The Ignorance of Immortals
Date: 821.M30
Location: The Vaults of Rython, also known as the Dark Cells of the Imperial Palace.
The duties of the Emperor's inner circle are vast and difficult. Much is required of those who stand beside the Master of Mankind. Ensuring the human species walks the Shining Path is a costly and ugly endeavor. Something Arik Taranis was acutely aware of as he went about his newest task. The Thronebreaker had recently returned to Terra from the world of Velich Tarn. He along with a taskforce of Custodes had been assigned to find the planet's ruler and capture or kill him. The ruler was a horrific master of fleshcrafting known as Basilio Fo. A Terran-born criminal that had haunted the galaxy throughout the Old Night. Unleashing biomechanical monsters wherever he went. It had not taken much for the Emperor's own monsters to swiftly break through Fo's defenses and corner the twisted little man. A broken genius who had created plagues, monsters and unspeakable instruments of torment cursed Taranis and his Custodes companions. Calling them galaxy-burning Monsters, far worse than whatever danger his creations posed.
Taranis listened to Fo's rant before interrupting him: "You are absolutely right about us, now would you like to die or face justice on Terra?"
Basilio Fo took a moment to respond, not expecting the Transhumans blunt insight into its own nature. "I don't want to live in a universe where you exist, kill me please"
Primarch-Zero simply nodded and grabbed the ancient meat-terrorist by the neck and lifted him high. Fo tried to scream once he realized what was coming but only produced a wet gurgling. Taranis promptly ripped Fo's head off with his jaws and messily devoured the criminal's skull and brain. Arik noted the enhancements Basilio Fo had weaved into his own flesh prolonged his gory demise. Ensuring he was conscious for at least a few seconds of being eaten alive. During the Unification Wars Taranis had fought some of Fo's creations and had seen the aftermath of them getting into civilian locations. Being literally eaten by an embodiment of the Imperiums brutality seemed a small dose of justice.
The strikeforce of the Emperor's chosen ensured nothing was left of Fo's lab before calling in the Auxilia to ensure full compliance on Velich Tarn. It would take the troopers several months to fully destroy every twisted thing Fo had let loose, but without the lab or its owner, it could be done. On the journey back to Terra, Arik recorded as much of Fo's memories that he could process. The process of devouring neural tissue and somehow extracting memories from it was beyond any known process of biological augmentation. Yet still possible to Astartes, Primarchs, and some of the Emperor's other creations like Arik. Sifting through the devoured mind-husk of Fo the Ur-Primarch confirmed some of his suspicions about the Omophagea and Imperial transhumans in general. Even Fo's genius could not dream up anything more accurate than reading hormone secretions to map a brain's emotional experiences. This ability of memory absorption by cannibalism was impossible through biological methods. However, it was remarkably similar to the ancient myths of human prehistory. That a warrior could gain the strength of a beaten foe by devouring them. A primal stone age myth made possible in the Emperor's creations. The implications of this unsettled Taranis, especially with what he had learned about the Primarchs origin and his distaff counterpart known as the Angel.
Returning to Terra and giving his report to the Sigillite, Taranis was soon met with a new task. One that took him deep below the Imperial Palace. To the Vaults of Rython, where the Emperor kept the truly nightmarish things collected during his various wars. This was not a prison, like Khangba Marwu, which was built near the Vaults of Rython. The Vaults are a place for things that have no right to exist, yet will not die or are too valuable to destroy. Taranis had filled many of the Dark Cells of the Vault himself. During both the Unification Wars and the current Crusade among the stars, he had been tasked with capturing or killing some of the worst things the Imperium encountered. Very few things could face Arik Taranis, Constantin Valdor, or the Emperor himself and live. The Vaults are where they were kept.
Now Taranis did not venture into the Vault's depths with some eldritch artifact or prisoner in tow. His mission was not to deliver something new to the vault, but instead, make an offer to one of its occupants. This was a tradition among the Emperor's inner circle. Once every twenty years, one of them would journey to the deepest reaches of the Dark Cells and offer a chance at freedom for a certain prisoner. This process had happened twice before, with both the Emperor and Malcador making the offer. Arik was surprised he had been selected for the third attempt, but it made sense in a certain way. He was the prisoner's bastard son after all.
Down in the deep Taranis walked past stasis-crypts, Tesseract Vaults, and paradox machines by the dozen. Each containing some horror that could not be allowed to ever see the light of day. The spartan vaults tended by Custodes Warders contrasted sharply with his destination. Located at the very bottom of the Vaults of Rython and protected by layers of arcane and archeotech security was a unique Dark Cell. Opulent and furnished like an apartment belonging to a Lord of Terra, a self-sufficient dormitory fitted with luxury. Holding a grand library and living quarters for its two occupants. It took Arik seven hours to make it through the layers of security and enter this darkest cell.
Upon entry, he was greeted by a Transhuman nearly matching him in size. The Transhuman wore a simple gray tunic and could have been mistaken for an Astartes at first glance. Which was a not strictly inaccurate comparison to the fourth sibling of Arik Taranis. The first four weapons of the Emperor, The Angel of Moloch, Arik Taranis, Constantin Valdor, and the exiled brother in the vault, Leetu: firstborn Astartes. Leetu and Taranis were both unarmed and unarmored, yet they still stared each other down like champions meeting on the battlefield.
Leetu growled in the baritone common to all Astartes: "Why are you here Lighting Bearer. You have no business with my mistress."
Taranis did not rise to the challenge in Leetu's words. He had served alongside the warrior numerous occasions during the earliest days of Strife and honestly considered the Ur-Astartes a tragic figure. "I am here to make her the offer Leetu, just as the Emperor and Malcador have done before."
Leetu moved a step closer at this and snarled: "You have nothing to say to her or myself meat-puppet. Return to the other creator and spit in his face as our response."
Arik briefly considered informing Leetu of how he had punched the Emperor after the Thunder-Warrior's last battle. Instead, he decided on a more spiteful response. "He is off-planet at the moment and quite busy working to ensure mankind's survival. If you have a message for Lady Amar, I am sorry to say you are too late. She died shortly after the Crusade left Sol. It seems she felt at peace with her newer creations and was ready to rest."
That did it, the mention of Leetu's creator who had sided with the Emperor instead of Leetu, and his mistress incited the Ur-Astartes wrath. Leetu threw a punch capable of shattering stone and Taranis caught it with practiced ease. A feral grin crossed the Ur-Primarchs face as he stared down his sibling creation. "You have gotten soft, it seems captivity suits you. My sons were unfinished copies of you, and yet they proved themselves greater than you ever could be Leetu. We are both failed prototypes, but I found a purpose in helping my successors. What have you done? Failed all of your creators and now wither away like a museum piece of a weapon."
Leetu roared with fury and prepared a second strike. Arik moved to intercept and unleash his own blow.
"ENOUGH" A voice charged with psychic power cut through the chamber and staggered both transhuman warriors. Entering from another part of the Cell was its true occupant. Leetu was just an accessory to the real Prisoner. Clothed in grey silk and emanating the sense of eternity common to her kind was a woman of ancient strength and beauty.
Both Leetu and Arik regained their composure and the Lighting Bearer addressed the woman softly. "Hello, Lady Erda."
No emotion showed on the Perpetual's face as she responded to Taranis. "I do not hold a title in any kingdom or people that matter anymore Arik. I take it you are here to make Neoth's offer?"
Neoth, another ancient name given to a nameless man who had long walked the ages. Arik had met with many Perptuals and beings who dared to address the Emperor by a name instead of a title. Taranis mentally recounted all of the ones he knew. Neoth, Atham, Adam, Gilgameš, Mahabad, Revelation, Numan, Anathema, and Death. They all traced down to the same basic translation and meaning. Something New, Something Powerful, the First Man, and the change he brings.
Bowing slightly to Erda, Taranis responded "You are still a human of great power and wisdom worthy of a measure of respect Lady Erda. And you are correct, I bring the Emperor's offer."
Erda showed the slightest bit of annoyance at Arik's use of her former liege and friend's self-appointed title. "Well has the offer changed at all? Is it the same as what Neoth and Brahm al-Khadour offered? I become soul bonded to Neoth like his blinded thralls and serve him with absolute loyalty until my death. Become a valued slave instead of a prisoner. Removed from my children and unable to even speak with them. Doomed to watch the monster I once loved break the galaxy to his will use my sons as weapons."
Arik responded calmly: "Yes, the offer is the same, but they are not your sons. They might have been once, but now they never will be. The Emperor found adequate replacements in the Assai-Matrari. You failed them when you betrayed the Imperium and brought down the Wards."
The well-furnished Dark Cell dropped ten degrees in temperature as Erda's icy fury focused on Taranis. "I only did what was necessary to protect my sons from him. It would have been better for them to be scattered to the Warps winds than be forged into the Perpetual-Puppets Neoth covets. Tearing down the Anathemic Wards on Luna should have saved them. It should have redirected the Gellar Shields and sent them along stable Warp Currents. Their nature would have protected them and my sons would arrive on human worlds and be raised safely away from Neoth."
For a moment silence filled the chambers before the Ur-Primarch spoke: "Neither the Emperor nor Malcador told you?"
"Told me what?" snapped Erda
A soft sad laugh came from Taranis. "The Emperor must truly care for you it seems. I don't know if he considers you a daughter, a lover, a protege, or something else. He seems to have fallen into his old pattern with you. Thinking ignorance is preferable to a horrible truth. The ancient bastard is so convinced of the fragility of the world around him, he makes simple mistakes attempting to protect those he cares about. Erda you only altered the first layer of arcane protection around the Primarchs. All you did was throw open the curtain and let the monsters look inside. The Emperor had secondary defenses that protected the Primarchs gestation capsules, ones that relied on the primary defenses to keep the twenty whelps safe."
Erda's voice became a crisp monotone and Leetu tensed at her words: "What do you mean by this prototype?"
"I mean you let the Great Enemy find them, the Warp vortex you sought to create would not be a product of a Gellar cascade failure. It would have been the intervention of the Four! They would get to choose where and when the Primarchs landed. The Emperor might have been able to guide some of them but most would be lost to whatever hell the Dark Gods had planned for them. If it was not for the intervention of an ally Chaos would have succeeded and you would have handed them the ultimate weapon. The Emperor may be an utter bastard divorced from mankind but his darkest moments shine brighter than the Four's noblest intentions." spat Arik as anger at Erda and his liege filled him.
Leetu barreled forward, ready to kill Arik Taranis, accusing him of deception and being a mindless peon of the False Emperor. Erda grabbed her servant's arm and stopped him. A cold calmness gripping the ancient perpetual. "No Leetu, he speaks the truth. I feel it from his soul and it explains gaps in my visions. I've wondered why Neoth did not kill me. I know he could, Perpetuals older and more powerful than I have fallen to him. This imprisonment, the ignorance forced upon me, it's his idea of mercy. Damn him, him, and his machinations and manipulations. I should have just taken the twenty and run. Just taken to the stars as far away from Terra as possible."
Erda fell into a nearby chair and stared into space. Her psychic potential was limited by her imprisonment but not stolen fully. She tapped into what she still possessed and her formidable ancient intellect to understand if she could have succeeded. The odds were slim but she might have just been able to escape with the Primarchs. Protect them from Neoth and his schemes and forge a different future for her children.
Arik watched her for a moment before asking: "Why are you so desperate to separate the Emperor from the Primarchs? You contributed your gene-stock to the project and aided in the creation of the Twenty. What made you suddenly decide to betray the Emperor, you served him longer than even Malcador has?"
His words pulled Erda from her concentration and she answered absentmindedly. "I thought he intended to create new Perptuals. Accelerate mankind's development towards immortality. My kind… we are anomalies, Neoth more so than any of us. We possess longevity and psychic potential beyond mortal humans. Yet we could never make more of ourselves. Our children rarely inherited our gifts, and when they did, rarely could they match their parents. So many of us watched families die around us, even when we had children with each other. The child would almost always be a Psyker but almost never inherited Perptualhood. Neoth promised an end to this. To accelerate our plans to elevate mankind to Perpetualhood. Taking thousands instead of millions of years. Many of our fellow immortals disagreed with this idea of accelerating evolution. After the Iron War and when Old Night started, it became apparent humanity did not have millions of years to evolve. So Neoth came to us, telling of a plan to elevate mankind. To help ensure the species survival. He called it the Primarch Project."
Erda took a deep breath before continuing. She did not know why she confided this in Arik Taranis. Maybe she was tired of secrets, maybe she hoped to instill some doubt in the Ur-Primarch.
"In the end, only a few of us remained. Some were lost on Moloch, others left us. Either at Neoth's command or their own will. I had known Neoth since before the founding of Troy. We had crossed paths over the millenia many times. Sometimes we worked together for centuries other times we simply found ourselves walking the same halls of power. Throughout that entire time, Neoth was always working towards something. Always planning, always scheming. Never looking back, moving forward in some grand plan of his. I admired him, he always seemed the best of us. Funny, kind, wise, and powerful beyond words. Yet still so utterly distant, even to us, his equals. Wherever he went religions worshipping him sprung up. Then he had the gall to claim it was not of his doing and he never wished to be worshipped. I personally thought it was one of his eccentricities. All Perpetuals gain them over the centuries and I doubt any of us have never been revered as a god or prophet at one time or another. Every Perpetual knew of Neoth and his plans. So many of us spent time helping or hindering him. While none of us ever knew the full picture of what he worked to. Until he told us of the Primarch Project. Then it suddenly all made sense. In his over thirty-eight millennia of existence, he had worked to elevate all of mankind to Homo Superior."
Staring off wistfully, Erda spoke: "To be part of his circle, to be trusted with the secrets of the second oldest and definitely most powerful of us all. It was a desire many of us had held for millennia. It was foolish of me to ever think he trusted any of us. No one had a complete picture of his schemes. Brahm al-Khadour is probably the closest to seeing the full thing but I doubt even he knows everything Neoth is planning. Oh, Neoth, so powerful, so wise, so incredibly arrogant and self-righteous. Utterly convinced he is right in every decision and unwilling to listen to the advice of his fellows. I know every Perpetual born on Terra has at least for a time loved Neoth. I also know nearly all of them end up hating him, and those who don't usually die for him. He promised me, true children. Perpetuals who inherited the power and immortality of both of us. Instead, he planned to make weapons. Monstrous warlords loyal to him alone and designed to conquer the galaxy for him. After all those millennia it turns out Neoth had never really changed. When I first met him he played the part of Warrior-King. Breaking mankind to his will and controlling its destiny with cold steel and silken words. I thought it was a persona, just needed to control humanity at its most base points of history. As I came to learn what exactly the Primarch Project entailed I finally understood. Neoth at his core is a War-Tyrant. He does not desire companions or children. The self-proclaimed Emperor instead wants Generals and servant-gods in his pantheon. Neoth has spent thirty-eight thousand years planning his enslavement of mankind and conquest of the universe. My one attempt to stop him almost handed my children to the one force worse than him. The Galaxy will not burn for the amusement of the Dark Gods. It will be crushed under the fist of Neoth the Revelator."
Silence filled the Dark Cell as Arik and Leetu processed the dreadful truths exposed to them. Leetu had long known the evils of Pater Neoth, but the full extent of his megalomania shocked him. Taranis simply stared at Erda for a few minutes before speaking.
"You are right on a few accounts but also sorely mistaken in many ways, Lady Erda. It's true the Emperor is a truly ancient manipulative scheming monster. But you yourself said it, none of us know what his ultimate plan is. You have never met the Primarchs and only have your understanding of the prototypes like myself and the Angel to help you understand them. Each of them is indeed a Warlord beyond comparison. Soldiers and generals greater than anything mankind has ever before produced. However, that is not all they are. I helped raise them, I expected them to be nothing but butchers and killing machines like me. We were both wrong about what they were and what the Emperor wished them to become. My liege created sons that are not just warriors, but artists, statesmen, leaders, inventors, and heroes. He created what the Pereptuals could never become. The Emperor of Mankind has given his subjects gods made of flesh, blood, and legends. I think I finally understand why the Emperor never trusted you or the other Perptuals with more than pieces of the full picture."
Erda thought about her sons, about what Arik said. If it was true, it brought her solemn joy. She would never be a mother to them, but they would not be their father's sons. Staring down her almost-son before her she spoke: "What possible insights could you have Taranis. I stood beside Neoth for millennia. You have been a weapon he has us carelessly used for a century or so."
The Ur-Primarch let out a short ugly laugh and spoke: "It's precisely because my creator made me a disposable tool of violence that I understand what you don't. The Emperor never has and never will want more Perptuals. He has seen what immortality on a mass scale does to a species. The Aeldari violated a Chaos God into existence and they were much less immortal than any of you. The lot of you Perptuals are arrogant fools so convinced you are somehow the next stage of human development. The Emperor can create Perptuals, I have seen him do it. If he wanted mankind to be like you he could have done it millennia ago. His plans are much greater than anything the rest of us could imagine. That fact has been a core truth I have understood for a very long time. In my comparatively short life, I have seen many decisions of his that I loathed. Which despite what they seemed inevitably benefited him and the human species in the future. He is arrogant and controlling because he is right. Every action the Emperor takes shifts fate in his favor. For his many apparent faults, he is above us. That is the fact. He is not a powerful Perpetual or a unique transhuman. The bastard is something completely separate and greater than us. A fact so many seem to be unable to consider let alone recognize."
Erda moved to speak but Taranis continued "You told me your stories about the Emperor now I want you to hear one of mine. I have fought beside him for a few centuries and in that time I learned something about the Emperor. Every time the Thunder Legions and his other armies finally brought down the walls of some nightmare-kingdom he was there. Standing beside Valdor and myself whenever we marched into the enemy high-command. Leading from the frontlines ensuring the foe was destroyed and looking for new servants. I know a couple of those monsters we faced ended up in service to the Imperium. Most however are fellow occupants of the Dark Cells or dead. I tell you this because I want to explain what happened every time the Emperor confronted this abomination or tyrant we faced."
"Every one of these beings was powerful beyond reckoning. Witch-Lords capable of inverting a man's skin with a glance. Cannibal Chieftains who devoured foe's mind, body, and soul. Surviving Abominable Intelligence claiming themselves as winners of the Iron War. Mountains of mutated flesh and brain declared by its makers the pinnacle of human evolution. Ethnarchs like Cardinal Tang whose smallest words could result in genocide and pogroms. Daemon Hosts masquerading as God-Generals of Ursh. We fought them all, Valdor and I brought each and every one of them before the Emperor on their knees. Time after time I watched what went through these tyrant's minds when they met the Emperor. These beings killed millions on a whim, demigods, and demagogues with access to the full power of Terran Archeotech and Sorcery. Would look into the Emperor's eyes and suddenly understand their place in the universe. They were all big fish fighting over a small pond. So certain in power and purpose, until they met the Leviathan. Some went mad, others killed themselves, a few frantically tried to swear loyalty to the Emperor as Valdors' spear struck true. In those moments they all understood what you Perptuals could never understand even after millennia. The Emperor was not some rival or equivalent to them. He is Death and Truth all in one. The Techno-Barbarians capable of unspeakable horrors and you ancient Perpetuals are simply slightly smarter monkeys in his eyes."
Taranis moved away from Erda and Leetu and finished speaking "So many people, including you Lady Erda think the Emperor is another human playing god. You are wrong, he's a God trying to convince us he is human. For better or worse the "man" you call Neoth is the closest thing the human species has to a God. A manipulative, bloodthirsty tyrant of a God, which makes sense considering our species and the galaxy we live in. Of all the monsters in this universe, I gladly pick the one who wants to be human."
Turning away from the Dark Cells occupants Taranis started to exit the Vault with some final words. "About the offer, the Emperor has made you, I don't give a damn if you accept or decline it. Take it up with whoever pulls the shortest lot in two decades. Enjoy your isolation and the arrogant Ignorance of Immortality."
Arik Taranis started the long journey back through the Vaults of Rython and its foreboding security. Passing by Dark Cell after Dark Cell. Containing horrors and evils that sought to enslave and devour humanity. He thought to himself. "Ave Imperator, avete vos. The god who thinks he is human and thinks humans can become gods."
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