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Name: Lucius Chroam

Age: 190-ish?

Gender: Born Male, Identifies as an Attack Helicopter. Prefers Male Pronouns.

Race: Is The Ad-Mech a race? Cyborg I guess?

Appearance: The red robes of the Mechanicum do their best to shroud much of his form in mystery. Unfortunately, the once-brilliant trappings of the tech-priest have fallen into great disrepair. The deep crimson has been faded and stained to nearly brown, the cogs embroidered in gold along every hem hang in tatters. His sleeves and the bottom hem of the robe are ragged beyond repair. Not that their wearer seems to care at all. His robe also fails to hide the hunchback that seems to plague so many tech-priests, though he seems to fight valiantly and constantly to stand straight. Faint glows can occasionally be seen peeking through the sheer fabric, depending on the lighting. At least a half-dozen mechadendrites seem to have free reign, slithering in and out as needed, always polished brightly, and one much larger servo-arm always looms over his left shoulder. None of his remaining flesh is visible. Any part of him that appears from the confines of his robe is always polished to the point of being uncomfortably shiny for those around him. Every single component of him appears to have been chrome plated, and his more exquisite parts are lovingly inlaid with an intricate mesh of golden cogs. A third eye sits in the exact centre of his forehead. He often strives to keep it hidden, but seems more concerned with keeping its purpose a tight secret. It, and his left eye seem to always be the same colour, while his right eye seems to change colours independently, and more frequently. The only obvious weapon he carries is the symbol of his office, a metre-long chrome-plated staff that ends in a very heavy-looking symbol of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Surrounding the symbol completely is a wicked blade, and closer examination would reveal that whole device appears to be of one-piece construction, minus the decorations, that was then attached to the shaft. The whole head of the staff crackles with energy, as if it is designed to pull double-duty as both power axe and maul.

Personality: Lucius is a relentless, power-hungry tech-priest, displaying a remarkable whimsy for a mechanical being. The chrome-plated tech-priest is often fervent in his desires, and unscrupulous in his methods. The only thing that seems to speak through this fog of haste, hate, and power-lust is loyalty. While often regarded as insane by those who have met him only in passing, anyone caring to build trust with the tech-priest will find their own goals added to his list of things to achieve, assuming they can survive and tolerate his company long enough to be inducted into his inner circle. Surprisingly warm and friendly despite his cold chrome shell, many assume he makes it his goal to confuse others, and he's never argued that point. Those he considers friends have often found themselves left with great rewards after he's taken off once more in pursuit of his destiny. He is a nearly-recovered sufferer of "The Flesh Is Weak Syndrome", only in that he has nearly resolved the issue by removing his weakness.

History: Lucius Chroam wasn't born, or grown, into the Mechanicum like most people often assume. He was born to parents who'd spent most of their lives dodging servitor-hood on a Mechanicus Munitions Manufactory-Ship. He spent much of his childhood doing the same, until, with the help of an explosion, he managed to con his way into the position of tech-acolyte. From there he spent his time assisting a low-level enginseer, and soaking up all the knowledge he could. That low-level enginseer got himself promoted up to mid-level enginseer, and Lucius just kept on assisting him. Until another explosion saw fit to get him promoted again. The two of them were deployed to recover a Leman Russ that had gotten itself thoroughly stuck during an assault. Someone had clearly forgotten to tell the enemy that they'd been routed, however, as an artillery shell dropped right on top of the tank before they could get it out. The explosion killed the enginseer and scattered bits of him all over the place. Lucius was a good deal luckier, and sustained perfectly repairable wounds, assuming he got to medical attention quickly. However his actions showed no determination to reach such a service. Instead, he gathered up the more important pieces of his former supervisor, and even managed to see that the remains of the Leman Russ got pulled free. A very surprised group of Guardsmen arrived in a Chimera just in time for the acolyte to demand that they hook up the tow-chains he'd attached to the wrecked tank, to their vehicle, and attempt to pull it free and drag it back to its spot in the motorpool. He then passed out, but his orders got followed, and he woke up in the care of the Mechanicum. 

The scene he woke to was right out of nightmare his parents had planted in his brain, except that nothing was rusty or grinding or unpleasant, and he couldn't feel any pain. Indeed, once he stopped panicking, he realized even his memories were intact. Everything was also very notably shiny and covered in chrome. The sickeningly clean stench of medical grade disinfectant filled his nostrils, and a gentle whirring was the only sound that even registered in his ears once he stopped freaking out. The medical machines operating on him were replacing his damaged limbs with metal ones, and fitting him with everything he'd need to operate as a brand new low-level enginseer. His actions, along with the records from his former supervisor, had earned him a promotion, and an acolyte of his own. But once the excitement subsided, and tedium set it, his new station wasn't nearly enough for Chroam. He drew the questionable connection between explosions and advancement, and soon found himself driven by a combination of chrome and destruction.

This combination was surprisingly effective. And while he was hesitant to stoop to all-out sabotage, it wasn't hard to let the projects others were working on break, while his own succeeded wildly. Eventually, he did stoop to sabotage, but he was always meticulous when it came to such competition. Eventually, the remarkably bad luck of his colleagues paid off, and he was dropped off on Gryphonne IV to help with the construction of Vortex Missiles. It was here that his true passion was ignited, though the tech-priest didn't stay long, even as he advanced at blistering speed, he plotted to have himself transferred to Graia. Even that planet, with its great engines of war couldn't slake Lucius' lust for knowledge and power, however, and after loading all he could onto his internal cogitators for later study, he abandoned his post once more.

This time, however, accusations of techno-heresy followed, and he soon found himself drifting from place to place, seeking employment only to further his own goals, casually dodging suspicions at the same time. During his drifting, those accusations of techno-heresy became steadily truer. At first, he justified it. It was all for the advancement of mankind. Everyone used slightly radical methods from time to time. It was just a shortcut. That was all. He didn't even realize a point when he no longer bothered to justify some of his experiments. Things most tech-priests wouldn't have considered were almost normal to Chroam.

Then one day, the Tau decided that the ship he was on would be better re-purposed to the Greater Good, and a swarm of Kroot mercenaries led by a Fire Warrior strike team tried storming in through the embarkation deck when the ship's officers fell for a dirty trick. It was then, during Lucius' first trial by fire, that the whispers of "heretek" disappeared from the ship's crew. The wandering tech-priest reprogrammed many of the ship's systems remotely. He desperately, and methodically sought out and destroyed the Kroot invaders. Those that didn't get flushed out an airlock found themselves crushed between bulkheads, or cut in half by doors that were supposed to be locked open. The more problematic bands he set on fire or asphyxiated, by cranking open gas valves or overloading auxiliary motors. The worst of them, along with the Tau, he starved to death in the furthest reaches of the ship, tormenting them with machine spirit whispers until they went mad and tore one another to pieces. And considering the surprisingly low number of Imperial casualties, everyone was kind enough to not say anything about the lack of anything technological left on the bodies of the invaders. It was a vicious, last-ditch effort, but it saved far more than the crew had imagined, and while they were still wary of the chrome traveller, they were far more willing to cooperate with him now.

By the time the ship reached its destination, two more assaults had been weathered with the help of Lucius Chroam. The second was a band of teleporting Eldar warriors, led by some sort of psychic. They lasted weeks longer than the Tau, but were eventually defeated. This time he had the cooperation of every armed member of the crew, and managed, again, shockingly low casualties for the Imperials. He just had to work a little harder at shunting his opponents around into the arcs of his assistants. The relief of was short-lived, however, as the final battle started just instants before the ship jumped out of realspace, from the port they'd stopped at to recover from the first two assaults. A small band of Necrons took exception to the Imperial ship, and teleported in from seemingly nowhere. This fight extended their trip by months, and by its end, the ship was down to a skeleton crew and the tech-priest was exhausted, and very little of him remained chrome-plated or shiny. But he had successfully dismantled the Necrons, and anything unusable was flushed out into the void, to be chewed on by daemons.

When they finally reached safe harbour, Lucius was starting to look better, but wanted a short break. He parted ways with the ship, though the captain insisted that he would always be welcome aboard the [i]Grim Resolve[/i]. He took some time in port to re-plate his numerous components, and began reading the works of Paracelsus Thule in his spare time. He was inspired, and by the time he hopped on another ship, he was no longer reading in his spare time, but all the time, and he was now well into the research of Decius Abraxas. This time, though, he did a very good job of keeping his techno-heretical thoughts and projects to himself, and even began seeking mostly honest work. With a knack for making things work better than they had previously, he was soon being asked to fix things that weren't broken. But like anything else he'd done for the money, this was unfulfilling work, and he began to seek greater things once more. He moved on to upgrading weapons systems further than anyone had any business doing, but even that only lasted a little while. By the end of his journey, he was making top-dollar for jumping up personal weapons, and had devised a few techno-heretical techniques for boosting the power and energy-efficiency of las-guns and increasing the rate of fire on naval shotguns, that still agreed with the machine spirits. He even took to reloading horrific ammunition in his down time to amass some more spending money. He found himself wishing for someone with a mind like his own, however, someone who lusted for greatness, that they might ply the stars together, and he could show them what true power was. So when he got off at the next port, his first step was seeking out bold adventure, and not the darker corners of the nearby planets...

Skills: Mechadendrite Mastery(Universal), Luminen Manipulation Expert, Machine Spirit Communication Expert, Tech Use/Repair Expert, Advanced Machine Spirit Persuasion, Advanced Hidden Weapon Training, Advanced Melee Weapon Training, Advanced Multiple Independent Target Engagement Training, Intermediate First Aid Training(Human, Cyborg), Basic Chirurgie Training(Human, Cyborg), Basic Driver/Pilot Training(Universal), Basic Crew-Served Weapon Training(Universal). Multi-Ambidextrous. Mechanical Reflexes. 

Equipment: Mechadendrites: Ballistic, Manipulator, Medicae, Optical, Utility. Mind Impulse Unit. MIU Weapon Interface. Scribe Tines(Left arm). Servo Skull(lights/sensors)x1. Servo Skull(Manipulator, General)x1. Servo Skull(Manipulator, Crew-Served Weapons)x1. Power Weapon.
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