“Soon, we shall reach our ancestral home, and the blessed clamour of our return shall wake the gods themselves.”    –Parathas Hayne, Praesul of the Children of the Inheritance

Countless heresies plagues the Askellon sector, rotting the Imperium of Man from within. As an Acolyte of an Inquisitor, it is your job to maintain a ceaseless, thankless vigil, desperately battling to eradicate even the tiniest fraction of this corruption. Now, a new heresy has emerged, and if left unchecked, its repercussions threaten the entirety of the sector.

Forgotten Gods, the first book-length adventure for Dark Heresy Second Edition, is now available at your local retailer and online through our webstore!

A Widespread Conspiracy

This adventure thrusts you into the midst of an investigation into the Faceless Trade – smugglers trafficking proscribed artefacts. In the wrong hands, these items could be used for terrible evil. It is your duty to track down the Trade Sable smugglers and their potential buyers, and by so doing push back the forces of darkness that would consume the Askellon sector.

Your investigation begins in the wastelands outside of Hive Desoleum. In this bleak landscape and in the hive itself, you uncover the seeds of corruption that will lead you closer to your final goal. Your adventure starts at the scene of a violent altercation, and from that point, you must track down those responsible and discover the whereabouts of the xenos artefacts that the smugglers were hoping to sell.

The trail of the crime quickly leads you offworld, onto the massive Rogue Trader vessel, Oath Unspoken. Aboard the Oath Unspoken, your investigations can continue, but the ship is as large as a city, and finding clear answers anywhere may quickly lead you and your fellow Acolytes into unwanted trouble. You may descend into the depths of the ship to investigate the Corpse-Holds, or you may be summoned to the Banquet Chamber of Lord-Captain Astride Anzaforr.

After the voyage, you arrive at the bone-ridden cemetery world of Thaur. The planet is covered in tombs to honor the dead and overgrown, primeval forests. Despite this outward tranquility, heresy of the darkest sort festers within the planet. It will take every effort from you and the other Acolytes to exterminate this heresy and vanquish the heretics for the glory of the Emperor.

In addition to a thrilling adventure that spans the Askellon sector, Forgotten Gods offers plenty of gazetteer information on the locations of the adventure. What’s more, each of these three main locations can be used as a new homeworld during character creation. Your Acolyte may hail from the packed city of Hive Desoleum, he may have been born aboard the Oath Unspoken, or he may call the shrine world of Thaur his former home.

Ancient Enemies

Heresy is everywhere in the Imperium. You are one of the few tasked with battling that heresy. Now, in Forgotten Gods, you face a threat like no other. Gather your courage and pray to the Emperor for strength. Only you can stop the deadly threat now stirring in the Askellon sector!

Pick up your copy of Forgotten Gods at your local retailer today!

In Dark Heresy Second Edition, you are an Acolyte in the service of the Inquisition, battling unfathomable evils as you struggle to keep the Imperium from utter corruption. Threats may arise from within, without, or beyond… And sometimes, the greatest threats come from the distant past.

We recently announced the Forgotten Gods book-length adventure, which pits you and your team of Acolytes against the Faceless Trade, smugglers of proscribed artefacts, whose wares may awaken an ancient evil. Your investigations will take you across the Askellon sector, through strange and unknown locales.

Today, Tim Cox, the writer of the Forgotten Gods adventure, shares his thoughts on designing the key locations of the book.

Tim Cox on the Forgotten Gods Adventure

After writing Dark Pursuits, the adventure contained in the Dark Heresy Second Edition Core Rulebook, I was more than a little excited to dive into Forgotten Gods, the first book-length adventure for the new edition! Like Dark Pursuits and Desolation of the Dead, the adventure included in the Dark Heresy Game Master’s Kit, Forgotten Gods explores the central themes of Dark Heresy, as the Acolytes explore hidden threats and expose even greater dangers to the Askellon sector, striving against overwhelming odds to stem the rise of darkness.

This time, the investigation of the xenos artefacts takes the Players Characters from the depths of the hive to the wastelands surrounding it, before leading them off-planet entirely. Players may have learned a great deal about the hive city of Desoleum in prior Dark Heresy adventures, but I’m really excited for them to see more of the strange locations and cultures in the Askellon sector. Over the course of this adventure, they’ll visit two radically different locations – the Rogue Trader vessel, Oath Unspoken, and the shrine world of Thaur, a blessed planet devoted to cemeteries. I had a lot of fun developing both locations and coming up with unique details to set them apart. Each location has a truly distinct atmosphere that brings these places to life.

Into the Void

To get from Desoleum to Thaur, the Acolytes must journey aboard the Oath Unspoken. The journey through the Warp is much more than a path from point A to point B, however. Any passage through the nightmarish unreality of the Immaterium is a great undertaking, and even a relatively short Warp journey is a matter of weeks. One entire chapter of the adventure takes place aboard the Oath Unspoken, as the PCs continue their investigation into the artefact smugglers and the identities of their mysterious customers. Like any voidship, the Oath Unspoken is massive, much more akin to a location than a vehicle, a home to millennia of culture and secrets.

Here, you’ll find a gazetteer with information about the shipboard culture and notable locations aboard the Oath Unspoken, from the Corpse-Holds to the Navigator’s Sanctum, but you’ll also discover more of the Rogue Traders’ role in the Askellon sector. Specifically, readers will learn of the great trade war between the Anzaforr and Surena dynasties, and how the two families have undertaken penance in the decades since. Of course, any benefits to their power bases as a result of services offered to the Ecclesiarchy or the Imperial Navy are surely incidental!

One ship area the PCs will likely visit is the Drunnels, a large open-deck marketplace that takes up an entire cargo hold and a large portion of the surrounding corridors and chambers. The Drunnels showcases the fact that the Oath Unspoken is much more than a mere ship, and its peculiar customs have developed over thousands of years. Aboard a Rogue Trader’s vessel, it is perhaps no surprise that the importance of trade and negotiation has filtered down to even the lowliest crew-serfs. In the Drunnels, haggling is a way of life. An elaborately ritualised form of negotiating is required for any transaction, from acquiring information or lodgings to merely catching a glimpse of a performance by the Cirque Commercia. Unwary Acolytes might even find themselves entering into unintended bargains!

Planet of the Dead

After travelling aboard an ancient voidship, the arrival on Thaur could be a shock for the Acolytes. The PCs were unlikely to see even a single leaf on Desoleum, but now the steel corridors of hive and voidship are now replaced by vast, dense forests and ancient, crumbling mausoleums. This sparsely populated, largely low-tech world offers a distinct contrast to Hive Desoleum and the Oath Unspoken!

Thaur is home to the graves of the sector’s greatest heroes and most revered saints, with monuments and tombs built from the bones of pious citizens. On this planet the dead are more important than the living. Every division of the Eulogus Askelline – the planet’s governing body and Ecclesiarchy diocese – is committed to the task of caring for and honouring the deceased, from the poor who scrimp and save their entire lives to be buried here, to powerful nobility, war heroes, and saints.

I really enjoyed coming up with the details of the Eulogus Askelline’s beliefs and various branches, as it incorporates Thaur’s governance, religion, defence force, and more. In particular, I’m quite fond of the Ossuarian Custodians, the monastic guardians of the Great Ossuria and the ancient and mysterious catacombs that descend far beneath Thaur’s surface. From defending against tomb robbers to repairing crumbling bone-work statues, they see to the preservation of the ossuaries that house Thaur’s most esteemed residents. Unlike the Mournful Guard who watch over the surface, the Custodians carry specialised and deadly weaponry – and they do not look kindly upon intruders.

Experience Askellon

I hope players enjoy exploring the Askellon sector further in Forgotten Gods as they uncover and defeat an ancient threat to the Imperium. For me, one of the best parts of Warhammer 40,000 is the interesting and bizarre worlds that make up the Imperium. Even within the world classifications – hive world, forge world, shrine world, and so on – there’s no standard, and Dark Heresy offers the opportunity to explore this diversity in depth. I think players and GMs will find the wastelands of Desoleum, the Oath Unspoken, and Thaur to offer many exciting roleplaying opportunities, whether you sit down to a formal dinner with Lord-Captain Aristide Anzaforr or push through the tangled forests of Thaur to search for the grave of a god. But remember – wherever you go, there are always new heresies!

Thanks, Tim!

Can you stop the Faceless Trade before their artefacts awaken unspeakable corruption within the Askellon sector? Unless you act, an ancient evil will rise to prominence once more. Gather your fellow Acolytes, and purge this heresy before it can spread!

Pre-order Forgotten Gods at your local retailer today!

In Dark Heresy Second Edition, you are an Acolyte in the service of the Inquisition, battling unfathomable evils as you struggle to keep the Imperium from utter corruption. Threats may arise from within, without, or beyond… And sometimes, the greatest threats come from the distant past.

We recently announced the Forgotten Gods book-length adventure, which pits you and your team of Acolytes against the Faceless Trade, smugglers of proscribed artefacts, whose wares may awaken an ancient evil. Your investigations will take you across the Askellon sector, through strange and unknown locales.

Today, Tim Cox, the writer of the Forgotten Gods adventure, shares his thoughts on designing the key locations of the book.

Tim Cox on the Forgotten Gods Adventure

After writing Dark Pursuits, the adventure contained in the Dark Heresy Second Edition Core Rulebook, I was more than a little excited to dive into Forgotten Gods, the first book-length adventure for the new edition! Like Dark Pursuits and Desolation of the Dead, the adventure included in the Dark Heresy Game Master’s Kit, Forgotten Gods explores the central themes of Dark Heresy, as the Acolytes explore hidden threats and expose even greater dangers to the Askellon sector, striving against overwhelming odds to stem the rise of darkness.

This time, the investigation of the xenos artefacts takes the Players Characters from the depths of the hive to the wastelands surrounding it, before leading them off-planet entirely. Players may have learned a great deal about the hive city of Desoleum in prior Dark Heresy adventures, but I’m really excited for them to see more of the strange locations and cultures in the Askellon sector. Over the course of this adventure, they’ll visit two radically different locations – the Rogue Trader vessel, Oath Unspoken, and the shrine world of Thaur, a blessed planet devoted to cemeteries. I had a lot of fun developing both locations and coming up with unique details to set them apart. Each location has a truly distinct atmosphere that brings these places to life.

Into the Void

To get from Desoleum to Thaur, the Acolytes must journey aboard the Oath Unspoken. The journey through the Warp is much more than a path from point A to point B, however. Any passage through the nightmarish unreality of the Immaterium is a great undertaking, and even a relatively short Warp journey is a matter of weeks. One entire chapter of the adventure takes place aboard the Oath Unspoken, as the PCs continue their investigation into the artefact smugglers and the identities of their mysterious customers. Like any voidship, the Oath Unspoken is massive, much more akin to a location than a vehicle, a home to millennia of culture and secrets.

Here, you’ll find a gazetteer with information about the shipboard culture and notable locations aboard the Oath Unspoken, from the Corpse-Holds to the Navigator’s Sanctum, but you’ll also discover more of the Rogue Traders’ role in the Askellon sector. Specifically, readers will learn of the great trade war between the Anzaforr and Surena dynasties, and how the two families have undertaken penance in the decades since. Of course, any benefits to their power bases as a result of services offered to the Ecclesiarchy or the Imperial Navy are surely incidental!

One ship area the PCs will likely visit is the Drunnels, a large open-deck marketplace that takes up an entire cargo hold and a large portion of the surrounding corridors and chambers. The Drunnels showcases the fact that the Oath Unspoken is much more than a mere ship, and its peculiar customs have developed over thousands of years. Aboard a Rogue Trader’s vessel, it is perhaps no surprise that the importance of trade and negotiation has filtered down to even the lowliest crew-serfs. In the Drunnels, haggling is a way of life. An elaborately ritualised form of negotiating is required for any transaction, from acquiring information or lodgings to merely catching a glimpse of a performance by the Cirque Commercia. Unwary Acolytes might even find themselves entering into unintended bargains!

Planet of the Dead

After travelling aboard an ancient voidship, the arrival on Thaur could be a shock for the Acolytes. The PCs were unlikely to see even a single leaf on Desoleum, but now the steel corridors of hive and voidship are now replaced by vast, dense forests and ancient, crumbling mausoleums. This sparsely populated, largely low-tech world offers a distinct contrast to Hive Desoleum and the Oath Unspoken!

Thaur is home to the graves of the sector’s greatest heroes and most revered saints, with monuments and tombs built from the bones of pious citizens. On this planet the dead are more important than the living. Every division of the Eulogus Askelline – the planet’s governing body and Ecclesiarchy diocese – is committed to the task of caring for and honouring the deceased, from the poor who scrimp and save their entire lives to be buried here, to powerful nobility, war heroes, and saints.

I really enjoyed coming up with the details of the Eulogus Askelline’s beliefs and various branches, as it incorporates Thaur’s governance, religion, defence force, and more. In particular, I’m quite fond of the Ossuarian Custodians, the monastic guardians of the Great Ossuria and the ancient and mysterious catacombs that descend far beneath Thaur’s surface. From defending against tomb robbers to repairing crumbling bone-work statues, they see to the preservation of the ossuaries that house Thaur’s most esteemed residents. Unlike the Mournful Guard who watch over the surface, the Custodians carry specialised and deadly weaponry – and they do not look kindly upon intruders.

Experience Askellon

I hope players enjoy exploring the Askellon sector further in Forgotten Gods as they uncover and defeat an ancient threat to the Imperium. For me, one of the best parts of Warhammer 40,000 is the interesting and bizarre worlds that make up the Imperium. Even within the world classifications – hive world, forge world, shrine world, and so on – there’s no standard, and Dark Heresy offers the opportunity to explore this diversity in depth. I think players and GMs will find the wastelands of Desoleum, the Oath Unspoken, and Thaur to offer many exciting roleplaying opportunities, whether you sit down to a formal dinner with Lord-Captain Aristide Anzaforr or push through the tangled forests of Thaur to search for the grave of a god. But remember – wherever you go, there are always new heresies!

Thanks, Tim!

Can you stop the Faceless Trade before their artefacts awaken unspeakable corruption within the Askellon sector? Unless you act, an ancient evil will rise to prominence once more. Gather your fellow Acolytes, and purge this heresy before it can spread!

Pre-order Forgotten Gods at your local retailer today!

Valatine Lewin was good. Few knew of her, but those who did ensured she always had work. She had been Faceless many times before, smuggling Eldar trinkets, silver devices of unknown origin, and even fresh Ork teef from battles along the Stygies Cluster. The Faceless Trade never ended; the voracious appetite for the outré and forbidden meant that there would always be people like her to whet it.

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce Forgotten Gods, the first book-length adventure for Dark Heresy Second Edition!

Even a moment of heresy left unchecked can damn millions of lives in the terrifying future of Dark Heresy Second Edition. You must strive to forestall this grisly fate by serving as an Acolyte of an Inquisitor, the last bastion between Mankind and the eternal corruption of Chaos. In this book-length adventure, your talents and skills are put to their greatest test, as you investigate proscribed artefacts of deadly power and battle a cult whose heresies reach far into the Askellon sector’s past.

Uncover the Faceless Trade

Mankind was not always such a powerful force in the galaxy. Long before the first humans achieved consciousness, ancient gods ruled the stars and spaces between them. In Forgotten Gods, your fears are about to be realised. A cult has hired the smugglers of the Faceless Trade to bring them forbidden artefacts, and they plot to use the power of these artefacts to reawaken a god from the time before Man. As a devoted servant of the Emperor, you cannot allow this heresy to occur.

Your adventure begins as you track down the smugglers of the Faceless Trade on the hive planet of Desoleum. You must investigate the scene of a vicious altercation, before following the trail of the smugglers and the artefacts. From the packed slums of the hive city, your journey takes you across the galaxy, from trekking through the Desoleum’s wastelands, to dining with a Rogue Trader aboard his ship, to walking the foreboding and bone-strewn cemetery world of Thaur. Your investigations may span the Askellon sector, but your purpose remains the same: destroy the heresies surrounding the Faceless Trade, and prevent the reawakening of unimaginable evil.

For more on the adventure and the other features you’ll find within Forgotten Gods, we turn to developer Tim Huckelbery.

Developer Tim Huckelbery on Forgotten Gods

Forgotten Gods is our first book-length adventure for Dark Heresy Second Edition, and we're happy to show off more of the Askellon Sector in it! In this adventure, Acolytes travel the wastelands surrounding Hive Desoleum, voyage aboard a Rogue Trader vessel, and explore the foreboding shrine world of Thaur.

This adventure continues the storyline begun in the Dark Heresy Core Rulebook, where the Dark Pursuits adventure started your investigations into the dangerous xenos artefacts that pollute Hive Desoleum. These artefacts are undoubtedly linked to countless horrible deaths, and several different groups battle to control them for profit, worship, or worse. Your investigations into the smuggling of these proscribed items continued in the events of Desolation of the Dead, the adventure included in the Dark Heresy Game Master's Kit.

Within the Forgotten Gods adventure, the Acolytes seek to end the smuggling of the so-called Faceless Trade in heretical relics before a deadly cult uses the alien items to reawaken long-dead gods that ruled the Askellon sector before Mankind was sentient. Along the way, you may run into several familiar faces from your earlier adventures – some of whom are not at all pleased to see you again. Players who’ve already enjoyed the Dark Pursuits or Desolation of the Dead adventures before playing Forgotten Gods can develop their existing relationships, but Forgotten Gods can be played without having already experienced the two previous adventures. Overall, this trilogy of adventures makes for a grand mix of fast-paced chases, explosive shootouts, and dangerous explorations that puts your Acolyte’s mettle to its greatest test yet. 

Exploring the Universe

Each of the locations explored within the book has plenty of background information included, so a Game Master can extend the adventure to explore even more of the setting, or bring the Acolytes back for new investigations after the events of Forgotten Gods have concluded. Every location, whether a Rogue Trader ship or the shrine world of Thaur, includes adventure seeds for side investigations and opportunities to seek out and combat the countless threats and unknown evils that lurk just out of sight. There are always more heresies to be found!

Forgotten Gods also offers new options for Acolyte creation. Each of the three major locations explored in this book includes rules for using that location as an Acolyte's home world, so new players can craft characters hailing from these vastly different parts of the Imperium. Alternatively – Emperor forbid – a player can use this information to create a new Acolyte should his existing character not survive their climatic adventures in Forgotten Gods! 

To Thaur and Beyond

Thanks, Tim!

A new adventure awaits within the pages of Forgotten Gods. You and your fellow Acolytes must journey across the Askellon sector, exploring new locales and facing terrifying odds. If you hope to vanquish future heresies, you must face the darkness that lurks in the past. Look for Forgotten Gods at your local retailer in the fourth quarter of 2014!

Valatine Lewin was good. Few knew of her, but those who did ensured she always had work. She had been Faceless many times before, smuggling Eldar trinkets, silver devices of unknown origin, and even fresh Ork teef from battles along the Stygies Cluster. The Faceless Trade never ended; the voracious appetite for the outré and forbidden meant that there would always be people like her to whet it.

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce Forgotten Gods, the first book-length adventure for Dark Heresy Second Edition!

Even a moment of heresy left unchecked can damn millions of lives in the terrifying future of Dark Heresy Second Edition. You must strive to forestall this grisly fate by serving as an Acolyte of an Inquisitor, the last bastion between Mankind and the eternal corruption of Chaos. In this book-length adventure, your talents and skills are put to their greatest test, as you investigate proscribed artefacts of deadly power and battle a cult whose heresies reach far into the Askellon sector’s past.

Uncover the Faceless Trade

Mankind was not always such a powerful force in the galaxy. Long before the first humans achieved consciousness, ancient gods ruled the stars and spaces between them. In Forgotten Gods, your fears are about to be realised. A cult has hired the smugglers of the Faceless Trade to bring them forbidden artefacts, and they plot to use the power of these artefacts to reawaken a god from the time before Man. As a devoted servant of the Emperor, you cannot allow this heresy to occur.

Your adventure begins as you track down the smugglers of the Faceless Trade on the hive planet of Desoleum. You must investigate the scene of a vicious altercation, before following the trail of the smugglers and the artefacts. From the packed slums of the hive city, your journey takes you across the galaxy, from trekking through the Desoleum’s wastelands, to dining with a Rogue Trader aboard his ship, to walking the foreboding and bone-strewn cemetery world of Thaur. Your investigations may span the Askellon sector, but your purpose remains the same: destroy the heresies surrounding the Faceless Trade, and prevent the reawakening of unimaginable evil.

For more on the adventure and the other features you’ll find within Forgotten Gods, we turn to developer Tim Huckelbery.

Developer Tim Huckelbery on Forgotten Gods

Forgotten Gods is our first book-length adventure for Dark Heresy Second Edition, and we're happy to show off more of the Askellon Sector in it! In this adventure, Acolytes travel the wastelands surrounding Hive Desoleum, voyage aboard a Rogue Trader vessel, and explore the foreboding shrine world of Thaur.

This adventure continues the storyline begun in the Dark Heresy Core Rulebook, where the Dark Pursuits adventure started your investigations into the dangerous xenos artefacts that pollute Hive Desoleum. These artefacts are undoubtedly linked to countless horrible deaths, and several different groups battle to control them for profit, worship, or worse. Your investigations into the smuggling of these proscribed items continued in the events of Desolation of the Dead, the adventure included in the Dark Heresy Game Master's Kit.

Within the Forgotten Gods adventure, the Acolytes seek to end the smuggling of the so-called Faceless Trade in heretical relics before a deadly cult uses the alien items to reawaken long-dead gods that ruled the Askellon sector before Mankind was sentient. Along the way, you may run into several familiar faces from your earlier adventures – some of whom are not at all pleased to see you again. Players who’ve already enjoyed the Dark Pursuits or Desolation of the Dead adventures before playing Forgotten Gods can develop their existing relationships, but Forgotten Gods can be played without having already experienced the two previous adventures. Overall, this trilogy of adventures makes for a grand mix of fast-paced chases, explosive shootouts, and dangerous explorations that puts your Acolyte’s mettle to its greatest test yet. 

Exploring the Universe

Each of the locations explored within the book has plenty of background information included, so a Game Master can extend the adventure to explore even more of the setting, or bring the Acolytes back for new investigations after the events of Forgotten Gods have concluded. Every location, whether a Rogue Trader ship or the shrine world of Thaur, includes adventure seeds for side investigations and opportunities to seek out and combat the countless threats and unknown evils that lurk just out of sight. There are always more heresies to be found!

Forgotten Gods also offers new options for Acolyte creation. Each of the three major locations explored in this book includes rules for using that location as an Acolyte's home world, so new players can craft characters hailing from these vastly different parts of the Imperium. Alternatively – Emperor forbid – a player can use this information to create a new Acolyte should his existing character not survive their climatic adventures in Forgotten Gods! 

To Thaur and Beyond

Thanks, Tim!

A new adventure awaits within the pages of Forgotten Gods. You and your fellow Acolytes must journey across the Askellon sector, exploring new locales and facing terrifying odds. If you hope to vanquish future heresies, you must face the darkness that lurks in the past. Look for Forgotten Gods at your local retailer in the fourth quarter of 2014!

“Gather tears for the sins of ye fathers, O children of Askellon.”    –Saint Valerius, Introit to the Apocrypha Askellios

Recently, we released Dark Heresy Second Edition, a new roleplaying game that casts players as Acolytes in the service of an Inquisitor amidst the grim darkness of the far future. In every game, you face the horrors of the Warp-stained Askellon sector, striving to buy humanity more time.

The darkness of the Askellon sector has never been explored before Dark Heresy Second Edition. Today, Andy Hoare, a leading author at Black Library and one of the major authors in Dark Heresy Second Edition, discusses the game’s new setting: the dark and ancient Askellon sector.

Andy Hoare on the Askellon Sector in Dark Heresy Second Edtion

The Askellon sector is an entirely new sector of the Imperium, departing from the Calixis Sector of Dark Heresy, the Koronus Expanse of Rogue Trader, the Jericho Reach of Deathwatch, the Screaming Vortex of Black Crusade and the Spinward Front of Only War. Although this sector is new, it is still subtly linked to the regions of the Imperium that you may have experienced before. Players steeped in the lore of the Calixis Sector and its connected regions may recall scattered mentions of some other locations – the Scelus and Ixaniad Sectors, the “Dread” Mandragora Sector, and an unnamed region bluntly labelled “Access Denied.” This once-forbidden sector is the region in which Dark Heresy Second Edition is set, and the reason for its ominous designation quickly becomes clear to Game Masters and players that dare to enter.

The Askellon sector has been marked “off limits” even by the great Navigator Houses. Ravenous data-phages slowly work their way through Imperial archives, redacting the region from stellar maps. The reason for this is simple—a seemingly endless Warp Storm, called the Pandaemonium, roars through the Askellon sector. This tempest exists on a huge scale that may one day even rival the Maelstrom and the Eye of Terror.

Because of this, the Askellon sector is doomed, but not to a swift, glorious, or merciful death. The region and its people have courted damnation since the very earliest days of human settlement in this sector. Countless legends describe the earliest days of Askellon, but few can be trusted. Some stories claim that the colonists of the first worlds were damned before they arrived; others say the settlers were helplessly fleeing some great calamity or betrayal. These first core worlds clung together through the terrors of the Age of Strife, so that when the Great Crusade finally cast out the shadows of Old Night, Askellon stood as one. Tales from those days exist only as mythical legend and consecrated texts, describing the arrival of the Emperor and the galactic war of rebellion in sacred verses. There are manifold tales of glorious conflict and celebration from those dark times, though apocryphal whispers dare to question these events and Askellon’s role in them. Of course, such accusations are not uttered openly, for the Lords of Askellon are all-powerful within their domains, and a formidable history is not a matter for open discussion.

Askellon is steeped in damnation, forming a microcosm of the larger Imperium’s fate. The institutions of the Askellon sector are crumbling, its ruling classes are beyond corrupt, its worlds are riven with endless war, and all the while, the enemies of Mankind plot its downfall. Uncounted border systems have been lost to the Pandaemonium and other threats over the millennia, and the Imperium may perhaps turn its back on Askellon once and for all. Many of Mankind’s great pillars regard the sector as lost already, so when a high adept of the Adeptus Terra passes away, none replace him. Worst of all, the League of Black Ships has been erratic at best when scouring the sector for psykers. All of Askellon seethes with Warp energies that threaten to draw the questing coils of the Pandaemonium onwards.

Upon these cursed stars falls the inscrutable eye of the Inquisition. Few Inquisitors operate openly in Askellon: to do so would be to court a repeat of the internecine conflict known as the Vaxi Atrocity that burned an entire sub-sector and saw dozens of Inquisitors and their indentured armies clash for no benefit, save that of the dark gods. An uneasy truce holds rival Inquisitors at a distance, but their wars grind on, fought by proxy through their Acolytes, even as they struggle to uncover a fraction of the crimes attributed to the Lords of Askellon. Those sworn to an Inquisitor’s service have their duties to perform, even as the sector crumbles around them.

There are those who would abandon Askellon and its masters to their fate, allowing them to be consumed by the ravening Warp. But others fear that this course of action would allow a daemonic incursion of unprecedented scale. If this invasion occurred, the worlds of an entire sector would be transformed into the domains of Daemons, and the fall of the Imperium brought even closer. Only the bold servants of the Inquisition are willing to lay down their lives to avert this dire fate, even as the Lords of Askellon invent new sins in a sector seething with the darkest heresies known to Mankind.

Enter the Askellon Sector

Thanks, Andy!

The doom of the Askellon sector may be certain, but there are still those of the Inquisition who will fight to the death before they see more of the Imperium slip into eternal night. Take your place among that heroic number as you make your investigations and battle for the fate of the Askellon sector!

Dark Heresy Second Edition is now available online through our webstore and at your local retailer.

“Gather tears for the sins of ye fathers, O children of Askellon.”    –Saint Valerius, Introit to the Apocrypha Askellios

Recently, we released Dark Heresy Second Edition, a new roleplaying game that casts players as Acolytes in the service of an Inquisitor amidst the grim darkness of the far future. In every game, you face the horrors of the Warp-stained Askellon sector, striving to buy humanity more time.

The darkness of the Askellon sector has never been explored before Dark Heresy Second Edition. Today, Andy Hoare, a leading author at Black Library and one of the major authors in Dark Heresy Second Edition, discusses the game’s new setting: the dark and ancient Askellon sector.

Andy Hoare on the Askellon Sector in Dark Heresy Second Edtion

The Askellon sector is an entirely new sector of the Imperium, departing from the Calixis Sector of Dark Heresy, the Koronus Expanse of Rogue Trader, the Jericho Reach of Deathwatch, the Screaming Vortex of Black Crusade and the Spinward Front of Only War. Although this sector is new, it is still subtly linked to the regions of the Imperium that you may have experienced before. Players steeped in the lore of the Calixis Sector and its connected regions may recall scattered mentions of some other locations – the Scelus and Ixaniad Sectors, the “Dread” Mandragora Sector, and an unnamed region bluntly labelled “Access Denied.” This once-forbidden sector is the region in which Dark Heresy Second Edition is set, and the reason for its ominous designation quickly becomes clear to Game Masters and players that dare to enter.

The Askellon sector has been marked “off limits” even by the great Navigator Houses. Ravenous data-phages slowly work their way through Imperial archives, redacting the region from stellar maps. The reason for this is simple—a seemingly endless Warp Storm, called the Pandaemonium, roars through the Askellon sector. This tempest exists on a huge scale that may one day even rival the Maelstrom and the Eye of Terror.

Because of this, the Askellon sector is doomed, but not to a swift, glorious, or merciful death. The region and its people have courted damnation since the very earliest days of human settlement in this sector. Countless legends describe the earliest days of Askellon, but few can be trusted. Some stories claim that the colonists of the first worlds were damned before they arrived; others say the settlers were helplessly fleeing some great calamity or betrayal. These first core worlds clung together through the terrors of the Age of Strife, so that when the Great Crusade finally cast out the shadows of Old Night, Askellon stood as one. Tales from those days exist only as mythical legend and consecrated texts, describing the arrival of the Emperor and the galactic war of rebellion in sacred verses. There are manifold tales of glorious conflict and celebration from those dark times, though apocryphal whispers dare to question these events and Askellon’s role in them. Of course, such accusations are not uttered openly, for the Lords of Askellon are all-powerful within their domains, and a formidable history is not a matter for open discussion.

Askellon is steeped in damnation, forming a microcosm of the larger Imperium’s fate. The institutions of the Askellon sector are crumbling, its ruling classes are beyond corrupt, its worlds are riven with endless war, and all the while, the enemies of Mankind plot its downfall. Uncounted border systems have been lost to the Pandaemonium and other threats over the millennia, and the Imperium may perhaps turn its back on Askellon once and for all. Many of Mankind’s great pillars regard the sector as lost already, so when a high adept of the Adeptus Terra passes away, none replace him. Worst of all, the League of Black Ships has been erratic at best when scouring the sector for psykers. All of Askellon seethes with Warp energies that threaten to draw the questing coils of the Pandaemonium onwards.

Upon these cursed stars falls the inscrutable eye of the Inquisition. Few Inquisitors operate openly in Askellon: to do so would be to court a repeat of the internecine conflict known as the Vaxi Atrocity that burned an entire sub-sector and saw dozens of Inquisitors and their indentured armies clash for no benefit, save that of the dark gods. An uneasy truce holds rival Inquisitors at a distance, but their wars grind on, fought by proxy through their Acolytes, even as they struggle to uncover a fraction of the crimes attributed to the Lords of Askellon. Those sworn to an Inquisitor’s service have their duties to perform, even as the sector crumbles around them.

There are those who would abandon Askellon and its masters to their fate, allowing them to be consumed by the ravening Warp. But others fear that this course of action would allow a daemonic incursion of unprecedented scale. If this invasion occurred, the worlds of an entire sector would be transformed into the domains of Daemons, and the fall of the Imperium brought even closer. Only the bold servants of the Inquisition are willing to lay down their lives to avert this dire fate, even as the Lords of Askellon invent new sins in a sector seething with the darkest heresies known to Mankind.

Enter the Askellon Sector

Thanks, Andy!

The doom of the Askellon sector may be certain, but there are still those of the Inquisition who will fight to the death before they see more of the Imperium slip into eternal night. Take your place among that heroic number as you make your investigations and battle for the fate of the Askellon sector!

Dark Heresy Second Edition is now available online through our webstore and at your local retailer.

“All of thy abilities come through the grace of the Emperor, and you must know that their use reflects back upon Him. Do not disappoint the saviour of all humanity.”
   –Morticator Siobhan Reichmyn

Take on the mantle of an Acolyte and enter the darkness of the far future! Dark Heresy Second Edition and the Dark Heresy Second Edition Game Master’s Kit are now available, both online through our webstore and at your local retailer.

Enter the Askellon Sector

In Dark Heresy Second Edition, you and your friends play Acolytes in the service of an Inquisitor, bound to travel the galaxy and eradicate heresy wherever you find it. Countless dangers threaten the Imperium from every side, and as servants of the Inquisition, you are Mankind’s last line of defense. Failure to confront the evils that await you could mean damnation and destruction for the entire sector.

With the tools provided in this 448-page, full-colour rulebook, you’ll travel for the first time to the Askellon sector. Here, the corrupting influence of Chaos is strongly felt, and you must battle new threats from within, without, and beyond. Whether you exterminate cults, hunt down marauding xenos, or do battle with Daemonic spawn of the Warp, you’ll find the starting point for all your adventures in the Dark Heresy Second Edition core rulebook.

Your journeys may take you to the decaying hive world of Desoleum, the cemetery shrine world of Thaur, or the lawless asteroids of Port Aquila. Your adventure may begin with the Dark Pursuits adventure, included in the core rulebook. In this adventure, you must trail smugglers moving deadly xenos artefacts in and out of Hive Desoleum. Whether you start with this adventure or invent your own investigations in another part of the Askellon sector, your guiding principle remains the same: to vanquish heresy wherever it may lurk, for the good of all Mankind.

Face Your Fears

The Dark Heresy Second Edition Game Master’s Kit forms the perfect companion to the Dark Heresy Second Edition core rulebook. This kit includes a GM screen that brings dozens of commonly used stats and rules to your fingertips. In this kit, GMs also find everything they need to create memorable Nemeses for players to battle through overarching storylines that can span entire campaigns.

The Dark Heresy Second Edition Game Master’s Kit also includes the Desolation of the Dead adventure, which invites you and your fellow Acolytes to journey deep into Desoleum’s Underhive. There, you must uncover the secret of a xenos relic found at the center of a horrific mass murder, and stop a cult from summoning a Daemon and unleashing hordes of reanimated corpses upon the hive’s inhabitants. This adventure offers another thrilling chapter to your investigations in the Askellon sector

Battle Against Heresy

The countless heresies of the 41st millennium lie before you. You and your friends are all that stands between humanity and utter destruction. Create your Acolytes and enter the grim darkness of the far future to vanquish heresy wherever it lurks.

Head to the support section for Dark Heresy Second Edition to download PC and GM sheets, as well as a Character Creation supplement. Then, pick your copies of Dark Heresy Second Edition and the Dark Heresy Second Edition Game Master’s Kit at your local retailer today!

“All of thy abilities come through the grace of the Emperor, and you must know that their use reflects back upon Him. Do not disappoint the saviour of all humanity.”
   –Morticator Siobhan Reichmyn

Take on the mantle of an Acolyte and enter the darkness of the far future! Dark Heresy Second Edition and the Dark Heresy Second Edition Game Master’s Kit are now available, both online through our webstore and at your local retailer.

Enter the Askellon Sector

In Dark Heresy Second Edition, you and your friends play Acolytes in the service of an Inquisitor, bound to travel the galaxy and eradicate heresy wherever you find it. Countless dangers threaten the Imperium from every side, and as servants of the Inquisition, you are Mankind’s last line of defense. Failure to confront the evils that await you could mean damnation and destruction for the entire sector.

With the tools provided in this 448-page, full-colour rulebook, you’ll travel for the first time to the Askellon sector. Here, the corrupting influence of Chaos is strongly felt, and you must battle new threats from within, without, and beyond. Whether you exterminate cults, hunt down marauding xenos, or do battle with Daemonic spawn of the Warp, you’ll find the starting point for all your adventures in the Dark Heresy Second Edition core rulebook.

Your journeys may take you to the decaying hive world of Desoleum, the cemetery shrine world of Thaur, or the lawless asteroids of Port Aquila. Your adventure may begin with the Dark Pursuits adventure, included in the core rulebook. In this adventure, you must trail smugglers moving deadly xenos artefacts in and out of Hive Desoleum. Whether you start with this adventure or invent your own investigations in another part of the Askellon sector, your guiding principle remains the same: to vanquish heresy wherever it may lurk, for the good of all Mankind.

Face Your Fears

The Dark Heresy Second Edition Game Master’s Kit forms the perfect companion to the Dark Heresy Second Edition core rulebook. This kit includes a GM screen that brings dozens of commonly used stats and rules to your fingertips. In this kit, GMs also find everything they need to create memorable Nemeses for players to battle through overarching storylines that can span entire campaigns.

The Dark Heresy Second Edition Game Master’s Kit also includes the Desolation of the Dead adventure, which invites you and your fellow Acolytes to journey deep into Desoleum’s Underhive. There, you must uncover the secret of a xenos relic found at the center of a horrific mass murder, and stop a cult from summoning a Daemon and unleashing hordes of reanimated corpses upon the hive’s inhabitants. This adventure offers another thrilling chapter to your investigations in the Askellon sector

Battle Against Heresy

The countless heresies of the 41st millennium lie before you. You and your friends are all that stands between humanity and utter destruction. Create your Acolytes and enter the grim darkness of the far future to vanquish heresy wherever it lurks.

Head to the support section for Dark Heresy Second Edition to download PC and GM sheets, as well as a Character Creation supplement. Then, pick your copies of Dark Heresy Second Edition and the Dark Heresy Second Edition Game Master’s Kit at your local retailer today!

“They call this the bottom of the hive. Hah! I know for a fact there is a whole lot more even farther down…”    –Omar Endish, Purveyor of Sacrosanct Salvage

Millions of planets fill the galaxy in Warhammer 40,000, and no two are exactly the same. Hive worlds, forge worlds, feral worlds, and death worlds are vastly different from each other, and even within these categories, planets differ massively. In Dark Heresy Second Edition, you and your fellow Acolytes journey to countless unique planets across the Askellon sector, including Hive Desoleum, a decaying hive held together by ancient oaths.

Today, developer Tim Huckelbery explores the process of creating Hive Desoleum and the strange peoples who inhabit it.

Tim Huckelbery on Creating Hive Desoleum

It all started with a hive ganger. Or more precisely, what she looked like.

While creating new art descriptions for The Lathe Worlds, one of the earlier Dark Heresy books, we wanted to include a hive ganger image. Hives and the vicious gangers that inhabit them are an iconic part of Warhammer 40,000, and it was natural to include them. The issue was that a firm description of a hive ganger’s appearance is non-existent. There’s no such thing as “typical” or “normal” in the 41st millennium, so we couldn’t truly say our proposed hive ganger looked typical. Each ganger looks different, depending on the gang she belongs to. Each hive has its own groups of hive gangers, unique to that hive, and each world has unique hives. For us to create a hive ganger and bring her to life properly, we had a bit of work to do – we needed to build a world.

The first thing we did was create a gang for our ganger to walk alongside. Drawing inspiration from films, we decided that most gangs in our new hive would belong to gang affiliations, with each affiliation featuring an iconic fighting method, weapon type, or even clothing style. Our new gang, the Bloodlines, would be one of the Fleshcutter gangs, all obsessed with bladed weapons and ritual scarring. With one gang affiliation down, we went on to create more gang affiliations, such as the Death Masks, Tech-Gangers, Painted Throngs, and Cloudsboys. While the gangs were still rough ideas, we stepped back to create the setting these gangs would inhabit: Hive Desoleum itself.

We wanted to make this hive unique, and we decided that the hive wouldn’t run on cash or hard currency, but instead would rely on an elaborate network of oaths that tied everyone in the hive together in a network of debts and obligations. Every citizen of the hive would carry an oath-cog to track his own oaths. Lower workers wore simple mechanical devices, as their oaths lay predominantly with their overseer. The rulers owned much more elaborate versions, more like a brass snowstorm of tiny, whirring cogs and gears, so large that servitors had to carry the intricate mechanisms. This also led to concepts for normal clothing within the hive, thus leading to refinements in what gangers wore to rebel and stand out from the crowds. The oath-cogs worn by the hive’s Enforcers could even be detached and used as brutal melee weapons. The oath system completely drove the people’s customs and the hive’s operations, adding another wonderful piece to the Warhammer 40,000 setting.

Once the hive started coming together, the planet as a whole was next. We decided Desoleum possessed vast wastelands of irradiated glass and sand, with acidic oceans and gigantic creatures drifting through the abyssal depths. We also included some primordial xenos ruins, buried beneath radioactive sand, but always attracting those who sought alien relics for sale or adoration.

Now that the hive and the planet were complete, it was time for us to return to developing the gangs of Desoleum. Each of the gang affiliations received specific, named gangs and histories, plus a detailed sample ganger to use as a development aid for each gang. We added Chaos cults, mutant enclaves, and religious sects, alongside hive nobles and ancient hive structures like the Spine to add more mystery to the setting. Everything in Desoleum got attention, from the heights of Apex, where the hive rulers lives in opulence, to the deadly ruins and slums of the Underhive. I especially liked working in the depths far beneath the surface, the lawless areas that can seem to stretch on forever. For me, the only thing cooler than a hive is what may lurk beneath it. In these dark reaches, prospectors prowl the shores of underground seas, searching for lost archaeotech amidst mutant settlements and heretical worshippers. Here, wonders and terrors beyond imagining can be found.

It was a lot of work for just one art piece, but it was truly worth it. I really enjoyed developing this wonderful setting, and found myself using it and its peoples in other books as we worked on Dark Heresy Second Edition. Hive Desoleum was our first major location for the Askellon sector, and your Acolytes should have an exciting time exploring this massive hive and rooting out its heresies and dangers!

Enter the Hive

Thanks, Tim!

Your adventures in Dark Heresy Second Edition lead you across the exotic worlds of the Askellon sector to visit worlds ranging from Hive Desoleum to worlds untouched by mankind. Prepare to investigate heresy across the galaxy, and preorder Dark Heresy Second Edition at your local retailer today!

“They call this the bottom of the hive. Hah! I know for a fact there is a whole lot more even farther down…”    –Omar Endish, Purveyor of Sacrosanct Salvage

Millions of planets fill the galaxy in Warhammer 40,000, and no two are exactly the same. Hive worlds, forge worlds, feral worlds, and death worlds are vastly different from each other, and even within these categories, planets differ massively. In Dark Heresy Second Edition, you and your fellow Acolytes journey to countless unique planets across the Askellon sector, including Hive Desoleum, a decaying hive held together by ancient oaths.

Today, developer Tim Huckelbery explores the process of creating Hive Desoleum and the strange peoples who inhabit it.

Tim Huckelbery on Creating Hive Desoleum

It all started with a hive ganger. Or more precisely, what she looked like.

While creating new art descriptions for The Lathe Worlds, one of the earlier Dark Heresy books, we wanted to include a hive ganger image. Hives and the vicious gangers that inhabit them are an iconic part of Warhammer 40,000, and it was natural to include them. The issue was that a firm description of a hive ganger’s appearance is non-existent. There’s no such thing as “typical” or “normal” in the 41st millennium, so we couldn’t truly say our proposed hive ganger looked typical. Each ganger looks different, depending on the gang she belongs to. Each hive has its own groups of hive gangers, unique to that hive, and each world has unique hives. For us to create a hive ganger and bring her to life properly, we had a bit of work to do – we needed to build a world.

The first thing we did was create a gang for our ganger to walk alongside. Drawing inspiration from films, we decided that most gangs in our new hive would belong to gang affiliations, with each affiliation featuring an iconic fighting method, weapon type, or even clothing style. Our new gang, the Bloodlines, would be one of the Fleshcutter gangs, all obsessed with bladed weapons and ritual scarring. With one gang affiliation down, we went on to create more gang affiliations, such as the Death Masks, Tech-Gangers, Painted Throngs, and Cloudsboys. While the gangs were still rough ideas, we stepped back to create the setting these gangs would inhabit: Hive Desoleum itself.

We wanted to make this hive unique, and we decided that the hive wouldn’t run on cash or hard currency, but instead would rely on an elaborate network of oaths that tied everyone in the hive together in a network of debts and obligations. Every citizen of the hive would carry an oath-cog to track his own oaths. Lower workers wore simple mechanical devices, as their oaths lay predominantly with their overseer. The rulers owned much more elaborate versions, more like a brass snowstorm of tiny, whirring cogs and gears, so large that servitors had to carry the intricate mechanisms. This also led to concepts for normal clothing within the hive, thus leading to refinements in what gangers wore to rebel and stand out from the crowds. The oath-cogs worn by the hive’s Enforcers could even be detached and used as brutal melee weapons. The oath system completely drove the people’s customs and the hive’s operations, adding another wonderful piece to the Warhammer 40,000 setting.

Once the hive started coming together, the planet as a whole was next. We decided Desoleum possessed vast wastelands of irradiated glass and sand, with acidic oceans and gigantic creatures drifting through the abyssal depths. We also included some primordial xenos ruins, buried beneath radioactive sand, but always attracting those who sought alien relics for sale or adoration.

Now that the hive and the planet were complete, it was time for us to return to developing the gangs of Desoleum. Each of the gang affiliations received specific, named gangs and histories, plus a detailed sample ganger to use as a development aid for each gang. We added Chaos cults, mutant enclaves, and religious sects, alongside hive nobles and ancient hive structures like the Spine to add more mystery to the setting. Everything in Desoleum got attention, from the heights of Apex, where the hive rulers lives in opulence, to the deadly ruins and slums of the Underhive. I especially liked working in the depths far beneath the surface, the lawless areas that can seem to stretch on forever. For me, the only thing cooler than a hive is what may lurk beneath it. In these dark reaches, prospectors prowl the shores of underground seas, searching for lost archaeotech amidst mutant settlements and heretical worshippers. Here, wonders and terrors beyond imagining can be found.

It was a lot of work for just one art piece, but it was truly worth it. I really enjoyed developing this wonderful setting, and found myself using it and its peoples in other books as we worked on Dark Heresy Second Edition. Hive Desoleum was our first major location for the Askellon sector, and your Acolytes should have an exciting time exploring this massive hive and rooting out its heresies and dangers!

Enter the Hive

Thanks, Tim!

Your adventures in Dark Heresy Second Edition lead you across the exotic worlds of the Askellon sector to visit worlds ranging from Hive Desoleum to worlds untouched by mankind. Prepare to investigate heresy across the galaxy, and preorder Dark Heresy Second Edition at your local retailer today!

“Look upon the crowd below and know this – for each honest and Emperor-fearing citizen, another harbours discontent and the seed of treachery in his heart. For every two such malcontents, a third plots against his betters. Out of each hundred such plotters, one has the resolve to act. Now realise this – Hive Desoleum is home to billions. How many, then, are there all around us, ready to drag this place into oblivion?”    –Overheard along a midhive habway, from persons unknown

Your investigations as an Acolyte in Dark Heresy Second Edition inevitably bring you into close contact with dozens of strange and exotic beings, ranging from loyal citizens of the Imperium to the blackest spawn of the Warp. Some of these may aid you towards your goals, but others will certainly oppose you with all their might.

Today, contributing writer Tim Cox brings you deeper into the corruption of Hive Desoleum as he describes the exotic people and horrid beasts you may encounter in your adventures across the Askellon sector.

Tim Cox on NPCs in Dark Heresy Second Edition

One of the most exciting things about working on Dark Heresy Second Edition was the opportunity to explore Imperial society. Far from the brutal battlefields of the 41st millennium, strange and bizarre denizens fill the worlds and cities of the Imperium. Each of the Imperium’s million and more worlds is unique, and possesses its own defining characteristics. After all, many worlds were settled before the Age of Strife, and their civilisations developed over tens of thousands of years. When we created the cast of NPCs and adversaries for Dark Heresy, we wanted to highlight the uniqueness of every world and its inhabitants.

Natives of Desoleum

Rather than offering generic NPCs painted in broad strokes, the NPC and Adversary chapter of Dark Heresy primarily focuses on the inhabitants of a single city – Hive Desoleum. In Hive Desoleum, society is dominated by the oath system. Oaths determine social ranking, servitude, and status for every member of the city, from the youngest child in the slums to Lady Desoleum herself. Because the oaths are such an enormous part of life in Hive Desoleum, we worked very hard to incorporate this into the NPCs and adversaries the Acolytes may face in Desoleum.

Although many of the characters described in this chapter are specific to Hive Desoleum, GMs will still find these characters useful for adventures set in other locales. I knew while developing this chapter that the most important thing was to maximize its usefulness to GMs. For me, this meant creating complete game profiles to help GMs run encounters and writing in-depth background descriptions to provide GMs with ideas for fitting these NPCs into other adventures.

To help a GM use these NPCs in any adventure, I endeavoured to make them flexible, while keeping them anchored in the strange and macabre environment of Hive Desoleum. Some NPCs, particularly the members of the Imperial Adeptus such as Astropaths and Tech-Priests, are representative of individuals found on many Imperial worlds. Other characters are more firmly entrenched in the culture of Hive Desoleum. The Involute Cadre Trooper and Officer, for example, represent the military of Desoleum, but GMs can easily modify their profiles or use them as they are to represent the soldiery of another world.

Dread Creatures Await

In addition to the human residents of Hive Desoleum, the NPCs and Adversaries chapter includes several dangerous flora and fauna from across the Askellon Sector. These allow GMs to present their Acolytes with very different types of challenges. Gunfights with cultists are one thing, but how does one fight a plant that drives nearby sentients into homicidal psychosis, or a mind-influencing spoor that exists in reality and the Warp simultaneously? Developing this section was a lot of fun, as it gave me the opportunity to explore the life forms found across the sector and revisit classic beasts like the common grox.

One of my favorite NPCs from the whole chapter – the smelt-rat – appears in this section. An artificial environment like Hive Desoleum is bound to be home to some highly exotic life forms, such as the smelt-rats, cybernetic vermin of unknown origin. Smelt-rats are no simple pests, though. These beasts are drawn to technological systems, infesting them and posing great threats to the hive’s ancient systems. They are also dangerous to any individuals with cybernetic limbs or implants, as smelt-rats are drawn to tech like normal vermin to food. The mere sight of a bionic limb drives smelt-rats into a ravenous feeding frenzy. Even more frightening are the rumoured smelt-rat kings, composed of many individual smelt-rats fused together and displaying a higher intelligence. Springing these beasts on unwary Acolytes reminds them that the lower reaches of Hive Desoleum are just as dangerous as any unexplored planet.

Finally, this chapter explores a few of the foul xenos and denizens of the Warp that the Acolytes might confront. Rather than a random grab-bag of unrelated aliens and Daemons, we focused on distinct groups. This way, GMs find a range of NPCs within each group, including numerous Troops, Elites, and Masters. Within this chapter, you’ll find profiles for the Eldar of Craftworld Miandrothe and the putrescent servitors of Nurgle, opening the way for an array of encounters.

I hope the NPCs and adversaries of the Dark Heresy Second Edition Core Rulebook provide excitement and adventure to players over many campaigns, and that these strange characters and creatures might even inspire GMs to create new adventures!

Start Your Adventure

Thanks, Tim!

Whether you encounter terrifying xenos, confront the spawn of Nurgle, or battle smugglers and cultists within the Imperium, you’ll need a guide to the strange and unknowable ways of your enemies. In the Dark Heresy Second Edition Core Rulebook, GMs find the tools they need to populate the universe of Warhammer 40,000.

Preorder your copy of Dark Hersey Second Edition at your local retailer today!

“Look upon the crowd below and know this – for each honest and Emperor-fearing citizen, another harbours discontent and the seed of treachery in his heart. For every two such malcontents, a third plots against his betters. Out of each hundred such plotters, one has the resolve to act. Now realise this – Hive Desoleum is home to billions. How many, then, are there all around us, ready to drag this place into oblivion?”    –Overheard along a midhive habway, from persons unknown

Your investigations as an Acolyte in Dark Heresy Second Edition inevitably bring you into close contact with dozens of strange and exotic beings, ranging from loyal citizens of the Imperium to the blackest spawn of the Warp. Some of these may aid you towards your goals, but others will certainly oppose you with all their might.

Today, contributing writer Tim Cox brings you deeper into the corruption of Hive Desoleum as he describes the exotic people and horrid beasts you may encounter in your adventures across the Askellon sector.

Tim Cox on NPCs in Dark Heresy Second Edition

One of the most exciting things about working on Dark Heresy Second Edition was the opportunity to explore Imperial society. Far from the brutal battlefields of the 41st millennium, strange and bizarre denizens fill the worlds and cities of the Imperium. Each of the Imperium’s million and more worlds is unique, and possesses its own defining characteristics. After all, many worlds were settled before the Age of Strife, and their civilisations developed over tens of thousands of years. When we created the cast of NPCs and adversaries for Dark Heresy, we wanted to highlight the uniqueness of every world and its inhabitants.

Natives of Desoleum

Rather than offering generic NPCs painted in broad strokes, the NPC and Adversary chapter of Dark Heresy primarily focuses on the inhabitants of a single city – Hive Desoleum. In Hive Desoleum, society is dominated by the oath system. Oaths determine social ranking, servitude, and status for every member of the city, from the youngest child in the slums to Lady Desoleum herself. Because the oaths are such an enormous part of life in Hive Desoleum, we worked very hard to incorporate this into the NPCs and adversaries the Acolytes may face in Desoleum.

Although many of the characters described in this chapter are specific to Hive Desoleum, GMs will still find these characters useful for adventures set in other locales. I knew while developing this chapter that the most important thing was to maximize its usefulness to GMs. For me, this meant creating complete game profiles to help GMs run encounters and writing in-depth background descriptions to provide GMs with ideas for fitting these NPCs into other adventures.

To help a GM use these NPCs in any adventure, I endeavoured to make them flexible, while keeping them anchored in the strange and macabre environment of Hive Desoleum. Some NPCs, particularly the members of the Imperial Adeptus such as Astropaths and Tech-Priests, are representative of individuals found on many Imperial worlds. Other characters are more firmly entrenched in the culture of Hive Desoleum. The Involute Cadre Trooper and Officer, for example, represent the military of Desoleum, but GMs can easily modify their profiles or use them as they are to represent the soldiery of another world.

Dread Creatures Await

In addition to the human residents of Hive Desoleum, the NPCs and Adversaries chapter includes several dangerous flora and fauna from across the Askellon Sector. These allow GMs to present their Acolytes with very different types of challenges. Gunfights with cultists are one thing, but how does one fight a plant that drives nearby sentients into homicidal psychosis, or a mind-influencing spoor that exists in reality and the Warp simultaneously? Developing this section was a lot of fun, as it gave me the opportunity to explore the life forms found across the sector and revisit classic beasts like the common grox.

One of my favorite NPCs from the whole chapter – the smelt-rat – appears in this section. An artificial environment like Hive Desoleum is bound to be home to some highly exotic life forms, such as the smelt-rats, cybernetic vermin of unknown origin. Smelt-rats are no simple pests, though. These beasts are drawn to technological systems, infesting them and posing great threats to the hive’s ancient systems. They are also dangerous to any individuals with cybernetic limbs or implants, as smelt-rats are drawn to tech like normal vermin to food. The mere sight of a bionic limb drives smelt-rats into a ravenous feeding frenzy. Even more frightening are the rumoured smelt-rat kings, composed of many individual smelt-rats fused together and displaying a higher intelligence. Springing these beasts on unwary Acolytes reminds them that the lower reaches of Hive Desoleum are just as dangerous as any unexplored planet.

Finally, this chapter explores a few of the foul xenos and denizens of the Warp that the Acolytes might confront. Rather than a random grab-bag of unrelated aliens and Daemons, we focused on distinct groups. This way, GMs find a range of NPCs within each group, including numerous Troops, Elites, and Masters. Within this chapter, you’ll find profiles for the Eldar of Craftworld Miandrothe and the putrescent servitors of Nurgle, opening the way for an array of encounters.

I hope the NPCs and adversaries of the Dark Heresy Second Edition Core Rulebook provide excitement and adventure to players over many campaigns, and that these strange characters and creatures might even inspire GMs to create new adventures!

Start Your Adventure

Thanks, Tim!

Whether you encounter terrifying xenos, confront the spawn of Nurgle, or battle smugglers and cultists within the Imperium, you’ll need a guide to the strange and unknowable ways of your enemies. In the Dark Heresy Second Edition Core Rulebook, GMs find the tools they need to populate the universe of Warhammer 40,000.

Preorder your copy of Dark Hersey Second Edition at your local retailer today!

“They had gone out into the Low Worlds, where death was expecting them. Indeed, of all thing things out there in the dark hoping to make their acquaintance, death was probably the most hospitable.”    –Dan Abnett, Into the Dark…

Dark Heresy Second Edition invites you to join a team of Acolytes, dedicated to exterminating heresy in the Imperium at any cost. You must travel across the innumerable worlds of the galaxy, confronting horrors beyond imagination in the name of shielding humanity from the corruption of Chaos.

For the Dark Heresy Second Edition Core Rulebook, author Dan Abnett wrote a short story entitled Into the Dark…. Dan Abnett is a prolific author within the Warhammer 40,000 universe, having written the Gaunt’s Ghosts series and the Eisenhorn and Ravenor trilogies, among others. In his new short story, players find a taste of what they might expect from their adventures as an Acolyte in an Inquisitor’s service.

Download the first two pages of Into the Dark… (pdf, 2.7 MB) from the support page for Dark Heresy Second Edition, and read Dan’s thoughts on working with the Warhammer 40,000 universe below.

Dan Abnett on the Warhammer 40,000 Universe

FFG: What aspects of the Warhammer 40,000 background appeal to you most as a writer, and what makes Warhammer 40,000 stand out from other science fiction and futuristic settings you've worked with? 

Dan Abnett: It’s an incredibly well-developed universe with an unmistakable aesthetic. The tone and atmosphere of Warhammer 40,000 are what truly make the universe memorable. This tone is derived from the art of John Blanche and shows up in the darkly ornate, almost medieval, imagery throughout the Imperium. It depicts a culture in the midst of magnificent decay. Everything within the universe is very well defined, but there’s vast scope for writers’ and artists’ imagination.

FFG: You've been writing about Inquisitors and those who serve them for a while now. What most interests you about Inquisitors, Acolytes, and their adventures?

DA: Warhammer 40,000 is originally a table-top miniatures game focused the battlefront, but Inquisitors give us a way to see the society away from the frontline of battle. That thought really appealed to me when I started writing the Eisenhorn and Ravenor books. The stories of the Inquisitors take us to the darkest depths of the Imperium, into the shadows of everyday life, into the opulent realms of the nobility and the slums of the underclasses. It’s a way to explore the universe that you don’t get from a military angle.

FFG: The villains are often as memorable as the heroes in Warhammer 40,000 stories. Who was your favourite nemesis to write for, both in terms of the character and what he or she offered to the plot? 

DA: I’d have to say Pontius Glaw, the villain of the Eisenhorn books, who was a true menace because he was powerful, but also extraordinarily clever. Cherubael stands out as well, although sometimes he’s almost a hero (except that he’s a daemon).

FFG: What games do you play yourself in your free time? 

DA: I play all versions of Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer, both tabletop and roleplay, alongisde other RPG classics, such as Traveller, Dungeons & Dragons, and Call of Cthulhu. That’s when I get the chance, though, which is all too seldom! I like to play anything Warhammer 40,000 when I can, just to stay in the universe. The Horus Heresy board game is also great. It creates a totally different scale of action for the players.

FFG: What was your inspiration for the Into the Dark… short story included in Dark Heresy Second Edition? Without giving too much away, what can players expect from the tale?

DA: The short story really offers an example of how an Inquisitorial team operates, how the characters might interact, and what each Acolyte brings to the table regarding skills. It also illustrates exactly how mysterious things can be in the grim darkness of the far future. Sometimes even the heroes don’t know what they’re doing or why!

Thanks, Dan!

Click the thumbnail on the right to download the first two pages of Dan Abnett’s short story, Into the Dark…, and experience the beginning of the Acolytes’ adventures. Then, prepare to tell your own stories in the darkness of Warhammer 40,000. Preorder Dark Heresy Second Edition at your local retailer today!

“They had gone out into the Low Worlds, where death was expecting them. Indeed, of all thing things out there in the dark hoping to make their acquaintance, death was probably the most hospitable.”    –Dan Abnett, Into the Dark…

Dark Heresy Second Edition invites you to join a team of Acolytes, dedicated to exterminating heresy in the Imperium at any cost. You must travel across the innumerable worlds of the galaxy, confronting horrors beyond imagination in the name of shielding humanity from the corruption of Chaos.

For the Dark Heresy Second Edition Core Rulebook, author Dan Abnett wrote a short story entitled Into the Dark…. Dan Abnett is a prolific author within the Warhammer 40,000 universe, having written the Gaunt’s Ghosts series and the Eisenhorn and Ravenor trilogies, among others. In his new short story, players find a taste of what they might expect from their adventures as an Acolyte in an Inquisitor’s service.

Download the first two pages of Into the Dark… (pdf, 2.7 MB) from the support page for Dark Heresy Second Edition, and read Dan’s thoughts on working with the Warhammer 40,000 universe below.

Dan Abnett on the Warhammer 40,000 Universe

FFG: What aspects of the Warhammer 40,000 background appeal to you most as a writer, and what makes Warhammer 40,000 stand out from other science fiction and futuristic settings you've worked with? 

Dan Abnett: It’s an incredibly well-developed universe with an unmistakable aesthetic. The tone and atmosphere of Warhammer 40,000 are what truly make the universe memorable. This tone is derived from the art of John Blanche and shows up in the darkly ornate, almost medieval, imagery throughout the Imperium. It depicts a culture in the midst of magnificent decay. Everything within the universe is very well defined, but there’s vast scope for writers’ and artists’ imagination.

FFG: You've been writing about Inquisitors and those who serve them for a while now. What most interests you about Inquisitors, Acolytes, and their adventures?

DA: Warhammer 40,000 is originally a table-top miniatures game focused the battlefront, but Inquisitors give us a way to see the society away from the frontline of battle. That thought really appealed to me when I started writing the Eisenhorn and Ravenor books. The stories of the Inquisitors take us to the darkest depths of the Imperium, into the shadows of everyday life, into the opulent realms of the nobility and the slums of the underclasses. It’s a way to explore the universe that you don’t get from a military angle.

FFG: The villains are often as memorable as the heroes in Warhammer 40,000 stories. Who was your favourite nemesis to write for, both in terms of the character and what he or she offered to the plot? 

DA: I’d have to say Pontius Glaw, the villain of the Eisenhorn books, who was a true menace because he was powerful, but also extraordinarily clever. Cherubael stands out as well, although sometimes he’s almost a hero (except that he’s a daemon).

FFG: What games do you play yourself in your free time? 

DA: I play all versions of Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer, both tabletop and roleplay, alongisde other RPG classics, such as Traveller, Dungeons & Dragons, and Call of Cthulhu. That’s when I get the chance, though, which is all too seldom! I like to play anything Warhammer 40,000 when I can, just to stay in the universe. The Horus Heresy board game is also great. It creates a totally different scale of action for the players.

FFG: What was your inspiration for the Into the Dark… short story included in Dark Heresy Second Edition? Without giving too much away, what can players expect from the tale?

DA: The short story really offers an example of how an Inquisitorial team operates, how the characters might interact, and what each Acolyte brings to the table regarding skills. It also illustrates exactly how mysterious things can be in the grim darkness of the far future. Sometimes even the heroes don’t know what they’re doing or why!

Thanks, Dan!

Click the thumbnail on the right to download the first two pages of Dan Abnett’s short story, Into the Dark…, and experience the beginning of the Acolytes’ adventures. Then, prepare to tell your own stories in the darkness of Warhammer 40,000. Preorder Dark Heresy Second Edition at your local retailer today!

“Through his blessings, death itself is stayed. In his embrace, there is only affection and love. Let us share his munificence with those still ignorant of our cherished Grandfather, lest they perish before knowing his generosity.”    –Pox Magister Effluvias Plo

The Tome of Decay supplement is now available for Black Crusade, both online through our webstore and at your local retailer!

Devote yourself to the service of the Plague Lord in this sourcebook for the followers of Nurgle. Within the pages of this supplement, you’ll find more information on the foetid servants of the Grandfather, alongside new Archetypes and corrupted blessings, rules for attaining apotheosis, and an adventure that leads you into the very heart of the Screaming Vortex for judgment by Nurgle himself.

The Blessings of Nurgle

In our first designer diary of The Tome of Decay, we revealed some of the new rules for leading your own Black Crusade against the hated Imperium and the False Emperor. By becoming a Warmaster and gathering the support of Chaos warbands, cults, mercenaries, and pirate fleets, you and your fellow Heretics can cut a swath across the galaxy, whether you aim to breach the Jericho Reach or battle across an entire Segmentum of the galaxy. With the new rules included in The Tome of Decay, you have the chance to command massive armies, while maintaining your own personal flair for spreading destruction and chaos.

The second designer diary for The Tome of Decay turned from crusading armies to the ultimate ambition of every Heretic: to attain Daemonhood. In this supplement, you’ll find two distinct ways to receive Daemonic gifts. The quick and easy way comes by enacting the Ritual of Possession and inviting a Daemon to indwell the Heretic’s body. This path offers the Heretic an easy source of Daemonic gifts, but in the end, the Daemon overcomes the Heretic, consuming him completely. On the other hand, through arduous efforts and devoted service, a Heretic may be found worthy of rebirth. A Heretic blessed in this way becomes a true Daemon Prince, and in The Tome of Decay, you’ll find rules for playing as a Daemon Prince and wreaking havoc across the galaxy.

Most recently, we previewed some of what you might expect in The Heart of the Vortex adventure within The Tome of Decay. The Heretics’ journey leads them across the worlds of the Screaming Vortex, encountering three of the Ruinous Powers of Chaos – Khorne, Tzeentch, and Slaanesh. Throughout these adventures, you and your fellow Heretics demonstrate your devotion to Chaos, and in this final chapter, your souls hang in the balance of Nurgle’s judgment. Truly committed Heretics may find their reward in a Daemonic rebirth, but those found wanting will become mindless Chaos Spawn or suffer an even worse fate.

You’ll find even more within the pages of The Tome of Decay. You may choose to travel to the twisting embrace of the Writhing World, or disease-ridden Hindrance. New Archetypes allow you to take on twisted personas such as the Warpsmith, Plaguemeister, and Death Priest of Mire. Whether you battle with a Pandemic Staff, Foulswarm Grenades, or the countless pestilences of Nurgle, you’ll find rules for using these new tools in the Decaying Armoury, opening the doors to countless adventures within the Immaterium and beyond.

Poxes and Blights

The unlimited power of the Warp is calling! Gather your Heretic companions and take your next steps upon the path to apotheosis. Journey into the rotting embrace of Nurgle in The Tome of Decay, now available at your local retailer!