Warhammer: Empire Reboot

When he emerged from the shadows on the edge of the city, the first thing he noticed was the color of the sky—blue.

White clouds drifted slowly overhead, and the starlight shone on the building surfaces, casting clear shadows.

The Lion King entered the city; the streets were clean, maintained by staff, and automated cleaning drones were operating at regular intervals. Drainage ditches were clear, and cracks in the road surface were promptly repaired.

The water is clear; the water at public drinking fountains is colorless and has no metallic taste.

Food was plentiful; the ration stations on the street distributed standard rations on time, the lines were not long, and no one fought over food.

The packaging of staple foods is labeled with ingredients, calories, and production date, and is standardized, mass-produced, and subject to strict quality control.

The Lion King looked at the ingredient list of a standard ration and found it to be a genuine grain product.

He continued walking. The workers in the factory area worked in shifts, with working hours lower than the imperial standard, only twelve hours a day. The rest of the time was for rest, eating, and basic medical care.

He saw some different faces.

A mother was walking down the street with her child. The child was of normal height, had a healthy complexion, and was munching on some kind of snack.

The mother's pace was neither hurried nor slow.

A group of workers sat by the roadside after get off work; some were eating, and some were chatting.

The conversation was about trivial things: this month's production bonus, the new equipment in the next workshop, and the new type of meat available at the evening supply station.

The Lion King saw something in their faces: a sense of security, an expression rarely seen in the lower echelons of the Empire's old world.

The Lion King then went to two more planets controlled by Lawson.

One is an agricultural world, the other is a former nesting world.

In the agricultural world, the fields stretch as far as the eye can see, the irrigation system functions properly, and the produced grains are distributed to surrounding planets through standardized logistics.

Farmers lead simple but stable lives.

The former Nest City world shocked him even more.

The place was once destroyed by Chaos, but Lawson's nesting system has completed its initial reconstruction.

New buildings and old ruins are interspersed, but the new parts are clearly different. They are well-organized, well-ventilated, and the water and electricity lines were embedded in the walls from the design stage, running as concealed lines.

The bottom layer has water purification and sewage disposal, the middle layer has factories and warehouses, and the top layer has air defense positions. This is a scientifically planned urban cluster!

The Lion King noticed something else.

The planets he visited, controlled by Lawson, had very few state churches.

Some planets show no trace of a state religion whatsoever.

The bulletin board displayed the decrees of the person in charge of the seal, allocation notices, and conscription information.

The Lion King stopped a passing Foundation Sequence member and asked, "Where is the state religion of this planet?"

The cornerstone warrior answered in a standard manner: "The original state religion of this planet was destroyed during the Chaos invasion, and all members of the priesthood died in the line of duty. It has not yet been rebuilt. The Lord of the Seal prioritizes the restoration of people's livelihood and the construction of defenses."

The Lion King then asked the same question on another planet.

A similar response was received: "State religious facilities were damaged in the war, and reconstruction came after infrastructure, medical care, and food supplies."

It's at the back of the line, always at the back.

Even after there was enough food, clean water, repaired defenses, running factories, and civilian safety, the state religion was still "in line."

The Lion King knew in his heart that this was no coincidence.

Lawson did not publicly abolish the state religion; he was not that stupid.

Lawson's approach was smarter; he used efficiency to kill the soil of the State Church.

Why did the state religion have such a large following among the lower classes of the empire?

Because people at the bottom of society live such a miserable life.

The water was dirty, food was scarce, and death from violence or plague was a constant threat.

In this despair, the state religion offered the only psychological comfort: suffering was a test for the emperor, and there would be peace after death.

But what if the water is clean? What if there is enough food? What if there are patrols on the streets, factories pay wages on time, and children have enough to eat?

When life in this world is no longer purgatory, the promise of an afterlife becomes less alluring.

The Lion King stood on a high platform in a hive city world reclaimed by Lawson, looking down at the orderly streets, the operating factories, the clean water supply network, and the civilians with a sense of security on their faces.

On the distant horizon, several construction drones of the nesting system are still busy, and new building skeletons are rising from the ground next to the ruins.

Zabrel stood behind him, and Kyle stood on the other side.

They are all veterans who came from the Great Expedition era ten thousand years ago.

They remembered what the worlds looked like when the Emperor implemented the Imperial Truth, with reason replacing superstition, order replacing chaos, and science replacing ignorance.

The Lion King sighed, "It seems Father's choice was right."

His gaze shifted from the city to the distant ruins being transformed by drones.

"This is what the ideal empire should look like in my father's mind."

…………

Heros-IV, bottom nest, seventh district.

The Lion King is inspecting the resurrected's equipment in an abandoned refinery.

A cornerstone member walked in from the refinery entrance.

"Your Excellency Lion King."

"The Lord of the Seals has received intelligence that the main force of Vashtor's Catastrophe Fleet is gathering in the Somnium star system, and the target has been confirmed as the Dark Angel Mobile Fortress, the Stone Monastery."

The lion king's eyes immediately changed.

The Monastery of the Great Stone.

That was the headquarters of the Dark Angels, and also a mobile fortress built by the remnants of the First Legion around the largest fragment of their home planet after Caliban's destruction.

It contains everything the First Legion has accumulated over ten thousand years: the gene seed bank, the relic chamber, the interrogation dungeon, the chapter archives, and the secrets deep within Caliban that even the Lion King himself is not fully aware of.

If the Stone Monastery is captured or destroyed by Vashtor, the Dark Angels will lose their foundation.

The Cornerstone Death Soldier continued, "The support fleet of the Marker is on its way and is expected to engage the main force of Chaos near Dragon Spirit Star. The Marker requests that His Excellency Lion King go to join them."

The Lion King did not hesitate.

"Zabriel".

"Gather all the resurrected."

Three hundred and forty-seven resurrected individuals lined up in the open space of the refinery.

The cornerstone assassins deployed a static force field.

The resurrected entered in a queue.

One of Lawson's flagships, a ten-kilometer-long behemoth, was sailing in the warp, its hull shrouded in the faint glow of the Geller force field, with turbulent warp currents surging beyond its shields.

Lawson was waiting at the hangar entrance.

Behind him stood Er Gou, San Gou, and the Mastiff Guards.

As the Lion King led the resurrected out of the stasis field, Lawson surveyed the group: over three hundred Astartes with varying levels of equipment and a motley collection of colors on their armor.

“There are significantly more people than last time,” Lawson said.

The Lion King walked up to him.

"There will be many more; there are still many people in the galaxy that we haven't found yet."

"You've traveled to quite a few places in these three months?"

The Lion King looked at him and said, "You've done well. I've been to the planets you've conquered, and I've also been to the old world of the Empire. The difference is huge."

He paused for a moment: "Your father was right to choose you, and I support his choice."

Lawson smiled.

The implications of a prototype's public endorsement within the empire's political landscape are self-evident.

"We'll collect the praise later; let's jump to Dragon Spirit Star immediately. The Dark Angels aren't doing well."

The Lion King's expression immediately tightened: "Isn't that bad?"

“Vashtor personally orchestrated the operation, with Abaddon’s second-in-command, Blackheart Huron, in command. The Dark Angels’ Unforgivable Fleet is being attacked from both sides.”

The Lion King's hand was already gripping the hilt of the greatsword.

Dragon Spirit Star, on the edge of the Somnium Starfield.

This planet was once a fortified world of the Empire, but was taken over by Chaos after the Great Rift, and its orbital defense system was transformed into an inward-firing trap by the Dark Mechanicus of Vashtor.

Now, it is a millstone.

Nakir, the High Master of the Dark Angels' Consecration, stood on the bridge of the flagship Eternal Oath, watching the deteriorating situation reflected in the tactical projection.

The Unforgivables coalition entered the Dragon Spirit Star System six hours ago, attempting to break through the Chaos Blockade and rendezvous with the main fleet of the Giant Stone Monastery.

It jumped into the pocket.

The Chaos Heretic Fleet encircled them from three directions.

The Ominous Ark fleet, personally built by Vashtor, consists of war machines driven by demons, with firepower and defense far exceeding those of Imperial warships of the same tonnage.

Even worse is Dragon Spirit Star itself.

The planetary orbital defense system was completely rewritten by Vashtor's Dark Mechanicus.

The macro gun array, torpedo silos, and shield jammers all turned around and aimed at the Imperial fleet in orbit.

The Unforgivables squadron is caught between the Ominous Ark and planetary firepower, taking damage from both sides.

Nakir has been directing the bloody battle for six hours.

He is the chief mentor of the Devotee's Wing, not an administrator who only talks the talk.

He shrank the fleet into a defensive ring, placing the most damaged warships in the inner circle and using the warships with intact shields in the outer circle to withstand the firepower.

He adjusted the formation three times, each time precisely avoiding the salvo window of the Ominous Ark, buying time for the damaged warships to be repaired.

But the commander on the other side was no pushover either.