"The past holds many answers to conquering the future."
-Magos Kiralon Burla, Administator of P3482XW
The world known to the Cult Mechanicus as P3482XW is a recently revealed, volcanic planet in the Thule Sub-Sector. Cut off from discovery by localised Warp storms for some time, the planet’s sudden reintroduction to the sector just under a century ago has caused a stir amongst Rogue Traders, Explorator Fleets, and others who seek out riches amongst Askellon’s uncharted reaches. This world is not sought after for known life or resources, but for the lack of such things. P3482XW, commonly known as Dark Echo, is a barren world-home only to sprawling ruins of a long-lost, unknown, and utterly alien civilisation.
The planet has only the barest traces of an atmosphere, barely breathable for humans. Tectonic shifts produce daily quakes ranging in scale from slight tremors to long upheavals that topple features across an area. Magma flows and other volcanic activity are also present, as the world undergoes changes reminiscent of a planet in the final throes of life.
The Adeptus Mechanicus was the first to lay claim to the planet, establishing a research station on the southern continent to investigate the remnants of this lost species. This region is doubly practical, as it is both relatively stable and home to high concentrations of the alien ruins. While Askellon’s rulers recognise the claim of the Adeptus Mechanicus, they are unwilling to let a find of such a potentially valuable nature go unchecked. To "assist" the Tech-Priests there, agencies on Juno have dispatched a contingent of Astra Militarum and support personnel to the world to aid as required. In reality, they are there to monitor what the Cult of the Machine finds.
The complex the Adeptus Mechanicus installed is a pre-fab base of a type dropped onto countless worlds across the sector. It covers nearly a square kilometre, set over ruins extending many kilometres underground. Conversations and other sounds echo throughout the caverns below, lending an unnatural feel that led the Guardsmen to adopt the station's common name. The Tech-Priests, adepts, and their numerous servitors are unfazed by this, and only the others stationed here are bothered by it.
The base comprises three primary areas: research labs, habitat section, and equipment storage facilities. The labs are the largest of the three sections and are heavily guarded by sentry guns crewed with integrated combat servitors; the Tech-Priests are well aware of the spies in their midst, and go to great lengths to conceal what they have found. While most of the research areas consist of standard rote data collection stations, repair altars, and Omnissian shrines, there are several facilities devoted to esoteric branches of study. Here, Tech-Priests immerse themselves in specialised quests some would deem skirting the bounds of tech-heresy, or delve into areas forbidden on more established forges.
The final section is for equipment storage and consists of five warehouses. Large machines for excavation, ground scanning, and other processes are housed here in four of the sheds. The fifth and largest warehouse is off limits to all non-Machine Cult personnel and is heavily shielded with genetic-signature locks. What is inside is a mystery despite attempts at infiltration. Disquieting rumours, though, hint of a maniple of fearsome battle automata-worrisome if true, as none can imagine what the Adeptus Mechanicus has found here that would require such militant firepower.
The ruins of P3482XW are found all across the planet. Some are concentrated in large areas, denoting what might have once been cities. Others are scattered in strange, outlying locations. But of all the ruins, the expansive underground complexes are the most fascinating, and draw the most speculation on their purpose and, more importantly, their long-lost creators.
The caverns and ruins beneath the research station extend for many kilometres into the planet’s interior. The ruins under the station share hallmarks found throughout the world-deep brown colouration, uniform construction, markings in unknown xenos writing, and no trace of technology. The colour extends throughout all of the materials, possibly indicating the ruins were all quarried or grown from the same source. Each wall, floor, and other intact structure is nearly frictionless, with perfectly uniform blocks. All archways and hallways are built with exactly the same measurements and angles, adding to the strange uniformity of the complex; many speculate that whoever built this complex was intent on everything being exactly the same.
Extensive symbols cover many of the walls, all done in the same, unknown script. Some walls are filled with runic marks, while others simply have a few characters. There does not seem to be any pattern to why and where the more detailed writings reside. Tech-Priests have catalogued thousands of databanks full of the writing so far and have yet to be able to decipher any of it.
For the Guardsmen stationed on the planet, the ruins are a haunted and foreboding place filled with troubled spirits. The Adeptus Mechanicus adepts, of course, scoff at the superstitions of these primitive humans and insist that whatever lived here has been gone for many millennia. The Guardsmen, in turn, do not care what the Tech-Priests claim, as they believe the Machine Cultists are also filled with troubled spirits, and stubbornly insist humans are not alone in the caverns.
The Guardsmen claim to see strange lights moving through the tunnels, and say that certain runes glow with a soft hue at times, as if the glyphs were struggling to make themselves readable. All these claims have been dismissed by the Tech-Priests, since auspex readings have shown no anomalous results and the vid captures of the areas also reveal nothing. Unbeknownst to all, something does indeed lurk deep in the ruins under the Dark Echo station. An alien intelligence seeks to be reborn, to once again spread itself through the stars and to subjugate all that it comes across.
The aliens who once called this world home faded long ago, destroyed by probing too deeply into their planet. They unearthed a disaster upon their world that they could not contain, never understanding what they had unleashed but knowing it predated even their ancient civilisation. Some of the species made it offworld, but whatever became of them is unknown. The majority chose to remain, working feverishly to find a way to preserve their history and culture as well as stave off the coming apocalypse.
In the end, a select few had managed to unlock a form of transference that would allow them to place their consciousness into specially crafted items. Along with this intelligence, they were able to transfer the sum of their knowledge to these devices, serving as massive repositories of their achievements. However, the aliens were a proud and jealous species, not apt to share their knowledge with others. To them, this knowledge was theirs alone, and it would serve them in the future when they rose from the ashes. Only those who were part of their species, or were made into part of their species, could be permitted access.
Without the Machine Cult's knowledge, a relic hunter named Kanjir Ix had come to the planet shortly before the Dark Echo station was constructed. Dropped onto the planet by a group of Faceless Traders, Ix had plans to explore the ruins and be picked up at a later date. The coming of the Adetpus Mechanicus and other Askellian forces changed these plans. Forced to go deeper into the underground ruins to avoid detection, the explorer stumbled upon an area that Tech-Priests have never found. Within this chamber, an obsidian box rested upon a pedestal, glowing alien runes surrounding it. When Ix touched the box, he was immediately knocked unconscious, allowing the malignant intelligence within to do its work.
When the explorer awoke, he was no longer human, but something more. The alien consciousness had rewritten his DNA, shaping it to be closer to the original form the being once possessed and granting him flesh-weapons to help spread the infection. The box containing the alien has fused with Ix, spreading across his body and integrating alien technology into it. Not all had gone as planned though. The alien presence has been unable to completely manifest due to degradations in its transferred consciousness and complications with the unfamiliar human genome. Ix has become more like a feral beast, lashing out in fits of madness, as it is unable to control itself. Now driven by an all-consuming hunger, it must find a new, more suitable host for itself and its still-entrapped alien brethren.
Before the infected hunter could begin his new task, the constant geological activity on the planet caused a collapse of a nearby tunnel system, trapping him inside. This only increased the alien’s madness, as it fought frantically to free itself. Now, after many long years, the creature has managed to find its way out of the collapsed area, and it is ready to begin its mission. Before it can proceed to the surface, there is something located deeper into the ruins that the alien must discover. With only flashes of memory and fragments of knowledge to go on, it moves slowly downwards, desperately searching for this lost item. Once it has this key component, it can then fully begin the process of reclamation.
So far, Kanjir Ix has encountered and infected only a few servitors and scouts who were exploring a nearby tunnel system. The newly infected bend to their master’s will and are found at his side as he proceeds further into the dark caverns filled with alien structures, searching for something that still eludes him.