On the forge world of Morod, the machines never stop and the work never ends. The human population toils in the mines and factoria making weapons to protect the rest of Humanity from the many monsters in the void, while the Adeptus Mechanicus who rule the planet enjoy lives of palatial comfort.
This unassuming world is the setting for the latest star author to write for Black Library – the Arthur C Clarke Award-winning Adrian Tchaikovsky. He’s crash-landing onto our shelves next year with Day of Ascension, a spine-chilling exploration of what happens to a forge world when a Genestealer Cult comes to town. Expect a scintillating clash between flesh and machine as cog meets claw in a desperate battle for survival.
Our hero is genetor Gammat Triskellian, a magos biologis who seeks to end the stagnant corruption that has overtaken Morod. When he learns of a twisted congregation operating within the shadows, one which believes that the Tech-Priests are keeping the people from their true salvation – a long-prophesied union with angels – he sees in them an opportunity. He hatches a plan to use them to bring down Morod’s masters and reclaim the world in the name of progress.
Triskellian is something of a radical who wants to tear down the inflexible and inefficient rulers of Morod. But his isn’t the only point of view in the novel – we’ll also be seeing the cult through the eyes of one of its adherents as the titular day draws inexorably closer.
We all have questions – not least what palatial comfort looks like to the posthuman Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus.* Day of Ascension will be released in 2022, so there’s not long until we find answers to this and much more besides.
Tchaikovsky is a true heavyweight of modern science fiction, and it’s safe to say that the Black Librarians are buzzing to have him contributing to the worlds of Warhammer, and we can’t wait to find out how this epic showdown turns out.
* It’s extra unguents in their oil baths, isn’t it? Chrome spinners for their mechadendrites, something like that.