Vetrovnak

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.

Vetrovnak
Status at the end of the Great Crusade	Consolidated in the Hvar Cluster and beginning to probe the Milky Way
Role in the Hektor Heresy	Conduct isolated attacks

The vetrovnak are the soldiers and overseers of the eponymous Vetrovnak Human Protectorate - a fringe empire with aspirations of challenging the Imperium of Man for the right to rule over all humanity. They themselves are super soldiers genetically engineered from human stock and augmented by alien nanotechnology designed to resist the corrupting touch of the Warp both in mind and body.

History

Early Beginnings

+ + + 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.

The Severance

In the middle of M23 the supply convoys stopped coming without warning. Being cut off from the rest of the galaxy was not as much of a shock as the people of the Hvar cluster had thought it would be. The lack of shock was in fact more shocking to the Hvarians. They had been so wrapped up in their work and the exploration of the cluster that very few of them had ever realized just how little they actually needed their connection with the galaxy to continue on. Still, prepared as they may have been, the reality of it forced many of the engineers and scientists had to turn their attention away from the secrets of space and alien technology to ensuring that their fortune was not merely fleeting.

When it went from years without contact grew to a decade and a half, the Hvarians realized that maybe now that their futures were secure they should perhaps figure out what happened. Only a small percentage of the people that were in the Hvar Cluster were actually born there. Most were simply out at this end of the cosmos because of their careers and duties. They had loved ones and family waiting for them to return one day and when it became apparent that day they wouldn't come unless they made it the authorities took the steps to do so. Of course the largest problem was getting a navigator. Given their skill set most of them resided at the sister-station in the galaxy.

The return expedition was a disaster. It could have been an inexperienced navigator. It could have been the ship, designed to function smoothly outside the warp currents of the galaxy being battered by the demands of galactic warp travel. The reasons were lost to time but the results weren't. The ship was spat out of the warp with its hull ravaged and systems crashing from the ordeal but as luck would have it they were able to limp the rest of the journey to the midway station. The welcome they received did not match their hopes. Its AI systems had somehow been corrupted, turning the mostly automated facility into a malevolent deathtrap. The crew of the cargo convoys had suffered greatly at its machinations but they had managed to turn to tables on the computer and shut down it - along with their only hope of leaving. By the time the Hvarian expedition arrived there were only thirteen weary souls left to tell the tale. War had broken out back home. The very machines that mankind had come to depend upon had turned upon their creators. They had fled, hoping to escape to safety after gutting the sapient systems of their own ship but their efforts were not enough as the madness turned contagious upon arrival at the midway station. It was not an unthinking madness though- it had let them think they were safe just long enough to get their guard down before launching its attack.

It took two years before they expedition's ship was repaired enough to be called a mockery of functional. Luckily the sheer amount of redundancy built into the vessel meant that it was capable of flying without its AI system. With thirteen extra aboard they limped back to the Hvar cluster. 13 years later they arrived thankful to find that the machine rebellion hadn't yet taken hold of the region. When the news spread around the worlds of the Cluster every precaution they could think to take was taken. Any sapient system was gutted down to simple sentience, those that couldn't be due to their important roles had extensive safe guards installed. It was by no means perfect, but the Hvar Cluster was spared from all out war for survival. The occasional rampant AI that broke free was isolated and destroyed.

Golden Age

Lasting from mid M23 to early M25 the Golden Age was an era of growth and progress. At its start the total population of the Cluster was some 10 billion people but at the peak of the Golden Age right before its end estimates place the total population in the upwards of a few hundred trillion. Comparatively speaking the growth rate was astoundingly sluggish compared to the galaxy below but that was to be expected given the academically oriented nature of Hvarian society. The Sol System and its nearest neighbors at the same time probably held more people than the entirety of the Cluster.

Tempest Era

In M25 the Golden Age came to a crashing halt. The concurrent warp storms in the galaxy below were producing a torrential surge that washed all the way out to the Hvar cluster to mix with its own nascent warp brought forth by the human presence in the region. The result was disastrous for the region - even if the storms were tepid in comparison to those that raged in the galaxy proper. Hvarian ships were designed to take advantage of the faint and tranquil signature of the warp in the region; they simply could not hack the "waves" that were being thrown their way. Hundreds of worlds were cut off from one another and orbital stations were left adrift to fend for themselves as interstellar navigation became impossible.

On isolated worlds the once manageable problem of AIs going rampant spiraled out of control. To make matters worse psykers began to appear and with them came the denizens of the warp. Death and destruction became common place as worlds fell to anarchy. The population of the entire cluster is estimated to have been cut to a tenth of its peak during this time as societies crumbled. Only the world of Novi Dinarsko - the first colony settled so long ago - survived with what could be called a semblance of civility. This was thanks to the seemingly anti-psychic properties of the alien beacon that hung in its orbit. Novi Dinarsko though was not without its problems: it had long outgrown its own ability to support itself and required imports from near by agricultural worlds. The crisis resulted in wide spread famine that would take centuries to resolve.

Reclamation Era

As Novi Dinarsko emerged from famine, the scientific establishment turned its gaze toward the problem of psychic phenomenon with the same clinical detachment they applied to all problems big and small. It wasn't long before a correlation was discerned between emotional instability along violent or otherwise criminal tendencies and the horrifying psychic phenomenon. Though it was a long way off from a definite sign of causation the people of Novi Dinarsko wanted solutions and soon. The means to expose and analyze the human mind and heart for such qualities were devised post haste resulting at first in implants that were linked to a vast network of computers that could actively measure the populace's mental states, personalities, and the probability that individuals afflicted by these psychic diseases will manifest symptoms. It couldn't detect for sure if someone was afflicted until it started to interfere with their behavior but it worked well enough as an early warning system.

As the years turned to decades this so-called Noosphere System was continually refined. Soon any indications of criminal behavior were watched for by the system, hoping to catch not just those afflicted with what was "aprophrenic" diseases but other ways an individual could disturb society. Besides, most sufferers of aprophrenic dyspsyrrheaosis (Psykers in Imperial parlance) ended up turning to crime anyway. The system was hardly infallible but the holes in it were easily solved by using other means. The continually expanding influence of the system turned the world to unprecedented levels of peace and prosperity; only a few were even capable of thinking of committing an act of violence even under duress. Its implementation spread over the entire world until there was not a single soul outside of its influence. The plan had always been to stabilize Novi Dinarsko before attempting to reclaim the nearby worlds. While the leaders of the world had succeeded spectacularly with the first step but it came at the cost of making it virtually impossible to assemble enough soldiers to form an army. Their brothers and sisters among the stars would have to wait for a solution to be devised.

The first several attempts left something to be desired. If none of their own population could be used the only clear solution was to use an army of machines or engineered clones. The former was an obvious bad idea - the rampancy issue had yet to be addressed in the class sapience an AI would need to command an army; it would simply be too dangerous. The clone solution was adopted. The first several attempts at raising an army used flash grown clones but that fell apart rapidly as their minds were as resistant to warp exposure as a wet paper bag was to tearing. The first fleet had to be gunned down by the planetary defenses. The second was lost to the warp and the third and fourth were taken out by their self-destruct systems. It seemed there would be no corners that could be cut. The clones would have to be grown at at a normal pace and indoctrinated using more traditional methods. Technology was not yet advanced enough to skip that it seemed. The result was marginally more successful but still left much to be desired. Only the nearest systems could be reclaimed but only for a time before the clone-soldiers became stricken with the feared apophrenic diseases.

A better solution had to be found; there had to be a way to make their soldiers resistant to these afflictions. The leading minds of Novi Dinarsko turned their attention to the Beacon that hung in their sky and soothed the storms that ravaged the outer limits of their system. If a solution existed, perhaps it would be there. The research came to fruit in M27. It had long been known that the Beacon used nanomachines to maintain itself and they had been successfully reverse engineered to some extent, but centuries of experiments regarding the alien technology's application in Gellar field generators had lead to a dead end. Combining the nano-machines with biology was more successful. It took decades of work and countless experiments to generically engineer the human body in such a way to coexist with the xeno-nanites without breaking down or suffering any serious conditions. A new generation of nanite-enhanced clones was born and put through every test their masters could imagine to ensure the countless man-hours and resources put to the project were well spent. All thirty one of the tests would graduate with flying colors to pave way for the first "production" generation with but a single quirk - these vetrovnak were still fertile and perfectly capable of passing on both their genes and their nanomachines to their offspring. None saw this a problem thanks to the heavy handed imperatives programmed right into their genes to ensure their stability and loyalty. In fact, the vetrovnak fertility was even welcomed by their masters. It'd certainly save on the expenses of the artificial conception that could be put to better use elsewhere.

From Novi Dinarsko the vetrovnak armies spread outward. It was a slow advance, for they still relied upon warp travel. Though they had no navigators they were equipped with technologies derived from the Beacon to aid them. The first worlds they set upon proved their worth. Foul places twisted by the touch of the Warp - or phasmachoron as they called it. There was hardly anything that could be called a modern society on these first few worlds, just feral bands of humans eking out a meager existence under the yoke of the afflicted. The vetrovnak cut through the mutants and rescued those that could still be called human. They were not exactly welcomed with open arms but their masters had anticipated this. It was no matter, the primitives were rounded up and transported to space stations to rehabilitate them and eventually integrate them into the system that worked so well for Novi Dinarsko. It was slow going, but the time was hardly wasted. When the vetrovnak were not marching to a new world they were rebuilding the one just taken. This gave time for their numbers to grow and much needed ships and equipment to be manufactured.

Not all worlds were as primitive and afflicted as the High Commanded back in Novi Dinarsko had anticipated. One such world was Rila, second only to Novi Dinarsko during the Golden Age. The storms had been light and spread havoc, rather than catastrophe, here. Rila had lost millennia of advancements and development but they were not so weak that the vetrovnak could simply do as their masters pleased. Especially since the vast majority of the Rilans were categorized as humans. The High Commanded was having none of that, they had no interest in co-opting others they wanted full compliance and hegemony. They would have it too as they turned once more to their technology for the answer. Soon the vetrovnak were armed with weapons that would merely disable their foes rather than kill them to allow the vetrovnak to advance without violating their genetically imperative to protect baseline humans. More often than not, this would be how it played out as they reclaimed the Hvar Cluster over the next few centuries: enforced compliance and integration.

Revolt

The vetrovnak were not always agreeable with their handlers' objectives. Being functionally immortal this was especially true of the elders who had seen the changing of the guard back in Novi Dinarsko High Commanded dozens if not hundreds of times. The ever growing politicization of the Reclamation, mismanaged aggressive compliance campaigns by high command, and the dozens of war torn worlds lead the elders to a single conclusion: humans rarely acted in their own best interests. Even when doing so the vetrovnak noticed it was usually a stepping stone to greater power for the individual. The discontented elders lobbied their masters for more autonomy, arguing they were more suited to running the Reclamation. They were shot down of course but given their clout and power they could not simply be made to disappear into the night - the only humans left who had the mentality capable of pulling that off were usually locked up tight in an isolation facility to prevent them from contamination the peaceful public at large. Those who held the leash were confident they wouldn't need to, the genetic imperative wouldn't allow them to harm them. Even if that failed they had a back up.

During a lull in the campaign - one that usually coincided with election season back in Novi Dinarsko the vetrovnak elders took it upon themselves to remedy the situation. They were numerous enough that they massively outnumbered the robotic elements of the military or the few humans that were kept around who could handle this sort of stuff. It was an easy task to simply arrive in orbit around Novi Dinarsko in enough to blot out the sun. They hoped the threat would be enough to cow the High Command. Such tactics had after all worked well elsewhere. At first glance, it appeared that the elders' plan would succeed. High Commanded showed every sign of acquiescing to the vetrovnak's demands. It was all a ploy though, to get as many of them on the ground as possible to lure them into a trap. At the ceremony where the power was to be transferred the trap was sprung: the vetrovnak's masters released a nanomechanical virus that would ravage the vetrovnak. The vetrovnak in attendance found themselves gasping for air they thought they didn't need, falling to the earth and dying as the nanites that they owed their existence to turned on them at the virus's behest. They died agonizing deaths as their masters gloated and laughed at their gall.

However, one in thirteen of the vetrovnak found that their agony ebbed away, replaced with new strength and a sudden voracious hunger. They rose from the ground, baring their teeth their fangs at those who had betrayed their trust. Somehow, the nano-virus triggered a mutation of sorts in them and instead of dying it made them crave the life-force of their human masters. Each and every human in attendance there died that night their blood drained from the bodies. When the surviving vetrovnak came to they were aghast at what happened - at their former masters and most of all at themselves. They had been turned into cannibalistic vampires in return for their freedom.

Founding Era

The nano-virus had been released anywhere there were vetrovnak, so their forces were now dangerously depleted. Many recently pacified worlds stood liable to become problems once again. Rather than fight and possibly lose the vetrovnak retreated to Novi Dinarsko to consolidate their numbers and recover from the blow. There were several immediate problems that would have to be solved and quickly too. The vetrovnak had just killed every important government official, leaving Novi Dinarsko without leadership. The second was securing a blood supply to feed them. Third, they would need to do so without driving themselves mad from the conflict it created with the guardianship imperative. Fourth and perhaps most importantly, they would have to solve all of this before they became hungry again and ended up doing something they'd regret, the timetable of which was completely unknown. If they didn't act soon everything would be for naught.

The solution to the first problem was simple, thanks to their masters keeping tight control of what information the public received so it was easy for the vetrovnak elders to doctor everything they needed to convince the public it was a terrorist attack by malcontents and apophrenicly afflicted madmen railing against the Noosphere system and the government marginalizing them. Then they would fill in for the leadership themselves, but rather than demanding it they would first integrate themselves into Noosphere System. Every public figure first required its stamp of approval and surely it would recognize that the elder vertrovnak were more than experienced and wise enough to be more than suitable for the role. To swing things further in their favor they promised to allow more involvement from further down the totem pole as they themselves were quite removed from civilian society and would need the help. The final concession that sealed the deal though was the vetrovnak allowing people to finally see the inner workings of the Noosphere system - the fact that the criteria upon which it judged was wholly opaque to the public had been a point of contention for centuries since its inception. Of course the vetrovnak did make some changes to the system to make it more palatable for the public to swallow but nobody had to know that.

The blood supply was easily solved for a time once the elders cemented their rule. Those that the Noosphere System deemed to be a danger to society were to be locked up in isolated rehabilitation facilities. Few ever came out of them. It was easy for the vetrovnak to take those that would be useful to them from these facilities and put them to work while using the rest to produce the blood their needed. Criminals which exceeded regulation values that used to be terminated on sight were now having their lives spared and made useful to society by supplying the vetrovnak with their blood. Eventually though the vetrovnak realized they would have to stockpile blood if they wished to continue their original mission - which they did. They outed their own vampiric nature to the public. While there were some issues with that the populace swallowed that pill easily when it was yoked to a matter of civic pride and the very fact the vetrovnak had fought and (occasionally) died for their protection without ever asking for anything in return until those damned terrorists did this to them. The elders attempted to soften the blow by claiming that they were searching for a cure - although they were not entirely sure where to find it.

Once life settled down on Novi Dinarsko the vetrovnak returned to the matter of the Reclamation and figuring out exactly what had happened to them. The fight to pacify the Hvar Cluster went well now that they were able to coordinate their own actions. The battle to figure out their own nature was more difficult. They were able to discern that the small phasmachoronic signature that virtually all humans had did something to their blood that the vetrovnak required. They had tried to synthesize blood or feed from the blood of animals but both measures failed completely. Next, the best minds among the vetrovnak threw themselves headlong into understanding the secrets of the nanites that composed their bodies and the Beacon. While they never solved the problem of vampirism they did derive countless innovations in their efforts to do so that would greatly aid them in bringing the entirety of the Hvar Cluster under their control.

In M28 they accomplished their goal. The entire Hvar Cluster was united into a single hegemony under the vetrovnak's control, forming the Vetrovnak Human Protectorate of Hvar. The first act of the Protectorate was to bring all worlds within up to the standard of living of Novi Dinarsko. While a noble goal to their wards, the elders did not act out of the goodness of their unbeating hearts. They did it solely for the reason that aside from apophrenics, the blood of Novi Dinarskoan's simply tasted the best. Those that had a similar quality of life tended to have the same richness to their blood, so the vetrovnak reasoned that there was a causal relationship between quality of life and quality of blood. Besides, with the frontiers closed, there was little else for the guardians of humanity to do. Sitting back and enjoying their victory didn't feel right. They had to be doing something - another genetic imperative, perhaps.

Return to the Galaxy

//Initializing Fold Quantum Communication Protocol v31.0.0.5.7... no errors detected. //Authentication pulse request received... key authenticated. //Requesting persistent connection using subnode distributed relay protocol... granted. //Verifying registration with holonic network... verified using profile::ENFORCER/X8-t,s //Establishing connecting with HvarHolonNet[Enforcer Node -text, search terminal only]... connection stable. >search(@MoA.AFB.Intelligence/secure/personnel_database) group::Vilakrvnik/commander ? report //One result found... accessing. Kamir Xazun was the commander of the concord attached to the 15th Flotilla of the 8th Fleet during the Harvest of Iy-Suanfo.The planet was erroneously believed to be without defense as it was inhabited by a primitive humanoid alien species of stable apophrenics. That notion was dispelled as two days into the harvest operation technologically advanced members of the same species attacked suddenly forcing the 15th flotilla to retreat according to standard protocol. Several squadrons of the 8.15th and their divisions were lost in the fighting cover the retreat and Xazun's concord on the ground was believed lost as well. Though all enemy craft were destroyed it came the cost of the destruction of over 73% of the 8.15ths assets and critical damage to the mothership with only 12,548 live aliens recovered along with roughly four times that number in their dead. Following its return to the 8th Fleet, Admiral Reznik recalled the remaining flotillas in the 8th fleet and returned to Hvar without further incident. Kamir Xazun did not die as was though and in fact, many more of the concord survived as well. Three years had passed since their presumed death before they were able to reestablish contact with the Armed Forces Bureau after finally managing to piece together a corvette from the wreckage on Iy-Suanfo and recover a long range fold communicator - among other things - from the orbital wreckage. They had sustained themselves on some of the aliens that had survived the harvest operation and from those that emerged through a gate-network on the planet. They had come to appreciate the gourmet blood of these aliens, or Eldar as they called themselves. Neither Kamir Xazun nor his concord could see them willingly returning to partaking of human blood not when they had access to such a succulent alternative. And so they didn't. Rather than returning to active service, knowing they would immediately be mandated intensive therapy and counseling, Xazun opted to negotiate with Armed Forces Bureau to be permitted to remain in the field under a new unit called the Vilakrvnik to both gather intelligence on the Eldar and weaken them for an eventual harvest. High Command after much deliberation with the Noosphere agreed to grant Xazun his request provided he and his unit submitted themselves to routine Noosphere assessment.

In mid M30 the Vetrovnak began to notice a trend in the population dynamics of their wards, one that caused great concern. As the quality of life increased, the birth rate went down. When the consequences of vetrovnak immortality and reproduction were taken into account the elders quickly realized that eventually their undying brethren would eventually overwhelm the human population's ability to support. Of course this problem was still many thousands of years away but being immortal encourages a long view. Unwilling to resort to large scale genetic manipulation of their human wards due to its sheer unpredictability they tried to buy time by promoting larger families and consumer fertility drugs. In the meantime, the vetrovnak devoted their genius to finding a permanent solution.

In the end, it was the most obvious thing. In the night sky hung the Milky Way, the home of their distant ancestors. If human life had managed to make it to somewhere as far and remote as the Hvar Cluster certainly the galaxy that loomed below them was teeming with countless humans and perhaps sentient, succulent xenos. The vetrovnak elders suddenly gained an interest in ancient history and dug up everything the cluster had to offer to prepare themselves for what they might find in the Milky Way. They had their plan. They would continue the Reclamation. They were beyond caring about the Tempest as they had been using non-phasmachoronic FTL for a few centuries now. The storms that had sealed the away were mere trivia now. Fleets would be raised, machines built, and troops trained. They would have the Noosphere System screen both vetrovnak and human for those who had a spirit adventurous enough to make the journey back and handle it without losing their minds or their ways. A mere decade before break of M31, the Galactic Reconnaissance and Survey Fleet would depart ahead of the other fleets to scope things out and hopefully "harvest" a few choice worlds while they were at it.

Second Wave

-To Be Determined-

Characteristics

The average vetrovnak stands roughly 6 to 7 feet tall typically with a lanky figure. Average weight is somewhere in the range of 200 to 240 pounds. Gender has little influence on their heights or weights and the small differences in peak strength between genders in baseline humans are gone in the vetrovnak. All vetrovnak posses pronounced canine teeth, ranging from just slightly larger than baseline humans to obvious fangs. Skins tones among the vetrovnak are universally albino. Most are simply pallid white with the occasional individual with a faint red or blue blush to their skin. Bone white hair is the most common though pale platinum blonde hair occurs semi-frequently. Eye colors are typically red, purple, silver, or blue-gray. Their blood is purple-red in color and becomes progressively bluer as they age from the increasing concentration of nanomachines. Between their albinism and a side effect of their engineering, the vetrovnak find bright lights immensely painful to be exposed to. Direct sunlight actually burns them, though the burned flesh will quickly form a protective layer to prevent further damage. It's still incredibly painful though.

In spite of their lanky stature are stronger than their musculature would indicate and are quite fast to boot. Though inferior to a space marine in terms of strength and inferior to an Eldar in terms of speed they have the decided advantage of being able to recover rapidly from grievous injuries - especially if well fed. The vetrovnak do not need to breathe (unless they wish to speak) nor do their hearts actually beat unless they will it. This allows them to play possum well enough to fool all but the most advanced sensors. The only organ they require is the brain. Most wounds that would spell death for other creatures simply inconvenience the vetrovnak requiring them to spend a moment to wait for the nanites to knit their muscles and bone back together so they may rejoin the fight. Even removing their head from their body won't actually kill them. It certainly inconveniences them as there little they can do as a head but they can regenerate their entire body if given enough blood and time. The only way to kill them for sure is to crush the brain to a pulp.

The nanomachines in their body do more than just grant them incredibly regenerative capabilities and physical augmentation. They also provide a hefty resistance to the effects of sorcery and similar phasmachoronic phenomenon. This has a side effect that gives them a dreadful or unnerving presence to regular humans but they can maintain some degree of control over it. Typically they keep it to a bare minimum so as to not disturb their human wards but in battle or amongst themselves they will relax their control as keeping it under wraps at all times is mentally tiring. When flared this black aura as its sometimes called affects the mortal mind in strange ways - most would love nothing more than to pretend it doesn't exist and will happily turn the bearer of the aura into a mental blind spot. For most vetrovnak this just means most mortals will willfully ignore them until they get to close but this power can be willfully cultivated. Experienced vetrovnak can use this to render themselves functionally invisible to people so long as they don't actually harm them. Elder vetrovnak can focus the black aura's full intensity on someone to paralyze them completely by making their minds literally shutting everything out to. Of course this is exhausting to pull off. When exposed to a strong phasmachoronic entity vetrovnak will instinctively expand their black aura to its maximum capacity when in close proximity to the entity.

The vetrovnak are not without their pitfalls. They do require a diet of blood to continue their existence. A pint of blood a day is required to remain comfortably well fed, though to be in top shape they will require 6 times that. Once they fall below an average intake of a pint a day they become mentally sluggish. They can technically exist on a starvation diet of a pint every 6 or 7 days indefinitely but at this point they're mentally checked out for the most part. Starvation, like most things, won't actually kill them. They will just enter into an inert torpid state until they are fed more blood. An important thing to note is that the values listed here are for regular humans within the Protectorate; humans from places with a lower quality of life tend to provide less sustenance, though this could simply be a psychosomatic issue of the vetrovnak. Humans with aprophrenic diseases have a much greater sustenance per unit of blood ratio - a single pint of blood from the average sanctioned psyker would be the same as drinking 6 pints of blood from a regular human. A single pint of eldar blood may be worth up to hundreds of pints of a baseline human. As it relies on the being having a phasmachoronic signature, blanks provide no sustenance to a vetrovnak. Phasmochoronic entities can technically be consumed if they have blood, however their presence must be weaker than the vetrovnak's black aura otherwise its likened to attempting to drink boiling oil: extremely painful. Despite gaining little to no sustenance from it the vetrovnak still do find eating regular food enjoyable; blood sausage, even it isn't made from human blood, is popular snack.

Sleep is not physically required for the vetrovnak but if there is the chance to do so they will. It does help maintain their mental health, something which their society places a great importance on. Of course unlike humans they have a greater deal of control over their body so they can fall asleep instantly if they wish it and awaken after a specified period. Most vetrovnak can go quite sometime without sleeping before their mental judgement starts to decline. They do require another kind of sleep though, one to correct subtle flaws that in their forms that accrue over their years. To fix these errors they must entering into a state akin to hibernation. Every hundred years spent active requires a decade of hibernation to fix. They are unable to enter this state voluntarily until they are about 70 to 80 years of age. The maximum amount of time they can go without hibernating is about 300 years, the closer they get to that limit the more sluggish they become until they give in. The vetrovnak try to keep at least one fifth to one tenth of the population in hibernation at any given time, both because their idle brains are hooked up the Noosphere System to help run it and because it reduces the amount of blood required.

The creators of the vetrovnak have placed into them a number of genetic imperatives. The foremost of which drives them to value and protect human life. Vetrovnak are capable of judging how close an individual is to their programmed definition of baseline humanity by a persons smell and the taste of their blood. Aprophrenics of any variety, most mutants, and those who have been heavily genetically engineered, i.e. the space marines, do not count as human to the vetrovnak's senses. The younger the vetrovnak the more visceral the response is when they witness a human suffering harm or cause it themselves - the young have trouble feeding directly on a human if it appears painful. As they grow up though this response becomes more controlled and internal. Killing a human is never easy for them and almost always requires a good deal of mental gymnastics to rationalize it. The only time it becomes easy is when one human is threatening a group humans - the value of a group of humans always out weighs the value of an single human. The imperative next in strength is their contempt for all things phasmachoronic. While their nanites provide them a good deal of protection already one can never be too sure when dealing with such corruptive forces. This also has a side effect of making them value reason and deliberation a great deal as well as gives them an obvious bias to being emotionally cold.

The vetrovnak are capable of reproduction in spite of their functional immortality. The gestation period is roughly 13 months and the child is born roughly in the same condition as that of a mortal child. During that period the mother will require anywhere from two to five times the amount the usual blood intake. Though vetrovnak mature physically at the same rate of humans their immortality has lead them to not being considered to reach adulthood until their 31st birthday. Typically the point coincides with their blood beginning to shift towards a purple-red hue and have mastered rudimentary control over their black aura.

The Vetrovnak Human Protectorate

The state, officially titled the Vetrovnak Human Protectorate of Hvar but often abbreviated as simply the Protectorate or just VHP, encompasses the entirety of the Hvar Cluster. Despite what the name protectorate may imply the separation of the human and vetrovnak states are in name only- the human state exists entirely as a subset of the vetrovnak one.

Government

The Protectorate is a unitary directorial commonwealth whose precise form of government is difficult to pin down into a single term. Ultimately power resides in three main bodies: the Grand Deliberative Council of the Ministry of Administration, the Pancensus of the Ministry of the Ombuds, and the Noosphere system of the Ministry of Welfare. Each of these have an interlocking relationship with one another but no one body can be simply labeled as a specifically legislative or executive branch. To outsides though it generally appears as some form of democratic republic from what little they are willing to share.

The Noosphere system is the central pillar of society in the Protectorate. It is a vast quantum computer, incorporating both human and vetrovnak minds into its architecture, that is capable of analyzing an individual's mental condition, aptitudes, personality, and criminal or apophrenic tendency through specialized scans or implants. Its purpose is to bring the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people and as such is the ultimate arbiter of a person's worth in the society of the Protectorate. That said the system does not run everything, it largely limits itself to just functioning as the conscience of the Protectorate and policing it.

The Grand Deliberative Assembly is responsible for most all legislative and executive duties that do not fall under the Noosphere system's immediate purview. It consists of 31 coequal Chief Directors, all vetrovnak, that are elected by the members of all the lesser assemblies that make up the various administrative subdivisions of the Protectorate. They serve for 20 year terms with no term limits but the number of votes required to win increases with each consecutive term. Though any adult vetrovnak in good standing with the Noosphere system is eligible to run for the office it typically only ends up in the hands of those who have hundreds of years of experience under their belts. The only way a chief director may be dismissed from office is by exceeding regulation values on their Noosphere assessment or by the Ministry of the Ombuds deciding they are too at odds with the results of the Pancensus to be allowed to remain in office.

The Pancensus is an aggregate in-depth snapshot of the mind of all members of the Protectorate. It uses the same methods of the Noosphere system to take this snapshot but due to the scope of the analysis it cannot be done in real time, thus it is only performed once every 5 years. The Pancensus is the only way to adjust the ethical prerogatives of the Noosphere system outside of directly hard wiring new minds into its constituent parts. It used by the Ministry of the Ombuds to ensure the government is running effectively and maintains the approval of the population. Of course the Ministry of Administration makes ample use of the data to draft and enforce policy.

Human Society

The mortal populace of the populace of the Protectorate enjoys an average quality of life unheard of in most of the Imperium. For those who live under the blessings of the Noosphere system almost every conceivable basic need is met; food, shelter, safety, stability, and happiness come easily for those will accept the system's comprehensive guidance. Life is safe enough that homes aren't locked and that even complete strangers can be easily trusted. Anxiety and worrying over the future is unheard of, the Noosphere system will happily reveal where one will make the most of their talents or whom they would be most compatible with. Only those who are so blessed with talent that the system literally can't make up its mind ever have to worry about such things. Still, despite everything the system offers it doesn't go so far as to deny people the chance to strive to improve their lot. Luxury isn't something that is freely given and anyone who wants to improve their station in life will have to do it themselves. Those that seek to rise though need to keep themselves firmly grounded though, decadence and debauchery are quick route to finding oneself with a bad assessment from the Noosphere.

Ideally one's Noosphere Assessment Value (NAV for short) should be between 0 and 100, the lower the better. That isn't possible for a number of people though due to any combination of circumstances, personality, mental disorders, or apophrenic disorders. Anyone with a NAV between 100 and 200 is still regarded as someone that could be rehabilitated back into society or put to use elsewhere. Those who won't or simply can't have their minds rehabilitated enough to warrant being placed back into society at large typically find themselves in quarantined communities or in the case of those of an adventurous or aggressive dispositions offered the chance to serve in the fleet to aid the vetrovnak. A NAV of 300+ is grounds for being sent to an isolation facility for the individual to live out the rest of their lives on the off chance they'll recover enough to be downgraded to quarantined communities or service elsewhere. Anyone who hits above 400 will typically find themselves either killed on sight by the police or executed by a hungry vetrovnak. Those with high NAVs tend to find themselves feared, shunned, and pitied before ultimately ostracized by their peers for their dangerous minds.

Vetrovnak Society

Vetrovnak society is deeply intertwined with that of their mortal charges but it cannot be said to be wholly coterminous with it. Like humans they are judged by the Noosphere system but becuase they are made of sterner stuff they can be trusted to remain socially functional at higher NAVs—each "bracket" is roughly 2.5 times that of what is permissible for humans. In addition to a higher permissible range the vetrovnak have less severe restrictions placed upon them for exceeding regulatory values as they are likely to recover even whey reach the upwards of 1250 given enough time or a bout of torpor. Their psychological stability is trusted enough that execution won't be called for until around 2000 or so.

Most vetrovnak spend until their late teens growing up along humanity. This serves a dual purpose, first it gives the young vetrovnak a firm grounding in humanity and enables them to soften their protective instinct as they learn not to be overbearing with it and how to cope with the wildly conflicting emotions when feeding from live donors. The second is to acclimatize and endear themselves to humanity. By 20 most vetrovnak will begin to move into careers and positions where they can protect, supervise, or advise humans while still interacting with them regularly. This pattern will generally hold true until they become old enough to see that their human peers are aging while they aren't. By the time their human peers are dead and buried most of them will begin to settle into longer term thinking and moving into careers with broader scopes.

Rules

Compliance Fleets (Battlefleet Gothic)

VETROVNAK LEADERSHIP

All Vetrovnak ships add +1 to the Leadership score generated on the Leadership table in Battlefleet Gothic, giving them a Leadership score between 7 and 10.

Due to their unique method of movement, the Vetrovnak may not use the Burn Retros or Come to a New Heading special orders.

FOLDING DRIVES

The Vetrovnak do not use the warp for FTL travel. Instead, their vessels are equipped with an extraordinary technology that 'folds' space to reduce the distance between two points to nothing, allowing them to traverse the stars extremely quickly. Although impressive, this technology is not suitable for tactical use with objects the size of warships. Instead, the Vetrovnak employ their Folding Drives to change the curvature of space, allowing for rapid acceleration and deceleration without heed to facing. The same technique also serves to protect them from many conventional weapons.

To simulate these effects in Battlefleet Gothic, a Vetrovnak ships with an active Folding Drive gains the following benefits:

• It may move in any direction relative to its facing.
• When the ship is fired upon, its orientation is always considered abeam.
• Blast markers have no effect on the ship's movement.

Gallery

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