Vastarian: the Emergence of Saints

“But what can be done when you find the apocalypse has a dream of its own?” - Thomas Ligotti

The “Emergence of Saints,” as it would later be called, was a psychic awakening that swept over Vastarian and caused the planet to collapse into bedlam virtually overnight. Overnight indeed, as it was in dreams the panic spread, a euphoric terror spawned from an encroaching darkness–a presence that would seep in from the margins, dripping from the stars as if they were untethering from reality. The rise of “Saints” provided a temporary respite from the tenebrous and suffocating darkness that occupied the minds of all those on Vastarian. These nascent psykers acted as luminous beacons in a fulminous storm that assaulted the inhabitants of the planet. But as blood ran along the cobbled streets and spattered on the colored glass of arched windows, the blackness descended once more as a shroud that haunted the minds of those in dreams. But as though it was metastasizing, that blackness began to leak from the confines of sleep, trapping inhabitants in a liminal space between wakefulness and sleep. During this psychic turmoil, the purifying radiance of the Emperor, the Astronomican, plummeted as if it were a tallow candle guttering in a tumultuous wind. This absence was profoundly felt by those on Vastarian. A palpable unease and anxiety permeated the planet and spurred on new acts of violence and persecution. In desperation, many of the Spyrehead enclaves on the planet pooled their resources and delved deeply into datastacks and crumpling treatises on the nature of astropathic beacons and put into motion a fantastical gambit: fortifying one of the principle lighthouses as a psychic conduit that might amplify the waning Astronomican. So began one of the strangest facets of the chronicles of Vastarian…

- Naewen, savant of Thrax

The Emperor’s light cannot be manufactured. It cannot be contained by constructs built by human hands. Those hands can only destroy. - an unremembered follower of the Red Path. Picture courtesy of Shane Brockway.

Watch this space for more about what we are doing with our Vastarian setting in the coming months!

- Eric Wier