Hello!

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

  I'll continue to add info from newly posted Royal Road chapters as I can.

  - Brian

  Herald of the Stars Table of Contents updates (Showing Marwolv Date if available):

  Aldrich Isengrund page updates:

  Alliances, Contracts, and Trade Deals page updates:

  Blessings and Castigations page updates:

  Characters and Groups page updates:

  A child's hand rests upon my shoulder, then points towards the Realms of Chaos, where I see endless legions of demons, cultists, traitor marines, and Dark Mechanicum gathering in six distinct groups. Their leaders, however, are hidden from me, even with the Star Child clinging to my shoulder. (c0222)

  "Why?" I say. (c0222)

  "Because they can, and because we must." The chubby white hand points towards Terra, and I see three new fleets being assembled: one Mechanicus, and two Imperial Navy. "Thank you for returning my children to me." (c0222)

  Verlin leads the Barghest Space Marines from Red Knoll, a Mark III Vanguard Class Light Strike Cruiser. The Red Knoll houses a single mixed company of Barghest Space Marines, their support marines, auxiliary forces, and all their vehicles. They include 150 marines and 850 humans, some of whom are partially modified and won't survive additional gene-seed implants. The staff also includes the chapter's serfs and the Space Marines' attached Lex Mechanics. (c0146)

  (After the battle on Dying Light) Balor grimaces, "His head is rotting, and he will die if he exits the tank. The new body is rejecting what remains of him, despite their compatibility. It was just too much change at once. We should have done it a bit at a time, but we took the risk, hoping to get our Force Commander back on his feet as soon as possible. The chance of rejection was supposedly less than five per cent, but sometimes one is just unlucky. Owen is helping him come to terms with his new condition, as our Chaplain is also badly injured. We gathered, hoping you would have some solutions." (c0206)

  "A Servitor body with an original pattern dreadnought where the pilot could still leave would solve most issues, but it isn't what Verlin wants. As Space Marines, we do not get to choose what becomes of our bodies. In some ways, we do not even own ourselves. We belong to our chapter and go where we are needed," says Balor. (c0207)

  I say, "Thank you for your honesty, Balor. The situation is not ideal, but it is good to know where we stand. Rather than continue to talk in circles, I suggest placing Verlin in a bio-pod and a Janus frame. I will have no trouble improving him from there. Once he is more lucid, he can spend proper time thinking about his options." (c0207)

  E-SIM page updates:

  Fleet Information page updates:

  * - Led by Calligos Winterscale, Rogue Trader

  Sitting in my cosy office, I continue my final review, enjoying the feeling of accomplishment as I see how far I have come. The anticipation of how far we have yet to go also fills me with excitement. The images of endless voidships and the restoration of Humanity carry me away with dreams of hope and progress, the lack of which has ground me down during my time at SR-651.

  The original intention behind my voidship selection was to form a partial cruiser strike group with one cruiser, one light cruiser, and four escorts. Really, it should be four light cruisers per cruiser with four escorts per light cruiser, for a total of sixteen escorts per cruiser strike group. We don't have enough vessels for that, though.

  In theory, pairing everything in fours means that each group should be able to beat one vessel of the next size up. A light cruiser strike group, that's four escorts and one light cruiser, can fight off a cruiser and vice versa. It is loosely based on the volume of each void ship class.

  For example, each Lathe Class light cruiser is worth seven point three Sword Class frigates, and a Lunar Class frigate is worth twenty-two point two Sword Class frigates. The goal is to have at least half the volume in smaller vessels against a larger one.

  There is an odd contrast in Imperial ship design in that one needs the largest vessel possible to make it worth travelling through the Warp, abusing the tyranny of volume to ferry the most people and cargo from each harrowing voyage. Not only that, but larger vessels are far more self-sufficient, so if you run into trouble, you're far more likely to have a solution on board.

  On the other hand, smaller vessels let you field more guns and strike craft for fewer resources as surface area multiplies at a different rate than volume. Even if smaller ships don't have the same level of firepower, shields, and armour, you can rotate and manoeuvre your vessels to either take down a far larger vessel or to easily escape.

  Much of this theory goes out of the window if you come across a carrier-configured battleship, as its massive volume lets it field thousands of strike craft, battering down any number of smaller, faster vessels as it pleases. So long as a carrier doesn't run headlong into a gun-heavy battleship. These titanic behemoths can pound a carrier into scrap before the carrier's strike craft have a chance to wear down its dozen cubic kilometres or more of armour, plasma, and metal.

  One also has to consider the sheer number of crew. Anything cruiser-size or larger likely has at least a quarter million crew, not including servitors, civilians, or Imperial Guard detachments. Compared to the fifteen thousand crew on a Sword Class frigate, large vessels like the Lunar can keep sending boarding crews at smaller vessels until they are overwhelmed without significantly impacting their own performance.

  This mess of design philosophy and counter-reliant combat is why I put so much emphasis on strike craft and CIWS, such as micro-laser grids, on my vessels. I also stuff them full of dedicated combatants, like Heralds, and as many automated internal defences as I can. The goal is to balance my groups so that each group is the equivalent of both a carrier and a gunship.

  Rather than specialising and risking the wrong solution, I rely on my superior technology and crew training to carry me to victory. Being outnumbered is why I am so cautious around the other factions, as all of them vastly outnumber me.

  My tech advantage can carry the day in small-scale conflicts. It isn't going to help me if any of them really gun for my stuff in vast numbers, a strategy that Abbisine quickly noticed in her analysis.

  Avoiding attention and hiding my best technology as best I can is why I had no intention of taking Iron Crane or my Moth Class vessels anywhere near an Imperial-dominant sector, such as Calixis. I still have no intention of bringing Iron Crane anywhere near the Lathe Worlds and other Mechanicus heavy systems.

  Sure, Abbisine has visited Iron Crane, but it's one thing for the Mechanicus to have some footage of a mobile ship yard in a system far from their seat of power and quite another to dangle a newly built, Dark Age of Technology mobile shipyard over three Forge Worlds that think they're as awesome as Mars. I have relented upon taking the Moth-Class vessels, however. (c0252)

  Stars, Planets, and Stations page updates:

  Chorda is a hidden Relic World in Jericho Reach. It is not well known, and you will not find it on any map or document, as it is recorded only by its name, classification, and purpose. One can only describe it to others by speaking. It is most disturbing to see one's ink run upon a page, or letters scramble on a dataslate, even as you type them. A Relic World is a world with an active, independent relic from the Dark Age of Technology, or Xenos origin, that is uncontrollable by Humanity or any other faction. The Warp Gates to Jericho Reach would be an example of an uncontrollable, active relic. Chorda is a gas giant in the habitable zone of its star. A Void Shield and a Gellar Shield of immense strength surround the whole planet. (c0215)

  There are no other planets, moons, or asteroids in the system. Even the Oort Cloud is missing. All have likely been collected and turned into an array of defensive satellites that would make an Ork blush, as well as thousands of domed, floating islands the size of continents, or even whole worlds. Chorda is a living repository of plants from around the galaxy. The intelligence controlling the world, believed to be a rogue STC or AI of some kind, will provide the seeds and other samples of plants required to terraform a world or restore a damaged biosphere, along with its knowledge of the provided plants and how to use them, but this is not a free service. One must offer resources to trade, and although it is not possible to communicate with the controlling intelligence, there is a station on the edge of the system where one can dock. The station is minimal, with no services of any kind save for a single cogitator. When one uploads a list of resources and data to the cogitator, they will receive several points with which to trade. The controlling intelligence is more generous if you include a well-thought-out plan for how you intend to use its samples and data. It also values flora and symbiotic fauna, ensuring that it does not exhaust its resources. (c0215)

  STCs sometimes work, but usually have a value of zero. The same goes for modified organisms. There are also some hidden criteria we are unaware of. Some people, Chorda refuses to trade with, and we are unsure why. Attempting to deceive the machine or damaging the station and cogitator will result in a disproportionate response that matches the nature of the offence. It is not always clear what sets it off, either, so if you do visit, be forthright and respectful. It is also expensive, so don't bother turning up with anything less than a Universe Class vessel stuffed with refined elements—preferably rare ones. (c0215)

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  SR-651's main star is a red giant. There are no planets in the system, after a shattering by an unknown event aeons ago. Now, massive debris fields, ranging from tens to thousands of kilometres across, swirl around the system in vast eddies of somewhat unpredictable gravitational anomalies in a cosmic display that is as beautiful as it is deadly. (c0183)

  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. (c0183)

  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 defences, and I would be shocked if that was even half of it. (c0183)

  Orks from the 'Undred 'Undred Teef are known to raid the SR-651 from time to time, chasing all dat sweet scrap n' gubbins, but they've never taken it, or even done much damage. This place would be a nightmare to assault. So long as one of the frequent Warp storms doesn't get in the way, SR-651 can call every single ship in the Koronus Expanse for reinforcements, who are all going to rush to defend the only shipyard this side of the Maw, even if it is only semi-functional. (c0183)

  We try hiring a local pilot to take us through the debris field. Still, he freaks out when he sees all the plants on Iron Crane and refuses to walk through the corridors to the bridge, so we have to spend an extra two weeks observing the gravity flows before making the voyage to the Receiving Yards with our own skills. (c0183)

  STC Library page updates:

  The first thing that strikes me is how angular the power armour is. A closer inspection shows that every surface is composed of triangles, hexagons, and pentagons. The surfaces are still curved, but they're made up of hundreds of flat pieces. The helmet is sleek and vulpine (fox-like). A gorget protects the neck, and tassets cover the hips and upper thighs. The tassets contain maglocks and charging mechanisms for tools and power packs.

  The armour is built from a chromium, cobalt, and nickel alloy that gets tougher the colder it is, or when force is applied to it. When layered and bonded with ceramite under high pressure, it forms a protective layer that is 5 times tougher than the usual ceramite-plasteel mix.

  "This armour is ridiculous, E-SIM. It's like someone decided to put the protective properties of Terminator armour into a light power armour."

  ++It is highly effective against ballistic threats, but put it up against high-yield thermal weapons, like Hellfire, Volkite and Melta weapons, and it's not much better than standard Imperial armour, while requiring significantly rarer resources. You should examine the ceramite, though. It holds many secrets.++

  "Still, the trade-off is likely worth it, especially against Orks and Eldar. I can see how it wouldn't be a significant improvement against Tau, Necron, and Imperial forces, though. It makes sense why it would be labelled as an environmental suit for Dark Age of Technology researchers, as it is the ideal defence against micrometeorite impacts.

  "The five per cent improvement against thermal weapons wouldn't have been worth the extra cost when everyone was running around with volkite and gravity cannons, especially if you had billions of troops. The same goes for using it as void ship armour. However, there is some merit in using the alloy to replace the outermost ferrocrete ablative layer, given its significant protection against physical impacts. There is significant weight savings to be had if we can locate sufficient chromium and cobalt, as the layer could be made much thinner than the ferrocrete layer. Even though the alloy is heavier than ferrocrete, it would be lighter overall."

  I follow E-SIM's advice and check out the ceramite. Apparently, the flat surfaces are not an aesthetic choice but a manufacturing requirement for the ceramite compression method. By the time I finish reading, my eyebrows have risen so high, I'm surprised they haven't floated off.

  Ceramite, like steel alloys, comes in many different grades, each with its own tolerances, specific use, and manufacturing methods. The one usually used for infantry armour focuses on density, forming the thinnest, most rigid plates possible for maximum protection and mobility. Thanks to the enhanced strength of power armour, weight is less of a concern. The compression method for infantry armour is not suitable for large pieces, as the industrial press would fail under its own weight when used to compress larger pieces.

  Vehicle ceramite is thicker and lighter than infantry armour ceramite. Protection is less good, but the lighter armour means you can cover a tank in it without making it so heavy it burns an entirely impractical quantity of fuel and digs too much into soft surfaces, like mud. It can also be made in large pieces and is cheaper, as less material and energy are required to produce it. The lighter ceramite is more insulating, too, so vehicles remain unaffected by intense fires or arctic and desert conditions.

  Void ship ceramite cares little for weight and is intended to be as thick as possible. Here, the goal is to absorb as much energy from enemy weapons as possible at the lowest cost, especially from energy lances. It doesn't compress much, so you can form it into huge slabs, literally spraying the stuff on and sandwiching it between plasteel plates. It is somewhat prone to shattering, though this is by design, as shattering spreads the damage out from high-velocity physical projectiles. It doesn't need to maintain integrity like power armour or vehicles do, because an adamantium alloy hull beneath it provides protection.

  The Environmental Suit STC is valuable not just because of the new alloy, but also because it offers a new way to create ceramite armour at scale. As in, I could use infantry-grade ceramite, the best type, on a void ship. For the environmental suit, it means its armour is 2% thinner and 7% denser, and that it provides an epic 11% 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 armour would be injured by shock waves propagating through it before one could fire something strong enough to breach the new armour.

  The new manufacturing method requires a lot of power because it relies on gravity manipulation and only works in zero-gravity or microgravity environments. It works at any scale with any grade of ceramite and is compatible with both the new alloy and standard plasteel for creating armour plates.

  "E-SIM, this method suggests I could potentially reduce the weight of all our void ships by at least fifteen per cent while maintaining the same level of protection. The lower reaction mass expenditure alone would pay for the increased energy cost of manufacturing new armour plates in under a year of continuous acceleration at one gravity and even faster at higher velocities. There has to be a downside to this; it's just too good to be true."

  E-SIM does not respond to my commentary, which is never a good thing. I continue to review the STC and identify additional improvements. Knowledge of gravity manipulation will likely lead to better artificial gravity for void ships and help integrate and replicate the Gravitic Accelerators Quaani picked up. It might make the production of anti-grav hover tanks possible. We would have to find an inexpensive, high-output power source for a hover tank and be willing to disregard the dubious logic of using complex machines in a highly destructive environment when they aren't necessary.

  One could also say the same about Knight Suits and Titans, but I can't give up the dream of a big stompy robot any easier than any other Tech-Priest can, and if one is feeling uncharitable, Ork Meks too!

  The micro-fusion generator for the environmental suit is another delight, providing many more material configurations than we currently have, especially more powerful and expensive versions. It also explains how they work, because this is a proper engineering-grade STC.

  The compact toroid design is the same one that we already use, but we've only been replicating it. I don't precisely know how they work, as our current STCs only contain how they're supposed to be configured, but not why. I am looking forward to reading up on them correctly.

  We already have multiple designs of larger reactors from the D-POTs and Origami. Those use different principles, but as we already have a working solution for larger reactors, there is little value in scaling up these new designs at this time. It is nice to get more data, though, as a broader understanding and more options are always good to have.

  What is absolutely crucial, though, is that the STC has automated methods of producing, repairing, and recycling these micro-fusion reactors on a large scale. This, along with the long bake times for the armour plates, was the two largest holdups to mass-producing power armour.

  Yes, the micro-factories can make these objects, but they're not specialised devices; they are general fabricators, and there are many other, more critical demands on their production time, like voidship components. There's even a special rig in the STC for assembling and disassembling the Environmental Suit (power armour) and its components, enabling rapid repair and automated manufacturing.

  Everything about this power armour is just slightly better than what we have—better synthetic muscle, better auspex, better man-machine interfacing and so on. I doubt I need that Centurion design from the Space Marines any more, but I'm not going to complain if they actually deliver on that trade.

  The environmental suit won't feel like a second skin like Space Marine Black Carapace enables, so you can still get claustrophobic in it. Still, the new interface should eliminate the slight delay in reaction speed that standard power armour has for non-Space Marines.

  I think the best feature of the environmental suit, though, is the improved mobility. With the higher quality armour, there is less need for bulky shoulder pads to hide your head behind. You can actually perform superhuman, acrobatic feats in this armour, from flips and cartwheels to some truly epic parkour. Thanks to the thinner armour, the environmental suit is light enough to walk in, though not run, while unpowered, something that most Imperial designs can't do.

  You can also turn the strength boost off and let it support itself, or use it for custom resistance training to build strength. For someone like me, this feature makes it the perfect armour as I can use my maximum strength without damaging the mechanisms. This really shouldn't come as a surprise, considering where I got the data from, but somehow I still am.

  I can also see this armour being used by Space Marine scouts and neophytes who are usually stuck with carapace armour, yet still thrown into the toughest of battles. Really, anything that helps those poor kids make it to 20 is worth it in my book. (c0171)

  "What's this suit, E-SIM?"

  ++A hyperweave undersuit, a type of mesh suit.++

  "OK, and what are these undersuits used for?"

  ++A hyperweave undersuit worn by the crew that will protect them in an emergency. The silver parts can project small energy fields around the exposed areas for up to 12 hours, with the air matching them.

  ++It can also protect a person from temperatures between minus 270 degrees Celsius to 5000 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes, or more modest temperatures indefinitely. If you can find a proper helmet, gloves, and boots, the operational time increases dramatically. Add an oxygen cylinder and a powerpack to the complete suit, and you could live in it for a week."

  "That's crazy good. Any other features?"

  ++It can break down and recycle waste, and, as long as the energy field or rebreather isn't active, an undersuit will run off your body heat. The suit will tighten around wounds, provide resistance in zero-G to help maintain muscle mass and joint cohesion, and use pressure to maintain consciousness during high-G manoeuvres.

  ++It is self-sealing and capable of minor repairs, though, like the energy field and rebreather, this would significantly cut into the suit's run-time.

  ++A hyperweave undersuit can resist small arms fire, though the shockwaves from such an impact would incapacitate, or likely kill, a baseline human. It is highly effective at turning blades, though bruising would still be a significant issue.++

  "To clarify, a mesh suit can do all that, and it's just the under armour?"

  ++No, a mesh suit is underwear.++

  "You telling me this thing is a fancy pair of full-body boxers?"

  ++Correct.++ (c0004)

  I pass another airlock and acquire the helmet, gloves, and boots to match my undersuit.

  This time, I remember to grab the maintenance STC for the undersuits by touching my lanyard to the back of the locker.

  Putting on the helmet, gloves, and boots, I relax a little. You can never have too much protection in the 41st millennium. (c0005)

  An automated, self-contained refinery, fabricator, and assembly plant that fits inside one of the big blue containers I saw in the video. They can produce anything for which I have the STC, generate negligible waste, and create the equivalent of master-crafted products. On the downside, they can only be configured for one product at a time and cannot make parts or completed machines larger than a Leman Russ tank. If you were to stack them until you had a manufacturing complex equal in size to an Imperial one, they'd be building stuff a third of the speed for twice the power consumption. (c0026)

  Yes, the micro-factories can make these objects, but they're not specialised devices; they are general fabricators, and there are many other, more critical demands on their production time, like voidship components. There's even a special rig in the STC for assembling and disassembling the Environmental Suit (power armour) and its components, enabling rapid repair and automated manufacturing. (c0171)

  "As you renew your faith in the Emperor, I want you to think about how you can provide for his finest warriors and faithful shields. To aid you, I am gifting each vessel a single micro-factory. These are limited Standard Template Constructors. Do not confuse these with Standard Template Constructs. So long as you feed your micro-factory with the right resources and data, such as the micro gamma-ray burst STC I'll be including, they can build anything." (c0216)

  "They're slower than traditional manufacturing and assembly and consume significantly more power; these micro-factories demand more space to reach production quotas. In an environment such as a void ship or station, where space and power are fairly limited, I find myself without the room to ramp up the production required to produce the bombs and ammo the warriors of the Emperor require for their campaign." (c0216)

  The micro-factories are self-configuring. (c0224)

  The Panacea STC is a fully functional, Adaptive STC (see above) that, according to rumour, can cure any mundane disease and possibly Warp-based ones as well. Any faction that possesses it has a distinct advantage in countering the forces of Nurgle, the Chaos God of disease, pestilence, and decay. It would likely help against the Tyranids as well. Not only that, but with the Panacea STC, I could probably safely fabricate and use Universal Medicine. (c0206)

  Void Ships by Name

  Void Ships by Type

  Miscalaneous updates:

  Readers: Is there anything you want added?

  Source Chapter: “(c9999)”

  Please leave a review, share your thoughts in a comment, or send me a note with any suggestions you may have.

  Thank you,

  Brian