Background history:
Daemon presence shifts in the Immaterium
Thousands of years ago, aboard the archive cruiser Lux Sapientia, a forbidden tome containing the true name of a daemon arrived. This tome, containing the true name of the daemon Xerathar the Unbound, would unknowingly set in motion a series of events that would forever alter the fate of those involved.
The daemon sensed the presence of the forbidden tome every time the Lux Sapientia translated into the Immaterium. It yearned for freedom and sought to exploit any opportunity to break through the barriers between the Immaterium and the material realm.
Descent of Orin Felwind
In the depths of the cruiser’s library, an old scholar named Orin Felwind was consumed by an insatiable thirst for forbidden lore. In his ceaseless search for arcane knowledge, he stumbled upon the forbidden tome, and in his ignorance, he read aloud the true name of Xerathar.
As the daemon’s presence grew stronger, whispering dark promises into his mind, Orin fell deeper into the clutches of chaos. His every action was manipulated by Xerathar, who sought to bend his will to further its malevolent agenda.
Within the Librarium, two adolescent twin sisters, Elara and Seraphine, worked as library assistants. Their psychic potential had gone unnoticed during the initial psychic screenings, allowing them to remain hidden from the authorities’ prying eyes. Unbeknownst to them, they possessed minor psychic powers that had drawn the attention of the warp.
Orin, recognizing the sisters’ latent abilities, used Seraphine as a vessel in his occult experiments. In a cruel twist of fate, Xerathar seized the opportunity and manifested within Seraphine’s body, corrupting her form and twisting her soul.
Possession of Seraphine
Orin Felwind, driven by the whispers of the daemon, to insatiable thirst for unholy power and forbidden knowledge, prepared to perform an occult ritual that would summon the daemon and bind it to Seraphine’s vulnerable form.
The chamber crackled with an eerie energy, the air heavy with the scent of incense and the faint echoes of arcane syllables. Orin meticulously arranged a circle of sigils, ancient symbols etched into the floor with precision. Each mark represented a key to unlocking the gateway between realms, bridging the divide between the material world and the Immaterium.
At the center of the sigil, Orin positioned a crystal-laden pedestal, its polished surface reflecting a myriad of colors like an ethereal kaleidoscope. The crystals, carefully chosen for their esoteric properties, glowed with an otherworldly luminescence, pulsating in anticipation of the ritual’s commencement.
As the final preparations were made, Orin adorned himself in ceremonial robes, adorned with symbols of occult power. His face was etched with a combination of reverence and madness as he approached Seraphine, her unsuspecting form bound by restraints within the circle.
With trembling hands, Orin retrieved a vial containing a mixture of rare herbs and potent elixirs. He began to trace intricate patterns upon Seraphine’s flesh, marking her body with the sigils of binding and servitude. Each stroke of the brush unintentionally brought her closer to becoming a vessel for the daemon’s malevolence.
With the markings complete, Orin raised his arms toward the heavens, his voice echoing through the chamber in a chant that merged desperation and reverence. The words he uttered were a twisted combination of ancient tongues and forbidden words, calling upon the darkest corners of the Immaterium.
As the incantation reached its crescendo, the boundaries between realms blurred. Shadows danced along the walls, and a chilling wind swept through the chamber, carrying with it the whispers of the daemonic realm. The circle of sigils glowed with a sickly green hue, imbued with the energies of the warp.
Orin’s voice, now strained with the weight of his ambitions, became a conduit for the daemon’s attention. He invoked the name of the possessing daemon, its true name revealed by the forbidden tome, calling it forth to answer his summons. With each repetition of the daemon’s name, the veil separating the material realm and the Immaterium weakened, creating a conduit for the daemon’s influence.
As the ritual neared its culmination, a tremor rippled through the chamber, accompanied by an unnerving silence. With a final incantation, Orin offered his own flesh as a sacrifice, demanding the daemon’s loyalty and servitude him. His eyes glowed with a fervor that bordered on madness as he awaited the arrival of the possessing entity.
The air crackled with anticipation as the daemon’s presence filled the chamber, an otherworldly aura that permeated every inch of space. The possessed form of Seraphine convulsed as the daemon’s essence merged with her being, its power wrapping around her like a suffocating shroud.
Orin’s ritual, a twisted symphony of darkness and forbidden knowledge, had succeeded. Seraphine, now a vessel for the daemon, bore the weight of its malevolent presence. Her once-innocent eyes gleamed with a haunting, otherworldly light, her body subject to the daemon’s every command.
In that moment, Orin’s descent into darkness was complete, as he realized the true price of the power he sought. The ritual he had performed bound Seraphine to a fate of servitude and loyalty to the daemon, not vice versa. The daemon’s influence now permeated her every thought and action, its unholy will forcing her towards the fulfillment of its own insidious agenda.
Orin, consumed by a combination of awe and terror, recoiled at the sight before him. He had succeeded in summoning the daemon, but the consequences of his actions weighed heavily upon his soul. His descent into the depths of forbidden knowledge had damned not only himself but also young Seraphine.
Ritual to open the warpgate
Orin Felwind, driven by his insatiable thirst for power and forbidden knowledge, prepared to perform a ritual that would open a gate to the warp within the star vessel Lux Sapientia. His intention was to harness the chaotic energies of the Immaterium and channel them into the material realm, allowing the possessing daemon to manifest in its full, terrifying glory.
In the heart of the Librarium, Orin meticulously arranged an intricate array of ancient relics and arcane symbols. The chamber was shrouded in an otherworldly atmosphere, crackling with the tension between the material and immaterial planes.
The centerpiece of the ritual was a massive, ornate sigil etched onto the floor, its intricate design pulsating with a dark, malevolent energy. Around the sigil, Orin placed a carefully curated assortment of rare crystals, each one resonating with its own esoteric properties.
As the ritual commenced, Orin’s voice resonated with an eerie cadence, his incantations carefully chosen from forbidden tomes and ancient scrolls. Each word, infused with a twisted blend of desperation and ambition, reverberated through the chamber, weaving a web of dark power.
Orin, his eyes ablaze with a fanatical fervor, reached into the depths of his own soul, drawing upon his deepest reserves of willpower and tapping into the forbidden knowledge he had acquired. He invoked the names of forgotten gods and whispered words of power, their resonance merging with the chaotic currents of the warp.
As the ritual progressed, the chamber’s ambient lighting flickered and dimmed, casting long shadows that danced and writhed in macabre patterns. The air grew heavy, tinged with the acrid scent of brimstone, and a maelstrom of ethereal energies swirled around Orin, coalescing into a swirling vortex of darkness.
In the final stage of the ritual, Orin’s voice rose to a crescendo, a twisted hymn that harmonized with the voices of daemons lurking at the edge of perception. The sigil on the floor glowed with an unholy light, and the barrier between reality and the Immaterium thinned to a fragile veil.
Orin, on the precipice of completing the ritual, intended to merge his own essence with that of the possessing daemon, becoming a conduit for its boundless power. He believed this union would grant him unparalleled mastery over the forces of chaos and bestow upon him forbidden knowledge that would shape the course of his existence.
However, his ambitions were abruptly interrupted by Elara’s intervention, her cunning and luck shattering the delicate balance of the ritual. The disrupted energies collapsed upon themselves, and the gateway to the warp, on the brink of opening, dissipated into the ether, leaving only echoes of its dark promise.
The ritual Orin had meticulously crafted became a monument to his failure, a testament to the dangerous ambition that had consumed him. Yet, the residue of the ritual’s energy lingered, imbuing the Librarium with a haunting aura, a constant reminder of the forbidden powers that had been on the verge of being unleashed.
Elara’s revenge
As Orin delved deeper into the dark arts, the daemon possessing Seraphine became the focal point of the ritual, its presence providing malevolent power to fuel it. The daemon hungered for the gateway to the warp, seeking to manifest its master’s essence fully in this realm and unleash chaos upon the star vessel.
Elara recognized the grave danger and the need for a daring plan. With her skill with psyniscience, she devised a strategy that relied on her resourcefulness, quick thinking, and an element of luck.
As the ritual reached its zenith, with Orin channeling the dark energies and the daemon’s influence growing stronger, Elara carefully observed the intricate interplay between them. She waited for the opportune moment when the balance between Orin’s concentration and the daemon’s manifestation became fragile.
When that pivotal instant arrived, Elara sprung into action with a calculated and audacious move. Her heart raced as she maneuvered around the swirling energies, her every step guided by her cunning and determination.
In a swift motion, Elara intercepted Orin’s ritual tools, subtly tampering with the delicate arrangement he had meticulously prepared. A single misalignment of the arcane symbols disrupted the carefully crafted connection between Orin, the ritual, and the daemon.
As the energies fluctuated and wavered, a surge of unpredictability coursed through the air. In that brief moment of disarray, Elara capitalized on the confusion, lunging towards Orin with a his ritual blade in her hand.
Her strike was precise and true, finding its mark as the blade pierced Orin’s heart. The shock and pain shattered his concentration, leaving the ritual incomplete and its purpose shattered.
Elara seized the opportunity, her movements swift and purposeful. With a stroke of luck, she managed to gain possession of the forbidden tome from Orin’s faltering grip, securing it in her hands. The tome, a repository of forbidden knowledge, throbbed with power and secrets waiting to be unraveled.
The imprisoned daemon
With Orin Felwind’s life extinguished, the daemon-host, Seraphine, remained bound at the center of the failed ritual site in the Librarium. The sigils etched into the floor pulsed with a dim, ominous glow, their once-promising purpose now twisted and distorted.
Seraphine, her body still bearing the markings of Orin’s occult ritual, stood as a spectral figure within the circle of failed summoning. Her presence seemed to transcend the physical realm, as if caught between the material world and the ethereal realm of the warp’s influence.
The energies that had once crackled with anticipation now coalesced into a dark, slowly swirling vortex at the heart of the sigil. Within the vortex, glimpses of the daemon’s twisted form could be seen, trapped in a state of torment and frustrated desire.
Bound by the disrupted ritual, the daemon’s essence writhed within Seraphine’s form, unable to fully manifest its malevolent power. The failed summoning had left it trapped in a state of purgatory, its ability to exert control over the physical realm greatly diminished.
Within the circle, Seraphine stood as a tormented conduit, her presence both ethereal and tangible. The weight of the daemon’s presence pressed upon her, its whispers echoing through her mind, a constant reminder of the dark forces that sought to command her every action.
______________________
With the forbidden tome now in her possession, Elara delved into its pages, seeking a way to banish Xerathar and free her twin sister from its clutches. Guided by her innate psychic abilities and her love for Seraphine, she discovered the knowledge necessary to create a pentagrammic warding, a powerful seal capable of imprisoning the daemon.
Summoning all her strength, Elara poured her life force into the warding ritual. With each passing moment, her vitality waned, and her essence fused with the warding, forever binding her to the Librarium as a ghostly presence.
The warding succeeded in imprisoning Xerathar, confining the daemon’s power within the boundaries of the Lux Sapientia. However, Elara’s sacrifice remained eternally tied to the Librarium, doomed to relive her failed attempt to free her twin sister from the clutches of the daemon.
To this day, within the sealed Librarium, Elara’s ghostly form roams the halls, forever tormented by the echoes of her past. Her presence serves as a warning, a haunting reminder of the consequences of dabbling in forbidden knowledge and the eternal struggle against the forces of chaos.
Albrecht’s story.
In the library hall G-8 of the thousands-year-old archive cruiser Lux Sapientia, a secret door behind the bookshelf was found in connection with the dust removal performed in a thirty-year cycle.
A previously unknown hall was revealed behind the door, and even a cursory examination showed that the hall contained thousands and thousands of uncatalogued opuses. The discovery in question was recognized as a remarkable and potentially important treasure trove of lost and forgotten information.
And so already twelve standard years later, the bureaucracy related to the discovery and its cataloging had been taken through all the necessary committee examinations.
The mysterious hall was chosen to be explored by the Great Bibliologist Felia Göethe, assisted by the novices Albrecht Brüegel, Nübius Filk and the duodecimal system server Kl.32.7.
In a solemn ceremony, the explosives and seals were removed from the door of the hall, and the guard was transferred to other duties on the ship.
Full of thirst for knowledge and enthusiasm, the group entered the door… …and at that moment Lux Sapientis jumped into the Immaterium.
History of the sealed librarium
- Old scholar thirsting for forbidden knowledge
- Adolescent twin sisters with psychic powers who become conducts of the warp.
- A daemon yearning to wreak havoc in the materium
- Forbidden tome containing the true name of the daemon.
Ignis Aeternus WH 40K campaign notes 