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I know that speculative threads are often not interesting (for some reason; I find them fascinating) but I was wondering what people thought occured/is occuring/will occur in the Ghoul Stars. I was thinking of using a planet in/nearby the formation as the homeworld for my chapter, and ultimately decided against it, but it made me curious.

I think that it's like something from Forbidden Planet, i.e. the 'supernatural' threat is really just a machine (of some kind) that manifests the darkest thoughts of of those in proximity (or whathaveyou).

The Ghoul Stars

I usually don't trust the 40k Wiki and have read the Lexicanum article, which was not incredibly informative.

Besides, I like to hear what people think.

Always find it a bit inane when someone asks for opinions and people direct them to the wiki. That's why you come to a forum - opinions. Though given the recent rash of people (person) asking things with blatant, obvious answers, perhaps some are just on-edge.

Anywho:

It seems like Halloween-land. Ghosts and ghoulies. The catch is that even Necrons and Tyranids seem to follow the theme - both races which are able to nullify the warp to some degree. The Necrons follow the theme, so maybe they're the cause, but the Tyranids are affected in a way not shown before. Then there are the multitude of other alien races which don't seem to suffer so much as exist to exemplify that this is a zone of eldritch horror.

A random personal theory I just came up with:

Perhaps this region was uniquely impacted by the Nightbringer C'Tan. Fear, Death, Mortality - and either the massive psychic imprint left on the races here left a lasting effect on the region or some Necron technomancy related to the Nightbringer's reign is at work.

I'm guessing that this region had something big happen like the EoT. Ferros' Nightbringer idea is somewhat along the line but I want to point out that C'tans do not have psychic imprints at all.

Perhaps it was where the Old Ones did something (maybe fighting the last battle against Necrons?) or the ancient empires such as Necrons or Eldar did something. Exactly what they did isn't exactly clear at all.

I'm assuming that Necrons, if not Eldar, would know why things are Tim Burton in that area.

I'd agree with Zaki66 on this one, I imagine it was an Eldar experiment, possibly a weapon's test that went a teensy bit wrong and was abandoned.
Or maybe it is the warp, who knows?

My personal speculation would be this is where the C'tan were shattered. We've seen what happens when Minor shards shatter, so I imagine the scale of when the actual gods themselves were shattered, caused all kinds of effects.

Their shattering quite possibly polluted this entire area. It may also be the reason why Flayed ones are drawn here, it was where the Flayer was shattered.

The problem with the "it's ancient, older than mankind idea" is that the worlds were once colonized by humans during the Golden Age of Technology.

At least, I got that impression from somewheres.

Where they? I got the impression that had not been previously colonized. Which is part of why Marachius started to break down-- it's much easier to reclaim a world of humans with a human friendly biosphere and infrastructure than either crazy xenos stuff or just straight up unterraformed rocks. I thought in general the area around the Ghoul Stars had never ever been colonized. Could be wrong though, I am remembering old background from the IG codex...maybe 3rd ed.

This is one of the reasons why I find the Death Spectres chapter so fascinating, I would love to learn more.

Cthulhu Monsters.

Given the area's reputation, they they could make a whole new set of armies. However, the Death Specters, much like the carcharodons, fight fight enemies and aliens we probably haven't even heard of.

I didn't mean to imply it was the C'Tan leaving the psychic impression - but if they can cause a genetic imprint across most of the major species in the setting, that fear of death and a cloaked figure with a scythe,- THAT will cause a psychic imprint. The reverberation of actually-psychic species being in fear.

The destruction of the Nightbringer, as hinted above, is also possible. Blow up something considered to be the embodiment of mortality by many major races and THEIR belief in that symbol becomes shattered as well and diffuses across an entire system.

Aren't the Templars fighting an entire Crusade across the Ghoul Stars?

In all honesty I know very little about them. I shall keep an eye on this thread, already I'm interested by the Necron theories. Perhaps that's where Warhammer Fantasy is... nah.

I think that's were the templars were before Armageddon. Now they are chasing Gaz with Yarrik

Yeah, it's funny, because the Black Templar's 4th edition codex mentions there being no return from the Ghoul Stars for anyone....

...but the Novamarines survived, with purged records. What do?

Isn't there currently a series by McNeil that is exploring this region? In the first novel they just got to the entry and found their navigator, no idea when the second one will come out.

 Omegus wrote:
Isn't there currently a series by McNeil that is exploring this region? In the first novel they just got to the entry and found their navigator, no idea when the second one will come out.

What is it??

 Unit1126PLL wrote:

 Omegus wrote:
Isn't there currently a series by McNeil that is exploring this region? In the first novel they just got to the entry and found their navigator, no idea when the second one will come out.

What is it??

My bad, the book explores the Halo Stars overall, but the Ghoul Stars are part of the Halo Stars.

First book is called Priests of Mars.

Nothing. There is absolutely nothing out there and the Imperial records of the place are almost completely made up. The Ghoul Stars are just a cluster of dying stars with dead worlds around them that have inspired tales from superstitious citizens that have spread throughout the Imperium. A sort of "Here be dragons" sort of thing.

The Black Templar story is really just them covering up the fact that they went on a snipe hunt with nothing to show for it. The Death Spectres are there to guard against a non-existent threat and can't leave because they'd be accused of abandoning their posts. Quite fitting for the Imperium, really.

 Omegus wrote:

 Unit1126PLL wrote:

 Omegus wrote:
Isn't there currently a series by McNeil that is exploring this region? In the first novel they just got to the entry and found their navigator, no idea when the second one will come out.

What is it??

My bad, the book explores the Halo Stars overall, but the Ghoul Stars are part of the Halo Stars.

First book is called Priests of Mars.

Good series, I'm currently reading the second book. It does get a bit weird, though.

I thought the Ghouls Stars and the Halo Stars were separate, just close in proximity to each other? I could be wrong, though (and most likely am, lol)


I don't think there has been any GW material about the Ghoul Stars other than they are there, crazy stuff happens there and Flayed Ones are drawn to the place.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
Nothing. There is absolutely nothing out there and the Imperial records of the place are almost completely made up. The Ghoul Stars are just a cluster of dying stars with dead worlds around them that have inspired tales from superstitious citizens that have spread throughout the Imperium. A sort of "Here be dragons" sort of thing.

The Black Templar story is really just them covering up the fact that they went on a snipe hunt with nothing to show for it. The Death Spectres are there to guard against a non-existent threat and can't leave because they'd be accused of abandoning their posts. Quite fitting for the Imperium, really.

Thanks, buzz killington.

 Matt.Kingsley wrote:

 Omegus wrote:

 Unit1126PLL wrote:

 Omegus wrote:
Isn't there currently a series by McNeil that is exploring this region? In the first novel they just got to the entry and found their navigator, no idea when the second one will come out.

What is it??

My bad, the book explores the Halo Stars overall, but the Ghoul Stars are part of the Halo Stars.

First book is called Priests of Mars.

Good series, I'm currently reading the second book. It does get a bit weird, though.

I thought the Ghouls Stars and the Halo Stars were separate, just close in proximity to each other? I could be wrong, though (and most likely am, lol)


I don't think there has been any GW material about the Ghoul Stars other than they are there, crazy stuff happens there and Flayed Ones are drawn to the place.

I didn't realize the second book has come out. What is it called?

Halo Stars are a generic designation for the outermost ring of the Milky Way that the Imperium never got around to conquering except for Macharius' short-lived crusade.

Ghoul Stars (CustomLime is right, there is no material at all dealing with this cluster), Grendl Stars (Barghesi home), and other spooky unknown clusters on the edge of the galaxy are all part of the Halo Stars/Zone.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Matt.Kingsley wrote:

 Omegus wrote:

 Unit1126PLL wrote:

 Omegus wrote:
Isn't there currently a series by McNeil that is exploring this region? In the first novel they just got to the entry and found their navigator, no idea when the second one will come out.

What is it??

My bad, the book explores the Halo Stars overall, but the Ghoul Stars are part of the Halo Stars.

First book is called Priests of Mars.

Good series, I'm currently reading the second book. It does get a bit weird, though.

I thought the Ghouls Stars and the Halo Stars were separate, just close in proximity to each other? I could be wrong, though (and most likely am, lol)


I don't think there has been any GW material about the Ghoul Stars other than they are there, crazy stuff happens there and Flayed Ones are drawn to the place.

I didn't realize the second book has come out. What is it called?

Halo Stars are a generic designation for the outermost ring of the Milky Way that the Imperium never got around to conquering except for Macharius' short-lived crusade.

Ghoul Stars, Grendl Stars, and other spooky unknown clusters on the edge of the galaxy are all part of the Halo Stars/Zone.

Huh, Didn't know that.
The second book is titled 'Lords of Mars'
The third book, 'Gods of Mars' is due to come out around June/July (maybe August)

The Halo Stars are the northern-most edge of the Segmentum Obscurus, which is the northern-most Segmentum of the Imperium. The Ghoul Stars is a region of space to the galactic north-east, on the outermost edge of the Segmentum Ultima.

They are *not* the same region of space.

Here, they even gave us pictures:

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Ghoul_Stars#.UscX5_t0noQ
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Segmentum_Obscurus#.UscYfft0noQ

Huh, and the Halo Zone is different from the Halo Stars as well

Interesting

Bah, too many differing authors using the same names for different gak.

Medusa refers to an artillery gun, a self propelled gun, three different planets, a star system and a Tyranid hive fleet. GW authors aren't the most creative types.

Would anyone have a problem with a Marine chapter secretly (or close to secretly, they get found out in my fluff) entering the Ghoul Stars to retrieve a rumored artifact from a Dead World?

Maybe the Inquisition since the place is supposedly cursed. After all, a Chapter secret entering a place known for cosmic horrors to retrieve an artifact from a dead world doesn't look good.