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The current state of the rift?


Lord Kallozar

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:biggrin.:  Our Brothers are right.  The Cicatrix Maledictum itself, as far as the lore has so far described, hasn't changed i.e. it's still open and just...there.

 

Socially in the Imperium, we're finding out a few minor things I think.  I'm just recalling how it was described in various recent pieces of lore.

 

In the original Dark Imperium and Regimental Standard, we're just not supposed to look at it.  There's a hilarious exchange between Guardsmen in the former where one suggests it's almost a form of denial to not look at something so obvious in the night sky (when it appears as a giant purple blob overhead), that it's there whether or not people acknowledge it.  Another replies that it'll bring bad dreams (and the former says he gets nightmares from just fighting in the wars anyway).

 

They elaborate more in Vigilis Defiant.  The orders to not look at it wasn't some cover-up, it's that it affects people's minds, making them more susceptible to psychic stuff and it's suggested it'll drive people mad or at least hurt their vision.  In that sense it's like not staring into a solar eclipse.  It also mentions it's leaving imprints on people and the land.  Babies have birthmarks the shape of the Great Rift.  The roofs of buildings have stains on them in exactly the same pattern as the Great Rift.  Even the planet of Vigilis itself has earthquakes and, when they die down, they leave canyons in the shape of the Great Rift.

 

So the Great Rift remains the same.  But now it's like corrupting things it's exposed on, more and more, by its sheer constant presence.

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And faith does seem to be a defense against its influence. The Vigilus book describes how it causes constant nightmares among the people and Guardsmen, except for the Vigilus Guard who have close ties to the Ministorum and are described as being particularly devout.

 

Thinking about that the book doesn't mention if it has any such effect on the Genestealer Cult or if they're just immune. Would be interesting if that was explored a bit in the second one.

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There is one big effect that they talked about in Vigilus Defiant, the time code. Each planet or region has to record time differently from their perspective. For Vigilus the height of the conflict is taking place 14 years after the rift opens, but it seems like there are events that happen later having already happened. I could be misreading that, but they do make local time keeping a big thing after Guilliman spoke to the Ordo Chronus about what to do about the dating system being broken thanks to the rift.

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And faith does seem to be a defense against its influence. The Vigilus book describes how it causes constant nightmares among the people and Guardsmen, except for the Vigilus Guard who have close ties to the Ministorum and are described as being particularly devout.

 

Thinking about that the book doesn't mention if it has any such effect on the Genestealer Cult or if they're just immune. Would be interesting if that was explored a bit in the second one.

In the Genestealer Codex, Nurgle managed to corrupt one Gene Cult before the Great Rift

 

Unless they looked at the sky uninterrupted for months, they will be fine

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I read a fantastic bit of fan fiction (at least I think it was fan fiction) about the Eye of Terror once. It was an Imperial world where the Navy suddenly showed up with Black Ships, and everyone was being heavily monitored and told not to look up. The premise was that the sight of the EoT was spreading at the spead of light, and as the first sight of it advanced through the Imperium people seeing it for the first time were going mad and gaining mutations/powers. So every planet ahead of its first light was swarmed with preparations for it. Considering the size of the Milky Way, Ultramar and the Eastern Fringe wouldn't even see it in the 42nd M yet.

 

Probably it doesn't actually work like that because of space magic and hell physics, though.

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