Zhao-Arkhad - Founding: Much of the knowledge of Zhao-Arkhad is based on the data recovered by the Metalican sect of the Adeptus Mechanicus during the Great Scouring and even these records are cursory and fragmentary at best. Hence, the specifics of the Forge World's curious history, especially its beginnings, remain unknown.What is certain is that Zhao-Arkhad was initially founded by a Mechanicum Ark expedition heralding from sacred Mars itself, sent by the tech-priests of the ancient Mechanicum to spread the doctrines of the Machine God across the galaxy and to pursue the divine Quest for Knowledge. The timeframe of the colony mission's inception is still debated amongst scholars but is generally agreed upon as falling in the latter years of the Age of Strife.To reach their final destination, the Mechanicum Ark must have been flung widely off course from their intended target. What little lore remains from Zhao-Arkhad's founding indicates that the powerful Warp storms that marked the period of the Age of Strife were responsible for wrecking the Ark's Warp-Drives as well as damaging its more conventional engines, thus prompting an emergency translation back into realspace.When the Mechanicum Ark reentered reality, be it by the hand of fate or blind luck, it was amid the uncharted and unknown stars of the deep galactic south. Orbiting a white star, the system they had emerged in counted numerous minor volcanically-active planets, gas giants and thick webs of asteroid belts, but only one verdant green world capable of harbouring life. That any world within range of the stricken Mechanicum Ark was serviceable was viewed as a miracle by many of the Martian colonists.Calculating that this world offered their only chance at survival, the Mechanicum Ark limped towards its destination, gathering more information as it closed with the planet: its atmosphere harboured oxygen and the three moons orbiting it were determined to possess heavy mineral concentrations, making it suitable for settlement and offering the opportunity for potential expansion. Full of confidence, the colonists named this new system Zhao and landed their craft on the new world.It was only after the landing that the colonists realised that their new haven was a blighted one. Fate had delivered them onto a Death World. The tropical world boasted an atmospheric oxygen level far above the Terran norm, while local flora quickly proved highly toxic for any unaugmented Human. The prevailing climate was that of a tropical rainforest with wildly fluctuating temperatures and ceaseless rainfall which brought humidity to severe levels.These harsh atmospheric conditions left the colonists with little choice but to remain in those sections of their force-landed Ark and its cargo-holds that could be fully air-locked and were able to shield them from Zhao-Arkhad's weather.The first parties to venture outside the downed vessel soon testified to their new homeworld's ability to sustain life: grossly enlarged fauna that grew at a speed seldom seen and an extensive population of monstrously large arthropods and ophidian beasts provided a snapshot of the planet's hostile ecosystem.From the outset, the aggression level of these beasts threatened the very existence of the colony and if it had not been for the handful of Titans that had survived in the Ark's holds, the colonists' survival would not have been possible. Thus began the Titans' unceasing "iron vigil" which would later become the cognomen of the Legio Xestobiax, the Forge World's most powerful protectors.To the colonists of Zhao-Arkhad, it must have seemed as if the fertile world consciously resisted every attempt at colonisation. The myriad different species of trees formed a dense canopy that let through little sunlight, but at the same time these trees were so tall that they reached above the cloud level, which meant that the storms and monsoon rains formed directly over the colonists' heads, the foliage of the canopy further trapping the humidity below, causing intense corrosion that reached previously unseen levels.Even when the colonists tried to cut these trees down, the oxygen-rich atmosphere and the increased sunlight let the ground erupt with new saplings, the forest growing even thicker in the short-lived clearings made by the colonists. Where the canopy grew so thick as to entirely block the rays of Zhao's star, great macro-predators made their lairs, and the ferocity of these beasts ensured that the colonists' Titans never ran out of targets.The only Human-edible produce of Zhao-Arkhad proved to be a tuber, and even this had to be boiled and filtered repeatedly for many solar hours before it could be consumed with no or few ill-effects. But even with Zhao-Arkhad trying to kill them, the Human colonists held on. As Humanity has always done and will continue to do, the colonists of Zhao-Arkhad forged their home through adversity, driven by their iron faith in the Omnissiah and the Martian doctrine of unceasing labour.Quickly realising that expansion across Zhao-Arkhad's surface would be futile, the colonists decided to live beneath the ground, where the atmosphere could be more easily regulated and they would be safe from the predations of Zhao-Arkhad's macro-fauna.Using the deteriorating shell of their colony ark as cover, deep access shafts were cut into the subsurface, allowing the colonists to abandon the cannibalised wreckage of their starship and start a new existence deep below the surface.This venture marked the foundation of the world's first forge-fane. Others would eventually follow, as painstaking expeditions were sent out into the wild, braving the dangers of the rain forests, exploring new regions and sinking new biomes and forge-fanes into the ground. As the first forge-fanes slowly became functional, the worker caste was granted new technologies that allowed them to complete their work with greater speed and efficiency.Each Terran year, more forge-fanes were founded and within the space of one Terran century, Zhao-Arkhad reached the rank of a fully self-sustaining Forge World. To mark this occasion, the world's planetary governor and chief archmagos, now bearing the newly-created title of "supreme domini" of Zhao-Arkhad, announced the start of the First Conjunction, a period of time during which the Forge World would aim towards becoming fully equipped and functional, a golden age of economic expansion that would allow Zhao-Arkhad to grow strong.