Arkhan Land
Arkhan Land was one of the most famous members of the Mechanicum, a Magos and technoarchaeologist, best known for recovering rare STC technology from the Librarius Omnis.[1]
Contents
Biography
Arkhan Land was one of the most legendary and gifted members of the Mechanicum even in the age of the Great Crusade. By the age of five, he could speak over 50 dialects and quickly became a renowned Tech-Priest who was able to successfully navigate the hazardous catacombs and tech-vaults beneath Mars' surface and recover STC fragments and artifacts. Known to the greater Mechanicum as an unparalleled genius but also arrogant and disrespectful, he was also notable for having few outward bionic enhancements.[4a]
First Expedition
Land led a three-year expedition into the Librarius Omnis in search of a functioning STC database[1], resulting in the recovery of the blueprints for Land's Raider-Pattern Main Battle Tank, Land's Crawler multi-purpose heavy utility vehicle, the Mars Universal Land Engine (the basis of the Onager Dunecrawler)[3], and the information on rare anti-gravitic plates used in Land's Speeder, all of which are named for him[2a]. In the 41st Millennium, some sources incorrectly state he died before seeing the practical implementation of the anti-gravitic plates he discovered.[2b]
Land's discoveries drew the attention of the Emperor of Mankind, his discoveries finding wide use in the Legio Custodes who used a variety of Grav-Tanks powered by Land's anti-gravitic plates as well as the Paragon Pattern Jetbike. Shortly after the recovery of Angron, Arkhan Land was personally assigned by the Emperor to aid Him in His attempt to cure the Primarch of the Butcher's Nails. Only Land could confirm the Emperor's belief that the Butcher's Nails were based on the ancient cruciamen, a technology referred to in profane texts in the Hexarchion Vaults.[4a]
Horus Heresy
Land revered the Emperor as the Omnissiah, and as such stayed loyal to him during the Horus Heresy. He was evacuated from Mars by Sergeant Nicanor Tullus of the Imperial Fists on the orders of First Captain Sigismund. As Land and Tullus made their way to the lander that would take them to safety, they were attacked by a Vorax Class Robot sent by the Dark Mechanicum to kill Land rather than let his talents be removed to Terra. Tullus gave his life to buy Land the time to escape along with other loyalist Tech-Priests.[5]
Although he and Fabricator GeneralKane shared a mutual disdain for one another, Land's knowledge of forbidden weaponisation gleaned from the Hexarchion Vaults and good standing with the Custodes prompted Kane to seek his assistance in the ascension of Magos Domina Hieronyma into the Archimandrite[4a]. He accompanied the Archimandrite into the webway, bringing his personal Grav-Raider and Psyber-Monkey Sapien with him.[4b] When they arrived in Calastar as it was falling to the enemy, Land was visibly shaken by the sight of daemons.[4c]
Second Expedition
Land led a second expedition into the Librarius Omnis which went missing. Two centuries after his expedition was declared lost, his vox diary was found - it spoke of how his team had been picked off one by one by an unknown entity, believed to have been a psychic entity[2a]. Some contest the nature of the entity, claiming it was a sentient virus or mutant.[1]
Legacy
Land is so revered a figure in the Adeptus Mechanicus that his followers amount to a sub-cult that call themselves Landites (or Landists). They seek to continue the work of Land and research the many STC variants of his work.[2a]
Publications
Worthy Notes and Treatises of Direct Relevance to Land’s Raider-Pattern Main Battle Tank: The Rebirth of an Ancient Miracle - an essay in rebuttal of the trend among the Legiones Astartes of referring to Land's Raider-Pattern Main Battle Tank simply as a Land Raider.[2a]
Sources
- 1: White Dwarf 245 (UK), pg. 21
- 2: Imperial Armour Volume Two - Space Marines and Forces of the Inquisition
- 3: Codex: Skitarii (7th Edition) pg.31
- 4: Master of Mankind (Novel)
- 5: Into Exile (Short Story)
