718.M41, the Maelstrom Zone, Badab Primaris.
The Chapter Master’s quarters of the Astral Claws.
Lufgt Huron stared at the double-headed eagles and skull motifs decorating the walls, sincerely wishing he was dreaming.
A moment ago, he had been at home playing Hearts of Iron IV.
He’d just finished entering every cheat code in the console and was enjoying the simple pleasure of a “painting the map” run, steamrolling the world.
Then, he blinked, and he had transmigrated into the body of Lufgt Huron.
Chapter Master of the Astral Claws, the Tyrant of Badab, and future Lord of the Red Corsairs Chaos warband.
An ambitious man who wanted to carve out his own kingdom, only to be ganged up on by a dozen Chapters less than two centuries later, eventually fleeing like a dog into the depths of the Maelstrom.
To make matters worse, this bastard had already suppressed the rebellion on Badab Primaris and declared himself the Planetary Governor of the Badab Sector.
He was only a few steps away from full-blown treason—namely, withholding tithes and building a private army.
Recalling the original Huron’s memories and his own knowledge of the future, Huron felt his prospects were bleak.
Even if he decided to be a model citizen now and avoided the Badab War, the Great Rift would open in less than three hundred years.
When that happened, the Maelstrom, being the second-largest Warp rift, would spew out a swarm of Chaos warbands.
He’d still end up getting ganged up on.
Not to mention the other two Chapters in the Wardens of the Maelstrom—the Lamenters and the Mantis Warriors—were both pathetically poor.
By the time Imperial reinforcements arrived, the three of them would likely be dead and buried.
Facing a situation with wolves in front, tigers behind, and the possibility of a “Tyrannosaurus” like the Black Legion appearing if his luck turned sour, Huron could do nothing but sigh.
*O Emperor, are you so desperate for recruits that you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel?
I’m a guy who can’t even play HOI4 without console cheats, and you expect me to survive this kind of pressure?*
“Give me a cheat, give me a cheat…” Huron sat in his metal chair, muttering like a man corrupted by Chaos.
He was at his wits’ end.
No matter how ambitious the original Huron was, the man was at least a military genius who had made the heretics and xenos of the Maelstrom scream for mercy.
Now, he had been replaced by a scrub who only knew how to select all units and right-click.
Without a cheat, he might as well commit suicide now to avoid causing more suffering to others.
Suddenly, Huron’s vision flickered, and a semi-transparent panel appeared before him.
[Political Power: 200] [National Focus Slot: 1] [Decisions: None] [Civilian Factories: 13] [Military Factories: 12] [Dockyards: 3]
Below that was a long string of data, including Stability, War Support, Manpower, Army Size…
Huron scanned it quickly and grasped the gist of it.
It was a system nearly identical to HOI4.
The biggest difference was the removal of the Research system; he couldn’t steadily climb a tech tree.
Production blueprints could only be obtained through his own R&D or by purchasing them from other factions.
The factories and dockyards were abstractions of the productivity under his command.
They were “Void Factories” that occupied no space and consumed no resources.
Aside from that, functions like selecting National Focuses, enacting Decisions, and rapid unit training remained largely unchanged.
“Not bad.
At least I didn’t transmigrate with a blank slate.”
Huron breathed a sigh of relief and immediately opened the Military Factory production lines.
Everything else could wait, but military industrial power was his foundation for survival.
Fortunately, as an ancient Chapter wealthy enough to have produced three successor Chapters, the Astral Claws possessed a vast number of production blueprints.
For Power Armor, they had four models: Mk5 Heresy, Mk6 Corvus, Mk7 Aquila, and Mk8 Errant.
They basically had a full set of the most practical and mass-producible models.
Regarding weaponry, they had blueprints for various patterns of Bolters, Bolter ammunition, and Melta Rifles, as well as multiple types of chain-weapons and Power Swords.
They even had the blueprints for Cataphractii Terminator Armor!
Unfortunately, despite having the blueprints, the Astral Claws had lacked a homeworld for a long time, using an orbital space station over Badab Primaris as their monastery.
They were perpetually strapped for cash.
The campaign in 715.M41 to hunt down an Ork Warlord had been a disastrous defeat.
Even the previous Chapter Master had been killed by the Warlord Waaagh!
Roasted-Man-Skewer, leaving the already impoverished Chapter in even worse straits.
Even after three years of recovery, the Chapter only had about 700 Battle-Brothers, and that was counting “non-combatants” like Apothecaries and Techmarines.
Looking at the wealth of blueprints, Huron didn’t hesitate.
He assigned 10 Military Factories to Mk7 Aquila Power Armor.
One factory could produce one set of Aquila armor per day, bringing his capacity to 10 sets of Power Armor a day.
Huron assigned the remaining two factories to Mk3 Bolters and Bolter ammunition.
Production reached 10 Bolters and 3,000 rounds of ammunition per day.
Looking at the output on the panel, Huron couldn’t help but smile.
Not only would he no longer lack basic equipment, but he would also have surplus to bribe the Lamenters and Mantis Warriors.
The Mantis Warriors especially; according to Huron’s memory, they were so poor that everyone was wearing “Frankenstein armor” so old it could be considered a holy relic.
They even had to count every single Bolter shell they used.
However, seeing the Mk3 Bolter, Huron couldn’t quite keep a straight face.
This was the mainstream Bolter designed and manufactured by the Astral Claws themselves during the later stages of the Badab War.
Yet here it was, already researched only a few years into Huron’s tenure as Chapter Master.
One could only say that the ambition of Huron and the Astral Claws was not to be underestimated.
But for the current Huron, this was a good thing.
It meant the Astral Claws had their own internal research institutions capable of designing basic equipment, rather than relying solely on trading for blueprints.
Having settled the military production, Huron opened the National Focus interface to see what it contained.
He discovered that instead of the focus tree he expected, there was only a single, lonely focus slot.
Specific focuses were generated based on his “needs.”
For instance, because he wished to strengthen the Chapter, the slot displayed options like “Ease Relations with the High Lords of Terra,” “Deepen Cooperation with the Adeptus Mechanicus,” “Reaffirm Leadership of the Wardens of the Maelstrom,” and “Seek Cooperation with the Aeldari.”
The first focus was free from the system and didn’t require a progress bar, so Huron took his time to consider his specific needs.
While the primary goal was certainly to strengthen the Chapter, the initial focuses didn’t quite hit the mark.
Compared to cooperating or becoming someone else’s lapdog, Huron felt it was more cost-effective to strengthen himself.
Thus, after some thought, he chose the focus: “Strengthen Chapter Might.”
[“Strengthen Chapter Might” (450/450)] [Description: The disastrous outcome of the battle against the Ork Warlord has proven that the Codex Astartes is no longer suited to our current situation.
To better combat the enemies of Mankind, we require a more powerful combat doctrine.] [Effect: Grants 100 Political Power, unlocks a series of related Decisions.]