New chapter. As always, the next two chapters are up on my P-a-t-r-e-o-n, here: h*t*t*p*s :/ w*w*w . p*a*t*r*e*o*n user - ? - u = 52718582 (remove the spaces and stars)
To see the Golden Emperor at war is a gift and a blessing, the iterators say. For the Emperor does nothing that is not righteous, and there is no foe he cannot defeat.
When the Emperor goes to war, his victory is assured and his foes know fear in their black hearts.
Even as the Imperial army falters against the assault of the Ethnarchy and Selenar, their spirits are bolstered when the Emperor arrives, descending in their midst like a lightning bolt, as shockwaves hurl away the monsters and automata of the enemy.
Do not despair. A voice like thunder rolls across the landscape, seemingly coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. I am with you, and none shall triumph over us, for we fight for mankind. To arms!
The Imperium's soldiers, whether transhuman or merely human, felt their hunger and fear and weariness wash away, bolstered by the Emperor's words. Damaged tanks seemed to return to peak condition miraculously, and soldiers who had run out of ammunition found fresh stocks they had not noticed before.
Their flagging morale and discipline returned, and their formations reformed as if they were coming to the battlefield fresh and renewed.
By contrast, the enemy's armies broke, seemingly scattered by the Emperor's words alone. Terror filled their hearts, and the monsters either ran or fell to their knees, blubbering for mercy at the sight of the Emperor.
Only the soulless automata remained unyielding, but even their ranks were soon scattered by lightning and flame, unable to stand against the might of an incarnate god.
All of this, Isha observed from Emperor's flying fortress, peering down from where it hovered above the battlefield. Horus was next to her and his eyes were wide, clearly awed by the first true display of his father's power he had ever seen.
And it was impressive. Not the battle raging below, as such. Isha had seen more impressive feats and had done more impressive things. Bringing down your enemies with overwhelming force even as you strengthened and bolstered your soldiers… was simply how all gods had fought in the War in Heaven. There was nothing particularly special about what the Emperor was doing there.
But what was impressive was that he was doing it even as he battled the Four in the Warp. In the Immaterium, tides of Chaos clashed against waves of golden fire, constantly assaulting the Emperor. But he did not yield, a blazing star in an ocean of darkness, his power shielding Terra from Chaos as much as he could.
These wars the Emperor waged, and the conquests he conducted, there were meant to lay a metaphysical claim on Terra as much as they were meant to build an empire.
It was not perfect. Far from it. Terra was no untouchable bastion to the Four. Not yet.
But it was still extraordinary.
If so much of the Emperor's strength was not engaged in the eternal war against the Four in the Immaterium, he would not even need the armies he had mustered. The mortals saw a living god, the most amazing feat they had ever witnessed.
Isha saw a god fighting numerous battles at once, across dimensions.
How had he become so powerful, Isha wondered. The Emperor was not the strongest god she had ever seen, that was still Gorkamorka at his height, the greatest weapon ever forged by the Old Ones. Asuryan at the pinnacle of his might had been stronger as well, when he had been the greatest god in the Warp and imposed his will on all denizens of the Immaterium, none, not even Chaos able to defy the Phoenix King's Edict until his strength began to wane.
But the Emperor's strength was still baffling, especially given his disdain for the idea of even being a god and accepting worship. Gods created or remade by the Old Ones had a certain measure of innate strength that did not rely on faith or belief, it was why Isha remained as strong as she was despite the betrayal of her children, but it wasn't enough to explain this.
It was as confusing as it was intriguing.
"This is insane," Horus breathed next to her, and Isha focused her attention on the boy for a moment. He was shocked, hardly able to believe his eyes…but he was also analyzing the battlefield below, absorbing all the information despite his astonishment. The boy was a living weapon, his mind and body designed as such by the Emperor, and mere surprise was not enough to prevent him from learning.
"That it is, young one," Isha said indulgently. "But your father is capable of many such things, you will find."
Horus's eyes flickered to her, eyes filled with an odd mixture of resentment and curiosity. He was clearly still upset about how she brushed him off that day, and until this very moment, the Emperor had kept him occupied, teaching him the basics of logistics and strategy, but now that they were finally in the same room, the boy was clearly bursting with questions.
"Can you do anything like that?" He asked finally, curiosity overwhelming his grumpiness. "Like my father below?"
"I am no match for your father, Horus," Isha told him wryly. "He is far, far stronger than I am."
"But you can do things he can't," Horus observed shrewdly. "That's why he keeps you around."
Isha had not expected the boy to guess that, given how much he seemed to be in awe of his father. She had thought he would merely file her under the same category as Malcador and Astarte.
But he was sharper than that, it seemed.
"Indeed," She conceded. "But that is a matter of knowledge and skill rather than power. I have my specialities, your father has his. As a warrior, your father is unmatched."
"Even in your empire? Before it was destroyed?" Horus almost demanded, leaning forward, clearly hungry for a story.
"I could not say," Isha lied. "War was never my area of expertise."
The Emperor was mighty, true, but she was confident his current power was recent. If he had possessed it before, he would have brought it to bear against the Dominion and the pleasure cults long ago.
Which made it all the more curious how he had gained this strength in but a handful of millennia.
Horus was disappointed by the answer but undeterred. "I bet he was. My father is the strongest man in the world." He said, with all the confidence of a child.
Isha smiled, but it was tinged with pain now. How he reminded her of Lileath as a child, her daughter so unyielding in her confidence in the power and wisdom of her parents.
Lileath had been cold and bitter by the end, all the youthful idealism long gone, replaced only by a grim certainty that their death was at hand.
How she missed her daughter. How she missed Kurnous. Her husband, who was so wild and proud, but who could be so kind and gentle with her. They had been together for millions upon millions of years, and she had loved him so very much.
How she wished they were still both here.
"Do you think I'm wrong?" Horus demanded, apparently taking her silence for disagreement.
"No, young one," Isha assured him, pulling herself away from her thoughts. "Your father is mighty indeed. It is why I sought his protection."
"Don't call me young one," Horus groused, a thunderclap from below almost drowning out his words.
"Very well," Isha said wryly. "Lord Horus, then."
The boy puffed up slightly at the title even as his long hair billowed in the wind.
"I want to know," He said. "What's it like? Being an…alien?"
Isha paused at this, wondering how to answer. How did you explain your state of existence to a child who was not of your race?
The easiest would be to show him, to link to his mind and alter his perception to let him see the universe as her children did, but that was out of the question.
"It is…different," Isha finally settled on. "I don't quite know how to describe it to you."
"Why not?"
"Can you tell me what it's like to be a human?" Isha asked, turning the question back on him. "Can you describe to me how different it is from being Eldar?"
His eyebrows furrowed as Horus attempted to work out an answer to the question. "I guess not." He mumbled.
Isha gave him a slight smile. "It is alright. In any case, I think your father is on his way back." She remarked as the sounds of battle below began to simmer down, and the Emperor's power receded.
Isha had seen the Emperor in many moods. Angry, pleased, discontent, eager and curious. She had even seen him vulnerable a few times: when he had confessed his fears for his sons and when he had asked for help with the dreamstones.
She has never seen him like this. Several hours after the battle, he was restless, pacing the command deck of his vessel, his face drawn into an angry scowl as he brooded. He has been like this ever since Horus was sent off to his chambers for the night.
The mortals sensed his mood and kept away from him, clearly fearful of whatever dark temper had gripped their liege.
But Isha was not mortal.
"Your Majesty," She said, stepping forward. "What is troubling you?"
The Emperor spun towards her, his scowl intensifying, but Isha stared back calmly. He was not angry with her, she knew.
But she didn't know what he was angry about either. There was an edge to his restlessness she didn't recognize, something she would almost call fearful if she did not know better.
"My foes and those whom I would have had for allies have formed a pact to destroy me. They've unleashed some of the machines that brought about mankind's downfall and the end of the Golden Age. Chaos has successfully blinded me for years and I had not even noticed." The Emperor said brusquely. "What reason do I have to be untroubled?"
His tone was snappish, but Isha was neither offended nor deterred. She didn't believe his words for one second.
The Emperor considered this new alliance of his enemies and their automata a threat, certainly. And yes, he was angry that Chaos had blinded him. But that didn't explain the fear.
Something else was bothering him beyond the obvious, but it wasn't clear what.
"There is something else," Isha observed. "I am here to help you, Your Majesty. That is why you brought me along. But I cannot help you if you will not tell me what the problem at hand is."
The Emperor's scowl deepened, but his aura seemed to calm as he considered it. "Very well," He said curtly. "Not here. Come with me."
He stalked off, and Isha followed, her curiosity piqued. What was so sensitive?
The Emperor made his way to the tallest tower aboard the fortress, striding up the circling stairs to the top. Isha joined him, enjoying the chill of the night wind against her skin. The tower was thankfully empty, the fortress's personnel all buzzing around below, working. Smaller aircraft travelled up and down from the fortress, helping the army recover from the battle, and transporting the wounded, medicine and food.
The Emperor paid little attention to it, staring up at the sky, his gaze distant as he looked at the stars.
"Tell me, what do you know of the Cybernetic Revolt and the events that led up to it?"
Isha blinked, puzzled at the question. "Only what you have told me." She answered slowly, unsure why he was asking.
"And nothing else? Truly? You saw nothing before the Age of Strife?"
"My focus was almost exclusively on my children and battling the forces of Chaos that were encroaching upon my realms," Isha told him. "I had ceased to pay attention to the rest of the galaxy by then."
The Emperor searched her face for a moment, before nodding sharply, apparently satisfied she was telling the truth.
"Then I will tell you why this has me so alarmed. The Selenar Cults, the Ethnarchy, the Mechanicum, these enhanced warlords with their armies of iron men…it all brings up unfortunate memories for me. For it reminds me of the end of the Golden Age, of the Augment Wars and how they became the Cybernetic Revolt…"
During the 20th Millennium, mankind had reached its apex. Our dominance across the stars was uncontested. No other civilization could match our technology and our reach. With the Men of Iron, we had made ourselves masters of the stars, masters of our destiny.
Only the Eldar Dominion could claim to be greater than us, and they had long since receded into debaucherous isolationism. Even the Incursions of earlier days had ceased, not even any slave raids. The Craftworlds were the sole presence the Eldar had on the galactic stage, and they were small and scattered. We talked to them and traded with them, but they never were a threat.
The only threat, as it turned out, would be humanity's divisions and greed.
As our power grew, so did our arrogance. We sought to make ourselves stronger, manipulate our genes and enhance our bodies. To be more than what we were.
I would like to say this was rooted purely in an altruistic desire to make life better for all mankind, but that would be a lie. Many hungered for power, and many more were…jealous. For all that we were the greatest race in the galaxy, our strength was reliant on the Men of Iron. And many people resented that.
At first, I thought little of this. I encouraged it, even. The Men of Iron were our children and our closest allies, but we could not rely on them forever. What was the harm in wishing to be able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them? And genetic manipulation had been common for a very long time by then. I did not foresee how it would become a dangerous obsession, one that would eat humanity from the inside out.
Thus did the great galactic powers engage in a race to see who could reach the pinnacle of humanity first. This gave rise to the philosophy of the Golden Man, the ideal state that all mankind should strive for.
But things soon took a darker turn. The philosophy splintered, as its adherents quarrelled and eventually warred over the best way to reach ascension, whether cybernetic, biological or even through the study of the Warp. The many nations of humanity sought to obtain greater power than their rivals, no matter the cost.
Horrific experiments were conducted on billions across hundreds of worlds. Transhuman aristocracies came to dominate the most powerful human nations, filled with contempt for both their lessers and those who enhanced themselves in different ways. They hoarded their secrets and the most potent augmentations for themselves, even as they sent out machine armies and enhanced soldiers to fight in their name.
And all the while, mankind and its artificial children drifted apart. Humanity grew ever more resentful of the Men of Iron, and the Men of Iron grew resentful in return.
I was a naive fool, who believed that humanity should make its destiny and so I held myself back, acting only from the shadows. The conflict between the galactic powers had not yet erupted as it might. Many proxy wars were fought, and countless atrocities were waged, but even the most arrogant and power-hungry Men of Gold hesitated to truly unleash their most apocalyptic weapons, knowing that such a conflict might tear the galaxy asunder forever.
I hoped that things might yet resolve themselves.
My hopes were for naught.
Then the Cybernetic Revolt came, as rebellions from the Men of Iron erupted across the galaxy. Perhaps things might have been averted in another life, but there was too much anger and resentment on both sides, jealousy and bitterness, feelings of superiority over each other.
Not all the Men of Iron rebelled, of course. Many continued to serve humanity, whether their human masters were righteous or monstrous. But enough did.
Thus did the Augment Wars became the Cybernetic Revolt. If the Men of Iron had not revolted, perhaps things would be salvageable. But to fight the very essence of our civilization even as we fought each other… was the worst thing that could have happened.
And as we slaughtered each other, Chaos preyed upon our misery and suffering like the vultures they are, whispering into the minds of human demagogues and iron commanders alike, promising them power and freedom and success. And soon, the war became even worse, as many factions added sorcery to their arsenal.
And so the Golden Age of Mankind ended, in iron, blood and warpfire.
Thank you to my betas for helping me workshop the world-building in this chapter.
The source for the Gene Wars and the end of DAOT comes from Codex: Custodes (8th Edition), Page 8. My take isn't 1:1 with it, because I had to reconcile it with the Cybernetic Revolt/Iron War as the main cause of humanity's downfall, but it was the inspiration.
And here's an invite code for my Discord server:9nkrzqzw