Warhammer 40K: Mephiston, Blood Angels’ Lord of Death
Today we dive into will made flesh, Chief Librarian of the Blood Angels: Mephiston, the Lord of Death.
Mephiston is the Chief Librarian of the Blood Angels and the only Blood Angel ever to overcome the Black Rage.
Librarian Calistarius
Before taking the name of Mephiston and the title of Lord of Death. Originally known as Calistarius, he was a Blood Angel Librarian of some ability and exceptional strength of character.
While holding the rank of Lexicanium, Librarian Calistarius was present during the boarding of the Space Hulk Sin of Damnation as an honourary member of the Blood Angel’s 1st Company.
Calistarius Falls, Mephiston Rises
While fighting as part of the relief force for Hades Hive during the Second War for Armageddon campaign, Calistarius became a victim of the Black Rage. After being inducted into the Death Company, he took part in the assault on an Ecclesiarchy building and was one of many trapped inside when the building collapsed during battle. For seven days, Calistarius lay trapped in the rubble, teetering on the edge of death and madness. Somehow, rather than succumbing to the Red Thirst, he managed to conquer it. By sheer strength of will he was able to suppress and hold in check the feelings of rage and the desire for blood, and in doing so he became something more. On the seventh night he burst free of his rocky tomb, reborn as Mephiston, the Lord of Death.
Mephiston’s resurrection did not go unwitnessed. By this time Hades lay once more in the hands of the Imperium, but Orks still roamed the ruins. As Mephiston heaved debris aside from his tomb, the sound of tortured stone drew the attention of one band of Orks. Weaponless, and with his armor shredded and mangled, Mephiston must have seemed easy prey, but nothing could have been further from the truth. His gene-seed, dormant these many long years, had awakened and wrought further changes, granting exceptional strength and vigor.
Moving with a speed the Orks could not match, Mephiston unleashed a flurry of attacks, every blow pulverizing flesh and shattering bone. Five Orks died in as many seconds, and a dozen more swiftly followed. The greenskins never stood a chance, but they were as stubborn as Mephiston was determined. It was not until the reborn Angel punched clean through the biggest Ork’s chest and tore out his heart that the survivors fled. His ruined armor slick with the blood of his foes, the newly reborn Mephiston began the long walk to Imperial lines.
Shortly before the Devastation of Baal, Mephiston suffered repeated dreams of the Bloodthirster Ka’Bandha, hated foe of the Blood Angels, appearing to destroy his chapter. Determined to prevent this, Mephiston and his disciples Gaius Rhacelus and Lucius Antros journeyed to the Cruor Mountains on Baal to undertake a ritual to open up a portal to Khorne‘s realm and kill Ka’Bandha before he could be a threat. The ritual however was ultimately flawed, and a cave-in trapped the Librarians for the rest of the battle.
Psychic Awakening & Mephiston
At some point following the Devastation of Baal, Mephiston was converted into a Primaris Space Marine. He used his psychic abilities to aid the Blood Angels during the Angel’s Halo Campaign. Mephiston has become embroiled in an effort to foil the plans of Magnus the Red and the Daemon Prince Zadkiel. Foreseeing disaster should their plans come to pass, he managed to infiltrate the Planet of the Sorcerers and foil the attempts of Zadkiel to summon nine Silver Towers to Terra.
Mephiston’s Wargear
Mephiston is armed with the Force sword Vitarus and a Plasma pistol. He wears Artificer armor, which incorporates his ornate Psychic hood. Overcoming the Red Thirst enabled Mephiston to release his full psychic potential and he is able to call on the full range of psychic powers known to the Blood Angels Librarium.
Learn more about Mephiston and the Blood Angels
