Editing Duniya Kanaash (section)

===War Averted===
''There is much fear of the Emperor's Astartes. But never forget this: they can bleed, and they can die.''

-Kanaash, speaking in council to the Martian Parliament


Kanaash began a deep study into the ancient military philosophers of the human past. Machulius and Antaxus, Von Klowswitts and Soo, all of them Kanaash devoured with a frightening intensity. The notions of a Just War, of Eschatological Conflict and war as a tool of states were all absorbed and synthesized by Kanaash. He defined the coming War with Terra in all three categories. It was a Just War because the Terran Emperor posed a threat not just to Mars, but to the entire Sol System. It was an Eschatological Conflict because the ultimate outcome was to remove the threat of Terra forever. And war was a tool of the Emperor to achieve his goals of unification and pacification of all threats to his power, and thus would also be a tool of Mars to oppose him.

Alongside his philosophical education came a martial one. Kanaash began to study and practice as many forms of single combat as he could, learning each in turn before moving on to the next. The Terran Warlord Hektor was surely the greatest opponent any could ever hope to face, but Kanaash would defeat him. He taught himself the Maku Skara of Europa, the Baresark of Skandermark and every other unique style of fighting he could find. He routinely practiced his skills on those Myrmidons who continued to challenge his position as head of the order, and soon he inaugurated fighting tournaments where all the Myrmidons could test their skills on each other, giving yet another outlet for the martial order to improve itself. Kanaash's popularity within the Myrmidon Order swiftly grew, and he gave the order a new sense of purpose and being. No more did they make war for war's sake, but to improve both themselves and the Mechanicum they were a part of.

Throughout all this he continued to press for a second crack at Terra. The Martian Fleet still outnumbered and outgunned anything Terra possessed. Once the recovered Vid and Pict-caps of the Astartes were properly analyzed, they would know how to fight and kill them. There would be no repeat of Burija’s folly. This almost became an obsession. To the peace party on Mars Kanaash was crazy, one who would see half the Mechanicum sacrificed if it would put the threat of Terra down for good.

No-one, certainly not Kanaash could have predicted what came next. The Emperor slipped through the Iron Ring alone and landed atop Olympus Mons, and there the Fabricator General simply caved in and swore allegiance to the Terran Warlord. Kanaash was rocked by this sudden turn of events, and he swiftly sent out feelers to Urbis Juventas to find out where they stood. Terra had long loomed in his mind and he had been planning for the war he knew was coming, for Mars and Terra simply could not co-exist within the Solar System, not when the Terran Emperor had already proven his lust for conquest.

For Fabricator General [[Kalkas Tygian]], Kanaash was a problem that had to be neutralized or removed. No-one was more opposed to the Emperor and any union with Terra than Kanaash. The entire Myrmidon Order was behind him, and if they joined forces with Urbis Juventas then they could pose a real threat to the Fabricator General. But Kanaash was also one of the most accomplished commanders in the entire Mechanicum, and his death could galvanize the Myrmidons against him.

It was the Emperor who had the answer. He had been studying the many Mechanicum Lords who stood against him, and he found Kanaash a fascinating figure, someone who wanted to elevate War to a philosophy as well as a science. Such a figure could prove useful in his planned conquest of the stars. The Emperor requested to meet with Kanaash in person.