Onyx the Indestructible

Onyx
Title/Honours	Onyx the Indestructible, Mountain of Fenris, The Titan-Slayer, Rock of the Empire
Discovered (world)	Neolithus
Discovered (period)	c.908.M30
Legion	Eighteenth
Heraldry/Sigil
Unique Weapon	Two custom artificer power-fists
Distinguishing Traits	Fearless, gregarious, determined
Flaws	Stubborn, blunt, proud
Fate	Disappeared

This page details people, events, and organisations from the /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. See the /tg/ Heresy Timeline and Galaxy pages for more information on the Alternate Universe.

"Many powerful people disliked Onyx because he made a habit of telling them the truth, even when it was impolite or outright rude. It was one of my favourite things about him."

(Excerpt from Gaspard Lumey's private correspondence.)

Onyx the Indestructible was the Primarch of the Eighteenth Legion, the Stone Men. The largest and the strongest of the Primarchs, he was a loyal friend and a fearsome enemy. Onyx fought for the Loyalist cause during the Hektor Heresy and continued to fight in the defence of the Reformed Imperium until his mysterious disappearance.

History

Many of the episodes in the life of Onyx the Indestructible seem outlandish, even unbelievable, but to the extent that they can be verified the tales have stood the test of historical science. Some theorise that the Primarch's transcendent nature picked away at the seams of reality, allowing strangeness to bleed into the places he went. Others opine that Onyx was greatly feared by the Ruinous Powers and the most bizarre episodes in his life represent the Hand of Chaos. Our task here is merely to lay out the most reliable narrative.

Youth

According to the traditions of the Stone Men, Onyx the Indestructible was the last of the Primarchs created by the Emperor of Mankind. In this account, the other Primarchs were mere trial runs before the finished product could be assembled, and for this reason the Stone Men and their successors generally hold that the Hektor Heresy was inevitable once Onyx's incubator was stolen away from the Emperor's laboratory beneath the Himalayza Mountains and the Primarchs were deprived of their intended leader.

The Primarchs' loss was Neolithus' gain. A Feral World at the time that Onyx's capsule crashed to its surface, Neolithus was a world of vast, steaming jungles inhabited primarily by a breed of gigantic ant-like cyborgs under the direction of a malevolent supercomputer. We do not know what these creatures called themselves and in Onyx's own account they are referred to simply as "Cybants". Regardless of their identity, the Cybant hive had driven the native humans into savagery and to the brink of extinction, but the coming of Onyx would change all of that. Both the cybants and human hunters nearby saw the descent of the Primarch's capsule and hastened to claim whatever bounty had fallen from the heavens.

Unlike those of his brothers who were welcomed into their worlds by human hands, Onyx fell into the grip of the Cybants. The cybernetic horrors claimed his incubator and carried it away to their lair, where it was investigated by more sophisticated models under the direct control of the central intelligence. After a lengthy investigation, the Cybant hive managed to open the incubator - and infant Onyx, already the height of a human youth, leapt out to smash its sophisticated servitors. The dispatch of warrior models failed to contain the young Primarch and Onyx rampaged through the hive, laying waste to the Cybants until he found the supercomputer itself. The machine tried to bargain with Onyx, but either the infant did not understand or did not care to bargain. With one blow of his mighty fist, the Primarch destroyed a menace that had almost annihilated Neolithus' people.

Destroying the nerve center of the Cybants killed most of the drones. The remainder moved about at random, heedless of any danger until they died. For the humans of Neolithus, it was obvious that a great miracle had delivered them and the wisest among them knew the light in the sky was the cause. Eventually a few bold scouts ventured into the Cybant lair to pick the bones of their nemesis, and there they discovered Onyx supping on Cybant haunch. Incredulous at first, the scouts soon learned that the "boy" was far more than he seemed and hailed him as their saviour. Over the next three years, the Primarch grew to his full stature, mastered the tongue of the natives, was given the name Onyx Lithus - he who banished the night from Lithus - and was recognised as God-King of the Planet. He lived in as much luxury as he desired and directed his adoring subjects to better their condition through many ingenious schemes of his own devising.

This tranquil life was interrupted by the coming of visitors from the stars. A mighty giant in golden armour strode out onto the surface of Neolithus, directing its minions to gather up specimens for his great interstellar zoo. Hybtar the Collector, for the giant was none other than that miserly xenos, was eager to sample the fruits of Neolithus and a creature as singular as Onyx was the most precious of prizes. Although Onyx was too mighty for Hybtar's entourage to subdue, the alien seized the people of Neolithus and threatened to kill them unless Onyx surrendered himself. Above a chorus of weeping, mighty Onyx gave himself up to save his people. From his beloved home, the Primarch was taken to Hybtar's immense space station, there to be exhibited for the amusement of the alien and its guests.

For many days, Onyx raged in his enclosure, trying to smash open an exit even to the killing Void outside. He struggled in vain. For all of the Primarch's might, Hybtar's station was fitted with powerful force fields that secured its enclosures. Only by learning the languages of his fellow captives - the Eldar Princess Yvanna, the sentient crystal Adj'Manax, and the ancient reptilian Bitol q'Thop - through long and patient study could Onyx break free. Bitol q'Thop, nearing death and sensing the character of a true hero in Onyx, gave up the last of its life force to project an illusion through Adj'Manax's crystal structure. This semblance fooled Hybtar's minions into believing that Onyx had escaped and the dupes willingly opened up the Primarch's enclosure to investigate. It was their final act. Onyx quickly freed his companions and then took a moment to honor the long life of Bitol q'Thop before moving on with the next phase of his plan. Princess Yvanna stole away to the station's launch bays, using her people's legendary guile and grace to evade detection. Onyx, with Adj'Manax upon his back, made for the core of the station to seek revenge. While Hybtar's guardians were fierce and heavily armed, but against the Primarch's might they stood little chance. The alien itself was another matter. Adj'Manax had slowly reshaped itself into an armoured carapace around Onyx's vitals and it was this precaution that saved the Primarch's young life when Hybtar greeted its former captives with a blast from an advanced energy weapon. Shocked by Onyx's survival, Hybtar had no time for a second shot before the battle became a hand-to-hand struggle for survival. Hybtar and Onyx fought throughout the station, throwing one another through walls and bulkheads alike until the vast structure's integrity began to fail. Even with the station collapsing around them, the two collusi continued to brawl, until finally Onyx drove them out into the Void. There, the Primarch seized his foe and smote him with a tremendous blow, sending Hybtar hurtling towards the nearest star and annihilation. For minutes Onyx and Adj'Manax tumbled through the Void, slowly growing more distant from the ruins of Hybtar's station. Both were resilient to the rigors of hard vacuum, but it is no exaggeration to say that their lives were saved by the arrival of their comrade Princess Yvanna in a hijacked shuttle.

Adj'Manax's homeworld was long gone, and Onyx had little knowledge of stellar navigation at this point. Only Princess Yvanna knew her way home, and on the long voyage to Sgathan-Ra the three had many adventures, sealing their friendship and discovering strange technologies such as Onyx's Igneous Cannon. Yet their journey did not end at the home of Princess Yvanna. Her father, King Ku'Kyullain the Dark was grateful enough to Adj'Manax and Onyx, but he could not permit the two to stay on Sgathan-Ra. As a token of his thanks, the Eldar King summoned Harlequins to guide his daughter's companions to their rightful home. Before their parting, Princess Yvanna pressed her elegant hands against Onyx's and pledged that they would meet again one day - a scandolous gesture only barely tolerated in the ranks of the Eldar. Onyx's journey through the Webway was bizarre, though the Harlequins' knowledge of the secret ways kept danger at arm's length. In a matter of days, the Primarch had traversed vast reaches of space and arrived at Ancient Terra, the homeworld of his mighty father and the Imperium of Mankind.

The Great Crusade

A lesser ruler than the Emperor might have been startled by the sudden appearance of a towering, heavily-armed warrior in the heart his realm. Not so for the Master of Mankind. When Onyx stepped from the Webway onto the soil of Terra in late 908.M30, he was greeted by a squad of the Emperor's bodyguard, the famous Adeptus Custodes, who praised the Primarch and offered to take him to his father. Tempering his justified suspicion of golden-armoured giants, Onyx agreed to their escort on the condition that he retain his weapons. In the Emperor's throne room, the meddling separation of Chaos was finally ended, though surviving accounts all agree that there was great friction in the meeting. The Emperor is said to regarded His wayward son coolly and asked why he had taken so long to return to his birthplace. This opening prompted an exchange of tales. Onyx began by recounting the story of his birth from the sky and how he had fought monsters on the first day his lungs drew breath, then impetuously asked what the Emperor had been doing at the time. This began a long exchange of tales and boasts, in which Onyx pitted the saga of his journeys from Neolithus to Sgathan-Ra and through the Webway to Terra against the Emperor's record in Great Crusade. At the end of the telling, Onyx angrily insisted that he was born of the sky and not a man, to which the Emperor wryly observed that nobody present was born of a man. Hours of bragging and insulting one another blew over and the two clasped hands in friendship, then Onyx knelt to offer his services to the Great Crusade of Mankind.

These services were much needed. The Eighteenth Legion had been enhanced with Onyx's genetic material but their gene-seed had decayed over the decades. Fresh samples of the Primarch's genetic code invigorated the Eighteenth's gene-seed and allowed the Legion to expand its ranks rather than merely keep pace with losses. While the genewrights laboured, Onyx prepared to test his Legion's true worth. Observing the success of other Primarchs in relocating to the planets on which they had matured, Onyx conferred with Imperial scholars regarding the likely location for Neolithus then mustered his host for a great expedition to reclaim his homeworld.

After training and molding his legion, Onyx went to test their might for the first time by repelling a great ork WAAAGH at the Imperium's doorstep, on the planet of Fenris. He led his legion valiantly, and it is here that he earned himself the moniker "The Mountain of Fenris", as he held is ground even against the greatest of odds. His next challenge was the Wars of the Colossi, in which he led the Stone Men against the horrible Jormmund by defending and retaking worlds in the Segmentum Ultima. He personally felled about 50 titans, leading squads of elite terminators into the aliens' hearts, and detonating melta-charges. It is this that earned him the name "Titan-Slayer", and gained massive popularity within the ranks of the Imperiun.

Appearance

A true colossus, Onyx was by far the largest of his brothers. He stood like a mountain given life and his powerful laugh sounded like an avalanche. His rugged looks tempted many to carry stony metaphors too far, but for all the trappings of inhumanity Onyx's grey eyes were full of the light and warmth that is the treasure of mankind. Onyx cultivated an impressive beard and was rarely seen out of his armour, even on those rare occasions when he was not on the campaign.

Wargear

Few know the truth of Onyx's magnificent armour, but it is none other than the evolved form of the crystalline entity Adj'Manax. For centuries the two have been nigh inseparable and Adj'Manax can consciously respond to the battlefield situation, shifting its composition to ease Onyx's movement, augment his already legendary strength, or reduce the impact of incoming fire.

Sometimes the circumstances forced him to use ranged weaponry. In these cases, he dusted off his Igneous Cannon, a bizarre weapon discovered during the journey to Sgathan-Ra. A variant energy weapon, its effects are often mistaken for blasts of molten rock. If the range of the Igneous Cannon left something to be desired, its effects could be devastating to metal, flesh, and morale.

A fan's attempt at rules

	PTS	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Onyx:	465	6	3	8	8	7	5	5	10	2+/4++

Unit type: Independent Character, Infantry.

Wargear: Cragplate Armor, Gloves, Igneous Canon

Special Rules: ADAMANTIUMEST WILL!!!, Very Bulky, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Fearless, HAH! A FEEBLE EFFORT!, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, Master of the Legion, NO YOU FOOLS, THEY RUN FROM US!

Cragplate Armor: It's armor made of rocks, yo. 2+/4++. Reduces the strength of all ranged attacks by onyx remaining wounds

Gloves: The twin mastercrafted powerfists crafted by the Stone Man's artificers, Onyx never reffered to them as anything other than "My gloves," though he was enthusiastically grateful to their makers. IStrike with the following profile: S:x2 AP1, Armorbane, Concussive, Paired (+1A), Strikedown. Every to wound roll of 6 reduces targets attacks by 1d3 in challenge

Igneous Canon: A bizarre weapon, to say the least. Shoots chunks of lava. It may not burn as hot as plasma, but its more solid state of matter means that the heat sticks around longer, overheating flesh and circuit alike. It shoots with the following profile: S:10 AP4 Assault 1, 16 inch range, Blast, Deflagrate, Fleshbane, Haywire.

ADAMANTIUMEST WILL!!!: Upon hearing of the "Adamantium Will" of his brothers, Onyx proclaimed that he had the ADAMANTIUMEST WILL OF ALL!!!. Resisting psykers is about strength of character and simply denying the warp's right to affect you, and no one does denial like Onyx does. 2+ deny the witch, baby.

HAH! A FEEBLE EFFORT!: Onyx has zero fucks to give about the following: Concussive, Strikedown, Fleshbane.

No you fools, THEY run from US!: No Stone Man would run in the sight of their primarch. No Stone Man. Ever. They all get fearless.

ONYX SMASH!!! Onyx has two and only two purposes. First, he wrecks shit. 7 S8 AP1 Armorbane, Concussive, Strikedown hits on the charge are going to kill anything up to and including a Landraider. Due to his high strength and resilience, Onyx is one of the more formidable Primarchs, though his low initiative and attacks are definitely a weakness. His immunity to most status affects and psychic powers helps make up for that to some degree. He also makes all his sons fearless, which is just awesome. Not exactly a tactical genius, but he makes a good battering ram.