Sheol XVII

“Me? I hope to never set foot upon that accursed rock again. It’s all that damned scuttling. Every day, every minute, and deep down you just know they are watching you.”
–Derjek Varn, Rating aboard the Drusine Wanderer
In a far-flung asteroid belt, orbiting a lonely star with no name,
resides the infamous prison complex known as Sheol 17. A
ferrous mass encompasses this foreboding, black spire, which
uses a network of massive support struts and enormous fasteners
to anchor its great bulk. A tangled maze of pipes and cables
swathes the entire structure, and evokes images of a great spider
nest in the boughs of a gnarled, black tree. Within this ominous
web, hanging like bulbous egg sacs in the void, are clusters
of Confinement Units, any of which houses up to a thousand
recidivists and malefactors. From across the Calixis Sector and beyond
they come, each a special prisoner of the Lathes, condemned for
crimes against the Machine God, each with secrets that the Lathes
demand be revealed. For them, there is no simple execution or
Servitude---they must face Sheol 17 instead.
==The Rites of Information Extraction==
Upon arrival, the Tech-Priests of Sheol 17 strip prisoners of
any nonessential cybernetic implants and inter them in arcane
life-support chambers known as Expurgation Bays. Here they
remain in a chemically induced coma, while canted supplications
to the Omnissiah and condemnations of those who violate his
doctrines bombard their minds and cogitators.
The Expurgation Bays routinely interrupt this fitful slumber in
order to probe the accused for any damning or useful information.
To this end, in addition to life-support systems, each chamber
contains an Explication Array. This device inflicts tortuous pain,
discomfort, and despair on the helpless subject within, while
the chamber’s automated life support systems ensure that the
prisoner is spared the mercy of death. The Archivids, spindly
constructs that resemble the arachnids of ancient Terra, eagerly
oversee the routine ministrations of these sinister implements.
These servitors record all utterances, biological or cybernetic
responses, and synaptic fluctuations in exhaustive detail on data
scrolls that feed perpetually from their distended torsos.
The Explication Arrays are also capable of interfacing with
any implanted cogitator systems and memory coils, ruthlessly
stripping every bit of cognitive data from the subject’s
augmented cortex. Data-factorisers, code scrubbers, and other
harvesting protocols thoroughly examine all inloaded data for
virulent scrap code, corrupt memory files, and other detrimental
information. If any security protocols and sub-routines within
the Heretek’s mind try to resist, logic-cants, cipher-shunts,
and cognitive-fractors relentlessly disassemble them until no
pre-programmed resistance remains. This process of forcefully
retrieving data from an augmented brain is absolutely
excruciating to the condemned, but the Archivids are unable to
respond to such factors, only to record the data acquired.
Subjects who prove particularly resistant to the blessed
mechanisms within the Expurgation Bays disappear into the
spire itself, where they fall beneath the ministrations of the
Magos Interrogus and his Excruciator Servitors. These macabre
Tech-Priests excel at peeling away lies and extracting the truth
from the most unwilling of subjects. Meanwhile, the Excruciator
Servitors continuously monitor the vital biological and synaptic
functions of the unfortunate specimen, while applying even more
agonizing tools, chemicals, and inducements to his unyielding
flesh. Together, these servants of the Omnissiah exploit every
nerve, synapse, circuit, and servo within their victim’s body to
the greatest possible effect, bringing the accused to the very
limits of sanity and sentience.
When the Archivids obtain a pre-set amount of data, they
convey it to the Vault of Censure, at the deepest point beneath
the spire, for partitioning, analysis, and archiving. This agonizing
process continues until every last byte of incriminating data
from the condemned resides in the vault. Once certainty is
achieved, the Cleansing Pits receive the prisoners and grant
them their absolution: final death, or life as a servitor.
Sheol 17 hosts diligent coteries of Tech-Priests who
continuously toil to create servitors for a myriad of functions.
Endlessly they prod and cut, graft and splice, commonly
using the condemned as unwilling test subjects for novel or
more efficient servitor patterns. Such things constitute the
final experiences of the Hereteks on Sheol 17, before their
brain ceases to register such trivialities as conscious thought,
and Sheol’s rune of a cog within a cog is branded into their
flesh. While the ranks of arachnoid Archivids and specialized
Excruciator Servitors claim many recidivists on Sheol 17, a
select few serve their penance as one of the infamous Murder-Servitors, who seek nothing more than to rend the flesh of their
victims, and drag the shredded corpses back to their masters.
==Captive Souls==
There are whispers of Expurgation Bays hidden within
the deepest crevices of Sheol 17 that contain Hereteks
who display blasphemous and unsanctioned psychic
abilities. These cells supposedly harness technology of
a forgotten age, and are said to resonate with the moans
and cries of the souls within. Scattered accounts of these
devices tell of unexplained power fluctuations, invisible
forces hurling objects about, and sudden visions of death,
destruction, and madness. Perhaps most disturbing of all
are the descriptions, of the sickly glow surrounding the
bays themselves and of fleeting impressions of tortured,
screaming faces upon their metal shells.
==Web of Intrigue==
The Overseer of Sheol 17, Arch-Magos Aracdis Hasrix,
is a shadowy figure within the Lathe Worlds hierarchy.
For centuries, the reclusive keeper of this prison has
dwelt within his spire, jealously guarding his position
and the secrets of his inner sanctum. The Archivids
throughout the facility are said to mirror his own
unique modifications, the most prominent of which are
the mechadendrites which sprout from his back and
torso. These powerful cybernetics resemble the legs of
some great insect, and are easily capable of conveying
the Arch-Magos throughout his domain.
Hasrix is a very influential figure in Lathe World
politics, with strong contacts in both the Lathe-Covenant
and the Lords Dragon. Some suspect that his reach may
even extend into the ranks of the Calixian Conclave
itself, and rumours of the dreaded Black Ships hanging
suspended in geostationary orbit near the spire are
common. Whether or not Arch-Magos Hasrix stands to
gain from these clandestine transactions remains to be
seen. The Overseer of Sheol 17 continues his position and
status, and any allegations that he takes too personal an
interest in his mysterious vault or inquiries concerning his
other questionable pursuits, have remained unproved.
==Archivids==
Archivids are one of Hasrix’s proudest designs. Each spindly
creation is roughly one meter long, with a fleshy body, three
pairs of articulated cybernetic legs, and trailing scrolls of data
relating to their numerous charges. Archivids freely roam the
station, quickly scaling the winding walls and ceilings of
the station’s irregular interior with ease. They seem to take
a distinct pleasure in administering to their captive wards,
tittering with excitement as they cluster around any active
bays to record the results of their labors.
==Sheol-Pattern Murder Servitor==
Sheol 17 is just one of many facilities where those who have
committed offences against the Omnissiah find absolution as
one of the skull-masked killing machines known as Murder
Servitors. The Sheol-Pattern, adapted for use within the
confines of the remote prison complex, is unique in that it
utilises a powerful solvent weapon, capable of stripping away
organic matter without harming the station’s many vital
systems. Though some of these twisted fiends prowl other
Mechanicus holdings, most remain on Sheol 17 to form a
deadly line of defence against potential prison breaks and
trespassers within the facility. Brandishing gleaming mono-talons
and deadly Viscerator-limbs, they ceaselessly stalk their
designated domains, relentlessly searching for any signs of life.
After locating prey, they attack in a savage orgy of rending and
slashing, sadistically reducing their quarry to bloody tatters.
==Excruciator Servitors==
These specialized constructs serve as aides to the dreaded
Magos Interrogus of Sheol 17. Each Excruciator Servitor
is able to monitor prisoner vital signs, as well as assist in
any necessary triage. These automatons also wield fiendish
modifications called Excruciator Arrays, ghastly devices
capable of inflicting all manner of pain and torture on their
victims. Tirelessly, they serve the Magos Interrogus in their
grisly work, heedless to cries of pain and pleas for mercy.
Category:Hazeroth Abyss
Category:Calixis Sector
Category:Space Stations
Category:Adeptus Mechanicus