Which interests does Ulthyrr have in the Koronus Expanse and the Jericho Reach? Do you know?

Since the Eldar always have a fuller understanding of the universe than the bumbling humans do, I am sure they know more about the Haarlock Legacy and the Tyrant Star.

The following may be related to the Haarlock Legacy (or, at the very least, time manipulation):

-In Rogue Trader: Edge of the Abyss , page 13 (!?) , there is an Inquisitorial document (dated 816.M41) that deals with a ship that seems to indeed have gone back in time (specifically from 998.M41). The navigator of the Brutal Interdiction , coincidentally enough, is from the Nostromo family, a certain Antalek Nostromo.

- [spoiler ALERT!!!] In Deathwatch: The Emperor Protects (page 128), in what is perhaps an eerie parallel to the Shadow Play possible future (where the very stars are swallowed by darkness), the Deathwatch kill team sees a possible future where the final chamber of the Omega Vault opens. What comes out is some sort of darkness that kills everybody in Watch Fortress Erioch.

The vision from The Emperor Protects is admittedly related only in a vague, tangential way. The document from Edge of the Abyss , on the other hand . . .

-Kirov

Indeed! The house of Nostromo were the navigators serving the Haarlocks!

And a darkness that engulfs everything pouring out of the Omega Vault ... that sounds like the precise wording of the Propheticum Tenebrae, the Dark Heresy (see higher up this thread).

I wonder how deeply the three settings (Dark Heresy, Deathwatch and Rogue Trader) are intertwined with this background mysteries ...

The Laughing God said:

And I for one am very grateful for this thread showing me all the threads I would have otherwise missed.

More please

DW

Well how about this one ... it's official Warhammer 40,000 canon to have the (much overrated IMHO, but let's stay on topic ) Necrons wake in 879.M41. The dreaded events foreshadowed in Deathwatch (Omega Vault opening and releasing only blackness, as read in The Emperor Protects) and the dark future portrayed in the Haarlock's Legacy (dead stars), Radical's Handbook (stars extinguished) and for that matter the Necron codex (stygian night) all seem variations on the same theme.

It is well possible that all three settings (though I haven't really found stuff in Rogue Trader) are in this way 'preparing' for the Necrons. They use the Necron menace as the over-arcing threat in much the same as it is done in official Warhammer 40,000 canon fluff.

Going along these lines, the Legacy and Komus are connected to the Necrons too. But I don't think the Tyrant Star is of Necron origin. Rather it might be a weapon AGAINST the Necrons, to prevent them from awakening. Maybe the worlds visited by the Star are Necron tomb worlds and the baleful influence of the Tyrant Star somehow makes sure they will not wake after it has visited. Perhaps it resets time, extending their slumber. Perhaps as a side effect of this time manipulation, people living on these worlds turn into atavistic, degenerated beings almost as if evolution was rewind.

Or something like that

So I am getting ready to run the Harrlock Legacy, and one of thing that I think I am adding is a force that ia actively trying to bring harrlock back (maybe even the players inquisitor) So one of the first adventures that I am planning to run is Rejoice for you are true, I am thinking that I am using the Serrated Query their purpose is to bring Haarlock back. In rejoice they are looking for scions of the Haarlock line.

Salocr

Salcor said:

I did/do the same actually and think it is vital to do as it gives more depth to the whole story than simply having the potential major villain Haarlock in the background with whom the PCs cannot interact at all.

I included the Pilgrims of Hayte as actively promoting a reappearance of Haarlock and the hopefully ensuing mayhem.

The Phaenonites also want to bring Haarlock back as they hope to make use of him or learn some ‘warpy stuff’ from him.

The Logicians also are interested in any lore that could help them even though they are a little reluctant to actively help him reappearing. Still, they want to be a profiteer if he reappears anyway.

The Serrated Query is actually trying to hinder him reappearing as Eloeholth more or less knows what he is about and don’t want to promote the destruction he will bring.

The Amarathine Syndicate + the Slaugth are actively trying to prevent Haarlock from reappearing as he is some sort of nemesis for them.

The Collegium Tenebrae tries to get information of Haarlock and maybe even want to revive him, but only to try to control or even destroy him ultimately.

The Brotherhood of the Horned Darkness (or at least part of them) also wants to prevent him reappearing.

The Laughing God said:

MORE SPOILERS:

I believe the Necrons are sorta woken up (by Chaos SMs) in the 2nd Emperor Protects mission (A Stony Sleep), on the most important world of the Deathwatch setting (Karlack)!

One thing fer sho', if FFG is lacking ideas, you guys are providing 'em galore!!!

L

For my adventure, I am planning on expanding the legacy, my goal is to have the characters at the beginning ascension level for dead stars. The themes I am looking to explore Haarlock's path to damnmation, like what brought him to the Blind Tessaract. Also I want to explore how the Slaugth are connected to the Haarlock legacy. I know at least one adventure will be attempting to stop the awakening of the Spear of Destiny by the Serrated Querry. (I might use Voices on the Storm as the adventure and the ship is the Spear instead of the Yu'Vath. I will probably try to minimize the number of factions to help myself. I will include the Pilgrims, the Slaugth, and the Cabal. the Pilgrams just trying to create as much havoc as possible, the Slaugth attempting to stop his return, Herrod just trying to gain knowledge, and the Serrated Querry attempting to aid him. Although the diabolical part of me is thinking about actually making the player's inquisitor a scion of the Haarlock line who is attempting to claim the Legacy for himself.

On another note, has anyone thought of putting together a document that lists all of the Haarlock related material per book with page references for a quick reference guide to the possible information that has already been discovered?

Salcor

"Rest you well, my pretty one, and keep you safe the long night through
Stray you not from the light, to crooked stair and darkened door
for the Sleepers wait there empty-eyed, my child
with a clockwork kiss to still your heart"

- Lullaby fragment translated from the local dialect, Hive Gloriana, Solomon
(Inquisitor's Handbook p. 110)

Solomon Haarlock was the namesake of the world of Solomon. The Sleepers point at the Dreaming Dead of Gloriana (Creatures Anathema p19): the recently dead and servitors being possessed by murder-spirits gated in via dreams.The Haarlock Legacy holds that on many worlds where the Haarlocks did their deeds the dead do not rest easily, and ofcourse 'clockwork' in the lullaby above immediately points to the designs of the Haarlocks.

Either that, or my obsession with the Legacy has taken on damnable forms and I see things with feverish eyes where there are none

@Salcor: I have compiled no such document, although it would be very welcome. I did make a print of this entire thread, am keeping it up, and make notes to especially important clues and suggestions.

Two interesting pieces of fluff from Blood of Martyrs may be interesting to the Haarlock/Komus mystery.

On p98 a Sororitas force has been aboard an Eldar vessel and came back with a mad navigator who rants about a 'sun that burns black'.

In a special Tenebrae Chancel there is a black orb kept and guarded, surrounded by 13 warded aquila's and with litany recited incessantly against it, as if it needs to be kept dormant.

On p27 it says that cardinal Ignato has access to something called the Atrum Asectica, which may be a precursor work to the Propheticum Hereticus Tenebrae, a tome that holds the truth on the appearance of the Tyrant Star ánd the resurrection of Saint Drusus.

I wonder if and how Drusus is connected to the Tyrant Star and if this means his legend is also connected to the Haarlocks!

While not directly related to the Haarlock Legacy, I thought I'd share a few theories on the Slaugth, or more specifically their origins.

I couldn't help but notice that the technology of the Slaugth seems very similar to that of the Necrons in some ways...most in their weaponry and their non-warp FTL ships.

This lead me to decide that the Slaugth are in fact the last remnants of the Necrontyr race. Rather then transfer into the Necrodermis to serve the C'tan, the Slaugth faction were cast (or fled) from the Necrontyr homeworld. Horribly damaged by their star's radiation, the Slaugth desperately fought to find a way to overcome their short, cancerous lives but sought another way then that trod by the rest of their C'tan worshipping, necro-cybernetic race.

In the end, they remade their forms into the current horrific incarnations, satisfied with the immortality and power that they were provided. Unlike the Necrons, they continued to experiment with their technology, especially in the fields of bio-organic constructs.

Despite my previous post, I find that I want to involve the Necrons in my campaign so I will probably end up changing Komus into the Scythe weapon used by the C'tan known as the Nightbringer. Shut away within the Echoing Vault, the weapon and a great portion of the Nightbringer's power and essence, the artifact is kept safely in the warp by a powerful warpcraft ritual originally devised by the Old Ones and enacted by the Eldar. The seven anchoring foci are all located on worlds within the Calixis sector, as this was the site of the apocalyptic battle between the Nightbringer and the Eldar + their gods (accounting for the many devastated worlds and the ill-reputation of the sector with the Eldar). These foci are alternatively known as the Hyades Locks or the Seven Devils, and are all major warp powers in their own right.

When first entering the sector, the Haarlock's stumbled across a Necron tombworld, discovering advanced and forbidden technology, as well as clues to the nature of the Tyrant Star. This knowledge e xplains the advanced clockwork experiments and strange soul-transferring/imprisoning creations that the Haarlock's are infamous for.

This also explains why the Slaugth haunt the sector and why they will do anything to prevent the return of Haarlock, as well as their fear of the Black Sun.

After passing through the Black Sun and into the Echoing Vault, Erasmus has communed with the essence of the Nightbringer. If he is allowed to return, he will take the Scythe back across the threshold and thus restore the greater portion of the Nightbringer's power. In essence, Erasmus will be the Herald of the Nightbringer's return, the Dark Traveller that brings back the Endless Night. He is most definitely not himself, and allowing him to return will greatly accelerate the awakening of the Necrons. If he is prevented from returning, the inevitable has only been delayed. Without the weapon, the Nightbringer will slowly begin to rebuild its power and the Necron awakening will be a piecemeal and random affair, possibly allowing the Imperium to do something about this new threat.

At this point, the campaign should escalate to Rogue Trader levels as my players embark on a new phase of play, expanding their fortunes and combating the slow rise of the Necron, and the increasingly frantic Slaugth who are seeking pawns and cannon fodder to throw between themselves and the re-awakening C'tan.

Blade Hate,

I have been kind of thinking the same thing for the Haarlock legacy. Reading the description of the Spear of Destiny entering into the battle around Mara, is should like the weapons it is firings are like the Necron gauss weapons. Although I am trying to build the campaign so they explore the slaugth and necrons between Tattered Fates (I will do Damned City first), and Dead Stars (which I want to set up as a beginning ascension level adventure.)

Salcor

Bladehate said:

I don't want to burst your bubble, but "your" theory and assessment is not that original and was already mentioned and discussed a lot. Mostly in this thread by the way...

new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp

new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp

new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp

etc.

Nice reading in that thread.

I wasn't claiming originality exactly. Just sharing my thoughts, and posting a theory about the origins of the Slaugth. I got to thinking about the Necrontyr, and about how perhaps a few of the race avoided the fate of the Necrons. I don't believe anyone else has mentioned that idea, but if they have then I have no problems giving them the credit for it.

Also, as a race that has actual contact with the Imperium, they could make great sources of information on the pre-history of the Galaxy. Even if that information has to be wrested from them. The Necron Lord mentioned in your thread would also be a possibility for that sort of information to add depth to the meta-plot of the game world/campaign.

Had I seen your thread, I would probably have posted my 2 cents there.

My post concerning the nature of the Black Sun was just to reflect the change I'm most likely going to make in my own campaign. Since I've shared that sort of thing in this thread before I didn't think it was inappropriate.

I'm also keeping any real theories on the Yu'vath on the back burner until the new RT Xenos supplement comes out.

On the whole, not sure why you felt it necessary to "burst my bubble" or put quotations around "your" theory as though I was plagiarizing anyone. That was not my intent, but perhaps I should have stated "in my campaign" somewhere around the start of my post to make that absolutely clear.

Hey Bladehate,

happy to see you posted this, as the role of the Slaugth in the Haarlock storyline and the Tyrant Star is something that very well suits this thread!

Well, in my campaign my players are nearing completion of Damned Cities (ran this straight after HoDaA), so its time for me to start dropping some major hints and significant information via the Mirror Demon and possibly some Haarlock cogitator banks located in the secret chamber.

That caused me to especially re-read my own posts and parts of this thread and really take a look at where I wanted the campaign to go from here. The thread has flipped, gone round-and-round itself and gone off track repeatedly so I didn't think my addition would offend anyone with my post(s).

So far, the primary antagonists have been the Logicians, with minor antagonists including the (very scary) Master Nonesuch and Pilgrims of Hayte. My players only managed to vanquish Nonesuch by cleverly blowing him into the lavapool at the Altar of Fire below the HoDaA. Because of his power level and freaky appearance he made a definite impression with the team. The Pilgrims were responsible for the wrecker gang ambushing their skyship on the way to the auction, but will see significantly more screen time in TF.

Currently, in the Damned Cities the players are about to run into more Logician horrors as Sibas Moran and the Churgeon (encountered in EoD...but escaped) has come to Sinophia at the behest of Octavia Nile (my players REALLY hate her after the events in HoDaA) to obtain any information on the Legacy located in Haarlock's Folly. Activating sleeper agents left from the Empty Men incident, Sibas and the Churgeon have activated the dozen Empty Men secretly infected with long duration RNA-viruses that were left behind. Using the implants from EoD, they have almost full control over the Empty Men and are planning on using them to assault the Folly and obtain what they need. Currently, the players have had their land speeder shot down from under them by the Logicians but managed to survive due to the Guardsman's piloting skill so the Logicians assume they have been eliminated.

Spectre Cell 17 is also waiting for the perfect time to strike but they've made a slip-up by questioning Fihad Constantine about the characters. His personal loyalty to the group is significantly higher and he's likely to tip them off to the presence of the Cell if the group keeps earning his trust...

But yeah, a suitably epic three way confrontation is shaping up at the Folly...which should also have a suitably epic plot reward...

Bladehate, I really like the way you are designing your games. They are quite similar to the way my game is progressing:

- you make the wrecker attack something more than just a random encounter, you make it plot-relevant
- I am also tying the Edge of Darkness events into the Haarlock line (the Churgeon's bio-grafts have been obtained through the Amaranthine Syndicate, and are thus derived from Slaugth science, and the Slaugth will lead the acolytes to the auction)
- in my game the players will be sent to Sinophia Magna (Damned Cities) to research the recent murders and see what they have to do with the prior Empty Men incident ánd the Edge of Darkness bio-heresy incident (bot involve human subjects tampered with at a genetic level)

I am now running Damned Cities, so the players will soon receive their first Haarlock clues.

Bladehate said:

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your input and did it in the past. Most of your ideas are well thought out and maybe that was the reason I was a little confused by what you wrote, as it sounded a bit ignorant of what was already written (mostly) in this very thread. I always find it a little annoying, when people write stuff in threads without reading the former posts thereby often repeating stuff mentioned (often multiple times) before. This, combined with 'theories' and 'discoveries' others have made before oneself, let me overreact a little at times (apologizes for that), but I worked too long as a scientist to stomach that kind of behaviour very well unfortunately...

May I ask why your players hate Octavia Nile that much after HoDaA? I really liked her, but my kill-joy players unfortunately killed her and her Ashen Tear Assassin rather easily (the latter with a single bolt shell through the hip)...

Furthermore I would really be intrested in what kind of 'major hints' and 'significant information' you plan to in the direction of the PCs and also what kind of theories (if any) you already have in regard to the Yu'Vath.

Intrestingly, in my game (as in TLG's ones) the xenos bio-grafts of the Logicians have also been supplied by the Amaranthine Syndicate (namely an Amaranthine Captain) that got some special drugs in return for the Corscarla District (and the following Gateway 17 adventure from Dark Reign). This Amaranthine Captain was seen (and fled) in the Serrated Query chapel on Ambulon in my game and will make a reappearance in Damned Cities with a mirror shard (as proposed by Gregorius new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp ).

Cheers

Well, I did read the whole thread...back when it was 20 pages long...some six months ago.

I'm only human so keeping track of all that is...let's call it a challenge rather then just straight out impossible =).

With regards to Octavia Nile, what she did was:

1.) She snubbed one of the group (the Arbitrator) on the skyship ride who was just trying to be "friendly" with her, all the while attempting to seduce Captain Shadrack in an attempt to turn him against the group (it didn't work cause the Guardsman basically struck up a friendship with a fellow veteran).

2.) She then maneuvered another member of the auction into a drunken challenge against the noble-born guardsman of the group, by lying about him "taking advantage of a lady" during the air ship ride. Bold faced lie, but the noble was actually from Solomon so the accusations (and duel) were actually made in front of a BUNCH of his peers. Worst part was the group actually saw it coming as they circulated during the reception at the start of the auction but had no clue how to stop it...kind of a whole incoming train wreck/deer in the headlights situation.

3.) Octavia had her assassin move into the crowd during the duel, ready to take out the winner (winnowing out the competition) but was prevented from a semi-stealthy needler kill by the group's assassin who was keeping an eye out for his buddy. So when the Guardsman crushed the challenger, Octavia just smiled sweetly at them and thanked them for offing one of her competitors.

4.) She then went on to compound her crimes by not only surviving the whole episode, but managing to snag the Grey Psalter from the auction while the players were dealing with Nonesuch...

5.) On top of that, Sibas Moran broadcast "Octavia Nile sends her love." to the group, right before he shot down their land speeder on Sinophia...so yeah, the group loathes her (and the Logicians) atm.

She wasn't even really intended to be a "big bad", things just worked out that way...some of the best villains are made that way =).

Concerning the Yu'vath, when I heard they were going to be included in the new Xenos RT supplement I decided to wait and see with them. The players have their plates full atm so its not a great loss, imo.

I like the Slaugth/Logician link a lot guys.

I'll post more about plot devices that the players discover in a bit.

Bladehate said:

I printed the whole thread (copied to to Word, deleted a lot) and highlighted sections that seem especially important to the Haarlock meta-mystery. Once you've done that, it's just a matter of keeping up .. which I have been needing to do for quite some weeks now

Did anyone have problems with the ending of Damned Cities ... if you play them in the order Tattered Fates - Damned Cities - Dead Stars (not recommended), you will need to get a vital clue from the Mirror Daemon. Yet you only get this (where Haarlock went) if you strike a deal with him i.e. release him. I think most parties would not do this, and destroy the mirror, condemning the daemon to enduring imprisonment.

But then how would you ever get that final clue? !

The Laughing God said:

'ello there, first post on the forums, just wanted to say I thought about this briefly: Maybe see if you can get the acolytes (or the surviving loyal enforcers) to look through Skarmen's files and just 'happen' to find journels written whilst Skarmen was being corrupted by the mirror, maybe with repeating references to the Blind Tesseract or cryptic half-sane rants that would eventually lead them to Mara if they were clever enough to decipher them. I've not got the book handy, I don't know if this would make sense, so this is just based off of what I can remember.

Alternatively, run another mission tied to Haarlock in which they learn of Mara from, say, one of Haarlock's tomes or artefacts or something along those lines.

Looking over some of this, I'm getting a few ideas in my head. I'm just posting what I can to summarize some of the thoughts, since I can't be bothered to read the entire thread repeatedly to find one or two details in the grand scheme I'm plotting for my acolytes (sorry, just don't have the time!)

First of all, the 'Night Traveller' in the Bray Lexicon: It's possible that the Night Traveller is the Tyrant Star, Komus, that either existed prior to Solomon's writings or was foretold in a prophecy (or perhaps a bit of old-fashioned time travel led to it being in the Bray Lexicon). In addition, it's mentioned Tanis is 'trapped in time' or something along those lines (I'm paraphrasing). As mentioned by Laughing God, the Tyrant Star could be a representation of Tanis brining madness and ruin such as that inflicted upon it to other worlds. I must catch up on my reading, but is it possible that the Tyrant Star is visiting worlds Erasmus or his family visited in the past? I remember Zillaman's (sp?) Domain had little to no reference to Haarlock, but you never know when you have a feral world that likely doesn't keep records and an old family full of secrets, preferring to remain that way. The Servants of Twilight may also be able to summon Komus, or at least manifestations of its power. Perhaps that would help to explain the visitations of Komus to certain peoples on 'visited worlds' but not to the rest of the populace?

It's been speculated that the Tyrant Star is a warp-conduit as well, something I very much agree with. Its visitations bring madness and destruction, and the note from the feral worlder on Zillaman's Domain, the note from whomever it was on Sinophia Magna who was visited by the star, and the phrase "man and beast shall become one" seem to indicate that where Komus visits, men revert to an almost animal nature, turning on one another. It's quite possible from these same sources that men are, in fact, transformed into Chaos Spawn, mutants, daemons, or something of that nature. If anything has the ability to do that to a planet, it would be feared by the Inquisition, and rightly so.

There's ALOT more to examine and expand upon, but let's leave off with that DotDG quote on page 3.

The herald shall return from that great and echoing place (The Herald = Haarlock. Great and echoing place = The Tyrant Star or the Warp itself, probably)
He will return and there will be great power with him ("He will return" = Haarlock. "Great power" = powers granted by Komus, not the star itself, due to the brief sighting of Haarlock in Dead Stars?)
But his power shall be that of the lost and other, even the damned, shall know it not (the damned being the forces of Chaos, as stated by The Laughing God. Shall know it not = either Haarlock has greater power than some of "The Damned", or alternatively, they aren't behind the Tyrant Star)
Fools will be his bearers, his coming will be the coming of ruin and death though not of his own making (Because of the 'flash forwards' in Dead Stars, perhaps Haarlock has retained just enough of his humanity to stop the Slaught but still bring said ruin and death)
And so with all in motley and blood the players shall wait and the darkness shall pour, clawing from out of a dark sun and vomit darkness into the offering bowl. (Perhaps a reference to the stars slowly going out in the Solomon 'flash-forward'? Does this mean Komus has the ability to kill entire stars, or will soon have the power?)

I'm going to go with the Tyrant Star as a warp conduit made or discovered by Erasmus as Tanis was destroyed (that WAS Erasmus, right?), being controlled by either its own will, Haarlock's will, or the will of the Servants of Twilight- depending on the situation- , that Haarlock entered and lost his will to- because, well, it's a direct and powerful link to the warp- and depending on whether the acolytes stop him at Dusk or not Komus is allowed to escape in the form of Erasmus and set about killing stars or there is nothing to prevent the Slaught from killing off the sector in what is essentially a lose-lose situation for the Acolytes. I'm probably going to add more 'branching off' to the storyline depending on what the Acolytes do when they return from Dusk and how they relay the situation, how they handle it later on when the Inquisition responds to the threat, etc.

Obviously, I need to read up ALOT more. At one point, I had linked many things in the campaign to one another and NEARLY solved the mystery of the Tyrant Star (with some GM guesswork, ofc), but I was rapidly gaining corruption and insanity points as I made connections and I was forced to stop. I awoke the next day with no recollection of what links I had made, and unfortunately my notes were nowhere to be found (notes stolen and mindcleansed by the Tyrantine Cabal, perhaps?)

Elias Holt said:

I keep thinking that this reversed evolution trend which turns man back into beasts (to say it woefully inadequately and unscientifically) is because of Komus' messing with time. It plays back time on the worlds it visits. Tick tick tick time is running out. Things are rolled back to the past and the future is consumed (the Widening Gyre from The Radical's Handbook).

I do advise you to read this thread, I know it's getting humongous, but there's some real gems in there. Maybe someday I will have the time to compile them all into one document. So far I have printed the first 20 pages and highlighted the most intrigueing sections and contributions. Will soon work through the pages since that.