Rehammer 2: The Rehammering
The Emperor, glorious leader of Mankind, was the progenitor of the Primarch Project, an undertaking of great psychic prowess and genetic mastery of self. To begin, the unrivaled Biomancy powers of The Emperor were used to turn himself into a fully functioning female, and then over the course of a hundred and eighty months, give birth to twenty children. Each child was modified in the womb to personify a core aspect of War, as they were intended to be the galaxy’s greatest generals and proconsuls. The birthing process allowed for a mix of male and female babies, each having their own unique talents, and able to affiliate with every human in the galaxy. Beyond simple genetic manipulation, their very souls were empowered beyond the ordinary, enacting in an anti-blank phenomena that gave them incredible personal charisma and magnetism towards humans. They needed no skill to inspire and drive men on with greater deeds of valour than could be thought of without them, but skill they had in droves. Leading them to be excellent, fantastical generals and equal diplomats.
His male children would grow up to be robust beings, unparalleled strength and incomparable resilience, a great bulwark of force and power to drive the armies of the Imperium on from the frontlines. His female children would grow up to be lithe and agile beyond the understanding of mortals they lead. Seemingly boneless in their flexibility, and unwaveringly precise in their actions, they would be the needle, subtle and unseen, which weakened the enemy’s footing, and left them upon to be crushed by the bulk of their brothers.
Though his plan was not to be, as the Chaos Gods scattered these twenty children across the galaxy, crippling The Emperor’s plans and almost destroying the Great Crusade before it had begun. However, The Emperor was adaptable and clever, and from the remains of his children, he created two new things, the Alpha Geneseed, and the Omega Geneseed. These stem cell zygotes could grow cultured genetically-engineered organs that, when implanted within a normal, adolescent human host, would allow that person to take on many of the physical and mental properties possessed by each Primarch. These Geneseeds were somewhat limited in the fact that, due to the biological and chemical differences in the bodies of a male and a female, only a man could take the Alpha, and only a woman could take the Omega. Any attempt to make Alpha females, or Omega males, ended with blood and death.
To further improve his chances now the loss of his Primarchs had instilled a kernel of doubt in the success of his goals, The Emperor arrived on Mars, and with great mastery over the machines and magnificent appearance the likes of which had never been seen on Mars, he forged an alliance with the Tech-Priests of Mars, and in doing so secured technology far beyond what he could call upon on Earth. What he did not expect - or maybe he did, The Emperor was as unknowable as he was powerful - was what his arrival did to two young Tech-Adepts serving under Fabricator-General Kelbor-Hal. Belisarius Cawl and Egwene Tai were not simply inspired by The Emperor, but raised up to heights untold. Egwene, who’s minor Psyker Powers granted an increase in electrical impulses, allowing her to process things faster, think harder, and be generally more intelligent than her peers, had the unconscious safeguards blown wide open by The Emperor’s psychic presence. No longer simply more intelligent, she was shown the very fabric of Matterium reality, and the capability to unravel this fabric for her own understanding. Such a thing did little for her mental sanity, but with a burning fire of Faith unmatched in the Emperor, The Living Incarna Of The Omnissiah, she kept it firmly in hand.
Cawl, was neither driven partially insane or inspired to obsessive levels of faith in The Emperor, but was given a feeling of greatness to aspire to. Fully aware of the impossibility of his ambition, Cawl threw himself into his studies with the raging passion of the blazing Sun, for he had finally found a rival in which to compete with. The possibility of becoming as great as The Emperor in even a single field of study was a goal that would drive him onwards against any obstacle.
These two Adepts would, with their talents, begin work in ernest. Cawl, diving into genetics and biology, to best The Emperor and produce a superior gene-seed to the one that had been made. Egwene, still somewhat in control of her own mentality, developed the love and fascination of machinery into a grand understanding of it, and the two put heads together in this goal of a new Gene-Seed. Fate was cruel to Cawl, however, as he had not been working a year with his partner and friend, before she was pulled away on a new assignment.
The great Logis Engines of Mars had run a datatrail and come to the conclusion that Humanity was mentally and spiritually unprepared for the Holy Form of the Mechanicus. This would, in turn, cause the Mechanicus efforts to suffer a 39.584191126% decrease in efficiency, a loss bordering on heresy for followers of the Omnissiah. The Logis Engine suggested a new wing of the Mechanicus, the Maidens Of Metal. Adepts of the Mechanicus who would retain the human appearance and were female, since the Engine dictated that a female may appeal to a man and affiliate to a woman. The Cybermantle was instead installed internally, while keeping the external appearance engaging and humanoid. Egwene, a highly promising woman who had yet to go through full cybermantle conversion as well as having some leverage due to her ancestry with a Knight House - having had a mother far removed by time tithed to Mars in exchange for Mechanicum assistance - was given the leadership of this new position. They were to be the face of the Mechanicus, those who would interact, be in the front and allow for smooth transition between Imperium, and Mechanicus.
This new assignment kept her away from Cawl and gave her very little time to work with him. Conversation over Vox was simply not cutting their requirements, and so with her skill and new position as Magos Dux of the Maidens, she created him a unique Cogitator with a billion pre-rendered replies and a processor powerful enough to keep up with Cawl’s demands. This would act as a falsified person for Cawl to interact with, and while it’s artificial nature would come up at times - repeating the same phrase or giving a phrase unhelpful to the current conversation - he was glad for it.
The Great Crusade went well, The Maidens of Metal made meshing with the Imperium an easy task, and Egwene headed them with great vigor. She would, in her spare time, tinker with her body, adding in specialized components she had tooled herself, upgrading here and replacing there to make her a more efficient being closer to her Omnissiah.Her successes in this war would lead to promotions and honours within the Mechanicus, eventually gaining a long and unwieldy title to call her own. However, this was not to last, as the Horus Heresy brought about destruction and ruin to this Great Crusade and ended with the near-death of The Emperor. Having had the very light of her life snuffed out, Egwene no longer possessed the ability to keep her unique mind intact, and disappeared surely after the Heresy was over.
Thus began a 10,000 year descent for the Imperium, coloured with successes that barely managed to keep it from becoming a hopeless situation. Though, there is still hope. The Death of The Emperor crippled Cawl as it did Egwene, and his work on the Gene-Seed slowed tremendously, but the Cogitator had no such failings, still working on every formula, process and theory that Cawl sent it’s way. Scattered work by Cawl himself brought this Cogitator to in M41.999, solve the final piece of the puzzle. All that was required now was synthesis, installation, and the most difficult task of all. Convincing a jaded and battered Imperium to accept such an innovation that would surely be seen as heresy by all...
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