Vastarian: the Church of the Gyro Choir

The Disintegration Loops.

Arrogant clankers. Do they really think I’d keep working with them and not get noospheric and binaric implants at some point? The clergy of Mars sure pays well, but that doesn’t mean I trust them. Would they use so many layers of firewalls and data encryptions if they didn’t have anything to hide?

I’ve been their pilot for a while, but paying well isn’t always enough. The information I've scraped for now goes a long way to settle my debt. I’m sure others will like what I've heard on this journey to Vastarian. A decade doing this job, and I've never seen any of them so.. Nervous? I mean maybe at least something can wake up their dormant human emotions?

I’ve known for a while that the Adeptus Mechanicus was not a unified dogma. They have internal sects, with specific systems of beliefs, with the Omnissiah and all always at the center. These ones though, they call themselves the Church of the Gyro Choir. I think they came from a lost underhive city. Something must have happened there, some kind of fringe event. And they keep mentioning a Servo Prophet. They make all kinds of horrible noises when they are not exchanging data. I wonder if it’s some kind of prayer? I can recognise patterns, but my implants don’t seem to have the correct plugins. I’ll have to get on that.

I wonder why an obscure sect of the Mechanicum is so anxious to get to Vastarian? They talk about an awakening that happened there, but it’s the first time I’ve heard about it.

I need to be careful because I think they know I'm listening, even if I doubt they know I understand. Or maybe I don't, it doesn’t make any sense to me.

The frequency of a psychic scream matching the words of the prophet? The holoprints for a lighthouse? The raw wisdom of the Omnissiah? And all this noise. This horrible noise.

We’ll soon arrive at Vastarian. I can’t wait for them to leave my ship.

- Last entry of the logbook of Captain Hainbach of the Erebus’ Pendulum, found dead in a local tavern after his audio implant overheated.

Mother Candencia Metronomaton, Magos Harmonis of the Church of the Gyro Choir.

For years we have always been huge fans of the work of Nicky Grillet, something that was elevated to new heights when meeting her at Mordheim 2019 and seeing some of her Grillet boxes in person! Her artwork is defined by creative energy and whimsy. When we were first thinking of starting our Vastarian Invitational, we commissioned her to create a piece of artwork depicting one of our Church of the Red Athenæum characters, something that helped get us in the right mindset for the setting. Months later, after starting the Invitational, we were browsing Nicky’s Etsy store and found she was selling some of her Adeptus Mechanicus conversions. They immediately struck a chord with us, particularly when we noticed they were from a faction called the Church of the Gyro Choir. The allusion to music rekindled an idea we had about making a cult that venerated the Emperor by creating discordant music and noise, akin to some of Greg’s harsh noise tracks, under the moniker Persistent Self Abuse. Nicky’s mechanicum models seemed like a perfect vessel to explore this idea, and we purchased a few. Knowing that Nicky also creates music, we decided to see if she would be interested in exploring the concept of a Adeptus Mechanicus faction that thinks harsh noise is the purest form of prayer to the Omnissiah. To our delight, Nicky liked the idea and quickly set to work creating a band of new models for the cult, expanding on her Church of the Gyro Choir!

The newest members of the Church of the Gyro Choir, spreading dissonant tones and reverberant drones.

Lexico Arcanus Tsuchinshan 9981600.11Z/f skitters about on a carriage of fine pneumatic legs.

With bells, speakers, and screaming skulls, they spread the glorious “word” of the Omnissiah.

An Electro-priest of the Church of the Gyro Choir.

Mother Candencia Metronomaton, Magos Harmonis, leading an assembly of devoted followers to Ravachol. They are intent on lending their expertise to the Spyreheads of the Diocese of the Adamant Spires to create an astropathic beacon that brings glory to the Omnissiah’s name.

Even lobotomized thralls have something to contribute to the Omnissiah’s grand design.

Lexico Arcanus Griev and a pair of servo-thralls.

- Eric Wier