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Welcome Acolyte
Incoming Transmission:
Priority Level: Alpha
Subject: Deployment Orders: Sergeant Stanislav Andreiovich, Calculus Logis Speigel
Attached: Sepheris Secundus Briefing
You are to proceed to the planet Sepheris Secundus immediately. Transport in the form of the Arvus Lighte r" Fortitude" presently awaiting at Scintilla Starport to take you the Rogue Trader Vessel "The Corinthian".
You will be delivered to the Gorgonid Mine in Talvark Province. There was a recent uprising that required force to be put down. A platoon of Imperial Guardsmen was deployed to silence the rebellion. The heaviest resistance was met in Gorgonid Mine. The reports are unclear to what happened, but the Commisar sealed the mine and quarantined the area. You are authorized to investigate the situation and eliminate any threats.
This is a task I do not give lightly. The entire sector's economy may be at risk. I have given you temporary Delta level clearance to the Inquisitional archives. There is no other Inquisitional presence currently within the sector to assist you.
The Emperor Protects,
Inquisitor Verziehen
Edited by: John Smith on 10/13/13
Sepheris Secundus Briefing
Reference/Subject: Sepheris Secundus (Overview)
Locale: Gorgonid Mine
Preparation: Autosavant Dal Maxentia
Attribution: Interrogator Omardha Sand
Planetary Data
· Galactic Position: 52/34/CS/NNE.
· Satellites: Three moons, none inhabited.
· Planetary Governor: Queen Lachryma III.
· Economy: Chips or Lumps - In the mines and villages of Sepheris
Secundus life revolves around endless mining, to the point where chips and lumps of ore are sometimes used as a default currency.
· Principle Exports: Sepheris Secundus is the largest exporting planet in the Calixis Sector. Without its massive exports of ore, metals and fuel, the trade of the Calixis Sector could not function.
o Mirror Shield: Used by the Royal Scourges on Sepheris Secundus, the shield is a large rectangular shape that will cover about two thirds of a human sized body. The shield is made from layers of stained glass, a material used in large quantities by the barons of Sepheris Secundus, this gives the shield a mirrored effect that has been known to repel las-weapon shots of a low strength.
· Principle Imports: Sepheris Secundus relies on imports of food from the sector's Agri Worlds.
· Imperial Guard Recruitment: Sepheris Secundus's vast population makes it a potential supplier of Imperial Guard recruits, although a relatively small proportion of the population would be suitable because of universally poor health, along with the risk of exposing the subjugated masses to the possibility of life outside the mines.
Overview
Sepheris Secundus is a world of immense mineral wealth, city-sized mines, billions-strong hordes of serfs and the sharpest divide between the elites and the masses in the Calixis Sector. It is a grim place of snow and twilight, feral mutants, and lives spent in back-breaking labour deep beneath the ground. The Imperium's eagerness to exploit Sepheris Secundus's vast resources is such that the planet is, at the same time, the richest and poorest world in the sector.
Sepheris Secundus's climate is cold and stormy, its surface obscured by a mantle of cloud. It has no oceans save for the small polar seas, so the moisture in its atmosphere comes from below the crust, spewed out from failed mine workings or natural geysers that pockmark the planet like pustules. Its surface is split between the vast open mines like deep scars in the crust and the dense, snow laden forests broken only by the ruins of failed kingdoms that tried to claim Sepheris Secundus in the past. With its endless blizzards, widespread ignorance and antiquated methods for doing everything, Sepheris Secundus would be a meaningless backwater were it not for the enormous mineral wealth beneath its surface.
The Suffering Kingdom
While the whole Imperium is a feudal empire, feudalism is an extreme on Sepheris Secundus. Everyone born on the planet must have a master to whom they pay nine-tenths of everything they produce, which for most citizens means the ore they hack from the rock faces of the planet's mines. Queen Lachryma III, the planet's absolute monarch, sits at the top of this feudal system. The rights to the labour of these billions of serfs belong to the barons appointed by the queen or to noble families and business consortiums that purchase them from the crown. The queen's own master is the Imperium, to whom she hands over truly staggering amounts of ore, metals and raw fuel to fulfil the planet's tithe. Sepheris Secundus's tithe is the highest in the Calixis Sector, and without its immense output of raw materials, the economy of the whole province would be badly unsettled.
Two principal forces maintain Sepheris Secundus's feudal system. The first is the weight of tradition: every serf labouring in the mines is doing what his father did and his grandfather before that, often at the same rock face. The second force is physical violence. One of the reasons that Sepheris Secundus's culture is so primitive by many standards is that weaponry and other technology is monopolised by the crown. The queen's Royal Scourges are equipped with lasguns, grenades and chainblades, contrasting with their gaudy, stained-glass-like armour. Though few in number, the technological advantage that these troops possess has been enough to put down a great many uprisings in the mines of Sepheris Secundus, and the planet's history is littered with massacres where thousands of serfs fell to volleys of lasgun fire.
Is there any apparent connection to our previous deployment?
Here are some ideas for things to look into using the uplink:
- any indigeonous life (xenos) in the sepheris system?
- more information about the recent events at the mine, if available (timeline; what happened; why it was sealed, etc). how many guys went in? who was in command? when did they go in?
- more information / background on the commissar; was he attached to the platoon? is he available to talk to?
- which regiment were the guardsmen from? local or offworld? info/background about that regiment.
- more information about the "feral mutants"
- more information about the environment (breathable air? weird solar cycle? flora? fauna? anything interesting on the surface or is it all subterranean? etc)
- more information about gorgonid mine (what exactly is mined? history/how old is it?) how big is it? Map of the mine? map of the surrounding area? how significant is the output of this mine in the grand scheme of things? are other mines shut down as well?
- what political entity (House?) owns the gorgonid mine? who are their traditional rivals? what does the political landscape look like (in the vicinity of the recent uprising and the mine) in general?
- more about the most recent uprising (who was in charge, what were they trying to accomplish, where were their forces focused, are any of their forces still active, were there any attempts at negotiation, by whom, etc)
- are the moons used for anything? (e.g. maybe automated mines or something)
Edited by: Volkov on 10/14/13
Spiegel is able to learn the following information:
10 years ago, the Inquisition uncovered and eradicated a sinister Chaos cult on Sepheris Secundus. Largely consisting of disenfranchised serfs—those wretched workers who toil in the poisonous atmosphere of this world's extensive mines—the cult offered escape from the oppressive labour and promised to free those nearly enslaved to the demands of the God- Emperor's Tithe. Escape they found, for when word of this insidious group reached the ears of the Inquisition, the response was swift, brutal, and final. To a man, the cultists were exposed, shot or burned, and their blasphemous text consigned to purifying fires. In the eyes of the Inquisition, it was a job done, subversives stamped out, and as a result, these protectors of the Imperium shifted their ponderous attention towards other whispers of fell deeds.
So, recently, when a rebel group destroyed a processing plant near the Shatters—a particularly dangerous stretch of tunnels—the
Imperium responded as it sometimes does when confronted with an unruly population: it sent a detachment of the Imperial Guard, 97th battalion Carnelian Light Foot, to clean out what the planet governors deemed as rebels. As expected, the Guard made short work of the miners and serfs, and once the surface area was cleansed, a few companies descended into the tunnels. After two days of pitched fighting, the uprising was erased.
Having disembarked from the lighter, you watch as its engines roar, carrying it upwards towards the cruiser that floats in orbit around this wretched world. As it shrinks away and vanishes, you take in your surroundings. All around you is an Imperial Guard encampment, filled with scores of grimfaced men and women, some bloodied and bandaged, all wearing the grey uniforms of the 97th Battalion. The camp is mostly a sea of tents positioned around smoking craters, steam vents that belch violet clouds of stinking gas into the air, and the wreckage from the recent conflict.
A walker screeches as it patrols the perimeter, its pilot deftly manoeuvring the vehicle through the wreckage of old buildings, smoking cars, and unburied bodies. At the camp's centre there stands a rust-red hab-block bearing the eagle symbol of the Imperium on its exterior.
Beyond it is a range of low mountains covered in ice and the sprawl of industry. Flames belching forth from smokestacks, storage containers, great bubbling vats issuing toxic steam, and more combine to make the structures look like some vast metal insect straddling the peaks of this rugged range.
Logis Speigel, Volkov respectfully unconvinced of veracity of outcome of research. If uprising is erased, why we are here?
Edited by: Volkov on 10/18/13
Quote:
Logis Speigel, Volkov respectfully unconvinced of veracity of outcome of research. If uprising is erased, why we are here?
The past, Sergeant Volkov, is created every instant with the passage of time, and History is merely the events of the past as recorded by sentient creatures. The readily accessible history of any military engagement has most likely been created by the victors of said engagement, and it is both rare and tactically inadvisable for victors to record their own weaknesses and failures for public consumption; such more detailed and accurate records are best classified as privileged information and left for strategists to collate and analyze so as to create better warfare protocols, and thus improve future performance. As such, it is unsurprising that the information we have acquired is so obviously biased, based as it is on unencrypted field reports and public newsnet data. The common citizen is, I am told, almost totally ignorant of the realities of the dangers the Empire faces, dangers which you and I have witnessed and battled firsthand; to them this information would seem plausible, and ensure their continued efficiency in maintaining the Imperium. I have not attempted to access any restricted files or communiques from the 97th battalion Carnelian Light Foot databases, as I deem such a breach of their security and protocol currently unwarranted and potentially counterproductive. I expect that upon our debriefing by the local authorities, more accurate and useful information will be disclosed, at which point I can compile and analyze it for relevancy in order to both update the Inquisitor and generate courses of action with the highest probable efficiency quotient to further our investigation into this matter.
Edited by: Spiegel on 10/18/13
Upon exit of mine, Spiegel wishes to reseal mine followed by general evacuation of area due to probable collapse of local geography, all nonessential equipment (ie everything) left behind if time becomes an issue. He will also see to the immediate isolation and internment of Rat to prevent spread of any possible contagion/taint, holding him for possible interrogation and/or deportment to Inquisitorial authorities. Secondary to these two goals will be maintaining positive rapport with Commissar Nihilus and Imperial Guard heirarchy. Tertiary will be relations with planetary command structure.