Chronicles of the Carthaxian Conclave

[Stormgrad]

+++ INCOMING TRANSMISSION +++
+++ SOURCE: SERENITY OUTPOST, VELGORTH EXPANSE +++
+++ AUTHOR: INTEREGATOR NOVUS TRISTAR +++
+++ RECIPIENT: INQUISITOR AIRIK STORMGRAD +++

My Lord, Myself and Harlotta have established ourselves here at Serenity outpost. Your Initial suspicions were right this station in the expanse is rife with heresy, Criminals and Traders alike walk through the corridors of this station. I have secured us Quaters two large suites and some smaller bunk rooms all along the same corridor. Harlotta is already busy trying to Jack into the stations Database and we are Operating under false identities. I believe this will be a suitable base of operations for your investigations, Reliable warp routes into the Carthax Sector put it and the Carthaxian Conclave less than 2 weeks away although it puts us tentativley outside there Jurisdiction.

My Activities on Vagros IV have progressed well and in the month i have been establishing our headquaters here my agents in the capital have been causing quite a stir, I Will be heading back to Vagros IV in two standard Terran weeks, this puts my departure a week before your arrival here at serenity outpost  however I will be leaving Harlotta here and your other Agents are due to arrive within the week aboard the Rogue Trader Vessel "libertine". Rest assured my lord everything is well in hand here and we await your arrival.

Interegator Novus Tristar

+++ MESSAGE TERMINATES+++

[Necris]

+++ INCOMING TRANSMISSION +++
+++ SOURCE: SERENITY OUTPOST, VELGORTH EXPANSE +++
+++ AUTHOR: INQUISITOR IACTON REGIS  +++
+++ RECIPIENT: INQUISITOR MARCO SKOLL +++

Brother

My thanks to you for your endeavours Josef speaks highly of your deeds in ensuring his safe return from his ordeal and kidnap at the hands of Kaede Mack, while he still recovers from his proximity to the pariah he ensures me that you are a reliable and trustworthy brother, I expect I shall have need to seek your aid in the future.

Once again my thanks are with you. 


Iacton

+++ MESSAGE TERMINATES+++

[Stormgrad]

+++ INCOMING TRANSMISSION +++
+++ SOURCE: ROGUE TRADER VESSEL LIBERTINE, EN ROUTE TO SERENITY OUTPOST +++
+++ AUTHOR: INTEREGATOR TOBIAS DRACHENFEL  +++
+++ RECIPIENT: INQUISITOR AIRIK STORMGRAD +++

Lord Stormgrad, Reichstag and I are en route to Serenity outpost, We have heard from Novus and Harlotta and they have secured us False identites. Father Reichstag will be working there as a preacher blessing those passing into the Velgorth Expanse and he has secured myself a position within the stations Medicae Facility. Of course these jobs are only to cover our tracks but i rather find myself looking forward to being able to practice frontier medicine again.

I Understand our objective is to investigate the possibility of a underground railroad whisking Psykers out of the Carthax sector and into the relative safety of the Velgorth expanse. Along with the possibility of there being a psyker colony world and possible breeding program there. We are due to arrive in just under a weeks time at Serenity outpost, once there i will take over from Novus and allow him to prepare for the next stage in his Vagros Mission .

Interegator Tobias Drachenfel

+++ MESSAGE TERMINATES+++

[Stormgrad]

+++ INCOMING TRANSMISSION +++
+++ SOURCE: THE BLACK MAUSOLEUM, SOSARIA PRIMUS +++
+++ AUTHOR: INQUISITOR AIRIK STORMGRAD  +++
+++ RECIPIENT: INTEREGATOR'S DRACHENFEL & TRISTAR +++

Tobias, Novus I hope this message finds you both in good health, Firstly Novus i wish you luck on your Vagros IV Mission even here on Distant Sosaria we have heard of the mutant uprisings on Vagros, Your agents have done well the Inquisition has dispatched teams to capture the so called "Upright Man" I do hope you dont allow them to, I've started to distribute reports that the "Upright Man" is a unsanctioned psyker of considerable power and that the mutant uprisings have drawn enough sector wide attention to draw out those operating the underground railroad. Once contacted remember you are reluctant to leave your "people" but slowly be persauded especially if they mention the Inquisition kill teams en route to capture you.

Tobias once Novus has been rescued by the underground it is unlikely that they will give him any details about where he is going or on which ship, it will be your teams job to gather this information use any means nessecery but do not get caught. Once you have identified which ship he is on i will need you to get Harlotta to create a data hack and get all the information she can, I sincerely doubt the flight path they log will be accurate or even to there real destination if she can access there navigational logs and find out where they have actually been that would be impressive as well as information on armament, crew compliment, cargo and any dealings done in the Velgorth Expanse with other Rogue Trader vessels.

While Harlotta does that i want to get some people on the inside, no doubt they will be provisioning for there journey i want you Tobias to try and sign on as a ships surgeon its unlikely they will have anyone with half as much experience as you, especially in Xenos physiology, I will need you to watch Novus's back and when you make planetfall to see if you can try and find out about the leadership of any such psyker colony if it exists

Novus I will dispatch my own Kill team to try and pick up your mutant associates before the others do, as much as i loathe them they are usefull tools and reliable assets, I will have them extracted and then instruct Krell to destroy the rest of the mutant populace using extreme prejudice.

Inquisitor Airik Stormgrad

+++ MESSAGE TERMINATES+++

[Stormgrad]

+++ MESSAGE TERMINATES+++

+++ INCOMING TRANSMISSION +++
+++ SOURCE: SLAVE MARKET, VAGROS IV +++
+++ AUTHOR: KRELL CORONA  +++
+++ RECIPIENT: INQUISITOR AIRIK STORMGRAD +++

Lord Stormgrad, I have retrieved Interegator Tristar's assets they are safe and secure and await debriefing. One did say that the Upright Man has left according to plan and that the Train will take approximatley 6 weeks, this would roughly put them 3 weeks into the Velgorth Expanse. I have also captured several other mutants before the Kill Teams arrived, All of them have been sold at Auction and i am using the thrones to secure passage to Serenity Outpost. I am due to arrive roughly within 3 weeks hopefully only a day or two behind the ship Novus is on.

I've Also got a list of Rogue Trader Vessels arriving and leaving the Vagros system in the last week, i am forwarding that to you now along with this report despite the likelyhood of them being false leads its interesting to Note that 3 vessels are marked as heading to Serenity outpost within our currently predicted timeframe.

Krell Corona Mutie Hunter Supreme

+++ MESSAGE TERMINATES+++

[Inquisitor Octavian Lars]

++++Astropathic message recieved++++
++++Astropathic duct: Hermanda Nys++++
++++Date: 999.9340M41++++
++++Location: Veltarax III++++
++++Sender: Lord Inquisitor Kaltos Grepas++++
++++Recipient: Inquisitor Octavian Lars++++
++++Subject: A danger to the Imperium++++

My fellow inquisitor, I have a mission for you. I have been informed bythe Lord Inquisitor Benedict Saussere of a great threat to the imperium. As you know, the tau have been fighting us for several months now. Recently, a strike force of Catachan 2nd regiment took control of a small city named Elgin. In this city, for the little time they held it they found,  tended by earth caste workers was a missile now codenamed a darkstar. Your mission is to retrieve the missile, by any means necesary.
++++Astropathic message recieved++++
++++Astropathic duct: Hermanda Nys++++
++++Date: 999.9341M41++++
++++Location: Veltarax III++++
++++Sender: Lord Inquisitor Kaltos Grepas ++++
++++Recipient: Inquisitor Octavian Lars ++++
++++Subject: Your mission++++
I now have precise details of the mission you must undertake as I am here on Veltarax following a lead concerning the more acurate location of the cursed missile. I have information that there will be tau defences there so be on your guard. The missile is located at 67.74N 42.56W. [static for 4.65 sec] I have more, the will be patrols from both the loyal and traitor PDF in the area, as a secondary objective, confirm the loyalty of the loyalists. Kill all others in your path.

[Macabre]

[Ulgavitch]

++++++PRIORITY MESSAGE++++++
++++++ASTROPATH: HULINOUS MAGO++++++
++++++SOURCE: TANYA SPETZNAV+++++
++++++RECIEPIENT: ULGAVITCH, INQ +++++
++++++SUBJECT: THE DENIAL OF ABSOLUTION++++

My Lord and Love,

Forgive my brevity, but this ecclesiarchy world of Sophocles Veil is in extreme danger.

Four days ago, the Space Hulk 'Denial of Absolution', the Inquisitors Doom, was spat from the warp. It sits in orbit this very moment, threatening this world with destruction. Already, the cults are being perverted and throwing the innocent from the roofs of the temples as a sacrfice to save themselves. Anarchy stalks the dark streets, I hear a murder even now. The Veil is in turmoil.  

There is a lynch mob at the streets end, howling for blood. I have gathered the astropath as requested, we are currently hiding within a warehose. Help us -

++++MESSAGE TERMINATED AT SOURCE++++

++++++EMERGENCY RESPONSE+++++

Tanya,

Seek out Grissum, he'll protect you in the tech adepts compound. Abandon your network and stay safe. If the Emperor sees fit, I'll see you when I arrive there.

Such an opportunity as this cannot be missed. Mark everything, hold everything. We may yet learn what became of my colleagues.

=][= U

[Macabre]

+++ Accessing database +++
>>> User access code:_
>>> *********
+++ Authorising +++
[ACCESS GRANTED]
://<query=new_arrivals?>
- Inquisitrix J Magdalene.
://<cmd=access_file?name=Magdalene>
://<file=Magdalene+overview>

A recent addition to the ranks of the Inquisition, Magdalene has only held her credentials for little over a standard year after serving for nearly two decades under the tutelage of renowned tyranid expert; Inquisitor Ithobaal. Despite her relatively young age, she has become an authoritive figure in the study of the genestealer and whilst not currently attached to any ordo, she is known to have many patrons and contacts within the Ordo Xenos.

Raised in a scholam progenium <exact records currently unavailable> from an early age, her education is considered unremarkable and was originally earmarked to take orders in the sororitas in one of the non-militant orders until the onset of puberty awakened her latent psychic abilities. She is recorded to have spent several months in solitary confinement before being handed to the Black Ships. Evaluated as pure, Magdalene then spent her remaining adolescent years training in the Scholastica Psykana. Not powerful enough to join the ranks of the astropaths or to serve the Imperial Guard as a sanctionite, she was swept into an Inquisitorial draft to serve as a menial aide/savant. The circumstances of her eventual tenure with Ithobaal are not detailed and her service under her patron is outlined in Ithobaal's own records.

The year after her elevation to Inquisitor status are believed to be mostly filled with academia, having published several educational documents and studies into the genestealer menace. Her recent arrival in the Carthax sector is due to the predicted movements of the infamous hulk; The Mausoleum of Atrax.

://<cmd=access_file?name=Magdalene/sub=logistics>
://<file=Magdalene+logistics//recorded=0310022.M42>

Ship: Halicarnassus - Sword class frigate ((formerly: The Pride of Midas [decomissioned]))
Crew: [see full manifest: FG8-7-1776]
Inquisitorial Personel: 24 storm troopers + 3 savants (non-combatant) [additional notes: personal retinue]
+++user log out+++

[Macabre]

+++Accessing Conduit+++
>>>Please select option:_
- diagnostic
- maintenance
- power management
://<cmd=access_diagnostic>
>>>Please enter authorisation:_
://<cmd=overide:0110000101100100011011010110100101101110011010010111001101110100011100100
1100001011101000110111101110010>
[ACCESS GRANTED]
://<run=diagnostic>
>>>running
://<diagnostic=100%/preparing report>
://<cmd=overwrite_report>
>>>Please input new data:_
://<input=48 4b 50 4f 20 45 51 4c 56 50 45 4b 52 2e 20 45 52 20 56 4d 4d 53 56 50 51 20 52 44 56 52 20 4b 4a 53 20 4b 42 20 4b 54 50 20 45 4a 42 45 48 52 50 56 45 52 4b 50 51 20 44 56 51 20 41 53 53 4a 20 51 45 48 53 4a 4c 53 4f 2e 20 56 50 50 56 4a 4b 45 4a 4b 20 4c 48 53 56 4a 20 54 4d 2e 20 47 4b 41 56 59 56 51 44 45>
>>>Overwriting data:_
>>>Preparing to send:_
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>>>Please select new recipient
://<ip=67.43.13.30>
>>>Sending:_
://<cmd=erase_userlog>
>>>Deleting userlog:_
+++Disconnect+++

[Inquisitor Octavian Lars]

Before The Great Crusade
The planet that was to become Velterax was once a lush and verdent Eldar world named Nuaso Elradly was inhabited on 3 of it's 5 continents as the other 2 are and were teaming with violent xeno that killed in sight with poison capable of killing an Eldar in a matter of milliseconds. The 3 inhabited continents were also populated by a violent and inteligent species known as the yneath to the Eldar and Rabid Inteligent Veltraxians (RIVs), the Eldar got on well with these creatures. Then came the inevitable fall of the Eldar race. With the birth of Slaanesh, many Eldar were killed in the explosion of warp energy the creation of a new entity has. Most of the rest were killed either in the planet's death throes and it's desertification and the hordes of deamons that killed all in their path. Those that survived were left devastated and st about the rebuilding of their world. In a bid for freedom, a nearby human colony ship, lost in the warp since the dark age of technology made landfall and called themselves the Al Bhanshkav, after their pilot who died of old age during landfall. These people lived off what they needed and lived as nomads for several centuries.

[Inquisitor Octavian Lars]

The Horus Heresy
During this period of great turmoil for the imperium, Velterax was to reach it's most war-filled period to date as a strike force of corrupted Sons of Horus reinstated themselves from the warp after a 2 day jump from Danter Gamma from the Carathax sector, a jump that should have taken 4 months. Fortunately, the newly raised Velterax PDF and Ultramarine Garrison. Fortunately they drove off the invaders and an Ultramarines strike force led by the Battlebarge Ceaser. Though sheduled to be engaged for 9 months including combat time was back within 2 weeks. This was a sure sign of a warp slipstream, and the reports from the navigators on the Ceaser commented about the currents being so easy to navigate that great warp speeds could be achieved as well as the actual warp distance being comparatively short. This discovery made Velterax a prize target for raiders of all races, And also the whole Velterax System was converted to a major warp travel going both to and from from the Carathax Sector.   

[RobSkib]

+++ TRANSMISSION INCOMING+++
+++ SOURCE: ~UNKNOWN~ +++
+++ AUTHOR: ~UNKNOWN~  +++
+++ TO THE DESK OF MAGOS QUINNE +++

You know I hate using these thrice-damned private channels... They would miss a fourth Astropath, and the other three are giving off some kind of warp stench that the psyhounds can track quicker than you said they would. This will be our last transmission, we have to leave this planet, it's not safe for us here any more.

That new pet of yours earned its stripes alright, the pict-capt quality isn't great, but with a bit of tinkering it could work.

+++ATTACHED FILE: PICT/AUDIO LOG 834C-B+++

I've attached what I could piece together, the stupid mutt spent most of the time staring at bushes and mudcrawlers. The footage is harrowing - the Inquisitor was right, the darkness is coming, and I don't know what we can do this time to stop it, especially without him.

We will keep looking for him though - if your pet found him once, we can find him again.

We're on our own.

T.

+++ERROR+++

+++UNAUTHORIZED USER DETECTED+++
+++AUTHORITIES NOTIFIED+++
+++EMPEROR PROTECT+++

[Necris]

+++ TRANSMISSION INCOMING+++
+++ SOURCE: Vargaris Secondus +++
+++ AUTHOR: Inquisitor Locas+++

My Lords,

As requested I bring you an update regarding the Nexus Belt Crusade.

Things do not go well for the Imperium we have been ground to a stand still unable to regain our strength along the Nexus Belt, as will have no doubt been noticed the resultant wars along the belt have caused supply lines to be effected the stable warp routes are rife with pirates and unprecedented warp rift activity.

We are engaged on all fifteen worlds along the belt and which we show signs of victory on worlds of Kaladon Sextus and Majaris Prime they do not present primary strategic points, the other worlds are held in stalemate between the forces of Chaos and the Imperium and I must commend the actions of the Ultramarines and Magma Crow space marines were it not for their valour and bravery we would have lost half a dozen worlds to the forces of the Word Bearers and their Brotherhood of the Knife. Imperial Guard regiments from Carthage and Carthax are presenting strong lines against enemy attack but they lack the man power and resources to push forward any significant counter actions for each battle we win, we are beaten back in another theatre. 

Rumour has come to my ears of Grey Knight activity along the Belt but I have yet to receive any official word of their presence this is a troubling factor for myself as I serve staunchly in the Malleus and have a long history of working alongside the Grey Knights, it is worrying that they have not reported to Crusade command to further aid our endeavours further more Inquisitor Vextor of the Ordo Xenos has presented evidence of Eldar Pirates targeting supply vessels I have tasked him with the extermination of these vermin and seconded ten squads of the Deathwatch to his needs.

Inquisitor Crowe remains on Carthage, he seeks answers in the ruins of Eternity, and strives to strip the world of taint and rebuild some form of government, I feel though that Carthage is lost, the world will be little more than a back water and a blighted name upon the records the astropathic cataclysm there is still being felt the Astromican in the immediate vicinity of the Carthage is none existent and astro-navigation is difficult I suspect it will be many generations before the world is returned to it's former glory if it ever can be. On that note the remaining regiments of the Carthage Lancers have been entered into permanent Inquisitorial service their world is for all purposes lost and they can be put to better use serving us than lingering in the Imperial Guard Reserves. 

Ave Imperator

++Transmission Ends++

[Macabre]

+++ Accessing database +++
>>> User access code:_
>>> *********
+++ Authorising +++
[ACCESS GRANTED]
://<query=wilderwest?>
- accessing navis nobilite archives:_
://<cmd=access_file?name=wilderwest>
- retrieving stellar maps:_
://<file=wliderwest+overview>



The Wilderwest is the most western point of the Carthax sector, extending beyond the light of the astronomicon and into the halo stars. Due to areas where the warp is unusually becalmed, making normal ship travel difficult to those without an Almanac to chart the ever shifting shipping lanes, the region was never fully brought into compliance by the Ultramarines and swifty degenerated back into a lawless realm of space with only The Boundary remaining staunchly under Imperial rule.

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://<accessing_subcat>_
The Boundary represents the final frontier of the Imperium on the western edge of the Carthax sector, bordering on the anarchic Lawless Worlds and the capricious Caprasia Doldrums, it has few worlds of any material wealth and acts as little more than a blockade to prevent fugitives escaping Imperial Law.

Planets of note:

The Gateway, or Gateway 45/j/8b to use the Administratum's fulll unimaginative title, is the last Imperial planet before passing the borders into the Lawless Worlds and houses the second largest judicial hub in the sector to cope with the mass of prosecutions. Also known unofficially as the Runner's Rest due to its use as the central base for many of the bounty hunters operating in this region of space.

Port Sentinel is an artificial planetoid that acts as a refuelling station and final port for many traders and supply ships preparing to embark into the Caprasia Doldrums.

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://<accessing_subcat>_
The Lawless Worlds are a haven for all those seeking to escape retribution from the Imperial authorities with few planets having any semblence of Imperial Law left, it is a realm where life is cheap and people,  and sometimes entire ships, can disappear without trace.

Planets of note:

Deception, formally known as Autograd, was once a majestic hiveworld with high amounts of industrial output until the natural resources diminished and production levels dropped, forcing the Administratum to cut its tithes, and along with further complications of offworld supplies, many of the aristocracy, wealthy and the lucky simply embarked on a mass exodus, leaving several million unfortunates behind to witness the hiveworld slowly rot. Now, it is little more than a haven for pirates, renegades and criminals, each carving their own little business empires of highly illegal traffick, but breathing a little life back into the dying world. It is rumoured that anyone can acquire anything in Deception.

Nastrid, a barren frontier world of continent sized savannahs and rocky mountain ranges. Having little mineral wealth, there are a few mining settlements across its surface, however its reputation is largely due to the big game and dangerous predators that roam across its plain that many traders come to hunt, capture and sell as pit beasts to coreward planets for a lucrative profit.

Mercia, orignally classified as a deathworld due the high temperature, uninhabitable deserts, sparse vegetation and a plethora of predatory, toxic and venomous fauna, it was reclassified as frontier world due to large mineral deposits discovered in the more habitable regions of the planet. Now, its primarily visited by members of Adeptus Mechanicus and prospectors with an eye for larger mining operations in the future.

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://<accessing_subcat>_
The Wilderwest is the region of space that extends beyond the furthest reaches of the astronomicon and many of the worlds within have yet to be classified let alone populated.

Planets of note:

Calico, a mining world of rare mineral deposits with a surface covered with gravel and towers of scree several miles high, all contact has since been lost and all expeditions to accertain the cause have failed to return.

End, or End of the Line was once a frontier world and furthest westerly planet of the Imperium lying on the astronomicon median line, for reasons unknown End degenerated from Imperial rule and became an outpost for all forms of reprobates, both human and xenos alike. Amongst the shelter-towns, nestled in the planet's glacial crags away from the arctic winds, a man may find any number of willing mercenaries with a wide variety of specialisations.

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://<accessing_subcat>_
The Caprasia Doldrums are a treacherous realm, filled with spacial pockets of becalmed-warp that makes navigating the shipping lanes extremely difficult without an Almanac, and whilst there are several populated planets within this region, tales of ships that can become trapped for centuries at a time normally leave them isolated from the Imperium as only the most tenacious and well-prepared shipmaster are willing to even attempt the journey.

Planets of note:

Virgil is a maximum security penal colony. For all intents and purposes, Virgil is uninhabitable for all known life due to its extreme amospheric pressure, high surface temperature, dense carbon dioxide atmosphere and frequent acid storms that scours the planet of any organic matter. The colony itself is actually several kilometers below the surface, with a single port above ground shielded by a thick umbrella of adamantium. Being sentenced to incarceration on Virgil means a lifetime of mining to harness the geothermic energy needed to power the colony without any possibility of escape.

Samson was as far as the Ultramarines penetrated into the Caprasia Doldrums and by that time, it had developed into an independant civilisation and treated the arrival of the astartes as a threat and authorised the use of their atomic weapons. The resultant thermonuclear war all but destroyed the once verdant world leaving it a blasted radioactive desert. Shortly after, an outbreak of the deadly Neurone plague deccimated the remaining survivors, leaving the scattered remnant tribes of road warriors scavenging amongst the endless highways and shattered cities, ever embattled against each other and the slowly growing population of walking corpses.

Meridian has few settlements but a large research facility called Three-Fourteen that catalogues stellar anomalies, however, as much of the information about Three-Fourteen has been sealed by the Inquisition, rumours abound that something altogether more sinister is happening on Meridian, especially considering its close proximity to the quarantined Naxos Reaches.

Now little more than a feral world of desolate crags, Hinnom, a long lost human colony in the furthest reaches of the Caprasia Doldrums, dates back as far as the Dark Age of Technology. The precise details of the so-called Tragedy of Hinnom's Children sometime after its rediscovery in the thirty-second millennium are unknown, but what is suspected is that a cataclysm forced the colonists to turn to genetic technology and surgical alteration to survive, sciences that were considered horrific even in that dark age. Several generations of further genetic degeneration have left Hinnom's Children little more than twisted monsters, malicious and childlike killers that are a far flung parody of the human condition and rumours abound of savage raiders in decrepit flotillas of archaic ships that furiously attack any ship foolish enough to stray too close to Hinnom's boundaries.



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://<accessing_subcat>_
The Naxos Reaches have been quarantined by the Inquisition, supposedly once inhabited by an ancient and long extinct xenos race, it is believed that it harbours many worlds with ruined evidence of this once-civilisation, although most of the charts and stellar-maps are contridctory at best to be certain. Few that venture into this region ever return, but those that do normally speak of the vast treasures to be found there.

To most, Terra Incognita is a myth, but for the few madmen that have ever returned from there speak of glittering cities of pearl and bone, isolated temples devoted to elemental gods, where the normal laws of reality are but mere suggestions and the wonders a man can discover there.

+++user logout+++