"Scan the parts."
The House Puree arsmemn stepped aside as the officious looking tech-priest ran his optical mechadendrites over the exterior of the hovertram that they had escorted to the outer edges of the Adeptus Mechanicus territory. His optics swept down and picked up no sign of anything untoward. For the untoward thing was, currently, scrambling silently along the far side of the container-case to the roof. There, splayed flat on the roof, was the dark robed, three armed Seelie. Seelie giggled inwardly - and sent a quiet prayer to the afterlife, in hopes that her dearly departed sister was watching and appreciating. Then an optical mechadendrite swept up, to aim over the roof - and she hastily scuttled back down on three arms and two feet, scrambling to dangle from the bottom of the vehicle in one smooth loop.
"Are you done?" The armsman grumbled.
"...everything seems to checksum and balance, may the zero never be divided, in his name..." The Tech-Priest murmured, making a sign of the Omnisiah over the vehicle. "House Puree's donations of these techno-sorcerous reagents is noted and logged. Gratitude emulation engaged." He paused. "Thank you."
"CLose enough, coggie," the armsman said, cheerfully.
The vehicle rumbled forward.
And Seelie, in a flickering moment between shadows, scrambled from side to wall, to ceiling to vent. She repressed a giggle as she wormed her way almost flat through something most children would have a hard time getting through, crunching her knees in close, squirming, popping and shoving herself in with a quiet snap and pop of twisting cartilage. She dropped down a chute, skidded to a stop, then scrambled through more ductwork, until she was at a grille. Peeking out, she saw servitors thumping along past a tech-priest, who was singing in binaric.
Seelie nodded.
She scuttled forward, then peeked out through another vent. There was a middle aged tech-priest, his bald head glittering with sweat as he stood in a martial stance before a combat servitor, leg raised. The servitor swung at him with the mechanical speed and precision of a combat model - and the priest ducked under the blow, smashing his palm into the servitor's chest and electrocuting it with a surge of energy.
Seelie hummed softly.
She scuttled forward, then peeked through another vent. In the upper regions of the tech-monestary's orbital dynamic sythetic modeling systems, where gears and interlocking pieces of clockwork clicked forward to keep the planets and orbits spinning in their proper places, two young tech-priests, robes rumpled, were busy kissing one another, their work currently ignored - it seemed they had set up a tiny telescope, to take advantage of the height of their current position, peeking out above the clouds of Thedias. THe boy had brought flowers, too!
"Aww!" Seelie said.
"What was that?" the girl snapped her head around - but Seelie scuttled on, humming to herself.
She came to vent that peeked out into a corridor. There was a statue of a Machine Saint in some ancient regalia, holding what appeared to be a large caliber anti-material rifle while standing atop dozens of artfully sculpted orkoid skulls. There were also two red-robed priests, their soft humming binaric language thrumming through Seelie's ears. She cocked her head.
Softly, she heard the sound of Magus Xandra's voice.
They're discussing...it sounds like logistics? My binaric is quite old. Shexi?
Rather than words, Seelie just felt a sense of negation. She shrugged, then scrambled on.
Finally, Seelie came to a roof vent that peered down at a huge warehouse. She looked down and saw that there were dozens of tech-priests acolytes moving among what what seemed to be hundreds of statues, arranged in neat rows. They used welding torches and mechadendrites to attach gleaming blue devices to their bodies - narrow barrels and ridged backs, with hissing bottles of blue-something being attached to their backs. Others were being given massive halberd-axes, with immense cogs on them. Others still had long, deadly looking rifles. Then Seelie blinked as she realized it wasn't statues.
It was people. They were just all standing perfectly still.
Skitarii, Xandra whispered, softly.
They were meant to be shipping them off world since the hive fleet was spoiled. What are they doing here? And why are there so many more than we thought?
Seelie frowned and wriggled to the next warehouse. More Skitarii. The next? These had battle-vehicles. Armored devices, rollers, walkers. She frowned, her normal humming cheerfulness quite gone. BUt as she watched, a procession of red robed Mechanicus began to walk into the massive chamber. An organ began to play - first a procession, then a contemplative and deep resonance, shifting and rising. The mechanicus began to chant, as they walked by machines that came to life - tanks rumbling, turrets extending and swiveling. Massive robotic frames standing with creaks and hisses. The music was growing more determined, and the singing grew louder.
Xandra's voice, quiet and grim, spoke in her head.
We, the children of the Omnisiah... standing on holy ground...will make this world logical and pure...
Seelie paused for a very long moment.
"Is that...bad?" she whispered.
The procession brought forth a banner - immense and beautiful, it showed the face and body of the Magos Thepselion XVI-Alpha Two in profile, her robes done stark red, her hands clasping to her chest the instrument of her martyrdom, a glowing cylinder of purple light, while her mechadendrites held the holy symbols of her office and her sainthood: The microscope, the genomic synthesizier, the cyclomatic recombanent sorting servitor, and the scalpel.
"Today marks second zero of day zero of cycle zero of the newly christened Forge World of Thepselion's Gift!" A magos boomed in deep, resonant Low Gothic, their hands raised. "With these mighty tools of war and peace and the aid of the Emperor's Angels of Death, we shall render this world unto the Mechanicus - all will adapt, flee, or perish in his majestic flames. For logic guides us, and knowledge girds us, and faith drives us!"
The roar of bloodthirsty zealotry shook to the rafters.
Seelie breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"Fhew!" she said. "Sure glad we don't live on Thepselion's Gift. Those guys are
screwed."
---
Oh dear.
[ ] Attack BLANK (Might + Treasure VS Might + Territory)
[ ] Being Informed (Influence + Soverignty vs Diff 1)
[ ] Spying on BLANK (Influence + Treasury vs Influence + Territory)
[ ] Influence BLANK to do BLANK (Influence + Treasury vs Influence + Territory)
[ ] Increase your Sovereignty (Territory + Treasure vs Diff [Current Sovereignty])
[ ] Police BLANK (Might + Sovereignty vs Influence + Might)
[ ] Rise in Stature (Sovereignty + Treasure vs Diff [Current Influence]
[ ] Train and Levy Troops (Sovereignty + Territory vs Diff [Current Might]
[ ] Unconventional Warfare (write plan in)
[ ] Wait and Recover
THE SISTERHOOD OF THE LEVITHAN
(Cycle 1, Month 4 - the Month of Gathering)
MIGHT: 2 | TREASURE: 5(4) | INFLUENCE: 4(3) | TERRITORY: 1 | SOVEREIGNTY: 4
