In The Azmansolas, Lord Marlowe describes the High King of the Cielcin—at the end of its reign—as a creature turned almost to stone, its body calcified or otherwise transformed by some novel alien parasite. No evidence of this transformation is attested by the historical record—nor indeed can be confirmed, as the body of the Cielcin sovereign was presumably annihilated by the supernova that Marlowe himself triggered at the Battle of Gododdin.

The inclusion of this detail—along with several other features of Marlowe’s narrative—has led many to question The Azmansolas and indeed Lord Marlowe’s authorship of the text in its entirety. Its content is so outlandish, the events it describes so implausible, that they cannot possibly have occurred. And yet belief in the account persists, not least among those faithful—nearly all of them former legionnaires—who make pilgrimage to Delos, Colchis, and several other of the worlds once visited by the Sun Eater.

Syriani Dorayaica was not known to make frequent appearances on the field of battle itself, preferring to broadcast a holograph of its image from space, relying on atmospheric resonators to broadcast its messages to the humans on the planet below. These images are known to have been pre-recorded more often than not, and so it is possible—if the Cielcin King were ailing or otherwise infirmed—that old recordings might have been played to impress the subject populations of the human worlds attacked by its fleet.

Dorayaica’s last documented appearance during any ground engagement was at the Battle of Nessus, where it is said to have pillaged the Exarch’s palace and Marlowe’s former residence at Maddalo House. There, Dorayaica is said to have crossed blades with no less than Sir Hector Oliva, the Champion of Taranis. No reference is made to there being anything strange about the High King’s condition at that time—though it should be noted that Sir Hector vanished from public life after that encounter, and much of the fallout of the sack of Nessus remains undocumented.