Stilling
The Stilling is the Imperial name for the deadly malaise that was given off by the Blackstone Pylons the Necron used to create the Pariah Nexus.[1a]
Overview
While the Necrons are not effected by the energy, anything organic is struck by despair, lethargy, and exhaustion and it also causes a psychic dampening effect. These effects are stronger on the Nexus' worlds and the constant drain of the Stilling can eventually drive some of its victims to commit suicide. Most of its victims, however, eventually collapse and simply remain still until they die. The population of the Imperial worlds in the Nexus suffered this fate, which the Indomitus Crusade's Battle Group Kallides discovered when they entered the region. The Stilling also effected the Battle Group's warships, causing their engines to draw on more power to function and caused their Geller Fields to collapse. Miraculously this did not allow Daemons to invade the warships, but this was the few hardships the Battle Group was spared. The Stilling otherwise had a horrific effect on the Battle Group's forces, with only its Battle Sisters being unaffected by it. This led to horrific causalities caused by suicide or executions carried out by Commissars after many stopped following orders or said the Battle Group was doomed. Kallides' Psykers seemed to suffer a stronger reaction to the Stilling; the psychic dampening effect also caused them to struggle to make their powers work. They described a feeling of constant drowning, which eventually led many of them to commit suicide. When their numbers became extremely low, the Battle Group was forced to assign bodyguards to protect the psykers from themselves.[1a]
The effect was even more pronounced upon Aeldari: the Rangers of Alaitoc in the Paraiah Nexus were overcome, lapsing into fugue states with some hallucinating Daemons and falling into paranoia. Psycho-reactive Aeldari equipment malfunctioned, psychically activated systems failing and Longrifles experiencing targeting errors – worst of all Waystones failed to properly capture dying souls, appearing milky and dull and emanating an aura of melancholic laziness. The spiritual dangers of the anomaly eventually forcing an Alaitoc retreat in favour of smaller clandestine strikes designed to relieve Imperial forces.[2] The Drukhari also suffer some spiritual malaise in the presence of the Pylons, but view the regions opportunistically – for Slaanesh does not feed on those who raid the region rendering it safer for them than the Webway itself.[3]
The Battle Group eventually discovered that the Stilling was caused by Blackstone Pylons they found on the Pariah Nexus world Mesmoch. This discovery, however, led the Necron to attack the Battle Group, which was unable to properly fight back due to being struck by the Stilling[1a]. Kallides' forces were defeated as a result, which caused the Battle Group to suffer nearly crippling losses. In the aftermath of the debacle, the Battle Sister Ephrael Stern was allowed to lead a desperate counter-attack on the Necron held world Cherist. Her forces contained a large number of Battle Sisters, whose Imperial Faith was so strong, that it lessened the impact the Stilling had on the forces fighting beside them. This allowed Kallides' forces to defeat the Necron on Cherist[1b] and afterwards, the Battle Group realized that their faith in the Emperor was the key to victory. Soon Kallides' Battle Sisters, Black Templars and Preachers were distributed across the Battle Group, to ensure its faith remained permanently roused. The Necron's leader, Szeras, refuses to believe that Kallides' faith is protecting them from the Stilling and has ordered its forces captured. He plans to experiment on them in order to determine the true cause of the Battle Group's new found resilience. Inquisitor Lord Kyria Draxus, meanwhile is searching for a way to stop the Stilling by seeking out how to destroy the Blackstone Pylons.[1c]
Source
- 1: Psychic Awakening: Pariah:
- 2: White Dwarf 500, pgs. 41-42 – The Nephilim Anomaly: Xenos Activities
- 3: Codex: Drukhari (10th Edition), pg. 21
