- "Abandon your eyes. Abandon your ears. Cut the nerves off your fingertips and slice your tongue so you taste never again. Scream silent screams as you give yourself unto rapturous senselessness. As you give yourself unto me."
- —Daemon Prince Sa'thiel
Prince Sa'thiel, also known as the Black Prince, is a Daemon Prince of Slaanesh. It is the master of the Black Planet, a Daemon World in the Eye of Terror and a locus of sensory deprivation. Akin to the bizarre power of the planet, Sa'thiel exudes an aura of senselessness, and those that approach its hideous form begin to lose their sight, hearing, as well as the rest of their sensory repertoire. Having turned the Space Marine chapter Shadow Griffons into the renegade Shadow Reavers, it aids the warband that in turn kills in its name.
History[]
Of the origin and nature of Sa’thiel no one but the Dark Prince herself knows, yet all have surmised its fate is uniquely tied to its Daemon World, the Black Planet. Legends claim that the planet was fashioned by Slaanesh in a particularly dour mood, a sudden and momentary annoyance and contempt for the God's supplicants. Within that second wishing to extinguish their incessant clamour, the released psychic hatred coalesced, increasing in excessive severity and creating a daemon world of complete darkness, on whose black and featureless surface all sense was lost. As the planet coalesced, so did its Daemon Prince, Sa'thiel, come to be.
Who it was that Slaanesh pulled out of space-time and granted the dark apotheosis to create Sa'thiel is unknown. Like most facets of its existence, the Prince's origin is a mystery unto all but She Who Thirsts. Even those that claim the Black Prince's patronage haven't the slightest inkling of the nature of their benefactor.
In 393.M37, sixty six years after the Abyssal Crusade, the stranded Space Marine chapter of Shadow Griffons happened upon the Black Planet. As their vessel orbited above the celestial black orb, Sa'thiel's telepathic powers sprung forth and drew them in, beckoning them to enter the dark halls of his palace. The chapter was shaped by their geneseed flaw, one that amplified all sound into painful cacophonies, and the insidious Black Prince, for the first time in their lives, granted them the sweet serenity of silence. It was a religious experience for the Space Marines. As they traversed the Black Planet's surface, approaching the nexus of its power - the gloomy palace of Sa'thiel, it spoke to them, telepathic voice booming in their heads, promising the fruits of the Black Planet, should they swear fealty to the Daemon Prince and his Chaos God. They could not refuse.
Leaving the Black Planet, the Griffons reborn as the Shadow Reavers were gifted with a sliver of the Black Planet's essence, carrying a part of its sensory null aura with them, manifesting itself as slivers of darkness that obscured them and hid them from all sense. Many have come since, requesting this power and swearing loyalty to Sa'thiel, yet only a few survive the ordeal, for the prince is as likely to leave them stranded, blind, deaf and empty.
Powers[]
The mere sight of the Black Prince blinds the viewer, as its presence deafens those around it. Wherever it strides absolute silence follows, a daemonic gift that is venerated and coveted, for the prince is a master not of sensory overload, but of sensory deprivation. Even the sense of touch and smell and taste are lost to those that near Sa’thiel, and many have met their demise in this trance of sensory deprivation. It takes a strong will to negate these effects, a will that is seldom shown by mere mortals. In time, all that one can feel is the Black Prince's booming and commanding voice, communicated clearly and solely through telepathy, a discipline the Black Prince is a master of.
Regularly, many of the more maniacal pleasure seekers flock to the Black Planet, the deprivation it offers bittersweet to the craver of sensation, for it is the final stage, the final thing that can bring pleasure-pain when all pleasure-pains have been experienced and overcome. They come to the planet and revel in the senselessness, but it is a trap. For all those that tarry too long begin to feel Sa’thiel’s telepathic voice call to them incessantly. And the more they stay, the more their senses become forever dulled - they become permanently blind and permanently deaf, mute and senseless. All that remains is the Black Prince’s voice, ever commanding. They have no choice but to follow, for the outside world is forever gone to them, and to deny Sa'thiel's voice is to face death. So they heed its command, becoming empty marionettes to the Daemon Prince's dark will. Several lesser daemons, as eternal punishment by their former masters for transgressions unspeakable, are manifested unwillingly upon the planet and forced to undergo this process. They go mad as they find themselves senseless, the worst fate for a being of pure sensation, and soon become amphoracs - empty vessels for the will of the Black Prince. Controlling the lessers telepathically, it sends them forth into the Galaxy to do his bidding in his stead. Greater daemons, their wills undaunted, are immune to this process.
Appearance[]
None but the most hardy and willful psykers can see the Black Prince's shape, yet it comes to them as a telepathic image. A towering figure twice the size of a Space Marine and fortified in fitted golden armour, Sa'thiel springs halcyon wings from its back with which it flies effortlessly. Even to those that manage to deny its psychic power and gaze upon the monstrosity, its very form is concealed in a cloud of shadow.
Two pairs of horns adorn its head which has the aspect of human likeness at first, yet when it grimaces it shows its real form and the visage shown is terrifying to gaze at. Its skin is of a pinkish hue, and purple tentacles adorn its crown where hair is supposed to be. Its left hand terminates in a monstrous claw with talons the size of combat knives. In its right is the glorious daemon sword the Sirenblade, glimmering in a faint greenish glow, a brand that slices through flesh and armour alike.