Motoka Isidore
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.
| Motoka Isidore | |
|---|---|
| Title/Honours |
Fabricator Locum, Secundus of the Machine Cult |
| Distinguishing Traits |
Secretive, informed |
| Flaws |
Manipulative |
| Dominion |
Mars and subject Forgeworlds |
Motoka Isidore was the Fabricator Locum of Mars, Mistress of Mondus Occulum and second most powerful of the great Lords of Mars. Though outwardly she was the most loyal of Tygian’s followers, secretly she pursued her own interests, supporting areas of research judged off-limits by the Emperor and the Fabricator General, adding fire to Tygian’s own insecurities about external enemies like Al-Sherar and carefully altering the balance of power to try and keep Tygian from achieving the complete control of Mars he always dreamed of. She achieved much of this based on her belief in the Teleologicalica sect, using complex cyphers to try and predict her opponent’s actions and use them to her advantage. These manipulations, coupled with her research into Artificial Intelligence and Warpcraft would eventually consume her, and given over to the Revelations of Tzeentch she would become the great architect of the Martian Civil War and the Sundering of the Mechanicum.
History
Old Mars
Motoka Isidore took careful pains to keep her own information under lock and key, and this makes recording her history difficult, as most of it was lost in the Martian Civil War and the fall of Olympus Mons. What we do know is that she was a long-serving Magos of high standing who started her career at Mondus Gamma, the principal Forge producing Legio Cybernetica Robots. Fragmentary records have her as a Magos Dominus leading Robot Cohorts during Mondus Gamma’s many disputes with its rich and powerful neighbours. However her passage to higher command was blocked due to her youth and perceived inexperience, as well as opposition to her more unorthodox proposals for improving Cybernetica combat abilities. Frustrated, she sought other areas to advance herself in, and this drew her towards the forbidden Teleologicalica sect, an ancient and mysterious belief in the power of numerology to predict patterns of behaviour, motivation and even predict enemy actions. It is believed that some prediction she uncovered is the reason soon afterwards she defected to Mondus Occulum, the second most powerful Forge on Mars, taking with her all the greatest secrets of the Legio Cybernetica. If this was the case, it served her well as swiftly afterwards the Cybernetica Cohorts of Mondus Occulum inflicted a severe defeat upon Mondus Gamma, after which she was given the rank of Archmagos, granted a seat as one of the advisory council to the Fabricator Locum and allowed to pursue improvements to the combat abilities of Cybernetica, even though they veered dangerously close to Tech-Heresy, using teleological systems to allow Cybernetica to predict enemy actions and increase their reaction times to a split-second and increase the accuracy of their weapons systems. However even as she worked on the basic and primitive intelligences of Cybernetica Robots, she was beginning to turn her attention towards another area, the long suppressed area of Artificial Intelligence.
None of this prevented her from being nominated for the post of Fabricator Locum, for she was not only highly talented but also had a knack for getting the best out of her underlings and fostering a sense of loyalty to her. Her ascension was hailed as an important step for the Mechanicum, and she seemed a likely choice to become Fabricator General when that stop was opened, but the Lords of Olympus chose one of their own, Adept Kalkas Tygian to become the new head of the Mechanicum. Although she made no comment as to this, it is now believed that the first seed of her later enmity towards Tygian was planted then. One of Tygian’s first stops was to Mondus Occulum, where in a closed-door session lasting several hours he spoke at great length with Isidore, laying out his belief that the Omnissiah was coming soon, and that all Mars had to be prepared. If his dream was to become a reality, he needed the second greatest of all the Forge Lords at his side. While to someone as conservative as Isidore this was borderline Tech-Heresy, she promised to support him in his quest and pledged the full might of Mondus Occulum to his banner. Thus did she enter the Fabricator General’s confidence, a position she would continue to uphold in the centuries to come.
Tygian's right hand
The arrival of the Emperor was a shock to all the great Forge Lords of the Mechanicum who had been frantically preparing for a war with Terra, and the shock was even greater when Fabricator General Tygian pledged Mars to the Emperor and swore to join in the Emperor’s dream of a Great Crusade. There were many within the Mechanicum who hoped that Isidore would make a stand against the Fabricator General’s insanity, for she was an orthodox member of the Mechanicum and highly respected within those circle, moreso then the Fabricator General. But she remained firmly behind him, and Titans from her own Forge would march alongside the Triad Ferrum Morgulum against those Forges which held out against the union of Terra and Mars. Though outwardly she appeared the very model of compliance, fragmentary records suggest a hidden aspect. A number of individuals branded as ‘Heretek’ by Tygian disappeared during the bloody strife following the Emperor’s coming, and it is now believed that Isidore may have secretly offered them sanctuary and allowed them to continue their agitation from within the shadows of Mondus Occulum. She held dozens of meetings with the many other Forge Lords of Mars, ostensibly to try and bring them into the fold, but now it is believed she began to create a loose coalition of Forge Lords who could oppose Tygian and rein in his madness should the need ever arise. However she could see that he had his uses, and was determined to make the most of them.
With the beginning of the Great Crusade, the martial might of the Lords of Mars was now unleashed. Much of Mars’ military might was now sent offworld, joining the Expeditionary Fleets of the Great Crusade. Mondus Occulum lost most of its many Cybernetica Cohorts to the Crusade, though Isidore managed to retain a considerable amount of Troops on Mars to safeguard her interests there. When Fabricator General Tygian left Mars for the first time to oversee the addition of the Knight World of Crysis into the Mechanicum, he left Isidore in charge of Mars. Tygian placed implicit trust in Isidore, that she would hold Mars together in his absence. At attempted rebellion several days after his departure from Mars was snuffed out by Isidore, who had predicted it using her teleological precognostications and pre-positioned troops and agents to eliminate the threat. Afterwards she met with a number of the major Forge Lords of Mars, and the message she sent was clear. Do not dare to mess with Motoka Isidore. The lesson was swiftly learned. If any move was going to be made against the Fabricator General, she would be the one leading it. When Tygian heard of this, his trust in her grew, and he made her one of his most trusted underlings. She would travel greatly when Tygian was on Mars, acting as an ambassador for him and visiting those Forgeworlds that were opposed to the Fabricator General, acting as an intermediary. It was during this time that she developed links with hundreds of Forgeworlds across the Imperium, which would serve her well in the future.
While all this was happening her research into Artificial Intelligence had reached a new, dangerous stage. After meeting with representatives of one of the Navigator Houses now permanently seconded to the Mechanicum, an interesting thought stuck with her. One of the Navigators spoke of how humans had a presence in the Warp, and wondered if the same could be said for the Artificial Intelligence's who had existed before the Age of Strife. Furthermore, said this unnamed Navigator, the Machine Spirit could be the Warp Presence of Machines, the same way the Soul was the human presence in the Warp. Obsessed by the desire to discover the truth behind the Machine Spirit, and wanting to find out whether this hypothesis was true or not, she sponsored research into the relationship between Machines and the Warp, theorizing that the rising of Warp Storms of the Age of Strife were to blame for the machine rebellions of that era. Isidore now believed that if an Artificial Intelligence could be shielded from the Warp, then it would be rendered unable to rebel against its innate programming. To do that, she would need to miniaturize a Geller Field so it could shield a heavily modified Cybernetica Robot, which would house an Artificial Intelligence of her own design. She had long since crossed the line of Tech-Heresy, but she had never subscribed to those restrictions and felt the Emperor had deliberately shackled the Mechanicum to make it amenable to his will, with Tygian as his ‘useful idiot’ and puppet. However if the Emperor could pull on Tygian’s strings, then so could she.
Widening the rift
The Fabricator General was already a fanatic who held little truck with those who did not share his viewpoints, and Isidore could easily play this up and turn his beliefs towards her own ends. She counselled War when Dieseleium refused compliance, and over a dozen of her own Cybernetica Cohorts were part of the mighty army which reduced that forge. She was the head of the Ambassadorial team which met with the Al-Sherar Diyanet, and her reports to the Fabricator General helped to fuel the fire of distrust which would create his bitter enmity with the distant Forgeworld. She was the one to make contact with Ghalhal and her meetings with the Lords of that Forgeworld helped convince Tygian to visit the Forge and broker a deal with them. It is even believed she traveled to Al-Sherar in disguise thirty years before the Rebellion and spent several months on the planet, uncovering all she could on them and their ways.
By the time of the Rebellion, the Mechanicum was split into three, though few outside of it could see that. There were those Forges and Forgeworlds unquestionably loyal to Tygian, either out of fear, greed or genuine dedication. Then there was the shadow bloc created by Isidore, those Forgeworlds that refused to believe the Emperor was the Omnissiah, who hated the restrictions placed upon the Mechanicum or who chafed at the control of Mars. And then there was the dwindling non-aligned group who tried to remain out of the growing competition between the two. Everything was set up for a great war within the Mechanicum over Tygian's divisive politics, but by this point Isidore had already gone down a different path. Her continuing research into the Warp had borne fruit, but those fruit were tainted, and that taint was swiftly growing to consume her.
The Architect of Rebellion
Isidore's interest in the Warp had only grown the more she learned about it. During her travels from planet to planet she went to the Navigator's Dome while in transit, looking into the Warp itself and conducting experiments to see if the Warp reacted to machine spirits, if she could detect any shift in the Warp around a machine spirit that would prove her right. However she could only do so much, and suspicion was already being laid upon her for her investigations. But none of this slowed her down. She felt she was close to a breakthrough, and was willing to risk everything one way or the other.
She seized upon a daring, risky, foolhardy experiment to fully test her theory. Dropping into the Warp, dropping the main Gellar Fields of her ship with only a small localized field within the ship to protect her and her crew. Instruments located throughout the ship would detect whether the touch of the Warp would affect machine spirits. A small Warp-Runner, smallest of the Warp-Capable ships was chosen by her as the platform for her investigations. In 779.M30, she departed from Mars, ostensibly to visit Graia and check on its production of Rapier Weapons Carriers for the Legions. She would not reappear for three years, Tygian himself believing her dead and already looking to replace her with a loyal servant. She swiftly reasserted herself, and was welcomed back by all Mars, spending a full year touring the countless Forges and reasserting her place within the hierarchy of the Mechanicum. While all could tell that a change had come over her, few could tell what, and it was dismissed by Tygian, who in her absence had seen Al-Sherar gain the allegiance of a dozen Forgeworlds in Segmentum Pacificus and Obscuras and had to put down a rebellion on Loshtos VI.
Only conjecture remains to explain what happened during her descent into hell, but it must have been then that she was turned. All the pathways of her research, her manipulation of Martian politics and her drive to amass power to herself all drew the attention of the great changer of ways, who marked her down for himself.
Personality
She took great pains to retain a human form despite over 70% of her body being made of metal, indeed she could and did often go in disguise among unaugmented humans, appearing as nothing more than a well-muscled female, her body almost entirely metal and filled with concealed augmentics.