Index Mechanicus - Forgeworld Cryptoclast

[Gorkimedes]

Work in progress for the Liber Challenge.

Forgeworld Cryptoclast - Englica Subsector

General Information

Settled in M.36 the world that would become Forgeworld Cryptoclast was a dead and inhospitable planet. Though the binary star-system contained a more comfortable habitable sphere priority was given to Cryptoclast. Initial excavations on the world hinted at widespread human habitation dating back tens of thousands of years. Hope of finding long lost knowledge led the Mechanicus to invest massive amounts of resources in the planet.

Past disasters of unknown origination had blown off whatever atmosphere the world once possessed. Electrical storms and solar expulsions sear much of the planets surface on a regular time-frame. The majority of the worlds population escape these natural hazards by residing in a vast equatorial circling city. A snaking line of void shielded hives and buried cities that the people call home.

Outside of the circuit-city, Cryptoclast is covered in massive, mile high towers. These structures capture the energy of the storms and flood the city with power. The mega-foundries of the Mechanicus are never without fuel.

Cryptoclast is the chosen seat of the Fabricator- Lumanare, known informally as The Candle-Shield. Shortly after the reclamation of the Liber Cluster began the Martian Mechanicus gre concerned that their far off holding would suffer further degradation. A representative was sent with the full backing of Mars to ensure the people there "did not develop unacceptable thought-systems and structure drift". The fabricator's duty involves sending bi-centennial reports to Mars.

There has been only one Fabricator - Lumanare. The holy knowledge of the Mechanicus stretching her life into the millennia. Being a staunch traditionalist the Lumanare has never replaced the entirety of her brain with artificial components. This reliance on biology has come with a price. Though the brain-systems used by Lumanare are amongst the greatest the Biologis of the Mechanicus can craft the flesh has limits that the machine does not. The human mind was not made to cope with the storage of such lengths of time. The Lumanare has taken to continuously removing filled up brain tissue and replacing it with more energetic replacements.

These past memories have, over the millennia, been discarded, implanted in Ambassador-constructs or even given as gifts to loyal followers. It is not unheard of for a rogue servitor to be active in the Cluster claiming to be the true Fabricator- Lumanare. As of present the Lumanare does not remember her youth. She does not remember walking upon the red sands of Mars in the shadows of God-Machines or the names of the far off Magi who charged her with her task. Friends are lost and loyalties forgotten seemingly at random. Many have enjoyed the patronage of the Lumanarae one day only to wake up and find their interests have been cast off. Only the duty remains constant. Whether this individual is indeed the same Magos who sailed to the Cluster through the lifeless void millennia ago depends largely on ones personal philosophy.

Martial Elements

Ununti Sun-Blasters

Outside of the circuit city, in the storm ravaged wastes of Cryproclast's surface there is one structure, the temple of the Ununti Sun-Blasters. Of all the groups that have petitioned the Lumanare for recognition only the Ununti have been recognized as an sanctioned new branch of the Cult Mechanicus. The Ununti view the universe as a divine machine of infinite scale, one that is broken but not beyond repair. The Ununti temple is a series of winding towers that become increasingly interwoven until finally ending in one combined point two miles above the surface. From this structure the Ununti study the solar winds of the systems binary stars. In the decaying radiation of these eruptions they see questions and answers that demand to be molded by the human mind.

The Ununti are active across all of Subsector Englica, marching at times for the Lumanare's wishes but often to serve their own ends. In battle the Ununti Skitarii wield rad-weapons of immense power. Battlefields are left in a cloud of irradiated ash that would be the death of any not bearing the fortified constitutions of the Mechanicus. New stars are born as the Ununti unleash universal engines of creation and destruction. The powers that bend to the will of the Ununti are a wonderous sight that few see and leave with their lives.

Notable Events

In 203.M.37 excavations on Cryptoclast unearthed a pre-Imperial shlter city buried six miles below the planet's surface. Initial excitment was soon replaced with desperation. The shelter was controlled by a long dormant artificial intelligence that once awakened proceeded to sow chaos across the planet. Forges were infected with code and instructed to build legions of disposable battle drones, generator towers overloaded systems with oceans of energy and hab units were destroyed as plumbing and filtration systems ceased to function choking the occupants within.

As the rulers of Cryptoclast struggled to reclaim control of their world the A.I. seized the systems of a small fleet in orbit above the planet. These ships sped towards Warpstorm Id'Ilmar. Functions in the city returned to normal at the exact moment the vessels activated their warp drives.