Civilian Factories served much the same purpose as the original version. They could produce all kinds of "consumer goods" and could also accelerate real-world infrastructure construction.
Some of the thirteen laborers should originally have been kept back to maintain basic livelihoods, but perhaps Huron's system had no such mechanism, so all of them could be deployed.
Thus, once the transformation of all the recruits was complete, Huron eagerly gathered the "Badab Government" group led by Odinson for a small meeting.
This group numbered around a hundred people. Most were recruits transformed from administrative personnel, while a small number were Chaplains and Librarians.
Although quite a few of them had management experience, and Odinson had genuinely served as a Planetary Governor for many years, the group as a whole was still a makeshift operation.
Because the standard system of the Warhammer world was the classic "my vassal's vassal is not my vassal." The Administratum did not concern itself with how Planetary Governors ruled, Planetary Governors did not concern themselves with how nobles ruled, and nobles did not concern themselves with how the heads of their subordinate forces ruled.
As long as enough taxes were paid and no one loudly called for rebellion, all was well.
On Huron's Panel, this was reflected in the puppet state of Planet Badab, where one circle contained another. Not to mention organizations such as Ecclesiarchy and Adeptus Arbites fortresses, there were also the former Planetary Governor, nobles, guilds, gangs, and merchant associations piled atop one another, creating a whole mess of factions.
The area actually controlled by the Astral Claws Chapter was only part of Palatos Hive, the planet's largest Hive City.
Naturally, such a shitty system could not satisfy Huron's ambitions. Even if he could not achieve intense centralization, he at least needed orders to come from a single source. What was the point of maintaining so many factions?
The system's judgment of "factions" was not arbitrary. First, they had to be independent forces, and then they had to possess actual mutual interests for it to count.
In other words, these people were running independent kingdoms all over his planet.
Therefore, Huron's first demand of Odinson was to cast off the nobles of Badab's old system as much as possible and establish a centralized, unified administrative structure.
Odinson looked troubled. "Chapter Master, that will be too difficult. Even setting aside the various industries controlled and monopolized by those nobles, we simply do not have enough manpower."
As an old noble who had spent so long within the highly militarized Astral Claws Chapter, Odinson naturally understood Huron's desire for centralization.
But for that very reason, he understood even better how difficult it would be to establish such a system with only around a hundred "superhumans."
What was needed was not a small number of superhumans, but a vast number of grassroots administrative personnel.
Based on his experience, governing Palatos Hive's population of twenty billion through such a system would, even by optimistic estimates, require around one billion lower-level civil servants.
Even if they governed only part of the Hive City in the early stages, they would still need millions, perhaps tens of millions, of people.
The Astral Claws, even counting Chapter Serfs, had only a population of several hundred thousand. The Chapter Master also demanded that they avoid relying on the old noble system as much as possible. Where were they supposed to find all those people?
Huron patted Odinson on the shoulder and reassured him. "Don't worry. I have received the Emperor's blessing. The Auxilia will soon train a large batch of administrative personnel fit for use. For now, you only need to put the framework in place."
These past few days, Huron had constantly spoken of the Emperor's blessing. Yet the successful transformation of more than a thousand Battle-Brothers was undeniable, and so were the weapons and equipment delivered every day. Thus, most people had accepted Huron's identity as one of the Emperor's Chosen, or even a Living Saint.
As a result, the proposal to reorganize the Chapter Serfs and establish a larger, more detailed, and more specialized Chapter Auxiliary passed smoothly.
Hearing the Chapter Master's assurance, Odinson relaxed slightly and began discussing with the others how to build this system.
Since Huron had forbidden them from copying the Chapter's model of extreme military rule, the management team could only seek answers from their past experience.
But the administrative personnel Huron had promised had not yet arrived, and they had no idea what quality the first batch of Chapter Auxiliary would possess. Their discussions were therefore mostly empty talk, which was why Huron considered the "Badab Government" a makeshift operation.
After listening to their discussion for a while, Huron motioned for them to stop. "Set the rest aside for now. Our first objective is to control essential materials and industries, such as food, water, energy, and air circulation, so that we will not be at the mercy of the nobles after falling out with them."
After thinking briefly, Odinson offered his idea. "In that case, our first objective could be expanding Corpse Starch production."
Huron was somewhat curious. "Why?"
Odinson displayed the data on the tablet in his hand to Huron. "Because we happen to possess the relevant resources. After the nobles who colluded with Xenos to smuggle addictive neurodrugs rebelled, quite a few Corpse Starch guilds and merchant associations joined them. We now control the assets of those traitors."
The opportunity for Huron to declare himself Badab Sector Governor had arisen when several Badab nobles who had colluded with Xenos in smuggling rebelled, attempting to overthrow the former Planetary Governor's rule.
After the Astral Claws Chapter was invited to suppress the rebellion, the insurgents were swiftly crushed, and their assets naturally fell into the Chapter's hands.
Although many nobles now sought to argue their case and absorb those assets, especially the former Planetary Governor, they did not dare act too outrageously while the Astral Claws were determined to put down roots on Badab.
Huron glanced over the relevant data. There were quite a number of Corpse Starch Factories and production facilities among them. If these resources could be consolidated and utilized, feeding Palatos Hive was at least not a problem.
And being able to eat one's fill was already a dream for Hive City residents, especially Underhivers.
Huron already had an idea.
"Thanks" to the Empire's upper class fearing and rejecting self-evolving Iron Men, that attitude had filtered downward, leaving the lower classes equally disgusted by things such as electronics and automated machinery.
The result was that many industries retained a considerable number of manual stages. Compared with artificial intelligence, most people preferred skilled human labor.
Odinson's planned Starch Factory expansion project was the same. Under his plan, a total of roughly one hundred million people would need to be mobilized as laborers.
This manpower would mainly be used for transportation, loading and unloading, and installation. Only the remaining high-end technical work would use machinery.
As for these people's wages?
Odinson believed the Chapter Master was relatively friendly toward ordinary people, so he had arranged quite generous treatment for the workers.
Not only would food be provided, but additional Starch and Vitamin Pills would also be distributed as wages and bonuses.
Subway, elderly person, phone.jpg
Huron's brows knotted tightly when he saw this. What made him feel even worse was that, according to his memories, Odinson's arrangement really was considered extremely benevolent.
Not only did it provide food, it also included additional wages and bonuses. Vitamin Pills were genuine luxury goods and could even be used as medicine by Underhivers.
But precisely because of this, Huron decided that the first batch of Auxilia personnel would be selected from among these workers and their families.
So long as they could eat and drink their fill, the lower classes of the Warhammer world were quite obedient. After all, under ten thousand years of large-scale artificial selection, the disobedient ones had long since been purged.
And Odinson's generosity was enough to make these Underhivers deeply grateful, further strengthening the Auxilia's stability.
Only at times like this could Huron feel the madness of the Warhammer world. But he could do nothing about it. He could only use the system to change the current state of affairs as quickly as possible.
Before you continue