Ordinatus Ulator

The Ordinatus Ulator was a potent weapon system deployed by the ancient Mechanicum's Centurio Ordinatus during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras that served as a form of powerful sonic artillery.

History

The Centurio Ordinatus was a section of the Mechanicum's Divisio Militaris, the Mechanicum organisation responsible for the development, maintenance and operation of the mighty Ordinatus war machines. Every individual Ordinatus was a unique construction named after the Imperial world on which it was first employed or built.

A rare and truly arcane weapon system of staggering power, the Mechanicum's Ordinatus Ulator was one of the smaller classes of Ordinatus, an Ordinatus Minoris, but nevertheless was one of the most potent war machines at the Imperium's disposal. In the time of the Great Crusade, Ordinatus macro engines were rarer than even the Battle Titans of the Legio Titanica, and only a handful of Forge Worlds had the resources, or indeed the doctrinal blessing and religious authority, to produce or maintain such embodiments of the Omnissiah's divine wrath. Such was the sacredness of these machines above all others that an entire sub-cult of the Mechanicum was devoted to their worship and propitiation.

Three of these deadly Ordinatus platforms were to be given over to the Warmaster Horus at the behest of the Renegade Forge World of Xana II. These Ordinatus, named Mithrax, Nepothax and Ashurax after Ancient Terran deities long dead of worship, were first to be demonstrated before the Warmaster's chosen emissary at the Forge World's own proving grounds on the moon of Xana-Tisiphone, then afterwards, their ceremonial handover would act as a symbolic sealing of Xana's loyalty to Horus.

In the end, however, two of the three were captured by Loyalist forces led by the Blackshield commander Endryd Haar during the Xana Incursion in 009.M31, and one was destroyed during that battle.

Armament

An Ordinatus Ulator carries a trio of Volkite Culverins as its secondary armaments, but its primary weapon is the Ulator-class Sonic Destructor. A terrifying weapon whose origins lie in the shadows of the Age of Strife, these devices, though inferior copies of the unique armament of the great Primus Ordinatus Mars, still operate on an order of magnitude far beyond anything mounted on even the largest super-heavy tank found in the Imperium's common arsenal.

Using a Plasma Reactor akin to those found on Battle Titans to power a directional sonic transduction generator of staggering force, it emits a varying waveform of destructive sound energy able to shatter the most resilient materials. The annihilating wave-pulse traverses the battlefield wreaking havoc in its path, the particular effect of its design meaning that the larger the target struck, the more damaging the wave's impact.

Notable Ordinatus Ulator

• Ordinatus Ulator Ashurax - The Ashurax was captured by Endryd Haar's Blackshields in the Xana Incursion.
• Ordinatus Ulator Mithrax - The Mithrax was also captured by Endryd Haar's Blackshields during the Xana Incursion.
• Ordinatus Ulator Nepothax - The Nepothax was destroyed during the fighting of the Xana Incursion.

Sources

• The Horus Heresy - Book Six - Retribution (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 62-71
• Fore World Website - Mechanicum Ordinatus Ulator