Werkerde

This page details people, events, and organisations from the /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. See the /tg/ Heresy Timeline and Galaxy pages for more information on the Alternate Universe.

Werkerde
Segmentum	Ultima
Population	4,000,000,000
Planetary Governor	Fabrikator-Meister Justus Furrer

The Forge World Werkerde was a powerful manufacturing hub and home to the crusading Titan Legion, Legio Picus (the Woodpeckers).

History

Like its brother Forge Worlds, Werkerde was settled during the Age of Strife. The colonists who set out to bring the Machine Cult to this world were dispatched from Mars during a brief calm period in the Warp. They found a lush world, full of biological diversity but lacking in surface minerals. Extracting the mineral wealth of Werkerde would require drilling deep into the planet's crust.

The Machine War

Digging so deep disturbed a force of malevolent mechanical entities that had been lying dormant. The records of this period are imperfect and it remains unclear whether the creatures were remnants of the legendary Men of Iron, Necrons, or some other species of machine life. Regardless of the precise nature of the threat, the tech priests of Werkerde faced an enemy that was relentless, pitiless, and highly intelligent. In a long and often desperate struggle, every luxury - from the great extravagances of the Archmagoi to the meanest comforts of the ordinary people - was sacrificed in pursuit of victory. And after long centuries of war, victory was achieved.

In the wake of the Machine War, Werkerde's Kriegsrat barely relaxed. Rationing remained in force, but rations were made more generous to ensure the health of the workforce. Similarly, demobilisation of auxiliary forces took place in order to allocate more labour to the expansion of Legio Picus and other front-line forces. Heavily-armed explorator teams were dispatched from Werkerde to scout neighbouring systems, and the Kriegsrat followed up these scouting missions by establishing military-industrial bases for the dual purpose of protecting the perimeter of Werkerde's space and harvesting raw materials for the homeworld.

Organisation

Usually it was said that each Forge World was home to or had an attached Titan Legion. The reverse was true on Werkerde: it was a Titan Legion with a Forge World attached. Legio Picus was the focal point of the Forge World's activity. Every scrap of production beyond that necessary to maintain Werkerde's industrial machine went to producing new Titans, supplies and parts for the Legion in being, arms and armaments for auxiliary forces, or - in something of a last resort - trade goods for winning allies or bartering for materials unavailable on Werkerde.

Doctrine and Faith

The Magoi of Werkerde diverged from their Martian ancestors on the nature of machine spirits. Unlike the Martian Orthodoxy, they held that the Machine God had a malign counterpart, the Automodeus. This vile entity was was believed to be the source of tek heresy, xenos technology, and abominable intelligence. The tech priests of Werkerde saw combating these evils in the world of the flesh as their calling.

Military

Some Forge Worlds were grander and had a greater industrial output, but none had Werkerde's single-minded devotion to war. The training of Princeps and Moderati for Legio Picus was second-to-none, while their god-machines were praised and feared for their fierce machine spirits and devastating firepower. The forge world's auxiliary detachments - Werkwehr - were also well-trained and many of these formations were permanently mobilised even before Werkerde joined the Great Crusade.

Domain

Beyond their homeworld, the techpriests of Werkerde held a number of industrial worlds in thrall. They also established temporary commanderies on pacified worlds during the Great Crusade to protect the Legion's supply lines.