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"The Omnicopaeia was an artifact sought after by Magos Delphan Gruss. This device was believed to be a data storage mechanism that contained every STC blueprint created during the Dark Age of Technology. Its existence became known after Delphan Gruss examined numerous STC legends; he has since devoted his life to finding the artifact."

Why is this not mentioned more?

Because Delphan Gruss is not playable on the tabletop, therefore his quest to find STC data is irrelevant, and GW will not advance the timeline any, so he will never find it anyway, and the universe will not change because of it.

Also, because it doesn't kill Orks, or Tau, or Necrons, or Eldar.

Because it is an as-yet-unconfirmed thing. Just because he has analyzed other STC fragments does not mean the Omnicopaeia exists... it may be a 40K version of Kilroy, which has a historical basis in fact, but has since grown in the telling....

... or that it even survived to the modern age. There's a whole lot of worlds lost to Tyranids, Chaos, Exterminatus, natural disasters, Orks, etc. This thing may no longer be around.

I thought STCs were adapted to the local environment... why would one have all of the local variations? I could see it having the prime variant of every possible device but I doubt that every single local variant is documented somewhere.

Each STC is supposed to contain the sum of humanity's technical knowledge. I've never heard that any of it was "adapted" for local conditions, as it would not need to be if it contains the ability to produce anything that humanity ever knew how to make (of course, an STC would not contain any Heresy-era or later devices or developments...).

It's an established part of the background. Even the nature of an STC, and whether an individual one contains "the sum of humanity's technical knowledge" is somewhat ambiguous. And having the "ability to produce anything that humanity ever knew how to make" isn't always as useful as knowing how to produce something out of materials on hand, which may not be a material commonly or ever used in the construction of what you really need. That has been canon forever, not sure how you missed it.

If you actually think that STCs contain all knowledge, your earlier posts in this thread don't make sense...

The island of St. Brandon, Eldorado, the fountains of youth, Cathay, the philosophers' stone, planet Nibiru, Atlantis, the entrance to the inner Earth, the spear of Longinos, alien underground bases, the Holy Grail...

The Omnicopaeia can perfectly be just like all the artifacts and locations listed above: A myth, maybe with some historical truth to it, but a myth nevertheless.

I dont know much about fluff but it could be a master STC. There could have been a batch of originals and this one is the last master STC....

Actually, I believe that SCT's do originally contain all knowledge; unfortunately, 40K's humanity has to date only found fractions that contain the knowledge/blueprints to produce one or at best a few things.

Finding a complete SCT is the Mechanicum's Holy Grail; has been for forver AFAIK.
Gruss' quest is different only in that he's seemingly not interested in finding the SCT device itself, but merely its "master drive" as it were.

squidhills wrote:
Because Delphan Gruss is not playable on the tabletop, therefore his quest to find STC data is irrelevant, and GW will not advance the timeline any, so he will never find it anyway, and the universe will not change because of it.

Also, because it doesn't kill Orks, or Tau, or Necrons, or Eldar.

Wow... I guess this *isn't* a background discussion?

Anyways... remember, just because an artifact is sought after, doesn't mean it exists. Pernicious and pervasive rumors have dolmed many an expedition, and this may be just one more Holy Grail.