Vastarian: the Road to Ravachol

“I can only sit and wait, knowing that one day he will turn full around, step down from his stage, and claim me for the abyss I have always feared. Perhaps then I will discover what it was I did - what any of us did - to deserve this fate.” - Thomas Ligotti

The “Emergence of Saints” was a psychic awakening that swept over Vastarian and caused the planet to collapse into bedlam. In dreams panic spread, a euphoric terror spawned from an encroaching darkness—a presence that seeped 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 suffocating darkness that occupied the minds of everyone on Vastarian. These nascent psykers acted as luminous beacons in a fulminous storm that assaulted the inhabitants of the planet. However, as the violence escalated, the intangible blackness enveloped Vastarian with renewed vigor, haunting its people through dreams. 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. In desperation, many of the Spyrehead conclaves on the planet pooled their resources and delved deeply into crumbling treatises on the nature of astropathic beacons and put into motion a fantastical gambit: fortifying the principle lighthouse in Ravachol as a psychic conduit to amplify the waning Astronomican.

Although their network was vast, the Vastarian Spyrehead conclaves understood they could not build and implement the beacon themselves, as it required vast quantities of materials and more importantly, potent psykers to light and focus the beacon. They needed the help of all those receptive, of all the denominations of the Imperial Creed who would put the Emperor first, ahead of petty differences in spiritual practice. It was in dreams that the Vastarian calamity started, so it was in dreams that those Spyreheads, with psychic aptitude, beseeched all those on Vastarian for help:

Take the pilgrimage to Ravachol, bringing resources to construct the beacon. Bring those among your congregation that have psychic aptitude, to power the beacon and illuminate the world. Finally, most of all, bring faith. For faith in Him is the bedrock of the Imperium and only it can quell the darkness dwelling in your souls.

Perhaps it was inevitable, a reflection of the fallibility of the human condition, but not all were agreeable to the erection of an astropathic beacon in Ravachol. But everyone did come to the windswept city at the edge of the world…

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Now is the time for your Vastarian Cult to pick a side in the escalating chaos embroiling Vastarian! Will your Cult side with the Spyreheads and attempt to build a massive astropathic beacon to lift the pall engulfing the planet? Will they stop at nothing to see the Spyrehead’s ambition crumble? Or perhaps they simply want to see the world collapse, a preordained apocalypse that is impossible to intercept? Delve into your Cult’s doctrines and beliefs and make a choice. Regardless, the road to Ravachol is paved in blood and misery…

Below are some basic scenario prompts that should be easy to adapt to whatever ruleset you like, allowing you to play miniature games with in the Vastarian setting, building up to our narrative event later this year in Texas:

The Beast

After centuries of tenuous peace, the religious tolerance that defined Vastarian collapsed, in a fugue of dream-induced terror. Fuelled by purity, hate, or some other base human emotion, religious sects took to the streets with violent fervor desperate to find psykers, either with the goal of augmenting the beacon in Ravachol, or deny them from it.

Special Rules: At the start of the game, D6+3 citizens are placed on the center of the board. One of these citizens is a latent psyker (should be marked underneath their base by the GM beforehand). Each turn, each citizen flees D12" in a random direction indicated by the roll of a scatter dice. The citizens have the following profile:

Citizen

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	AG	A
-	9+	-	3	3	1	7+	1

    

Each cult may attempt to capture the citizens to determine if they are latent psykers for their own purposes. You may look under the base of a citizen to determine if they are a psyker if you perform one of the following: 1) come into base contact with a Stunned citizen, 2) Stun a citizen in melee, 3) take a citizen Out of Action in melee. If there is an icon underneath the base, you have found the latent psyker and have won the game. The game may continue or the players may choose to end the game after the psyker has been discovered.

The King

With the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum, the inhabitants of Vastarian were wracked by unified dreams, dreams of spectacular derangement and miracles of metastasis and biological dysfunction that offered each dreamer their own personal apocalypse. After months of these collective visions, centered on the ruins of reality, they started to shift and began to be dominated by a radiant light emanating from a figure whose features could not be made out, a being that seemed to pacify the encroaching ruin. The figure’s form was not consistent, as though it was taking on an aspect of the dreamer. These dreams seemed to coincide with an unprecedented psychic awakening, one that touched virtually every religious sect on Vastarian, fomenting zealous conjecture within each denomination that they alone had been touched by the Emperor Himself, birthing a Saint that would rise from the ashes of a burning Vastarian. Finally, after centuries of tenuous peace, the religious tolerance that defined the planet collapsed. The war for the Emperor’s soul had begun, for there could only be one Saint, and the rest false idols and apostates.

Special Rules: Each player identifies their Saint at the beginning of the battle. Whomever wounds the most opposing Saints wins the game. Should there be a tie, the tie is broken by whomever took the most models Out of Action.

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A follower of the Adeptus Mechanicus Church of the Gyrochoir makes their way to Ravachol. Created by the estimable Nicky Grillet.

We hope you will get involved in building the narrative and lore for Vastarian. If you play any games in the setting, don’t hesitate to reach out to us (via Instagram or via our email), as we would love to see what you are doing! Also make sure to follow #vastarian on Instagram to see what others are doing in the setting!

- Eric Wier