In Edge of the Abyss I read on pages 82 and 63 the same references to a large, overarching überthreat which reminds me of Dark Heresy's Tyrant Star prophecy.

The elements mentioned are:

- unholy green light

- cataclysm given form and substance

- screaming of ghosts

- worlds stripped of inhabitants

Does anyone know what kind of threat this may be and how embedded it is in Rogue Trader canon? Can it be compared to the threat of the Tyrant Star in the Dark Heresy setting?

(ps Somehow I think they are referring to the city of the Dark Eldar, Komoraugh or what was it called in W40K lore)

"Unholy green light" is ussually associated with the Necrons and while there are possible indications of necrons within the Expanse I am not so sure that it that which is refered to.

the Dark City of the Dark Eldar is called "Commoragh" but since it is the Eldar that have these visions of doom and destruction i doupt that they are coursed by their darker brethren.

While I am sure that where is something dark and epicly doomsday-y I think it is something that, like the Tyrant Star, is "left up to GM to determine".

With that imagery, I'm betting on Necrons. As a former TT Necron player, yeah, that's a strong match to Necron fluff. The hints we've gotten about the überthreat indicate it caught the Eldar off guard. That makes the denizens of Commorragh quite unlikely; even though they are proper bastards, they have difficulty pulling a fast one on the Farseers.

Remember, kiddies, if you see a ship in the Expanse that's crescent shaped and studded with pyramids, run until your drives glow white, and then keep running.

Cheers,

- V.

Considering they even put a Necron tombworld right in the Koronus Expanse....[name deleted by order of the Inquisition]

So as Vandegraffe said, it it has a crescent, you are either dead, or able to run real fast.

To say that the big bad doom of Koronous were Necrons just seems a little too easy, its the same for Dark Heresy to say that the Tyrant Star is just a powerful deamon or a strange psychic phenomena seems a bit on the easy side.

And even if it is Necrons it would have to be something quite spectacular for doomsday prophesies of this kind to pop up, like not just a tomb world but a network of dormant tomb worlds spread throughout every region or even system of the expanse or a Necron Lord who were the pesonal high priest for one of the C'tans or something similar.

Personally I do not think that we will get any kind of definitive answers on this, and wether we will even get more information on the subject is also in question as it appears to have a far smaller role in Koronous than the Hereticus Tanebrae has for Calixis, however if I should give it a quess I would say it was connected to the Rifts of Hecaton and some "Dread Dark Pressence" dwelling beyond.

Personally, I believe the Koronus uber threat will be the Yu'Vath, or some remnant of them.

We've been promised more information on the Yu'vath for some time, and it should be in an upcoming RT Xenos supplement if I remember right. It would not surprise me to see the plot hooks and fluff material presented in Edge of the Abyss given a new meaning once the Yu'vath are detailed.

Also, since the Yu'vath were in the Calixis Sector and likely linked to the Tyrant Star, the meta plot for Calixis and Koronus is easily linked, if you want to do so. With the Warp Gate and the Omega Vault in Jericho also having some suitably mysterious and un-specific links to the meta plots in Calixis and Koronus, I wouldn't be too shocked if the upcoming DW version of Disciples of the Dark Gods/Edge of the Abyss also has some items of interest that connect with FFGs meta plot. I suspect that they will continue to leave the real truth up to the GM, so the hints will be suitably general and the GM can pick and choose which bits he wants to use to support his version of the plot.

I do think the Rak'gol are just the vanguard for what's going to happen in Koronus though...

I bet Necron. But if you find a word, "Croatoan" scrawled into some tree on an abandoned world, perhaps something else.

I think they put in the Necrons because they are cool.

But when we will see more of the Yu'Vath and the Rak'Gol (which are more interesting) i dont know. Since part 2 of the trilogy is about chaos...

Heck necrons are wherever its the edge of the galaxy. But for RPG purposes its rather Meh. They show up, you die.

Well, the Profit and Plunder preview for Rogue Trader lists an upcoming Xenos Compendium in 3rd quarter (which we are entering...). On the list of Xenos detailed are the Rak'gol and the Yu'vath (notice they both have mysterious appostrophes in their name...) as well as the usual assortment of Orcs, Eldar and daemons. I wouldn't be too surprised if it also had an PC Eldar career(s) option.

Whether it gets released in the projected time frame or not, it means that they have done the fluff work behind it, or are in the process of working on it. That also means the Yu'vath presence on the worlds of Koronus is significant enough to warrant mention. Since most of the adventures involving Yu'vath remnants refer to their constructs and warp tech/warp sorcery combinations it doesn't have to be a living remnant, but it should still be pretty interesting and fairly significant. So far any real mention of the Yu'vath such as their appearance and specific abilities have been absent. Powerful, mysterious and advanced in both technology and warpcraft seem to be keywords describing them.

Hopefully the xenos compendium will make them less of an unknown, and as I said, I think a lot of the fluff published in the first section of Edge of the Abyss will be linked to them in some way. Especially the mysterious weeping silver trees and unholy green light seem to be likely candidates as Yu'vath related. The Gaunt Triumph fluff is also possible, though its been a while since I read EoA so I can't recall the details.

i reckon the Rak'gol are running from the big bad in the same way a lot of the germanic tribes were running from the mongols.

Given the fact that Kobas Aquiarre, that very Militant Rogue Trader-Inquisitor, plunged off into the Rifts of Hecaton with his entire warfleet only to disappear, I think that this epic foe is something coming from there to consumer the Expanse. Having Necrons be on some of the main worlds all along is an interesting idea. However, I agree with Acernis Taine that such a solution would be too easy. The Necrons are a known quantity and they are a centralized foe. They are dependent on their Tomb Worlds and such a static threat does not seem as cataclysmic and world ending as a foe attacking from parts unknown in endless waves.

To add to that, I agree that the Yu'Vath will probably be involved with this threat. As they have so much discarded weaponry just lying around, it seems quite unlikely that at least a few of them survived. The fact that none have been seen only makes me thing that perhaps they escaped destruction.

Hi

Here is my random and most likely wrong theory.

The Necrons have a tomb world in the expanse (but they are a red herring to distract from a bigger threat).

I think that the big threat is somthing new and unknown. I think that the Yu'vath were fighting against them and in desperation turned to darker sciences to fight (they struck a devestating blow to the unknown enemy but it cost them almost everything).

If any Yu'vath survived then they would be the key to learning what the unknown threat is.

Arnu said:

Strange choice of words. I agree on the red herring. BUT...

to distract from an even greater threat?

Voronesh said:

I meant it as that it is a red herring for the reader of the book, not that the Necrons are are being used by the unknown threat.

Arnu said:

Nah not quite what i meant.

GREATER threat than the Necs......

Could it be squats? It might be squa ...

STUMPF STUMPF

++ This reply has been deleted and sealed on the orders of the Inquisition. Ordo Minoris IP ++

BC has convermed necron RT rumor necron DW has a mission with you running around in what could be nothing els then a necron tome. so that green death light in RT most likely necron

seeing nobody in the empire knows of the necron treat yet (on a offical level) and plz remember what we know as players doesn`t mean you charater knows that too

We know for a fact that Necrons will be one of the main villains in Black Crusade which to me makes it even less likely that they are the ultimate threat in Rogue Trader, why would you take an enemy that is known quantity in one game only to make them the unstobable death and destruction incarnate in another?

on a lower level that would be a bit like (and I realise that this is poor comparison but it should serve to get the point across) that we have Rak'Gols rampaging in Rogue Trader and then they appear as the ultimate threat for Deathwatch.

If one of theC'tans had personal plans for Koronous then fine but on the whole Necrons are not an ultimate threat on a sector-size level, you arrive on their Tomb World; you flee or die, you meet them in space; you flee or die. But they does not (acording to fluff so far) invade planets for the purpose of sizing territory or conquring worlds, only to accuire something they want.

If your GM puts you up against Rak'Gol and you don't wind up fleeing in terror, he's doing it wrong.

Errant said:

Not really, their ships are rather pathetic.

Heck anything is pathetic in space if the PCs do it right.

Down on the ground nothing compares to a good plasma gun. *starts hugging his plasgun* (Ive killed lots of fun stuff with plasguns ^^) OK ok, on the ground they are scary. (Nothing against a plasgun though).

(Did i meantion i like plasguns?)

Their ships are inferior to player ships because the rules are biased towards the players. Using the far more reasonable system proposed by Moribund (Reduce all armour by 12, but armour counts towards each hit) makes the howler cannons far more lethal.

Down on the ground you're facing radioactive terminator-tyranids with tommy guns that want nothing more than to tear you to pieces with their twenty broodmates, but know to wait until the ambush has been set. Plasma's not gonna help you much in that case.

Errant said:

Uhrrr i smell a mary sue coming. Only this time it concerns the enemy.

Urhm plasguns kill Plague marines for breakfast. A lowly Rak'Gol who stands no chance against a Plague Marine wont bother me.

Ive had Broodlord plasma splatter once, try it its fun. You only need an opponent who will unload a flanking broodlord in front if a havoc squad.

Oh wait were RTs?
get me my Heavy Bolter squad. PRONTO!!!!!!!!

Voronesh said:

An enemy striding towards you down an empty street... fine, shoot him with a plasma gun.

An enemy ambushing you at close range... well, you can't shoot an enemy that you aren't aware of, so ambushers get the first attacks. It's the case with any ambushing foe - Lictors, Eldar Rangers, Dark Eldar Mandrakes, etc - that the firepower you have is only useful if you survive the opening moments of the ambush.

Arguments about player versus NPC power aside, the entire point of the Rak'gol is to be a monstrous, terrifying and implacable foe. They are the Tyranids of the Koronus Expanse.

So yes, if your players aren't at least a little bit cautious around them then you have sort of missed the point of the Rak'gol. Obviously it varies from game to game, but if you don't play up the unique aspects of the various foes a lot of depth can be lost. If your game has turned into a "what shall we kill this week brain?"..."the same thing we kill every week pinky, only this time Rak'gol(or orc or eldar etc) flavored" then more power to you. But as a game master I think it would bore me quite quickly to run that kind of game.

On the flip side, the apparent killing power of a foe shouldn't be what sets them apart. It should be their methodology and tactics. And as others have pointed out, the Rak'gol are ambush hunters both in space and on the ground. That more then anything is what should be scary to the players: An enemy that setups a fight to their advantage and then attacks with overwhelming, savage force.

If raw killing power is required, its easy to fix. Granting the Rak'gol things like Mighty Shot, Crushing Blow and manstopper ammuntion are relatively minor (but realistic) changes to such a war-like race but it will go a long, long way towards evening up a fight, without making Rak'gol equipment itself overpowered. A full auto-Rak'gol heavy stubber with Mighty Shot + manstoppers should give any player character a reason to quake, especially in an ambush scenario with a large bonus to hit and no dodge...multiplied by 10 or 20 ambushing Rak'gol...

And if the threat to their personal safety wasn't enough, the real danger posed by the Rak'gol should be to PC fortunes and resources. If just one Rak'gol hunting pack is a real danger to a PC party, imagine what a small invasion force would do to their new found colony or mining rig...

Necrons. Definitly necrons. The Hell party mowed down the Rak'gol like they were nothing via a combination of heavy plasma, flamers, heavy bolters, and best quality auspexs.

Necrons actuallly managed to damage their ship, and even kill a member of the party. Of course, they were homebrew pariahs teleporting over with weapons that automatically gave them righteous fury on any hit, had 15 armor all over, and that fear aura of theirs that scews up psychic powers, and I sent about 30 of them at them, but I did manage to kill one.and damage their grand cruiser.