The Ordo Reductor

Known to their fellow adherents in the Machine Cult as the "Bringers?of Blessed Ruins",?the Ordo Reductor is a distinct and highly specialised military division of the Mechanicum. Theirs is the sacred role of un-maker, slaughterer and breaker; they embody the animus of the Omnissiah, its duality not as creator or embodiment of knowledge, but as destroyer and bringer of oblivion. Their given title, whose prefix was unusual for the servants of the Mechanicum, was invoked first by the great treaty between the Lords of Mars and the Emperor of Humanity, although their true and forgotten origins delve back into the dust?and blood of the Age of Strife on the red world of their birth. By this order, a sub-clause of the very compact by which the alliance between the Mechanicum and Terra was sealed, was the Ordo Reductor created for the express purpose of sundering and destroying those who would stand against the Great Crusade.

源還修會(huì)是機(jī)械神教中一個(gè)獨(dú)特且極為專業(yè)化的軍事部門(mén)，他們被機(jī)械教派中的同僚們稱為“受祝毀滅的使者”。他們是神圣的毀滅者、屠殺者與破壞者；他們具象出了萬(wàn)機(jī)之神的怒火，展現(xiàn)出萬(wàn)機(jī)神作為毀滅者與湮滅使者，而非創(chuàng)造者和知識(shí)化身的一面。“源還修會(huì)”這個(gè)頭銜第一次被引用是在火星領(lǐng)主們與人類帝皇締結(jié)的偉大條約中——他們名稱的前綴對(duì)于機(jī)械神教的仆人們來(lái)說(shuō)并不尋常，但他們?nèi)耘f是生于紅色的世界，他們真實(shí)且被遺忘的起源要回到火星在紛爭(zhēng)紀(jì)元中鮮血與沙塵里去翻找。根據(jù)機(jī)械神教與泰拉結(jié)盟契約中的某項(xiàng)條款，創(chuàng)建源還修會(huì)有一個(gè)明確的目的：擊敗并毀滅那些抗拒大遠(yuǎn)征的勢(shì)力。

Where a new and terrible alien form of life was encountered that would not succumb to the Imperiums panoply of war, it would be the biologis of the Ordo Reductor who would find a way to kill it, where a recalcitrant human techno-empire stood strong against the Great Crusade fleets, it would be the preceptors of the Ordo Reductor who observed and analysed their weapons and defences to find their weakness and, most famously, where a fortress stood seemingly impregnable, it would be the Ordo Reductor who would find a way to bring it low.

當(dāng)人類遭遇到那些不會(huì)屈服于人類的全套戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)裝備的全新且可怕的外星生命形式時(shí)，源還修會(huì)的生物學(xué)家們就會(huì)去尋找對(duì)其進(jìn)行殺戮的方法；當(dāng)某個(gè)桀驁不馴的人類科技帝國(guó)頑強(qiáng)對(duì)抗大遠(yuǎn)征艦隊(duì)時(shí)，則是源還修會(huì)的導(dǎo)師們?nèi)ビ^察與分析對(duì)方的武器和防御體系，以找到其弱點(diǎn)，而源還修會(huì)最有有名的一點(diǎn)，便是他們會(huì)找出辦法摧毀敵軍看似堅(jiān)不可摧的堡壘。

The Ordo Reductor's numbers however were always relatively few, accounting only for a handful of the most bellicose of the magos of Mars in the beginning, split from their forges and domains henceforth to serve the Great Crusade first and their feudal masters of the Mechanicum second in all things. Even as other Forge Worlds were contacted and brought into the fold, their numbers did not increase greatly and it is often said, and not without evidence, that those Tech-Priests and magos given up to the Ordo Reductor by their birth worlds or who were drawn to it of their own volition were often already seen as outcasts; either dangerously heretical in their leanings or overly-independent and perhaps psychologically unstable by their peers. However, within the fold of the Ordo Reductor were such individuals redeemed in the doctrine of the Cult of the Omnissiah and given righteous purpose in the service of the Mechanicum —as well as removed largely from the feudal politics of the Forge Worlds— and so while they became 'other' to those who remained directly under the shadow of Mars, they were not considered with the same levels of suspicion and often distrust as followed that parallel Mechanicum faction which also shared the battlefields of the Great Crusade with them, the Legio Cybemetica.

但源還修會(huì)的人數(shù)相對(duì)稀少，其最初的成員只是一些最為好戰(zhàn)的火星賢者們，這些人從自己的鑄爐和領(lǐng)地上分離出來(lái)，從此之后他們?cè)谌魏问马?xiàng)上都是優(yōu)先服務(wù)于大遠(yuǎn)征，其次才是自己在機(jī)械神教中的封建主子們。哪怕是帝國(guó)聯(lián)系到其他鑄造世界并使其加入后，源還修會(huì)的人數(shù)也并未大量增加；盡管并無(wú)證據(jù)，但據(jù)說(shuō)那些被自己的母星放棄給源還修會(huì)，或者遵循自己的意愿被吸引進(jìn)去的賢者與技術(shù)神甫們通常已經(jīng)被視作了棄兒；他們要么是偏好危險(xiǎn)的異端技術(shù)，要么就是相比于同僚們過(guò)于獨(dú)立，或者心理不穩(wěn)定。不過(guò)在源還修會(huì)的群體中，也存在那些于萬(wàn)機(jī)之神教派的信條中得到救贖的人們，這些人也被給予了服務(wù)機(jī)械神教的正義使命，但也在很大程度上脫離了鑄造世界的封建政治；雖然對(duì)那些仍然直接受到火星蔭蔽的人們而言，這些人成了“他者”，但他們所受到懷疑和不信任的程度與智控軍團(tuán)受到的并不相同，后者也是與他們共享大遠(yuǎn)征戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的機(jī)械神教平行分支。

The Covenants of?War

戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)盟約團(tuán)

The individual commands of Ordo Reductor magos and their attendant servants and war machines, known commonly as 'Covenants', were based almost entirely on purpose- configured warships, often long-range, self-sustaining Galleass types birthed in the vast shipyards of Saturn for this express task, rather than the more common Arks- Mechanicum. It was these ships which served as transport, fane and permanent base for the Ordo Reductor in the days of the Great Crusade and were their only sovereign domains, but domains they guarded jealously, even from their brother Mechanicum. The very treaty that had created them had also split the Ordo Reductor from the Forge Worlds and the bulk of the Mechanicum in a very real sense, and set them in thrall on the front lines of the Great Crusade from where they would seldom stray.The "Brazen Vultures"?of the Ordo Reductor, as the void captains of the Imperials Armada came to call their ships, passed as baleful mendicants and nomads from war zone to war zone as the ebb and flow of the fighting —or the will of some Primarch or other great lord of the burgeoning Imperium— dictated.

源還修會(huì)賢者們構(gòu)成的獨(dú)立指揮部與他們的隨從和戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)機(jī)器通常被稱為“盟約團(tuán)”，他們幾乎完全以按（特定）目標(biāo)進(jìn)行配置的戰(zhàn)艦為基地，這些飛船通常是土星的巨大造船廠為了明確的任務(wù)（要求）而制造的遠(yuǎn)程且自我維持的“加萊賽型巨舟”型戰(zhàn)艦，而非更為常見(jiàn)的機(jī)械方舟。在大遠(yuǎn)征時(shí)期，這些飛船充當(dāng)著源還修會(huì)的運(yùn)輸艦、神殿和永久性基地，也是他們唯一的主權(quán)領(lǐng)地，但他們也小心翼翼地守護(hù)著自己的領(lǐng)地，甚至對(duì)他們的機(jī)械神教兄弟們也是如此。創(chuàng)造出源還修會(huì)的條約也確實(shí)將他們從鑄造世界和機(jī)械神教的主體中分離了出來(lái)，并讓他們受縛于大遠(yuǎn)征的前線（戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)）——他們?cè)谀抢飵缀醪粫?huì)迷失方向。帝國(guó)艦隊(duì)的虛空艦長(zhǎng)們稱源還修會(huì)的飛船為“黃銅禿鷲”，它們作為惡毒的乞丐和游牧民從一個(gè)戰(zhàn)區(qū)旅行到另一個(gè)戰(zhàn)區(qū)，而決定它們航程的要么是戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的起起落落，要么就是某位原體或新生人類帝國(guó)其他某位重要領(lǐng)主的意愿。

Because of their relatively small number, wide physical dispersal and their calling as war-savants, more often than not Ordo Reductor Covenants served the various Expeditionary fleets and theatre commands in the roles of battlefield intelligence gatherers, warrior-seers and savants of carnage rather than as conquerors in their own right—the Space Marine Legions more often than not putting into practise what an Ordo Reductor magos' blood-drenched wisdom had learned to deadly effect. The Reductor's own forces were seldom seen to act directly in battle save to conduct targeted raids and probing strikes ahead of a main advance, or to haunt still burning battlefields making a tally of the dead and the destroyed to further their studies. This disposition held true in most cases except one; that of siegecraft. This sphere of warfare with all of its lethal complexities and unforgiving logic was to the magos of the Ordo Reductor a thing of sublime and dark mystery, and in its discipline they found purity and in its merciless execution they found the echo of the divine Omnissiah. In the arts of the siege, the magos of the Ordo Reductor acknowledged no superior and few equals in their cold pride, save a handful of the Primarchs of the Legiones Astartes. This presumption was not without its justification, as in countless sieges and assaults, the Covenants of the Ordo Reductor proved able to sunder defences thought unconquerable and survive Zones Mortalis battles located where no human and perhaps no Legiones Astartes could have fought and lived.

由于他們數(shù)量相對(duì)較少、地理分布廣泛而且有作為戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)學(xué)者的使命，服務(wù)于各種戰(zhàn)區(qū)司令部和遠(yuǎn)征探索艦隊(duì)的源還修會(huì)盟約團(tuán)們更多是充當(dāng)戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)情報(bào)收集者、戰(zhàn)士賢者和屠殺專家，而非擔(dān)任征服者的角色——星際戰(zhàn)士軍團(tuán)們通常會(huì)把源還修會(huì)賢者們血腥的智慧付諸實(shí)踐，以達(dá)到致命的效果。源還修會(huì)自己的部隊(duì)從未被看到過(guò)直接進(jìn)行戰(zhàn)斗，除非是進(jìn)行針對(duì)性的掠襲、在主要推進(jìn)開(kāi)始前進(jìn)行試探進(jìn)攻，或者是在仍舊燃燒的戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)上徘徊，統(tǒng)計(jì)死亡和被毀滅的人數(shù)，以供進(jìn)一步研究。這種傾向在大多數(shù)情況下都成立，只有一種例外：攻城戰(zhàn)。對(duì)于源還修會(huì)的賢者們而言，此類戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)領(lǐng)域中的致命復(fù)雜性與無(wú)情邏輯是一種崇高且黑暗的神秘知識(shí)，它們?cè)诠コ菓?zhàn)的紀(jì)律中找到純凈性，在對(duì)于攻城戰(zhàn)的無(wú)情執(zhí)行中發(fā)現(xiàn)了萬(wàn)機(jī)之神的神圣回響。源還修會(huì)賢者們冷漠高傲得認(rèn)為：在攻城戰(zhàn)的技藝上，除了少數(shù)阿斯塔特軍團(tuán)原體之外，無(wú)人比他們更優(yōu)秀，能與他們相提并論的也只有極少數(shù)人。但這種假設(shè)也并非全無(wú)道理，因?yàn)樵跓o(wú)數(shù)次的攻城戰(zhàn)和進(jìn)攻中，源還修會(huì)的盟約團(tuán)證明自己能夠粉碎曾被認(rèn)為是不可征服的防御，并在死地戰(zhàn)區(qū)的戰(zhàn)斗中幸存下來(lái)——沒(méi)有凡人，可能也沒(méi)有軍團(tuán)戰(zhàn)士能在此類區(qū)域中作戰(zhàn)和生存。

In structure, the Covenants of the Ordo Reductor fought and operated as autonomous warbands, self-sufficient in almost all respects, containing a mixture of magos and Tech-Priest savants whose specialities ranged from tactical assault to macro-firepower to mimetic and forensic battlefield analysis to munitions production. Its weapons were many and deadly beyond reason, for to the Ordo Reductor was the right given to bear arms forbidden since the Dark Age of Technology and arcana deemed too unpredictable and dangerous for general deployment by the Great Crusade. Also, theirs by dictate Imperial was the right —within certain parameters— to innovate new weapons and war machines in order to overcome the countless enemies the Great Crusade faced. This license bore fruit in many ways during the countless wars which made up the Great Crusade,from the development in concert with the Imperial Fists Legion of the peerlessly durable Land Raider Achilles, to the development of the powerful eradication cannon mounted on the Hellion-Minoris war machines of the Centurio Ordinatus, devised expressly for the Rangdan campaigns.

在結(jié)構(gòu)上，源還修會(huì)是作為獨(dú)立自主的戰(zhàn)幫進(jìn)行作戰(zhàn)和運(yùn)作，它們?cè)趲缀跛蟹矫娑甲越o自足。修會(huì)中專家們既有賢者，也有科技神甫，他們的專長(zhǎng)各式各樣，從戰(zhàn)術(shù)進(jìn)攻到對(duì)于巨量火力的運(yùn)用，從模擬和辯論戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)分析（報(bào)告）到彈藥生產(chǎn)制造，應(yīng)有盡有。他們武器繁多且致命到不合理，因?yàn)樵催€修會(huì)被給予了一項(xiàng)權(quán)力：他們可以攜帶自從黑暗科技時(shí)代以來(lái)就被禁止的武器，以及使用那些被認(rèn)為過(guò)于不可預(yù)測(cè)且危險(xiǎn)、不適合在大遠(yuǎn)征中全面使用的玄奧技術(shù)。此外，帝國(guó)也決定給予他們?cè)谔囟▍?shù)范圍內(nèi)創(chuàng)新出新的武器和戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)機(jī)器的權(quán)力，目的是為了戰(zhàn)勝大遠(yuǎn)征所面對(duì)的無(wú)數(shù)敵人。在組成大遠(yuǎn)征的無(wú)數(shù)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中，這一授權(quán)也在讓帝國(guó)于很多方面取得了成果，從與帝國(guó)之拳軍團(tuán)合作開(kāi)發(fā)出的無(wú)比耐用的阿基里斯型蘭德掠奪者，到開(kāi)發(fā)出安裝在百機(jī)隊(duì)的赫利昂型小將軍炮上的根除炮——這種武器是專門(mén)為冉丹戰(zhàn)役而設(shè)計(jì)的，都在這些成果之列。

Perhaps the most widespread of the Ordo Reductor's creations is however the Thallaxii; heavily augmented cybernetic shock troops created by the Ordo Reductor to replace the skitarii legions of Mars, to which, owing to their now separated status, they no longer had direct or ready access to for support. As well as serving first and foremost as the Ordo Reductor's soldiers of the line, the extremely potent and durable Thallax were also gifted or traded by the Ordo Reductor magos to other factions of the Mechanicum as the Great Crusade went on, most notably to the Taghmata of Forge Worlds and outposts that were far separated from Mars, as well as elements of the Legio Cybemetica and the Myrmidon sub-cult (which often found common doctrinal cause with the Ordo Reductor) in return for reciprocal agreements of supply and allegiance. This served to both greatly increase the power and independence of the Ordo Reductor and, it has been argued by some, also contributed to the waning of Mars'?direct military control over its outlying Forge Worlds in the decades before the Horus Heresy.

不過(guò)，源還修會(huì)分布最廣泛的造物可能是死隸機(jī)兵；他們創(chuàng)造出這些大幅增強(qiáng)的智控突擊部隊(duì)是為了替代火星的護(hù)教軍團(tuán)——由于源還現(xiàn)在被從機(jī)械神教中分割出來(lái)，他們不能再直接且隨時(shí)地獲取到護(hù)教軍團(tuán)的支援。這些極度強(qiáng)悍且耐用的死隸機(jī)兵們首先且最重要的作用是充當(dāng)源還修會(huì)的前線士兵，隨著大遠(yuǎn)征的進(jìn)行，它們也會(huì)被修會(huì)中的賢者們贈(zèng)送或交易給機(jī)械神教中的其他部門(mén)，尤其是鑄造世界的機(jī)神禁衛(wèi)軍與遠(yuǎn)離火星的前哨站們，以及智控軍團(tuán)分隊(duì)和處于仆從地位的次級(jí)教派（它們通常會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)自己與源還修會(huì)有著共同的教義），以此來(lái)?yè)Q取盟約和互惠的供給協(xié)議。這極大提升了源還修會(huì)的力量和獨(dú)立性，某些人聲稱：在荷魯斯叛亂之前的幾十年中，這一現(xiàn)象也減弱了火星對(duì)于邊遠(yuǎn)鑄造世界的直接軍事控制。

The Hidden Order

隱蔽修會(huì)

As diffuse a military organisation as the Ordo Reductor was during the Great Crusade, and as unfathomable as its inner workings were to outsiders, it nevertheless showed a long history of successful tactical and strategic integration with the forces of the Great Crusade alongside which it served. This was evidenced not least of all by the willing incorporation of the heraldry and livery of the Space Marine Legions with which a particular Covenant (or more rarely a demi-Legio comprised of several Covenants) had been embedded for an extended period, and honours from such campaigns were retained in pride of place in the livery of their war machines and servitors. It was for this reason, much as with other detached Mechanicum military formations such as the Titan Legions, that when the Horus Heresy erupted across the galaxy and split the forces of the Imperium, so was the Ordo Reductor also split, with its bellicose sigil of the broken tower present among the banners of Loyalist and Traitor alike.

在大遠(yuǎn)征時(shí)期，源還修會(huì)是一個(gè)松散的軍事組織，其內(nèi)部運(yùn)作對(duì)外人而言是深不可測(cè)的。但盡管如此，它還是展示了自己和大遠(yuǎn)征部隊(duì)在戰(zhàn)術(shù)和戰(zhàn)略上成功融合的悠久歷史。相關(guān)的證據(jù)是：當(dāng)某個(gè)特定的盟約團(tuán)（更罕見(jiàn)的情況是數(shù)個(gè)盟約團(tuán)組成的次級(jí)軍團(tuán)）長(zhǎng)時(shí)間嵌入到星際戰(zhàn)士軍團(tuán)中后，他們會(huì)自愿將雙方的紋章和配色集合起來(lái)，而且從雙方合作的戰(zhàn)役中取得的榮譽(yù)會(huì)被保留在盟約團(tuán)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)機(jī)器和機(jī)仆的涂裝最重要的位置上。因此，就像諸如泰坦軍團(tuán)之類的其他機(jī)械神教獨(dú)立分散軍事編隊(duì)那樣，當(dāng)荷魯斯叛亂在全銀河中爆發(fā)、帝國(guó)的部隊(duì)發(fā)生分裂時(shí)，源還修會(huì)也發(fā)生了分裂，忠誠(chéng)派和叛軍的旗幟中都出現(xiàn)了他們破裂高塔的好戰(zhàn)標(biāo)志。

It is however true in the final analysis that a discernible percentage of the Ordo Reductor ultimately sided with the Loyalists' cause over that of the Warmaster, and a very few took the same path as other certain outlying Forge Worlds and chose to withdraw support from either side of the conflict, declaring independence. It is not known why in this the Ordo Reductor should be so singularly different to the Titan Legions or the Martian Mechanicum, who on reflection favoured to a margin the Traitors'?cause, or the various Taghmata, swayed by the rulers of their Forge Worlds going where they led. But it may simply be that the majority chose to ultimately honour the deeds and purposes of their genesis over more temporal concerns, or as some have less favourably theorised, that in opposing the forces of the Warmaster and his treachery, many saw the greatest challenge to their arts of war.

但在最后的分析中，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)確實(shí)有相當(dāng)比例的源還修會(huì)最終站在了忠誠(chéng)派而非戰(zhàn)帥一邊；另有極少數(shù)人走上了與其他某些邊遠(yuǎn)的鍛造世界相同的道路，他們選擇從沖突中的某一方撤回支援并宣布獨(dú)立。我們目前還不知道為何源還修會(huì)在這方面的表現(xiàn)與泰坦軍團(tuán)和火星機(jī)械神教的非常不同，后兩者經(jīng)過(guò)深思熟慮，在一定程度上傾向于（支持）叛軍的惡業(yè)；而他們與各種各樣機(jī)神禁衛(wèi)軍也不一樣，禁衛(wèi)軍們受被自己所屬鑄造世界的統(tǒng)治者們所左右，前往主子所引導(dǎo)的方向。但也可能僅僅是因?yàn)榻^大多數(shù)源還修會(huì)成員最終選擇信守自己起源的目標(biāo)和事跡，而非去追求那些更被世俗所關(guān)注的事物；或者就像某些不為人所喜的理論聲稱的那樣，在對(duì)抗荷魯斯反叛與戰(zhàn)帥軍隊(duì)的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中，許多源還修會(huì)成員看到了對(duì)于自己戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)藝術(shù)的最大挑戰(zhàn)。