Due to the growing size of the Story Notes and for easy review, you'll find a copy of this batch of updates below.

  - Brian

  Herald of the Stars Table of Contents updates:

  Showing: Aethelred's Patreon Chapter / Royal Road Chapter (Marwolv Date if available *)

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  * Dates added where possible, based on Marwolv satellite date, and which the machine spirit Sadako of Iron Crane stubbornly refuses to change.

  Aldrich Isengrund page updates:

  - Aldrich gains a Warrant of Trade, making him a Rogue Trader, by altering David Modren's certificate after his death. (c0161)

  - Aldrich captures Ardent Bane, an Ambition-Class Cruiser. (c0163)

  - Aldrich promotes Raphael Horthstien to full Inquisitor rank. (c0164)

  Alliances, Contracts, and Trade Deals page updates:

  Cobalt Trade Agreement --- Governor Stigstaff grants Stellar Fleet the fourth moon around the gas giant Cobalt VI, and the rights to cloud mine Cobalt VI, in addition to the 1,000 Vanguard Armor trade deal. In return, he gets an Adeptus Mechanicus enclave on the moon, along with their expertise and mutual defense.

  Lickspittle Trade Agreement --- A promise of further trade, they agree to set aside their most valuable minerals to be collected and paid for in secret at a much later date. (c0151)

  Blessings and Castigations page updates:

  Characters and Groups page updates:

  Alpia Isengrund --- Aldrich and Brigid's daughter

  Ardent Bane --- Ardent Bane, the primary machine spirit of the void ship by the same name, appears as a small, floating lion, with spines for its mane and orange, reptile-like eyes. Shackles hobble its feet, constructed from green binary code. I run a search, and the closest match is a Calibanite Lion. A real Calibanite Lion would be as large as a horse and highly resistant to pain and weapon fire. (c0161)

  Dareaca Isengrund --- Aldrich and Brigid's son

  Fial Isengrund --- Aldrich and Brigid's son

  JK-404, Magos Biologis --- JK-404 requests that Aldrich purchase her contract from Inquisitor Hamiz. (c0182) --- Aldrich trades JK-404 and eight Lathemasters (Kin) for Gellar Field repairs on Hamiz's Petitor Veritas. (c0183)

  Killovie Signi --- A Cybertheurgist (c0176) --- Killovie identifies Dying Light and Cultists' connection. (c0187)

  Lafiel, Navigator House --- Only six males remain, all too mutated to sire new navigators. Even if they did manage to strike a deal with another house, their meddling with the genetics in search of greater power and freedom from persecution means they can only father male children. In return for healing the six of them, they join House Isengrund and gift their Luna-Class Cruiser, Torchbarrer, to the Stellar Fleet. It's in crappy condition compared to what the Stellar Fleet is used to, but it's still functional. (c0146)

  Luan Isengrund --- Aldrich and Brigid's son

  Lyre Hamiz, Inquisitor of the Imperium --- Imperial Navy Ships: two Sword-Class frigates and one Enforcer-Class System Control Light Cruiser. (c154) --- Introduced as Adjunct Lyre Hamiz of the Imperial Navy. (c0155) --- Aldrich destroys Lyre's rosette and gives him Raphael's subordinate rosette as a lesson in manners. (c0166)

  Mattius Stigstaff, Governor of Cobalt --- Introduced to Aldrich with Lord-General Mildred Pyrewier of the Cobalt PDF. (c0155) --- Cobalt Trade Agreement made. (c0156)

  Raphael Horthstein, Inquisitor of the Imperium --- Introduced as Commodore Raphael Horthstein of the Imperial Navy. (c0155) --- Aldrich promotes Raphael Horthstien to full Inquisitor rank. (c0164) --- Receives a blessed rosette (Minor Bless Object) from Aldrich. "Congratulations on your promotion, Inquisitor Horthstien. The new rosette is also a rosarius and will protect you in combat. The blessing will repel minor demons and psychic influence upon your mind and block up to three strikes from a greater demon, after which the blessing will fade and will need to be renewed by another who can channel the Emperor's power. I suggest you look towards the Sisters of Battle, should you survive such an encounter." (c0166) --- Raphael becomes Stellar Fleet's Master of Whispers (c0183)

  Praetorian Servitors: Without a ready source of replacement material, like Marwolv's criminal populace, Aldrich replaces Kataphrons with vat-grown and warded Praetorian (Ogryn) Servitors. Aldrich found the Ogryn samples aboard the Distant Sun before he recovered the void ship. (c0121)

  Talliel-lota-5, Enginseer Prime on Petitor Veritas --- Talliel-Iota-5 is four metres high and has replaced his legs with six mechanical limbs. His arms are also artificial, and there are four of them. While they mimic the Human hand, they are segmented and hide many tools. His torso has withered, and there is very little flesh beneath his liver-spotted skin. His head is fake, and his brain is actually in his chest. (c0180 - c0181)

  E-SIM page updates:

  Fleet Information page updates:

  See the estimated dates on the page.

  Stars, Planets, and Stations page updates:

  Belacane, Forge World - Long-term plan: No one is more desperate for STCs than Belacane, but rather than trading for materials, void ships, and data as originally intended, use the chance to gain enough support to put House Isengrund in charge of Belacane unofficially. Then use their resources to resettle one of the lost Forge Worlds in the Koronus Expanse. There are two options, Aubray's Anvil, among the Ragged Worlds, spinward of Winterscales Realm, and Raakata, one of the Heathen Stars, spinward of Cobalt. The second one is probably our best, to avoid conflict with House Winterscale. The chance to reclaim a Forge World would make Belacane look really good. With the return of their STCs, the mission that they sent Distant Sun on in the first place, Belacane could restore their falling status within the Imperium and, more importantly, the Mechanicus. We would get a strong ally within the Calixis Sector and appear beyond reproach for asking for help to resettle a Forge World as a reward for an STC, obscuring how strong our house influence on the world actually is. (c0171)

  Cobolt System --- Seven planets orbit a red dwarf. Cobalt II and Cobalt VI are gas giants. Cobalt IV is an ice world and the primary habitable world ruled by Governor Mattius Stigstaff. The remaining planets are rocky and barren. There are two asteroid belts, one between Cobalt I and II, and another between V and VI. An extensive Kuiper Belt floats between VI and VII. Cobalt VII is the final planet in the system, a mineral-rich rocky world with no atmosphere. (c0154) --- Bridig Isengrurd negotiates a trade agreement for mineral rights from gas giant Cobalt VI and ownership of the planet Cobalt VII, aka Haddon's Throne. (c0156)

  Haddon's Throne --- A new Stellar Fleet outpost, Haddon's Throne, or Cobalt VII, is a frozen wasteland and is rich in hydrocarbons, as well as being next to a gas giant, Cobalt VI. It offers a unique opportunity to store vast quantities of promethium, hydrogen, and other gases safely, and more importantly, at a low cost. We can let the environment freeze everything for free. That means minimal evaporation with a negligible chance of explosions and fires. We would only reliquify what we are using, and could potentially move and store most fuels and gases in frozen blocks without even needing to build containers. Not only that, because of our new understanding of Tithes and how they play into the carbon trade, Haddon's Throne represents a rare opportunity to export huge quantities of algae and other hydroponic goods, as well as fertilizers, chemicals, and plastics. With all the wraithbone hulls we captured, we can also produce the exotic fuel required for Warp drives as well, a particularly scarce resource in the Koronus Expanse. Warp fuel would be our lure to attract other merchants to trade for other goods. Sustainability of Warp fuel production can come from our Moth-Class vessels. (c0154, c0170)

  SR-651 --- SR-651's central star is a red giant. There are no planets in the system, as all of them have been shattered by an unknown event eons ago. Now, massive debris fields, ranging from tens to thousands of kilometers across, swirl around the system in vast eddies of somewhat unpredictable gravitational anomalies, creating a cosmic display that is both beautiful and deadly. Sensor readings of the Receiving Yards, a spindle-shaped, thirty-kilometre-long void station, and the Breaking Yards, a teaming mass of chained asteroids and broken ships three and a half thousand kilometres across, reveal nothing of the ancient system's past. There are thousands of dead void ships here and at least two dozen active ones. I spot thirty-seven hollowed-out asteroids, strapped with salvaged macro-cannon batteries, hangars, and other defenses, and I would be shocked if that was even half of it. (c0183)

  STC Library page updates:

  Data Siphon --- Information is collected from souls and added to one's own knowledge. The Data Siphon is a double-edged sword. One must be highly selective about what enemies it is used on. There is no time to be gentle or subtle, as the soul is shredded at the point of death to ensure all knowledge is acquired. An echo of the individual's experience and memories is ripped out along with the knowledge, creating an opportunity for corruption if I am too reckless with it. Additionally, using the Data Siphon prevents the collection of soul energy. As leaders are often the best to use this on, I will need to choose between crowns or knowledge, with the risk of corruption that comes from stripping a multitude of individuals of their knowledge to acquire a broader overview, but still take the crown. (c0172, c0206)

  Environmental Suit --- The Environmental Suit STC is valuable, not just because of the new alloy, but also because it represents a new method of creating ceramite armor at scale. In other words, I could use infantry-grade ceramite, the best type, on a void ship. For the environmental suit, it means its armor is two percent thinner and seven percent denser, providing an overall eleven percent increase in toughness for its weight. The new ceramite will be excellent for improving our MOA infantry shields, but when coupled with the new alloy, it is highly resistant to physical projectiles. It could likely survive multiple kraken rounds fired by a heavy bolter. In practice, the person inside the armor would get injured from shock waves propagating through the armor before one could fire something strong enough to breach the new armor. The new manufacturing method requires a significant amount of power, as it relies on gravity manipulation and is only effective in zero-gravity or micro-gravity environments. It works at any scale, with any grade of ceramite, and is compatible with both the new alloy and standard plasteel for creating armor plates. E-SIM suggests that I could potentially reduce the weight of all our void ships by at least fifteen percent while maintaining the same level of protection. The lower reaction mass expenditure alone would pay for the increased energy cost of manufacturing new armor plates in under a year of continuous acceleration at one gravity and even faster at higher velocities. (c0171)

  Slaughter-Class Cruiser Technologies --- Found on a mothballed Slaughter-Class Cruiser from M34 that people were using for spare parts, and thanks to Aldrich's records, we were able to identify that the cruiser had a near-unique engine modification called Scartix Engine Coils, which can give up to a twenty-five percent boost in acceleration. The ship also had a couple of other archeotech devices, such as Gravitic Accelerators for strike craft, and a Contra-Grav Maneuver Drive, which supplements acceleration and maneuvering. The drive is especially effective near planets and other massive bodies, so you can use it to fly much closer to a planet, or within the thicker layers of a gas giant. No one knew what they were, and thought they were broken junk, so we nabbed them in exchange for a hundred and twenty thousand class two and three criminals with just enough skills not to kill themselves when living aboard a void ship. Never has Thorfinn been more ashamed of himself or more pleased with himself simultaneously. These items are now being reverse-engineered. (c0152)

  Void Ship, Icarus-Class --- The Icarus-Class Void Ship is Magos Issengrund's name for an upsized Moth-Class Monitor Ship support vessel. Moth-Class can typically only gather and synthesize a limited range of fuel or elements. They are a downsized Lathe-Class, and similar in size to a Viper-Class Sloop, the smallest and fastest Imperial vessel. The Moth-Class size gives it similar properties, though it is much more expensive and volatile, consuming a cruiser's worth of rare elements to produce its synthesizing machinery. The Icarus is designed to perform both material and fuel synthesis, as well as store sufficient resources to fill multiple vessels after a single resource-gathering operation. It will also be much more robust than the Moth-Class. Putting so many valuable resources in a vessel that can only run away, like the Moth-Class, is deemed impractical. The Icarus-Class design project is on hold until more resources are available and, preferably, additional hull designs are available, especially the Goliath. We suspect the Goliath may have specific systems in place to safeguard gigantic volumes of volatile cargo. (c0133)

  Void Ships by Name

  Ardent Bane - Ambition-Class Cruiser (c0154, c0163)

  Void Ships by Type

  Miscalaneous updates:

  Source Chapter: “(c9999)”

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  Thank you,

  Brian