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Major_Slovak
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Posted: Fri Aug 8th, 2008 12:17 am |
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This is a storyline, and any postings to this thread are welcome as long as they are in the character of the piece. There is a seperate thread here:
http://www.d-company-wi.com/forum19/1112.html
to post comments and whatever else. Thanks.
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The date of discovery of Kalkovac is generally unknown but the earliest record of communiques from Akira Prime, the capital of the Metonga Sector/Ultima Segmentum date back to early M32 by the meticulous record keepers of the Soroitas Mechanicus. It can be assumed that the first exploration of the Premaxilla Sysytem and the erratic planet that came to be known as Kalkovac dated from around this time.
The first explorator fleets noted that the fifth planet of the Premaxilla System had an unusual and inconsistent orbital pattern, as well as vast irregularities in it's rotational axis. So the lifeless rock, although of an overall temperate climate, was judged to be Category 588: Future Uninhabitable and Unworthy of Bio-Colonization. It was filed and bypassed.
But the planet did warrant further investigation; and sometime in the mid-M33's explorator teams from the Adeptus Mechanicus landed and made the discovery of deposits of Nanotum, a trace mineral which (consequentially) has the distinction of being the most magnetic substance in the known universe. Huge deposits of this extremely rare mineral could be measured in tablespoons, such is it's scarcity. Deep scanning of the planet's surface showed molten rivulets of the ore near the planet's core, which was what was causing it to behave radically in orbit.
Nanotum is used to molecularly coat the turbine blades of pre-Warp generators, making any discovery of new deposits significant news for the Mechanicus. To find such an abundant deposit, about 100 grams total, the Adeptus Mechanicus went to work to plan the mining and extraction or the Nanotum.
Centuries of work followed while the Priesthood of Mars devised a plan.
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Major_Slovak
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Posted: Fri Aug 8th, 2008 01:48 am |
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M36: As the Imperium struggles through the Age of Apostasy, the detatched Scholars of Mars have reached one impassable barrier after another with the planning for the Kalkovac Extraction, as the project becomes known within the exclusive circles of the Adeptus Mechanicus. A monastary was establshed on Akira Prime, the nearest habitable planet to Kalkovac in a neighboring system.
By mid-M36, following nearly 2,ooo years of study and planning no solution had been found to the myriad of problems that the mining of the planet presented. The unstable orbit of the planet means that gravity and surface pressure would vary greatly and with no recognizable pattern, making even short-term habitation of Kalkovac impossible for both man and machine. That astronomic instability coupled with the prediction that a full 5,ooo years of excavation would be needed to locate the mineral and mine it defeated the planning of the Techpriests utterly.
Numerous plans that had been drawn up to retrieve the ultra-valuable ore were all scrapped-- including several plans to capture the planet (with nets!) and tow it out of orbit to be mined elsewhere; a plan to blast the planet with enough high explosives to blow it to little pieces and then mine the asteroids; a plan to build a huge plasma reactor that would catastrophically orbit the same sun as Kalkovac just to collide with and subsequently melt the planet; and notably a plan to feed an endless stream of Squats onto the planet to live for an indeterminate but short period of time while they burrowed into the core and died there just to be replaced by more Squats. All were determined to be too dangerous to the Nanotum, for the risk of losing even one of the 100 or so suspected grams of this invaluable mineral were unacceptable to the Adepts of Mars.
Kalkovac the treasure chest remained locked by it's riches within.
571.M37: St. Vizus the Planner, then just a promising Medio-Adept named Eman Vizus in the Priesthood of Mars, returns to the Red Planet from the War of The Occlusiad and is re-assigned to the Kalkovac Extraction. Though just a technical clerk, he sets himself to the problem with a single-mindedness inconceivable to normal humans. He is said to have been posessed by the Machine Spirit, and there is little doubt from the official record that this is true.
Such is the devotion of Brother Vizus to the Machine God that he wandered Akira Prime for nearly two decades as a homeless pilgrim just to find the perfect place from which to gaze at the night sky for a glimpse of the neighboring star. He prayed. He sketched. He sculpted and preached and lost his mind in the high steppe desert to prepare for his epiphany. He pondered the Redemption of Kalkovac, which he looked upon as a parent looks upon a wayward child. Vizus saw Kalkovac as an abberant in the Light of The Holy Emperor which could not be tolerated least the Emperor suffer the planet's delinquency for yet another day. Prayer, fast, meditation, whatever; after eighteen years of applied devotion and sacrifice Vizus returned to Mars with the solution to the Kalkovac Extraction. Brother Vizus had devised the initial plans for the Core Array, which was to prove one of the first of the Wonders of the Age of Redemption.
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Major_Slovak
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Posted: Fri Aug 8th, 2008 03:00 am |
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580.M37: The Core Array was an ingenious plan to construct two enormous electro-magnetic armatures and place them at opposite sites on Kalkovac's surface, effectively creating north and south poles. The planet Kalkovac lacked polarity.
Working with the flux of the liquified Nanotum at the planet's core, the Core Array would manipulate it's movements and mirror north to south to establish a regular pattern that could be replicated and re-checked with solar impulses from the mother star to simulate gravitational balance-- in short, to conform through finite electro-mechanical guidance the orbit of the planet to achieve regularity. And it would follow to seed the planet for bio-genesis, and within 8oo years or so Kalkovac would be habitable and ready to begin a mining process spanning five millenium to conventionally extract the Nanotum ore from Kalkovac's molten center.
587.M37: Plans for the Core Array are approved and work begins at an orbital laboratory in the Tsylius System. Vizus promoted to High Priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus. This consistutes the 43rd fastest rise to High Priesthood in the known history of the Mechanicus. This is actually significant, as 43 is the number of translated chapters of the Magnificent Tome, a central tenent in the Cult Mechanicus.
734.M37: Construction complete, the Core Array is towed to Kalkovac; Premaxilla System/Subectore Zygote/System Metonga/Ultima Segmentum.
812.M37: The now Exactus Father High Priest Eman Vizus oversees personally the installation of The Core Array on Kalkovac.
093 824.M37: Due to a minor malfunctioning electrical short Exactus Father High Priest Vizus is martyred on the surface of Kalkovac while throwing the switch to enable the Core Array. After six months of mourning and 45 minutes of further work the Core Array is activated on 277 824.M37. The bio-genesis process begins within days.
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Major_Slovak
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Posted: Fri Aug 8th, 2008 03:52 am |
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999 999.M37: The Holy Order of the Thorns Without The Rose, a splinter Adepta Soroitas group known for their especially harsh interpretations of canonical lore adopt the Machine God as their undying focus and by way of devotion the now deceased Exactus Father High Priest Vizus as their patriarch. They establish the Holy Order of the Sorotias Mechanicus, and with the guidance and protection of the Adeptus Mechanicus begin to petition for the Sainthood of Eman Vizus, the former Exactus Father High Priest of Mars.
228 229.M38: Sainthood granted with the blessing of the Senatorum Imperialis, after a concerted 180 year lobbying effort from the seat of the Fabricator General. Much rejoicing. Saint Vizus is enshrined in the Imperial record.
407.M38: Although 3oo years remain in the completion of the bio-genesis of Kalkovac, the Sisters of The Holy Order of the Thorns Without The Rose establish an enclave on the surface of Kalkovac, in a high range near the planet's equator. Pledged to the defense of the works and memory of St. Vizus the Planner they begin construction of their convent-fortress in the completely hostile environment of Kalkovac.
701.M38: The bio-genesis phase of the project complete, the Kalkovac Extraction proceeds on schedule. Population is conscripted from nearby systems and established on the planet's surface. Construction of the Mining Colonies begins across the planet's surface, following plans signed by St. Vizus himself more than a millenium earlier.
765.M38: The spaceport at Kalkovac is open for planetary moorage. Ground is broken in the first mine, and the process of the excavation of Nanotum on Kalkovac begin. The projected timeframe for the completion of the project is 5,ooo years.
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Major_Slovak
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Posted: Fri Aug 8th, 2008 04:45 am |
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Mid-M39: The orbit and environment of Kalkovac is firmly established with the flawless performance of the Core Array for 1,ooo years. Although the population is modest, settlements are established globally. Kalkovac Spaceport is a thriving but minor hub of shipping and commercial activity. Tunneling toward the planet's core becomes routine, and generations of miners toil away at obscure goals.
Late-M39: Friction between the mining interests that are equatorial and mainly southern and the spaceport and economic centers to the north. Inconsequential civil war. Mining becomes a lesser economic activity to the spaceport and it's shipping and galactical trading interests, which really are not very important.
Mid-M40: Due to a mis-placed email, the Adeptus Mechanicus mostly forgets about the Kalkovac Extraction. Mining contiues, on a now perfectly executed but forgotten schedule of intangible and unsupervised goals. The spaceport steams ahead, moving things, selling things, cleaning and refueling ships.
Late-M40: The Holy Order of the Thorns Without The Rose, Soroitas Mechanicus continue to bolster their ranks through local recruiting but largely retreat to their convent in seclusion keeping the memory of St. Vizus enshrined if mostly to themselves.
995.M40: Kalkovac musters and contributes a full regiment to the Macharian Crusade, fulfilling their Imperial obligation and officially entering the records of the Ministorum.
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Major_Slovak
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Posted: Sat Aug 9th, 2008 04:22 pm |
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Stay tuned for the 4oth Millennium. . .
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Current time is 03:16 am | |
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