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Fortress-monastery

From Lexicanum

Fortress-monasteries are enormous fortresses where Space Marine chapters have their headquarters. Chapters are highly monastic as well as military organizations, their fighting members are all warrior-monks, their fortress-monasteries devoted both to battle and worship.

Fortress-monasteries are based on Imperial worlds, or deserted moons and asteroids. In the case of fleet-based chapters the chapter flagship serves as a mobile fortress-monastery. The locations of some chapter planets are hidden while others are well-known. The preferred location for a fortress monastery is an Imperial world, which the Chapter Master is sometimes also the planetary governor of. In other cases the Chapter Master will make a deal with the existing planetary governor, paying a tithe in return for the land they occupy. They are usually welcomed by governors, as the presence of Space Marines deters invasion.

The Fortress-Monastery of the Space Wolves

In the original Rogue Trader rulebook, the Space Wolves fortress-monastery was given a detailed description, and presented as a typical fortress of the Space Marines. At the time, their fortress-monastery was based on a world called Lucan; however by Second Edition it was located on Fenris.

Company Chapel

This is both the most commonly found room in a fortress-monastery and also the most commonly used room for worship of the Emperor. Part of the regime of the Space Marines involves the recitation of litanies and battle-prayers, and these occur here.

Penitorium

Brothers requiring to pay some form of penance for a transgression are placed here. Other non-brother criminals are not placed within the Penitorium as it is strictly used for internal affairs.

Private Chambers

These are the offices used by the Masters of the Orders in the Space Wolves fortress-monastery. These include the Master of the Ships, Forge, Apothacarion and Ordnance.

Communal Dormitories

These chambers are used by the non-combat members of the chapter, including slaves, servants, technicians and naval personnel. They are less Spartan than those of the battle-brothers.

Guest Chambers

These chambers are luxurious compared to other chambers in the base and are reserve only for important visitors. They each have a private chapel built within and generally contain visiting members of the administratum.

Foundries

The foundries are where the weapons and equipment of the chapter are created and repaired. The Space Wolves foundries are large and well stocked to keep up with the constant demand put on them. Those who work within the foundries are known as Brother Artisans but are ruled over by the Master of the Forge. The testing and weapons grounds are located close by for easy access.

Shuttle Silos

The bulk of the Space Wolves' fleet is located in orbit and the only vessels located within the fortress are those required to get to the fleet, mostly including couriers and transport vessels.

Teleportorium

These teleporter rooms are spread throughout the base in four places and are the primary means of getting from the surface to the fleet. They are known as Teleportorium One, Two, Three and Four and One is used to receive guests.

Launcher Pads

There are twenty four aircraft in underground hangers including four large transports and eight high speed scouts and they are surrounded by diamantine armour casing in the walls, possibly as a last escape mechanism.

Armoury

The armoury is a large underground complex. Its main lift shaft is shielded by double-thickness ceramite-cored doors to protect it if the base is ever breached. The bulk of the complex is taken up with four large ammunition stores which are individually shielded with stasis fields and seven layers of laminated armour which means that even if one of the dumps fully explodes, it can be contained and prevent the others from exploding. The security for the whole complex falls to the Master of Ordnance and each armoury may only be entered in his presence due to requiring his gene-print as well as a coded signal. This can be overridden by the Chapter Master alone who knows the secret password to open the doors in an emergency.

Apothacarion

All of the advanced medical care takes place in the Apothacarion and it combines all the resources of a hospital, research centre and bio-lab. The medical staff have quarters above the Apothacarion and the servants and nurses live below it. The Master of the Apothacarion is in overall command of the area and is in charge of the surgical process of making a human into a Space Marine.

Assimularum

This is the second largest room in the complex besides the Great Hall and can house the entire chapter. It is used for mass gatherings and meetings as well as mass feasts. Speakers will address the gathered marines from a raised dais in front of the alter. During great feasts the high table is placed in the dais where Commander Enoch and the Masters of the Chapter will sit (Enoch, the Lord Lucan, is, in the original background, the Chapter Master of the Space Wolves). Screens usually cover the Reclusiam behind the alter however when the room is used for religious ceremonies they are removed.

Reclusiam

The Reclusiam is usually partitioned from the Assimularum by a screen, and is used only for cult activities. It is looked after by a religious officer known as a Reclusiarch and the chapter's holy relics and many of their most precious battle trophies are kept here. The Reclusiarch has an office off to one side, and there are three private chapels dedicated to Leman Russ, The Emperor Deified and The Emperor Oracular.

Refectory

This area is for the main dining procedures and includes kitchens, store-rooms, disposal units and purification vats. The strict and simple diet of the fighting warriors are augmented by a complex bio-chem designed to maintain their superior bodies. Meals are eaten in silence following prayers of thanks by the most senior brother present.

Oratorium

There are several Oratorium spread throughout the base and are used for private meetings, lectures, briefings and small assemblies.

Librarium

The Librarium is more than a collection of books as it also acts as the central repository of records and the main seat of communications. The chapter's astropaths spend most of their time here, monitoring and broadcasting messages from the base. The Chief Librarian is in overall command of the written histories and communications within and without the base as well as the base defences. These defences are controlled from an armoured room in the Librarium. Based within this room are also the Communications Officers and a number of librarians, astropaths and technical assistants.

Cells

A cell is given to a brother to live in. They are arranged in blocks of ten, directly related to the members of a fighting squad with each of the ten blocks representing a company. Each block has a small administrative office and the private chambers of the captain.

Hydro-culture

This area contains a supply of local produce and exotic or seasonal vegetables collected and grown for the benefit of the chapter. Other chapters often maintain much larger facilities than the Space Wolves however.

Terrarium

This space is dedicated to the maintenance and propagation of plants from throughout the galaxy. It provides both a restful area and a source for some of the drugs used in the Apothacarion.

Scriptory

There are several Scriptories spread around the base and they provide instant access to unclassified Librarium files. These are accessed through a computer terminal and allows users to select, consult and record new entries for the main library.

Solitorium

The Solitorium is a remote location (outside the fortress) designed to provide brothers with a space for contemplation. It can be occupied for anything from a few days to years on end. Marines who seek promotion are expected to search their souls and go through self-deprivation for weeks on end to prove their worth.

Dungeon

The Dungeons lie deep beneath the Apothacarion and are home to the common prisoners, but not brothers who would be placed in the Penitorium. The walls are lined with reinforced diamantine although prisoners don't spend long in the dungeons before being taken to the Apothacarion for interrogation.

Generatorum

The power source for the fortress-monastery on Lucan is a group of four huge crystal-piles which penetrate the surface of the planet and convert underground heat into energy via a phased crystal interface (presumably there are many other ways of generating energy on this scale, this is but one example of the possibilities).

Defence Laser

These lasers are mounted in armoured turrets and thirty two of them remain permanently switched on. The other eighty eight may be brought to bear within four days of activation.

Local Defences

The perimeter of the base is covered by 317 separate weapons turrets including four laser cannons and a missile launcher in each.

Missile Silos

Over 400 Missile Silos are spread over Lucan and are the main force of the Space Wolves' ground to orbit weapons. They are each controlled from the armoured room within the Librarium.

Catacombs

The catacombs are the burial place for the Space Wolves and are home to many ancient heroes of the chapter.

Great Hall

The Great Hall is the first room you come to when entering the base. It is designed to awe the visiting guests and is the largest single room on the planet (Lucan). It contains many of the battle trophies of the Space Wolves and paintings of famous battles are displayed on the walls. Ancient weaponry and armour from as far back as the Horus Heresy are on display behind plexi-glass. The spacecraft Medusa, flown by Leman Russ himself, hangs from the ceiling of the room and spans its entire length.