>>5280969Indeed, it would be key to its defense. Extending the Mandeville Point outward to a much larger area forcing incoming fleets to drop out of warp far away, and thus giving ample range and time for planetary defense and monitor fleets to both wreack havoc and attempt to send for reinforcements by other means (Such as a fleet escaping to the opposite side of the mandeville point and warping out or sending a message).
When the effect becomes strong such as if we ever excavate and install some Pylons there for study, those who are not pariahs on Xana will gain good augments to help them deal with dulling effects of the zone, such as increased fatigue, suppression of emotions, having to manually breathe, food and color being bland and so forth. This too would form part of its defense, for where the invading human or space marine would find their courage dulled, their zeal suppressed, and the mere act of living a battle of attrition, the blessed Techpriest has dispensed with such paultry biological concerns.
For the Techpriest has lungs of steel and arms of metal, he needs not hunger or taste for the nutrition dispenser to sustain himself, he hath already grown accsustom to vaulting away his emotions and relying not on flimsy determination of the moment but upon the cold, unflinching program of the machine and the orders relayed electronically in his head to follow. Our Skitarii and Acillians are the best fit for surviving and even thriving in a Pariah Zone, for they have already learned how to live and function without emotion and find purpose and meaning in being as the machine. Even the blessed servitors are an example to follow, for they need not the petty will to live as mortal guardsmen do to function well and to fight in service of the Machine God. The internal cogitators within their skull guide their hand and their function.
A Pariah Zone is the 2nds greatest secret tool of battlefield advantage.
