IO: Dresarian Mechanicus

[Conn Eremon]

INDEX OMNISSIAN: THE DRESARIAN MECHANICUS

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FORGE WORLD DRESARI IV

FOUNDATION
The Dresari System was uncovered early in the 32nd Millennium in Sector Solaris March, in the extreme galactic north-east of Segmentum Solar. The system's fourth world's habitable atmosphere and mineral wealth, and the system's strategic location near the Sector's secondary Warp-conduit, made it a ready candidate for expansion by the Mechanicus, who quickly laid claim to the world as a sister forge to Kulvos. Kulvos had been reforged during the Great Crusade from a muster world to a major fleet station and shipyard, with many of its forges turned to the fabrication of war material. The Sector needed something more than what Kulvos provided. Though war was all in the Imperium, still needed were the more mundane technological marvels utilized by agri-worlds or hives. Though the Sector had its fair share of Mechanicus holdings beyond these two forge worlds, even the fledgling manufactories of Dresari far outweighed the output of these other, minor holdings. This pairing of dominant forge worlds was short-lived, as in mere centuries the Ork hordes that rampaged across the breadth of the Imperium under the Beast saw their Sector hit hard. Among the Imperial losses was the forge world Kulvos, which withstood the Ork onslaught for seven decades before the beasts finally broke into the Omnitemplum, and the Magos-Dominans overloaded hundreds of Kulvos' plasmic reactor cores.

Following the death of Kulvos and the eventual calming of the Ork menace, Dresari was named inheritor of Kulvos' remaining wealth. Expeditions mined and explored the greater planetoid pieces of what was once Kulvos, recovering but a fraction of the information contained within its extensive data-vaults. Among the debris fields was an extensive network of machinery and designs of xenos origin of zero apparent relation to the Ork breed. Analysis of this wreckage was inconclusive, leading many to wonder if the Kulvosi Mechanicus harbored a xenobaric tendency or if the planet of Kulvos hid an internal corruption. Those macroclades of the Kulvosi Skitarii Legion that were offworld, saved from their forge world's destruction, were relocated and subsumed into the Dresarian Skitarii Legion. The Magos-Dominans of Kulvos would have been remiss to allow Legio Corvix to fall alongside the forge world. The Legio had fought a fighting withdrawal in the final hours of Kulvos, though many of the god-engines were struck down in the attempt. It is a testament to the power and divinity of these holy works that, during the exploration of the Kulvos debris field, the Warmonger-class Titan Hugin's Spear was found not only whole, but operational. Within three decades, it would walk once more. Dresari, absent its own Titan Legio due to its relative youth as a forge world, would become Legio Corvix's new home and protectorate. Included in the Kulvosi inheritance was its extensive network of alliances and partnerships. Most notable of these were trade agreements with a few prominent Rogue Trader dynasties and a partnership with an Adeptus Astartes Chapter. Patriarchs of the Knight Houses of Dalriada came to Dresari with great ceremony, swearing oaths of alliance previously sworn to Kulvos. Of Kulvos' holdings, only one was not given to Dresari, its extensive shipyards, shattered whole by the apocalyptic death of the forge world. Some of the minor Mechanicus holdings contained some capability of ship-forging, or had a network capable of providing refit and resupply. These were consolidated and brought to Dresari, forming an immense spherical structure reminiscent of a skeletal moon, filling the void in the Dresarian night sky.

With the salvaged riches and relocated networks of Kulvos at Dresari's disposal, the forge world became one of the most depended upon world in nearby Imperial space. However, despite the wealth at their fingertips, the young forge world was still without the necessary infrastructure in place. Four theta-class forges had been thus far completed on the planet's surface, and while they burned hot day and night, regularly surpassing typically expected quotas of these standard constructs, they were far from enough. For centuries following the death of Kulvos, Sector Solaris March was woefully under-supplied and ill-equipped, with the inability for Dresari to meet all demands having a domino effect. The ill-fated Drakefire Crusade, named for Chapter Master Vyrn'il, Salamanders Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes and instigator of the war effort, was given top priority to these young Dresarian forges. However, a decades-long famine on the hive world of Cristovan, later known as the Emperor's Crucible, prevented the raising of nearly 47 million soldiers to be sent to the front lines. The famine can be traced to Ardenthome, the agri-world tasked with providing the majority of foodstuffs available to the Cristovanians, whose macroharvest drone reparations were delayed when the Dresari forges were re-tasked to equip the Drakefire Crusade.

With the strain on the forge world threatening to collapse the local sector, the Dresarian Tech-Priests looked to the extensive network of contacts passed down to them from Kulvos as a means to make ends meet. Quickly, the Dresarian technocracy proved itself adept at the handling of resources and production capabilities beyond just their own, often juggling thousands of complex, simultaneous contracts and transactions directly related to each other and for the purpose of more singular goals the forge world itself can not meet. Slowly, the Solaris March Sector stabilized and began to once more flourish. Before the end of the 32nd Millennium, Dresari could be classified as a phi//beta majoris-grade forge world, its output rivaling peak Kulvosi production, and yet still clear signs for improvement and expansion were noted and acted upon during the 33rd Millennium. Never forgetting the skills that had brought them so far in even those most trying of times, the Dresarian Mechanicus continued to manipulate and enhance their inherited network and connections, swiftly expanding it into a veritable trade empire, with Dresari IV at its head.

DRESARIAN SKITARII CORPS

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Dresarian Tech-Priests overseeing a Skitarii engagement. Of particular note beyond the identifiably dark robes and blue-steel iron is the marked uniformity of form and augmentation typical of the Dresarian technocracy, including the Dresarian Skitarii Corps.

ORGANIZATION
The Dresarian Skitarii Corps is of no unusual size even with the formerly Kolvosi macroclades that would be reassigned to Dresari, as the pre-existing Dresarian Skitarii forces were already of relatively small size. This conglomeration of two Skitarii Legions shows more in its make-up, as the Kolvosi Skitarii survivors were dominantly Rangers. The Dresarian Skitarii Corps would organize these greater numbers of Rangers into unique formations known as Huntclades, effectively turning these Rangers into army cohorts of their own. These formations proved remarkably adept in handling xenos forces, a common enemy to the Dresari, and as such the Huntclades were retained as a permanent structural integration. With the typical role of the Skitarii Vanguard usurped by the Dresarian Huntclades, these units are given a more refined role, reserved for when the Dresarian technocracy desires only the utter extinction of a foe or world.

COMBAT DOCTRINE
The Dresarian Huntclades are typically under meme-sets to surround and slowly constrict upon the enemy, with varying waves to ensure total enclosure and prevention of escape. In this manner the kill-moment can be delayed to the maximum extent, the trapped enemy's reaction of immense informational value. Where the physical attributes and capabilities of the enemy are desired, the Ruststalker Killclades will provide the end-strokes. These data-harvests are funneled to the likes of the Ballistarii and Dragoons, utilizing the information at their command to extreme advantage in the persecution of the foe and its command elements.

KNIGHT HOUSES OF DALRIADA

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Unlike other Houses of Dalriada, the Mikrimmons place equal importance of each of the colors of House conWels, their knight-engines therefore particularly colorful and vibrant, much like the Mikrimmons themselves. Pictured is Tormod Mikrimmon, current Patriarch.

NOTABLE GATEWAR INCIDENTS
c.M28 – Before ships of the Imperium darkened the skies of Dalriada during the Great Crusade, the Knights were in full-out war with the xenos race known as the Eldar, though various later assaults included members of this race that were unrecognizably related to each other. This alien race had arrived in force from the forests of Dalriada by unknown means, and it was the Knight Houses only who could stand against them. However, they were ill-prepared for the sudden onslaught. Most of the Houses of Dalriada fell, never to rise again. It was the Savior King who first began to turn the tide of battle. Iosua conWels, 3rd born son of the conWels patriarch, and now one of this House's last few remaining Knightsmen. One of the last few remaining Knightsmen of any House of Dalriada. It was Iosua's counter-charge that saw the xenos assault finally falter. The surviving Dalriadan chassis rallied behind Iosua, and after months of continued bloodshed, drove the Eldar forces back into the forests. Though these forests were scoured for years after the conflict, the surviving Eldar forces were never found. An Eldar structure was uncovered, and summarily destroyed, but no other evidence was found. Dalriada was rebuilt under Iosua's command, the remaining Houses bound to him now through marriage instead of war-born loyalty. House conWels would die with Iosua, with no native-born conWels mother left to pass on the name to her children. All of his sons would bear the names of the Houses of their mothers, and would rise as their patriarchs. Though the House of the Savior King would not continue, it would live on forever through the Houses that survived this first Gatewar, as they would come to be known. There would be another before the age of the Emperor.

78.M30 – Decades after the Imperium of Man swept past Dalriada, readily bringing the Knights into the Imperial fold with the arrival of a Martian presence on the rejuvenated Kulvos, the Eldar menace returned. Flashing across the world like razer-edged speed daemons, they caught Dalriada once more unprepared, with many of their Knights offworld fighting in the Emperor's Great Crusade. However, this Gatewar would prove by far to be the least destructive in Dalriada's history, due to the timely arrival of the Legiones Astartes and a son of the Emperor. Their Expedition Fleet anchored above Kulvos for refit and supply, these Space Marines struck immediately for Dalriada when word of the attack reached them. Though knight-engines are devastating in war, striding across battlefields like gods taken mortal form, and had proven quite able in defending Dalriada on their own, a Legion is something else entirely. Within hours, the Legion had broken the back of the Eldar warhost, shattering its ability to cause concentrated damage, what appeared to be their leader cut down by a sword of fire. The horrors to come will erase many memories of this time, not the least of which the designation of this Legion and identity of its Primarch. There is a ceramite armor, of the Legiones Astartes mkIII, displayed prominently in the Tropaion of this victory. It is unpainted and unmarked, plain of all features but the stylized aquila upon its chest.

257.M34 – Conchur mikLur uncovers another gate in the mountains while hunting down retreating Eldar, the second gate this aged lord has found in his prodigious life. As the mikLur scion turns the Ravenson's hellspear on the structure, a hidden weapons platform fires a blazing shot that pierces the head-carapace. A jagged, blackened hole is torn open, Conchur mikLur's engine going suddenly limp. Other platforms opened fire on the hunting party. Their command line silent, fire coming in from unknown vectors and two engines already going down in flames, the other Knights began a fighting retreat that led directly into other unseen weapon systems. The Knights break out of the fire zones, in no small part to the reactivated Ravenson and mikLur's inspiring words over the vox. Upon returning to the mikLur citadels, the Sacristans inspected the immense wound and found that its pilot, Conchur mikLur, was in pieces. His voice could still be heard emitting from the war machine's casters, and would for thousands of more years. The Ravenson would accept no other pilot.

[Conn Eremon]

Not as big an update as I would have liked to provide at this point, but I've did a small expansion on the Skitarii, some clean-up on the Dresari Forge World, a mock-up of a Dalriadan Knight (kudos to Charlo!), and added tags, the last three of which go to show what kind of themes and inspiration I am looking to apply.

[Conn Eremon]

Updated it so that everything I have to show is finished, but the article itself still has room for improvement and a lot of growth, such as an inclusion of Titan Legios and Explorator Fleets.

[Machine God]

Lots of text, I will have a look on a PC.

 

Looks great though:-!