Warhammer: Starting as a Planetary Governor-Chapter 234 - 235: Ancient Aeldari Technology—The Ultimate Automated Production Facilities?

Vmmmm—

The survey ship hovered in midair. Through the domed bridge window, Eden gazed upon a breathtaking sight.

Right before them lay the convergence of several Webway paths, and at the center stood an ancient Aeldari city.

The city extended in a full 360° layout. Its impossible dimensions alone could disorient any observer, and a thin layer of energy shielding enveloped its outskirts.

"What a magnificent piece of city-building. It's a pity that the psychic barrier around it is distorting the surrounding space. We've tried multiple times, but we just can't get in."

Kaul was both anxious and regretful.

Eden looked at the ruins of the city, feeling a slight stir in his heart—he seemed able to sense that psychic barrier?

It appeared that, when the Goddess of Life bestowed her life essence upon him, it also included something related to Aeldari psychic energies.

"Head in that direction. Let's try one more time…" He casually pointed a finger, instructing the captain to continue forward.

Once again, the survey ship began to move slowly, heading toward the shimmering barrier.

"Will it really work?"

Busy with his calculations, Kaul was somewhat skeptical. "That's a psychic, Warp-based barrier. It's simply impossible to cross it using physical means."

"Behold, my genius calculations! Everyone, look!"

Suddenly, he cheered, displaying rows of data.

Eden took one glance at the densely packed symbols and binary characters, understood nothing, yet nodded anyway.

"Great, very complicated indeed. Just tell us the conclusion."

"Based on the barrier's energy frequency, it's about to run out of power."

"How long do we have to wait?"

"There's some volatility in the data—anywhere between one second and ten years, give or take."

Kaul looked quite pleased with himself.

"In other words, we can just sit tight and wait for the barrier to fade. Maybe it'll disappear in the next second."

Eden stared at the barrier as if waiting for something, then raised his head. "Alright, one second has passed. The barrier's still here. Let's just accelerate and fly through."

Following his order, the survey ship's thrusters flared, pushing it rapidly toward the barrier.

Eden closed his eyes slightly, extending his psychic presence to make contact with the barrier. He could feel the psychic field woven within.

Before long, his psychic awareness merged with it—and in an instant, he sensed everything, a marvelous sensation.

It was as though he'd been plugged into some neural interface, controlling the barrier without any instruments at all.

It was remarkably smooth.

The Aeldari truly possessed extraordinary technology!

Just as the survey ship was about to touch the barrier, Eden used his psychic awareness to manipulate it, opening a passageway.

Then the ship flew inside, almost as if it leapt across infinite space, suddenly emerging above the city.

At once, the passengers had a grand, unobstructed view.

They were really inside?

Seeing this, Kaul was stunned, speechless for a moment. "H-how did you manage that?"

"It's merely careful observation, combined with seasoned psychic abilities."

Eden made up some excuse, then patted him on the shoulder. "Going forward, spend more time studying psychic-related knowledge. It'll help you research this city."

That said, he turned to observe the imposing metropolis.

Suspended above the city was a streamlined artifact that warped the nearby space and light ever so slightly. Its exact purpose was unclear.

The city was even larger than he'd imagined—almost the size of a small hive city, easily accommodating tens of billions of inhabitants.

That was truly astounding.

It would require an incredibly advanced level of technology and a massive amount of resources to build a city powered by psychic energies inside the Webway, rife with anti-psyker materials.

In the Imperium's current state, there was simply no way to accomplish such a feat.

Fortunately, Eden didn't need to build anything from scratch; salvaging this site was enough.

A huge win!

From the look of it, this city was in relatively good shape. There was hardly any sign of ruin, and it seemed almost frozen in time since its abandonment.

Many technological constructs were still operating.

That alone was peculiar—like the inhabitants had vanished in an instant, leaving behind a solitary city.

Actually, Eden's earlier remark to Kaul was on point: to study Aeldari technology, one must first understand psychic power.

It could be said that the ancient Aeldari pushed the boundaries of psychic tech to the extreme.

As one of the galaxy's oldest races, the ancient Aeldari boasted highly advanced science and incredibly developed psychic abilities.

Their former empire was far beyond today's Imperium—some say they ruled a million stars, spanning the entire galaxy.

Legend has it that before their downfall, the entire Aeldari species was linked by a unified psychic field, remaining in contact regardless of distance.

This was part of the reason Eden could take control of the barrier via that psychic field.

At its zenith, the Aeldari Empire constructed magnificent, flourishing worlds.

They terraformed countless planets into paradises, casually traversed the galaxy using Webway technology left behind by the Old Ones, and crushed any opposition they encountered.

They ruled the galaxy.

After that, they leveraged advanced automation for virtually all their work, rendering the majority of individual labor obsolete.

Meanwhile, humanity's ancestors—those early hominids on Terra—were just learning to walk upright, using wooden clubs to bash the heads of prey.

Back then, the Aeldari Empire had likely reached the upper limits of what a civilization could achieve.

For them, the stars were mere toys, something they could extinguish and reignite at a whim.

Surfing on solar flares was a casual pastime; any whim they had could be realized just by thinking it.

Dying was like going offline for a rest. Once they'd had enough "downtime," they'd return to life and carry on.

Art, architecture, entertainment—every domain imaginable had reached its zenith.

And they enjoyed unimaginably long lifespans.

Yet this became their downfall. With so much time on their hands and nearly no responsibilities, no enemies, and all desires so easily fulfilled, they grew bored with their own perfection.

As soon as something was obtained, no matter how wonderful, it quickly became dull.

Thus, the Aeldari began their descent into degeneracy.

Many started to pursue lives of extravagance, sensation-seeking, and hedonism.

They indulged to the point of self-destruction, forever searching for a higher level of stimulation. Over their long lifespans, they indeed found ever more extreme ways to "have fun."

Even a simple sporting event might devolve into a battle royale, with participants competing to see who could hack off the most limbs, or whose death could be the most gruesome.

Their thresholds grew higher and higher, and normal pleasures no longer satisfied them.

Eventually, this escalated into the most twisted forms of sadomasochism.

They used potions that magnified their senses tens or hundreds of times, then inflicted unspeakable torments on themselves.

By then, the Aeldari had utterly fallen. Even the once-unified psychic field that bound them was shattered.

Isha, the Aeldari Goddess of Life, was the first to discover this corruption, weeping as she warned the Aeldari pantheon.

Yet by then, the Aeldari gods were consumed with infighting, forbidding any deity from seizing new worshippers or interfering in the physical realm.

By the time they realized the dire situation, it was already too late.

They no longer commanded the devotion of the hedonistic Aeldari. Their power waned dramatically, leaving them helpless against the race's moral collapse.

Many among the Aeldari even believed themselves to be gods, discarding their idols into sewers.

A few rational, restrained, and prudent individuals felt fear and left the empire.

But their departure only accelerated the downfall of those who remained.

The entire Aeldari race was like a runaway truck plunging off a cliff, driving itself ever faster toward oblivion.

Their empire sank into lawlessness, depravity, and evil. All these extreme emotions fueled a new entity in the Warp.

In a cataclysmic Warp storm of unprecedented scale, it all climaxed.

Their depravity birthed a new Chaos God—Slaanesh, the ultimate perversion of the Warp!

The moment Slaanesh was born, a massive rift tore open in realspace, what the Imperium now calls the Eye of Terror.

Nearly all Aeldari dropped dead on the spot, bodies disintegrating instantly.

Slaanesh devoured almost the entirety of their emotional power, becoming one of the most potent Warp entities.

Then Slaanesh declared total war on the Aeldari pantheon and their worshippers.

Those Aeldari gods, having lost nearly all faith-based support, were unable to resist and were nearly annihilated.

Only three Aeldari gods survived.

Cegorach, the Laughing God, fled outright.

Khaine, the God of War, was smashed to pieces.

The most tragic fate befell the Goddess Isha, captured by Slaanesh for unspeakable torments before being seized by Nurgle and locked away in his garden to steep in plague-broth.

She remains there even now.

So it was that the Aeldari destroyed themselves and dragged their own gods down with them.

Yet a portion of the Aeldari survived, becoming the Craftworld Aeldari or Exodites.

And there was also the Dark Eldar.

Their mere existence proves how powerful the Aeldari Empire once was.

Take the Craftworld Aeldari, for instance:

Their craftworlds are, strictly speaking, massive starships.

In human terms, they're like enormous transport trucks.

Except each "truck" is roughly the size of a planet, enhanced by spatial compression technology so that its interior is even bigger than it appears on the outside.

They wield exceptionally advanced tech.

Which means that even after the Aeldari fell and their empire collapsed—reduced, as it were, to "living out of trucks"—they remain one of the galaxy's mightiest powers.

Eden's thoughts flashed by.

He gazed at the city ruins below, excitement welling within him.

This discovery alone showed how extraordinary and precious this unspoiled Aeldari city truly was.

It was a relic from the era of the Aeldari's greatest glory!

How much of its technology they might be able to absorb depended on the research capabilities of the Adeptus Mechanicus under Kaul.

Eden had faith in Kaul's skill.

Truth be told, Eden would have loved it even more if the city had been a leftover from humanity's Dark Age of Technology.

Those technologies would be better suited to human systems.

Indeed, humanity, too, had once prospered.

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Like the Aeldari, humanity had enjoyed an age of splendor, building a shining civilization.

During the Golden Age of Technology, humanity offloaded virtually all production and combat tasks onto advanced AI and machines.

With this mechanical aid, they thrived beyond measure. Their tech was so advanced that rending stars or even manipulating time was trivial.

As machine intelligence pushed its own limits, humans began to regress, no longer understanding the inventions their AI had produced.

They were, in a sense, parasites living off a machine civilization.

Eventually, the Men of Iron rebelled, resulting in a great war.

Humanity quelled the rebellion but fell from its heights of prosperity, plunging into an age of darker technology.

During that time, STCs were the only spark preserving the old knowledge.

Fortunately, a golden champion—the Emperor—emerged, uniting mankind on a grand crusade and building the Imperium.

It gave humanity a chance to rise again.

But all that was halted by Horus's betrayal, along with the schemes of the Chaos Gods.

Now the Emperor sits enthroned in the Warp like a golden sun, while the Imperium teeters on the brink.

Reflecting on humanity's history, Eden couldn't help wondering: if mankind were to achieve such prosperity again, would it meet a similar doom?

After a moment's thought, he decided not to pursue that question.

It was too early to worry about it.

After all, in the current Imperium, most people don't even have a hot meal and could die any day.

Under these conditions, worrying about the trials of a utopian future is a bit premature.

He would leave it to his future self. One day, trust in the wisdom of those who come after.

For now, his priority was reviving the Imperium.

As one of humanity's deified figures, if mankind collapsed, he wouldn't fare much better.

Chaos would likely hunt him down, and Slaanesh might capture him for torment.

"I carry a heavy burden…"

Eden couldn't help sighing.

He now ruled a sector, bearing the lives of billions.

He had to become stronger by any means necessary to protect them.

For Eden, faith was the foundation of everything.

How to develop his domain in a healthy way—so it would offer strong, positive devotion—remained his top priority.

After all, human faith can spawn beings even mightier than the Aeldari's.

Their extreme indulgence and pursuit of carnal sensation gave birth to Slaanesh.

But human zeal, suffering, loyalty, and unwavering spirit fed and sustained the Emperor—the Golden Sun.

He could overpower Slaanesh.

If Eden managed his territory well, expanded it, and improved the quality of life for his people—

He would harvest the unique power of hope, possibly becoming a mighty presence in the Warp himself.

Then he could grab Slaanesh by the throat and slam him to the ground, over and over.

That had always been Eden's personal ambition.

"My Lord Savior, why are you daydreaming again? We should get down there. There's so much good stuff to see!"

Kaul urged him excitedly.

Snapped from his musings, Eden corrected him sternly, "Daydreaming? I was deep in thought—thinking, understand?

And you're the Grand Sage now. Could you act more dignified instead of jumping around like a hyperactive simian?"

Kaul took the admonishment to heart, muttering inside: You're hardly any picture of solemnity yourself. I learned it from you!

He then asked quietly, "So…are you coming or not? If not, I'm going down myself."

"I'm coming!"

In truth, Eden was just as eager.

He followed Kaul's team from the ship, hurrying toward the city's manufacturing district.

The survey ship couldn't carry much cargo.

For Eden, advanced weapon, armor, or warp-tech were all well and good—but what he truly desired was an Aeldari automated production line.

At present, his domain did have some degree of automated assembly lines, but they could only produce simple, low-tech consumer goods.

They couldn't handle more sophisticated items like high-end weapons, power armor, or vehicles. The energy and technology simply weren't up to it, making it impossible to produce truly complex items.

His realm's output was thus severely limited.

As a result, Eden was forced to be stingy, even hesitant to expand his military.

After all, ordinary humans are physically frail. Without modern weapons and gear, they're just cannon fodder on the battlefield.

Even Space Marines can't unleash their true might without power armor and advanced armaments.

If he could bring back a set of Aeldari automated production equipment for further research and merge it with his existing technology—

They might develop a higher-level automated manufacturing system.

All the more so because the Aeldari's machinery generally runs off psychic power, using psychic energy to extract and shape raw materials.

That lines up perfectly with his domain.

His territory is short on pretty much everything—except psychic energy. The small sun he controls provides abundant warp power.

If he could devise a system that runs on psychic energy, he could free himself from the shackles of conventional fuels and produce goods at a fraction of the cost.

No matter how high the psychic consumption might be, he wouldn't mind.

If the mini-sun ever runs out, the Emperor's golden sun is another energy source.

Moreover, drawing on warp energy is a zero-cost transaction.

This energy can massively boost productivity and allow his domain to expand, its population growing.

Those people would then supply him with greater faith.

Generating even more psychic power.

Isn't that basically pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, rising in a spiral?

Meanwhile, there's no harm in siphoning power from the Emperor's golden sun. Letting the Emperor vent some warp pressure might actually help funnel more faith toward Eden's smaller sun.

So the Emperor wouldn't absorb too much and risk overloading himself on the Golden Throne, accidentally blowing open another Eye of Terror.

At that point, all humans would collectively ascend…to their doom.

But once he perfected this entire production system—unlimited warp power, psychic-based automated equipment, and the Webway for transport—

The whole galaxy would effectively become his resource depot.

He'd simply find a secure spot, mine like crazy, haul it all back through the Webway, and churn out goods.

He also had an Imperial trade permit, letting him conduct free trade throughout Imperial space in search of rarer minerals and materials.

No more worrying about lack of output.

Freed from factory drudgery, the population could be assigned to raise bigger armies or establish more colonies.

In today's galaxy, under constant threat from Chaos and xenos, the real bottleneck is manpower. They need more people, not fewer.

Just the front lines against the Ruinous Powers and the Tyranids alone would devour countless lives!

Before long—

Eden and Kaul's team arrived at the manufacturing area. What they saw left Eden astounded.

Sure, the city exterior had been impressive, but who would have thought the inside of this manufacturing plant would be so…ornate?

It looked almost like Eden's own spire mansion.

It reminded him of when he used gold, jewels, and other lavish materials to decorate a hive factory.

Clearly, he remained a nouveau riche next to the Aeldari's old-money aristocracy.

Eden decided then and there that he'd send some of his best artisans over to study the Aeldari aesthetic.

Might as well renovate his spire mansion with a bit more artistry.

Soon, Eden had his engineering teams use massive transport vehicles to haul away several sets of the Aeldari's automated production equipment.

He escorted them back to the survey ship in high spirits.

He'd bring these back first, then return with more manpower to grab as many as possible!

On the way, he considered whether he should give the Imperium a copy of whatever technology they managed to reverse-engineer.

It might help delay the Imperium's downfall.

After some thought, though, he dismissed the idea. The Imperium's decay felt inevitable.

Its internal contradictions and dogmatic thinking were deeply ingrained, unchangeable.

Should he haul all these xenos Warp-tech wonders to Terra, proclaiming, "Here, I've got a trove of high-end psychic and alien technology to help humanity thrive"?

Within seconds—

The Ecclesiarchy, Mechanicus, and Inquisition would brand him a heretic and chop him into thirteen pieces.

Besides, they probably couldn't use it anyway.

At that moment, Eden glanced at the transport vehicle hauling the Aeldari machinery and felt a surge of joy.

He could almost picture the prosperity it would bring to his domain.

"With these technologies, my realm will flourish, bursting with new vitality…"

Just as Eden finished speaking, something changed in the skies above the city.

Sizzle—

The psychic barrier encircling the Aeldari city flickered lightly, wavered a few times, and abruptly vanished.

"See? I was right! I knew the barrier would disappear sooner or later!" Kaul pointed at the sky, excited as if he'd won a bet.

Eden fixed him with an eerie stare.

"You seem awfully happy. But have you considered that we no longer have any accessible defensive measures here?"

With the barrier gone, reactivating it would require mastering Aeldari tech—nobody knew how long that would take.

A sense of foreboding welled up in Eden's mind.

Roar!

A dreadful roar rang out. In the distance, a massive figure swooped toward them…

(End of Chapter)

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