| Thax, the Machine | |
| Circle | Second |
| Symbols | a vertical sword piercing a skull |
| Lords of Rust | Shango |
| Allies | |
| Enemies | |
| Patronage | Magnagora |
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.
In-game Description
He is a radiant immortal and seethes with an aura of pure viciousness, His indomitable form wreathed in clouds of acrid smoke shot through with lines of malevolent green energy. Flaming crimson eyes glare out from beneath the eyeslit of His grotesque visor, emanating utter derision and casting an unearthly red pall upon their surroundings. The screeching sounds of metal grinding on metal envelop Him as gears twist and shift within His blackened zingavium armour, the twisted metal encasing the unfathomable immanidivinus energies contained within. Valves upon the joints of His twisted armour hiss riotously as fierce jets of steam rage into the air with every movement, surrounding His body with an immense heat which causes the air to distort. Jagged spikes splay out in all directions from His broad shoulders, each honed to a needle-like tip. Knife-edged protrusions line the metallic frame about His arms and legs, their serrated edges stained a vivid, sanguine red.
History of the Machine
The Elder God Thax was a member of the Second Circle of the Divine. Before His transformation, He was a member of Loboshi's cadre, the Grey Furies, with Gruenella and Clangorum. His physical form and divine essence was shredded by the Soulless Zenos, and in the hopes to keep Him alive, Fain gave what was left to the care of Malmydia, one of the Twelve Traitors who used questionable methods of healing on the other Elder Gods. With the aid of Clangorum and Agnomenon, Malmydia was able to stabilize the remains of the Machine's essence within a suit of articulated steamwork armour made from zingavium.
Thax led a formation against the Soulless called "Thax's Rock", and would eventually be condemned among the Twelve Traitors to exile in the Void.