| “ | Ooooooh hello hello hello, what do we have here... | „ |
| ~ Lucio |
Count Lucio is one of the six available love interests. He used to rule Vesuvia with his wife, Nadia, until he was murdered three years before the start of the game. Allegedly, he was burned alive in his bed by Julian Devorak on the night of the masquerade – a citywide birthday celebration he threw himself. Now he haunts the palace, but he is not out for revenge. His patron Arcana is The Devil.
Appearance
Lucio is a fair-skinned man with blond hair and silver eyes. During the plague, the normally white sclera of his eyes turned red and bloodshot. His eyebrows are very arched, and naturally darker than his hair. He has a sharp nose, and his lips curve up into an near constant smirk. Lucio typically wears black eyeliner that sharply curves under his eyes. He typically dresses in a white, fitted suit with no shirt underneath. Over the suit, he wears a red and golden sash decorated with many military medals. Attached to the suit with a ruby red brooch is a fur trimmed black cape. Lucio also typically wears tall, black, high-heeled boots. He has an enchanted, golden prosthetic in place of his left arm, with removable gold armor plating. The arm has veins of light between the pieces and joints, which are white in official artwork but red during the plague.
While in between realms, Lucio appears as a one-armed, anthropomorphic phantom goat. He has silky white fur and tall, twisting horns. Rather than hooves, he has hands with long, knobby fingers. His left arm ends just below the shoulder, capped by a thick scar. This appearance closely resembles his depiction in the Feast painting, although in the painting he has both arms and is clothed.
Personality
Lucio is frequently described as High-Class Trash by the developers. He is vain, volatile, selfish, and denies things he disagrees with in an exceptionally petulant manner.
Lucio is largely obsessed with himself, and expects others to love him as well. He lives exclusively for his own pleasure and is incredibly entitled to things he has not earned. He refuses to take responsibility for when his entitlement and incompetence cause problems. Although he functions as a villain during the other character's routes, he is an ineffectual hindrance at best. This is subverted during Muriel's route, where he is actually driven to complete his deals, fuses with The Devil, and becomes a true adversary. During his time as Count, he perceived himself as beloved by the people, but his provocative nature and cruelty show that this was untrue. His actions ranged from throwing an artist in the dungeons over artistic disagreements, to setting people on fire for insulting him.[citation needed] However, it has been said that he was never abusive in any of his relationships.
During his own route, the Apprentice's empathy helps Lucio become a better person. Although initially unwilling to accept the realities of his mistakes, Lucio eventually feels true remorse for his past actions and is able to take responsibility for them. His growing care for the apprentice allows him to become less self-centered. Lucio also shows off his love for heroics and fighting, frequently putting himself in harm's way to protect the apprentice, although he is surprised when the apprentice shows true affection back. Lucio loves animals, especially his dogs Mercedes and Melchior, and has a fondness for magic despite his lack of skill in it.
History
Early Life
Lucio was born to parents Morga and Lutz under the name Montag Morgasson, the self-proclaimed 'prince' of their warlike tribe in the cold lands of the south. This clan was called the 'Scourge of the South', identified in tapestries by voracious beetles and feared by other tribes.
On his 18th birthday, Lucio believed he would become the official heir of the tribe due to his adulthood, and that a ceremony would be held in his honor. Upon being told by his mother Morga that leadership of the clan was earned, not given, Lucio was embarrassed and enraged. That night, he snuck out of the settlement to find the serpent of destruction, Vlagnagog, to gain the power to kill his parents and thus acquire the leadership he so desperately craved. The serpent was one their clan revered, and they frequently gave tribute to the wyrm. However, after performing a known summoning ritual, Lucio was met not with Vlagnagog. Instead, another wyrm appeared, revealing that Vlagnagog was dead and that Lucio had summoned the worm of pestilence.
Lucio dealt with the worm regardless, and heedless of any potential consequences. In exchange for the ability to sicken and weaken his parents, he would bring the worm of pestilence his parents' hearts after he killed them. However, if Lucio did not provide the hearts as promised, he would not be free of the worm. After his deal was sealed, he was imbued with the worm's "foul sickness" and fell unconscious.
Upon returning to the clan settlement the next morning, Lucio was questioned by his mother about his whereabouts the night before. After quickly deflecting her wary questions and poorly covering his tracks, his father arrived. He drew them both into an embrace, passing both of them the sickness he carried.
The worm's sickness worked with ease on his father, who succumbed to it within a day. Lucio challenged his bedridden father to a fight to the death, and was able to overtake him with ease. Presumably, he gave his dead father's heart to the worm.
However, unlike his father, his mother battled the sickness and survived day upon day, always keeping an eye on him. After an undetermined amount of time, Lucio finally questioned his mother's decision to not stay in bed. In response, Morga told him that the sickness was nothing but 'a summer cold' when compared to the nine months she spent pregnant with him. When confronted with his lack of maturity and survival skills, and his pathetic claims to not wishing their family harm despite killing his father, he was left speechless. Instead of killing her son, however, Morga 'spoiled him one more time' by giving him a head start in running before she would come to kill him.
From there, Lucio ran away on foot, and didn't look back. As he ran, he discovered a red beetle crawling up his neck. Although oblivious to it at the time, this would be the beginning of the Red Beetles following him wherever he went and subsequently spreading the plague alongside them.
Arrival in Vesuvia
Eventually, Lucio turned to mercenary work. It is presumably during this time that he assumed the name Lucio, shedding his birthname. The Red Plague continued to spread wherever Lucio went, bouncing from battlefield to battlefield. It also presumed that Lucio continued to make deals with demons during this time, and eventually with the Devil himself.
At a certain point, Lucio was contracted by the Count of Vesuvia at the time, Count Spada, for a battle where he "made a name for himself." Story implications indicate that this was the battle during which he lost his left arm. It was amputated by Julian to prevent his death from blood loss. After he won the battle for Count Spada, he became friends with the Count and privy to secrets about Vesuvia and the Palace. Spada would eventually name Lucio his heir, and upon his death, Lucio earned rulership of Vesuvia. His rise to power is said to have left him with many enemies.
After becoming Count, Lucio commissioned the magicians Aisha and Salim, Asra's parents, to create him a magical prosthetic arm. After receiving it, Lucio would imprison the magicians under the Devil's orders, telling them that he was preserving the secret of the arm's creation by doing so.
During his time as Count, Lucio led multiple military conquests. During one, he was said to have murdered the mayor of Karnassos after the man complained about him using up the town's resources. When the town gave a formal complaint, Lucio nonchalantly insisted that the man was a demon and they should be grateful he had freed them from him. Lucio also once demanded a third of Nopal's crop of cacti, in return for ‘protection’, which the villagers refused. That night, a giant red beetle attacked the village. Lucio offered to fight it for two thirds of their crop. However, upon killing it, it turned into a million smaller bugs which then burrowed into the ground and blocked the town's water supply.
At some point, he proposed to Nadia while being very drunk. Also being very drunk, she accepted. Their wedding was described as “Vegas Shotgun”.
Eventually, Lucio brought the plague to Vesuvia and finally contracted it himself. His own illness is what prompted him to sponsor the search for the cure. The glowing veins in his arm prosthetic changed from white to red during this time, and the sclera of his eyes became blood red as well.
Night of the Masquerade
Lucio used the night of the masquerade to perform a ritual intended to give himself a new, plague-free body. However, both Lucio's poor planning and Asra's direct sabotage caused the ritual to fail. The body intended for Lucio went to the The Apprentice instead, and Lucio burned to death in his bed, his body alight with magical flame.
Julian was accused of killing Lucio, however, it is revealed that he is innocent in "Lost and Found" of Book IX: The Hermit of his route. It is also revealed later in Book XIII: Death, that Julian had intended to kill the count to stop the plague, but Lucio's rooms had already been in flames when he arrived. Julian saw the room on fire and rushed inside. Upon exiting the room, Consul Valerius noticed him and apprehended him for the presumed murder of the Count.
Lucio would not be killed by the sabotage of the ritual, but would become stuck in a plane in between the realms, becoming incorporeal and taking on a goat-like appearance similar to the Devil. His desperate attempts to interact with the real world once more caused many of the palace staff to believe his wing was haunted, and it was avoided.
Interactions
The apprentice first learns of Lucio when they feel drawn to a painting on the wall of the dining room, which features an anthropomorphic goat with ruby red eyes. Nadia will ask them if they like it, and then begin talking about the late Count, who it is meant to depict. She then tells the Apprentice that he was murdered on his birthday, during an annual masquerade in his honor. Nadia will explain that she called the apprentice to the palace because she plans to once again throw the annual masquerade, but requires his murderer, who is revealed to be Julian, to be captured and face justice before its start. That night, while Portia is escorting the apprentice to their rooms, the Apprentice notices Lucio's dogs at the foot of the stairs that lead to his wing. When Portia leaves to fetch the dogs their chamomile cakes, they end up pulling the apprentice up the stairs into Lucio’s wing. The apprentice feels an oppressive presence in the wing, and sees red eyes staring at them from the darkness. For a paid choice, the apprentice can further explore the wing, despite their better judgement. They enter Lucio’s ashen bedroom, and discover a large portrait of him, which they are inexplicably drawn to. The remnants of Lucio urge the apprentice to touch the canvas. After a brief interaction, the apprentice is startled and falls backwards onto the bed, becoming covered in Lucio's ashes. They quickly rush from the wing.
Nadia's Route
In the Chariot, Nadia asks you to take her to Lucio's old rooms to see the ghost for herself. Lucio’s taste for dramatics flares up. It is revealed that he has been harassing her, before you arrived at the palace.
Asra's Route
In the Chariot, you and Asra see Lucio's ghost walking through a field. His spirit is dragging a red miasma down from the palace with him. He talks to both you and Asra at once, trying to get sympathy from Asra and proving he already knows you.
Route
Relationships
Nadia
While they were legally married, this was more of a business partnership than anything romantic. Nadia comes from a culture where the institution of marriage does not really exist, and before his death Lucio was involved in a physical affair with Valerius. He also would not be jealous of Nadia and a lover of hers, but would be upset he was not invited to join.[citation needed]
It is difficult to say how well they got along. While Nadia bothered to fake solidarity during his illness (pretending to go on a cleanse with him), she went out of her way to lose a gift from him she considered gaudy. She does not share his taste in fashion or décor. Tired of his plague induced whining, she joined in on Asra and Julian's fantasies about life without him, but laughed off the notion.
Julian
Julian was a trusted friend of the palace before his arrest. Lucio apparently hit on him frequently. Julian, however, was wary of the Count's mood swings and penchant for killing those who angered him. The two have met at some point long before the plague, as Julian was the one to amputate Lucio's arm in order to save his life. Lucio still seems to be upset about this, and maintains that it was unnecessary. It was revealed in Julian's upright route that Lucio force-fed Julian a plague beetle to motivate him to find a cure.
Asra
Asra has shown nothing but distaste for Lucio, for both his crude jokes and his self-pitying ways. Their past together is unclear, although both Julian and Muriel have expressed concern for Asra’s safety around Lucio. Asra, however, does not consider Lucio a threat to himself.
Lucio’s penchant for setting people on fire is particularly upsetting to Asra, as Lucio is responsible for setting up the crematorium on the Lazaret, resulting in the cremation of the apprentice after they contracted the plague.
Valerius
A high ranking member of Lucio’s court. The two were involved in a physical affair, despite Valerius’ better judgement.
Morga
Lucio's mother and leader of the clan infamously known as the 'Scourge of the South'. In the first of Lucio's tales, 'Dawn of the Grub', he expresses great fear of her, stammering and sweating whenever she is near.
Lucio makes a plan to kill her after she tells him he won't be gaining power on his eighteenth birthday. He makes her contract an illness to weaken her but she doesn't fall to it. After she seems to suspect his murderous intentions (having witnessed Lucio killing his father), Morga threatens to kill her son but lets him have a chance to run away before she would murder him.
Trivia
- Lucio's favorite ice cream flavor is red velvet and his favorite fruits are pomegranates.
- According to the developers he is a rowdy, spicy, angry boy.
- His favorite season is Summer.
- He is prone to sunburn.
- He loves animals and owns an impressive menagerie of exotic pets.
- His favorite pets are the borzoi-based dogs named Mercedes and Melchior and his crested cockatoo Camio.
- He speaks two languages.
- He has an overdone musical theater voice but he is tone deaf.
- Lucio's typing style includes many emoticons
- Lucio has a Jersey accent
Gallery
