Only the richest shipmasters can afford to devote so much space and resources to growing gardens aboard their vessel.
Replenishing supplies: Double the time a ship may remain at void without suffering Crew Population or Morale loss. Increase Crew Population permanently by +2.
Tucked deep within the dorsal spine of the light-cruiser Ignis Aeternus, between reactor coolant arteries and vox-towers, lies one of the ship’s most valued and private spaces: the Arboretum—a verdant cathedral of silence and sanctuary aboard a warship forged for fire and fury.
Solar Shutters of the Stars
The starboard side of the arboretum’s vault is fitted with ancient sunlight-admitting shutters—plasma-shielded iris lenses that open only when the ship is in proximity to a stable sun or basking in the light of a stars. When unfurled, they flood the chamber with natural light, filtered and refracted by adamantine louver-arrays, bathing the trees and mossy paths in golden warmth.
The Genecrafted Oaks
Rising like titans at the chamber’s heart are two colossal oaks—artificially genecrafted pre-Imperial relics, likely descended from Terran bio-engineering efforts during the Dark Age of Technology. Each tree rises to nearly fifty meters, with trunks so wide that a full squad of armsmen could march abreast along a spiraling walkway carved into the bark.
Their canopies interlace at the top like cathedral vaults, forming a verdant dome above. The leaves shift in color and texture subtly with shipboard humidity, mimicking planetary seasons—green in the day cycle, ruddy-gold when darkness falls.
Rope Bridges & Canopy Life
Wooden rope-bridges—woven from high-tension fiberroot—connect limb to limb, swaying gently as servants and servitors traverse from bough to bough. These pathways serve not only as meditative routes but as access points to canopy terraces and tiny observation huts, some outfitted with telescopes or reflection basins for stargazing.
In the heights above, watchful shrines to the Emperor and Saint Drusus are tucked into hollows in the bark, tended by quiet-garbed servitors who sweep leaves and hang votive charms.
Ignis Aeternus WH 40K campaign notes 