“Rust, steel, and fail ye engines!
Fall silent, O guns, and give up your wisdom,
my cogitators, to the talons of time!
Yet the machine-spirit shall never weaken.”
–The Princeps of the Pax Macharia The Haematite Cathedral
The Acoyotes of the Inquisition have been on the hunt for days now. Sent to the planet Baraspone by Inquisitor Sand to root out a heresy they have done their duty well. After searching through the library of the Gilded Cathedral in Kephistron Altis all signs pointed to a great heresy in the Haematite Cathedreal on the edge of civilization here.
For over a decade, the Hekate Dynasty lived in the cathedral in attempts to discover the secrets that Inquisitor DeVayne hid with Barabus Zanatov. Notably Koronath Hekate attempted to continue Zanatov's work and took up residence in the years before his death, desperately attempting to rebuild the Black Sepulchre halted by the Maledictor's Hand. Unsuccessful, the Dei-Phage drove him mad.
Nikaea Hekate attempted to conquer the cathedral out of pride. She served as the Rogue Trader's seneschal, but was driven from her sanity. Believing herself a true noble, she looked to the Haematite Cathedral for proof of her divine position. She was forever lost to the Daemon despite her indomitable will and sense of purpose.
Gustavus Hekate, however, was a heretical cultist when he came to the Haematite Cathedral to serve the creature he witnessed in his dreams. He murdered uncounted innocents and cobbled new horrific constructs until the Dei-Phage betrayed him.
Now you have pieced together the cover-up, the heresy, and have unlocked the secret passage protected by the three apparitions of the Hekates. You must delve into the bowls of the Haematite Cathedral, stop the Dei-Phage from breaking free and put and end to this black stain once and for all.
The hidden door in the Nave opens onto a black shaft of ribbed steel, like a negative cast of an enormous spine. Rusted handholds lead downwards into the blackness. The smell of oil and rust reaches you on the faint breeze from below, along with the sound of grinding machinery.