Chapter 118: The Fabricator-Magos
The shuttle pierced the heavy, complex strata of pollution-clouds above the planet, and the details of the surface slowly resolved in the viewports.
The immense, ring-shaped industrial complex now dominated the entire field of view, its scale staggering.
Dense clusters of industrial architecture sprawled inside and around the ring, forming the planet's only true urban landscape.
Countless manufactorum silhouettes were ghostly in the pervasive smog, and from most sectors, the muffled thud of heavy industry and the constant, low-frequency drone of machinery could still be heard.
The dull red glow of the forge-zones was visible even in the daylight.
However, jarring against this colossal scale was the distinct lack of activity in many sectors.
A significant portion of the secondary processing zones had smokestacks that were cold. Massive warehouse blast-doors were sealed shut, marked with runes denoting shutdown or stasis.
On the cargo-rail network connecting the zones, traffic was sparse. Some rail sections even showed the rust of neglect, exposed to the elements.
The shuttle finally descended toward the geometric center of the ring: the Primary Forge Spire zone.
This was the true heart of Nexum, a nexus where immense flows of energy and matter converged.
The central spire itself was a titan, its foundations buried deep within the crust, its upper structure radiating intense heat and a low, powerful roar.
This sound wasn't simple noise; it was a physical vibration that penetrated even the shuttle's sound-dampened hull, a transmission of the raw, almost primal power contained within.
Surrounding the spire, layered like armor, were energy-relay stations, control-shrines, and materiel-distribution centers, forming a complex, orderly mega-structure.
Inside the corridor leading to the private sanctum of Fabricator-Magos Casper Vhorx, the systemic troubles facing the Forge World presented themselves more concretely to Joric.
This passageway, which should have echoed only with the rhythmic tread of metal feet and data-whispers, was cluttered with uncharacteristic disorder.
Several red-robed Tech-Priests were gathered in an alcove, their data-jacks interlinked, engaged in a high-intensity, encrypted data-exchange.
Judging by the erratic flickering of their optical lenses and the occasional leak of unmodulated binary-bursts, the discussion concerned critical resource allocation priorities, and its intensity exceeded standard technical debate.
Embedded data-screens on the corridor walls scrolled the real-time status of major production lines.
Joric's sensors rapidly captured and parsed the flow.
Over 30% of production units were flagged as "Low-Efficiency Operation" or "Standby - Awaiting Materiel." Several key weapon-platform assembly lines showed a continuous, unhealthy downward curve in daily output, figures already below the theoretical threshold required to maintain basic capacity.
Joric's logic-core coldly logged and assessed these phenomena.
This systemic efficiency decay and resource shortage were severely throttling the entire Forge World's operational capacity.
In this context, any factor potentially capable of boosting efficiency or bringing new opportunities would see its value magnified, and its approval processes likely reconsidered.
He knew that, in theory, the review and certification of a Magos-aspirant fell under the jurisdiction of the Credentialing Tribunal of the Forge World's Council of Magi. The process involved over one hundred and twenty-seven independent assessment stages, designed to ensure the candidate's technical competence and loyalty to the Omnissiah.
However, in the rigid hierarchy of the Mechanicus, regulations often bowed to actual power structures, especially when a world faced developmental stagnation.
Fabricator-Magos Casper Vhorx, as Nexum's supreme administrative authority, commander of the Skitarii, and the world's legal representative to the Martian Parliament, possessed a will sufficient to exert decisive influence over any internal process.
His attitude could accelerate, delay, or substantially alter the outcome of any review.
Therefore, the fact that Joric's ascension application had passed the preliminary review in such a short time, without encountering visible resistance, was in itself a strong signal.
This was absolutely not the result of the committee bureaucracy functioning as standard. It was almost certainly due to Vhorx's direct intervention, using his highest authority to streamline or force the process.
Joric needed to know the root cause driving this Archmagos to act.
Was the Forge World's crisis so acute that he needed to promote anyone who might bring a turnaround, regardless of convention?
Or did the report on the "Ancient Logic-Core" touch upon some deeper plan of Vhorx's?
Or was there a more complex political calculus involved?
Clarifying his true intent was the foundation for all subsequent interactions and negotiations.
Joric adjusted the priority of his internal logic-units, preparing for the imminent meeting.
The doors to the sanctum slid open silently.
The interior contrasted sharply with the industrial clamor outside. It resembled a combination of library, museum, and command center.
The air smelled of aged oil, ancient vellum, and faint ozone.
The walls were lined with massive bookshelves reaching to the ceiling, stuffed with ancient paper tomes, data-slates, and STC fragments sealed in stasis-fields.
Glass display cases held weapon prototypes from different eras, xenos-tech samples, and the wreckage of mechanical units that had served with distinction, displayed like trophies.
In the center of the room, behind a massive desk forged from a single block of Adamantium and inlaid with complex cogitator-arrays, sat Fabricator-Magos Casper Vhorx.
Vhorx's form was far more "traditional" and "bloated" than Joric's.
His lower body had been completely integrated with a multi-treaded mobile platform, providing stable support and considerable mobility.
His torso was encased in heavy, dark-gold armor showing clear signs of generational upgrades, etched with dense Omnissiah-scripture and cog-motifs.
Four primary, multi-jointed mechadendrites extended from his back. Two were rapidly flipping through hovering holographic documents, one was fine-tuning a miniature plasma-reactor model on the desk, and the last hovered in standby, its tip flickering with energy arcs.
His head had also undergone extensive modification, retaining some human skull structure but mostly replaced by a silver metal cranium.
On his face, one original human eye remained—deep and sharp, as if it could see through a man's soul—while the other had been replaced by a multi-spectral augmetic eye that constantly shifted focus.
His jaw had been replaced by an integrated vocalizer unit and fine-tool interfaces, giving his speech a unique metallic resonance.
(End of Chapter)