Heterodyne

“And lo, did the Opus Machina appear before our Fathers, and reveal the Omnissiah to us, that we might know the Truth.”
–Excerpt from the Vox Rotuli Uziel
Once little more than a forgotten feudal world on the edge of the Hazeroth Abyss, a century ago Uziel was ceded as a result of political maneuverings into Mechanicus control and renamed Heterodyne. The Magos have maintained a surprisingly light hand, subtly influencing the planet’s development and infiltrating its ruling elite with advisors. As a result of their efforts, the world has thrived. Now feudal primitivism and the techno-arcane exist side-by-side. It is a world where cyber-augmented beasts pull the ploughs in fields still sown by hand, and liveried gun-servitors patrol the battlements of stone castles. The aristocracy has begun to embrace the Omnissiah and its servants as the ultimate guarantee of their power. Whether this unusual approach by the world’s distant overlords is some generations-long experiment or some rarely used but established
practice of the Mechanicus remains unknown.
==Overview==
For most within the Calixis Sector who would think of such
things, the image of one of the planets that the Adeptus
Mechanicus controls brings forth the highly industrialised,
heavily polluted scene of a typical forge world. The majority
of the Lathe Worlds indeed fit this pattern, each almost
identical when viewed from orbit. Thick layers of smoke and
waste gases nearly obscure surfaces covered with technological
development, even as huge refinery platforms churn from
one ore-spike to another. Pyramidal cathedrals of metal
and plasteel tower into the skies, lost in the noxious clouds.
Endless vessels move across the planet, carrying the products
of the forges across the Sector: munitions, vehicles, weapons,
voidship components, even pre-fabricated foodstuffs. New
worlds in the Sector that the Adeptus Mechanicus comes to
occupy almost invariably become forge worlds, living symbols
of the Opus Machina on a planetary scale. Few worlds escape
such a fate. Uziel is one such planet, barely touched after the
Cult Mechanicus claimed control. On it resides Heterodyne
Station, where Tech-Priests oversee a planet’s population
slowly transforming from inconsequential labourers to
valuable resources for the Lathes.
==A World Left Behind==
There are few authoritative reports as to when Uziel was
originally settled; most believe it was long ago in the heady
days after the Angevin Crusade completed its holy work and
birthed the Calixis Sector. Early reports spoke of a sparse
world with few resources of note. Its location, on the edges
of the Hazeroth Abyss, gave it no strong military value. It
did, however, have acceptable environmental standards to
easily support humans and continue the rightful and ordained
occupation of the Sector. As such, colonist-transports were
dispatched to claim the world, filled with pilgrims ready to
take an empty world and turn it into a beacon to the God-Emperor, another light in this formerly dark region of space.
That light soon went out. There were untold other hundreds
of worlds in the Sector of more importance, so little effort was
spent to investigate. Warp storms in the area also limited any
proposals to reclaim the planet. Years passed into centuries,
and Uziel became just one of many failed colonies whose
sparse records cluttered the many dusty data-crypts buried
on Scintilla. It was only through accident that, little over a
hundred years ago, Rogue Trader Jad Osperoux rediscovered
the world through an ill-timed exit from the Immaterium,
leaving his vessel near its system.
The long years of isolation had devolved the surviving
colonists to little more than relative primitives, banded
together for protection against the packs of feral beasts
that roamed the land. There was little or no functioning
technology remaining, and those devices that still operated
were kept more as venerated relic than useful mechanism.
Most served as base laborers through feudal oaths to those
above them, tied together in protective networks. Only oral
histories could relate the tales passed down through the
generations, of how the colony split along religious schisms
and attacked one another, destroying what civilization they
had established. Those areas that still retained defensive
works thrived, and those that controlled them became
leaders and then barons, rulers over the lands they protected.
The largest fortification, dubbed Heterodyne, was now the
de facto center of civilization.
Osperoux found no profit on Uziel, but news of it fetched
him enough Thrones to refurnish his ship. The Ministorum
made ready to revisit the world, only to find that others had
been working quietly to claim ownership before their mission
could begin. A senior Factor of the Lathes presented the final
proclamation, arrived at through a series of adroit political
schemes and trades, the details of which have never been revealed.
The Lathes took ownership over the world, a most unusual
action given the lack of any clear use to the Mechanicum.
==The Arrival of the Machine Cult==
Outside observers could not fathom the Lathes’ interest in
this world, there being none of the ores, minerals, or even
archeotech deposits that normally called their attention. Even
more puzzling still, the Mechanicus landed with little of
their normal, overwhelming presence, normally designed to
efficiently, if brutally, transform a world into a factory. Instead,
the arrival of the planet’s new owners was something rarely
seen in the Sector: peaceful and subtle.
Huge ships did land, but far from the castle-like fortresses that
dotted the populated areas. Scores of Factors, chosen for their still-human
looking appearance, used their wondrous technologies
and camouflaged augmetics to dazzle the populace and install
themselves as counsellors and advisors. The barons and other
leaders grew to appreciate such assistance in maintaining their
power, and came to rely on such aid. Slowly, seeds were planted.
A society already conditioned for obedience was swayed towards
adoration of the mechanical, while still retaining its primitive
trappings. Over the years, the Factors worked to prepare for the
introduction of the Tech-Priests and even more remarkable devices,
all of which were part of the great Machine God’s bounty.
More wonders appeared. The great beasts of the hills
were hunted and captured, then broken into placid domestic
animals, their ferocity destroyed with chem-implants and
their bodies improved with mechanical limbs. New tools
of light and mirrored metal allowed stonework of perfect
design. Fields that once barely sustained a family could
now feed multitudes. Archers found their bows could shoot
farther, and their arrows able to even move in flight to better
hit their targets. Through it all, the Tech-Priests grew in
number and now walked the streets openly, replacing the
departed Factors as their role was no longer required. No
longer were they thought of as grotesque abominations, but
instead exalted avatars of a god who manifested his divinity
with each new technological miracle.
And yet through all of these changes over the last hundred
years, little has changed from the basics of before. The fields are
still tilled and sown, though the beasts that draw the ploughs
might have cybernetic wheels for legs, and the hands that
scatter the grain are often mechanical. Knights practice their
skills to defend their domains, but with inertial-lances and
riding steeds laced with ropes of synthetic muscle. The castle
walls still stand, firmly made of stone and mortar, now adorned
with huge Opus Machina icons. Guards walk the battlements
and man cannons, though now they are servitors and their
cannons fire plasma. The tech-barons now watch over their
subjects with eyes augmented with metal and circuitry, their
hold over their peoples now increased through engrammic
engravings and loyalty implants. Life continues on Uziel, but
now it is life underpinned with the Vitæ Mechanica.
The planet now thrives under the guidance and care of the
Mechanicum without losing its prior essence, a most unusual
occurrence for a Lathe World. Its population grows, and it has
even become a foodstuff exporter to nearby forge worlds. It
is a shining example of the glories the Mechanicus can bring
to a world. This new era for the planet is all guided from one
location which the first Factors on the planet immediately
claimed for themselves: Heterodyne Station.
==The Secrets of Heterodyne==
Though it outwardly resembles the other castles of Uziel,
Heterodyne has a false façade. While only cursory scrutiny
of the planet’s feudal society reveals the new technological
modifications and support, the station maintains its primitive
appearance even under close examination. The walls are stout
stone, but underneath are layers of plasteel and ceramite.
Sleek panels can slide away for macrobatteries and lascannons
capable of destroying airborne threats. The wide courtyard
covers recessed pads for launching speeders and orbital cutters.
Throngs of Tech-Priests scuttle about within; few, if any,
tech-barons are allowed inside, and only after careful cranial
screening for loyalty to the Cult Mechanicus. Only true servitor
drones, manufactured in the bowels below, man the battlements
and defenses. The castle itself descends many kilometers
underground, where vast cathedral-laboratories host the true
nature of the Mechanicum’s designs for Uziel.
Here only the Tech-Priests are permitted, creating new
technological offerings for the people, always ensuring their new
devices are easily adopted. They train and augment the preachers
who speak the word of the Omnissiah to their flocks with devices
to aid their message. Huge pens house captured beasts, ready for
cybernetic-surgeries and their transformation into more productive
biological assets. Those who sin against the Machine God are
altered to become Serfitors, and those who might discover the
hidden truths are transformed into much worse.
Why the Lathes decided to undertake this possibly singular
operation on this world remains unclear, though perhaps it
was always their plan given the name of the station they now
occupy. Certainly, it takes much longer and requires more
energy than other forge-implementations require. For over a
hundred years, though, it has guided the populace from a
primitive existence, useful only perhaps as servitor-base, into
a fervent people, united in their faith in the Omnissiah and
ready to fight and die in his name. Other worlds may have
been transformed though similar means, but none either have
survived the process or had their presence revealed.
On Uziel, the Mechanicum have molded a people into the
proper worship of technology, something that some within the
Lathes hierarchy calculate is more valuable than drone servitude.
With little actual machinery in their previous lives, the peoples
of Uziel now embrace its benefits, and know how to properly
acknowledge the Omnissiah from whom all such blessings
flow. Other, rival Tech-Priests insist the world is instead a new
tech-heresy, for without proper understanding there can be no
proper worship. This has not dissuaded those within Heterodyne
from progressing, slowly melding in newer technologies.
On other worlds, the Lathes contemplate similar procedures,
perhaps involving planetary mind-wiping or vat-growing
populations, all the better to start with peoples untouched
with misconceptions of the Machine God or bound with other
beliefs. Uziel sustains, though, feeding its people and those on
other Lathe Worlds, pledging its warriors to battles against the
foes of the Mechanicum across the Sector, and offering new
knowledge in growing the Cult Mechanicus. It may take many
more generations until they are fully satisfied with their work,
but the Tech-Priests of Heterodyne are patient.
==Fidelus Knight==
Like all else on this world, the Mechanicum has taken an
existing structure and altered it for their own needs. The
Fiedelus Knights had long protected their liege-barons against
the great killing beasts as well as rival lords, and it only took
subtle modifications to transform them into warriors fit to
serve the Cult Mechanicus. Their weapons resembled their
ones of old, but were now more powerful and reliable. Their
steeds, bolstered with behavioral implants and mechanical
upgrades, could carry much more and for longer distances.
The Knights themselves needed little, their faith absolute in
their Machine God without any need for engrammic implants.
Each now carries the cogwork Opus Machina as their shield,
displaying their faith and the glory of the Omnissiah as they
ride to battle. Many have even left the planet to join regular
Skitarii formations in other parts of the Sector, there to spread
the glory of Heterodyne to rival Tech-Priests.
==Serfitor==
Servitors are a common sight on any Lathe World, where
their tireless efforts aid in everything from basic factory
work to combat operations. There are many working inside
Heterodyne Station, though another variant unique to Uziel
is more predominant across the rest of the planet. On this
planet, those who transgress against the will of the Cult
Mechanicus are not permanently transformed into mindless
drones, but instead sentenced to the harshest of labor: the
role of augmented Serfitor.
Like all products from Heterodyne Station, Serfitors are another
experiment in improving the manner that the Cult Mechanicus
controls its subjects. They might be taken for the more mundane
servitors on other worlds, for much of their difference is not
readily apparent. Their minds are not destroyed, only inhibited
from independent thought through a series of cranial implants.
Each is linked to central command devices that the tech-barons
keep under careful control, so that vast groups of what was once
shambling flesh can operate in perfect harmony. Mem-chips were
also implanted, granting them skills that would take many seasons
to learn. Their bodies are braced with vat-grown tissue, so they can
work with little rest. The sentence is not without consequence, for
their bodies are altered through other, more obvious, mechanical
intrusions to make them better workers. Arms are replaced with
automated grain-tillers, legs with churning pistons to crush
raw ores for smelting, eyes with thermal scanners for watching
livestock; these and more are common Serfitor augmentations.
Now freed from contrary thought, they work for the betterment
of their lord and the Omnissiah they all serve.
After their sentence is over, their personalities are restored
to active awareness. Their lives, however, are permanently
disfigured, and few can pay to have their augmentations
properly removed. Most are forced to continue laboring in
exchange for implants they cannot excise, or live out the rest
of their lives disfigured and crippled, a visible reminder to all
not to displease the Machine God.
==Forge World Origin==
A feudal world where the Adeptus Mechanicus has successfully
integrated the Machine Cult with day-to-day activities, Uziel is
a world that mixes the primitive and the highly advanced. The
serfs and petty nobles know nothing of the Ecclesiarchy, as the
Magos of the Heterodyne Station have slowly but surely made
the Omnissiah the object of the populace’s worship.
Tech-Priests originating from Uziel/Heterodyne Station
start with the either the Rite of Awe or Rite of Fear Talent.
All other types of characters gain training in either the Trade
(Agri) or Trade (Smith) Skill. Further, instead of treating
Common Lore (Tech) as an untrained Basic Skill (as normal for
a forge world Homeworld Origin), they treat Forbidden Lore
(Adeptus Mechanicus) as an untrained Basic Skill instead.
Category:Planets
Category:Hazeroth Abyss
Category:Adeptus Mechanicus
Category:Calixis Sector
Category:Feudal Worlds