Campaign: The Child of Whispering Stars

 

T'ros'ka

The birth was not marked by celebration.

On the drifting Aeldari corsair vessel Lament of Twilight, the seers felt it first—an unbearable pressure in the skein of fate, a scream echoing through the Warp itself. The child had not yet cried, yet She Who Thirsts had already turned her gaze.

The infant, named Lirielle Vaethryn, burned like a star in the immaterium. Her soul did not merely shine—it spoke. Worse still, Slaanesh listened.

The ancient Farseer Elendriil of the Shattered Path knew the truth almost instantly. This child was not a doom, as many feared—but a weapon. A living conduit capable of reaching into the realm of excess and obsession, touching the very consciousness of the Dark Prince. If guided, shielded, and shaped, Lirielle could become the first true hope of ending Slaanesh’s dominion over the Aeldari forever. But fate is never secret for long.

On Holy Terra, in vaults sealed by sigil and blood, Astropathic choirs screamed themselves into silence. The echo of Lirielle’s presence rippled outward, disturbing wards that had not trembled since the Horus Heresy.

Cardinal-Exactor Malllus Rhyl, a high-ranking zealot of the Ecclesiarchy, interpreted the signs with chilling clarity. An Aeldari child, powerful enough to touch a Chaos God, could be bound, broken, and used. Not merely as a tool, but as a leash.

Rhyl did not dispatch Space Marines. This task required deniability. Instead, he turned to the void’s shadows. The Rogue Trader Kessel Thorne, master of the cruiser Gilded Absolution, accepted the contract with a smile. Thorne’s warband of hired killers had hunted xenos before and this would be no different.

The Lament of Twilight fled toward the Tau agricultural world of T’ros’ka, a quiet farming planet known for its emerald plains and irrigation seas.  The Gilded Absolution struck without warning. Lance fire tore the corsair ship apart as it entered orbit. Wreckage burned across the sky, falling among Tau farmsteads like falling stars. Thorne’s mercenaries followed.

They slaughtered without hesitation—Tau farmers, water caste overseers, earth caste engineers, all cut down as orbital fire reduced fields to glass. The surviving Aeldari defenders fought desperately among the ruins, but they were outnumbered, outgunned, and doomed.

Farseer Elendriil died buying seconds. Seconds were not enough. Lirielle was taken. The mercenaries vanished into the void, leaving behind ash, silence, and lies.

When T’ros’ka fell silent, the Tau Empire noticed. A small investigation vessel, the Kor’vesa Taal’Shi, was dispatched—crewed not by warriors, but by auxiliaries and specialists. Humans who had embraced the Greater Good, led by First Mate Jalen Varr, a former Imperial Navy officer who had long since turned his back on the Imperium. They found ruin. Burned fields. Dead colonists. And mercenaries still sweeping the planet clean. Varr ordered his crew into action.

The battle was already underway when sleek shapes cut through the atmosphere—Aeldari bladeships, silent as ghosts. At their head flew the corsair vessel Shadowspire, commanded by Captain Tyrael Voss, once of the Craftworld Ulthwé, now a freeblade bound only by fate and vengeance.

Voss’s crew struck the mercenaries with surgical precision, saving Tau lives where they could. Amid the smoke and blood, the Tau auxiliaries and Aeldari corsairs found themselves fighting side by side—uneasy allies bound by shared enemies.

 

Welcome to the beginning of our new Stargrave campaign set in the 40K universe. The story will follow a joint Aeldari Corsair and Tau Pathfinder crew as they fight mercenaries, the imperium, and more, on their quest to recover the stolen Aeldari child and discover the truth of her power. We've decided to go for a solo campaign in which we will be playing against 'the computer' using the solo play rules outlined in the Dead or Alive supplement to Stargrave. As a result we've split our crew into Aeldari Captain + 4 crew members and a Tau First Mate + 4 crew members - following all of the same limitations for a crew as defined in the rule. This allowed me and my buddy to both use our minis and root together against the dastardly imperium of man!

The Crew are as follows:

Aeldari Corsairs (The Black Veil): 

The Aeldari Corsairs are led by Captain Tyrael Voss (far right). The rest of the crew (from right to left) are Veyron Darktide (Runner), Kaelor "The Wraith" Veylar (Pathfinder), Quorath Nightfire (Gunner) and Varion Duskrunner (Runner). They are a group of wandering Aeldari reeling from the destruction of their craftworld by Pale Reaver Corsairs and motivated by their own fate in the galaxy.

 

Tau Pathfinders: 

The Tau Pathfinders are a group of human Gue'vesa led by First Mate Jalen Varr (far right) a Tau Veteran. The rest of the crew (from right to left) are: Ash 'Cold Shot' Corrin (Trooper), Louis Hale (Chiseler), BF1942 (Sniper - Robot), Renn Jax'la (Hacker). They are a group of humans who joined the Greater Good and have been fighting for the Tau empire on the front lines of the galaxy.

The campaign will take place over all of 2026 with 4 main acts to the story. Very much looking forward to trying this game out and having a great narrative driven campaign. Keep an eye posted for the battle report of the first mission very soon!

Signing off,

Chewie