View source for Zar-Quaesitor

{{QuoteBox
|quote='''''"It was a vessel like no other, one of the rare Ark Mechanicus explorator vessels, and even among those behemoths it was reckoned large for its kind, a vast city in space, bristling with weapons, and containing manufacturing and research laboratoria beneath its adamantium skin to rival a forge world."'''''
|source= — [[Decimus Androdinus Felix]], [[Tetrarch of Ultramar]]{{Fn|3a}}}}
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The '''''{{PAGENAME}}''''' is a massive freighter-hulk and [[Ark Mechanicus]] of the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]]. It serves as the flagship and mobile laboratory for [[Magos Dominus]] [[Belisarius Cawl]].{{Fn|1}} It is both Cawl's home and research facility,{{Fn|3a}} and is so large that is has been described as Cawl's "roving kingdom".{{Fn|4}}

==Overview==
For the better part of ten millennia, Cawl crafted legions of [[Primaris Space Marines]] inside its hull.{{Fn|3a}} The vessel is capable of holding great armies within itself, providing several [[Skitarii]] and [[Cybernetica]] armies alongside three lances of [[House Taranis]] [[Knight]]s during the [[Indomitus Crusade]].{{Fn|2a}}

The ship is able to make [[Warp Jump]]s with remarkable precision, exiting the warp within a [[system|system]]'s [[Zonality Gul Du Lac]] of the star and dangerously close to a planets and its satellites.{{Fn|3a}}{{Fn|3b}} The Archmagos had a habit of dramatic warp egresses.{{Fn|2c}}

===Landing Bow===
The blunt, aggressive bow of the ship can detach itself from the rest of the ark, acting as a self-contained subsidiary vessel. Cawl sometimes uses it as a landing craft. When detaching, it slides along and then off a connecting arm with many pipes and cable popping free and reeling themselves into the larger part of the ark. Although the bow is but a part of the ark, it is large in its own right, big enough to land several [[Imperial_Knight#Society|lances]] of [[knights]].{{Fn|3b}}

===Shipyard===
The underside of the ''Zar-Quaesitor'' is a mass of cranes and piers. The ship is of such large scale that it possesses its own shipyard{{Fn|2d}} capable of independently building and launching [[Escort]]-sized craft whole. Larger vessels can be built in pieces and then assembled in the void.{{Fn|4}}

==History==
In the many millennia between [[M31]] and [[M42]], Cawl created thousands of Primaris Space Marines, filling massive holds aboard the ark with marines slumbering in [[methalon]] caskets.{{Fn|2c}}

In [[M42]] the ark is now largely deserted with only a few tens of thousands of crew on the vessel. After taking part in the main crusade of the [[Indomitus Crusade]] Cawl had given the majority of his military assets to [[Fleet Primus]], most of Cawl's many magi clades had been despatched across the galaxy to sped his next great plan to fruition. The many great holds once bustling with magi and slumbering Space Marines were now empty.{{Fn|2c}}

During the [[Indomitus Crusade]], the ''{{PAGENAME}}'' was invaded and boarded by the forces of [[Fabius Bile]], who Cawl suspected was after the [[Sangprimus Portum]]. In truth however Bile sought [[Alpha Primus (Space Marine)|Alpha Primus]], the original [[Primaris Space Marine]], and was able to escape with the Marine's [[Progenoid Glands]]. During Bile's attack, the ''{{PAGENAME}}'' was invaded by large numbers of [[Beastmen]], [[Terata]], [[Mutant]]s, and other abominations and was subjected to a massive cyber-attack that disabled most of its key systems.{{Fn|2b}}

==Crew==
The entirety of the ''{{PAGENAME}}'''s crew has been [[mind-swept]] multiple times to maintain Cawl's desired level of secrecy. There is no actual [[shipmaster]] aboard the ''{{PAGENAME}}''. Instead of this it has the solid system created by Cawl, where the impressive "personality" of the ship interacts with the network consciousness of the ship's [[tech-priest]]s. Although Archmagos Cawl does occupy the captain's post himself at times.{{Fn|2a}} If Cawl isn't present then Alpha Primus will sullenly take up the role. If neither are present, then Integerarian [[Wocolos]] will typically take up the role as ship captain.{{Fn|4b}}

Archmagos Cawl has attracted numerous mavericks and freaks of the Cult Mechanicus to join his disciples aboard the Zar-Quaesitor. All of them were fugitives of one sort or another, ostracised variously for experimentalism, free thinking, empirical practices, and open questioning of cult dogma.{{Fn|2c}}

*[[Qvo]] — Cawl's cloned [[Tech-Adept]] assistant and friend.{{Fn|2e}}{{Fn|3}}
*[[Datasmith]] [[X99 Bolus]] — [[cybernetica]] cohort leader{{Fn|2c}}
*Scion Magnus [[Baron]] [[Roosev Maven Taranis]] of [[House Taranis]]{{Fn|2c}}
*[[Skitarii Marshal|Marshal]] [[Melissima Artos-Septus Iota]] — de facto commander of all the Mechanicus forces aboard the Zar Quaesitor.{{Fn|2c}}
*[[Wocolos|Wocolos the Integerarian]] — [[Tech-Priest]]{{Fn|2a}} and occasional [[Shipmaster]]{{Fn|4b}}
*[[Navigator|Navigator Prime]] [[Helenka]]{{Fn|4b}}
*[[Oswen]] — [[cartophraser]] to the '''Fourth Clade'''{{Fn|2c}}

The military forces aboard the vessel consist of 3,000 [[Skitarii]], 400 [[Legio Cybernetica]] [[Battle-Automata]], and a lance of [[House Taranis]] [[Knight]]s. However the ''Zar-Quaesitor'' also has a number of naval escorts with additional forces.{{Fn|4c}}

==Sources==
*{{Endn|1}}: [[Codex: Space Marines (8th Edition)]], pgs. 20-21
*2: [[Genefather (Novel)]]:
**{{Endn|2a}}: Chapter 18
**{{Endn|2b}}: Chapters 26-28
**{{Endn|2c}}: Chapters 12
**{{Endn|2d}}: Chapter 22
**{{Endn|2e}}: Chapter 8
*3: [[Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work (Novel)]]:
**{{Endn|3a}}: Chapter 4
**{{Endn|3b}}: Chapter 5
*4: [[Archmagos (Novel)]]:
**{{Endn|4a}}: Chapters 2-3
**{{Endn|4b}}: Chapters 30
**{{Endn|4c}}: Chapter 14

[[Category:Indomitus Crusade]]
[[Category:Named Adeptus Mechanicus Vessels]]