How to make a star system disappear for 4000 years?

[ThePenitentOne]

Okay, I'm slowly rebooting the Chronicle of Saint Katherine's Aegis. I have a HUGE post ready to go up, but I'm having doubts about my fluff, so I need Lore Masters to help me out a bit.

 

My campaign takes place in a star system that was cut off from the Imperium shortly after the death of Saint Katherine and reappears shortly after/ during the formation of the Cicatrix Maledictum. Further, I want to drop it on the western fringe of Sector Pacificus so that it can serve as a place for the Crusade for the Blackstone Fortress to stop and return to AFTER their BSF adventures, because Taddeus, Pious and Gotfrett are all going to join in the campaign.

 

What I've written is that the Admech dropped a relay station on the far Western Fringe in M34 or so. Exporators launching from this relay station did find a stable warp route further west to a system with habitable planets. The idea is that the new system CAN'T see the Astronomicon, but it can see the relay station. Similarly, the relay station is the ONLY Imperial facility far enough out on the fringe to see the star system.

 

The relay station gets destroyed in the rebellion of Cardinal Bucharis, and the folks in the Star System can't find their way back to the Imperium, and by the time the Bucharis Apostasy is contained, the Imperial records of the relay station's original location are lost, meaning the Imperium can't find its way back to the system either.

 

When the beacon on the Blackstone Fortress starts wailing, both the system and the Imperium hear the call, and the folks who lead the Crusade to the BSF find the Star system along the way?

 

Does this work? Is a relay station a 40k concept, or is the Astronomicon the ONLY such contraption in the Imperium?

 

On a related note, does anyone have a rough idea of when Saint Katherine died? In my fluff, she meets her end during the campaign against Bucharis. I stick with the whole Mnestteus thing, because that's well established, but I don't think they ever attached a year to it.

 

Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

Edit: I've confirmed that it is possible and even likely that Katherine was alive during the rebellion of Bucharius, so now I just need to know if the relay station concept/ BSF beacon stuff passes the sniff test.

Edited October 20, 2020 by ThePenitentOne

[MegaVolt87]

I think if you are involving the BSF guys it would be better to have this as a prequel event before they get to BSF IMO, a journey event would be far more interesting and give you a lot more room to write with. Its easier to use canon dudes in a prequal event to a main one than a post one. Your plot seems more appropriate as a more low stakes one to setup a much more important one (the discovery of a new BSF), not the other way around. 

[Osteoclast]

I believe I've seen references to similar small warp beacons, though I can't find it to save my life. Certainly I headcanon an occasional crude mini-astronomican for the more cohesive parts of Imperium Nihilus (more of soul bonfires than a focused beam, not terribly far reaching).

 

You can always fluff it as "AdMech experiment that got shut down by Inquisition/other faction," "AdMech experiment that had its supply of psykers cut off," "archaeotech that broke," or even ditch the relay station and have it be "There was a stable warp current, but it broke and the system was lost until the Great Rift opened up a new one."

[ThePenitentOne]

Taddeus and his crew stop in the Desdaemona system on the way; they even leave a few of their Crusade units behind.

 

The Crusade then continues on, and interacts with the BSF as per cannon (we're playing through it too, though not all of it). Once the BSF storyline is done, the survivors return to the Desdaemona system.

 

While the events on the BSF happen, events back in the Desdaemona system become the focus of the campaign. The Commandery of the OoOML that had been isolated for 4k years, has discovered the Praesidium Protectiva, and the rediscovery of the Desdaemona System means that it has been returned to the Imperium. The campaign essentially tells the story of the first Triumph of Saint Katherine.

 

The antagonists are a GSC Cult and a Cult of Slaanesh. Both Cults start as small kill teams and grow in the shadows until they become big enough to fight Imperial forces directly or they make a mistake that gets them discovered.

 

When Taddeus and his Crusade stop over on the way, neither of the Cults will have been discovered, and the larger Imperium is not yet aware that the Praesidium Protectiva has been discovered. The Commandery has not yet been reunited with its mother Peceptory, nor has it been reinforced. The Crusade Fleet seems huge and powerful by comparison.

 

By the time they return, their Crusade has been diminished by attrition, while the Commandery has been reinforced to rival the size of a Preceptory, and has received the detachments of Sacred Rose and Bloody Rose who escorted the other Relic Bearers who made up the Triumph. Of course, they'll also likely be at full on war with one, the other or both of the Cults.

 

Taddeus, Pious and Gotfrett will have plenty of good reasons to stick around the Desdaemona System.

 

Also, thank you for the suggestion about the Inquisition erasing knowledge of the tech and/ or the site.

Edited October 21, 2020 by ThePenitentOne

[Rik Lightstar]

It's the Imperium, you could even just go for:

 

All records of the system were lost (deleted?), so the wider Imperium never sent anyone there. Astropathic messages were ignored, because the records say the system doesn't exist. The local system had no Warp Capable craft to leave the system with, so they couldn't prove their existence.

 

It's very 40k to get ignored for 4000 years because somebody misplaced your documents.

 

Rik

[ThePenitentOne]

Thanks for all of you guys; the cool thing here is that the idea not so alien that it would stand out.

 

I've reread my fluff piece, and it definitely needs another draft; I'm better at Narratives than Overviews- it's like a history text book rather than a story. I'll be glad when we get to the story part. This thread gave me the green light. Thanks again.