Corrupted Death Guard Traitor Legion Iconography
Solun Decius was a Space Marine of the Death Guard Legion during the Great Crusade and the opening days of the Horus Heresy in the late 30th and early 31st Millennia. Decius was the youngest member to have served in the Command Squad of the 7th Great Company of that Legion which was led by Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro. Following the events of the Istvaan III Atrocity, Decius fled with his commander aboard the frigate Eisenstein to bring word of Horus' treachery to the Emperor on Terra. While travelling through the Warp, Decius was gravely wounded when he fought against the reanimated corpses of his traitorous brethren, the first Plague Marines of Nurgle, and was infected with Nurgle's Rot. Arriving at Luna, Garro and his fellow Loyalists were confined within the formidable Somnus Citadel under the watchful eyes of the Sisters of Silence. While recovering within the citadel's Apothecarion, Decius succumbed to the effects of the vile disease that ravaged his body, and became a willing servant of Nurgle in return for an escape from his pain. The Plague God transformed Decius into the host of the daemonic entity known as the Lord of the Flies. This foul creature was confronted by Battle-Captain Garro and was defeated, its black soul cast back into the Immaterium from whence it came.
History
Solun Decius and the 7th Great Company fighting alongside the Imperial Fists Legion during the Horus Heresy
Solun Decius was a member of the 7th Great Company commanded by Battle Captain Nathaniel Garro, and was the youngest member of Captain Garro's Command Squad. Brother Decius remained loyal to Garro, despite the corruption that had begun to creep into the Space Marine Legions under Warmaster Horus' command, in the form of the Warrior Lodges. Garro expressed his disapproval of the secretive lodges and and as a result Decius chose not to join the warrior lodge that already existed within the Death Guard when offered membership. During the outset of the Istvaan Campaign, Garro's 7th Great Company fought in concert with the Emperor's Children's elite 1st Company against traitorous forces on the world of Istvaan Extremis, the outermost planet within the Istvaan System. Whilst fighting against a powerful Slaaneshi psyker known as a Warsinger, Decius' life was saved when Garro pushed the young Legionary out of the way of its psychic attack, which badly wounded the Battle-Captain. Though gravely injured, Garro continued to fight on, fighting back-to-back amidst the rising tide of enemies until the battle was successfully concluded. As a part of Garro's Command Squad, Decius was fated to be aboard the frigate Eisenstein during the Istvaan III Atrocity, when his commander took control of the vessel and fled the Istvaan System through the Warp in an attempt to bring word of Horus' treachery to Emperor.
En route to Terra, Decius and a number of his fellow Loyalist Death Guard fought a battle against the reanimated corpses of their former traitorous comrades,who had become the first Plague Marines of Nurgle when the Plague God's influence had insinuated itself through the damaged Eisenstein's Gellar Field while the vessel was travelling through the Empyrean. Decius was grievously injured when he was stabbed by one of the Plague Marine's Plague Knives, and in a vain attempt to halt the vile corruption caused by that Chaotic artefact, he bravely cut off his own arm. The severely wounded Astartes was then taken to the Apothecarion and put under the care of Apothecary Voyen, but alas, there was no cure available in the entire corpus of Imperial medical science that could ease young Decius' suffering. After completing their arduous journey and delivering their message to the Emperor's acting Regent, Malcador the Sigillite, Garro and his men were placed under house arrest and held in solitary confinement in the Somnus Citadel on Luna, under the watchful eyes of the Silent Sisterhood. Their fate was yet to be decided.
Battle-Captain Garro confronts Decius in his daemonic form as the "Lord of Flies"
In the meantime, the mortally wounded Decius finally lost his fight to the Nurgle's Rot that ran rampant throughout his deceased and corpulent form. Giving himself over fully to the offer of Nurgle to end his pain, Decius' body was possessed and metamorphosed into the mutated form of the daemonic entity known as the Lord of the Flies. His twisted body took on a daemonic appearance: it possessed an arachnid-like head with numerous eyes and mandibles in place of his mouth, his decapitated arm grew grotesquely into a great skeletal hand similar to a Power Fist. The Lord of Flies proceeded to wreak havoc inside the fortress, killing two of his former comrades before Captain Garro strode forth and slew the monstrosity outside the fortress on Luna's barren, airless surface, casting the Lord of Flies' daemonic spirit back into the Warp from whence it came.
Mephitic Perdition of Flies
When Solun Decius was stabbed by a Plague Knife and infected with Nurgle's Rot, he attempted to stem the corruption by cutting off his own arm which was encased within a Power Fist. This armoured gauntlet was thought lost, but was recovered ten millennia later in the Aurelian Sub-sector by the mysterious Blood Ravens Space Marine Chapter during the Second Aurelian Crusade. This archaic relic was now known as the Mephitic Perdition of Flies, and though still a potent and formidable weapon, it was corrupted with the malefic power of Nurgle.
Sources
- The Flight of the Eisenstein (Novel) by James Swallow
- Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising (PC Game)