"The key unlocks a door that then will lead,
To one that only happenstance will free.
Your chance I'll be, to me the bolts will cede,
Your part comes next -- to break the bonds and flee."
- —Nocturne of Oblivion before he helps the Rogue Trader of House von Valancius flee captivity in Commorragh.
Concept art of Nocturne of Oblivion, the Aeldari Harlequin Solitaire who aided the Rogue Trader of House von Valancius after their capture in Commorragh.
Nocturne of Oblivion was an enigmatic Aeldari Harlequin Solitaire present in the Dark City of Commorragh following the betrayal and capture of the newly raised Rogue Trader of House von Valancius by the Drukhari Haemonculus Tervantias the Archmachinator. Nocturne helped the Rogue Trader and their retinue escape Commorragh and the Haemonuclus' horrific Anatomical Opera in the bowels of Commorragh.
He aided the Rogue Trader in reuniting with their companions and told them how to gain the attention of the Archmachinator who would prove essential in the Rogue Trader regaining their retinue and eventually escaping from the Dark City.
Later, Nocturne was among the Aeldari the Rogue Trader Calligos Winterscale had captured on his world of Quetza Temer in the Koronus Expanse to hunt as part of his desire to seek vengeance against the Aeldari for their assaults upon his worlds in Winterscale's Realm. By this point, Winterscale's bloodlust had begun to corrupt him into serving the Chaos God Khorne. The outcome of Winterscale's final encounter with the Rogue Trader of House von Valancius on Quetza Temer is unknown, but if the Rogue Trader failed to redeem Winterscale and turn him away from Khorne, Nocturne joined the Rogue Trader alongside other Aeldari to fight and slay their captor. If the Rogue Trader also fell to Chaos and joined with Winterscale, Nocturne fought against them both.
If the Rogue Trader aided Nocturne and his fellow Aeldari on Quetza Temer, he later returned to the Expanse, snuck onto the world of Dargonus, the capital planet of the von Valancius Protectorate, and left a special gift: a case of Aeldari crafting, unmistakably ancient and precious, adorned with the rune of an eye within a triangle. Only the Lord Captain knew what it contained, though Nocturne candidly warned them that his gift was drawing the von Valancius dynasty into a "deadly dance, a shaking doom, that all will freeze within the threads of terror's loom." He them promptly vanished back into the Webway.
Nocturne of Oblivion speaks only in riddles. He always makes clear what he is trying to say by gestures if he is not understood, but his dialogue with any interlocutors is never obvious.
Sources[]
- Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (PC Game)