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As far as I know, the understanding from the Sirius side of the universe on the Humans arrival is that the Dwarves constructed a doomsday machine to fight back in a war they were losing against the orcs. Activating it resulted in a huge catastrophe that decimated many races and star systems in Sirius, especially the dwarves and orcs, and also somehow brought humanity and something called "radiance" to Sirius. Radiance being a sort of "voidstuff"radioactivity that corrupts and twists man and machine. The Radiance Machine pulls from a lot of Dwarven archtypes; Heart of Lorkan or the Balrog in Moria.
As to how the radiance machine led to the nexus of humanity's civil war being yanked wholecloth into Sirius, that's a mystery of the setting.

Ya! There's something I really like that was said about 40k's novels when someone asked, "Is this canon?" The reply was, "Everything's canon; but not everything is true." I think it's really cool to play with deceit, reality warping, confusion, hallucination etc in order to establish a fleshed-out world that still has a lot of room for things to be filled in.

Really fun escape sequence! I like that you maintained ambiguity whether he would survive or not. I choose to believe that the rats have the medical knowhow to treat his injuries :')I saw your comment on my story, and did chuckle at how structurally similar our stories are! I guess we just fund underdogs rallying against those big dumb Brothers compelling, haha. They're easy to dislike. 

Really excellent pacing, and a fight scene that balances character exploration with physical actions very well. This is great.

Grim and poetic! I might be dim, or this story might be too large to contain to 1k words! Some really wild concepts in here. I'd love to read more. I think you also managed to weave in the theme very cohesively; both in the range of the (psy-hacker?) but also in the turnabout of the Robot Lord having access. Really well done.

Very cool, more tonal piece. I presume this is one of the fractal moments in the Civil War of Humanity, where the God-Queen began, and connected with the Dwarven Radience machine, bringing humans to Sirius. Really ambitious to take on a retelling in 1k words! I think you do a really good job. I especially love how you play with words like "It," in passages like, "It may have guided them as they traveled," it is unclear if you mean the Radiance, her drawing of power, or the cosmic lustful "It" entity. Really dig this ambiguous use of language; feels appropriate for a demonic-influenced retelling.
I love this one. It may be my favorite of the submissions.

Beautiful vignette on accepting the mantle of responsibility. Feels like the opening of a sad tale. Really great ambience. 

What a charismatic array of undead thieves!

This is great. You really sympathize for the Count's plight. Funny, imagining some village downriver seeing his body on fire, facedown, floating by. Poor dude.

Fattening up an entire planet with gene-experimentation before harvesting them! Really fun concept.

Very grimly fun. I like the tragic ending.

My horse, my horse for an assassin who can aim!

I do love the grim humor of the druid struggling to find an assassin capable of pulling it off.

I did sense that the narrative got less clear over time. I interpreted it as the druid "running out of time" as he alludes to, but I think clarifying this intent needed a little more room to breathe. It's so subtle, I wasn't sure if it was intentional.

Poor rat assassin. I'm sure he did his best.

I love the epistolary format, provides a very interesting point of view into the series of events that befell the Charybdis. I found myself becoming a bit confused at the voice; I'm not sure if all the narratives were relayed through all Charybdis crewmates or other, uninvolved parties. I really love the atmosphere and growing confusion and tension you're able to build through the scattered windows, though.

What a wonderful, adorable little vignette. I really love this.

Hah, this is wonderful! Got a real kick over havoc dwarf squabbling. I really wish the ending had more punch, it's really the only weakness of this submission.

Really like how you portrayed the grim detachment to their work. Warrior monks in the worst way.

Wonderful. I really enjoyed this, as it conveys a tone and a broad palette of emotion and style super well. I'm not especially bothered by what I don't understand; I really dig the lovecraftian strangeness.

I liked this a lot. Partway through, I found myself wishing this was just the wholesome tale of an unlikely tutelage. While I like your swole rat ending, I wonder if it would have been even stronger if it was simply about a friendship between two unlikely companions. Very charming.

Charming! The irony behind her (fairly) hollow threats is very charming.

Great pacing and tone! I really loved the very pragmatic portrayal of her barely surviving falling off the building. It makes the scene relatable and grounded, and is a nice respite from feats of inhuman ability. Great stuff!

Great story! Good concluding twist. I sort of wish the last paragraph was absent; I think the punch of Bayla's situation would hit harder if you trusted the reader to realize it themselves. Great story arc for under 1k words!

Really cool take on an more rare faction. I too wish for a bit more contextualization behind why she saved Druuk; it's unclear to me if they were romantic, family, or she simply had (rare) pity for him, and each changes the context of her banishment. I think it is interesting how brutally the sympathy was punished, although it makes you wonder if she was scapegoated because the raid failed, more than she was ostracized due to principle.

Great characterization. Adorable donkey name <3. I hope Dumpling is intelligent enough to not fear the automaton, otherwise they might be running for quite a while.

Poor Nuknuk, gone but not forgotten. They say you never really die as long as people remember your works.

Hah, I really love that the initial success of Vittoro was simply met with enthusiasm by the audience; they're not really here to torture him, they just want a good fight! Very charmingly orky.

Really cool premise! I like the idea of some robotic cosmic being hosting the games, and I think that a detached, mechanical style to the narrative could work really well! I feel I am a bit lost in this one though; it might have worked better for me with a bit more polish, as I found the shifts in perspective and style very confusing. I'd definitely want to see this premise sculpted further!

Really wonderful characterization. It's great how much backstory and intrigue you're able to get out of what's barely more than a grunt from some of the Fact's crew. I'd be eager to read more of this.
The only criticism I really see is that some of your similes are a bit labored; I don't think I can really imagine the way a punched lung drifts, or how a bruise squats. You get way more punch out of your excellent dialogue, I think.

Really effective work spent on describing the environment and characters; visualizing this story was almost involuntary on my part because of how evocative your language is.

Loved this, especially the oblique description of the violence. Poor Marie :(

Really great development of the theme across such little time. Final line is a quality payoff.

You nail the voice of the two sisters in this. You can just feel Fiadh dripping with sanctimonious austerity. To do so in a few lines of dialogue is absolutely killer. You're also a madman for writing a story-within-a-story in 1k words!

Really liked the character dynamics and the cynicism of the lead. Great pacing and arc as well. If I could change one thing, it would be to make the kick-to-the-head that Hallisk delivers something less severe! Klimes takes one to the dome and only seems moderately miffed; felt a bit disproportionate. I really loved how you showed the veterancy by Hallisk's wisdom of the probing attack. Good stuff.

Really great vignette. A bit absurd in tone, but it totally works. Love the humorous detachment of the narration, i.e "The problem said." Great stuff.

I love the dynamic of Bale's desperation between a rock and a hard place.

Really great. I love the brutality of the collateral four-armed soul. I think the tension may have worked better if Othromar was a bit less confident in his ability. The arc is very well paced for a single page.