Editing Iron Hands (section)

===The Moirae Schism===
After the Emperor's <s>death</s> glorious ascent to the Golden Throne, there was a bit of debate as to whether He was the Omnissiah or not and, if he was, in what capacity. Tech-priests of the Forge World Moirae found one unique answer, when they detected an anomaly in some Empyrean frequencies that seemed related to the Golden Throne. After extended analysis, they somehow turned this anomaly into a formula which allegedly predicted the future—the endgame of which was a new understanding of the Emperor in his aspect of the Omnissiah that would unite the Ecclesiarchy and the Mechanicum, and usher in a new golden age of the Imperium.

Needless to say, this [[Skub|deeply pissed off]] the leadership of both organizations, with the Mechanicum employing their [[Exterminatus|usual direct approach to perceived heresy]] on Moirae. However, either the creed or it’s alleged evidence proved extremely compelling, and the Moirae heresy spread like wildfire through Mechanicum datanets and the Ecclesiarchal flock. This nearly lead to a full blown civil war between those who thought they had a point, and those who thought the creed was [[heresy]]. In the end, the old-school creed won out: the schismatics were either burned for heresy or forced to repent, while the only surviving copy of their dogma and prophecies was buried in an Inquisitorial vault.

Rather than debate it among themselves, the Iron Hands chose to glare angrily at one another until the Admech were done fighting and debating it out. The group of Hands in the minority became the [[Sons of Medusa]] and formed their own chapter, which moved into the still-smoking ruin of Moirae as their new home world (or rather, a series of fortified asteroids in the same system). Despite the extreme levels of [[heresy]], everyone kept a level head and remained (relatively—there was a touch of shooting) civil, and all successor Chapters (except the [[Red Talons]], who killed them) allowed their schismatics to join the Sons of Medusa Chapter. Which is a bit unnatural for 40k, honestly, and just shows how few fucks these guys have to give.

[[Grimdark|Of course]], as it later turned out, the prophecies made by the Moirae heretics included both the formation of the Great Rift and the return of Guilliman, implying that everything they were saying was totally right.

Besides, the real confusion is how those who were pissed about a prophecy that confirms the beliefs of the Ecclesiarchy and Mechanicus’s views of the Emperor being one being justified their anger to themselves and the wider Imperium. And shooting people claiming the Emperor would return and bring humanity into a new Golden Age sounds like incredible heresy.

However, this could likely be due to factional differences being put over the good of mankind. The Ecclesiarchy and Mechanicus are too far apart in beliefs to ever truly unite into one group- they may work together, but they'd never intend to JOIN together. The symbolism of this can even be seen with the positions in the [[High Lords of Terra]], where the Ecclesiarchy and Mechanicus Representatives constantly jostle for the second highest position (neither are strong enough to take on the Master of the [[Administratum]]).