I have decided to lore post about my Primarch OC. Its been a hot minute since my initial post about him (like, two weeks, oops) but I needed to gather my thoughts about him. So, here it is. This is a very messy info dump.
Also, trigger warnings: there are descriptions of suicide (!!!!), murder, descents into madness, and general Warhammer typical themes in this lore dump. I don't personally think it's too graphic, but I think it's worth the warning.
The Lost Primarch of the Second
( the quality of his portrait was eaten by tumblr RIP)
General Info.
Name: Deviros (or Devi)
Pronouns: He/him
Role in 40k: Primarch of the Second Legion
Home planet: Calypsys
Calypsys is a desert planet. Think, Monument Valley but red and huge. The native people of Calypsys carved their cities underground in vast systems of caves, only returning to the surface during certain times of the year. They worshipped the twin suns that guarded Calypsys' horizon. The largest of the two was Deviniros, the smaller sun was named Phoboros. These stars are also from where the name of his legion stems, the Argent Eyes, as the suns often align to appear as a massive eye peering down from the heavens. The planet was later colonized due to its massive deposits of sandstone and quartz and made a prison/ mining planet for the Imperium of Man. Calypsys' beautiful cities became their cells, their access to the surface cut off completely. For generations, they were forced to labor for the Imperium. Even those born to Calypsys would work. Still, they did not allow the Imperium to quash their spirit entirely. Performing their rites in silent corners, holding festivals to the stars in the darkest depths of Calypsys' reaches, immortalizing myth and legend in the ink upon their skin. For centuries. And, when they liberated themselves, they were free to live as they once had. Even if none of them had been alive to see Calypsys as she had used to be.
Personality:
Pre-stasis
Deviros would describe himself as "logical" or "reasonable," but really, he is a very emotional person. He distances himself from others and fades into the background on purpose. Meaningful connection and emotional attachment scare him like nothing else. He is cold and aloof most of the time. His more emotional outbursts often lead to vindictive remarks and cruel insults, but he will apologize (eventually). He treats many of the other primarchs with an almost clinical detachment. He is spiteful, and can hold a grudge for several lifetimes. He does, however, have a soft spot for his legionnaires. Having children is a rare honor on Calypsys, and he has, like, 200! He loves all of them, and treats them with respect. He is a very "tough love" kind of father, though.
Post-stasis
After his stasis, Deviros becomes so much worse. Falling to chaos changed him. He is just as detached as before, even more so because he can constantly hear the singing of the warp and its a little overwhelming. But he refuses to fade into obscurity again. He knows that he has been forgotten, and he will capitalize on that to it's fullest extent. He is manipulative and calculating and he is more than willing to be "nice" to someone if it means they let their guard down. He is not above lying, he is not above murder, he is not above breaking someone's spirit and dragging them down to his level just to get what he wants. He still has a massive soft spot for his legionnaires, and any astartes or baselines that join them. He has a bad habit of mother-hening them when he's around, and is a bit of a helicopter parent about the mortals.
Vague Lore (buckle up, this is long)
The Primarch of the Second goes by many titles; The Guiding Star of Calypsys, Argent Eye of the Warp, The Caladrius, Resurrector of Souls. But he much prefers to be called by his name, Deviros.
When he had first landed in the vast underground prison citidel of Calypsys, he hadn't known his name. He had crawled out of the darkness like a great winged beast, and was met with kindness and compassion. He was raised the son of his sector's surgeon, and grew into his role quickly. Especially after discovering that his blood had properties to accelerate the healing of wounds.
One thing he had come to know rather quickly was that he was different from the baselines around him. And not just because of his size. He was a navigator, though there was no proper word for it among the people of Calypsys. Later on in his life, the name Kilniin' ros would be used to describe his nature as well as the nature of his sons. Meaning, "Shepherd of the Stars".
Due to his nature as a navigator, Deviros became a recluse. He resigned himself to the quieter underbelly of Calypsys, providing his medical expertise to aspiring students and patients alike. His reclusive behavior led to him being heralded as a sort of cryptid. His psychic ability made the strain of being surrounded by people quite a lot to bear. Eventually, it would become a handicap. In his later years, after the death of his Commander, he would begin to develop violent seizures and sudden narcolepsy. He would suffer from visions that, combined with his worsening mental state, would leave him bedridden for days. The visions would always be of the same thing, a great spire of white flame and a shard of metal within.
He was deeply unhappy with his planet's occupation, and this discontent is what led to him leading a revolution. He wanted freedom for his people. Calypsys was such a strong planet that it had held on to its culture despite everything. Calypsys was so ancient that there were those among the population that had committed no crime at all. Actually, a greater majority of the population was born on Calypsys. He thought it unfair that those who's only crime was life itself would still be punished. And maybe, he was angry that he was being punished despite having done no wrong. This had led him to lead the rebellion against Calypsys' wardens, rising from the depths of the prison to fight. The rebellion was relentless, Deviros spared no mercy for his keepers, and it did not last long. Deviros was victorious. For the first time in his life he felt the twin suns of Calypsys kiss his face and the red sand warm his skin. For the first time in his life, he got to see his namesake. News of this rebellion, spearheaded by an 11 foot tall dragon-man navigator with healing blood, eventually made its way to the Emperor. Because of course it did. And the Primarch was reunited with his father.
Deviros' relationship with the Emperor was tense at best and devastatingly stressful at worst. His relationships with his so-called "brothers" certainly weren't any better. There were only a handful of them that he actually tolerated, and less that he could say he liked. His mutations and his being a navigator made some of his brothers untrusting. His generally off-putting behavior didn't help things, either.
He carried a particular disdain for Sanguinius. His own mutations terrified people. His uncanny ability to read emotions and understand others was unsettling. Not many enjoyed being around him. He had once overheard one of his brothers say his mutations were "unsightly." He envied Sanguinius. He envied his ability to walk freely and be adored. He hated that the Emperor treated them so differently. He knew he was no angel, and it was this knowledge that drove his misplaced hatred for Sanguinius. He never bothered to try to really know Sanguinius. He knew that if he learned who Sanguinius really was, the burdens he carried, he would have no face to pin his cruelty on. He understood this cruelty was misplaced and not Sanguinius' to bear, so he continued to pull away. He had always been a miserable, bitter man, and it was amplified tenfold by his isolation and jealousy.
His erasure from history was brought on by two main factors. The first being his death. The sons that were closest to him were his First Captain and his Commander. Commander Falgun was Deviros' personal apothecary, and especially dear to Deviros. Deviros considered them as close to blood sons as one could get to a primarch. As Deviros began to grow more and more stressed throughout his Father's endless wars, Falgun and Bori took notice. Their already meager forces were spread thin to aide other legions, offering their expert medical care. But it wasn't enough. Deviros would barely leave his study, let alone his personal quarters, busying himself with the careful planning of assisting an expansion of such scale. It was taking its toll on him. Nothing seemed to cure Deviros' growing ailments, and he refused help at every turn. Tensions were high all around for the legion, and he did not want to weigh them down with something he deemed inconsequential. Falgun foolishly took it upon himself to turn to drastic measures in an attempt to find something, anything, to heal his father. And so, he delved into the forbidden arcane and the warp. Falgun lost himself, and killed many of his own brothers before Deviros was able to put him down. Blinded by grief and drowning in guilt, Deviros became entirely withdrawn. His visions grew in frequency, and he became obsessed with the idea that he could resurrect Falgun and the legionnaires that he killed. He became even more isolated and the only person he would talk to was Bori. Eventually, he stopped speaking to anyone entirely. In his madness, he attempted a particularly dangerous ancient Calypsian ritual to raise the dead. Wounded and anguished at its failure, he attempted to kill himself. Taking his life on the very ritual site he'd created. In his guilt ridden, dying state his sons made the difficult decision to place him into stasis until they could stabilize his condition.
This leads neatly into the second circumstance of the Second Legion being wiped from history. The Argent Eyes were furious. The Imperium demanded their presence even as their father lay dying. They pushed back against these demands, deluding themselves into believing the Emperor could have prevented this. Their stress combined with outrage led to Bori denouncing the Imperium as a whole and attempting to pull all aide they had given. This outburst was punished in kind, by their deaths and the systematic erasure of the Argent Eyes from the Imperium's history.
However, just because you can not see the Guiding Star does not mean it is gone. It lies in wait until it is needed, until it is called upon to steer wayward souls home. In his stasis induced dreams he walked the vast desert, pulled ever steadily to alabaster flame. He heard whispered secrets carried on the wind, promising something greater, assuring him that his sons would return. And when he reached the flame, when he plunged the iridescent point of the shard into his chest and tore his soul free, he knew. He had given his soul to the warp, shattered himself into a million pieces accross the stars. In return for his sacrifice, he was gifted the knowledge of resurrection. And when he was awoken, clawing himself free from his sarcophagus, he knew exactly what he needed to do.
The Argent Eyes
His legion is a specialized group of apothecaries. Their primarch's nature as a navigator means that some of them can passively observe the emotions and thoughts of other people. This is very helpful for figuring put who is injured and how. Many of his sons are psykers, as his geneseed is wildly unstable and kills most baselines that receive it. Bori is one of the few baselines that survived the process, and he is not as in tune with the warp and her intricacies as his brothers. After they are resurrected, they act as support for other traitor legions. Falgun and Bori regularly act as emissaries for Deviros.
Misc.
Deviros is evil. Point blank. He may have been a good person at one point, but not anymore.
He is discovered and released from his stasis by an Emperor's Children warband that the warp spit out on Calypsys.
The only astartes of his legion that he brings back with actual, tangible bodies are Falgun and Bori. The rest appear as flaming ghosts in power armor.
Deviros is able to bring people back from the dead by using the ancient ritual, his own blood, and geneseed. He enters the warp to find their soul, makes a vessel, and then ta-da! Resurrection. Then, he promptly passes out for an indeterminate amount of hours.
His legion, however, can simply be summoned on command. No ritualistic blood sacrifice necessary.
He would, hypothetically, quite like Fulgrim. He wouldn't mind how deceitful and scheming Fulgrim is because he just as deceitful and scheming (but thats probably my bias as an EC player talking)
He is violently protective of his legion. He is always aware of where Falgun and Bori are at any given time. And if he is called upon, trust, he will show up (threat).
His legion is very small and very specialized. Even before the massacre and the Heresy.
He has grown surprisingly attached to the warband that freed him. He treats them as if they were his own sons.
He fully intends to bring Konrad Curze back to life. Just to piss everyone else off.
He eats raw tomatoes like they're apples. He grows them himself. He's a big food guy in general. Loves cooking.
He loves to cuddle, he covers whoever he's laying with up in his wings like a giant chicken.
He has a big fat library cat named Inanna.
In the spirit of characterization, I will add a few songs I associate with him
Last Words of a Shooting Star- Mitski
From the Pinnacle to the Pit- Ghost
Decode- Paramore
Nose on the Grindstone- Tyler Childers
Shepherd of Fire- Avenged Sevenfold
I don't associate these with him for any particular reasons. Some of them apply to his story and such, but some are just songs I think fit his vibe.
I cannot think of anything else to include here, but I probably will after I post this. Thus is life. I am really hoping to get some of my artwork of Deviros done soon. I am having a lot of fun writing him and his legion, and he is a joy to draw. I'm working on a petty big piece with him and @ego-sum-imperator 's primarch, Nodens, right now and I'm so very excited to get it done. (Check out Nodens, he is super cool!!!)
Please, feel free to ask questions about my boy (´^ω^)
(ASK ABOUT HIM)
He is my pride and joy and I love love LOVE info dumping about him and his sons to anyone that will listen.
