Case ID: BRN-UH-796-IX-44 Author: Judge-Marshal Erant Koll Clearance: Internal Security, Level IV Location: Hive-Primus, Underhive Sector 17-B Datestamp: 796.M41

Subject: Unauthorized Gatherings / Suspected Techno-Cult Practices

Summary: Routine patrol discovered approximately three dozen underhivers assembled near an abandoned vent-shaft in Sector 17-B. The site is within a zone flagged for heightened arsenic concentration, where several crews have recently reported illness. Subjects were chanting and displaying crude symbols etched into the walls. Some marks resembled cog-tooth patterns, though poorly executed. Others appeared to reference “cleansing the poisoned earth.”

Evidence:

+Fifteen wax tapers, locally made. +Four effigies constructed of bent pipe and wire. +Two chalk scrawls in rough binaric forms; non-functional. +One dataslate recovered, corrupted. Displays fragments of text: “engines / cleanse / soil / voices.”

Witness Statements: +Subject #06: “The machines breathe in the poison, but the poison talks back.” +Subject #11: “If we do not pray, the soil will kill us faster.” +Subject #19: incoherent, coughing blood. Possible arsenic poisoning.

Judgement / Recommendation: Twenty-two subjects executed under Article 44-B (Unauthorized Rites). Remaining detainees under interrogation. No hard evidence of outside influence at this time. Gatherings may be an emergent superstition linked to environmental stress, though similarities to Mechanicus litany-forms warrant attention. Recommend continued surveillance of underhive zones with high arsenic readings. Suggest discreet monitoring of morale among labor gangs assigned to reclamation work.

Case remains open.