Magnus au Grimmus, better known by his nickname, The Ash Lord, was a Gold of Earth, the ArchImperator of the Society military and Primus of House Grimmus. He was the father of Atalantia, Aja and Moira, and the godfather of Lysander au Lune. He was infamous throughout the solar system for destroying Rhea with nuclear weapons during the First Moon Lord Rebellion after its archGovernor refused to accept Octavia au Lune's authority as Sovereign after she overthrew her father Ovidius.
Appearance[]
Magnus was a tall and bulky man, being over seven feet tall and as heavy as a Telemanus at the age of one hundred.[1]
Personality[]
In battle, Magnus approaches conflict as a destroyer, and when his back is against the wall, he will win at any cost. Unlike how other Golds are taught at The Academy to seize and preserve enemy ships for their own use because of the high cost in resources and finances to build them, Magnus will destroy centuries-old vessels without care of the heritage, lives, or expenses lost in the process.[2]
Biography[]
Pre-Saga[]
Magnus au Grimmus was born in approximately 639 or 640 PCE.[1]
At some point in his youth, he dueled Lorn au Arcos and gave the other a scar that claimed part of his nose.[3] For the next several decades, the two of them were close friends, with Lorn considering him someone to be admired.[1]
At some point before 683 PCE, he married an unnamed Gold woman and fathered his first daughter Aja.[4]
By 701 PCE,he had achieved the rank of ArchImperator of the Societal Navy, and was dispatched by Octavia au Lune to put down the First Moon Lord Rebellion when the ArchGovernors of the gas giants refused to accept her as their new Sovereign following her coup against her father Ovidius.
When he first arrived in The Rim, Magnus attempted to convince the ArchGovernor of Rhea to submit to Octavia's rule, and was struck under the eye with the ArchGovernor's scepter.
Magnus served as the frontline leader of the Society forces during the campaign, and eventually carried out the nuclear annihilation of Rhea in order to bring The Rim in line.[5] In the process, his actions drove a permanent rift between himself and Lorn.[1]
As a reward for his service in the rebellion, Octavia awarded Magnus with a set of Victory Armor that he displayed in his stateroom aboard the Vanguard for the next four decades.[6]
Within a few years of the Burning of Rhea, Magnus fathered his third and ultimately final daughter Atalantia.[7]
In 718 PCE, Magnus received a Stained named Ragnar Volarus into his service, and made the Obsidian fight in areans for the entertainment of Magnus and his guests.[8]
Following the birth of Octavia's grandson Lysander in 733 PCE, Magnus was named the child's godfather.[9]
At some point between 738 and 740 PCE, just after his one hundredth birthday, Magnus met Darrow O'Lykos while the young man was a lancer in the employ of Nero au Augustus.[1]
Golden Son[]
When Octavia began making preparations to assassinate Nero and his household at the December 741 Summit Gala, Magnus agreed to give Ragnar and the Vanguard to House Julii as a gift for betraying Augustus to House Bellona.[10]
When the Martian Civil War began, Magnus remained on Luna for most of the conflict. When Darrow called for an Iron Rain on Mars, Magnus and the Scepter Armada were summoned to reinforce House Bellona, but were a week away when the Augustan forces arrived, and were too late to aid against the Lion's Rain.[11]
Morning Star[]
After Roque au Fabii was placed in command of the Sword Armada and deployed to Ilium to quell the Second Moon Lord Rebellion, Magnus turned his fleet around and returned to Luna, but not before issuing a gold badge with the crest of House Grimmus to signify his warrant for Roque to command the Sword Armada.[12]
Following Ragnar's defection to the Sons of Ares, Magnus offered a large reward for the return of his slave.[13]
When Adrius au Augustus contacted Octavia with word that the Red Armada was sailing for Luna, rather than Mars as Darrow wanted his enemies to believe, Magnus began preparating the moon's defenses. By the time the rebel fleet crossed the Rubicon Beacons, Magnus had arrayed the Scepter Aramda like a screen to cover the Hyperion Citadel and Luna's darkside like a shield, planning for Adrius's forces to swing around and smash them against his anvil.[2][14]
When the battle began after Cassius au Bellona and Antonia au Severus-Julii reported their capture of Darrow, Virginia au Augustus, and the body of Sevro au Barca, Magnus contacted Adrius to notify him and assume command of Adrius's ships for the duration of the battle, and relay instructions to escort the captives to the surface for Aja to take custody.[15] Magnus himself commanded the fleet from a corvette at the rear of the formation, rerouting the signal through dozens of other ships to mask his precise location from the enemy.[2]
Magnus attended a holo conference with Octavia and several Praetors of the Scepter Armada to direct the battle as Cassius brought Darrow, Virginia, and Sevro into the Sovereign's bunker. At the end of the conference, Octavia ordered Magnus to report when he had further news, and to bring her Daxo au Telemanus alive if possible.[2]
During Octavia's attempt to broadcast Darrow's execution, Magnus was forced to watch as his master and his daughter were instead struck down by Darrow, Virginia, Cassius, and the still-living Sevro live on the holonet.[9]
When Lilath au Faran began detonating nuclear warheads on Luna, Magnus was contacted by Virginia at Lysander's urging, and Magnus was persuaded by his Godson to listen as Virginia made a case for a joint effort to destroy Lilath's ship.[9] Following the destruction of the Lion of Mars and Virginia's ascension as Sovereign, his fleet fractured as dozens of Gold ships defected and joined the rebel fleet, forcing Magnus to retreat to Mercury with the core of his forces,[16] bringing with him his last surviving daughter, and his only grandson Ajax.
Solar War[]
In the closing months of 743 PCE, Magnus rallied the remaining Gold houses loyal to the Society to Venus and Mercury, founding the Society Remnant and assuming command as its first Dictator. He stablished his residence on Venus's Gorgon Isle, where he created a dark-zone around the island to block any communications or satellite imaging from outside.
In January 744, he launched a counterattack against the new Solar Republic to relieve the Society loyalists marooned there after The Fall, beginning the Battle of Luna. The battle lasted for three years, and Magnus's forces were ultimately rebuffed, with House Grimmus even being driven from their ancestral city of New Sparta on Earth in the course of the campaign.
In 747 PCE, he abandoned the campaign against Earth and Luna and shifted focus to capturing Mars. After the city of New Thebes fell into the hands of the Republic, Magnus famously dropped nukes on the city from orbit and destroyed it entirely rather than allow it to fall into enemy hands.[17]
At some point in 747 PCE following the Siege of Olympia, Magnus sent Apollonius au Valii-Rath on a suicide mission to assassinate Darrow and his family on Luna in order to seize the legions and resources of House Valii-Rath for himself. He told Apollonius that 900 Peerless Scarred from the legions of House Carthii would accompany him, but in reality never sent any, and left a pre-recorded message on the Minotaur's comms.[18]
Magnus was eventually forced to withdraw from Mars after the Battle of Mars in 749 PCE.
In 750 PCE, Magnus was poisoned by agents of Apollonius, rendering him unable to continue upholding his duties as Dictator. Magnus knew that the Minotaur was responsible for his deteriorating condition, but his daughter didn't believe him. Magnus was kept alive on life support, while his daughter inherited the position of Dictator, while maintaining a campaign of counterintelligence to conceal her father's condition from Republic spies by impersonating him in all transmissions.[1]
Iron Gold[]
Magnus's fortress on Gorgon Isle came under attack by the combined forces of the Minotaur and Darrow in November 753 when Atalantia's attempt to divide the Republic by presenting a false peace offer to the Senate resulted in the Howlers breaking Apollonius out of Deepgrave for an unsanctioned black ops mission to kill the Ash Lord in the hopes that Magnus's death would end the Solar War.
Upon arriving in Magnus's sick room, Magnus taunted Darrow about all he had sacrificed for the sake of destroying him, and confessed the truth about who had really been running the Society Remnant under his name for the past three years. Magnus revealed that Atalantia had taken the bulk of the Ash Armada to launch a sneak attack on the Republic fleet over Mercury, aiming to take back the planet from the Republic. He further taunted Darrow with the revelation that one of Darrow's allies had arranged for the abduction of Darrow and Sevro's children.
When Darrow attempted to obtain more information, Magnus poisoned himself with a suicide pill implanted in a false tooth. When the Ash Lord refused to talk any further, Darrow, Sevro, and Apollonius used the antibacterial spray and a lit candle to burn the Ash Lord to death.[1]
Relationships[]
Octavia au Lune[]
Aja au Grimmus[]
Atalantia au Grimmus[]
Ajax au Grimmus[]
Lysander au Lune[]
Lorn au Arcos[]
Gallery[]
House Grimmus Sigil
References[]
- ā 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Iron Gold, Chapter 60
- ā 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Morning Star, Chapter 60
- ā Golden Son, Chapter 28
- ā HowlerPod, Episode 31 - Pierce Brown Interview - 20:16. August 5th, 2019.
- ā Golden Son, Chapter 18
- ā Golden Son, Chapter 33
- ā Dark Age, Chapter 06
- ā Golden Son, Chapter 50
- ā 9.0 9.1 9.2 Morning Star, Chapter 63
- ā Golden Son, Chapter 21
- ā Golden Son, Chapter 36
- ā Morning Star, Chapter 42
- ā Morning Star, Chapter 04
- ā Morning Star, Chapter 57
- ā Morning Star, Chapter 59
- ā Morning Star, Chapter 65
- ā Iron Gold, Chapter 08
- ā Iron Gold, Chapter 34