Kalkas Tygian
| Kalkas Tygian | |
|---|---|
| Title/Honours |
Fabricator General, speaker of the Martian Parliament, Primus of the Machine Cult |
| Distinguishing Traits |
Considerate, methodical, resolute |
| Flaws |
Fanatical, forgiving |
| Role |
Loyalist |
| Dominion |
Mars and subject Forgeworlds |
This page details people, events, and organisations from the /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. See the /tg/ Heresy Timeline and Galaxy pages for more information on the Alternate Universe.
"To comment on such a man is to invite controversy - what can be said of Tygian without reproach is this. He was loyal."
- – Halycen Markus, successor to Kalkas Tygian as Fabricator General
Kalkas Tygian was the leader of the Cult Mechanicum, the Fabricator-General, during the period of the Great Crusade and Hektor Heresy. He was a devout believer in the tenets of the Machine Cult and saw the Emperor of Mankind as the true coming of the Omnissiah. Tygian's fanaticism would be a source of strength and a cause of division among the tech-priests, but his loyalty to the Imperium was unquestioned.
History
Of the many figures that were to shape the Imperium, few are as widely known and yet misunderstood as Fabricator General Kalkas Brord Tygian. He was speaker of the Martian Parliament, Lord of Olympus Mons, Primus of the Machine Cult and disciple of the Omnissiah. To those outside the Mechanicum, he is a hero, a steadfast supporter of the Emperor who held the Mechanicum to oaths sworn. To those more knowledgeable and those within the Mechanicum, Tygian is a far more divisive figure. Some see him as a zealot who tried to force all within the Mechanicum to believe his own limited vision of the tenets of the Machine Cult. Others see his desire to force all the many daughter-forges of Mars to bend the knee as the mark of a tyrant, determined to destroy any who dared stand up against him.
The Disciple of the Omnissiah
Reason provides a vision to the stars. Faith gives you the will to achieve that vision.
-Kalkian Teachings, p.g. 359
Kalkas Tygian was born under the rule of his uncle, Fabricator General Leton Tygian. Kalkas showed his talents as techno-savant from an early age, being tutored under his relative for an unknown period of time. This continued until supervision over the forges upon Deimos was given to Kalkas. Overseeing the production of war material at the age of twenty-one, Kalkas endeavored himself to prove his worth. Working himself and the Adepts under him to their limits, efficiency peaked shortly on Deimos. Kalkas's devotion to manufacture was deeply religious, making him ignore his uncle's requests for further education on the political nature of Mars. In the last correspondence, Leton stressed the importance of a stable succession from one generation to the next. To him, it was crucial to seeing the Omnissiah's will.
The lesson would come too late for Kalkas, when Leton died shortly thereafter.
After Leton's demise Mars descended into upheaval. The Fabricator-General was so beloved, few had considered his untimely departure from the Omnissiah's creation. Valran Burija, long time rival to Leton, moved swiftly. The Martian Parliament voted him in as Fabricator-General. His initial aim was to secure political power for himself, by lining positions in with his supporters. The issue of war with Terra weighed heavy on everyone's minds, but Valran was slow to move. After assembling a punitive force ten years after ascending to his post, Valran lead an attack on Sol-III. His abject failure and death sent a shockwave through Mars.
The defense of Mars became the sole issue surrounding the next election. The Parliament had at first discounted Kalkas because of his age. Now he was a decade older, and the memory of Leton's rule was fresh in the minds of the delegates. Kalkas Tygian saw this as the moment his uncle had told him of, and accepted. Work immediately began to strengthen Mars against invasion. But it was an attempt to project strength than a serious effort to achieve lasting victory. The Emperor's force of arms would leave Mars smashed, and weak to further attacks from beyond the Sol System.
Tygian was elected for a particularly deplorable reason. Mars did not want war, it wanted to explore the stars and reunite with its expeditions. As a result, amenable terms were on everyone's mind. No one wanted to be the Fabricator-General who signed peace with a foreign invader. It would be Kalkas's legacy to accept such a fate, and he knew this yet still volunteered. It was the will of the Omnissiah to him, unquestionable and required. Instead of being kept in ignoble infamy, his name would echo across the Milky Way.
The Emperor and the Fabricator-General
The arrival of the Emperor was an occurrence thought inconceivable by every rational mind in the Mechanicum. Not only did the Emperor's ship fly past innumerable defenses, including a ring of space stations and countless ships, Mars had begun to rain. Water had touched its soil for the first time in thousands of years. Some Adepts have records placing eye witnesses with Tygian, remarking he was crying upon seeing the sight. As the Emperor descended from the heavens upon a golden vessel, his touch mended machine effortlessly. Kalkas swore fealty to him upon the muddy ground outside of Olympus Mons. The Omnissiah had been made manifest, and the Fabricator-General would be his servant on Martian soil.
At first the movements of Kalkas were subtle. He worked tirelessly for rest of the day establishing contacts with trusted officials, Secutors of honorable repute, and establishing lasting alliances with key figures such as Motoka Isidore of Mondus Occulum. During the second day, still without rest, Kalkas stormed the Martian Parliament. Inside its walls, he declared his formation of a Chamber of Repentance. All those who had voted against the ordained Treaty of Mars would be given a singular chance to ask for penance. If they accepted, the souls would lowered to the rank of Enginseers and made to service the Emperor's Legions.
Not all agreed with this. Urbis Juventas openly declared rebellion, but paid a dear price when their city as razed in an attack led by Zorr Yenser. But even as that battle went on, the Chamber was faced with a dilemma. Not all the delegates who had refused the accord with Terra had repented. Knowing their crime was without a doubt, Kalkas sanctioned lengthy interrogations against these individuals to coerce confessions from them. As they gave in, Tygian decided to add another act of penance upon them. They must surrender any individuals who have committed injustices against the creed of the Cult.
Kalkas collapsed after seventy-four hours of action, allowing the members in the Chamber of Repentance to continue the work. The Magi of Mars saw this as a cleansing of sorts, expected to come after communion with their literal lord. More doubtful members of the Priesthood kept their mouths silent, but used the upheaval to bring opposition to the Chamber to remove them. Many willingly came to seek repentance, having a religious reawakening and an honest desire to atone. A plethora of punishments developed for any number of crimes.
Some like the Cybellatici - those who had taken augments without proper reverence for them - faced extreme penance. Techno-expurgation was a unique punishment under Kalkian canon law. The Adept would be stripped of every augment they possessed, replaced with vat-grown organs sufficient to keep them alive, and cast out of Mars. Kalkas justified the punishment by explaining it showed the true heart of the individual. Not one for the Omnissiah, thus their crimes to the cause would be removed by removing them from his sight. Without their augments, their flesh would fail them in short order. Living testaments to the tenats of the Mechancium.
Positions for the faithful were secured. Those who had shown reverence to the Omnissiah Incarnate, as the Emperor became known, were given the largest bounty. Zorr Yenser was given control of Hebes Chasma. Kalkas's sister, Areta Tygian replaced his position over Deimos. Her daughter Modra Tygian being assigned to his personal staff, to learn more directly under him than he did from Leton. Arch-Magos Alycon Markus, the grandfather of the later Fabricator-General Halycen Markus, was given command over ten Titan Legions. Amark Callus, who had stopped the Rebellion of the crew aboard the Ordinatus Mars, gained authority over the ancient vessel.
Mars was pacified, the filth washed away - according to Kalkas. Instead those foolish enough to have their heretical activities known or marked by fate had been claimed in zealous wrath. All others astute to understand the situation and cautious of their views remained in their positions. Kalkas had only strengthened those he wished to remove utterly, a lesson he would keenly learn in the years to come. For now all of Mars focused on a singular goal; sovereignty over its many distant Forgeworlds.
Mars Triumphant
With you anything can be achieved. United are we in purpose - endeavor then to never falter!
-Kalkas Tygian, upon swearing in the First Hundredth.
Mars was united on the surface, but laid divisive underneath a veneer of absolute loyalty to Fabricator-General and Emperor. The mechanisms in place to dethrone Kalkas were stalled utterly. To reproach him would challenge the might of the Emperor, who grew more powerful with every passing day. Worse than this, the Emperor appeared to be the Omnissiah made genuine. Though whispered in circles as usurper, no one could openly accuse him. Discontent was left to ferment underneath the surface of Mars without an avenue to vent. The only task that united Mars was in bringing together the Forgeworlds. It was time to call upon the expeditions sent out millennia ago.
The Mechanicum was disorganized, barely centralized, and in need of firm leadership. Kalkas aimed to bring it together as one. Multiple Forgeworlds were provided with permanent additions to their Forges, the technology of the red planet subsuming outdated or lost machines in their sister foundries. Assembly lines churned out with greater efficiency than every before. A singular doctrine was proselytized above divergent sects, mirroring the views of Mars and Tygian himself. Peaceful integration became a hallmark of the Fabricator-Generals overall strategy.
To those Forgeworlds too distant or theologically divergent, Kalkas was known as a reserved ruler. He only demanded a tithe in production be paid to Mars to provide proper arms to the Imperium, and that he was seen as the suzerain arbiter of religious matters. This would be the only contract made between the red planet and its sister-forges outside of the Segmentum Solar. To ask upon assistance would invite further sacrifices of autonomy. First would come the Logynods, assemblies of the most pious individuals handpicked by Tygian himself. These individuals would both share knowledge and direct faith, but only act after being welcomed in.
Tygian knew with the immensity of the stars, and the passage of time, not everyone would know the correct path. His aim always was to bring the lost towards understanding. An assembly of Magii from the first hundred Forgeworlds brought into contact with Mars was summoned. These became known as the Meeting of the First Hundredth, as it brought together otherwise impossibly separate dominions together under a single ruler. Punctuating the month long talks was a surprise visit from the Emperor, who thanked all those who had arrived.
To Kalkas, political power came second to proper devotion. Worship had to be monitored under his watchful gaze. This would be challenged soon enough.
Military Campaigns
827.M30 Liberation of Farilicen V. Taken over by the megalomaniac tyrant X-228, Farilicen grew to be an infamous state. Trading openly with Xenos for technology, the Forgeworld's Priesthood was shackled to their dictator's whims. Fabricator-General Kalkas Tygian personally led the assault upon X-228's realm, killing him after breaking apart his mockery Titans. The freed Priesthood renamed the world to Tygios in his honor.
854.M30 Firestom of Duillal. The Forgeworld Duillal saw Mars as a tyrannical state with no place ruling over them. After requesting more aid from Mars to use against it, they welcomed a Logynod within their realm. Butchering the representatives from Mars, they attempted to form their own empire in rebellion. Zorr Yenser leads thirteen Titan Legions and elements of the War Scribes Legion in its extermination.
The Defiance of Al-Sherar
My flesh is my burden - not your defense!
-Tygian, answering criticisms over his to be augmented form
That world would be found on the fringes of Segmentum Pacificus, close to the Homeworld of the Vth Legion. The Forgeworld of Al-Sherar was a power in its own right, possessing of a Titan Legion, the Legio Antsar as well as two large Knight Households, the Order of Bahri and the Maryannu Brotherhood. It had carved out a stellar empire of its own called the ‘Dar al-Amn’ that fed it with food and minerals, and in terms of power was as potent as any Forgeworld save Mars itself. In terms of Doctrine though Al-Sherar had deviated a considerable distance from the Martian norm, particularly in regards to xenotech. In addition, Al-Sherar had already been welcomed into the Imperium by the Primarch Gaspard Lumey so when the first Ambassadors from the Fabricator General came to Al-Sherar, the Kabeer Al-Mufteen – as the High Lord of Al-Sherar was known – stated he was already a part of the Imperium and refused to recognize the Fabricator-General as his overlord, both temporally or spiritually and would not submit to ‘enslavement’ by Mars.
The Ambassadors of Mars first responded by providing over the wealth of information to be exchanged, as well as fresh Legions of Skitarii ready to defend Al-Sherar. This came as no surprise though to the Kabeer Al-Mufteen, who had already studied the records of the Rogue Traders who had discovered the sector. Never had the Mechanicum contended with a realm as prosperous as Al-Sherar. Never had Kalkas Tygian been forced into the prospect of slaughtering so many of his own faith. Kabeer made a bet that there would be a long pause as deliberations carried out in the Martian Parliament. He was correct.
The diplomatic standoff continued on into decades, a cold war brewing as Kalkas would make deals to draw up huge levies from other Forgeworlds against Al-Sherar. Kabeer was making his own arrangements, bringing together the desperate and discontent into a league of opposition to Mars. Civil war nearly erupted when news came that a Martian Fleet of several hundred vessels was mustering at Stygies, the largest Forgeworld in the Segmentum. Fearing the worst, Kabeer Al-Mufteen made a deal - the so-called Stygies Accord of 899.M30 - with the Fabricator-General’s representatives. Mars was declared as primus inter pares, the first of all Forgeworlds. Al-Sherar would not bow, but they would acknowledge that Mars was the head of the Mechanicum. Though Tygian was deeply unhappy, it had at least brought peace and avoided war. The timing was impeccable, the Second Ruavu Grun Xenocide was in full swing and troops were in need deal with the resurgent threat.
Al-Sherar had chosen to submit when Kalkas showed the lengths at which he was willing to go towards. The fealty to Mars was hollow, an empty promise without any real foundation. As the Crusade went along, agreements were drafted between Al-Sherar and other dissatisfied Forgeworlds, such as Kyuw and Ghalhal. Worse was to come when Forgeworlds beyond Pacificus, including the old battleground Dieseleum also signed compacts with Al-Sherar. Tygian took this as a sign that Al-Sherar was working to create a faction opposed to him. What had already begun as a coldly cordial relationship now turned into veiled hostility. Furious in his outrage, the Fabricator-General resorted to underhanded methods, seeking to discredit Al-Sherar and isolate it from the rest of the Mechanicum. This shadow conflict would last until the outbreak of the Heresy.
The Clouds of Betrayal
Military Campaigns
988.M30 The Purgation of Jecreon. The principal supply forge for the Eternal Zealots, Jecreon had fallen to the sin of Tech-Heresy, studying, replicating and developing Xenotech in cooperation with the Sixteenth Legion. When the Emperor had the Zealots censured, Tygian ordered that Jecreon be purged for its own crimes against the Machine God.
Personality
There was little else in Tygian except love and appreciation for the works of the Machine God. His life was raised in his splendor, and never through his life did that leave him. Those who met with Kalkas found him to be profoundly humble, diplomatic, and wise. In face of trial, he was resolute. A rock to be unmoved no matter the storm. Few could contend with his silent consideration in the twilight hour of a battle. This would be the state remembered by his prospective foes as they reconsidered testing him. Kalkas never refused handing out clemency to those repentant, and attempted to bring growth to all those peacefully brought into Compliance. His aim was to uplift all, from menial to Magi.
This would be a stark contrast to his later years. Tygian would broker no compromise with the resisting, and would no longer attempt to slowly bring in distant elements of the Faith. There was the Creed of Mars, and no other. The Adeptus Mechanicus would grow ruthless from Kalkas's example, and later his successor Halycen Markus.