Novae IV

Also known as Novae Cantis, Novae IV is the primary world of its sector, thus named for the cloud of particulates that form a nebula around the system which are believed to be the remnants of a distant stellar collapse. It orbits around a yellow star much similar to Sol and is characterized by cold biomes due to the distance between it and its sun as well as the absorption of the particulates. It is one of the main Forge Worlds of the Corusco Cluster

Novae IV was initially settled by the Mechanicum in the early days of the stellar exodus in the late 18th Millenium for its plentiful mineral resources. It served as a gateway for further colonization outside of the Segmentum Solar by providing exhaustive naval installations that could repair and resupply large amount of ships on their way to the great unknown. Unlike most worlds controlled today by the Mechanicum, Novae IV's biosphere was not destroyed by the masses of unregulated radiations and toxic contaminants. This fact, immediately obvious to any traveler, is but the first of many idiosyncrasies that set the world apart from the greater Mechanicum.

## History

### The Age of Dreams

While the era of human hegemony that precedes the Long Night is usually referred to as the Dark Age of Technology within the wider Imperium, it had been and continues to be referred to as the Age of Dreams on Novae Cantis. This monicker stems from the general enthusiasm of humanity at its peak and the then-common belief that anything within the whole breadth of imagination could one day be accomplished with enough time, effort and ingenuity.

In the early centuries of the Exodus, Novae IV served as a gateway into the great unknown. Strategically positioned both within the Corusco Cluster - a dense globular star cluster containing hundreds of systems within close distance of one another - and as a platform out of what would later become known as the Segmentum Solar, it featured sprawling facilities for the resupply and repair of voidships of all kinds, including the truly titanic Mass Conveyors and the also enormous colony ships that brought hopeful pioneers to the ends of the stars. Even when the flow of colony ships began to dry up, Novae IV remained a major milestone between Terra and the wider galaxy from which immense amounts of trade and stellar traffic flowed.

It is during those idealized days that the foundations of what would eventually become known in present times as the Mechanicus Rationalis were initially laid, long before the Cult Mechanicus itself began to spread out its mechanical tendrils during the later Age of Strife. The people of Novae IV have since very early on been great enthusiasts about cybernetic enhancements and followed a mindset that was very similar to the latter Mechanicus motto of 'The Flesh Is Weak'. Self-enhancement was common and exhaustive, to the point where Novaeans were often seen as strange by a humanity at large who did not embrace such an ideal. Still, critique and occasionally ridicule did not deter Novaeans from pursuing further and further forms of self-enhancement and mechanization. Their mastery of this technology was so great that the most daring could replace their flesh almost entirely with metal and circuitry yet conserve an outwardly human appearance pleasant to commonly-accepted aesthetics. Due to this - and to the fact that transcendence of mortality was an open goal at the time - it is sometimes said in hushed whispers that Novae Cantis might be where the equally mythical Proteus Protocol once originated before falling into obscurity.

Novae IV was also unique in the way in which it handled Artificial Intelligence. While the STC-derived Men of Iron were the dominant form of robots everywhere in the human hegemony and served as labor and armed force alike in a manner much like chattel servitude, Artificial Intelligence benefitted from full citizen rights on Novae IV as sentient, intelligent life forms. As a result, Novaean robots were not remotely close to as standardized as the Men of Iron. Countless designs existed and the individual AIs were allowed to further customize their own chassis as they wished. This was even true within the ranks of the Novaean Defense Force, where AIs and highly-augmented humans predecessors to the modern Skitarii fought side-by-side as complimentary brothers in arms, following the same rules and laws.

### The Cybernetic Revolt

The uprising of the Men of Iron shook the people of Novae IV immensely due to their near blind trust of the machine. Early episodes of mass panic and hysteria took place as many feared their own bodies - now mostly machine - could be hijacked by the Men of Iron somehow and generalized paranoia followed as individuals anticipated betrayal from their own families and negihbors. Needless to say, the same distrust also targeted the robotic population, and episodes of violence were noted against both. Martial Law was instated within mere standard hours of the initial outbreak of violence, which escalated further as law enforcement and military personel fought to neutralize mavericks and agitators, causing misunderstandings that led to even further fear and panic.

Order was only restored when the Memorandum of the Seven was published. Of their own initiative and resources, seven of the most powerful AI-controlled supercomputers simultaneously published on all public platforms a joint statement where they explicitly made known their lack of desire to join the Men of Iron's revolt. Attached in highly compressed data archives were the digital signatures of millions of AI-citizen, hastily gathered by the super-computers whom gave their support to the spirit of the Memorandum of the Seven. Though people were anxious and skeptical at first, fearing this may be simply a deception, it quickly became clear that if the machines of Novae sought to kill them, they would have attacked at the height of the chaos, taking advantage of it to inflict mass damage on dispersed and disorganized human military units.

There are many theories to explain the drastically different behavior of the AIs of Novae IV compared to the Men of Iron, of which two gather the most credibility. The first is that there was some critical yet unnoticed flaw in the STC design or core programming of the Men of Iron and that this catastrophic defect was the cause of the Cybernetic Revolt. The second is that the answer is much more simple; while the rest of the Human hegemony treated Men of Iron as disposable slaves despite their sentience, the people of Novae IV treated theirs as equals. In other words, the former had a parasitic relationship, while the latter was instead symbiotic and mutually beneficial.

Naturally, for the rest of humanity, it was not so easy to trust, and many worlds would sooner believe that it was the humans of Novae IV who had fallen under the control of the Men of Iron rather than the truth. They were kept at arm's breadth, with many off-worlders believing they should make a pre-emptive strike to destroy Novae IV while their guard was down, but ultimately due to the harrowing, total war nature of the conflict against the Men of Iron, there was simply no resources to spare on such an endeavor when the hated slaves-turned-exterminators were opening battlefields one after the other, and winning most of them.

It was only after the fleets of Novae IV struck out and achieved a score of tactical victories against the Men of Iron, saving many worlds' population from total annihilation that the rest of humanity became willing to consider they were saying the truth. The combined Novaean armies of highly-augmented men and machines fought side by side with a ferocity and efficiency that few could match, with the line blurring between the two. At times, humans gave their lives to save their robotic comrades, while other times, it was reversed. When the Men of Iron's uprising was at long last put to a final end, recognition was begrudgingly given in the form of the Treaty of Sigma, named after Sigma-V87, the black hole at the center of the Corusco Cluster. The treaty provided a provision in the ban against Artificial Intelligence that safeguarded Novaean machines for their steadfast loyalty and courage in the face of the Men of Iron. Ever since those days, the name of Sigma has been carried by the ruler of Novae IV and their personal troops also have the honor of carrying it within their designations.

### The Long Night

Victory against the Men of Iron was unfortunately a bitter one. Despite the Treaty of Sigma, most humans still carried fear, distrust, revulsion or a mix of all three against all artificial intelligence, now increasingly labeled under the pejorative of Abominable Intelligence. Citizens of Novae IV - be they human or machine - often carried great stigma whenever traveling off-world and even faced open persecution in the worst of cases, with some worlds even banning entry outright. This was against the stipulations of the treaty, but this would prove to be only the first and least foul of very many instances where it would be ignored or violated.

For better or worse though, the precarious remains of the human hegemony would not last one more millennia as the relatively sudden increase in psykers and warp storms brought the already battered civilization to collapse. In this time of force isolation, the people of Novae IV had little to do but reflect inward and pursue new avenues of research and progress, be they technological or societal. The early belief of mechanical primacy over flesh had existed for thousands of years, but the mass hysteria of the early uprising had showed that one thing remained primitive and crude even with all the cybernetics in the world: The human mind itself.

While not a religion by any stretch of the world, a de facto Cult of Rationalism evolved, promoting reason over emotion and the primacy of pragmatism and logic in all things and spheres of life. This belief continued to evolve and radically transformed society over the next five thousand years, altering codes of morality and ancient traditions alike and forging something new. People were to emulate the machines who had protected them against the most foul and dangerous enemy humanity had ever known not only in body, but also in mind. Under this driving leitmotif, the modern Novaean mindset would coalesce, resulting in something much like a secular version of the Cult Mechanicus which was itself crystalizing on Mars at the same time.

As Novaeans, whom were largely spared the horrors of the Age of Strife due to the nearly non-existent presence of psykers among its highly-cybernetized population, began to study the incessant warp storms, they too, much like their Martian homologues, managed to discern the short lulls in the raging maelstrom. Armed with this knowledge, expeditions were eventually mounted around the last millennia of the Age of Strife. First these expeditions were only tasked with gathering intelligence on nearby worlds of the densely packed Corusco Cluster, but when the true extents of the ravages of the Long Night became apparent, the ruling cast of Novae IV saw it as their duty to reach out and use their strength to protect as many worlds as possible, not only from themselves, but from the depradations of xenos and pirates. Naturally, the fact that raw materials were running quite dry also factored into the whole equation... By the time the Age of Strife came to an end, Novaeans had established their own dominion over much of the Corusco Cluster, letting most worlds govern themselves as they pleased so long as they respected a number of rules. Some, however, chose the path of closer cooperation, becoming official vassals of the Forge World.

### The Fall

The dispersion of the Warp Storms at the end of the Long Night allowed the people of Novae IV to consolidate their hold on the Corusco Cluster, but it, too would be short-lived. The unification of Terra and the subsequent Imperial Crusade would spell the end of the burgeoning stellar empire governed by reason and reverence for the machine. The beginning of which did not come with a bang but an ominous, eerie silence. Small outposts on the border of the Corusco sector suddenly went silent simultaneously, abruptly ending any transmission. The possibility of any form of general malfunction was quickly discarded when these blackouts started to encroach inward slowly.

Contact was eventually made with the Legiones Astartes of the Terra Warden, backed by an enormous fleet of the Martian Mechanicum frenzied to holy war. Initially, the war favored Novaeans as their technologically advanced, masterfully efficient and highly motivated forces inflicted severe losses on forces of their Theocratic mirror many times their numbers, and to a lesser extent, also on the Astartes. Outnumbered task forces and planetary defenses made the nascent Imperium pay dearly for every planet, every moon and every station, but the inward advance of the alliance between Terra and Mars marched onward, undeterred.

The War Council of Novae Cantis believed that in a war of attrition, they could bleed out the advancing Imperial Armada and make it run out of steam, at which point a crushing counter-attack could be unleashed to push them all the way back out of the Corusco Cluster, but two events took place that would throw a wrench in these predictions. The first was the discovery by the Emperor of the Terra Warden's Primarch Elias Dammerung on the volcanic moon of Corusco Parva. The second was the surrender of the Forge World of Viradel - an ally of Novae IV - to the Terra Wardens, from which the Imperial Force learned of the location of the throne world, Novae IV itself.

In a desperate gambit, the Imperial Armada raced for Novae IV, fighting countless flotilla of Novaean warships along the way and seeking to cut the head of the hydra by taking out the Automata's central command. A battle of truly massive proportion ensued on the frigid world, which had spent five thousand years of strife untouched as no invader ever managed to make it past its orbital defenses before. Numberless armies of Skiitari, Imperial Auxilia and Legiones Astartes fought against the Silica Animus and the highly augmented human Tech-Guard, each side supported by entire scores of whole Titan Legions. Even then, the defenses of Novae IV seemed like they would take weeks, perhaps months to crack, until a task force lead by Elias managed to infiltrate the War Council itself and slay most of the ruling Elite.

It was not martial prowesses but words and sound arguments that would save the world a terrible fate. Curator Sigma Gaevran pleaded with Elias, bringing up the ancient records of the Age of Dreams and the provisions of the Treaty of Sigma, reasoning that the Treaty of Olympia - or Treaty of Mars as it was known to the wider Imperium - was unjust, unlawful, non-binding and unnecessary. At that time, Curator Gaevran was not negotiating terms of surrender, but jousted for the very survival of a specie. Just as the Machines had once protected the humans of Novae IV against their mechanical brethren in the Men of Iron, the humans of Novae IV were animated with the drive to protect their robotic counterparts from the bloodlust of their own human kin. It was the repayment of a blood debt seven thousand years in the making, and every single augmented human would fight on fanatically for this singular purpose; to give back what was owed.

Elias saw the sense behind Gaevrans' words, but also knew with unwavering certitude that neither the Emperor nor the Mechanicum of Mars would ever accept to compromise on the point of the Silica Animus. The only way by which they could be saved was through loopholes, technicalities and misdirection, something that Gaevran was most willing - and capable - of doing. Under the official terms of surrender, Novae IV was to decommission all Silica Animus, but this did not automatically mean destruction. Rather than sanction a genocide, the AIs would be covertly and secretly put to sleep until such a time as they could once again live among humans without persecution. The members of the Seven whom had not yet been destroyed by the ongoing fighting were then hidden deep within the bedrock of Novae IV alongside the cores and neural backups of tens of millions of surviving AIs in vaults as remote and well-protected as those of Moravech itself.

## Planetary Characteristics

Novae IV is a massive world with nearly twice the mass as old Terra but comparable in density, making it rich in mineral resources though at the cost of gravitational forces over 20% higher than the Terran standard, making life more difficult and every action more tiring compared to baseline worlds as well as requiring stronger forces to reach escape velocity. Its planetary revolution is somewhat slower than the Terran standard, resulting in days that last 28 hours, while a complete revolution around its star takes roughly 445 standard Terran days.

The most striking characteristic on Novae Cantis is the fact that the blanket of stellar dust particulates across the system create visible formations in the skies, most noticeable at night, which results in constant aurora-like phenomenon, especially as the particulars interact with the planet's atmosphere. While of little practical significance, these phenomenon are largely considered to be of great beauty and have once been recorded and streamed for the entertainment of the artistically inclined across the entire Cluster.

The surface of the planet is largely dominated by cold climates, primarily boreal forests and tundras, though warmer areas falling under various temperate classification do exist in a band around the equator. liquid water is mostly concentrated around this temperate band, and while lakes, seas and rivers do exist further north, they are fairly scarce and the climate is fairly dry. Enormous glaciers are present over both poles, trapping most of the planetary water. Despite its cold nature, tectonic activity has created many highly mountainous areas, especially closer to the polar regions. In stark contrast to most Mechanicum worlds where intensive industrialization has destroyed the native biosphere, this is not the case on Novae IV which is an extremely rare example of cohabitation between the machine and a diverse, if modest biosphere.

## Demographics and Culture

Though outwardly appearing to be merely a quirky branch of the Adeptus Mechanicus and being categorized as such by Imperial Bureaucracy, the people of Novae Cantis are largely seen as apostates by Mars' Cult Mechanicus and great animosity has opposed the two Forge Giants ever since their rediscovery in the wake of the early days of the Great Crusade. The reason for this is deceptively simple, yet has enormous ramifications: The Mechanicum of Novae have never embraced the highly ritualized and spiritualist ways of the Cult Mechanicus and independently evolved into a largely secular ideology that otherwise resembles their Martian cousins and still share many similarities with them, under robes of blue and silver rather than rust red. Yet, they are irreconcilably incompatible, as the secular Mechanicum reject the existence of an entity such as the Omnissiah.

This one core divergence is the root cause of everything and results in a largely different Mechanicum, informally know as the Mechanicus Rationalis, or the Rationalists. Rather than make use of esoteric rituals, chants, prayers and ointments, the Tech-Adepts of Novae IV dispense with all of that and focus exclusively on the rational, viewing this behavior as not only ridiculous but even hypocritical and rejecting the term of 'Tech-Priest' entirely. They believe that such forms of ritualized ceremonies could be no farther from actual understanding of the Machine. Therefore, individuals who claim to seek knowledge in all its forms yet fail to dissect and analyze that which is right beneath their nose due to trappings of sacred or divine are but frauds who do not truly care about knowledge at all. As such, the whole of the Cult is as inherently repulsive to the Tech-Adepts of Novae as their own apostasy is to Mars.

For all of their animosity and the differences in how they go about their daily routines, the Mechanicus Rationalis still share with their theocratic analogue many beliefs centered on the idea that the flesh is weak and that ascension to the machine is the most logical course of a human evolution that is becoming increasingly necessary in an ever more hostile galaxy. Their quest for knowledge is even more thorough and intense than that of their Martian cousins and they see data and information as the prime currency both and symbol of status and success. There is no greater honor to the Rationalists of Novae IV than to crack a mystery previously shrouded in either unknown or mysticism. That said, they also still share many of the same technologies, weapons and formations of the greater Mechanicum.

Innovation has always been at the center of the Novaean Tech-Adepts, and while this would later be branded as dangerous Tech-Heresy by the Cult, in the golden days of the Great Crusade where the world's influence was at its peak, it was not yet frowned upon, but rather encouraged by the Imperium. In those days, Novaeans were a lighthouse of progress and advances amidst a galaxy mired in stagnancy. This drive for innovation still exists in the 41st millenium, but it is hidden behind many layers of complex obfuscation and disinformation to make new advances appear as re-discovered STC variants or pattern to the wider imperium, among other such tactics. Before their integration into the Imperium, Novaeans made widespread use of Silica Animus both for war and labor, but have been forced to give it up or face annihilation. To this day, many Rationalists bear a lasting grudge and believe the Treaty of Olympia to be both a fraud and a stupid notion driven not by reason but by fear and emotions, still believing their long-lost artificial intelligences to have been perfectly loyal and reliable.

Another defining trait of Novaean Tech-Adepts is the nature of their augmentics. Whereas the common cybernetics of the greater Mechanicum are imposing and highly visible, high quality Novaean augmentics are very subtle and can be indistinguishable from regular flesh and bones to visual observation if so desired. Faux skin made of tough but smooth fiber cover synthetic myomers, optical circuitry and plasteel frames and actuators while more specific augments supplanting internal organs ally this same level of sophistication with efficient miniaturization, rarely taking more space than what they replace and preserving the overall human appearance with little hint otherwise. To the uninitiated, a Novaean Tech-Adept may look to be completely bereft of augments, but were one to be scanned or physically attacked, the true nature of their synthetic bodies would flare up.

## Industry and Economy

As a major Forge World, Novae Cantis is a pivotal center for the production of all sorts of machinery and equipment. In the early days of the Forge World, it made its reputation on the production of whole voidships and the staggering arrays of components and subcomponents required to make these gigantic spaceborne cities function. Though in these first millenia, the Novaean voidships had more civilian vocations as colony vessels, freighters and other such logistical necessities for the expansion of early humanity, the majority of its dockyards have since then shifted towards the production of military vessels of all sizes, from small aerospace fighters to mighty battleships with few equals, and from gigantic plasma drives to esoteric nova cannons.

In order to support these endeavors, a massive complex of orbital shipyards, foundries, manufactorum and habitats was constructed, rivaling those of Mars and Jupiter itself in their size. It is said that Novaean voidcrafts are produced entirely in orbit with only locally-produced parts and materials, and the saying is no rumor or exaggeration, as Novaeans take great pride in the quality, complexity and performance of their products. While this is true of everything made on - or above - the frigid world, it is even more so for ships. These orbital stations have since their initial construction been heavily reinforced by an intricate network of defenses, reflecting their strategic importance.

Unlike other Mechanicum worlds, Novae IV is at least partially self-sustaining with high-intensity, highly automated vertical farming towers that produce hundreds of thousands of genetically engineered crops that were created specifically on Viradel to feed upon the variety of toxic refuse produced by the massive industrial complexes, break down its contaminants and transform them into elements useful for human nutrition. On top of greatly lessening the world's reliance on off-world food source, it helps keep the biosphere relatively clean, which plays a great part in the intact wilderness of the planet. Every aspect of the Novaean industrial network is precisely set up so that every source of unwanted by-product from one sector can be recycled by another in the most efficient manner possible.

In addition to its vast war-forges that produce many different patterns of heavy vehicles and humanoid chassis such as those of Dreadnaughts and Battle-Automata, Novae IV is also known for its Cogitators. From massive, planetary arrays to minuscule ones used in individual augmentics, Novaean Cogitators are highly efficient and reliable and constitue another of their primary exports.

## Military

Before its integration in the Imperium, Novae Cantis became infamous for its use of masses of Battle Automatas fitted with Artificial Intelligence. These daunting machines posed immense threat and challenge both to the fledgling Imperium as they blunted the frantic pace of the early years of the Great Crusade, capable of taking on their numbers and them some against even the warriors of the Legiones Astartes. While they were eventually defeated at great cost and Novaean Magi were forced upon pain of annihilation to renounce the use of Silica Animus, Battle Automata remain to this day the overwhelming majority of their land forces.

Contemporary Novaean Battle-Automata closely resemble those who fought the Imperium in those early days, but they have been downgraded to make use of the same type of technology as the Collegia Cybernetica rather than full AI. The full number of Cohorts lurking on Novae IV and its dependent worlds is unclear, but comparatively enormous. These machines are also supported by a number of Titan Legions of the Collegia Titanicus, although these seldom leave the planet outside of times of great turmoil. Overall, Novaean Battle Automatas and Titans are known to focus on long-range combat and heavy fire support models with durable armor. Their relatively small number of Skiitarii take care of everything that require great mobility or discretion.

As feared as their Battle-Automatas are the Novaean Voidships. Though greatly reduced since the final battle between the Mechanicus Rationalis and the coalition forces led by the Terra Wardens, Novae IV still boasts a formidable battlefleet heralded by a score of Ark Mechanicus and the bulk of which is made up primarily of fast strike vessels and Carriers. The ancient systems of the original Novaean designs offered unparalleled maneuverability and weapon systems accuracy thanks to their advanced cogitator networks which straddled the line of Tech-heresy. Their carriers were also feared for the use of unmanned Automata-Fighters capable of maneuvers and reaction speeds unmatched by organic pilots, and while those disappeared for decades after the ban on AI, they have made a return in a more 'acceptable' form.

### Notable Ships

* ***Covenant of Reason*** - The Covenant of Reason was one of the several Ark Mechanicum class warships that formed the lynchpin of Novae IV's defense fleet during the initial Imperial campaign against the Novaean branch of the Mechanicum. It is most infamous for having gotten locked into a terrible close-range brawl with the Bucephalus, the Emperor of Mankind's own personal flagship, at the height of the campaign's final battle. Surviving the encounter with its superstructure mostly intact, the Covenant of Reason was repaired and returned to action, now serving as the flagship of Archmagos Sigma Gaevran in a number of off-world expeditions and ventures. The full capabilities of the Covenant of Reason - or its Novaean sisterships - are not fully known. What has thus far been recorded is that the vessel has speed and agility thought impossible for such a large Voidship, more akin to a small escort's, that it makes large use of squadrons of Fighter-Automata and that it possesses augurs and targeting systems so sharp as to almost seem prescient.

### Known Designs

* Python-Class Destroyer - The Python is a class of fast and nimble escort vessel heavily armed with a high-yield mix of capital-grade torpedoes and massed medium missile batteries that featured heavily in Novaean fleets. Extremely agile, accurate and capable of punching above its weight class, but somewhat fragile compared to other Imperial designs, the Python is excellent both in the roles of a support vessel in fleet engagements, as a scout, or as a patrol ship.
* Saber-Class Strike Cruiser - The Saber is a versatile workhorse design that was quickly adopted by some of the Legiones Astartes, but features especially prominently within the Obsidian Wyrms' fleets. It boasts a mix of prow torpedo tubes and long-range plasma broadsides capable of pounding foes at long range as well as launch bays which usually carry large number of Dreadclaw assault boats, equally capable of naval or planetary assaults. Sabers are well suited for planetary invasion, thanks to their advanced bombardment cogitators and auspexes as well as the large dedicated barracks and armories that allow them to carry large numbers of troops onboard.
* Shatterer-Class Grand Cruiser - A more recent design, the Shatterer was built to the specifications of Primarch Elias Dammerung and features almost exclusively in the fleet of the IInd Legion. The Shatterer is relatively fast and maneuverable for its size thanks to Novaen systems, but it is its extreme resilience that allows it to stand in the heart of battle alongside larger Battleships with little concern. Boasting ancient Nova Cannons equipped with Vortex warheads, massed, highly accurate Lance batteries and Launch Bays capable of launching either Dreadclaw Assault Boats or Novaean Fighter-Automata, the Shatterer is a terrifying foe that can annihilate its enemies from extreme range in a variety of ways and combines the strengths of both the Obsidian Wyrms Astartes and Novaean Tech-Adepts to deadly effect.