Marduk

Marduk (also known as the Red Angel, Lord of the Red Sand) is the general of the War-Hounds. He was raised in the brutal desert of Arizona, fighting as a gladiator slave and having his aggression enhanced by surgical implants known as the Butcher's Nails. The only general taken into service of the director against his will, he sided with the Nomads during the Palamedes Insurrection. Savage and in a state of constant rage, he was nonetheless renowned for his battle-prowess and alongside Sindri was considered one of the most physically powerful generals.

## History

### Slave of Arizona

During the Scattering Marduk was sent to Seattle, however, his transport crash-landed in the Arizona desert. Not long after a slaver found him, and a scene of carnage. Surrounding the wounded young general were the corpses of numerous men. After being enslaved and nursed back to health by the tribe’s masters known as High-Riders, Marduk was brought to the main encampment. Still a frightened young child, he was subsequently dumped into a pit consisting of a single ziggurat with hundreds of other slaves. Acid filled the pit, and to the cheers of the spectators, Marduk was eventually forced to kill all around him to stand upon the ziggurat's uppermost platform and survive. Shedding a tear for the last time, Marduk was proclaimed a promising newcomer to the arena and given the name Marduk-Thal'kr, which meant Child of the Desert and property of House Thal'kr. After this, Marduk became a famed gladiator known as The Unbeaten, becoming a fan-favourite and reaping many victories. The closest thing he had to a father during this time was the older Gladiator Kofi, but after the duo managed to slay two giant snakes his masters ordered the two to fight one another to the death. Marduk refused, and the High-Riders ordered that he undergo a psycho-surgery known as the Butcher's Nails as punishment. Upon being implemented with the Nails, Marduk was loosed upon Kofi and killed him in a blind frenzy. When Marduk regained his senses, the despair of this revelation caused him to unleash a bestial howl for days.

The death of Kofi proved to be the last straw for Marduk, and he led a slave revolt among his fellow gladiators. Gathering a great army of slaves they fled into the desert, where he lived for several years. The camps sent raiding groups to destroy Marduk, but none were able to oust the general and met the same demise. Nonetheless, the issue was never in doubt, his forces had little to eat in the barren wasteland and were exhausted from the constant battling. His fate seemed sealed when seven well-equipped parties surrounded Marduk and his starving forces. In desperation, Marduk fed his trusted comrades his blood to keep them alive. Just as the battle was about to begin, the Director arrived over the dessert. The Director teleported directly to Marduk's point of deployment with a few trusted Soldiers. The Director promised Marduk a company made in his image, limitless power, and lifetimes spent perfecting the Art of Conquest. But, to his surprise, Marduk refused. He chose instead to die amongst his comrades while fighting his oppressors. Reluctantly, the Director returned to his transport above. Yet just as the battle was about to begin, the Director teleported Marduk against his will back up to the transport. He could only watch in anguish as those he regarded as his brothers and comrades were quickly annihilated. In a rage, Marduk killed one of the soldiers which surrounded him but was forced into a state of submission. Marduk angrily asked why the Emperor did not intervene to save his comrades down below, but the Director dismissed the question as lacking vision. He was the Director and had his eyes set upon the world, not a single tyrant battling a slave revolt. The Emperor expressed hope that Marduk in time would learn to understand what he had done. Marduk stated to the director that he was meant to die, and now but a ghost remains. The Director replied that a ghost would suffice for what he had planned for him.

### Great Reclamation

Before Marduk could reply he was teleported to a nearby vessel of the XI company, the War Hounds. Marduk initially refused to have anything to do with his company, and when several Captains tried to talk to him, he brutally killed them, as they had been ordered by the Director to not raise a hand against Marduk. The dead included the acting Legion commander, Cheer. Eventually, Captain Khârn of the 8th Assault Company managed to form a rapport with Marduk, talking about the rituals of Marduk's gladiators and the traditions of the War Hounds. Now convinced of their worthiness, Marduk took full control over his company, saying they would form new traditions together. However, in the early days of Marduk's leadership, he still refused to acknowledge most of his sons, who could not survive the implantation of the Butcher's Nails. At one point Marduk simply abandoned his company, hijacking a transport and disappearing. After two months of searching, Kharn was able to track him down to a Feral World, where Marduk lived like a savage and revealed that he was simply seeking a foe that could put him out of his misery. Kharn eventually convinced Marduk to rejoin the company by reminding him that his Arizonian comrades would hate to see him in this state, and with the promise that he would try to lead the War Hounds to shed their weakness.

Most infamously, Marduk ordered that the War Hounds conquer their targets within 24 hours. The War Hounds consistently failed to complete their objectives within this time limit, and each time Marduk ordered decimation as punishment, forcing 1 of every 10 War Hounds to be killed by his other 9 brothers. After several of these episodes, Mago finally refused to again enact decimation after the Steppe Campaign. This caused Marduk to be thrown into a raged frenzy, during which he murdered several nearby War Hounds until being subdued by his company. While Marduk lay comatose and had his memories of Arizona absorbed by the young technician Tethys, a crisis erupted across the company as Mago attempted to stop Gahlan Surlak from installing the perfected Butcher's Nails in all of the World Eaters. Mago's revolt came to its climax on the steppes where Kharn slew the rebel while Marduk slew Tethys. Now at the head of a company wielding the Nails, Marduk reaped many victories during the Great Reclamation, although some criticized the extreme and bloodthirsty tactics he used to ensure the destruction of his opponents.

At some point following the rediscovery of Marduk, he was brought to a secret laboratory hidden under Seoul to aid in the Director's investigation of Marduk's crude augments as the general lay unconscious. They had previous experience with the device taking over Marduk's body. The Director explained that the implants were not his doing and that he believed they led to the Marduk's instability. He also explained that they were recreated to remove the ability to enjoy anything but anger. When asked if the Director could remove it, he admitted he could, but the tendrils were deep in Marduk's head and spine and he was missing his limbic lobe and insular cortex. The Butcher's Nails, therefore, replaced part of Marduk's brain, allowing him to live.

### The Night Of The Hound

The Director himself criticized Marduk for the changes he made to his recruits. Like all other gladiators on Arizona, Marduk had received special nerve-implants known as the Butcher's Nails which tremendously heightened his aggressiveness, but also had the side effect of uncontrollable rages outside of battle. Marduk ordered his Doctors and Technicians to duplicate the technology and that all recruits undergo the process that would turn them into aggressive and fearless warriors. Despite the obvious advantages, the Director was displeased and ordered him to stop. Marduk paid him no heed and continued the unsavoury practice secretly.

This led to the War Hounds being criticized for their general bloodlust and barbarity by their fellow Companies. They were known for blood rituals when not in combat and competed with each other for the number of enemy heads they could take in battle. Eventually, the Director demand an end to both the Butcher's Nail surgeries and massacres carried out by the War Hounds.

### Palamedes Insurrection

After this debacle, the Director dispatched Palamedes to bring Marduk back in line a fatal error, as Palamedes was already under the influence of the Nomads. A master psychologist, he told Marduk exactly what he wanted to hear: that the Director was a weakling, devoid of honour and that there was a place for him in a new order, along with revenge against the brother generals that had criticized his company. Marduk needed no further convincing, throwing his company on Palamedes' side when the Insurrection broke out.

By the Siege of Seoul, Marduk was a blood-crazed salve to death. He demanded that Palamdes allow him to directly attack the Imperial Palace. After hearing that Andromeda’s Steel Brethren would instead be the first to assault Seoul, Marduk fell into a rage and massacred all he came across. This forced Kharn to confront Marduk. The two battled, with Kharn being little match for his gene-father. However before Marduk could finish him, Kharn placed a teleport homer on the general which transported him to the shifting maze, built to house Sindri prior to his escape, Marduk became trapped and spent his time battling the many traps within the maze. Later when the traitors weakened Seoul, Marduk was shot out of the maze into the battlefield of Seoul, where he made his way and made his way. Marduk appeared in front of Seoul slaying friend and foe alike. He fought his way to the walls of the city, where he saw Serra and roared a challenge. Serra refused, saluting her brother and stating that while they would battle one day this was not that day. Marduk raged, but due to the lingering effects of the city’s shield barrier, he could not pursue him into the Palace.

Eventually, Palamedes was slain by the Emperor and the traitors were forced to flee Terra in defeat.

## Description and Abilities

According to the custom of the gladiators he was raised among, Marduk cut scars into his torso after each of his battles, in a continuing length known as the Triumph Rope. For every victory, the scar would be left to heal normally, while for every defeat the warrior would work some dirt into the wound and cause the scar to turn black. Marduk was the only gladiator without any black scars.

Gauche believed that no other general could have bested Marduk in single combat save for Palamedes and perhaps Serra Areus, on the other hand, believed that he could defeat Marduk easily, and feared him much less as an adversary than he did Palamedes.

Before possessing the Butcher's Nails Marduk displayed an inherent psychic ability which allowed him to not only feel but also somehow absorb the pain and negative emotions of others. He used this to calm child slaves in the caves of Arizona

## Equipment

During the Great Reclamation and Palamedes Insurrection, Marduk wielded the twin axes Gorechild and Gorefather. Before these twin weapons, he wielded the primitive axe Widowmaker, which was broken in a battle against during the Night of the Hound. To replace it, Marduk took up the massive axe Brazentooth, which was eventually given to the. For protection, Marduk wore a massive suit of Armour designed from his gladiatorial armour known as the Armour of Mars. Marduk also wielded the Pistol Spite Furnace.

Butchers Nails - The cortical implants known as the Butcher's Nails would boost a warrior's adrenaline, resulting in greater strength and aggression in battle. Under the perverse influence of the implants, killing proved exhilarating in a way nothing else could be, and the Nails played their neurochemical game to make it so. When the Nails activated, they stunted the production of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the human brain to encourage instinctive aggression, just as they deadened all other forms of emotional response and neuroelectrical activity to all parts of the brain save for that which regulated the flow of adrenaline. Any attempt to remove the implants would prove fatal, as the brain became entirely dependent upon this regulation of its neurotransmitters in only a short time. Of course, that cold and considered knowledge meant little to those afflicted with the implants.