Is Mephiston Possessed?

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**Asherian Command**

DeepBeige wrote:I know, they were so close though... the resemblance is uncanny.

Thats so old dude its older than Dick Cheny

**Happygrunt**

Blood Angels being influenced by chaos is what makes them more interesting then the other chapters.

**Ugly Green Trog**

Matt Ward ruined everything!!!

I much prefer the image of the BA as the heroes doomed to fall defending the imperium, damned as a result of the black rage rather than any ties to chaos, yes Mephiston is an exceptional individual but the human race does throw up exceptional individuals every once in a while. The Blood Angels stood at the eternity gate at the siege of the emperors palace they should be the imperiums poster boys, the smurfs have stolen their place at the forefront of imperial propaganda, they werent even at the siege!

Personally i really dont see why GW felt the need to vampire or darken up the BA anymore than their fluff hinted at, mephiston is partially in the grip of the red thirst, the fluff makes it quite clear that he hasnt cured himself he merely has exceptional control, chaos daemons are compulsive liars, why wouldnt mkar want mephiston to doubt himself? I also resent the suggestion that the awesomest primarch who is made of win fell to chaos secretly, there is bugger all to support it and a huge ammount of evidence against.

I am a BA Fanboy true and biased :p

P.S Sanguinious would eat R-pats for brekkie and crap him out

**Gorskar.da.Lost**

Asherian Command wrote:
DeepBeige wrote:I know, they were so close though... the resemblance is uncanny.

Thats so old dude its older than Dick Cheny

Y'see I tried to point this out, but nobody listened...

Skippy the Wonder Wolf does NOT equal Space Viking Wolf Drunkards. The same theory applies to Tinkerpatz and the rage-driven Red Marines who just love the taste of blood.

**Illumini**

Ugly Green Trog wrote:Matt Ward ruined everything!!!

I much prefer the image of the BA as the heroes doomed to fall defending the imperium, damned as a result of the black rage rather than any ties to chaos, yes Mephiston is an exceptional individual but the human race does throw up exceptional individuals every once in a while. The Blood Angels stood at the eternity gate at the siege of the emperors palace they should be the imperiums poster boys, the smurfs have stolen their place at the forefront of imperial propaganda, they werent even at the siege!

Personally i really dont see why GW felt the need to vampire or darken up the BA anymore than their fluff hinted at, mephiston is partially in the grip of the red thirst, the fluff makes it quite clear that he hasnt cured himself he merely has exceptional control, chaos daemons are compulsive liars, why wouldnt mkar want mephiston to doubt himself? I also resent the suggestion that the awesomest primarch who is made of win fell to chaos secretly, there is bugger all to support it and a huge ammount of evidence against.

I am a BA Fanboy true and biased :p

P.S Sanguinious would eat R-pats for brekkie and crap him out

I'm the total opposite, totally BA fanboy, but I wanted more dark secrets, more vampirism (although these stupid haha-twilight morons would probably be even worse then) etc. Really liking Nurglitch's theory, especially the Dante part, that was pure brilliance

**DeepBeige**

I made the joke with intentions of establishing that it was obviously dumb. The resemblance is in no way uncanny, and that was the joke I was trying to make. It was in no way intended to be a criticism of BA or SW, just a ridiculous statement.

Sorry if this joke's been heard a lot, as I am new to the forum. Had I forseen that it would have elicited so many facepalms, I would not have spent the two minutes in paint it took to make that image.

**HungryTaz**

Nurglitch wrote:Slaanesh isn't all cocaine and unicorns. It's also about secrets; the dirtier the better.

I love it! This quote brought a little laughter to a grey day!

**mwnciboo**

Nurglitch wrote:Slaanesh isn't all cocaine and unicorns. It's also about secrets; the dirtier the better.

+3 AWESOME POST

On the Subject of Blood Angels, I always imagine them as British Public School boys from the Victorian British Empire all Glory, Panache and recklessness and with a supposed noble spirirt but with a dirty dark syphalitic element to their character.

They like Noble idealogy's but are a bit shallow, they probably think the Charge of the Light Brigade is Military Best practice and suicidal charges are worthy of veneration. A good example would be the Infinity Gate where they charged into the Daemon Horde and abandoned their defensive positions went on a "Ninja / Banzai / Berserker/ Rampage". They are the worst kind of Ally to have because they are unpredictable and dangerous. I do like their fluff and they do look good and have alot of good characters. They do however suffer from a Vainglorious streak and a melancholic nature. The Ultramarines are the Poster boys because they saved the Imperium, gave birth to most of the other Chapters and are tactically professional, stern and taciturn not given to crazy forlorn hopes, glorious last stands or suicidal tactical stupidity. Thats my take on them, feel free to prove me wrong.

**Elector**

Nurglitch wrote:Slaanesh isn't all cocaine and unicorns. It's also about secrets; the dirtier the better. There's a neat little colour piece in Codex: Chaos Daemons about how a Keeper of Secrets managed to get Itself into an Eldar Craftworld. And then rapes it.

Sigged

@mwnciboo: You have a point, but I find most Chapters have a penchant for glorious last stands....for example the way the entire First Company of the Ultramarines in Terminator armor heroically sacrificed themselves to a man trying to stop the Tyranids. But yeah, the Blood Angels seem to have more of a need for that. I would say their recklessness is helped by the Red Thirst,but several of their successor chapter have had issues where other Imperial forces are iffy about accepting their aid because of the heavy casualties on both sides that ensue. I find the Blood Angels' forlorn need for glory goes hand-in-hand with the fact that they are a dying chapter.Their Flaw really puts in dent in their numbers, and, in the case of the Flesh Tearer,s who's ultimate goal is to do a heroic last stand and be regarded as heroes is exactly because they are dying. The rate at which the Flesh Tearers fall to the Flaw is greater than the rate at which they recruit new Marines.

**mwnciboo**

Elector wrote: but I find most Chapters have a penchant for glorious last stands....for example the way the entire First Company of the Ultramarines in Terminator armor heroically sacrificed themselves to a man trying to stop the Tyranids.

You know, on consideration you might be right. I think the Ultramarines didn't quite expect their 1st Company to be annexed ( A bloody War and sickly season is good for promotion!) but yeah, thinking about the DEATHWING Story and the 3rd Company of the Crimson Fists there are quite a few examples of crazy suicidal last stands I think it appeals to the Space Marine Warrior Monk ethos, "look at me, I am so devout I will kill myself proving my love for the Emperor!". Sanguinius is a ultimate Martyr to the Imperial cause, the interesting thing is I look at the Black Templars and I see them as Blood Angels without the Gene-flaw and Red thirst, All Devout and righteous. I like the Black Templars for their Iconography and references to the Crusades in the middle ages, but they are a bit 2 Dimensional, Anything they don't like they just shout "BLASPHEMY or HERESY or DIE" and kill it, like a bunch of mindless sociopathic madmen.

That said Ultramarines are pretty 2-D as well, I think the most interesting deep and most misunderstood Chapter is the 1K sons. I want to buy some Pre-Heresy 1k Sons based on the SCRIBOR gyptian range and FW mk4 Armour.

Back to the Thread I do think Mephiston is possessed or at the very least made a pact with a Daemon in return for a ridiculous amount of power. You don't get buried under a building and come out after 7 days on a rampage like Chuck Norris on Adrenaline, at an aethisist convention.

**Brother Xorus**

The only thing posessing mephiston is the spirit of awesome

**mwnciboo**

Over Christmas, saw Mephiston charge a huge mob of Orks 2 x Trukks and a squad of burna boyz. With a combination of Rolling a 6, and then another 6 on the vehicle damage table detonating one trukk killing most of a mob and rampaging through the survivors to get at the burna boyz before on the next turn smashing the other trukk and massacring the Burna boyz. Didn't even get a scratch, not one wound, not even a slightly dented piece of wargear. Annoyingly good character, right up there with Abaddon, Old One eye and Kharn.

**Devastator**

Brother Xorus wrote:The only thing posessing mephiston is the spirit of Fail

fixed

**Cannerus_The_Unbearable**

BluntmanDC wrote:
apart from in the new chaos deamons book khrone doesn't like slannesh at all.

The new Chaos Marine dex changes that as well. It IS the new breed of fluff. Stop giving players reasons to gimp fluff points from people at tournaments who have to mix units for their books to be worth anything.

**Exopheric**

It says that his gene-seed reactivated, causing further changes, presumably bringing him closer to the level of the Primarch physically and psychically. Unprecedented, and the freak nature of the occurrence as well as its effects have Calistarius worried. He should be. It's not unlike becoming a demon prince.

Being bumped up closer to Sanguinius' level places Mephiston in a more precarious position. As a conduit for power, he can channel a lot now, and he's got to keep control of it. He's also a massively valuable target/prize for Chaos. I think the Lord of Change was just trying to meddle with Mephiston's convictions.

**Dark Apostle 666**

Oh yeah, I knew someone that tough could'nt NOT be somehow chaos-touched.
Like the idea of the red thirst being a daemon curse/gift, I might convert some death company to use as khorne beserkers..."Blood for the blood god!"

**Exopheric**

I should add that I think Sanguinius himself was touched by Chaos. Each primarch reflected the qualities of their homeworld, and Baal's apparent descent from high civilization into a radioactive, mutation-ridden desert plagued by cannibalism is suggestive. Sanguinius chose to embrace humanity, but to do so he had to restrain the darker side of his nature. His murder unleashed that dark side upon his legion, and now they all share in the burden. Mephiston may have attained a new level of power by conquering the black rage, but the potential to become a monster remains, just as it always did for the primarch.

**Lunchmoney**

I think Nurglitch's argument is compelling to say the least. We all know the "Blood for the Blood God" schtick, but the subtleties of chaos influence on the entire galaxy are lost to us at times.

Mephiston being possessed is not that far fetched if you really think about how the dark powers work. Other than Khorne, who at best is as subtle as an artillery round, the other three all have their secret plots and twists that are so incredibly complex tha mortals wouldn't even know where to begin to unravel all the details.

In fact, I would find it more incredulous if all of the "good" chapters of space marines were utterly free of the plots and taint of chaos.

**ChronoCupcake**

Nurglitch wrote:Slaanesh isn't all cocaine and unicorns. It's also about secrets; the dirtier the better. There's a neat little colour piece in Codex: Chaos Daemons about how a Keeper of Secrets managed to get Itself into an Eldar Craftworld. And then rapes it.

Or there's that interesting bit in Ravenor: Rogue where the Inquisitor's protege is possessed by the Daemon Slyte which, like Ravenor, can conceal itself from the attention of others around it despite being immensely powerful - scratch that - because it is immensely powerful.

If powerful psyckers inimical to the predations of Chaos can be curb-stomped by Slaanesh, the Blood Angels are just asking for hurt. Speaking of hurt...

It's kind of a pity that people get carried away by the whole Slaanesh = BDSM thing because it obscures Slaanesh's true nature as perversion. The perversion of pleasure into pain, making glory hollow, and desire the source of your own destruction. If Tzeentch changes things amorally, Slaanesh changes things for the worse. If Nurgle corrupts, Slaanesh subverts. What Khorne destroys, Slaanesh drives mad. Slaanesh alone amongst the Chaos Gods is evil. Falsehoods conceals the truth with lies, and turn good intentions into bad results.

I mean, if there's one thing the background is clear on, it's that the corruptions of Chaos are subtle. It's like the old phrase: Don't worry about the bullet with your name on it, worry about the one addressed "To Whom it may Concern".

The Blood Angels, for example, are a poster-child for the Blood God. The difference between them and the World Eaters is a noble purpose, rather than shedding blood for the sake of it. But if a noble purpose is what's keeping them from the clutches of Khorne, that's exactly the sort of petard that Slaanesh hoists people on.

Take Dante hanging on because he foresees a golden figure standing between the Emperor and victory. Talk about vainglorious. You know who else is a golden figure in Warhammer 40,000?

As for why, the real question is why not. The Chaos Gods are all capricious back-stabbing atemporal nihilisms. Motivation doesn't really apply to them; they just are. The C'tan ate themselves out of house and nearly home. The Necron's jealosy destroyed them. The Old Ones might have been lost in the Enslaver plague, which nearly wiped out the galaxy they had fought to preserve. The Eldar Empire destroyed itself giving birth to Slaanesh, and the Human Imperium is exactly what both the Emperor and Horus didn't want. In 40k stuff tends to go wrong in direct proportion to its importance, and that's because Slaanesh is a feature of that universe rather than because It is an actor. It doesn't discriminate.

Where Slaanesh is involved, things can always get worse.

Calistarius has all of the features of a possessed psycker. There's a reason the Imperium fears psyckers, and it's not because they occasionally turn out to be powerful (the Imperium can use that), it's because they can be weak. The Red Thirst/Black Rage pushed him beyond his limits. Beyond limits lies Slaanesh.

What an insightful, well written out piece bravo sir.