edits

Magos Samnita Sneth
“By the Omnissiah’s coils and cogs!  How far down can we sink?  If horrid space aliens don’t kill us, Beraxos will!”

Solstice is an exercise in co-operation, and a blazing fast one.  Within a mere few centuries, the dead ball of quartz and aluminum has become a proper Forge Moon.  It will take another century before it reaches the end of its first stage of construction, and Magos Sneth of Syracuse is responsible for it all.
The three Forge Worlds responsible for the immense progress of Solstice do not share their burden equally, as Sneth would admit.  From Drumnos, Syracuse contributed its early defense and Sneth himself, to serve as the Interim Fabricator Lord.  From Naxos, Fabique contributed its orbitals, and from Cloudburst, Cognomen (and Maskos) came labor, mining equipment, and modular buildings.  However, once the initial construction was over, the Syracuse contributions dried up to a trickle.  That had been part of the plan, of course, since Syracuse was far enough away from Solstice that a regular donation of large supplies or ships would be unfeasible.  That, and Drumnos has its own problems and couldn’t focus on Cloudburst forever.
Fabique’s contributions have been slowing as well, which is not part of the plan, as the rising tides of Nurgle in the Pox Ring draw its attention.  Cognomen is still keeping up its own efforts, and as Solstice comes online, the amount of external support it needs drops further.
However, relations between Solstice and Cognomen are not smooth.  Solstice is still undeniably a drain on Cognomen’s resources at the time it can least afford it.  That by itself is not so terrible, as it was well-understood by all parties going in that that would probably be the case for centuries.  However, the evolving role of Solstice is irritating to Lister Beraxos of Cognomen, who sees Solstice as being uppity and overly aspiring.

Sneth doesn’t share this feeling, though he would be in a poor position to do so, surrounded as he is by the represenatives of all three other Forges.  Solstice today produces eighty percent of the complex arms and armor of the Blue Daggers and the Septiim SDF and local Imperial Naval contingent.  From SDF Security and Counter-boarding officer helmet cameras to Blue Dagger neurofibre uplink cables for bionic eyes, Solstice handles the manufacturing that much of the rest of the system simply can’t handle.  Eventually, Solstice should be able to produce nearly all of the manufactured goods of the entire system, allowing the factories on the various Septiim worlds to produce luxury goods or convert to exports, massively boosting the system economy.
So the plan goes, anyway.  In reality, the Blue Daggers are a needier Chapter than most, given their extra size, their defensive purview, and the increasing strain on their capabilities.  They make their own bolter shells and most of their own melee weapons, but the Daggers are only barely able to keep up with demand on their resources thanks to the number of systems that need their help concurrently.

Solstice also builds most of the military hardware of the system’s PDF, which is a lesser burden than it looks on paper.  The PDF of the Septiim system numbers in the hundreds of millions, but members of the PDFs are not permitted to keep their wargear after use, and so Solstice now only makes replacements and parts.  Sneth oversees this crucial process from his office, which hangs from an umbilical mounted on the ceiling of a huge arms factory deep under Solstice’s surface.  The office’s walls can be made transparent at will by the registered owner of the office, or be re-assembled into viewscreens to allow Sneth to oversee parts of his demesne in person.  The umbilical can move along tracks on the ceiling, taking advantage of the artificial gravity of the moon, and slide from area to area within the command complex as needed.
Sneth is a patient man, but he has his limits.  The endless political wrangling between Syracuse, Fabique, and Cognomen over the output and purview of Solstice is a genuine problem, in his eyes, and it is not growing better.  Solstice is the only one of the four worlds to be granted the honor of supplying a Space Marine Chapter, which is a gilding of the laurels of any Forge.  Even Fabique, ally and trading partner of the Celestial Knights, does not have that honor.  The Knights instead get their advanced gear from a purpose-built void platform in the southern Naxos Sector that only distantly answers to Fabique.
As part of his other responsibilities, Sneth is also the official Witness of Notary Transfer when a formal blueprint transfer occurs between Mars and Solstice.  Thus, when ships from other Forge Worlds ceremonially transfer the data to build machines and code to Solstice, Sneth observes it and catalogues it for the glory of Solstice and the Machine God.  As a neutral party in the endless disputes between the other three Forge Worlds on the frontier, he is sometimes called upon to do so for them, as well, although this is quite rare.  Of course, Sneth is happy to do it.  It is a scarce and solemn honor, and a credit to his reputation and Solstice’s value.

Other parts of his job are less enjoyable or holy.  It is Sneth who must wrangle, or at least oversee the wranglers, of convicts and volunteers from other worlds’ populations into the mass labor force of Solstice.  The logistical capacity of Solstice is rocketing upwards, and there are many quotas to hit, so the berths are rarely empty.  Sneth and his subordinates must supervise the review of the new Solstice residents, and choose whether to allow them to serve as they are, implant them with bomb collars and force them into the service of the Machine, or make them into Servitors and save themselves the trouble.  Of course, the more intact a mind is, the more valuable it is, so Sneth avoids unneccesary use of Servitorization, but motivation is also valuable, and so Solstice consumes many bomb collars.
Some Solstice workers are free men and women, and some even take up the red and white cloth of the Adeptus of their own volition.  In fact, some of the Fabique orbitals over Solstice have large data-libraries, keyed to respond to certain implants.  Some Solstice seminarians implant their students with these devices as they advance down the course of their training, and then allow them to travel to the orbitals to learn what they can from their increased permissions.  Solstice makes use of these converts to oversee the laborers and begin what they can of the process of creating the secret arms and technoarcana of the Blue Daggers.
Sneth’s relationship with his peers in the Mechanicus hinges on his reputation, and he knows it well.  Every day, Sneth dutifully checks to see if one of the other three Forge Worlds in the region have delivered unto him new knowledge of the Machine, or if Ranult Arden has called to place an order, and if not, he gets to work.  Sneth sends out routine broadcasts to other Mechanicus personnel in the system by use of custom line-of-sight laser transmitters, which he has made a hobby of building in shis spare time.  Using a relatavistics calculation engine he brought from Syracuse, he calculates where in the system a world or ship will be by the time his signal arrives, and he beams sermons and other uplifting messages to them.  There is nothing confidential or groundbreaking in these messages, but other Techpriests in the system have come to appreciate the effort.

These and other, small gestures of humility before the Machine God have ensured that the strongly anti-partisan Sneth was the obvious choice for Interim Fabricator Lord of Solstice until Lord Beraxos and his counterparts can elect a new Fabricator General.  As Solstice will not – physically can not – reach the size or output of Cognomen, it will never be quite free of its older cousin’s shadow, but that is no reason not to try, in Sneth’s eyes.
Sneth uses his position of confidence with Lord Arden to petition on his behalf at times before Lady Lerica, although he is careful not to be seen as abusing his authority.  Lerica has far too many demands on her time to trifle with lesser internal affairs of the Astartes or Mechanicus, despite her remit to do so, and other Inquisitors see Sneth as being a loyal if unimaginative figure in Septiim politics at most.  Most of the senior leadership of the Sector communicates with Sneth only insofar as he is the acting figurehead for Solstice; they know there is little chance that he will remain the permanent Lord Fabricator or Fabricator General.

As with most Magos, Sneth gained his rank through proof of concept.  He first attracted the eye of the senior Magos of the sprawling Forge World Syracuse when he was able to use their datastacks to prove beyond doubt what order the files had been in on the original STC databases.  He used his information to further assist in the reconstruction of the chemical composition of the refillable ink core of a pen model contained in the STC but never built by the Imperium.  He further impressed his superiors after gaining the title of Magos when he was able to delve deep into the ancient and unpatrolled Wild Data Stores of Syracuse and retrieve over four hundred files thought lost to antiquity.  However, he was chosen over his peers as the Interim Fabricator of Syracuse because of his personnel management skills, not his data-hounding talents.  He has succeeded as well as he thinks he can under the circumstances.

Prannan duPree of the Basilikon Astra Dominus Cloudburst gets along well with Sneth to the extent that their awkward beginnings allow.  The Basilikon Explorator and Basilikon Astra Dominus of Solstice are far too small to operate independently of the rest of the Mechanicus.  Normally, a Forge World’s fleets are their assets best able to operate without direct oversight, from either their homeworlds or Mars; Solstice can only field one Explorator frigate and four war frigates.  As such, all five ships have temporarily signed over their executive command to Cognomen until they can establish a large enough footprint to merit their own command.  Sneth opposed that move, but pragmatism drove him to the losing side of that argument.

The transition from the soaring towers of Syracuse to the subterranean warrens of Solstice was a tricky one, both culturally and infrastructurally, but Sneth is managing it well enough.  His biggest challenge now is maintaining the balance of power between the three Forge Worlds as their attention is drawn elsewhere.  After all, Solstice lies in the path of the Glasians, too.  There is little chance that the Glasians will attack it when Primus is a much more attractive target, but Sneth isn’t stupid enough to think that Tzeentch’s plans are predictable.

In battle, Sneth carries a Plasma Rifle of his own making, with three laspistols in his mechadendrites, and an Omnissian Power Axe for close-in fighting.



Septiim Economic Zone: A term used to refer to the 10-light year sphere around the Septiim system, which contains three star systems with no habitable zones, but many servitor-operated mining platforms and freighter stopover platforms.  The Zone contains the Septiim system, the ANKH 909 system, the ANKH 910 system, and the Feldsprite Mechanicus mining colony and research base.
The Zone also contains all of the military facilities belonging to the Loyalist Chapter of Space Marines called the Blue Daggers.  The Daggers defend the Zone from the Glasians an other threats, and draw their recruits from the populations of the worlds and mines within.  The Zone has its own Imperial Navy detachment at all times, one that is a significant percentage of the strength of a Subsector Battlefleet.  This is a necessary measure, however, despite the cost, since the Navy is expected to help the Daggers disable the defenses of the colossal Glasian Control Cylinders that spearhead each Glasian Centennial Migration.

Recruitment
The Blue Dagger recruitment protocols are tightly kept secrets within the Chapter.  Because of the multi-Chapter nature of their original Founding, the Dagger leaders chose to create an entirely new recruiting protocol instead of copying the Angel of Fury or Novamarine one.
Those who aspire to become Blue Daggers must be no older than twelve years old, and are thus usually nominated by their parents or their educators.  Aspirants are taken in at the three massive spaceports that connect the Septiim garden worlds: Stellar Gateway Spaceport on Primus, Astia Grand Ports on Secundus, and Monarch Processional on Tertius.  Those who dwell in the outer platforms or moonbases must fly to one of those first.
Aspirants are taken by their instructors in shuttles to the Gargantuan.  Because of its enormous size, the Gargantuan has much internal space it does not need for combat or life support.  The Daggers use these chambers as training grounds.  The individual chambers have a variety of air pressures, gravities, internal atmospheric compositions, and light levels, to simulate the worlds of the Cloudburst Sector.
The Aspirants are forced to live in these and similar chambers for several years, and undergo a barrage of complex tests.  These include psychological and psychic screenings, memory recall tests, athletic and academic exams, and various combat drills.  However, the Blue Daggers also insist that Aspirants undergo extensive instruction in the history and complexity of the Imperium, both to instil a sense of respect for how things work and to ensure the Daggers are able to perform their role of liaising with the rest of the Sector’s institutions.
After these several years go by, the Tenth Company Captain and the Master of Recruiters then separate those boys who have failed in their testing in some way.  Those with a certain tendency towards heresy or severe genetic defect are quietly executed, while all others are given a choice.  Those who wish to press on and become Blue Daggers are given the chance to try, while those who are genetically unable to do so or have chosen another path are shunted sideways into the Serf training programs to learn a trade.  There is no stigma attached to this, at least not among the actual Marines.  The size of the Gargantuan, the many bases the Daggers have throughout the system, and the fleet the Chapter fields demand a larger population of serfs than most non-First Founding Chapters require.  Furthermore, those serfs stationed off of the Gargantuan proper are encouraged to start families and have children, providing the Dagger with a pool of pre-indoctrinated boys to recruit.
Other serfs train in combat and become the human component of the Blue Daggers’ forces, crewing the vehicles and vessels that the Daggers don’t do themselves.  The Daggers may have more Marines than most Chapters outside the Black Templars, but they are not so flush with troops that they can spare them to crew every one of the hundred-plus gunships of the fleet, for instance.

Those Aspirants who do press on to become true Marines are taken away to a separate series of chambers in the Gargantuan and subjected to further testing.  The Tenth Company leadership subjects the young men to teamwork and leadership tests, as well as a final screening for psychic awakening.  Finally, as the boys near seventeen years of age, the first stage of organ implantation begins, overseen by the Apothecarion and the Librarius.
Those who survive are given the Black Carapace and entry into the Scouts.  Those who fail usually die, but some simply reject the organs and are sent off to the Fourth Company to serve in the Fleet as crew for the Sharp Edge.
Survivors who accept all of the organs (the Dagger geneseed has no missing organs) enter the final stage of their training, to compete for the position of Squad Scout Leader and gain command of the five-person Fireteams that make up the Scouts.  Because there are thirty three of these and only two commissioned officer positions among them, the competition is not fierce, and there is no penalty for simply choosing not to try to become the leader of each Fireteam.  The Company Command Squad of the Tenth is a ten-Marine squad and consists of those Scouts who have completed all training, physical metamorphoses, and spiritual developments expected to become Devastators, but have not yet had the chance to do so.  The squad of the Brother Lieutenant who commands the second half of the Company is a standard five-Scout Fireteam, and the Lieutenant himself is the most experienced person in the Company after the Captain.  They are usually drawn from the Command Squad.

Scouts rise to the Devastators after they have either served a length of time defined by the circumstances of their service, or after meritous service under the discretion of their Captain.  Once in the Devastators, the progress of the Marines is defined by the same methods as other Codex Astartes Chapters.  The only notable exception is that Blue Daggers can abandon their Company to enter the Chaplaincy, Techmarine Brotherhood, Apothecarion, or vehicle crewers at any time they wish.