[] Sapphire Keep Journey.
In the depths of the Sapphire Keep, The Scribe Clan live to perform transcription services for the administration of the sector's astropaths, and are always in need of additional velum. Near to them live the descendants of sanitation workers that have gone feral and reorganized as a tribal society dedicated to the maintenance of the Sapphire Keep's trash incinerator, sacrificing interlopers to flames and raiding the scribes for captives. The Scribe Clan fights back with an organized militia and regularly raids the Incinerator Tribe for velum they can scrape clean, which the tribe would burn for fuel.
In the depths, the Scribe Clan's primitive black powder rifles and chemical explosives clash with steel swords, crossbows, and padded velum armour.
The old Psykana section lies on the other side of their territory and has not been visited in fifty years, since the last expedition ended in tragedy at the hands of an impromptu alliance by the two sides. According to legend, it contains Psykana training materials and studies of the planet's psykers. The reason why it was lost has been forgotten for millenia.
Secrets of the past of the Sapphire Keep might be found here.
You took no shortcuts while preparing for the journey into the dark. You got a large backpack with enough water and food to last you a week, loaded up on emergency survival and communications equipment, and settled your affairs before leaving. Money for Martha and assurances of her wellbeing, for the most part.
Old parchment maps revealed that there should be maintenance passages heading down into the depths, and a rough outline of the deepest parts of the Sapphire Keep, from previous structures that it was built on and into. Most of the maps are worn, missing sections, or blatantly altered and censored
The Sapphire Keep as it is now, and the Scholam, is at the top of a massive structure sunk at least two miles into the rock. The 'Old' Sapphire keep is a massive abandoned construction, inhabited at both ends, with a vast area between. "The Guts' is the name for the 'uninhabited' areas, with the Underbelly being the name of the Scriptorum, Incinerators, and other inhabited areas located beneath The Gut.
The only way to get there is through a fortified gate. After which there will be a long journey through the many -many- stairs and ladders that replace the long decrepit or scrapped elevators.
The Scriptorum is at the base of what most maps indicate used to be the bottom of Sapphire Keep, and is no longer connected with the 'New' Sapphire Keep. All the elevators and passages are sealed or lost to such an extent that nobody has made the journey in fifty years. Instead a new shaft has been dug through the rocks, going around all existing structures, to the base of the old Keep, where it connects to the Scriptorum.
The Incinerator Tribes are also at the base of the Old Saphire Keep, but they are only connected to the surface through trash chutes, nutrient-paste pipelines, with the smoke being piped out to… somewhere no longer on any of the maps you consult. But seeing as the Keep is not choking, the smoke is most likely going somewhere. The last time the Incinerator Tribe was reached, was to extract a newly awakened Psyker.
'The Guts' is therefore a large bloated cylinder, capped at both ends with civilization. What you might find in it is unclear. Stories of what happens in The Gut are rampant with stories of mutants, dark rituals, and worse. Although those are par for the course. The Underbelly is supposedly more civilized, and actively in the service of the Sapphire Keep.
A report from the Scriptorum mentions several Scribes going mad, although no psychic reasoning has been discovered for it yet.
You prepare yourself with a sturdy travelling attire, one with an abundance of pouches and survival equipment clipped to it and a servo-skull that carries a glow-globe beneath it, providing a source of light. You would have taken your servitor, but you'll most likely need to traverse areas that it can't get through.
There are two ways to reach the Scholam. And both give you an opportunity to examine something you have been wondering about.
[] Working down from the Sapphire Keep.
The Sapphire Keep maintains a fortified gate that leads into The Gut. You will descend through old habitation areas, barracks, Mechanicus and Ministorum shrines, and perhaps more, trying to reach the Scholam by moving down.
Past the gate lies the Gut, which was abandoned in time immemorial, and has not been used since. The only confirmed source of life is a Serf-Clan which remained behind and was sworn to guard a gate from The Gut into an old maglev tunnel that connects to The Pit. Although they have not been contacted in years. Scavengers might have gotten in through unknown routes.
Expect:
An abandoned hive structure with secrets to be found.
An early opportunity to secure access into The Pit.
A look at the recent past of the Sapphire Keep. (The last 500 years)
[] Working up from the Underbelly.
The Scriptorum has its own gate into The Gut. This area of the Sapphire Keep was dilapidated when the keep was established, having been built into a structure whose use has been forgotten.
It is a bustling area full of former Astra Telepathica servants that have gone feral and advanced into the Iron Age. The tunnels are lit by human tallow candles, and jury-rigged lumens running on generators fed by fuel siphoned from -somewhere- owned by -someone- that hasn't complained.
You will need to pass through the ongoing Scribe-Incinerator War. There are many booby traps, old explosives, and the possibility of friendly fire. And not all the Incinerator Tribes are friendly to their Telepathica masters. You might have to fight.
Expect:
A tribal warzone in an Imperial Hive.
An early opportunity to find out what's wrong with the Scribes.
A look at the deep past of the Sapphire Keep. (Start of original construction)
4 hour Moratorium.
Take this choice seriously.
