Part V

The Tech-Priests’ spacefleets found an anarchic galaxy where the ancient confederacy of interdependent human planets no longer existed. They discovered that the Eldar too were facing social degeneration. Many of the Eldar had taken to the worship of the Dark Gods of Chaos, and everywhere the Eldar worlds were falling into ruin. Some Eldar had already chosen to abandon their homeworlds and set up new colonies of Exodites untainted by the evil of Chaos. The Tech-Priests also found that wild Ork warbands rampaged throughout the galaxy, looting and destroying, causing unrest everywhere.

The human worlds discovered by the Tech-Priests retained little of their old technology. The had devolved into feudal states ruled by aristocratic nobles who welcomed the Tech-Priests as long awaited saviors. Those that did not welcome the Tech-Priests did not survive long. The Tech-Priests settled amongst these feudal empires, or Knight Worlds, choosing planets that were mineral rich where they could rebuild their industries. The established contacts between the Knights, trading with their worlds and investigating the ancient ruins where surviving technology could still sometimes be found. The Knights provided manpower and security against enemies such as marauding Orks and land-hungry Eldar Exodites. In return the Tech-Priests provided technical expertise and help rebuilding their planets.

Over the millennia the Forge Worlds became powerful and the Knight Worlds flourished under their wing. The Tech-Priests and Knights became mutually dependent and each Forge World became the hub of an empire consisting of the forge World and its surrounding Knight Worlds. The Knights learned much from the Tech-Priests and their societies were gradually transformed into technically sophisticated cultures. Many of the Forge Worlds were successful in maintaining sporadic contact with each other, and the Tech-Priests’ obsession with knowledge ensured that discoveries on one world were down-loaded to altars throughout the galaxy.

The most important innovations that the Tech-Priests brought to the Knight Worlds were the fighting machines called Knights. These machines were one-man versions of a Titan, much smaller and less powerful than a real Titan, but far more suited to the mobile style of warfare prevalent amongst the nobility of the Knight Worlds.

Today these Knights fight alongside the Titans and form a reserve of troops which can be called up into the Titan Legions when required. Each machine is piloted by a noble of the Knight Worlds, a Knight warrior within a Knight machine, for these worlds have maintained their feudal societies over the millennia. Indeed, the acquisition of technology and the active support of the Tech-Priests enabled the warrior nobility to strengthen its position of power on their worlds.