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The Shadowlight was an ancient Xenos artifact created by an unknown race (presumably the Ancients) long before the origins of Mankind. It was said to be as old as the Necrons, so ancient that it was only known as a legend among the Eldar2.
In appearance the Shadowlight was a small, flat slab of dark stone that, nondescript though it was, gave off an unmistakeable erieness. It was apparently intended to be part of a larger machine, several parts of which were scattered along with it in "The Valley Of Daemons" on the planet Perlia2.
The exact purpose of the xenos machine was unknown, although one researcher theorized that it was able to alter the fabric of reality itself, created by the Ancients as a weapon of last resort in their war against the C'tan. The Shadowlight had a "side effect" that made it extremely dangerous: contact with the artifact could awaken the powers of latent Psykers, and boost the powers of active Psykers, making them extremely powerful. However, not every psyker, latent or otherwise, survived contact with the artifact, and non-psykers who touched it without protection died almost instantly2. Based on this, one Mechanicus Tech Priest theorized that it was designed as a combined antenna and storage battery, meant to draw on the energies of the Warp and use them to power the primary machine3.
The Shadowlight was discovered by agents of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Ordo Xenos, who established a secret Mechanicus Shrine in the Valley to study its properties. One of the Tech-Priests, Metheius, believed that the Ordo Xenos were blind to the Shadowlight's real potential, and shared its existence with Inquisitor Killian of the Ordo Hereticus. Killian believed that with the artifact, he could create an army of psykers, powerful enough to finally overthrow and destroy the forces of Chaos2.
During the First Siege of Perlia, under the cover of the Ork invasion of the planet, Killian and Methius stormed the Shrine, killed the researchers and stole the Shadowlight, with the unwitting help of a squad of over-zealous battle-sisters from the Adepta Sororitas2. Commissar Ciaphas Cain, leading an army of refugees across the Valley, discovered their handiwork, though he did not know until later who was responsible1.
Killian and Methius continued to study the Shadowlight in secret inside a Sororitas convent on Periremunda, recruiting members of a local Chaos cult to serve as "test subjects." When Cain and Inquisitor Amberley Vail confronted Killian, he attempted to escape with it, only to inadvertently handle it without protection, killing him2.
The Shadowlight was returned to Perlia and the Shrine was rebuilt. Over the next few decades, several more components of the machine were discovered, and it was partially reassembled3.
Somehow, the forces of Chaos learned of the Shadowlight and saw the same potential that Killian had, though in reverse. During the 13th Black Crusade, in 999 M41, Abaddon the Despoiler dispatched a small expeditionary force, under the command of Warmaster Varan, to retrieve it. Cain stopped Varan, but the Shadowlight itself was captured by the Necrons3.
In a private discussion with Vail, Cain softened the loss by reasoning that the Necrons must have feared the Shadowlight, since it was created by their enemies; and for that reason, they likely had no immediate plans to use it against the Imperium. Thus, losing it to them was preferable to losing it to Chaos3.