Editing Nobledark Imperium Notes (section)

==The Mechanicus and Dark Mechanicus==

Indeed, I was going to bring this up back during the last Fulgrimdump, but we may need to do some expanding on how Mars joined the Imperium. It turns out in canon the union between Mars and Earth wasn't as cozy as most people thought it was. Mars sent a fuckhuge fleet to keep Earth from unifying, and the Emperor beat them so badly only one in ten made it back. Then the Emperor showed up with his fleet in Martian orbit, and the Mechanicum surrendered and got a peace with generous terms. The whole “were forced to join at gunpoint” was written out of history. It’s why the Dark Mechanicum were such an issue during the Horus Heresy.

Obviously, this "fake treaty that was really signed at the barrel of a gun and was subsequently edited to be rosy by history" wouldn't fit with the themes here. We discussed in previous threads that the Unification of Mars happened about the same time as that of Earth, but the Warlord got done earlier and therefore got established in space and controlled most of the inner Solar System before Mars gets their shit together.

I was thinking of what the Martian leadership was like during this period. The Fabricator-General during the Great Crusade is probably one of those figures like Jenetia Krole, Malcador, or Arik Taranis that despite not being a primarch was still an important figure in the early Imperium. I was thinking that maybe the Fabricator-General was someone who was relatively charismatic for a magos similar to Arkhan Land (but probably not the same guy, as Land was someone who hated sitting still), who saw the Imperium’s burgeoning empire as an opportunity to exploit rather than a crisis. If Mars joined up, they would be able to use the Imperium’s expansion to reconnect to all the lost forge worlds and get access to all the STCs that Mars didn’t have the resources to get to outside the Sol system.

Obviously more factors contributed than this, but it might be one reason why Mars just didn’t dismiss the Imperium out of hand. It also didn't hurt that the Warlord didn't burn down the Antarctic Mechanicus enclaves in this timeline.

But then you get some big schism in the Mechanicus. Possibly from the AdMech trying to enforce uniformity among groups that had not communicated for thousands of years. Possibly because some tech-priests resented joining the Imperium. Possibly because some of the other tech-priests resented MARS telling them what to do.

Eventually some guy (maybe Anacharis Scoria) goes "You know what? I'll make my own Mechanicum. With mecha-blackjack and hooker servitors" and causes the Mechanicus to rip itself a new one. It ends up being a "minor" war in Imperial history, because it wasn't coupled with the WotB like the Schism of Mars was with the Horus Heresy, and the AdMech don't end up like the Assassins because the loyalists were enraged and fought as hard as the rest of the Imperium to stamp them out, but it means there are subsequently a lot more crazy tech-priests in the Eye of Terror.

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>2 big powers in the Sol system, disorganized Mars and a long way behind it Voidborn Migrant Fleet

>Warlord starts his campaign to unite Old Earth. laughing_cogs.pict good look with that.

>Carves out a big nation by unifying/subjugating the smaller nations. laughing_adepts.holo enjoy getting Urshed

>Starts kicking the shit out of Ursh

>Wat?

>Starts taking ground from Ursh and Pan-Pacific Empire

>WTF!

>Drives back Ursh to it's last strongholds and Americas brough itno the fold

>OH FUCKINGSHIT UNIFY! UNIFY ALL OF THE THINGS!

>Migrant Fleet joins Old Earth

>FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu--------------

>Luna follows because Voidborn

>OH FUCKINGSHITTWATCUNTINGDICKNIPPLES!!!!

>Old Earth is now out of fucking nowhere the dominant power in Sol. Mars a distant second.

>Mars almost totally unified when Steward turns up at the head of the diplomacy convoy (ships borrowed from Horus).

>Olympus Mons priesthood head of ~70% of Mars priesthoods.

>Olympus Mons signs partnership agreement

>~30% are salty as fuck. Piss of into the inky black to start their own Mechanicum without all these rules and shit

>Mars Mechnicum piggybacks on the Expedition Fleets to bring the forgeworlds and old outposts back under Mars rule.

It doesn't automatically follow that all of the 30% ran off straight to Chaos. Many would have founded little closed hermit brotherhoods of their own.

Lets say that of the original Martians only 5% went to The Dark Side.

There might also have been older brotherhoods on far flung forgeworlds and outposts that fell of their own accord during the Age of Strife also.

In any case with cloning, forcible recruitment and intensive breeding programs there is not reason for them not to have built up their numbers considerably by the War of The Beast. Especially unconstrained by all notions of good and evil.

The original bastards that came back to Mars during the War of The Beast were the real problem as they were seen by the more gullible idiots in the lower ranks as returning messiahs who had gone to the wilderness and found enlightenment. And they knew the land better and, armed with strange new knowledge, could open the locked away shit in the Labyrinth of Night. Void Dragon almost got accidently freed at this time.

Oscar and Magnus used this as a great demonstration that not educating the plebs about Chaos is a really fucking stupid idea that will always, always result in colossal fuck ups.

Zagreus Kane deposed the Fabricator General of Mars in the aftermath of the WoTB and set about a series of reforms. He has seen the previous order as betraying the principles of the priesthood by embracing ignorance with their withholding of vital information from the population in general. The ruination Mars was suffering was a direct result of this. His reforms had a prodigious body count as he servitorized or executed those he held responsible. It was in these reforms that the AdBio was inducted into the AdMech and then encouraged to set up shop some distance away.

Zagreus Kane's reign for the next 1,500 years was hard but fair. He enacted no more purges of that nature, once was enough.

===Kelbor-Hal and Zagreus Kane===

The irony of the situation is that Kelbor-Hal and Zagreus Kane were complete opposites. Kelbor-Hal was outwardly pleasant, but internally was disingenuous and rather manipulative. Kelbor-Hal would tell you what you want to hear but not mean it, merely using people as a means to an end. He was politically savvy enough to realize that he could turn Mars’ situation with the Imperium into an advantage by using the Great Crusade to get access to the lost Forgeworlds and mountains of ancient technology, whereas the other AdMech loathed the idea of treating with the Imperium and feared a blockade of Mars, but he only saw the Imperium and the Great Crusade as a way to increase the power of Mars and the authority of the Olympus Mons Brotherhood over Mars. Even Horus wasn’t that slimy, while he may have been an oily bargainer Horus at the very least honestly believed in the ideals of the Imperium, even if he didn’t agree with the Steward’s vision for it. Indeed, Horus’ refusal to take side in the Earth-Mars conflict was partially due to his dislike of the Olympus Mons Brotherhood. Over morals.

Sometimes things didn’t go as planned and Kelbor-Hal’s mask cracked. Case in point Savlar. When the Savlar Order proved completely immune to soft power the charming politician vanished and a spoilt child took his place. The Steward liked Kelbor-Hal, but that was in part because Kelbor-Hal had Arkhan Land as his representative to the greater Imperium, whose genuine optimism and enthusiasm for rediscovering lost technology mirrored the Steward’s own views. Land was also very good at selling Kelbor-Hal’s ideas to the rest of the Mechanicum due to honesty. When Land died, Kelbor-Hal no longer had his prime ambassador and salesperson to dress up his ideas in more appealing packaging, and his control faltered.

By contrast, Kane, although brutal, harsh, and uncompromising, but had a strong sense of morals, believed in the truth above all else, rewarded those under him who performed beyond expectations, and was undeniably more honest. He believed in the truth above all else, and his fury at Kelbor-Hal was primarily because Kelbor-Hal hid the reason ‘’why’’ the Mechanicum exiles were supposed to be considered persona non grata (specifically, their “enlightenment” was Chaos worship, building Abominable Intelligences, and other such things). He also understood when it was necessary to be brutal and when it was not. Although Zagreus Kane had his predecessors deposed and recycled for incompetence, he only ever had to do so once, because that was all he needed to show he could and would do so if necessary.

Finally, unlike Kelbor-Hal, he didn’t see the Imperium as tools to be used. He was one of the most pro-Imperial Fabricator-Generals, believing in balancing commitments to the Imperium and commitments to the Mechanicus in equal accord, which is more than even Oud Oud Raskian can say. Kane was much better liked by the general Imperium than by the AdMech, since the general Imperium was never on the receiving end of one of his purges. Even Oscar, who dreaded the idea of working with Kane, found himself surprised when Kane turned out to practice what he preached. Part of the reason Ferrus Manus didn’t start pushing back against the Fabricator-General until much later in life is that for all his faults Zagreus Kane was a good leader and someone who genuinely deserved respect.