Capitulus Primoris: Edge of Darkness - Mechanicus

In the nightmare future of the 41st millennium, Mankind teeters upon the brink of extinction. The galaxy-spanning Imperium of Man is beset on all sides by ravening aliens, and threatened from within by malevolent creatures and heretic rebels. Only the strength of the Immortal Emperor of Terra stands between Humanity and its annihilation. Dedicated to His service are the countless warriors, agents and myriad servants of the Imperium.

Dark Heresy is a roleplaying game based upon the universe of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000. The setting of Warhammer 40,000 is a dark, gothic future where the Imperium of Man is beset by dangers within and without. In Dark Heresy players take on the roles of Acolytes of the Inquisition, aiming to uncover and combat the enemies of mankind, be they aliens, heretics or mutants!

Run by the Grand Inquisitor Vardaen
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Capitulus Primoris: Edge of Darkness - Mechanicus

Post by Vardaen » Tue May 20, 2008 12:57 am

"Your flesh belongs to the Omnissiah, that he may shape it anew in his own image."
-Excerpt from the
Mechanicus Rites of Bonding.

Image
Someplace among Hive Sibellus, in the Captial City of the Calixis Sector, Scintilla, the screams of a man echo through a corroded metal passage. The hallway flickers with the light of several lanterns, their flames burning on the used oil of a salvaged Rhino Transport tank. Doorways lead off the tunnel into various chambers, some of them are dark with the lack of illumination, others are alive with the Tech Priests of Mars furiously work on some project or another.

A Servitor drones it way down the hall, its many armed body clicking and clacking as it makes it way past the Technographer Haxtes in a hurry to reach its destination within the complex that resides on one of many nameless midlevels of the Hive.

For years now the young Tech Priest has worked his way up the ranks of the Adeptus Mechanicus from complete obscurity to only partially so. Billions of people inhabit just this planet, and Haxtes is only one of them. His lot in life has been to serve in the most meanial tasks for the Tech Priests, but even so these jobs are far superior to many billions of those that work the forges, mines, and agriworlds of the Imperium. The Omnissiah declares that even the simple cog is a nessicary part of the Grand Construction. Most of all he has trained and drilled and attened lechures and learned codes and ciphers and drilled his skills day after day, month after month, year after year until he could preform them virtually with his eye closed.


Today however Fate has changed the life of the cog Haxtes. His duties completed for the day, his work complete, his studies over, his time belongs only to himself. This is a rare event in the life of a Technographer, where normaly every hour of every day is spent in attempting to understand or worshiping the Machine Spirit. The hallway before him forks, an arrow of faded white paint points to the left; "Barracks", another points to the right; "Shrine". The choice belongs to Haxtes.

A small floating skull, covered with various wires and optical attachments zooms out of the right hand tunnel, a red light for an eye it scans Haxtes with a cursory onces over before it floats on down the hall toward the fading screams of the man who is undergoing scruitiny by the Tech Priests in some side chamber.
Here is Tetnak's mini solo. The game will quickly join this with the others, but wanted to give you a chance to work out the various seperate function of the group before doing so.
Last edited by Vardaen on Sat Dec 12, 2009 1:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Re: Capitulus Primoris: Edge of Darkness - Mechanicus

Post by TetNak » Tue May 20, 2008 7:52 am

Haxtes stands there without expression. His mind fights the flare of neurons in his brain, sending an emotion response into his consciousness. There is a tinge of fear there. Hearing the man scream. The Technographer's head turns, exposing the respirator unit cover his mouth, with tubs injected directly up and into his nostrils which regulate his breathing.

The back of his bald head hold two large wires that lock into place. Where they go is not obvious, as they head beneath his robes and probably connect to what is called the Cyber-Mantle that all Tech-Priests are fitted with. Compared to many other of his cult, the man holds much of his humanity about him, certainly a flaw in his training or piety. Haxtes resolves to pray more.

Without word, the man takes the fork marked 'Shrine'.
"Kings have no friends, only subjects and enemies."

- King Stannis Baratheon, First of His Name

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Re: Capitulus Primoris: Edge of Darkness - Mechanicus

Post by Vardaen » Tue May 20, 2008 4:52 pm

The passage to the right turns into a stairwell that climbs down into darkness. The lamps of the passage fade behind, and the bottom of the rusty metal stairs are cloaked in darkness. Their are never any lights here, all Tech Priests that seek the illumination of the shrine must first walk through darkness.

The various cables and tubes on the Technographer bounce and wiggle as he walks down the dark stairs onto the iron plating floor at the bottom of them. A head, a red glow, like a pin point marks the opening of the shrine. It is a short walk through the darkness, water drippes from the ceiling above, and a pressure value unseen in the blackness halfway up the passage releases its steam only a foot infront of Haxtes with a loud PSHHHHHHHHH.

The screaming upstairs stops. The silent is worse than the noise.

The robed Techographer steps into the shrine, a simple octogonal shaped room with a high ceiling that rises up fourty feet or more into shadows. Pendulum lights hang on long cords from the ceiling above stoping only ten feet above the floor giving off a warm heat lamp like red glow. The room is dominated by a massive tech shrine to the Omnissiah. The shrine is basically a large pipe organ of copper and bronze pipes. Around the organ itself are set dozens of skulls of the faithful, attached and worked into the pipes and on the deck of the organ. Hundreds of offerings are placed around it as well. From simple springs and gears, to complex dataslates, cybernetic parts, weapons, and various blueprints and plans to dozens of machines. The pipes of the organ are covered in the holy runes of the order and to study them is to gain an insight into the Machine Spirit.

The chamber is oddly empty.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Re: Capitulus Primoris: Edge of Darkness - Mechanicus

Post by TetNak » Tue May 20, 2008 7:54 pm

The follower of Mechanicus drops to a knee. The chamber is empty, but that does not mean that Haxtes will forgo his prayers. The man begins praying, though silently, to the Machine God to wash away his sins, drive away emotion and intuition, and give him the strength to serve him better.

He remains kneeling, head bowed, focusing on his prayers he has been taught over and over again.
"Kings have no friends, only subjects and enemies."

- King Stannis Baratheon, First of His Name

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Re: Capitulus Primoris: Edge of Darkness - Mechanicus

Post by Vardaen » Tue May 20, 2008 8:59 pm

There is a disconnected voice, a voice that echoes in the dark lit chamber without a body attached to it. With head bowed and eyes focused, Haxtes would not see a person standing right behind him, even if there was one.

"Technographer Haxtes, your time here is at an end. You have proven yourself worthy of a chance to seek greater things."

The organ makes a wheezing sound, air pushes through the pipes, but only at half strength creating a weak whimering wheezing noise that is remiscent of a dying grox.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Re: Capitulus Primoris: Edge of Darkness - Mechani

Post by TetNak » Tue May 20, 2008 9:05 pm

Haxtes keeps himself prostrated. His eyes remain closed, knowing one of his betters is near, giving him a chance to do more than shuffle to the beck and call of their wants or needs. "As Mechanicus wishes," he says through his altered voice as he speaks through his respirator, "I live only to serve." He awaits further instructions from his kneeling position.

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Re: Capitulus Primoris: Edge of Darkness - Mechani

Post by Vardaen » Tue May 20, 2008 9:16 pm

"Excellent."

The voice remains diembodied. "We have a task for you. A request for one of our order. I would not deny it, favors given in the Machine Spirit's name, garner favors in return."

There is the sound of two feet on the floor behind the Technographer. Then the hum and whir of various bio implants. The lights in the chamber flicker, the flames waver nearly blowing out. "Are you ready to serve on your own? Are you ready for the world beyond these walls? Are you ready to be a cog in a much greater machine, a cog that must work with those with many faults, but true purpose?"
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Re: Capitulus Primoris: Edge of Darkness - Mechani

Post by TetNak » Tue May 20, 2008 9:20 pm

Haxtes does not rise. He drives the emotions from his mind as trained.

Success.

"I shall serve the will of Mechanicus. I do not question. I follow."

The Techrographer takes a deep breath through respirator, the purified air entering his lungs. "Tell me what I must do. I shall not fail."
"Kings have no friends, only subjects and enemies."

- King Stannis Baratheon, First of His Name

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Re: Capitulus Primoris: Edge of Darkness - Mechani

Post by Vardaen » Tue May 20, 2008 9:34 pm

The lights flare back to normal.

"Tomorrow you shall travel to the Administratum Quarter to begin your work. There shall be others there as well, Acolytes of the Inquisition, and others perhaps. Something has been found, and it requires our attention as well as theirs. Yet the Imperium and the Emperor demands that our orders work together, not apart. Tomorrow you leave us, and join them, I have arranged for you to be promoted among the Inquisitions holy ranks to the status of Acolyte. The will of the Machine God tests those of true spirit. Are you strong enough to stay true to the Machine Spirit even if you are seperated from it? We shall see."

There is the low pumpping hum of a skull sevitor as it flies into the room. The device is a floating skull with small clawed hands, three of them. It zooms into the room and floats before Haxtes. "These are yours now, they contain what information you need, and your bone fides for the Inquisition." The sound of feet walking out of the chamber echoes as the voice drifts back down the back passage that leads to the shrine. "You belong to them, until we send for you...."

The floating skull holds a set of papers, a badge of office, and a piece of paper with scribbled writing on it with a time and a location in Hive Sibellus to report to tomorrow.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Re: Capitulus Primoris: Edge of Darkness - Mechani

Post by TetNak » Tue May 20, 2008 9:39 pm

Haxtes stands without word, reaching forward, and takes everything the floating skull offers.

"Separated from Cult Mechanicus?"

There is doubt in his mind, but once again, resolves he must do better. "I shall not fail," he repeats, to himself, perhaps the voice, or both. When finished taking what he needs, he reaches out, waves the Elctoo Inductors on his palm across the sevitor, and sends it away in a flutter of binary chatter.

He turns, heading to his quarters, waiting for the time to depart to fulfill Mechanicus' will.
"Kings have no friends, only subjects and enemies."

- King Stannis Baratheon, First of His Name

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