Vastarian: A suffocating darkness

Eli standing next to his horrifying creation, the Child Inverted.

Last November we held an Inq28 event with Bill Ford: Vastarian - Dreams of the Pious. The setting revolves around the cathedral world of Vastarian, which is home to hundreds of disparate Imperial religious sects, each venerating the God-Emperor of Mankind in their own unique way. The opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum, a great tear in the fabric of the Milky Way Galaxy, has resulted in a psychic awakening across the populace of Vastarian. Each religious sect on the planet now believes that they alone were blessed with a psychic emissary touched by the Emperor himself. The tenuous peace on Vastarian has now devolved to bloodshed and persecution. During this psychic turmoil, the Astronomican, the purifying radiance of the Emperor, plummeted as if it were a tallow candle guttering in a tumultuous wind. It was in dreams that panic spread, a euphoric terror spawned from an encroaching darkness–a presence that seeping in from the margins, dripping from the stars as if they were untethering from reality. This darkness was later attributed to the manifestation of a daemonic presence on Vastarian, the Child Inverted. These daemons were made in secret by Eli (redwetskeleton) and only revealed on the final day of the event, when the lighthouse was activated!

The Child Inverted. The Cancer made manifest from Vastarian’s Faith: ignorance, zealotry, hypocrisy, spite, and frustration.

The second Herald of The Child Inverted. The being spoken of only as “The Gate.” A pulsating effigy to submission in its ultimate form. A complete reforging, a better self, whatever its master desires.

Frustration. A leering skull constantly flailing its many tongues. Crustacean claws pulling their way from a nonexistent throat, its grotesquely muscled phallic form smashing all before it. Blind. Dumb. Deaf. Behold the almighty male ego.

The Concubine. The chorus of great chains mixes with the deafening rumble of noise attempting to escape the giant mouth, suppressed through the crown of corruption stuffed into its greedy mouth. Its sole eye glaring in horrified bliss.

The Concubine and Frustration rampage, blind and dumb, through the hallowed halls of a chapel on Vastarian. In an instant, the world of Lazlo, Secretariat of his Eminence of the Reverent House of St Nirvath, is shattered, as his mind begins to fray. He realizes his doom is upon him.

Spite. While the previous four Heralds terrorized the inhabitants of the church and the surrounding moors, the final two heralds were unleashed upon the lighthouse itself. Surrounded by a clowder of its smaller kindred, this monstrosity spewed torrents of void black fluid on those unfortunate enough to see its chastised form as their last sight.

The final Herald to descend upon Vastarian. The undisputed chosen of The Child Inverted. “The Paramour” was entrusted with assaulting the lighthouse itself and ensuring The Child Inverted would truly be brought into reality proper.

Make sure to follow Eli (redwetskeleton)! And expect to hear more about the Child Inverted in the future!

- Eric Wier