Cuprus Oxum

## Origin

In the beginning, the Iron Warrior Legionnaire now known as Cuprus Oxum, was known as Cooper Enfield. He had the misfortune of being raised on Terra by a single mother. Her name has been lost to the ages now, but she isn't important in this story.
Cooper managed to survive the war with his mother, and it should be said that the Emperor's message was rather appealing to him. So appealing, that Cooper thought he should join the fight for Human ascendancy. It was all the better when the Genetors looking him over said that he was compatible with the augments that would make an Astartes Legionnaire. He was assigned to the IV Legion.
His squad went from mere teammates, to acquaintances, to the very best of friends. They were a ten-man heavy-weapons team. They were inseparable, and their Praetor was pleased with his squad.

The only problem Cooper had with the Crusade, was the continued independence of the Cult Mechanicus. When he witnessed their methods of operating machinery, he was utterly perplexed by the almost backwards rituals they followed in the operating of said machinery. He spoke of his distaste with the Mechanicum and their religious fervour in the tending of technology with his Praetor. His Praetor, a like-minded individual at the time, understood where Cooper was coming from, but told him that it was a 'necessary evil', and a powerful ally, despite their stagnation.
However, Cooper's mood soured more when the Emperor came across their lost Primarch. Perturabo was a true turning point in the Legion. When he surveyed his loyal Legion, he saw only weakness. Cooper could see it on his face when he first looked over them, disgust.
Perturabo, in his *infinite*wisdom, saw it fit to decimate his legion. There were no unfitting Legionnaires however, and so the decimation was chosen at random. Cooper still remembers to this day, the face of his teammate... his friend... that he had to beat to death with his bare hands. All because his Superior told him so.

It became obvious that this behaviour was going to become the norm. The Emperor ordered Perturabo to accomplish suicide missions, and Perturabo expected nothing less of his Legion. After the end of the first assignment under Perturabo, the Legion was little more than numbers, none were referred to as their names, you were either worthy for a name or not. Cooper, whilst he objected to the unnecessary murder of his friends, fell in line, he understood that sometimes the few must be sacrificed for the many. It broke him, as he watched his comrades fall one by one to the suicidal orders their Primarch gave them. But as he broke himself to no longer care for losses, he began to see the efficiency of the Primarchs Legion. It was statistics and numbers, but it was efficient, and he strove ever onward to increase the efficiency of his Legion.

With this new mindset, Cooper then began to follow the ideal that a name must be earned. If you did not succeed to your fullest ability, you were not worthy of a name, just a number, a statistic in the Primarchs database. He did away with his old name, and for a time, worked entirely on his statistic. He never questioned any orders, he never questioned his superiors motives. He was given a task, and he followed it through, because his Superior told him to.

That was, until the days of the Horus Heresy. He was assigned to Isstvan V, at what would become the Drop Site Massacre. When the order was given to fire upon the Loyalists, he did not hesitate to fire upon them. He did not have mercy. He did not have regrets. Astartes he was friendly with in the Raven Guard, Iron Hands and Salamanders fell to the blasts from his Volkite Caliver. However, he took no satisfaction in the killing of fellow Astartes, he did simply because his Superiors told him to. Again.

For a while after, he merely blocked out the events of the Massacre. He was not made an Astartes to doubt battles after all... or... was he? He began to find himself thinking outside of the strict confines that was his Legion. He now had access to knowledge outside of the Imperium. And it was glorious. He looked back on his old life in the Imperium and shunned it. Controlled Information, Knowledge and Understanding. He could innovate without the Cult Mechanicus lauding Machine Spirits and Holy Operations over him. And he flourished in it. Before, he never knew the secrets in properly maintaining his gear, now, he could fashion ammunition and make upgrades and modifications to his weapons and armour. He even learned how to bolster his armour to make it more resilient. He was content.

However, despite his contentedness, he still thought back to the orders that he was given. With his new found freedom, he found himself questioning why he followed orders. He knew that not following orders would be met with death, but he did not fear death before. And he saw... In his closemindedness of efficiency, the notion of not following orders was non-existent, but now, he still found himself following orders, because the fall that Perturabo had ordered in to had broken his previously unshakable mind. He now feared death. And to refuse orders would mean death. These notions plagued him for days on end.

He began to fully understand the creeping insanity that plagued him, and came to a crossroads.

1. Let the insanity take him and turn against everything his leaders had told him to do. He would be finally free, but he would be scorned and his mind would waste.
2. Stifle the insanity by working. He would become free by reveling in innovation. Creativity unbound by the Mechanicum. Allowing his working mind to take over, but forever be bound to greater powers in order to do so.

He finally elected to shackle the insanity, and keep focus on innovation. He worked, and the more he worked the less he thought about fate. He became content to be a pawn in the great machine, becoming the very same person he was before the Great Crusade. It hurt, but he became numb to it, and eventually, he broke himself all over again.

And so he innovated. His work drew the eye of many in his warband, and many did elect to have their miscellanea looked over by Cuprus Oxum of the Iron Warriors. He even got in touch with a few interested Magii of the Dark Mechanicum, who praised him for his innovation, and exchanged various goods with one another.

Eventually however, after many hundreds of years of building, Cuprus began to have the 'visions' as they were. Any time natural sleep would come to him, he would see a twinkling galaxy of stars in his mind. Now, at first he payed little attention to them. But they started to recur more and more often, until Cuprus grew restless with the thought of what it meant. It affected his ability to innovate more and more. Many of those he had worked with before noticed a decline in Cuprus' usual work ethic. This was bad.

Cuprus knew that an ineffective tool would be replaced, especially given the said efficiency of his Legion turned Warband. So he sought help from a Sorceror that owed him a favour. The Sorceror, a one Diederik Acheron convened with Cuprus to ascertain the nature of the visions. However, upon reaching into Cuprus' mind, the usually prideful smirk disappeared from his face, and he immediately left without a word.