Lorelei (Material)

Imperium Portal

Lorelei is a powerful^[1] psychically active crystalline mineral, that is harvested by the Imperium.^[2a][2b]

Description

It forms the basis of Force Weapons, Psychic Hoods, and is also cast into paper-thin sheets of liquid crystal to create a variation of the Emperor's Tarot. However, while decks created from Lorelei have the potential for stronger readings, they also invite more risk for those Imperials who use them.^[1]

Planets known to have lorelei deposits include Kalidar IV. Notably, lorelei is valuable enough to the Imperium that, when Kalidar was invaded by the orks of Waaagh! Gratzdakka in the late 300's.M41, Imperial authorities decided that the cost of eliminating the orks by orbital bombardment was too great, instead committing an entire Battlegroup of the Astra Militarum to a gruelling and costly land war in order to secure the planet and the lorelei.^[2b]

Trivia

The following information is not to be regarded as officially sanctioned and/ or is not written from an in-universe point of view. A detailed explanation of the term "Trivia" as used in the Lexicanum can be found here.

• The word lorelei means "murmuring stone" in a combination of Rhine dialect and Old German it etymologically descends from. Along the banks of the River Rhine, Lorelei is a 132-metre-high slate rock, possibly bearing this namesake due to a small murmuring waterfall that once echoed and amplified off its rocks. In Germanic myth and folklore, Lorelei was a siren of great beauty who after being betrayed by her love, accused of bewitching and luring men to their deaths, cast herself from the top of the aforementioned rock.

Sources

• 1: Witchbringer (Novel), Chapter 8
• 2: Baneblade (Novel):
  • 2a: Chapter 7
  • 2b: Chapter 10