The Crystal Vault

The Crystal Vault (also known as the Crystal Caverns) is both the body and the prison of the Seraph & Verity (if, indeed, they can be said to be different entities after merging at the climax of the Pacification of Ophelia). A network of verum viscera buried beneath the highest peak of the Mountains, the Crystal Vault was uncovered by deluded Tech-Priests and the Seraph released. It killed both Marines and Custodians and was only imprisoned once again by the sacrifice of Verity, empowered by the God-Emperor.

History

The Imprisonment of the Serpents

During the War in Heaven, Mag'ladroth the Void-Dragon created seven artificial intelligences to be his generals and armies. Feared by both the Old Ones and the Young Races, these were known as the Serpents and were lynch-pins in the Dragon's strategy.
Realizing the danger the Serpents posed and unable to destroy them, the Old Ones imprisoned the Serpents by imposing code-locks on their programming, forcing them to assume quiescent forms which were buried on planets throughout the galaxy, stymieing Mag'ladroth's plans to complete his network of blackstone pylons with which the C'tan hoped to suppress the Warp.
One of the Serpents was imprisoned on a planet later known as Ophelia VII and a genetically-engineered guardian race set to guard and protect it.

The Pacification of Ophelia

The Ophelia system was discovered during the Great Crusade and the First Exploratory Fleet, led by the God-Emperor and Primarch Rogal Dorn, itself went to ensure compliance.. The Garrison were defeated, but in the midst of the final conflict Xenos witches warned the Marines of a danger on the planet. These warnings were unheeded, and the Serpent - known as "the Seraph" - was partially freed.
It was only by the sacrifice of Verity that the Seraph was defeated. Imprisoned again but not destroyed, she forced it back into quiescence and the Emperor had it buried beneath the mountain peak once again. Merged with it, Verity the Six-Winged Seraph was to remain doubly-imprisoned for nearly 10,000 years.

Excavating the Vault

Only a few of the Seraph's "coils" had only been freed by the Tech-Priests and with the Emperor's psychic might empowering her, Verity was able to take control of that portion of its programming. Over the next hundred centuries, she would sequentially unlock more "coils" and take them over - gradually assuming its powers and abilities, but at the cost of portions of her soul and personality. As she did so, elements of its programming were lost forever and the parts she absorbed were freed from their prison of physicality, carving voids in the code-locked programming and creating a labyrinth of blue crystal in which the suits of armor of the Custodians who had died fighting the Seraph were displayed like a macabre museum.

The Return of the Silent King

In 744.M41, the Silent King returned to the galaxy and began to awaken the Necron Tomb-Worlds (in order to fight the Tyranids). While not technically speaking a Necron-construct, the Serpents shared enough technological features that Verity felt the summons and, feeling she had taken over enough of the Seraph, judged it time to reveal herself to the galaxy. Speaking through visions to the women of the 'Dust Zone and the Ecclesiarch Danforth, she engineered the establishment of the Daughters of Verity and worked through them against the remaining Serpents and Mag'ladroth.

Current Events

Verity still remains "within" the Crystal Vault, although that is a misnomer because she is the Vault - it is her body, the fused xenos-programming and her soul given form. She communicates by visions and locutions, most especially to the Metatrix and Seraphim. She has released suits of Custodian armor and even weapons to her devotees, most especially Danforth Laertes and the Athanasians. She has detached portions of her programming and manifested them physically as verum viscera in the form of weapons, tools, and more. Sometimes, she incarnates as a six-winged, multi-limbed, serpent-tailed figure and fights alongside her Daughters. In the later years of the Indomitus Crusade, she had unlocked and absorbed enough of the Seraph's "coils" that she was able to manifest units of Necron-like warriors to accompany her. The appearance of such seeming-xenos constructs bred distrust of the Daughters in the wider Imperium.
All of these manifestations - the verum viscera, the warriors, even Verity herself - are part of the Crystal Vault, and when they are damaged or destroyed, the programming of the Vault - of Verity herself - is corrupted and must be repaired. But as the Serpent wakes and Mag'ladroth stirs in his fitful slumber, Verity must spend more and more effort keeping the remaining coils of the Seraph imprisoned - she has little or no time to repair herself, and so with every defeat something of her is lost forever.

Purpose / Function

To imprison the Seraph so it could not aid Mag'ladroth during the War in Heaven.

Alterations

During the Pacification of Ophelia, the Seraph was freed and Verity fused with it.

Architecture

A subterranean labyrinth of verum viscera which is the body of Verity the Six-Winged Seraph.

Alternative Names

The Crystal Caverns

Type

Crypt

Parent Location

The Crystal Citadel

Owner

Verity

Owning Organization

Daughters of Verity

Characters in Location

• Verity