Kokabiel's Drop

My right eye offended me, so I plucked it out. My left eye deceived me, so I cast it into the void. My Third Eye remains. With it I see an immaculate light greater than the faltering Astronomican! –Kokabiel Grigoris, rogue Navigator and Ipsissimus of the Cyclopean Congregation

Kokabiel's Drop is the name of a Warp-phenomenon found within the Acheros Salient of the Jericho Reach.

More so than any Chaos Corsair, Stigmartus battle cruiser, or Warp-borne leviathan, the officers and voidsmen of the Acheros Salient's Imperial Navy fear the Warp-borne peril of Kokabiel's Drop. Branching from the Araqiel Main between the Vanity and Blood Trinity systems, the Drop is far more than a navigational hazard.

It is a vortex leading to the churning heart of the Hadex Anomaly and a haven for a degenerate cult of rogue Navigators who have turned their sight from the blessed Astronomican.

History
The fear of the unknown is a shield. It protects the hearts of the faithful from a greater fear. I speak of the fear of discovery! –Preacher Bastian of the Mortessan 14th Highlanders

In 789.M41, Lord Militant Solomon Tetrarchus charged the highly decorated Commodore Bronislave Tenermaritus with the task of charting a stable Warp-route between the Cellebos Warzone and Samech, allowing Achilus Crusade forces to make a direct strike against the planet of Hereteks, crippling the manufactories and shipyards supplying the Stigmartus war effort.

Taking as his guide one Kokabiel Grigoris, a relatively young but gifted Navigator following his House's long tradition of service to the Imperial Navy, the Commodore set out upon his flagship the Avenger-class Grand Cruiser Burden of Vigilance.

Despite the best efforts of the Burden's commander, Navigator, and crew, the Warp beyond the Cellebos Warzone proved nearly impossible to chart. Warp eddies terminated into immaterial shoals, aetheric currents flowed back upon themselves, and the bilious emissions of the Hadex Anomaly obscured the sight of Kokabiel and his subordinate Navigators.

After months of fruitless exploration the Burden of Vigilance fell prey to the Haruspex, a pack of xenos marauders believed to originate within the Slinnar Drift. Commodore Tenermaritus perished in the ensuing battle, atomised during a valiant boarding action against the Haruspex Lifeseeker.

The Commodore's sacrifice routed the xenos fleet, granting the Burden enough time to flee through a recently discovered Warp passage veering dangerously close to the Hadex Anomaly. The Burden's final message, intercepted by the Astropathic listening post on Pyrathas, claimed a great discovery waited at the end of the route.

In the years following the disappearance of the Burden of Vigilance, the site of its last battle gained a sinister reputation. Voidships passing through the area drifted far off course. The sendings of all but the most powerful Astropaths faded into the void.

A rare few vessels vanished outright. Superstitious voidsmen dubbed this region of Warpspace "the Drop".

A Burden Returned
Rush headlong into oblivion. Only then can you see what waits beyond. –Altus Nox of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion

In 793.M41 a mysterious vessel of Imperial design began preying on voidships passing through the Drop. Lucia's Gauntlet, one of the few voidships to escape such an attack, identified the vessel as the Burden of Vigilance, now re-christened the Burden of Revelation and captained by Kokabiel Grigoris.

Quickly recognising the threat presented by the rogue Navigator, the Acheros Salient Navy stepped up patrols in the Drop. Regrettably, this move served only to provide Kokabiel with more prey. Of the flotilla dispatched from Calist, a third fell to the Burden of Revelation's guns.

A half dozen vanished beyond the Drop in a futile search for Kokabiel's sanctuary. Of the remaining vessels, only three are accounted for, arriving at Khazant over a decade later after limping through the Warp without Navigators.

The Tariff
Grigoris claims the Drop and all space beyond as his domain, requiring tribute from those passing through. Voidships unfortunate enough to run afoul of the Burden of Revelation must pay the toll or face reprisal. The exact nature of this toll depends upon Kokabiel's whims and the needs of his vessel.

Fuel, provisions, and crew are the most common price for safe passage. On other occasions Kokabiel demands a teratonne of bilge water, spent macrocannon shells, or some other voidship by-product of little apparent use.

Lord Captains who refuse to pay the tariff face Kokabiel's vengeance. Most are fired upon outright, their voidships raided by mad acolytes of the Cyclopean Congregation.

Warships capable of defending against hit-and-run attacks are stalked for days, hounded by the Burden of Revelation as it flits into and out of the Warp long just enough to unleash volleys of lance fire.

A lamentable few are given the illusion of escape. Left untouched by a seemingly resigned Kokabiel, these vessels soon find themselves off course, lost in the Drop and drifting ever closer to the core of the Hadex Anomaly.

By special order of Lord Militant Tetrarchus, all commanders of the Acheros Salient Navy are prohibited from acquiescing to Kokabiel's demands. Those who fail to abide by this order face a traitor's execution.

Naval commanders are left with a difficult choice; brave Kokabiel's Drop and risk an encounter with the master of the Cyclopean Congregation, or bypass the Drop entirely and add weeks to the length of a voyage.