The Shadow of Morrian

"We saw the same doom—but through different lenses. And for a fleeting moment, our hands moved as one."

— Rune-Master Elythar of Vanari

Background

In 812.M41, the Death Guard warband "The Droning Choir" invaded Hive Morrian, an Imperial city unknowingly built atop an ancient Aeldari wraithbone nexus—a relic of the War in Heaven. Both Craftworld Vanari and Ulthwé foresaw catastrophe, but their interpretations clashed:

Vanari’s Vision: The nexus could be cleansed and repurposed, its geomantic power turned into a weapon to scour the plague.
Ulthwé’s Vision: The nexus was too far corrupted, and any attempt to salvage it would only spread Nurgle’s influence.

Yet, despite their differences, both Craftworlds recognized the greater threat: if the Death Guard fully corrupted the nexus, it would become a pandemic beacon, dooming entire sectors.

The Council of Morrian

As the Death Guard’s plague-swarmed the hive, the two factions convened in a rare joint seer-council aboard Vanari’s flagship, The Dawn’s Resolve.

The Debate

Ulthwé’s Argument (Farseer Idranel the Grim): "The nexus is a corpse. We do not heal necrotic flesh—we burn it. Every second we waste trying to redeem the irredeemable, the Rotfather’s grip tightens."
Vanari’s Counter (Rune-Master Elythar): "And what then? Let the humans become minions of the Plague God? Let the nexus’s energy disperse into the warp, where the Enemy will claim it anyway? No. We must control the fire."

The Accord

After hours of tense negotiation, the two Craftworlds reached a compromise:

Ulthwé would dismantle the nexus’s core, ensuring it could not be weaponized by Chaos.
Vanari would channel the released energy into a purge, a controlled detonation to incinerate the plague.
Both would evacuate any uninfected humans—not out of mercy, but to deny Nurgle flesh as fuel.

The Battle of Morrian’s Heart

The plan required perfect coordination:

Ulthwé’s Warlocks infiltrated the hive’s depths, their runes carving apart the nexus’s bonds.
Vanari’s Blademasters held the perimeter, their disciplined strikes cutting down plague-zombies with surgical precision.
Rune-Mages and Farseers stood back-to-back, weaving a dual ritual—one to break, one to burn.

But the Death Guard’s sorcerer, Plague-Cantor Vorrkus, intervened. The ritual wavered—until:

Farseer Idranel sacrificed his psychic essence to stabilize the dismantling.
Rune-Master Elythar took Vorrkus’s killing blow to complete the Purge.

The resulting explosion atomized the hive, leaving only a glassy crater—and the echoes of two Aeldari voices laughing in triumph, just before the warp swallowed them whole.

Aftermath: A Victory, But No Alliance

The Death Guard: Vorrkus’s body was obliterated, but his soul escaped—now a minor plague-daemon, eternally singing of his failure.
The Imperium: Declared Morrian "lost to xenos witchcraft." The few saved humans were quietly mind-wiped by Ulthwé’s Warlocks.
Vanari & Ulthwé: The two Craftworlds parted ways, their mutual respect tinged with sorrow.
- Ulthwé saw Vanari as reckless idealists.
- Vanari saw Ulthwé as pessimistic fatalists.
- Yet both recorded the battle in their archives as "The Shadow of Morrian.

Quotes for the Ages

Farseer Idranel’s last words: "You burn too brightly, Vanari. But today… that fire was needed."
Rune-Master Elythar’s final glyph: "The path is not one or the other. It is both—and that is why we walk alone."