--- Spectres and Effigies ---
Like all interstellar spacecraft the Star of Arlus was cushioned from the seething energies of warp space by its bubble of reality - the stasis envelope generated by the ship's warp engines. Without this barrier the Star of Arlus would be vapourised within moments. Macillan allowed his senses to absorb the flow of the warp round the ship. He felt the friction draw out the shape of the stasis envelope into an elongated tear drop. He sensed the warp close in behind the ship and the turmoil of its wake, eddies of current that sent shock waves spinning into the blackness. Amidst those eddies he could hear vague things made real by the thoughts of the crew, discorporate hopes and fears embodied within the warp and sloughed away by the ship's own passage. For a moment his own voice called to him, a thin cry of warning and terror... go back... go back... before it was swallowed forever.
He was used to such things: his own ghosts no longer unnerved him. He often wondered what happened to the spectral creatures given life and form by his own mind. Did they simply dissolve back into the warp, as was commonly supposed, or did they remain to wander through warp space forever? If so, what were they like, these creatures, dragged into life by the countless random processes of his subconscious? Sometimes a ship encountered tides of ghostly things that clawed and scrambled at the stasis envelope and sent the warp engines screaming. Were these the same kind of creatures, given life over the millennia and cast adrift on the currents of warp space. What was it they wanted? What drew them with such frenetic energy towards spacecraft? He only knew it was best not to follow the specrtres too closely with mind-sense. Sometimes he felt shadows of other predatory things that lurked in the ship's passage, attracted, he somehow felt, to the new born like sharks to the scent of blood.
[art by J. Blanche, words by W. King, © Games Workshop]
[Title added by C. Reiter]
I know, I know, wall of text. tl;dr.
But as an official background afficionado, I can only reply: deal with it :P
Seriously, though, I have been pondering this blog for some time now, pictures of converted and painted minis is all well and good, but something that is missing is more narrative, more feel, more insight into the central concepts: the Daemonic, the warp, and Chaos. So I want to change that.
To kick things off, an awesome little story from the 40k 2nd edition wargear book, by Bill King. I just re-read all the background from 2nd and 3rd edition, and rediscovered some real gems in the process. In the long run, I want to write most pieces here myself, but I will also throw in the occasional bit from other authors.
What do you think?
Do you guys care at all?
Or do you automatically skip any text passage longer than 4-5 lines in a blog?
Let me know...
