Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress is available to pre-order this weekend – and, for the next couple of weeks, we’re exploring what’s in the set. Yesterday, we unboxed the contents, while today, we’re diving into the dark new lore that you’ll get to explore in your copy….
Time, space and reality are coming apart at the seams, as the Warp – a hellish dimension of raw, formless energy – seeps into realspace. The Imperium of Man – the cruel and bloody regime that claims control of the galaxy – is on the brink of collapse, split in two by a colossal rift. Wars rage across hundreds of thousands of worlds.
And things might be about to get even worse.
Blackstone Fortresses are colossal spaceborne citadels of unknown origin valued for their terrifying and strange abilities. Many have suggested that they were built by the mysterious precursor race known as the Old Ones, though none know for sure. Once, the Imperium possessed six of these towering fortresses – each reinforced by the ingenuity of the Adeptus Mechanicus and used to fortify the frontiers of the Imperium.
In Abaddon’s Twelfth Black Crusade, all six were lost, with two captured by Chaos and four destroyed utterly. Both captured fortresses would prove devastating during the early engagements of the 13th Black Crusade – one was used to secure the services of legendary renegade Huron Blackheart, while the other was eventually hurled into the surface of Cadia, resulting in warp-storms and physical devastation that utterly obliterated the planet.
And for a time, that was that.
The galaxy is a vast and lonely place. For every sector abuzz with life, there are countless more that are dead zones. Even as wars reach into every corner of the galaxy, great swathes still lie silent, untouched and empty.
It was in one such silent sector in the galactic west that a new Blackstone Fortress appeared. In the furthest reaches of the Segmentum Pacificus, it sits amid a graveyard of starships that stretches more than a million miles across.
This latest Blackstone Fortress is a key tactical asset for any who might suborn it to their will. Even a single one of these star-citadels can turn the tide of the most apocalyptic space battles, armed with weapons of unparalleled power.
The Blackstone Fortress is more than just a weapon, however, it is a cache of archeotech and artefacts from bygone ages. Relics of countless species lie abandoned in its halls – a technological treasure trove that would prove utterly irresistible for any who seek to collect, study or leverage technology in their wars. But unlike any other Blackstone Fortress found before, this citadel is not inert, but seems to act, and even react, of its own accord. Quite what this means is one of the most puzzling aspects of this Blackstone Fortress.
More mysterious still are the “hidden vaults”. None can say what lies within – but given the other secrets possessed by the fortress, the treasures inside must be priceless.
That’s where you come in. In Blackstone Fortress, you’ll take the role of one of the explorers hunting to unlock the secrets of this forgotten and terrible place, discovering more of the story and finding just what lies within the hidden vault as you play – provided your explorers survive…
You’ll be able to explore the Blackstone Fortress yourself very soon – make sure to pre-order your copy of the game this weekend...