Aubrey The Grey

Aubrey Vokrii-Kendov 'The Grey'
Title/Honours	Aubrey The Grey
Aliases	The Surgeon
Discovered (world)	Lazarus I
Discovered (period)	901.M30
Legion	Sixteenth
Heraldry/Sigil
Distinguishing Traits	friendly, driven, scholarly
Flaws	naive, prideful
Horus Heresy role	Traitor.
Disposition	Ascended

This page details people, events, and organisations from The /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe.

He was gifted in the medical arts, but it was a narrow understanding at best. Aubrey did not see the parallel between the human body and the human society. A healthy immune system does not let "tolerance" prevent the elimination of foreign bodies or diseased cells. The Great Crusade taught the rest of us that this truth of nature also applies to politics.

(Excerpt from Gaspard Lumey's private correspondence.)

History

Few have the required clearance to read the biography of Aubrey the Grey. This is not, fundamentally, due to his crimes. That the perfidious Arch-Traitor made a mockery of all natural and human law is a matter that a humble Acolyte of our Order might learn. The reason for secrecy is that Aubrey the Grey's early life is in many ways a model of excellence, even among the Primarchs. His achievement in rising from the most difficult of upbringings to take an active and important role in the Great Crusade raises many difficult questions about the Emperor's Plan - questions that might cause an undisciplined mind to become vulnerable to the Ruinous Powers.

Youth

Aubrey's childhood was an oddity, even for a Primarch. Although he was lost along with eighteen of his superhuman brothers, his incubator came to rest on Lazarus, a planet inhabited by the inhuman Tarellians. These alien creatures recovered the capsule and discovered the infant Aubrey within, but as they were not human they deliberated on whether to let their captive live at all. Aubrey's life was spared only at the whim of the sadistic General Tareq, who felt it would be more interesting to see if the child could survive the rough life of a Tarellian. No mercy was given to the foundling and he was brought up in the lowest caste of Tarellian culture; The Doctors. In Tarellian culture, it was the doctors who were the disgrace. For a warrior, the highest honour and caste of the Tarellians, to have his blood spilled in anything but combat, such as by a surgeon, was the most vilified of possibilities. Aubrey showed prowess in learning, quickly becoming one of the most renowned doctors of the Tarellians in his early twenties.

By quirk of fate, Aubrey gained the opportunity to repay his saviour and performed a life-saving operation on General Tareq. Shamed and grateful in equal measure, Tareq offered a pact; if Aubrey told no-one of his surgery, the General would allow him to become a warrior. Aubrey rose through the ranks of the Tarellian military as quickly as he had risen through their medical world, becoming a valiant warrior and leader. Soon he took the place of the now retired general. His ascension to general was a very treacherous one. Although Tarellian culture was in principle based on merit and accident of birth should place no prejudice on a warrior, few took kindly to what they saw as a mis-shapen out-worlder giving orders.

Aubrey quickly learned the arts of Tarellian politics, just as he had those medicine and warfare. Under the honour code of the Tarellian warrior the only way to silence sniping comments was with the blade. Forged by the super-science of the Emperor of Mankind to be a peerless warrior, Aubrey was a natural swordsman and spent countless hours honing his craft to a razor-edge. Though it was not unusual for a Tarellian officer to bring a sword by his hip into the theatre of war, only Aubrey did so for the sake of duels with his own men. After many assaults upon him, the Primarch dueled his way to a bregrudging form of respect. He was eventually approached by Brother Makai, Major Vex, and Sergeant Vaas. Major Vex had also been another rising star in the military leading to comparisons to the off-worlder. This was a grave affront to Vex's honor. How could some lowly off-worlder garner so much respect?

Vex challenged Aubrey to single combat. Inevitably, the Primarch quickly gained an advantage. However Vex had an edge of his own. His brother Vaas had slipped into Aubrey's blind spot and struck Aubrey with a club, allowing Vex to wound Aubrey and win the duel. Aubrey's pride was wounded. Tarellian honour allowed for interference by kinsmen and to overlook the possibility of Vaas deciding the issue was a grievous error. Aubrey knew the only way for him to regain his status was to beat Vex and Vaas at the same time. Without kin of his own to even the odds, Aubrey took up a second blade and practiced new techniques in secret. For their second meeting, it was Aubrey who approached Vex and demanded a rematch. A very cocksure Vex accepted, with his brother Vaas now insulting Aubrey and attempting to enrage the Primarch. The reply was an icy emerald glare and the glitter of sunlight on Aubrey's blade. The fight began. Aubrey toyed with Vex, showing only a single blade and not pressing the issue. The Primarch's first target was Vaas, but he could not honourably strike a warrior who had not entered the duel. Slowly the duelists circled until Aubrey felt the position was right. He suddenly quickened his pace and swept forward, pressing Vex into a corner. Alarmed, Vaas leapt to his brother's defence only to find his club blocked by a second sword, drawn faster than the Tarellian eye could see. With a flick of his wrist Aubrey disarmed Vaas, a second lightning strike laid open the warrior's legs and sent him to the ground. Vex, consumed by fear and rage, rushed at Aubrey and was defeated as quickly as his brother. From that day on, Aubrey held his head high, two swords by his side.

Success with the blade and in command led to further advancement. In time, Aubrey became recognised as Tarellia's supreme commander with full authority to prosecute interstellar wars against lesser civilizations. However, as in the past, his elevation aggravated chauvinists among the Tarellians and a series of revolts broke out, slowing expansion efforts. Of more import to the expansion of the Terellian sphere was the arrival of Imperial Crusade ships bearing the markings of the Wolves of Dawn. These ships were far more powerful than the Tarellian warships present and many feared invasion. But the Astartes' mission was more subtle. Following up the reports of Rogue Traders who had dealt with the Tarellians and learned of Aubrey's presence, Hektor Cincinnatus took his honour guard to the surface of Lazarus and demanded an audience with the supreme commander.

Aubrey presented himself in Tarellian finery of black, scaled leather highlighted with silver filigree. Naturally, he wore his blades - alien to Hektor's eyes - at his side. The two Primarchs spoke through an interpreter, the Rogue Trader Alvec Rhan. Such measures were not unusual, but Hektor was unnerved to hear his brother speaking a serpentine tongue so unlike any form of Low Gothic in the Galaxy. After some pleasantries, Hektor made it clear that Aubrey's place was in the Emperor's service as a leader of the Great Crusade. Politely, Aubrey insisted that he already had duties to attend to and that he could not desert his post without being bested in a duel. Not being one to shirk from a fight, Hektor issued a challenge and the two Primarchs faced one another in ritual combat: spear and shield pitted against twin swords. It cannot be doubted that Hektor won the duel, but Alvec Rhan's testimony suggests that this victory had more to do with superior Imperial technology than superior skill.

On the long return voyage to Ancient Terra, Hektor and his entourage helped Aubrey prepare for a meeting with the Emperor. Aubrey quickly mastered High Gothic and the essentials of Terran etiquette, though the philosophies of the nascent Imperium were exotic to his mindset and he particularly questioned the human-centric view of the Galaxy. Hektor deflected arguments by suggesting that it was his own explanation that was lacking and that the Emperor could make his case better in person - an excuse which helped to win Aubrey's friendship, but hardly steered him towards the Imperial Truth. So it was that, despite the natural awe that Aubrey felt towards the Emperor, he quickly leapt into debate. After an arduous week of debating, during which Hektor was occasionally called upon to provide testimony, it was agreed that the Tarellians would be put under quarantine with the ultimate fate dependant upon Aubrey's conduct.

The Great Crusade

Gaspard Lumey

Although Aubrey and Hektor had a rapport, the Emperor decided to put His newly-discovered son under the guidance of Gaspard Lumey, master of the Fifth Legion "Winged Victory". What reasons moved His Unfathomable Mind are beyond the ken of mere mortals but Winged Victory had certainly won many great victories in the years preceding Aubrey's rediscovery. Perhaps more importantly, Gaspard had a reputation for ruthless wars against Xenos, a practice that Aubrey would need to embrace if he was to perform in the Great Crusade. Accompanied by a small force of his own gene-sons, then known as the Sixteenth Legion "Emerald Doom" Aubrey undertook the long journey to rendezvous with Gaspard. The Warp voyage gave the Primarch time to gain the trust of his men, though he knew that their loyalty could only be won in battle.

Gaspard Lumey's 25th Expedition Fleet dwarfed the forces of Aubrey's entire Legion. The sense of inferiority was only underscored by the Primarch's sophistication and his warriors' proficiency. While Lumey and Winged Victory were welcoming hosts and fierce allies, the Emerald Doom struggled to achieve their objectives in joint operations. These frustrations pushed Aubrey to make a thorough study of his brother's way of war. Fifth Legion's use of mobility appealed to Aubrey's tastes, though he felt that Winged Victory mistakenly emphasized manoeuvre as an end rather than a means to closing the battle for a decisive hand-to-hand clash. In reforming his own Legion, Aubrey melded swiftness and discipline with fire and courage to create a unique military doctrine.

Matters of war were not the only topic of discussion between the brothers. Aubrey the Grey did not meekly surrender his objections to humanocentrism and harshly criticized Gaspard Lumey for apparent inconsistency. If Gaspard felt that mankind as a whole should not be judged by the worst of men, why judge every alien species of their worst representatives? Aubrey also pressed the point that the Fifth Legion had benefited tremendously from the traditions of Gaspard's homeworld and felt that his own Lazarus had as much to offer to the Sixteenth. These discussions bore great fruit. Gaspard conceded the point in principle and agreed to support Aubrey in a petition not only for the Tarellians to be spared but for Imperial Law on aliens to be loosened. Under Aubrey's proposal, there would be no change to campaigns against terrible aliens - the old Xenos Horrificus that had tormented mankind through Old Night. But humanity should also recognise those aliens who were no threat and potential allies as Xenos Amicus and explore beneficial relations with them. The Emperor, in His Great Wisdom, gave this proposal sanction in the Edict of Tolerance of 903.M30.

The Standard of Aubrey, original Eternal Zealots emblem

Aubrey made first use of the Edict in that same year, negotiating the annexation of the Tarellian Empire. He stayed at Lazarus for several years after, hosting Gaspard Lumey for six weeks in 904.M30 and preparing the way for his Legion's relocation in 908.M30. The Emerald Doom's presence on Lazarus was nominally for the purpose of training a native auxilia, but it also allowed Aubrey to devote his attentions to repairing their damaged genetics. Selenar genewrights certainly played a part in this project and it is generally believed that Pallas Eugenesis herself visited Lazarus to help with the cure. Having exhausted the greatest minds among humanity, Aubrey used his Tarellian contacts to broker a deal with alien genewrights and by this expedient finally put an end to the degeneration of the Sixteenth Legion. As the numbers of his gene-sons began to swell with fresh recruits, Aubrey renamed the Legion the Eternal Zealots and set them to the task of driving injustice from the Galaxy.

Led by the Primarch's 71st Expedition Fleet, the Zealots took to their mission with gusto. Aubrey's crusading fire often put his men on thin margins, with the Legion ever pushed forward to meet difficult objectives when more prudent commanders might have called a pause to await replacements, but it also won many splendid victories for the Imperium. Thanks to their repaired genetics, the Sixteenth could absorb the losses incurred by their breakneck speed and still expand their ranks, but they became highly reliant on local supplies foraged by attached Rogue Traders. Aubrey often signed away economic privileges among Tolerated alien species as an incentive to his merchant allies, and though this expedient was a great aid to conquests in the short-term it sowed resentment among the Imperium's non-human populations.

The most resentful were, ironically, Aubrey's own Tarellians. In 975.M30, the Tarellian Empire's banners were raised once more and a great revolt threatened several sectors. Worse still, other aliens incorporated into the Imperium rallied to the Tarellians, spreading disorder further. The War Council took swift and decisive action. Gaspard Lumey's Fifth Legion was granted full powers to annihilate the rebels, while Aubrey's men were required to surrender their warships and heavy weapons and report to the Imperial fleet base at Pandora. From there, the Eternal Zealots were transported to Lazarus to bear witness to Fifth Legion destroying their homeworld. As the last of the Tarellians was slain and their once-splendid monuments thrown down, Aubrey approached Gaspard. He offered his brother the blade Cintamani and challenged him to a duel, half in mind to die on Lazarus's soil, half to avenge his people's death. Many among the Primarchs would have obliged him, but Gaspard Lumey was a soldier not a warrior. He refused the challenge as it was part of the Tarellian tradition and that tradition was dead. Gaspard then broke Cintamani beneath his heel and left Aubrey to mourn the ruin of his life.

Severe sanctions limited the actions of the Eternal Zealots after the Tarellian revolt, but it hardly mattered to Aubrey. The Primarch was deprived of his people, his command, and his purpose. What the Legion could or could not do without him was of little interest. Johannes Vrach attempted to For several years, Aubrey lived as a hermit in the ruins of Lazarus, admitting no visitors other than Shakya Vardhana. What the two Primarchs discussed is unknown, but those few reports of the incident all agree that the Vardhana left Lazarus unhappy. Aubrey's solitude only ended when a secret message was delivered to him by a Legion serf. The sealed codex was keyed to Aubrey's unique genetics and encoded in the highest encryption protocols of the Sixteenth Legion. Yet its contents were seemingly mundane. Star co-ordinates. A date. An orbital scan of the world Paskal III. The Primarch stared at the scan for long minutes, then bade his serf to make ready for departure. Aubrey's faithful Eternal Zealots had discovered a way home.

Following the trail of clues that began at Paskal III was difficult. The 71st Expedition Fleet was severely limited in its activity and its movements constantly monitored. To shake off suspicion, Aubrey often relied on trusted Rogue Traders to track down leads too far out of his Crusade's area of activity, while leading the Zealots with an imitation of his old fire. In his heart, the Primarch felt nothing for the Great Crusade any longer. The Empire that Aubrey had sought to build had died along with Lazarus, but perhaps he might find a world of comfort, a place to rest and live out however many centuries his life would last. For months he and his agents gathered snippets of information, until finally the destination was revealed: a red dwarf star designated PA10. Aubrey secretly transferred to the Warp Runner Anticipation of Glory. The Anticipation was routinely employed as a courier vessel so its departure from the main fleet barely required a log entry, but the small vessel was ranging out of Compliant space this time.

The Primarch arrived at PA10 and ordered his ship to begin exploring the system. As the Anticipation closed in on the red dwarf's inner system, it began to pick up a faint signal, which Aubrey immediately recognised as a Tarellian military code. The Primarch muttered to himself as he mentally decrypted the signal, then commanded that a lander be made ready for his personal use. Leaving the crew of the Anticipation of Victory to wait for further instructions, Aubrey piloted his lander alone to the dark side of a small, tidally-locked world close to PA10. Despite nothing displaying on his lander's instruments, the Primarch unerringly followed the right path. Abruptly, the lander passed through a holo-field and Aubrey's eyes saw what his mind had long beheld: a small cluster of twisted towards, ancient and alien in design. He touched down on a landing pad and was welcomed by a hooded figure, manlike in stature but not in proportion. This creature led Aubrey out of sight of the lander's vidcaptors. For 8976 solar minutes, he was completely gone from the records of his Legion. When Aubrey reappeared, he was accompanied by three creatures akin to the one that had greeted him. In silence, they boarded the lander and set course back to the Anticipation of Victory.

Aubrey's companions were smuggled back into the 71st Expedition Fleet and dwelled in his private quarters, taking the place of Legion serfs. One by one, senior commanders of the Eternal Zealots were brought into conversations with the Primarch and his creatures and enlightened into the mysteries of the Transformative Revelation. The creatures identified themselves as the Hezeyar, an ancient race who had sought to bring all the species of the Galaxy into harmony. The Tarellians were but one project of the Hezeyar, still primitive but edging towards their enlightenment until they were slaughtered by the Imperium of Mankind. Yet the Transformative Revelation teaches that in destruction there is always creation, and the Hezeyar's sorrow at their protege's demise was alloyed with joy that Aubrey had learned to shake off the primitive superstitions of mankind. Finally, a human ready to be enlightened and to spread enlightenment! The Eternal Zealots, as Aubrey's sons, had a special part to play in the full awakening of humanity to the Galaxy's destiny.

Only one officer in the 71st spurned this corrupting message. Zachery Irisus, Grand Mentor of the Legion, denounced the Hezeyar's creed as a blasphemy against the Imperial Truth and begged his gene-father to return to the beliefs of the Imperium. Aubrey answered by stabbing his faithful Marine through the heart. Without a trace of hesitation, the Primarch knelt and ritually cut his gene-son's throat - the first of his many human sacrifices to the Gods of Chaos. Backed up by his senior officers, Aubrey falsified Irisus's murder as an honourable death in a fair duel and none of the Eternal Zealots dared question this obvious lie.

The Hektor Heresy

The Voidwatcher

Other doubters within the Eternal Zealots were gradually weeded out, but Aubrey knew his own Legion would not be enough to draw humanity to enlightenment. As the second century of the Great Crusade began, Aubrey looked to the Black Augurs and their sinister Primarch, The Voidwatcher as potential allies. The two brothers had never been close, but the Hezeyar had supplied information to ensnare them. During the time before his rediscovery by the Emperor the Voidwatcher had studied much lore that was now forbidden to Imperial psykers. While in public the Black Augurs used nothing more than the powers allowed to Librarians of all Legions, they secretly continued sorcerous traditions born on the Voidwatcher's homeworld. This information was discreetly leaked to Shakya Vardhana, Primarch of the Eyes of the Emperor. Predictably, the Vardhana brought his concerns to the Emperor and triggered a great trial of the librarians in general and the Black Augurs in particular at the Council of Nikaea.

Aubrey personally attended the Council but did not ask to speak. However, he made his influence felt. When the mood of the trial seemed to swing in favour of the librarians, Aubrey arranged for information on the blackest deeds of the Voidwatcher to be delivered to Gaspard Lumey, turning a friend of the Librarians into their bitter enemy. Gaspard's scathing indictment of the Black Augurs horrified many at the Council and left little doubt as to the Emperor's verdict. The Librarium project was suspended and the Black Augurs were severely censured. Aubrey didn't bother to offer his sympathy to the Voidwatcher, for such sentiments would be wasted on him. Instead, Aubrey waited for the Black Augurs Primarch to come to him. The discussion began with an almost innocent scheme for vengeance against Gaspard Lumey - a plot that bore fruit in the exile of Fifth Legion to the northern fringes - but quickly deepened into talk of the Primordial Annihilator. The Voidwatcher was hardly an innocent when it came to the denizens of the Warp, nor even to making a pact with them. He drew the line at accepting Aubrey's creed and venerating Chaos, but the two Primarchs still swore an oath to put an end to the folly of the Imperial Truth. Aubrey's Hezeyar allies would give sorcerous advice to the Voidwatcher and in return he would strike the first blow of the Hektor Heresy.

That blow struck at the heart of the Imperium. After the Emperor had withdrawn to Terra he had set up great psychic wards to protect a dangerous experiment with the ancient interstellar Webway. The Voidwatcher's magic shattered those wards and forced the Emperor to devote himself and many of his most powerful servants to fighting off a daemonic incursion beneath the Imperial Palace. This diversion left Malcador the Sigilite in command of the Imperium, and he swiftly proclaimed the Voidwatcher a Traitor to be exterminated. Knowing that this crisis was imminent, Aubrey had arranged to visit the Warmaster Hektor Cincinnatus and subtly manipulated him into calling for a conference of the Primarchs to investigate and rule on the Voidwatcher's alleged crime. This conference at Olmer was a grand opportunity for Aubrey and his Eternal Zealots to play on the weaknesses of the attendant warriors. Despite Tiran Osoros calling on the assembled Primarchs to disperse and obey Malcador, the gathering slowly convinced themselves - with Aubrey's help - that there was an underlying conspiracy against the Space Marines and perhaps the Imperium itself. The irony delighted Aubrey as he sowed dissent, but he retained his composure and went about his dark business. Inferox "The Burned King", Johannes Vrach, Uriel Salazar, and Cromwald Walgrun were all pushed further onto a road of damnation that would see them become mockeries of their former selves. Hektor himself was most resistant to outright corruption though the Warmaster's fears made him a puppet of Chaos none the less.

Of more immediate concern were the actions of Rogerius Merrill. Aubrey played on the Iron Rangers Primarch's strange loyalty to Hektor, leading Rogerius to wonder what might come of Tiran Osoros's departure. As a man of action, the Iron Ranger Primarch did not wonder long and departed Olmer to murder his brother. The death of Tiran Osoros rocked the whole Imperium. Malcador responded by appointing Alexandri of Rosskar as Warmaster and charging him to destroy the Iron Rangers. The Sigilite also demanded that the warriors at Olmer give up their warships and await reeducation into the Imperial Truth. Aubrey, now knowing the gathering better than they knew themselves, eased off the pressure and feigned concern and uncertainty while his brother Primarchs talked themselves into outright rebellion. Hektor led the rebel Space Marines on a direct attack towards Terra, hoping to end the war without any great suffering. When the Warmaster's plan was unraveled, Aubrey was secretly pleased. A quick victory might have meant consolidation around Hektor, while the anarchy and desperation of galactic war provided opportunities for "enlightening" more of humanity.

Inferox

While campaigning alongside Inferox, Aubrey worked to bring his reclusive brother deeper into the thrall of Chaos. The two Primarchs were tasked with crippling the War Scribes of Arelex Orannis in their homeworlds. Due to the treachery of their TechMarines, the War Scribes had been robbed of much of their advanced technology and heavy hardware during the campaign and suffered terrible losses. Arelex Orannis's resolve stalled the traitors at Nahardul, where the Loyalist Primarch chose to burn one of his own worlds with Phosphex rather than surrender it to the Traitor cause. Yet Aubrey had use for the death of Nahardul. The unquenchable Phosphex fires were the instrument by which Inferox was transformed into a daemonic servant of the great god of Fire and Blood, Khorne.

Having achieved their primary objective in the Atalantos Worlds, the Eternal Zealots withdrew and set out on the long voyage to the northern reaches of the Imperium. For years Aubrey had maintained a correspondence with exiled Gaspard Lumey and his Fifth Legion, feeding them carefully selected facts about the civil war. Gaspard's replies had left his likely loyalties uncertain and Aubrey was resolved to either recruit the Fifth or destroy them. Talks at Gaspard's headquarter world Dolsene made little headway and Aubrey quickly tired of trying to persuade his brother into the Traitor camp. He strung out a final deceit, suggesting that Gaspard go to the Loyalists and lobby for peace with Aubrey doing the same with the Traitor camp, then feigned departure. However, the Eternal Zealots scarcely left Dolsene's surface before Aubrey and his bodyguard teleported back to Gaspard's headquarters, intending to decapitate the Fifth. However, sentries from the Dolsene Rifles put up an unexpectedly stiff resistance and killed Brother Olech Itharn. The death of one of their number entraged the Eternal Zealots and time was lost hunting down the last of the riflemen. The delay allowed the Fifth Legion warriors to ready themselves for a fight, though they were still at a disadvantage. Aubrey fought his way to Gaspard Lumey and struck his brother down with a lightning strike. Before delivering the coup de grace, Aubrey paused to savour the moment - and was interrupted by the Freeblade Knight Abdul Al-Sherar. Though neither the Knight nor Gaspard could defeat Aubrey on their own, together the two forced him from the field. As the Eternal Zealots retreated, Aubrey promised to make his foes suffer so much that they'd regret surviving the battle, a threat calculated to send Gaspard scurrying back to his beloved homeworld rather than into the thick of the fighting.

Aubrey then returned to Hektor's side to prepare for a final attack on Terra. All of the Traitor Legions had gathered their full strength and seized key systems close to Sol. Their vast hosts hugely outnumbered the defenders of Terra, but such numbers would be required to overcome the defenders' fortified positions. Once the landing sites were secured, Aubrey led his Eternal Zealots into the labyrinths beneath Terra's cities - claiming that this approach would outflank the Loyalists from beneath. His real objective was the remaining civilian population, those too poor or insignificant to be transported offworld or offered the protection of the Emperor. The Eternal Zealots gathered up innocents and offered them up to Chaos by the thousand at makeshift altars, desecrating the depths of Ancient Terra and weakening the barrier with Warp. Despite a pressing situation on the surface, Golgothos and his Entombed plunged into the depths to avert catastrophe. For all their morbid valour, the Entombed were too few to stop the Zealots and Aubrey disabled the mighty Dreadnought that sheltered his brother's remains. As a final perversion, Golgothos's withered body was pulled from the machine and murdered on the altar, tearing open Realspace and letting the daemonic minions of the Chaos Gods spill into the depths beneath Terra's now-ruined cities. Only the arrival of the Emperor himself brought the madness to a halt. Aubrey, ascendant in the favour of Chaos, faded back into the Warp to receive his reward rather than face his father. The Emperor used his great might to seal the rift to the Warp, but he was horribly wounded in the process and neither he nor the Imperium would ever recover.

Personality

Idealistic and prideful. Aubrey is the spiritual heart of his Legion, the epitome of all that his sons stand for and all they wish to achieve. He likes to be on the front line, doing his part to keep his sons safe, challenging the leaders and champions of the enemy armies. His rapid, precise strikes had the mentality of a surgeon cutting cancer from a body.

Appearance

Aubrey is tall and lean. In calm situations, he moves slowly and gracefully, but he strikes like lightning in a fight. His face is gaunt and angular though he tends to have a certain warmth to his expression thanks to his sparkling emerald eyes. His hair is silver, parted towards the right of his face and flowing. He bears a pair of curved scars under his left eye. Both curl towards the edge of the lip, the outer scar dwarfing the smaller scar and curling around it. If he isn't seen with a pondering look on his face, he is either in battle or conversing with his valued brothers, normally with a small smile on his face.

When out of his armour he wears a black coat, it is said to be made of precious material as strong as adamantium, yet as soft as silk, with a green lining made of the same material. Underneath it he wears a soft leather cuirass made of weaves. Inside of his armour, he wears a cloak made of this material, purely green over his armour.

Wargear

Aubrey wears the Armour of Lazarus. Jörmun and Gandr are a pair of matched serpentine blades, made by dark powers in the heart of the Eye, are fast as quicksilver and can slice any foe apart with ease. He also carried the Wledig crown, a gift from the King of Cattegirn that was both a symbol of his authority and a powerful relic incorporating a defensive field as strong as a Storm Sheld.

A fan's Attempt at Rules

	PTS	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Aubrey the Grey:	450	9	5	6	6	6	8	7	10	2+/3++

Unit type: Jump Infantry, Independent Character.

Wargear: Armor of Lazarus, Jörmun and Gandr, Wledig Crown.

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Bitter Rage, Bulky, Crusader, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Fearless, Fleet, Furious Charge, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, Master of the Legion, Suspicious Reputation, Venomous Concoctions.

Armor of Lazarus: Primarch armor, crafted by the awesomest priests of mars, blah blah. 2+, has a jump pack that makes him jump infantry. Additionally, his jump pack may be used in both the movement and assault phases of the same turn.

Jörmun and Gandr: The twin blades of the primarch. S:U AP2, Paired (+1A), Duelists's Blades (Aubrey gains +1I in a challenge).

Wledig Crown: Iron Halo +1, basically. Offers Aubrey a 3++ invuln save. Additionally, Aubrey counts as having assault grenades, and any unit he charges must make a blind test.

Bitter Rage: Aubrey's many years as a warrior slave gave him a harsh determination to meet the enemy's champions in fair combat, and prove his worthy by defeating them, sometimes going to seemingly insane lengths to catch them. Aubrey must give out and acccept challenges whenever possible, and has Hatred: HQ's, LOW's, and Characters. If any character ever refuses a challenge from Aubrey, he gains the Rampage USR, and must always move, consolidate, and run towards that character until he kills them.

Suspicious Reputation: Aubrey's history of conflict with his own brothers and factions of the Imperium leads to great distrust from his allies for Aubrey and his sons, even beyond what his deviant legion had already earned for themselves, and his tolerance for aliens makes him an outcast even among his traitor brothers. If Aubrey takes to the field, all armies count as By The Warmaster/Emperor's Command, regardless of where they sit on the allies table.

Venomous Concoctions: All of Aubrey's melee attacks count as poison 3+. Additionally, every roll of a 6 to hit in melee counts as 2 automatic wounds.

Aubrey is Fun!*. He's obviously a character killer, with his high WS, I, and A, plus poisoned attacks that multiply on a 6, a 2+/3++, and hatred against characters? There are like two characters in the entire freaking game who can fight him and win (Roman and Horus). But, he has some major drawbacks. A 440 point model that does nothing to buff your army is of questionable value, and his absolutely neurotic pursuit of his role as a duelist could potentially lead to him spending the whole game chasing a biker sergeant around the board (with the appropriate benny hill music playing), because if he decides to kill you, he will kill you. Granted, the odds of this happening are relatively low, considering that Aubrey is generally going to be on his own, he's very fast, and with all his bonuses, if your opponent refuses a challenge, he's going to be getting 10+D3 attacks, hitting and wounding on 2's, with rerolls, so even if your opponent does try to pull him off to run around the map, odds are Aubrey will catch whatever character, and eat his entire squad in one charge.