[X] Plan: I want Subtlety finished
-[X] Rune Planet (5 action years)
-[X] Rune of Subtlety (5 action years)
-[x] Start reading the information provided by the Emperor, while you will need a dedicated sit-down, having some context is still valuable
-[x] Look through the Imperial Army for noteworthy individuals, promote those with merit, and demote those without
-[x] Visit the Memorial Planet in making, now seems like a good time to do so
[X] Plan: Silvery Subtle Anathema Styles a new Symbol.
-[X] Rune Planet (5 action years)
-[X] Rune of Subtlety (3/8 years) (3 action years)
-[X] Rune of Silver (1 action year)
-[X] Rune of Anathema (1 action year)
-[X] Start reading the information provided by the Emperor, while you will need a dedicated sit-down, having some context is still valuable
-[X] Make a new symbol for the Wardens to commemorate the victory over the Maelstrom
-[X] Look into the Vigilance's machine spirit, after the Maelstrom War it's likely grown
TG's made a good case for their plan and it's refreshing to vote for someone else's
[X] Plan: Silvery Subtle Anathema Styles a new Symbol.
-[X] Rune Planet (5 action years)
-[X] Rune of Subtlety (3/8 years) (3 action years)
-[X] Rune of Silver (1 action year)
-[X] Rune of Anathema (1 action year)
-[X] Start reading the information provided by the Emperor, while you will need a dedicated sit-down, having some context is still valuable
-[X] Make a new symbol for the Wardens to commemorate the victory over the Maelstrom
-[X] Look into the Vigilance's machine spirit, after the Maelstrom War it's likely grown
[X] Plan: Silvery Subtle Anathema Styles a new Symbol.
-[X] Rune Planet (5 action years)
-[X] Rune of Subtlety (3/8 years) (3 action years)
-[X] Rune of Silver (1 action year)
-[X] Rune of Anathema (1 action year)
-[X] Start reading the information provided by the Emperor, while you will need a dedicated sit-down, having some context is still valuable
-[X] Make a new symbol for the Wardens to commemorate the victory over the Maelstrom
-[X] Look into the Vigilance's machine spirit, after the Maelstrom War it's likely grown
As the vote is pretty unanimous, I'm going to call the vote here. Here are the rolls. For the rune planet, you do move up a stage, which allows for a small trickle of production to come about, it's far less than your Legion, but it is an important stage. The main fun though is the understanding of Emps' knowledge. As it is, Kesar has figured out quite a bit surrounding the situation. Namely that Angron was revived using the souls of the Nucerians, and it should have worked, but something went wrong. And now the souls of those dead Nucerians are quite literally weighing upon Angron's soul and turning him into what he is now. There's some more as well, but that I will cover in the update.
Rune Planet: 98, 54, 41, 37, 35 (Stage Passed)
Rune of Subtlety (DC50): 5, 3, 45 + 5 (Omake) = 50 (4/8)
Rune of Silver: Autopass
Rune of Anathema: Autopass
The Emperor's Knowledge: 90 + 10 (Omake) = 100
Scheduled vote count started by Daemon Hunter on Jul 26, 2022 at 2:12 AM, finished with 24 posts and 9 votes.
[X] Plan: Silvery Subtle Anathema Styles a new Symbol.
-[X] Rune Planet (5 action years)
-[X] Rune of Subtlety (3/8 years) (3 action years)
-[X] Rune of Silver (1 action year)
-[X] Rune of Anathema (1 action year)
-[X] Start reading the information provided by the Emperor, while you will need a dedicated sit-down, having some context is still valuable
-[X] Make a new symbol for the Wardens to commemorate the victory over the Maelstrom
-[X] Look into the Vigilance's machine spirit, after the Maelstrom War it's likely grown
-[X] Rune Planet (5 action years)
-[X] Rune of Subtlety (3/8 years) (3 action years)
-[X] Rune of Silver (1 action year)
-[X] Rune of Anathema (1 action year)
-[X] Start reading the information provided by the Emperor, while you will need a dedicated sit-down, having some context is still valuable
-[x] Work on the psyker chaplain project for the Legion
-[x] Look through the Imperial Army for noteworthy individuals, promote those with merit, and demote those without
-[X] Look into the Vigilance's machine spirit, after the Maelstrom War it's likely grown
[X] Plan: I want Subtlety finished
-[X] Rune Planet (5 action years)
-[X] Rune of Subtlety (5 action years)
-[X] Start reading the information provided by the Emperor, while you will need a dedicated sit-down, having some context is still valuable
-[x] Look through the Imperial Army for noteworthy individuals, promote those with merit, and demote those without
-[x] Visit the Memorial Planet in making, now seems like a good time to do so
To clarify. Emps wasn't being a dick or malicious in this attempt. He didn't want to use Angron's friends because he figured Angron wouldn't have wanted that. He just vastly underestimated how vile these souls were and that the nails act as a fucking catalyst for all that vileness.
To clarify. Emps wasn't being a dick or malicious in this attempt. He didn't want to use Angron's friends because he figured Angron wouldn't have wanted that. He just vastly underestimated how vile these souls were and that the nails act as a fucking catalyst for all that vileness.
Pretty much, that and he underestimated Angron's level of spite and hate. He made a few mistakes, mainly as he quite literally had second to work with before the chance of revival was lost.
Note: All images belong to their respective owners, franchises, and settings. They are primarily used to help provide a visual representation and fan work. Just FYI.
Codex Aquisgranum
Lord Primarch,
Your request for a status update on the colonial operations of Aquisgranum has finally been completed. I sincerely apologize for the wait, but gathering and analyzing all the requested data is challenging, as you know. We certainly did not want to disappoint you, especially since our new "home" has reached its five-year mark. If nothing else, this is a sign that we have not yet failed in our mission.
That aside, this letter is more a means of providing some context to the data package delivered to Purgatorio. I don't doubt that you can determine all you need to know from that data but my command staff and I believe that due to the extraordinary and outlandish details made in the final report, it might provide further insight into what exactly we've yet to encounter on Aquisgranum.
Additionally, War-Smith Ako has expressed concerns over our forces' development of specific zones. In most other instances, I'd call him overly cautious, but given the nature of these worlds, I don't think we can do otherwise. While the loss of life has been within acceptable range here on Aquisgranum, I believe we've yet to face the real challenges in the post-occupation period.
No matter how safe it is, I don't think it can truly be tamed. Not unless drastic steps can be taken or your labs develop a counter-measure. Killing daemons is one thing, but we've lost more lives just trying to install new infrastructure or maintain the old. It's terrifying to imagine that we consider this place a "passive" warp-world rather than an active "daemonic" zone like it was during the war.
Perhaps it says something about the nature of these worlds versus that of actual Deathworlds. A planet that isn't actively trying to kill us anymore, yet everything about it baffles all known science and parameters. I do hope you glean something from this, Lord Primarch. We can survive on Aquisgranum as it is, but that could change. Furthermore, if our people are to make it an actual habitable world for humanity, we will need to learn much faster than we are currently doing.
Regardless, work goes forward. Captain Jesk paved the way to help us make this place a profitable venture, and we shall continue to do so. May our resolve remain as Iron in these blighted stars and our fortunes Gold.
- Colonel Evan Sorkin, Lord-Foreman of Aquisgranum and Governor of Fortuna.
Colonial Situation
"The acid rain honestly isn't all that bad. Now toxic clouds? That's the real killer. All the mutant animals can be fought off. The occasional daemon is a problem, and if you see a group of them, you are in real trouble. However, the real danger is still the environment. Sinkholes filled with acid, those warp rifts suddenly appearing, and the occasional burning hailstorms. At least we get sunshine all day, and the stars seem to gleam brighter at night."
In the five years since colonization efforts began, our forces have begun turning this world into what we can call home. Humanity has a long and storied history of taming the harshest planets and turning them into veritable paradises. No colonial venture has ever failed as long as its colonists keep up their growth, adapt to the environment, and develop their own industry.
I am proud to say that we have not failed. Our capital of Fortuna has been joined by almost five new homesteads; Trenchfoot, Boneyard, Dayglow, Navarro, and Rust-City. Each provides the necessary functionality for the long-term sustainability and growth of Aquisgranum. This, along with the generous material aid from Purgatorio, has allowed us to have survived the initial challenge.
However, we have only since achieved that primary mandate. We have survived. That is all well and good, but survival is just the prerequisite for staying on Aquisgranum. An increasingly difficult one, I might add. This issue has multiple facets: the mutants, environment, native fauna, colonist mental and physical state, and coordinated assaults by daemons. And depending on who you ask, it's not the daemons nor mutants that are the most significant threat.
Suffice to say; it has been a learning experience in more ways than one. The Imperial Army forces were never meant to be colonists. While they have taken on the role with pride and enthusiasm, our ad hoc colonial venture will be running into substantial issues in due time.
Take, for example, the environment. When one looks out and gazes upon the toxic and diseased landscape of Aquisgranum, they would assume the biggest hurdle would be creating vital machines to cleanse the land or perhaps provide the necessary safety features for a colony. Let it not be said that we haven't taken the steps, using tried and proper methods that date back to when humanity didn't even warp drive, and we have had some successes.
Nevertheless, Aquisgranum has proven to be unpredictable. A paranoid man might say that it is trying to actively kill us. Strangely enough, I don't believe that to be the case here. This world is diseased and rotten, but it simply is just that. There is no "intelligent" force, daemonic or otherwise. Instead, our miners and Astartes suspect that the planet is just tectonically active, and due to the vast mineral wealth, perhaps it just going through "growing pains."
In any case, this has resulted in the landscape changing, sometimes drastically. Planetquakes are a relatively common, but not destruction, occurrence for our homesteads. Whenever this occurs, it can result in a "mix" development. Sometimes we can find new veins of materials, including one of the vaunted Aquisgranum Trinity: Titanite, Crowns, and Eternium. Sadly, more often than not, it causes significant damage to infrastructures such as transportation, communication, security, resource management, and our mining efforts.
After the tragic Quarry Alpha-09 Incident, we took significant steps to reinforce the mineshafts and transportation rigging. Additionally, our miners have started to create makeshift environmental hazard mining suits.
In any case, we must spend considerable resources to repair any damage that has resulted in numerous accidents and fatalities. Worse yet are when the mutants, wildlife, or daemons decide to attack. They have learned that we are at our most vulnerable when sending out repair or build crews. Were it only possible to assign an Astartes detail for these work crews. However, our Astartes are split between defending the mines and the cities.
My commanders have started a process of developing a rapid response force among the PDF, and yes, we have formally organized the Aquisgranum PDF as of last year. After an initial psy-review, it was decided that our soldiers felt more "comfortable" with titles generally associated with "civilian" or low-risk positions, even if that is not the case. I believe War-Smith Ako commented that this was an Ultramarine and Emperor's Children tactic.
Anyway, getting back to the environmental situation. Most of the environment is relatively dangerous to humans. Acid rains are an ordinary event, as are toxic clouds and acid pools that form in the aftermath of the rains. The flora is either dead or so decayed that it's a wonder that anything grows still. The tech-priests are trying to determine what can grow here, and if so, can we attempt to use the environment to produce something unique?
The skies are not safe, not without proper shielding. A few daemons have been seen flying up above. We are working on trying to shoot those bastards down. Underground isn't any safer, especially with those blasted Titanite drakes and dragons. They seem to enjoy trying to take over our mines and attack our Aquisians herds (more on those later), and we've had to use Astartes to fight them off. Otherwise, the use of heavy weapons and armor is necessary.
Aquisgranum has plenty of oxygen and water, which sadly requires purification to make it safe and, to the surprise of the Wardens, has no daemonic taint. Growing food has to be done in hydroponics and greenhouses. No exceptions to this rule, especially after the Flesh Apricot incident in the second year. The good news is that there is no more rationing for food and water. Mind you, it was never bad enough to cause lowered morale. As such, it is one of our most recent victories.
There is some good news about this acidic and mordant environment. It is effortless to ply and shape the land. Much of the surface is bombarded with acid, and the dirt gives no resistance. This has led our Enginseers to conclude that below-surface excavation will be more difficult, but reaching it will be no issue. As such, we are ahead of schedule for all mining operations set by Captain Jesk. One of our most recent excursions also identified a possible geothermal vent that, given enough time, could be used to power Fortuna until a dedicated plasma generator can be built.
Our attempts to start breeding Aquisians are off to a good start, although it is mainly centered around Boneyard. The Drakes and Dragons, stirred into action by our mining operations, seem to have driven many Aquisians closer to our facilities. While it is rather challenging to corral them properly, our efforts to keep them in one place have been successful, and the Boneyard has a steady supply of Titanite shards. There is a concern, though, that if the Drakes and Dragons are predators of the Aquisians, we might be setting ourselves up for attack.
Finally, we have the first reported births among our "colonists." A grand total of 7,987 children were born during these five years. A meager number, given the number of people living on Aquisgranum. Yet the intention was never to produce children, not at this point in the colonies' development, but it's impossible to completely stop humans from forming coupling, especially in this environment. Rather than simply punish, we will try and make this work for the mental health of the colonists.
Colonial Setbacks
"Last week, Dayglow reported ~11,000 trauma-related deaths within less than a month. That was for one homestead. All the others are showing similar numbers. Over 250,000 people die a month just from suicide, while murders are almost up to ~500,000. Psychotic breaks are also a growing problem, and we see increased usage of Copium across practically 9% of the entire Aquisgranum population. That is a million deaths per month that are entirely unrelated to outside factors. I'd like to remind everyone on staff that deaths do more harm to the long-term survival of the colony than any daemonic or mutant attack. We can shoot those things, but we can't against depression or mental trauma."
Our Resolve, Iron. Our Fortune, Gold.
I wish I could recall where this was said. I believe it happened after the Vermillion Hold Incident in the fourth year of colonization. We suffered one of our worst defeats at the hands of daemonic forces. It marked the first time we lost a homestead, and we have all taken it as a grim reminder that we are a world not designed or fit for any living creature.
Aquisgranum is a harsh world. As such, setbacks are to be expected. Captain Jesk spent months aiding in the creation of Fortuna, built around the same principles as your own Nova Fabrica; highly functional and defensive by nature. Fortuna was designed to act as the nucleus for a massive continent-spanning colony.
I wish I could say that we have achieved that, but like all things, nothing ever goes to plan, and I dare say that initially, most reversals to fortune were relatively tame. Finding fuel or mineral deposits, creating roads and trams to move equipment, spaceports for ships, military fortifications, and ensuring we had food and water. On top of creating comfortable living spaces and a healthy work environment, we found ourselves up to the challenge.
Even the constant attacks on our walls and fortifications seemed relatively normal by the third year. I don't know if I would say we grew "comfortable" with them, but perhaps numb and focused enough to not linger on the loss of life that each attack incurred. We were soldiers, after all, so we stayed vigilant.
Vigilance, however, can turn into compliance, given enough time and success against our foes and the environment. Perhaps my staff and I assumed we could grow at an accelerated rate, hence the decision to start up Vermillion Hold.
Vermillion Hold was built on a site we believed to be the location of a massive vein of Titanium and Cobalt. The Astartes and my staff deemed it safe and defensible, allowing us to start mining and homestead construction operations in tandem with one another. Within only a few months, Vermillion Hold became our fastest-growing operation.
Initially, there were only a few minor problems; communication lag, power outages, and minor complications in setting up defenses. This was nothing new for the colony. However, when the Hold reported strange weather patterns, unlike anything previously seen before, but otherwise no changes to the environment or attacks, the assumption was a previously unknown environmental hazard but one that could've been handled.
Perhaps in our hubris, we had assumed that Aquisgranum had no more tricks up its sleeve to throw at us. Sadly, our first interaction with a "Tempest" shattered all notions that we were "winning" in this world. To bluntly explain, the Tempest seems to be a Titanite-infused electrical storm. Our tech-priests aren't sure how this is possible, but we can assume that the warp has something to do with it.
Worse yet, we believe the Tempest might either be a daemon itself or perhaps just some ancient Dark Age device that has laid dormant on Aquisgranum until most recently. Because somehow, the daemons summoned the Tempest to attack the Vermillion Hold. Whatever it didn't destroy, it effectively fried most electronics in the area. Recovered machines had no machine spirits left in them, or so say the tech-priests. Our Warden and Iron Warrior detachments had to purge whatever remains were found after the assault to secure the ruins.
Vermillion Hold was ultimately destroyed. Nine million called it home. They were either killed or declared missing in action. We've since encountered a few among the mutants and daemons on assaults on Navarro and Trenchfoot. In any case, the decision was made to destroy all that remained of Vermillion Hold after several failed attempts to recolonize it. We stopped on the third attempt after Witch-Hunters and Black Brigades were called to eliminate most of the colonists.
A disaster by any other stretch. Yet somehow, through it all, we were able to persevere. At least, that's what I want to believe. The loss of Vermillion Hold caused a brief period of panic, which in turn caused a bit of madness to sweep through the colonists. Hundreds of thousands died within six weeks of the third attempt to recolonize due to mental trauma, paranoia, and whatever else you want to call it when a person decides to murder their bunkmates.
Humanity has thousands of cases, but these people had no ties with the dead of Vermillion Hold. Something changed. Aquisgranum might have briefly become reactivated, if just for a moment. The Tempest was perhaps an extension of its twisted will.
Nevertheless, I don't wish to claim that it or the destruction of Vermillion Hold is the root cause of all our woes. As mentioned previously, we have many hurdles to overcome. Food, water, and clean air are constantly an issue, as are the daily attacks. Casualties tend to be acceptable, but I cannot stress that if something like the Tempest or a coordinated attack by daemonic forces were to hit Fortuna or one of the significant homesteads, the entire colonial venture would be in jeopardy.
The loss of life at Vermillion Hold, along with the homestead and mines, was ultimately not a substantial loss for our operations. Yet the psychological harm done to our people was devastating enough. We must take all steps to ensure that our current homesteads, especially those with children, do not succumb to such an awful fate.
Yet while this and many seemingly endless threats attempt to break down our homes, we are still fighting and growing. Better yet, we are adapting. Though the greatest trials remain ahead of us, our livelihood depends on the success of this endeavor.
This was encapsulated by a message that appeared on a random wall, sprayed painted of all things: Our Resolve, Iron. Our Fortune, Gold. No one has ever come forward, even after we offered a pardon to whoever wrote it. When people started using it as a mantra to keep going on, I almost thought that perhaps a Warden had written it.
I don't know or care now. It spread across the other homesteads and has since allowed us to have our rallying cry against the darkness and vileness of Aquisgranum. We will hold our ground and find our fortunes in this place. Even if it means having to contend against threats like the Tempest and the mental toll of living here.
The Homesteads
"Private Richard Baxton piloted his hellhound into the defense breach and held off four waves of daemons, saving the homestead of Dayglow. We immediately repurposed his entire identity and worked into a multi-tiered media campaign: vids, databooks, holos, even an Eternium stone-- the works. Aquisgranum needs heroes. They don't need to know how he died burning alive, screaming in agony as a plague ate at his organs. The real story would hurt morale and turn that early victory into a pyrrhic one."
When one thinks of homesteads, one imagines something idyllic and optimistic. A small city taking its first steps towards becoming a future Hive or maybe a settler's village that would become the center of a planetary government. Homesteads are the foundation of a colony's expansion allowing for absolute control of a planet.
Even in the most hostile environments, an individual can find homesteads popping up almost organically. Humanity is, if nothing else, a species that wish to spread its seed across the vastness of space. Each world is a challenge to overcome. Aquisgranum is no different in this regard.
Fortuna: The capital of Aquisgranum. Here you will find the centralization of power, such as the Imperial Army HQ of Bastion Lex. After that, you have the Mechancum Forge-Zones of Zeta-Green, the primary training facility for tech-priests on Aquisgranum. Then there is the fortress of Cantonment Primus, the operational command center of the Astartes. Zeta-Green is also the only facility on Aquisgranum with the expertise to process the trinity materials into finished alloys or technologies that use one or more of the trinity. At least until the facilities at Boneyard and Rust-City are completed.
Most of the population lives within the hab-barracks here, which has resulted in millions of personnel living in close quarters. This has resulted in a growing culture developing despite our past five years' horrors and setbacks. One can find (regulated) entertainment and even a few parks and recreational centers that serve no functional purpose besides promoting good mental health. It should be noted that aside from Trenchfoot, Fortuna is the first stop for basic training and assignment on Aquisgranum. We hope that we can establish a permanent officer academy within twenty years. If nothing else, the planned communication relay center should ensure that we can reach out to most of the planet with our vox transmitters.
Dayglow: When we think about finding fortune in this world, most assume that it was when we uncovered the first deposits of Titanite or Eternium. The real treasure, however, was the aquifer of the Bloody Hills. Aquisgranum has no lakes or seas, at least ones not filled with actual water or anything. Yet when the survey teams uncovered what they believed to be relatively "fresh" water, we soon learned that we had revealed an incredible opportunity. Thus was Dayglow built, and it has since become our leading provider of food and water. Once we began cleaning the water, we could use it for initial hydroponics and hothouse production of fruits and vegetables. The Red Orchards, the Dusty Vineyards, and the Dragon's Kegs are where we produce a small assortment of foodstuffs. It's a work in progress, however, and we must take steps to ensure there are no mutations. Otherwise, we get the Flesh Apricot incident.
Trenchfoot: Our colonists are generally considered veterans. Most have at least one campaign under their belt. No one has arrived on Aquisgranum without being tangentially aware of what is expected of them or the chances of survival in this world. Our homes are under constant siege, the environment is hostile, and if one homestead was to fall, all others would suffer; thus, we must remain vigilant. Vigilance requires preparations and training. Originally called "Outpost Vigilance," Trenchfoot was built with the mind of having dedicated facilities for the mental and physical retraining of fresh arrivals and further enhancing the current skillsets of those already on Aquisgranum. It has since become a bit more than initially envisioned. As Trenchfoot is not exempt from attacks, our commanders now use it as the first test for newcomers and a final test for our veterans in one. This is performed at Watchpoint Echo-Charlie, which is in the center of a constant siege by daemonic forces and requires daily reinforcements. However, it was personally built by War-Smiths of the Iron Warriors and has thus far weathered multiple attacks. Many have taken to calling it "Fort Daemonsbane."
Rust-City: I have probably gone on endlessly about the material wealth and environmental obstacles we face on Aquisgranum. From the acid pools and rains to finding the trinity or primary alloys and minerals. I will review it again because that is what Rust-City is all about. Fuel is paramount on Aquisgranum. Perhaps just as much as water and clean air. We need it to fuel our vehicles, ships, and industry and burn away all the filth. Even Aquisgranum is not without the building blocks of a civilization, and we have long since learned that it has Promethium deposits.
Nevertheless, Rust-City is built on this vital substance's most recently discovered wells. It took a lot of resources and creativity, but once we reached them, we created the Refiner. The Refiner isn't just your bog-standard one. No, it was constructed by War Smiths and Warden tech-marines to ensure that it wouldn't fall apart amid this hostile environment. More than crucial than even the aquifer at Dayglow, the Refiner is paramount to our long-term survival and growth. In time, we shall use it to reduce the Titan scraps littered across the cursed Dark Age ruins.
Finally, we have the Diamond Forge. It doesn't produce diamonds; instead, it is here that we can process and refine the trinity. The Wardens hope that someday it can be used to build their runes, but that is far and away. In any case, access to the Diamond Forge is restricted to only a select few. Not even I know what the hell goes on in there.
Boneyard: War is a messy business. Yet where most attribute this notion to the bloody and violent chaos of fighting, those in command think more of the material cost that goes into successfully waging war. When our forces arrived on Aquisgranum, they brought hundreds of millions of tons of weapons, food, building material, and so on down to the surface to conduct military operations. Naturally, it behooved all of us to take the time to secure and organize all surface-level production and containment, especially in such a hostile environment.
General Orbán worked a miracle when he efficiently and swiftly established the ground-side stockpiling and cataloging of war materials for this campaign. The Imperial Army on Aquisgranum enjoyed almost two years of relative peace and productivity before we encountered the first actual attack by the daemons. At that time, the facilities and warehouses that would become the Boneyard became a proud moment for our forces. The Boneyard has since grown into a city of warehouses, armories, and storage facilities, culminating in the creation of Arsenal.
Arsenal is a manufacturing center, albeit one that has only just started. The hope is that it will be able to produce the more advanced weapons used by our Astartes and weapon specialists, but the long-term objective is for it to build tools, weapons, and components that make use of the trinity materials. As it stands, we can only craft and test Titanite-related ammo and unpowered melee weapons.
Navarro: Our primary spaceport and the center for Black Brigade and Witch Hunter command and planning. I wish I could say this was a popular destination, but most people stay away from Navarro. I believe this was one of General Orbán's last decisions before I took control of the colony. His intentions were twofold; the first was that if Fortuna was to fall to either daemons or rebels, there would be a backup means of escaping the planet. Second, he didn't want this backup to fall into the wrong hands. Thus was Navarro created.
Unfortunately, the outgoing and incoming demands from our space assets and homesteads made it so that the initial spaceport in Fortuna could not keep up. The decision to make Navarro our primary entry point onto Aquisgranum was certainly not popular. Most have heard the rumors surrounding the brigades and hunters. Especially anything involving Facility Zero or the Hunter's Den. Both act as the headquarters and "interrogation and training" facilities for their respective branches. Everyone has heard a horror story about people disappearing among the colonies and being sent there for an extended "casual stay" inside their holding cells.
I wish I could say that most have gotten comfortable with either group, but the reality is that the Black Brigades and Witch Hunters tend to keep to themselves. They seem intent on turning Navarro into a glorified black-site. While I had the pleasure to serve Skullface in his command staff, it appears that upon becoming governor of Aquisgranum, I became too much of a "risk factor" and have since been shut out from Brigader and Hunter command.
Aquisgranum Discoveries
"Such a terrible world. Yet I suppose there is some beauty to it. I wonder what that says about humanity in trying to find something positive to say about such a thing?"
My mother had an old saying; "Try and find the beauty in all things." She was a biologist by trade and saw that while life could be messy or chaotic, there was something worthwhile or even beautiful in it. Death, she said, was merely an extension of that. I don't know if I could ever call this place beautiful, but it is awe-inspiring, to say the least.
It is one thing to examine a planet through scans and pictures taken from orbit, but it is another to set foot and see it all with your own two eyes. Our forces barely scratched the surface during the war, and we have only just begun to explore and closely examine what this daemonworld has to offer. It is startling, perhaps even fantastical in some regards, the strange wonders you can find on Aquisgranum. Wonderful and deadly.
Such beauty hides dangers that we have yet to bore full witness to and secrets that should perhaps be buried. The Wardens speak of how the warp can turn anything into a trap. I am inclined to believe them after the reports I have received in such a short time.
The Chromatic Fires: We should start with the discovery that might have a future benefit for the colony, and that is the Chromatic Fires. Discovered only nine months ago, it has become a bit of a star attraction for our people due to how exotic and whimsical it sounds when you explain it.
They are volcanoes that spew bright, rainbow-colored magma. A truly marvelous and peculiar sight, and one that almost baffled our initial survey teams. Imagine it, rivers of lava and geysers of magma that shine with such a dazzling display of colors and lights that it distorts scanners and pict-recorders. This matters after we began initial research into what is causing this peculiar phenomenon.
We know that magma is underground molten rock, and lava is just molten rock that breaks through the planet's surface. Yet, due to the passive warp nature, our psykers and tech-priests suspected that the Chromatic Fires are somehow a composite substance of all matter, including Titanite and Adamantium, that have fused together. Unfortunately, this has not produced any sort of "hyper-alloy" but what we can only describe as a primordial soup of minerals. We aren't sure about the rainbow coloring, but the Wardens believe it is just a quirk of the planet.
Your War-Smiths believe it might be possible to extract and process this chromatic lava into something useful. In fact, we may have another rare metal or alloy on our hands, unlike anything yet discovered on Aquisgranum. Still, further research is required. Attempts to retrieve and transport samples are running into issues, however. There are creatures living in and around the Fires, such as strange lava spiders and mutants wearing mining gear of all things. Nothing we can't handle is an issue that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.
The Pitts: Another recent discovery, although not exactly one that brought much joy to the survey teams. We only learned of its location after several seismic events originated from this point on Aquisgranum. We found toxic swamps and ammonia-filled lakes that didn't seem completely natural. It took only a day to see how this environment came to be when the first explosion nearly killed the entire survey team at their landing site. All that was left was a smoldering, smell pit. Thus was this land named the Pitts.
Located in the western hemisphere of Aquisgranum, the Pitts is the only location with actual bio-diversity and a living ecosystem. Initially, we thought we could attempt to harvest nitrate and organic substances to produce more food. Then we learned that there is a considerable amount of ammonia nitrate within most swamps and water sources. It is… hazardous to be around the Pitts because of the massive pools of ammonia-nitrate. That…and the underground Promethium deposits.
Such a dangerous place, but at the same time, the potential resource windfall is immeasurable. The nitrate alone would help in food production, but the Promethium and ammonia nitrate would allow us to scale up weapon and ammo productions to self-sustaining levels. We know this to be the case because the ancient ruins within the Pitts indicate they had the same ideas.
Sadly, our neighbors have taken roost in the Pitts. A combination of daemons, mutants, and an unknown variation of a Titanite Dragon. However, all of this pales compared to one daemon in particular that calls the Pitts his home. The Wardens learned of this daemon after several divinations on the Pitts. A powerful Herald of Nurgle called Sha'rek of the Swamp.
A vile and cruel creature. The Wardens described Sha'rek as a bloated figure that resembles the visage of the Great Unclean Ones. Thankfully, he is certainly not one of the Greater Daemons of his patron. What disturbs many is that he wears the skins of countless drowned bodies within its putrid home. Strangely enough, this disgusting practice seems to aid in his sorcery, allowing layers of psy-reactive matter on his person. A White Scar seer described the daemon as an "onion layer," whatever the hell an onion is. The defeat of the Daemon Prince Kurin-Morak likely caused Sha'rek to return from being a hermit, hinting that he had a feud with the mad AI. While Sha'rek has remained confined to the Pitts, the Wardens suspect that leaving a daemon of his power alone for too long could result in a daemonic fiefdom appearing. In any case, Sha'rek of the Swamp seems primarily focused on keeping people out of what he calls his home.
The first chance we get, the Wardens will launch a preemptive assault against Sha'rek to kill him in one fell swoop. The Pitts must be cleansed, one way or another.
The Sea of Rust: You might have noticed only a few mentions of the White Scars in this report up until now. Much of the day-to-day Astartes operations are conducted and organized by Eternal Wardens or the Iron Warriors, yet we maintain a sizeable portion of White Scars that have remained on Aquisgranum even after the Great Khan left the Maelstrom. However, considering the relative distance of the White Scars' homeworld to the Maelstrom, it should be no surprise that many aren't feeling homesick or as if they are away from the Legion.
Yet rather than focus on the mundane aspects of helping the colony, they have taken a more proactive approach. The White Scars seem to have invoked the right to create one of their Pioneer Companies and have gone out into the ruins of what we call the Seat of Rust.
The Sea of Rust is the name assigned to the nearly 5,000 kilometers of land and ruins that make up the eastern continent of Aquisgranum. Before whatever calamity fell upon this world, the ancients constructed what appears to be dozens of mega-cities, all interconnected via highways, rails, and underground access points. It is in the outskirts of these ruins that Captain Jesk fought and killed the Daemon Prince, Kurin-Morak. For some reason, the daemon never decided to try and make its nest in the deepest parts of the Sea.
Which makes us believe there are very nasty things inhabiting the Sea of Rust. We know this because the Sea seems to be the origination point for several hundred daemonic war hosts, mutant warbands, and a few nests of Ancient Titanite Dragons. I don't know why the White Scars are so enthusiastic about this task, but I must admit it is thanks to their efforts that we aren't seeing entire armies of daemons at our doorstep.
Aside from the practical reasoning that a "good defense is a good offense" on Aquisgranum is all but necessary, it's the wealth of Corpse-Crowns within the Sea of Rust. Upon receiving their resupply, the White Scars send back any recovered crowns they've salvaged from the ruins, along with a few pieces of archeotech. We aren't sure if there are any potential STCs in the Sea of Rust, but we are keeping our expectations low. Anything of value within this place is now nothing more than the crowns and whatever lost relics of a forgotten dark age.
Closing Statements
"No matter how you get there or end up - human beings have this miraculous gift to make that place home."
We have a long and arduous road ahead of us. Aquisgranum has proven to be a harsh mistress and will continue to test our resolve for years to come. Yet even knowing this, we are still filled with hope. For all its horrors and dangers, it can be beaten. Humanity has overcome worlds that are perhaps far more aggressive towards exterminating us, and while Aquisgranum will obtain a significant butcher's bill in the end, we shall endure.
I will likely never live to see the day that we begin the reclamation of this planet. Most of us will probably die before seeing that. However, our children's children might someday be granted to walk upon the surface of Aquisgranum with no fear in their hearts. For many, this was not the world we expected to live out the rest of our days, nor start families and a new life.
The galaxy is a cruel place, and the Ritual War taught us the price it takes to take even just one of these Daemonworlds. Even so, our sacrifices and work here will someday resound across the stars and Imperium of Man. Let us find fortune in this miserable world and let our resolve be like iron, unbreakable.
Fun fact about Daemon, but he hates Shrek memes because one of his roommates tortured him with them for years. Mind you, he doesn't hate the character or the movies, he just hates the memes.
Well, I have some time, so let's do a few omake rewards. I will say that as some of these were fairly short, and I honestly rewarded them a while back, I'll blast through these ones.
1. +2 to a single roll in the Maelstrom
5. +2 to one of Ferrus' rolls here
As for the others, we do have a neat negaverse omake of the Alpha Legion getting a Scafrir interlude, I do rather enjoys these, and it was fun to read. As before, already rewarded:
*+10 to one of the Alpha Legion's rolls
Next up is a continuation of that, and I do find it hilarious how you mentioned the probabilities involved and how absurd they were, a true staple of TLP.
*+10 to one of the Alpha Legion's rolls
Then we have the fun one of a WHF quest. I will say that this was a long time ago, which is mostly my fault as I've been busy in the time since then. It's a neat concept, and I do enjoy it. As for your reward.
*+10 to one of Kesar's rolls in the Maelstrom
Next up are a bunch of short little omakes, they're neat to read, and were enjoyable. That being said, as they are pretty short overall, I'm just going to blast through the rewards that I gave a while back:
1. +2 to one of Ferrus' rolls
2. +2 to one of Ferrus' rolls
3. +2 to one of Vulkan's rolls
4. +2 to one true death roll in the BTW
5. +2 to one of Sanguinius' rolls
6. +3 to one of Cegorach's rolls
7. +2 to one of Dorn's rolls
8. +2 to one of Dorn's rolls
9. +2 to one of Vulkan's rolls
10. +2 to one of Vulkan's rolls
The next set starts off similarly with some of the omakes:
1. +2 to one of Sanguinius' rolls
2. +2 to one of Sanguinius' rolls
3. +2 to one of Konrad's rolls
4.+2 to one of Konrad's rolls
The next omake was an interesting one. It was a rather interesting persepctive on things, and the parallels with Lorgar were interesting. That being said, one thing to keep in mind is that relationships are complicated. You can do things perfectly, and yet someone else's actions can still causes issues within. It's recovering from those events that's what defines a friendship. As for your reward:
[] +10 to a roll of the GM's choice
[] Magnus gets a +10 for ???
[] Kesar gets a +10 to ???
Well, I have some time, so let's do a few omake rewards. I will say that as some of these were fairly short, and I honestly rewarded them a while back, I'll blast through these ones.
1. +2 to a single roll in the Maelstrom
5. +2 to one of Ferrus' rolls here
As for the others, we do have a neat negaverse omake of the Alpha Legion getting a Scafrir interlude, I do rather enjoys these, and it was fun to read. As before, already rewarded:
*+10 to one of the Alpha Legion's rolls
Next up is a continuation of that, and I do find it hilarious how you mentioned the probabilities involved and how absurd they were, a true staple of TLP.
*+10 to one of the Alpha Legion's rolls
Then we have the fun one of a WHF quest. I will say that this was a long time ago, which is mostly my fault as I've been busy in the time since then. It's a neat concept, and I do enjoy it. As for your reward.
*+10 to one of Kesar's rolls in the Maelstrom
Next up are a bunch of short little omakes, they're neat to read, and were enjoyable. That being said, as they are pretty short overall, I'm just going to blast through the rewards that I gave a while back:
1. +2 to one of Ferrus' rolls
2. +2 to one of Ferrus' rolls
3. +2 to one of Vulkan's rolls
4. +2 to one true death roll in the BTW
5. +2 to one of Sanguinius' rolls
6. +3 to one of Cegorach's rolls
7. +2 to one of Dorn's rolls
8. +2 to one of Dorn's rolls
9. +2 to one of Vulkan's rolls
10. +2 to one of Vulkan's rolls
The next set starts off similarly with some of the omakes:
1. +2 to one of Sanguinius' rolls
2. +2 to one of Sanguinius' rolls
3. +2 to one of Konrad's rolls
4.+2 to one of Konrad's rolls
The next omake was an interesting one. It was a rather interesting persepctive on things, and the parallels with Lorgar were interesting. That being said, one thing to keep in mind is that relationships are complicated. You can do things perfectly, and yet someone else's actions can still causes issues within. It's recovering from those events that's what defines a friendship. As for your reward:
[] +10 to a roll of the GM's choice
[] Magnus gets a +10 for ???
[] Kesar gets a +10 to ???
We the Society of Exploration are pleased to inform you that our centuries long mission has been completed. Over the course of the last three centuries we have studied the world and explored the temporal shards that form the world that we know as home.
In this report we have collected the information that we feel is most pressing for you to know and as such we apologize for the length of this report. However, we do not regret said length for it is needed to properly explain the truth of the situation we find ourselves in.
As it is known, our world is not a standard world, however, we have found to our displeasure that this is far more true than we had previously believed. It has been considered that only the surface layer of Skysoph is temporally scarred, we have found poof that this is not the case.
Since our new discoveries, we have come to view our home as an onion of time. The temporal scarring reaches into the core of the world and we believe into the space around the world. We have reason to believe that the temporal scars extend to the Lagrange points, where they merge back into the cohesive temporal form of the galaxy at large.
Along side this new discovery we will list the current ecosystem as it stands and the predicted fallout that will occur as the shards become easier to breach.
Chief Surveyor Delphi
Planetary Situation
As the most pressing issue at hand we have decided to start this report with the overview of the world. As it is known Skysoph has suffered temporal decoherence in a past that has never occurred and yet we still suffer the after effects to this day.
With the new temporal equations, we have calculated that the temporal tension is growing within the world and that as this tension grows the more time realigns itself. However, as far as we can tell there is no method by which the proper timeline can be restored and this process will result in the current unstable world becoming stable in a temporal manner once more.
However, as a side result of this growing tension between the shards, the barriers have and will continue to weaken. When we were first created by the first Governor Council, it was only possible for the strongest of the lifeforms on this world to bypass the barriers and doing so would result in their near instant death due to temporal backlash.
By now the barriers have weakened to a point where incursions are constant on all major fronts, however it is to our displeasure to inform you that this is only the beginning of escalation. The barriers are weakening from the top down, which will soon allow flying animals into our shards and we lack the means to properly counter them.
Furthermore, the barriers have already weakened to the point where only the weakest of the life forms are unable to bypass them without issue. We calculate that there is only a handful of decades before total surface barrier loss. At that point we should expect the ecosystem of the surface to temporally stabilize into a working biosphere filling the niches from all present lifeforms.
Along with the issues regarding the biosphere, the natural world is also affected by this growing temporal tension. Earthquakes have become more frequent in the last decades and this is because of the growing temporal tension within the world causing what amount to time quakes where the shards violently realign themselves into lower energy states.
These time or temporal quakes have proven to be exceedingly dangerous to grounded infrastructure due to their unnatural propagation through the layered shards within the world and we have no solutions at hand for this. We have examined the Temporal Anchors and have noted that they are ineffective at blunting temporal quakes regardless of relative strength of the Anchor compared to the Quake.
Another concern is the growing storms and wild fires that are spreading beyond their starting zones. These disasters that cross over through temporal shard borders are altered in as of yet unpredictable directions, resulting in extremely dangerous situations even for those wearing shielded power armor.
The primary manner of alteration we have seen is that such forms are tainted by the temporal energy that coats Skysoph giving rise to temporal effects. Fires will burn things before they reach them or will burn faster than they should, storms will produce more lighting than possible and such are common sights in the wildness we have watched.
However, the most concerning aspect of this temporal taint is that it is increasing the temporal tension in the world as time pushes against time. Paradoxes are beginning to form in the wilderness where these disasters occur, we have observed storms happening after their danger has been done and storms that kill but do not harm and more almost impossible sights.
We as a group believe that as the temporal tension rises more of these paradoxical events will occur and as of the moment we are unsure if our Anchors will suffice for holding them at bay.
Temporal Tension
The most critical and pressing issue at hand is that of the temporal tension that is building within the world. It is a well known fact that our world is formed from shards of the past, present and future held together by liquified temporal energy.
However, we have discovered a greater effect of this nature. Temporal tension is growing between the shards of time as each of them is trying to realign with its proper time frame. The issue arises when one notes that the shards have lost that temporal location through whatever resulted in our current state and as such there is no point to guide time back to when it should be.
As such as the temporal energy grows there is no release point for it to use and we believe that this will continue to happen until it reaches a point where it will reach stability once more.
The good news is that this should occur no later than 31M, the bad news is that as this grows closer to occurring the more chaotic the world will become. We have already noted the paradoxical storms and fires appearing in the world, and the Primordial Hurricanes are occurring at greater rates than ever before due in part to this temporal discrepancy.
As explained above the cause of this tension is the decoherent nature of the world where the time shards push against each other on the temporal axis. If they had the proper temporal markers to place them into the time stream they would self align back to their original timeframes. This would be the low energy state for it would be in line with what time and history desire. However, our world lacks those temporal markers and as such it is straining against time to break apart, but the Anchors we have are supporting the temporal gravitation echoes to prevent such destruction.
This in turn results in a constant push/pull on the shards building up temporal energy to a point where it will eventually reach an energy density to stabilize the world into a new temporal state. As of the moment we are unsure of what this will mean, when stability returns, but we believe that it will likely be treated as the start of a new timeline regarding the world.
In other words, we believe that at the moment of unification of the time shards it will treat the past centuries as a temporal void and instead have the world and by extension us be roughly one thousand years younger than the universe around us.
As part of this we suggest and encourage all people to be brought born from us to be brought back to the world prior to the predicated stabilization point to ensure there is no temporal decoherence with regards to our own population.
Another aspect of this tension is the growing likelihood for living beings to be tainted by the temporal energy that is beginning to reach biologically notable levels. We have yet to see this, but based on the calculations we have done we estimate that within this century there will be the first of a subspecies of lifeforms on this world that are intrinsically able to affect time.
As of now we are uncertain of how this will manifest but we are near surety that it will happen and that it will cause notable issues for the world as a whole.
Inhabited Shards
As part of our mandate we have spent time in all the inhabited shards that compose the surface of the world, as of the current time we have been unable to find any indications that there are subterranean areas of inhabitation. As such we have been unable to prove conclusively if there are or not any underground civilizations.
However, based upon the fact that the temporal quakes are becoming worse and they arise from deeper layers of the shards, we have come to the conclusion that unless these hypothetical civilizations had access to superior Temporal Anchors or shields they would have been destroyed by now.
We have determined that there are roughly one million shards that are inhabited by humans, although this number appears to be large, we have to caution the Council that most shards are only a few square kilometers in size. The primary shards that form the backbone of civilization on Skysoph are the exceptions to the normal state of being.
Most of the smaller shards possess individuals that originate from the Age of Strife as explained by the Imperial shards and the Solar Exodus era. The larger shards arise from two primary governmental, the Federation and the Imperium of Man.
We hypothesize that this is due to the relatively higher impact and length of time for those two eras of human history compared to the others. However, we are unable to prove this theory and it has little impact in truth.
What we have managed to do is find that there are significant differences between the Shards based on the era of their origination. We are currently uncertain how this will affect the world when unification occurs, but we are hopeful that it will average out the strangeness instead of going towards a single direction.
The Shards that come from the Solar Exodus, are exceptionally vulnerable to genetic drift within the human populations that live on them. We have already noted several dividing branches of humanity that are no longer able to be properly classified as Homo sapiens. In opposition to the shards from the Age of Strife these shards have extremely low psyker birth rates, nearly approaching that of what the records show to be the human norm prior to the Psyker Bloom.
The Shards that we have determined to arise from the Age of Strife are concerning to everyone, for they have extremely high psyker birth rates compared to the rest of the world. We believe this is because in the Age of Strife such births were orders of magnitudes more common and psykers were more powerful on average. Although, the shards lack the full impact of the Age of Strife, there are more psykers than normal by a significant margin and each of them seem to possess more power than psykers in other shards.
The Shards that arise from the Federation Era, possess great ability at producing complex items with the remaining technology of their time and have the lowest overall psyker birth rates. Furthermore they retain a fraction of their technology enabling them to cure genetic mutations with relative ease. A main source of contention between the Imperial and the Federation shards has revolved around the latter's willingness to integrate mutations into their genome if they believe it is superior to what they currently have.
The Shards that come from the Imperial Era are strange, highly religious but have tempered their fanatical devotion to their gods enough to enable their survival upon this world. They have slowly moved towards a less xenophobic society over the centuries as they were originally unable to retaliate against the Federation Shards and eventually opened communications with them. These shards have the second highest psyker birth rate on the world, and have a strange ease with mass production of cheap items; including food stock.
Due to the above there are two primary nations on the world, that each span over several temporal shards. These nations are formed from the majority of the largest shards of the Federation and Imperial shards respectively.
The Illuminated Unity and the Golden Aristocracy are the chosen titles of the two super nations. The Unity is composed of the Federation Era Shards that have taken the names: Ulun Vesh, Makata, Imbaza, Karal Thram, Nolis, and Svetzlya. The Aristocracy is composed of the shards that have taken the respective names: Lavenum, Antoras, Heleppius, Stronbaas, and Erioch.
The reason behind each composition shard having its own name is due to the several decades at the beginning where there was no communication between the shards affecting even the orbital satellites that now relay such communications. As such, each shard diverged away from the others in that first century leading to individual cultures and specializations arising within them.
The Federation Shards have unified to a deeper level than the Imperial Shards have at this point, but they retain their chosen names along the same lines as federation states would have in the past. While the Imperial Shards retain their names for much the same reason and to retain their now distinct cultures.
The Illuminated Unity
Svetzlya
The capital of the Illuminated Unity, and the primary center for temporal studies. This shard is ruled over by technocratic scientist-lords that have specialized into temporal studies to the exclusion of all other topics. As a result this shard is the primary producer of all temporal designs that are then sold to the rest of the world at large.
Furthermore, the scientist lords of this shard have been experimenting with binding temporal energy into living forms and non living designs. We are unsure if this is an allowed use of their resources, but we believe it will provide information that will be useful in the near future as temporal tension grows to allow for similar events to occur naturally.
Home to a little under five billion humans and roughly one billion alter human strains, it is one of the most populated shards on the world, it also has the highest amount of temporal anchors per capita which provides it with unmatched protection from the temporal disasters that strike and the growth of the temporal tension.
With a quality of life that is most reminiscent of the Federation it is a source of constant immigration, however the scientist lords are aware of this and have instituted stringent checks to ensure only viable individuals are allowed to settle into the shard and make use of the technology it calls its own.
This shard also boosts the Temporal Strike Regiment which is an army of only five thousand men and women that have been upgraded with the best genetic augments and cybernetic augments that could be bought and customized for their use. However, beyond such upgrades their most impactful aspect is the unique and extremely expensive temporal weapons and shields they each possess. These enable them to strike back against the growing number of paradoxical events and to defuse temporal disasters before they can reach beyond the ability of the anchors to blunt.
However, this also presents a noticeable cost sink for the shard and they pay for this unique army by selling temporal items and relics to the other shards and selling the services of the Temporal Strikers to other shards for exorbitant prices.
Due to the value and near necessary of temporal studies, this shard is the only shard that yet retains true technological growth at the moment. The other Federation shards are supplying Svetzlya with the needed resources and infrastructure to continue to investigate and grow our understanding of temporal mechanics.
From this Svetzlya is both the most important shard on the world and also the most vulnerable for it relies on the support of the entire world to continue to function and as such is unable to act on its own accord. However, from this very same reason it is also the primary means by which the world is maintained at the current time and there have been reports that they are expecting a breakthrough in temporal studies within three centuries.
Imbaza
The second major Federation shard, this nation shard is fully dedicated towards the production and maintenance of the infrastructure of the Federation shards across the world. As such they buy the most materials from the other shard groups and spend great sums on maintaining the factories that they have since lost the ability to recreate at the current time.
Those factories produce significant amounts of pollution, however, due to clever integration and usage of the temporal shards nearby the pollution has been contained in a safe manner to prevent environmental collapse. The imperial shards had questions about why they had spent so much effort on preserving the ecosystem at the time, but have since accepted that it is just one of the many oddities of the past era.
Beyond the production of the base infrastructure components Imbaza is also responsible for producing the alloys that are required for laboratory processes and as such supply Ulun Vesh with the materials that the shard requires in order to provide the needed systems to Svetzlya.
Unlike its sibling shards, Imbaza lacks any form of mobile combative measures and instead relies heavily on its fortifications and stationary turrets. As such it is also the primary buyer of the Temporal Striker's services in order to handle the more dangerous temporally altered animals that drift into its borders.
Compared to most other shards, Imbaza is one of the few shard nations that have truly expanded their sovereignty beyond their original borders and into another shard. They have expanded into a primordial shard in order to make use of the extreme tectonic activity and heat of the volcanos to aid in the manufacturing of certain alloys that the Imperial shards are unable to properly produce to their needed standards.
Imbaza's primary export beyond its materials is the services of its engineering corps which are the best in the world at building on the macro scale, and fortification. However, they are unable to properly utilize advanced technology which limits their use for the other shards in the Unity, but the Imperial shards constantly require their assistance due to the infrastructural issues that plague them.
Ulun Vesh
The last of the trinity of the Unity, this shard nation buys extremely complex alloys from Imbaza to use in the manufacture of scientific equipment that is then sold to Svetzlya in order to enable the continual research into temporal mechanics and biology. The left over equipment is also sold to the shards Makata and Karal Thram,
Ulun Vesh is the smallest in both landmass and population of the Federation shards, with only a relatively small half billion humans living in its arcologies. However, each of the arcologies are fully defended with the best void shield emitters that could be bought and have temporal anchors built into them universally.
Unlike Imperial Hives, the arcologies are not stratospheric in height, being only ten kilometers from bottom to tip, and they hold roughly three quarters of the population in the shard nation. The rest lives in city that surrounds the base of the arcologies.
The arcologies are not just the focal point of the population, but also hold the manufacturing forges that are used to produce the needed materials and forms for the other shards to use in their research. However, even though Ulun Vesh retains the ability to build more arcologies in the form, they no longer have the ability to produce the manufacturing forges that lie in the heart of the core arcologies.
As such, they have come to the conclusion that it would be unfeasible to perfectly protect their arcologies from incursions and temporal quakes in the current state and as such have been investigating the feasibility of removing the forges from the arcologies and into flying vehicles that would be able to avoid the worst of the dangers of the world.
However, they have yet to achieve this and are leery of trying to do so since a failure would permanently reduce their manufacturing capacity significantly. In order to compensate for this, they have build a significantly larger force modeled off of the Temporal Strikers but lacking the Strikers temporal technology.
The resulting army is significantly larger than the Strikers, but is also notably less effective at countering the new temporally altered biology of the ecosystem that has begun to invade the shard. It is worth noting that the Strikers and Svetzlya have both promised reduced rates for selling the Striker's services to Ulun Vesh in light of the danger that the incursion pose to Svetzlya's research means.
Karal Thram and Makata
These two shard nations have unified to an extent that has seen them become more akin to a single nation than two independent groups. However, they retain the names to separate their specialties in a more apparent manner.
They also serve as the primary diplomatic area for the Federation and Imperial shards due to the fact that all of the Adeptus Mechanicus personal have made their home in these two shards and have built temples to their god of knowledge in their borders turning them into the holy land of their religion on Skysoph.
Karal Thram is where the tech priests that have a preference for biology spend their time for it holds the best genetic laboratories in the world. It is also the primary source of genetic augment packages and has several missions in the works to help cure the mutants in the imperial shards of their mutations where possible.
Unlike Svetzlya it lacks any interest in temporal mechanics or biology and instead is more interested in the strange genetic drift that occurs within the solar exodus era shards and how to apply those mutations to the greater whole of the world. It is from this shard nation that the majority of genetic errors have been purged and remain purged from the population of Skysoph even with the recent reduction in their ability to handle the growing population.
Even though Karal Thram does not investigate or research temporal biology, they buy the research on the topic from Svetzlya to ensure that they are able to remain at the top of the chain in biological research and applications.
From this proliferation of genetic augments, the population in this shard is remarkably biological improved over the baseline human form, from the work of the last few hundred generations. It is not enough to challenge animals fo the world in unarmed combat, but it is still a noticeable upgrade over baseline humanity.
Makata is the inverse where it focuses on cybernetics and digital systems, although at the time of their existence it was considered a problem to lack an AI overseer, it was a benefit for us and the world that no AI or at least no AI that we can find has been brought through and Makata would have been the most likely place for an AI to reside.
Unlike the other Federation shards, Makata lacks any overriding desire at the moment and instead is simply working on retaining what they have and trying to find ways to bypass the lack of AI for their more complex systems.
It also holds the largest amount of Adeptus Mechanicus personal per capita in the world, with a massive arcology being repurposed as a temple forge for the religion. This temple has many rooms that have been decorated with frescos that depict legendary events from the records of the Mechanicus and they have opened a portion of the temple to the public even in defiance of their normally secretive nature due to the laws revolving around such things in Federation shards.
Nolis
The last member of the Unity, this shard nation is the only shard that yet retains the infrastructure needed for void shields and warp drive manufacturing. In short this shard is entirely devoted to the maintenance of their warp technology infrastructure.
They do retain the designs for various forms of warp weaponry, which have been universally banned since the first time a warp weapon was tested and discovered to ravage the tenuous stability of Skysoph to an extreme degree. In conjunction with their designs for warp weaponry, they also retain the formulation and manufacturing of Phase Iron which is used in the greater shard nations to deal with problematic psykers, along with being able to build null amp collars from the rare materials in order to handle the weaker but less stable psykers.
Unlike the other Unity shard nations their primary clients are among the Golden Aristocracy due to their views on psykers and similar mutated humans.
Golden Aristocracy
Antoras
The capital of the Golden Aristocracy, Antoras was a wealthy city prior to the shattering of time and has retained a majority of that wealth in the centuries since. It is the primary religious center of the world as of the current age, with the most priests per capita in the world and has been unusually open to other ideologies in recent decades.
It lacks a potent manufacturing base, but has a plenitude of people living in its refurbished hive arcologies, that it willingly sends to other Shard Nations in the Unity and Aristocracy at the request of the other nations for labor support. Due to this openness it has become one of the few Imperial shard nations to be truly trusted by the Unity and other Federation era shards that maintain open contact with the Imperial shards.
Compounding upon this, it has among the Imperial shards the most developed weapon industry and is the producer for most of the low end weapons found sun military and police forces within Skysoph. Their weapons are far below the level of the Unity and other such era shards, but Antoras weapons are the primary weapons of the world.
It is also one of the shards that buys the most temporal technology from Svetzyla in order to do their own tests on it. There is some belief that this is due to its relatively close location to a Late Primordial Shard and as such close to one of the primary hunting grounds for one of the apex predators that would warrant such openness.
Beyond weapon and labor exports Antoras has become the cultural center for the world and is the most dedicated shard nation towards unifying the cultures of Skysoph into a single cultural structure. They have been sending out scouts and diplomates to every era they can find data on to determine how to begin the unification process with them when it comes time to do so.
Erioch
This is a strange Imperial nation for it eschews the common form of imperial military in the past and retains that aspect into this era. Instead of using mass human waves it had focused on stealth operatives due to the political instability within its ruling noble class.
This shard, although small in and of itself is in a highly advantageous position with it being surrounded on all borders by several fertile shards which lack in dangerous animals to interfere with farming operations.
In recent decades this shard has become adapt at using their shadow operatives to distract and mislead the creatures of the world away from them and other shards if they can afford the cost that is requested. Due to this the Shadow Teams and the Temporal Strikers have an informal partnership to team up against the more dangerous beasts in order to more easily and efficiently handle the greater threats in a clean manner.
Beyond the export of food and the services of the Shadow Teams, Erioch also provides lower end holotech to the world and is able to produce enough to serve as a stable industry for the shard nation. IT is of lower quality than those produced in the Federation nations, but it is produced in bulk compared to the custom orders that the Unity use for their designs.
Lavenum
Lavenum originates from a time where Skysoph was used as a primary military fortification and armor world in one of the many wars that the Imperium waged during its eight thousand year history. This war was based on their scattered reports aged against a scattered tribe of Aeldari/Eldar forces and as such the industry of the world was retrofitted to produce vehicular support units and mainline tanks.
As this remains today, Lavenum is the primary builder and producer of tanks, although the Leman Russ tank was declared to be an insult to all principles of logic and reason by the Unity and forbidden from being sold to them.
As such they have been forced by the need to enter the world market to redesign a new tank model based on their Leman Russ hull that includes superfluous aspects such as crew safety, angled armor and integrated shields where possible.
Building off of this history, when they first arrived in this shattered time frame, they were able to quickly mobilize their population and abandoned their hive cities in favor for tank convoys. This has become easier for them in recent decades as the improved models begin to be rolled out to the greater whole of the nation and expand what is possible for them to achieve.
Along with the tank convoys they also produce the majority of atmospheric near space craft that enable quick movement across the globe and over the top of the decaying temporal barriers beyond the reach of the hostile ecosystem and psykers below.
Heleppius
A rather strange era of the world, when the majority of it was under the control of the Adeptus Mechanicus, instead of the typical Imperium. This has resulted in a large proliferation of cybernetics in their populace along with a good few genetic augments that have somehow lasted through the generations.
As the Tech Priests migrate towards their new holy cities, Heleppius is evolving away from the mandates of the Martian religion and has begun innovating on the left behind designs for cybernetics and has opened numerous new factories for the purpose of selling such cybernetics in bulk to the world.
They are unable to challenge the quality of Makata with their designs, but for the average person theirs are much more affordable. With this proliferation of this branch of technology, their society has become somewhat styled after the practices of the Adeptus Mechanicus where it has become a sign of status to be able to afford the maintenance and upkeep of complex and high end cybernetics.
Following this trend, they have reduced the size of their Guard force into a far more elite force that is far weaker than the forces of the Unity but is also far larger at well over a million men and women in arms. Each of whom are given cybernetics from the forges of their own nation, with the higher ones rank the better their augments become and the leaders are given Makatan cybernetics in addition to their home produced ones.
This has cause their army to adapt a very command heavy army style where each unit is treated as a single piece on the board of a battlefield and is moved from a commanding position with an over head view of the battle in progress.
Stronbaas
This shard hails from an early age post original Compliance in the Great Crusade, from its records we were able to determine that according to their history that within the century Skysoph will be discovered by the Imperium and as such we have begun preparing for this encounter.
As expected from a nation that comes from such a turbulent time Stronbaas has little infrastructure to speak of compared to other shards of similar size, but it does have a massive oversized population due to Imperial mandates to repopulate the world due to the death toll compliance had taken upon the world.
This massive population has carried through the generations and has been enough to secure Stronbaas a place among the Golden Aristocracy due to being able to support the other shards when they need extra labor for various purposes. Over the centuries of having far more population than room, they have become more at ease when close together and as such suffer less stress when in smaller spaces with more people.
This trait has made their labor teams far more efficient with more people than other nations would be able to achieve due to their cultural norms normalizing the far higher population density. With the advent of better infrastructure, the final irritants were able to be removed and this has made them far more stable overall than before due to everyone being able to bath semi regularity and have food and water enough to live comfortably.
Along with this extreme population Stronbaas is the primary producer of material supplies for the Unity and Aristocracy due to it being able to man the labor intensive machines that produce the proper alloys that are needed for the world. In this way it is one of the wealthiest if not a politically important nation on Skysoph.
Ecosystem and Environmental Hazards
Environmental Hazards
The land between the inhabited shards are riddled with temporal anomalies that prevent safe exploration of the areas that exist within them. This is beyond even the ability of the ecosystem to hinder our actions for we can fight against the various animals and plants, but no group bar the Strikers are able to safely venture into the depths of the wilderness without fear of being lost.
Within the wilderness, there are many varied dangers that existed on the environmental scale. Most of them are present across the world and as such are easily recognized, however, there are Anomalous events where strange occurrences will happen without warning and these might not follow any pre established pattern of hazards.
The primary forms that these hazards take are in the form of temporal alterations to normal cycles of the world. Of this type, the most common is what we have labeled as Entropic Rain, this rain that falls in select areas will age anything that is not coated or infused with temporal energy into dust in only a handful of minutes. If these areas moved, they would present an existential threat to civilization upon Skysoph, but as they are stationary they instead provide a possible position of redoubts in time of war if needed.
Following the Entropic Rain, is areas where time has become decoupled from the normal passage. These fields can either accelerate the time within them or slow down the flow of time within them, and again only beings that are either coated or infused with temporal energy can ignore the effects. We have formed a loose range estimate of a minimum alteration of plus or minus half the speed of time, up to a maximum of five orders of magnitude difference. However, the fields reduce in size the higher the difference between the normal time and the altered time flow becomes. No field that is at the hypothetical maximum is larger than five meters in diameter at the largest we have been able to discover at this point, as such we sadly have to conclude that such fields will be unusable for research purposes.
There are also the Firebreaks that lay scattered across the surface of the world, these strange silver-azure flames burning temporal energy as their fuel and provide not thermal heat as their produce, but instead paradoxical potential. These strange areas of eternal flames, burn away the stable flow of time allowing for it to flow backwards upon itself, they burn causality itself to give rise to paradox and the breaking of linear time. These areas are strange and rare, with animals and plants that are in and of themselves paradoxical lifeforms that only live due to the flames. Extremely careful testing has revealed that the Firebreaks interact exceptionally poorly with the non linear time flow of the warp and result in temporal shattering and a permanent disruption of the veil between realities. We therefore suggest to study the Firebreaks at a far remove in order to not risk causing an expansion of the flames.
Now we come to the greatest environmental hazard on the world, the Temporal Ocean. We are not sure if this anomaly should be considered to be an environmental hazard or a planetary feature. It is a sea of temporal energy that is stable and from what little we can determine ranges from a mere few feet to kilometers deep at its deepest points. It covers nearly ten percent of the surface area of Skysoph and carriers islands within its borders. It takes the appearance of silver-azure liquid that flows without ripples and yet always moving. Within the mist that rises from the surface one can perceive images of the past and future blurred beyond recognition, but still there. We know that deep within the Ocean animals dwell and thrive within its temporal depths, it is a well of the energy of time itself and is the source of the energy that is used to power the temporal technology that we desperately require.
Ecosystem
On this world we have many epochs of lifeforms forming a newly uniformed biosphere from scattered and extinct species across the eons. It is an exceptional source of study on how ecosystems develop and stabilize after upheavals, however the more pressing matter is that this world in all but the most recent epochs is a deathworld.
We have broken down the eras into five groupings in age and have found that the older a species is the more deadly it is. Much in the same vein as the past eras on Earth, the older eras of life on this world were given selection pressures that prioritized size and danger, while over time the danger lessened as food become more plentiful and eventually the hyper predators faded away.
Primordial are the oldest animals and plants on this world now, and they are all in the top 5% of galactic death worlds in terms of danger to human life. Every species within this category, is able to fight the Strikers for a time either solo or with a pack and can easily break through even Federation defenses when pressed. Thankfully, this is also the smallest grouping with only a mere two hundred species of animals and plants so far discovered.
It however includes what we have come to identify as the future apex predator of the world. We have yet to decide on a name for the predator in question, but we expect all major Shard Nations to be aware of it for it is a significant threat to everyone. It is a biological titan, at least 10 meters tall and fifty long, with a meter of chitinous plating and several centimeter thick skin. In addition to its size and armor, it has an aura of entropic energy that drains vitality and slows time slightly around it and can breath a far more concentrated form of this aura as a beam weapon, as another aspect of its power over time it is able to flash step and has a multitude of less potent temporal based abilities. To expand its options and defenses its blood is highly radioactive and is partially formed from compounds using uranium. In an unknown as of yet manner it is capable of near sub-orbital flight and can easily reach speeds on par with jet fighters. In order to support its energy demands it has four different energy gathering methods: it is a combination of Electrotrophic, Tempustrophic, Radiotrophic and Heterotrophic.
As bad as this creature is, it is thankfully mostly solitary with them only forming packs during mating season, which is manageable. We stress once more that this is the kind of creature that most exemplifies the Primordial era on our world.
The next era we have determined is the antediluvian era. These creatures are only within the top 15% of all death worlds, a significant reduction in danger from the Primordial era, but still a major threat to even the Federation shards. We have yet to truly identify any notable animal or plant that stands out from the average in this grouping and as such will move on to the next era.
The Venerable, the 3rd Era we have concluded to exist is marked mostly by plants and fewer animals, but with more insect analogs than in other eras. The most pressing pest is a swarming insect that eats electricity from certain plants and also our city Infrastructure. They have recently been the cause of several blackout events across the world but can easily be handled with our technology and as such we have concluded that this era falls below the 25% level of danger for death worlds.
The next two eras are significantly less deadly descending into merely the 60% percent threshold with only a mere 40% less deadly than them, but compared to the earlier eras they are a rounding error for us to handle. The Strikers are more than capable of handling them, as are the cats that were with on the world.
On that note, we have to mention that both cats and dogs that were living on the world have since mutated to be able to produce and manipulate temporal energy from eating animals with temporal energy within them, and as such we have determined that cats are able to teleport slight distances and dogs have a slight form of precognitive hearing and smelling.
[X] Plan: Silvery Subtle Anathema Styles a new Symbol.
-[X] Rune Planet (5 action years)
-[X] Rune of Subtlety (3/8 years) (3 action years)
-[X] Rune of Silver (1 action year)
-[X] Rune of Anathema (1 action year)
-[X] Start reading the information provided by the Emperor, while you will need a dedicated sit-down, having some context is still valuable
-[X] Make a new symbol for the Wardens to commemorate the victory over the Maelstrom
-[X] Look into the Vigilance's machine spirit, after the Maelstrom War it's likely grown
Runic research was always an odd mix of relaxing and stressful. Working on a simpler rune like the Rune of Silver was easy. There were a few oddities, as Kesar found, but for a rune this simple, they could be planned around. There was as if there was a part of the rune that was missing as if he only understood a portion of what truly defined silver. Looking further into the properties of the metal helped, adding a few extra flourishes which made up a rather complex section that described some of its antibacterial properties. Yet, there was still something missing. Something seemingly minor. It was vexing.
*Rune of Silver (Basic) - Unknown effects when used with sorcery/rituals. +2 corruption resistance, +1 anti-daemon to IA on the same battlefield as the Wardens.*
At the same time, while some aspects of his work were simple, others were far more complicated. The rune of subtlety was shown to have features Kesar hadn't expected. Primarily that several sections had seemingly faded away from his notes. Having to retrace those was irritating, but as he already had done it once, it did make his work easier. And when he put it down for the moment, he estimated the design work was halfway done.
*Rune of Subtlety now at 4/8 Years*
Then there was the rune planet, something which as always, proved itself to be far more complicated than desired. Trying to teach the average psyker was a chore, Kesar thought. Each one of them was so far from the standards he was used to. It was almost laughable, and the Daemonsbane truly wondered just what Malcador was doing. So far, the only useful aspect about the psykers was that they were uneducated, and so their minds were easy to mold as he desired. It was maddening, yes, he did succeed in getting some trace amounts of runic production. And yet, he did so by essentially indoctrinating psykers. It was such a waste of time and resources, he truly did need to find a better way. As it was, simply getting those psykers to actually provide some level of runic production was already more than he had hoped for.
*Rune Planet Next Stage Completes*
Then there was a rune that seemingly called to Kesar. A rune he could best describe as a rune of himself. A Rune of the Anathema. Its design came to him with ease, a far cry from the typical rune that he had to painstakingly agonize over. For this rune, however, the warp itself seemed to agree with what he was doing. Sections of such nightmarish complexity that would outdo the best of Tzeentchians, sections of such perfection that Slaanesh themselves would desire it, sections that evoked pure violence and bloodlust, and sections that seemed to rot away reality came to him, each broken in ways that only he could do. To Kesar, it was beautiful. A symbolic representation of his dominance over them.
But that was only a portion of the rune. Carvings symbolizing his victories over the daemons were compressed and carved to a degree that even Primarchs could not see. A full history of the Second Anathema was written and made permanent. Victories Kesar never even knew he had, and victories he had yet to gain carved themselves within the rune beyond his sight. To truly describe the rune itself would take Kesar centuries, and even then he would not be able to encapsulate its deeper meaning.
This was the Rune of the Anathema, what else was there to say?
*Kesar Gains the Rune of the Anathema - Provides the location of daemons within a planet-sized area, skilled daemons can obscure their presence. Provides the plans of daemons upon the world. Forces daemonic champions to fight Kesar before they can fight anyone else. Only Kesar can use this rune.*
"Are the preparations complete?" Kesar asked, making his own tests on the equipment involved in this project.
Bodin carefully finished his own checks. "Aye," the broad-shouldered Warden declared. "She'll be cranky about being woken, but she'll forgive it with time."
"She?" Kesar cocked his head curiously. "Were you told or did that come naturally to you?"
The Master of the Forge didn't hesitate in their response, "I've worked on her systems for decades now. I know her more than any Warden does."
"I'm glad to hear that," Kesar said truthfully. "I was simply curious if you could feel the weight of the machine spirit, and if that influenced your word choice."
"Hmm, some of the tech-priests might know more." Bodin's brow furrowed, "I can get some of them to summarize what they know of this."
"Perhaps later," Kesar sighed, considering the matter, "as much as I wish I could study that, I have other engagements afterward."
"Of course father," the Forge Master accepted. "Would you care to do the honors?"
Kesar said nothing, instead, he stepped forwards, his hand slipping smoothly into a glove to communicate with the Vigilance's machine spirit.
He sent forth a burst of binary, a request for a report on the ship's status. Moments later he received his response, a variety of parameters concerning ship integrity, power levels, historical damage reports, and repairs, etc. He frowned, it wasn't what he wanted, but his communication had been fairly routine. Perhaps something more direct.
"I am Kesar Dorlin, Primarch of the Wardens. I wish to speak with you."
Kesar felt as if two eyes larger than those of a Titan opened, the machine spirits gaze distant, yet now in focus.
You.
"Vigilance," the Daemonsbane said, giving a respectful nod. "It's nice to finally meet you."
Combat?
Across the ship, systems began to enter full combat readiness, the alerts of battle stations blared, sensors activated, and weapon systems were primed. The tech-priests and tech marines, realizing what was happening sent a message to Kesar, requesting he calm the machine spirit immediately.
"No," Kesar quickly said. "I just wished to see your growth. There is no danger yet, I simply wanted to talk."
Talk? Why?
Kesar felt the surprise and irritation as if this was completely alien to the Vigilance. As if she would rather rest or fight. "I like to talk and know about all those who fight with me, and in a way, you're one of our best."
Yes.
The Primarch smiled at the response. There was no bragging or pride, just a statement that he was correct. If someone else had said it, he might be worried about overconfidence issues. But for a machine spirit, it was just a fact. "There's one other thing …" Kesar began as his smile somewhat faded. "I figured you ought to know what we're going to be fighting in the future."
Tell me.
"We removed the Maelstrom, wresting it from the daemons." Kesar spoke with pride, "We will be finishing that, ensuring their infestation of that part of reality is cleansed entirely." A cruel tone entered his voice at the end, one he was sure transferred into the binary he was speaking with.
For several seconds, there was no response.
Good. Kill more. Never enough.
There was an almost overwhelming level of glee in the words, and Kesar realized now that when people said the Vigilance represented him, they were entirely right. "I'm glad." His own smile was genuine, and he was sure that if the Vigilance had a face, it was smiling as well. "Would you like something from me?"
Yes.
"What is it?"
Some little ones don't visit. Which live?
"Not … not enough," Kesar swallowed, as the conversation took a darker turn than he wanted. "Around half. I'll upload the list of the living, and of the dead."
There was no response.
"Would … would you like anything else?" Kesar hesitantly asked.
Rest. Tired.
"Of course, thank you for speaking to me, I know it's not easy for you." The Primarch said, feeling more than seeing the Vigilance close her eyes and begin to drift to sleep once more.
Will wait.
One of the greatest perks of the Legion exchange was just the level of talent that was shared. While art was something the Wardens may only dabble in, several of the other Legions focused on it far more. The Emperor's Children and Blood Angels were both invited to look over a new Legion symbol for the Eternal Wardens, one Kesar himself had made.
It depicted the Malestrom, abstracted of course, being pierced by a blade, one that appeared like an amalgamation of the Sword of the Lost, Epitaph, and the standard power sword. Littered throughout the image were little details, changes in colors, and changes in the roiling storm that if one knew the details of the various battles, one could see how those stories were represented. It made it difficult for the Emperor's Children and Blood Angels to truly critique those changes, as they were not cleared to know of those battles, yet they still provided notable help, specifically when a few of the Astartes suggested new colors and new tweaks, some of which Kesar was happy to incorporate.
It took him several days, but soon afterward, he had completed his design. Sharing it with his Legion, it took several weeks for the Wardens to finish including it within their armor, and many were certainly pleased with it, having survived hell, the least they deserved was something to commemorate it with.
*+2 to Legion Combat for this upcoming turn only*
There is a finality to death. One born from myth and legend, a barrier that separates a living soul from a dead one. To many, it seems impenetrable, yet there are species out there that have ignored this barrier entirely.
The Aeldari, or Eldar as they are now known, were the most prominent. When they were at their height, death was but a temporary state. One that would pass quickly. Yet their revival process was shattered with the birth of the latest Eldar God.
Now the Four are the most prominent when it comes to ignoring the finality of death. How do you kill a nonsentient being? Ask yourself, how do you kill a block of iron?
Melting? Iron remains.
Shattering? Now the iron is simply spread out.
Sealing in a container? That's simply imprisonment.
No matter what you do, the iron can be reforged, similar to the denizens of the warp. For they are but objects that can change from form to form.
One would think this is not the case for the souls of man. If you break a man into pieces, they cannot be put back. It is here the analogy breaks down, and a new one must be considered.
When a man dies, it is like they have crossed a river. There is a gap between the banks, one so large, with water so torrential, it seems unfathomable for one to ever return to the land of the living.
And yet, there is a way.
One simply needs to find a bridge. And pay the toll.
Excerpts from the Emperor's Notes
The warp is a whimsical place, one where logic and reason are often ignored. A place where emotion and irrationality are dominant. It's a place not meant for the minds of men, and it took the greatest scientists in the history of mankind to even begin understanding.
I'm ashamed to say it took me thousands of years to understand it. While my younger self could command it instinctively, as the years progressed and the rule of science began to grow, I found myself understanding the warp less and less, for how can you explain color to a blind man?
That was what made the warp such a hostile place for man. We tried to rule it, tried to chain it with rules and laws, to make it bend to our will. With what I now know, with the dangers revealed, it is clear that this was an impossible task.
The warp is not a place that can be controlled. Like the primal storms it brings to the materium now, the warp is best thought of as the wilds of Terra when even farming was not even a dream in the eyes of man.
One does not rule nature, one learns to work with nature. Like the shamans of old, like the hunter-gatherers of our past, one must realize that nature does what it wants.
And yet, while the wilds seem as if they operate without reason, there are rules.
You simply need to look close enough.
Excerpts from the Emperor's Notes
To my brother Horus,
I have begun looking through the notes given to me by the Emperor, and I find myself wondering if a different man wrote this.
The Emperor I have known is cold and rational, demanding that the galaxy bend to his will. Yet the Emperor within these notes can scarcely be called an Emperor. Rather I would call him a Philosopher, someone that describes the whimsy of the warp, makes analogies, and draws upon ancient myths and stories. I ask of you, was this the Emperor you once knew?
To journey from the land of the dead to the land of the living, one must simply take a bridge. Only a toll must be paid. I wonder about the imagery here. It suggests someone guards the bridge itself, a sort of worker to be paid. Now I wonder how the Emperor paid the price if he did so using Angron's higher reasoning, or perhaps his own soul.
Yet now I think I know. The Emperor you knew was gone by the time Angron perished. Instead, the Emperor on Nuceria was the one I have known. And he did something the old him never would have considered.
There is no comfort to be found in this revelation. To know that our father has lost a part of himself that once held hope that the warp could be understood and tamed for the good of all. I fear the more I read, the more I shall come to only grieve for the man that wrote this, perhaps gone for good.
There is nothing more valuable than a soul.
This isn't some philosophical statement, rather it is an objective fact. To the warp, the gift of a soul is a rare thing, one that takes months to develop for newborns. One that it tries to claw back when a clone with a soul is born. The warp holds onto souls greedily, like the grim reaper of old human myths, or perhaps I should say the grim reaper of galactic mythos, when a mortal dies, the reaper does not allow it to return.
But there is a way one can bring a soul back, one I hesitate to share with anyone. For it is monstrous, for the only things that tear apart souls to use in rituals are the Four and the Aeldari.
It's such a basic idea, one that many have considered before, but few have the skills or the morals to make use of.
To take a soul from the reaper, simply pay the boatman.
If someone else ever reads these notes, I'm sure you're confused, the old myths of the Greeks have been forgotten by now. Forgive an old man for his musing.
The boatman only accepts one currency, if they simply demanded a soul be sent to the land of the dead, then by now the dead would be rather common within the materium. No, the boatman only accepts the vilest of currency.
Rendered souls, torn apart remnants of sapience and sanity that still somehow scream. The Prince of Pleasure likely knows this, and now I can never unknow it.
Know this, if someone finds these notes in the future, and one ever attempts this. Know this.
I will kill you.
Excerpts from the Emperor's Notes
I truly believe Horus that the Emperor of old would despise who he is now. The Emperor we know has done something his past self would do everything to kill.
I don't know if we will ever see the Emperor of old again. Did he do something to his soul? Or was it simply the trauma of the Age of Strife that changed him? These notes come from the time prior to events I have never even heard of. The dating system alone changes twice within it.
But such a hopeless outlook is not one I will accept, as I have a mind that, as our brother Konrad put it 'took one look at the warp and said "I can take it"' I understand that the logistics of such a war is not something I can affect, at least beyond the continuation of my purging of the former Maelstrom...
But rescuing what remains of our Father...that I can do. That I must do. I will not ask you to join me in this without care, as the undertaking will surely annihilate what goodwill I have earned from Him and I would not risk what memories you have of him and cherish for the sake of the ease of my efforts.
Yet there's something that I have yet to truly understand, something that is missing.
The Emperor must have known what he would become. He understood the fact that the warp demands its due. He understood how valuable it is to create souls.
So why did he make us? Why would he mutilate himself like this?
And what drove him to it?
The more questions that are answered, the more questions there are. I know not where the end lies, nor do I know if I wish to see what lies at the end.
I fear Horus, not just for my own sake, but for the Imperium's. It makes me wonder about the truth of Mortarion's words. Whether the Imperium would be better off without the Emperor at its head.
In order to maximize what one obtains from a ritual, one must approach it with a closed mind. Your goals are all that matters, not what the warp wants, nor what must be paid to receive it. The only calculation that must be made is whether the cost-benefit ratio is positive.
Discard concepts such as morality, discard concepts such as kindness. The warp is to be chained by your actions. Broken down and beaten until it does what it is told.
It is then that you obtain true power. The power that comes from being beyond such human weaknesses as sympathy or empathy. It's a power that I despise, but one so desperately needed by humanity as a whole.
To whoever reads this, know that I make my decision with a sound mind.
It must be done.
Excerpts from the Emperor's Notes
Shaken, Kesar put down the dataslate holding the notes, along with the letter he had penned to Horus. Standing up, he winced at the mess he had made while reading, so engrossed was he that there were ink stains all over his desk. He … he couldn't think about this now.
Reading those notes was like watching a gorgeous sculpture degrade over the eons. It was akin to watching a hero of a story grow old and bitter. Like watching civilization crumble. Considering what it was he had read, the latter two were entirely accurate as well. It made his decision to leave to walk out of the tribunal far better. For now, he knew he had to make a statement, to explain to Malcador that his old friend was not right. To share with his brothers that something must be done. And to maybe, just maybe, find the Emperor within these notes once more.
He didn't know if it could be done, but he had to try.
To Lord Primarch Alpharius,
I apologize for contacting you so suddenly, but I wish to ask you to meet with my father when you can. Recently he has been reading a large database from the Emperor, one I do not have clearance to know the contents of. Over the past few days, his mood has noticeably taken a turn for the worse, despite the upcoming party on Olympia, one I know he is certain of.
As his First Captain, I ask you for a favor. I know that you are close to him, and I understand you are busy. Nonetheless, if you can, kindly make time for my father as soon as possible. He values your words and trusts you more than is wise. Please do this for me, and for him.
First Captain of the Eternal Wardens
I'll see what I can do. No favors are needed for this.
O
For the party, Kesar has to make an agenda, but what should he focus on?
[] Business - With what he has learned, he doesn't have the time to worry about relaxing. Instead, Kesar seeks to use the party for business. He seeks to inform Perturabo and Khan of his findings and plan with them. While he won't get to enjoy the party himself, it is likely needed.
[] Friendship - With what he has found, Kesar needs to clear his mind. He is stressed, and likely emotional. Bleed off some of that stress by talking with his brothers about it. While a plan may not be made, they will still be informed. And perhaps later something may be done.
[] A mixture - Compromising is healthy, and often a good choice. Partly destress and partly begin planning. While it will be in between the effects of both business and friendship, something is better than nothing.
[] Write-in
GM Note: As usual, 12 hour moratorium
Rune Planet: 98, 54, 41, 37, 35 (Stage Passed)
Rune of Subtlety (DC50): 5, 3, 45 + 5 (Omake) = 50 (4/8)
Rune of Silver: Autopass
Rune of Anathema: Autopass
This may or may not be our new symbol btw. It was generated by AI over on discord and Daemon liked it. Not quite official but it's a close approximation
This may or may not be our new symbol btw. It was generated by AI over on discord and Daemon liked it. Not quite official but it's a close approximation
