Fortunan Fluff: Fortuna Secundus, part II

BY ORDER OF HIS MOST HOLY MAJESTY
THE GOD-EMPEROR OF TERRA

ADEPTUS ASTROPATHICA COMMUNIQUE
AUTHORISED PERSONS ONLY


CASE FILE 359:92C:HB8:Dih

CLASSIFICATION: Primary Level Intelligence
CLEARANCE: Onyx
ENCRYPTION: Cryptox v 2.5
DATE: 41.M36
AUTHOR: Inquisitor Martin Schleissmacher
SUBJECT: Fortuna Secundus Warp Activity
RECIPIENT: Lord Inquisitor Justin Liechtenstein

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Greetings, and may the God-Emperor look down upon us with favor.

Three weeks ago Warp monitoring stations near the Fortuna system detected a large signature manifesting on Fortuna Secundus. After all attempts at communication were met with either screams or silence an Ordos Malleus strike team was dispatched and sent to investigate.

(Image from www.games-workshop.com)

We touched down in what our maps purported to be the capital city of Vega. All that surrounded us for kilometers was burnt wasteland and the melted remnants of sand covered buildings. Nothing even closely resembling the lush forests that were present in our data sheets could be seen, even through our macros. All was dead and burnt. Our mystics reported strong psychic resonance from the area as would be expected from the presence of the Great Enemy, but that it was strangely muted, as if it were being actively walled off.

Our craft took to the air again, under my orders to follow the mystics' senses to the strongest source of resonance. They led us to the location of a large entertainment complex known quite distressingly as the "Imperial Palace." We touched down several kilometers away from the structure and prepared to investigate in force.

That night the Enemy assaulted us, but he met his match in us. Precision fire from my Stormtroopers as well as the wail of my Hammer beat the foe back into the warp, seemingly too easily.

Once the perimeter was secure we called down reinforcements and made towards our destination. Entering the "Palace" my mystics began to cringe in fear, complaining about large shapes surrounding our every move. We took up defensive positions immediately and steeled ourselves for an encounter with servants of the Most Hated.

After an hour of heightened alert we decided to continue on into the structure, mystics be damned. When we neared the heart of the beast, a large cavernous room with many tables and machines of questionable purpose, we detected movement through our night vision scopes. There, in the middle of the space were figures sitting around the tables, playing cards of all things. We crept down into the center of the room, weapons at the ready.

The humans were bedecked with all manner of Imperial regalia, some so much that I could barely make out their faces for all of the purity seals and aquilae. They had also ritually scarred themselves with pictures of the various suits from their decks, and many of the cards themselves had been stapled to their clothing and flesh. The motions of their game had a ritual-like quality, betraying none of the motion and vulgarity that the common citizen expresses when engrossed in such fare.

Our mystics reported that the great shapes that they had detected were warping in and around the game, seemingly trapped in the fanatically ordered chaos of the shuffling cards. Later we discovered a large number of additional survivors, all similarly scarred though bearing less Imperial iconography. They corroborated the mystics theory, adding that one of their one, someone by the name of Katriana Carde, had had a vision telling them to perform the ritual above in order to survive the impending "doom of the perverted heretics dancing to their deaths above."

All survivors have been quarantined and will be interrogated to see if their stories corroborate our further investigations. I am sending this missive to your, my Lord, because of the massive theoretical implications that this find presents and I require guidance as to how to proceed.

May the Emperor protect and send your response swiftly to me

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END TRANSMISSION