from what i could see, not much was revealed or we just ended up with more questions than answers...again...

We can speculate forever but fundamentally very little was resolved from the officially published material. It was pretty clear that from House of Dust and Ash that Haarlock was not dead and was returning from somewhere. Despite a quality prequel and trilogy very little new information on where Erasmus has been or what he now is or what he now plans is revealed.

Talking "red dust": their was the 80s sci-fi-series called "V" (which know get´s a relaunch, isn´t it?) whis this invading reptile-like xenos who disguised themselves as man with wearing a "second skin". If I do remember the 80s right, the humans had developed something that kills the xenos. It was airborne, it was carried in cylinders (as far as I remember!) and was red.

Far flung, put perhaps the other was a fan of this series. After all, alot of the items presented in "House of Dust and Ash" where placed simply because the author was a fan of the chthullu mythos.

maybe the red dust was to kill the slaugth? they are a xenos race. maybe a bioweapon

Gregorius21778 said:

which items in House of Dust and Ash point to the chtulhu mythos?

The Laughing God said:

Mostly just The Silver Key.

I have the book. Will contribute when I've devoured it.

Hope you're a speedy reader

Quick notes:

- I'm sure it's noted that in 'waiting 'til the time is right' inside the Tyrant Star, Haarlock somehow 'cheats' and skips time to gain something (insight and power?).
- It's also noted he loses his soul and the 'thing that returns' is likely not Haarlock
- If someone's 'inside' the Tyrant Star, perhaps they can control it? (Hence it's presence at Quaddis?)
- If this third point is correct, I like to think then that Komus is a sort of... 'psy-warp-battlesuit' of the Gods/Old Ones
- The decision on whether to allow Haarlock to come back or not is also to do with whether the acolytes feel they can fight the Slaugth

I think there's important aspects to be played up:
- The Slaugth are insanely powerful. An Ascension or 'pre-Ascension' non-Haarlock campaign focussing on the Amarandyne Syndicate would be very helpful in pushing this, IMO.
- That whatever Haarlock did, he also gained immense power; power which could *save* the Imperium, Steering games/players towards more serious inquisition-philosophy problems is probably a good idea in 'bridging' adventures between Haarlock games
- I'd note that the cylinder held by the Hag contains the Haarlock Warrant, possibly encoded to his Retinal type. (So also his eye and soul, of sorts) If he doesn't return, the Acolytes might acquire this
- More 'dreamscape' quests. We need more.

I think the 'everything must be related to Haarlock' constraint on the time travel is missing a whole realm of possibility for the Tesseract. For example: what happens to it all if they break the doorway on Dusk and, afterwards, get back to the Tesseract? I think GMs could do well to figure an illustrative series of encounters which permits the players to seriously test Haarlock's ideas (even after resolution).

But then the real question is: why did Haarlock hide in Komus? What was there that he couldn't acquire elsewhere? Is Komus a total perspective vortex? Perhaps, but I'll think more on it and go to sleep for now!

A lot of your theories go along with my own theories on the tyrant star. The link with the 7 daemons and the halo devices especially. I do not think it is a weapon however. In fact I came up with the idea that an ancient race used a combination of warp-craft and technology to escape the destruction during the last days of the war between the Old Ones and the C'tan. It is the gestalt form of this races entire psychic echoes neither a part of the material universe or the empyrean. They sought survival but instead turned themselves into something completely different and far more terrifying. I also believe that Komus is not the only one of its kind, but one of a number of entities called the Archaona. I noticed quite a few similarities in the Rogue Trader book's descriptions of the Processional of the Damned and Concanid. The Yu'Vath used this method to escape total destruction during the Angevin Crusade. My idea is that the Archaona left the tools to creating the more of them hidden across the Halo Stars in the Hyades Lockes and stored the data needed to use them in the halo devices. The 7 daemons are used as conduits to the warp during the process. The Servants of Twilight are humans that have been dominated by the Archaona to steer humanity into becoming this gestalt entity so they can truly endure forever. I also got the notion that the Phaenonite faction is influenced in part by the Servants of Twilight and move to force the use of the Archaona Process. These ideas are still for the most part in the rough however. I am interested to see if this makes to anyone else aside from myself.

A lot of your theories go along with my own theories on the tyrant star. The link with the 7 daemons and the halo devices especially. I do not think it is a weapon however. In fact I came up with the idea that an ancient race used a combination of warp-craft and technology to escape the destruction during the last days of the war between the Old Ones and the C'tan. It is the gestalt form of this races entire psychic echoes neither a part of the material universe or the empyrean. They sought survival but instead turned themselves into something completely different and far more terrifying. I also believe that Komus is not the only one of its kind, but one of a number of entities called the Archaona. I noticed quite a few similarities in the Rogue Trader book's descriptions of the Processional of the Damned and Concanid. The Yu'Vath used this method to escape total destruction during the Angevin Crusade. My idea is that the Archaona left the tools to

Xisor said:

Remember, whatever Haarlock did and conspired, was to undo the events that led to the deaths of his wife and daughter. He is seeking to control time, also 'inside' Komus (if 'inside' is the right word to describe where he went).

Xisor said:

I reread the information in the Dark Heresy core rulebook. It is noteworthy that Komus is described as being one of the herald events that ushers in the coming darkness. I've always thought of Haarlock as being the herald of Komus - announcing his coming - but Komus itself is also a herald!

P.S. I like the idea of the Dusk Hag holding the Haarlock Warrant that half the universe is looking for

I dont know how much relevance this is to the thread, but I've been looking up Komus/Comus and it seems that in Greek myth he was a son and a cup bearer ( chalice?) to the god Dionysus. He represents anarchy and chaos, and is a god of excess.

Dionysus is the god of wine, extasy, and intoxication. He has a dual nature, bringing either devine extasy or brutal,unthinking rage. If he chooses he can drive a man mad. He is also the god of carnivales and the theatre. (wine,carnival,excess,madness.-Quadis?)

His father was Zeus,the chief god of the greeks, and his mum was Semele ,a mortal woman. Zeuses wife Hera found out and disguised as a crone(of Dusk?) went to Semele and persuaded her to demand to see Zeus in all his glory. No mortal could do this and live , and Semele was burnt up by lightening.Zeus rescued Dionysus,and sewed the embryo into his thigh until he was due to be born.When Dionysus grew up he rescued his mother from hades(hell) and she became a godess,presiding over the frenzy inspired by her son.(rescuing a loved one from death?)

Another little snippet that may be of interest. As a child , to keep him from harm by Hera, Zeus sent Dionysus to be looked after by the rain nymphs of Nysa.As a reward fo their care Zeus later made them the Hyades among the stars.(Hyades locks?) When Dionysus grew up he discovered how to make wine from grapes, but Hera cursed him with madness and drove him forth as a wanderer.(Erasmus Haarlock returning ?)

These are just some thoughts.I dont know where they lead,if anywhere,but I thought I'd put them out there and see what you all thought.

hmm. maybe Komus is Slaneesh's creation to bring excess to the Calaxis (chalice) Sector?

Blackbeard said:

It seems highly relevant to me!

The name Calixyis is derived from Calyx -> Chalice. The cover art of the Dead Stars book shows a chalice, greedily eyed by the Pilgrims of Hayte (Heron Mask) and Chaos (the Mirror Daemon).

The Tyrant Star is associated with madness and anarchy and also (I think I read this in Disciples of the Dark Gods) dark revels. Besides, the coming of the Herald (Erasmus Haarlock) is announced in the rantings of madmen, it says.

(unrelated random though: what if the Tyrant Star is somehow a conduit for all 4 Ruinous Powers to manifest their powers at the same time? Komus brings anarchy and change (Tzeentch), revelries and sin (Slaanesh), bloodshed (Khorne) and fevers (Nurgle).)

Erasmus Haarlock failed in all his efforts to change the past and save his wife and daughter. Do you know why?

Because you cannot be your own savior!

One cannot change their own past. Had Erasmus' family not been killed he would have never set foot on his path to alter the past. Therefore, had he succeed in saving them, he would have never needed to save them. A paradox. A limitation which he could not circumvent even with the power of the Warp at his disposal.

The Time Machine (2002)
Hartdegen: This is a perversion of every natural law!
Über-Morlock: [ grabs him by the throat ] And what is time travel? But your pathetic attempt to try to control the world around you!

-=Brother Praetus=-

Brother Praetus said:

Oh wow this is a brilliant mind**** man

well darn he just solved it...haarlock cant possible do it, without the death of his wife and child he would never become the monster he is...with a paradox eveerything goes out of existence, and the warp simply wont have that, as for the hag having the haarlock warrent its stated that its there in TF i believe, or a piece of it, maybe it was HoDaA i cant remember.

i think Komus is just an engine for slaneesh for extreme excess to the point of madness and death, which is why the Menagerie is resisting it i think in DotDG it says in their description that for some reason they appear where Komus does and resists it somehow...or something along those lines.

maybe Komus is something like the main room of the Matrix, a place where you see everything that is, was, will be, might be, shouldnt be, wont be, cant be, and may be. perhaps haarlock was looking for the one for his perfect future and Komus is a device that would allow his placement of events and people to create that future that he wanted...at the cost of the present that already exists.

Brother Praetus said:

I'd say Warp>Logic. Consult Swallow's "The Voice" in "Tales of Heresy" for a better outlook (or proof of concept) on this. Changing your past, to me, always smacked of corruption and insanity points gain. And hence I hope to utilise it extensively when I run Dead Stars...

I do like Alexateske's and Blackbeard's contributions here, both shed alot of light into the possible minds of the writers. Haarlock was wrong (possibly? about what Komus could do for him, right? (Well, if he was right *and* the acolytes allow him to escape, perhaps they turn a corner on Dusk, meet their Inquisitor [or perhaps Karkalla, now not dead] only to find out that the fratricidal Haarlock never came about, that his wife and child lived and that everything that the past had been changed...and now the Calixis Sector is in a fully-fledged war with the Slaugth....)

ThenDoctor said:

F'real? It says so? **** I need to read up on this! Please remember where you've come across that

ThenDoctor said:

I need to reread on this too! Remember that Komus' victims display a strange mark like a bird's claw, which may refer to Tzeentch. Komus' coming is announced in the rantings of madmen, and IIRC the Mengarie was also about madness.

laughing god im more than not sure, its been a while since ive read the source material and all that info tends to jumble and meld together occasionally

Yeah I reread the parts on the Menagerie, but found nothing about whether they can control Komus ... maybe you're confused with the Servants of Twilight?

Right, there's a point. I keep meaning to look it all up, but always get distracted. Servants of Twilight, where are they detailed?

Xisor said:

No where... they're just mentioned in several places like a rumor of rumors. Off the top of my head, they are mentioned in the letters and what-not relating to the Tyrant Star in DotDG as well as somewhere else, but, at the moment, I just can not remember where.

They are indeed detailed in the opening chapter of DotDG, but only as hearsay and rumour in Inquisitorial notes and reports and briefings. They are supposed to be a cult able to govern the manifestations of the Tyrant Star, or at least predict them.