Intro
This is part of the intro paragraphs in every Necromunda novel, and I believe its also reproduced in the Necromunda sourcecbooks. Basically, it means Necromunda has a huge-ass manufacturing capability. Not only do Hive worlds possess orders of magnitude more population than other planets, they also possess orders of magnitude more manufacturing potential.The Necromundan hive cities have populations in the billions and are intensely industrialised, each one commanding the manufacturing potential of an entire planet or colony system compacted into a few huhndred square kilometres.
Of course, this also indicates they need correspondingly greater resources and such to maintain such output - without the resources (which probably comes from shipping, just as food does), the Hive World's over-specialized nature becomes a liability.
Page 21
- the Delaque operative in this story, Uriah storm, makes use of an anonymous hacker/technician type named "Voice". The curious thing about the Voice person is that she (we learn its a she) is not a believer in the Machine Spirit (even though some people like Uriah are.) In fact, the "Machine spirit" seems to be relatively unknown amongst most UnderhiverS (and quite probably amongst most citygoers too.) The Van Saar (and Uriah, because of his Van Saar associations) are also believers in the AdMech's religion."Oh, please! Not this crap again. There is no Machine Spirit. Just machine. Wires, tubes, chips and the occasional attitude. But no Machine Spirit!"
This seems to indicate that the AdMech only goes so far in promulgating its "religion" on such worlds (its probably too dangerous for them to try to!), and implies that there probably are alot of people in the Imperium who don't subscribe to the AdMech point of view unless they are elevated to a certain plateau of society or fall under an organization that pays homage to the AdMech (like the Guard or Navy.) On the other hand, the fact that most of the others don't believe in the Machine Spirit also seems to result in them being much lower-tech than other groups (like the Van Saar), so there probably is a correlation there.
Page 28
The weapon is a las-pistol. No idea what "cooked" means, but if we assume boiling the water content in the huuman body or outright cauterization, we get very high kilojoule (500-800 kj) to low megajoule (1-2 MJ) las output.The las-beam cooked the arm of one shooter, foring him to drop the weapon.
Page 55
Uriah is using a bolt pistol (but apparently one wiht solid, non-explosive ammo). The Orlock takes nasty damage to his face but oddly survives. This is probably due to the fact that he's at least partly augmentic (given the metal in his skull.) Then again, the Orlocks aren't that much above, say, the Goliaths, so its also possible that Orlocks are just that durable. (especailly given what Goliaths can endure.)He fired a shot, catching the Orlock in the face. The shot resonated with a metallic echo.
The Orlock stumbled to one knee, his face a masticated red pulp except where steel plates were riveted to his skull.
Page 74-75
- One of the Orlocks is wielding a heavy bolter seemingly without much effort (implied like a regular bolter.) which implies some fairly substantial strength, about what a Goliath would possess in fact. It might be a very high-tech weapon, but Orlock's aren't really tech-savvy, so probably not..
Page 80-81
More discussions on the nature of the Machine Spirit beliefs and its impact on the people of the Imperium. Note that people like Voice aren't unusual (You occasionally run across folk in the Guard who either get in trouble for tinkering with tech, or tinker with it without getting into trouble.) It's possible this may also be a leftover legacy of the Squats, since they were chronic disbelievers of the Machine Spirit and endured (and may still endure, given how well traveled they were.)"You're just like the Van Saar, praying to machines."
"Given their proficiency with devicecs, I thank you for the compliment."
...
"Because no Van Saar would ever ask for outside help - my help - in handling technology. You know there is no Machine Spirit. It's jsut circuits and relays, nothing more."
"That's Heresy to some," Uriah replied.
"And music to others. The more we treat machinery as mysterious, the less we'll truly understand mechanics. Do you know I actually saw some poor fool praying to a keypad. He forgot his code - he was begging the Machine Spirit to open it up."
'Some people don't want ot understand machines, Voice. They find solace in believing in the spirit of the device. For them, communion and prayer is wearing implants."
Page 90
Uriah (Delaque operative) sneaking into a Goliath stronghold (who are regarded as virtual barbarians by the other gangs/houses.) And yet he is concerned that the Goliaths would be using thermal gear to look for intruders.The darkness enveloped him in anonymous comfort, and his black clothing and thermal cloak added to the camouflage. His goggles amplified the ambient light, allowing him to see more clearly.
...
Uriah paused after each misstep, drawing the cloak around him tighter to shield him from thermal optics.
Note the use of a thermal cloak again to protect against such detection methods (like in Salvation.). Again, there must be limits to the shielding effect, because otherwise he'd run in danger of overheating himself (the cloak would reflect/store heat his body emits, and keep it under the cloak. Which is bad.
And, like other Delaques, Uriah has night vision gear (preusmably better than anything the Goliath might use.)
Page 95
[
The medical adhesive strip he'd attached to his face stung, but it kept hte wound closed. After a few moments, he applied water from a bottle to the strip and felt it bubble against his skin. A few seconds more, and the strip dissolved, leaving him with a wound glued shut and, hopefully, no scar.
More wonders of Van Saar technology. Uriah thought.
glimpse at Imperium medical technology (more specifically what the Van Saar have.) Given they're merely an industrial house, it probably can give us a good glimpse into what sort of medical tech the Guard would have.
Page 100
Uriah had heard of such men and women, those within the gang who refused to inject themselves with the chemicals to add obscene muscle mass.
Goliath gangers use chemical augmentation to give themselves grgeatly enhanced physical abilities. As we see in other novels, this leads to them having insanely high levels of strength (the kind where they can wield .50 caliber machine guns and heavy bolters like Bragg does, but arguably with better accuracy.)
Again, one has to marvel at how nasty such gangers would be as a Guard regiment. About on par with Ogryns, in fact.
