Mephiston

This article is awesome. Do not fuck it up.

"And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life."

– Judges xvi, 30

"The Emperor is not a god. All gods are LIES."

– Mephiston, Darkness In The Blood - The Lord Of Death himself simultaneously being badass, terrifying, and displaying his utter loyalty to the Master of Mankind.

Whoever you are, Mephiston eats like ten of your sorry asses for breakfast.

Mephiston a.k.a. angry Lucius Malfoy in SPEEHHSS is the Chief Librarian of the Blood Angels Space Marine chapter, one of the most powerful psykers in the Imperium, and he bears the title "Lord of Death" for A FUCKING REASON! The Grey Knights, Thousand Sons, and others may come to mind first when one thinks of psychic heavy-hitters, but Mephiston is at an entirely different level; no joke, he's been able fuck with the schemes of daemon-primarch Magnus (albeit kinda on accident). He's a monstrous creature in artificer armour and his sole purpose in life is to fuck you in close combat. He's the biggest Mary Sue of the entire setting, even compared to other Imperial characters, able to summon daemons without being corrupted, defeat Greater Daemons with his mind alone, able to stop time, give heart attacks to Farseers, overcome the Black Rage twice just by wanting to... Whether that makes him Awesome or stupid is up to you. He often contends with the likes of Ahzek Ahriman, Njal Stormcaller, that dick, Varro Tigurius, THE SWARMLORD and Kaldor Draigo for the title of baddest psychic motherfucker in the galaxy that's still mortal. Well, technically Space Marines are functionally immortal but are killed in action long before it can be considered relevant.

Origin and History

Once upon a time, Ramenphiston[1] Mephiston was called Brother Calistarius, one of many librarians of the Blood Angels (and possibly the same from the Sin of Damnation book, which would also make him the same Librarian Calistarius in the Space Hulk games). You know, just your average 8-foot tall, superhuman killing machine with psychic powers and vampire-ish tendencies. Nothing that special. Then one day, he was overcome by the effects of the Red Thirst.

Once a Blood Angel is overcome with the Red Thirst, he is afflicted by the Black Rage and is inducted into the Death Company. Death Company Marines are bat-shit crazy, berserker, vampire Space Marines. Since there's no cure for the Black Rage, the only thing that can be done for the Death Company is to use them as shock troops and throw them onto the front lines of the most brutal, meat grinder, suicide assaults and let them find a glorious death on the battlefield, like Samson in the House of Dagon.

During the second war for Armageddon, Brother Calistarius, as a Death Company Marine, was used to assault the Orks holding up in the Ecclesorium building of Hades Hive. As he and his fellow bat-shit crazy, berserker, vampire Space Marine brothers hacked, slashed and raped their way through the Orks' defences, they might have gotten a little bit too enthusiastic. As in, they brought the entire fucking building down on their heads.

Calistarius was the only one left alive, buried in the rubble with his body crushed and broken. Trapped, denied his glorious death, and unable to vent his rage by raping the shit out of the enemy, he was forced to sit and stew in his blind fury for seven days and seven nights. The madness of the Black Rage was tearing at his mind, screaming for blood and death, causing him to trip balls with out-of-this-world, fucked up visions that had driven all before him right off the deep end!

With nowhere to go and nothing to do, he had no choice but to stare down the visions and fight the madness. At midnight on the seventh day, he finally overcame the Black Rage and the Red Thirst and was reborn as Mephiston, LORD OF DEATH!

Having done what no Blood Angel had EVER done, he was reborn with new strength and power unlike anything he had ever felt before. Feeling the utter RAAAAAGE! and fury of Mephiston's rebirth, the thousand tons of rubble that had been crushing down on him and keeping him trapped SHIT ITSELF (how does rubble shit itself, you ask? Mephiston was angry with it, that's how!) and tried to escape, allowing Mephiston to burst free.

A real champion is he who doesn't piss his pants at the mere presence of this bastard.

As he burst free, he attracted the attention of a nearby Ork band. Now, there were several hundred heavily armed Orks and Mephiston was alone, his armour was shredded, he had no weapons, and was exhausted after what had just occurred. Given all this, it's clear Mephy wasn't really at his best. The odds were stacked against him, so it's fairly obvious what happened next...he fucked them right up! He butchered them, tore them apart with his bare hands. Then he grabbed hold of the biggest motherfucking Ork, PUNCHED A HOLE THROUGH HIS CHEST, AND TORE OUT HIS MOTHERFUCKING HEART. Then he skull fucked him while the other Orks just watched and cried girly tears of fear and defeat.

After this, because of his awesome power and the fact that the other Blood Angels were a bit scared of him and wouldn't refuse his application for promotion when he applied for one, he quickly rose through the ranks to the position of Chief Librarian.

The Cybele Incident

Mephiston was involved in, and helped to resolve, a conflict that nearly tore the Blood Angels Chapter apart. In the novels Blood Angels: Deus Encarmine and Blood Angels: Deus Sanguinius, a schism occurs within the chapter during a campaign against the forces of Chaos on Cybele. A young Marine, Arkio, grew wings and then got all uppity and powerful, proclaiming himself to be the reincarnation of Sanguinius, the Blood Angels' late Primarch. While many of his fellow Marines swore fealty to him, a number of others, including his older brother Rafen (his actual biological brother as well as fellow Blood Angel), refused to acknowledge any truth to his claim. As it turns out, they were right; the whole shebang turned out to be a typically dickish Tzeentchian plot intended to tear the Blood Angels apart and turn them to Chaos, and was orchestrated by Inquisitor Remius Stele, a traitor and agent of Chaos.

Eventually, Commander Dante, who was suspicious of the events on Cybele, sent Mephiston to assess the situation and decide if Arkio really was the reincarnation of Sanguinius. Almost immediately upon arriving, Mephiston sensed the taint of Chaos in Arkio, denounced him as a fraud, and identified Inquisitor Stele as a heretic and a traitor, because Mephiston is a fucking discerning motherfucker and was way too smart for any of those asshats. But Arkio persisted in his claims, and Mephiston, feeling unusually gracious, allowed Rafen to kill him instead of just eviscerating the little bastard himself. Still, Mephiston got to annihilate scores of other Chaos Marines and cultists while he was there, so it was a good time overall.

Divinatus Prime

In Mephiston: Blood of Sanguinius it was revealed that while Mephiston had been "cured" of the Black Rage, whenever he tried to unleash his full might he would be overcome by a bout of UNSTOPPABLE RAGE (seriously, he conjured miniature Warp Storms several times in this book). Furthermore, his body was slowly changing (his skin turned darker, his RAGE became harder and harder to stop, etc.).

Mephiston sought the Blade Petrific, a Xenos artifact which could amplify its user's psychic power, as an answer to his problem (don't have to unleash full power if you can amplify less). The Blade was housed on the shrine world of Divinatus Prime, which had been lost to the Astronomican (Mephiston and his retinue had to jump, and traverse the Immaterium blind). Two Chaos Sorcerers, vying to be the protege of a third one, decided to make a little contest: Both of them would try to manipulate Divinatus Prime's populations to wage a civil war to see who would get the blade first.

Unfortunately, in the end, one of them escaped with the blade. Just as planned, Mephiston deliberately let her to lead him to the third Chaos Sorcerer (whose identity he was implied to know.) Mephiston also realized that there was no salvation for him (his body had almost completely changed), but he said he "would be the Blood Angels' hope.". This also shows his deep loyalty. Rather than take the blade to save himself, he sacrificed his possible chance simply for a lead to a threat against humanity so he could destroy it.

Revenant Crusade

In 'Mephiston Revenant Crusade', good' ol Mephiston seems to have gone "blind" to the warp, this brings him to a world infested by insane Necrons. One of which boards his ship, and with his bodyguard of warriors, gets obliterated by a lieutenant and a few hellblasters. Mephiston then has them accompany him and his old friend Gaius, (not Merlin) down to the planet.

Whilst this is going on, A Codicier from Blood of Sanguinius named Antros, has been sent to investigate a way to cure the Rage or Mephiston warp overdose. This brings him into contact with the Sons of Helios Chapter, a near dead Chapter who live next to the Great Rift. Without falling to Chaos. Just as Planned. Using the chant from the Sorcerer guy 'We dream, dreaming, dreamed,' ye. This is then turned out to be the result of a Chaos trick.

Antros then joins Mephiston. But in the end things get fixed, but Antros may be corrupted.

Blood of Baal

The third book of the Psychic Awakening event, it seems that two things are very clear: Mephiston has become Primaris and that the battle between the Blood Angels and Tyranids is going to have a rematch.

Darkness in the Blood expands on Mephiston's transformation. Mephiston was being used as a kind of pseudo-guide for the fleets in Imperium Nihilus, and Mephiston seemed to be growing in power with the opening of the Great Rift. But despite his caution and his emphatic loyalty to Sanguinius and The Emperor, the sheer level of power increase occurring so rapidly, outpaced his self-discipline, and so Mephiston was losing control of it. This all came to a head during a trap laid by Slaanesh, where Mephiston pretty much wiped the floor with Kyriss, but damn near succumbed to the Black Rage as a result. Fortunately however, Dante knocked Mephiston the fuck out so that they could return him to Baal, where the Lord of Death was volunteered to test the Rubicon Primaris. During the process, Mephiston's soul was cast into the ethereal plane, and ultimately greeted by none other than Sanguinius himself, who explained to the Lord of Death that the Sanguinor and his counterpart, the Angel of Darkness, represented the Purity and Red Thirst/Black Rage, respectively, inherent to all those of Sanguinius' bloodline, (who refer to themselves collectively as "brothers of the blood"). Mephiston was given the choice to take the embodiment of the Flaw into himself, similar to the Sanguinor, but acting as its opposite counterpart, with all the most savage parts of the Blood Angels.

After his rebirth, Primaris Mephiston is now a containment vessel for the Flaw, but realizes that drawing on that strength without restraint will make the Black Rage stronger and eventually reduce all those of the blood into something exponentially worse than even the World Eaters. That being said, when coupled with their self-discipline, the power boost granted by the flaw to those of the blood (and Mephiston in particular) becomes immeasurable. To paraphrase from the book somewhat, though it takes a toll, the flaw acts as a tool; one that may harm its wielder if not handled with care, but when tempered by disciple, duty, and loyalty to The Master of Mankind, becomes invaluable. To illustrate this point, Mephiston's first combat action after crossing the Rubicon Primaris saw him solo-ing a fucking Genestealer Patriarch (including the attending dozens of elites of its inner circle), all while simultaneously entirely blocking the psychic call they were attempting to send to the Hivemind. Mephiston didn't even break a sweat.

None but Mephiston himself are fully aware of the responsibility he accepted (though Dante has intuited a vague outline), but no one can deny Mephiston is still utterly loyal to Big-E, even if he is most likely the single most dangerous individual threat to the Blood Angels' souls. Astorath was prepared to kill him and Dante even considered it. But Dante judged (probably correctly) that the Space Vampires need Mephiston more than ever. It's also worth noting that though he is unsure whether or not his meeting with Sanguinius was real (an uncertainty that Dante does not share however), it nonetheless had a profound impact on him, seeming to instill in him some humility and even restoring some small traces of the humanity that he'd previously thought gone from him forever. Nowhere was this more apparent than when he met Sanguinius; from the first moment Sanguinius revealed his identity, Mephiston, the Lord of Death himself, was so awe-struck that he fell to his knees and wept, immediately addressing him as "my father".

For All You Illiterate Folks

Mephiston, however, is not based on a vampire, regardless of the Blood Angels connection. He is based on Mephistopheles, or Mephisto, a demon of Satan, marvel comic character and one of the Seven Chief (see the connection?) Devils. Mephistopheles was the demon who turned up to take Faust's soul when he made a deal with the Devil, or Satan. When Mephistopheles first appeared to Faust, he actually advised Faust not to sell his soul. Mephistopheles didn't spend his time finding people to corrupt, but came to collect on souls from people who were close, or already, damned.

So you see, Faust is Brother Calistarius and Mephistopheles is Mephiston. Calistarius overcomes the Black Rage (his soul is already damned) and becomes Mephiston (sells his soul for great power). This theory is further reinforced by the fact that, in the Blood Angels Codex itself, it says (paraphrased) "in over coming the Black Rage, he became something much worse". As in, he sold his soul to overcome the torment of the Black Rage and in doing so became a demon, or one of the Seven Chief Devils of Satan.

This similarity is touched upon in the Lord of Death book, in which a lost Blood Angel chaplain accuses Mephiston of losing his "soul", referencing the twin curses of the chapter as being the heart and soul of who the Blood Angels are—and the reason for their humility and nobility. Mephiston rebukes him, stating that while part of the Blood Angels' humility was acquired by their suffering, it was in fact the tenets and beliefs of Sanguinius that truly fostered it. The chaplain dismisses this and very nearly comes to realize how very much of Mephiston's "soul" is still there. In the end, Mephy proves his loyalties as Doombreed himself screams to Khorne that he cannot sway Mephiston to turn to Chaos. Doombreed then leaves with Mephy knowing that he should have died right then and there

It should also be noted that Gabriel Seth, Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers, of all people considers Mephiston a monster and an abomination. This sentiment earned him the scorn of basically every Chapter Master of every Blood Angels' successor chapter with Malakim of the Lamenters straight up saying that Seth's boys murder more people horribly than any one of the Lamenters' Death Company. Take that as you will. Although, Seth has too much of a fixation on the flaws. His main reason for disliking the Primaris Marines, for example, is their lack of the flaws which he believes are what defines the Sons of Sanguinius. Also he's a raging douchebag on even the best of occasions.

On the Tabletop

	Pts	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	A	Ld	Sv
Mephiston (Primaris)	145	7"	2+	2+	5	5	6	5	9	2+/5+++

Mephiston is similar to last edition, with 5s for S, T, and W instead of 6s like the days of yore (or 4s for a standard librarian), but he makes up for it in other ways. His Sanguine Sword is now a Power Fist with no to-hit penalty; his other benefits include M7 (although he has no jump pack), BS2+ with his Plasma Pistol, A5 (6 on the charge/charged/intervention), a 2+ save, a 5+++ FNP, denying 2 powers instead of 1, and knowing 3 powers instead of 2, but that last is particularly lackluster, as he can still only cast 2; you'll probably want to take Unleash Rage (or Quickening, if you want him to buff himself better since THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE MEPHISTON!), Shield of Sanguinius, and Wings of Sanguinius on him, then only cast the third power when you really need to get him into position. All of those benefits will cost you 57 points over a normal Librarian, or 47 more than a Primaris Librarian.

Mephiston has an excellent statline, lots of melee power (combined with a Sanguinary Priest, he can hit at S12!), can buff himself and/or others well, and is priced decently. He makes a good HQ (although his warlord trait is lackluster). His only weaknesses are no way to generate anything better than a 5++, allowing basic power swords to hurt him, and no means to deep strike with other choppy units. otherwise he can perform any HQ role quite well. He's in direct competition with a librarian dreadnought, given how much of his special character oomph was directed into making him beatstickier.E.

Mephiston with Quickening and the Red Rampage stratagem adds 2d3 extra S10 AP-3 D1d3 attacks that wound everything up to toughness 9 on 2s... holy shit, it won't matter if there can be only one, there's gonna be nothing left!

• His new Primaris model has arrived - and it's awesome. Depending on which of the two alternate arms you give him, it's essentially a miniature of the incredible black and white drawing of Mephiston standing and wiping his mouth while a shrine burns behind him.

Gallery

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  He's as pissed off as an Angry Marine — on one of his quiet days.

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  Sheer willpower is what keeps him from tearing his own guys apart. (MG)

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  Some artwork depicts his hair as blonde, others make it look silver/white...

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  Mephiston has a lot of awesome artwork. Choosing a favorite is indeed hard.

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  Kain of Nosgoth called; he wants his aesthetic back.