Forging Master

A Forge Master is essentially a Space Marine Chapter's foreign exchange student sent to Mars, who, after graduating and accumulating extensive experience as a Techmarine, possesses knowledge and skills comparable to an Adeptus Mechanicus Sage, thus qualifying them to become the Chapter's Forge Master.

The primary reason for sending individuals to study abroad is that since the Dark Age of Technology, Old Night led to a massive loss of human technology. Even after the Great Crusade and ten thousand years of the Imperium's efforts, humanity has yet to restore its former glory.

This has resulted in a situation where much of the technology available to humans today is only understood in terms of how to use it.

Let alone production and manufacturing, even maintenance is a niche area of expertise, tightly controlled and monopolized by the Adeptus Mechanicus.

All of the Imperium's weaponry and equipment are produced and maintained by the Adeptus Mechanicus. This stems from an agreement personally signed by the Emperor with Mars, and there are no exceptions throughout the entire Imperium.

Although various Legions retained some equipment research and production capabilities in the early Imperium, and the Adeptus Mechanicus's position declined somewhat after the Martian civil war during the Horus Heresy, its monopoly on technology is even stronger than it was ten thousand years ago.

If a "bro" thinks that after transmigrating to the Warhammer world, he can produce his own weapons and equipment to break the Adeptus Mechanicus's monopoly, the reality is that no one will buy the equipment he produces without the Adeptus Mechanicus's permission.

The Adeptus Mechanicus could even declare "bro" a Tech-Heretic and send a Titan Legion to blast him into oblivion.

Don't be surprised. The Adeptus Mechanicus can really do this, and the Imperium would even help by authorizing an Exterminatus.

In such circumstances, Space Marine Chapters are also forced to rely on the Adeptus Mechanicus for the maintenance and manufacturing of their technical equipment.

Chapters with more resources, such as the Ultramarines with their deep connections, can keep a few Adeptus Mechanicus Sages within their Chapter to help manage and maintain various weapons and equipment. The Tech-Priest teams led by these Sages can also provide excellent service to the Chapter.

However, even the Ultramarines still maintain a significant number of Techmarines and Forge Masters.

Meanwhile, Chapters like the Dark Angels, who have no secrets, the Iron Hands, who have already undergone mechanical ascension, and the Salamanders, who have a knack for forging, each have their own unique skills.

Even so, they still need to send people to Mars to study in order to train Techmarines and Forge Masters.

This also means that, in a sense, Techmarines are the most ostracized roles in a Chapter, because their long period of studying on Mars weakens their emotional connection with their Chapter brothers.

Moreover, worshipping the Omnissiah and the Machine God inevitably creates a slight conflict of faith with the Chapter's generally popular worship of the Emperor, even though both are officially sanctioned Imperial faiths.

As for the Forge Master, although they are a highly experienced, important, and respected figure in the Chapter, they are also arguably the Chapter high-ranking officer furthest removed from the Chapter's power center.

With the exception of the Iron Hands and Salamanders, it is rare for Forge Masters to hold important positions in other Chapters, or even become Chapter Masters.

And for the current Rostov II, a Forge Master is of extraordinary significance.

This is not just about being able to restrain Ovilia; a Forge Master represents a Space Marine Chapter.

The power that a Space Marine Chapter can bring to bear is far greater than that of an exiled Tech-Heretic, even if it is a Sage.

An Adeptus Mechanicus Sage can provide many things that are not always immediately apparent, especially in terms of combat effectiveness. After all, not every Sage is Belisarius Cawl, capable of pulling out ten Chapters at any moment.

But a Space Marine Chapter, no matter how poor or desperate, can still deploy a squad of Astartes.

And the official description of a five-man squad of generic Space Marines is that they are sufficient to quell a planetary rebellion.

Therefore, when a Deathwatch Chapter Forge Master appeared at Rostov II's spaceport, all the planet's dignitaries were alarmed. The treatment and attitude they showed were even more grand than when Chen Xi took office.

Chen Xi didn't care much about this, after all, an Inquisitorial Planetary Governor could not compare to a Forge Master from a special Chapter like the Deathwatch.

After a brief welcoming ceremony, Chen Xi took the shop owner, now going by the name Farlan Gutierrez, and Mai Mai, now going by the name Mai Ling, onto the orbital elevator.

"Gutierrez's identity is a Blackshield Forge Master from the Deathwatch. You'll claim your original Chapter was the Imperial Fists," Chen Xi was reconfirming their identities to avoid any oversights. "And Mai Mai, you are a Rogue Trader named Mai Ling, my Inquisitorial acolyte, with a Rogue Trader Warrant signed by the Primarch Ferrus Manus. But you are currently using an ordinary High Lord-issued Warrant. Fill in the name of your Rogue Trader Dynasty yourself.

Also, Twilight, as a Navy Captain, is responsible for commanding the Sword-class Frigate we exchanged for and will not be landing on the surface for the time being. Are you all clear on this information?"

"Clear, but my Volkite Pistol and Forged Great-Axe are currently unusable. They're just decorations. The prompt says I need to unlock them with points," Gutierrez explained his situation to Chen Xi.

Although he had successfully activated this custom-made pawn using Adventure Mode, allowing him to use a Space Marine character, the Relic equipment and special weapons he possessed were restricted and temporarily unusable.

"Who told you to add so much stuff to yourself? But it's not a big problem for now. Just go down and kill a few Flayed Ones to solve the problem. You should have enough points then," Chen Xi glanced at the Relic Volkite Pistol and the Forged Great-Axe modified with a Necron Phase Blade on Gutierrez's body and couldn't help but shake his head.

Originally, according to the Servo-skull in charge of the transmigration, each of them would have a budget of one hundred points in Adventure Mode to add equipment to their pawns.

After all, Command Mode allowed them to deploy an entire squad, so there was no reason why Adventure Mode should only allow them to use blank characters.

But after discussing it with his three friends, Chen Xi decided to pool their four people's points together to exchange for a Sword-class Frigate.

The exchange cost of 300 points almost emptied their four people's coffers. Mai Mai and Twilight were now both blank characters using blank weapons.

Fortunately, Rogue Traders and Navy Captains didn't need to be heavily involved in combat, and there was no danger in staying on the ship most of the time.

After all, although the Sword-class Frigate was called a frigate, it was still 1.6 kilometers long and had a crew of over 26,000.

The main reason for exchanging for this ship was to facilitate future actions.

After all, a warship, even if it was just a frigate, could conduct orbital bombardments and Warp travel, which was very helpful in expanding their range of activities and improving their ability to respond to various problems.