40K Lore: Building With Blackstone
Fortresses, Pylons, is there anything that you can’t build with Blackstone? Come let us discuss the myriad possibilities of building with Blackstone.
Gather ’round Loremasters and Loremaster-Initiates. It’s time to discuss the strange, warp-resistant or amplifying material known as Blackstone. With our brethren in the Adeptus Mechanicus looking for deposits of it on unexplored, vacant relic worlds, and Rogue Traders faring out into the Cosmos in search of Fortresses made out of the stuff, Blackstone is an important material. Even a small amount is incredibly valuable and can be used to safeguard whole worlds from the Empyrean’s foul influence. But in the wrong hands–such power can unleash catastrophic devastation the likes of which has devastated entire systems.
But whether building star-annihilating super weapons or strange, ancient relics that keep the ruinous powers somehow at bay, it’s clear that if you want to do something right in this crazy, mixed-up galaxy of ours, then by the Emperor you’d better build it out of Blackstone. Let’s take a look at some of the more well-known Blackstone constructs, starting with the Pylons of Cadia. Well, more accurately the remains of the Pylons in the vacant rift in space where Cadia once was.
Perhaps the most unusual and significant feature of the hole in reality where once stood Cadia were its mysterious Pylons; structures of unknown origin that predated the planet’s colonization by man. Five thousand, eight hundred and ten intact Pylons were spread out across the surface of Cadia, with a further two thousand either buried or in various states of disrepair. No two were identical in design, but each one rose to precisely half a kilometer in height and extended a quarter-kilometer into the ground. Each Pylon also featured slim, winding tunnels machined into them, each one no wider than a man’s head and exactly two hundred and fifty meters long.
Now supposedly, these constructs were of Necron design–built in the distant past to try and keep their ancient enemies at bay when the War in Heaven raged between Necron, C’Tan, and Old Ones, but we all know that the Necron are incapable of such feats. Why, they use this valuable blackstone, which occurs in natural deposits, as cavernous shelters for their dormant forms. This is why the Adeptus Mechanicus is currently waging a campaign against these squatters to try and remove the Blackstone.
Though even the mighty Mechanicus have difficulty understanding this strange substance. In the case of the Pylons, the efforts by the Adeptus Mechanicus to study these structures had failed miserably, as their surfaces were totally impenetrable to scanning by auspex and efforts to map the tunnels via Servitors had resulted in missing probes. However, it is widely believed that they were the reason for the existence of the Cadian Gate in the first place. During the 13th Black Crusade, as the warp storm Baphomael expanded to engulf the edges of the Cadian System, the Pylons simultaneously began resonating with an almost imperceptible vibration, and microscopic fractures began appearing on their surface. It was discovered that they were resonating at an amplitude similar to that produced by a Gellar Field in their effort to fight back against the encroaching storm.
During the final stages of the Thirteenth Black Crusade, the Magos Belisarius Cawl worked with the Necron Lord Trazyn to fully activate the Pylons and push the Eye of Terror back. However, in the end, Abaddon collided the debris of the Blackstone Fortress Will of Eternity into Cadia’s surface, destabilizing the Pylons as they were fully awakening. In a catastrophic chain reaction, the Pylons were destroyed, which caused Cadia to be dragged into the Warp.
From this we can see that Blackstone can be used for creation as well as destruction. Both of these tools are the Emperor’s alone, though, and we should all take time to remember this fact. Join us next week when we talk about the strange edifices known as the Blackstone Fortresses.
Given how effective these structures were–perhaps with the acquisition of a new source of Blackstone, the Imperium should consider remounting their attempts to rebuild the devastated pylons. Yes, Loremasters and Loremaster-initiates, if the Imperium is to survive it must construct additional pylons.
Now to go round up some of this Vespene gas we’ve been hearing about…
