Ghoul Stars in 40K: Does cosmic horror has a place in this setting?

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

A few months ago I watched a few YT story videos about the Ghoul Stars. Imo they were quite good. Should GW pick up the ball here and release a book series about the Ghoul Stars? In essence it would evolve around a bunch of hapless schmucks getting scared and eviscerated by Lovecraftian entities and their minions. The lucky survivors would be of course confined to padded cells as soon as they reached the nearest Imperial outpost.

 

You could even produce a specialist game for it. You will have Space Marines (what else?!) of the Death Spectres wandering either through abandoned space stations or haunted planetary outposts in order to exterminate any specimen from the Ghoul Stars who has the ability to reach Imperial space. Model designers will be allowed to snort cocaine again and come up with crazy body horror creatures instead of cranking out the X-th version of a dinobot.

[Valkyrion]

GW have, I think, dished out the Cosmic Horror equally between Necrons, Chaos and Tyranids. 

Necrons give you the 'great old ones' - star gods, immortality, ancient entities - trading your mortal shell for an immortal soul, impermanence for perpetuity, what would you do if you could live forever but couldn't enjoy anything?   

Tyranids give you the unknowable alien - monstrous, hungry, merciless - something that might exist way out there in the void. The circle of life, the great predation, there is always something higher up the food chain, it's just nature taking its course but we are the cattle. 

Chaos gives you the knowable sin - greed, gluttony, pride, lust, envy, wrath, sloth - you know what it will cost and it's up to you to pay the price, but there is no salvation. You walk that path for one year, 100 years or a thousand years or more, but the sin will claim you in the end. 

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Valkyrion

[NTaW]

There's two entries on the Black Library site that list the Ghoul Stars as the setting. Severed, a Necron book by Nate Crowley, and Helbrecht: The Crusader, a Black Templar short story by Guy Haley. Perhaps they're worth looking into?

[Rain]

I think the current 40k fiction paradigm is to write exclusively about factions (including antagonists) that can be purchased as models. That said, there is such a firehose of BL content that I may be wrong.

 

Cosmic horror is mostly covered by existing factions as has been mentioned. Genestealer Cults are *very* Lovecraftian. The entire faction is basically A Shadow Over Innsmouth IN SPACE, from the secret worship of unknowable ancient entities to the hybrids that gradually look less and leas human and devolve into full on monstrosities.