Carven of Cethlen

On the inner edge of the region known as the Halo Stars, the world of Cethlen was discovered by the Imperium. A temperate world whose topography was that of grass plains dotted with lakes and towering structures of free standing mesa landforms, Cethlen was ideal for supporting human life. Sparsely populated by a nomadic civilisation with a reverence of nature, its tribes equivalent in technological development to the Bronze Age societies of?Ancient Terra, their sect was one of ancestor veneration, raising cairns and standing stone circles to their gods, and was dismissed by Imperial authorities as harmless, and a matter for the Iterators to deal with in time. As a result, Cethlen was quickly and peaceably brought into the Imperium in 801.M30. The tribes of Cethlen appeared simple and struggled to communicate with the Imperial delegation throughout the transition, appearing to care little for the promise of enlightenment and Imperial technology. Scattered as they were, the tribes could make little protest and were largely ignored as the Imperium claimed Cethlen and the priesthood of Mars began the instalment of infrastructure and industry on their world.

在光暈群星區(qū)域的內(nèi)側(cè)邊境，帝國發(fā)現(xiàn)了名為Cethlen的世界。這顆氣候溫和星球的地形是草原，其間星羅棋布地點綴著湖泊和高聳的獨立臺地結(jié)構(gòu)，適于人類生存。當?shù)叵∈璧胤植贾鴮ψ匀粦延芯次分榈挠文廖拿鞑柯?，這些部落的科技發(fā)展水平等同于古老泰拉的青銅時代社會。他們的宗教是某種祖先崇拜的，他們?yōu)樽约旱纳窠ㄆ鹗：拓Q立的石圈，不過帝國當局認為這是無害的，應該由后續(xù)到來的殖民者及時處理。于是Cethlen在801.M30被快速且和平地納入到人類帝國。Cethlen的游牧部落們似乎是純樸良善的，他們在整個過渡期間都在努力與帝國代表團溝通；他們似乎也并不關心帝國進行啟蒙運動的承諾和帝國的技術。這些部落也頗為分散，他們幾乎無法做出抗議；而隨著帝國占有了這個世界，火星的牧師們也開始在他們的世界上分期建設基礎設施和工業(yè)設施，這些原住民在很大程度上也就被遺忘了。

Two decades after Compliance, an Imperial flotilla of the Administratum, consisting of bureaucrats and Imperial historians tasked with recording the progress of Compliant worlds, was escorted to Cethlen by the 88th Company of the War Hounds. Upon arriving at Cethlen they observed from orbit the works and technologies of the Imperium littered across the landscape, now little more than scattered ruins. The War Hounds deployed on Cethlen to investigate the Imperial losses and found the bones of?Imperial personnel stacked against grassland cairns and standing stones. Assuming perfidy on the part of the tribesmen, the War Hounds hunted down several nomadic groups through the grasslands in formations of Land's Proteus Speeders and Scimitar jetbikes, putting them to the sword though they offered no resistance and appeared to be no threat. Several such groups were found within the bounds of?great stone circles, chanting and worshipping at the bases of?the towering mesas of rock. Though they were being slaughtered, the Cethlenese only began to show fear and started to flee for their lives when the War Hounds began to topple the standing stone blocks. No sooner had the first block hit the ground, it is reported that through unseen means the giant, eroded mesas shifted from the earth, extending to rise on thick roots, as of trees. Like leviathans from the earth, these towering entities of rock summoned spars of stone from the ground, smashing the attacking Legionaries to pulp.

在Cethlen歸順帝國二十年后，一支政務部帝國艦隊在戰(zhàn)犬軍團第88連隊的護衛(wèi)下來到此地——帝國的官員和歷史學家們前來記錄歸順世界的開發(fā)進程。但一經(jīng)抵達Cethlen，他們就從軌道上發(fā)現(xiàn)曾經(jīng)分散在地面各處的帝國建筑和科技（產(chǎn)品）現(xiàn)在只剩下了零星的廢墟。戰(zhàn)犬軍團戰(zhàn)士們被部署到Cethlen上去調(diào)查帝國的損失，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)帝國人員的尸骨堆放在草原石堆和立石旁。戰(zhàn)犬軍團戰(zhàn)士們認為是（當?shù)氐模┎柯涿褡龀隽吮承艞壛x之舉，他們駕駛著普羅托斯型蘭德速攻艇和短彎刀型噴射機車，組成編隊在草原上追捕了數(shù)個游牧群體，盡管游牧民們沒有抵抗，看起來也沒有威脅，但軍團戰(zhàn)士們還是揮劍殺死了他們。軍團戰(zhàn)士們在巨大的石圈界限內(nèi)發(fā)現(xiàn)了數(shù)個個這樣的群體，他們在高聳巖石臺地的底部進行誦經(jīng)和朝拜。盡管他們遭到了屠殺，但只有當戰(zhàn)犬們開始推倒那些矗立的石塊時，游牧民們才開始表現(xiàn)出恐懼并開始逃命。跟據(jù)（事后）報報告，第一塊石頭剛一落地，巨大且被侵蝕過的臺地就通過看不見的方式離開了土壤，就像樹木那樣蜿蜒著從厚重的根部抬起（自己）。這些高大的巖石構(gòu)成體就像來自土壤的利維坦巨獸，召喚出地面上的石柱，將進攻的軍團戰(zhàn)士打成了肉漿。

Across Cethlen, the colossal beings, which came to be known as Carven, rose up as the nomadic tribes which tended to them died. Supposedly, as per Celthenese myth, the Carven could be placated by worship; a fact the early settlers of Cethlen had learned at great cost, forcing them to become a nomadic society of earthquake chasers. They were also kept dormant due to the raising of their young by the Cethlenese tribes - blocks of sandstone-like alien flesh which would grow and harden as they were ritually tended to. Carven, which had existed on Cethlen long before Mankind had settled there, seemed to display a simple, subtle intelligence, acting peacefully to the kinship of nature displayed by the tribes, people while responding with violence to Imperium industry and technology.

在整個Cethlen世界上，這些被稱為“雕塑”的巨大物體都在照料他們的游牧部落死亡后站了起來。根據(jù)Cethlen神話中的內(nèi)容，我們推測這些雕塑可以被崇拜所撫慰；Cethlen的早期定居者們在付出了慘重的代價后知道了這一點，這迫使他們成為了一個追逐地震的游牧社會。由于Cethlen部落對這些生物的后代進行撫養(yǎng)，所以它們也處于休眠狀態(tài)——塞特倫部落會用宗教儀式照料一塊塊沙巖狀的異星人肉塊，這些肉會在這個過程中長大變硬。這些雕塑在人類定居此地很久之前就已經(jīng)存在于Cethlen上，它們似乎表現(xiàn)出一種簡單而且狡猾的邏輯，和平地對待部落民們表現(xiàn)出的對于自然的親近感，而以暴力回應帝國的工業(yè)和技術。

The XIIth Legion, uncaring of the history of the Celthenese, set about breaking every stone on the planet after discovering the presence of the Carven, from the smallest pebble to the largest mountain. Their skimmers scouted ahead to locate boulder fields and standing circles, Land Raider tanks following in their wake to crush potential creatures under their treads. Against the more mature, gigantic Carven they deployed their complement of field artillery, Rapier teams and Basilisks to shatter rock from afar. When felled, Legionaries on foot chopped at the roots of?these living mountains with axes and crumbled rock under the hammering, explosive displacer field impacts of power mauls until only dust and dark mud remained. Even so, the very bedrock of Celthen was deemed untrustworthy, being potentially seeded by the Carven. The planet was interdicted therefore by the War Hounds, who continued to observe it for suspicious tectonic activity until permission was granted by Imperium High Command in 824.M30 for the XIIth Legion to destroy the entire world with cyclonic missiles.

第十二軍團則毫不關心Celthen人的歷史，在發(fā)現(xiàn)雕塑的存在后，他們開始擊碎星球上的每一塊石頭，從最小的礫石到最大的山脈，無一例外。他們的懸浮艇在前方偵察以確定巨石場和立石圈的位置，蘭德掠奪者坦克跟在他們身后用履帶碾碎潛在的生物體。為了對付那些發(fā)育更成熟、體形更巨大的雕塑，他們還部署了戰(zhàn)場火炮，輕劍小隊和石化蜥蜴火炮從遠處粉碎巖石。當這些生物摔倒后，軍團戰(zhàn)士步兵們會用斧子砍斷這些活體山脈的根系，而且他們揮舞著動力槌，用置換力場重錘般的爆炸沖擊讓巖石崩為碎屑，直到僅僅剩下灰塵和暗色的泥土。但即便如此，Celthen的基巖也被認為是不值得信任的，戰(zhàn)犬軍團認為基巖層中可能被雕塑埋下了種子。因此，戰(zhàn)犬軍團封鎖了這顆行星，他們繼續(xù)觀察星球上可疑的地質(zhì)構(gòu)造活動，直到帝國最高指揮部在824.M30批準第十二軍團用旋風導彈摧毀整個世界。