~Kings of Beast and Bird~

~798. M30~

~Segmentum Tempestus~

~Gryphonne Octad~

~Roboute Guilliman, Lord Commander of the Imperium and Imperial Regent~

"...the webway technology will be critical to overall development and supply lines throughout the conquest region. The technology is beyond me personally, but I have attached the notes drafted by the subject matter experts in Tome W. The summary of the technology is that, through theoretically similar technology to a warp-drive, a gate is temporarily forced open in space to allow one into an alternate dimension, through which distances can be shorter or longer depending on where you choose to go."

"The primary difference is that the webway is an artificially constructed dimension, and although it has fallen into relative disrepair in recent years, it should remain functional for at minimum ten millennia. The webway, being artificially constructed, is not subject to the variable nature of the warp, allowing for much faster overall travel times if one knows the correct routes to take."

"Displayed now is a map of the galaxy in realspace. Next to it is the map of the webway routes known to the Exodites of Charnac. The red line on this map was the route taken by our initial voyage around the galaxy, and the time it took in between each major section of travel. As you can see, it is currently the fifth year of our voyage, and we have nearly circled the galaxy. Warp travel is inconsistent enough to potentially defeat that time, but most often in my experience, it would take more than a century to make the same journey with conventional travel."

"Provided is a psychic black-box recording of the ship over the course of our voyage, and all evidence we have to support this claim. It should be readable with a psychic-servitor unit, please inform me if it is not so we can work out another solution to retrieve that information."

"As you can surely understand, this incredible jump in travel time and consistency is absolutely vital to any conquering power. Attached is the list of dangers one might potentially find in the webway, and the full description of each. Of particular note are the 'urbanite' Eldar, who have spent much of the last fifty thousand years or more indulging in every manner of perversion imaginable, it is recommended by the Exodites that you attack and kill these on sight, fleeing is unlikely to be an option with the speeds of their ships, but every one that you kill inflicts a massive loss to their empire, as they can no longer replenish their numbers as effectively due to the formation of what they call the 'Womb of Destruction', a warp-vortex found here."

"With their inherent psychic sensitivity, the Eldar must be protected against larger warp disruptions such as this, lest their soul is pulled into the vortex and devoured by the naturally occurring predators within. Eldar children born without the protection of an Exodite World-Spirit or similar degree of protection are almost certainly destined to be stillborn, their souls destroyed in the womb."

"An Exodite World-Spirit is a form of artificial-constructed psychic entity designed to protect them against dangers in the warp such as these, a requirement of their inherently psychic biology. These are purely defensive entities, and cannot be requisitioned from their interred planets for the war-effort. For this reason, the primary bulk of Exodite aid shall be in the form of ships, access to the webway, the production of the psycho-plastic substance known as wraithbone, and their war-constructs known as 'Wraiths'..."

—

"...the Knight worlds are priority targets for initial conquest. Not only do many contain warmachines, albeit in need of severe repair at this point, but they also contain established bloodlines of veterans who can command such. In addition, their common population will serve as adequate initial forces, given arms, armor, and basic training. These worlds in particular will be simple to draw to our banner through technical expertise in repairing their ancestral machines."

"As few, if any, of these worlds contain more than basic black powder weapons, they will not be a threat against our soldiers excepting their knights, which will be simple enough to work around through use of the webway and strike forces."

"Low risk, High chance of integration through diplomacy, low danger if forced to conquer, worlds brimming with wildlife, natural resources, a work force used to hard labor, and warmachines aplenty if given the required and relatively simple repairs. Knight-worlds shall be key to the initial conquest and expansion, and provide the initial seed of veterancy for the armies moving forwards."

"After these worlds are brought into the fold, the next targets will be other worlds of similar low-risk nature in the region, such as Feral Worlds, Feudal Worlds, and lower-development worlds in roughly that level of danger. Civilized, Hive, and Death worlds should be avoided in the first wave of conquest. Civilized and Hive worlds have more potential danger to our own armies with their higher degree of technological development, and Death worlds provide little benefit without a great amount of effort to bring them up to par. Recruitment from Death worlds, however, should be considered if humans are present upon such."

"The Webway and its rapid transportation with relative safety allows us to avoid problematic worlds and focus on expansion into less contested territories. This initial expansion is planned to take twenty years, long enough for the populations conquered to naturally procreate and produce the next generation of workers. Worlds conquered should be developed in accordance with the guidelines of subsection CD3. A one to five year period of digesting this conquest should follow, making sure to establish trade lines and factories for the next wave of expansion, as well as establishing all the basic education and local governance required for the next generation to be more productive citizens."

"If performed correctly, and worlds are adequately developed as they are conquered by garrison forces, this digestion period can be avoided entirely. This will take away from the frontline, but if enough soldiers are present from the initial recruitment period, this will be the most attractive and effective measure."

"If you look upon the map, it is currently labeled with all planets that we have information upon, and are rated on three scales. Estimated level of development, resource-abundance, and estimated difficulty of diplomatic integration. Furthermore, you can see the subsection under each location contains a more detailed summary, and references the relevant pages in the tome C I have provided that contains all known information."

"The initial conquest is planned to incorporate these highlighted worlds, roughly two-thousand in total. The initial acquisitions will be here, here, here, and here. These will provide the basic troops needed to begin training in transit as we incorporate the next sections, here, here, here, and here. The Knights from the initial worlds should be repaired by this point in the timeline, judging from worst-case scenarios based on the attached breakdown of their current status…"

—

"...as you can see from the practical demonstration, wraithbone is produced through a complex psychic process that I, frankly, do not understand the details behind. I have been told that it is a form of solidified psychic-energy, produced by a specific intonation, focus, and thought-process. The volunteer 'bonesinger' as they are called, was voted as distinctly average among his peers in terms of talent and ability. It took him roughly two-hundred and fifty years to learn bonesinging to this level."

"The process is technically not a technology, as the Eldar are gifted enough with lifespan and inherent talent that the production through dedicated artisans is sufficient for most of their needs. They have told me that they know of no technology that can produce wraithbone, but I'm confident that you learned men can produce such if given the theory and the ability to question a subject matter expert."

"If such a technology cannot be produced, then dedicated psychic adepts with sufficient time to learn through rejuvenation treatments should be able to learn how to produce the material as well. It is a skill, not an inherent racial ability, and thus is available to anyone with a teacher, time to learn, and psychic talent."

"The material properties of wraithbone are flexible, owing to their psychic construction. The shape is fully alterable by a bonesinger of sufficient skill, and as you saw, a five-meter block was produced within a minute by an average bonesinger. This block weighs roughly as much as an equivalent block of structure-grade plasteel, but has durability and resistance to damage equivalent to adamantium."

Guilliman paused for just a moment, letting the burst of binaric conversation pass before continuing.

"In addition to this, wraithbone is self-reinforcing. It draws from the ambient psychic energy surrounding it to repair itself over time, assuming it has not been destroyed completely. Wraithbone objects do not degrade if left unattended, and indeed will restore themselves without the need for maintenance if the damage is minimal enough. It is otherwise a non-reactive material, and does not expand beyond its original shape without explicit effort."

The binaric shouts blurred over his head like the hums of a thousand angry hornets, indicative of a very busy conversation between the assembled and expressionless techpriests. He waited for a time, but a full minute passed and the conversation had yet to die down.

The fabricator-general thunked the butt of his halberd against the stone-tile ground, causing an immediate silence. Guilliman nodded his head in thanks, and continued.

"I am led to believe that the Titans of each forgeworld require great plates of adamantium to protect themselves. Such plates would be a task requiring only hours for a bonesinger to produce, and much simpler to afix thanks to their lighter weight. Thanks to their self-repairing property, only the most damaged plates would ever need active effort to repair. Assuming you only had to produce and bless the internal structure and components of a Titan, I imagine the time it would take to produce each would fall dramatically."

"Expanding the use of wraithbone to simple weapons and armor plates should be able to increase the overall manufacturing output of your forges by an order of magnitude. I shall leave the exact calculations of such to ye learned men."

"The bonesinger is available to produce other examples of the material at your request, should you require more samples for testing."

Guilliman finished just in time for the first calculations on the potential increase in output of the tech-priests to finish. He felt the distinct warmth of a task well performed as the air was filled in what he assumed was the equivalent of furious and open debating between the assembled parties.

It sounded like the static of a thousand malfunctioning vox-communicators, if he was being honest.

—

All in all it took nine hours to finish his presentation and proposal to the senior techpriests of Gryphonne, three hours of presentation, six hours of rigorous questioning about specifics in his overall plans and available information. They then requested another hundred or so samples of the wraithbone in various sizes, and a week to consider the proposal in full. Both of which were granted, and the rest of the meeting rescheduled for about six days from now.

Before they left, Guilliman offered the sum total of the STC fragment copies he had made thus to the techpriests, who accepted it emotionlessly. The originals and the best copy of each. He still had a personal copy of everything back on Charnac's Pride. There was a buzz in the air as they walked away, escorted by their Titans.

All in all, Guilliman felt rather confident in his presentation and 'sales pitch'. Going over his plans like that in such meticulous data even pointed out three potential considerations that he had missed so far, which meant that even if nothing else was gained, his plans had been slightly improved by this encounter.

A rigorous and productive session of double-checking his notes always left him in a good mood.

His smile slowly fell into slight concern when he looked at the ones that had accompanied him.

Reaching up, he rubbed the back of his neck.

Petra's glare firmly on him. Asarnil's glare coming from behind her. Then the slightly annoyed looks of every other eldar behind the two of them.

"I… I suppose I forgot to warn how thorough the techpriests liked to be when negotiating." He spoke, somewhat sheepishly.

"Nine hours." Petra started. Her glare was sharp and deep. "Nine hours of standing still, in silence."

"You went into detail about the predicted reproductive rates of thirteen variations of livestock, the products that could be harvested from each, and the considerations for their ranching on twenty subvariants of world." Asarnil elaborated, his glare narrowed slightly as he continued. "This information was in the tome, I thought. You could've just told them to read it."

"That wouldn't demonstrate my personal knowledge of the matter…" Guilliman weakly explained. "Knowledge is sacred to them, and increased expertise is…" He decided to stop talking when he saw the looks on their faces.

The escort behind Asarnil was already mostly dismissed, returning to their posts and Dragon's being brought back to the stables. Deathfang itself decided to simply lay down in the middle of the hangar and sleep there, much to the slight panic and immense curiosity of the Barbarans still temporarily housed here.

It was currently flopped over on its side, breathing with its mouth open to cool down from being in the heat so long.

"I could've endured such just fine, had you warned me ahead of time." Asarnil continued to lightly vent at him, rolling a shoulder and letting the symphony of cracks ring out. "As you chose not to, you are going to be punished accordingly."

Guilliman raised a brow, even as Petra turned her head and glared sharply. Asarnil continued undaunted.

"We are going to participate in the ancient rites of manly bonding, by getting loose with a hot bath, and then sparring for several hours, followed by another hot bath. We are going to talk about all manner of masculine things during this time, such as lifting heavy objects and lusting after women."

Asarnil raised a finger in the air, directed at Guilliman and brows raised in a haughty manner. "Do not attempt to resist, this is my kingly decree."

Guilliman snorted bemusedly and replied. "Oh woe is me, to suffer such a horrid fate. I suppose I must."

Asarnil turned on the spot, and raised a hand to gesture for Guilliman to follow. "Come now, I shall have the maids ready the bathing chamber in promiscuous attire, with trays of fruits, wine, and whatever other overly indulgent thing I can order them to bring. Perhaps hot oils."

Asarnil began to walk off, Guilliman shaking his head in amusement before turning to Petra for a moment.

She was glaring at him. He blinked. He supposed she was still upset from needing to stand still so long, it was wrong of him to cause that. He supposed she was also annoyed he had no solid confirmation of a tutor for her yet, so far her being present was for nothing.

"I apologize for making you stand still for so long, I should have remembered to warn you." He apologized, nodding his head at her. She was still glaring, apparently needing some time to forgive him. He reached up to rub the back of his neck for a moment. "...I'll talk to you again tonight?"

"...You're not allowed to look." She demanded sullenly.

He blinked. "At what?"

"The maids. Improper." She grunted out, not looking at him directly anymore. Ah, she was worried that he would disturb the servants as Asarnil did.

He shook his head in bemusement. "I have no intention of tormenting them, Petra. I shall enjoy the hot water more than anything else I imagine."

She hugged him briefly, which he returned, before pulling back and stomping away in her usual manner. He shook his head, and moved to catch up with Asarnil at the other end of the hangar, waiting with his arms crossed and tapping his foot.

…A hot bath and massage did sound rather nice, now that he was considering it. He used to have such back on Macragge, in his youth, and they were always pleasant experiences.

He rolled his neck, hearing it pop in several places.

A massage was probably called for, yes.

"Come now slayer of evil, our wicked vices shant wait for us forever!" The dragonlord called out from a hundred feet away, drawing the attention of all the various Eldar scattered about this section of the ship. "The sooner we are nude the sooner we can begin discussing our respective swords and how they might clash after the oils are applied."

Guilliman let out a bark of laughter at that, matched by the equally amused look on Asarnil's face. Most of the nearby guards had expressions of exasperation or humor.

"Indeed, although your blade is quite larger than mine, I think we both agree that my thrusts are superior." He returned fire, causing Asarnil to snort in laughter as he caught up.

"I think our observers can be the judge of that, but first, the maids must wash and oil us."

"And the fruit and wines, of course."

"I'm offended that you'd think I would forget."