Inquisitor Hybris and the Dark Pattern

Inquisitor Hybris, Ordo Hereticus, Jericho Conclave: this radical Inquisitor was once part of the Dark Cabal, but fell out of favor and relocated (or possibly fled) to the Mammon sector. There is no record of him having been declared rogue, but the Dark Cabal always worked mostly behind the scenes, so that doesn't mean anything.

Hybris is important because, as far as Barotta can tell, he tried using the Dark Symmetry to understand the Dark Pattern. And Barotta knows a thing or two about Dark Symmetry, so he's pretty sure he's right. So either Hybris went insane - or he fell to Chaos. So being forced to flee/banished/whatever makes a lot of sense. Even radicalized Inquisitors can only go so far before they become traitors.

But Hybris was on to something: there is not one, unified dark pattern, where there is one evil force at work, destroying worlds throughout Jericho and beyond. There are several. Without this knowledge, you can forever stare at the Dark Pattern and ALMOST understand what it tries to tell you.

By looking for more than one pattern, the whole picture becomes clearer. And Hybris' vision was clearer than most. To aid his work, he created the Doomsday Clock, an arcane machine capable of predicting the future in great detail (or so Barotta's many texts and sources claim). It is, for lack of better words, an extremely accurate tarot that can be used for some very specific operations.

But where is this clock now? No one knows, but Hybris went to Mammon. Perhaps his clock is there as well?

The Dead Cabal & the Dark Pattern

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The Dead Cabal was a secret and select group within the Inquisition that concerned itself with the events of the so-called Dark Pattern occurring within the Jericho Reach and elsewhere in the Ultima Segmentum. 

As far as can be told, there are no known members of the Cabal alive and active in the nascent Jericho Sector. There is a possible match on one Inquisitor Hybris, Ordo Xenos, Mammon sector (about eight hundred light-years to Trailing and Coreward of the Well of Night). 

Research Option: Dead Cabal unlocked.

Research Option: Inquisitor Hybris unlocked.

Research Option: Mammon sector unlocked.

The Dark Pattern is an ominous pattern of Dead Worlds in the Jericho Reach and beyond that has long concerned the Deathwatch and their Ordo Xenos masters. This celestial phenomenon may very well have led to the instigation of the Long Watch in the Reach millennia before the coming of the Achilus Crusade. 

The phenomenon is sometimes described as a web of death, a sprinkling of Dead Worlds, torn from their celestial procession as if to array themselves in the heavens according to some entirely unnatural configuration. Other sources claim these barren worlds are host to elements that should not exist in such places or have known the tread of Xenos species that existed long before the birth of humanity.

Research Option: Dark Pattern unlocked.

According to journal entries from at Ericho, some (now sadly deceased) members of the Cabal were convinced the Aeldari (Eldar in Low Gothic) were involved in the Conclave of Tears. Supposedly Aeldari of all kinds were in on it: Corsairs, Craftowlrd Eldar, Dark Eldar, even the mythical Harelqins. Since Eldar sightings have been exceedingly rare in the Reach, few gave this theory much credit. Those with actual knowledge of the Eldar found it... exceedingly far fetched, as these factions are known not to cooperate very well.

Research Option: Conclave of Tears unlocked.