Phoenix Rising- Interesting bits and drunk GW..

With the release of the new Phoenix Rising book I spotted a couple of things that don't seem to be getting a lot of discussion. One is an intriguing bit of lore, one is a classic 'drunk GW' moment, and one is either a screw-up or a hint of things to come. Oh, and there's another probable Fulgrim sighting but of course there is. (We'll say no more of him other than to mention that it's in the sidebar of page 14.)

I'll do my best to avoid spoilers but the first one is a bit tricky, so skip the next bit if you've not read the book yet and want to go in clean.

SPOILER: Yvraine's Guests
At one point near the end of the story, Yvraine receives a visit from two people, one an Aeldari carrying two slim swords and the other a human woman described as wearing black power armour and having white hair. Obviously this sounds like a Sister of Battle, but the woman is also described as having a powerful psychic presence. Given that Yvraine has already met Inquisitor Greyfax, who could just about fit that description otherwise, it seems to me that there's only one person this character could be (assuming they aren't new.)

Ephrael Stern. She was last seen, at the climax of the Daemonifuge strip, opening her own personal webway portal in the company of an Eldar (as they were then) called the Pariah, on her way to the Black Library. This is technically unconfirmed but if it's anyone else I'll eat my socks. This would be a pretty big development given how long ago Daemonifuge was, and points to interesting times to come if it's not a one-and-done- and of course, the Sisters of Battle are coming soon and are involved in Psychic Awakening.
END SPOILER.

Drunk GW #1: Ynnari characters
This one is a pretty classic example of one hand not seeming to know what the other is doing. In the interests of spoiler avoidance I'll keep my terms of reference vague, but during the Phoenix Rising story Yvraine is joined by several other named 40k Aeldari heroes who fight alongside her against a powerful enemy. At least one of those is portrayed as drawing Strength From Death in the way Yvraine has taught them (in fact, they do it during an earlier incident in the book too.)

Then we come to the Ynnari rules, which once more require a Ynnari detachment to have one of the three Ynnari special characters in it in order to gain the YNNARI keyword. They also specifically prohibit any other named character being in the detachment. And yes, the character in question has rules in the book and no, they don't have an exception in there.

This seems to me like an obvious screw-up, though I have no idea if they'll bother to fix it. Personally, I also think it's a bit sad that we still have to use the Triumvirate members to field Ynnari detachments, since it limits options in a way that I don't think is needed and makes the faction feel very small.

Drunk GW #2.. or is it? Focus Will
This last one seemed at first to be an obvious mistake, an example of sloppy rule-writing and poor proof-reading at its most egregious, and put your hand up if that would surprise you. No? Well, there may be another explanation.

We're looking here at the Focus Will power from the new Runes of Fortune, which are 'minor' powers that a Craftworlds PSYKER can use to replace Smite. Focus Will is worded as follows:

"If manifested, select one friendly <CRAFTWORLD> PSYKER within 6" of this psyker. Until the end of this phase, when a Deny The Witch test is taken for that model add 2 to the total."

The emphasis here is mine. Obviously, as written here the power does nothing- you  don't Deny The Witch in your own Psychic Phase, and the effect ends as soon as the phase does. I thought initially that the power was meant to last until the start of your next Psychic Phase (making it a handy boost for a Farseer) or, more tenuously, was meant to raise the difficulty of Deny The Witch against a power cast by the target Psyker by 2 (in which case it's terribly written.)

However, Age of Sigmar players and other smart people will probably have already spotted one other possible explanation- Endless Spells. Now of course, these don't yet exist in 40k, but if they're going to put in an appearance an event called the Psychic Awakening would seem to be the time to do it. So here we may have the first evidence that Psychic Manifestations or whatever they end up calling them are coming to a 40k table near you soon.

Either that, or GW messed up again. It could be either, if we're honest.