04. Starting Locations, Clues, and Recurring Omens

Five Roads into the Hidden War

The conspiracy should be discoverable from every starting location.

The players do not need to begin on Cadia or work directly for the Inquisition to encounter the Fractured Sigil.

Each location reveals a different part of the plan:

• Cadia: military infiltration and pylon sabotage

• Necromunda: stolen supplies and criminal transport

• Krell’Sharr Platform: manipulated trade and xenos pawns

• Mendrengard: rival Chaos plans and heretek production

• Imperator Illuminatio: contradictory intelligence and hidden investigations

No starting location should reveal the entire conspiracy immediately.

Gate of Arrival, Cadia

At the Gate of Arrival, the first signs appear within military logistics and security procedures.

Possible clues include:

• Reinforcement orders bearing an altered seal

• A regiment assigned to the wrong fortress

• Pylon components listed as ordinary cargo

• A missing inspection officer

• Refugees carrying matching fragments of the Sigil

• A saboteur using valid access codes

• A convoy arriving before its orders were issued

• An astropath repeating the same warning as an unrelated prisoner

Early adventures may involve escorting troops, examining suspicious cargo, or preventing a minor pylon failure.

The evidence should suggest coordination but not yet identify Tzeentch.

Scavenger’s Rest, Necromunda

At Scavenger’s Rest, the conspiracy operates through gangs, smugglers, brokers, and stolen military supplies.

Possible clues include:

• Ammunition marked for Cadia appearing on the black market

• A buyer purchasing broken blackstone fragments

• Identical contracts issued by supposedly unrelated fixers

• A gang using military encryption

• A relay station transmitting impossible coordinates

• A corpse carrying several false identities

• A merchant paying in coins or scrip stamped with a divided symbol

• A shipment routed through Marrek Bronn or another intermediary without their full knowledge

The players may first believe they are dealing with theft, corruption, or gang rivalry.

Only later should the Cadian connection become clear.

Krell’Sharr Platform

At Krell’Sharr Platform, the Hidden War appears through trade, migration, and xenos intelligence.

Possible clues include:

• Kroot hired to deliver sealed biological or blackstone cargo

• Aeldari warnings that contradict one another

• T’au instruments detecting impossible energy patterns

• A trader selling maps of routes that do not yet exist

• Several buyers seeking the same ancient component

• A missing courier whose contract was altered after death

• Ork movements triggered by a false distress signal

• A xenos relic containing an incomplete Sigil pattern

The platform should emphasize that xenos factions are not automatically part of the conspiracy.

Many are pawns, rivals, witnesses, or potential allies.

Hall of Supplicant, Mendrengard

At the Hall of Supplicant, the conspiracy is visible through Chaos politics.

Possible clues include:

• Two warbands receiving contradictory orders attributed to Abaddon

• A Dark Mechanicum shipment intended for an unknown pylon device

• A sorcerer preaching a prophecy that benefits a rival Architect

• A captured Imperial officer who knows too much

• Blackstone being forged into unfamiliar components

• A warlord marked for sacrifice without knowing it

• A daemon refusing to answer questions about the Fractured Sigil

• Preparations for a campaign target unrelated to the visible invasion

Chaos-aligned characters may recognize Tzeentchian methods sooner, but they should still lack the full objective.

Imperator Illuminatio

Aboard the Imperator Illuminatio, the conspiracy appears through restricted intelligence and conflicting Inquisitorial authority.

Possible clues include:

• Two sealed orders with equal authority but opposite instructions

• An investigation file edited before its evidence was collected

• A prisoner transferred to a destination that does not exist

• A trusted agent using an identity from a dead operative

• Astropathic messages arriving in the wrong order

• A classified pylon report missing one page

• Several investigations connected by the same clerical error

• An Inquisitor unknowingly protecting a Sigil asset

This starting location can reveal the pattern fastest, but secrecy and institutional rivalry should make proof difficult.

The Fractured Sigil

The conspiracy’s most recognizable symbol is a divided geometric mark.

It may appear as:

• A broken circle

• A divided eye

• Interlocking lines

• A nine-part pattern

• A split star

• A partial maze

• A machine diagram

• An architectural ornament

The exact design should remain consistent once chosen.

Most appearances should show only a fragment.

The complete symbol should be rare and important.

Recurring Colors and Materials

The Sigil may be associated with:

• Deep indigo

• Bruised violet

• Cold blue flame

• Blackstone

• Pale silver

• Feather-like residue

• Cracked mirrors

• Brass mechanisms with one missing part

These elements should be subtle.

Using all of them in every scene would make the conspiracy too obvious.

Repeated Phrases

Unrelated characters may repeat short phrases such as:

• “The gate opens inward.”

• “Only the broken path remains.”

• “The ninth line is missing.”

• “The future remembers us.”

• “The fortress has already fallen.”

• “What is sealed must choose.”

A phrase may appear in sermons, military reports, dreams, or machine errors.

Franz should select only one or two recurring phrases and use them sparingly.

Impossible Timing

Time irregularities are useful clues.

Examples include:

• Orders dated after a battle

• A distress call received before the attack

• A corpse identified before death

• A ship recorded at two locations

• A witness remembering an event that never occurred

• A machine log showing several possible outcomes

These clues should create investigation opportunities rather than automatically prove time travel.

Warp interference, forgery, and technical failure remain possible explanations.

Omens

Possible omens include:

• Blue flame burning without heat

• Birds or servo-skulls circling in patterns of nine

• Reflections moving before their owners

• Pylons humming during political arguments

• Several psykers drawing the same map

• Machines printing blank orders with valid seals

• Identical dreams across different species

• Stars briefly appearing in the wrong positions

Omens should foreshadow danger but not dictate player actions.

False Omens

Not every strange event belongs to the Sigil.

Some may result from:

• Ordinary Warp turbulence

• Necron technology

• Genestealer activity

• Corrupt officials

• Machine failure

• Coincidence

• Fraud

• Fear and rumor

False leads prevent the conspiracy from becoming the only explanation for every mystery.

They should still lead to useful discoveries, dangers, or faction relationships.

Three Levels of Clues

Clues can be divided into three broad levels.

Local clues reveal a crime, infiltrator, shipment, or immediate threat.

Connected clues link events across locations, factions, or previous adventures.

Revelatory clues expose the Fractured Sigil, an Architect, the pylon objective, or the Fractured Future.

Players should normally receive local clues first.

They should earn deeper understanding by comparing evidence and pursuing connections.

Actionable Evidence

Every major clue should allow the party to do something.

It may reveal:

• A location

• A courier

• A shipment

• A target

• A code phrase

• A safehouse

• A faction connection

• A deadline

• A weakness

• A false identity

Clues that only say “Tzeentch is involved” are not enough.

They should create choices and next steps.

Failed Investigations

Missing or misinterpreting one clue should not end the campaign.

Franz may allow the players to recover through:

• A surviving witness

• A rival faction

• A repeated symbol

• A captured agent

• Consequences of the missed operation

• Evidence found at another starting location

Failure should change the situation, not close the story.

Sharing Clues Across Locations

A clue found in one starting area may reappear elsewhere in a new form.

Examples include:

• A Necromundan cargo seal found on Cadia

• A Kroot contract matching an Inquisitorial case file

• A Mendrengard weapon built from stolen Mechanicus research

• A false military order using a code first seen on the Imperator Illuminatio

• A pylon fragment transported through Krell’Sharr Platform

This makes travel and faction contact feel meaningful.

Using Clues Without Railroading

The players should choose which leads to follow.

Several clues may point toward different operations, each revealing another part of the conspiracy.

Ignoring one lead may allow that operation to succeed, but the main mystery should continue through altered circumstances.

The Hidden War should feel persistent, not dependent upon one predetermined sequence.