The Magisters Calculo Horarium are genetically and cybernetically-modified Human members of the Imperial merchant fleets. It was their duty to carry out the monumental calculations required to coordinate commercial shipping traffic across the Imperium. Many of them were so badly deformed, mutated or genetically-altered that they subsisted only with the aid of life-support vats. They dwelled deep within the fortress and headquarters of the Chartist Captains called the Nexus Axiomatic on Terra, though they had only ever been seen by a few people.
This led to rampant speculation and wild rumours about their true nature among many in the Imperium, such as that the Magisters were vile mutants and that the Nexus Axiomatic had really been constructed to keep their true nature from being discovered by the Inquisition.
Still others in the merchant fleets claimed that the Magisters were in fact immortals, born in the earliest years of Humanity's evolution into a psychic species and only kept alive through the regular transfusion of blood from younger bodies. Yet most believe though that the Magisters no longer truly exist, and that they were replaced in their role long ago by powerful magna-cogitators.
Magister Calculo Horarium IX[]
Yet in truth, the Magisters were very real. Inquisitor Lord Erasmus Crowl encountered a Magister Calculo Horarium during his attempt to uncover the criminal masterminds who had transported a Drukhari Haemonculus to Terra. Known as Magister Calculo Horarium IX, this Magister was in fact giant, conjoined, male twins whose twin faces vertically shared a large skull that had an extended cranium. They also shared a single body marked by numerous atrophied limbs, which Crowl noted gave them the appearance of a Human jellyfish.
The twins were so large and malformed that they were forced to live in a vat filled with nutrient-rich liquid, which they breathed using cybernetic gills. They were also hooked up to numerous life-support systems and could communicate through nearby vid-screens that displayed their thoughts.
Their personalities differed greatly, though, as the twin who comprised the upper portion of the conjoined skull received a never-ending flood of messages from the voidships of the merchant fleets. He would then calculate and note the vessels' locations and the routes through the Immaterium they took to get to the worlds where they delivered their cargo. This task consumed the twin's entire being and he never slept or ceased his calculations.
This made it very difficult to communicate with this twin, but that was actually the lower twin's nominal task. Unlike its brother, this twin was very lucid, well-spoken and intelligent, which allowed him to easily engage any who sought to speak with him.
It is not known if the other Magisters Calculo Horarium were similar in appearance to IX nor if they carried out their duties in a manner similar to the mutant twins.
Sources[]
- Vaults of Terra: The Hollow Mountain (Novel) by Chris Wraight, Chs. 9-10