samples. Larrey was able to duplicate Pallas's achievement of incorporating Primarch genetics into the Legion gene-seed with the Second Legion, strengthening and stabilising the gene-sons of Orannis. When news of this great work reached the Emperor, He personally requested that Larrey be seconded to Him as part of the Legiones Astartes expansion project.

Larrey was deeply impressed by the Emperor’s skills and his laboratories, and was swiftly integrated into the Emperor’s team. His knowledge of how implants bonded with their human hosts meant that the number of rejections of gene-seed was reduced by a third, and his input led to a number of improvements to the implantation process. Many of the human and Selenar gene-wrights called him ‘The Mad Magos’ for his endless enthusiasm for his work. Though he was held in high regard, there was one thing that remained off-limits to him. Despite Larrey's constant requests he was forbidden to experiment on improving on the gene-seed or organs used to create Space Marines. To Larrey this restriction was a source of great frustration. His reports continually made reference to possible improvements, creating a rift between him and his peers. When several illegal experiments on modifying such organs as the Occulobe and the Ossmudula were uncovered, he was unrepentant. Finally, the Emperor was forced to order him to leave Terra. Larrey felt betrayed, cast out over an earnest desire to ensure that the Astartes project would continuously grow, develop and improve. He had never been popular on Mars and his old associates had little interest in giving him sanctuary. After a period of drifting, the Genetor was surprised to find a more permanent refuge at Crater City, under the protection of the kindly young Forge Lord Vilyon Luthier. Although relatively secure, Larrey's skills were ill-suited to work at a Forge City specialising in civilian goods. He simply did not know what to do with himself.

The Wanderer

In the end, Larrey could not remain at Crater City forever. There was nothing there for a Magos Biologis to do, beyond ensuring that candidates for Servitorization were in optimum condition. In the vast expanses of the Great Crusade, there would plenty of work for a disgraced lord of the Ordo Biologis. So Larrey bid Luthier farewell and boarded a newly constructed Martian Cruiser, bound for the cutting edge of the Great Crusade.

The records of Larrey’s years between his departure from Crater City and his arrival within the ranks of the XIIth Legion are largely lost to us, for though it is known Larrey kept meticulous records of himself, they were all lost when he fell, and no copies have thus far been found. However in the countless fragmentary logs of the myriad battlegroups, scout fleets and compliance formations of the Great Crusade a fragmentary record can be pieced together.

Larrey first ended up as the senor Magos Biologis of the Taghmata Zoprone, a formation attached to the 119th Expeditionary Fleet fighting to break the Ork Empire of Zaragtz. At first his position was to monitor and maintain the biological components of Servitors and Tech-Thralls, as far a fall from the lofty heights of the Astartes Project as possible. However his talents soon brought him out of the workshops and onto the battlefield as both a medic and an advisor. It was here that he first gained an understanding of Ork Biology, and he certainly believed that certain aspects of Ork Physiology could be reproduced to enhance the physical strength and pain resistance of Astartes. There were no Marines of any sort in the 119th, so Larrey never had a chance to share this theory or attempt to move it beyond the theoretical, and in any case he chafed under the dead end he found himself in. His name was no longer on the records for the Taghmata Zoprone after the fall of Zaragtz.

His next confirmed appearance ten years later was as an Explorator in the fleet of Rogue Trader Helori Le Gall, Granddaughter of the famous Visant Le Gall. Though Larrey rarely stayed in any one place long, his service for the Le Galls was the single longest unbroken period of time spent in any one place. For fifteen years he faithfully served the Le Galls as they drove forward the boundaries of the Imperium, and Larrey made many reports of the various Xenospecies encountered by the Weatherman and reports about how certain worlds might affect human physiology in the long term. It is believed that Larrey himself was the one who finally cut ties with the Le Galls and once more vanished into the wilderness of contested space, unable to stay put any longer. Despite the circumstances of his departure, even until the Rebellion a pict of him remained in the grand hall of the Weatherman and he was spoken of fondly by Helori Le Gall before her own untimely death.

The next definitive record of him is as a senor medical officer on the blasted killing fields of Testroetera during the bloody climax of the Third Ruavu Grun xenocide, as the Imperium sought to roll back the tide and reclaim the galactic north from the Extragalactic invaders. Testroetera was one of the bloodiest battles the Imperium ever fought before the horrors of the Rebellion, and the best estimates say up to a billion men and women of the Imperial Army died keeping a vast host of the enemy pinned down while the Legions pushed ever deeper into the occupied north. Larrey’s skills with biology made him a highly effective doctor, and he ended up as commander of an entire Mobile Army Hospital Complex, the 8063rd. The horrors of that battlefield can now only be guessed at, but by his example Larrey was able to have the single lowest death rate in his Hospital Unit. A single record by a Captain Macquarie who served in the 8063rd is the only testament of that time, and Macquarie wrote that Larrey was almost completely detached from the horror around him, acting like he was in a hospital far from any fighting and unphased by even the most horrific wounds. Though Larrey was little liked for his cold, emotionless attitude he was respected by those under his command and Macquarie said that Larrey’s example helped him survive the ordeal. Larrey resigned his position after the battle was over and once more disappeared.

For nearly sixty years Larrey drifted from service to service and place to place across the Great Crusade’s frontiers. His name was largely forgotten across Mars. Even the Ordo Biologis he once headed only knew him as ‘Larrey the Lunatic’, who was responsible for ending Martian involvement in the Legion Expansion program and ensuring that it would be almost completely dominated by the Selenar of Luna. Larrey could very well have perished on some nameless world or in the dark depths of Space, forgotten and unlamented. But as fate would have it one had heard his name and wanted his services. And that one was one of the Emperor’s eighteen sons.

The Life Bringer

Larrey was sought out by none other than Johannes Vrach of the XII Legion. Vrach was an expert in disease and by consequence biological and chemical warfare which had become two pillars of his Legion’s combat operations, and he had been gathering talented individuals for his Legion’s biological research cadre. During this period he heard from Gentor Wilmut Sachs - himself a pupil and disciple of Larrey from the earliest period of the Legion’s existence - that there was no greater expert within the Mechanicum on biology and biotechnology than Lyster Larrey, and Vrach determined to seek him out personally.

This became an imperative after the long and bloody Laconda IV Campaign, against the Xenos Madrelaniak who were not only immune to the poison gas and biological weapons deployed against them, but actively strengthened by them to the horror of the Life Bringers. That campaign cost over 22,000 Life Bringers, the single costliest campaign the Legion would face before the Rebellion. In its wake a need was there to dramatically expand the speed at which new recruits could be transformed into Astartes to replace the catastrophic losses incurred, and given his service to the Legion Project itself Larrey was now top priority for Vrach.

It is believed Vrach’s own brother Uriel Salazar was the one to finally track down Larrey, who it turned out was attached to a battlefield disposal formation serving in the wake of the H'cheme Campaign, cleaning up the corpse-littered battlefields. For a figure once regarded as the greatest of his order, this was surely rock bottom. For the grimy figures busy identifying and burning corpses, the giant figure of the Primarch must have come as a shock, moreso when he asked for their supervisor.

Larrey found himself shocked when Vrach asked for his aid to rebuild his Legion. For the first time in over half a century Larrey found himself called back to the duty he did best, working with the Legiones Astartes. The two found much in common, with Vrach finding himself enamoured of this master of genetics who understood his Marines and was seemingly empathetic of his desire to use them as a force for good, not just as a tool of war and compliance. Larrey himself was deeply impressed with Vrach’s own understandings of genetics and biotechnology, and decided to make Vrach his newest pupil.

Upon arriving with the main Legion Larrey found himself working closely with his old student and protege Wilmut Sachs, who had risen to be the head Apothecary and head of the Life Bringer’s own Genetor Program. Sachs could even teach Larrey a thing or two and Larrey eagerly devoured nearly a centuries worth of information that had passed him by during his long exile.

As the crusade continued Vrach eagerly absorbed Larrey’s teachings and soon became an unparalleled master of genetics, able to personally intervene whenever any issues with the Gene Seed of his sons was uncovered. Larrey also found himself in the same position he had been when the Apothecarion was first founded, as a mentor figure. His techniques learned both in the gentics lab and on the brutal battlefields of the Crusade gave the Apothecaries of the Life Bringers one of the highest success rates in the entire Legiones Astartes. It is known that Aubrey the Grey Himself sent his most promising Apothcaries to be taught by Larrey when the two Legions served together against the Drozass, passing those skills onwards across the Legion Apothecarion.

However Larrey’s old hunger, the one which had seen him shamed and exiled once more reared its ugly head, and this time Larrey had a master who was all too willing to let his transgressions slide. For when Vrach learned of Larrey’s desires to improve on the Space Marine Organs, he secretly allowed him to experiment on a number of dead Life Bringers, reasoning that in death they could help Larrey ensure that the next generation would be stronger and better able to fight their battles for mankind both on and off the battlefield. So Larrey began to experiment on Space Marines with an enthusiasm that bordered on madness. At last he could do what the Emperor had forbade him to do, and he would show the Emperor the folly of his ways.

The Lord of Life and Death

Larrey was a key part of keeping these new Astartes a secret, but when Aubrey The Grey himself joined the Life Bringers just after Ullanor, he revealed he knew about them and could show Larrey the true secret to what sustained them. Larrey agreed, and Aubrey showed him the way of Nurgle, the Lord of Death and Rebirth. Larrey realized that he had always been following down the path of Nurgle, even if he did not realize it, and did not need encouragement to embrace the way of the Lord of Plague. He helped Aubrey bring the good news to Vrach as well, and once done Larrey requested leave to return to Mars and prepare the ground there for the coming storm. Vrach agreed, promising to meet him again on Terra. Sachs and his other disciples left to join other traitor Legions and teach them how to use the Warp and genecraft to enhance and improve themselves beyond what the Emperor had engineered.

His return to Mars was without any pomp or ceremony, but he immediately began to set to work, spreading his creed among the Gentors of the Mechanicum and creating an army of gene-wrought monsters filled with the power of Nurgle, an army that would be part of the assault upon Olympus Mons. Furthermore he began a new avenue of study: fusing flesh and warpcraft together to create superhuman beings fuelled by the Warp and even more powerful than any Space Marine. When the rebellion broke out, he unleashed his armies of warped beings that were once humans upon the loyalist Mechanicum and later the Legiones Astartes. For much of the Heresy his location was unknown, moving from place to place, using captives from the Loyalist Legions to experiment on and using his expertise to help speed up the creation of new Marines for the Traitor Legions to replace battlefield losses. Several times agents of the Emperor tried to assassinate him, but every time it failed, only adding to his grim reputation.