Via Scientia - The Road to Knowledge

[Artemis1992]

Via Scientia - The Road to Knowledge​

You can't help but look to the red, smoke-filled sky, even as you hear the binary chanting and give the ritual answers

Will you go forth in the Omnissiah's Name to seek His truths?
By the Motive Force moving me, I will.
​

Somewhere up there is the Voidship that will soon be yours, undergoing last routines and rites to ensure its readiness

Will you smite the Xenos, the Traitor and the Heretec as you find them?
By the Holy Augments that give me strength, I will.
​

It had taken you decades from the moment you looked upon the parade of a returning Explorator, bringing your world the marvels of long-lost STCs, to where you are now. You had been a simple Enginseer back then, now a true Techpriest and Magos in your own right.

Will you guide and guard the Machine Spirit of the Holy Vessel that is entrusted to you?
As it will guard my flesh, so will I guard its spirit.
​

Your internal auspex notes the presence of your benefactor on a raised balcony far above the others watching the ceremony. Everyone is here, your fellow techpriests, your former teachers, even the 43% of the menials in the local manufactorums that were not currently on a high-priority duty or the mandated recovery from one had been given two extra hours of free time to attend this event.

Will you claim the sacred Technology of the ancients, at all costs and with all effort?
By the spark of the Machine God that sets my mind in motion, I will.​

You would need to show something, for the trust invested in you, and soon. You are not yet a Venerable Archmagos Explorator that is trusted to go into the void for decades, in the knowledge that their journey would eventually provide results. You owe your patron much, and so you will have to repay him much.
You save yourself the effort of trying to read their face, hidden behind far more advanced augments than your own, you could not tell if they feel pride, impatience, expectation of anything else at the thought of your Journey. But they must have some faith in you, or you wouldn't be here.

Who is your Patron though?

[] Archmagos Scaevola "Offertor Argentus" of Stygies VIII
The Silverbringer is a former Explorator herself and now Fabricator Locum of Stygia Tertius, one of the great Forge-Hives of the moon Stygies VIII. Her adherence to the Xenarite creed is a barely hidden secret among the Mechanicus, though outsiders rarely know even the most common rumors that circulate within the order. She had become an Explorator herself after certain successes at Silva Tenebris and a Fabricator Locum riding on the successes of that quest for knowledge.
She would not be a patient patron, but a tolerant one.
Pros:

• Xenarite: Scaevola will never ask question that she doesn't need answered, for example why the blueprints for improved Plasma-containment you send her look almost exactly like a Tau Pulse-Rifle's firing-chamber
• If your research-backlog grows to large, she will accept samples of Xenotech for the same amount of favor that samples of similar human-based tech would have gained
• Stygies-Tech: Your ship and personal equipment will get boni against detection and for scrambling hostile auspexes

Cons:

• Known Xenarite: While the Imperium at large is oblivious to the particularities of Stygies VIII or Scaevola in particular, the Mechanicus and the Inquisition know about them, making you inherently suspicious through association in their eyes.
• Demands of Secrecy: Even if you in particular have nothing to hide, your ship has. Full repairs of your ship by any techpriests not allied to your homeworld or on some personal level sworn to secrecy will reveal questionable technology.

[] Magos Revera Thoth "Viator" of Cypra Mundis
The Fabricator Locum of Cypra Apex is both the head of her own Forge-Hive and the de facto point of contact with the Administratum Master and the Lord Admiral of Battlefleet Obscurus, both of which usually orbit the planet in their titanic Star Fort, the Segmentum Fortress Obscurus.
Ascended to Fabricator Locum after a long and fruitful service as Emissary aboard the Flagship of Obscurus, the Soaring Wrath, the Viator is known for her diplomatic skill and her investment in the greater Imperium. Her ascension to Fabricator Locum was something of an internal scandal, as it was exceedingly rare that a Magos who had not yet earned the title of Archmagos through mastery of their field of study rose to such lofty heights, but on Cypra Mundi politics must be payed tribute.
Pros:

• Navy Connections: Your patron has excellent connections to the Imperial Navy, you get a bonus on Diplomacy towards them
• Imperial Patriot: You get a minor amount of favor for helping the Imperium and destroying its foes, though you should not let that distract you from your Quest for Knowlege of course
• Cypra Mundi Experience: Your ship will start with a particularly well-trained crew and it is efficiently run by lessons learned from millenia of working with the Navy

Cons:

• Barely a Fabricator: Your patron has, for all her other talents, not truly pushed her mastery of the Omnissiah's lessons. By association, your diplomacy towards more dogmatic members of the Mechanicus suffers.
• Standard Ship: The arsenals of Cypra Mundi can never stop their endless production and repair, certainly not to costumize your ship too far from the basic build. You get no initial costumisation to your ship (though it is still Mechanicus-Grade and not a regular Navy ship)

[] Archmagos Phi Rho VI "Gravitatus" of Graia
The master of Gravity is the current Fabricator Locum and Forge-Captain of the Graian Crown, a titanic fortress and manufactorum-complex capable of leaving the planet Graia and taking flight of its own, if necessary. Phi Rho VI is in many ways a very traditional Fabricator, one who rose through the ranks of the local Mechanicum by endurance, intelligence and of course patronage of his predecessor Archamgoc Veneratus Phi Rho V, who has recently retired from the position of Fabricator Locum to fully focus on his work of trying to make the artisanal Grav Tanks occasionally used in the Imperium mass-producible.

Pros:

• Graian Drives: Your ship will use Graian propulsion technology, making it faster and more maeuverable than most ships of its tonnage, for a bonus on defensive maneuvers in void combat.

Cons:

• None

By the way, what was your name again?

[] Vote for a name. You can use any IRL name from any culture, some mechanicus-appropriate variant thereof or just a combination of Greek letters and Arabian numbers, anything goes in the wide world of 40k.

//Well, let's see how this works out. I'm no expert on 40k and I will read what suggestions and canon-knowledge relevant to the situation you can tell me, but ultimatly this is done with flexible canon, using what I think works, rather than trying to apply everything from 40k's dubious canon.
We are playing somewhere in the middle of the 41st millennium, so the Great Rift or the returning Primarchs won't come into play.

 

[Artemis1992]

Favor​

Your Patrons favor is what keeps you in charge of a Ship and Crew, it is what buys you repairs and restocks. If you loose it, your Quest for Knowledge will find an ignoble end, as you are recalled to your homeworld, demoted to a different task and your ship is set to worthier endeavors.

You loose some favor every turn, representing the value your ship could have had for the Forgeworld on more conventional uses.

You gain favor primarily in three ways:

• Send pieces of archeotech or rare Imperial technology back to your patron​
• Send blueprints of archeotech or rare Imperial technology back to your patron (you can create those through research-actions, mostly reconstructing found technology)​
• Send partial STCs you find back to your Patron​

A rough estimation of Favor:

-A piece of rare Imperial Technology, or unusually efficient version of know Technology: 5-20 Favor (about 5 for a Volkite-pistol, about 20 for a working example of a Graian Anti-Gravity-Drive
-A piece of real Archeotech: 5-100 Favor (about 5 for a real Dark Age Coffee-machine, about 100 for an unknown Titan)
-Blueprints of the same: +50% base Favor
-Partial STC: 50-??? Favor

Character Stats​

I'll be using a system similar to CKII-quests whereby most of your actions are governed by simple, broad-area stats.

Those are Martial, Diplomacy, Administration, Intrigue, Willpower and Prowess.

From those basic stats, Learning is omitted, as it is too vital to a Techpriest's works to leave as a single, undifferentiated stat.
You get access to the following Knowledge Skills:

• Motive Force: This is the lore that governs generators, ship-drives and non-projectile weapons from Lasguns to Power Weapons.
• Mechanical Movement: From the lever to the Macro-cannon, if it requires the interplay of moving parts, Mechanic plays a part.
• Spiritual Guidance: This knowledge covers a wide field from the creation of servitors, over the comprehension of Auspex to the placation of Machine Spirits. In any truly great project, such as ships or Titans, it is necessary to create harmony between the different mechanical components.
• Biological Comprehension: The perfection of the human form holds secrets even after countless millennia of study. This knowledge applies to medicine, human augmentation and discovering the weaknesses (and potentially useful strengths) of Xenos.
• Esoterica: This is, in a simple phrase "the rest". Understanding of the Warp goes here, as well as specific phenomena and technologies that don't or only partially fit under the four great ones.

Actions​

Every turn will roughly represent a year (realtime) and you will be able to take 1 Expedition, 1 Contact the Locals and 2 Research actions.

• With Expeditions you will follow up on rumors that could lead you to worthwhile technology. These can be on the small side, such as scanning a planet that was supposed to have a long-abandoned colony somewhere, to the very involved, such as temporarily joining a a major military action to reclaim a lost world.
• Contact the Locals is your primary means of gaining more leads to potential caches of Archeotech or other interesting targets. It is also your way of networking with other forces in the Sector, potentially helping each other for future favors.
• Research is the action in which you either try to improve your fundamental understanding of known technologies, or dismantle found technology to be able to recreate it. Later on your advanced understanding of certain areas of technology might allow you to create improved versions of existing tech. Your research actions might also be used to solve local problems to gain favors or repay them.

The Ship​

You as a Magos Explorator will have a ship of your own. This is mechanically relevant in two ways. Firstly, there will be Void-Combat, secondly your ship has Production.

Ship to Ship combat will be resolved by simple D100 rolls opposing each other, including any boni the ship might have, as well as the Captain's Martial stat. This will be resolved mostly narrativly as guided by those rolls, similar to regular CKII-Quest battles.
I might try for a proper combat-system later, but until then I'll try to incorporate relevant traits and upgrades in the descriptions and outcomes to the best of my abilities.

Example:
Sword Class Frigate "Glory"
Size: Escort (low total health, small crew)
Speed: High (+30 to attempts to dodge or escape)
Weapons: Macro Turrets (+0 on attacks, one of the weaker weapons in the game)
Armor: Low (+10 on resisting damage)

Your ship also has a capacity for Production.
This is used every turn to replenish or improve your Skitarii, to craft equipment for your Techpriests, to repair minor damage to your or other ships or to help others for Favors or Rumors.
Your ship's production-capacity will mostly depend on the class of ship you choose, though certain technology can improve it.

Ships have Four stages of damage:
Minor: Takes penalties in battle, can be fixed during normal operation by spending Production
Moderate: Takes large penalties in battle, you need a dock or station to make proper repairs, but you can still do it with your own Production
Major: Options in battle are limited to playing dead or sacrificing yourself with some last act. Requires proper facilities for repair, this usually requires either a Favor from a nearby Naval Base or Forgeworld, or to spend Patron's Favor on it.
Hulk: Your ship is incapable of travel or combat, it will likely take a rescue-ship to even tow you to the nearest dock. Repair options same as Major, but more costly.

Examples of Production-Costs:

1PP
Restore 5% of your army

2PP
Create a relic of a basic piece of equipment (includes a roll)
Create an advanced weapon or item

5PP
Complete a small civilian project, like a Generatorium or Water Filter sufficient for a town
Create a relic of an advanced item

10PP
Minor Repairs on an Escort
Build a wing of fighters
Build transports for 5% of your army
Civilian Project for a small hive

 

[Artemis1992]

Current Favor: 70


Wanderer Class Light Cruiser "Gilded Lantern"
Size: Light Cruiser: Roughly 4.3 Km length, 60k Crew, 6k Fully Equipped Skitarii including transport vehicles, scout walkers and tanks
Speed: Medium (+15 to attempts to dodge or escape)
Weapons: Macro Batteries (+20 on attacks), Triple Torpedo Tube (extreme range)
Armor: Medium (+20 on resisting damage)
Special: Stygies-Scramblers (+10 on attempts to stay undetected, -10 on enemy aim)
Production-Capacity: 15PP per Turn
Cost: 10 Favor per turn

 

[Artemis1992]

Magos Explorator Vitruvius Crurium

Martial: 13 +1 (Traits) = 14 You have basic proficiency in assessing tactical situations and leading Skitarii
Diplomacy: 17 +1 (Traits) +1 (Equipment) = 19 You are unusually skilled in interacting with the unenlightened
Administration: 9 +2 (Traits) = 11 Your understanding of logistics and workflow is mostly theoretical, but you can put the work in
Intrigue: 19 +6 (Traits) = 25 Keeping and finding secrets is second nature to you, even your Patron can barely guess what you know and don't know
Willpower: 13 +1 (Traits) = 14 Your faith in the Omnissiah is of acceptable intensity
Prowess: 10 +5 = 15 (+2 at range) You are trained and ready for combat, but lacking experience, your augments do much of the work for you

Lores:
Motive Force: 12
Mechanical Movement: 10
Spiritual Guidance: 10
Biological Comprehension: 8 +5 (Traits) = 13
Esoterica: 5


Traits:

Paranoid: +3 Intrigue, -2 Diplomacy and Administration -1
Ambitious: +1 to all stats, -1 on all Knowledges +1
Diligent: +2 Administration,+ 1 to all Knowledges +1



Augmented Techpriest (+5 Prowess)
A Techpriest equipped for even moderately dangerous environments is a considerable force in battle, his body easily equal to carapace armor, his weapons and mechadendrites exceeding a specialist-team in power. Further, an integrated Rebreather reduces the dangers of poison gas or airless environments and rad-cleansers make it possible to work besides Skitarii with their typical Rad-Weapons with minimal long-term damage.

Genetor Minoris (+5 Biological Comprehension, +2 Diplomacy and Intrigue)
Your comprehension of the human form is both instincual and comprehensivly enhanced by study. In preparation for your Journey you have studied everything you could about your fellow man, to recognise anything from microexpressions to the altered smell specific hormones cause when being produced in greater amount with your enhanced senses.



Equipment:
Melee: Power Axe
Ranged 1: Plasma Gun
Ranged 2: Arc-Rifle

Mechadendrite 1: Stimulant-Injector
Mechadendrite 2: Tech-Interface

Advanced Personal Auspex: +2 Prowess while at range, +1 Diplomacy, +10 on any rolls to detect hidden objects or sneaky targets
Your ocular augments are far more advanced than those of most techpriests, piercing attempts at stealth, cataloguing the reactions of a conversation-partner and enhancing your personal aim.

Stygian Scrambler (+10 on attempts at stealth, -10 on attempts to aim at the character by technological means)
Stygies VIII is somewhat infamous for its advanced auspex-scramblers, giving their Infiltrators and Rust Stalkers a decisive edge in many engagements. Vitruvius has been gifted an advanced model of such a scrambler to integrate in his personal augmentations, making him difficult to notice by almost any scanning-devices in use by the Imperium and its more common foes. Even when discovered, the scrambler fouls automatic aiming and target-visors to some degree.

 

[Artemis1992]

As you board the shuttle that will bring you to your new ship, you notice a touch of sentimentality in your emotional recorders. Considering it for a moment, you choose to experience the feeling unfiltered as you think back on your time on Stygies VIII.

A child of menials, that had the luck and intelligence to pass the annual aptitude-tests for the Schola Adeptum, that had the endurance to learn endless hours on topics both important and some merely taught to weed out those who lacked the diligence and fortitude to become a Techpriest.

Years as a proper Acolyte after meeting those first and lowest expectations, more years as a Lexmechanic, processing a most minor portion of the sacred data-flows that even the most minor of manufactorums creates, and finally even more years as an Enginseer, gathering experience in the Practica of the blessed Rites of Maintenance and Repair.

Finally, having proven your right to your Mechadendrites and to the lofty title of Magos, you have spend the last years preparing for this Holy Quest ahead of you, learning the crafts of Captaincy and Navigation, of contacting the Unenlightened without causing unnecessary hostilities, lessons of war and combat and of course many secrets of the Ancients, to unseal the vaults of long-lost Mechanicus Outpost, to see the signs of buried Dark Age colonies and many more important details.

Still, not all men are equal and not all lessons suit each equally, and so you too have your strengths and weaknesses:

You have the stats Martial, Diplomacy, Administration, Intrigue, Willpower and Prowess.
Your base values in these are 9, 19, 13, 17, 13 and 10.
Martial: Your mastery of the battlefield, of strategy and tactic. If you are leading people into combat, this stat will be applied, both in the Void and in the clash of armies or of combat-teams.
Diplomacy: This is your ability to negotiate, to smooth over problems, to avoid offending the people you are trying to cooperate with.
Administration: You ability to keep your ship in order and the production running, to solve logistical problems and to understand finance.
Intrigue: Your ability to lie and cheat, to keep truths to yourself without making it obvious you are doing so and to notice and understand those trying to deceive you.
Willpower: The strength of your mind, your ability to carry on weakened and wounded, some would say this is the measure of your faith in the Omnissiah.
Prowess: Your personal ability to fight. This stat will be heavily modified by equipment, just being a Tech-Priest with your augments, mechadendrites and a blessed Omnisian Axe will give a +5 bonus to this.

[] Vote to assign each stat a number.

Additionally you have also mastered your craft as a Techpriest. Spend 40 points in total between these fields, each determines your skill in interacting with, repairing, creating and reverse-engineering any piece of technology within the field.
Many larger projects include multiple fields, in which case each is rolled seperatly.

Motive Force: The lore of energy, includes generators, shields (not Gellar-Fields), las-, plasma-, arc- and power-weapons, advanced drives (piston-based motors do not fit in here, but skimmer drives and ship-engines do)

Mechanical Movement: The lore of the visible physical interaction, includes basic mechanics, structural sciences, solid-shot, bolt- and flamer-weapons, the construction of buildings and vehicles and primitive motors.

Spiritual Guidance: The lore of the spirit in the machine, includes servitors and robots, any direct interaction with machine-spirits and cogitators, what would be called programming today, as well as auspexes and scanners. It is also relevant for the Rites of the Admech and to fend off scrapcode and hacking.

Biological Comprehension: The lore of flesh, human, animal and xeno. This includes medical work, poisons, cloning, mutation and the correct identification, application and repair of augmentics and implants.

[] Spend 40 points between the fields above.

Esoterica: Any phenomena that are not recognised as part of the disciplines above. This one can't be raised normally, usually only specific sub-fields such as Warpcraft are gained via traits. Due to your choice of Patron you have had the chance to study some unusual cases, giving you 5 Points here.


//I'll split this into two parts the next will be your character-traits. If you have any questions about what fits in which part of the Lores here please ask. Obviously there will be edge-cases and things that either don't fit at all or fit too many options, you can't put the sum of human knowledge in 4-5 fields, so sorry in advance for that.

 

[Artemis1992]

You can pick Traits to the total value of +1 here, maximally 3 in total:

Brave: +2 Prowess and Willpower, +1 Martial
Value +1

Craven: -2 Prowess and Willpower, +1 Intrigue
Value -1

Calm: +1 Diplomacy
Value 0

Wrathful: +3 Prowess +1 Martial, -2 Diplomacy and Intrigue
Value -1

Ambitious: +1 to all stats, -1 on all Knowledges
Value +1

Content: +1 to all Knowledges, -1 Intrigue
Value +0

Diligent: +2 Administration,+ 1 to all Knowledges
Value +1

Proud: +1 Willpower, -1 Diplomacy
Value +0

Paranoid: +3 Intrigue, -2 Diplomacy and Administration
Value -1

Zealous: +2 Willpower, +1 Intrigue, -3 Diplomacy with non-Admech characters
Value -1

Open-Minded: -1 Willpower, +3 Diplomacy with non-Admech characters
Value: +0

Stubborn: +2 Willpower, -2 Diplomacy
Value +0

// Keep in mind that these will inform your Vitruvius' character, not just his stats. If anyone has a personality-trait they'd love to add, just write it in and I'll approve or not. Don't pick opposite personality-traits.

Outside of his basic personality, Vetruvius has also a special trait that makes him stand out among his fellow Techpriests, something that played a role in achieving the position of Magos Explorator. Pick only 1:

Magos Evocatus:
You have shown an unusual talent in rousing the machine spirits to fury and defiance, they hear your Rites much clearer than those of other Techpriests.
+5 Spiritual Guidance, additional +10 on attempts to counteract Scrapcode or hostile hacking. Once per battle you may call on a machine spirit of a damaged ship or vehicle, enabling it to function without penalty for one roll.

Lesser Luminem:
While you are not a full Electro-Priest, you have strong bonds to that brotherhood, having taken pilgrimages to all the great Generatioriums of Stygies VIII and having received a set of electoos on your skin that let the motive force pass over you unchallenged.
+5 Motive Force, +3 Prowess, immunity to electricity-based damage

Physicus Savantus:
You have an exceptional gift in calculating angles and leverage, in predicting the movement of objects affected by forces that would take a cogitator hours to compute. This gift is as applicable in construction as it is in void warfare.
+5 Mechanical Movement, +3 Prowess, +3 Martial in Void Combat

Genetor Minoris:
Your comprehension of the human form is both instincual and comprehensivly enhanced by study. In preparation for your Journey you have studied everything you could about your fellow man, to recognise anything from microexpressions to the altered smell specific hormones cause when being produced in greater amount with your enhanced senses.
+5 Biological Comprehension, +2 Diplomacy and Intrigue




As the last step before his Journey, VItruvius has also aquired augmentations or equipment that he believes to be helpful on his task, pick 1:

Enhanced Chassis:
Your body is coated in a cermite-alloy, your limbs replaced by steel and coiled fibro-musculatur that far exceeds most biological creature's strength and flexiblity. In preparation for your journey you have turned your body into a warmachine, complete with hidden weapons.
+6 Prowess, -2 Diplomacy with non-Admech Characters

Universal Interface Mechadendrite:
Every techpriest has interface-devices, even the least Enginseer must have the means to cumminicate with the sacred machine he is attempting to repair. This goes far beyond such tools, as your Interface contains most Imperial and Mechanicus access-codes known to the Archmagos Scaevola, and is equipped with an advanced cogitator to recombine these elements in thousands of combinations within seconds.
+20 to any attempt to access an Imperial or Admech Cogitator, both for viewing-access and manipulation, +10 for Dark-Age or similar Imperium-related computers.

Triple-hardened Noospheric Relay:
About as far from a regular Vox as a regular Vox is from a fire used for smoke-signals, this Relay ensures a constant connection to the Noosphere, the network of information that keeps Techpriests and Skitarii constantly connected. While most Magi will have such a relay, this exemplar is both extremly secure against disruptions or intrusions, and has additional functions, such as showing the position of connected Skitarii relative to yourself and allowing you to communicate in Binary Chant without interrupting a regular conversation using your vocal cords or vox-grille.
+3 Martial, constant reliable contact to nearby allies

Medical Suite:
At first glance merely a metalic backpack, this augmentations contains a variety of medicines and stimulants and a sophisticated mechadendrite to apply them, or even perform simple surgical procedures.
+3 Prowess, you can stabilize fallen allies reliably, ignore the first -10 wound-penalties you suffer and have a +20 bonus on counteracting poisons in yourself or others.

Refractor-Field:
A rare technology, though relativly far-spread, this shield deflects most attacks, though it grows weaker if it is used repeatedly.
Ignore the first hit in combat, -10 to hostile attacks after that.

Eradicator Beamer (Handheld):
One of the most powerful weapons sized for human hands that the Imperium can produce, this weapon projects a ray of energy that atomizes most targets, cutting through flesh, bone, metal and most other materials with ease.
+5 Prowess while at range, better than Meltas at removing obstacles

Advanced Personal Auspex:
Your ocular augments are far more advanced than those of most techpriests, piercing attempts at stealth, cataloguing the reactions of a conversation-partner and enhancing your personal aim.
+2 Prowess while at range, +1 Diplomacy, +10 on any rolls to detect hidden objects or sneaky targets

// I hope that's a satisfactory spread of options, again if you want some specific item at this point, just ask and I'll look into it.
Please make a comprehensive plan for this part instead of voting in parts.

 

[Artemis1992]

As the shipyards of Stygies VIII come into view from your little shuttle, you are once again overwhelmed by the majesty of your fellow men's creation.
The main station easily equals the size and population of a Hive City below, showing dozens of landing bays from which shuttles, repair-ships and harvesters fly out in swarms as bees around a hive. At one glance you can see two Escorts and three proper Cruisers docked to the station, while you know at least one more is at the side turned away from your current position.

It is a gleaming spire of steel, brighter in the light of Stygies' sun than anything under the endless clouds and pollution of Stygies VIII can hope to shine, a beacon for those who come seeking knowledge, a sanctuary for the Imperial ships looking for refueling and repairs.

You know that the ship you will command is berthed here and you know it is a masterpiece even among its kin. The Adeptus Mechanicus builds all ships with care, precision and diligence, as it should be, but Explorator Vessels are given care and the best of available technology in regards to their longevity and independence.
Your Plasma Generatorium will hold out for decades with minimal repairs, your Hydroponic Facilities and advanced recyclers will keep your crew in food, water and air for years without planetary contact and redundant Geller Field Generators will allow you to risk a Warp Jump even after extensive battle damage with no more than the usual risks.

Of course you have studied the class of your ship, its history, known peculiarities of its great machine spirit and everything else you could find on it, but it is still a breathtaking sight:


Skimmer Class Destroyer
Size: Escort-Destroyer: Roughly 1.2 Km length, 12k Crew, 1.5k Fully Equipped Skitarii
Speed: Very High (+40 to attempts to dodge or escape)
Weapons: Macro Turrets (+0 on attacks), Double Torpedo Tube (extreme range)
Armor: Low (+10 on resisting damage)
Special: Silent Runner (+10 on attempts to stay undetected), Stygies-Scramblers (+10 on attempts to stay undetected, -10 on enemy aim)
Production-Capacity: 8PP per Turn
Cost: 5 Favor per turn

The Skimmer is among the smallest fully independent ships the Imperium or the Adeptus Mechanicus use, with only Monitors and Merchantmen strictly for in-system use being smaller.
While this is certainly a disadvantage in any open fight, as well as in the amount of troops one can carry, or forges and manufactorums one can install on board, it is excellent at staying undetected by all but the most sophisticated scanner-systems.
If you want a ship that brings you to your expeditions and gets you out again without every being noticed by potential foes, local authorities or any pirate that might be tempted by the thought of an Admech ship to plunder, this is your vessel.


Serpent Class Frigate
Size: Escort-Frigate: Roughly 1.7 Km length, 18k Crew, 2.1k Fully Equipped Skitarii
Speed: High (+30 to attempts to dodge or escape)
Weapons: Macro Turrets (+0 on attacks), Prow Lance (+10 on attacks, never misses without interference, long range)
Armor: Low (+10 on resisting damage)
Special: Merchant-Chassis (+20 on attempts to pass for a Merchant Cog), Stygies-Scramblers (+10 on attempts to stay undetected, -10 on enemy aim)
Production-Capacity: 10PP per Turn
Cost: 7 Favor per turn

The Serpent is a fully armed frigate, comparable in firepower with the famous Firestorm Frigates the Imperial Navy fields, but at a glance, that is almost impossible to notice even for experienced captains. The prow lance is hidden behind ornamentation, the macro-turret seems to be of a much more primitive design than it is and the blocky form appears nothing like a regular combat-vessel.
Given the right datasmith to forge the identification of a Merchant Cog, a Mechanicus Transport or even a particularly small and strange troop-transporter the Serpent passes beneath notice until it shows its fangs.


Wanderer Class Light Cruiser
Size: Light Cruiser: Roughly 4.3 Km length, 60k Crew, 6k Fully Equipped Skitarii including transport vehicles, scout walkers and tanks
Speed: Medium (+15 to attempts to dodge or escape)
Weapons: Macro Batteries (+20 on attacks), Triple Torpedo Tube (extreme range)
Armor: Medium (+20 on resisting damage)
Special: Stygies-Scramblers (+10 on attempts to stay undetected, -10 on enemy aim)
Production-Capacity: 15PP per Turn
Cost: 10 Favor per turn

There is no such thing as a standard Explorator-vessel, but the Wanderer is perhaps the closest to it. For every sneaky Escort trying to find treasures in the shadow of greater endeavors, for every majestic Arc Mechanicus sailing far beyond known space, there are several of these Light Cruisers that resemble a Dauntless closely in arms and armor, though not in forges and laboratories inside.

Questor Class Cruiser
Size: Cruiser: Roughly 5.2 Km length, 90k Crew, 8k Fully Equipped Skitarii including transport vehicles, scout walkers and tanks
Speed: Medium (+15 to attempts to dodge or escape)
Weapons: Lance Batteries (+20 on attacks, always hits without interference, long range), Prow Landing Bay (deploys Fighters or Bombers)
Armor: Medium (+20 on resisting damage)
Special: Stygies-Scramblers (+10 on attempts to stay undetected, -10 on enemy aim), Advanced Scanners (+10 to detect enemies, increased chance of critical damage)
Production-Capacity: 20PP per Turn
Cost: 15 Favor per turn

The Questor is a long-ranged Capital Ship, fully capable of dismanteling Escorts or severely damaging lighter Cruisers before they can close the range to engage in what the Navy considers "proper" void combat.
For an aggresive Explorator, this is the perfect vessel for disabling potentially interesting hostile ships, as its combination of lance-weapons and excellent Auspex allows it to gut a ship, killing engines and bridge, without completly destroying it.

Constructor Class Forge-Ship
Size: Great Cruiser: Roughly 6.5 Km length, 120k Crew, 14k Fully Equipped Skitarii including transport vehicles, scout walkers, small flyers and tanks
Speed: Slow (+0 to attempts to dodge or escape)
Weapons: Plasma Batteries (+25 on attacks, long range), Prow Landing Bay (deploys Fighters or Bombers)
Armor: Medium (+20 on resisting damage)
Special: Stygies-Scramblers (+10 on attempts to stay undetected, -10 on enemy aim), Repair-Swarm (A small fleet of fighter-sized vessels that can be used to repair major battle-damage without the need for a dock and reduce the PP-cost of all repairs by 5PP)
Production-Capacity: 25PP per Turn
Cost: 18 Favor per turn

The Constructor is not much better armed or armored than a regular Cruiser, despite its greater size, but it makes up for it in production-capacity. The repair-swarm is a small fleet of single-seat flyers, each with its own array of tools and mechadendrites on the hull that allow them to work in concert to make repairs that would usually require extensive time in the dock.
Additionally, the Constructor houses a veritable army in its bulk, enough to break many world's PDF by itself.


[] Also pick a name for the ship

//Those are your ships, choose wisely. Next turn will be notable Characters for your crew and then the Chargen should be done.

 

[Artemis1992]

The Gilded Lantern is a beauty, at least in your eyes.
At first a small vessel besides the gigantic Orbital Station, but as you get closer it expands to fill your entire field of view. Utilitarian gunmetal grey, interrupted by Macrocannons in precisely measured cutouts, with the great expanse of red upon which the Omnissian Skull stands out hundreds of meters wide as the only dash of colour in it.

As you get even closer you loose sight of that too, only metal surface being visible in any direction, until the shuttle bay opens before you and your transport touches down.
Nobody awaits you here save a few menials doing routine maintenance and a pair of Skitarii guarding the doors, it is tradition in the Mechanicus, the Navy and even Rogue Traders alike to greet the new Captain on the bridge.

As you walk the endless corridors, following memories of build-plans as much as the subtle coding that shows the way to the bridge (subtle so those less versed in the secrets of the Mechanicus could not find the bridge too easily during assaults), you are taking in all you see.
Hidden switches that will activate weapon emplacements and raise or lower covers are highlighted in your Auspex, bulkheads that would stand up to anything short of high-intensity Melta-Charges are open, but obviously oiled and ready to shut down if need be. So far so good.

Though part of you would like nothing more than to explore the ship for days or weeks, to find the laboratories and forges, to inspect the engines and generatoriums, you stick to your duty and enter the bridge.
There, among an honor guard of particularly heavily augmented Skitarii and mass of bridge-officers, techpriests and acolytes, messengers and menials, three figures in particular stick out from the rest of the crew.

Last vote before we get going, pick three notable crewmembers:

[] Subdominus Kepros Onag
An experienced leader of Skitarii and veteran warrior in his own right, the Subdominus will lead your crew into battle and advise you in all matters of tactics and combat, whether in a small combat-team, or when deploying an army of Skitarii.
Kepros is nearly two and a half meters tall, his torso, as far as you can tell under armor and robe is relatively normal, but his legs, being obviously augments, make up most of this size and split towards the ground into a primary foot and two supports each.
He greets you with a salute, the organic half of his face showing as much cold professionalism as the metallic half.
//Guaranteed high Martial and decent Combat

[] Lexmechanic Prime Seera Signa
The Lexmechanic Prime has the honor and duty of reviewing, comprehending and distilling the date-throughput of all Lexmechnics of a Manufactorum or a ship. Seera Signa is already connected to the data-flows of the Gilded Lantern by the time you arrive, having overseen the loading-process, being aware of how much in food, water, ammunition, spare-parts, promethium, personnel and dozens materials more are on board and how much the ship will use up beyond the rate of recycling in any given month of low to strenous activity.
She only briefly looks up from her stations to greet you, the only Mechadendrite currently not connected to a port waving in your direction, her eyes obviously unfocussed as she is paying attention to whatever her neuro-implants are currently showing over what her eyes see,
//Guaranteed high Administration and decent Spiritual Guidance

[] Magos Genetor Sachervell
The Magos Genetor of any normal ship already has a variety of duties, from being the ships senior medical officer to overseeing the augmentation of new Skitarii from the best-trained combatants among the regular crew to replace any losses the ship suffers. On an Explorator vessel however, and particularly on this one, they are more directly involved in the quest for knowledge than common, performing all manner of autopsies and dissections as needed. Sachervell appears at first glance barely augmented besides the Mechadendrites behind them, but a closer scan with your Auspex shows the feint traces of scars around eyes, ears, the lower jaw and at the throat and that is just what the red robe reveals. Whatever they have done to themselves, they must think it is equal to classical augmentations to walk so proudly as they greet you.
//Guaranteed high Bio, can probably pass for an unaugmented human if you put them in civies and temporarily remove the Mechadendrites

[] High Enginseer 453/Alpha-Secundus
You might be the captain, 453/Alpha-Secundus is the master of the Enginarium and he doesn't hesitate to let you know it. After the barest of greetings he returns to his realm, followed by his swarm of Servitors walking or driving behind him. You had barely even gotten a look at the burned remains of his face and the greeting had been in binary alone, without the usual phrases in Gothik accompanying it. You aren't even quite sure if that vox-grille even had a speech-mode?
// Guaranteed high Mechanical Movement and decent Motive Force.

[] Transmechanic Aura
The Transmechanic, and important for an Explorator adept of the Divisio Linguistica, that simply designated themselves as Aura is entirely hidden behind the typical red robe, obviously worn over armor, and the face protected by a mask showing a neutral human face with no visible openings save a vox-grille behind the lips. Still, their greeting was polite and the offer to show you the internal and external vox-systems of the Lantern sounded genuinly inviting.
// Guaranteed decent Diplomacy and Intrigue, knowledge of several unusual dialects of Gothic and some Xeno-Lenguages

[] Censor Seraphus Argellus
Stygies VIII does not have many Censors, at least not anymore, not since the shadow-war with the Inquisition started centuries ago. What few members of the order still work with your homeworld have adjusted their dogma slightly, now taking the First Warning to primarily mean that any unfiltered contact of Xeno-Devices with the Imperium or the sacred machines of the Adeptus Mechanicus must be prevented, but their study for any untainted nuggets of Comprehension are an acceptable risk, if undertaken by the trained and tested minds of a Magos.
Seraphus does not seem aware of any potential issues between your task and his, instead greeting you in a loud, almost boisterous voice and wishing you well on this sacred quest you are embarking on.
// Guaranteed high Willpower, seemingly good Diplomacy?

[] Secutor Arawn Diwedd
The Secutor reminds you of nothing more than a wall of steel, barely swathed in red cloth. The champion is almost as broad as he is tall so well-armored that you can only guess the slight inlination of his helmet towards you was meant as a greeting, no other sign of body-language or reaction is visible even to your enhanced Auspex. He holds a large Omnissian Axe in both hands, taller than he is, while two mechadendrites with electro-claws are peering over his shoulders. As he steps away from you after his greeting, you hear strangely little of his heavy-seeming steps.
//Guaranteed high combat, possibly good Intrigue?

//That's it, unless you can think of someone you really want or need on your crew. The roles you don't pick will be filled by generic NPCs with no particular skills or boni.

 

[Artemis1992]

Spoiler: Lexmechanic Prime Seera Signa

Lexmechanic Prime Seera Signa

Martial: ???
Diplomacy: ???
Administration: 18 She knows what ship and crew need, at any given point
Intrigue: ???
Willpower: ???
Prowess: ??? Presumably low, all visible augments are Neuro-enhancers, data-uplinks, etc.

Lores:
Motive Force: ???
Mechanical Movement: ???
Spiritual Guidance: 14 +2 (Traits) = 16
Biological Comprehension: ???
Esoterica: ???

Traits:
Cogitator-Whisperer (+2 Spiritual Guidance, +10 on attempts to extract Data from Cogitators)
The Lexmechanic Prime has an uncanny ability to coax data out of any cogitator, passwords or other locks prohibiting it or not.

Spoiler: Subdominus Keprus Onag

Subdominus Keprus Onag

Martial: 18 +2 = 20 An experienced commander, particularly of reliable troops
Diplomacy: ???
Administration: ???
Intrigue: ???
Willpower: ???
Prowess:11 + 8 (Traits) = 19 Need Plasma? He got Plasma.

Lores:
Motive Force: ???
Mechanical Movement: ???
Spiritual Guidance: ???
Biological Comprehension: ???
Esoterica: ???

Traits:

Proven Subdominus (+2 Martial, +5 to leading Skitarii):
Keprus has been a leader of Skitarii within the Battle Congregations of the Adeptus Mechanicus before, serving in the reclamation of Kyos IV under Magus Dominus Cerastor, as well as in multiple skirmishes and minor actions.

Gunslinger (+3 Prowess)
Keprus has, by training and neural augmentation, developed the ability to shoot up to three plasma pistols at once, without suffering any lack of precision.

Augmented Techpriest (+5 Prowess)

Spoiler: High Enginseer 453/Alpha-Secundus

High Enginseer 453/Alpha-Secundus

Martial: ???
Diplomacy: ??? Almost certainly terrible
Administration: ???
Intrigue: ???
Willpower: ???
Prowess: ???

Lores:
Motive Force: 14 +2 = 16 He knows his way around generators and shields
Mechanical Movement: 18 +3 = 21 The Enginariums are his domain
Spiritual Guidance: ???
Biological Comprehension: ???
Esoterica: ???

Traits:

Master of Percussive Mainenance (+3 Mechanical Movement, +2 Motive Force, +20 on attempts to make short-term repairs)
Usually the sacred machines are to be maintained by fixed rituals and with great respect and reverence. However, there are moments, particularly in combat, when it is absolutely vital that an engine performs right now, even at the cost of later damage. The High Enginseer makes this work, even at the cost of much of his own skin in prior incidents.

Heavily Scarred (-Diplomacy)

Abrasive (-Diplomacy)