Standard Template Construct

The STC (Standard Template Construct) systems were complex analytical and processing systems created in the Dark Age of Technology. They are said to have contained the entirety of human technological knowledge up to that point.

The Dark Age of Technology was the high point of Man's technological achievement, occurring long before the emergence of the Emperor near the end of the Age of Strife. Following the Age of Technology, the systems became increasingly rare, until becoming lost entirely. In the current Age of the Imperium, the ancient technological knowledge survives only because it was preserved in STC hard copies.

Along with the creation of Warp Drive technology and the human mutants known as Navigators, the STC system was one of the major factors in mankind's expansion outside the solar system and his conquest of the stars. The STC allowed disparate mankind to maintain a standard level of technology.

Design

The STC system was an evolved computer designed to provide construction details for colonists. Each group of colonists carried such a system. It enabled the colonists to build efficient shelters, generators and transports without any prior knowledge and using almost any locally available materials. The user simply asked how to built a house or a tractor and the computer supplied all the necessary plans.

Origins

The STC systems were created during the period known as the Dark Age of Technology. From the period of M21 to M23, this age saw the original development of the technology the Imperium is now founded on.

The Age of Strife

During the Age of Strife, the STC systems lapsed into disuse and decayed, becoming increasingly unreliable and quirky. On some worlds they were maintained, but most suffered damage by enthusiastic software specialists or subsequent jury-rigging. Hard copies of the information they contained survived much longer, and were frequently copied and passed down from generation to generation.

The Age of the Imperium

In the Age of the Imperium, working STCs are unknown.

The recovery of a working STC system is the primary focus of the Adeptus Mechanicus's quest for knowledge. Part of this quest is also to find, collate and utilise STC print-outs. The STC is their equivalent to the font of all knowledge (which is exactly what it was intended to be). Ancient recovered print-outs from STCs are regarded as sacred texts. The Mechanicus strives to recover as much information as possible from them, hoping to find new knowledge, weapons and technologies. Although the most advanced technological information eludes the Adeptus Mechanicus, through their efforts, much has been either recovered or reconstructed through comparison of copies.

Probably the most significant find of an STC fragment was by Magos Arkhan Land in M31. This fragment contained the templates for the construction of the now famous Land Raider Main Battle Tank, the Land Speeder, all named in honour of their discoverer.⁵

Any rumours of a working STC system are taken at their word and expeditions are sent to locate it⁶.

If a working STC could be found, it would revolutionize the entire Imperium. The technologies lost during the Age of Strife would bring humankind back to its zenith of power, pushing the boundaries of the Imperium further, and emasculating the aliens threatening mankind.

Significant STC discoveries

A Standard Template Constructor was discovered on the planet Menazoid Epsilon¹, during the Sabbat Crusade by Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt. It produced the legendary Men of Iron. However, the Constructor had been corrupted by the influence of Chaos, and was subsequently destroyed by the Tanith First and Only regiment of the Imperial Guard.

A STC library is located on the planet Hito². This planet escaped the Warp and was reclaimed by the Imperium. The library was hidden by the local Order of Heavenly Virtues who managed to deceive Imperial agents.

An original STC Titan, a "Castigor-class autonomous bipedal weapons platform, created for fire support and siege operations", was discovered on the planet Chaeroneia³. It was quite larger than an Imperator Titan and of superior technology.

Sources

• ¹First And Only by Dan Abnett
• ²Deathwing, short-story Monastery of Death by Charles Stross
• ³Dark Adeptus by Ben Counter
• ⁴Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, by Rick Priestley
• ⁵UK White Dwarf 245, pg 21, by Gav Thorpe
• ⁶Codex Imperialis, pg 42, by Rick Priestley