Title: The Dark Wonder of Warhammer 40,000: The Towering Monoliths and Plague Planets
Welcome back, fellow Warhammer enthusiasts! Today, we continue our multi-part journey through the grim, fascinating world of Warhammer 40,000. We’re focusing on a subset of content that’s sure to tantalize your thirst for lore: the towering monoliths and plague planets.
Our journey begins in the once glorious city of light, now a somber landscape of gloomy towers emerging from rocky lava plains. The city’s former sheen and splendor are long lost. Its inhabitants are an eerie mix of tens of thousands of slaves, captured by the legionnaires, and mutant beasts spawned under the influence of the warp.
Dominating this dark cityscape is an obsidian monolith known as the Tower of the Cyclops, the dwelling of Magnus himself. The tower is crowned with an enormous glowing eye that watches over the planet, its gaze extending even into real space when required. This omnipresent eye empowers the Crimson King to see whatever he wishes, including glimpses of the present and the future.
Next stop, the Plague Planet. A world where disease is the norm and death permeates every breath of air and every drop of water. Here, the inhabitants live in perpetual agony unless their constant prayers to the good old grandfather Nurgle are answered. It’s a grisly scene, the inhabitants scuttle across the planet’s surface like maggots in a decaying corpse, locked in eternal strife, all vying for gifts from the Plague God.
This disease-ridden world has been shaped by Mortarion to closely resemble his former home world, Barbarus. It features tall mountains whose peaks offer relatively clean air, a refuge for the local aristocracy, the Plague Marines. The highest mountain belongs to the Primark, while the common mortals exist at the foot of the mountains, allowed to ascend only to serve their masters.
The Plague Planet’s proximity to the fabric of real space allows the warriors of the Death Guard to conduct raids on the worlds of the Imperium. The planet’s orbit is congested with countless vessels, victims of Nurgle’s plague, embarking on a long odyssey through the warp, ending near the Plague Planet, where they become part of the Plague Fleet.
Meanwhile, the Sons of Horus have claimed the planet Mum for themselves. This once-mighty Legion has reduced to mere remnants, united by a common task: the construction of a Seiler for their fallen genetic father. Mum, with its rusted steel surface and the bones of warp dragons, is a fitting location for this endeavor.
The Sons of Horus also began erecting a fortress around the tomb, using the wreckage of lost ships that once drifted in the warp. Each spire, each tower, is essentially the delicate prow of a vessel from the distant past. These structures serve one final duty: safeguarding the most crucial relic of the Sons of Horus.
Inside the Seiler, the heart of the fortress, the walls are adorned with narratives and images depicting the deeds of Horus Lupcal. The Primarch himself seems to hover in stasis, silently observing his worshipping sons. Yet he can no longer protect them from the hordes of demons coveting their souls.
This plight is faced by all the traitor Legions. Some, like The Emperor’s Children, immediately embraced the demons. Others, like the Iron Warriors, sought to preserve their traditions. The Sons of Horus followed a path similar to that of the Fourth Legion, giving preference to none of the gods. They began to worship undivided chaos alongside their father.
This disunity among the Chaos Corrupted Space Marine Legions, once united under the banner of Horus Lupcal during the heresy, led to the inevitable war. The gods of Chaos were eager to pit their new playthings against each other in the vast chessboard of the Great Game, a conflict that has played out for eternity. The echoes of these immense and ferocious battles reached even the Imperium, where this conflict was termed the War of the Legion.
Stay tuned, ardent followers of the Warhammer lore, as we delve deeper into these intriguing events in our next installment. The first strike of the war in the eye, delivered by The Emperor’s Children, awaits us, a tale of excesses, slaves, and captured supplies. Until then, let the warp guide you!
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