Emperor's Bane

Chapter 773 Puppet City

When he has free time, the great sage Thule always thinks about a question.

Is he perhaps the most pathetic Omnissiah in the history of the galaxy?
Compared to his colleagues who have made a name for themselves on Mars, Ryza, or Acheron VIII and practiced their own beliefs, the Great Sage Thule is undoubtedly a pathetic nobody: the galaxy will not remember his name, and will not even hear of any information about him.

When the forge-generals and city-lords of Mars were at loggerheads over the throne of power that had been vacant after the tragedy of Nikaea, and even risked drawing their swords against each other, they would not have considered the armies of Thule as their allies.

When Reza's Techno-Saint and her minions discussed behind closed doors how to drive the Martian rebels out of their promised land in the eastern part of the galaxy, they did not consider the ideas of Thule.

In the eyes of these great men, the name of the great sage Thule was no more striking than a rusty screw on the floor: it was natural for them to think so.

After all, in Thule's twenty-four-year career as a great sage, he had not accomplished anything to be proud of: not even one thing worth talking about.

He launched no crusade to extol the name of the All-Machine God, or to reclaim the most ancient wisdom in the tide of the Great Crusade: although he had a sufficient number of Crusaders and more than one Mechanical Ark at his disposal.

He never wrote furiously, published any new ideas, nor did he leave any opinions worthy of praise by future generations in the unprecedentedly active academic atmosphere within the Mechanicus that was fostered by the glory of the Great Crusade: although he had unique insights in many fields.

He had never lit the furnace, picked up the blueprints left to him by his mentor, and produced enough ships and artillery shells to arm the Astartes Legion, in order to fulfill the covenant that Mars had signed with Holy Terra more than a hundred years ago and contribute his own strength to the great revival of the faith in the God of All Machines.

Although in name only, he rules over three powerful and rich Forge Worlds.

But he still achieved nothing.

No, even worse.

If his fellow gear brothers who followed the same faith as him knew what the great sage Thule had done, they would certainly use the most vicious ridicule to mock him for not being worthy of the name of "Follower of the Omnissiah."

This is just the mildest.

In fact, a punitive army formed by the union of various Forge Worlds is the most reasonable and appropriate response to the actions of the Great Sage Thule: the Forge General on Mars will even lead the team personally and swear in the name of the God of All Machines to grind him to ashes.

Then, in the name of trusteeship, his entire forging world was swept away.

That's their style.

After all... in the long history of the Mechanicus which began thousands of years ago.

No great sage who governs the entire Forge World has ever handed over all his furnaces, docks, and even the sacred Forge World itself to outsiders: as a subject, he would humbly accept the rule of a mortal except the God of All Machines.

Even if that person is a Primarch.

Even theoretically, she is the child of God with Omnissiah blood.

Even those colleagues in the Five Hundred Worlds, who were so flattering that they named the Forge World after the Primarch's adoptive father, the relationship between them and Guilliman was not a pure monarch-subject relationship, but more like an alliance of interests with a clear hierarchy.

Their internal personnel transfers do not require Guilliman's written consent, their officers' promotions do not require them to swear allegiance to the Primarch, their routes and raw material markets are not under the full supervision of the Legion, and they need to write a report in advance every time they weigh anchor.

And this is what Thule and the three Forge Worlds under his jurisdiction are doing.

They handed power, literally all power, to Morgan.

This is humiliating.

This is betrayal.

This is something they do willingly.

The Great Sage Thule breathed heavily.

His eyes were filled with blood mist and smoke leaked from his nostrils as the pain suppressant increased its current: this was to ensure that he could still function after three hundred sleepless hours, so as not to delay the casting plan ahead.

[It] is much more important than the great sage's miserable life: strengthen your mind to confirm this matter every moment.

Thinking of this, the Great Sage raised his head with some difficulty and looked at the great creation for which he and tens of millions of Omnissiah believers had worked for thirty years: the shadow that covered the sky and the sun swallowed up the forge world with the same name under the feet of the Great Sage Thule.

It can kill them with one shot.

Kill them all.

Killing the world, or even the galaxy: it just takes a little longer.

It is enough to shake and overturn the galaxy.

How wonderful...

He is worthy of the title of [Mountain Killer].

Although he had never seen the Phalanx, the Dawnbreaker's database contained as much detailed information as possible about the legendary warship: the Great Sage had compared them carefully, and he believed that his work could pose a real threat to the Phalanx.

Although it may not be possible to kill one on one.

but……

This is just ship number one.

The great sage laughed: although to outsiders, he was just spitting out a string of meaningless jumbled codes.

He remembered it clearly, he remembered every detail when the Great Will of the Omnissiah laid the first keel in the Warp Shipyards: he remembered every detail, and he could even recite the date clearly.

Accurate to the second.

He knew that it was the 5,324th Terra standard hour after the Queen of Avalon, in the name of the Myriad God, had brought down divine punishment on the triple region: it was also the 2,721st hour since he took office as the Great Sage.

Thule was the third great sage appointed to succeed the throne after the fall of the triple region.

Because of endless greed and constant betrayal, the alliance formed by the three forge worlds of Galatea, Fal and Thule finally exhausted the last bit of patience in the heart of the Lord of Dawn, and what awaited them was the hellfire that fell from the sky.

The Second Legion and its summoned allies crushed the resistance of the Triple Sector in a matter of hours: the Forge World of Thule wisely chose to surrender prematurely, and then as a terrified spectator of the war, witnessed how its two brothers died.

But after the war, a new problem began to trouble the Lord of the victorious Second Legion: Even if Morgan searched through the not-so-long history of the Human Empire, the Primarch could not find any previous record of dealing with rebellious forge worlds like the Triple Sector.

Directly kill them?

It's such a waste.

Not to mention that the military action against the triple area itself is untenable: the great sages in the area have indeed always been hypocritical in obeying the orders of the Primarch, but saying that they are rebelling and need a large army to suppress it is completely the Spider Queen's one-sided opinion.

Back then, Morgan was able to launch an expedition to the triple zone only because he relied on the remoteness of Avalon and used his identity and political status as the Primarch to force Far and Galadia to confess.

It was not easy to start a war, and to destroy two Forge Worlds without any reason was unthinkable: she was not Jonson, and she did not have the Ikaros Protocol.

not to mention……

There was a reason why the rulers of the Triple Realm dared to go against the will of a Primarch in the past.

They have huge factories, powerful weapons and a large number of excellent craftsmen, enough to create the army of any ruler's dreams. When operating at full capacity, the ammunition output can support a war from Avalon to Holy Terra.

Aside from Mars, the Triple Region is one of the most powerful Forge Worlds. Even Silver Medalists like Ryza and Acheron-8 can only be on par with it: in many ways, they can't even match it.

No sane ruler would destroy this treasure by violence.

Except for Jonson?

No: not even Jonson.

Even if it was the Icarus Protocol, one must think twice before destroying such a behemoth: Morgan thought she was much gentler than Jonson.

As for severe punishment?

That was nothing more than creating a malicious servant in one's own rear.

Morgan didn't want to gamble: when she faced her opponent in the center of the galaxy, whether the triple region with which she shared a deep bloody sea would use its famous output on her, which would be a backstab that would shake Avalon's foundation.

Veto: A veto is required.

But: What should we do?

The Primarch also fell into deep thought.

After all, in a sense, what she did was indeed horrific.

Ever since the Emperor signed a contract with the Forge-General on Mars in the name of the Omnissiah on the eve of the Great Crusade, the Imperial army has been forbidden to shoot at any world that believes in the Omnissiah, except for those hostile Forge Worlds that firmly resist the Great Crusade.

Forge worlds can fight each other for interests and doctrines, and even launch large-scale expeditions: the scale and amount of resources invested in some armed conflicts between large forge worlds have long exceeded the upper limit of most military operations in the Great Crusade. Forge worlds can also fight each other for power and status, and even raze the entire industrial nest to the ground: Omnissiah's followers can shoot each other, or hire allies from within the empire to shoot his academic opponents and the allies they called, and there is no limit to killing.

But without their permission, any attempt to harm the Omnissiah's followers is undoubtedly treason: not even the High Lords are allowed to cross this red line.

Because they are allies of the Empire.

That’s right, not a subordinate, but an ally on equal terms.

The entire Forge Cult joined the Great Crusade in the name of the Emperor's followers. They were completely free from the jurisdiction of Terra and theoretically only obeyed the orders of the Emperor: in terms of power and superficial status alone, the Forge General of Mars is on the same level as the Sigillite of Terra.

One of the most obvious arguments is the power struggle within Mars today.

It was well known that Kalbohar, the then Mars Fabricator-General, was not a loyal follower of the Emperor and the Imperium: his indifference towards the Emperor and his fanatical support for the independence of the Mechanicus were already well known, and he could be considered a potential destabilizing factor in the Grand Order.

But even so, because Kalbohar's appointment was the result of internal struggles and compromises within the Mechanicus, or on Mars, not even the Emperor himself could kick him out of the position of Forge General.

By now, the situation has become even more unfavorable to Holy Terra: taking advantage of the disaster in Nikaea and seizing the opportunity that the Sigillites and High Lords were preoccupied with their own affairs, the Forge General and his loyal followers were wantonly eliminating dissidents on Mars and keeping countless important positions under their iron claws.

Accusations, assassinations, and small-scale armed conflicts took place in the Red Desert, and the fusion reactors and deep nuclear mines were filled with all the priests who dared to oppose the Fabricator-General: all this happened too quickly, and when Terra recovered from the storm of the Badab Crisis, the Martian Hives and Temples either surrendered to the Fabricator-General or maintained armed neutrality.

Even at this point, Terra could do nothing about anything on Mars. They could only protect their increasingly scarce friends within the Mechanicus through more covert methods, and warned the Casting General indirectly: but this only curbed the flow of blood, and could not prevent Kalbohar from gradually turning Mars into his own personal kingdom.

Until no one can check him.

The most powerful productive force in the galaxy is now firmly in the hands of a potential opponent of the Emperor of Mankind: in other words, this is also the collective will of Mars.

This is where his power lies: this is roughly the relationship between Terra and Mars.

As for the difference in status between the Mechanicus and the Primarchs, that is another endless mess.

As one head of the two-headed eagle, the Cult of the Forge, which is at the same level as the High Lords Council of Terra, is theoretically no less powerful than the Primarch: if an armed conflict were to occur, the power that Mars could mobilize might not be less than that of Terra.

But on the other hand, [the united Forge Cult] is a false proposition, and their power is even more of a castle in the air: as independent forces, the various Forge Worlds are happy to bow their heads to the Primarch and sign a covenant as partners.

As for whether the two parties who signed the covenant maintained a completely equal status, it depended on the situation of each Primarch: Guilliman was more domineering, and he even had a forge world named after his adoptive father Konor, and eight Titan Legion allies.

On the other hand, the alliance between the Thousand Sons and the Forge World Zhao Akada was more equal and loose, and Magnus the Red had no coercive power over his Mechanicum allies who were half a galaxy away.

But unfortunately, with the fall of the Thousand Sons Legion, Zhao Akada also lost his backer: it was said that this Forge World located in the southernmost part of the galaxy was wavering between the Death Guard and the Raven Guard Legion, and it was unknown which side it would lean towards.

Zhao Akada is not the only one facing this cruel problem. In fact, the entire Storm Star Region in the southern part of the Milky Way has fallen into a vicious circle of power tug-of-war: Mortarion and Corax are like two magnetic poles, repelling each other while attracting the worlds and governors who go with the flow in the entire star region.

These two Primarchs, who were born as farmers and workers respectively, divided the power gap of the entire Storm Sector equally: although the Dornish and Imperial Fists further north also occupied one-third of the sector, the Inverts were never interested in these unnecessary things.

Fortunately, however, the dispute between Mortaan and Corax is gentler than that between brothers with more violent personalities: even if the Forge World with unique technology will not ultimately lead to either side, there is no need to worry about the Primarch's army approaching the city.

Not everyone is the Spider Queen who dares to cross the red line quietly.

In a sense, Morgan seems to have become the first person to try something new.

But the Primarch is the Primarch after all, and Morgan is known among the Primarchs for his good appetite. After discovering that she seemed to have made a mess, the Spider Queen decided calmly: since the bottom line has been broken, she must push it to the end.

Since the alliance between the Emperor and the Forging General has already been violated, what does it matter if another clause is violated?

With this idea in mind, Morgan began her actions after slaughtering the "rebels" in the triple region: military action was only the first step in the Primarch's conquest, and it took her almost two generations to truly establish her rule in the triple region.

During this period, the Primarch never relaxed his supervision over the triple region: a full one thousand Dawnbreaker warriors, and a hundred times more elite mortal auxiliary forces, were stationed around the triple region for decades. Permanent military fortresses were entrenched at the highest points of the three worlds, always monitoring any hive city or temple that dared to violate the Primarch's rule.

At the same time, penetration into the triple zone was carried out simultaneously on two fronts.

On the one hand, all the worlds and local forces that had been friendly with the Triple Region were screened like a sieve, and every raw material production site and dumping market was controlled by the Second Legion. Some of them were rewarded to other forging worlds, such as Gorglad, which was known to be dirty in the Triple Region. The other part was detained in the hands of the Primarch, serving as a nutrient solution to keep the Triple Region hanging on.

With their lifelines in the hands of others, the three Forge Worlds could only allow the Primarch to do whatever he wanted in front of them: not to mention the brainwashing and assimilation education of the new generation, all security codes were also handled by Dawnbreaker experts, and even prayers praising the Omnissiah had to be reviewed and annotated by the Primarch first.

The Triple Sector once took chances because of their reputation and status: they believed that the Emperor and Terra would not allow a large Forge World to disappear silently, and that the Primarch's misdeeds would sooner or later be warned by a higher level, forcing the Dawnbreaker Legion to withdraw in disgrace.

But decades later, even the most arrogant Mechanical Priest had to admit the bleak reality before them: the Emperor, Terra and even Mars remained indifferent to the mysterious disappearance of the Triple Sector, as if they had never appeared in the galaxy.

It is obvious that Morgan is far more capable of currying favor with the Emperor and the bigwigs of Terra than the Mechanical Priest imagined. Through countless exchanges of interests and political compromises, the Primarch succeeded in getting Holy Terra to acquiesce in her actions in the Triple Region.

The fact of being abandoned dealt a greater blow to the Triple Region than expected: a large number of elders surrendered, and the Spider Queen's assimilation process went a step further.

Morgan originally thought that she would need a century to completely transform the three shaping worlds into her own private territory and double the strength of the entire Far Eastern border: but the reality was even better than she imagined, and the Primarch completed the plan in less than fifty years.

The Archmagos Thule, and his current colleagues, are the monuments marking the Primarch's final victory.

Before Thule, the two great sages of the triple regions appointed by Morgan still had some nostalgia for the old times. They were all people who had experienced war and knew that the Primarch's rule over the three forge worlds was not natural.

Although on the surface they submitted to the Spider Queen's blade, it did not mean that they were willing to do so: the first Archmagus tried to report the Primarch's massacre of his allies to the Empire's top leaders, and after his sudden death, the second Archmagus also worked hard to maintain the independence of the triple region in all aspects.

Coincidentally, however, the reign of this great sage did not last long: after the new generation that grew up under the wings of Primarchs such as Thule proved to be capable of standing on their own, he died in battle during an expedition.

What followed was the most chaotic election in the history of the entire Triple Region: a large number of elders either disappeared, retired, or simply boarded ships and took the initiative to go to distant places to open up new territories, leaving a lot of vacancies for young people to replace them.

Just like that, Thule ascended to the supreme throne of the triple region in a confused manner, and became a powerful figure who could theoretically govern the entire three forging worlds: but in reality, not to mention that the three forging worlds each had their own leaders, he was just a common leader who could be respected by everyone on the surface.

On the other hand...

"Drip drip..."

The great sage turned his head and rarely shifted his attention from the huge battleship in front of him to the communication equipment on the side.

He knew that there would only be one voice on the other end of the communication device, and that was the true manager of the triple zone, the captain of the Dawnbreakers who was stationed here by the order of the Primarch: his words could not be violated by the Great Sage.

Tuler adjusted his mood and took the call respectfully.

"It is I, sir."

"Yes, I already know that Master Morgan will visit today."

"The construction progress of the Mountain Killer is only 62%, but we are ready to accept inspection at any time: Okay, I will let irrelevant people stay away, the Skitarii will leave immediately, and all key locations and outposts will be fully under your control."

"Besides the Mountain Array Killer, is there anyone else your Excellency would like to inspect?"

"New Sikaran tanks?"

"no problem."

"Titan Construction Plant?"

"Here's the arrangement."

"A replica of the Eldar-style Nightwing?"

"I see."

"The actual combat performance of the Centurion Heavy Combat Exoskeleton?"

"This...it's just an experiment..."

"Okay, I will arrange it."

"Anything else, sir?"

"..."