Although both Hildred Castaigne and his cousin Louis where born to House Delauque, neither appeared to have inherited this gift of the whispers of the House of Shadow.

Louis, to upset the family further, has a full head of hair and, while pale, is regarded as quite handsome. He was also much more athletic than any of his kin in his youth, catching the eye of Imperial recruiters, who soon took him away from the darkness of Necromunda, giving him a position in the 20th Dragoon Regiment. Last anyone heard, Louis is said to be marrying Constance Helmawr-Hawberk (a somewhat distant relative of the Imperial house)

Hildred unlike his cousin, jealously hid his inability to join in the Whispers of the Choir, deceiving and manipulating his way into a position of respect within the House, playing on a reputation as a very closed mind, and thus expert secret keeper.

When his cousin Louis was drafted off-world, Hildred became consumed by jealousy, and also the loss of the only other member of the House with whom he could confide. He began introducing himself simply as 'Castaigne', and arranged for his House dealings to increasingly involve the trade in esoteric and forbidden knowledge.

It was in this way then, that Castaigne came to learn the location of the lost, strange, Hive city of Carcosa. Said to be beyond the Dust Wall, accessible only when dark stars come right, and the eye of Selene sinks behind The Tower and beneath The Gate.

Castaigne would return to Hive Primus forever changed by his studies in Hive Carcosa, gifted now with esoteric whispers all of his own, but not those of the Psycoteric Choir.

He shares the teachings of Hive Carcosa with others similarly deaf to --or marginalised by-- the Choir and the House of Shadows. He tells of the ash lakes which connected Aranthas with Aldebaran and The Mystery of the Hyades. He speaks of the songs of Cassilda and Camilla, and sounds the cloudy depths of Demhe and the scalloped tatters of the false golden king on Terra, who will be replaced by the coming of the True King.

All the while he bids his ‘Mils Fils’ to search for the Yellow Sign ¿ …for now, the search leads to Cog Port.

Have you found the Yellow Sign?

The first of Les Mils Fils recruited by Castaigne. Hali was sat upon the opposite bank, across an ash lake, hidden in cloud waves -- from which Carcosa is often seen.

Castaigne: “This is the thing that troubles me, for I cannot forget Hive Carcosa where dark stars watch from the void; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in late cycles, when the twin suns sink into the ash-lake of Hali; and my mind will bear forever the memory of the Pallid Mask. 

I pray Dark Gods will curse the Hive, as the Architect has cursed the world with this Nacht-Gul, beautiful stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth.

"Cassilda sings the dying twilight down
Again to me tonight from her soul’s tower

Cursed as we all are with his bitter sign"

—Ann K. Schwader, “Evening Reflections, Carcosa”  Twisted in Dream 

"I do not deny that she was eccentric; the mania she had for keeping that wyrm, and teasing it until it flew at her face like a demon, was certainly eccentric.

I never could understand why she kept the creature, nor what pleasure she found in shutting herself up with the surly, vicious beast"

"The scalloped tatters of the King in Yellow must hide Yhtill forever..."

"They say Aldones means 'father' in the language of Hastur. He was the second who once wore the Yellow Sign upon his breast"

"Hawberk looked at me and slowly smoothed his leathern apron.

“That is impossible,” he observed, “Monsieur Wilde may know a great many things—”

“About armour, for instance, and 'The Prince Emblazoned,’” I interposed, smiling.

“Yes,” he continued, slowly, “about the Prince also—may be—but he is wrong in regard to the Marquis of Avonshire, a Noble, as you know. Killed his wife’s traducer years ago, and went to Hive Carcosa, where he did not long survive his wife.”

Sometimes, when Hali remembers the lake —beneath the tower— he will speak of Constance, whom Castaigne loved, and her brother; Hawberk. Will speak of how the Marquis of Avonshire fled Hive Primus to Carcosa for the Marquis never to return. And sometimes Hali lies. 

"Castaigne led them along the ramifications of the Imperial family, to Uoht and Thale -- from Naotalba and Phantom of Truth, to Aldones...".

"Mais je croy que je

Suis descendu on puiz

Tenebreux onquel disoit

Heraclytus estre Verité cachée.”

“There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not:

The way of a ripperjack in the air; the way of a sump-serpent upon iron; the way of a ship in the midst of the ash sea; and the way of a man with a maid.”

Demoiselle D'Ys: "I will not accept your apologies, Monsieur, but I must prove you wrong and that shall be my revenge. Look. Here come Hastur and Raoul."