Columns of light seen on Kharak

A menial working on the dwarf planet of Kharak stands transfixed by the mysterious columns of light that have appeared on the horizon.

Strange columns of light have been appearing on the dwarf planet of Kharak, but an investigation by Mechanicus authorities have yet to determine their origin or purpose.

The columns, which appear suddenly on the horizon and tower hundreds of meters into the sky, were first seen five months ago. Since then, the columns have appeared sporadically at random locations along the dwarf planet’s equator.

Research expeditions to the scene of the sightings have reported finding circles of vitrified sand, a phenomenon often found naturally when sand is struck by lightning. But lightning has never been reported on the world, given its highly toxic atmosphere.

Less than 10,000 Tech Priests and menials reside on Kharak, manning a number of gas-intake processing plants on the surface. The dwarf planet’s atmosphere contains high concentrations of  osmium tetroxide  (OsO₄ ), which makes the world a cheap source of a normally expensive-to-manufacture gas that has various industrial uses.

On the war-torn world of Dozaria, victims of the Kassig Plague (often called zombies) are starving. Although they are drawn to human victims, hunger is forcing many to target the planet’s agricultural fields in search of nourishment.

Zombies threaten Dozaria food supply

Having long viewed victims of the Kassig Plague as a military threat, Imperial authorities on the war-torn world of Dozaria have discovered with alarm that these wretched creatures also are a threat to the planet’s food supply.

Although dismissively referred to as “zombies” by surviving Imperial citizens, victims of the plague  are not the walking dead of ancient mythology. Those infected by the plague suffer severe cerebral damage, leaving them mindless but hyper-violent creatures whose bodies deteriorate over time.

In the early years of the war, these zombies assaulted the uninfected—civilians and soldiers—and often were herded into makeshift assault columns that led the attacks of invading Death Guard traitors.

With most of the Imperial population having retreated behind the heavily defended Imperial lines, and wildlife decimated, the billions of wandering plague victims are going hungry. Their desperation has led them to search out still-productive agricultural regions that Imperial authorities must defend to feed their own ranks.

The Skinny-Necked Lizard once walked the plains of Belliose III in the millions. But, as its natural habitat shrank with the industrialization of the planet, the extinction of the native species was all but inevitable.

Belliose lizard hunted to extinction

The last living Skinny-Necked Lizard in existence was hunted down and shot by Count Johann Feracci, an avid hunter who dismissed criticism that he hastened the extinction of the gangly, emaciated-looking sauropod that once was the apex species on Belliose III.

“The creature was a xeno species that served no purpose,” Count Feracci said in responding to critics. “Besides, it was the last of its kind. What difference does it make if it ends up mounted on my wall instead of dropping dead of old age?”

The Skinny-Necked Lizard was a favorite of children, however, who often responded tenderly to the ugly lizard. Growing to nearly 10 meters long and four meters tall, these indigenous creatures of Belliose III once roamed the equatorial plains in the millions.

Their extinction was inevitable, however, as the planet’s industrialization continually encroached on their feeding grounds. Despite some lobbying by  naturalists, the Administratum showed no interest in preserving what it described as a “xeno species” and allowed unfettered hunting of the creatures.

“It’s sad, really, that they’re gone,” Count Feracci told media outlets. “But whenever I enter my grand hallway, I will look up at my stuffed trophy and take delight at having shot the xeno bugger.”

Temperatures have fallen to minus 30 Centigrade at the equator of Metaluna, and billions of citizens abandoned on the doomed world have frozen to death.

Frozen corpses cover Metaluna

Billions of corpses dot the surface of Metaluna, and the few wretched survivors on the now-icy planet have been reduced to eating the dead’s flesh.

That’s the word from smugglers and pirates who still visit the doomed world—some to evacuate survivors who can pay exorbitant fees, others to rob, murder, and torment those who cannot.

The planet suffered an ecological disaster two years ago, when it entered an interstellar gas cloud that reduced the solar radiation of the nearby star from reaching the planet—and caused temperatures to plummet worldwide.

Imperial resources only were sufficient to evacuate the most powerful and wealthy, and billions were left to die—from rioting, the cold, or the predatory and mindless violence that followed the breakdown of civilization.

Imperial authorities insist that all life on the planet is dead, but rumors persist that hundreds of thousands of survivors exist—and have descended into a primitive, cannibalistic, kill-or-be killed horror of existence.

This illicit vid-pict appears to show robed Astartes outside a fortress monastery on the feral world of Worlorn.

Fortress Monastery seen on Worlorn

Have the Knights of Altair established a a monastery fortress on the feral world of Worlorn?

This question has spread across the sector after a smuggler—since arrested and executed by authorities—told stories of visiting Worlorn in hopes of finding a safe haven from authorities.

Intending to trade with the primitive natives of the planet, the smuggler said, his descending shuttle craft instead was greeted by a volley of ground-to-air missiles fired by a massive and sophisticated fortress in the mountain heights of the northern continent.

Returning to his orbiting ship, he barely escaped from an approaching strike cruiser that ordered him to surrender to the authority of the renown Knights of Altair Space Marine Chapter

It is speculated that the Astartes have claimed the world as a source of recruiting new novices into their ranks. Many Space Marine Chapters prefer to recruit from feral worlds that breed genetically pure and physically strong human specimens who are untainted by the moral corruption of more advanced societies.

Click here to see more of the wonderful art of Jason Heuser (Sharpwriter).

Click here to see more of the wonderful art of Crowsrock.

Click here to see more of the wonderful art of Comrade-Ogilvi.

—

The Corvus Cluster is a Warhammer 40K blog documenting our gaming adventures in the fantastical sci-fi universe of Games Workshop.