40K: Tales Of Vigilus Ablaze – Something’s Taking The Militarum
In today’s harrowing tale of the fall of Vigilus, a squad of Astra Militarum are sent on a doomed mission–one by one they follow an ominous voice and succumb to strange powers.
Haarken Worldclaimer promised that the world of Vigilus would fall to the Warmaster in eighty days. However, Abaddon might be here, but he certainly hasn’t yet claimed Vigilus for his own. Indeed Haarken’s promise seems to have been more Starscream than herald of Unicron.
But though Worldclaimer has yet to come through, it does seem that evil is afoot on the beleaguered world of Vigilus, which stands guard at the mouth of the Nachmund Gauntlet, a rare, stable route through the Cicatrix Maledictum. Though close proximity to such malevolent forces has its toll… as we’ll see in The Voice in the Spire, which follows a squad of Guardspeople ascending one of the towering spires of Vigilus’ hive sprawls in an effort to find another missing squad.
As they ascend, the looming weight of the Maledictum burns in their minds, and whispers start to form. Before you know it, they’ve given themselves over to the dark whispering that plants seeds of ascension in their minds, carving runic glyphs and dark truths into their flesh like an episode of Dr. Who.
All this to say, the story of Vigilus continues, and looks poised to continue until the second book releases. It’s an interesting glimpse at some of the more horrific elements of 40K–you can feel the gloom and the malevolence of the rift in the Warp. Even if the Imperium manages to hold Vigilus, they’ll be in for a very long haul.
And if this ends up dividing the Imperium in two, then it bodes even worse for those trapped in the Immperium Nihilus. At any rate, check back for more stories, and in the meantime…
Don’t watch the skies, traveller.
