I've added a section about the Haarlock Legacy. Could have written more I suppose, but I had to draw a line somewhere.

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Hello there, i was looking for something more about the Tyrant star when i found out the topic.

You really made an impressive job gathering such an amount of info.

I probabily missed it since i had just a fast skimming through, anyway i didn't see mention to the Novamarines chapter

• The Pale Wasting (Unknown Date.M34) - A stelae mounted within the Imperial Palace on Terra recognises the services of the Novamarines for their action against the Pale Wasting that occurred in the 34th Millennium. This artefact praises the Chapter and credits their work for having "unmade that which cannot die." This campaign was where the Novamarines earned some of their earliest recorded battle honours. During the dark and terrible times known to later historians as the Nova Terra Interregnum , when the Imperium fractured into warrior factions during this tumultuous period, there exists in what records remain from this era scattered and veiled references to a great threat arising from the Ghoul Stars . Much of the extant evidence relating to this threat has been censored or purposely destroyed, but there are contradictory indications which describe the nature of the threat as both a "star-spawned plague" that swept away scores of worlds and as "nightmare engines" slaughtering whole sectors. Those partial records which have been uncovered suggest that the threat was xenos in nature and that more than one Space Marine Chapter may have been completely destroyed in the course of the conflict. The Novamarines took part in the campaign to quell the threat of the Pale Wasting, and though this is one of the Chapter's earliest recorded battle honours, the Chapter's own chronicles are curiously empty of any reference to this conflict. Were it not for such prominent recognition, the incident might be completely forgotten.

Source: http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Novamarines

Also, in "Relics from beyond" at p.217 of Disciple of the dark Gods there is, as one of the items, a shattered pauldron belonging to an unknown chapter, which could be one of those wiped out during the Pale wasting

Hey Forums, thanks for this awesome, inspiring thread, thanks to it, I'm working on a massive and overly-bloated Haarlock-Saga myself (Simply calling it Haarlock Legacy would not do it Justice )

Also another point I'm currently unsure about... I might have seen the sign of that upside-down claw in context with the Apostasy-Gambit... It would make... kinda sense, using it as one of the symbols of the Dei-Phage, but I have no Idea if that is actually true (might well remember things wrongly) and, if yes, how that'd tie into the whole Komus/Haarlock Complex (if at all)

My personal theory with regards to "The Forgotten Apocalypse" is it's a reference to the War in Heaven. There are plenty of hints to suggest that the Calyx Expanse was important to either the Necrontyr or the Old Ones and it's well known that both sides had the power to create races (that's said in TT 40k) and all kinds of horrific biological, mechanical and warp weapons. "The Harrowing" could definitely be either some living weapon or some kind of fallout from the War in Heaven, which is what humanity was created to fight in.

Things were too well recorded by the 32nd millenium, I just don't buy that a war which brought the Imperium to its knees, involved unprecedented losses for the Astartes, Inquisition and Mechanicus, required the use of archeotech, sorcerous lore and some great weapon from the Dark Age of Technology would just be forgotten about. Something that big couldn't just be erased from all records and memory, even by the Inquisition.

So I personally think this event preceded human history and involved the fledgling humanity as well as the other races on the side of the Old Ones (who btw I've reimagined as stoic beings like bronze Greek statues, a little like the Sanguinor or the Custodes cuz srsly **** 40k Lizardmen)

Once again just reread this thing to get some ideas for what to try and get through the deeper understanding behind the Legacy that I'm getting around to running again.

This is what I've written down, note that it may conflict with information present in canon, but my players aren't fluff people and one of them read the adventures in the past so I don't mind messing with facts to mislead:

Solomon Haarlock is the first Haarlock that discovered the Calaxis Sector and settled many of the planets in the sector. The line was founded by Mordecai Haarlock around M36.400.

The Haarlock Line initially learned of the Tyrant Star, something Eramus would come to know intimately, at the burning of Tanis which had been deemed unfit for human life after the star lit nearly 2 billion citizens into an insane frenzy.

There they captured some of its light into the keystone later used on Quaddis.

Eramus Haarlock's body is now occupied by the 7 ^th Devil of the Calaxis Sector known as The Night Traveller

This happened when Earmaus entered the Tyrant Star to save his wife and daughter from their death at the hands of Mathias Haarlock's warp spawned terrors during the familial war for the Haarlock Warrant.

The war for the warrant only began when Alabrach Haarlock did not name a successor.

After their death Eramus went into the Halo Stars for 10 years to plan his revenge and find ancient technologies and fel crafts he'd require for his vengeance and to try and bring back his family. He then spent time hunting down and killing every notable member of the Haarlock line.

Including his cousin the runner of a library satellite of Haarlock lore by virus bombing it. Lydia Haarlock?

He had the Spider Bride hunt down Mathias for him and in return she was given Immortality in the form of a Halo Device. Mathias was in turn transformed into the Widower and it's power bound to the keystone of the Steel Clock which holds a reflection of the light of the Tyrant Star.

The Spider Bride is named as such after her connection to the Haarlock line. She was their primary assassin, and runner of the Pleasure Gardens of Quadis, and so picked up the moniker because of people calling those of the Haarlock line “spiders”.

After years of terror and destruction Eramus learned the location of someone that could tell him how to travel back to the time where his wife and daughter died to try and save them. This was the Dusk Hag, also one of the Seven Devils. He had to sacrifice his eye to see the truth in the matter.

His eye is with a cylinder, that also contains the Haarlock Warrant, which is retinal coded to Eramus. When “Haarlock” returns he will use the warrant to gain much influence in the sector.

He came to the realization that he could not interfere in these events, but only experience them.

He chose to stay in a memory of a time where his wife and daughter were alive, with the memories of what would come rather than exist without them.

By extension the Night Traveller took his body to it's own ends.

If Haarlock doesn't return the Slaugth will take over most of the Calaxis Sector because the Inquisition will not unite against the Haarlock threat and see the Slaugth for what they are. (see Dead Stars). The first act will be destroying the Tricorn Palace on Scintillia.

If Haarlock returns then the Slaugth will be stopped, but “Haarlock” will take back most of the worlds that the Haarlock line founded and turn them to the dark purpose of spreading the Tyrant Star's influence in the sector.

The crow markings on the faces of the dead and Imperial statues are a reference to the Crow Father one of the Seven Devils released upon the Calaxis when the Night Traveller returns and opens the Haydes Locks.

The Silver Key of the Haarlock line can be used to glimpse past memories of the user or their ancestors if they're willing to suffer for it. It shows glimpses of worlds visited by the Tyrant Star in the hands of a Haarlock. It is an artifact that will be used by the Night Traveller to unlock the Haydes Locks and allow the Seven Devils to unleash themselves upon the Sector.

The Gilded Widow is a vessel used to contain a soul from another time of a possible future of Eramus' daughter where she didn't die and was married. Ripping her soul from that universe made her a widow and gave her knowledge beyond compare, however corrupting her nature into that of a daemon.

The children of the kingdom are a similar thing, beings ripped from a future in which “Haarlock” returns.

The star is a looped mechanism of it's own creation. The Night Traveller is Haarlock and displaces the device so that the Haarlock line has a reason to learn of it and eventually Eramus use it. It's maddening effects are brought about because it is a reflection of a time in the future where Haarlock returned making it a possible future that influences itself. This paradox is what drive men to become beasts again returning to a state of the past.

The Star was meant to be a prison, it's actually a representation of the cell that the Haydes Locks are holding against the true powers of the 7 Devils, but due to the nature of the Night Traveller it was allowed to manifest oddly throughout time travelling to it's creation and end. The Haarlock's interference assures it's possible opening.

The Blind Tesseract is the only constant in existence for the Star, it is the enterance into the mechanism itself not the mechanism proper, and is never an exit. It exists on Mara because of the odd nature of warp disturbances on the planet, and due to the odd way it effects psykers it was a decent defense against the discovery of the device that house the tesseract.

Haarlock is therefore the first and the last because he creates himself, he plants the star at the beginning of the line and puts it's iconography throughout time and space for the line to see and use therefore creating the mechanisms of it's existence and return.

The Hereticus Tenebrae, aka the Tyrantine Collegium, have known of the star for some time, and hoped to influence the Haarlock line into sharing their information on what little they knew by manipulating the family war raging over the Warrant. They informed Mathias of where Eramus would be, but didn't know that he would be put into a trap he would survive.

The Collegium was founded upon the sacking of Tanis, when they saw what the radiance of the star could actually do to a population of people. They want Haarlock to return because of his ability to harness Komus' power and their not knowing of the implications of that return.

The Slaugth had a strong foothold on Tanis, and were heavily invested in using it for feeding and hunting ground. When it was burned by the Tyrant Star and sacked by the Haarlocks the Slaugth noticed that they captured a reflection of it's radiance and the Haarlocks gained their ire. By extension the Haarlocks learned later of the Slaugths involvement in Tanis and through further interactions with them down the line.

This information was given to Mathias by Marr, at the behest of Inquisitor Cassilda Cognos, who has spent the rest of his life trying to see the rammifications of his actions and correcting them. While Marr is no longer part of the Hereticus Tenebrae having lost faith in the group after his involvement with Mathias he left his former ordo, the Ordo Sicarius which many currently think he is still with, and he is working with the Ordo Chronos on this investigation.

Herrod at one point served Marr (at least up until HoDaA) wherein he used a recovered item in his work as a double agent within the Cabal. Eventually suffering severe injuries in his work and becoming rebuilt, and brainwashed, by the Cabal. He eventually leads Spectre Cell 17.

The Servants of Twilight worrship the future Haarlock to be. They can influence the appearances of Komus and generally can predict where it will appear because of the Haarlock families influence on the entity.

Also I have Spectre Cell 17 as a larger part of the adventures so far (Arkadia is related to one of the players and is therefore a Scion of Haarlock as well), and I am definitely plannon on them appearing in TF and DS.

I just realized .. the scar on Haarlock's face (as seen on this famous drawing: http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Rogue_Traders?file=Erasmus-Haarlock_matt-bradbury.png ) .. isn't that the three-pronged bird claw symbol of Komus, the Tyrant Star?

This thread was a huge help in writing the DH game I am currently running. I had purchased the modules a while ago and found it difficult to pull them together in a satisfying way. Looking at all the work that folks have done here, I took as much inspiration as I could hold and ran with it! I’m excited about the story, and at some point when all my scraps of paper are compiled together I’ll try and summarize it. All credit goes to this thread for being my muse!

On 12/29/2017 at 6:59 PM, Dr. Shocter said:

This thread was a huge help in writing the DH game I am currently running. I had purchased the modules a while ago and found it difficult to pull them together in a satisfying way. Looking at all the work that folks have done here, I took as much inspiration as I could hold and ran with it! I’m excited about the story, and at some point when all my scraps of paper are compiled together I’ll try and summarize it. All credit goes to this thread for being my muse!

That's amazing to read, Shocter, thanks!

My Dark Heresy campaign is long finished, but I remember the enjoyment this whole Haarlock saga has given me and my players. The only thing I regret is that we never, in this thread, came to some sort of definitive conclusion or explanation ... but I am well aware there quite possibly is none

On 1/7/2019 at 7:31 AM, The Laughing God said:

but I am well aware there quite possibly is none

I've been reading the trilogy again myself (in my readthrough of all the DH1 materials), always hints but never solid answers.

That's how it was intended though, why give a solid answer for the future of the sector when they end up erupting it in civil war with the Apostasy Gambit.

Hey there.

As many have said, this topic was incredibly useful and interesting. I really felt like an Inquisitor digging in forbidden knowledge in some forgotten librarium while reading it.

I did read everything, but I might not have understood it all, as I haven't read the three books yet. My players just started The House of Ash and Dust (actually, they landed on the island last time so today they will discover the Crematorium and the people attending the auction).

I'll come back when I have finished sorting out everything related to this topic; and will, too, try to compile a list of every references to the Haarlock Legacy.
I know many have attempted this dangerous task before and few have returned, generally broken inside. But in His Holy Light I stand, and we will prevail.

Thank you all for your efforts.

May the God-Emperor Guide you well

Some of us still pop in here from time to if you need help.

Do we have a compiled info, of everything people have dug up? I would like to archive it, before the forums are down. Tick tock, the thirteen hour looms, and the black light of death will consume everything you've build.

On 12/29/2020 at 1:01 PM, Amaimon said:

Do we have a compiled info, of everything people have dug up? I would like to archive it, before the forums are down. Tick tock, the thirteen hour looms, and the black light of death will consume everything you've build.

A kind soul has been archiving some of these threads in the Wayback Machine. The Omnissiah smiles on us this day.

Gentlemen, reading you has been an honour!