Molecular Miner

The Molecular Miner is one of numerous creations that came from the Mercurian Adept's design forges. It is perhaps one of Mercurian's many crowning achievements to date.

From the Forges of Mercury: Declassified Data Archives for the Molecular Miner.
When it comes to how the Imperium wages its wars the necessary cost in man power and resources is immense. So much so that truthfully the entirety of the Imperium’s military might can only stem the tide instead of pushing back all the myriad of enemies that would want us dead. Still resources are available but there are those that fear that they are limited, especially within the two factions of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Mars and Mercury.

Mercurian adepts have had strained relations with Mars ever since the Schism. Thankfully the violence was stemmed thanks to the Treaty of Medusa but Mars found ways to hamper their rivals through economic and key decisions that left the flow of resource shipments to Mercurian forge worlds be reduced to a trickle. This left the Mercurians to find ways to go around the resource crisis and led to the rediscovery of the molecular furnace. Thankfully the resource problem was solved after the Chapter Master of the Murlocks looked at the discrepancies in the administratum records came to light and threatened the Martian High Magos with the seriousness of enforcing the Treaty.

This left many Mercurian adepts still in fear of shortages and continued to find ways of solving it since. It was the molecular furnace that gave them the key.

Ever since the incident with the first prototype of the molecular furnace many adept researching the technology saw possibilities that could make resource gathering easier. In it the adepts theorized that planets could be converted for resources with the right technology. With the furnace as the base many adepts set about improving its function. It was such an immense undertaking that it took secret continuous joint-research with their other allied forge worlds as they had available technologies that was not quite disseminated with each other thanks to complications with warp travel.

It took many millennia and other military projects but the first fully functional Molecular Miner was born and it was immense.



With the size of 2 km (same size as a light cruiser) it is equipped with tractor beams on the landing claws to drag in matter to its molecular furnace at the bottom. It is equipped with anti-gravity technology for movement as it mines the planet’s surface. Within this massive structure are modular factories that could virtually manufacture anything with an STC data such as armored vehicles, planes, and others. The modular factory idea came as a result that such a large machine could theoretically found forge worlds as it could manufacture any construction tools. It is defended with powerful void shields, armor, and  dedicated weaponry for hostile environments. Finally it is crewed with about 30 members and numerous servitors dedicated with maintaining the large machine. There are limitations though as: (1) it cannot manufacture anything bigger than itself such as warships as it does not have the space and it takes dedicated forge worlds and shipyards to do so, and (2) even after many improvements the molecular furnace would still produce less than what was consumed so one must be careful lest they consume an entire planet to rubble.

Still there was a need for secrecy and restraint as many adepts realize that the Molecular Miner could be used to devastate and consume inhabited planets. Many designers gave this machine the infamous nickname of “World Devastator” once the implications sunk in. Still this was kept in mind for later thought. The secrecy though is that relations with Martian adepts would deteriorate further if found out.

Of course such a secret would not be kept for long that indeed it took Primarch Ferrus Manus to arbitrate among the representatives of Mars and Mercury before it escalates into violence. It is interesting to note that Lady Tekhne, founder of the Mercurian faction of the Adeptus Mechanicus, would not be part of the proceedings as there would be conflict of interest and only watched as a neutral observer. It took many concessions to keep the peace such revealing the technology behind the molecular furnace. To the Mercurians though it was going to be revealed anyway as part of their philosophy of sharing free knowledge and to mend relations with the Martians thanks to some moderate adepts. Mercurians did insist of keeping the Molecular Miner a secret for they need to have something since the Titans are forever denied to them.