Editing Rubric Marines (section)

==Lore==
The Rubric Marines were once basic Marines in the Thousand Sons. Due to <s>[[Emperor|someone's]] fuck-up</s> [[Tzeentch]][[Tales of Eldrad Ulthuan, the Dick|’s tampering]] with their [[gene-seed]], the legion as a whole suffered horrifying, [[AIDS|increasingly-debilitating mutations]]. For a time [[Magnus]] managed to stop this shit by striking a bargain with Tzeentch (for which he lost his eye BTW), but this worked only until the start of the [[Horus Heresy]]. This generally sucked, since it meant that increasingly, members of the legion were turning into [[Chaos Spawn|that which must never be named]]. [[Tzeentch]], in the Chaos God's proud tradition of not giving a fuck, left the Sons to work out their own solution to the problem, likely so he'd have some entertainment over the weekend.

At some point, trying to help fix this little mutation epidemic, a Sorcerer called [[Ahzek Ahriman]] used the knowledge he took from the Book of Magnus (which he was a bearer of), to find a way of curing his legion. He crafted a way to undo the mutations plaguing the legion, and cast an incredibly powerful spell called the [[FAIL|Rubric of Ahriman]]. The spell was successful in stopping the mutation, but only really amongst the command staff - [[Grimdark|every psyker in the legion who was not powerful enough (virtually all of the Thousand Sons were psykers according to recent fluff) was reduced to dust and trapped as bound spirits within their sealed power armor for eternity]] (or at least until the armor was destroyed). Suffice to say, Magnus was [[rage|really pissed off]] and wanted to blow Ahriman up with mind-bullets, but Tzeentch asked him not to because that ''was'' some pretty epic douchebaggery. So Magnus kicked him out of the Thousand Sons, instead. It should be noted that based on the leg armour design and armoured chest power cables, the Rubrics all seem to wear a modified [[Mark IV: Maximus Armour]]. This isn't a surprise since the pre-Heresy Thousand Sons were one of the biggest users of the Maximus; even creating a sub-pattern called the Achean pattern. So it is likely that post-Rubric, these Maximus Armour were slightly modified to accommodate their now more...dusty occupants.

What a ''[[Eldrad|dick]]''. Interestingly, in recent fluff it is implicated that Lucius may have altered the Book of Magnus after making Haathor Maat his bitch. He gained his trust by showing him (as he was starting to succumb to the flesh change) how to reverse the mutations simply by pumping them all into worthless mortals so he would not become that which is not to be named. So it may well be that Lucius' dabblings with the Book of Magnus and changing it resulted in the Rubric to fail. For whom or why he did it only he knows. Or he was a temporary agent of Tzeentch at the time (JUST AS PLANNED).

A huge part of Ahriman's initial post-Heresy activities was trying to reverse the effects of the Rubric by, somewhat counter-intuitively, performing the Rubric again but doing it right this time. To this end, he created a new Rubric, and broke through to the Planet of the Sorcerers in order to perform it. Due to a huge amount of [[Just As Planned]] dickery from a number of parties, it didn't work. With the exception of one marine who was returned (sans any personal memory) to a full normal body. Rather than being declarative proof that the Rubric can be reversed, it seemed to be a concession on the part of Tzeentch to give Ahriman a little hope and string him along for more [[troll|giggles]] further down the line.

Since the Rubric of Ahriman, the Thousand Sons have lost many of the Rubiks Cube Marines, but they still manage to keep their numbers at nearly a thousand. Two main theories that they either perform a scaled-down version of the Rubric on other marines, or reanimate fallen ones by pulling their souls out of the Warp and putting them into repaired/new sets of armour (The latter theory has been confirmed by Phil Kelly, but he also mentioned that the Black Legion uses the former version to make their own rubric marines). Or both. Whichever is creepier is up to you to decide. Additionally, the dust containing the essence of the Rubric Marine can be recovered and be put into a new set of armor, effectively resurrecting them. It's ironic, as the fluff states, they were turned from a legion of scholars and book lovers, into mindless, walking power armors that <s>can't even think!</s>. They can think, its just that they've lost all hope and purpose in life. Reduced from scholars to beings who can't even feel, they let the days slip into millennia. Only battle barely reminds them of what it was to be alive, and they fight accordingly. So [[grimdark]].

They're also central to [[Thousand Son and Guardswoman|this tomfoolery]], so props for that.

In the Gathering Storm II, it's revealed [[Yvraine]] can REVERSE the rubric. She does in a bid for Ahriman to save her, so she won't be driven mad by Tzeentch. This has an emotional effect on him, but the sneaky Eldar blows a hole in the webway, and all the un-rubric'ed marines get sucked into the warp. This [[troll]]ing of the poor Ahriman (who goes into nerd rage so hard even [[Khorne]] approves) is so great that [[Cegorach]] decides to lend his support to Ynnead. What a bunch of dicks.