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xerxeskingofking wrote:
so, games workshops open day reveals include the fact that the 4th arks of omen book is "arks: Farsight", and is based on a bad moons vs farsight enclave battle.

Puretide’s protege is now piloting a bleeding-edge XV-86 Supernova battlesuit, designed specifically to suit his needs by O’Vesa, the Earth Caste scientist who fights by his side as one of the Eight – Farsight’s hand-picked crew of companions. Though similar to the XV-8 Crisis suit, this hot rod sports greatly enhanced command and control suites, all guided by a fancy on-board AI – dubbed Supernova

The infamous Bad Moons warlord Nazdreg, master of tellyporta taktiks, has taken up the reins of the War of Dakka – a never-ending conflict fuelled by the Orks’ desire to beat the Farsight Enclaves at their own shooting game.

Strange visions draw O’Shovah back to the ominous world of Arthas Moloch, and just as he seems to be ready to vanquish the Orks once and for all, disaster strikes. It wouldn’t be an Arks of Omen book without an Ark or two showing up, after all…

intresting the explicit mention of the AI on his suit......

If i'm allowed to go Paranoid for a moment:

- The AI is called 'Supernova', which is of course the name for an exploding star
- We have a Tarot card called 'The Star' with text that talks about a newborn star
- As the ever-observant Matrindur points out, Farsight's suit has some sort of 'chip' in it:

- This chip prominently displays a sigil that looks a lot like the Dark Angel Hexagrammaton:

- The Hexagrammaton are the 'Six Wings' of the Dark Angels in the Heresy era
- One of these wings is the 'Iron Wing'
- In the Heresy, this Iron Wing included the fearsome Excindio Class Battle Automata, which were in fact lobotomized Men Of Iron war machines: sentient AIs
https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Ironwing#Excindio-Class_Battle-Automata
- These automata, even in their much-reduced and lobotomized state, are considered so dangerous that they were only released into battle under close observation, fitted with explosive failsafes and furnished with only the bare minimum reactor charge and ammunition that they needed to finish their missions, for fear of them breaking free
- Vashtorr is also said to have made a deal with an Astartes-related AI that allowed him to locate the Rock
- What the AI gained from this is currently unknown
- There is at least one Man of Iron currently at large in the Galaxy, last seen on the Blackstone Fortress of the game of the same name, his current location and goals are unknown

All of this is very much beginning to look like too much of a coincidence to be random chance - it begins to look like there's a conspiration afoot to release the cybernetic terrors of Old Night on an unaware galaxy!

Seems like great logical thinking to me. Can see it being a bit less complicated when GW reveals whatever it is but you have put together the hints in a logical way that fits the background especially the use of AI in the story thus far...exciting times.

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:
Seems like great logical thinking to me. Can see it being a bit less complicated when GW reveals whatever it is but you have put together the hints in a logical way that fits the background especially the use of AI in the story thus far...exciting times.

It's probably just the Talisman of Arthas Moloch relic, but from time to time i like a good yarn

The idea of the rock being destroyed is an interesting one but I doubt it, it’s been a core bit of lore since day 1. Plus whatever they want is on the rock so they don’t want to destroy it.

Unless the rock is destroyed and then out of the warp appears the rock from another point in time full of friendly fallen to save the day

mrFickle wrote:
The idea of the rock being destroyed is an interesting one but I doubt it, it’s been a core bit of lore since day 1. Plus whatever they want is on the rock so they don’t want to destroy it.

Unless the rock is destroyed and then out of the warp appears the rock from another point in time full of friendly fallen to save the day

Blasting the rock into smaller, but still rock-y chunks could be a way to handwave Dark Angels appearing in a lot of battles simultaneously in 10th edition.

Basically the meme 'I acquire: one victory over the Rock / You acquire: a fleet of Space-Hulk-sized rock-lites'

Also, i could see a darkly comedic result from that, with the DA being big on keeping secrets and all: it's not like that many outside folks have seen The Rock or have accurate information about its dimensions and capabilities, so in the future the DA could easily pretend that every single one of these sub-rocks is 'The Rock' and nurture a reputation for being in many places at once etc., which of course would be pretty handy to ge fallen-hunting off the record or sweep sightings of the fallen under the Rock, eh, rug. Basically they would just not tell anyone the Rock was destroyed, and go on acting like nothing happened.

Vashtorr is up for pre-order next week.

Tantalisingly?

The third instalment of Arks of Omen zeroes in on the siege of the Rock, as Vastorr searches for a powerful component in his diabolical goal. The Dark Angels aren’t taking this invasion lightly, and rally their forces as a mysterious third party enters the slaughter.

Wonder who or what that might be.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Vashtorr is up for pre-order next week.

Tantalisingly?

The third instalment of Arks of Omen zeroes in on the siege of the Rock, as Vastorr searches for a powerful component in his diabolical goal. The Dark Angels aren’t taking this invasion lightly, and rally their forces as a mysterious third party enters the slaughter.

Wonder who or what that might be.

Based on the intepretation of the last couple of Tarot cards, it's probably Starro the conqueror.

David Bowie surely?

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Vashtorr is up for pre-order next week.

Tantalisingly?

The third instalment of Arks of Omen zeroes in on the siege of the Rock, as Vastorr searches for a powerful component in his diabolical goal. The Dark Angels aren’t taking this invasion lightly, and rally their forces as a mysterious third party enters the slaughter.

Wonder who or what that might be.

my money is on the necrons, purely based on the list of other boarding action factions with rules in this set (Chaos Daemons, Necrons, Tyranids, Genestealer Cults, the Death Guard, and the Adeptus Mechanicus).

that, or the Fallen themselves come out to play......


I mean, it COULD still be the Lion, but im honestly of the opinion if they were waking him up, we would have seen the model by now. I wasn't active in the hobby over G mans wakeup, how did that play out? was that a blindside suprise that was revealed in the lore then a model, or was the model showcased and then the novels disribed his return?

xerxeskingofking wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Vashtorr is up for pre-order next week.

Tantalisingly?

The third instalment of Arks of Omen zeroes in on the siege of the Rock, as Vastorr searches for a powerful component in his diabolical goal. The Dark Angels aren’t taking this invasion lightly, and rally their forces as a mysterious third party enters the slaughter.

Wonder who or what that might be.

my money is on the necrons, purely based on the list of other boarding action factions with rules in this set (Chaos Daemons, Necrons, Tyranids, Genestealer Cults, the Death Guard, and the Adeptus Mechanicus).

that, or the Fallen themselves come out to play......


I mean, it COULD still be the Lion, but im honestly of the opinion if they were waking him up, we would have seen the model by now. I wasn't active in the hobby over G mans wakeup, how did that play out? was that a blindside suprise that was revealed in the lore then a model, or was the model showcased and then the novels disribed his return?

IIRC we knew a lot of the Guilliman and Primaris stuff from tie-in novels before his rules and model showed up, but i may be wrong.

Concerning the topic: i wonder what the '6th book' that's gonna be serialized in White Dwarf is going to be - and if it gets Tarot Cards as well. One outside/curveball option i could see is that AoO V is about something else, and then the Lion shows up on the conclusion of 'book' VI, which would be almost at Warhammer Fest...

The Lion is hardly a third party?

The fourth card for this book is daemon inversed, and its description involves infighting. I’m betting Vashtorr is going to get backstabbed by one of his allies, like the rogue AI he’s teamed up with, or the Fallen could be a foil in his plan, seeing as they are allied with chaos.

 Segersgia wrote:
The fourth card for this book is daemon inversed, and its description involves infighting. I’m betting Vashtorr is going to get backstabbed by one of his allies, like the rogue AI he’s teamed up with, or the Fallen could be a foil in his plan, seeing as they are allied with chaos.

That's one interpretation, but it could also just mean that Vashtorr is the one that does the backstabbing, for example by retreating once he has gained whatever it is that he's after, and thus leaving Abaddon and his greater schemes to fend for themselves. In this case, Vashtorr would represent the self-defeating nature of chaos, even though he wins his personal battle.

Death guard fight vashtorr over tuchluka or however it's spelled. Typhus at the head og the death guard.

I've been catching up on this thread because I've been paying the Arks of Omen stuff absolutely zero heed until the Warhammer World releases.

Segersia on page 2 of this thread put up a post about people guessing the tarot and every single one was spot on. So interested to see where it goes.

Do we know who the member of the Ordo Astartes is?

Presumably someone investigating the Dark Angels / Fallen and all their secrets.

 Olthannon wrote:


Do we know who the member of the Ordo Astartes is?

Presumably someone investigating the Dark Angels / Fallen and all their secrets.

There have not been a lot of named Ordo Astartes members so far - Lexicanum knows four - and it might be a completely new one, but if they reuse one they already namedropped my money is on Ardeus Teth:

Ardeus Teth is an Ordo Astartes Inquisitor, who wonders what kind of secrets and artefacts the Space Marine Chapters must keep within their hidden vaults and libraries. He has gone so far as to say he would sacrifice a dozen worlds for just a glimpse of such treasures and a hundred to own them.

Sounds like the sort of dude who could be tricked into making deals with a Daemon.

The 3rd party could be anyone as it looks like many factions are getting a new HQ minimum to launch their boarding actions boxed set. Big rock in space with a mysterious machine in the middle, could easily be the Vottan. Or maybe the tuchululucha machine attracts tyranids.

Or Luther

I have a feeling that Vashtorr will succeed in taking what ever he needs from the rock as it seems to be an important part of the middle of the story, in fact I expect that the arks of omen story will result in Abbadon getting all the things he’s looking for, winning more territory but failing to achieve his ultimate goal of taking over the imperium of man. And vashtorr will have a foothold in real space setting up a release of a new faction in a few years for 10th ed

mrFickle wrote:

I have a feeling that Vashtorr will succeed in taking what ever he needs from the rock as it seems to be an important part of the middle of the story, in fact I expect that the arks of omen story will result in Abbadon getting all the things he’s looking for, winning more territory but failing to achieve his ultimate goal of taking over the imperium of man. And vashtorr will have a foothold in real space setting up a release of a new faction in a few years for 10th ed

I mainly think that Vashtorr will be the one doing the backstabbing because he's described as an entity you can't trust, that's always out for his own profit, makes deals where he somehow always ends up on the side that gets the upper hand and so on. All of that is being told at the moment, and none of it has yet been shown. Of course there is room for stories in which characters like that get bested at their own game, or tricked by a greater trickster etc., but for that to have any weight and impact you first need to establish that that is an uncommon occurence. The 'Fall of the master conspirator' trope is only dramatic and cool if it's a once-in-a-lifetime event, not when it happens during the literal first appearance of the character. So i think that this particular story will end in success for Vashtorrr, possibly to the detriment of the larger war effort.

mrFickle wrote:
The 3rd party could be anyone as it looks like many factions are getting a new HQ minimum to launch their boarding actions boxed set. Big rock in space with a mysterious machine in the middle, could easily be the Vottan. Or maybe the tuchululucha machine attracts tyranids.

Or Luther

I have a feeling that Vashtorr will succeed in taking what ever he needs from the rock as it seems to be an important part of the middle of the story, in fact I expect that the arks of omen story will result in Abbadon getting all the things he’s looking for, winning more territory but failing to achieve his ultimate goal of taking over the imperium of man. And vashtorr will have a foothold in real space setting up a release of a new faction in a few years for 10th ed

I dunno. AoO Abaddon makes it clear that whilst there are certain Precious Geegaws that Vashtorr needs, less important ones he has work-around a for. Like a Daemonic Bodge Job.

I’d say the main danger of Vashtorr as an ally is how specific his wording is. So you’ll get exactly what was agreed, and not a bean more. Anything you missed off the initial bargain would be a new bargain - and that I suspect is when Vashtorr applies his leverage.

Tsagualsa wrote:

mrFickle wrote:

I have a feeling that Vashtorr will succeed in taking what ever he needs from the rock as it seems to be an important part of the middle of the story, in fact I expect that the arks of omen story will result in Abbadon getting all the things he’s looking for, winning more territory but failing to achieve his ultimate goal of taking over the imperium of man. And vashtorr will have a foothold in real space setting up a release of a new faction in a few years for 10th ed

I mainly think that Vashtorr will be the one doing the backstabbing because he's described as an entity you can't trust, that's always out for his own profit, makes deals where he somehow always ends up on the side that gets the upper hand and so on. All of that is being told at the moment, and none of it has yet been shown. Of course there is room for stories in which characters like that get bested at their own game, or tricked by a greater trickster etc., but for that to have any weight and impact you first need to establish that that is an uncommon occurence. The 'Fall of the master conspirator' trope is only dramatic and cool if it's a once-in-a-lifetime event, not when it happens during the literal first appearance of the character. So i think that this particular story will end in success for Vashtorrr, possibly to the detriment of the larger war effort.

You are correct, that’s what annoys me about the alpha legion arc in the HH, they always seems to get out smarted by the loyalists despite being the masters of duplicity.

AoO Angron also shows Vashtorr isn’t above using Massive Distractions to get what he needs.

The whole Choral Engine was a red herring in itself. Angron wanted to destroy it because it was a mind scorching source of Witchery. But it wasn’t what Vashtorr himself was after. That he got after the planet was shattered.

What remains to be seen is should Vashtorr fail. And the item be an Essential Part? What does he do then. Where does that leave his pact with Abaddon? And will it matter? So far as we can tell, the agreement is Abaddon helps Vashtorr obtain the gubbins, and Vashtorr provides the Arks of Omen, significantly increasing Abaddon’s Naval assets.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
In fact, I’m gonna change that.

The Lion, whilst fully healed? Remains in Stasis.

I’m willing to bet whatever Vashtorr needs is part of whatever technogubbins is keeping that Stasis going.

This might explain why Vashtorr is leading the attack himself (itself?). Because if Abaddon got wind the action might return a pretty bloody dangerous foe to the Imperial fold, he’d pull out of the contract and damn the consequences.

Remember, the main reason Abaddon’s plan kind of stalled post Cadia was Guilliman’s return.

Yes Cawl had the Primaris Project ready to go - but he couldn’t exactly reveal it and simply claim “Guilliman said I could” without Guilliman there to ratify his claim, and indeed to some degree overrule others.

Granted so far as we know the Lion has no such secret project, or ever really had the opportunity. But equally, he never agreed to the Codex being implemented. And being in Imperium Nihilus, if he wished to regain Legion Strength? Who the heck is going to stop him doing so? Plus we know The Rock is stacked full of Forbidden Goodies, which only a Primarch has the authority to deploy. So that’s another problem for Abaddon should The Lion return unexpectedly.

I could even argue Abaddon doesn’t even know The Lion isn’t in fact long dead.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
As for the latest Tarot?

Could The Rock possess an Astronomicon type beacon? New star, new light in the Imperium Nihilus.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Or it’s less literal. The light is The Lion, a new hope in the Imperium Nihilus given his abilities and sheer clout.

Men of Iron and AI sound intriguing? But I thought machines wiping out all life would be bad for chaos? Maybe good for Vashtoor, bad for everyone else?

Here's to hoping for some Chaos vs Chaos backstabbery. (I don't know about you all but I enjoy the internal conflicts within each faction as the the most interesting stories). Yes, even Ork vs Ork can be wonderful reading.

On Farsight? Bit of clarification from Warhammer Community today.

Fate struck again when Farsight found himself on a dead world named Arthas Moloch. Here he was attacked by mysterious red-skinned aliens never before seen by the Empire. The expedition’s attendant Ethereals were slain by these bloodthirsty creatures, who appeared seemingly from nowhere, and only the discovery of a strange talisman and conveniently battlesuit-sized sword allowed Farsight to close the portal disgorging the attackers.

Strikes me the Hexagrammatic Talisman is the talisman mentioned - and so not a new development.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:On Farsight? Bit of clarification from Warhammer Community today.

Fate struck again when Farsight found himself on a dead world named Arthas Moloch. Here he was attacked by mysterious red-skinned aliens never before seen by the Empire. The expedition’s attendant Ethereals were slain by these bloodthirsty creatures, who appeared seemingly from nowhere, and only the discovery of a strange talisman and conveniently battlesuit-sized sword allowed Farsight to close the portal disgorging the attackers.

Strikes me the Hexagrammatic Talisman is the talisman mentioned - and so not a new development.

Well, as i said:

Tsagualsa wrote:It's probably just the Talisman of Arthas Moloch relic, but from time to time i like a good yarn

That being said, all that stuff about Arthas Moloch may still be who-knows-what after all: Arthas Moloch is pre-imperial, there's not records of it being visited during the great crusade, and the Talismans were found 'hanging around the necks of mysterious, faceless statues' in a 'temple' where the Dawnblade was stored. So it may or may not be related to pretty much anything, really, but anti-warp talismans, faceless statues and blades that utilize strange chronomancy to prolong the wearers life are all hinting towards necrons.

Well, the Hexagrammatic thing came from somewhere, and isn’t necessarily unique to Caliban or The Dark Angels.

Could be the Dawnblade is indeed a Daemon or Cursed Weapon. The statues and talismans forming a cage to secure it from Warp denizens.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Well, the Hexagrammatic thing came from somewhere, and isn’t necessarily unique to Caliban or The Dark Angels.

Could be the Dawnblade is indeed a Daemon or Cursed Weapon. The statues and talismans forming a cage to secure it from Warp denizens.

The newer fluff for the Dawnblade mentions that it works with 'chronophagic alloy', not via souls or warpcraft like other 'souldrinker'-type weapons. That could of course just be what the demonweapon wants you to think, but imho that's techno-sorcery, not vanilla sorcery.

But anyway, the Dawnblade has been a surprising number of things, back in the day it was heavily hinted to be of eldar origin, but that got retconned as well. So who knows, another soft-retcon may always be in the cards. Don't want to steer the thread too far off topic, we can and will probably revisit this once the Farsight book comes out.

Looks like the third party is Belakor.

 Plant wrote:
Looks like the third party is Belakor.

SHOCK upon the ROCK! Just when Azrael was going to be counted out, the watchers open up a side entrance, and OH MY GOD! you're not gonna believe this, it's Belakor, with the FOLDING CHAIR! Oooooh, that's gonna hurt!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The first reviews for AoO: Vashtorr are going up, here is one from Guerilla Miniature Games:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2c-8nyEmSo

The first ~5 minutes are about the background, so beware of spoilers. The bit about how Vashtorr got to interrogate the AI - which is, in fact, from the Dark Age of Technology - is pretty cool*

*

So the more this goes on the more I think the prophecy from the first book is from the perspective of luther.

Spoiler: vashtorr failes to get the last piece but he thinks he know how to get the piece to come to him.

luther and cypher know the rock better than anyone so one of them could stand a chance of getting on and off the rock again with thier lives and the key. And of the two luther is know for being a Prophet

Boosykes wrote:
So the more this goes on the more I think the prophecy from the first book is from the perspective of luther.

Spoiler: vashtorr failes to get the last piece but he thinks he know how to get the piece to come to him.

luther and cypher know the rock better than anyone so one of them could stand a chance of getting on and off the rock again with thier lives and the key. And of the two luther is know for being a Prophet

Vashtorr is apparently using his triple-agents to lure the Dark Angels to the Somnium system, hoping that they bring the Key fragment with them. This makes me guess that the fragment is some piece of wargear they'd reasonably take with them, probably one of their special swords or something. Isn't there a sword made from a prehistoric meteor or something in the DA armoury?

Also, the Somnium system is where 'an army of the Fallen of hitherto unknown size' is said to be rallying in the DA codex, so the plot thickens.