- Location
- California
I liked the discussion on faith. Felt very real for this Spider Man, but it also felt tragic; as if the universe decided to listen to this one sad Necron Girl.
Strange Aeons: A 40k Xeno Governor Quest
- Thread starter Leon12431
- Start date
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
Like, Enucia language of the warp or just Aeldari rune shit?
I'm not seeing a question, or mention of races?
Does that include anything about noctilith? Either its production, its properties or just worlds that might have some.
So what's up with the Legion of the Damned?
How much less likely would nabbing Sanguinor have been?
- Location
- USA
The legion of the damned is powerful Astartes being able to hold together and be bolstered by Emps or the Tyrant directly.
To get Sanguinius it would have required 55, 55, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 9 in order.
Will fix, early draft error slipped through.
In this quest Noctilith is an Old One material, not Necrontyr material due to being tunable to the warp. That part was discovered by the Necrontyr, but its origin lay with the Old Ones. The Necrons do know how to make more of it but only high end Crypteks have that info and know pretty much anything on it.
Shezu does know how to make what amounts to civilian alloys and what not, which would be around twice as potent as the best DAoT alloys possible to make.
The latter, Enucia is something different than a warp language. Its not something to be used for conversations even by the Old Ones.
Can we ask for civilian alloys or the barest essentials of her knowledge?
- Location
- USA
I will say that until Atraxas is fluent in her language the DC to get her to do anything is 95 for really basic stuff and 100 for slightly less basic stuff and infinite for anything even slightly complex.
If we get necron alloys, will that upgrade the matryoshka system?
- Location
- USA
If you can get production yes.
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
Does she know any planets that had noctilith based projects other than Cadia?
- Location
- USA
Again, that would be information beyond her stratum, so no.
She does not want to do so, part of her is that she is still adjusting to the concept of being outside the caste system of the Necrontyr and trying to figure out what that means to her.
Turn 5: Part 5 (Turn Summary)
- Location
- USA
The turn rollover
Actions Locked for turn 6
Comprehensive Subterranean and Void Fortifications (you can remove two Atraxas actions from this)
Harkar (Araahal)
Atraxas
Atraxas
Atraxas
Urma
Nameria
Private Army
Private Army
Private Army
Private Army
Private Army
DC: 567
Create Diplomatic Corps
Akiona
DC: 55
Contact the Pathfinders
Atraxas
(Auto completed due to Ultramarine force arriving in Turn 6, automatically completes conditional action to meet with Ultramarine forces regarding Corruption Scandal.)
Establish Subsector Spies
Atraxas
Nalka
DC: 148
Militant Citadel
Atraxas
Urma
DC: 75
Dig into planetary education system
Balkavus
DC: 14 (If he somehow fails this I am going to laugh)
New Actions summarized for turn 6 (I will add them to the action list, but this is just a summary of them)
Redesign Osiris body
Research Osiris
Learn the Necrontyr Worker Language
Awakening Chamber
Compressed supermine
Identify Invoked Laws
Research project related to the temporally lost blueprints discovered near the Eye
Research Projects for each Library that Atraxas knows to implement their aspects into his technology/designs
Research Project to unlock Information at a highish Ad Mech Favor cost or DC
Value Roll Over
1450 Exatari Alloys
100 Repulsion Alloys
100 Abyssal Severance Alloys
4131 Resources
2114 Wealth
10/100 Suspicion
Atraxas Wounds: 7/14 (below 7 he has -10 to all rolls stacking to -60 at 1/14, will Heal all wounds if he has a turn of rest)
Turn Gains
Osiris - an Original Custodian in a semi xenotech Exataraur form (basically human torso on the Exatari frame), very unhappy with everything
Shezu started teaching Atraxas the Necrontyr Worker Dialect
A blueprint from the future designed by Atraxas (non recursive so no time loop), detailing an impossible design, but can massively improve things.
A relative ton of Invoked Laws both known and unknown
9 Invoked Laws of Deathless
2 Invoked Laws of Decay
7 Invoked Laws of Entropy
1 Invoked Law of Evolution
2 Invoked Laws of Fire
1 Invoked Law of Hope
4 Invoked Laws of Math
1 Invoked Law of Sidegrade
7 of Unknown Law 1
5 of Unknown Law 2
7 of Unknown Law 3 (similar to known Law Righteous Judgement)
4 of Unknown Law 4 (this includes the Law that you got from the warp sphere)
5 of Unknown Law 5
5 of Unknown Law 6
6 of Unknown Law 7
5 of Unknown Law 8
7 of Unknown Law 9
6 of Unknown Law 10
Libraries: Life and Divinity unlocked for Atraxas (I highly highly suggest getting the Heart Forge up and running so you can in fact start making Atraxas wargear.)
Actions Locked for turn 6
Comprehensive Subterranean and Void Fortifications (you can remove two Atraxas actions from this)
Harkar (Araahal)
Atraxas
Atraxas
Atraxas
Urma
Nameria
Private Army
Private Army
Private Army
Private Army
Private Army
DC: 567
Create Diplomatic Corps
Akiona
DC: 55
Contact the Pathfinders
Atraxas
(Auto completed due to Ultramarine force arriving in Turn 6, automatically completes conditional action to meet with Ultramarine forces regarding Corruption Scandal.)
Establish Subsector Spies
Atraxas
Nalka
DC: 148
Militant Citadel
Atraxas
Urma
DC: 75
Dig into planetary education system
Balkavus
DC: 14 (If he somehow fails this I am going to laugh)
New Actions summarized for turn 6 (I will add them to the action list, but this is just a summary of them)
Redesign Osiris body
Research Osiris
Learn the Necrontyr Worker Language
Awakening Chamber
Compressed supermine
Identify Invoked Laws
Research project related to the temporally lost blueprints discovered near the Eye
Research Projects for each Library that Atraxas knows to implement their aspects into his technology/designs
Research Project to unlock Information at a highish Ad Mech Favor cost or DC
Value Roll Over
1450 Exatari Alloys
100 Repulsion Alloys
100 Abyssal Severance Alloys
4131 Resources
2114 Wealth
10/100 Suspicion
Atraxas Wounds: 7/14 (below 7 he has -10 to all rolls stacking to -60 at 1/14, will Heal all wounds if he has a turn of rest)
Turn Gains
Osiris - an Original Custodian in a semi xenotech Exataraur form (basically human torso on the Exatari frame), very unhappy with everything
Shezu started teaching Atraxas the Necrontyr Worker Dialect
A blueprint from the future designed by Atraxas (non recursive so no time loop), detailing an impossible design, but can massively improve things.
A relative ton of Invoked Laws both known and unknown
9 Invoked Laws of Deathless
2 Invoked Laws of Decay
7 Invoked Laws of Entropy
1 Invoked Law of Evolution
2 Invoked Laws of Fire
1 Invoked Law of Hope
4 Invoked Laws of Math
1 Invoked Law of Sidegrade
7 of Unknown Law 1
5 of Unknown Law 2
7 of Unknown Law 3 (similar to known Law Righteous Judgement)
4 of Unknown Law 4 (this includes the Law that you got from the warp sphere)
5 of Unknown Law 5
5 of Unknown Law 6
6 of Unknown Law 7
5 of Unknown Law 8
7 of Unknown Law 9
6 of Unknown Law 10
Libraries: Life and Divinity unlocked for Atraxas (I highly highly suggest getting the Heart Forge up and running so you can in fact start making Atraxas wargear.)
Last edited:
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
So, based on previous discussion, our priorities include awakening chamber, Heart Forge, two more Calculation Hearts and some suspicion sinks. Am I missing anything?
Nicholas Brooks
Redeemer and Destroyer
- Location
- United States
No, I don't think so. Next turn, we'll hopefully be able to chill and work on some odds and ends, though I definitely want to take the Osiris actions if at all possible.
Are they all locked in on this action or can we put fewer characters on these actions?
As now as Atraxas has a computer he can complete the Militant Citadel alone by rolling an average of 30 on his two dice
- Location
- USA
Barring Atraxas all characters are locked and Atraxas can only be moved if he is acting beyond the normal limit of a given category.
That leaves us with 4 actions in total, 3 personal for Atraxas and the 6th private army action that was on assaulting the void forest.
So 2x personal actions go into making computers
One personal goes into the Heart Forge
And the private army starts on improving our PDF, it is DC 250 so we can complete it before the invasion as we can add one more action to it later to speed it up.
So 2x personal actions go into making computers
One personal goes into the Heart Forge
And the private army starts on improving our PDF, it is DC 250 so we can complete it before the invasion as we can add one more action to it later to speed it up.
So how good is he like this?
Looks like the bonus of the army increased but it can take one less action 10/2 = 5 actions but they all get a +5 bonus
Robinton
Probably petting Schrödinger's cat
- Location
- Scientifically proving a miracle
Unless you consider this to say "cannot take more than 12000/2 actions", which would... obviously have issues.
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
Id recommend spending our free learning action on one of the calc hearts and the personal on Awakening Chamber.
Turn 5: Part 3 (The Fortifications)
- Location
- USA
AN: Uh somehow I forgot to post this update before the last update. Well going to put it here and realign the thread marks.
"Atraxas, your plan is insanity. Even when the Emperor Himself walked among us, the Imperium did not even attempt what you propose. The cost alone would beggar an entire Segmentum, let alone a sector. Please, I must urge you to reconsider." Nameria was exhausted for an unknown reason as she stared down at the plans for the endpoint of the system, I knew that her body was still injured from the channeling of the power of the Human Witness, yet she seemed more tired than she should be. Harkar was similarly reading the plans, making what seemed to be notes on them which was interesting since she had no void engineering training listed on her report.
It was possible that she was like Akiona and had some form of impossible innate skill in regard to the subject. I would have to keep observing that and, if true, discover how best to exploit it. In the end though, it would only be a benefit if she had such an aspect, for even to me these plans were monumental.
Designs that the Homeworld had considered millennia ago, back when the exploration faction had some level of prominence beyond its current reduced state, had served as the basis for my newly formed plan. Of course, they were modified due to the Imperial technology available to me now, but as a merging of my skills and the Imperium's resources it would be a monument to what could be created.
In the end it would be perhaps the greatest display of Creation ever made by an Exatari for millennia to come, and it would fulfill my duties to my people, the Witness, and the Imperium at once... Yet as much as I wished to be able to begin work upon the grand design, it was simply too expensive and required materials currently unavailable in the needed quantities, though I was sure the solution to that problem was well within reach.
In the meantime, more workable projects could be focused on, and that was why I had called the commander of my private army, Harkar, Nameria, and Stiriam together. "The Matryoshka System project is currently outside of our ability to construct, that is not in doubt. I am aware of the costs and requirements for the design to be completed and have accounted for them. Instead, I have called this meeting to begin the construction of a comprehensive system of subterranean and void fortifications for the system. There are sixty-seven celestial objects of workable size and density within the system, and upon each of them mines and local forges will be built and provided for. In addition, each of these bases will have large storerooms to ensure their survival in the event of a siege." I explained as I pushed over new dataslates to the members of this council, Nameria frowning as she read over them, while Harkar broke composure for the first time I saw her.
"Atraxas, these plans will restore Shogi to roughly one fourth of its resource production prior to your predecessor. What is the expected timeframe for the implementation of these designs?" Stiriam spoke to me for the first as she read over them, seemingly more intrigued by the options than anything else.
"With full support from all individuals present, I believe it is possible to complete within three decades." Stiraim, Harkar and Nameria twisted to stare at me, "This project will take at minimum several centuries." Stiraim's voice was flat, as if she knew the truth of the matter and I did not, yet she was evidently wrong. This project was no more difficult to build than a sublayer of the Homeworld which were done in similar timeframes. With access to imperial ship weapons, phase reactors, essence taps and other such items the timeframe of three decades was entirely reasonable.
"Atraxas, even His Angels of Death would be hard pressed to finish this project in thirty years. You are speaking of moving millions - no, billions - of tons of rock, building complex infrastructure in hostile environments and establishing a nested set of orbital and void defense emplacements." Nameria interjected next as she read over the plans, although Harkar was notably silent through the course of it, "Enara, please tell Atraxas that this plan can't work, not without the God-Emperor literally blessing us."
Harkar shook herself free of examining the dataslate, tilting her head to the side as she seemed to ponder things. "It's theoretically possible to build in two decades, three would be slow assuming I understand how sir expects to move said rock." I blinked as much as an Exatari could, as she had accelerated my timescale, which I had adjusted for the relative frailty of humans compared to Exatari. "How?" Nameria and Stiriam both asked seemingly in abject disbelief.
Harkar took the holo-projector and quickly displayed the system in detail, "Our system defense fleet, although reduced substantially from its height, is still equipped with lance weapons. We can save decades of effort by using them to bore out the bases directly. This project is by nature going to be a primarily military one, as such we can disregard the more civilian side of the costs," she explained, projecting a three-dimensional schematic for one of the bases and compressed or removed several rooms, "Likewise, there is no need for complex food production, so a simple steelgrass-algae farm and compressor would be all that is needed for survival. That alone cuts the costs down significantly. Lastly, I recall Atraxas before used what appear to be generators roughly on par with low powered fusion reactors. If we replace the normal fusion reactors with those versions, it would save on cost due to not having to bribe the Mechanicus into providing hundreds of their own models."
The others in the room stared slack-jawed at the display as Harkar manipulated the base towards a much more rugged design, removing most of the amenities inherent to the current mining outposts in favor of simple functionality. Outside of the purpose of this, it would be a downgrade, but she is correct that this is a primarily military action, and the War Scholars make a point of rejecting any form of civilian amenities when they are in training or otherwise engaged, even the normal soldier is the same. It would require a bit more effort to upgrade them into civilian acceptable standards, but this more militaristic design would provide other benefits.
Stiriam peered at the design, "With how basic that is, it would be possible to add in a handful of mobile refineries for no additional cost." She interjected when she took control of the hologram and started reconfiguring the array of how the extraction and production systems worked, as Harkar watched nodding along. "Would it be possible to make the system self-sufficient?" Peshk asked as he stared cluelessly at the quickly evolving designs.
The fact that he was one of the better human fighters was problematic, he was several times older than Harkar and yet many times her inferior. That should not be the case, but it did at least confirm that humans were odder than I had first thought. Regardless, both Stiriam and Harkar shook their heads, "Not at this stage, it would require a notable expansion to the system to provide self-sufficiency to the outer stations." Stiriam stated even as Harkar hummed, "It would be possible, but I suggest preventing total auto-sustainability. I've had to put down more than one rebellion of extraplanetary settlements that had their parent world in the same system. It's the primary reason why the Imperium tends to not colonize multiple planets in one system. It often leads to rebellion or active conflict between their governments, consuming resources that could be better spent elsewhere."
The others stared at Harkar after she mentioned that. The idea that Imperial worlds would fight each other for no apparent reason was worrisome. "Enara, what prompted those worlds to rebel against the system capital?" Nameria broke the silence first seemingly to wither slightly in sadness at the harsh report.
"What else? Pride and prestige, the colonies desired to be recognized as independent worlds instead of as part of their homeworld. Those missions were the most annoying I've had, honestly. The rebels had no chance of victory and yet we still had to go and purge them. It is for that reason I would suggest ensuring that no outpost becomes self-sufficient."
"That does not make logical sense, why would a world attempt to become independent when their origin is in the same system?" I could not discount that it was related to human lifespans, since it did seem that a large amount of the internal strife of the species resulted from their lack of long-term planning.
Harkar simply shook her head, "There was no logic to their actions, they simply felt that they were being used as extraction or production outposts of another world and found that state of affairs intolerable." That could be a problem for my grand design, but it might also be the imperium not realizing something obvious such as actually paying the workers something reasonable. My mining outposts have consistently provided above average returns and below average costs ever since I took over and instituted new payment policies and punishment systems.
I took the hologram from Stiriam as I corrected some of the flaws she had introduced such as lacking safety systems, but the designs were well made in the end. The system ships could be expected to burn away the bulk pits within a matter of weeks to months, and then the final boring could be completed within a handful of years manually. During the final phase of boring, the skeleton of the bases could be built and installed, further accelerating matters.
"Sir, regarding the system and orbital defenses, are those to be built or ordered?" Harkar asked as she turned back to the greater project. "Ideally, they would be produced and maintained via the local outposts. A future project I considered is correcting the various orbits of the system to ensure that there are always several bases in proximity to the system defense stations." I replied to Harkar as I modulated the hologram showing my future plans where every world and moon was pushed into a more artificial orbital pattern to ensure a synchronous array of repair bases.
"Atraxas, we would need an Alpha Plus psyker to achieve that. That is the definition of praying to the God-Emperor for a miracle." Nameria interjected once more, exhaustion written upon her face, I noted that and made a mental note to accelerate the growth of her cybernetics. The windfall of alloys from the Homeworld gave me options that Nirve did not have. Regardless, her concerns were not a problem, for gravity barges were a well-known concept among my peers.
We used the things to get spacecraft into space after all and had to use them to push away the single moon of the Homeworld when its orbit began to decay. With the hologram I quickly crafted a basic ship with just a gravity projector that would suffice. Harkar peered at it, even as Nameria just flopped onto the table groaning. "Sir, that ship design is ingenious. Can it be brought to combat viable quality?"
"Perhaps. It would require significant redesign, but I believe it should be possible." Harkar nodded happily as she started running what seems to be mock battles on her personal holographic projector with the ship and without it. If she wanted a gravity barge, it would be simple enough. The technology was entirely within the reach of the Imperium after all.
It was perhaps a sign of being affected by the insanity of humans that I stood upon a gravity platform above the celestial plane of the system with Harkar seeing through various holograms the progress of the project in semi real time. My relays served well in this regard, ensuring a two-way link to my probes around the other worlds, giving us a front row view of the events occurring.
Lances, which I could tell were particle lances, bore through rock with ease as expected, weapons designed to shear away Imperial armor making short work of even the most durable of natural stone. On sixty-seven objects were lances firing near constantly, boring out the homes for the installations that would soon protect the sector from the foes seeking to claim Ruin for their own.
Let them come, I will be waiting, I thought. When they do, they will find a system more than ready for their assault, one armored by my will and shaped to perfection. Overlapping cones of fire will tear away any advantage they seek to claim with numbers, and my own ship will be a match for even their very best. I stared out over the void, and I knew with the surety of one unable to forget that the darkness is ever so darker than it was for most of my life. However, I refuse to let it consume me.
Beams of scintillating fury ravage the system to my design, writing into the celestial dance my will made manifest. I was one of the few that could have walked many paths among my people. I chose to become a Scholar of the Forge, yet now is not the time to abide by its restrictions. I turned towards the other paths I could have walked and drew from beyond the limits of my current nature to feel the fury of the Scholar of War that I could have been.
I weave a web of light across my system, ensuring that my foes will find their doom upon my unbreakable hive. The growing darkness from beyond fails to touch me. I know not why, but I feel my soul roiling at the feeling of something eternally foul and impossible. I know that it will come with the others, but it hunts me and me alone.
It will find me no easy prey; I can feel the balance changing as my plans are made manifest. Darkness recoils before the metallic glimmer of my soul as my influence spreads across the system, my signature, wrought in particles of the Veil, expanding over the void. I have not spoken with those among the humans that weave the manifold essence of the world beyond as of yet, but I know that they exist, and I ponder for a time what they see now.
Ultimately, it matters not, as the lances burn away that which impedes progress. A Scholar of Creation would have moved faster than me in this regard, sending billions to their deaths without a thought, yet such brutality is unneeded in this regard. Their plans might result in greater results, but this is sufficient for now.
"Sir, how did you manage to achieve real time transmissions?" Harkar interrupted my thoughts with a question that I knew had been burning within her for hours. "Paired systems that work via creating a pathway through the Warp. Unfortunately, they require my presence to work and can only handle in-system distances at these scales. It would require a mountain-sized device to handle even local interstellar transmissions sadly." I replied telling the full truth of the matter for once, the technology worked akin to the Astropaths of the humans, only more stable, but it did rely on my presence to maintain the Warp-nulling aspects and the size scaled exponentially with distance.
Add on a time gap depending on distance and the technology was useful only in rare situations as this. Perhaps, though unlikely, it would be possible to be able to discover a way to allow a human to activate such a relay. Regardless, it was useful in this case to ensure the plan was followed.
"In the crucible of war, a monument is forged." Araahal whispered as ephemeral constructions began appearing within the holes being bored by the lances. Shimmering with golden and silver hues, graced with patterns of web, the energy took solid form.
We had expected this sight, Araahal's power made manifest in the art of war. This was, in the end, a grand design of militaristic intent, a field which she claimed dominion over. Where the creatures of Chaos used twisted flesh and metal to build their constructions in the absence of resources, Araahal gave energy that would in time become real. One day all that was now energy would become solid metal and be as real as the parts that she could not provide purely on her own.
The predicated timeframe held firm, on track to complete decades before our foes reached us. Perhaps even with time enough to complete the second stage of my design. I walked to the edge of the gravity platform, staring out at the distant stars. Stars were strange to us, upon the homeworld we had never known of them until the first Infiltrators had provided their first reports. We had conceptualized them before we had ever felt the warmth of our own sun, we had mastered fusion for millennia before we saw one.
Yet even so I can not deny that there is a ephemeral beauty to them. However, I see a film of darkness shrouding them now that was not natural. Despite that, the sun at my back - the one that Shogi orbited - blazed as bright as it always had. Glancing off to the side, I beheld the star that was Sol and saw that it too rejected the film of darkness that had consumed all else. Even so, the film reached for it and it would eventually be consumed, even as the darkness parted around the star of Shogi.
I stared out into the infinite expanse of the universe and knew that there was much to experience and learn in the time to come. I was not yet to reach my third millennia of life, and yet I knew that I would not succumb to the boredom for eons. I would walk the galaxy and beyond in my life... I believe that at the core of the matter, I am more Atraxas than a Scholar of the Forge now.
Perhaps, I muse, we were wrong, and one need not suffer a disaster to Break. Perhaps one can simply find within them the strength to shatter their mantle and become greater than they once were.
"Sir?" I twisted to stare at Harkar as she asked an aborted question, only for her to seem to center herself before continuing, "I have met Astartes, and not a single one could author the plans for this project to such a degree of fidelity. How can you manage something the best of humanity could not?" I froze wondering how to answer that, I have not met Astartes yet, although that was planned to happen fairly soon due to the current situation.
I knew that they were several levels above normal humans in all respects, but I had somehow expected them to be above myself as well. I have learned that the Exatari are weak on the grand scale in my time beyond the Homeworld. Even on the Homeworld by nature, we were the pest and prey species of much more dangerous creatures. Our evolutionary history was of us being hunted by monsters of great power. It was only due to our ability to link and plan that we survived. The great predators were exterminated even before the Witness arose, all because we had learned to exploit their mental and physical deficiencies.
Perhaps it was more the assumption of weakness than truth that colored my thoughts. The Imperium could kill the Homeworld without question, but how many troops would they lose, how many sectors would be drained of men to slay merely ten billion of us? How many of their champions would die to my peers with Inversion Arrays? What horrors would the Living Mausoleums inflict upon them in the process? I stare out at the local star, seeing the gamma rays flowing off of it in my natural sight as I pondered what it meant for Harkar to claim that my plans stood above the highest of humanity.
"You upgraded them significantly in mere moments." I reminded her as I mulled over the new information that she had provided, "I did, but you wrote the plans in their entirety, and you do not save intermediate drafts. You went from start to finish in mere hours for practically all of this.
As she spoke, she waved a hand around the sixty seven operations occurring at once, "From cost, to time, to compensation, to safety, to thousands of other factors. You managed them all in under a day from the first moment of you working on the file to moment that you brought up your plan to us. Even if you had been working on them in your mind for a decade, that would still outmatch the intelligence of all the Archmagi of Shogi many times over. All I did in comparison was to apply military design principles to what already existed. It would have taken me decades to map it all out to the point where you started us from." Her words were firm and unwavering, simple fact as she saw the matter.
Even so, she had displayed great skill in altering them in viable ways, assuming that it held true, she could potentially have produced an equivalent project in only twenty odd years. Even so, she was correct that I had constructed the project from scratch in mere hours of consideration. Data was simple to manage for me, and all of this was but simple cause and effect. There was no nuance that would require complex balancing to work, just basic physics.
In the end though, I had no good answer for this, and that was a problem. I would be forced to fall back on the old stand by that the Mechanicus accidentally provided by accepting my story that time, "I was subjected to a malfunctioning neural improvement system on my homeworld that was a relic from the Dark Age. I believe that is why I am blessed with this speed of thought." Her eyes betrayed her uncertainly before she nodded one final time and turned to the windows, beginning to carefully alter courses to ensure proper burnouts for the bases and to guide Araahal in construction.
"Atraxas, your plan is insanity. Even when the Emperor Himself walked among us, the Imperium did not even attempt what you propose. The cost alone would beggar an entire Segmentum, let alone a sector. Please, I must urge you to reconsider." Nameria was exhausted for an unknown reason as she stared down at the plans for the endpoint of the system, I knew that her body was still injured from the channeling of the power of the Human Witness, yet she seemed more tired than she should be. Harkar was similarly reading the plans, making what seemed to be notes on them which was interesting since she had no void engineering training listed on her report.
It was possible that she was like Akiona and had some form of impossible innate skill in regard to the subject. I would have to keep observing that and, if true, discover how best to exploit it. In the end though, it would only be a benefit if she had such an aspect, for even to me these plans were monumental.
Designs that the Homeworld had considered millennia ago, back when the exploration faction had some level of prominence beyond its current reduced state, had served as the basis for my newly formed plan. Of course, they were modified due to the Imperial technology available to me now, but as a merging of my skills and the Imperium's resources it would be a monument to what could be created.
In the end it would be perhaps the greatest display of Creation ever made by an Exatari for millennia to come, and it would fulfill my duties to my people, the Witness, and the Imperium at once... Yet as much as I wished to be able to begin work upon the grand design, it was simply too expensive and required materials currently unavailable in the needed quantities, though I was sure the solution to that problem was well within reach.
In the meantime, more workable projects could be focused on, and that was why I had called the commander of my private army, Harkar, Nameria, and Stiriam together. "The Matryoshka System project is currently outside of our ability to construct, that is not in doubt. I am aware of the costs and requirements for the design to be completed and have accounted for them. Instead, I have called this meeting to begin the construction of a comprehensive system of subterranean and void fortifications for the system. There are sixty-seven celestial objects of workable size and density within the system, and upon each of them mines and local forges will be built and provided for. In addition, each of these bases will have large storerooms to ensure their survival in the event of a siege." I explained as I pushed over new dataslates to the members of this council, Nameria frowning as she read over them, while Harkar broke composure for the first time I saw her.
"Atraxas, these plans will restore Shogi to roughly one fourth of its resource production prior to your predecessor. What is the expected timeframe for the implementation of these designs?" Stiriam spoke to me for the first as she read over them, seemingly more intrigued by the options than anything else.
"With full support from all individuals present, I believe it is possible to complete within three decades." Stiraim, Harkar and Nameria twisted to stare at me, "This project will take at minimum several centuries." Stiraim's voice was flat, as if she knew the truth of the matter and I did not, yet she was evidently wrong. This project was no more difficult to build than a sublayer of the Homeworld which were done in similar timeframes. With access to imperial ship weapons, phase reactors, essence taps and other such items the timeframe of three decades was entirely reasonable.
"Atraxas, even His Angels of Death would be hard pressed to finish this project in thirty years. You are speaking of moving millions - no, billions - of tons of rock, building complex infrastructure in hostile environments and establishing a nested set of orbital and void defense emplacements." Nameria interjected next as she read over the plans, although Harkar was notably silent through the course of it, "Enara, please tell Atraxas that this plan can't work, not without the God-Emperor literally blessing us."
Harkar shook herself free of examining the dataslate, tilting her head to the side as she seemed to ponder things. "It's theoretically possible to build in two decades, three would be slow assuming I understand how sir expects to move said rock." I blinked as much as an Exatari could, as she had accelerated my timescale, which I had adjusted for the relative frailty of humans compared to Exatari. "How?" Nameria and Stiriam both asked seemingly in abject disbelief.
Harkar took the holo-projector and quickly displayed the system in detail, "Our system defense fleet, although reduced substantially from its height, is still equipped with lance weapons. We can save decades of effort by using them to bore out the bases directly. This project is by nature going to be a primarily military one, as such we can disregard the more civilian side of the costs," she explained, projecting a three-dimensional schematic for one of the bases and compressed or removed several rooms, "Likewise, there is no need for complex food production, so a simple steelgrass-algae farm and compressor would be all that is needed for survival. That alone cuts the costs down significantly. Lastly, I recall Atraxas before used what appear to be generators roughly on par with low powered fusion reactors. If we replace the normal fusion reactors with those versions, it would save on cost due to not having to bribe the Mechanicus into providing hundreds of their own models."
The others in the room stared slack-jawed at the display as Harkar manipulated the base towards a much more rugged design, removing most of the amenities inherent to the current mining outposts in favor of simple functionality. Outside of the purpose of this, it would be a downgrade, but she is correct that this is a primarily military action, and the War Scholars make a point of rejecting any form of civilian amenities when they are in training or otherwise engaged, even the normal soldier is the same. It would require a bit more effort to upgrade them into civilian acceptable standards, but this more militaristic design would provide other benefits.
Stiriam peered at the design, "With how basic that is, it would be possible to add in a handful of mobile refineries for no additional cost." She interjected when she took control of the hologram and started reconfiguring the array of how the extraction and production systems worked, as Harkar watched nodding along. "Would it be possible to make the system self-sufficient?" Peshk asked as he stared cluelessly at the quickly evolving designs.
The fact that he was one of the better human fighters was problematic, he was several times older than Harkar and yet many times her inferior. That should not be the case, but it did at least confirm that humans were odder than I had first thought. Regardless, both Stiriam and Harkar shook their heads, "Not at this stage, it would require a notable expansion to the system to provide self-sufficiency to the outer stations." Stiriam stated even as Harkar hummed, "It would be possible, but I suggest preventing total auto-sustainability. I've had to put down more than one rebellion of extraplanetary settlements that had their parent world in the same system. It's the primary reason why the Imperium tends to not colonize multiple planets in one system. It often leads to rebellion or active conflict between their governments, consuming resources that could be better spent elsewhere."
The others stared at Harkar after she mentioned that. The idea that Imperial worlds would fight each other for no apparent reason was worrisome. "Enara, what prompted those worlds to rebel against the system capital?" Nameria broke the silence first seemingly to wither slightly in sadness at the harsh report.
"What else? Pride and prestige, the colonies desired to be recognized as independent worlds instead of as part of their homeworld. Those missions were the most annoying I've had, honestly. The rebels had no chance of victory and yet we still had to go and purge them. It is for that reason I would suggest ensuring that no outpost becomes self-sufficient."
"That does not make logical sense, why would a world attempt to become independent when their origin is in the same system?" I could not discount that it was related to human lifespans, since it did seem that a large amount of the internal strife of the species resulted from their lack of long-term planning.
Harkar simply shook her head, "There was no logic to their actions, they simply felt that they were being used as extraction or production outposts of another world and found that state of affairs intolerable." That could be a problem for my grand design, but it might also be the imperium not realizing something obvious such as actually paying the workers something reasonable. My mining outposts have consistently provided above average returns and below average costs ever since I took over and instituted new payment policies and punishment systems.
I took the hologram from Stiriam as I corrected some of the flaws she had introduced such as lacking safety systems, but the designs were well made in the end. The system ships could be expected to burn away the bulk pits within a matter of weeks to months, and then the final boring could be completed within a handful of years manually. During the final phase of boring, the skeleton of the bases could be built and installed, further accelerating matters.
"Sir, regarding the system and orbital defenses, are those to be built or ordered?" Harkar asked as she turned back to the greater project. "Ideally, they would be produced and maintained via the local outposts. A future project I considered is correcting the various orbits of the system to ensure that there are always several bases in proximity to the system defense stations." I replied to Harkar as I modulated the hologram showing my future plans where every world and moon was pushed into a more artificial orbital pattern to ensure a synchronous array of repair bases.
"Atraxas, we would need an Alpha Plus psyker to achieve that. That is the definition of praying to the God-Emperor for a miracle." Nameria interjected once more, exhaustion written upon her face, I noted that and made a mental note to accelerate the growth of her cybernetics. The windfall of alloys from the Homeworld gave me options that Nirve did not have. Regardless, her concerns were not a problem, for gravity barges were a well-known concept among my peers.
We used the things to get spacecraft into space after all and had to use them to push away the single moon of the Homeworld when its orbit began to decay. With the hologram I quickly crafted a basic ship with just a gravity projector that would suffice. Harkar peered at it, even as Nameria just flopped onto the table groaning. "Sir, that ship design is ingenious. Can it be brought to combat viable quality?"
"Perhaps. It would require significant redesign, but I believe it should be possible." Harkar nodded happily as she started running what seems to be mock battles on her personal holographic projector with the ship and without it. If she wanted a gravity barge, it would be simple enough. The technology was entirely within the reach of the Imperium after all.
It was perhaps a sign of being affected by the insanity of humans that I stood upon a gravity platform above the celestial plane of the system with Harkar seeing through various holograms the progress of the project in semi real time. My relays served well in this regard, ensuring a two-way link to my probes around the other worlds, giving us a front row view of the events occurring.
Lances, which I could tell were particle lances, bore through rock with ease as expected, weapons designed to shear away Imperial armor making short work of even the most durable of natural stone. On sixty-seven objects were lances firing near constantly, boring out the homes for the installations that would soon protect the sector from the foes seeking to claim Ruin for their own.
Let them come, I will be waiting, I thought. When they do, they will find a system more than ready for their assault, one armored by my will and shaped to perfection. Overlapping cones of fire will tear away any advantage they seek to claim with numbers, and my own ship will be a match for even their very best. I stared out over the void, and I knew with the surety of one unable to forget that the darkness is ever so darker than it was for most of my life. However, I refuse to let it consume me.
Beams of scintillating fury ravage the system to my design, writing into the celestial dance my will made manifest. I was one of the few that could have walked many paths among my people. I chose to become a Scholar of the Forge, yet now is not the time to abide by its restrictions. I turned towards the other paths I could have walked and drew from beyond the limits of my current nature to feel the fury of the Scholar of War that I could have been.
I weave a web of light across my system, ensuring that my foes will find their doom upon my unbreakable hive. The growing darkness from beyond fails to touch me. I know not why, but I feel my soul roiling at the feeling of something eternally foul and impossible. I know that it will come with the others, but it hunts me and me alone.
It will find me no easy prey; I can feel the balance changing as my plans are made manifest. Darkness recoils before the metallic glimmer of my soul as my influence spreads across the system, my signature, wrought in particles of the Veil, expanding over the void. I have not spoken with those among the humans that weave the manifold essence of the world beyond as of yet, but I know that they exist, and I ponder for a time what they see now.
Ultimately, it matters not, as the lances burn away that which impedes progress. A Scholar of Creation would have moved faster than me in this regard, sending billions to their deaths without a thought, yet such brutality is unneeded in this regard. Their plans might result in greater results, but this is sufficient for now.
"Sir, how did you manage to achieve real time transmissions?" Harkar interrupted my thoughts with a question that I knew had been burning within her for hours. "Paired systems that work via creating a pathway through the Warp. Unfortunately, they require my presence to work and can only handle in-system distances at these scales. It would require a mountain-sized device to handle even local interstellar transmissions sadly." I replied telling the full truth of the matter for once, the technology worked akin to the Astropaths of the humans, only more stable, but it did rely on my presence to maintain the Warp-nulling aspects and the size scaled exponentially with distance.
Add on a time gap depending on distance and the technology was useful only in rare situations as this. Perhaps, though unlikely, it would be possible to be able to discover a way to allow a human to activate such a relay. Regardless, it was useful in this case to ensure the plan was followed.
"In the crucible of war, a monument is forged." Araahal whispered as ephemeral constructions began appearing within the holes being bored by the lances. Shimmering with golden and silver hues, graced with patterns of web, the energy took solid form.
We had expected this sight, Araahal's power made manifest in the art of war. This was, in the end, a grand design of militaristic intent, a field which she claimed dominion over. Where the creatures of Chaos used twisted flesh and metal to build their constructions in the absence of resources, Araahal gave energy that would in time become real. One day all that was now energy would become solid metal and be as real as the parts that she could not provide purely on her own.
The predicated timeframe held firm, on track to complete decades before our foes reached us. Perhaps even with time enough to complete the second stage of my design. I walked to the edge of the gravity platform, staring out at the distant stars. Stars were strange to us, upon the homeworld we had never known of them until the first Infiltrators had provided their first reports. We had conceptualized them before we had ever felt the warmth of our own sun, we had mastered fusion for millennia before we saw one.
Yet even so I can not deny that there is a ephemeral beauty to them. However, I see a film of darkness shrouding them now that was not natural. Despite that, the sun at my back - the one that Shogi orbited - blazed as bright as it always had. Glancing off to the side, I beheld the star that was Sol and saw that it too rejected the film of darkness that had consumed all else. Even so, the film reached for it and it would eventually be consumed, even as the darkness parted around the star of Shogi.
I stared out into the infinite expanse of the universe and knew that there was much to experience and learn in the time to come. I was not yet to reach my third millennia of life, and yet I knew that I would not succumb to the boredom for eons. I would walk the galaxy and beyond in my life... I believe that at the core of the matter, I am more Atraxas than a Scholar of the Forge now.
Perhaps, I muse, we were wrong, and one need not suffer a disaster to Break. Perhaps one can simply find within them the strength to shatter their mantle and become greater than they once were.
"Sir?" I twisted to stare at Harkar as she asked an aborted question, only for her to seem to center herself before continuing, "I have met Astartes, and not a single one could author the plans for this project to such a degree of fidelity. How can you manage something the best of humanity could not?" I froze wondering how to answer that, I have not met Astartes yet, although that was planned to happen fairly soon due to the current situation.
I knew that they were several levels above normal humans in all respects, but I had somehow expected them to be above myself as well. I have learned that the Exatari are weak on the grand scale in my time beyond the Homeworld. Even on the Homeworld by nature, we were the pest and prey species of much more dangerous creatures. Our evolutionary history was of us being hunted by monsters of great power. It was only due to our ability to link and plan that we survived. The great predators were exterminated even before the Witness arose, all because we had learned to exploit their mental and physical deficiencies.
Perhaps it was more the assumption of weakness than truth that colored my thoughts. The Imperium could kill the Homeworld without question, but how many troops would they lose, how many sectors would be drained of men to slay merely ten billion of us? How many of their champions would die to my peers with Inversion Arrays? What horrors would the Living Mausoleums inflict upon them in the process? I stare out at the local star, seeing the gamma rays flowing off of it in my natural sight as I pondered what it meant for Harkar to claim that my plans stood above the highest of humanity.
"You upgraded them significantly in mere moments." I reminded her as I mulled over the new information that she had provided, "I did, but you wrote the plans in their entirety, and you do not save intermediate drafts. You went from start to finish in mere hours for practically all of this.
As she spoke, she waved a hand around the sixty seven operations occurring at once, "From cost, to time, to compensation, to safety, to thousands of other factors. You managed them all in under a day from the first moment of you working on the file to moment that you brought up your plan to us. Even if you had been working on them in your mind for a decade, that would still outmatch the intelligence of all the Archmagi of Shogi many times over. All I did in comparison was to apply military design principles to what already existed. It would have taken me decades to map it all out to the point where you started us from." Her words were firm and unwavering, simple fact as she saw the matter.
Even so, she had displayed great skill in altering them in viable ways, assuming that it held true, she could potentially have produced an equivalent project in only twenty odd years. Even so, she was correct that I had constructed the project from scratch in mere hours of consideration. Data was simple to manage for me, and all of this was but simple cause and effect. There was no nuance that would require complex balancing to work, just basic physics.
In the end though, I had no good answer for this, and that was a problem. I would be forced to fall back on the old stand by that the Mechanicus accidentally provided by accepting my story that time, "I was subjected to a malfunctioning neural improvement system on my homeworld that was a relic from the Dark Age. I believe that is why I am blessed with this speed of thought." Her eyes betrayed her uncertainly before she nodded one final time and turned to the windows, beginning to carefully alter courses to ensure proper burnouts for the bases and to guide Araahal in construction.
- Location
- California
Neat, did Atraxas realize this when when first set out, or after he discovered the nature of Chaos?
Also, nice to know the local Star of Shogi is supportive.
When is he going to learn that the correct response to that question is always "The flesh is weak" and no other details.
- Location
- USA
Her skill in void engineering is insane, you would basically need to find Dorn or redeem Perturabo to have someone who could train her. I guess an Astartes could work, but it would not be fast. Second you can just give her augments of course to beef up her skills.
It's something else, look back to the update where Atraxas discovered Ruin and the last part of it. The Star of Shogi is protected by Atraxas' presence.
The flesh is not weak.