Adamantia

[Ryltar Thamior]

 

It Is The 42nd Millennium ... and once more the Galaxy has become riven with strife. This time, the harsh divide is not merely the clear-cut schism between Loyalist and Traitor, Friend and Foe, or even Humanity with Dread Xenos. Rather, a far more insurmountable barrier now lies across the former swathe of the Imperium - the Cicatrix Maledictum. 

 

And even within the still-shedding light of Mankind's fraught bastion of hope in the Imperium Sanctus, there is no unity of vision - no clarity of purpose. At the the highest levels of the Imperium, and also amidst the coiling darkness which congeals about their glittering spires - the greedy, avaricious eyes of the powerful dart in all manner of directions; their gimlet gazes locked in pursuit of petty, personal agendas as well as grand, sweeping designs several millennia in the making. 

 

Some, to be sure, are altruistic in ethos and noble in scope; others seek to take advantage of the chaos to line their own pockets - or, worse, to settle old scores and indulge in the Great Games of the truly cardinal. Yet for the countless subsectors and hundreds of systems splayed out as trinkets or trifles it matters little. Upon the far-flung fringes of the Imperium's now greatly curtailed spanse, life proceeds much as it ever has: the Crowned Heads of the ultimate inceptors of their destinies seeming as inscrutable, uncaring, and distant as the Stars - or, when angered, as roiling, unforgiving, and inescapable as the coronal flarings of the nearest Sun. 

 

Such is to be the fate of Adamantia. 

 

Once a beacon of order and a bastion of the potential future for Humanity, it was brought low some four thousand years afore. The hidden truth which girded its prosperity dooming it also to desolation at the hands of its patrons' enemies elsewhere in the vicissitudinal Imperial power structure. A chapter - and an entire stellar domain - whose loyalty to the Emperor proved to be as unbreakable as their Adamantine namesake, cast unto oblivion by the envious plots and overzealous plans of their would-be domineers and despoilers. 

 

And yet ... Memory is a curious thing. It lingers on even after that which is recalled by it may have long since crumbled to dust - or been reduced to ash via the expurgation of flame. Thus it is with the unyielding legacy of the Adamanticores. For millennia following the Fall of their formerly living Lords, the folk of the Spoil - for such Adamantia is now called - have striven to keep alive the traditions, the recollections, the faith of their forebears. This has rendered the long-term pacification of the domain, and its re-tooling into a more productively integrated demesne at the hands of this or that petty outlander lord all but an impossibility. The past refuses to pass - it cannot be placated through the transparent papering-over on offer from without. Instead, the past lives on through glinting spikes suffusing the present - seemingly pointing back toward a not-quite-forgotten future. 

 

Amidst ruins and fanes and long-forgotten refuges scattered across the systems of the Spoil, more tangible remembrances of the glory that was Adamantia are to be found - prised free via unscrupulous treasure-seekers or shadowy reconquesta teams, clawed back and returned to their memorialized pride-of-place within them by bands of loyalists, resurrectionists, revanchists who still dream the Dream of Adamantia as She once was and as She might one day be again. Or who simply cannot abide to see the ghosts, the spirits of the past disturbed by outlanders motivated by the profits and the prophets of the worlds beyond the realm. 

 

Some of these sites are watched over by vengeful eyes - piercing green orbs who still would quietly weep for the fate of their fallen dreams and comrades if mere human tears were permitted to them. Out in the Deep between worlds, the Dragons have long coiled to strike; and the Dead Stars still burn with ancient fury. The barrows and the stasis-crypt which dot the Spoil shall soon prove to have protected not only the artefacts of ancient days - but the select few of their archaic bearers as well! Living legends now risen and returned as revenants. Ghost-Lords for a nearly-dead realm, heritage, and faith. 

 

Yet they shall not be the only ones to stride out onto the planes of the present from within the depths of both myth and memory. 

 

To be a man in such times, is to behold the distant glory of ruined splendour. Not merely of the former realm of Adamantia laid low around one; but the twisting violence which reaves out across the broader Imperium. A sundering amidst the hearts of men which divides even those notionally committed to His common purpose into internecine foes that hate with the bitterness - and strike with the underhandedness - more usually reserved for direst external adversaries and truly existential peril. 

 

All across Adamantia, the last guttering embers of the Old Flame of Heritage run the risk of becoming snuffed out - taking with them, the last sparks of hope for the future. Threats from the Past loom out of the darkness to do battle with Ancient Guardians for the Soul of the Present and the incipient promise of the Glories yet to come. The Worlds of the Spoil do not stand upon the Precipice - in truth, for Adamantia this point was reached and breached long eras ago; the only serious question being whether She shall Fall or Fly in consequence. 

 

Forget the promise of Unity in Strength, and the sure premise of progress toward Mankind's assured shared destiny amidst the Stars - for much has been Remembered, that cannot now easily become forgotten. Forsake the easy and clear battle-lines drawn in the sand between "friend" and "foe", "traitor" and "loyalist", or "heretic" and "zealot" - for all these are but the convenient caricatures of meaningful designations, deployed by cunning comptrollers stationed far from the front lines in the shadows of battle. And foreswear the convenient bonds of unthinking adherence - in favour of a more critical appraisal of just where one's loyalties and sense of duty must truly lie. 

 

It is said that in the Grim Darkness of Adamantia - there is only Memory. Yet here, Memory and Heritage form an active, tangible force. The Past does not Pass simply due to the mere inconvenience of being antiquated. It lies dormant, awaiting its shadowed opportunity to spring vital and resurrected back into present life. It is, in a sense, inalienable - and on the contrary, it is the Future which must be fought for. 

 

Out upon the Steppe of Stars, a powerful myriad of Futures ride for Adamantia - Waiting to be (Re)Born. 
 

 

[Ryltar Thamior]

What's Going On Here? 

For some time now, I've been running a series of project-logs over in the WIP forums detailing various forces and occurrences in a particular region of ostensibly Imperial space. These span the gamut from Heresy-era campaigns through to M38 Crusades and M42 local conflicts fought between quasi-feudal forces. 

A lot of what I've produced for many of these has been a combination of world-building, in-universe reports upon matters of culture (and religion) or history, and the occasional narrative piece. It's arguably wound up outweighing the miniatures in some scopes. 

I'm intending to get this all more 'organized' - not simply via centralization of various of those non-miniature elements here, but also by going through and compiling points of use so that I can deploy them in a more consistent manner later on. 

So things like words, names, characters, toponyms, historical details and rough timelines of events ... the stuff that really turns it all from a scattering of lines upon the page into something seriously internally interconnected that might be more 'lived in'. 

I keep much of this in my head, of course, and it's already been happening in there already for ... some years now , especially in dialogue with my long-standing collaborator, Umbral; but as I've found myself doing things like googling my own posts on here to see which log I used a concept in so that i can find out just what it is that I actually called it ... well, it's not hard to see how the notion of putting it all in one place and *systematizing* the elements contained therein in a lexicon, or a dramatis personae, or even arcening towards stellar cartography ... was a logical step.

I also figured that it might be a good idea to place the narrative development / worldbuilding side of things, in a part of the forum where people may have a greater interest in these. As the WIP forum is, understandably, mostly frequented by people who prefer a more miniature-dominant approach. 

--

Two of the major threads in question: 

First up - Hara Barazaiti , which looks at Adamantia circa M42, with frequent incursions from the past ;

And second - The Haunting Harii of Hvergelmir , which has a broader (but eventually contemporaneous) period 




 

Edited February 17, 2021 by Ryltar Thamior

[Brother Lunkhead]

Well..... call me tantalized and intrigued  You've really got something very interesting going on here. I've read through your first post here with great fascination and I've skimmed through the two threads linked from your second post. I've a flurry of questions but I'm going to hold off on barraging you with them until I've given these last two threads the study they deserve.

 

In brief, I like what you've got here so far, and I'm looking forward to more We don't get near enough activity in the LIBER IMPERIALIS, so this is a most welcome thread.

[Ryltar Thamior]

[bullet-pointing stuff that I've referred to earlier so it's in a handy easy place for reference] [will also re-sort various things into other sections as necessary] 

Major systems:
> Adamantia 
> Gelonus [sauromatriae; formerly prominent regional capitol ... til the Darians changed the climate from high orbit] 
> Hara Barazaiti [Pinnacle] 
> The Sword Worlds ; Threeswords 
> Ghor [Makhour Khanate capitol] 

Minor systems/Worlds: 
> Pazyryk 
> Dzungaria [legendary Adamantine vault-world] 
> Chayapur
> Dhanvan [site of Ondlangr etc.] 
> Cambyses II 

General/Other: 
> The Pinnacles [LokaPura ; AstraPura ; Caelestial Occuli; Jewels of Heaven]
> The Stars of the Dead [star-Eye-Barrows ; 
> The Region of Ghosts 
> The Varuna [lost ship, pride of the Adamantine navy - also has the necessary activation elements for the Stars of the Dead, Operation Apam Napat]
> [forgotten the name of Thorian station]
> JyothaSteppe 

​> Hvergelmir 
> Inquisitorial Watch-Fortress [codename: 'Hanging Mountain'] ['Hangifjell' ?] [probably *well* away from the Spoil] 
> Ordo Mazdayanos Oubliette-Class Containment Facility [ Codename: Vara ]

 

M42 Internal Divisions Of The Spoil & Power Groups: 
> Markhor Khanate [note east and west divisions either side of main settled spur under Adamantine rump state control] 
> Vayomani Confederation
> The Clans
> Merkant Houses 
> Sauromatriae 
> House Asynjur 

> Dead Stars 
> The Vratya 
> The Manyu ; The Ash-Clad 
> Adamantia Aeternia 


Neighbouring Domains:
> Darian ; Capital - Behistus
> Yavanite 
> Bakkhara
> Xsaca ['Imperium'] 

> Vrkana ['Wolf-Land'] ; capital - Chandrapur ['Moon/Silver Dwelling/Settlement'], renamed Sadrakarta ['Gold-Make', inter alia]
> Daos/Dhew land [immediately to its north] [somewhat artificial Darian designation] 
> Ghora-Ghan Line of fortified systems as Darian frontier between Vrkana and the above, running from Kasya in the west
( meaning - effectively meant 'The Striking Down of Terror' (albeit with a subtle, hidden meaning of smiting out an Adamantine term for 'Rule'). ) 

Dhanvan locations of interest 
> Huskaala sector [combination , works out at 'Rajasthan' via 'Huskarl' but also 'Kaal']
> Ondlangr  [literally translated, 'Long(Expanse) of Wind'; although carrying other means, also - with the meaning-field for 'langr' including 'ancient' (as in 'long ago'), and 'Ond' also having a meaning of 'Spirit']
> Hreumigarh  ['Dusty/Roaring/Famed' depending upon inflection, plus 'Enclosure/Fort/Settlement']. 
> E'Rumkhoth [somewhat figuratively translated: 'Fort in the middle of nowhere']

Edited August 1, 2021 by Ryltar Thamior

[Ryltar Thamior]

Timeline [again, rough - broad-strokes - draft]

M31 
> Great Crusade - Xenocide in general region involving Sons of Horus, Eldar enclaves 
> Heresy ; Ayasa BhutaGana [loyalist Iron Warriors] involvement; 

M35 
> 991 - The Cursed Founding 
M36
> Founding of Adamantia proper under Adamanticores leadership 

M38 
> The Fall of Adamantia 
> Verethragnan Wars "in the centuries following the Fall"

M39
> The Hunt for the Varuna 

M41
> The War of the Iron Saint 

M42
>  The Damyati Initiative 

Edited August 1, 2021 by Ryltar Thamior

[Ryltar Thamior]

Adamantine Theology [brief notes]

The Spear Lord - Adamantine Old Faith understanding of The Emperor [occasionally, a Primarch, potentially]
- One Eyed ; but also Thousand Eyed [viz. Pinnacles]
- 'Sky Sovereign' theonym ['SwaVeeRaj']
- ChakraVartin 
- Divine Craftsman - Key / Chhitra 
- Gryphon Aspect
- Herjan (Imperator)
- Manyu Aspect 
- (Wind Lord ?)
- [JyotirLinnorm - The Wyrm Which Encircles The Stars] [Ahir Budnya] 
- Geirraj - Spear-Lord [Old Adamantian + Skandavak] 
- Kirata ; Mrigaya Padani [all meaning 'Hunter'] ['Kirata' potentially from 'Koryos' [ref: Harja]; may therefore have 'youth' element?]
- Wolf aspect? [note: 'Vrka' utilized also to refer to 'demons' in Darian] [golden wolf - 

Adi-Mata 
- Vax , Tapas 
- Sauromatriae 

Adamantine Way - 
"And in this way, while the feeling, the knowledge, the *belief*, of being Adamantine, was constantly out there waiting to be re-fleshed .... Adamantia could never truly be conquered. Adamantia could never truly die. The Adamantine Way stretched out as an endless road, a path, and a Pati, running all the way from Terra to the present. A shining ascendency through Holy Light, which cast a direct line across the otherwise trackless Steppe of Stars. And which also therefore situated Tapas - Heat, Light, Struggle, Worthy Effort - and Vax ('Speech'), as dual emanations from the Adamantine Goddess at the Heart of All."

Adamani-Rashtriyak [revanchist/revivalist]

ChakraVata - Whirlwind

Great-Grandmother Urth [self-explanatory - Terra] 

Pitrs - Ancestors , 'Forefathers' 

VarunaGana - the Oath-Bound Sky-Soldiers

ThunderChild - 

Vajra - "Adamantine, Hard, Implacable, Indefatigable, Enduring."
viz. Ash-Clad - Upon the battlefield, the Ash-Clad put to use skills often honed in previous lives of military duty, yet also marry this with the mystical facility afforded to them by their unquenchable faith in the power of their homeland. They are, after all, swathed and protected in Her Native Earth - the stuff, carbonized, of which the hardest Diamonds (Vajra - a term that can mean both Adamantium, and Diamond, and Thunderbolt, Weapon of the Gods ... for such the most gifted amongst them also see themselves as) is made. 

Revanta - 

Guhyakas 

Shyena - Falcon

Eitr - 


Arka - 

Pralaya - " 'Pralaya' meant an 'unraveling', and in this context referred to the tapestry of Adamantia coming apart due to some apocalyptic-scale onslaught."

Blade-As-Mind - "wherein the goal and object was to take the singular shearing purpose of a weapon, and think out, reason out, feel out the potential paths of its application, and thusly deliver not only immediate victory but the far-reaching triumph which could only come from understanding the nature of its employment and the broader context of the campaign. "

Mind-As-Blade - "designed to move past the nebulous clouds of doubt, and instead concentrate and focus the mental faculties simply and singly upon the bearer's nature as a weapon - and thence, excel at one's appointed role, regardless of such hesitation-inducing consternations. "

Heshrpandits - "upheld the genomic excellence required for the Realm of Adamantia's fated purpose as Astartes fortress-womb "

KalAdharastines (occasionally Gothicized as 'Kal-Adrastines') -
'The Blade / Leading Edge / Hand of Kaal' - Kaal being an Old Adamantine theonym for a deity of both Time and Death and bearing the Black colouration of the Dark Night. With slight alteration of inflection, it could also be interpreted to mean 'The Skillful in the Craft', implicitly of Death; and when calqued into the Yavanite languages to Adamantia's West it became 'Kal-Adrastines': understood there as "The Inescapable Kal". 
['Kaal' also as 'Beauty'] 
- Bhairava specialization .. terror, headtaking
- Kapalika - 'Headman' 
- Kirata ; Mrigaya ; Padani - 'Hunter' [potential anti-psyker ? chasing down sorcerers following trail of maleficarum back to them .. 
[note: Kirata may have influenced later Haunting Harii of Hvergelmir - note reptilian elements etc.; Sauromatriae resonancy also] 

the Cog-Wheel device represents a not uncommon escutcheon for the KalAdharastas - as it is thought to symbolize the inexorable, regular expression of the Law : the central wheel about which all else turns in motion as a result. And hence, once again, the inevitable cycle via which Night follows Day - and the KalAdharasta pursues his quarry til its dissolution. Declaring to would-be usurpers that they shall be ground down between the indefatigable gear-teeth of Order in recompense for their having sought to defy and oppose Reality Itself. 

The metallic-blue casing is likely an intentional referencing of the colour's symbolic situation as that of Death in Adamantine folklore. 

The lightning-bolts upon the outer casing would stand for Divine Justice, and its inescapable, far-ranging, and sudden-striking appearance. 

Krityas - 'Actions' 
 But also more specialized invocations where the Hunter is accompanied by the force of 'Krityas' [literally - 'Actions'], and apparently employed along with these to dispatch invidious sorcerers, against whom they are apparently inured. 

"[sending-Lord], victorious in fight, subdue the armies of our foes! / Back on the sorcerer we cast his sorcery, and beat it home.

Thou who hast piercing weapons, pierce him who hath wrought it; conquer him. / We do not sharpen thee to slay the man who hath not practised it.

Go as a consequence follows his causation: bite as a trampled viper bites. / Fly 'gainst him like one unfettered of all bonds, the witchcraft-maker!

Let the Krityas chase down the perpetrator like terrified prey. / The coldly inevitabile result [of law's violation] falling upon its cause like the Manticore!"

Chandrahas  -
 it is also considered likely that the teeth of the weapon were comprised of some hypersharp and otherwise irresistible material perhaps broadly comparable to the 'frostblade' weapons of the Vlka Fenryka Astartes [this may also have been the case for the 'Teeth' of the fabled 'Chandrahas' - the 'Glinting Laughter/Smile of the Moon', the most illustrious sword's crescent shape simultaneously recalling a smiling mouth and the lunar crescent].

Camara - 
Attached to its pommel is a long knotted strand, likely of horse tail, and assumedly representing something akin to the Camara in-use in some Adamantine feudal baronies as one of the insignia of rulership, as well as for its practical function as a whip or fly-swat. It is likely to have fulfilled a protective function for the Kirata, presumably against those sorcerous powers aforementioned - at least in the warrior's own mind and belief-system.  

The Manyu - " a 'spirit' or a 'mind' (with which it is etymologically linked), as well as the 'active expressions' thereof. In the latter case, most usually in aggressive, negative form. It is 'wrath' and it is 'sorrow' - yet it is also 'piety' and 'zeal'. Such are the intricacies of the Adamantine Old Tongue. "
- "veer-y specific form of destroyer-spirit in the Adamantine Old Faith. A Facing of the Spear-Lord Who takes the field when situations are at their direst, inspiring and imparting His power to the Adamantine war-host; and overtly terrifying any who might seek to stand against Him. "
- "referring also to the 'War-Mask' and its accompanying psycho-metaphysical state of investment wherein the Devotee becomes almost akin to those baelful spirits from Adamantine legends whose faces and facets they have drawn in. "

Ash-Clad - "an order of renunciate warrior-mystics, so named for their practice of going into combat their skins slathered with the white ash of dead burned worlds and shattered memories. 

During the course of the Scouring of Adamantia, countless thousands of settlements, shrines, and clans were consigned to the charring expurgation of the Ekpyrosis Edict. The intent of those who sought to inflict such all-enveloping iconoclastic incineration upon Adamantia was that it should be burned down in spirit as well as in physical form. The heritage, culture, and mindset that had previously flourished there - and enabled Adamantia's flourishing in return - be reduced to ash upon the wind, never to rise again. 

"

Vibhuti - Power, Ash 

GraveSpeaker

Gryphons -

[also note Gryphon aspect of the Spear Lord]

Riphean Revenants 

Trita - THE THRICE-BLESSED SAGE-SEER OF THE PIERCING FLAME

VIP-AYAH-AGRA - 

"The Path of Poetry, is the Tongue. 

The Bridge of Piety, is the Tongue. 

The Tongue of Poetry, is the Flame"

"Amongst the Harii, it is said 

That Fire, Lightning, Sun, 

Are all of common thread"

 

'Testimony of the Wind Lord as to Ancient Days', a mytho-historical text of the Adamantine Folk Religion. 

Lord Dexter - Right, Righteous 

 the Inquisitor-Priest Da Dhi-Chita, the so-called Thunder Sage

Dvipa 

Region of Ghosts 
 

Edited August 1, 2021 by Ryltar Thamior