- "All I could see was my mother's face, hear her voice. We were almost in its maw by the time I saw the Horizon."
- —Imperial Navigator Caius
Known by many poetic epithets, sailors of the void and the Sea of Souls know of the name Anthelion in hushed whispers and rumors. In space, few things are more dangerous and inescapable than a Black Hole, the final tomb of a star. Very few things can make a captain grow pale more quickly than talk of a black hole that actively hunts for prey. Ancient, aberrant and beyond the comprehension of human and Daemon alike, Anthelion is a crime against nature and physics, imbued with a malign intelligence and an endless hunger for souls.
History[]
- "From the moment of its creation, it was fact. It had always been, a cold, endless void in the Warp, scorched into eternity."
- —Unknown Inscriptions
Many stories surround the supposed origin of the Eater of Suns, though common lore follows the thread that it was a great Daemon or alien that existed in ancient times. Bound by a precursor race into the heart of a star nearing the end of its lifespan, the precursors had hoped that not even a Daemon could survive the crushing finality of a star's final swansong. They were right, and the Daemon could only scream as its essence was obliterated. The Daemon's death saturated the singularity with raw Chaotic power, imbuing the dark core with a hateful malevolence.
Anthelion passes through space randomly, devouring entire systems of planets within bubbles of dilated time before any help can arrive. Naturally it has caused catastrophes on the rare occasions of its arrival into Imperial Space.
Behavior[]
- "To call it hungry is too natural. What it desires is to extinguish light, in reality and in the soul. "
- —Fal'Hadar, Eldar Warlock
Anthelion is not sentient in more than an animalistic way, at least not in any way comprehensible to humans. It exists, equally dangerous, in realspace and the Warp, making Daemons give it a wide berth. Because of its Daemonic nature, it is attracted to bursts of emotion, slowly drifting through compressed spacetime until it enters the system that caught its gaze.
By this point it is too late, as Anthelion's Warp-infused gravitational field is impossible to escape while within several hundred light years. Time-dilation ensures that while ships may be appearing to flee the doomed system, it is impossible to actually escape before the singularity devours them. It does not do this immediately, however, preferring to savor the fear and despair of the sentient beings around it as they watch it consume their sun, replacing it with a pitch-black orb surrounded by a swirling miasma of Warp energy.
Victims caught within the singularity as it consumes the star-system are spaghettified, body and soul. They are flayed, atom by atom as time slows to a nearly indefinite crawl. In the heart of the dead star, the particle-thin streams of screaming souls, eternally conscious of their fates, collapse as one into the endless cascade of blackness.
While digesting, Anthelion remains in the star system it consumed, proving an unpleasant and often fatal surprise for anyone who happened to be travelling toward it. Existing in both the Warp and realspace, Anthelion reaches out to to Astropaths and Navigators whose souls drift too close in the Warp, tempting them with visions and illusions to plunge their vessels into the maw of the void. After an indeterminate amount of time, Anthelion simply vanishes, leaving nothing in its wake.
Quotes[]
Feel free to add your own!
- "Terrifying and interesting. Imagine what would happen if it attacked a Dark God. Imagine what would happen if it attacked Terra."
- —Inquisitor Jacob Flux
- "Glorious! The Primordial Annihilator smiles on us, and sends us it's angel! Do you have what it takes to pass It's final test!? Do not flee, do not falter now, when salvation is so close! Gaze upwards, my brothers! Upwards into the Pit, for therein lies the path to Eternity!"
- —Anonymous Champion of the Host of the Truthbringer moments before he and his entire company are devoured by Anthelion, gleefully embracing their end.
- "So thats where that Chaos God of self-destruction went. Wasn't he called Malal or something weird like that?"
- —Reaper, while pondering on Anthelion[src]