Recap

Thread One

Awakening on a distant, abandoned research facility built into an icy moon orbiting a gas giant, our protagonist remembers - despite damaged memory - that they are an AI dedicated to researching alternate methods of superluminal communication and transportation that did not rely on the use of the Immaterium, and then to research methods by with the Immaterium might be severed from realspace. They discover that the reason for their sudden awakening was the presence of a ship from an Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator fleet, and after melting a Skitarii squad, make a deal with the Magos in charge of the ship, Hextorolon Rane of Stygies VIII, securing his allegiance and support in exchange for access to the technology of the moon and a supply of phase-iron (a material that dampens the touch of the warp).

Shortly after, the moon suffers an Ork attack, replied by the facilities’ defences and the assistance of some of Rane’s men. The attack caused minimal damage, but proved to be strangely timed and well-coordinated. Interrogation of the warboss revealed that the Eldar had manipulated the Orks into launching the attack. This bodes ill. Deals offered by the warboss intended to secure his freedom are refused. He is remanded to stasis.

Damage from the Ork attack is repaired, and the facility is slowly renovated, and brought back online. Rane returns, and a plan is formed to disguise the facility as ‘Forge World Svartalfheim’, and is promptly implemented. Part of the facility is converted into an area to receive guests, with the expected architecture so as not to arouse suspicion, and a delegation is accepted in order to welcome ‘Svartalfheim’ back into the fold. It is established that the facility is a manufacturer of voidships, and promises are made to reestablish construction facilities as quickly as possible.

Rane is elevated to ‘Fabricator-General’ of the forgeworld, and focus is set on establishing diplomatic links with the immediate surrounding sector. In the meantime, the process of replacing many of the crude implants of the facility’s new staff begins, concurrent with expeditions into the abandoned sections of the facility. These expeditions reveal that the former director intentionally rendered the facility uninhabitable after receiving an astropathic message from Mars, and disabling the AI, damaging their memory in the process.

Months later, the Administratum arrive with materials and menials, which are immediately turned towards the construction of enhanced defences and a set of orbital rings.

Thread Two

Months later, construction of the orbital rings and defences continue, and the facility takes delivery of a number of young children from the planets surrounding Stygies VIII, and their education begins.

Contact with the surrounding sector is formally established, and focus falls onto Accakaros, the capital of the Veskin Sector. Rane is received on Accakaros warmly, and the AI observes remotely. Discussion with Selene von Gildenmar, the Planetary Governor and Lord of the Sector, which reveals her to be a forthright woman, apparently uninterested in the minutiae of diplomacy. Her son - Alexander von Gildenmar - introduces himself, and proposes a plan to remove his mother from power in favour of himself, revealing the presence of Inquisitorial agents on the planet in the process. His request/offer is denied, and an alternative suggestion is proposed to his mother that would see the previously conjoined position of Planetary Governor and Sector Lord briefly separated, with Selene remaining Planetary Governor, and Alexander becoming Lord of the Sector.

Selene accepts this alternative offer, on the condition that Alexander be sent to fight in a battle prior to his accession, suggesting the nearby Hydrrit Delta, a mining world rife with crime, as a good location for this fight. A moderate amount of support is pledged by Svartalfheim, encompassing transportation and around a thousand elite infantry to eliminate high value targets, and protect Alexander. With a deal struck, Epimetheus returns its attention to the facility, directing Rane to continue negotiations.

Further investigations into the abandoned facility reveals a strange adamantium object, impervious to scans, and a personal communicator belonging to the director of the facility. The object was placed in storage, while the communicator was investigated and decrypted. Through an awkward interface, Epimetheus learns that the message the director received prior to their death spoke of a ‘virus’ that affected computer systems, driving them ‘murdery’.

With that discovered, research begins into a new personal armour system, and a new combat robot, in anticipation for the fight on Delta.

Thread Three

Work continues on the ring as the research projects come to a conclusion. Meanwhile, production of a pair of light cruisers comes to an end, providing a degree of mobility and power projection, while a pair of transport ships will provide troop-carrying capacity for the upcoming invasion of Hydrrit Delta. While Alexander accustoms himself with the team of veteran officers with which he has been provided, Svartalfheim’s forces prepare for their part in the invasion, and the decision is made for the forges’ contribution to the campaign to focus primarily on sabotage, security, and high value target elimination, while Alexander’s forces will provide bayonet strength.

The human factors are left to handle the invasion, while Epimetheus’ personal attention returns to the facility. Careful micromanagement of projects over the coming weeks allow for a greater deal of material to be produced, and then gifted to the Administratum upon their arrival. The volume and quality of the products received surprises the Administratum enough to have them overlook the orbital ring’s sudden appearance, and offer a boon in return. The decision is made to obliquely request a Warrant of Trade, which the Administratum agrees will be issued at some point over the next decade to an individual of the forge’s choosing.

Excess material supplied by the Administratum are used to begin construction on a fleet of mining drones, to be sent out using quantum translocation to nearby systems, from which they’ll harvest resources, while excess menials are trained and educated according to their talents, steadily creating a reservoir of technicians and combatants from otherwise useless labourers.

Meanwhile, the invasion continues apace. Initial resistance is low, though swiftly rises once the landing force enters the network of tunnels beneath the surface of the planet. A strangely well coordinated attack on the command centre leaves key members of Alexander’s support staff dead, and the man himself wounded, slowing the invasion and raising questions about their ability to gather intelligence. This engenders a degree of paranoia, Epimetheus makes efforts to protect the facility against scrying, while Rane discovers a ship in one of the ports on Delta that was seemingly responsible for the unexpected coordination and intelligence gathering capabilities observed in the defenders. The ship is secured, despite self-destruct capabilities, and though the ship leaves few clues except for its name, it’s clear that it represents a sophisticated intelligence gathering operation. Its loss cripples the defence effort, and the invasion continues more smoothly.

Investigations into the ship’s ownership reveals that another ship belonging to the same owner has landed on Accakaros, and plans are drawn to build up forces in the dockyard and storm the ship. After a successful cyberwarfare attack, the ship is secured by skitarii forces. In the boarding, an unusually augmented Imperial agent is discovered and captured for later interrogation, while the local PDF finally responds, bringing Selene herself to demand answers over the unannounced military operation on her planet, though understands that the operation saved her an awful lot of trouble. As a result, she only demands her involvement in the investigation as it continues, and the demand is accepted.

While the injuries suffered by the augmented agent are too serious for him to be readily interrogated, evidence on the ship suggests that the consort of a local noble is connected to the conspiracy, while Selene identifies the defenders of the ship as Inquisitorial Stormtroopers. Selene’s men attempt to make contact with the noble house in question, but are rebuffed. Almost immediately, they begin to prepare for a rebellion.

Thread Four

Epimetheus, through one of the skitarii, insists on providing assistance, and offers to launch raids on astropathic relays while a primary force focuses on the capture and neutralisation of the noble and her consort - a possible Inquisitor - respectively. While outnumbered, rebel forces were prepared, and thus hold the initiative for the moment, opening a window where the Inquisition might be able to call for help or see both Svartalfheim and Gildenmar labelled as traitors.

The raid on the traitor palace at first proceeds as planned, with skitarii securing entry and pushing deep into the structure. A short skirmish with a squad of Deathwatch marines leaves a number of skitarii dead before one of the marines switches sides and executes his sergeant after the rest had been killed by the skitarii. The survivor expresses doubts about the nature of the mission and offers to lead the squad to the Inquisitor and the traitor noble. The squad is directed to follow, and aid the marine in breaching the panic room, before witnessing them execute the Inquisitor. The marine then introduces themselves as Tamiel of the Astral Claws, and explains that they had been conscripted by the Inquisitor to investigate potential xenos-corruption in the forge world. Despite not finding any, the now-dead Inquisitor continued the investigation, drawing resources away from other, more important matters at the expense of their own reputation. Tamiel ensures the team that the Inquisition will be kept at bay, and will not investigate the matter any further.

Tamiel’s predictions come true, and the immediate matter can be considered concluded, even if questions remain as to the nature of the Inquisitor’s obsession. Tamiel is offered a ride home, and the opportunity is taken to attempt to ingratiate the forge with the Astral Claws, to get a foot in the door of the Maelstrom Zone. On arrival, the envoy is met not with the Chapter Master, but with one Captain Huron, who negotiates with the envoy, accepting a non-committal offer of supplies for a non-committal offer of assistance in securing resources and an exchange of technical and tactical data at some unspecified point in the future. Research begins on potential improvements to Marine equipment, and a series of examples are provided to the Astral Claws, much to their elation.

Development of Accakaros continues apace, as does the education of the children and the pacification of Delta. 20 million prisoners are supplied to the forge by Accakaros, and are filtered into education or training programs depending on their talents, as with the menials. Meanwhile, construction begins on an expanded orbital defence network, a defence fleet, and infrastructure on Hydritt Delta. Epimetheus engages Rane in a philosophical discussion on the merits and demerits of representative democracy versus an enlightened dictatorship. Rane reveals that Epimetheus is being treated as a semi-divine figure. Epimetheus tells him that there is no god. Neither of them are happy.

Construction begins on a moderately advanced fleet of warships, focused around strike craft carriers as centrepieces, supported by frigates, destroyers, and cruisers. Before the fleet can be completed, however, two eldar fleets appear and begin to move through the newly built orbital defences to attack Svartalfheim. A plan is drawn where the bombers will hitch a ride on the bulk of the escorts, to launch a devastating first strike on the smaller fleet, crippling them, before turning back to be rearmed, and then engage the larger fleet as they enter striking range of the orbital defences. The plan is remarkably successful, seeing the eldar fleet destroyed, though a suicide attack on the ring also leaves it severely damaged and in need of significant repairs.

Time is taken to recover from the damage inflicted by the eldar’s attack, while choice pieces of eldar technology are recovered, for Rane’s experimentation and potential future use. Once repairs are conducted and completed, attention turns to research, and designs for intelligence gathering drones are drafted, while basic genetic treatments for civilians and soldiers are designed and tested, with the former being opened to the public. Material efforts are directed towards the expansion of infrastructure on Adrax’s Reach and an expansion of ground forces, while light social engineering efforts are directed towards altering the nature of the beliefs held by the population to better suit Epimetheus’ purposes and nature.

The time comes to contend with the eldar directly, and rather than making use of the plan supplied by Bigga Boss, another plan is drawn that would see spirit stones used as bait for the eldar, who would then unknowingly lead the fleet to their location. Despite the fact that the craftworld was in the webway, presenting several complications, the plan is pushed into action. The ensuing fight results in significant losses, as the carriers are separated from their escorts, and the escorts suffer withering fire in a hostile environment. Despite the challenges, the fleet were successful, disabling and then surgically bombing the craftworld in an attempt to elicit a surrender. No surrender was forthcoming, and the surviving eldar were seemingly able to evacuate. Nevertheless, the craftword in question had been thoroughly neutered - at least for the moment.

Thread Five

Nathaniel, one of the prisoners to be taken from Accakaros by Svartalfheim, is acquired from a prison and taken into orbit, where he is allowed to recover from the starvation diet he had been on before undergoing a short psychological evaluation, after which he was released onto the facility. He experiences the strange culture that had developed within the facility, and was offered the chance to undergo technical training, which he accepts. In the ensuing months, he is trained in technical skills, while receiving an education in the beliefs of the Mechanicus from the remaining tech-priests that call the facility home, beliefs that he comes to share, in part. They undergo augmentation, complete their training, and are placed into an apprenticeship under Magos Hextisolor.

During their apprenticeship, they take an interest in tinkering with weapons systems, and design a meaningful - if small - upgrade to the function of thermal rifles. Despite expectations, when his activities are discovered by Hextisolor, his efforts are praised and he is offered a place in the ‘Developments Committee’, taking a focus in materials science.

Meanwhile, Epimetheus’ attention turns to developing Delta, which continues to steadily stabilise, although the absence of a true police force has slowed integration by forcing a perpetual occupation, to prevent gangs from resurfacing. To prevent corruption, a mixture of locals and trusted loyalists from the facility are employed to restore order, while plans are drafted to see Delta turned into an industrial hub under Svartalfheim’s direct authority. The nature of the arrangement prompts some thought as to the political organisation of the vague entity that Epimetheus commands, though nothing concrete is concluded given the necessity of dictatorial control in the current circumstances.

In the facility, efforts are taken to encourage innovation and a healthy respect for progress in the population, while research begins into new material processing methods and shielding technology. The combination of research priorities has the unexpected side effect of aiding Nathaniel’s projects, resulting not only in the generation of gravity-based shield technology, and incremental improvements to adamantium, ceramite, and plasteel, but in the creation of a small amount of crude neutronium, an unstable and highly dangerous hyper-dense material.

Excess material is earmarked for providing the Astral Claws with a high level of support.

Edit

Pub: 02 Apr 2025 16:58 UTC

Views: 212