Magma City
|
The following paragraphs contain spoilers for: | Mechanicum (Novel) |
Magma City was a city on Mars during the Great Crusade and the beginning of the Horus Heresy. It was the forge of Adept Koriel Zeth.[1a]
General Information
Magma City was located south of the volcano Arisa Mons, located on the Tharsis Uplands. [1b] The Arsia Mons was reawakened by Adept Koriel Zeth, who channelled the lava into a system of sluices and channels upon which Magma City was built on voidshielded foundations. [1c] The temperature was such that without the help of heat exchangers and gas separators, an unprotected human would die in moments.[1d]
Amidst the city, a vast container port abutted the walls of Arisa Mons. Surrounding the city was a lava lagoon regulated by Aetna's Dam, located on the southern flank of the volcano.[1c]
Deep beneath the surface, the Mistress of the Forge had constructed the Akashic Reader.[1e]
History
Right before the beginning of the Schism of Mars, Adept Koriel Zeth and her protégé, Dalia Cythera activated the Akashic Reader, which required the power of the Astronomican to function. To Dalia's dismay, she realised seconds before the construct was initiated that they had made an error in their calculations. This error caused catastrophic damage to the Reader, killing the Empath that manned it and the thousands of psykers that served as its human battery. The resulting energy deflagration shone like a thousand sons and engulfed the room of the Akashic Reader, leaving nothing but desiccated corpses withered and contracted into foetal balls.[1f]
Unbeknownst to all however, this would turn out to be a blessing in disguise, as the titanic energies released by the Astronomican would end up purifying and protecting the Magma City from the scrap code released during the Death of Innocence. This in conjuncture with the forge's adoption of the newly-rediscovered Noosphere would make Magma City the only on Mars to avoid the horrific damage of the opening moments of the Schism of Mars.[1g]
After the Death Of Innocence, Fabricator-General Kelbor-Hal sent Ambassador Melgator to the Magma City to determine the loyalties of her Forge-Mistress, as well as sequester her data and investigate the reasons behind her apparent escape of the corruption running rampant on Mars.[1h] He was accompanied by Remiare, an assassin of the Dark Mechanicum. This choice of bodyguard accompanied by Melgator's claims that the Emperor and Terra had been the cause of the scrap-code, and that the Fabricator-General had all but risen in rebellion against Him would make Koriel Zeth affirm her loyalty to Terra, and even declare that she did not believe in the Omnissiah.[1i]
This would be all that Melgator would need to declare Koriel Zeth a Heretek. He would come back later at the head of a mighty army accompanied by Regulus and led by 13 Titans of Legio Mortis and millions of corrupted Skitarii and other corrupted machines coming from the Vaults of Moravec.[1j] Legio Tempestus responded to Zeth's call for help and sent all of their Titans present on Mars to the aid of the Magma City. The battle that ensued was apocalyptic and saw every Titan of both warring Legios be destroyed, save for one Imperator Titan of Legio Mortis, the Aquila Ignis. This Titan too would be destroyed as, seeing her impending doom, Koriel Zeth decided that she couldn't let her knowledge and the Akashic Reader fall in the hands of the forces of the Fabricator General, she opened the sluice gates of the Arisa Mons caldera and deactivated every safety measure, leading to a cascade of flowing lava that engulfed the city whole, killing every inhabitant and melting the Aquila Ignis as it attempted to run away.[1k]
Within three hours, all of Magma City had either burned or melted, and the little that remained sank into the lava gate. The only reminder that a city had once stood there was the rubble of Vulkan Gate, the entrance to the city.[1l]
