Crossing a room is one thing. Crossing a galaxy is another. In 40k and other sci-fi stories, travel is often a dangerous and unpredictable process. You’re only ever one error away from a containment breach or slipstream meltdown. Worse still, you’re only ever one error away from the void. Exodus (Avalanche Entertainment’s upcoming action RPG) is continuing its short story lore drops, and in the newest (“The Elohim”), we get a glimpse at what may be one of the setting’s darkest features. Here we learn just what happens to those civilizations that defy these ancient beings. Here’s how the Gates of Heaven help shape the sci-fi lore of Exodus.
Closing the Gates of Heaven
The Gates of Heaven, created by the Elohim, allow for (relatively) safe and consistent travel between the Cluster systems. Without them and the connections they foster, even the strongest and wealthiest human worlds would shrivel and die. The Elohim are said to have created the Gates after the Formation Wars. 15,000 years later, the atrocities of those wars continue to shape life around the Gates. Any society that violates the Laws of the Elohim will find its connection to the Gates of Heaven severed, damning it to isolation and decay.
Ancient, intergalactic god-things using interstellar highways as the ultimate bargaining chip is a fantastic idea. Though I’m oversimplifying the Gates of Heaven in Exodus, it’s clear even from these short story teasers that Archetype Entertainment is dreaming big with the game. It seems there’s a good deal of depth and originality hidden beneath the game’s deceptively familiar visual style. I’m here for it. At lightspeed time slows down (a fact Exodus plays with extensively in its lore), and the Laws of the Elohim are another great example of Avalanche pushing its sci-fi plot in fun directions. If we’re lucky, maybe the Gates will get us to release day faster, too.
