Editing Mars (Hektor Heresy)

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{{Infobox 40k Planet
|name= Mars
|bgcolor=red
|fgcolor=white
|image=
|class= Forge World
|orbdist= 1.52AU ± 0.14AU
|gravity= 0.38G
|temp= 
|pop= 20,000,000,000
|governor= Fabricator-General [[Kalkas Tygian]]
|system= Sol System
|sector= Sol Sector
|subsector= 
|segmentum= Segmentum Solar
}}

'''Mars''' was the home world of the Mechanicum.  Due to its history and might, the planet also served as the machine cult's spiritual and political center.  After the coming of the Emperor and the Treaty of Mars, Martian Forge-Fanes produced enormous quantities of war material for the [[Great Crusade (Hektor Heresy)|Great Crusade]].  However, under the fanatical rule of Fabricator-General [[Kalkas Tygian]], Mars squandered its strength enforcing a narrow orthodoxy on the Forge Worlds of the Galaxy.  Eventually the orthodox Mechanicum outreached themselves and had to accommodate heterodox views that fell short of outright Tech Heresy, leading to the formation of the Non-Conformist League headed by [[Al-Sherar]].  Worse, corruption was gnawing at Mars itself, leading to a Chaos-led uprising and civil war as the [[Hektor Heresy]] gripped the [[Galaxy (Hektor Heresy)|Galaxy]].  Despite this devastation, Mars recovered in the period of Imperial Reformation and although Kalkas Tygian's vision of the Machine Cult in complete ritual union across the Galaxy never came to pass, the Red Planet was able to assert its political authority over the Non-Conformist League.


==History==

Humans first settled Mars during M3, shortly after the emergence of the species as a space-faring civilisation.  The colony grew to rival the sophistication and wealth of Terra.  Under the auspices of the industrial cartels that ran the Red Planet, some terraforming took place and the first Hive Cities were constructed.  By the time that humans began to spread across the [[Galaxy (Hektor Heresy)|Galaxy]] Mars and Terra stood as equal partners, and their friendly co-existence did much to shape the politics of the human-settled worlds.  In the Dark Age of Technology, worlds might hold respect and prominence over their peers, but humanity had no capital.

That age of wonders came to a terrible end with the Warp Storms of the end of the 25th Millenium, and humanity was plunged into the horrors of the Age of Strife.  On Mars, destruction and isolation were compounded by the failure of the great atmospheric shields that had protected life from the ravages of solar radiation.  The survivors retreated underground, into shelters in the depths of their hives.  But unlike on other human worlds where technology was the terrible font from which the Men of Iron had sprung, on the Red Planet it was also the wellspring of life.  Only the machines of the ancients, half-understood and often malfunctioning, could keep the Martians from extinction.  It was this dual nature of man's relationship with his technological wonders that created the peculiar creed of the Machine Cult.

The Tech Priests slowly contained or defeated their rivals for the Red Planet and rebuilt the old Hive Cities in a new image.  Where once the cities of Mars had emulated those of Terra, now they were forge temples dedicated to the mysterious Machine God.  From these great industrial centers, the leading tech priests planned new expeditions across the stars.  Great colony ships were built and prepared for launch into predicted quiet periods in the Warp.  Some of the colonists never reached their destination, swallowed up by unforeseen turbulence in the Immateria, while others were ruined after their landfall.  But others prospered and created new Forge Worlds, great bastions of technology that would play an important role in the [[Great Crusade (Hektor Heresy)|Great Crusade]] and on into the Age of the Imperium.

===Mars on the Eve of Unification===

Late in the 30th Millennium, the great Warp Storms that had plagued the Galaxy finally began to recede.  On Terra, the Emperor of Mankind began his great military campaign to put an end to the [[Unification Wars (Hektor Heresy)|Unification Wars]].  Unity was approaching on Mars as well.  The Machine Cult controlled the majority of their planet with barbaric tribes restricted to the barren wastes between Forge Cities.  It is true that the spans of wasteland became greater the further one traveled from the cult's center around Tharsis, but nowhere on Mars was truly beyond the reach of the Machine God.  Secure in their hegemony, the scheming archmagoi of the Martian Parliament launched raids on the other planets of the Solar System or vied with one another for temporal power.  First in their ambitions was the office of Fabricator General, guardian of the great Temple of All Knowledge at Olympus Mons and spiritual superior of the cult.  For many decades, that position had been held by Leton Tygian, a sagacious and careful Archmagos who used the honour of his position to arbitrate between the disputes of his peers.  By making himself the justice of Mars, Leton garnered great renown to his person and the office of the Fabricator-General.  He became so beloved that some suggested that Leton was the coming of the Omnissiah, but the Fabricator-General humbly denounced this bold charge and reminded Mars that he was but a humble mortal in service to the Machine God.  His modest words were backed up by his actions, for Leton Tygian died later that year.

Following Leton's death, elections were held for a new Fabricator-General.  The Emperor's successes on Terra, and especially the conquest of Luna through the defection of [[Pallas Eugenesis]], weighed heavy on the Martian Parliament.  Many felt that the foremost order of the day was teaching the Terran upstart a lesson, partitioning his realm, and restoring the old balance of the Solar System - the preferred euphemism for Martian primacy.  Valran Burija, Forge Lord of Urbis Juventas, was the bannerman of the anti-Terran party.  He called for swift and decisive action, but once granted the post of Fabricator General Burija struggled to mobilise the hosts of Mars.  After lengthy political struggle, Burija managed to outfit a punitive expedition against Terra by agreeing to lead the forces himself.  His intervention went poorly.  [[Hektor Cincinnatus]] met the Fabricator-General in battle, routed the Martian host, and slew their leader in single combat.  The few tech-priests who managed to escape returned to Mars with horror stories of the new breed of warrior that had emerged on Terra.

Once more, the Martian Parliament assembled under the shadow of Terra to elect a new Fabricator-General.  Burija's death had crushed enthusiasm for war.  There were some few like [[Duniya Kanaash]] who spoke of redeeming the honour of Mars with another expedition.  Equally sparse were the supporters of a long peace - the most famous of them was [[Zorr Yenser]], who had fought at Burija's side and believed that the defeat on Terra was a sign from the Omnissiah.  But at this stage, Yenser was thought eccentric at best and he was even openly denounced as a mental defective in the chambers of the Temple of All Knowledge.  Most of the Lords of Mars merely wanted a representative to make peace with the Emperor, a peace in which to reassess the capabilities of the Terran warlord and make new plans.  Yet none of the greatest worthies of the Red Planet were eager to be disgraced by taking terms from Terra.  For this reason, a relative unknown, [[Kalkas Tygian]] was elected to the post of Fabricator-General.  Kalkas was young, frankly too young for his exalted office, but he was Leton's nephew and wore his exalted name.  With this threadbare qualification, the young tech priest would receive the self-proclaimed Emperor of Mankind.

===The Treaty of Olympus Mons===

The coming of the Emperor to Mars was heralded by rain.  On some worlds, this would be a cause for dampened spirits, but on the Red Planet it was a miracle and the fulfillment of prophecy.  Kalkas Tygian welcomed the golden giant as the Omnissiah and willingly pledged support to His design.  Many among the Martian Parliament were similarly moved and voted to accept a treaty not just of peace but alliance with Terra.  This pact, called the Treaty of Mars among Terran-ruled worlds and the Treaty of Olympus Mons on those planets in the realm of the Mechanicum, established the Imperium and laid the foundation of the [[Great Crusade (Hektor Heresy)|Great Crusade]].  The Emperor's mighty [[Legiones Astartes (Hektor Heresy)|Space Marine Legions]] would be armed and armoured by the tech priests, and the Forge Worlds rediscovered in the Great Crusade would once more come into communion with their mother planet.

Nor did Kalkas Tygian squander the moment.  In the next session of the Martian Parliament, the Fabricator General called for a Chamber of Repentance.  Those who had voted against the Treaty of Olympus Mons were invited to realise their error and do penance by renouncing their office and doing service directly for the Emperor.  Amidst shouts of dissent and outrage, the representatives of Urbis Juventas stormed out.  Some few Lords of Mars - whether sincere or seeing which way the wind was blowing - took Kalkas's offer and reported to a new facility for the training of the Techmarines.  They were replaced with archmagoi of the so-called "Party of the Faithful", fervent believers in the Omnissiah who would support Kalkas's agenda.  Against the Faithful stood a large minority of so-called "Deniers" who remained in communion with the Temple of All Knowledge but did not recognise the authority of the Emperor.

The Fabricator-General was not prepared to leave the Mechanicum split and moved to assert his authority.  Urbis Juventas had dishonoured the whole Martian Parliament when its lords walked out of a session, and only the most fervent Deniers spoke against a punitive action.  Zorr Yenser, now regarded as a man of great vision and foresight, was granted command of the expedition.  In the Battle of Hebes Chasma, Yenser swiftly reduced the outer defences of Urbis Juventas, then offered the citizens one last chance to repent and recognise the coming of the Omnissiah.  A handful of the most determined deniers flung themselves from the heights of their city in protest, but the bulk of the people came out from their shattered walls and began to sing a hymn of praise as a sign of sincerity.  Yenser was greatly moved by their repentance and, with tears of joy in his eyes, ordered his troops to slaughter the people of Urbis Juventas before they had a chance to fall away from the path of the Omnissiah once more.  Kalkas Tygian deliberately provoked the deniers by greeting the victory at Hebes Chasma with acclaim and announcing that a new Urbis Juventas, now "Phoenix City", would be built from the ruins of the old and that Zorr Yenser would be its lord.

==The Forge Temples of Mars==

The Mechanicum gathered in ancient hives dedicated to industry and the praise of the Machine God.  Just one of the Red Planet's great Forge Temples could out-produce any Imperial planet short of a Forge World or the most sophisticated Hive World.  The most famous Forge Temples include:

* The principal settlement on Mars is the '''Tharsis hive cluster''', a gigantic conurbation centered on the Tharsis highlands.  Hundreds of millions of Martians dwell within this great accumulation of hives, labouring to produce vast quantities of war materials for their overlords.  A deadly expanse of wasteland surrounds the Tharsis hive cluster, stalked by the last survivors of Mars' feral mutants.  At the heights of the hives are some of the greatest fanes of the Mechanicum, such as the faith's centre '''The Temple of All Knowledge''' (more commonly known as Olympus Mons for the volcano about which it is built) and '''Mondus Occulum''', the seat of the Fabricator Locum.  The Tharsis hive cluster was long guarded by the fortresses of the Triad Ferrum Morgulus; Legio Ignatum, Legio Mortis, and Legio Tempestus.
* The Fane of '''Urbis Tyrrhena''' or "Crater City", was a Forge Temple specialising in civilian goods.  It was built on the crater fields of Tyrrhena Terra, but became infamous as the birthplace and power center of the Autopostate [[Vilyon Luthier]].  After the Loyalist victory, Urbis Tyrrhena was razed and never rebuilt.
* The Fane of '''Urbis Syrtis''' or "Hourglass City", was a Forge Temple built on the mineral-rich Syrtis Major Planum.  Due to its heterodox beliefs (including a notion of interspecies reincarnation), Urbis Syrtis was ruthlessly conquered by Kalkas Tygian's forces shortly after the Treaty of Mars.  During the Great Crusade the hive was rebuilt and its mines brought back into service to produce materials for foundries elsewhere on Mars.  This luckless realm was also the first Forge Temple to fall to Vilyon Luthier's Giorea Choristers.
* "Liberty City" or '''Urbis Juventas''' once stood on the Hebes Mensa, surrounded by the natural moat of the Hebes Chasma.  Their defensible position convinced the citizens of Liberty City that they could defy Kalkas Tygian, and the Fabricator General had their once-beautiful home destroyed as a lesson to the people of Mars.  The ruins of Liberty City served as a foundation for a second Urbis Juventas, known as "Phoenix City" and constructed in honour of the Treaty of Mars.  Under the often-distant rule of Zorr Yenser, Phoenix City became a pillar of Martian Orthodoxy.