Watch Fortress Erioch

"A warrior’s heart should be as iron: Unforgiving, unyielding, and uncaring of all except duty. With such a heart, a warrior can stand against the terrors of the universe unbowed and unbroken."

- Attributed to Iron Hands Primarch Ferrus Manus

Watch Fortress Erioch is a notable Watch Fortress of the elite xenos-hunting Deathwatch, based within the Jericho Reach. Within Erioch the Deathwatch Kill-teams train and prepare for coming missions. Watch Fortress Erioch combines the functions of command centre, keep, archive, garrison and more. The Watch Commander often coordinates the monitoring of a hundred different threats; or his attentions might be focused exclusively on one single, overriding concern towards which all of his efforts are turned. The commander is assisted in his duties by a cadre of specialists, some of whom are Space Marines, such as Techmarines, Apothecaries and the likes, while many more are the equivalent of Chapter Serfs. Erioch is home to all manner of training facilities. In vast domes, unique environments can be recreated in which the Battle-Brothers can perfect their battle drill and rehearse their missions. Some of these domes have been stocked with life forms, such as Death world flora and fauna, in order to create the most realistic training conditions possible. It has even been known for captured aliens to be set loose in the training domes, to be hunted down by the Kill-teams in deadly mission simulation exercises. At the heart of Erioch is to be found a sealed vault, known as the Omega Vault, which contains the most sensitive and valuable of assets.

Origins
"Jagged, hull-black walls stand sentinel. Dark void’s empty children wait beyond. Duty holds the breach."

- Excerpt from Skald Haarksen’s stanza of The Long Vigil

The empty, echoing halls of Watch Fortress Erioch hold many secrets even beyond the ultimate enigma of the Omega Vault at its core. It has been noted that the very fortress itself defies logical explanation. It is a millennia-old edifice situated in a place where no forge master or architect-savant of the Imperium could have travelled and where no materials for its construction could possibly exist. The explanation to this first mystery is deceptively simple, but reveals deeper layers of conspiracy lurking beneath the surface. Navy-minded Inquisition agents on their brief sojourns at Erioch have postulated that the fortress must have been brought there in some great and secret undertaking in the past. They point to subtle points of architecture still visible beneath centuries of accumulated restructuring that are reminiscent of a mighty Ramilles-class Star-Fort. Such an edifice could be moved through warp space they insist, meaning that if they are correct, Watch Fortress Erioch could—potentially—be moved again. The Imperium’s scant supply of gigantic semi-mobile stations like the Ramilles are vital to the Imperial Navy as forward fleet bases. Each one is capable of shortening campaigns by decades through its deployment. That such a rare and precious commodity should have been risked in transport all the way to distant Erioch and then left essentially unused speaks volumes to the perceived value of the location—and of the overpowering reach of those who caused the fortress to be established there. Surely locked away within this ancient fortress can be found knowledge of the most heinous alien lifeforms mankind has ever encountered.

Watch Fortress Erioch is a vast space bastion that lies in the outer reaches of the Erioch system in the untamed void between the Canis and Acheros salients. It is situated in a stellar dead zone populated by only a handful of failing, ancient stars—of which Erioch itself is one. A brutal mass of armoured basilica, domes, and spires, the Fortress bristles with enough armament to rival a sizable battlegroup of warships, largely concealing the fact that underneath the Imperial ceramite and firepower, it is built on a ruined artefact that was old when Terra’s star was first forming. Within it is a vast maze of echoing, dust-carpeted corridors that wander past silent chapels and armoured vaults sealed with adamantine doors. Beneath war-tattered banners of glories past, the Battle-Brothers of the Deathwatch in residence move between cells, practice ranges, armouries and briefing theatres like spectres in a dead city, their numbers swallowed by the vast and labyrinthine nature of the fortress.

Within the Watch Fortress, the Deathwatch gathers to rearm, train, and report. From here, Kill-teams are dispatched on missions to every corner of the Jericho Reach, and sometimes beyond. The Fortress contains vast command cathedrals where Watch Captains come to discuss strategy, developments within their assigned vigils, and consult with the Inquisitor of the Chamber and Master of Vigilance. Alongside the towering Adeptus Astartes scurry the far more numerous servitors and hooded, mind-wiped serfs that keep the Fortress alive and functioning. These lobotomised or oath-bonded servants crew the Watch Fortress’s weaponry, and serve under the eyes of the Forge Master in the maintenance of its machine spirits, their pasts shorn from them by mental conditioning. They remember nothing of their history, and know no life beyond the fortress and the demands of their duty.

The Watch Fortress could hold an entire Chapter of Adeptus Astartes with ease, but its records show that there are rarely more than a few score Deathwatch garrisoning it at any time. Even during the grim events of the Council of the Ascension in 756.M41, no more than two hundred Battle-Brothers were gathered within the Fortress. As a matter of course, most of the Deathwatch Space Marines within the Jericho Reach only spend brief periods in the Watch Fortress before leaving again to fulfil their missions or to garrison other Watch Stations within the Reach. Indeed, some never see the Fortress during their service in the region. Instead, they spend their time on one bloody battlefield after another, or as the lone warden in Watch Stations far from their Battle-Brothers. The only exception are the guardians of the Chamber of Vigilance; a ten-strong squad of Deathwatch Keepers. Joining them is a position of great honour, and only Battle-Brothers who have performed a feat of exemplary courage and dedication during their time of service are considered for service among these guardians.

Aside from the Deathwatch and their servants—including cloisters of Navigators and Astropaths permanently sworn to their service — Watch Fortress Erioch occasionally hosts members of the Inquisition and their attendant cadre of throne agents, acolytes, and other minions. Most of these Inquisitors come to consult with the Chamber of Vigilance, to examine some article recovered by the Deathwatch, or to make a request for aide in person. In the long millennia, many Inquisitors have passed through the Watch Fortress. Some stay for extended periods, others barely a few hours. Some leave artefacts within one of the Fortress’s vaults, sealed to all but them, or those to which they entrust the cipher, key or secret of its opening. Some vaults have remained sealed in this way for millennia; the horrors or secrets within shut away even from the Deathwatch itself. Despite the power of the Inquisition and the ancient and honoured role of the Inquisitor of the Chamber, the sole and final authority of the Watch Fortress, and thereby all the Deathwatch Marines in the Jericho Reach is the Master of Vigilance, a position held by the most senior Deathwatch Captain in the Jericho Reach. Others that have thought to act otherwise, including certain members of the Inquisition, have paid for this mistake with their lives.

Places of Training & Devotion
Within Watch Fortress Erioch are many places in which the Battle-Brothers of the Deathwatch may hone their skills and temper their spirits. There are huge ranges housed in vast chambers where live-fire exercises and marksmanship drills can be performed in environments ranging from tangled ruins to liquid-filled tunnels or the chill of hard vacuum. Alongside these are hundreds of smaller melee and exercise chambers where new skills with blade, fist, and body can be passed from Battle-Brother to Battle-Brother. Numerous clusters of armoured fighting cages (said to have been introduced by a Watch Captain originating from the Imperial Fists) exist where Battle-Brothers can test their skill of arms against each other. There are also libraries filled with tactical treatises, past mission logs and spiritual texts for the edification of a Battle-Brother’s mental faculties. For those Space Marines who are psychically-gifted Librarians, there are specialised warded and shielded chantries for a Psyker to sharpen his own unique gifts in the Emperor’s service.

In addition to these places that hone a warrior’s body and mind, there are sanctuaries in which Space Marines can armour their soul. These scattered sanctums are often centred on the tombs of fallen Battle-Brothers and are reached by a long and tangled journey into the Fortresses’ deeps. Amid the silent waft of incense, the Deathwatch meditate on their duty and do observance to the traditions of their home Chapter. Many of these small devotional shrines hold banners and relics given as a mark of honour by Chapters whose brethren have died as part of the Deathwatch. It is said that the marks of over a hundred Chapters can be found in the sanctuaries of Watch Fortress Erioch, including the liveries and icons of Chapters forgotten in the long millennia. Each shrine is venerated by any member of that Chapter that comes to the Fortress.

Living Quarters
The Adeptus Astartes aboard Watch Fortress Erioch are housed in sparse single cells. By the traditions of the Watch Fortress, each is bare and unadorned. The walls in each cell are formed of unrendered stone or unpolished metal, containing no more than a stone plinth to lie on, and housings for the storage of a Battle-Brother’s personal weaponry, devotional items, and other equipment. These simple quarters are the same regardless of whether the Space Marine is a standard Battle-Brother or an honoured Watch Captain (however, some particularly individual Space Marines flout this tradition by displaying trophies, keepsakes, or other reminders of their home Chapter). By the same traditions, Battle-Brothers arriving at the Watch Fortress are grouped together in cells next to Battle-Brothers already in residence with no division by rank or fighting formation. Likewise, the taking of food and drink is traditionally done together in one of the refectories, with the Battle-Brothers sitting on stone benches beside iron topped tables beneath the light of devotional candles.

Though the Watch Fortress is the domain of the Adeptus Astartes of the Deathwatch, other men and women live and serve within it. Serfs and other important functionaries, such as the fortress’s Astropathic choir, are housed in enclaves well-removed from the Battle-Brothers of the Deathwatch and sealed away from ready access to the deep places of the fortress and its many vaults. The Inquisitor of the Chamber of Vigilance traditionally keeps residence in the Tower of Brass, which juts into the vacuum from the upper hull of the fortress like a blade tip projecting from the back of a skewered foe. This tower, while part of the fortress, is left alone by the Deathwatch out of courtesy, unless duty or suspicion call them there. Within this vast edifice, the Inquisitor of the Chamber houses his personal staff and entourage. It is, in effect, his personal domain to maintain as he wishes. Other Inquisitors who come to the Watch Fortress are often made personal guests by the Inquisitor of the Chamber and housed within the Tower of Brass. Some, however, are either not given the honour of such an invitation, or prefer to keep their own company, and are housed in one of the fortresses many sets of state rooms which lay empty until needed.

Reliquaries of the Tools of War
The armouries of the Fortress are located deep beneath its armoured hull, secured behind the thickest blast doors and internal layers of void shielding of the kind more commonly used to protect Battle Titans. This is the realm of metal and actinic light, of the beat of hammers and the fire of forges that arm and armour the Emperor’s angels of death. Made up of workshops, magazines and armouries, these are the domains of the Techmarines that serve in the Deathwatch, and all fall under the ultimate authority of the Forge Master of the Watch Fortress. Chainswords, Power Axes, Bolters, Drop Pods, tanks, Thunderfire Cannons, and all of the tools of the Adeptus Astartes are held here; their war-like machine spirits soothed by the machine buzz of servitors and the touch of sacred oils until they are needed. There also are billions of rounds, charges, and cylinders of ammunition from the simplest laspack to the massive grav-stabilised macro-shells fired by the fortress’s main batteries.

In the deepest reaches of the armouries, curled in waiting sleep, are the ancients of the Deathwatch. Those who have been grievously injured in serving with the Deathwatch may, with the blessing of his Chapter, be granted the honour of being installed in the cyborganic web of an armoured sarcophagus so that in times of great need, they may once again serve alongside their Battle-Brothers as a Deathwatch Dreadnought. There are believed to be three such rare and mighty ancient Dreadnoughts currently dormant within the armouries of Watch Fortress Erioch, though they have not been awakened to war in over a century. Only the Forge Master knows the truth of their number and state.

Many of the most exotic and potent weapons of the fortress, however, are held within sealed vaults deep within the Watch Fortress, accessible only to those who bear the secret of their opening. Some vaults only open to members of a particular Chapter or those who bear the gene-seed of a particular Primarch, being gifted or left in trust by one of that Chapter’s number. Others only open to particular members of the Inquisition or Adeptus Mechanicus. Most secret of all are the terrible devices kept in the outer catacombs of the Omega Vault, the great sealed chamber at the heart of Watch Fortress Erioch. Such weapons include vortex torrent imploder charges, dread canisters of the life-eater virus, and the imprisoned nightmare childe. These weapons are only yielded one at a time and by the will of the systems that lie at the centre of the Vault’s many chambers, watching and waiting for the future.

Defences & Void Docks
The exterior of Watch Fortress Erioch bristles with weaponry. Its sides are studded with the maws of Macro Cannons, Missile Clusters, Thunderhawk launch bays, and plasma mortars, while the spires that rise from its surface are serrated with hundreds of defence laser cupolas. The Watch Fortress has firepower enough to vaporise a battleship in a single volley or to shatter a small moon should the need arise from any quarter. Beyond these fearsome weapons, separate defence platforms spin in thruster-corrected orbits, each armed with deadly lance batteries and torpedo launchers. Additionally, patrols of defence monitors roam in the cold void, cutting secret paths through deadly minefields; heavily armed and armoured space craft that together are capable of matching the firepower of a capital ship.

Watch Fortress Erioch also has extensive void docks in which a dozen capital ships or battle barges could be docked and resupplied at the same time. However, most vessels that come to the Watch Fortress are smaller ships such as the Deathwatch’s rapid strike vessels or the occasional vessel bearing a visiting dignitary. Both defences and docks are crewed by legions of servitors and ratings that are supervised by human serfs that are oath-bonded to serve the Deathwatch all their lives. In a crisis, overall command of the Watch Fortress and its defences is taken by the Master of the Vigil as its presiding castellan.

The Chamber of Vigilance
The Chamber of Vigilance is the war council of the Deathwatch in Jericho Reach. Established by a tradition whose origin is now long forgotten, the primary purpose of the Chamber of Vigilance is to discuss the import of developments in the Jericho Reach and to decide on how the Deathwatch should respond. The reasons for a gathering of the Chamber of Vigilance are many and diverse. Usually, such gatherings are connected to new intelligence on a threat to the Reach, or in response to battlefield reports from Deathwatch in the field. In recent decades, however, the periodic opening of a new portion of the Omega Vault has also caused the Chamber of Vigilance to be gathered with increasing frequency.

The Chamber of Vigilance takes its name from the central chamber of Watch Fortress Erioch’s primary command level. The Chamber is circular and over two hundred paces wide. Its ceiling is a great dome, in the centre of which is set a circle of armoured crystal that allows in the reflected light of Erioch’s dying sun. When a gathering is called, braziers burn incense wood in seven niches around the chamber’s edge, and servo-skulls, yellow with age, circle to record every detail of what transpires before them. The floor is black stone inlaid with symbols and words of the Codex Astartes worked in Adamantine. The symbol of the Deathwatch rests at the chamber’s centre beneath the pale light of the void cast down from Erioch’s light. There are no chairs in the Chamber of Vigilance; all who gather here stand as a sign that the duty of their watch is unending and without respite. Embedded in the floor and ceiling are null field generators and vox baffles, as well as hololith projectors and sound generators for when information must be displayed to a gathering.

The membership of the chamber is not fixed. The Chamber consists of all senior members of the Deathwatch present at the time of the gathering, plus any members of the Inquisition present at the fortress who may be invited (their presence being at the Master’s discretion), or any other servants of the Imperium whose voice and knowledge is important to the Chamber’s deliberations. Although the membership of the Chamber of Vigilance shifts and changes, there are two positions that are permanent by tradition: the Master of the Vigil and the Inquisitor of the Chamber. Both must be present in order for a gathering to be called.

The Master of the Vigil
The Master of the Vigil is a senior member of the Deathwatch Stationed at Watch Fortress Erioch, meaning that he is usually, though not always, the Watch Commander or the ranking Watch Captain. The bearer of this honour is oath-bound to act as the final arbitrator of decisions made by the Chamber of Vigilance, and also to rule and maintain the Watch Fortress, Watch Stations, and the other domains of the Deathwatch within the Jericho Reach. The title of Master of the Vigil is conferred on a Battle-Brother only by a gathering of the Chamber of Vigilance and confirmed by the missive of the High Lords of Terra. This honour is traditionally borne by an individual for a score of years before it passes to another, unless a time of great crisis or war makes such a shift in leadership unwise for its duration. The Master of the Vigil remains within Watch Fortress Erioch for the duration of his duty, with certain exceptions made under critical circumstances. The Master of the Vigil’s only mark of rank is the bearing of a singular heraldic pauldron on his armour, the design being of a gauntleted hand grasping a snarling serpent by its throat.

The Inquisitor of the Chamber
The Inquisitor of the Chamber is a member of the Inquisition who, by ancient tradition, represents the interests of the Holy Ordos within the Chamber of Vigilance. This Inquisitor almost always heralds from the ranks of the Ordo Xenos, although there have been exceptions made in the past. The Inquisitor of the Chamber is a position of honour and a symbol of the ties between the Deathwatch and Inquisition in the Jericho Reach. The position and title of Inquisitor of the Chamber is bestowed on an Inquisitor by a conclave of his peers, and remains his until he dies, chooses to relinquish the position, or another is sent to take his place. Part emissary, intermediary, facilitator, and watcher of the watchers, Inquisitors of the Chamber are often chosen for their diplomatic and political skill. Many are also great warriors or savants of huge erudition. Most have found, however, that being able to speak warrior-to-warrior is often an advantage when dealing with the Deathwatch.

The Omega Vault
The Omega Vault is a sealed series of ancient engines, catacombs, and chambers that sits at the heart of Watch Fortress Erioch. The Omega Vault has been part of the Watch Fortress since it was established in the Jericho Reach, though what it contains at its centre remains unknown to any now living. The vault itself is a broadly cylindrical portion of the Watch Fortress that spans many levels running through its core. There is only one entrance into the Omega Vault; a single door forty paces high. The door is sealed and armoured by layered void shields and adamantine plating as thick as a warship’s prow. Engraved upon it are the symbols of the Deathwatch and the elder Terran rune ‘Omega,’ surrounding an image of the Emperor strangling a coiling serpent. Above these great doors are words in High Gothic that read, “And The Last Fortress Is Truth.” Each Battle-Brother freshly stationed at the Watch Fortress is brought before these words to take his oath of vigil.

No living being can open the doors of the vault; they open themselves at the command of mysterious ancient devices at the heart of the vault itself. Those who have been inside pass along corridors and down spiralling stairs lined with catacomb subvaults, each barred with its own blast door and surrounded with dust-dry parchment fragments and archaic marks etched in silver. Through each door awaits a secret of the Omega Vault held in an armoured chamber, each protected by powerful automated defences and locks of unfathomable complexity. The Omega Vault is known to yield up a portion of its cryptic artefacts and information in direct response to events unfolding within the Jericho Reach. There is also evidence that the central data-reservoir of Watch Fortress Erioch is bound to something deep within the Omega Vault. The vault has, on occasion responded to new information sent in from Watch Stations or operational reports from Deathwatch missions by revealing a portion of what was placed within it many millennia ago.

However, this process remains fraught with mystery, particularly as to whether the vault’s actions are based entirely on a pre-ordained sequence or are at least partly reactive in nature. Perhaps most tellingly, there are numerous events of great import that have transpired in the Jericho Reach and failed to trigger any response from the vault. Most recently, for example, there was the incursion of the Tyranid threat into the Orpheus Salient. So far, this event has drawn no response from the vault, although specific dangers since, caused by the Tyranids, have triggered activity within the Omega Vault. It is an enigma that continues to trouble the thoughts of Deathwatch Space Marine and Inquisitor alike. Only one chamber has ever been discovered and unlocked each time the Omega Vault has opened itself. Once whatever waits in the open chamber has been removed, the Vault seals itself again, sounding a sonorous bell to warn of its closure and of the fatal consequences that follow should anyone tarry overlong.

In the past, the vault has provided tomes of archaic lore, strange fragments of alien devices, ancient weapons forged in times long gone, world-slaying virus canisters, enigmatic star charts, and bizarre xenological specimens. On one occasion, its gift was an ancient Astropath held in a stasis field. When awoken, the Astropath sent one brief astropathic message and spoke two words before expiring from extreme old age, his final duty discharged. At the centre of the Omega Vault lies another, inner vault: a secret of secrets, bound with scores of locking mechanisms which have slowly opened themselves, one-by-one, down the centuries. The Chamber of Vigilance believes that sealed within this chamber is the final truth and, perhaps, the last weapon the Deathwatch will have need for in the Jericho Reach.

What plan or pattern ordained in the ancient past may have necessitated the construction of the Omega Vault — and what hands constructed it—remains a mystery many have pondered. Further riddles are posed by the seemingly precognitive abilities and resources required to create such a vault. What is without doubt, is that the creators of the Omega Vault were human, a truth evident not only from the elements of its design, but a further significant detail. Contained within the vault’s air is an appallingly powerful synthetic pathogen that is entirely inert outside the Omega Vault’s walls. This pathogen is an ancient and un-replicable weapon, utterly lethal to all kinds of life save one: Mankind. What is certain is that the Chamber of Vigilance has a duty to protect the Omega Vault and to use and follow what information it yields in the Imperium’s defence as they judge fit. It is a duty they have had to discharge with greater frequency in the decades since the Warp Gate’s opening and the beginning of the Achilus Crusade in 777.M41. Now, only a handful of locks remain closed on the innermost vault.