本文节选自 Darius Hinks 所著英文背景书《Liber Xenologis》，该译文作为练习仅为个人与交流使用，不用作商业用途。

尽管黑石要塞的拱顶大到不可理喻，然而当充满威胁的黑暗逼近时，人们常常会被幽闭恐惧症压垮。

Despite the vast, ineffable nature of the Blackstone's Vaults, one often crushed by claustrophobia as the darkness presses in, laden with threat.

我是一个讲究逻辑和理性的人，超自然的故事很难对我产生影响，对此我深感自豪。然而，通过经年累月的研究，我已经接受了这么一个事实，即跨维度性质的生物是存在的，它们在生理和心理上是如此的独特，简直与我们大相径庭，关于它们是异形还是幽灵的界分之辨已经近乎学术化了。被称为奴役者的异形生物并不怎么出名，即使对于异形学家来说也是如此，在某种程度上，这是因为它们的传说经常会被当成鬼狐志怪而得不到理会。和诞生于物理界的人类不同，奴役者是至高天的产物——这种生物由精神能量构成，以粗心大意的灵能者的意志为食。一旦在某些人的脑海中站稳了脚跟，它们就会 “占据” 对方，最终，他们会变成一扇门户，一扇位于我们现实世界与奴役者虚幻阈域之间的门户。

I pride myself on being a man of logic and reason, not easily swayed by tales of the supernatural. Through years of research, however, I have come to accept that there are beings of a transdimensional nature that are so peculiar and remote from us, physically and psychologically, that the distinction between xenos and spectre becomes almost academic. The alien life forms known as enslavers are not well known, even to students of xenology, and in part this is because tales of them have often been dismissed as ghost stories. Enslavers are not born of the same physics as humans, but are a product of the empyrean - creatures of psychic energy that feed on the minds of unguarded psykers. Once they have a foothold in someone's mind they 'possess' them, eventually turning them into a gateway between our reality and the enslavers' unreality.

在这一过程中，被附身的受害者是无法幸存下来的，他们的意志和血肉会被撕成一道通往非物质界的大门，但这还不是最糟的。一旦沦为门户，无数的奴役者就有可能通过受害者的垂死之躯自由地涌入到现实世界之中。我认为，这些生物会用这种方式突然降临到整片的社区，（甚至）整片的世界上。

The possessed victim does not survive the process, their mind and flesh torn into a portal to the immaterium, but this is not the worst of the matter. Once the victim has become a gateway, countless more enslavers are free to pour into reality through the victim's dying body. ln this way, whole communities and, I believe, whole worlds have been overtaken by the creatures.

从我收集到的点滴信息来看，不管在哪个方面，奴役者似乎都与我们截然迥异，想要与它们进行交流完全是不可能的。因此，我们无法得知对方为何要在我们的银河中寻找落脚点。无论是什么理由，我的研究表明奴役者附身事件的在案记录明显有所增加。

From the scraps of information I have gleaned, it seems that the enslavers are so different from us in every way, that communicating with them would be utterly impossible. As a result, we have no idea why they are seeking a foothold in our galaxy.  Whatever the reason, my studies indicate that there has been a marked rise in recorded incidents of enslaver possession.

在抵达黑石要塞之前，我尚未得到第一手的资料来证明自己的理论，即奴役者是真实存在的，然而在早先的一次探险期间，我听说了一则故事，无论从哪个方面来看，这则故事都与我从前读过书籍非常吻合。

Prior to my arrival at the Blackstone Fortress,  I had no first-hand testimonies to support my theory that the enslavers are real, but during one of my earliest expeditions l heard a tale that chimed closely with everything I had already read on the subject.

埃索拉、格雷克和我发现我们被困在了一道宽阔的悬崖上，大家背朝深渊，前面的房间里有几十个全副武装的邪教徒，他们正在向我们开火射击。我们被压制了将近一个小时，就在这个时候，一个女人慢悠悠地走进了房间，然后她开始枪杀异端，态度相当的冷漠，对方完全被打了个措手不及。趁异端被那女人打得晕头转向之际，埃索拉、格雷克和我抓住机会冲回了房间，然后加入了对方的战斗。几秒钟之内，他们就被杀得一干二净，然后那个女人就离开了房间，她甚至都没有跟我们搭话。我设法阻止了她，她的举止令我大吃一惊。她看上去异常冷淡，仿佛就像服用了镇定剂一般，而且根本就不担心自己的安危。我好说歹说总算让对方答应由我们陪她走一段路，而且还发现了她举止古怪的原因。

Isola, Grekh and I had found ourselves trapped on a broad ledge, with our backs to a bottomless drop and dozens of heavily armed cultists firing on us from the previous chamber. We had been pinned down for nearly an hour when a woman sauntered into the chamber and began gunning down the heretics with such a nonchalant air that they were quite thrown off guard. Isola, Grekh and I took the chance to charge back into the room and join the woman as she attacked the dazed heretics. Within a few seconds they were all dead, and the woman made to leave the chamber without even speaking to us. I managed to halt her and was quite taken aback by her demeanour. She seemed oddly cold, as though she had been sedated, and she showed absolutely no regard for her own safety. I managed to convince her to let us accompany her a little way and found out the reason for her odd behaviour.

那个名叫德拉曼的女人显然有点精神失常，但她很想跟我谈谈自己的过去，就在她这么做的时候，我立马想起了奴役者。德拉曼不知道自己经历了什么，但我对此确信无疑。她曾经是一个军火走私犯，（负责）将违禁武器空运到沃尔图诺六号*的梅普索拉巢都下层。以巢都居民的标准来看，她是一个富有的成功者。然后她看到了一桩令她跼蹐不安的事件，于是她逃离了巢都：

The woman's name was Drumyn and she was obviously quite deranged, but she was eager enough to tell me of her past, and as she did so I was immediately reminded of the enslavers. Drumyn had no idea that was what she had experienced, but I was sure of it. She had once been an arms smuggler, flying proscribed weaponry into the lower levels of Mepthora Hive on Volturno VI.* By the standards of a hive-dweller she was wealthy and successful. Then she saw something that disturbed her so much she fled the hive:

*她毫无愧疚地宣布了这件事情。她对隐瞒自己过去的犯罪经历毫无兴趣。

She announced this with no compunction whatsoever. She showed no interest in hiding her criminal past.

这几天，其他人一直都表现得很奇怪。我觉得事情有点不对劲。他们要毁了我。我心知肚明。我无法找到他们中的任何一个，但我听说他们全都因为某件事而丧失了理智。他们把我排除在交易之外，这让我很是生气。但当我设法找到了其中一个叫拉戈的家伙时，我没有把他打得脑袋开花，而是躲了起来，远远地跟着他，想要知道他要去哪里。他看上去就像喝醉了一样，一边跌跌撞撞地走着，一边还在嘴里咕哝着什么，他穿过了古老的卡布林卡炼油厂，然后经由居住区来到了那个……好吧，那个没人会去的地方。就在巢都的边缘。（那里的）空气是如此之糟，都快要接近周边的地界了。我从未去往东走这么远过。我都能听见那该死的灰烬风暴了。

The others had been acting weird for days. I could smell something was wrong. They were screwing me over. I knew it. I couldn't track any of them down, but I heard they were all out of their minds on something. They were cutting me out of of the deal and I was furious.  But when I managed to find one of  them, Largo, I held off from blowing his brains out, hid and followed him at a distance, trying to understand where he was going. He looked drunk, stumbling and muttering as he went through the old Kablinka refinery and out past the hab-zones to where..Well,to where no one goes. Right at the edge of the hive. The air is so bad that close to perimeter.  l had never been so far east. I could hear the damned ash storm.

我开始变得焦躁不安，我有点想回去了，但我确信他们全都想毁了我，我要看看他们会怎么做。我们打小就在一起了。他们是我仅有的家人。

I started to get edgy and I half wanted to head back, but I was sure they were all screwing me over and I wanted to see how. We'd been together since we were kids. They were my only family.

拉戈沿着那座被毁教堂的台阶拾级而上，然后走了进去。我不敢使用流明灯，那里也没有光亮，所以拉戈一走进教堂，我就得从摸黑从满是碎石的地上爬过去了。当光线从窗户中倾泻而出时，我正好爬到阶梯的底部。

Largo went up the steps of a ruined chapel and went inside. I dare not use a lumen and there were no light, so once Largo went in the chapel I had to creep through the rubble in the dark. I was just at the bottom of the steps when light started to pour out the windows.

这不是……这可不是普通的光芒。它集黯淡与夺目于一身。那苍白而又病态的光芒在废墟里闪烁了很长一段时间。于是我悄悄地靠了上去，他们都在那里——整个帮派，他们围成了一圈。但我一见到他们就知道事情并不像我原先所想的那样。他们没有背叛我。他们出事了。一些不好的事情。他们弯腰驼背伛偻而立，仿佛就像筋疲力尽了一样。

It wasn't ... it wasn't normal light. Weak and bright at the same time. Pale, sickly and shinning from the ruins in long times. I crept closer and they were all in there -the whole gang, gathered in a circle. But as soon as I saw them I kenw it wasn't what I thought. They weren't betrayed me. Something had happened to them. Something bad. They were slumped and hunched, like they were dead on their feet.

然后我看到了光芒的来源。那是…我发现很难盯着它看。我曾经见过一些糟糕的玩意，但这些东西以一种错误的方式弄伤了我的脑袋。它们就像熠熠生辉的口袋一样悬在人群的上方，一如波光粼粼的池水，就那么漂浮在那里。它们的外形呈梨状，有点像巨型蜱虫，也许可能是胚胎，但它们有下颚，或是触手，或是从它们面孔上垂下的与之类似的东西。好吧，其实它们并没有面孔。想要分清它们是很困难的。我可以看穿对方。也许它们有一只眼睛？也许是一张嘴吧。它们的脑袋上悬着触须。这些生物，它们像是由光芒制成，但真的非常可怖，这些东西让我感到恶心，因为它们正以某种方式在帮派成员的身上进食。随着闪光口袋的漂移与抽搐，下方的身影也跟着它们一起动了起来，就好像他们被连在了一起似的。

Then I saw the source of the light. It was… I found it hard to look at it. I've seen some bad stuff, but these things were wrong in a way that hurt my head. Like pools of light, hanging over the gang like glowing sack, just drifting in the air. They were kind of pear-shaped,a bite like massive ticks, or may be embryos, but they had mandibles, or tentacles,  or something like that dangling from their faces. Well, they didn't really have faces. It was hard to make them out. I could see through them. Maybe they had an eye? It might have been a mouth. The tentacles were dangling from their heads. They were like creatures made of light, but the really awful thing, the thing that made me feel sick, was that they were feeding somehow on the gang. As the light sacks drifted and twitched, the figures below moved in time with them, like they were tied to them.

那就是死神。我看到了死神。我立马就知道了。我从来没有如此确信过。这些东西是恶魔一般的存在，它们在黑暗中候着我们。当我们行将就木之际，这帮家伙就会来找我们，然后把我们带到遥远的彼端之所。我想拔腿就跑，但却无法将目光从那一幕上移开。这就象是一场缓慢而又怪诞的舞蹈，只见拉戈与其他人随着灵体的节奏一同蹒跚而舞。

It was death. I was seeing death. I knew it straight away. I have never been more sure of anything. Those things were the daemons that wait for us in the dark. The things that come for us when it is our tum to die and cany us on to whatever lies beyond. I wanted to run away but I couldn't take my eyes off the scene. It was like a slow, grotesque dance with Largo and the others stumbling and jerking in time to the spirits.

然后，就在我进行观察的时候，事情变得愈发骇人了。只见拉戈与其他人纷纷开始解体。他们就像融化了一样。而且并非只有他们。空气似乎被撕裂了。透过泪水，我看到了更多的苍白之光。那些东西变得越来越多了，它们一拥而上。有成百上千之多。

Then, as I watched, it became even more awful. Largo and the others started to break apart. Like they were melting. But it wasn't just them. The air seemed to be ripping. And through the tear I could see more of the pale light. And more of those things, rushing forwards. Hundreds more.

我花了几秒钟才意识到，那可怕的声音是我自己发出的尖叫。（那些）灵体朝我转了过来，其中一只（更是）冲过教堂向我直扑而来。

It took me a few seconds to realise that the awful sound l could hear was me, screaming. The spirits turned in my direction and one of them rushed across the chapel towards me.

我转身冲进了黑暗之中，但就在我奔跑之际，我感到光线照进了我的脑海之中。它就像火焰一样，塞得我满脑子都是。我感觉到它正在接管我的四肢，放慢我的速度，让我就此停下。

I turned and sprinted into the darkness, but as l ran, I felt the light enter my head. It was like fire, filling my skull. I could feel it taking over my limbs, slowing me down, commanding me to halt.

然后，在狗屎运的作用下，我摔倒了。在黑暗中，我从一处台架上掉了下去，它有三十英尺，或许有四十英尺高。我本应该摔死的，但我掉在了灰烬之中。

And then, by dumb luck, l fell. I fell from a gantry in the dark and dropped thirty, maybe forty feet. I should have died, but I landed in ash.

我可以看到那个灵体，对方就在高处远远地观望着我，但我的脑海中已经没有它的踪影了。但我必须移动到它的控制范围之外。所以我又跑了起来。而且再也没有回头看上一眼。我花钱找了条路子离开了那个世界，然后朝西走了。

I could see the spirit, far above, watching me, but it was no longer in my mind. l must have passed beyond its reach. So I ran again. And never looked back. I bought passage off-world and headed west.

一说完自己的故事，德拉曼就直勾勾地盯着我，仿佛希望我去驳斥她，但我只是向她发问，问她来黑石要塞是想得到什么。对方告诉我她从死神的手里逃过一劫，现在已经没有什么好怕的了。她打算在黑石要塞上获取大量的财富，然后再前往泰拉，在那里，她会过上女王一般的生活。我正要向她提出更多的问题，但她并没有理会我让她停一下的呼喊，而是大步流星地迈入了黑暗之中。

Once Drumyn had told her story she stared at me, as though willing me to contradict her, but I simply asked her what she hoped to achieve by being on the Blackstone. She told me she had escaped death and now nothing could touch her. She meant to make a vast fortune on the Blackstone and then head to Terra, where she would live like a queen. I was about to ask her more, when she strode off into the darkness, ignoring my calls for her to halt.

这些生物的起源完全就是一个谜，人类只知道它们叫奴役者。其穿越正常空间的能力使得它们能够在整个银河系——甚至更远的地方——轻松地移动。他们拥有物理性的肉身，不过与其它已知的生命形态截然不同。奴役者基本上要么呈球形，要么呈桶状，大约有两米高，皮肤坚韧似革。在它们身体的最顶端有一个巨大的感知器官，有时会被称为只眼，尽管它的实际功能只能猜测。在该生物身体顶部的四周围有一簇触手，一般有8到12根，每根长约1.5米，通常来说，其中两根触手的末端长有吸盘，而且要比其它的长一些。这些触手既是感知器官，亦是操控器官。奴役者没有腿脚，只能靠漂浮移动，有时（它们）会借助触手进以行快速或者精确的移动。它们可以通过这种办法实现快速移动，也可以用与人类以及其它传统生物类似的方式改变方向和速度。奴役者最多可以在地面或者楼板上漂到3米的高度，但无法以这种高度飞行。它们可以用触手进行攀爬。奴役者可以随心所欲地改变自己的体色，但通常都是皮革一般的棕色配上浅色——有时会是白色——的触手。（它们的）眼部器官呈红色、橙色或粉红色。

The origin of these creatures, known to humanity only as Enslavers, is a complete mystery. Their ability to transcend normal space enables them to move easily throughout the galaxy and perhaps beyond. They have physical bodies, although unlike any other known life form. Enslavers are basicially spheroid or barrel shaped, approximately 2 metres tall, with tough leathery skin. At the very top of their bodies is a single large sensory organ sometimes called an eye, although its exact function can only be guessed at. Around the top of the creature's body is a cluster of tentacles, typically from 8 to 12, each about 1½ metres long, often two of these tentacles are longer than the others and end in suckered pads. These tentacles function as both sensory and manipulative organs. Enslavers have no legs but move by floating, sometimes assisted by their tentacles for fast or precise movement. They can move quite rapidly by this means and can change direction and speed in a way comparable to humans and other more orthadox creatures. Enslavers will float at up to 3 metres above the ground or floor surface, but cannot fly as such. They can climb using their tentacles. Enslavers can change their colour at will, but the normal colouration is a leathery brown with paler, sometimes white, tentacles. The eye organ is red, orange or pinkish.

以人类的主张来看，很难确定奴役者是否拥有智能。当然，它们会以理性的方式行事，而且似乎会对自己的行为作出合理的决断。然而，如果它们能够与其他种族交流的话，那么它们不会做出这样的尝试，也不会使用任何形式的工具或者设备。尽管理论上奴役者的身体是可以使用武器的，但它们从未（这么）做过。体力劳作是交由它们的奴隶进行的，而它们的名字正是由奴役其他种族的能力赋予的。这些生物通过精神控制来奴役其他的种族，每个奴役者最多可以接管10个其他种族的思想并控其而制之。受害者保留了他们所有的知识、能力和生理特征，但全都处于奴役者的支配之下。这种心灵控制技能的作用范围最多可达五十米。

ln human terms it is impossible to say whether Enslavers are intelligent. They certainly act in a rational manner, and seem able to make reasonable decisions about their actions. However, if they are able to communicate with other races they make no attempt to do so, and they use no tools or equipment of any kind. Even though they may theoretically be physically capable of using weapons. they never do. Manual work is conducted by their slaves, it being their ability to enslave other creatures that gives them their name. These creatures enslave other races by mental control, each Enslaver can take over and control the minds of up to 10 other creatures. Victims retain all of their knowledge, abilities and physical attributes, but are directed by the will of their Enslaver. This mind control ability has a range of up to 50 metres.

奴役者可以通过其他种族的灵能共鸣穿越亚空间。和以往一样，最强烈、最容易受到追踪的灵能放射来自未受保护的人类灵能者。奴役者可以在数十光年的距离上探测到这种共鸣，还能宿入灵能者的体内将纳为己用，其方式可怖至极。一旦发现了受害者，三个奴役者就会联合起来，结成一个精神纽带。受害者一开始可能并不会注意到这一点，但其体内的化学物质会逐渐发生变化，他们会变得疲倦、嗜睡，皮肤也会开始褪色。50-75个小时之后，受害者会开始膨胀，因为他的身体组织会分崩离析，然后重新形成一道活生生的、由撕裂血肉构成的脉动之门。这就是所有受害者的实际结局，他已经被转化为一道特殊的亚空间之门，它可以通过亚空间将灵能者所与奴役者所在的世界以物理的形式连接到一起。由于大门是由三个特定的奴役者组成的，所以只有它们可以使用，不过它们不会受到限制，可以随意进出。

Enslavers travel through warp space by utilising the psychic vibrations of other creatures. As usual, the strongest and most easily tracked psychic emanations come from unprotected human psykers. Enslavers can detect such vibration from tens of light years distance, and can home in to and exploit unprotected psykers in a particularly gruesome way. Once they have traced a victim, three Enslavers band together to form a mental bond. The victim may be unaware of this at first, but gradual changes are forced upon his body chemistry, he becomes tired and lethargic and his skin begins to discolour. After a period of 50-75 hours the victim swells as his body tissues disintegrate and reform into the shape of a living, pulsing gate of ruptured flesh. This is the end of the victim to all intents and purposes, he has been transformed into a special form of warp gate, a physical link through warp space between the pysker's world and that of the Enslavers. Because the gate has been formed by three specific Enslavers, only they may use it, although they are unrestricted and may enter and exit as they wish.

一旦踏上一个世界，奴役者就可以从它们役使的任何灵能者身上创造出更多的亚空间之门——甚至是有防备的灵能者，比如星语者。在外观上，这些新的亚空间之门与原先的一模一样，并能允许另外三个奴役者通其而过之。和之前一样，新的亚空间之门只允许三个特定的奴役者通过。那三个允许使用亚空间之门的奴役者可能包括了早已踏足星球表面的生物，例如它的创造者。很显然，一旦开始，那么这些生物的渗透就很难被阻止了。

Once on a world Enslavers can create more warp gates from any psyker that they enslave - even protected psykers such as Astropaths.These new warp gates are identical in appearance to the orignal one, and will permit the passage of three more Enslavers. As before, the new portal will permit only the passage of a specific three Enslavers. The three Enslavers permitted to use a warp gate may include creatuires already on the planet's surface, such as its creator. Clearly, once it has begun, an infiltration of these creatures is very difficult to halt.

奴役者不会使用武器或工具，但是它们有一种与生俱来的武器，那就是灵能冲击波。它的射程有50米。然而在正常的情况下，奴役者会躲起来，并让自己的奴隶去替它们战斗。

Enslavers are incapable of using weapons or tools, but they have a natural weapon in the form of a psychic shock. This has a range of 50 metres. Normally, however, Enslavers remain hidden and let their slaves do their fighting.

资料来源：

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader · First Edition · Rick Priestley 

奴役者的小贴士

I.奴役者的学名叫：精神压制者/Spiritus Subjugator.

II.奴役者是古圣造物释放出来的恐怖之物，它们可以说是压垮古圣的最后一根稻草。

天启隐现

The Apocalypse Looms

亚空间的住民贪婪地聚集在维度的缝隙之间，它们在寻找进入物质世界的道路。为了保护祂们最后的要塞，古圣推出了新的造物，像是吃苦耐劳、肤色发绿的柯罗克和擅于模仿技术的太空猿猴，但为时已晚。古圣的星系网络被攻破了，然后就此易手，由其造物释放而出的恐怖之物将祂们最伟大的作品连同权力之地一同淹没了。

The denizens of the warp clustered voraciously at the cracks between dimensions, seeking ways into the material world. The Old Ones brought forth newer creations to defend their last strongholds, like the hardy, green-skinned Krork and the technology-mimicking Jokaero, but it was already too late. The Old Ones' intergalactic network was breached and lost to them, their greatest works and places of power overrun by the horrors their own creations had unleashed.

在这些恐怖之物中，最娴熟的当属奴役者，它们拥有支配年轻种族的能力，并可以用转化灵能者的方式创造属于它们自己的门户，以此让它们的数量变得越来越多。对于古圣来说，这是祂们的终末之劫，因为奴役者控制了祂们的下属。年轻种族打开了潘多拉的魔盒，最后的古圣被杀得一败涂地，祂们的力量被永远地摧毁了。

Most proficient of these horrors were the Enslavers, beings whose ability to dominate the Young Races and create their own portals with transmuted psykers brought them forth in ever greater numbers. For the Old Ones, this was the final disaster as the Enslavers took control of their minions. The Pandora's box unleashed by the Young Races finally scattered the last of the Old Ones and broke their power forever.

在古圣与星神的战争中，生命一直都站在悬崖的边缘上。如今，随着奴役者像瘟疫一样攻入了物质界，幸存者看起来注定要灭亡了。

Life had stood at the edge of the precipice during the war between the Old Ones and the C'tan. Now as the Enslavers breached the Immaterium in epidemic proportions, the survivors looked doomed.

III.奴役者曾在杰里科湾区出没过。

奴役者是一个肮脏的、起源于亚空间的异形种族，也是与黯色之图有关的最佳人选。风暴典狱官战团的星际战士的出现与这些异形不无关系，欧米茄地下墓穴中的诸多发现可能与最终发生在杰里科河湾的的奴役者瘟疫有关。

A race of foul alien creatures native to the Warp, the Enslavers are also a prime candidate to be linked to the Dark Pattern. These xenos have a link to the presence of the Storm Wardens Chapter of Space Marines, and many of the discoveries in the Omega Vault can be linked to the eventual emergence of an Enslaver Plague into the Jericho Reach.

资料来源：

Codex: Necrons · 3rd Edition

Deathwatch: The Achilus Assault

Liber Xenologis · Darius Hinks