Editing War Scribes (section)

===Narhadul-Pattern Voidcraft===

As a whole, the Imperium is not known for being an innovative power, preferring the surety of traditional methods. But from time to time centers of learning nonetheless establish themselves and for the Atalantos Worlds, Narhadul is that place. Being one of the largest shipyards outside of Sol System itself and having deep historic ties to the Mechanicus, hundreds of aspiring shipwrights and learned scholars have spent their lives here pushing the boundaries of Imperial shipbuilding. The vast majority of these experimental designs fail to take root amongst the Imperial fleets, being too expensive, too temperamental, too high-maintenance or simply badly planned, but several remain in production to the modern era. 

In general, when a spacer talks of a "Narhadul-Pattern" vessel, he speaks of a specialized tool. The Imperium has basic ships like Lunars, Swords and Dauntlesses aplenty, and Narhadul already produces many of these ships to reinforce Battlefleets across the Imperium. But a true Narhadul-Pattern voidship is designed for a specific purpose, solve a particular problem, or counter a single type of threat. They are rarely all-purpose ships, and Battlefleet commanders do well to keep this fact in mind. Properly supported in their task, few if any enemies can withstand them. Wielded poorly or without thought, a Narhadul-Pattern starship struggles to claim victory.


'''Spindle (Narhadul-Pattern Voidfighter)'''

Amusingly enough, the most widespread product of Narhadul's world-circling forges is the extraordinarily tiny "Spindle" fighter, a two-man strike craft far smaller than anything else in the Imperial arsenal. The Spindle is little more than a set of thrusters with some basic control mechanisms and a cluster of laser cannons in the nose. Tuned for armor penetration, these las-weapons punch far above their weight at the cost of poor accuracy, low battery life, and abysmal heat containment. A Spindle can remain in combat for no more than five minutes or so before either running out of fuel, depleting its laser capacitors, or simply overheating and melting down internally. The Spindle also has virtually no armor whatsoever, depending on speed and maneuverability exclusively. In those categories it ''does'' excel, easily outrunning and outmaneuvering every other Imperial voidcraft during its short sprint to the enemy lines. 

Imperial officers use the Spindle primarily as first-response units. Where Thunderhawks or Lightnings might take 30 minutes to reach the combat zone, a Spindle can do it in 10 and remain on site just long enough to buy crucial time for heavier Imperial troops to arrive. This breakneck speed does come at a high cost to the crew's long-term health, but with an average active lifespan of eighteen total minutes, few Imperial Admirals bother to concern themselves, simply staffing these strike craft with expendable convicts. 

One oft-overlooked advantage of the Spindle is its diminutive size. A docking bay which might fit a single Marauder bomber can hold three or four Spindles. Even the tiniest, most pathetic Imperial vessel can carry significant quantities of Spindles, and so long as they keep coolant and extra batteries on hand to refresh the overheated strike craft, decent fighter cover can be maintained.


'''Aggrandizement-class Battleship'''

At the very, very opposite end of the naval scale from the tiny, cheaply built, expendable Spindle is the Aggrandizement-class. Larger than Emperor-class battleships, they approach the size and grandeur of the Glorianas of old. Ruinously expensive and incredibly time-consuming to build, there is an entire sector of the Narhadul world-circling dockyards dedicated solely to assembling these vessels, one handcrafted piece at a time. Hundreds of learned magi make their homes and livelihoods building Aggrandizement ships, spending their entire career assembling a single masterwork warp engine or macrobattery. These then are pieces of art as much as tools of war, where every detail is lovingly attended to and no expense is spared. To call this a class of ship is somewhat misleading, each is assembled according to whatever wild fantasies their unimaginably wealthy masters desire. There are those which boast paired Nova Cannons, or entire batteries of torpedo launchers. Still others look more like mobile docking bays than battleships, disgorging thousands of strike craft into the void. Some are meant for propaganda or subjugation, bristling with laud-hailers and vox-casters capable of being heard across dozens of sectors. 

One thing remains consistent though, if you have to ask the price you can't afford it. The Aggrandizement-class ships are the personal chariots of High Lords, of the absolute pinnacle of Rogue Trader dynasties, of financial moguls whose reach spans entire Segmentums, and even of unknown criminal demigods who rule the Galaxy's shadowy back alleys and black markets.  Narhadul sells to all who have coin and the rejuvenat treatments to see such a prolonged process through. No Forgeworld save perhaps Mars would dare try to construct such vessels in less than a human lifetime, but while Mars has greater technical capabilities, Narhadul has far, far more assembly room. It is simply unfeasible to segment off 20% of Mars' operating space to build a single battleship, but in Narhadul's orbital ring there is elbow room to spare. And so the wily dockmasters have learned to leverage their advantages to counter their deficiencies in order to cater to all markets. 

A single Aggrandizement voidship might cost more than an entire battlefleet, but to their owners no less of a personal statement will do. Even seeing one in person is the height of many spacer's careers, to say nothing of serving aboard them. It is also said that entire planets worth of Administratum scribes and record keepers die from stress-induced heart attacks whenever the High Lord of the Administratum purchases one. But when all is said and done, they are truly wondrous vessels. Through sheer brute force and overwhelming capital investment, humanity produces something like an echo of better days when Mankind was at its peak. The Aggrandizement-class is a wildly inefficient use of resources in an Imperium already stretched thin, and many Inquisitors have threatened to assassinate anyone who places an order for such vessels, but there is something to be said for making the biggest statement a man can make. And money talks. 


'''Firehammer-class Cruiser'''

The Firehammer Cruiser is an unsubtle beast. Bristling with short range Magna-Melta cannons, its sole purpose is to close with the enemy and destroy it in a fiery embrace. Its engines are tuned for maximum acceleration and in a dead sprint its overthrusters allow the weighty cruiser to catch up to much swifter craft. Once the boosters expend their plasma charge though, the Firehammer drops down to regular speed and is highly vulnerable to fast enemies kiting it from long range. Its armor is decidedly above average, but with enough incoming fire it will still buckle and shatter. Originally the Firehammer was designed to chase down and breach Necron craft which normally evade lumbering Imperial vessels, but in recent years Firehammer captains have seen modest success against Eldar ships as well. Against such nimble foes all assaults become "do or die" maneuvers, but if the Firehammer can score a hit on the fragile Eldar engines they make easy prey. If the charge fails, the Eldar pick Firehammers to the bone like the xenos vultures they are.


'''Guardian-class Cruiser'''

"Unusual craft, to say the least" -Lord Admiral Justinus Von Mullen, observing the first Guardian Cruiser's test trials, M34-

With a silhouette unlike any other Imperial Cruiser, the incredibly rare Guardian class vessel dances at the edge of extinction. A radical departure from all Imperial ship designs, this voidship is the brainchild of an entire cabal of renowned Magi known for their specialization in void-shield technology. The Guardian carries only a few small macrobatteries to port and starboard, everything else is dedicated to a Void Shield Generator ten times larger than even those found on Imperial Battleships. An absurdly oversized projector on the Guardian's prow can transmit a working bank of Void Shields across thousands of kilometers in space, doubling or even tripling another vessel's defense until the capacitors overheat and the failsafes shut them down. In a pinch, the Guardian can even project its shields against an ''enemy'' vessel, shrouding them in hazy energy and preventing the foe from escaping or maneuvering, though they are likewise shielded from Imperial ordnance. Should the Guardian itself come under threat, the captain may redirect its energies and deploy a nearly invulnerable bulwark against any foe. To defend against torpedoes and bomber craft which can penetrate shields, an array of point defense turrets exceeding even an Emperor-class Battleship's complement bristle across the hull. 

While potentially paradigm-altering, the Guardian is also wildly, overwhelmingly, wastefully expensive. A single such vessel costs more than two Battleships, and as such they are so precious that few Admirals dare even bring them to combat zones. The long attrition of ages and the steady budget-crunching of the Administratum has sidelined all but two Guardians, one serving with Segmentum Solar's Battlefleet, the other defending Ultima Segmentum. Three more stand in idle mothballs, stationed in the other Segmentums. Regrettably, it is unlikely that any more Guardians will ever be built, and someday her class will pass into Galactic history. 


'''Shackle-class Light Cruiser'''

This variant of the venerable Dauntless-class light cruiser is immediately distinguishable from its brethren by the bulging bow which houses a pair of disruption macrobatteries.  To port and starboard, the Shackle-class carries docking bays full of voidcraft, perfect for running down all manner of opposition and defending the parent vessel from attack. The strike craft bedevil and ensnare opponents, and one-two volleys of electrical energy shred their vulnerable systems. As its name would suggest, the Shackle-class makes an excellent heavy police vessel, and it also sees service in a number of Rogue Trader fleets who value its ability to bring in prize ships mostly intact. Unfortunately the Shackle-class is very poorly armored for its size, a necessary consequence of the expanded forward weapon bays and enlarged engine. A couple stiff hits can easily cripple this ship, and as such most Battlefleet commanders shun the design.


'''Detonation-class Light Cruiser'''

Ill-starred, worryingly named and considered a suicide posting by most Imperial voidsmen, the Detonation class was designed from the frame outward, wrapping an entire ship around a single Nova Cannon weapon. It is weakly armored, it has no secondary weapons and its engines impress few observers, but as a mobile artillery piece the Detonation performs more than adequately. It treads the fine line between usefulness and crippling over-specialization, more often fielded as an intimidation weapon during planetary compliance wars rather than an actual combat tool owing to its fragility. Still, a Nova Cannon cannot be ignored by any vessel, and among all Imperial ships the Detonation class is the most accurate of them all by far. Because it was built solely for the purpose of moving and firing this weapon, the Detonation class does not suffer the targeting problems normally faced by other Imperial voidcraft. Where macrobatteries would normally be mounted, the Detonation class instead has rank upon rank of massive cogitators, constantly feeding firing solutions to the bridge in almost real-time speed. If a commander needs to place a Nova shell in a specific place at a particular time, he would do well to bring a Detonation class to the battlespace. So long as he can protect it, of course. 


'''Prediktat-class Light Cruiser'''

Only five of these strange voidcraft are known to Imperial records, all built from salvaged hulls of the Detonation class light cruiser after their Nova Cannons broke down or were destroyed in combat. The Detonation class is well insulated against internal munitions detonations, it is strangely better armored on the inside than the outside. As such, they often survive their ammunition exploding in the bays, being gutted out rather than completely destroyed as would most Imperial vessels.

Without the massive Nova Cannon occupying most of the ship's volume, Mechanicus technicians instead filled that open space with yet more computing and sensor equipment, essentially turning the hapless cruisers into gigantic mobile observatories with a colossal auspex-scope as large as some scout vessels filling the ship's bow. The focusing lens for this beast alone is nearly a kilometer in diameter! The Prediktat class then is one of the only true "command and control" vessels in the Imperial Navy. Almost nothing can hide from its all-seeing eye, and it can feed pristine firing solutions to dozens of Imperial ships at once, guiding each of them unerringly to their targets. Were it not for the incredible expense of this derivative ship, it is likely that many more would grace the Imperium's battlefleets. At least there is a good reason for the Prediktat to stay well back from the front lines, the Detonation class it descends from has no such excuse. 


'''Brutality-class Battleship'''

Armor, armor and more armor, this is the hallmark of the Brutality-class. Overwhelming numbers of macrobattery emplacements are low tech but use very little reactor power while still hammering enemy vessels into debris. With such a huge energy surplus to work with, Narhadul's technicians crammed the Brutality-class' aft decks with many extra thrusters, giving it speed no other battleship can match. Its internal structure is reinforced and compartmentalized, protecting the crew inside to the very last and making the ship well-suited for receiving and delivering ramming actions. These mighty voidships were commissioned as Ork-breakers, matching a Rok's incredibly thick hull and endless "dakka" with Imperial versions of the same. Slugfests between Brutality-class ships and Ork vessels are spectacularly violent, filling the space between each other with unimaginable quantities of ordnance. Should the enemy turns tail to flee, deeply recessed ports in the battleship's prow open up to disgorge a heavy volley of torpedoes, the Brutality-class' only concession to long-range combat. Some aggressive captains will even strap extra volleys of one-shot torpedo launchers directly to the outer hull, trusting their extra armor to protect themselves from premature detonation in the hope of achieving a decisive opening strike.


'''Vanguard-class Frigate'''

The Vanguard class is at the high end of frigate sizes, tipping the scales at 2.1 kilometers in length. Its armor, speed and maneuverability are generally considered average among Imperial ships. Much of is size is empty space dedicated to a single modest docking bay, which dumps voidcraft into space from the Vanguard's belly. At the front is a single lance battery, intended to cut through enemy armor at range once the strike craft have knocked out the enemy's shields. While effective in theory, the Vanguard class performs very poorly by itself, a key task for most frigates. Oftentimes the limited number of strike craft cannot deploy enough ordnance to deplete enemy shields, and then the lance battery splashes harmlessly across the enemy's bow. In general, the Vanguard class is exactly what its name suggests, a flanking support craft intended to operate alongside dedicated gunboats and assist them on patrol. Rogue Traders tend to appreciate this ship more than Navy officers, since even a single squadron of strike craft can be a very useful support tool for the family cruiser.


'''Glutton-class Refinery Vessel'''

Derived from the same templates that produced the Universe-Class Mass Conveyor, the Glutton class is designed to engulf entire asteroids or comets in a single gulp, drawing them inside wholesale to be broken down and processed on-site. Huge internal forges and plasma smelters break down whatever the Glutton consumes into processed packages and an army of voidsmen lash cubes of refined materiel to the outer hull to make room for yet more raw ore. It is a truly spectacular sight to see the Glutton at work, its entire gigantic prow splitting straight down the middle to permit entry. Being a civilian ship it is slow and poorly armored as might be expected. The Glutton doesn't even carry any weapons to defend itself beyond a handful of point defense turrets! All else has been sacrificed in the name of gathering interstellar wealth. 

Many Rogue Traders and interstellar conglomerates rely on these ships and more than one Imperial noble has made their fortune in this way. A single fully loaded Glutton can refuel a Forge World with ease. Primarch Arelex himself made good use of the very first Gluttons, ordering dozens of them into service for the growing Atalantos colonies. With the colonial phase at its end, many of those original Gluttons have passed into the civilian market, and they have the unusual status for a non-combat ship of having carried Astartes on board. Their captains are justly proud of this historical oddity.


'''Nightmare-class Destroyer'''

If there was ever a vessel that Imperial voidsmen feared being assigned to as crew, the Nightmare class would likely be that. Only minds treading dangerously close to heresy could have conceived of such a monstrosity, and if the current masters of Narhadul remember who these mysterious designers were they do not speak of it. It is easy enough for learned observers to guess that the Inquisition must have had a hand in the Nightmare's construction, for it shares many external similarities with the notorious Black Ships, though it is much smaller. But where the Black Ships' mission is to contain and control, the Nightmare's task is purely offensive. The Nightmare was designed to answer a simple question, how could the Imperium strengthen the combat potential of its smallest vessels? Adding more ordnance was out of the realm of Imperial science, no destroyer or corvette could ever hope to mount a Nova Cannon or a Godsbane lance battery. But a psyker taps directly into the Warp, and requires neither space nor reactor power to unleash their perilous strength. Accordingly, the Nightmare class forgoes any standard macrobatteries, studding its prow instead with hundreds of aetheric wave-spars, psychic control vanes, focusing crystals and transpathic lenses of arcane and terrible wonder. 

Inside the destroyer are row upon row of ward-scribed chambers, layered in unimaginably fine silver, gold and adamantium filigree according to the finest Astropathic and Martian sciences. Psykers seated within these walls can hear each other's thoughts and combine their powers to activate the ship's psy-weaponry. In theory they are well protected from hostile Warp powers, but eventually the Warp shall collect its due. The passengers aboard merely pray that someone else is chosen. The Nightmare class is not particularly swift in realspace, nor is it strongly armored. Instead it relies on a blisteringly fast Warp Drive to evade predators, using the psyker cadre to assist the Navigator in forming stable Warp bubbles through even the worst Warp storms. In realspace, the psykers cast a shroud over their vessel, cloaking it from all but the very most sensitive eyes. 

In combat the Nightmare approaches targets as silently and as closely as possible, then unleashes all manner of mental attacks. Possession of crew members, driving the enemy to mad berzerker rages, sabotaging crucial components, all these and more are possible tactics. The Nightmare class is also adept at using its powers against planetary populations, sowing terror and discord before Imperial forces arrive to bring a rebellious world into compliance. Though given official Inquisitional approval, few Battlefleet Admirals will bring their precious vessels anywhere near a Nightmare class. Nor will most Sector Governors tolerate their presence in territory they control. The Adeptus Astartes are particularly distrustful of these voidships, and on more than one occasion have attacked and destroyed Nightmare class voidships on sight, deeming them corrupt and defiled. 

No one knows how many Nightmares exist in the Imperium, save perhaps for the Inquisition. Truthfully, no one wants to know, lest the Nightmares pay them a visit.


'''Ballista-class Cruiser'''

Salvage and repair are as much a part of Narhadul life as assembling new vessels to fight the Emperor's wars. Scrap hulks, vessels pried from planetary crash landings or Space Hulks, derelicts so old and worn out that even the ever-thrifty Imperium cannot rebuild them, all manner of expended craft enter Narhadul's dockyards on a daily basis. Some are broken down for scrap, many that were deemed unsalvageable can be rehabilitated with Narhadul-bred genius, but there exists a strange middle class held in limbo. Neither fully repairable nor completely worthless, these become the catchall known as ''Ballista''-class star cruisers. 

A Ballista-class mounts no weapons. It has no point defense. There are no great cathedrals, no mighty windows looking into the void, no revolutionary technology or bays of strike craft. There are no troop bays or salvage arms, no stealth equipment or wondrous auspexes. Instead there are grav-couches and shock harnesses. There are colossal springs, cushions, inertial dampers and power field projectors. And there is armor, endless thicknesses of cheaply made armor. 

The Atalantos Sector and associated worlds produce more raw metal than almost anywhere else in the Imperium, consuming stellar debris uninhabited and untouched since the Galaxy's birth. A small fraction of the less valuable metals are devoted to making new Ballista-class ships, cladding them in dozens, sometimes hundreds of meters of low-quality armor. Like an arrow slung from a bow, the Ballista-class voidship activates linked banks of cheaply built engines, sends reactor energy to multi-layered void shields and a Power Ram, tells the crew to brace for impact and simply slams its entire mass into an enemy target as forcefully as possible. 

If somehow the ship fails to break all the way through, then it detonates thousands upon thousands of cheaply made krak charges facing outward, buried just under the first layer of armor. Should an enemy vessel withstand even that, the Ballista's convict crew takes hold of whatever weapons the Munitorium could spare, fixes bayonets, and charges into boarding actions with Commissars snapping at their heels. 

And should victory still elude them, the captain, always a high-ranking Commissar of unquestionable loyalty, gives the order to detonate his vessel's perpetually unstable plasma reactors, striking a final blow from which there surely can be no escape. Mankind serves the Emperor even unto death. The machines which Mankind employs are expected to do no less. For this purpose, a Ballista is born.


'''Secundus-pattern Battle Barge'''

Almost all of Narhadul's production quota is earmarked for the Imperium as a whole, including its many variant patterns. The War Scribes and their successors generally receive few benefits from the Atalantos Worlds' vast industrial output beyond that which they control directly on Atalantos itself. However, ten thousand years of close association do breed certain understandings between allies, and the Dock Lords of Narhadul certainly do their part to keep their most important customers happy. 

The Secundus pattern is unusual among high-end Imperial ships. Where most advanced or improved designs get larger, the Secundus is significantly smaller than its predecessor, intermediate in mass between a standard Battle Barge and a Strike Cruiser. More nimble, stealthier and more efficient, the Secundus can enter and exit combat zones much more easily than most Astartes voidships. Firepower is slightly reduced as it mounts no energy-based weaponry, and troop capacity is roughly half that of a standard Battle Barge. As befits the War Scribes, all components are of the highest quality and reliability, seen to by the best engineers money can buy. 

None of these modifications would truly distinguish the Secundus from other Battle Barges, even taken as a whole. Quality does not determine a new class of ship, and carrying less soldiers fits the Legion's tactics so they do not consider it a loss worth noting. What makes the Secundus so special are the immense banks of thrusters lining its underbelly. By sacrificing much of the under-structure's armor and reducing the weapons load on the power core, a Secundus-class is one of the few Imperial vessels capable of landing on a planetary surface and taking off again under its own power. This orbit-to-ground capability allows the Scribes to use the Secundus like a mobile operating base, lifting and landing as the front lines shift. 

Still, size matters. And to most Chapters, the Secundus-pattern is simply too limited, the benefits not outweighing the penalties. Few if any Secundus-pattern vessels have seen operation beyond the War Scribes and their Successors. In recent centuries, the Necron threat has grown to such an extent that even the War Scribes themselves have abandoned the Secundus, which simply cannot hope to hold its ground against Necron vessels. Innovative as it is, the Secundus may be on its way to the dustbin of history, though it is likely to see continued use for some time within the Galactic Fringe where self-sufficiency is king. Most of the Secundus-pattern voidships still in operation are being transferred to War Scribes Successors in the Fringe for just that reason.


'''Long Arm-pattern Cruiser'''

One of the many weaknesses inherent in Mankind's galactic colonization strategies is population density. Many worlds are too thinly populated to be held, and many others are so crowded that they cannot be controlled. On every world the Adeptus Arbites does their best to police humanity's teeming masses, but sometimes they need extra support beyond what is available on-planet. Accordingly, in M36 High Lord Grand Provost Marshal Tezeri Venerbus issued a personal request to the Dock Lords of Narhadul for a support vehicle which could rapidly deploy enough Arbites forces to strangle any Hive World riots in their infancy. In return, Marshal Venerbus pledged to significantly increase Arbites presence across the Atalantos Worlds in order to suppress growing agitation in the face of increasing Necron and Dark Eldar predations. 

The Dock Lords and their Mechanicus co-designers invented the "Long Arm" cruiser, taking a standard Dauntless-class light cruiser, lengthening the keel and adding massive detatchable oblong pods within the opened section of hull. From the outside, it looks rather like a Dauntless-class was split in half and two giant chambers of slug-thrower rounds were loaded into the middle, each consisting of six huge pods around a central spindle. Imperial criminals often call them "corncob cruisers". The macrobatteries were also removed because fully armed Arbites vessels would cause friction with the Imperial Navy, and in their place were mounted strike bays filled to the brim with assault boats of every kind. 

What the Long Arm class offers is a mobile battalion of Adeptus Arbites. On command, the Long Arm can deploy hundreds of Arbites squads loaded for any occasion, whether to subdue riots, invade an orbital station held hostage, break open an entrenched den of heretics or smash their way through an underhive full of loathsome mutants. Each of the assault boats are internally reinforced to contain every possible criminal captive, and when they return to the Long Arm a specialized docking collar ejects the criminals into the twelve gigantic holding tanks without any Arbiter having to actually touch them. This modification was made in M37 after one notable instance when many freshly captures convicts turned out to be harboring the dreaded Nurgle's Rot disease and more than 5,000 Arbites enforcers lost their lives needlessly, compromising operations across their Sector. 

When the Long Arm finally fills itself to capacity, the cruiser travels to one of the Emperor's many Penal Worlds where the expendable convict chambers can be ejected from orbit. Once they have fallen to the earth, the surviving criminals may use whatever remains intact to try and eke out a living on-planet. Many do not survive since the pods' braking thrusters are minimal at best, but this is of no concern to the Arbites. They simply return to Narhadul for reloading and refitting, and the cycle continues. The luckiest criminals who are deemed "low risk" are often transported wholesale to various recruiting worlds and Fortress Worlds to be impressed into the Imperial Guard en masse. Occasionally even Rogue Traders of a particularly callous nature will rent a pod or two for their own use, delivering cheap manpower to their fleets whenever enough are captured. 

This ship has become one of Narhadul's most successful patterns for export, much to the surprise of Narhadul itself which considered the Long Arm more of a novelty item. Ever since their introduction, Long Arm vessels have been requested by beleaguered Sector Governors across the Imperium and as times grow harder, business is ''booming'' beyond all expectations. Several other Forge Worlds have petitioned for and been granted access to build the Long Arm cruisers themselves, mostly in Segmentum Obscurus. Even Mars itself constructed two Long Arms to increase security around Terra in late M39.