Chapter 142: The Lost Primarch
Technological innovations powered by refined warpstone spread across Toril like wildfire.
Magical energy lamps illuminated every settlement. Enchanted vehicles rolled down newly paved roads. Craftsmen created countless other marvels from the fusion of arcane knowledge and Imperial science.
The expedition fleets discovered several new crystal wall systems during their exploration of surrounding planes: the Grey Dome Celestial Domain, the Kline Cosmos, and the Aberlon Cosmos.
Through diplomatic alliance or outright conquest, the Empire steadily expanded its influence across these realms.
Before His departure, the Emperor encoded portions of His vast knowledge within crystalline matrices. He left these repositories so the Empire's scholars could unlock the deeper mysteries of existence.
He could not remain indefinitely. Greater duties called his service from across the universe.
Working alongside Malcador, the Emperor established a governing council to administer the New Empire in His absence. He appointed Gale as Regent. This choice reflected Gale's near-divine power, natural charisma, and exceptional administrative abilities.
Gale would guide the New Empire forward. The Great Crusade would continue to conquer newly discovered planets and unite all humans and compatible xenos under the rule of the Imperium.
This expansion would continue until the Emperor's return, when all scattered domains of humanity would be forged into one unified realm.
With all arrangements complete, the time for departure arrived.
Raven spread his wings and transformed into streams of flowing light. Reality tore apart to form a spacetime corridor. One by one, the Imperial delegation stepped through and vanished.
Malcador was transported directly back to Terra.
Despite their brief absence, he discovered the Throneworld's operations had continued smoothly. Only a backlog of administrative documents awaited his attention. Countless projects and critical resolutions required the Sigillite's personal authorisation.
The Emperor, accompanied by three of His gene-sons, returned to the flagship of His Great Crusade.
Far from the Emperor's flagship, another Imperial vessel cut through the void on a different mission entirely.
The Immaterium convulsed as reality tore open like a jagged tear. From within the swirling vortex emerged a vessel of immense size. The golden Aquila blazed across its hull, gleaming against the cosmic dark.
As the warp rift collapsed behind them, the ship's conventional drives ignited. Star-bright flames erupted from the engine clusters. The massive warship accelerated toward the heart of the system.
Within the battleship's corridors, a tech-priest in crimson robes hurried along passages lit by flickering lumen-strips. He reached a secured checkpoint and paused as emerald scanning beams played across his augmetic form.
The system confirmed his identity. The blast doors ground open with a pneumatic hiss.
The chamber beyond soared to cathedral heights. Carved marble depicting the Emperor's victories adorned its walls. A massive hololithic projector dominated the centre, surrounded by cogitator stacks and strategic augury shrines that hummed with barely contained machine-spirits.
Four Custodian Guards in auramite armour stood sentinel around the projection table. Their guardian spears gleamed in the chamber's amber light.
As the tech-priest entered, eight crimson eye-lenses tracked his movement with watchful attention.
"My lords," the priest intoned, "cross-referencing with Age of Strife databases confirms our arrival at the designated coordinates. This is indeed the Morge system."
Custodian Ravenna studied the tactical display. His expression grew grim behind his helm's death mask. As the leading Custodian of this search mission, he bore the weight of finding their lost gene-father.
"Intelligence suggests the Second Primarch was last seen in this system," he declared. His voice carried absolute authority. "We will investigate this world and locate our missing gene-father."
Projection beams flickered and coalesced. Three-dimensional star charts painted themselves in the air above the hololithic table. The Imperial battleship occupied the display's centre, represented by a golden Aquila icon.
Data-streams flowed as the ship's sensor arrays mapped the system in ever-increasing detail.
Soon, a complete tactical overview materialised before the Custodians. The system displayed planets, asteroid fields, void debris, and stellar phenomena marked with precise Imperial cartographic symbols.
Ethereal light played across the guardians' ceramite-clad faces. Their transhuman intellects processed torrents of information with machine-like efficiency.
"Detecting artificial construct, satellite-scale, within the inner system," reported the ship's information supervisor through the vox-network.
The sound of grinding gears and cycling pistons echoed through the strategy chamber. Cogitator stacks laboured to refine the incoming data. The projection interface updated continuously, zooming toward the anomalous contact.
What had appeared as a mere speck in the void expanded into a colossal ring-shaped structure suspended in space. Four thousand kilometres in diameter. Constructed from metal and stone with disturbing precision.
"Lord Ravenna, additional data on the construct is available for review," the supervisor's voice crackled through the comm-system.
"Transfer all relevant intelligence immediately," Ravenna commanded.
The holographic display darkened, then blazed to life with new imagery. A human figure appeared in the projection. Wild-eyed and fervent, draped in archaic robes reminiscent of Terra's classical period.
His voice carried the unmistakable cadence of the zealot: "When you access the data we have encoded within the Harmony of Races Ring Matrix, you will understand that a new age has dawned."
"Different species, conflicting ideologies, opposing faiths, these divisions have bred endless warfare throughout the galaxy. Visionary prophets from across the stars have united to form an organisation: the Supreme Benevolence of Universal Harmony."
"The Supreme Benevolence makes no distinction between race, creed, or belief. Our sacred mission is to unite all sentient life and establish a prosperous, enlightened cosmos."
"The Harmony of Races represents the collective wisdom of our greatest scholars. A marvel of engineering that will usher in true peace. It will eliminate warfare from existence and allow all species to coexist under the Supreme Benevolence's guidance."
"It is nothing less than the god of peace itself. With its activation, humanity and all galactic races will abandon their primitive conflicts forever."
One of the Custodians scoffed. "Harmony of Races? What manner of heretical nonsense is this?"
Ravenna expanded the tactical display, examining the ring construct's technical specifications. Based on surface analysis alone, its true purpose remained obscure.
Ravenna activated his comm-link. "Tech-Dominus Iser, I require a comprehensive analysis of this satellite-scale artefact."
"Query acknowledged. Estimated completion: one hour, seven minutes," came the Mechanicus adept's emotionless response.
Ravenna switched to the ship's command channel. "Captain Levin, time to reach Morge Prime?"
"Lord Ravenna, accounting for deceleration protocols, three hours should suffice."
Ravenna terminated the connection and surveyed his battle-brothers. "We wait. Patience serves the Emperor's will."
The Tech-Dominus had proven unnaturally precise in his temporal estimates throughout the campaign.
Exactly one hour later, Ravenna received the comprehensive analysis he had requested.
The report's conclusions chilled even his veteran soul. The so-called "Harmony of Races" was revealed to be a sophisticated mind-control apparatus.
It could broadcast specialised electromagnetic frequencies that would reshape the neural pathways of complex life forms. Its insidious influence would gradually alter personality matrices and behavioural patterns in affected subjects.
"A brainwashing engine," Ravenna growled. Disgust was evident in his tone.
This "Supreme Benevolence" organisation clearly intended to use their device to impose artificial unity across the galaxy. Not through conquest or diplomacy, but through the systematic erasure of free will itself.
Another Custodian shook his head grimly. "The architects of the Age of Strife grow more deranged with each discovery."
"If those madmen possessed even a shred of sanity, His Majesty would not have been forced to construct containment vaults beneath the Imperial Palace," a third guardian observed, revealing classified knowledge.
The Terra Palace's sub-levels housed dozens of dark age artefacts. Each one represented a clear and present danger to human civilization.
Most proved impossible to destroy through conventional means. Several defied all attempts at reverse-engineering. Thus they remained sealed away, guarded by veteran Custodians who had sworn blood oaths of eternal vigilance.
"This mission troubles me greatly," Ravenna admitted. He moved to the chamber's armored viewport.
Through the transparent aluminum, he could observe the battleship's ram-prow and lateral augury spires cutting through the void. Stars burned like distant funeral pyres in the cosmic dark.
Ravenna engaged his enhanced visual cortex and activated multiple spectrum analysis protocols. The seemingly empty void exploded with color and data as his transhuman senses pierced the darkness.
Through his enhanced perception, the massive ring construct came into perfect focus. It drifted silently through space, clearly incomplete, a mercy beyond measure. Had the device reached full activation, its psychic emanations would have enslaved hundreds of star systems.
Every sentient being would have become mindless adherents of the Supreme Benevolence's twisted philosophy.
"Supreme Benevolence... Harmony of Races..." Ravenna whispered the heretical names like curses.
The battleship's sensor array eventually identified a single world showing signs of active habitation: Morge 02.
As the ship decelerated into planetary orbit, the Custodians noted a curious absence of defences.
No void-capable vessels patrolled the system. No orbital weapon platforms or missile batteries guarded the approaches. No defensive mine fields cluttered the shipping lanes.
Only empty space greeted them. A handful of primitive satellites populated the void, along with three smaller ring constructs.
These were miniature versions of the massive device they had encountered, each roughly one hundred meters in diameter.
The planet's surface told a different story entirely. Magnificent cities nestled within pristine forests. Their architecture blended seamlessly with the natural landscape.
Here was a world where civilisation and nature existed in perfect harmony...
...or so it appeared to the naked eye.
[End of Chapter]
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