What can I say, Real Life is bullshit, and trying to put your ideas into text form is hard work. In general, here is the second part, unfortunately not all of it again, sorry, I just killed almost the whole day, I'm exhausted. To be continued ...
Voices of Freedom:
Part Two: Honor and Faith.
System: Sanguia
Planet: Feudal World "Camelot".
General Information: Story of the founding of planet "Camelot" goes far back in time, long before the current Imperium, before Great Crusade, and even long before the Dark Ages when Chaos and AI rebellions were still a distant dim prospect. Back then, in the Golden Age of humanity, there was a "movement" known as historical reenactors. Yes it might have seemed strange to some in an age of high technology to live like the Middle Ages on Terra. But humans in general are strange and illogical creatures. Anyway, at some point a critical mass of these weirdos gathered and were able to occupy a whole planet for their "historical" residence (yes, it was much easier back then). To the credit of the new settlers of "Camelot" it should be noted that they were very aware of their favorite era and knew all its shortcomings, so their society was going to live according to the principles of more "romanticized" and "improved" Middle Ages rather than the harsh and gloomy original. Although the practical settlers built their towns and castles according to the original medieval methodology, they used modern construction machines and instead of ordinary stones they used more modern materials. They carefully reproduced all the production chains of the old times: fields, vegetable gardens, cattle pens and mines passed into the manufacturing industry and to the final in the form of bakeries, breweries, forges, various workshops and other things.
Religion and Warfare were also not forgotten. Of course in the space age Faith wasn't particularly popular even among the locals. So the priests were mainly engaged in their second duty, preservation of knowledge, priests were busy putting all the knowledge of the Middle Ages and early times on a "solid" basis with the help of quills and ink or authentic printing presses. This seemingly trivial activity will still play an important role in the future of the planet. Medieval Warfare also attracted a lot of people. infantrymen, archers and knights were actively engaged in the development of their personal combat skills as well as general military combat. Training in combat was based on real historical skills and fighting techniques, not on beautiful "movie" or impractical sporting ones.
It cannot be said that the planet was completely medieval, a small spaceport, a communications station and several small automatic factories for the production of necessary trifles were neatly hidden in a "corner" of planet. And so the measured life on this planet continued, only occasionally interrupted by arriving tourists until "Dark Times" came. Due to the peculiarities of this world, there were practically no robots here, so when several civilian models serving the spaceport and factories "rebelled" after the first victims, population quickly got their bearings, took up arms and sent them for scrap, because civilian working models did not differ in excessive strength or armor. The further process was not particularly difficult, the concerned population went towards the Communication Station and Factories to find out what was going on.
Although the security system tried to resist, purely civilian models designed to gently neutralize violators could not stop a purposeful crowd, even if armed only with medieval weapons. Factories were forcibly shut down and the Communication Station was switched to manual mode. Active attempts to contact outer space have not led to a positive result. Only white noise was heard at all possible frequencies, including emergency ones. After more than an hour of unsuccessful communication attempts, calmer and more authoritative people suggested putting station into passive mode for now so as not to attract attention until the situation clears up and at least some signal is caught. Still worried, the people still went home, leaving a permanent shift at the Communication Station, whose task was to listen to space.
Despite the attempts of those already involved to keep what happened a secret from the rest of the population, over time it became more and more difficult until it simply became impossible. One day of silence, then two, three, a week, and by the end of the month, whole planet knew that SOMETHING had happened, something that seemed to affect not only themselves but perhaps the entire galaxy. Although there were a couple of high-speed single-seat ships at spaceport just for emergencies, it was impossible to use them, there was not a single professional cosmo pilot among the population, and there was absolutely no trust in the automatic systems of ships after the crisis.
All that remained for the inhabitants of the planet was waiting. Trying to distract themselves from the suspense hanging over them, people completely devoted themselves to their studies and given the weighty physical component of almost all professions, it even helped to some extent, by night everyone was too exhausted to worry about anything else. All "military" inhabitants of the planet have found their center of tranquility through training and iron discipline. Religion also played a role, priests, whom everyone considered to be just enthusiasts, turned out to be very spiritual people and actively tried to give comfort and reassurance to others through confessions, prayers and sermons. As more and more time passed, the "lost" people began to connect their Hope for the future with Faith for real and with full dedication.
After a decade, people had to admit that they were stuck for a long time, if not forever, and then it's worth thinking about the future. Gathered leadership of the planet, clergy and representatives of "military" began to prepare for future. A lot of time and effort was given to preserve at least the local level of knowledge so as not to descend into barbarism. The physical books created by the priests were very useful here, since all the electronics were either lost or were on the countdown without repair. Codes of rules and laws for future generations have been carefully weighed, evaluated, put in order and made mandatory for the future "nobility" to study and follow them. A Code of Chivalry was created for the military, taking into account all the problems of the original knights, all the interaction of the military and peaceful parts of the population was taken into account, it was more idealized but also practical.
So established life on Camelot went on, of course, generations changed over time, there were disputes and military conflicts, but the rules and laws established by the ancestors and supported by both the Church, which became a significant force, and Knightly Order remained inviolable. Only representatives of clergy and masters of Order kept and transmitted knowledge about the past and that in the depths of cosmic darkness there is life that may one day visit them. Which actually happened one day during the Great Crusade when a small reconnaissance fleet found their system.
Since the main focus was on the future hive world, which was much more developed, although it had not yet mastered space flights, only a small commission was sent to Camelot to "get to know" the locals. After almost a month of negotiations and thanks to the knowledge of the large galaxy stored on the planet, local nobles, slightly "inspired" by Church and Order, agreed to recognize authority of Emperor and Imperium.
Local Church, which served as the keeper of knowledge, received information about the deeds and greatness of Emperor for its further dissemination on the planet, and after that, with a sense of accomplishment, fleet departed from the system. It is not known whether fleet disappeared along the way and did not report data on the found system, or maybe information was reported, but given the insignificance it was postponed for later, but the bottom line is that system, as well as the subsector as a whole, was safely forgotten for a while. She was "found" again after the Horus Heresy, and then imperial bureaucratic machine started working at full capacity. Planet, like its neighbors Bastion and Minerva, has been carefully evaluated and weighed for what it can give to the Imperium. Given the high discipline and high-quality combat training of planet armies, it was decided to take military recruits, since the most primitive barbarian could learn to handle a lasgun and most of the weapons of Imperium in the shortest possible time, but combat discipline and skills are much more valuable.
The fact that soldiers, like the entire population of world, ALREADY revered the Emperor as a God was a huge plus, so no one began to delve into the details of how this happened. Initially, some of the knights were also drafted into service as combat commanders with extensive experience in real war, who could quickly be trained to take into account new weapons and combat vehicles, but after a while, due to an incident that was later erased from the records, this practice was abandoned and the number of ordinary recruits was simply increased. And so the relatively peaceful existence of this world continued until recently, when a series of well-known events threw the entire subsector into the fire of the war with pirates.
Secret Information (available to a limited number of people) : It is important to know that the first meeting of the inhabitants of Camelot and the Imperium had much greater consequences for the world than outer space knows. To understand the importance of this meeting, it is worth stepping back along the timeline and learning about another important aspect of the planet history - psykers. Just like in the rest of the universe, after Dark Times, they sometimes began to be born on the planet and if the early psykers were invisible because of their weakness, then over the generations a cumulative effect worked and one day their abilities began to manifest themselves more "noticeably". I think it is not necessary to explain how the Medieval society reacted, even if it was more "civilized", to their appearance. If you thought Witch Hunt, you guessed it. But suddenly the Church became an important turning point for the whole action, the local Church, which had assumed the role of spiritual support since the disaster and had not changed its attitude over time, was more peaceful and tolerant than the original Church of Terra.
Priests offered to give "damned" into their care so that the unfortunate would have the opportunity to atone for their "sins" by serving God. So the psykers of Camelot suddenly had an alternative, either a bonfire or a lifelong church service. It is not difficult to understand what they chose. The huge efforts of the priests to save lost souls were able to lead to a positive result, harsh church discipline, constant prayers, hard physical and mental work helped the first "saved", although they could not drown out the voice of the Warp, but they learned to ignore it. Such success led to a completely natural result, all future psykers themselves sought shelter in the Church as soon as they awakened their abilities. It is for this reason that Camelot did not have a chance to fully face the influence of Chaos and its demons. Now let's fast-forward the story to the first meeting of the planet with the Imperium.
While most of the commission worked with the nobles and magistrates of Order, only two officials were sent to contact the Church because of the simplicity of their work. All they needed to do was convey information about Emperor and the Imperium to the local priests so that they could then spread it around the world fulfilling their role as guardians of knowledge. I think anyone will have a grin on their face when trying to imagine a dialogue between a space bureaucrat and an educated but medieval clergyman. After two weeks of metaphorical beating against the wall, one of bureaucrats came up with what he thought was the perfect idea. Using the local belief in God, he presented Emperor as a God, considering that this would be a closer concept for the locals. Having spent all the remaining time and a lot of effort using simplification and "deification" to convey the deeds of Emperor and his laws, even if not completely, he was able to convey the basis of the necessary information.
Considering that this would be enough to start with and then more competent specialists would polish all the corners, he and his partner flew away with the rest of the commission with a sense of accomplishment. But since you know that no one has arrived for a very long time, the local priests themselves took care of bringing information to a clear result, relying on the books left by Imperials and information from them as they themselves understood them. By mixing their beliefs in God with information about Emperor (as they understood it), they got their own version of the God-Emperor, albeit slightly different from the original, to whom they began to pray.
We are moving further into the future and here is the next key moment, the battle of Emperor with Horus in the orbit of Terra. Horus is defeated, Emperor is seriously injured and now he is seated on the Golden Throne where he begins to work (sorry for the analogy) like a battery for an Astronomicon. Like the rest of the universe, psyker priests of Camelot sensed this moment and announced that a "Great Light" had been lit.
No one knew exactly what had happened, however, this day was marked as very important. It should be noted that since psyker priests served in the Church for generations and even "interbred" with each other since the local faith did not support celibacy, over a long time their average level of psi-power turned out to be quite decent and only the power of Faith that became their essence protected them from the influence of Chaos. This same Belief, several hundred years after the lighting of the Astoronomicon, led to the fact that they were able to start using the "Light of the Emperor". After all, Emperor was a God, albeit a peculiar one, and his power also came from faith, and the light of the Astoronomicon poured into the depths of space also consisted of this power. And this power began to manifest itself among the devoutly believing psyker priests.
After recovering from the shock, clergy organized a general meeting and, after long disputes lasting almost six months, came to the conclusion that the event noted earlier was the day of Emperor's Ascension, after which he was able to bestow his power on his faithful followers. After finding out that not all priests could use "Light of the Emperor", careful research was conducted during which it turned out that only "Marked by the Abyss", as the locals called psykers, could use the force. Even more long disputes later, and the Church finally came to the conclusion that only those who are more sensitive to the immaterial world can embody this power, a sign of which is the "Whisper of the Abyss" that always haunts them, because Darkness always wants to drag the unwary into its depths.
Having decided on the phenomenon that had become a part of their lives and also declaring the day of the lighting of the Astronomicon a national holiday, the priests set to work. Psyker priests began to actively explore their new capabilities, and normal priests began to carry Emperor's word to the masses even more actively.
In the process of training, psyker priests were divided in the use of their abilities by gender, women became "healers" using their powers to heal wounds and diseases, and men became "combat chaplains" using their light to attack evil or protect the innocent, of course there was no clear reference to gender and a man could easily become a healer, and the woman was a chaplain, but the majority approved of such a division.
The second coming of the Imperium was at first greeted with glee, which later turned into bewilderment and even apprehension. Fortunately, the locals did not begin to demonstrate their capabilities from the doorstep, which, as it turned out, was very useful. While the nobility entertained Imperial bureaucrats and military negotiated with Knightly Order, priests diligently studied the materials provided to them, trying to understand what so alarmed all the gifted priests upon the arrival of the delegation. As they studied more and more information about both the history and the current state of affairs in the Imperium, priests became increasingly perplexed and horrified. Attitude towards Psykers as an absolute threat brought them into shock and caused complete bewilderment. However, other things created by Imperium did not arouse much enthusiasm either.
It was when one of the priests found a description of the famous Battle that marked the end of Heresy and its consequences and finally formed a complete puzzle in the minds of the local clergy. After assessing what happened more carefully, they came to the conclusion that Ascension of Emperor took place with complications due to his wound, therefore he cannot actively influence the material world, and the people who rose to power and succumbed to their sinful essence distorted his will for their own benefit, and persecuted psykers because they are the only ones who can hear HIS voice. Quickly contacting the nobles and knights, the priests forbade talking about the presence of gifted people in the church, and the network of preachers quickly spread this ban among the population.
For the Imperium, local clergy quickly agreed with the changes in laws and faith, but in fact secretly continued to follow the old faith, considering the new version to be vicious and defiled by human sins, the entire population of the planet, which was very religious, followed their example. With the help of ostentatious fanaticism and small "gifts", Church of Light managed to leave the affairs of faith on the planet in its hands unattended from the outside, although it had to agree to annual inspections from "Bastion" where the headquarters of Church of Imperium in the system will be located.
And so began "new" life of Camelot as part of the Imperium, hidden by secrets and distrust, which was finally consolidated when it turned out that knights who were initially recruited into the Imperium were executed due to the fact that sooner or later they all killed their commanders or commissars when they saw them trying to execute a guardsman for no reason or tried send soldiers to a senseless death to accelerate victory. The subsequent showdown of the Order with the Imperial Military Commission that arrived, which accused knights who followed the Code of Honor of violating the charter, finally turned Camelot away from Imperium as a traitor to the Emperor's cause and his faith. Although to outsiders they continued to play the role of devoted fanatics, deep inside they were storing up their frustration with the current system and actively looking for a way to change something for the better.