# The Corona Nox



## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

Having been a fan of the Night Lords for quite some time, I've always wondered as to what the significance behind the Corona Nox really was about, seeing as how both the assassin M'shen as well as the Eldar sought it, the latter signifying the importance of the crown to an even greater extent.

Hitting various Warhammer 40k wiki's, I've never gotten a solid answer until I stumbled upon Simon Spurrier's "Lord of the Night" (a masterpiece of Warhammer 40k fiction in my opinion).

Here is an excerpt from the novel:





A perfect teardrop of ruby-red, its face was uncut by diamond facets or inelegant designs. Smooth and unblemished, it had about it the look of an organic creation; as if not cut from the earth but grown; planted and fostered to glorious life in some secret crystal garden. 

And despite the dismal lighting of the gallery, despite the shadow cast by Sahaal's colossal body, it burned. It burned with an inner light. It burned with a radiance that was unconfined by sight alone, that broke the boundaries of luminosity, that flooded out the visual spectrum and dazzled Sahaal without even passing his eyes.

There was something other than the merely material about the jewel, and it bathed Sahaal in such peace, in such confidence and assurance, that the shivering of his limbs ceased, the perpetual furrow of his brow smoothed away, and he blinked a tear of serenity from his midnight eyes.

"She shrugged. 'It... it looked like a crown!

'Ha! Just a crown?' He shook his head, black eyes flashing. 'No, little witch, it's more than that. Fashioned by the Night Haunter himself, forged from the adamantium core of Nostromo, his birthworld. 

He wore it through all his life, and when he would have screamed with insanity and terror, it calmed him. When he would have listened to the whispers of the warp, it deafened him. When he burned with vengeance for the injuries his father wrought upon him, then it tasted his anger and stored it away.

It's all that remains of my master, witch. Imbued with his divine essence, sealed with a perfect bloodstone. It is no mere crown. It is the captaincy of the Night Lords. He bequeathed it to me on the day he was murdered!" 


So from what I've understood from the above, the crown is capable of warding off Chaos in all its various forms?

Is a part of Konrad's essence truly imbued in the crystal, hence the crown's ability to fight off the temptations of Chaos or is this particular crystal the real power behind warding off the ruinous powers? 

Is said crystal only found within the core of Nostromo and now that the planet has been destroyed, the only remaining piece ?

What could the Eldar want with it, surely they have their own relics or technologies capable of resisting Chaos? Why would they bother with artifacts from a species they deem inferior to their own?

One other thing, in Lord of the Night, it's mentioned that Sahaal is the one who cut off her hand while in Aaron Dembski Bowden's novel Soul Hunter, it's mentioned that an Eldar warrior is the one who does.

From Lord of the Night:



"He saw the boarding action, and the slaughter. He saw his raptors make a charnel house of the bitch's craft. He saw her eyes, wide and fearful, as he sliced her hand from her wrist - a bright filigree of blood and oil shivering from the rent - " 


From Soul Hunter:



"Her ship still shuddered, but it seemed to her that the alien attackers, the filthy xenos creatures that named themselves eldar, had withdrawn with the Night Lords’ retreat.
One of them had taken her hand with a swing of his blade. "


Thanks : )


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## NiceGuyEddy (Mar 6, 2010)

I always theorised that the charachteristics, properties and abilities of the stone along with the eldars involvement and desire to have it point to it being a spirit stone of some kind.


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

Interesting theory but how would Konrad have been able to fashion the crown and crystal into a Spirit Stone of some worth to the Eldar?


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## sethgabriel1990 (Sep 21, 2010)

theres probably a hole in the fluff there. maybe we'll find out in a later HH book or something. anything else will merely be conjecture i think. sorry dude


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

In regards to the Eldar's apparent interest in the Corona Nox, it seems more probable to me that it was to prevent one individual becoming the heir to the VIII Legion and thus prevent one individual giving some form of unity and purpose to the Night Lords and making them much more of a potent threat (which would have undoubtedly effected the Eldar). Sounds textbook Eldar to me, remove the threat before it ever becomes a threat.

That is why (among other reasons) I imagine Simon Spurrier included the Eldar ambush in _Lord of the Night_ (rather than any other race for example).

But it seems obvious now (especially since the release of _Soul Hunter_) that the Corona Nox wouldn't have unified the Legion at all really. Brought a certain amount of prestige to an individual certainly, but not unified the whole Legion. Sahaal was deluded in that regard.


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

sethgabriel1990 said:


> theres probably a hole in the fluff there. maybe we'll find out in a later HH book or something. anything else will merely be conjecture i think. sorry dude


Yeah I was thinking that as well.



Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> But it seems obvious now (especially since the release of _Soul Hunter_) that the Corona Nox wouldn't have unified the Legion at all really. Brought a certain amount of prestige to an individual certainly, but not unified the whole Legion. Sahaal was deluded in that regard.


I missed you too CoTe 

So you don't think their interest had anything to do with the crown's supposed powers?

I would imagine that if they simply were interested in preventing any semblance of unity once Konrad was killed (how did the Eldar even know he died that moment?) that they could have easily destroyed the crown as opposed to trapping Sahaal in a bubble for ten thousand years along with it or simply killed him.

Also I wasn't aware that the Night Lords in particular were a threat to the Eldar or perhaps once they caught wind of this opportunity, they took the chance to see a random traitor/Astartes legion crumble.


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

As an aside, I still think it's funny that Kurze need's a Night Light.


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

Malus Darkblade said:


> I missed you too CoTe


:biggrin:



Malus Darkblade said:


> So you don't think their interest had anything to do with the crown's supposed powers?


I don't know. Prior to the release of _Soul Hunter_ (which downplayed the importance of the Corona Nox and other relics of Night Haunter) the explanation given below (Eldar involvement was to prevent unity and thus a threat arising in the VIII Legion) seems the most logical one.

However now that it seems clear that Sahaal wouldn't have automatically assumed command of the Legion if he had retained the Corona Nox, it opens up the plausibility of other explanations for the Eldar's involvement. Perhaps they were interested in it for it's power (if it had any), but that seems strange given the Eldar's already formidably powerful trinkets, why would they need the Corona Nox?

I might try and get hold of ADB to see what he thinks on this matter.



Malus Darkblade said:


> I would imagine that if they simply were interested in preventing any semblance of unity once Konrad was killed that they could have easily destroyed the crown as opposed to trapping Sahaal in a bubble for ten thousand years along with it or simply killed him.


Perhaps, but then you have to take into account this the Eldar we're talking about. Perhaps the survival of the Corona Nox would have desireable consequences 10,000 years in the future (when Sahaal rose). It's perfectly plausable that the most desirable outcome for the Eldar depended on the Corona Nox surviving but being beyond anyone's grasp for 10,000 years.



Malus Darkblade said:


> (how did the Eldar even know he died that moment?)


It's the Eldar, they know a lot. 



Malus Darkblade said:


> Also I wasn't aware that the Night Lords in particular were a threat to the Eldar or perhaps once they caught wind of this opportunity, they took the chance to see a random traitor/Astartes legion crumble.


Not in particular no, but a unified Night Lords Legion could easily overcome an Eldar Craftworld. And it's plausable that at some point in the future (following the death of Curze) if Sahaal was able to form his own warband based on the prestige of the Corona Nox that a Craftworld would have been threatened. Removing the Corona Nox and Sahaal from the equation removes said threat.


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## Helsreach (Jun 2, 2010)

If I remember correctly in Lord Of The Night, the eldar were about to be attacked by a very large Night Lord Warband (one of the largest) but they were diverted around the time Sahaal sent an astropathic message to the legion where they sought to claim the Corona. The eldars desire to reclaim it was most likely so they could once again use it as bait to draw the away. The Night Lords still see it as a worthy prize and so the baiting could be used quite effectively.


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## Unknown Primarch (Feb 25, 2008)

well in another post i speculated that the primarchs had spirit stones on there armour and maybe sanguinius is the sangiunor in a wraithlord construct. this would go some way to concur that its possible some of the primarchs could have used spirit stones and any that deny it are just full of imperial xenophobia as to the use of xeno tech. it been mentioned many times that xeno tech as been used so there is nothing stopping the same with spirit stones being used by the primarchs and maybe if curze is the the crown then he is witnessing all the carnage the night lords are doing and its finally making him at peace with himself. just a idea.


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

Unknown Primarch said:


> well in another post i speculated that the primarchs had spirit stones on there armour and maybe sanguinius is the sangiunor in a wraithlord construct. this would go some way to concur that its possible some of the primarchs could have used spirit stones and any that deny it are just full of imperial xenophobia as to the use of xeno tech. it been mentioned many times that xeno tech as been used so there is nothing stopping the same with spirit stones being used by the primarchs and maybe if curze is the the crown then he is witnessing all the carnage the night lords are doing and its finally making him at peace with himself. just a idea.


The Eldar hate humanity and I would think the Primarchs especially, seeing as how Fulgrim killed one of their holy avatars.

And for the other billion reasons yeah... just no.


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

Thought i'd post what Aaron has said in regards to the Corona Nox, in his view:



ADB said:


> Bear in mind that I'm saying this as a massive fan of the novel, but I'm not thrilled by the notion that a primarch had such a reliance (even a dependence) on a trinket - especially one that offers such illogically-perfect protection, with little idea of who really made it, or how, or why. It feels like a weak narrative element, and to me it actually devalues the immensity of what the primarchs were; including the way they dealt with their torments or succumbed to them, and the decisions they made.
> 
> I'm also not a fan of the idea that Curze's essence/soul is somehow bound into the crown (I mean... why? Why would it be?) because it feels hokey, pointless, and not something very Imperial (or even Chaotic, when it seems to offer no benefits).
> 
> ...


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## Unknown Primarch (Feb 25, 2008)

fair enough if you guys dont like the idea of a imperial spirit stone but it does make sense in a realistic way as 30k isnt as xenophobic as 40k in the sense alpharius was quite willing to talk with the eldar with out wanting to instantly exterminating them as a son of the emperor should if they are so bound to the total destruction of xenos like in 40k. personally i think that the emperor has already had plenty of dealings with eldar and is maybe not so militant towards them as we might think. obviously if they do anything against imperial personnal then death to the alien but not as severe as 40k.

so the use of xeno artifacts isnt totally a forbidden thing as ferrus would have had to remove his iron hands and maybe guilleman would have had to give up the gauntlets of ultramar, fulgrim would never had used the anathema etc etc etc.

and while adb can have his opinion on the corona nox he seems to have overlooked the night lords werent proper chaos marines as such until after night haunter was killed. yes they did some crazy stuff and were on the way but they werent totally gone so the use of something like the corona nox by night haunter to ease his suffering actually seems quite realistic to be honest. none of the totally corrupted legion could tell a primarch not to wear a artifact that wasnt chaosy plus it didnt totally counter his psychosis just soothed it. lets hope he has a rethink on the corona nox being in the HH or hope he doesnt get their books as it quite a interesting item to be used to make the night lords not just a bunch of psychokillers like angrons lot. it creates a possibility of the legion actually being like the haunter wanted them to be and thats to use chaos to their ends and not the other way round.


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

Unknown Primarch said:


> fair enough if you guys dont like the idea of a imperial spirit stone but it does make sense in a realistic way as 30k isnt as xenophobic as 40k in the sense alpharius was quite willing to talk with the eldar with out wanting to instantly exterminating them as a son of the emperor should if they are so bound to the total destruction of xenos like in 40k.


Alpharius was willing to meet the cabal, because he was interested in what they sought given the extreme lengths they went to to contact him, because they saved his life, but above all else because he was pragmatic. It's a similar situation to 40k, with some individual commanders willing to at the very least meet with xenos. But the official Imperial policy in both 30k and 40k was/is to destroy all xenos on sight.



Unknown Primarch said:


> personally i think that the emperor has already had plenty of dealings with eldar and is maybe not so militant towards them as we might think.


What makes you think that?



Unknown Primarch said:


> so the use of xeno artifacts isnt totally a forbidden thing as ferrus would have had to remove his iron hands


I think it's presumed they were not removable.



Unknown Primarch said:


> and maybe guilleman would have had to give up the gauntlets of ultramar


Guilliman didn't obtain the Gauntlets of Ultramar until after the end of the Great Crusade, and they were taken from a chaos champion not any species of xenos.



Unknown Primarch said:


> fulgrim would never had used the anathema etc etc etc.


IIRC Fulgrim only used the Anathame following the start of the heresy.



Unknown Primarch said:


> and while adb can have his opinion on the corona nox he seems to have overlooked the night lords werent proper chaos marines as such until after night haunter was killed. yes they did some crazy stuff and were on the way but they werent totally gone


I don't see how thats relavent to the Corona Nox?



Unknown Primarch said:


> so the use of something like the corona nox by night haunter to ease his suffering actually seems quite realistic to be honest.


How so?



Unknown Primarch said:


> as it quite a interesting item to be used to make the night lords not just a bunch of psychokillers


How does the inclusion of the Corona Nox mean the Night Lords get portrayed in a different light?



Unknown Primarch said:


> it creates a possibility of the legion actually being like the haunter wanted them to be and thats to use chaos to their ends and not the other way round.


Depending on who you believe really, Talos & Sahaal or Acerbus.


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## Dead.Blue.Clown (Nov 27, 2009)

Unknown Primarch said:


> so the use of xeno artifacts isnt totally a forbidden thing


I don't disagree with the concept because it's forbidden. I disagree with it because it's pointless. If you're putting a soul in a relic, there needs to be an amazing reason for it. Remember, _Lord of the Night_ was written over half a decade ago, when there was almost no lore on the primarchs or their actions. A lot of things are changing with the HH series and greater exploration of the Heresy itself, like in the _Collected Visions_. Night Haunter not having a magic hat from nowhere that blocked the warp is just one of them. It just doesn't add up. It's a weak narrative element, and justifying it comes across too much like making excuses for a poor idea from the past. 



Unknown Primarch said:


> and while adb can have his opinion on the corona nox he seems to have overlooked the night lords werent proper chaos marines as such until after night haunter was killed.


I haven't overlooked that at all. It's just not relevant. The Night Lords, overall, aren't changed by their time in the Eye like many other Legions. Their attitude is still exactly the same as before, as laid out in previous editions and their Index Astartes article.



Unknown Primarch said:


> it creates a possibility of the legion actually being like the haunter wanted them to be and thats to use chaos to their ends and not the other way round.


That's exactly what they do. A magic hat appearing from nowhere doesn't change anything; it's completely unrelated, and not mentioned anywhere else in Night Lords' canonical lore. They use Chaos as a tool, as a weapon. What does a dead man's relic have to do with that? The Night Lords are the Night Lords, no matter what headgear their boss had on. They're shaped by _him_; his lessons; their experiences; and the narrative themes in _Heart of Darkness_ and _Apocalypse Now_. That's what matters.


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## Unknown Primarch (Feb 25, 2008)

Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> Alpharius was willing to meet the cabal, because he was interested in what they sought given the extreme lengths they went to to contact him, because they saved his life, but above all else because he was pragmatic. It's a similar situation to 40k, with some individual commanders willing to at the very least meet with xenos. But the official Imperial policy in both 30k and 40k was/is to destroy all xenos on sight.


to me a son of the emperor should be following the rules the emperor set them out with and seeing as they hadnt even thought of turning yet even thinking about listening to xenos seems odd but i do see your point in having a interest in what that have to say. maybe they said lets hear it then we will kill them anyway. maybe thats a policy in matters dealing with the eldar, sure wouldnt be so with orks i presume though.




Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> What makes you think that?


i think its in fulgrim? were eldrad nearly name drops the emperor before deciding against revealing it. whatever the case i think that he would have tried or some eldar would have tried to make contact with the emperor before all hell broke loss in the galaxy. hell the emperor might have approached them with questions on the webway before trying to make his own repairs. thats probably why he had malcador torture them to get info out of them as they wouldnt give it up.




Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> I think it's presumed they were not removable.


the emperor would have had knowledge and the ability to remove them so if it was totally against the rules at the time the emperor would have seen to that for sure. but there is alot of contradictions in the rules and regulations of the time so maybe the emperor knew they werent a threat and allowed them.




Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> Guilliman didn't obtain the Gauntlets of Ultramar until after the end of the Great Crusade, and they were taken from a chaos champion not any species of xenos.


well i knew they were from some enemy but hell thats even worse. why use a item that was worn by a champion of chaos. i would have thought any such item would be against the rules but then i dont think guilleman is as clean cut as he seems but thats another topic.





Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> IIRC Fulgrim only used the Anathame following the start of the heresy.


the anathema was what basically turned him against his closest brother and the imperium. its was clearly just after davin but the use of alien artifacts would still be thought of as a no no as fulgrim hadnt turned yet. 





Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> I don't see how thats relavent to the Corona Nox?


he seems to think that curze wouldnt use the nox if it was eldar as its not very chaosy but they hadnt turned so why wouldnt he use something if he isnt under the control of chaos at this point anyway. curze seems to do exactly what he wants anyway so if he thought it would help i think he would use it, even if emp said not to.





Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> How so?


if the fits were as bad as we are told i would have thought he would have used anything to help him. plus curze knowing what was gonna happen anyway wouldnt have cared if it was chaos, eldar, necron or ork, it worked and that would be the main thing. what would be the point of a primarch who was constantly spazzing out, how would he be able to perform his duties to the emperor at the time. hell the emperor could have given it to him to ease his pain and perform his tasks when the emperor wasnt near to sooth him. plus the fact he is know as the dark king, well a king as got to have a crown hasnt he.




Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> How does the inclusion of the Corona Nox mean the Night Lords get portrayed in a different light?


not so much portrayed in a different light but its a good plot device to make the NL what curze wanted them to be instead of what chaos wants them to be. the nox gives a focal point for the more traditional NL to be able to point out to their chaos brothers what their primarch wanted from them. without a reason and a aim they would just be renegades within their own legion instead of being true to what the primarch wanted. they still are enemies of the imperium but arent just mindless chaos pawns.




Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> Depending on who you believe really, Talos & Sahaal or Acerbus.


well to be honest i think that while the haunter was having his fits and not fully succumbing to the lure of chaos others in the legion were and through them they were assigned to help turn the legion to chaos. with curze totally fucked in the head anyway i would have thought he wouldnt be too watchful of all his troops like say the lion was. hell it was probably all a plot with the anarchy of nostromo and the haunter blowing it up. this was probably set in motion by the chaos marines of the legion on the orders of the pantheon to help them to the side of horus. it worked in a way as all where against the imperium in some way but not all to chaos. haunter despised what chaos was as shown in the first heretic so this proves he didnt actually subscribe with what they were offering even when he was against his father.
so for me there is definatly factions in NL before curze was killed so you could believe all 3 of those marines point of view being right in one form or the other.
on this line of thinking i personally like what could be done with the NL fluff as they arent all just straight forward chaos worshippers as such. they could still be against the imperium but not fully for chaos either.


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## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

Unknown Primarch said:


> well i knew they were from some enemy but hell thats even worse. why use a item that was worn by a champion of chaos. i would have thought any such item would be against the rules but then i dont think guilleman is as clean cut as he seems but thats another topic.


Logan Grimnar's Axe (Space Wolves) is a former Chaos Champion's weapon.
It's more common than you think.




Unknown Primarch said:


> the anathema was what basically turned him against his closest brother and the imperium. its was clearly just after davin but the use of alien artifacts would still be thought of as a no no as fulgrim hadnt turned yet.


The Anathame did no such thing, the Laeran Sword was the artifact that aided in his corruption.


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## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

I think the Corona Nox was probably originally an artifact intended to somehow save Curze from being completely dead in the 40k realm. After all, it does state that the Corona Nox gave him a peaceful state of mind. Especially since he really hated his life and basically just told his legion he didn't care about what would happen to them. The fact that the stone could work something like the spirit stone, is an interesting concept. I could see it being something like that.

However, I don't like the idea that the Night Haunter wouldn't be completely dead. It takes away the point that Konrad Curze wanted to die to obtain complete peace. I like in _Soul Hunter_, where he says basically that when he dies he wouldn't miss his legion when he died. The main concept of Konrad Curze was basically that he did a necessary evil but felt the consequences of it. As such, the remaining sane person in him wanted to feel peace with that death. 

So yeah. It doesn't seem like either of the ideas are wrong. It just seems that its two different ways of looking at the Night Lords and different ways of making Konrad Curzes personality. One shows that he was basically had two parts of him, one being evil and the other "righteous." It almost seemed that _Lord of Night_ was saying that the primarch also fed off the fear that he spread. As though he were some kind of daemon.

Contrary, ADB shows Konrad Curze as a troubled Primarch who basically hated the fact that he sacrificed the nobility of himself and his legion to the Emperor and his Imperium only to get the boot for his actions.


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## Unknown Primarch (Feb 25, 2008)

Baron Spikey said:


> Logan Grimnar's Axe (Space Wolves) is a former Chaos Champion's weapon.
> It's more common than you think.
> 
> 
> ...



seems odd though as wasnt there a whole chapter that got made excommunicate traitor for collecting chaos relic weapons. was it the relicators or something like that. seems odd you can get in trouble for having chaos weapons but its wide spread.

ive been getting the names mixed up with those swords but you get my meaning dont you.

crawford, thx for rep and i agree with you way of thinking too mate.


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