Editing Vetrovnak (section)

==Early Beginnings==
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'''+ + + INCIDENT REPORT + + +'''

Event: Ullanor Empire, Guffell Sector, Venuaren VIII 090.995.M30

Subject: Crusade Progress Report

Source: Magos Explorator Osterhildis Buhoveckey

----

+ LOG_001 +

''Despite projections Venuaren VIII was taken without a fight. Initial orbital surveys shows no sign of ork presence. For reasons unknown, the coloration of the planet's many seas has changed color from their typical shade of blue-green to a vivid golden orange.  Recommending aerial survey before continuing to confirm lack of orks.''

+ LOG_002 +

''Aerial survey confirms the planet is devoid of orks. I currently have no explanation for how a planet expected contain over three billion orks has come to hold zero in the mere two months that elapsed between now and the scouting mission. After pacification is confirmed I recommend that the fleet depart and continue to the next objective.
Requesting permission to remain on Venuaren VIII for further investigation with a small guard detachment.''

+ LOG_003 +

''Pacification confirmed however I am not yet able to discern what exterminated the orks. We have found no ork corpses; only their equipment laying in puddles of what some manner of slime-mold. Given the similarities between the slime-mold and the pulpy orange biomass found clogging the surface of every body of water on Venuaren VIII I can only speculate that a biological weapon was introduced into hydrosphere to exterminate the orks. Samples are being collected to be sent to Mars and Luna for in-depth analysis.''

+ LOG_004 +

''We have found the remains of a slave mine in the Ghoqag Canyon system where a battle took place. Several petrified ork specimens were located in the defenses surrounding the mine. Several vehicles were petrified as well and many more were destroyed through a destructive thawing process after apparently being frozen. No artifacts of their attack have been recovered.'' 

+ LOG_007 +

''The bodies of hundreds of xenos and a small number of humans were recovered. Preliminary inspection in to their causes of death is pulmonary failure; they appear to have drowned on fluid in their lungs. After the coroner had a chance to examine them the fluid in their lungs was confirmed to be the same slime-mold mentioned above.
The underground portions of the facility show fighting; more petrified orks have been located. Evidence of cryonic and corrosive weapons being used against the orks is plentiful but our teams have yet to locate any of the fallen of their assailants. I shudder to think of what would face the orks without suffering casualties that is not an astartes.''

'''''Requesting additional manpower and additional guards'''. If there are any orks that have escaped this pathogenic weapon it would be here in the depths of the mines.''

+ LOG_009 +

''Now that we are equipped with a proper lab we made two disturbing discoveries.''
''
1. The slime-mold is not a unique organism. The cells are in fact ork cells that have been modified somehow. The orks were not exterminated; they were transformed.''

''2. The liquified orkoid slime-molds grow alarmingly fast in aqueous environments, though it is still slower then regular ork growth rates.''

'''''Requesting immediate dispatch of a magos biologis team to Venuaren VIII'''. My expertise is insufficient for something such as this.''

+ LOG_010 +
''
While we wait for reinforcements I have ordered the teams to begin mapping out the mines of Ghoqag Canyon; it is clear there was a human civiliation here prior to the coming of the orks some hundreds of years ago. This lead to the unearthing of one of the assailants of the orks. It is humanoid in shape though the proportions are spindly and is approximately seven feet all. It wears a suit of strange armor composed of a durable black fiber and matte metal. We have been unable to remove it without damaging it so I am electing to wait until the team arrives before we attempt to force it.'' 

+ LOG_011 +

''We have detected a tremor in the north part of the mine. Though all investigations have been suspended until the arrival of reinforcements the captain of our guard team insisted on checking it to be safe to which I agreed.''

+ LOG_013 +

''After blasting through what we believed to be a deliberately collapsed passage (revealing an untapped vein of utsaukite ore in the process) in pursuit of the source of the tremor our guard detail has discovered a sealed section of the mine. Crudely made dud explosives were discovered indicating that the orks had deliberately retreated to this area. It is highly likely some green-skins still remain.''

+ LOG_016 +

''The biologis team arrived with reinforcements today. The orks in the northern lower mines have yet to be located. My assistant has noticed that the armor of the alien recovered from the cave in shows no signs of damage despite all logic. I recall the armor showing signs of damage when it was found; perhaps it has a regenerative property?''

+ LOG_020 +

''The green-skins were discovered today. Thirty three died attempting to end their foul existence before they were brought down. They were not killed by our weapons however. After the tunnels went silent the soldiers advanced to investigate to find that the orks had been disabled by something else entirely. The soldiers had unknowingly carried in with them spores of the slime-mold and once introduced to a living ork they immediately began to infect them. Of the seventeen specimens capture only six could be returned to the base camp at the surface in usable condition: the rest had simply been transmuted into the slime.''

+ LOG_022 +

''The largest of the infected specimens perished tonight after forty hours. A mere three hours later you would have never known there had once been a nine foot tall ork in that cell.  On behalf of the head magos biologis I request, if possible, that live ork specimens to be delivered to Venuaren VIII for study.'' 

+ LOG_025 +

''We have began our investigation into the armored alien that was unearthed. We have positively confirmed that its armor does regenerate from minor cuts and abrasions. Tomorrow evening we will begin testing the limits of this capability.''

+ LOG_026 +

''An accident has occurred during the experiment regarding the alien and its armor. The laborer we brought into to strike it with a pick axe died after the axe head was rebounded into his abdomen after striking the armor. We will resume testing tomorrow after the blood has been cleaned up, though we were able to gather some of the alien's coagulated purple blood that had stuck to the blade of the pick axe.''

+ LOG_027 +

''The body of the alien and its armor was stolen this morning. There are currently no suspects. The most likely explanation is that some of its comrades remained behind on the planet and observed my team as we worked, secreted themselves into the mines, and moved the body after the lab had been cleaned.
Requesting additional security.''

+ LOG_044 +

''Additional ork specimens arrived today. Once their airtight shipping containers were opened they succumbed to the effects of slime-mold spores once exposed. The mechanism through which it functions has yet to be identified but I have been assured that every effort is being made to unveil this mystery.''

+ LOG_091 +

''It has been one year since we arrived on Venuaren VIII. The seas and lakes have become a vicious slurry thanks to the ever growing slime mold. An estimated 60% of species of macroscopic aquatic fauna have perished and the remaining fraction seems poised to suffer the same fate, though a few species seem to be robust enough to survive these unnatural changes.''

+ LOG_113 +

''Study into the surviving species has shown they have began an unnatural symbiosis with the converted orkoid slime-mold. Magos Olybrius, one a vocal proponent of weaponizing the slime-mold against the orks is having second thoughts.'' 

|}
Mankind could never content itself with just having one of something. A single planet wasn't enough. A single system wasn't enough. A single sector wasn't enough. Hundreds weren't enough. Thousands weren't enough. So if anyone thought that when humanity reached the very edges of the galaxy they would finally be content they were fools. That was just another boundary to be crossed - a problem to be solved in due time.

In the start of the 22nd millennium humanity began an ambitious project: they would take a brave leap out of the galaxy through the cold and empty void to small, bright globular cluster that become known in the galactic east as the '''Hvar Cluster'''. It was still relatively speaking close to home, hovering 7,000 light years over the galactic plane. None the less it was still an epic undertaking. No expenses were spared in building the expedition fleet, it was outfitted with the best equipment and technology of the age and assembled by masters of the trade. No precaution was too outrageous to include. It would be mankind's finest hour yet, a testament to their perseverance and prestige. The 500,000 strong crew set off into the dark, carrying everything they needed to create humanities' newest outpost - a haven of science to study the dark of the void itself.

Upon reaching the Hvar Cluster the fleet set to the work of finding a place to build their new home. While they were equipped to make even an airless rock liveable a terrestrial world was of course preferred. The colonists had known ahead of time there were in fact worlds for the taking but they were surprised to find one already bearing life - primitive life but life none the less - with clear signs that it had been visited by some alien civilization aeons ago. The visitors had left behind a great station that hung in the planet's orbit with a mighty beacon pointed out into the void beyond. Here they settled, naming the world '''Novi Dinarsko''' due to the geographical resemblance of much of the world's terrain to the old Dinaric Alps of Earth.

For the next several centuries the colony grew as colonies are wont to do. The rest of the cluster was slowly charted out and planets were explored and for those that could support it, settled. The region never received any major influx of colonists, despite the prestige of the operation and the provided stipends most preferred to settle slightly closer to the civilization. It evolved into a place where research could be conducted away from prying eyes - the kind of work that governments and institutes would rather the common man not know about. The only way in and out of the Hvar Cluster was cargo convoy that came only three times a year to deliver much needed supplies. This was changed to only twice a year in early M23 once the colonies were adequately self sufficient as they found ways to obtain and manufacture the rare materials needed to fuel the research and continued this way for some time. Soon the convoys were more important for taking the fruits of their labor back to mankind at large than supplying them.