Technology in Warhammer 40,000. 6: Standard Template Constucts

The last part in this series of Technology in Warhammer 40,000 from Rogue Trader is about Standard Template Constructs.

 In essence, imagine you are a colonist flung to the far reaches of the Universe on a planet that has some resources (whatever they might be: trees, iron ore, etc.). What do you do to survive and thrive on your new planet? Either you already have the knowledge, or you ask somebody or something that does. The Standard Template Construct (STCs) machine is one such "something".

In Rogue Trader it is described as a vast repository of knowledge. A kind of idiot-proof wikipedia computer in many ways. Given a set of circumstances and raw materials, this STC device would return to the colonist a way of building shelters, cars, and so forth. Everything they might need to survive.  I actually see the STCs as something a little more akin to a giant 3-D printing machine. Given sufficient raw materials it is capable of pumping out a vehicle at the other end. The question of how much human intervention is required is debatable to my mind.

Despite those considerations the STCs are in Warhammer 40,000 canon one of the great enabling devices for the human conquest of the galaxy. Although they have largely decayed over time, become quirky, or simply curated poorly, they have lost many of the possibilities they once offered. That said, a number of their core aspects has been preserved (think of Rhino chassis -- they're all the same on predators, whirlwinds, rhinos, etc., simply because STCs pumped them out as the easiest to maintain). Rogue Trader even offers the opinion that the entire Ork empire would not have been possible without human plundered STCs!

No wonder the adepts of Mars seek these decaying artefacts out. They're a vast repository of lost knowledge from a former age...

Technology in Warhammer 40,000. 5: Skinplants

Tattoos appear as common ornamentation across many world of the Imperium in Warhammer 40,000. They're not limited to the Hive City "scum" population either: the higher residents use them as a means of identification, great houses have their sigils, and navigators families are likewise marked out.

But there is more to it than that. What would happen if technology was miniaturised further, such that small circuitry were implanted in the skin (i.e. "Skinplants" as per the title of today's post)?

In Warhammer 40,000 skin plants are common, but highly sophisticated. Without moving parts, they are limited in their use however. The most common use would be to have a part of the body glow when exposed to sunlight. But a better use would be a "palm light" or "thieves light". Essentially, the character opens up his or her palm and casts a small beam of light ahead of themselves. Its not very powerful, but has its uses.

Electoos are the second type of skin plant discussed in Rogue Trader. These are a bit more sophisticated than mere ornamentation or "make it glow" skin plants. In essence these are miniature circuits. Therefore they would have uses the same as a modern credit card. But there's more uses. They range from identification and clearance levels (for entering secure buildings), tracking individuals (with or without their consent) and the carrying of secret messages (even the splitting of secret messages between 3 individuals such that only when combined the message reveals itself). This is getting in to the realm of science fiction, but is nonetheless plausible still.

Finally electrografts push this idea to its logical extreme. Need to learn a foreign language and you're not psychic? How about having an electrograft implanted right on to the surface of the brain! No need to spend hideous hours revising notes or practising. All the information you need to speak the native language of Nurth (or elsewhere…) is right there for you to use. Or perhaps you just want a different personality implanted for immortality reasons on a new fit body.  Its a little "Total Recall" in essence and certainly firmly in the planes of science fiction right now. Rogue Trader curiously states that these things will eventually cause the degeneration of the host's mind including personality disorders and outright breakdown. The interesting aspect is that these electrografts can also be reprogrammed. You learnt the language of Nurth? How about Chogoris and Colchis today?

Technology in Warhammer 40,000. 4: Control Systems

As might be expected, the control systems in the Warhammer 40,000 Universe contains a blend of systems ranging from the advanced to the familiar.

Rogue Trader describe 4 readily available controls systems, the first category of which is "archaic" -- at least in relative terms. However, this is the obvious one: levers, buttons, visual display units and analogue computers.

Then it gets interesting. The next one is "Pure Crystal Technology". These are described as stacks of atomic chains, presumably some kind of quantum computation (my interpretation there). Visually, they are large black slabs, recessed in to desks, or floating on a suspensor web on the command deck of a starship. They could be activated by voice, touch, or coded transmission. Either way, its pretty much a graphic user interface for the operator to control heaps of systems with.

The next one is "Holographic". This is exactly what it sounds like. A projection device encloses the user and wraps around like a three dimensional video screen. With a flick of a hand, the user activates engines or diverts power from life control systems across vast distances.

The final one is "Mind Impulse". This is exactly what it says on the tin as well, but correspondingly rare. The most common type of this is a dreadnought command system where the remains of a marine is hooked up to a control system where his thoughts activate whatever system (legs, guns, etc.) they wish to do so. The mechanicum use this regularly: with implants hooked up to their minds they could open and close bulk heads at will in their foundries. Or, rarer still: a headband that detects the so-called brain waves of the user and acts accordingly. Considerable training required!

Technology in Warhammer 40,000. 3: Motors and Actuators

Today in this series on technology in Warhammer 40k we take a brief look at Motors and Actuators - the things that do the driving of machines in essence.

First up is hydraulics. This is exactly as you might imagine it to be and based in our current technology level. The only difference is that Rogue Trader quotes "hydroplastic" pressure to power components. Fine by me. They're going to be used extensively in vehicles and robots.

Secondly there is "Electically motivated fibre bundles". This is the piece of kit that makes power armour move! In essence it is a fibre (or a bundle of them) that contract under the application of an electrical current. Hence they're the machine equivalent of muscles. And in the far flung future, they're rather efficient and miniaturized compared to today's level of technology. Conversely, Rogue Trader notes that these systems are rarer than hydraulics. Which presumably explains why the former ti used more extensively. Perhaps they're just more expensive to produce and use rarer commodities during manufacture.

Third (and finally) are gravitic reactors. These are the things that Eldar and some Warhammer 30k vehicles use extensively. BUT! They're not actually anything to do with gravity. They're actually powered by magnetic fields according to Rogue Trader. At least in the sense of they use a planet's magnetic field to counteract the attractive force of gravitation and give a vehicle some lift off the surface of the planet. This is neat! But in today's world the power consumption and the strength of the magnetic field would have to be rather large to accomplish this. (Levitating frogs aside). Rogue Trader also note the technology for the comes from Terra and is in short supply and will one day run out. I don't agree with this given the vast resources of the Imperium (and beyond), so I think this is simply a reflection of the time it was written more than anything else.

Technology in Warhammer 40,000. 2: Power Generation

Continuing this short series on technology in Warhammer 40k from Rogue Trader, today we look at power generation.

The most obvious example is the first one, and one that Rogue Trader terms "conventional". This is the one that we're all familiar with. Burning fossil fuels to turn turbines to create electricity. And nuclear fission as well. But the word "conventional" does not terminate here for Rogue Trader. It also includes more "modern" (I use the term relatively) wind power, wave power, solar / photoelectric power, and even dung burning on some backward worlds.

The second one is also easy to guess at: Plasma. Given that plasma seems to be everywhere in Warhammer 40k (even weaponised!) its not hard to see why it is a source of power to this fictional era. The only problem with it is the immense magnetic fields (and indeed coils) that need to be generated to contain it. At the time of writing, its hardly efficient. And moreover, I'm not sure how plasma is a power source. Do they grab some by skimming stars and store it for later (to turn turbines and generate electricity)? Or something else. I think Rogue Trader is missing something here: plasma is not a source of power generation in and of itself (that's like saying electricity is a form of power generation - it isn't - it is the product). So I'm left wondering how it is actually generated. Rogue Trader is not specific on this point.

The last one is "crystal batteries". Yes - you read that correctly. But it is completely plausible. The underlying concept is that the crystals "decay" in to a more stable state and release energy doing so. This is just thermodynamics at play: a more energetic state of matter going down in to its lower (ground state?) configuration. It is then re-charged by exposure to sunlight (for instance) to get it back to its higher energy state. Plausible, but no efficient real world analogue at the moment. Great science fiction stuff based on sound thermodynamic principles!

Technology in Warhammer 40,000. 1: Transmission Systems

Rogue Trader edition Warhammer 40,000 is at pains to not describe any technology in too much detail. This is largely because in the grim dark of the far flung future, problems are solved through brute force rather than application of knowledge. Technology has almost a religious following (particularly by the adepts of Mars who guard what little understanding there is left) -- space marines believe that if the polish and take care of their armour, it will "reward" them with saving their lives, whereas the machine spirit inside it will purposely leak fuels (etc.) if it is not regularly attended to.

In this (short) series of articles on Warpstone Flux, I'm going to summarise a few of the different technologies presented in the original Rogue Trader source book and add a few thoughts of my own (you know I'm a professional scientist, right?).

Let's start with the picture, taken from page 271 of the book. What is interesting about this picture of the pair of space marines is the archaic armour and weapons. Note in particular the watch faces that are embedded in to the chainswords. If you're looking for an original conversion concept, then watches in chainswords would certainly take you a long way down that road! Apart from that, the grandeur of the far future's grim dark is clearly on display here with the vast starships and buildings of a planet in action.

But on to today's prime focus: transmission systems. Or to put it another way: how to get energy from one place to another. In today's world this is largely accomplished through electricity and the wires that transmit is. These are fairly standard, but in 40k, they are probably the technological equivalent of using stone circles to tell the time. That said, Rogue Trader certainly says the many human (and xenos I would assume as well) cultures still employ them.

Beyond this everyday example, there is the "stacks" -- atomic chains that can efficiently transmit electricity. To me, this sounds like a superconductor in everything but name, but it is described as the ultimate in miniaturisation but rather delicate too.

Photon lines are the natural extension of fibre optics, designed (and described) to take a heap of information down their lines.

Hydroplastics are an odd one to me, transmitting power through pressure (presumably compression and rarefaction). This one is a bit of a mystery to me, but in principle I can see how it works.

Phased crystals are described as transmitting signals, but requiring power to do so. Odd, but not entirely unplausible given sufficient technological evolution.

Sucrosol is described as based on sucrose (the sugar) and able to transmit in a "wet ware" kind of fashion.

And then there are good old fashions radio waves. Enough said!

Next time: Generation Systems!