~Misalignment of Mechanism 2~
~804. M30~
~Segmentum Ultima~
~Bastonne~
~Pontus the Elder, Archmagos of the Mechanicum, Tutor of Masters~
All too frequently, the affairs of faith are influenced by the realities of the present. The interpretations of scripture adjusted to suit the situation at hand. This was expected, this was normal. For the priesthood is the hand of the machine god, and in turn, a machine. When replacement-components are no longer available for an understood machine, it is the responsibility of the magi to understand the machine, to know the machine, to know its tolerances and truths, and to find suitable substitute-components until such a time in which the proper order can be re-established.
The branch-mechanicums have deviated much from the pattern of scripture during the Age of Strife. This had been predicted long in advance by the Logis-Magi of Mars. Their current situation forcing replacement interpretations to ensure the grand machine of the forge-world remained operational, remained useful. Each branch-mechanicum re-joined with its own deviations, and each worked with varying degrees of adherence to pattern, efficacy, and efficiency. Most minor deviations could be ignored for the moment. Many greater deviations had to be addressed in the immediate sense. A few forge worlds, unfortunately, had long fallen to Abominable Intellects, Xenos, or worse by the time stable data-feed was re-established.
His schedule of funerary rites for them was backlogged for the next three years thus far. He had no desire to extend that backlog any further, but he had no expectations it would remain at three years either.
"Cease." He commanded in firm binary, audio transmitting over every local frequency. All at once the shouting priesthood stopped. "Terminate this exchange-line, return and begin once more at line 4,123,412."
The priests of Mars and Gryphonne returned to that line in their dialogues, and proceeded onwards. He had to do this frequently, lest the rambunctious youth revert to immature subject-designations. The most recent example saw accusations of being Circumcellions, arguing in a circular and aggravating manner, a non-useful line of data-exchange.
At least, that was what he assumed the accusation was, there was a small chance that priest Mor-Shall was accusing the Gryphonne speaker of wandering aimlessly in hopes of testing his war-implants on whatever happened by. It would hardly be the most unexpected insult levied at this exchange. Much less from one of young Cincinatus' students.
Optics blinking in gratitude, the speaker of Gryphonne began once more. Pontus recorded it idly, but it was not his duty to provide his own decision until the final moments. He was here to administrate the debate, then pass judgment on behalf of the Martian Parliament. The judgment had been calculated and decided within the first quarter-hour of the data-exchange, his internal cogitators parsing and analyzing the raw data exchanged through their priests of pure thought.
By strict reading of the scripture, Gryphonne had committed tech-heresy. This was known to all parties present. Gryphonne had argued their position strongly, the priests of Mars had argued their position strongly, but all was simply to exhaust those present of their hotter emotions so that they would listen to his judgment.
He did not care for this place of power. His preference was to act as a teacher, an educator, and to busy himself not with the internal exchanges of hidden truths and accumulation of power. His self-enforced neutrality had, in time, given way to something much too troublesome.
Authority as a well-regarded mediator. They had begun to speak of his immense level-headedness 1,823 years ago, he remembered the very day. Leaning into the gentle jesting, he had ensured the top of his optics suite had been made as flat and even as the archaeo-machines of Mars could manage. His students at that time were quite pleased to see such.
All of them had long expired. The list of names in one of his sub-databanks long and mournful indeed.
There was a gentle melancholy in a long life, but he would not exchange this blessed existence for any other. For he had the pleasure of living to see the Omnissiah's coming. With his own optics he had borne witness to one who met all qualifications of that holy avatar, and now they could travel the galaxy to set right the many wrongful mechanisms, worn and malfunctioning from centuries of disrepair.
He did not care for his place of authority, but he accepted it without complaint, to do his part in mending these errors in function between mechanicums, to do his part in mending the wider galaxy.
Pontus the Elder considered himself blessed for the gift of this work, yet another thing he was compelled to thank the Machine God for. He had installed another set of sub-arms with the announcement of the Great Crusade, so that he might clasp them in yet more prayer, to join with his other three sets.
What else could possibly express his gratitude? For all things he had been blessed to receive, he could do nothing less. Twelve arms in total now, an ideal number, he was confident that he would gain no more after this.
"Cease." He gently commanded again, sub-routines alerting his wider consciousness. "Fallacy : illicit substitution of identicals. Terminate this exchange-line and return to line 4,123,634."
An internal vox-line requested a data-exchange, and with warmth in his ancient servos he accepted it. A voice of fumbling flesh-tongues came over the vox from the great figure sitting next to him. The most honored observer of this overall exchange.
Lady Petra, Primarch wrought by the Omnissiah, spoke in blunt questioning through the private data-feed.[What is Monarchianism?]
Ah, a historical inquiry. [Monarchianism is the prevailing doctrine within the Mechanicum that, regardless of internal disputes, the priesthood must present a unified front to the wider galaxy. It is often fallaciously cited to support uncompromising and unquestioning obedience to one's authorities, primarily the ruling priesthood of Mars and the Martian parliament.]
[I see.] Lady Petra responded, her childhood outside of the priesthood obvious by the use of metaphorical language. Pontus found the experience of educating her quite refreshing, it was rare that he had the opportunity to aid a student beyond the internal culture of the Mechanicum.
She was primarily raised by her brother, another entity wrought by the Lord Omnissiah's hands, and a fascinating example to study.
It was well known through analysis of present data that each construct-child of the Omnissiah was suitable for different purposes, this was obvious through examination of their training periods and carefully recorded lines from the Lord Omnissiah himself. This was not fully confirmed, but the most likely theory to arise thus far.
Most were wrought for conquest, for battle, for diplomacy. This was a prudent measure to take by the Lord Omnissiah, as there would be no shortage of battles to be had in the wider galaxy, and he could not be present at all of them. Creating a number of daughters to serve as most efficacious generals and warriors was only sensible.
All of them seemed fit for this exact purpose, their links to the legions of Adeptus Astartes obvious. Generals first, warriors or otherwise secondary.
Most blessed indeed was Lady Petra, her gift evident with overwhelming data. She was wrought by the Omnissiah as a font of Miracles, as a font for patterns without end. One-hundred and forty-four variants of that basic human-template machine-arm. Twelve per hour, for twelve hours, before she finally put the provided pen to rest.
Pontus considered himself blessed, to witness such a miracle.
All daughters of the Omnissiah seemed wrought for general purposes. Generals first, then an additional specialization inherent to their biological machinery. It was their brothers that this pattern did not hold fast to.
Lord Archangel was a machine of specific purpose, to annihilate all warp-phenomena with impunity. Warp-phenomena he designated 'Chaos' with furious roars. Their recordings of him in combat were truly beautiful things, his own design shifting itself to become more and more efficient through consumption-recycling of tainted warp-energy. A machine that increases in effectiveness the more it fulfills its purpose is a potentially very dangerous thing, the horrors of the Machine Rebellion making that clear in scripture.
The Lord Omnissiah had addressed this as well. The Archangel automatically returning to lower stages of effectiveness without present tainted warp-energies, the Archangel returning to a state of idle dormancy without direct orders. A weapon that contains itself if not in use. A most wonderful design.
It was the other brother that was both incredibly obvious in specialization, and quite confusing in detail.
"Cease. Fallacy : ad hominem. Terminate this exchange-line and return to line 4,123,854."
The exchanged information from the scholars of pure thought on the profile Gryphonne had accumulated thus far, in conjunction with pre-established information on the children of the Omnissiah, made it obvious what role 'Malum Caedo' was to fulfill.
"I know little of the laws of the machine-god, I shall not claim otherwise. I am a statesman, a general, and a man of logistical incline. I am not a priest, nor an engineer, nor a man of science." The great figure spoke through a psycho-plastic helm of the human skull. "I request to make my proposal in full, at least, and allow ye learned men to cast judgment upon it once it is fully explained."
Function : Administration of State.
Subfunctions : Combat, Diplomacy, Strategy, Instruction…
The name was another outlying data point. 'I Kill Evil'. There was simply incomplete information at hand. A definitive conclusion on the intended function could not be reached at this time.
The priesthood of Gryphonne had done well to record all available information on this subject, and the empire it was forging. With records provided on the technical performance and function of xenotechnology 'wraithbone' and 'webway', there was an initial hypothesis forming within his cogitators.
Malum Caedo was clearly matured and experienced. He had been wrought as the initial prototype for the children of the Omnissiah sometime during the Unification Wars. Sent out by the Omnissiah to prepare the galaxy for the conquest to come through division of labor and enemies. Malum Caedo, designed for administration, had optimized the expansion of his empire for this purpose. Allying with a branch-faction of the Eldar for access to those two particular technologies, Allying with Gryphonne for industrial capacity, and beginning a conquest of a region that was separated from the new Great Warp-Storm in the galactic north-west by the light of the Astronomicon for further stability.
The broad strategy, devoid of existing biases, was ideal for the creation of a stable vassal-empire to support the Imperium as it expanded. The primary issue, of course, was that it currently relied on Xenos and Xenotechnology to function as intended. Malum Caedo, having not fought xenos on Terra or grown under the guidance of the Mechanicum, would have no prior biases against them.
Would these xenos seek to betray mankind? Inconclusive evidence. It was possible they would in time, it was possible they wouldn't. The ultimate issue arose from attempting to unify two entirely separate machines of society. One known, one unknown, and both bent towards servicing entirely separate organisms that composed their components.
Thus leading to this very precarious situation. It was quite troublesome overall, Pontus could not find it in himself to blame the second son of the Omnissiah for the conclusions reached. But if left unchecked, this could lead to a great schism in the Mechanicum. Something that Pontus would do all within his power to avoid.
His internal chronometer ticked over to one-hundred and forty-four hours.
Time was up. "Cease." He declared, silence following in the wake of his words once more. "The allotted time frame for this exchange has expired. My analysis is complete."
Waiting a moment to allow the younger priests to recalibrate briefly, he nodded his head and began. "I am Archmagos Pontus. I speak now with the voice of the Fabricator-General, I speak now in Archmagos Dominatus-Dominus Electra CCLXVI's own words and authority." Such is the traditional rank of the seat of Fabricator-General, although the two positions are not technically conjoined.
"It was long-known that the many branch-mechanicums would require correction as stable lines of exchange were re-established, local conditions forcing deviations in order to maintain functionality. No less than three-hundred such branch-mechanicums have been relocated thus far, and all have needed some degree of correction. In the worst instances, entire forge worlds have been assigned to purgation, their systems corrupted beyond all repair with the machinations of the Xeno, the Sillica Animus, the Heretek."
It was truly unfortunate that he spoke knowing that the judgment of Electra CCLXVI was of entirely political nature. Matters of faith and reason taking secondary roles to ones of power and politicking.
"Although Gyrphonne has committed Tech-Heresy, they are not Tech-Heretics. With regards to their actions involving developing empire 'Albion', subject-designate 'Malum Caedo', and xeno-subfaction 'Exodite', there has only been a single instance-type of definitive tech-heresy. Every time a Gryphonne priest has traveled through the warp-realm 'Webway' through a portal opened by xeno-machine 'Eldar Webway Portal Generator', has been a case of a member of faith directly benefiting from the use of a xeno machine outside of the context of research."
"This is inarguably Tech Heresy."
"However. This instance-type of Tech Heresy is well within the bounds of forgiveness as dictated by Mechanicum precedent. Understandable given the circumstances at hand with regards to fulfilling obligations by alliance with an allied human power. For these instances of Tech-Heresy, and understanding of the current obligations of Gryphonne, a temporary tithe shall be imposed. For each priest of Gryphonne that uses Xenotechnology to travel sub-realm 'Webway', one Skitarri-Unit of standard quality must be produced and equipped, then gifted to Mars. This will be on a per-instance basis, and due on a twelve Martian-year cycle."
His servos warmed as he considered the next lines, and the headaches it would bring the Martian Parliament. It was, of course, completely necessary and within his invested authority to declare. It would also give the Mechanicum time to resolve this matter in unofficial manners long before an official declaration had to be made.
"This is the foremost punishment levied unto Gyrphonne. It is temporary. It will be addressed. In seventy-two standard Martian-years a Universal Council shall be held on a predetermined planet. This world shall be determined and declared in twelve standard Martian years. This Universal Council will be held to analyze and resolve all deviations present in all branch-mechanicums present in the galaxy, not just Gryphonne."
With the time he had given them to research and develop purely human examples of the technology, Gryphonne would have the chance to wipe their records of Tech Heresy completely clear. It was the most he could do for them presently. Because that was merely the official punishment, not the unofficial ones that Electra unfortunately required of him, to bring Gryphonne more firmly under the control of Mars.
"With matters of official punishment set aside, we now turn to matters of faith." The words were foul in his processors. "Gryphonne currently possesses eight systems under its control, an accomplishment to celebrate. However, only having eight core systems is spiritually imbalancing. To resolve this, Mars will dispatch four colonization fleets to Gryphonne, which will then be used to bring Gryphonnes total number of core-systems to a more holy twelve."
"Furthermore, Gryphonne possesses no less than four-hundred engines within its Titan-Legion. This is well above the precedent-standard of fifty per legion." Mars itself only had four-hundred and fifty engines within its three Titan Legions, although each was of masterful quality. "These will be split into twelve legions, up to fifty each, one per core-system. Worry not about producing the engines required to arm the four legions assigned to the Martian colonist-fleets, these will be produced and provided by Mars."
Insertion of Mars-Controlled Magi, Skitarii, and Titans into their core systems.
"With regards to the Charter of Ziz, Gryphonne was most wise to mandate the clause on the use of xenotechnology requiring Mechanicum approval. To aid in this, Mars will dispatch a delegation of learned priests and logis-magi to aid in calculating the ramifications in allowing each example of xenotechnology to be used, their wisdom and masterwork cogitators will aid Gryphonne in their decision-making whenever this topic arises from wider 'Albion'."
Insertion of Data-Taps into their diplomatic decision-making.
"With regards to the use of Lady Petra to complete STCs, while it is utterly undoubtable that she is a child of the Omnissiah, and Font of Machine-Benedictions, such is still well outside the established allowances of precedent. To ensure that knowledge is preserved in the traditional manner, Gryphonne will deliver all original-copies of any STC print-outs and examples of technology they possess and gather to Mars. They may create copies of any patterns and holy knowledge found, of course, allowing them to still benefit from the wisdom therein."
That last judgment weighed heaviest on his heart, and even those of the Martian delegation staggered with the declaration. Those of the Gryphonne delegation were stunned, cogitators looping over the last lines again and again.
This was the true punishment. For how could they create copies of that which none could understand?
Gyrphonne would be stripped of its archeotech. All artifacts of the holy past. All relics of a better time. Handed over to Mars.
Pontus did not protest his duty, but presently he loathed it.
The meeting of Gryphonne and Mars came to a close with the judgment, the end was silent.