Deathwatch - Jericho Reach Watch Stations: The following are notable examples of the numerous watch stations present in the Jericho Reach:Watch Station Arkhas - Watch Station Arkhas is an armoured void station resembling a spiked iron pinwheel floating on the outer reaches of the Arkhas System. The watch station is small, with space to accommodate no more than a dozen battle-brothers. Most of the station is given over to the systems of its massive sensor arrays designed to both monitor the Arkhas System and gaze beyond it. Unusually, Watch Station Arkhas is home as a matter of course to an assigned astropath dedicated to its service. The current astropath is a deeply experienced practitioner of his craft called Varrus. However, it has been many solar months since he had been able to personally send or receive messages through the Warp with any reliability or clarity, thanks to the growing shadowy presence that moves in the Warp blocking out both Astropathic signals and filling the watch station's augurs with static that buzzes like a swarm of locusts. The Arkhas System itself has a number of planetary bodies, including two that are capable of supporting life. However, both are Desert Worlds, possessed of little or no water, and from which jagged spines of black rock emerge like the bones of great fossilised beasts. There are a few sand-eroded remains which indicate that these worlds played host to intelligent life in the distant past; possibly even Human colonies, though nothing of them now remains. The system has long merited the Deathwatch's vigil. It has been both battleground of man and alien and the site of several strange energy phenomena which remain unexplained. The airless third moon of Arkhas II still bears the charred remains of an Ork Terror Ship brought down by a Deathwatch boarding action centuries ago. In the last few solar months, the system and its inhabited worlds have formed the centre of an attempt by the Crusade forces, under the command of General Casterlix, to regroup and dig in following massive casualties inflicted by the tide of Tyranids rising from the rimward depths. Casterlix and his forces are, so far, entirely ignorant of the Watch Station's presence.Watch Station Belarius - Deep in the midst of the Hadex Anomaly lies an empty star system composed of little more than a massive, nameless blue giant, a scattering of small planetoids, and trillions and trillions of square kilometres of beautiful, roiling dust clouds. The whole system shimmers with mellow shades of green and blue, and the occasional ice asteroid winks in the dust like a gem on a jeweller's mat. Here in this out-of-the-way system, carved into a massive, deeply scarred asteroid, is Watch Station Belarius, long thought lost and destroyed in the depths of the Hadex Anomaly. Built by the Deathwatch millennia ago to monitor xenos activity in and around the important worlds that once lay at the centre of the Jericho Sector, a billet on Watch Station Belarius was once one of the most coveted assignments for a Deathwatch battle-brother. It was newly constructed and located near the beating heart of the sector, but well removed from it and isolated in its system. This arrangement allowed a battle-brother solitude for his contemplations and devotions but also kept him close enough to the sector capital at Verronus and many important Warp routes so that he and his kill-team could respond to threats at a moment's notice. For centuries, the battle-brothers of Watch Station Belarius stood vigil over the sector's core worlds, their kill-teams always ready to respond to xenos activity at a moment's notice. Unfortunately, when the Fall of the Jericho Sector came, the battle-brothers stationed at Watch Station Belarius were simply overwhelmed by the sheer number and force of the Daemons screaming in from the Empyrean. When the Hadex Anomaly opened and spilled the raw energies of the Warp into the Jericho Sector, it all but engulfed Watch Station Belarius. In an instant, most of the Watch Station's inhabitants, Chapter serf and battle-brother alike, were mutated or killed outright by the intensity of the Warp energies. Those who survived this initial onslaught were cut off from all support, left alone to defend the Watch Station from the hordes of slavering Daemons and Warp entities that swarmed into Belarius, devouring all before them. The end came quickly for these few beleaguered defenders, quickly but not painlessly. There was a general slaughter in the corridors and compartments of the Watch Station. The battle-brothers and remaining Chapter serfs fought to the last, and the watch commander took his own life as his body twisted and mutated before his very eyes. One final astropathic transmission was received by Watch Station Midael seventy-two Terran standard hours after the first arrival of the Anomaly, a short message that stated simply: "We are holding our own."Watch Station Castiel - The Dead World of Castiel is part of an abandoned star system bearing little importance to the Imperium. Yet, for all its unremarkableness, the Deathwatch maintains a Dead Station there. Unlike many of the other watch stations throughout the Jericho Reach, the Castiel Station maintains a single-manned presence at all times. This vigil has become known as the Lone Watch. At any given time, a lone Deathwatch battle-brother maintains a vigil at the Castiel Station, monitoring the data it gathers as well as guarding something deep in the heart of the fortress. The term of this assignment is usually one standard year, when the next candidate comes to relieve the previous guardian. Those who have undertaken the Lone Watch never speak of what lies within this station that requires a living guardian at all times. Its proximity to the Hadex Anomaly lead many to believe it is an ancient Chaos artefact. This remains speculation at best, for the battle-brothers who have carried out the Lone Watch remain ever silent on the matter.Watch Station Cressid - The watch station on Cressid recently came under attack by a group of Chaos Renegade Space Marines, who believed they had discovered a treasure trove of powerful artefacts. With the aid of the automated defences of the station, a single battle-brother on patrol beat back the attackers, though the structure sustained a great deal of damage. The battle-brother repaired the damage before leaving the station to continue his vigil. The repairs performed on the station did not address all of the damage as previously believed, however. The Renegades' attack did substantially more damage than anyone could have discovered with standard auguries and analysis. The Chaos forces left behind a Warp entity on Cressid, a being of pure malice and hatred that wormed its way into the station's pathways and data core. The station now possesses a malign intelligence that guides its sensors and readings, searching the surrounding areas for something that only it knows. To date, the information gathered by the station has been manipulated and altered by the Daemon and all information relayed to the Deathwatch has been scrubbed of anything of value. To the Imperium, Cressid Station continues to monitor a Dead World and its surrounding environments with little of value detected. Should a kill-team arrive on Cressid to utilise the station, they would find a common Watch Station with nothing out of the ordinary on first glance. However, if any length of time were spent inside its walls, the Daemon's bloodthirsty nature would take hold and subject any within to a hall of horrors.Watch Station CX3119 - Watch Station CX3119 was established to study the Hadex Anomaly nearly 800 standard years ago. Due to the reported fluctuation of the Anomaly, this Watch Station was initially created to be mobile, that it might remain ever on the periphery of the Warp Storm. In addition to the usual banks of archeotech sensors, this station also sported powerful Warp Augurs to warn of any dangerous expansions of the Anomaly that may place the structure at risk. Sadly, these devices did not provide enough notice when the Hadex expanded to nearly half again its size, sucking the station into the Anomaly and cutting it off from the Deathwatch. At the time, the station was unmanned, and while the Imperium was loathe to lose a valuable monitoring tool, it considered the station gone and classified it as destroyed. One can imagine the consternation and surprise of all within the Deathwatch when Watch Station CX3119 reappeared in 815.M41. The station's reappearance has provoked great debate amongst the Chamber of Vigilance and the Inquisition. The structure's new location is many light years from where it originally vanished, creating additional speculation on the nature of the Anomaly. Many wish to investigate the station to see what details the station's sensors have recorded during its time within. While the matter is debated, an elaborate system of quarantine beacons has been put in place warning all ships to keep a wide berth of the area.Watch Station Iobel - Located deep in the storm-wracked mountain range of Iobel II, Watch Station Iobel is less of a watch station and more of a fortress. Its winding halls are carved out of the very mountain itself, and its facilities are large enough to house and train multiple kill-teams simultaneously. Iobel has acted as the primary launch point for all operations into the Hadex Anomaly, and contains various ancient devices for monitoring and observing the movements of xenos in and around the Warp rift. Inside the station, the dark halls are all but empty save for a few Chapter serfs and servitors and the two battle-brothers whose task it was to stay ever vigilant for the rise of whatever unknown threat the desolate planet posed. The watch station originally housed no equipment for monitoring the rest of the system it inhabited. From what the Deathwatch could ascertain, its original purpose was to watch over the valleys far below the mountain on which it stands. A grand network of pict-feeds had been assembled and maintained across the surrounding area of the planet, though the images they transmit back to the Watch Station are commonly blurry and distorted from the massive electrical interference within the planet's atmosphere. There was little evidence as to why the architects of the watch station desired the barren valleys to be observed. Year after year the pict feeds would return nothing but grey, static images of a barren landscape. Fanciful tales were passed down amongst the serfs, tales of mechanical horrors that stalked the valleys during the worst of the storms. But this was always dismissed as nothing more than the superstitious legends of mortals. However, there are some battle-brothers amongst those who have served at Watch Station Iobel that believe the tales of the Chapter serfs. Scattered through the archives are different grainy picts, saved from the feeds, that depict looming silhouettes of mechanical spiders, a faint green glow emanating from lines on their bodies through the distortion in the storm. Each time one of these picts was taken, the battle-brothers would leave to investigate after the storm subsided, but would find no evidence that any such being ever existed. This has led to the Watch Station getting a strong reputation for ghost stories and tall tales. Since the Achilus Crusade came to the Jericho Reach, Watch Station Iobel has seen a radical transformation. As the Hadex Anomaly expands, it has begun to consume the systems around it. One such lost world housed Watch Station Midael, the closest Deathwatch outpost to the Anomaly. With the loss of Midael, Iobel became the closest, and it began housing all kill-teams operating in the area. This increase in traffic was far larger than the small tower could possibly house, and as more and more kill-teams passed through, it became a necessity to expand the watch station. Techmarines and Chapter serfs under the supervision of Harl Greyweaver began construction to enlarge the watch station, hollowing out the very mountain it stood on. Intricate networks of passages were carved out, a giant hangar was created, and ancient equipment was shipped in. Within the course of a standard decade, the watch station turned from a lonely tower to a veritable Space Marine fortress. Now, the hallways of Watch Station Iobel bustle with activity. Banks of cogitators process information on xenos activity in and around the Hadex Anomaly, kill-teams prep for missions, and Ordo Xenos Inquisitors commonly make use of all the facility has to offer. With the explosion of activity within Watch Station Iobel, its original purpose has been pushed to the background, all but forgotten. The network of picters and cogitators continues to monitor the valleys, but all its fuzzy data is stored away and forgotten. But as the Deathwatch focuses on the Anomaly, something has begun to awaken deep beneath the planet's surface.The Iron Bastion - The Iron Bastion is a space-based Watch Station floating through the void in the heart of the Dark Pattern. The station is built into a massive planetoid that is part of a small asteroid belt known as the Kyvoll Belt. This fortification has studied the mysteries of the Dark Pattern for centuries and over time has become the main base of operations for the Dead Cabal throughout the Jericho Reach. The augur arrays and Cogitation Engines fitted throughout the Iron Bastion are the most powerful anywhere in the Reach. They are capable of studying worlds far and wide in great detail. The Iron Bastion also collates and processes all reports from the Dead Stations in their ongoing analysis of the Dark Pattern. The Iron Bastion differs from many other Watch Stations in that it is constantly manned by at least half a dozen individuals at any given time. This roster rotates frequently, as those assigned here venture out to investigate reports of strange happenings throughout the Jericho Reach. While the Iron Bastion serves as an expanded Watch Station operated by the Dead Cabal, there is a deeper mission that only select members in the Deathwatch know about. This mission is to guard, study, and analyse an artefact that has mystified many of the Imperium's best minds -- the Jovaall Hedron. Discovered on a classified world two standard centuries ago, the Jovaall Hedron has resisted all attempts to unlock its secrets. The only knowledge gleaned from the cube shows that a source of incredible power lies within, and that power has not diminished at all in the centuries that the cube has been in the possession of the Deathwatch. The Hedron is not without danger and some who have investigated it believe it should be destroyed -- if even possible -- or locked away permanently. During an analysis of the Jovaall Hedron, Brother Peregon of the Crimson Fists vanished from a secure chamber while conducting his investigation. Peregon was a Techmarine of unparalleled skill with a long history of unlocking the secrets of xenos artefacts studied by the Deathwatch. The only record recovered of the incident shows a massive burst of energy and light emanating from the cube before all pict-recorders in the vicinity went offline. When other members within the Bastion accessed the room, the Jovaall Hedron sat untouched on a worktable. No sign of Battle-Brother Peregon could be found. Since this incident, all further study of the xenos device has been conducted through remote servitors and equipment to safeguard against any further loss of life.Watch Station Klaha - Klaha has been under attack by factions of the Dark Mechanicum for many Terran years. These fallen servants of the Machine God have come to mine the ores and minerals of the world for use in their war machines. The primary base of operations for the Dark Mechanicum rests atop a highly active volcano they have named Mount Pride, though they have recently established orbital stations above the planet. So far, the dark ones have kept clear of the watch station, not wishing to draw too much attention to their activities. They are not aware that the highly advanced sensors of the watch station have been monitoring their movements for some time, recording all their comings and goings throughout the Klaha System. The watch station has been able to monitor many of the Dark Mechanicum's activities, but there is one major endeavour underway that it has not detected due to the Dark Acolytes' shielding -- a deep drilling project to harness the massive amounts of energy in the planet's core. The watch station has detected fluctuations in the planet's electromagnetic field and an increase of seismic activity, but there has been no direct correlation between the two. Seemingly independent of the unexplained phenomena, another distressing development has occurred on Klaha. The augur arrays of Watch Station Klaha have begun to register massive movements of energy and mass on the far side of the inhospitable world. Movement and numbers are consistent with massing life-forms or xenos migration and herd patterns. As there has been no recorded xenos activity in the Klaha System for nearly three standard centuries, these movements have become a serious topic of debate and speculation among the battle-brothers deployed on the Klaha watch station.Watch Station Midael - Watch Station Midael sits on a Dead World shrouded in metallic grey dust that lies close to the spinward extent of the Chaos-held Charon Worlds. The Watch Station takes the form of a single armoured tower that rises from a spur of rock above one of the world's dust plateaus. Watch Fortress Erioch has not received word from this station in over three standard decades. In truth, it is a dead and lifeless place, inhabited by a lone Deathwatch battle-brother, cut off from the outside by the spreading baleful influence of the Charon Stars. For more than thirty Terran years, he has waited for others of the Deathwatch to come and relieve him, standing guard over the thing that is held in the deepest chamber of the tower. Slowly, the Watch Station's Servitors have failed and died, and the tower's systems have become corrupted and atrophied. Every few years, enemy forces come again to claim it. So far, however, they have failed to defeat the lone brother of the Deathwatch who waits within. Outside the tower, the screaming wind howls and the bloody light of the Hadex Anomaly flares ever larger in the cold skies.Watch Station Oertha - Watch Station Oertha is a bastion under siege, situated on a semi-arid world within one of the primary warzones of the Canis Salient. The forces of the T'au expansion believe the planet of Oertha possesses vast resources of fuel and primary material. It has been set in the T'au agenda for some time as a prime candidate for exploitation and colonisation. The world's largely uninhabited status has led the Tau to lay claim to the planet; a claim that is disputed by the watch station and the forces within it. Watch Station Oertha is a sprawling and heavily fortified compound that stands concealed in the maze-like ravines of the equatorial Berrick Mountains. In a rare instance of overt and ongoing cooperation between the Achilus Crusade forces and the Deathwatch, Watch Station Oertha has now become the keystone of the efforts to deny the planet to the T'au. Twenty Deathwatch battle-brothers, under Watch Commander Codicier Kurita, and fifty allied Space Marines of the Storm Wardens Chapter have garrisoned the watch station, using it as a base from which to launch a campaign of devastating raids against the T'au. So far, these raids have made it all but impossible for the Tau to expand on the planet. As matters stand now, both sides are awaiting reinforcements, and only time will ultimately determine the fate of Oertha.Watch Station Phaedas - Not a true watch station in the conventional sense, Phaedas is a relic of ages past, an archeotech spacecraft that bears no resemblance to any form of starship or void-station within Imperial records. If the Adeptus Mechanicus knows of Phaedas' provenance, it is not forthcoming about it. Phaedas is largely automated, its myriad Machine Spirits demonstrating sophistication that rivals those of the most ancient and revered of Titans. The vessel -- if it can be defined as such -- seems to operate based on incredibly complex logic paths, turning Augury data into plotted courses, and is even able to travel short distances through the Warp without a Navigator. Phaedas is comparatively small for an object capable of self-sustained travel through the Warp -- massing far less than the smallest Warp-going craft in service to the Imperial Navy or Adeptus Astartes. The station has space only to support ten Astartes, but contains a modest armoury and a supply vault sufficient for standard years of travel without requiring replenishment. It is also equipped with a launch bay loaded with a single Stormraven gunship and a Drop Pod bay equipped with a single Drop Pod, either of which is enough to deploy the kill-team occupying it from orbit swiftly and with precision. Its small size and cunning design allow it to avoid all but the most careful of observers, making it extremely effective at conveying its kill-team while remaining unnoticed.Watch Station Skapula - Skapula is a world under T'au occupation. As a Dead World, there is little of value on the planet from a strategic point of view. The world is known to possess pockets of rare minerals used in a variety of crucial manufacturing processes throughout the Imperium, so the planet has been marked for reclamation by the forces of the Achilus Crusade in due time. The T'au have made a number of attempts to breach the watch station, but so far the structure has held. Its sensors are keeping the Deathwatch apprised of the situation on Skapula, which provides the Imperial forces with vital data for the future attack. There are pockets of Human nomads on the world who used to work the mines when the world was under Imperial jurisdiction. These have been largely left alone by the T'au thus far, as they likely present little threat to the T'au Empire's interests on Skapula. However, the T'au have been losing warriors on Skapula for the past few solar months. What has happened to these missing Fire Warriors and Pathfinders is unknown, but the number of the missing has been steadily increasing. The commanders of the T'au forces have kept this quiet, only conferring on the matter with the Ethereal in charge of the forces. Almost all of the soldiers that have vanished disappeared in remote locations while alone or separated from their comrades. All patrols are advised to be especially vigilant while conducting their duties and to look for any suspicious activity. The sensors of the Watch Station have detected intense seismic activity along the equatorial band of Skapula. These geological fluctuations include massive bursts of radiation that flare to life and vanish completely after only twenty to thirty standard seconds. There have been no Tau in the vicinity of these readings.