Vilyon Luthier

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Vilyon Luthier
Title/Honours	Prime of the Tyrrhena Hebdomad, Forge Lord of Crater City

Forge Lord Vilyon Luthier, b.766.M30 (Crater City, Mars), was a largely obscure figure to the Imperium until the Hektor Heresy began. Much of his career was spent in the forge-fanes of Urbis Tyrrhena, better known as Crater City. What fame Luthier in the period of the Great Crusade was as a composer, musician, and manufacturer of civilian goods. His obsession with the automated creation of music drove this talented artisan into the mad embrace of Slaanesh, and after his fall he inflicted terrible atrocities on the population of Mars.

Early Life

The Luthiers were one of the more prominent clans of Crater City. They were known to have followed a liberal interpretation of the Mechanicum creed, as was common in the region. According to the tenets of their congregation, the heathen Langve tribe who infested the gullies of nearby Cimmeria Terra were future converts to the Machine Cult rather than horrific foes to be exterminated. The rise of Yonkada, the self-styled "Warlord of Mars", as leader of the Langve and his subsequent attacks on Crater City around the time of Vilyon's birth would harden religious differences and help to secure the unification of Mars behind Fabricator General Kalkas Tygian.

Yet the hardships of this savage time were kept at arm's length from a privileged family. Granted, as a second-born child, Vilyon was at first slated as a candidate for the various military arms of the Machine Cult and might have eventually seen combat against the Langve or other threats to the Mechanicum. However, in 769.M30 his destiny would be diverted by family tragedy. Eldest child Giorea fell from a high walkway, leading to her death and turning Vilyon's path into the ranks of the Artisans. His development into a sensitive and compassionate youth unsuited to war gave comfort to the Luthier family, suggesting that the cruel loss of their daughter had at least served the purposes of the Machine God. Due to his family's influence, Vilyon was apprenticed directly to Forge Lord Anjos Nezax, a member of the Tyrrhena Hebdomad (the council of seven that ruled Crater City).

Under the tutelage of Nezax, Vilyon learned the complementary arts of musical composition and the crafting of musical instruments. Nezax himself had become prominent in Crater City for reviving the construction of the ancient Servo-Harmonium, a derivation of the even older Terran Pump Organ that could combine instructions from a data-stave with the input of a conductor. These instruments were prized for their combination of mechanical precision with human emotion. Vilyon spent considerable time working with the Servo-Harmonium under Nezax and his later career focused on this extraordinary instrument. His first compositions covered largely personal and family themes. His final version of the haunting elegy Giorea became a popular song of mourning on Mars during the 790s. As Vilyon matured and began his independent work, he became more sensitive to larger developments, as is evidenced by the triumphal March of the Omnissiah and his unreleased Lament for Hebes Chasma. He also experimented with minor variations to the Servo-Harmonium design, producing instruments with a range of timbres. When Arelex Orannis's presence was announced on Mars in 808.M30, Crater City's rulers selected Vilyon Luthier to perform a special concert in honour of the Primarch. Before the gathered elites of Mars and visiting Terran dignitaries, Vilyon demonstrated his virtuosity. The finale, his dramatic Son of Mars, won a standing ovation from an audience including no less a personage than the Fabricator General.

Burdens of rule

Following the death of Forge Lord Frycisz Shama in 812.M30, Vilyon Luthier was elevated into Crater City's ruling council. It was unusual for a Tech Priest still relatively young to serve on the Tyrrhena Hebdomad, but Vilyon enjoyed the confidence of the city's elites and had caught the eye of Kalkas Tygian.