11.1.42 THAX, THE MACHINE

A sword is poised, its wielder's eyes glowing savagely in triumph, only seconds from severing head from body. In these final few seconds of life the true nature of a being can be determined, will he fight to the bitter end or will he die a pitiful coward, grovelling before his executioner? Who leaves behind the most illustrious legacy: The well-respected general, who has had countless victories at war, yet succumbs to cowardice at the most hopeless point in a battle and leaves his men to perish, only to die from an arrow in his back? Or the poorly-equipped peasant man who fights to the death to protect his honour and his family? The past is irrelevant if in your final moments you are proven to be nothing more than a coward.

There is no weakness in death. The true warrior embraces death, allowing it to permeate through every fibre of their being and strengthen them for the conflict ahead. During the Elder Wars, Thax, a warrior of the Second Circle found Himself facing His own demise in the face of Zenos, the Silent Death. His form torn to shreds, Thax transcended His flesh-bound vessel and through the sheer strength of His irrepressible spirit and the aid of His comrades was eventually reborn anew within a twisted suit of zingavium armour. Casting aside the weakness of flesh, Thax stands as the personification of resilience, of remaining steadfast in the face of the fiercest obstacles.

In the year 454 after the Coming of Estarra, Thax returned to the Basin of Life to reunite once more with His kindred among the Twelve. The will of Thax is as immutable as the armour in which He is contained, cowards and the weak-minded represent everything which He despises. Little is known about the machinations which He has in store for the Basin, His emotionless shell doing little to divulge whatever is whirring around the gears contained within.

His symbol is a vertical sword piercing a skull.