hh8节译:Cethlen上的雕塑

Carven of Cethlen

On the inner edge of the region known as the Halo Stars, the world of Cethlen was discovered by the Imperium. A temperate world whose topography was that of grass plains dotted with lakes and towering structures of free standing mesa landforms, Cethlen was ideal for supporting human life. Sparsely populated by a nomadic civilisation with a reverence of nature, its tribes equivalent in technological development to the Bronze Age societies of Ancient Terra, their sect was one of ancestor veneration, raising cairns and standing stone circles to their gods, and was dismissed by Imperial authorities as harmless, and a matter for the Iterators to deal with in time. As a result, Cethlen was quickly and peaceably brought into the Imperium in 801.M30. The tribes of Cethlen appeared simple and struggled to communicate with the Imperial delegation throughout the transition, appearing to care little for the promise of enlightenment and Imperial technology. Scattered as they were, the tribes could make little protest and were largely ignored as the Imperium claimed Cethlen and the priesthood of Mars began the instalment of infrastructure and industry on their world.

在光晕群星区域的内侧边境，帝国发现了名为Cethlen的世界。这颗气候温和星球的地形是草原，其间星罗棋布地点缀着湖泊和高耸的独立台地结构，适于人类生存。当地稀疏地分布着对自然怀有敬畏之情的游牧文明部落，这些部落的科技发展水平等同于古老泰拉的青铜时代社会。他们的宗教是某种祖先崇拜的，他们为自己的神建起石冢和竖立的石圈，不过帝国当局认为这是无害的，应该由后续到来的殖民者及时处理。于是Cethlen在801.M30被快速且和平地纳入到人类帝国。Cethlen的游牧部落们似乎是纯朴良善的，他们在整个过渡期间都在努力与帝国代表团沟通；他们似乎也并不关心帝国进行启蒙运动的承诺和帝国的技术。这些部落也颇为分散，他们几乎无法做出抗议；而随着帝国占有了这个世界，火星的牧师们也开始在他们的世界上分期建设基础设施和工业设施，这些原住民在很大程度上也就被遗忘了。

Two decades after Compliance, an Imperial flotilla of the Administratum, consisting of bureaucrats and Imperial historians tasked with recording the progress of Compliant worlds, was escorted to Cethlen by the 88th Company of the War Hounds. Upon arriving at Cethlen they observed from orbit the works and technologies of the Imperium littered across the landscape, now little more than scattered ruins. The War Hounds deployed on Cethlen to investigate the Imperial losses and found the bones of Imperial personnel stacked against grassland cairns and standing stones. Assuming perfidy on the part of the tribesmen, the War Hounds hunted down several nomadic groups through the grasslands in formations of Land's Proteus Speeders and Scimitar jetbikes, putting them to the sword though they offered no resistance and appeared to be no threat. Several such groups were found within the bounds of great stone circles, chanting and worshipping at the bases of the towering mesas of rock. Though they were being slaughtered, the Cethlenese only began to show fear and started to flee for their lives when the War Hounds began to topple the standing stone blocks. No sooner had the first block hit the ground, it is reported that through unseen means the giant, eroded mesas shifted from the earth, extending to rise on thick roots, as of trees. Like leviathans from the earth, these towering entities of rock summoned spars of stone from the ground, smashing the attacking Legionaries to pulp.

在Cethlen归顺帝国二十年后，一支政务部帝国舰队在战犬军团第88连队的护卫下来到此地——帝国的官员和历史学家们前来记录归顺世界的开发进程。但一经抵达Cethlen，他们就从轨道上发现曾经分散在地面各处的帝国建筑和科技（产品）现在只剩下了零星的废墟。战犬军团战士们被部署到Cethlen上去调查帝国的损失，他们发现帝国人员的尸骨堆放在草原石堆和立石旁。战犬军团战士们认为是（当地的）部落民做出了背信弃义之举，他们驾驶着普罗托斯型兰德速攻艇和短弯刀型喷射机车，组成编队在草原上追捕了数个游牧群体，尽管游牧民们没有抵抗，看起来也没有威胁，但军团战士们还是挥剑杀死了他们。军团战士们在巨大的石圈界限内发现了数个个这样的群体，他们在高耸岩石台地的底部进行诵经和朝拜。尽管他们遭到了屠杀，但只有当战犬们开始推倒那些矗立的石块时，游牧民们才开始表现出恐惧并开始逃命。跟据（事后）报报告，第一块石头刚一落地，巨大且被侵蚀过的台地就通过看不见的方式离开了土壤，就像树木那样蜿蜒着从厚重的根部抬起（自己）。这些高大的岩石构成体就像来自土壤的利维坦巨兽，召唤出地面上的石柱，将进攻的军团战士打成了肉浆。

Across Cethlen, the colossal beings, which came to be known as Carven, rose up as the nomadic tribes which tended to them died. Supposedly, as per Celthenese myth, the Carven could be placated by worship; a fact the early settlers of Cethlen had learned at great cost, forcing them to become a nomadic society of earthquake chasers. They were also kept dormant due to the raising of their young by the Cethlenese tribes - blocks of sandstone-like alien flesh which would grow and harden as they were ritually tended to. Carven, which had existed on Cethlen long before Mankind had settled there, seemed to display a simple, subtle intelligence, acting peacefully to the kinship of nature displayed by the tribes, people while responding with violence to Imperium industry and technology.

在整个Cethlen世界上，这些被称为“雕塑”的巨大物体都在照料他们的游牧部落死亡后站了起来。根据Cethlen神话中的内容，我们推测这些雕塑可以被崇拜所抚慰；Cethlen的早期定居者们在付出了惨重的代价后知道了这一点，这迫使他们成为了一个追逐地震的游牧社会。由于Cethlen部落对这些生物的后代进行抚养，所以它们也处于休眠状态——塞特伦部落会用宗教仪式照料一块块沙岩状的异星人肉块，这些肉会在这个过程中长大变硬。这些雕塑在人类定居此地很久之前就已经存在于Cethlen上，它们似乎表现出一种简单而且狡猾的逻辑，和平地对待部落民们表现出的对于自然的亲近感，而以暴力回应帝国的工业和技术。

The XIIth Legion, uncaring of the history of the Celthenese, set about breaking every stone on the planet after discovering the presence of the Carven, from the smallest pebble to the largest mountain. Their skimmers scouted ahead to locate boulder fields and standing circles, Land Raider tanks following in their wake to crush potential creatures under their treads. Against the more mature, gigantic Carven they deployed their complement of field artillery, Rapier teams and Basilisks to shatter rock from afar. When felled, Legionaries on foot chopped at the roots of these living mountains with axes and crumbled rock under the hammering, explosive displacer field impacts of power mauls until only dust and dark mud remained. Even so, the very bedrock of Celthen was deemed untrustworthy, being potentially seeded by the Carven. The planet was interdicted therefore by the War Hounds, who continued to observe it for suspicious tectonic activity until permission was granted by Imperium High Command in 824.M30 for the XIIth Legion to destroy the entire world with cyclonic missiles.

第十二军团则毫不关心Celthen人的历史，在发现雕塑的存在后，他们开始击碎星球上的每一块石头，从最小的砾石到最大的山脉，无一例外。他们的悬浮艇在前方侦察以确定巨石场和立石圈的位置，兰德掠夺者坦克跟在他们身后用履带碾碎潜在的生物体。为了对付那些发育更成熟、体形更巨大的雕塑，他们还部署了战场火炮，轻剑小队和石化蜥蜴火炮从远处粉碎岩石。当这些生物摔倒后，军团战士步兵们会用斧子砍断这些活体山脉的根系，而且他们挥舞着动力槌，用置换力场重锤般的爆炸冲击让岩石崩为碎屑，直到仅仅剩下灰尘和暗色的泥土。但即便如此，Celthen的基岩也被认为是不值得信任的，战犬军团认为基岩层中可能被雕塑埋下了种子。因此，战犬军团封锁了这颗行星，他们继续观察星球上可疑的地质构造活动，直到帝国最高指挥部在824.M30批准第十二军团用旋风导弹摧毁整个世界。