In the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000, the Blackstone Fortresses were originally created as weapons in the first war against the C'tan, and were known to the ancient Eldar as the Talismans of Vaul. To capitalise on the C'tan's vulnerability to warp attacks the Fortresses were equipped with a warp-cannon that could create a devastating rip in space and an eruption of energy out of the Immaterium. They have since fallen into the use of the Imperium and Chaos, and have influenced two of the major wars in the Imperium.
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The Gothic War
Over the course of history, the various Blackstone Fortresses were abandoned. Six Fortresses were discovered in various systems of the Gothic Sector, and were claimed by the Imperium, modified and integrated into the defense infrastructure of the various star systems.
The Fortresses were dormant, easily boarded and occupied. Although inactive, there was enough residual power in their power grids to allow the humans to live in them and turn them into powerful spaceborne hardpoints that were central to the fortifications in the systems they occupied. However, during the Gothic War Abaddon was influenced by the C'tan 'The Deceiver' to find a pair of ancient devices, (known as the 'Hand of Darkness' and the 'Eye of Night', probably Eldar devices with some kind of command code or password) which re-activated the massive ships, bringing them under his control. Once awake they were able to shed their grafted-on Imperial equipment and glide slowly through space under their own power, using their original warp-cannon in place of the turrets and fighter bays the Navy had built onto them. There is also a record of a boarding party that made its way into one of the activated fortresses and described it as like a living thing, pulsing with power. As the war progressed and Abaddon acquired three Fortresses, he was able to combine their warp-cannon attacks to obliterate worlds and stars. The Blackstone, like most Eldar technology of that scale was equipped with an infinity circuit of some kind. However when it fell into the hands of Chaos, it was corrupted and possessed directly by the Chaos God and enemy of the Eldar, Slaanesh. At the end of the Gothic War, the fortresses were attacked by a vast fleet of Imperials and Eldar, and Abaddon retreated into the Eye of Terror with two activated Blackstones, while the remaining Blackstone was re-captured. When the aforementioned boarding party boarded the Blackstone Fortress, the remaining three in Imperial custody simultaneously disintegrated.
The Thirteenth Black Crusade
In the Thirteenth Black Crusade, Abaddon used two Blackstone Fortresses against the Imperium. One of these was used to attack the world of Cadia, obliterating Cadians and Chaos troops on the surface indiscriminately. This Blackstone Fortress was attacked by Eldar and Imperial battlefleets, but both took huge losses from the Chaos fleet guarding the structure. Eldrad Ulthran boarded the Fortress, attempting to remove the taint of Chaos and return the fortress to Eldar control, but failed and was most likely consumed by Slaanesh. After this, the Fortress stopped attacking Cadia and concentrated on its own defence. (It is uncertain whether it was Eldrad's boarding action or the attack of a Necron fleet that caused this.) Although the Necron fleet was destroyed, the Fortress left Cadia. There are unconfirmed reports of the other Fortress being destroyed by Necron raiders.
Appearance
Viewed from the top the shape of an activated Blackstone Fortress has warped to resemble the eight-pointed star of Chaos Undivided (this is somewhat ironic considering the fortresses are of Eldar creation).
References
Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook (Games Workshop) White dwarf magazine (various, summer 2004 'Eye of Terror' global campaign)
