Brwygaid (world)/secret
Brwygaid (world) is the source of an Ancients ruin and a conspiracy surrounds it.
Description (Specifications)[edit]
Brwygaid harbors an ancients-era war machine factory, known as the Facility, that manufactures prohibited advanced technology. The world is home to a group of Vargr specifically bred to operate the equipment that the Facility produces.
The Vargr[edit]
Brwygaid has relatively high surface radiation levels – these are largely due do the proximity of the star, but a significant percentage represents the lingering effects of the nuclear bombardment. The tiny low tech Vargr settlement is located in the narrow twilight zone of more normal surface temperatures adjacent to the dangerous bright side, within a region that has slightly lower levels of background radiation.
Clones[edit]
This remote settlement is a sham. The "citizens" are a set of unethically created (and thoroughly illegal) Vargr clones discretely obtained by naval intelligence. The pack that they form is bred for extreme loyalty and they maintain a virile (though artificial) warrior micro-culture. They are charged with discouraging visitors and would-be smugglers who might be foolish enough to come poking around.
The Vargr clones are engineered to better resist the effects of radiation, though the trade off is their dramatically shortened lifespans. Each clone family has residual memories from their antecedents and individuals feel immortal as a result. Each used-up body is just a temporary setback for their history, their culture, and their proud warrior traditions.
The Unit[edit]
The Vargr of this community form a Special Forces unit which assists the more conventional subsector military. They are trained to operate the war machines produced by the Facility and they crew the command carriers which direct them on the battlefield. When needed, the subsector military command knows that they can call upon the Duke for help: he personally authorizes their deployment. This tiny but overwhelmingly powerful force of warbots can break hard targets that resist conventional marine assault forces, that would cause excessive casualties, or which can't be annihilated from orbit.
All high technology equipment and the cloning suites are kept carefully hidden deep underground, heavily shielded from radiation and from prying sensor sweeps.
[edit]
The naval interdiction patrols which pass through the system have a secret mission - they swing by Brwygaid in a tight orbit to collect the latest death machine. After they have been constructed, these machines climb out of Brwygaid's gravity well under their own power and wait quietly in orbit for the next pick up. When they are collected the warbots are dangerously radioactive - a consequence of their manufacturing location. While they are thoroughly "scrubbed" (and "cleansed" by nuclear dampers) after collection their high residual radiation levels can still present a degree of risk.
They are kept isolated from all personnel without the highest levels of clearance.
The command of the 156th Fleet has historically used a great deal of restraint in requests for the deployment of these machines. Few individuals alive today can remember the last time they were loosed upon an unfortunate foe in anger. Some more traditional and conservative elements in the fleet's higher command echelon feel this secret operation constitutes an unwarranted risk: they don't trust the broken AI war master, or its pets. The Vargr Special Forces Unit is kept small for this reason. In the rare event that a unit is lost in battle, the navy "places an order" with the Facility and when it is ready "swings by" to collect it. Members of the Duke's personal guard are charged with these missions and his loyal knights are used to ensure that this ace up his sleeve stays hidden and its exploits are kept quiet.
The Imperial Mark V Death Machine is a typical example of the combat drone vehicles that The Facility can produce.
History & Background / Dossier[edit]
Facility: Long ago, during a time of local unrest and social upheaval, a very angry subsector Duke decided to make an example of a planet that resisted his will. The pleasant but low-tech colonial settlement of Brwygaid, an independent-minded world that frequently failed to meet its Imperial taxation demands, was chosen as the example. The sacrifice of this one tiny outpost would bring all of the other rebellious worlds into line.
The Duke ordered his fleet to exterminate the colony from orbit through the use of nuclear devices and all lives on the surface were lost as a result.
The Duke had a deeper, darker motive for this heinous crime – scientific research teams working in conjunction with private scouts had discovered a site of incredible antiquity hidden on the dark face of the world. Countless millennia ago, one of the Ancients factions had concealed a war machine factory here, and a heavily damaged (but nominally functional) AI was discovered amid the ruins. The Duke's genocidal removal of the population gave him free access to the world and the site.
The Imperium vilifies the Zhodani for their use of inhumane warbots: much propaganda is focused on their cold, calculating methods of warfare. The Duke actually happened to be a big fan.
The Duke felt it was a huge mistake for the Imperium not to have even more powerful war machines than their rivals in the Zhodani Consulate. The shattered and near lobotomized AI was given TL–F manufacturing equipment and was instructed to build a very limited design-run of autonomous war machines. These are slaved to control equipment fitted into heavily armored command carriers – these anti-grav battlefield vehicles direct the war machines remotely with meson communication links.
The Duke never showed any remorse for his terrible deeds: indeed, his last recorded words are "...the greater need, that is what justifies the means..."
References & Contributors (Sources)[edit]
- Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis), Captain, and Lead Naval Architect Ronald B. Kline, Jr. of the Imperial Navy
- Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master Scout Emeritus Adie Alegoric Stewart of the IISS