The Nexus Axiomatic is a vast fortress located on Terra that serves as the headquarters of the merchant fleets of the Imperium and the Speaker for the Chartist Captains who represents their interests on the Senatorum Imperialis.
A massive structure, the original foundations of the Nexus Axiomatic were laid down many standard centuries before the Imperium was created. Every hereditary Merchant Charter is issued from within the Nexus Axiomatic, and records detailing every statistic concerning commercial routes, merchant licensing, tithe-collection and inter-system trade are housed there as well.
As a result, the fortress contains billions of documents that its adepts store within depositories. The Nexus is also home to large transmitters that constantly collect and broadcast merchant shipping data from relay stations across the galaxy.
Within the Nexus Axiomatic are stationed the Magisters Calculo Horarium, genetically and cybernetically-modified Human members of the merchant fleets. Many of them were so badly deformed, mutated or genetically-altered that they subsisted only with the aid of life-support vats. It was their duty to carry out the monumental calculations required to coordinate shipping traffic across the Imperium.
History[]
Many of the Nexus Axiomatic's vital records of Imperial interstellar commerce were almost lost in the Siege of Terra, when the forces of Horus nearly destroyed the fortress. In the Horus Heresy's aftermath, the Nexus Axiomatic was rebuilt over time into its current form, and the Speaker for the Chartist Captains created the armed security force known as the Praeses Mercatura to ensure its protection.
Unlike the decaying structure of many other edifices across Terra, the Nexus Axiomatic in the 41st Millennium continues to exude wealth and opulence, reflecting the great riches earned by the Chartist Captains of the merchant fleets.
Deep within the Nexus Axiomatic lies a series of ancient murals depicting Humanity's history of interstellar spaceflight. The first image shows a robed figure overlooking the first Warp-drive, the second is the same man now appearing adjacent to the first Gellar Field generator. The third image shows a throne in the void, while the fourth displays a fetus curled up in a cartouche-shaped vial with a flame burning in its forehead.
Sources[]
- Vaults of Terra: The Hollow Mountain (Novel) by Chris Wraight, Chs. 6, 9