"My name is Locephax and I am here to make you an offer..."
- —Locephax, meeting Valkia the Bloody
Locephax[1a] was a Daemon Prince of Slaanesh who took a keen interest in the Norscan Schwarzvolf tribe and their leader, Queen Valkia, the future Khornate Daemon Princess known as Valkia the Bloody. Initially drawn by the Schwarzvolf's fervent and open worship of Khorne, the Daemon was smitten by the feral beauty of the woman already called the "Gorequeen."[1a]
After making his intentions to enslave Valkia to his will known to the Norscan warrior-queen, she defeated him in battle and pledged to present his skull personally to the Blood God. This quest into the Chaos Wastes ultimately led to Valkia's death and resurrection as a Daemon Princess of Khorne.[1a]
In return for this gift and show of devotion, the Blood God embedded the essence of the Slaaneshi Daemon Prince within Valkia's shield, permanently imprisoning Locephax. Locephax has since resolved to be a nuisance to the Blood God's consort even if it has to serve her. [1a]
History[]
"What you felt today was a fraction of what you could become if you give yourself over to me and my master, Valkia. Beautiful, strong Valkia! How I would treasure you! You would be the crowning jewel in my harem. Nobody else could boast such a prize!"
- —Locephax, trying to seduce Valkia, appealing to her innate lust for power
In his Human form, Locephax was a slender, willowy being who was also possessed of iron strength. He had long, silver hair that glinted in the sunlight and eyes of deep amethyst. His skin was alabaster, almost glowing with the light of the white moon, with sharp features. He wore soft leathers, had perfectly shaped lips and even Valkia could find no word more befitting for him than beautiful. Locephax was beguiling enough to fascinate the Gorequeen, and his bearing suggested he might have been a southern lordling, though conversations revealed him to be from the north.[1a]
Locephax proceeded to ply Valkia with fine wines and win over all those of note within her court, including Valkia herself. However, the queen was hesitant to trust the stranger after she watched him flirt with her twin daughters, Eris and Bellona. Locephax's attention to the twins wore out the queen's patience and, ordering the twins to withdraw, she demanded that the handsome traveller hand over the gifts he had hinted at offering in their earlier conversations.
Locephax revealed his purpose for coming: to sway Valkia away from the service of Khorne, and towards his own god The Reveller, another name for Slaanesh. Locephax told the queen that her talents and beauty were wasted on the Blood God, but if she were to give herself over to him she would reap the ultimate reward.[1a]
The Daemon Prince almost ensnared the Gorequeen with a kiss, but Valkia's willpower was stronger even than the Daemon Prince's overpowering sensuality. However, Locephax's insinuations that she would serve him in eternity as a pleasure-slave of his harem proved insulting to the extreme. Valkia attacked the Slaaneshi Daemon, but Locephax easily turned her aside with his magic. He then vowed that she would be his, in time, one way or another.[1a]
Locephax challenged Valkia to a duel in the tribe's Circle of Blood. If he won, her soul and being would be his forever more. But, if Valkia won he promised to trouble her and her people no longer. The Daemon believed the duel would take place the following day, but Valkia was so incensed that she demanded the combat take place then and there.[1a]
Locephax's essence was embedded within the shield of the Daemon Princess Valkia the Bloody, a prison to which he had been condemned by the will of Khorne.
The Daemon Prince proved himself impossibly swift in battle, able to avoid Valkia's blows and spar verbally with her. However, the corruption of the Daemon Prince's presence seeped into the tribe, who began to turn upon each other in acts both violent and carnal, as was the wont of the followers of the Prince of Pleasure. Valkia, growing steadily angrier, gave in to her berserker rage in her desire to kill the man. But Locephax used the seductive magic of the Lore of Slaanesh to enchant several Schwarzvolf tribesmen into fighting their queen for him.
Valkia killed several of these seduced Schwarzvolf warriors, including Aric, the son of her tribe's warspeaker. The Slaaneshi Daemon Prince was finally impaled by Valkia, but he did not bleed or cry out in agony. He was simply annoyed, and tole the Gorequeen that her mortal weapons simply could not kill him. However, the Mark of Khorne on Valkia's spear Slaupnir suddenly glowed red with the power of the Blood God and, for the first time in their fight, Locephax shrieked in agony.[1b]
Injured and finally enraged, the Daemon Prince's mortal form melted away. Still vaguely humanoid, he now bore six arms, two ending in fearsome pincers. He had silver skin, stained in iridescent purple and needle-like teeth. Yet his Slaneeshi allure did not dim and even his strange form maintained its exquisite attractiveness.[1b]
The battle resumed, and Valkia pushed her spear through the Daemon's throat, finally killing his physical body and banishing him back to the Aethyr. Picking up Locephax's blade, she beheaded the body and vowed to lay the Daemon Prince's head at the feet of Kharneth himself.[1b]
This vow was a suicide mission, one that all of the members of the Schwarzvolf tribe who accompanied her upon it into the Northern Wastes abandoned near the end. All but her faithful warrior Kormak, who stood at Valkia's side even as legions of Slaaneshi Daemons surged forth to kill both of them.
Before they could succeed, Locephax's skull was offered to and then affixed to the Skull Throne of Khorne. In return for the gift, the Blood God embedded the essence of the Slaaneshi Daemon Prince within Valkia's shield, permanently imprisoning Locephax.
Locephax did not speak to Valkia once during her sojourn in the Blood God's Domain in the Realm of Chaos, but when she re-entered the mortal world and began her march of vengeance towards the Schwarzvolf tribe's territory in Norsca, the Daemon Prince could not help but comment on the excesses she committed and the pleasure she felt in her new form as a Daemon Prince of Khorne. After teasing her, Locephax has since remained silent, resolving to be a nuisance to the Blood God's consort even if it had to serve her.[1c]