Class
An STC Fragment is any partial archive or template-output of a Standard Template Construct — see Standard Template Construct (STC) for context. Fragments range from the small (one frozen template-output) to the substantial (a partial core capable of producing several templates).
Treatment
Recovery of a fragment is the highest honour an Explorator-mission can report. The fragment is transported under armed Skitarii guard to the nearest Forge; on arrival it is enshrined in a stasis-vault of appropriate sanctity, opened for analysis only by an Archmagos with credentials sufficient for the depth of the fragment.
Famous extant fragments
- The fragment that yielded the Lasgun template — pre-Imperial origin, unknown current location, presumed Mars or in a Veneratus’s private vault.
- The Ulanor fragment, recovered by an Explorator team in late M40, now housed on Stygies VIII (controversially).
- Multiple fragments held by Cawl, distributed across his secondary forges; their exact contents are not public.
Doctrinal weight
An STC Fragment is, in the strictest sense, the most sacred class of relic the Cult Mechanicus possesses. To damage one is the gravest crime of the priesthood; to destroy one — though this has occurred — is considered a signal heresy on its own.