The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Although Naysen III is a death world, there are still some fragile civilizations existing. Long before the Griffin IV's exploration team arrived, recorded human settlements had already appeared on this world. Some of them might be fugitives, and others adventurers, trying to find some opportunities here. In short, after Griffin IV established resource mining stations at the planet's poles, they closed the orbital route rights of the planet. This is the consistent strategy of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the so-called land grabbing. They arbitrarily arrange an exploration station or mining station on an uninhabited world. According to the Treaty of Olympia, they have the priority to develop this world, but they will not develop it immediately. This is just in preparation for discovering any rare resources and ancient relics in the future.

Inside the Stormbird's cabin, when the cabin door opened, a heatwave hot enough to scald skin rushed in, instantly filling the entire cabin.

Solyushin and Andar stood at the edge of the cabin, watching the planet's desolate and scorching earth rushing past below.

"This planet has a thinner atmosphere and is closer to the star than Naysen IV, so its average ground temperature is nearly 20 degrees higher than Naysen IV, and the temperature difference between day and night can reach up to 80 degrees. At its perihelion, the radiation reaches lethal levels. Its mass is about 78% of Naysen IV. There is currently no surface water source, but fortunately, there are still small ice caps at the north and south poles. Griffin IV's mining stations are established there for this reason. They also dug drainage channels underground to discharge the filtered wastewater from the collection stations. The Ecclesiarchy forcibly sent a missionary ship here about two thousand years ago. Griffin IV didn't pay much attention to this place, so there were no further conflicts. Currently, the localized and improved Ecclesiarchy has basically occupied the planet's religious consciousness. This should also be attributed to the drought-resistant crop seeds and livestock brought by the Ecclesiarchy, as well as the missionaries' spirit of enduring hardships. It's hard to imagine what kind of determination could prompt them to come to such a death world to spread the doctrine so diligently. So sometimes my feelings about the Ecclesiarchy are really complicated. The troubles they create and the miracles they create are almost equal."

Andar, the War Leader of the Tiger Claws Chapter, then smiled:

"The Ecclesiarchy is vast, and its believers are as numerous as the stars. It can't be explained in a few words. Just like the Imperium, unless you see it in person, who can imagine that adjacent planets, one is still a primitive tribe, and the other is a highly developed industrialized world? Solyushin, Chapter Master, do you think this place is very similar to Baal?"

"Baal? Hmm, hard to say, at least the radiation level here shouldn't be that serious. I think it might be more like Tallarn. According to the last rough statistics from the Adeptus Mechanicus, the total population of Naysen III should be between 6 and 12 million. The closer to the poles, the denser the population. Currently, there are about twenty cities with a population of over ten thousand in the northern and southern hemispheres combined. The rest of the population is scattered in various small city-states and tribes. This kind of living arrangement may make the conscription work somewhat difficult. It is also because of the geographical climate here that the Ecclesiarchy has become a decentralized structure, without a unified religious organization."

As he spoke, Solyushin also pointed to the undulating mountains that swept across the ground.

"In addition, this world is not only inhabited by civilized people. Many barbarian tribes also live in the mountains. They probably account for about 12% of the planet's total population. These tribes are basically in units of hundreds, with very few large settlements of thousands of people. Due to the lack of intervention from the Ecclesiarchy, their beliefs are still in a very vague state of totem worship. To tell you something interesting, the barbarian tribes of Naysen III generally worship the symbols of Griffin IV."

Andar looked surprised after hearing this.

"Why?"

"Ha, because the resource transport ships only visit about once every ten years. The Adeptus Mechanicus outposts here often don't get resources, especially the replenishment of servitors. Since they are just collection stations, there are no cloning facilities, so they can only use the locals for modification. The priests remaining on the planet are basically maintained at around 10 people. They can't do it entirely on their own, so they used deceptive methods to fool these marauder tribes and let them capture slaves for them. In return, the marauders would get water, food, and even weapons. Over time, they became followers of the so-called 'Red-Robed Witch Kings' and became extremely worshipful of metal. But this is also good, at least they won't worship any evil gods or be contaminated by Chaos. Due to inbreeding, a considerable portion of these barbarians have deformities and mutations, but there are also a few with particularly strong physiques and are bloodthirsty and brutal, which are very suitable for modifying into new recruits." (Bloodthirsty and brutal are complimentary terms in the eyes of many Chapters)

"Interesting. It seems I have to take some time to observe it myself."

"Currently, the Tech-Priests of Griffin IV are preparing to withdraw. I have arranged for Tech-Priests from other Forge Worlds to take over the Adeptus Mechanicus facilities here, but the Chapter doesn't have more resources to develop this place now. The work of those priests is more to maintain the operation of the local collection stations and to conduct in-depth exploration of the planet, drawing complete resource information maps. The number of people will not be too large at the beginning. Andar, you have also seen that this world is very barren. It is difficult to build a complete fortress with the ability to modify new recruits relying on the local people, so the Tiger Claws can only temporarily use that simple small space station in orbit as a base. I will arrange for ships to send the equipment. The personnel left by Griffin IV will also be arranged by you."

Andar turned to look at Solyushin and said very sincerely:

"That's enough. Your support for the Tiger Claws will be forever remembered by me and the future Tiger Claws warriors. After all, in this era of war everywhere, almost no Chapter is willing to give up one of their recruitment worlds for other Chapters to use."

Solyushin then smiled:

"This is my promise, and the Chapter doesn't need so many recruitment worlds now. Besides, as long as it's not a high-intensity and high-attrition recruitment model, I don't think there's any problem with two Chapters recruiting on one world."

"Are the Astral Knights also planning to recruit here?"

"Yes, recruit a symbolic batch, also to study how well the locals adapt to the Chapter's gene-seed."

Andar nodded, and the two then walked away from the hatch, and the heavy hatch slowly closed behind them—

"Wait."

At that moment of turning around, sharp-eyed Solyushin seemed to glimpse something on the ground through the screen hanging on the cabin wall and the observation camera connected to it.

"Zoom in on the picture."

Soon, the picture zoomed in, and Solyushin raised an eyebrow.

"Chapter Master Andar, it seems we've encountered a good show."

I noticed many readers say they don't understand. Actually, this world is a D\u0026D campaign called Dark Sun, a very niche campaign.