The Astartes Family's Notebook

The main obstacles and problems are related to logistics costs and trust costs.

First of all, Sepmundi is the largest shipyard in the Misty Starfield, and it is the shipyard of the Misty Starfield Navy Headquarters.

Why keep going north to find the Ash Claw when you can place the order in Sepmundi?

Then there's only one possibility: the Empire's loyalist factions want to be banned by the hidden clauses, those powerful big ships.

Hey, Ash Claw actually has one!

During the Great Expedition, battleships were not unattainable rare items for the Astartes Legion; just look at the old ships in the hands of the Black Knights Chapter to understand this.

However, it is meaningless to talk about the Throne Coin in this kind of transaction. Military equipment transactions must be paid at a high premium if they are not accompanied by political conditions.

However, this premium, coupled with even higher logistics and security costs, makes it a double-edged sword.

When the Five-Man Army first approached Ash Claw through connections, our Emperor Mengsk was introduced by a "buddy," so Ash Claw didn't make things difficult. It's just that the price couldn't be agreed upon, so in the end, nothing came of it. It was really just a formality.

Of course, it's possible that something was agreed upon, but Saladin is very tight-lipped. If Draven hadn't been acting company commander for almost a hundred years, he might not even be qualified to know about the Ash Claws.

Since the Ash Claw route in the north is blocked, are there any other non-"official" channels?

Yes, there is, the rust belt.

I told you long ago, the oil makers in the Rust Belt are so poor they're fearless, they'll sell anything.

"Ah, the empire..."

Astartes churches should use official channels and, in principle, should not be restricted.

But the principles are in the hands of the Imperial Navy. The Imperial Navy guards against the Astartes Chapter even more closely than it guards against the Chaos Fleet.

Once the order was accepted, it would take at least seven or eight hundred years. That's how the Second Company's combat barge, the "Eternal Beacon," came about.

The empire has established the Astartes Army 25 times in the past 10,000 years, which is an average of once every 400 years. With ship orders every 700 to 800 years, some gangs can't even survive 700 to 800 years from formation to dissolution. This is going to affect the mentality of the gang members.

Therefore, it's perfectly normal for a seasoned warband like Desolation Wings to find its own way.

The Epsilon brothers' positions are quite delicate...

However, the situation in the Sabat world is truly terrible.

Even the most basic grassroots governance is barely sustainable.

(Due to force majeure, 600 words are omitted here).

After giving Draven a brief lesson on the Imperial system, Draven looked distressed.

"Do we in Astartes still need to learn these things?"

"Ordinary Astartes don't need to learn it; it's all based on personal interest. But if you want to be a competent company commander, you must learn it."

"Fortunately, I've only been an agent all these years."

"You son of a bitch..."

During the first Sabat expedition, the sage Sabat was able to sweep across the Sabat realms in a short period of time, making it a model of imperial expeditions. It was characterized by its speed, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness, but it also laid the groundwork for serious governance problems in the future.

Simply put, Sabat himself raised his battle flag and planted it in the ground, and the native inhabitants of many planets bowed down in worship.

On the surface, everyone is on good terms. You pay your tithes, and I give you an official position. Everyone's happy.

If the empire relies on the faith in the emperor to unite its will, then the world of Sabat relies on the worship of Saint Sabat to maintain its basic cohesion.

There's even a theory that the coffin of the shepherdess Betty Sabbat is the key to suppressing Sabbat's destiny, and that if her spirit were moved, all realms of Sabbat would rebel.

Such rumors should not have been widely circulated, but Sabat had his own private monastery, and his personal priest, Ayetani, recorded Sabat's words and deeds during the expedition and compiled them into a book, which was quite rare in the empire at that time.

It was Saint Sabat's good habit of "leaving a record of his work" during the Sabat Expedition that made it a common practice for the empire to assign a military scribe to the supreme commander when it subsequently launched expeditions.

To put it simply, what happened during the Sabat Expedition in the M35 era can be found in historical records by later generations in the M41 era.

For this reason alone, Sabat is worthy of the title of living saint.

Sabbat fought for the empire for over a hundred years. In his final battle at Hakkaron, he was martyred with nine holy wounds. His body, bearing white scars, was retrieved by Astartes and buried in his homeland of Hagia.

However, this is also what Katz finds strange.

The closer one gets to the world of Sabat, the easier it becomes to obtain historical records related to Sabat.

After all, the Wings of the Wasteland have established connections with the State Church, and the clergy of the State Church possess a comprehensive collection of documents and archives. While it might be difficult for the clergy to come up with real money, access to the archives is readily available once the necessary connections are established.

Kaz did not rush to carry out the mission assigned by the chapter leader.

Because the Eighth Company Commander discovered that this Sabat Realms was a bit strange.

The Gospel of Saint Sabat clearly records that, according to the dying words of the living saint, if his body were removed from Hagia, the entire region would be plunged into eternal chaos.

However, there is no record of this dying wish in the records of the Sabat expedition.

The Astartes who fought alongside Sabbat throughout the entire match back then included the Brass Skull Chapter and the White Scar Chapter. Given the relationship between the Desolate Wings and the White Scar, asking them would most likely yield the truth.

But Katz doesn't have that skill.

Whether it's sending a special envoy to Chogoris or that utterly unreliable interstellar communication, tsk tsk.

However, another question has been answered.

In order to expand their influence, the clergy of the empire fabricated various stories, and there were rumors that the Sisters of the Martyrs were derived from a private order in Sabat.

However, the nearby religious monks solemnly told Kaz that this was a rumor, and there was a difference of seven hundred years.

but......

How should I put it? Kars sensed a major event was brewing.

The Order of the Martyrs has a long history of producing living saints; not to mention St. Celestine, the most recent example, there is also St. Catherine, the true founder.

There are two kinds of living saints. One kind is conferred a title by the state religion because of their great achievements, and the other kind, those who know, know—E the Great Demon.

After reviewing Sabat's life, studying the records of Sabat's expedition, and even reading the Sabat Gospels, which are closer to biographical novels, Katz suddenly had a strong sense of déjà vu.

Betty Sabat is probably a living saint who's two sides of the same coin.

An ordinary shepherdess, who had never been to school, was suddenly summoned by the Emperor to join the army and lead an army that swept across the star sector.

There was also such a woman in the history of Ancient Terra, whose Noble Phantasm was a battle banner.

Really, it was Joan of Arc.

The sense of déjà vu is too strong; it's like a special attack on the old popsicles of Gutera.

The Pacific Starfield – Sabat Realms – Rust Belt – Storm Starfield: This subspace route is the most important transportation and logistics route between the Pacific Starfield and the Storm Starfield.

If something goes wrong with the Sabat world, then subspace travel in the Pacific Starfield, and even the Solar Starfield and Storm Starfield, will have to pass through the dangerous Great Vortex region.

So that's why the chaotic forces of the Great Vortex actively infiltrated the world of Sabat, right?

?

That's how it should be.

"See? Stop saying that history, economics, and politics are useless. If you don't use your brain when you're in Astartes, you'll only be able to fight for fun in a daze your whole life. There's no future in it."

Draven has always respected his old buddy Katz; his ability to deduce so many details from historical documents is truly commendable.

But the battles were really exhilarating! The company commander was just a traitorous son of a gang, pushed up by the brothers in the gang to do odd jobs.

You son of a bitch...

The Empire's statistics show that the Sabat world consists of more than a hundred planets. However, as a part of the Pacific Starfield, the Sabat worlds have not learned the good things, but they have learned about most of the hidden treasures.

The situation is really not optimistic.

More than five thousand years have passed, and the problem of aliens and heretics is still quite serious in the world of Sabat. Only thanks to the foundation laid by the living saint Betty Sabat, several fortress worlds that guard warp space travel and the routes of the real universe are still firmly controlled by the human empire, and the situation has not deteriorated to the point of no return.

However, the principle that prolonged defense inevitably leads to defeat is something that even any leader of the Astral Army would understand, let alone the Astartes.

With tithes failing to come in and administrative orders unable to be issued, many planets are already in a de facto pocket empire state, held together solely by economic ties with the empire.

The most infuriating thing is that rumors have spread that Hajjah, which has already been designated as a shrine world, must not have its remains contaminated by chaos, and the state religion has the idea of ​​moving Sabat's spirit.

Being a saint in the empire, while one may not know what kind of benefits one would receive during life, but after death, one would truly be transported by hearse.

Of the founders of the six Battle Sisters, apart from Sylvanas, the founder of the Silver Shroud Order, whose remains were never found, the others had parts made into relics to varying degrees. St. Dominica of the Ebony Grail Order was literally a hearse drifting away, which is truly unsettling.

Although Betty Sabbat was formally incorporated into the Empire before the Battle Sisters, the State Church, for its own benefit, was even willing to elevate the flag of Astartes, and even touted the Emperor's angel as an Imperial demigod. So what's so special about digging up Saint Sabbat and making him into a holy relic or putting him in the same static force field as the Thirteenth Prince and selling tickets for tours?

Your empire is unmatched in the realm of abstract concepts.

The brilliant ideas of the loyalists were so ingenious that even the most destructive forces would be amazed and humbled.

After gaining a general understanding of the relevant information about the world of Sabat, Kars officially stepped into the worlds of Sabat.

Our first stop was the famous Newfoundland tail cluster.

This region contains a series of important imperial worlds, including the main star Folmaw, Ounskard, Harland Longland, and Indri.

It can be described as the Pacific Starfield guarding the gateway to the Sabat world.

Kaz is not only a company commander of the Astartes Chapter, a loyalist with Imperial certification, but also a powerful military leader who holds real power in the Imperial Navy and the Astral Army. Once the identification code of the Imperial Icon was confirmed by the local Imperial army, he could not refuse the privileges he was entitled to.

Sabat is a saint, and so is Makarius. Although the actual combat effectiveness of the Imperial Icon is highly questionable, its performance is truly impressive.

After successfully passing through the tail cluster of Newfoundland, Katz headed towards Balhout.

Balhout is considered the political center of the empire within the Sabat realms. To contact Deathwatch, it's not a big deal to simply send a large army to someone else's watchtower. It's more reliable to go through the proper procedures and submit an application report through the Deathwatch's Balhout office staff.

It must be said that the arrival of Katz, or to put it more bluntly, the arrival of the Eighth Company of the Desolate Wings fleet, truly injected a breath of fresh air into the suffocating political atmosphere of Balhout.

That's the kind of existence the navy is. When Kars, representing the authority of the empire, arrived, the separatists decisively fell silent.

The reason is simple: truth lies only within the range of cannon fire.

When the Empire can still spare a fleet to demonstrate its presence in Sabat, you'd better show some respect to the Empire.

Barhout is not an isolated case; the subspace routes within the Sabat world are quite stable, so stable that they are almost self-contained.

While waiting for Deathwatch's reply, Katz even took the time to send his company brothers to scout out the nearby Gotron, Sisco, and Halina.

The situation is far from optimistic; the Imperial Governor's Office is essentially incapacitated or struggling financially.

After all, the geographical location of the Sabat world is too "advantageous".

It's important to understand that among the Empire's five major star systems, the Storm Star System may seem quiet and unassuming, but even the scenic and chaotic Misty Star System, with its many strange and powerful figures, is not the star system with the most serious alien problem in the Empire; the Storm Star System is.

To the north, the chaotic forces of the Great Vortex region continue to harass and invade from the south; to the south, the alien forces of the Storm Starfield are also gathering strength and attempting to move north.

In the East, the oil makers of the Rust Belt are not to be trifled with, and in the less rigorous West, the Taiping Star Region Government is also a behemoth.

In such a vibrant and thriving place, Katz once wondered if he had returned to the Eye of Fear.

Man-made disasters are not the only source of suffering in the Sabat world; natural disasters never spare unfortunate children.

The Sabat region is far more than just a hundred planets, but mysterious warp corruption has severed the connection between many of these regions.

It was only after truly traveling through the worlds of Sabat that Kaz understood why the Empire had allowed the Sabat world to do as it pleased for so many years, as long as there was no rebellion.

It's too difficult...

Nowadays, even the rule of not rebelling is almost impossible to uphold.

The local imperial forces are already struggling to cope with the increasingly frequent Chaos invasions, in addition to the occasional psionic natural disasters and attacks by alien races.

Kars was clearly there to take the Epsilon brothers back to see the Chapter Master, but those fluttering, snowflake-like plea for help...

Forget it, let's wait until we see the person first.

Chapter 483 Forcibly Interfering

"If they're not brothers, why would anyone like a yandere?"

"I understand the logic, but only she says she loves me."

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The empire was like an out-of-control dump truck, propelled forward solely by inertia.

Katz hadn't been in Balhout for long before he felt the oppressive, suffocating atmosphere.

Everyone knew there was a problem, and every bureaucrat was doing their best to maintain the foundation of the empire's rule. However, the harder they tried, the more confused they became. Where exactly did the problem lie?

I don't know.

Heh heh, even in such a serious occasion, Kaz just couldn't help but laugh. This is nothing compared to what every hero trying to save the empire has experienced.

Every moment, without fail!