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I saw this question on another site and thought I'd ask dakka on what they think.

At the end of the HH there were alot of wrecked ships from traitors and loyalists alike scattered across the stars, the Sol and Istavan battles are the first that spring to mind. So the question is, were these relics recovered and repaired, or are they still drifting out there after 10,000 years.

I mean think about all that valuable tech and infomation just waiting for a rouge trader or whoever to come along. Since all records were deleted about Istavan for example, it would be a wet dream for Mars to recover all that lost data for one.

Any thoughts?

Some of them might have been salvaged, but most probably ended up jammed into a space hulk.

But what about Istavan?

Istvaan 3 was Virus bombed and then incinerated BEFORE the final battle.

Istvaan 5 was likely picked clean by the traitors following the loyalist's escape

I think the Istvaan system has been cleaned. In the HH books they return there for survivors for a special mission. Furthermore the ambushed legions probably came back after the heresy to see what happened to their brothers and retrieve their bodies/gear/ships. At least what the chaos legions hadnt cleared out by then. Remember that they knew they were going into a big conflict, so all usable/repairable wrecks and gear/weapons/armour were probably stripped from the system before moving on to Terra. No use in leaving such a large amount of equipment behind if you cant be sure about your supply in the upcoming years.

Should be noted that really only the Emperor is the only person left in the Imperium with any real knowledge of the Heresy. To the Imperial leaders of M41 it's basically similar to how we'd view biblical legends today. Relics and worlds central to the Heresy may not be necessarily known in M41.

In other words, there would certainly be salvage hunters visiting various areas in the hopes that somehow over the previous 10k years something was left to pick over. Which, given the current state of the IoM even a helmet would be valuable.

However, my guess is that the mechanicus (regular and dark) would have already been over all of the major battle sites.

In the ten thousand years that have past some wrecks may have drifted far and wide from there last known position, given that in space you travel at the same speed and direction until you hit something bigger that changes your trajectary and etc.

Could there be a hidden gem drifting in the black between the spiral arms? so long as it hasn't been sucked into the warp that is.

Also could one of these wrecks drifted to one of the milky ways satalite galaxys in all that time even at FTL?

 Harriticus wrote:
Should be noted that really only the Emperor is the only person left in the Imperium with any real knowledge of the Heresy. To the Imperial leaders of M41 it's basically similar to how we'd view biblical legends today. Relics and worlds central to the Heresy may not be necessarily known in M41.

Khm, Bjorn ??? I think he knows heresy better then 40k timeline...and Hawser who is in stasis IIRC who is awoken sometimes to tell the tales...

 DarthMarko wrote:

 Harriticus wrote:
Should be noted that really only the Emperor is the only person left in the Imperium with any real knowledge of the Heresy. To the Imperial leaders of M41 it's basically similar to how we'd view biblical legends today. Relics and worlds central to the Heresy may not be necessarily known in M41.

Khm, Bjorn ??? I think he knows heresy better then 40k timeline...and Hawser who is in stasis IIRC who is awoken sometimes to tell the tales...

I wonder what would happen if some gung-ho priest/Inquisitor pissed him off to the point that he actually speaks of the Burning of Monarchia and the Chastening of Lorgar? The resulting free-for-all within the Ecclesiarchy/Inquisition might actually be amusing to watch.

That would make for an interesting story or background to a campaign. Both sides fighting over some long lost ship that was recently found.

 Mr Nobody wrote:
That would make for an interesting story or background to a campaign. Both sides fighting over some long lost ship that was recently found.

That was my thoughts exactly and I was waiting for someone to say it. I mean think about the tech to be found or ancient data gleamed from the ships computer. Most likely anything found would be deemed heretical, and the discoverer promptly burnt at the stake for their crimes.

unless the discoverer wasn't part of the imperium

 Admiral Valerian wrote:

 DarthMarko wrote:

 Harriticus wrote:
Should be noted that really only the Emperor is the only person left in the Imperium with any real knowledge of the Heresy. To the Imperial leaders of M41 it's basically similar to how we'd view biblical legends today. Relics and worlds central to the Heresy may not be necessarily known in M41.

Khm, Bjorn ??? I think he knows heresy better then 40k timeline...and Hawser who is in stasis IIRC who is awoken sometimes to tell the tales...

I wonder what would happen if some gung-ho priest/Inquisitor pissed him off to the point that he actually speaks of the Burning of Monarchia and the Chastening of Lorgar? The resulting free-for-all within the Ecclesiarchy/Inquisition might actually be amusing to watch.

He is a relic - but still one man (???)....I' think his voice would be easy to cancel.....I' mean we have a whole imperium of religious fanatics, politicians, and even astartes who are worshipers...So this would not go so well for the wolves who would certainly die for him...

 varl wrote:
unless the discoverer wasn't part of the imperium

Touché.

There is a lot of background fluff on the subject of Mechanicum explorator fleets out looking to recover technological relics, human and alien. Its a neat setting for any type of mission or campaign. Hell, even one of the standard 40k missions is based on such a premise. Also its arguable that the Mysterious Objective 1 is a lso a magical piece of ultra-tech... I mean a bomb that can potentially keep on exploding... awesome!

 DarthMarko wrote:

 Harriticus wrote:
Should be noted that really only the Emperor is the only person left in the Imperium with any real knowledge of the Heresy. To the Imperial leaders of M41 it's basically similar to how we'd view biblical legends today. Relics and worlds central to the Heresy may not be necessarily known in M41.

Khm, Bjorn ??? I think he knows heresy better then 40k timeline...and Hawser who is in stasis IIRC who is awoken sometimes to tell the tales...

And you forget the sh*tload of CSM who were there and are still mad about it !

The thing is, access to those guys (either good orad) is limited, at best. So the legends might be a little bit wild.

 Seb wrote:

 DarthMarko wrote:

 Harriticus wrote:
Should be noted that really only the Emperor is the only person left in the Imperium with any real knowledge of the Heresy. To the Imperial leaders of M41 it's basically similar to how we'd view biblical legends today. Relics and worlds central to the Heresy may not be necessarily known in M41.

Khm, Bjorn ??? I think he knows heresy better then 40k timeline...and Hawser who is in stasis IIRC who is awoken sometimes to tell the tales...

And you forget the sh*tload of CSM who were there and are still mad about it !

The thing is, access to those guys (either good orad) is limited, at best. So the legends might be a little bit wild.

I wanted to mention that - but question was "in the imperium"...
Anyway they have their side of the story which pretty much contradicts loyalists:-)

Most shipwrecks in the Imperium are salvaged, if they can be found. The construction of grav-plates, which allow you to actually walk on a ship in space, rather than drift around like a chump, is a nearly-lost art to the Mechanicus, so taking still-functional plates from wrecked ships allows you to build more new ships.

The Traitor fleet that was largely destroyed in the Sol system at the time of the Siege of Terra was almost certainly salvaged, excepting those ships who may have been lost in Saturn or Jupiter's gravitational pull. Even if it was by space-truckers and asteroid miners, you can bet the AdMech put a high price-tag on recovered components, those would have been very valuable in the post-Heresy rebuilding process.

As for wrecks drifting into neighboring galaxies? Not without the Warp, or significant FTL capabilities. The closest galaxy to the Milky Way is some 25,000 light-years away. So, assuming a wreck was traveling at light-speed, it's still not quite half-way there.

 Harriticus wrote:
Should be noted that really only the Emperor is the only person left in the Imperium with any real knowledge of the Heresy. To the Imperial leaders of M41 it's basically similar to how we'd view biblical legends today. Relics and worlds central to the Heresy may not be necessarily known in M41.

A specific and instance of this is the battle of Armageddon (the judeo christian one not the ork one) which refers to a real life place of Megideon' which was a battlefield fought on many times during the biblical period. We known it's location generally but the actual battle site is still a mystery.

Take that in perspective of 40k where 10,000 years have passed and although some may even know that there was massive battle between traitors and loyalists it would be nothing but hyperbole. Istvaan, for all intents and purposes would likely never register in the imperium lexicon at any level or it's called something else now.