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These are what I read from Lexicanum but I am curious if anyone has read the book and if its made more clear or if an alternative is suggested?


http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Farsight_Expedition#.Uy7QVKh_ths

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Dawn_Blade#.Uy7Qb6h_ths

This seems to suggest that the sword was carried on the chaos dias which appeared and he is said to have gathered medallions from the chaos dias which powered it up and enabled him to destroy the portal. He also looked into a chaos portal and saw the horrors within; to the point of falling unconscious. Also, its a little too convenient that this sword is provided on the dias for Farsight to take up. Its not the first time the forces of chaos enact whole assaults to put tainted weapons in the hands of Imperial; Fulgrim being the best example. Also, the weapons ability to trap souls and prolong his life seems very chaos. However, its not unheard of for similar weapons to exist, dark eldar husk blades and soul gems for instance. But is it fairly certain that the thing is a daemon weapon? Or is GW still being ambivalent about its nature to let the player decide?

People being filled with doubts by chaos and turning against their masters is certainly nothing new. There are quite a lot of Horus and Fulgrim overtones to that whole story. Particularly his growing mistrust and paranoia over the ethereal s. I think like in HH they are only telling half truths which sow dissent among the tau.


I really hope they do a book on this and a Tau Civil War. The recent Damocles book with Shadowsun really seemed to be suggesting they would do that; especially with the ending. Does anyone else think tau vs tau would be cool. lol Maybe Shadowsun teams up with Kor Sarro to hunt down Farsight.

The blade isn't corrupting farsight but it is what grants him his longevity.

Surely an artifact that feeds on the souls it kills and which he finds on a chaos portal and which he powers up with talismans circling the dias is a chaos weapon though?

Is it not a little strange that his doubts spring up after his encounter with chaos? He hasn't really got any proof that the etherials know about chaos and to suddenly come to believe that devotion to them is brainwashing and dark is quite a few major leaps of logic. Not every tau is constantly in the presence of an etherial and for him to start looking back on his past actions in a whole new perspective so the death of his etherials can't really be the reason although they may have acted to prevent him.

Personally I think this is chaos trying to make a Tau Horus. Convince him that bringing down the tau empire is a good thing.

That's a good assumption based on what we know, however it could also easily be an eldar blade that was placed there to be corrupted itself, or a necron blade that transfers souls to its owner to boost its potential and was being "locked" there by another race, all these have merits and can be justified..that's the fun of 40k fluff

 Totalwar1402 wrote:


I really hope they do a book on this and a Tau Civil War. The recent Damocles book with Shadowsun really seemed to be suggesting they would do that; especially with the ending. Does anyone else think tau vs tau would be cool. lol Maybe Shadowsun teams up with Kor Sarro to hunt down Farsight.

Shadowsun is the sock-puppet of the etherals.
A white scar wouldn't team up with a xeno , especially one who has no control over her future.

A better chance was if Farsight saved Shadowsun in a campaign gone bad and she teamed up with him against her masters.
So Farsight isn't going to believe anymore and your replacement as the 'empires hero' left too makes for a nice setup.
Aun'Va and his priest caste vs 2 wellknown leaders.....

 1hadhq wrote:

 Totalwar1402 wrote:


I really hope they do a book on this and a Tau Civil War. The recent Damocles book with Shadowsun really seemed to be suggesting they would do that; especially with the ending. Does anyone else think tau vs tau would be cool. lol Maybe Shadowsun teams up with Kor Sarro to hunt down Farsight.

Shadowsun is the sock-puppet of the etherals.
A white scar wouldn't team up with a xeno , especially one who has no control over her future.

A better chance was if Farsight saved Shadowsun in a campaign gone bad and she teamed up with him against her masters.
So Farsight isn't going to believe anymore and your replacement as the 'empires hero' left too makes for a nice setup.
Aun'Va and his priest caste vs 2 wellknown leaders.....

Actually in the recent Damocles book they really play up that Kor Sarro respects Shadowsun as a worthy opponent and her him to a lesser degree. Also, they explore her relationship with Aun Va very well and there are some major cracks in that relationship forming. Kor Sarro could tell that she was a free spirit but kept in a cage by the etherials. I loved the bit when she has a slip of tongue with Aun Va and says "Oh, its you." or before when she jumbles her words to imply the Greater Goods fall is imminent. That novella did quite a good job with making her a flawed and more complex character than earlier lore would suggest.

 Totalwar1402 wrote:
Surely an artifact that feeds on the souls it kills and which he finds on a chaos portal and which he powers up with talismans circling the dias is a chaos weapon though?

Is it not a little strange that his doubts spring up after his encounter with chaos? He hasn't really got any proof that the etherials know about chaos and to suddenly come to believe that devotion to them is brainwashing and dark is quite a few major leaps of logic. Not every tau is constantly in the presence of an etherial and for him to start looking back on his past actions in a whole new perspective so the death of his etherials can't really be the reason although they may have acted to prevent him.

Personally I think this is chaos trying to make a Tau Horus. Convince him that bringing down the tau empire is a good thing.

I have the FE dex and it indeed confirms that the weapon isn't corrupting him.

Page 58 of the farsight supplement says:

" Its blade is made from chronophagic alloys – that whenever his dawn blade cuts a life short with it, the natural span that he stole from his victim is added to the wielder’s own. This has allowed O’Shovah to live for almost three centuries. Though he has his suspicions that it is the Dawn Blade that has prolonged his lifespan to such a degree, if Farsight ever found out the horrible truth, he would likely end his own life in ritual sucide."

Someone posted elsewhere the following:

When the Necrontyr had first called forth the ancient C'tan and given them bodies of living metal, the C'tan offered many rewards to the faithful.

The Silent King spoke for his people, and the request was simple. "Life".

The C'tan thought on this, and each offered solutions. Llandu'gor suggested they used others as vessels, shifting life to life. Iash'uddra suggested all the Necrontyr shared their minds together, becoming a whole that would survive the death of any of their individual parts.

In the end, the Necrontyr chose the suggestion of Mephet'ran, but there was one other that was tempting to the Silent King.

Aza'gorod offered a blade, formed from his body and essence. He explained that this blade would grant eternal life to its user, as long as he kept on reaping souls for him. The Silent King looked at the blade with longing, but he knew that his first duty was to his people, and a solution for him, would not have been a solution for all.

And so the blade of death went unused, until it was claimed by a fiend of the foolish Eldar in one of their battles with the Necrons.

The source I am still trying to track down as there is no citation. I recall reading it too in a GW publication, but the problem is tracking it.

It heavily implies the Dawn Blade is Aza'gorod's blade. Aza'gorod aka the Nightbringer.

 Totalwar1402 wrote:
This seems to suggest that the sword was carried on the chaos dias which appeared and he is said to have gathered medallions from the chaos dias which powered it up and enabled him to destroy the portal.

The medallions were actually what closed the portal, not the blade. They were described as hexagrammic, which are the same as the Wards Grey Knights use, and had already shown warp repelling powers.

 Totalwar1402 wrote:
He also looked into a chaos portal and saw the horrors within; to the point of falling unconscious. Also, its a little too convenient that this sword is provided on the dias for Farsight to take up. Its not the first time the forces of chaos enact whole assaults to put tainted weapons in the hands of Imperial; Fulgrim being the best example. Also, the weapons ability to trap souls and prolong his life seems very chaos. However, its not unheard of for similar weapons to exist, dark eldar husk blades and soul gems for instance. But is it fairly certain that the thing is a daemon weapon? Or is GW still being ambivalent about its nature to let the player decide?

I think it's left vague enough for the player to decide. I certainly think the blade is warp infused though. The way the planet is covered in artifacts that make it glitter to a psyker's eyes, the Great Star Dais and the surrounding wards lead me to believe that the planet was home to a society of sorcerers or warpsmiths who bound daemons or just warp energy into items of power, and Farsight just happened to pick one up.

THe blade itself is visually similar to Necron weapons like the Warscythe, and its unparalleled cutting ability is the same as those weapons. That implies a Necron origin.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
THe blade itself is visually similar to Necron weapons like the Warscythe, and its unparalleled cutting ability is the same as those weapons. That implies a Necron origin.

It's probably necrotyr (before they were necrons that we know and love ) as it extends life, something the the the short lived necratyr would love. There were also lots of anti-deamon stuff and ruins from an ancient civilization.

Just to help the discussion her is few bits from the supplement.

ARTHAS MOLOCH
The artefact world of Arthas Moloch is as grey and desolate as a tomb. Its surface is jumbled with thousands of tumbledown shrines and strange, faceless statues that predate any of the worlds of the Imperium. The world’s surface is cracked and broken, giving the sense that the planet itself died long ago – an impression that is reinforced by the fact that not a single green shoot or patch of moss can be found anywhere on its surface. Not a single living soul makes a home there, though the plaster walls of the planet’s tombs bear the dark brown smears of bloodshed, and ghostly shadows have been burnt into the walls wherever the ruins cluster close together. Though the world is barren as bone, if one possessed of psychic abilities were to behold it with the second sight, it would shine like a gold mine in firelight. The shrine-hold is peppered with artefacts of ancient and mysterious origin, each a priceless wonder left discarded in the dust.

THE DAWN BLADE
The mysterious artefact that O’Shovah took up on Arthas Moloch is even older than the Imperium of Man. Fashioned aeons ago by the strange race that once inhabited that haunted world, the Dawn Blade has been forged from materials that even the finest of Earth caste minds cannot fathom. Its blade is sharp enough to cut through rock, and since taking it up on Arthas Moloch, and modifying it for use in battle, it has been O’Shovah’s weapon of choice for close engagements. Unbeknownst to Farsight, the ancient sword has a dark secret. Its blade is made from chronophagic alloys – whenever its wielder cuts a life short with it, the natural span that he stole from his victim is added to the wielder’s own. This has allowed O’Shovah to live for almost three centuries. Though he has his suspicions that it is the Dawn Blade that has prolonged his lifespan to such a degree, if Farsight ever found out the horrible truth, he would likely end his own life in ritual suicide then and there.

Iracundus wrote:
Someone posted elsewhere the following:

When the Necrontyr had first called forth the ancient C'tan and given them bodies of living metal, the C'tan offered many rewards to the faithful.

The Silent King spoke for his people, and the request was simple. "Life".

The C'tan thought on this, and each offered solutions. Llandu'gor suggested they used others as vessels, shifting life to life. Iash'uddra suggested all the Necrontyr shared their minds together, becoming a whole that would survive the death of any of their individual parts.

In the end, the Necrontyr chose the suggestion of Mephet'ran, but there was one other that was tempting to the Silent King.

Aza'gorod offered a blade, formed from his body and essence. He explained that this blade would grant eternal life to its user, as long as he kept on reaping souls for him. The Silent King looked at the blade with longing, but he knew that his first duty was to his people, and a solution for him, would not have been a solution for all.

And so the blade of death went unused, until it was claimed by a fiend of the foolish Eldar in one of their battles with the Necrons.

The source I am still trying to track down as there is no citation. I recall reading it too in a GW publication, but the problem is tracking it.

It heavily implies the Dawn Blade is Aza'gorod's blade. Aza'gorod aka the Nightbringer.

This is a really interesting Piece of Fluff, I'm curious where it came from!

I think that, with the Talismans hurting Chaos, that it is likely the Dias was built and a containment device. I think a long dead Race built it.