Warhammer 40k Fluff Discussion XVII: Call Necrosius, The Old Thread Is Dead!

[Destro_Yersul]

Yeah, I can't say that Cawl strikes me as particularly trustworthy.

[Cheesegear]

I do have a question, how has Guilliman changed since his return to the galactic stage?

Dad was right about Humanity, it's basically garbage and someone needs to steer it.
30K!Guilliman was wrong about basically everything.
Lorgar was right, and Dad was a liar.

Trusting Cawl, in retrospect, was not a good idea - this storyline has gone nowhere.

[Wraith]

Warhammer Community have posted their semi-annual amateur writers' competition - this year the theme is "Warhammer Horror".

Or, as the rest of us call it: "Warhammer".
Honestly I would like to submit something this year, but I'm quite stuck for inspiration as... well, what about the grimdark far-future ISN'T full of monsters, deprivation and mangled corpses being used as food, fuel and ammunition in some form?

I do have a question, how has Guilliman changed since his return to the galactic stage? Character development and such^^

The biggest development is that he has finally sat down and read the Levictio Divinatus; Lorgar's M30/pre-Monarchia manifesto on why the Emperor is awesome.

For centuries Guilliman just ignored it - nerdy little Lorgar is so OBVIOUSLY wasting his time that it wasn't even worth considering. But after a couple of millennia watching the Great Crusade wither and die, and to then be awakened in the 41st millennium, Guilliman has finally started to realise that everyone has other things going on apart from Crusading, and if he had taken the time then to understand that he might have been in a better position to have done something about it.

He shouldn't really have been surprised, after all - he had his own kingdom to run in the 500 Worlds, and apparently it didn't occur to him that the other Primarchs had similar extra-curricular activities which might have clued him in. He's disappointed in them, just like Haruspex_Pariah said, but he's now somewhat more open-minded to the fact that they too were people, with goals and desires and things happening that he could have done something about.

It's taken him about a century to get this far, mind - he woke up, installed himself as regent, spent 100 years reorganising the Primaris Marines and came out through the other side of the Plague War before 'other people have emotions' started to worm its way into his brain - so progress is slow. But it's progress, nonetheless.

[Avaris]

Warhammer Community have posted their semi-annual amateur writers' competition - this year the theme is "Warhammer Horror".

Or, as the rest of us call it: "Warhammer".
Honestly I would like to submit something this year, but I'm quite stuck for inspiration as... well, what about the grimdark far-future ISN'T full of monsters, deprivation and mangled corpses being used as food, fuel and ammunition in some form?
.

I’m thinking of entering for the first time: I see it as wanting to explore the experiences of the non-heroes of the setting, people who can’t possible survive what they face. So find a niche of life in 40k you want to explore, and work out what would make it even more horrific. I’m thinking of something on a Rogue Trader vessel forexample.

[Wraith]

I’m thinking of something on a Rogue Trader vessel forexample.

Rogue Trader ships are pretty scary, what with all the daemons and sudden, violent decompression at any moment. And then one day you realise that for the first time in your void-born life you can hear silence - no hum of the engines, no pulsing of the oxygen scrubbers, no buzzing of electronic read-outs.... Just silence.

I'm thinking of something more metaphysical in terms of horror - a short story from the point of view of someone that has been possessed by a daemon, for example, and is watching themselves act unconsciously and slowly mutate. Don't have much of an outline yet, though I'm not sure how far I'll go with it, as what I already have in mind probably well oversteps the boundary between body horror and gorn. GW seem to be fine with people being shot to bits and chopped up by swords, less so on lingering descriptions of torture.

Perhaps less gruesome/edgy, I've long been toying with the idea of a Rogue Trader who is also a serial killer. An Inquisitor stops by and investigates him for smuggling, etc, and slowly uncovers proof of something more sinister, culminating with him finding the RT's stash of trophies locked in a safe - a set of blood-stained =][= rosettes, and then behind him he hears the sound of a knife being drawn....

[Cheesegear]

Rogue Trader ships are pretty scary, what with all the daemons and sudden, violent decompression at any moment. And then one day you realise that for the first time in your void-born life you can hear silence - no hum of the engines, no pulsing of the oxygen scrubbers, no buzzing of electronic read-outs.... Just silence.

It's basically what happens when dirtside scum can't hear birds or insects.

I'm thinking of something more metaphysical in terms of horror

Moon is a good movie, and doesn't really feature any violence or gore.
And the friendly robot, is actually friendly.

Perhaps less gruesome/edgy, I've long been toying with the idea of a Rogue Trader who is also a serial killer.

You've seen Sunshine and/or Event Horizon, yes?

[Avaris]

Rogue Trader ships are pretty scary, what with all the daemons and sudden, violent decompression at any moment. And then one day you realise that for the first time in your void-born life you can hear silence - no hum of the engines, no pulsing of the oxygen scrubbers, no buzzing of electronic read-outs.... Just silence.

Exactly! Main thing is, they’re not the soldiers who regularly face this. The horror is integral to their lives. My idea actually focusses around a dying vessel, so the horror of silence is a good hook!

[Wraith]

It's basically what happens when dirtside scum can't hear birds or insects.

Almost, but not quite the same. A silent starship means that your world is ending, and that death is a slow, cold, breathless, and inevitable amount of time away. Lack of birds and insects, conversely, means that the Predator is watching you which is a very different fate.

And the friendly robot, is actually friendly.

Clearly an obvious sign that something is up.

You've seen Sunshine and/or Event Horizon, yes?

I'm thinking something slower, more like Silence of the Lambs in Space rather than a thriller like Sunshine.

The premise is that the story focuses on an Inquisitor as he tracks down, arrests and interrogates a Rogue Trader for the usual nonsense - smuggling, carrying xeno-tech, etc - but as the interview goes on things start to unravel and the Inquisitor slowly starts to realise that the smuggling was just an elaborate bait, and the RT has intentionally lured him there because Inquisitors - all powerful, ultimate authority, left-hand of the Emperor - are the RT's favourite prey.

[Cheesegear]

The premise is that the story focuses on an Inquisitor as he tracks down, arrests and interrogates a Rogue Trader for the usual nonsense - smuggling, carrying xeno-tech, etc - but as the interview goes on things start to unravel...

Please be Rashomon-in-space.
Please be Rashomon-in-space.
Please be Rashomon-in-space.
Please be Rashomon-in-space.
Please be Rashomon-in-space.

[Wraith]

Please be Rashomon-in-space.

Inquisitor: "I think you're a heretic, look at all this stuff I found in your desk drawer which you must have got from Planet A."
Ship's Computer: "Illogical, we have never been anywhere near anything like that. We only ever do the trip between Planet O and Planet P."
Ship's Navigator: "Wait, what? You told me we had just been to Planet Y. That's a terrible trick to play on a blind man."
Rogue Trader: "Welp, you got me! Just whatever you do, don't look at all of the neatly arranged evidence in the safe behind the portrait hanging on the wall right behind you...."

Hmm... Tricky to do in a conversation when only 2 people in it really have any importance. Definitely an interesting premise for a daemonic possession or genestealer abduction though - no one remembers where they have been or what the others were doing, only that at least one of them is lying and then stabs someone and jumps into the air vents before the meeting is called

[Lord Torath]

Or, as the rest of us call it: "Warhammer".
Honestly I would like to submit something this year, but I'm quite stuck for inspiration as... well, what about the grimdark far-future ISN'T full of monsters, deprivation and mangled corpses being used as food, fuel and ammunition in some form?

The Inquisitor lands on a planet with good planetary defenses and defense forces, where everyone is hard working, happy, has enough to eat, there are no cultists, everyone (mostly) gets along (and whatever disagreements arise are resolved amicably), and there's literally nothing wrong with this planet. Nope, not even that. There's no hidden threat, no facade with dark secrets behind it, just a peaceful, happy planet.

[Tvtyrant]

The Inquisitor lands on a planet with good planetary defenses and defense forces, where everyone is hard working, happy, has enough to eat, there are no cultists, everyone (mostly) gets along (and whatever disagreements arise are resolved amicably), and there's literally nothing wrong with this planet. Nope, not even that. There's no hidden threat, no facade with dark secrets behind it, just a peaceful, happy planet.

Reverse Hot Fuzz, where literally everything is normal and the Inquisitor begins going mad trying to find whatever Genestealer or Chaos cult is making people happy and obedient. Lots of deeply suspicious things happen but turn out to actually be accidents or harmless.

Edit: I was reading a thread about Dark Eldar that were deliberately infecting captives with Genestealer DNA by grafting arms onto them to make Genestealer Cultists for cannon fodder, and someone mentioned how dangerous that was because they draw Hivefleets.

What would happen to a Hivefleet if it got into the Webway? Does the Shadow in the Warp inhibit Webway openings or would you just have an alternative, buggy version of the Warp in short order?

[Grim Portent]

Reverse Hot Fuzz, where literally everything is normal and the Inquisitor begins going mad trying to find whatever Genestealer or Chaos cult is making people happy and obedient. Lots of deeply suspicious things happen but turn out to actually be accidents or harmless.

Edit: I was reading a thread about Dark Eldar that were deliberately infecting captives with Genestealer DNA by grafting arms onto them to make Genestealer Cultists for cannon fodder, and someone mentioned how dangerous that was because they draw Hivefleets.

What would happen to a Hivefleet if it got into the Webway? Does the Shadow in the Warp inhibit Webway openings or would you just have an alternative, buggy version of the Warp in short order?

I think the general trend in published material has been that nids have no real effect on webway gates, though I imagine they'd find navigating the webway itself nearly impossible. Not enough gravity for Narvhals to navigate by, and what gravity is there* is distorted by the portals. Similar problem with psychic signals.

If they got dropped into one of the main portals to Commorragh with a clear approach it'd be easy, but if they manage to enter one of the smaller lanes of traffic they could wander for a long time without finding anything except daemons.

*Mostly from the biggest bits of Commorragh and the captured suns.

[Keraunograf]

Rogue Trader ships are pretty scary, what with all the daemons and sudden, violent decompression at any moment. And then one day you realise that for the first time in your void-born life you can hear silence - no hum of the engines, no pulsing of the oxygen scrubbers, no buzzing of electronic read-outs.... Just silence.

I'm thinking of something more metaphysical in terms of horror - a short story from the point of view of someone that has been possessed by a daemon, for example, and is watching themselves act unconsciously and slowly mutate. Don't have much of an outline yet, though I'm not sure how far I'll go with it, as what I already have in mind probably well oversteps the boundary between body horror and gorn. GW seem to be fine with people being shot to bits and chopped up by swords, less so on lingering descriptions of torture.

Perhaps less gruesome/edgy, I've long been toying with the idea of a Rogue Trader who is also a serial killer. An Inquisitor stops by and investigates him for smuggling, etc, and slowly uncovers proof of something more sinister, culminating with him finding the RT's stash of trophies locked in a safe - a set of blood-stained =][= rosettes, and then behind him he hears the sound of a knife being drawn....

I think in my version of that the Inquisitor would find out what the Rogue Trader has been doing and decides that as long as they're not doing it to anyone *important* that they just don't care, and/or draft them to serial kill the "right" people.

There's a certain amount that the callousness of the setting is the most horrifying parts of it. The parts where you run into something that *should* be horrifying, and the people in the setting just kind of shrug and go "Ok but is it demons?"

[Squark]

I think in my version of that the Inquisitor would find out what the Rogue Trader has been doing and decides that as long as they're not doing it to anyone *important* that they just don't care, and/or draft them to serial kill the "right" people.

There's a certain amount that the callousness of the setting is the most horrifying parts of it. The parts where you run into something that *should* be horrifying, and the people in the setting just kind of shrug and go "Ok but is it demons?"

Sure, but "Blood-stained =][= rosettes" is the definition of doing it to someone *important*. If for no other reason that killing inquisitors is the job of other inquisitors.

[Silverraptor]

Warhammer Community have posted their semi-annual amateur writers' competition - this year the theme is "Warhammer Horror".

Or, as the rest of us call it: "Warhammer".
Honestly I would like to submit something this year, but I'm quite stuck for inspiration as... well, what about the grimdark far-future ISN'T full of monsters, deprivation and mangled corpses being used as food, fuel and ammunition in some form?

You could do a story about Tyranid Lictor stalking an important noble where he wakes up every night with the Lictor in his room making some kind of low growl purring noise before disappearing every night no matter how many guards and security measures he puts up and has to replace every single night, slowly driving him mad!

~Oh wait, that's been done before, hasn't it?


I like the idea of the guy being possessed, but in a way that it is a very slow step to insanity and given the 40k aspect, you could try to fool the reader that everything happening to the man is something that is currently happening to his planet (Like demon or xenos invasion and such and he has to survive day to day inside a hive city) then at the last moment when he murders the last people or destroys the last things he cares about, he could have 1 last moment of sanity, see that the whole thing was dreamt in his mind, before he becomes the conduit for the demon or xenos invasion he had been hallucinating the entire time.

Just some ideas to help you out.

[Platinius]

My idea was basically an inquisitor (is replaceable by another character, but she is a physically small, so she was the one doing the crawling through the tight tube) to crawl though a long duct, while listening in and giving orders over vox to her retinue which is currently trying to advance to the same position via overland ways to, all of them trying to set the charges to sabotage a reactor so the shield goes down and their ship can bombard the genestealer-infested hive city from orbit.
The inquisitor hears as over time her retinue (a few SM and a few platoons of Stormtroopers, all of them far to big for the tube she is crawling through) get slowly butchered by the constant onslaught and ambushes of the genestealers.
In the end she would stand alone where they were supposed to be at least 50 even after to try and set the charges while a Genestealer Patriarch is facing her down.

Thoughts? I have a few more ideas, but not much planning done thus far. I also don't know if I am actually capable of writing horror. I can write anger, love, frustration and fear, yes, but writing a horror story is something different from something that has a few horror moments.


Edit: To keep it Grimdark enough, she had deployed with an entire battalion of Stormtroopers (500 men at least) and 20 SM, and of all these highly skilled warriors, she expected only 50 put together to make it there in the best case. I hope that shows the desperation enough from the beginning, at least in theory.

[Lord Torath]

Just so everyone knows what Grimdarkness is: Overly Sarcastic Productions: Trope Talk: Grimdark

So, Platinus, to make your story properly GrimDark, after the poor inquisitor detonates the bomb, it needs to not make a meaningful difference. Say, after the reactor blows, and the heavy cruiser then turns the genestealer-infested city into a glowing crater (thus saving the planet), the Hive Fleet comes out of the warp behind the cruiser, and either obliterates it, or the story ends before that happens, but you know it's going to happen anyway.

Ah, the joys of GrimDarkness.

To be perfectly honest, I don't like my stories (or my 40k) quite that grim. I'm not going for Brighthammer, mind you (or whatever it's called), but something with a bit more hope than the traditional GrimDark 40k.

[Forum Explorer]

Just so everyone knows what Grimdarkness is: Overly Sarcastic Productions: Trope Talk: Grimdark

So, Platinus, to make your story properly GrimDark, after the poor inquisitor detonates the bomb, it needs to not make a meaningful difference. Say, after the reactor blows, and the heavy cruiser then turns the genestealer-infested city into a glowing crater (thus saving the planet), the Hive Fleet comes out of the warp behind the cruiser, and either obliterates it, or the story ends before that happens, but you know it's going to happen anyway.

Ah, the joys of GrimDarkness.

To be perfectly honest, I don't like my stories (or my 40k) quite that grim. I'm not going for Brighthammer, mind you (or whatever it's called), but something with a bit more hope than the traditional GrimDark 40k.

The 40K universe is inherently Grimdark, because even the greatest victories don't really matter in the long run. You save a planet, congrats. Too bad dozens of other planets were lost in that timeframe, but hey, at least you saved that one.

The way I break it down per 'good' faction is this:

Imperium: In a slow but very much inevitable decline. There are simply too many threats for them to actually win. At best, they can tread water for a little while, but they haven't actually made any progress in eliminating any threats for thousands of years now, while their opponents have only gotten stronger.

Eldar: Are so close to the brink of extinction that they can win 99 out of 100 battles, and still end up losing the war simply because they cannot afford even minor losses. Their path to survival is so low to be next to impossible. Their path to victory might as well not exist. Even Ynnead would only come into existence after it's too late to actually save the Eldar as a species.

Tau: Are too minor and naïve to really matter. Sure they've got innovative and brand new technology, sure they actually work with and understand other aliens. But they are what? Barely 100 planets strong? And they are already starting to fall apart from the strain that's putting on their philosophy and the limits of their technology. And they haven't actually overcome any real challenges yet.



Actually on a side note, I've been thinking that the Imperium's best bet is to actually just abandon the half of the Imperium that's cut off from the Astronomicon. Have as many military forces as they can muster retreat, and just defend the half they control. Let Chaos weaken itself defending its newly conquered territory from rampaging Orks, Tyranids, and Necrons. All the while they actually need to conquer said territory while infighting with itself. And dealing with raids from both Eldar and Dark Eldar. Oh, and the new Tau portal. While the Imperium now has much less territory to defend, and can concentrate its forces much easier, and respond faster to any threats.

[Tvtyrant]

The 40K universe is inherently Grimdark, because even the greatest victories don't really matter in the long run. You save a planet, congrats. Too bad dozens of other planets were lost in that timeframe, but hey, at least you saved that one.

The way I break it down per 'good' faction is this:

Imperium: In a slow but very much inevitable decline. There are simply too many threats for them to actually win. At best, they can tread water for a little while, but they haven't actually made any progress in eliminating any threats for thousands of years now, while their opponents have only gotten stronger.

Eldar: Are so close to the brink of extinction that they can win 99 out of 100 battles, and still end up losing the war simply because they cannot afford even minor losses. Their path to survival is so low to be next to impossible. Their path to victory might as well not exist. Even Ynnead would only come into existence after it's too late to actually save the Eldar as a species.

Tau: Are too minor and naïve to really matter. Sure they've got innovative and brand new technology, sure they actually work with and understand other aliens. But they are what? Barely 100 planets strong? And they are already starting to fall apart from the strain that's putting on their philosophy and the limits of their technology. And they haven't actually overcome any real challenges yet.



Actually on a side note, I've been thinking that the Imperium's best bet is to actually just abandon the half of the Imperium that's cut off from the Astronomicon. Have as many military forces as they can muster retreat, and just defend the half they control. Let Chaos weaken itself defending its newly conquered territory from rampaging Orks, Tyranids, and Necrons. All the while they actually need to conquer said territory while infighting with itself. And dealing with raids from both Eldar and Dark Eldar. Oh, and the new Tau portal. While the Imperium now has much less territory to defend, and can concentrate its forces much easier, and respond faster to any threats.

Agreed. If they can get the Hivefleets and Necrons to focus on Chaos they have a good chance of the other factions burning out and Gulliman slowly restoring sanity to the Imperium. The Necrons can actually beat Chaos using Pylons, so if they can get the Silent King to focus on that project and beating the Nids they buy a lot of time.

[The Glyphstone]

I'd like to see a Thing inspired story, with an Astartes kill squad wiping out a Chaos cult. One by one the Marines are killed or replaced by Alpha Legionnaires, until its just the final member. He kills the cult leader, but with their dying breath they speak the trigger phrase to restore his true identity as a deep cover AL infiltrator. The entire thing was an elaborate ruse to improve the standing and renown of the agent.

[Silverraptor]

I'd like to see a Thing inspired story, with an Astartes kill squad wiping out a Chaos cult. One by one the Marines are killed or replaced by Alpha Legionnaires, until its just the final member. He kills the cult leader, but with their dying breath they speak the trigger phrase to restore his true identity as a deep cover AL infiltrator. The entire thing was an elaborate ruse to improve the standing and renown of the agent.

Spoiler: So Warhammer 40k Among Us

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[Platinius]

Agreed. If they can get the Hivefleets and Necrons to focus on Chaos they have a good chance of the other factions burning out and Gulliman slowly restoring sanity to the Imperium. The Necrons can actually beat Chaos using Pylons, so if they can get the Silent King to focus on that project and beating the Nids they buy a lot of time.

Couldn't resist^^

But a bit more on the serious side, I do not mind a happy ending in 40k. Technically speaking, an entire Hive City lost to genestealers is already a tragedy (and it is a wealthy one, it has a city wide shield generator), glassing it from orbit is already a desperate measure. You can let a few survive to ruminate on their horrible deeds.

It is the human factor that makes a story stick.

[hamishspence]

Agreed. If they can get the Hivefleets and Necrons to focus on Chaos they have a good chance of the other factions burning out and Gulliman slowly restoring sanity to the Imperium. The Necrons can actually beat Chaos using Pylons, so if they can get the Silent King to focus on that project and beating the Nids they buy a lot of time.

Doesn't the whole Pariah Nexus thing demonstrate that "the Necrons beating Chaos with pylons" is absolutely disastrous for everyone other than Necrons, in the Pylon-covered area?

[Wraith]

Doesn't the whole Pariah Nexus thing demonstrate that "the Necrons beating Chaos with pylons" is absolutely disastrous for everyone other than Necrons, in the Pylon-covered area?

Insofar as the pylons also suppress all other psychic ability, yes. If you bathed the entire galaxy in the aura of a single giant pylon, it would solve a lot of problems - no more daemons, no more Tyranid hive-mind, no gestalt Ork Waagh-field - but the same effect would be doom to the other civilizations.

Humans would survive individually, but there'd be no Navigators, Astropaths or Astronomicon so the Imperium would disappear, and then the lone planets would be easy pickings for non-daemon Traitor Astartes, pirates, Necrons, etc.
It would also suck to be an Aeldari, as their entire race are latently psychic so it would be like partially lobotomising them unless they either went to live in the webway or otherwise left the galaxy.

The only people who probably wouldn't be significantly affected would be the Tau - and even then only probably, as we're not quite sure how Ethereals' aura of influence works, and if it's even vaguely psychic or psyker-adjacent (some sources have shown it get disrupted by Pariahs, after all) then it could potentially trigger the end of the Greater Good and thus cause Tau society to collapse unless someone like Farsight could grab the reigns.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

As an aside, I don’t like the Tyranids as a part of the wider narrative. The problem is that GW set them up as this unstoppable juggernaut and basically wrote themselves into a corner.

Shadow in the Warp. Near Doomsday-level super-adaptation. Endless numbers. Choices that lie between Pyrrhic victory or total defeat.

It would be fine if the timeline remained frozen. The galaxy is always doomed, right? But if time moves, and the Tyranid fleets only move in one direction, then either the Tyranids have to suffer an utterly unprecedented reversal or 40k ends.

And I’m not convinced that 40k needs a greater threat the way that I dunno the Borg or Yuuzhan Vong would be in their respective universes. Everyone’s already killing each other and committing atrocities as the baseline.

That’s my take on it anyway. Maybe I’m missing something.

[hamishspence]

Insofar as the pylons also suppress all other psychic ability, yes. If you bathed the entire galaxy in the aura of a single giant pylon, it would solve a lot of problems - no more daemons, no more Tyranid hive-mind, no gestalt Ork Waagh-field - but the same effect would be doom to the other civilizations.

Humans would survive individually, but there'd be no Navigators, Astropaths or Astronomicon so the Imperium would disappear, and then the lone planets would be easy pickings for non-daemon Traitor Astartes, pirates, Necrons, etc.

There's a strong implication in Psychic Awakening that humans would not survive - that they'd all end up soulless and without any volition (and probably die of starvation).

[Avaris]

As an aside, I don’t like the Tyranids as a part of the wider narrative. The problem is that GW set them up as this unstoppable juggernaut and basically wrote themselves into a corner.

Shadow in the Warp. Near Doomsday-level super-adaptation. Endless numbers. Choices that lie between Pyrrhic victory or total defeat.

It would be fine if the timeline remained frozen. The galaxy is always doomed, right? But if time moves, and the Tyranid fleets only move in one direction, then either the Tyranids have to suffer an utterly unprecedented reversal or 40k ends.

And I’m not convinced that 40k needs a greater threat the way that I dunno the Borg or Yuuzhan Vong would be in their respective universes. Everyone’s already killing each other and committing atrocities as the baseline.

That’s my take on it anyway. Maybe I’m missing something.

The sheer size of the galaxy means that, even if the Tyranids are set up as unstoppable in the long term, the setting never needs to reach that point. GW could theoretically advance the timeline hundreds if not thousands of years before reaching that point. The most they might do would be having one of the segmentum fall, though more likely having significant worlds get hit.

Though I seem to recall a narrative hook of the Tyranids running from something, which could be used to change their approach before they get too far.

Tangentially, I feel the best thing that could happen for 40k as a setting would be for the Imperium to crumble into smaller states. Not necessarily best for telling an overall story though, but I think it should be seen as a setting for ones own stories rather than as a constant narrative.

[Amechra]

The only people who probably wouldn't be significantly affected would be the Tau - and even then only probably, as we're not quite sure how Ethereals' aura of influence works, and if it's even vaguely psychic or psyker-adjacent (some sources have shown it get disrupted by Pariahs, after all) then it could potentially trigger the end of the Greater Good and thus cause Tau society to collapse unless someone like Farsight could grab the reigns.

I thought it was more-or-less canon that Ethereals used pheremones?

[hamishspence]

From the War Zone Pariah section of the 9e Core Book:

Some eldritch force radiates from the benighted Xendu system to sever realspace from the warp. It stretches like a shroud of crawling unease that settles across world after world. Those planets engulfed are quickly "stilled". One by one, living minds are smothered and souls snuffed like guttering candle flames.

...

With the uneasy allegiance of an ancient conclave of Crypteks known as the Technomandrites, Szarekh is attempting to propagate a star-spanning weapon of such potency that it could end the threat of Chaos altogether. That this sea change in the galaxy's fortunes would come at the cost of soul death for every non-Necron life form is simply an additional boon from the Silent King's point of view.