Primus

The Grand Primus, the One and the Prime, is the ruler of the plane of Mechanus and the overbeing in charge of all modrons. The Primus is a massive hulking humanoid figure rising from a pool of pure energy that can be seen towering over Regulus, its two hands always obscured, one by a portal of light (leading to Arcadia) and one with a portal of darkness (leading to Acheron).

### History

The Primus is one of the powers of the multiverse that is, in its own way, inevitable. There has always been a Primus as long as gears have been spinning in Mechanus (though which came first is an eternal mystery). Much like Mystra there must always be a Primus and if one is destroyed it will rise anew.

When a Primus is destroyed, a Secundus takes its place and the new Primus reorders the modrons as they see fit (this transition is chaotic enough to be likened to a Civil War). In a short time order is restored and business continues as usual for Mechanus.

Every seventeen years since the beginning of recorded histories of the Outer Planes is an event known as the Great Modron March, in which hundreds of thousands of modrons march throughout the Outer Planes, trampling everything in their path. Modrons that survive the march report back to the Primus and relay what they may have seen, although the true purpose of the March is unknown outside of modron society. One theory is that the March is a show of force on the part of Mechanus, allowing them to demonstrate order across the cosmos, but another possibility is that this is meant to cull the population and make it easier to replace older modrons with newer ones (a sort of organized disposal for modrons approaching obsolescence).

The Fifth Age has been an absolute disaster for the Primus and the Modrons as a race. Due to the machinations of Tenebrous the Primus was murdered (by an ancient spell known only as The Last Word). Given temporary control over the mind of the dying Primus, he caused the Modron March to begin far earlier than anticipated in the Rogue March. The Rogue March took countless lives across the Outer Planes for it wasn't expected and cost the modrons many of their number, for an early March meant their numbers were fewer before it began. As if that weren't enough, Tenebrous interfered with the succession of the new Primus by influencing one of the four with the curse of Ego. The rogue Secundus, using an ancient modron law, challenged the would-be Primus to a challenge that had rarely ever been invoked in the past (generally the succession of a Primus was uncontested and nigh-instantaneous). The traditional challenge is simple: to slay as many chaotic souls as possible. The Primus-to-be went to Limbo and single-handedly killed Slaadi and other chaotic and wicked beings, while the tainted Primus called an army of modrons to their side and slew entire villages of gnome petitioners in Bytopia. The other Secundus deliberated and decided that the original choice for Primus had won, since it was clear in their minds that acting alone was more in the spirit of the law, and the petitioners of Bytopia aren't *just* chaotic, which also served the law better as written. The rogue Secundus disagreed and called forth an army of subordinates in a mass exodus of over one million. Under the tainted Secundus the exiles amassed themselves in Acheron where they remain, promising to one day invade Regulus by force.

The new Primus was finally chosen but with a fraction of a fraction of their original forces, and production significantly stifled by their conflict. The formians (the eternal rivals of the modrons) used this opportunity to invade Regulus. The ensuing war was quickly drawn out into a stalemate, with modrons being created as fast as they could fall and formians' overwhelming numbers being pushed back by the modrons' consistency. The Primus reached out to the unnamed force that oversees Neumannus in order to end the war, an offer the inevitables saw as beneficial to their cause. The inevitables ended the formian invasion in exchange for their own compound in Regulus, and a legion of monodrones (replenished every seventeen years in the Modron March) that work as laborers and maintenance crews across the factories of Neumannus.

Looking forward the Primus hopes to maintain order and continue the great work of the modrons.

### The Vestige

The Primus killed by Tenebrous was dead a long time, left to decay within the inner sanctum of the Great Modron Cathedral, still stood over the Grand Orrery the corpse stood until the schism between the Secundus was mended. This iteration of the Primus left a vestige behind that can be harnessed by talented binders. This vestige has been warped by hate and pain, its prime directive now being to destroy all traces of Orcus and greater beings of chaos from the multiverse.

### Summoning Primus' Vestige

The spirit of the destroyed Primus can only be summoned in bright light, and never to someone who has ever bound the spirit of Tenebrous. Upon a successful summoning, the symbol will begin to glow and the surface it was drawn upon will begin to rise and lift, turning into a heavy bronze gear with dozens of mechanisms and cogs, the hole it creates will appear as a pillar of golden light beneath the cog until it rises ten feet, at which point it will erupt into a rainbow of light, revealing the golden and androgynous upper body of the Primus. Primus remains silent and keeps its eyes closed until the summoner decides to speak, at which point it interjects with a booming voice and opens its eyes, dark windows into the void that constantly leak corrosive black ooze that eats away at its golden body as it speaks, making no signs of pain despite the channels it drives through its flesh. The one who binds to Primus finds themselves covered in metal plates of different types and geometric shapes (unfortunately an illusion, for a binder who cuts at these plates will find that they come apart as easily as skin and revert to bloody flesh once removed).

They will find themselves become thoroughly placid and practical, focused only on their prime directive (or current task). They also find themselves unable to knowingly violate any law under which they are under the jurisdiction of or disobey any legal authority under whose jurisdiction they fall.

### Abilities of Primus' Vestige

Divine Structure: Taking the exact same actions in the exact same order each round of combat confers a bonus of +1 on all saves, attack rolls, and skill checks for that round. (This includes your movement action and bonus actions which must be also in the same order as they were the previous round to get the bonus).

Lawful Attacks: Your attacks and spells confer 1d6 extra radiant damage upon hitting a Chaotic-aligned enemy.

Primus's Order: You can cast the Command spell once every fifty seconds. This enhanced version of the spell works on constructs and enemies usually immune to charm and fear spells (including mindless enemies) and in addition they roll a wisdom save against your spellcasting DC. A failure on this roll means that the affected creature can not comprehend your existence for 1d4 rounds (their companions will still be able to see and hear you normally).