The Omega Vault seems like a kind of Tyrant Star in Deathwatch. So i was wondering what kind of ideas some of you might have about it.

Personally i think it is somehow connected to the Necron. Not that i have much love for them robots but it seems plausible in my head anyway.

Also if you have any ideas about the Erioch System and the Artefacts Watch Fortress Erioch was built upon i think could make for some interesting theories

Bassemandrh said:

Sensei? Would be a good hiding place, at least. And a surprise fact to some readers.

Alex

Sensei eh? I like that idea it's a bit of fluff that has been largely ignored since the RoC books, now that I think of it Sensei may explain all the Living Saints mucking about, or not.

The necron angle sounds cool, but what is Sensei?

My speculation is that the Erioch "system" itself (which by all appearances was artificially created and stabilised) is a weapon, and the Omega Vault contains the control systems for that weapon.

Alternately, it might have some kind of galactic-scale "reset" button built into it (pardon the gross oversimplification), much like Jack Chalker's Well World computer was able to "reset" the Markovian universe. Any race with technology on a level that could create and stabilize an artificial star system was probably beyond the need for weapons, but they might eventually need to reboot or even reformat their galaxy if it got too corrupted (by an extragalactic virus like the Tyranids, for example). The problem is, to get rid of the Tyranids, you have to get rid of every other living creature, planet, and star that wasn't part of the original plan. Which could be problematic for Mankind.

40k Junkie said:

In older fluff (which I believe is not currently canon), the Sensei were the natural-born children of the Emperor. They didn't have his godlike abilities, but they were invisible in the Warp and were completely immortal.

Necrons were one of the first things that came to my mind when reading the description of the Reach and what the fortress was put there for. Something about the DW staying in an abandon system, keeping watch waiting for some sort of alien invasaion to happen. Taking their own action when they felt it was needed. Though I'm fairly certain that's not what is in the vault, but maybe a weapon or the like fashioned to combat them.

Though Sensei and or Star Child type things could be interesting...though I'm not sure how I'd build that into a campaign.

@Direach; from s sci-fi angle I like your take on it- what about the system gives you the feel/impression it was created manually rather than naturally?

The description of the Erioch system on pg. 329 suggests that it is either artificial in nature, or at the very least artificially stabilised. A white dwarf star like the Erioch primary is extremely stable and can endure for several billion years before cooling to a black dwarf. The system is also apparently concealed within the Warp, and is difficult to locate without very specific instructions (which leads to the question of how it was found in the first place... unless it wanted to be found).

Further, the Erioch watch fortress itself is built on and around an ancient (at least 4.6 billion years old) xenos artifact. This artifact could be the control system for the Erioch system, and the Omega Vault could be a link to that control system. I speculate that the architects who built the Watch Fortress (almost certainly a sect of the Mechanicus working in conjunction with the Ordo Xenos) made very certain that no one would be able to mess around with the control systems unless certain end-of-everything circumstances came to pass; hence, the Omega Vault. You definitely wouldn't want people messing around with a device that could unravel and rebuilt star systems, or the galaxy, unless every other option was exhausted and Mankind was facing species extinction.

(With the idea that it is some alien computer) It would explain why the vault responds to the data collected by opening/ allowing access to various new intel or equipment.

Perhaps a Archeotech AI? A fully functional STC? Y'know, something manmade from the Glorydays of humanity at the height of their technological abilty?

Or one of the primarchs?

Alex

*gasps*

The primarch of..... wait for it.... dun dun dunnn..... the Storm Wardens? Trapped in carbonite, screaming silently with just his fingers poking out of the slab... :-D

To be clear, the Omega Vault is NOT part of the xenos artifact, but is man-made (at least by my reading of the material). The extensive use of Imperial iconography, building materials, and so forth strongly indicate that the Vault was part of the original structure of the Watch Fortress when it was built on the artifact. It would be odd (to say the least) if an artifact older than the Terran primary had an image of the Emperor in bas-relief on it.

However, the innermost Vault could very well provide access to the command functions of the artifact, or access to the artifact itself (whatever it is).

The impression I got was that the Omega Vault was built during the dark age of technology before the Emperor started his great crusade. Whatever is in the vault, however, was put there during that time and so is unknown.

I'd like to see it have something to do with the Cabal, Sensei/Star Child, Unknown Primarchs, Old ones, Anti-Tyranid(halo) device.

Direach said:

Ah, for some reason I read your other post as the whole of the Reach being artificially created- on reading the Erioch system you're totally right, it really does imply that it was created or at least heavily 'modified' to suit some greater purpose.

I like the ideas you've got- wonder if they'll include a description of it in their future supplements or leave it more open for individual GM speculation...

Perhaps a piece of Old Ones tech. Some type of Arc that can create new forms of life, ie new Xeno! More weapon based life forms created by the old ones in their battle against the Necrons (Like Orcs) that were never let out into the Galaxy. Imagine the hordes of new creature they Marines would have to face from the midst of their protected "impregnable" iron collar worlds. Obviously the mechanicum decided to encase the Arc in their own protective sigils and gave over custodian ship to the marines.

Well thats my idea, i like this thread though. Conspiracies are fun.

How about the final door in the Omega Vault opens and the kill team passes through to find themselves standing before the Golden Throne on Terra.

That's an interesting one, however it wouldn't be a direct entrance to the throne as the throne itself leads into a gateway. I could very well see it as being part of that same gateway.

My original thoughts were that buried within the Omega Vault is a fragment of Khaine, Vaul's last sword or a dormant C'Tan. Because of the engineered system I'm left thinking of the Eldar with the planets they seeded millions of years ago and the fact that Erioch cannot be normally reached through the warp makes me think some race with intimate knowledge of the gateways and the warp had to be involved. Yet the consumed sun makes me think of the C'Tan who might have fed on the system and depleted it of life.

The bioengineered virus makes me think the creators specifically wanted Xenos not to touch what's inside of it for whatever reason. In a twisted way I could even see some Eldar collaborating with the Inquisition to make it so, a most secret pact between the Black Library and the Ordos Xenos in keeping an artifact safe, lest they put all their eggs in one basket (the Black Library).

I need to read up more on the Eldar to see how much of this makes any sense...

Hmmm or perhaps something along the lines of what they hinted on in the Thousand Sons Horus Heresy book. (the exact title eludes me on this leepy morning). But in that book Magnus unknowingly destroys the Emperor's efforts to open a webway portal on Terra to unite Humanity. So... perhaps a large webway gate? Could also explain a bit why the star system is so regular. Maybe it was regulated by the Eldar or the Old Ones. Oooh, access to the Black Library perhaps?

I think it will be an enemy of sorts, as that fits the best with the universe, and I plum with the Necrons as mentioned above.

This owuld make sense with the hints, when it opens it will be the end of the Jericho Sector.

FatPob said:

Do you mean that the Necron (or whatever) would be in the vault- that just seems like bad planning on the DWs part. If they could seal the vault and make all these complicated traps, why not just blow the eff out of it ahead of time?

maybe they actually don't know. In fact the fluff about it says the vault only opens 1 room at a time, and the W40K universe is full of situations where it's really bad, and then the shizzle hits the fan.

This would be one of them fan moments.

If it is just a big gun or something, it just feels a bit dull.

Another possibility is it could be a Priamrch, which would be cool, though the chaps at GW would have to be 100% on board with that. However we only have a few that it could be:

Jaghatai Khan - he disappeared in the warp

Leman Russ - somehow translated from the EoT to the Hados Anoomally

Roboute Guilliman - Perhaps this is the stasis hold where he is regenerating

Vulkan - maybe he has repented, maybe he hasn't

Corax - another baddy that may have repented

Alpahrius - I always felt these guys where the good guys who act as double agents for the Emperor.

Finally it could be one of the 2 expunged - for the lols a female primarch!!!!!!!!!!!!

Corax and Vulkan are loyalist primarchs. Corax disappeared about a year after the Heresy ended, Vulkan is suggested variously to have disappeared at Isstvan or, alternatively, almost a thousand years after the Heresy, the last Primarch to go. Who knows.

Anyway, my thoughts on it are twofold.

1- A Throne. If you've read HH: Collected Visions, Faith and Fire, Headhunted or Mechanicum...you'll know a bit about 'Throne Technology'. I think they're 'Thrones of the Old Ones', psychic tech that variously permits an individual to accentuate or augment their psychic powers *far* beyond their means. Quite why that'd be the Omega Vault, I don't precisely no, but nevertheless, that was my first vault.

2- Daleks. C'mon. If you've seen 'Army of Ghosts', I'm saying Omega Vault (indeed the whole **** system) is a voidship which looks set to bring back a universe-altering threat. Not Daleks, obviously, but Necrons, Old Ones, something daemon-princey or avatar-like? Something else again?

3- Doomsday weapon keyed to a highly specific threat. In this style I'm betting the weapon itself is the relic of 'the War in Heaven' much like the Blackstone Fortresses and, IMO, the Tyrant Star...

Them's my guesses! And, if you don't like those, I have others!

FatPob, as a loyal Ultramarine I would be remiss if I did not point out that Roboute Guilliman is enshrined in the Temple of Correction in the Fortress of Hera on Macragge, where he is an object of pilgrimage from across Ultramar and the Imperium. His whereabouts are very well known.

FatPob said:

I totally agree with that point- Joe's Sword of Imperial Enemy Slaying +5 would be a huge let down, but I can just the the expression on my player's face when the big reveal eventually happens and it turns out all their hard work just unleased untold horror on the galaxy. Not exactly inspiring.

I do like the idea of Primarchs, or something from the BL, or the webway...ah, the conspiracies that won't be answered for years are the most fun.