Norn Princess Backstory

This is fluff lore for my Norn Princess sculpt that sprang to mind while designing her miniature. If you'd like to read more about that, check out that post!

Image Credit to Marina Karakatsani

Miria Castillon peered down through the metal catwalk at the levels below her. Under her boots, the ship's engine thrummed, hurtling them ever onward at her leader's whims. Her escort of Imperial guards noticed her momentary pause, and ushered her gently onward. The Lord-Captain was not a man to be kept waiting, and although she had requested this meeting, it was his timetable she had to keep.

"How far out of the way of our current trajectory is it?" He demanded gruffly, voice roughened further with a breathing apparatus in place of his lower mandible. Miria did not know, she was simply the Astropath that spotted the beacon, swirling and burning distantly in the warp. She was often the first to sense things like this before and further than her fellow novitiates, and it was likely why she was given such a prestigious posting at the side of a Rogue Trader. Her trainers had wondered aloud if her powers might even be able to pierce the shadow of the warp of a Tyranid fleet, but she was grateful they never tested those theories. She turned to an assistant Navigator, a slender, pockmarked man with swirling tattoos, who's eyes had gone cloudy as he calculated. Returning, he spoke sharply, "Sixteen hours added to total travel time, more should we send a boarding party". 

The Lord-Captain acknowledged this with a wet chuckle. He considered it for a moment, and then keyed in a set of commands into a monitor near his throne. Miria stood nervously, unsure if she should leave now that the anomaly had been reported, or if she was to wait until-

"Ready a Terminator detachment for boarding of unknown vessel. Detachment will be escorting Astropath Castillon in her investigation. Eight hours until docking."

He keyed off the monitor, and motioned for the assemblage to leave, his eyes already flitting away from them. 

"My lord, I-" stammered Miria.

The Lord-Captain froze. The Warp-storm beyond the glass windows fluttered as the ship plowed through. 

"I am ill prepared for this mission. I'm not trained for... for that" she finished, limply.

"I have not the time nor willingness to lecture you, child, on why your duty will be fulfilled. Our presence is already missed, and I will keep my schedule. You are dismissed." He spat with disdain.

Miria, bowing slightly, left the throne room, the sour taste of fear gathering in her mouth.

The abandoned research station - identified as such shortly after leaving warp - grew ever closer. Miria kept an eye on a fuzzy pict-image of it on a monitor, while pacing back and forth in her cramped quarters. She had quickly thrown together some analysis equipment, and now was left only with the fear of what lay ahead to gnaw at her. 

She had tried to psychically peer at the energy once they'd emerged from the Warp, but it seemed the signal had been extinguished. She dared not relay that information to the Lord-Captain, however. He would only see it as an attempt to shirk duty. 

She decided to make one last attempt to reach out with her mind, and touch the other side. She sat, calming her thoughts, releasing her fears, and closing her eyes, looking outward into the bright darkness.

A flash of memory. A titanic eye, a trillion minds. Pulsating, clutching claws. Whispering to her, addressing her, welcoming her as a loved one returning from a long voyage. Appendages reaching out to hold her, caress her.

The loud hammer of metal jolted her from her reverie, as she fell off her bunk onto the cold steel floor below, painfully. Wincing, she gathered her pack, and opened the door to find a walking tank. It was her escort, clad in Terminator armor, sent to retrieve her. He growled something unintelligible, and she followed silently.

The trio of Terminators was not so bad, Miria had decided. For the most part, they mostly communicated on private vox channels, so other than the whirring and hissing of the armor, they were mostly quiet. Their weapons, though they stank of sulphur, were kept pointed away from her, down the endless metal-and-pipe corridors of the station. Still, she still felt flush with adrenaline, jumping at any untoward noises.

As the party reached a junction, she pretended to check her instruments; she knew where the signal originated from without looking. The rolling buzz in her mind pulled her inward, ever inward, toward the center of the station. She indicated left, and the servo-motors of her companion's armor whined. She strode in the middle, a place of apparent safety, despite no signs of threat. She'd heard tales of stations invaded and destroyed by Xenos - blood everywhere, bodies strewn. This was nothing like those; it was simply empty, as if no longer needed, the Imperium's discarded plaything left to gather cobwebs. 

The mechanical hum of the armor changed in pitch as they reached a massive cavern in the center of the ship. Miria craned her neck upward, seeing odd white spots on the ceiling of the large space. No - not a ceiling. A window. High above this deck was a massive view of space, stars peering down onto their small group. She pointed onward, and they made their way up a tiered set of platforms towards the signal's origin. It pulsed, gently, comfortingly. She knew the way. Her feet quickened, as she walked quickly ahead of her escort.

She traced the last few steps to stand in front of a massive terrarium at a central laboratory in the open space. She estimated it to be about twenty meters in diameter, and standing well taller than that, with a dense jungle contained within. Condensation flared on the glass as she leaned close to peer inside, fear momentarily forgotten. The Terminators shuffled nervously, uncertain. She hesitantly tore her eyes from the glass - whatever was calling her was certainly contained in there - and spoke her assembled guard.

"It's coming from in there. I'm going to run a few tests, and then we'll open the hatch to see what's inside."

As they moved to form a protective circle, she sat her kit down. As she did, something high above caught her eye. Their ship was visible high above, framed by the window, and just caressing the curve of the planet the station orbited. But it looked odd, there were bright lights running up and down the hull, almost as if...

From around the side of the planet, massive shapes twisted and moved. Like leviathans of the deep, they rose and pounced on her ship. Miria cried out, grabbing the attention of her companions, and pointed upward. They started, then followed her gaze.

In a matter of moments, the ship's steel hulls crumpled, then flashed bright as a sun as the core detonated. She watched on with horror as the enemy... creatures... turned to face the station and descend towards her, their colossal maws open and hungering.

A heavy clack sounded from beside her, as she noticed the motion of her guards readying their weapons. Unsure of exactly what to do, they held their guns aloft, upward, toward the mouth of the creature miles away. Miria glanced around, panic clenching her throat, looking desperately for somewhere to hide, as if that would save her.

A twitch of motion caught her eye, and she turned and stared in rapt, silent horror as some... thing slithered down from the branches of the tree inside the terrarium. It moved lithely on four spindly arms, it's grublike head bobbing and wriggling. She glimpsed a circle of teeth like a lamprey, and it froze, making eye contact with her. It's many black pupils twitched, meeting her gaze. She knew with a cold dread that this was the signal she'd felt, the gentle pulse of longing and welcoming hunger. Then in a wink and a flash, it disappeared into the jungle behind it.

Miria fell to the floor, hard, then scrabbled upright and began to run, abandoning all though. From behind her, she felt the creature's psychic light blaze once more as it rose from it's secret passage to slaughter each of her guards in turn as they stood dumbstruck in awe of above. She ran, blindly, her hands and knees bloodied from bashing into metal bulkheads. She felt it behind her, keeping pace, peering into her and laying her mind bare. She stumbled, blinded by tears she didn't know she was crying. It was so close. It was so close. She was-

She felt a splitting pain on the back of her head, and fell hard, suddenly carrying a massive weight. Her mind raced as she felt the agony of her skin opening to the touch of so many probing claws. She screamed, until vomit choked her airways. Her eyes twitched and bled. She felt things moving within her, and suddenly, all was black.

Miria woke up. Her thoughts swirled, drifting like smoke. Miria... no, that wasn't her name. She didn't have a name, only a role, only a purpose. Names were given to her by her prey. She stood, muscles rippling, her tail twitching excitedly. She flexed her talons, looking around the metal room surrounding her. At her feet was the remains of her birth; some pink-skinned arms, several twitching organs, and plenty of iron-smelling blood. She bent low, and tore hungrily into it, regaining her strength. And ah, what a strength. Why had she been afraid? Her eyes flickered, and the strands of the warp came into clear sight. Her memories shifted too, a panicked human running, a hungry predator chasing, all overlaid together. Combined, like her body.

She followed the strands upward, toward the reassuring mouth of her Hive Fleet, come to rescue her. She was ready to take her her place of honor among the many creatures. Already she could hear the gentle singing of the Hive Mind, calling her home after a long voyage. They were right to welcome her. 

She was the Norn Princess.