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Ceremonia de Fornax Mortuus Forgeship: The Shallow Grave Current Leader: Lord Mortician Septrax (Given Designation: Gamma-Sierra-Victor: Zayin) Last Sighting: Segmentum Solar – Agretian Sector – 043.993.M41 +++Excommunicate Tratoris++++ +Records Sealed by Order of the Inquisition+ The Fall of a Magos -- Origins The ships of Magos Biologis Zayin were originally sent from Mars in late M38 to gather data on the xenobiology found among the enigmatic Ghoul Stars. However, little remains of this noble expedition. Once they had arrived in the region, they uncovered the strange phenomenon of the Necron Flayed Ones that inhabit the region. Entranced by the intricacies of Necron living-technology, Zayin ordered his forces to learn all that they could. However once they had established themselves in the system, they found how elusive the Necrons could be. For years the Mechanicum forces hunted the Necrons, only to find nothing but empty dead worlds. Occasionally neuro-link would be lost with a surveying team and all that rescue teams would find was piles of mechanical parts, all flesh stripped from them. Finally, ten years after arriving, a damaged Necron Flayed One was found amongst the rubble of a recently destroyed outpost. Zayin imprisoned it and spent many Earth-cycles attempting to glean its secrets. With such amazing technology of just one living Necron set before the Magos, it is perhaps unsurprising that the draw to break Mechanicus tradition was so great. Frustrated with the lack of progress, the magos released the Flayed One from its bindings under heavy guard, hoping to gain an insight in how to communicate with it. However Zayin had underestimated the guile and killing power of a single Necron. The creature went on a killing rampage throughout the ship. As he felt mind-link after mind-link severed and heard the screams of the dying echo through the ship, the grief for what he had done and for the loss of his brother techpriests drove Zayin past the brink of sanity. In his madness and grief, he was suddenly struck by the enormity of the entropy of the universe. Despite the vast knowledge and enhancements granted by the Adeptus Mechanicus, even its esteemed members would suffer and die. Whether it be from age, battle, or an experiment gone wrong, every living thing in the galaxy would wither and die. He cornered the Flayed One and demanded that it submit to his rule and share its secrets. Unsurprisingly the Necron paid no heed to his words, and Zayin mercilessly slew it in single combat. Upon returning to the command pit of the ship, he realized he was the only sentient member of the crew left alive. Knowing that he would no longer be welcome on Mars after his act of hubris and folly, he set off to find a new destiny. The Corpse Forge Rises – Current Strength and Organization Years of travelling would see Magos Zayin enter the Eye of Terror in search of forbidden knowledge and the keys to escaping death. He formalized his fall to Chaos by pledging his allegiance with the Dark Mechanicum. He renounced his name, symbolically giving in to the death of his former self, and rose again at the head of the machine cult “Ceremonia de Fornax Mortuus” with the assumed title of Lord Septrax. Other lesser magos and tech-priests rallied to his banner. Current Inqusitorial estimates place the cult at 5 heretek magos and 25 heretek enginseers supported by hundreds of slave-drones and combat servitors. Consumed with the desire to find a way to escape the inevitable fate of death, Septrax has fallen further and further into heresy. While docked at a neutral port in 877.M39, he was approached by a chaos space marine in bone colored armor. The marine shared with him dark secrets and incantations of rebirth. In the dark recess of living hell, they forged a pact. Together, they would serve the Plague God and search for the secrets to eternal life. And so The Ceremonia de Fornax Mortuus joined the chaos warband The Shepherds of Rot in the Long War against the Imperium. Septrax retained command of his own ship, but refitted it to be a monstrous Forgeship filled with half-machine, half-undead horrors. The Ceremonia would supply the warband with weapons, armor, and daemon engines in exchange for forbidden lore and all the biological material needed for their experiments. Septrax took to this new calling with gusto and the partnership would see both groups flourish. Now at the close of the 41st Millennium, The Shepherds of Rot and Ceremonia de Fornax Mortuus wage war to conquer a dead planet and a long forgotten relic of the Imperium…. Hell-forged Pacts – Notable Alliances The Shepherds of Rot- CSM Warband The Shepherds and Ceremonia forged a pact due to similar ideologies. It is a mutually beneficial partnership that has lasted since their initial alliance in 879.M39. As both are relatively small organizations, their loyalties are rarely tested. The Rotten – Traitor Guard and Heretic Regiment The Rotten is the name for the human cults and military forces slaved to the will of the Shepherds of Rot. Interaction between the Ceremonia and Rotten generally revolve around refitting, rearming and the occasional forced participation in experiments. Legio Fulgo – Traitor Titan Legion with Skitarii Support Elements Pacts with the Dark Mechanicus have allowed the Ceremonia to call on Titans in times of great need. Usually these reinforcements come from the ranks of the Legio Fulgo. The Legion specializes in ranged combat and is known for their extensive use of rad weapons. Forgeship The Ceremonia have no known permanent base of operations. Instead, they operate from the gigantic forgeship The Shallow Grave. The Shallow Grave’s heart is still the very same ship that carried Magos Zayin into the Ghoul Stars, however none would know it today. Bloated and warped, it has expanded far beyond is original modest size. Its armaments are average by Imperial standards, it instead relies on chaos battleships acting as bodyguards. Those who have seen the ship describe it as a hulking mass, nearly the size of a small moon, but with no aesthetics or reason to its design. Crazed half-meat, half-mechanism abonimations patrol the halls and ghostly screams ever echo down the corridors. Doctrine The drive to postpone death is the galvanizing force behind the endeavours of the Ceremonia. Septrax's madness has spread and his faithful magos attempt to find ways to preserve the body and mind of their ruling elite. Spetrax himself is now over two thousand years old, his body kept alive by dark mechanisms and the will of the dark powers. The warriors of the Ceremonia can hardly be called alive either, but they are not pure machine either. Some resemble zombies, with limbs reblaced with cutting implements or shooting weapons. Others are steel skeletons with meat and muscle grafted on and animated by a daemons soul.

The Halls of the Liber Astartes were abuzz with the arrival of many new Adepta Sororitas Orders. Getting them all catalogued was a tiring, but rewarding task, but the Moderati had another task to complete. "The Administratum has decreed that our focus should now turn to recording the Adeptus Mechanicus," Ly read the vellum out aloud for the benefit of his fellows. "And not just our Martian allies either." Olis turned to Aquilanus, who was staring into space. Ly noticed too and was going to rouse him, but Conn shook his head. "Our Brother is currently distracted. Best not to disturb him for now..." It's happening again. No kidding the second voice retorted. I would never have guessed... Seriously, who or what is coming now?! Brothers and Sisters, the third voice replied noticing the two Sisters had started to seethe.Let us welcome this new arrival warmly. Graaaaah! I don't know what he said, but I agree. Leave the 'Reaver alone, replied the seventh voice. 01001001 00100000 01100001 01101101 00100000 01000100 01100001 01110010 01101011 00100000 01001101 01100001 01100111 01101111 01110011 00100000 01001101 01101001 01110010 01101111 01110011 01100001 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01001010 01100001 01100111 01100111 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100101 01100100 01100111 01100101 00100000 01000101 01111000 01110000 01101100 01101111 01110010 01100001 01110100 01101111 01110010 01111001 00100000 01000011 01101100 01100001 01101110 00101110 00100000 01000110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01000100 01100001 01110010 01101011 00100000 01000111 01101111 01100100 01110011 00100001 Eww! Scrap Code! Ignore the others. Warned the ninth voice. Welcome! Welcome to Part II of the Liber Challenge!. The aim is to create a DIY force of Adeptus Mechanicus, Dark Mechanicus or Knight House. A Skittari only force is most welcome too! To enter vow using the following statement: Adeptus Mechanicus vow: 01001001 [enter Forum name], 01110110 01101111 01110111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100011 01110010 01100101 01100001 01110100 01100101 00100000 01100001 01101110 00100000 01000001 01100100 01100101 01110000 01110100 01110101 01110011 00100000 01001101 01100101 01100011 01101000 01100001 01101110 01101001 01100011 01110101 01110011 00100000 01000101 01111000 01110000 01101100 01101111 01110010 01100001 01110100 01101111 01110010 01111001 00100000 01100110 01101100 01100101 01100101 01110100 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01101000 01101111 01101110 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01001111 01101101 01101110 01101001 01110011 01110011 01101001 01100001 01101000 00100001 00100000 01100010 01111001 00100000 00110110 01110000 01101101 00100000 01000111 01001101 01010100 00101011 00110001 00100000 01101111 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 00110001 00110111 01110100 01101000 00100000 01001101 01100001 01111001 00101110 Dark Mechanicus vow: 01001001 [enter Forum name], 01110110 01101111 01110111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100011 01110010 01100101 01100001 01110100 01100101 00100000 01100001 00100000 01000100 01100001 01110010 01101011 00100000 01001101 01100101 01100011 01101000 01100001 01101110 01101001 01100011 01110101 01110011 00100000 01000011 01100001 01100010 01100001 01101100 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01101000 01101111 01101110 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01000100 01100001 01110010 01101011 00100000 01000111 01101111 01100100 01110011 00100001 00100000 01100010 01111001 00100000 00110110 01110000 01101101 00100000 01000111 01001101 01010100 00101011 00110001 00100000 01101111 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 00110001 00110111 01110100 01101000 00100000 01001101 01100001 01111001 00101110 Knight Houses vow: I, [insert name] vow to create one of the noble Knights Houses, by 6pm GMT+1 on the 17th May. For Him on Earth! Those who wish to create a Titan Legion can do so too! Those that vow can proudly display the following in their signature to show their participation (as long as the signature follows the guidelines set in this topic ) : The specific medallions to go with the banner: Skitarii: Dark Mechanicum: AdMech: Imperial Knights: Medallions created by Grotsmasha! Each topic made by members should have at least the following: Name of Exploratory Fleet/Forgeworld/Cabal/Battle Group/Knight House/Titan Legion Home planet/planet army is based upon Name of its Founder(s) Notable characters (including names of Titans, Knights etc) History Significant battles joined Hope to see your participation soon!

+ ++ Irradial Cogitator ∙ Online ++++++ ++ Establishing Comm-Link ∙ Connecting… +++ +++++++++ +++++++ +++ Productivity Protocols ∙ Initialized ++++ ++ Inquiry Request ∙ COROT ++++++++ ++++++ Request ∙ Access Authorization ++++++++++ Confirming Scan ∙ Stand-by… Confirming Scan ∙ Matched +++++++ ++ Compiling Data Results ∙ Displaying… +++++ ++ COROT-Exo-7b ∙ Atrum Laboris ∙ The Dark Works’ rotation is tidally locked to the orbital period of the planet; temperatures and geologic conditions on the sides of the planet facing towards and away from the star are dramatically different. Where the night-side hemisphere plunges to -350°F forming a stable planetary surface of desolate splendor, in stark contrast the day-side hemisphere is as hot as the tungsten filament of an incandescent bulb, resulting in the formation of a vast ocean of lava. The only natural atmosphere of this planet is produced from the vapors arising from the molten silicates in this vast ocean, causing weather events comprised of stone, as pebbles and rocks condense out of the air to rain down into the molten hellscape below. A round world made ostensibly flat, the division between the hemispheres is referred to as Horizon, and revered it as a sacred divide; the population of The Dark Works understand that while their world is a sphere it also has a very real edge, beyond which a hellish oblivion lay, but from that oblivion their power is drawn, quite literally. ++ The Mechanicus of The Dark Works have taken the concept of Forge World to a literal culmination with the construction of Mundis Fornax ∙ The World Furnace; where other Forge Worlds might hollow a planet for raw materials and build massive structures upward into the sky, the vast majority of The Dark Works burrows carefully into the night-side crust surrounding the molten mass that comprises the majority of the planet. Constructed over several millennia, with further progress continuing, a linked series of colossal geo-thermal extraction complexes of unparalleled scale harness essentially the entire planet, producing the massive amounts of thermal energy and motive force required for large scale production, power a multitude of experiments and explorations, and to maintain the remarkable equilibrium that has been created. The planet itself is considered so sacred by its population that it is never used as materials in common manufacturing, with the vast majority of any extracted material being ceremoniously returned to the molten ocean; only very small portions of specific constituents are extracted and reserved for the production of exceptional wargear and deeply sacred objects. A tiny sealed ampule containing a few grains of stone precipitation, presented to those servants of Atrum Laboris who have distinguished themselves in some significant way in their service to The Forge, is one rare and revered example. ++ The extremely close and rapid orbit of COROT-Exo-7b around its massive Blue Giant host star provides other pronounced advantages that have combined to make The Dark Works essentially unassailable, permitting it to assert its independence. Any spacecraft attempting to reach the Forge World has no choice but to follow a very small corridor, using the planet itself as a solar shield as it approaches; any attempt to flank the planet at ranges close enough to launch a meaningful attack must contend with solar energies and gravitational forces so intense that a fleet would be twisted, mangled, and turned to carbon cinders plummeting towards the star in short order. The intense gravity in particular, which was somewhat crudely compensated for during the construction of Mundis Fornax, became a force that could be carefully studied, experimented with, and ultimately harnessed, once the output of The World Furnace was online and able to internally sustain the required gravitational stability for a habitable environment. ++ In turn the Mechanicus of The Dark Works applied their uniquely deep understanding of gravity to construct a trio of Super-Heavy Graviton Cannons of unprecedented proportions to act as the ultimate gatekeepers to the planet. The brilliance of this Graviton Array lay in the way it operates; not only can it produce and manipulate its own gravity field, it can also create a form of gravity well to act as a giant amplifier that can harness, focus, and project, the massive gravitational forces of the star itself to catastrophic effect. Approaching craft that are expected will have the extreme gravitational forces of the massive star carefully compensated for, providing an effortless approach to the Forge World. Should anything undesirable attempt to close on the planet a series of options are afforded by the enormous Graviton Array; simply denying to compensate for the natural gravitational forces of the star is generally enough to stop an unwanted approach. However, the colossal array can easily use its effects to twist, sheer, and/or implode, dense or heavily armoured targets into so much raw material ready for harvest and re-purposing. Alternately, lighter targets that may attempt to rapidly advance on the planet can be effortlessly deflected out of the small safe-approach corridor and be forced to contend with the unrelenting solar energies of COROT-7. Given the abundance of motive force that can be directed from Mundis Fornax to the Graviton Array at a moment’s notice, it can be charged and ready to activate remarkably quickly for such an enormous device. ++ Given its uniquely defensible position, Atrum Laboris has chosen to carefully assert and maintain an autonomous standing. Understandably (and justifiably), there is considerable suspicion surrounding the nature of the research, experimentation, and development, undertaken in the darker recesses of this secretive Forge World; the Fabricator Generals, Locum, and High Priests of The Dark Works understand only too well that they must walk this path carefully and are therefore very adept in the manner of their negotiations with any given outside party. Great care is taken to conduct themselves accordingly through a selection of appropriate representatives who can engage in negotiations with a wide range of clientele, who in turn have a wide range of needs. Despite having a broad selection available that is absolutely unsanctioned, the care with which transactions are conducted has kept direct links to the Forge World well protected and obscured. With appropriate tithes consistently delivered, and quality legal munitions, weapons, armour, and wargear, on offer to those who can accommodate the price, suspicion alone has not been enough to warrant an attempt to test the intimidating defenses of this entrenched Forge World. +++ +++++ ++ Data File ∙ End ++++ +++++++ ++ Compiling Data Results ∙ Ongoing… ++ Stand-by… +++ ++ Comm-Link ∙ Active… +++++++++ +++ +++++ +