Cicero

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Cicero (西塞罗)
Species/Race	Human
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Semuneta Church; Slaanesh-linked conspiracy operating through the Agate Baths 12 24
Occupation/Role	Rhetoric Academy instructor, scholar, gambler, cult conspirator
Status	Alive; indebted and under pressure from his fellow conspirators 40 41
First Appearance	Chapter 3 (mentioned in Aulus's gambling notebook); Chapter 7 (physical appearance) 3 7

Background / History

Cicero was a prominent rhetoric instructor on Macragge. His essay, On the Soul, was admired among the nobility, and his scholarship in literature and history allowed him to place second in Marcus Guilliman's tutor-selection examination—behind Zhou Yun, who had inherited the body and academic reputation of the scholar Aulus. 6

Before Zhou Yun's arrival, Cicero repeatedly invited Aulus to gamble, with the scholar's notebook recording escalating losses and loans after successive card games with him. Zhou later concluded that Cicero deliberately cultivated Aulus's gambling addiction to remove him as a rival for the House Guilliman tutoring position. 3 13

Cicero was not merely an opportunistic gambler. He worked with Libo, Tull, and a blind witch in a Slaanesh-linked conspiracy based around the Agate Baths. The group used pleasure, debt, despair, and Warp sorcery to drive Aulus toward suicide; Cicero's discovery that Zhou Yun survived forced them to reconsider their plans. 12

Appearance

Cicero is a tall, slender man, described as nearly two meters in height. His increasingly haggard appearance reflects the strain of his growing gambling debts. 7 43

• Hooked nose, bloodied after Zhou Yun punches him outside the Grammar Academy. 7
• Usually wears conspicuous red leather shoes. 7 8
• Zhou Yun later learns that Cicero and Tull participated in murdering a slave child and using the child's skin to make their shoes. 25
• His footwear immediately disgusts the young Roboute Guilliman during the tutor selection. 42 46

Personality

Cicero presents himself as an advocate for freedom, sensation, and unrestricted experience. In On the Soul, he argues that a soul exists to experience both pleasure and suffering, and that intensity of life matters more than longevity. He uses this philosophy to justify gambling, drinking, indulgence, and persuading others to abandon restraint. 7

Behind his polished rhetoric, Cicero is manipulative and predatory. He treats debt and addiction as tools for controlling people, attempted to isolate Zhou Yun from Tita, and participated in a cult that sought to corrupt or kill Zhou for political ends. 12 13

Cicero can initially treat pain and danger as interesting experiences: after Zhou Yun breaks his nose and kicks him, he laughs and calls the assault “a novel experience.” However, his composure weakens under financial pressure, supernatural misfortune, and Zhou Yun's sustained retaliation. 7 24 41

His self-image as a liberator collapses when Roboute Guilliman turns Cicero's own philosophy against him. Unable to claim that his life of pleasure, gambling, and humiliation of others has made him happy, Cicero flees in terror from the interview. 43

Abilities & Skills

Rhetoric and Scholarship

Cicero is a highly educated scholar and an accomplished public speaker.

• Teaches rhetoric, debate, public speaking, and politics at Macragge's more prestigious Rhetoric Academy. 6
• Authored the influential noble-approved essay On the Soul. 6 7
• Placed second in the preliminary selection for House Guilliman's tutor position, surpassed only by Zhou Yun. 6
• Uses persuasive speech and philosophical arguments to normalize vice and pressure others into gambling or indulgence. 7
• His rhetoric fails completely against the young Roboute Guilliman, who exposes the emptiness of Cicero's beliefs. 43

Gambling and Cheating

Cicero is an experienced gambler who uses technical skill and rigged games rather than chance alone.

• Invited Aulus/Zhou Yun to repeated gambling sessions that accumulated crushing debts. 3
• Uses the Perfect Shuffle, allowing him to preserve or rearrange a prearranged deck sequence. 23
• Collaborated with Tull to rig blackjack games against Zhou Yun. 23
• His cheating collapses when Zhou uses precognition, telepathic interference, and Strange Luck to disrupt his concentration and reverse the card order. 24

Blessing of the God of First Cry

Cicero received a limited blessing from the God of First Cry before an altar.

• Slightly enhances his perception, luck, and thinking within a limited range. 27
• Does not protect him from Zhou Yun's Doom Technique, psychic manipulation, or escalating gambling losses. 25 27
• His alignment with the god's doctrine makes Libo consider the blessing unlikely to be withdrawn under ordinary circumstances. 27

Cult Conspiracy

Cicero acts as a recruiter, intermediary, and political asset for the Slaanesh-linked cult.

• Helped lure Zhou Yun's former body into pleasure, gambling debt, and despair. 12 13
• Worked with the blind witch, Libo, and Tull to turn Zhou Yun into a debt slave, corrupt him, or kill him. 12
• Sought the House Guilliman tutor position partly to gain influence over Conor Guilliman's heir and reshape Macragge's social order. 29
• Was expected to help the cult approach and manipulate Guilliman as part of its wider plan. 26

Equipment / Items

• Red leather shoes — Made from the skin of a murdered slave child; shared as a distinctive marker with Tull. 25
• Prepared card decks — Used with his Perfect Shuffle to arrange gambling outcomes in advance. 23

Relationships

• Zhou Yun — Former gambling target, academic rival, and later fearful associate. Cicero helped engineer the original scholar's downfall, but Zhou reverses their power dynamic through psychic gambling victories, debt, and coercion. 3 12 24 41
• Tita — Zhou Yun's niece and an obstacle to Cicero's schemes. Cicero attempts to entice her to the baths and wants to isolate Zhou from her protection. 7 12
• Tull — Slave trader, gambling partner, and co-conspirator. They cooperate to rig games and exploit Zhou, though Tull later treats Cicero's debt as an opportunity to sell him into slavery. 12 23 29
• Libo — Priest of Semuneta, cult associate, and Cicero's creditor. Libo repeatedly pressures Cicero to confront Zhou and refuses to forgive his debts. 12 29 40
• The Blind Witch — Fellow servant of the God of First Cry who used Warp sorcery against Zhou Yun. She initially mistakes the doom surrounding Cicero for a hallucination, then regards him as a harbinger of disaster. 12 26 27
• Quintus Guilliman — Violent political ally who blames Cicero for failing to eliminate Zhou Yun and demands that he win the tutor selection. 40 42
• Roboute Guilliman — Cicero seeks to become his tutor and ideological influence, but Guilliman dismantles Cicero's philosophy and leaves him terrified. 42 43 45
• Conor Guilliman — Cicero mocks Conor's anti-prostitution reforms and hopes to influence his household through the tutoring post. 23 29

Story Role / Major Arcs

Gambling Rivalry and Aulus's Downfall

Cicero first appears as the scholar responsible for repeatedly drawing Aulus into gambling. His invitations, loans, and apparent friendship help create the debt crisis inherited by Zhou Yun. 3 6

Attempted Corruption of Zhou Yun

After Zhou survives in Aulus's body, Cicero tries to lure him back to the Agate Baths. He invokes his philosophy of experience to justify gambling and indulgence, but Zhou assaults him when Cicero threatens Tita's safety. 7

Cicero's connection to the Slaanesh-linked cult is exposed when the blind witch reveals that she used pleasure, despair, and a psychic serpent to induce Zhou's suicide. Cicero confirms that Zhou has survived, undermining the cult's confidence. 12

The Agate Baths Gambling Reversal

Cicero and Tull rig a blackjack game intended to bankrupt Zhou Yun. Zhou instead uses precognition, telepathy, and probability manipulation to defeat them repeatedly, forcing Cicero into ruinous debt. 23 24 27

Zhou then tricks Cicero and Tull into cursing powerful Warp entities. The resulting Doom Technique leaves Cicero surrounded by destructive misfortune, though he remains unaware of the full consequences. 25 26

Ashes Deal and Tutor Selection

Desperate for money, Cicero agrees to steal the ashes left by the blind witch's failed sacrifice and sell them to Zhou for 5,000 Denar. 41 42

Cicero remains convinced that he can impress Marcus Guilliman's young son with his philosophy. Instead, Roboute Guilliman forces him to confront whether his own life has ever been meaningful or fulfilling; Cicero panics, calls the child a monster or god, and flees. 42 43

Notable Quotes

“As long as you enjoy yourself, you have already won.” 7

“I choose to seize the day and experience more. After all... tomorrow, we may all be dead.” 7

“Monster!? … What kind of monster are you? A beast? A demon? An alien? A mutant? … Or are you a god?” 43