Part IX

Today in the forty-first millennium, the Emperor has endured for ten thousand years; his living spirit continues to guide the fate of mankind even though his body is inert. On the world of Mars the Techno-Magi celebrate the rites of the Machine God and his divine manifestation, the undying Emperor. Throughout the Imperium there are countless forge Worlds devoted to the pursuit of knowledge. The Titan Legions and Tech Guard armies of the Adeptus Mechanicus protect and expand the territories of the Machine god. In conjunction with the Space Marines and Imperial guard, they form the fighting armies of the Imperium, the most potent force in the galaxy.

The Forge Worlds and Knight Worlds remain fiercely loyal to their Martian masters. Their industry and their tithes are to the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Techno-Magi of the Cult Mechanicus. Where other human worlds in the Imperium are part of the feudal empire controlled by the Administratum of the Adeptus Terra on Earth, the Adeptus Mechanicus retains direct ownership and control of all its own territories. Thus the Forge Worlds and the Knight Worlds owe no obligations to the Adepts of Earth directly. They raise no regiments for the Imperial Guard and they pay no tithes to the treasury. Only the Inquisition has jurisdiction in their territories, and there are no worlds in the Imperium where the Inquisition’s Warriors of Righteousness may not walk freely.

The Cult Mechanicus acknowledges the Emperor as the Master of Mankind but does not recognize the authority of the official Imperial Cult or the Ecclesiarchy. Instead, the Adeptus Mechanicus follows its own dark and mysterious rites and strictures.

There has been constant conflict between the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Adeptus Ministorum since before the formation of the official Imperial Cult, when Fatidicus first began preaching on Earth. Both organizations are rivals in power like any Imperial organizations, but more importantly their beliefs differ at a very fundamental level.

According to the Adeptus Mechanicus, knowledge is the supreme manifestation of divinity, and all creatures and artifacts that embody knowledge are holy because of it. The Emperor is the supreme object of worship because he comprehends so much. Machines which preserve knowledge from ancient times are also holy, and machine intelligences, shunned by most of the rest of humanity, are no less divine than those of flesh and blood. A man’s worth is only the sum of his knowledge - his body is simply an organic machine capable of preserving intellect. Thus their veneration is based on knowledge, intellect and reason.

The Ecclesiarchy bases its worship on Faith. True knowledge and reason weaken faith, so technically the entire Cult Mechanicus is Heretic. The desire for communion with the Machine God through knowledge and comprehension is also seen as a sign of lack of Faith in the Divinity of the Emperor.

An uneasy compromise has been reached over the millennia which can be summed up as an agreement to differ. The Ecclesiarchy does not send its Confessors and Missionaries to the Adeptus Mechanicus worlds and the Adeptus Mechanics does not interfere with the Adeptus Ministorum. When Missionaries or other explorers find new lost worlds, any technology found there is turned over to the Adeptus Mechanicus, who in turn promise to make that technology available to the Adeptus Ministorum, thus it was that the Adepta Sororitas was the first to be equipped with the Inferno Cannon when the STC for it was discovered. Also, the Adeptus Mechanicus manufactures the technological component of the Rosarius, and performs the necessary repairs an maintenance on the holiest of Adeptus Ministorum relics when required.