Crossing

The ***Crossing*** is the personal chariot of Charon, Primarch of the Wisps of Archeron Legion, the Gloriana-class Battleship likened to a physical manifestation of the terror the XVIIIth Legion spreads before them wherever they go. All across the Imperium, even in those who had never laid eyes upon her, the *Crossing* spread dread and fear through the civillian populace, the mere whisper that it is nearby often enough to crush budding rebellions, see all outstanding tithes paid in full, and great efforts made to capture or kill any psykers that may have appeared on the world, in short, keeping worlds in line through fear, as is the XVIIIth's way.

## History

The keel of the vessel that would one day become the *Crossing* was laid down shortly after the Emperor’s decree that each of his sons would be granted a Gloriana class warship for their flagships, far earlier than Charon himself was found, the hull remaining silently in the Ring of Iron above Mars, awaiting the Primarch’s specifications before its completion. In M30.907, Charon was found, the Mechanicum adepts standing by eagerly, awaiting the permission to continue their sacred construction task.

When the vessel was finally completed, some sixteen years later, it was no longer a shining beacon of humanity, but a dark and terrifying shape that seemed to drift through not only the void, but the primal instincts of the human psyche, sparking the flight reflex of unaugmented humanity with its passing, whether this was simply a facet of the legions own use of terror tactics or if the Mechanicum had included some arcane technology that physically stimulated the minds of those who looked upon the ship. Thus was the *Crossing* born.

Internally, the vessel was as different as the day from the night. Polished marble covering the floors and arrayed in decorative pillars, while statues of vaunted fallen warriors dotted the hallways, listing their deeds and victories. Alongside these were great works of art from across Archeron and the Imperium, tapestries, sculptures or stained glass works from every city state commonplace across the ship. Most would never believe that the inside of such an externally terrifying ship would look as it does, most expecting dark hallways, filled with the screams of the tortured and dying and littered with the bones of the dead.

Of course, just as with any ship of the legions, the *Crossing* is a warship, and though much  is given over to art, the greater portion of it is functional, given over to the singular pursuit of waging war throughout the stars. Placing preference on brutal close range weapons such as macro-batteries and bombardment cannons, the *Crossing* having to get close to its enemies, blasting them apart or deploying vicious boarding parties, often comprised of the feared Phlegethon. Once supremacy has been achieved, these same weapons are then turned downwards, their true purpose becoming clear. Optimised for orbital bombardment, the *Crossing* can reduce a city to ash in a single, terrifying flash, often carried out before a demand for surrender is transmitted across all frequencies, the wanton destruction often enough to force any foe to throw down their arms, rather than continue to face such a foe.

## Notable Features

### The Chapel of the Primarch

Before Charon was found by the Emperor, he was known to have a private chapel on his homeworld, a sanctuary as much as it was a place to commune with the gods he would soon come to know did not exist. When his eyes were opened however, the Chapel was not destroyed, Charon refusing to part with his history, even if an element of it was no longer required. Nor could he leave it behind however, not wishing to risk people of his home would fight over it, or slide back into their old, religious ways.

And so, unwilling to destroy it, but unable to remain behind or leave it behind, Charon ordered the greatest adepts of the Mechanicum to conduct a singular task. To carefully deconstruct the chapel, brick by brick if needed, and to reconstruct it at the heart of the *Crossing*, the Chapel remaining Charon’s personal sanctum and primary strategium, even as he traveled across the stars far from his one time home.

## Technical Specifications

* Length: 23 Kilometers
* Role: Close Range Broadsides and Boarding Actions, Sub-Exterminatus Grade Bombardments
* Date of Construction: M30.924