Atriferrum
Atriferrum
| Affiliation | Imperium of Man / Adeptus Mechanicus |
|---|---|
| Type | Forge World |
| Orbital Radius | .49 AU |
| Gravity | 1.34 G |
| Temperature/Climate | 17 ℃ |
| Population | Less than 2 million |
| Planetary Governor | Archmagos Andrek Jirax |
| System | Tourbillion |
| Sub-sector | Antimar |
| Sector | Scarus |
| Segmentum | Obscurus |
| Tithe Grade | Aptus Non (Production Grade: III-Tertius) |
Ever since the Great Crusade, the great Forge Worlds of the Adeptus Mechanicum have long been the providers of armaments, materials, and technologies to the Imperium. To most citizens the names of Graia, Metallica, Ryza, Stygies and certainly Mars are known and spoken of with some amount of respect.
But for every famous Forge World, there are countless of smaller, lesser known systems that also serve the Omnissiah and the Imperium. Systems that perhaps are not as influential or powerful as the Great Forges, but none the less provide valuable services and materials to the Emperor's domain.
Atriferrum is a minor Forge World situated in the Tourbillion system, Segmentum Obscurus. It is the home of both the Titan Legio Gravis and the Knight House Sissam. The forge is known for its mastery of aquatic and gravtic technologies - due in large part to it's nature: an ocean world orbiting a large black hole.
History
Like many Forge Worlds, the origins of Atriferrum lie in the period known as the Age of Strife: the period of time after warp storms covered most of the galaxy and cut off the distant worlds colonized by mankind from Terra, causing period of technological decline and great conflict. On the world of Mars, as the terraforming systems failed and the planet reverted to an arid red desert world, the young Mechanicum rose as the preminent power on the planet. The priesthood of technology zealously guarded the technology that allowed man to survive on the cold, dusty surface, and drove back the hordes of barbarians, mutants, and psykers that threated to destroy all that been built before. As it was, they were barely able to hold on to little of what had been known, and what used to be a drive to learn and expand the knowledge of mankind became a religion dedicated to worshipping and rediscovering that which was lost; not through research and science, but by searching for lost troves of technological treasure included the fabled STC constructs.
To recover lost technology, the Mechanicum would launch expeditions of troops and the powerful war machines called Titans whenever there was a lull in the warp storms. Some of these explorers re-discovered lost colonies of humanity, and conquered them in the name of the Machine God.
Most were lost to the perils of deep space travel: The reality twisting warp storms, fierce xeno races, or death and destruction in the cold wastes of deep space.
A small number met neither of these fates; instead, they stumbled upon uninhabited worlds that were prime canidates for colonization. These worlds became new homes for the mechanicus, and some even grew into Forge Worlds of their own.
But none of these happened to the explorators who would eventually become the Forgeworld Atriferrum.
Far to the galactic north from Mars, in the area of space that would eventually be known as the Scarus sector of the Obscurus Segmentum, an explorator fleet was searching for signs of lost outposts of humanity. While a few worlds had been found, on all of them the populations had fallen into barbarism, precious technology lost and destroyed. None of them had materials worth exploiting, so the fleet continued its search. History does not record the name of the lead vessel, nor the identity of any of its crew or support staff. It was undoubtably a forge ship, as they would not have been able to survive the disaster that was going to befall them without the factories of such a vessel. Accompanying the fleet was a group of Titans and Knights, but from what Legion or House they hailed from, there are also no records.
On one leg of their journey, after visiting another dissapointing world, the fleet was suddenly caught up in extremely violent and powerful warp eddies, stronger than had been experienced before. An emergency translation to realspace deposited the battered vessels not in the vastness of empty space - but in a dark system filled with debris and vast ribbons of dust. All orbiting a single object in center of the system.
A black hole.
The singularity, along with the strange fluctuations in the warp that were common in the Age of Strife, had tore the fleet into its system. As the fleet hurried to get their failed drives online and repair broken systems, their sensors returned a grim picture: littered in the fragments and debris scattered around the system were the broken and devastated hulls of other vessels. Some were recognizable as human ships from the Age of Technology, others were strange and alien. But none had survived the harsh gravity and exotic radiation flooding the system - all were burned out hulks.
As drives came online and repairs were made, one fact became clear: the ships, in their current state would not be able to escape. The gravity tides prevented the warp drive from engaging, and the fusion engines in their current condition could not even hold station. The fleet was slowly, but surely, being drawn towards the black hole.
The forgeship strained against the gravity, seeking to delay the inevitible as the vast maw of gravity drug the vessel closer. The mechanicus within scrambled for a solution - radical plans around improving drive output or forcing a warp translation were either rejected as useless or tried: all failed. All seemed hopeless.
It was at this time that a minor tech priest made a surprising discovery: a planet. A dark, almost pitch black world that was in a stable orbit around the black hole. There was no time for discussion or further examination: a radical course change and using the black hole's own gravity to accelerate the forgeship, the vessel hurled itself at the only chance of survival.
The journey was rough and violent, and many small escort vessels failed in their passage: either being ripped apart by the waves of gravity, impacting large pieces of debris, or outright getting trapped in the black hole's grasp - doomed to fall forever into the massive singularity.
But the main forgeship and a good number of its escorts survived and found themselves on a hard and fast course to the dark planet. Upon approach, more information about their target became known - and it wasn't good. The world was nearly completely covered in liquid; not water, as the conditions of the world would have boiled any water away long ago. The planet's hydrosphere appeared to be a deep organic soup of chemicals that were constantly churned by the raging gravity. The presence of the black hole had tidally locked the world, and the massive gravitational forces actually pulled the ocean into a teardrop shape: on the side of the world facing the black hole, the seas were incredibly deep; while on the far side, the ocean was shallow enough that small atols and islands could be seen.
The vessels were committed to their course, and most targeted the far side, in an attempt to actually make landfall. Some craft, however, lacked the power to change their course, and these ships landed on the ocean. Most had been damaged so much that even though they were void sealed, they sank into the seas. A handful managed to remain afloat, only to be doomed to being tossed around by huge waves and whirling maelstroms - to eventually break apart and sink. The greatest loss was the conveyor ships of the Titan Legio, which all set down upon the raging ocean, only to slip beneath the waves as their weight drug them down.
Many ships were lost, but many also made landfall. The loss of life and machinery was huge, but with the methodical pragmatism of the Mechanicum the survivors began the task of carving out their survival. No thought was given to trying to leave the world - they knew they did not have the knowledge or power for that great feat. Instead, construction of a bastion began, using the machinery of the forgeship and the ultra-dense dark metal of their new world. They named their new world Atriferrum, or Dark Iron; and the incredible maelstrom that dominated their system was named Tourbillion.