EVENT - The Schism of Mars

[simison]

It'd be Cohort, which is in the ballpark of 30,000+.

 

I was thinking about the timespan between the Death of Innocence and the outbreak of open war. I thought that the Death of Innocence coincided with the of the Insurrection. So, everything appears to be going wrong, but the Dark Mechanicum don't make their move for a few weeks. Thus, Irvin has time to gather his Cohort, Alex fights his way to the Emperor, and the Abyssii have enough time to recover from the Scrap-code and assassin attack. 

 

Thus, all three converge right as Mortis begins their march to Magma City. The Abyssii are able to hold their section of the Ring of Iron where the Warmaster and Wardens reinforce them. Alex does his thing as the Wardens begin making their way to the surface to rescue the Loyalist Mechanicum.

[Talonair]

I have a possible way for the Wardens to get through the Ring of Iron and to the planet before the Abyssii gain enough control to deploy en-masse to the planet. The Lance Held High could essentially dump a large portion of its Rulebreaker rounds directly to the planet below, pretty much wiping out anything that was there, leaving a clear landing zone for the Wardens

[bluntblade]

Just realised that of course Icarion wouldn't deploy a force to the Sol system to counter the Halcyon Wardens - he expects Alexandros to side with him.

[bluntblade]

Should we involve Valdor? It's not like he's tied up a la Prospero. Plus it'd be fun to see him and Alex trying to cooperate.

[simison]

That's a fair point, actually. I've completely forgot about him. 

 

Good gravy, Hal's decision looks poorly-timed from this angle. I wonder if he would have argued to Icarion that they needed to wait until Alex returned to the front lines. Or maybe Icarion had ordered that Hal, after rebelling, simply open the vault, grab the goodies, and flee coreward. And Hal stubbornly went against the orders at the last minute to start his Martian kingdom.

[Sigismund229]

Perhaps Hal is gambling that the catastrophe of the Day of Revelation paired with Icarion's conquests&expansion outwards from Madrigal would force Alex to abandon Terra and use every single Halycon Warden at his disposal to stem the tide. Or perhaps he received assurances from Icarion that Alex would join them and all Hal needs to do is hold out until he does.

 

There's also the factor that the legions and Mechanicus forces have never been tested against each other and maybe Hal underestimates quite how much damage Alex can do, thinking of him as a diplomat rather than pysker and warrior. So Hal overestimates his own forces capacity to defeat the legions.

 

Speaking of which, I know Mars is a loyalist victory but seeing as its the Mechanicus' fortress it should come at a very heavy cost in loyalist lives, possibly so heavy that Alex can justify holding back the Vth in the Segmentum Solar(a relatively low risk sector of the line in this early phase) because they were so badly mauled on Mars.

[Talonair]

In the canon, Kelbor-Hal is effectively forced to fire the first actual shot by Koriel Zeth, Mistress of  Magma City, when she declared non-belief in the Omnissiah. Although, it could also be seen as the excuse Kelbor needed to fire the first shot

[bluntblade]

I'd suggest Icarion believed Alex would side with him

[simison]

I like the idea that Icarion persuaded Hal that Alex would stand with them. 

 

And I like Sig's suggestion that the Wardens pay a price to secure Mars. Definite heavy casualties that can tie into re-securing Seg. Solar. It adds another level of depth, though I would combine it with the Wardens' being so split across the galaxy as another reason. 

[bluntblade]

"What of Land?" Alexandros asked.

Ruel spoke into his vox-bead. "Tannhauser. Status of the technoarcheologist?"

The vox crackled. "Insufferable."

[bluntblade]

First observation on Mechanicum - the main sites are all lumped very close together

[Talonair]

Most locations would be close to the equator because of ease of achieving orbit/proximity to the space elevators up to the ring of iron. From there, they'd likely cluster on large plains for ease of construction. If there's an especially large plain, it'd make sense for them to be built on that plain

[bluntblade]

I guess so. Makes the main campaign quite tightly focused.

[bluntblade]

The Titan Legios had long been a broiling mix of tensions and ambition, both among themselves and the wider empire of Mars. Through the synchronicity of Princeps, Moderati and Titan, these became impossible to disentangle from personal animosity, and gathered momentum during the late Crusade.

 

Some of the old Martian warlords bridled at the way Legios from lesser Forge Worlds, mere satraps of the Red World, were embraced by some of the Space Marine Legions. The most prominent of these were Legio Gojira, allies of the Scions Hospitalier, to whom all must now outwardly incline their heads after Qarith Prime. But in private many condemned them as upstarts, claiming glories meant for those bound to Sacred Mars, those who had served the Omnissiah for long centuries before the Emperor rose from Terra. These resentments, albeit less pronounced, burned for Legio Tonarum, the Fire Keepers' war horses, and ___, who walked with the Berserkers of Uran.

 

The elevation of Alexandros to the post of Warmaster had, as with every other facet of the Imperium, set reverberations running from top to bottom. For the Titan Legions, it was as ever a matter of prestige. Tempestus, long in service to the Vth Legion, could not avoid the reflected glory even if they wished to, and ___ resented the way in which their own prestige was, at a stroke, diminished. Of course, the past conduct of Alexandros became a matter of renewed controversy. While he was ever respectful to the Mechanicum itself, he nonetheless was seen as too willing to overlook Sacred Mars' primacy. The hierarchy of Forge Worlds was of surpassing importance to the Lords of Mars, who had already taken steps to arrest the rise of Phaeton and found themselves troubled by the Abyssii sect, now closely tied to the Warmaster.

[bluntblade]

Which is to say we should consider more broadly which Titan Legio serves with which Legion and the political ramifications. Lightning Bearers should probably have one of the Big 3. Legio Audax are of Mars, so the Iron Bears avoid controversy on that score.

[simison]

I thought the Lightning Bearers had their own personal Psyker Legio?

[bluntblade]

I wasn't certain. I saw that was becoming a thing with Ordo Sinister (perhaps the LB had the forerunner to that). Be worth raising it with Athrawes - I suspect a whole Legio of psy-Titans might be tricky to keep maintained, otherwise the Thousand Sons probably would have done it.

 

Anyone want to claim Mortis? Could see them with the Warbringers, but having the Dies Irae and its maniple in Loyalist hands would be all kinds of interesting. Plus did the Wolves have an allied Legio?

[bluntblade]

I'm also wondering how different the cast on Mars should be to canon. Tempestus' senior Princeps is on the edge of needing more thorough (permanent?) bonding with his Titan, so perhaps we should insert a younger man in his role.

[Talonair]

The Ordo Sinister were created by the Emperor himself in relative secrecy, and his demands for Warlord titans to be sent to Terra almost caused a civil war in the Mechanicum. I doubt anyone else would have been able to pull it off

[bluntblade]

Ignatum, in canon, side with the Loyalists. I guess we can have their Martian elements stay loyal and others turn Traitor.

[bluntblade]

Titanicus

 

The Titan Legios had long been a broiling mix of tensions and ambition, both among themselves and the wider empire of Mars. Through the synchronicity of Princeps, Moderati and Titan, these became impossible to disentangle from personal animosity, and gathered momentum during the late Crusade.

 

Some of the old Martian warlords bridled at the way Legios from lesser Forge Worlds, mere satraps of the Red World, were embraced by some of the Space Marine Legions. The most prominent of these were those aligned with the Iron Bears, whose domain included a number of Forge Worlds. Though treaties codified the dual allegiances of the Forge Worlds within the Three Fires, Kelbor-Hal and his allies had always resented the situation. To see Titan Legions steeped in the tribal customs of Huron and yet rising in the esteem of the Emperor’s armies, was even more galling.

 

Another irritant was the eccentric Legio Gojira, allies of the Scions Hospitalier, to whom all must now outwardly bow their heads after Qarith Prime. But in private many condemned them as upstarts, claiming glories meant for those bound to Sacred Mars, those who had served the Omnissiah for long centuries before the Emperor rose from Terra. These resentments, albeit less pronounced, burned for Legio Tonarum, the Fire Keepers' war horses, and Cruciatus, who walked with the Berserkers of Uran and matched their allies' gruesome repute.

 

The elevation of Alexandros to the post of Warmaster had, as with every other facet of the Imperium, set reverberations running from top to bottom. For the Titan Legions, it was as ever a matter of prestige, especially the Triad Ferrum Morghulis. These were the Legiones Tempestus, Mortis and Ignatum. Legions with histories stretching back to the rise of the Cult Mechanicus, they had accordingly enjoyed a preeminence in the Emperor’s armies.

 

Tempestus, long in service to the Vth Legion, could not avoid the reflected glory even if they wished to, and (whoever served with the Lightning Bearers) resented the way in which their own prestige was, at a stroke, diminished. Of course, the past conduct of Alexandros became a matter of renewed controversy. While he was ever respectful to the Mechanicum itself, he nonetheless was seen as too willing to overlook Sacred Mars' primacy. The hierarchy of Forge Worlds was of surpassing importance to the Lords of Mars, who had already taken steps to arrest the rise of Phaeton and found themselves troubled by the Abyssii sect, now closely tied to the Warmaster.

 

Camulos, senior Princeps of the Legio Mortis, presented a facade of loyalty in public, albeit one coloured by haughtiness and injured pride. In private, however, he fulminated against what he had always seen as fealty given at gunpoint, for a promise unfulfilled. He saw scant evidence of Mars’ promised parity with Terra, and came to the view that the Emperor had enslaved the Mechanicum. The shifting loyalties within the Collegia Titanica and Legio Cybernetica must be part of a broader scheme to fracture Mars’ control over its vassals. The Emperor’s recent demands for Warlord Titans to be delivered for secretive experiments on Terra had almost led to outright rebellion. Now a maniple of the Legio Ignatum had vanished, for reasons obscured to the Lords of Mars.

 

While Camulos seems to have felt the greatest anger at the Emperor, he was hardly alone. Across the Mechanicum’s domains, for a hundred reasons, Titan Legions watched for an opportunity to gain the prestige they believed they had been denied, or redress for perceived slights. Soon enough, these resentments would come under the scrutiny of Icarion and his advisors, as they sought allies for the war to come. On Mars, however, the Titan Legions would have their most important role to play, and none more than the Triad Ferrum Morghulis.

[bluntblade]

Can someone please assure me that this assertion is correct? Cos I'm really happy with it tonally:

 

The Cult of Mars has no afterlife in its creed. Martyrdom, by its dogma, has meaning only if it ensures the survival of the faith and knowledge. The Omnissiah’s victory must be achieved in this life. So there could be no doomed uprising against insurmountable odds. Righteous failure was failure nonetheless.

 

Also, another paragraph, soon to include details on the Kaban. Not sure if "Titanicus" should be a red box, non-red box or just another passage.

 

Forbidden Knowledge

 

For others, rebellion was a matter of opportunity. We cannot know if Artificial Intelligence had ravaged Mars directly, so depleted is the historiography of the Dark Age of Technology, but all Mankind suffered when the Men of Iron turn against their masters. Certainly Martians understand better than most the dangers of machines allowed to run amok. Certain kinds of war machine and Skitarii were devised with the express purpose of cleansing such threats from Mars, and there are catacombs where, in recent centuries, men have only ventured as visitors and plunderers, never able to reclaim the territory.

 

And yet hubris is a powerful thing. Few societies have been known to persist in or revive the use of AI, but the campaign rolls of the Crusade show that some did. On Mars, ambitious magi were suffused with confidence that their new god, their Omnissiah, would provide the insight that eluded them. The Quest for Knowledge demanded that in all areas of understanding they run faster, stretch out to grasp it. Not yet, they told themselves, but one fine day, they would have mastery over the technology that had nearly destroyed their species.

 

The Pact of Mars brought fresh restrictions to this work. No longer frowned upon or prohibited only by word of senior Forgelords, now the word of the Emperor - the Omnissiah incarnate - forbade all such work. The Moravec Vaults were sealed and their location withheld, to keep a vast store of technology and knowledge from the hands of men.

 

Other sciences were forbidden, and while most on Mars were willing to leave these avenues of enquiry alone, and toil to supply the Crusade and the worlds it rendered compliant, others refused to forget. Privately, they questioned how a man who forbade the pursuit of knowledge - of any kind - could be their divine ruler. The Omnissiah embodied perfect mastery of technology; therefore that same entity would have no reason to sequester that technology.

 

Therefore, they decided, the being who had come to Mars with hand of iron in velvet glove was a pretender to the glory of their god, a blasphemer who had shackled the priesthood to unholy ends. This made His overthrow a sacred duty, and the works He had forbidden should be an instrument in that uprising.

[Talonair]

Looks good, but the ban on the use etc of AI predates the Treaty of Olympus Mons. The Crimson Accords of Mars forbade Silica Animus during the infancy of the Priesthood

[bluntblade]

Thanks Tal.

[bluntblade]

"Affirmation: we call it the Death of Innocence, as do the lackeys of Terra. They mistake it for a sentiment of mourning and regret, which they attach to the Schism and the destruction it brought.

 

Extrapolation: they show themselves unworthy to govern Sacred Mars. Innocence is a state of blankness, and its virtue is ascribed by weak organic minds. The goals of augmetic progress, the shedding of “humanity”, carry with them the abandonment of innocence. Innocence is ignorance, and we must know all. Additional: barriers of artificial morality stand in our way that innocence would preserve, and none must be allowed to impede us.

 

Summation: the Death of Innocence is necessary and righteous, for innocence is a shackle upon us! Ruin to the False Omnissiah! Freedom for Sacred Mars! Freedom from the rule of flesh and innocence!”

- last words of the Heretek Suna Echek, executed by Chief Thirgen of the Fire Keepers in the presence of Alexandros.