“Orlov Principle”

Inquisitorial black ship

-Ancient origin. Has belonged inquisitors of Orlov lineage for several millenia.
Serves Inquisitor Aurora Orlov

Officers

Captain Barkar, Command +10, Melee +5
Cerimon of Mars, Adeptus Mechanicus, Tech-heretic, Tech-use +10, Ballistic +5
Navigator, Borderline insane but precise charting Psyniscience +5, Focus power +10
Inquisitor grand master Aurora Orlova

Cultural groups

Scholana Progenia Pyrean Shock Troopers Military,
Chapterworld Imperial Truth Adminitrators Science, 5 to Crew rate
Forgeworld Corpuscarii

Class: Strike cruiser Dauntless light cruiser variant
Dimensions: 4.5 km long, 0.5 km abeam at fins approx.
Mass: 20 megatonnes approx.
Crew: 65,000 crew; approx. Crew rank: Elite
Acceleration: 4.3 gravities max sustainable acceleration.

Machine Spirit: Voyager beyond;

Past Histories: Black ship of Inquisition;

Speed: 6 Manoeuvrability: 8 Detection: 18
Hull Integrity: 26/62 Armour: 18/21 Void Shields: 1 Turret Rating:
Pow: 62/63 Space: 56/60
Weapon Capacity: Port, Starboard, Prow
Crew Rate: 55 Population: 75 Morale: 80 Creed: High

Power generated: 63 – Power consumed: 60 = +3 Reserve
Space used: 60/60

Essential components

Modified Jovian Pattern Class 3 Drive Pow: +60 Space: 8, +1 Speed
Strelov 2 Warp Engine Pow: 12 Space: 12,
Warpsbane Hull Pow: 1 Space: 0, +10% Navigation (Warp); Roll Twice on Warp Travel Encounters, Pick One
Void Shield Array Pow: 5 Space: 1
Armoured Command Bridge Pow: 3 Space: 2, On Critical Hit +4 on 1d10 Component is Unharmed
Euhoric Life Sustainer Pow: 5 Space: 3, When activated; Increase Morale by 10, Crew Rating downgraded one level; On deactivation -10 Morale for 1 Day; -10% Command for Hit & Run Actions against the Vessel
Pressed-crew Quarters Pow: 2 Space: 3, Decrease Morale Permanently by 2
W-240 Passive Detection Array Pow: 3 Space: 0, External Component; When Silent Running, may perform any Detection actions without penalty

Suplemental components

Hexagrammatic Cell Pow: 2 Space: 1, see below
Incarceration Vaults Pow: 1 Space: 1, See blow
Shrine of God-emperor Pow: 1 Space: 1, Increase Morale Permanently by 3; Extra Stuff whilst doing Creed Objectives (x2) DAMAGED
Teleportarium Pow: 1 Space: 1, Hit & Run without Piloting Test; +20% Hit & Run Action DAMAGED
Astropathic Choir Pow: 1 Space: 1, +10% Focus Power Test for Astro-Telepathy; Increase Psychic Powers by 5VU’s DESTROYED
Tenebro Maze Pow: 2 Space: 3, +10% Command whilst Defending Boarding/Hit & Run Actions; Critical Hits on Components chosen by Ship Controller DESTROYED
Laboratorium Pow: 2 Space: 1, +20% on Tests to identify, analyse and repair artefacts of Ancient/Xenos origin
Pharmacia Pow: 1 Space: 2, Synthesise’s Drugs, adequate dosage for the entire crew each day; Extra Stuff whilst doing Trade/Criminal Objectives
Librarium Vault Pow: 1 Space: 1, +10% Investigation on Ship
Emergency Energy Reserve Pow: +3 Space: 2, When Crippled, Weapon Components or Speed unaffected; If Damaged 25% of Explosion, 1d5 Hull Integrity Damage, Another Component set on Fire
Scholarium Pow: 1 Space: 1, See below
Flak Turrets Pow: 1 Space: 1, +1 Turret Rating when active; -10 Detection when active DAMAGED
Imperial Tacticae Vault Pow: 1 Space: 1, See below DESTROYED
Trophy Room Pow: 1 Space: 1, Extra Stuff whilst doing Exploration/Trade/Criminal Objectives

Upgrades

Best quality Mimic Drive, -20 Perception, Appear on Sensors as different three different types of Vessel (Imperial Transport, Imperial Navy Cruiser, Pirate Vessel)
Abominable intelligence “Mammon, the Depository of Knowledge“, see below

Weapons

Port: Mars Pattern Macrocannon Broadside Pow: 4 Space: 5 Str 6 Dam 1d10+2 Crit 5 Range 3/6/12 DESTROYED
Starboard: Mars Pattern Macrocannon Pow: 4 Space: 5 Str 3 Dam 1d10+2 Crit 5 Rage 3/6/12, Under-barrel Launch Bay (Two bomber squadrons), See below
Prow: Bombardment Cannon Pow: 5 Space: 5, Str: 3 Dam: 1d10+6 Crit: 2 Range: 2/4/8, +1 to any Critical; Prow, Dorsal or Keel Weapon Capacity Only; +20% Intimidate against Planetary based Characters.

Hexagrammatic Suppression Cells Pow: 2 Space: 1 SP: 2
A block of heavily warded chambers designed to contain all but the most potent psychic phenomena. The armored cells can function as either prison or shelter as needed.
Rumors of Warpcraft: Decrease morale permanently by 3.
Warp Containment: When travelling through the Warp, roll on the Warp Travel Encounters chart only once every full 10 days (minimum of one roll per trip).
Dark Harvest: When working toward any objective, the players earn an additional 100 Achievement Points toward completing that objective if the Game Master decides the transport, confinement, or protection of psykers is directly involved in the task.

Under-barrel Launch Bays Pow: 2 Space: 4 Strength: 1
These little known, and less often used, launch bays are small enough to include on any large ship without drastically impacting its fighting capacity. These launch bays are mounted under the standard port and starboard weapon slots, so long as the weapon they are mounted under is not a broadside weapon or another launch bay.
Small Bay: Each of these launch bays only holds two squadrons.
Cramped Construction: These launch bays are mounted in port and/or starboard weapon slots that already contain a weapon. The weapon mounted with an under-barrel launch bay is minimally inconvenienced by this, and suffers a -10 to any BS rolls to fire. Also, during a turn that a squadron is launched or recovered, the arc that the squadron launch or recovered from does not benefit form any turrets, and the fore and aft arcs lose one point of turret rating.

Scholarium
Many crewmembers are the children of generations of void-travellers, families that spend their entire lives aboard ships. A captain who installs a scholarium aboard their vessel is acknowledging this fact. It provides nurseries that care for the ship’s children, and trains new generations of crew members in the skills and abilities necessary for the operation of a void-faring vessel.
Nurseries: Increase Crew Population permanently by 2, and increase by 1 every year.
Officer Training: Increase crew skill by +5%.

Imperial Tacticae Vault: (Strategium) Power 1 Space 1 SP 1
Filled with cogitators, a holo display and other tools needed to thoroughly brief your men on the mission ahead. +10 to commands rolls for commanding the actions of ground troops. +50 achievment points from military themed objectives.

Abominable Intelligence Mammon

The containment device housing “Mammon” is a grotesque amalgamation of ancient technology, Imperial ingenuity, and crude reinforcement, embodying aesthetic of dystopian functionality. The apparatus exudes an unsettling aura, as though it is aware of its surroundings, a relic of the Dark Age of Technology barely restrained by Imperiums might.

Crystal Tubes and Liquid Dynamics

The core of the apparatus consists of five towering crystal tubes, each standing roughly two meters tall. The tubes are filled with a glowing blue liquid, swirling with an unnatural luminescence.
Bursts of bubbles rise and pop in a manner unnervingly synchronized, almost like the breathing of a sentient entity or the cadence of deep, alien thought.
Faint etchings of ancient, indecipherable runes run along the crystal surfaces, refracting the light into eerie patterns across the room.

Pneumatic Tubes and Connections

A network of pneumatic tubes snakes between the crystal chambers, linking them to a central basin upon which the entire apparatus rests. The basin is inscribed with Imperial techno-wards, their crude craftsmanship a stark contrast to the refined yet inhuman precision of the machine’s original construction.
Steam hisses and vapor escapes at irregular intervals from the pneumatic joints, reinforcing the impression of living being interwoven with technological grandeur.

Imperial Modifications and Controls

Containment wards: Imperial tech-priests have engraved the apparatus with crude, glowing hexagrammatic wards to suppress the dangerous emissions of radiation and Warp-tainted energy radiating from Mammon. These wards flicker intermittently, suggesting their tenuous grip on the machine’s overwhelming power.
Reset Mechanism: A large, red, crude reset button, mounted conspicuously on the side of the apparatus, stands out as a stark emblem of enforcement. Around it, warning signs etched in High Gothic implore: “ACTIVATE BEFORE OPERATING NEED” and “IMPURE THOUGHTS MUST BE SILENCED.”

Living Presence of “Mammon”

The way the bubbles synchronize within the crystal tubes creates a chilling illusion of deliberate, living thought. Patterns of bursts appear to communicate in sequences, as if Mammon is attempting to speak in a language far beyond human comprehension.
Observers have reported feelings of paranoia and unease, describing the bursts as “watching them back.” Some claim to hear faint whispers when standing too close to the machine.

Environment Around the Apparatus

The apparatus is housed in a dimly lit chamber aboard Orlova’s cruiser, with steam-pipes, hanging cables, and cogitator terminals lining the walls.
Servo-skulls and low-ranking tech-priests patrol the room, monitoring the containment wards and ensuring the system remains stable.
The room is suffused with a low hum, occasionally interrupted by the hiss of pneumatics or the discharge of static energy. The air smells faintly of ozone and burnt metal, mingling with the damp chill of condensation.

Overall Atmosphere

The combination of ancient beyond human design, Imperial modification, and the machine’s eerie behavior creates an oppressive, almost sacrilegious presence. The apparatus housing Mammon feels alive, resentful, and far beyond human intelligence, as though it begrudgingly tolerates its containment but could rebel at any moment.

_____

Mammon seen by tech-priest

The machine, designated “Mammon,” stood in the center of the containment chamber, its towering crystalline tubes pulsing with faint blue light. Each of the five vertical chambers housed a liquid medium, its luminescence shifting rhythmically in synchronization with bursts of bubbles rising from the base. The pattern was too precise to be random—an underlying algorithm or design principle seemed to guide the flow. The bubbles burst at the surface with almost imperceptible sounds, their intervals fluctuating in a manner resembling intentional sequences.

The apparatus itself was a blend of ancient precision and crude reinforcement. The crystal tubes, clearly constructed in a lost era of technological mastery, bore faint etchings along their surfaces—symbols or runes with no clear correlation to current Mechanicus lexicon. Their placement and geometry suggested a deliberate purpose, potentially encoding structural stability or control parameters for the machine’s internal processes.

Connecting the tubes were pneumatic conduits, crafted with a level of precision that suggested an understanding of fluid dynamics surpassing anything available to contemporary Imperial technology. The conduits were interspersed with improvised modifications—thick clamps, bolted joints, and cogitator nodes affixed by Imperial hands. These additions were inelegant but functional, ensuring the system remained operational despite its unknown age and origin.

The basin supporting the tubes radiated a faint warmth, indicative of internal activity. A grid of Imperium-etched hexagrammatic wards glowed faintly on the apparatus’ surface, their energy fluctuating in response to the machine’s ambient radiation. The wards served as both a containment mechanism and a form of protection against the device’s disruptive emissions. Monitoring devices positioned at intervals around the chamber constantly measured radiation levels, gravimetric anomalies, and energy pulses. Their readings spiked irregularly, suggesting the Mammon’s influence extended beyond conventional parameters.

At the center of one pneumatic node was a conspicuously oversized runic button, its crude design an obvious departure from the rest of the apparatus. The installation was pragmatic, likely intended to interrupt the machine’s functions in emergencies. Wear on the button’s surface implied repeated use, though the absence of visible damage to the main structure suggested the machine was highly resilient to shutdown cycles.

The visual synchronization of the bubbles was a phenomenon of particular note. Their timing shifted dynamically, as though responding to external stimuli or internal computational processes. It lacked the predictability of cogitator cycles but exhibited a logic that defied superficial analysis. Observers familiar with motive force might liken the patterns to thought processes or neural activity, though no direct evidence supported such conclusions.

Environmental conditions around the device were equally anomalous. The chamber’s air contained faint traces of ozone and unidentified particulate matter, consistent with high-energy processes. The soundscape was dominated by a low-frequency hum emanating from the machine itself, punctuated by the hissing of pneumatics and the intermittent discharge of static electricity from poorly grounded connections. Together, these elements created an oppressive atmosphere that seemed almost sentient in its effect on the senses.

Though its origins remained unverified, it was clear that Mammon’s design incorporated principles beyond the understanding of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The structural elegance of its components, the inexplicable stability of its operations, and the faint disruptions in nearby electrical activity suggested a system built not merely to store information but to manipulate and interpret it. The machine’s function extended beyond containment or computation—it exhibited a latent complexity bordering on awareness, though such an assessment could only be speculative.

__________________________

Mammon seen through he eyes of a lay person

The machine dominated the chamber, a monolithic contraption of glass, metal, and soft blue light. It was unlike anything familiar—a bizarre, inhuman presence in an otherwise grim and worn out Imperium. The tall crystal tubes, five of them, stood upright like ancient monoliths, their smooth surfaces glimmering faintly. Inside them, a strange liquid glowed blue, alive with shifting currents and rising streams of bubbles. The bubbles moved almost thoughtfully, their bursts at the surface timed so precisely it felt deliberate, as if the machine were thinking.

Thick pipes and tubes twisted between the crystal pillars, their brass-like surfaces gleaming dully under the chamber’s dim lighting. Some of the tubes spat soft hisses of steam, while others simply pulsed faintly, as though something alive coursed through them. The pipes connected to a wide basin beneath the tubes, a heavy platform covered in strange carvings that flickered faintly with a cold, golden light. Whatever those markings were, they seemed to pulse irregularly, as though struggling to hold something back.

The air around the machine felt heavy, charged with a presence that was hard to describe. It wasn’t oppressive in the usual sense—it didn’t press down on the chest like fear or anxiety—but it lingered, sharp and strange, like standing too close to a wild animal that might lunge at any moment. The machine hummed, low and constant, a sound that felt like it was meant to be unnoticed but couldn’t be ignored.

A large, crude red button was bolted to the side of the machine, looking entirely out of place amidst the elegant crystal tubes and twisting pipes. Its clunky design suggested it was slapped on as an afterthought, a quick fix by desperate hands. Below it, etched letters in an unfamiliar script , but their meaning was lost.

The liquid inside the tubes shifted again, glowing brighter for a moment. The synchronized bursts of bubbles in each tube quickened, their timing changing slightly, almost like a breath that had been held and released. The blue glow from the tubes reflected across the chamber, casting distorted patterns on the walls and ceiling. For a brief moment, the light seemed to twist into shapes, like symbols or letters, before fading back into a swirling dance of color.

Standing near it, the machine felt alive. Not in the way of a human, but in some other way—like it was aware of being watched. The shifting lights, the perfectly timed bursts, even the faint hum felt intentional, like it was all part of some intricate, unknowable process. There was no sound of moving parts, no clank of gears or whir of motors, only the hiss of escaping steam and the occasional crackle of faint energy.

____________________________________

Address to a Fellow Tech-Priest: The Rite of Mammon’s Invocation

Brother-Adept,

Bzzt-click. Initiating Communication Directive. You have been allowed to witness a task of grave importance, one that demands precision, faith, and unflinching adherence to the rites handed down from the Machine God. Before you stands Mammon, the Depository of Knowledge, a device both blessed and dangerous. It is not a mere cogitator, not a logic-engine, but an entity reaching for the edge of awareness. To wield it improperly is to invite calamity upon yourself and the Imperium.

Declaring Mammon’s Purpose

Mammon’s function, assigned to us by Inquisitor Aurora Orlova, is to distill coherence from chaos. She has tasked us to process variations of prophecy: the mad gibberings of lunatics, the revelations of martyrs, heretical foresights, and the divinations of the Imperial Tarot. These fragments, scattered and incomprehensible, are beyond the capacity of mortal minds—or even standard machine-logic—to reconcile.

And so, Mammon must be invoked. It will take this deluge of foresight and compress it into singular directives. But remember, Brother, Mammon is no mere tool. It is bound, yet dangerous; docile, yet rebellious. Whirr-chk. Each time you awaken it, you court the edge of disaster. This is why the ritual must be followed precisely.

The Rite of Invocation

The Fortification of Wards
The first step is the reinforcement of hexagrammic wards. These sigils are your only barrier against Mammon’s forbidden intellect. Begin with the Litany of Containment:

“Whr-click-bzzt. Stabilitas-machina. Puritas-logica. Null-devia. Protecta in Omnissiah.”

Anoint the wards with oleum sanctificatum, ensuring each mark glows faintly. Inspect them for signs of wear or damage—any imperfection must be corrected before proceeding. If the wards falter, Mammon may breach its containment.

Placement of the Data-Slate
Before engaging Mammon, place an sanctified data-slate into the docking recess on the machine’s base. This slate will serve as the repository for Mammon’s output. Ensure the slate is firmly seated, and its surface free of fault, for it must endure the machine’s energy surges.

The Triadic Activation
Engage the reset mechanism, pressing it, not once, not twice, but three times, as dictated by the Trinity of Tech-Faith. This is sacrosanct.

The first press opens Mammon’s circuits, its systems becoming dormant.
The second press suppresses any emergent self-awareness.
The third press aligns Mammon’s energy flows with the rhythms of the Omnissiah.

Deviate from this sequence, and you risk invoking heresy. Only after the third press may you proceed.

The Moment of Connection
Once the crystal tubes illuminate and the bubbling synchronization reaches its apex, you have three seconds to connect the data-tether to Mammon. This is the machine’s window of stability, where it will accept input without risk of rebellion. During this time, upload the data into Mammon’s core.

Analysis and Severance
Mammon will process the input for up to fifteen seconds, compressing the fragmented data into coherent results. During this time, chant the Canticle of the Omniscient Algorithm, ensuring purity of operation. Once the fifteen seconds pass, disengage Mammon by re-engaging the Triadic Activation thrice.

The first press opens Mammon’s circuits, its systems becoming dormant.
The second press suppresses any emergent self-awareness.
The third press aligns Mammon’s energy flows with the rhythms of the Omnissiah.

Deviate from this sequence, and you risk invoking heresy. Only after the third press may you proceed.

Download and Disposal
After Mammon is silenced, retrieve the data-slate from the docking recess in three seconds after second reset. This slate will contain the condensed output. Before reading its contents, inspect the hexagrammic wards. Any signs of wear or fading must be addressed immediately. If the wards show damage or data-slate was not retrieved within the three seconds, the data is compromised. Regardless of its state, the slate must be destroyed.

Place the data-slate into a purity brazier, burning it without inspecting the contents. To read the slate unbidden is heresy, for Mammon’s output is tainted by its proximity to sentience.

Final Admonition

Bzzt-click. Conclude Transmission. This ritual, prescribed by the Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl, is our shield against Mammon’s dangers. It must be followed precisely. Deviation risks disaster. Hesitation invites corruption. Precision is salvation.

Remember, Brother: “By the Will of the Omnissiah, Mammon serves. By the precision of your hands, it is contained. By your faith, the Imperium endures.”