บท 81: Chapter Twenty-Six: They Came From the Stars (Part IV)
Date: 802.M30
Location: The Primarchs Quarters, Imperial Palace, Terra.
Every family develops an internal cipher composed of shared memories and experiences. Words that can communicate complicated meaning easily, or conjure up crucial events. This is true of all families, including the Emperor of Mankind's. When the Imperial household spoke of "The Argument", those belonging to that pedigree clan knew of what exactly you referred to. It was the day when the nascent Master of Mankind quarreled bitterly with his teenage sons. It was the day when a small but noticeable schism opened up in the Royal Family over what would be eventually known as the Xeno Issue.
Like so many arguments within a family, it originated when the young and brash challenged the views of their elders, a time-honored tradition found even in a family of demigods. Marcus Augistio, Primarch of the XIII found something in the scraps of human history Malcador and his father had managed to preserve. He discovered records of ancient alliances, friendships, and coexistence between Xeno and Humans. Worlds where a dozen species, including humanity, lived in peace for thousands of years. Pacts of mutual defense between stellar federations and alien civilizations were honored by both sides a dozen times over. Marcus read stories of love, kindness, and coexistence utterly anathema to the lessons in Xenocide he and his brothers were taught. It shook the XIII Primarch to his core, this idea that some Xeno's might warrant mercy was outside the world view his tutors and family had instilled in him.
At the same time, Marcus also found many other sources that vindicated his Father's viewpoint. He and his fellow bookish siblings poured over accounts of atrocities and betrayals describing literally inhuman evil. Isolated human colonies kept as livestock, diplomatic envoys returned in a dozen pieces yet still capable of screaming, refugee ships directed towards Orkish territory, and most damning of all, the actions of the Aeldari Empire in the lead up to its harrowing fall. These stomach-churning texts painted a picture of a hostile and violent galaxy teeming with abominable organisms slithering across the void, in search of helpless prey. Further sources muddied the truth even more, with damaged text, contradictory accounts, and centuries of missing context.
Ultimately Marcus and his closest brothers in this regard decided to speak to the Emperor. They wished to get an answer from him, to try and understand why he wrote off all Xenos as monsters when some were clearly not. Alexio, Konrad, Marcus, Magnus, and Kota, the II, VIII, XIII, and XIX Primarchs respectively sought answers from their father. To this end, they amassed knowledge and came to the Emperor in his private study, seeking an audience and an explanation. As the ringleader of this effort, Marcus initiated the conversation, asking for the Emperor's time. With his father's permission, his brothers entered the ornate office of the Imperator, home to countless other curious relics, including the strange fossilized skull that eventually fell into Baraca's possession. Knowing the time of the Emperor is precious and not wanting to avoid the question at hand, Marcus opened the discussion with a blunt question: "Father, why do you aim for the destruction of all Xenokind, when some are salvageable and even worthy of our protection?"
The Emperor did not react at first. He sat at his desk, lost in thought, a distinctly human expression for one so far removed from his parent species. Each Primarch saw something different looking upon their father. Marcus saw the great statesmen who had governed empires and guided civilization. Magnus saw the eldest and most powerful Magi, keeper of secrets and wisdom beyond comprehension. Konrad and Kota saw opposite sides of the same coin, the ultimate judge and source of justice and vengeance. Alexio saw the curious adventurer who had weathered countless storms and charted courses never before imagined. Those interpretations were all equally valid, only grasping part of the whole, yet all five of them saw something similar in response to Marcus's question. For just a brief moment the handsome bronze face of their father seemed to wither, centuries of age marked him for just a second. His posture at the desk became a stooped elder, held down by countless worries and miseries. Those fateful eyes that flashed dark brown or shining gold seemed to glaze over with exhaustion and sadness. His mouth froze in a rictus of both anger and resentment, with just a hint of regret. The change lasted a mere moment and any mortal man would have not noticed the crack in the Emperor, but it did not escape his sons.
Slowly the man once called Revelation, now known as Imperator, rose up from his desk. The shadow of some old pain still traced his face, but he hid it well. "Come, let us go to the Courtyard, summon your brothers." the Emperor whispered softly, almost too low for unaugmented ears to hear. "we shall discuss this as a family. All of you will hear my explanation and understand it."
At the Emperor's summons, the twenty Primarchs assembled, joining the Emperor at the small amphitheater within the greenspace in their quarters. It was an elegant thing, carved from old stone, a place for young Demigods to practice rhetoric and debate each other. Now the Primarchs sat in the audience, awaiting their father's words. Revelation took his place at the focus of the Amphitheater. Gazing up at his children he was reminded of the thousands upon thousands of such speeches and lectures he had given over the centuries. He was Revelation, and to bring about understanding was his nature. A duty the Emperor had long cherished and missed. How many millennia has it been since he could focus on showing humanity the truth, instead of protecting them from it?
The topic of this debate had been made known to all twenty brothers. The subtle divide among the Primarchs was a clear indication this discussion had been going for some time before Marcus had decided to get him involved. Marcus and Alexio were chief advocates for diplomacy and openness on the Xeno problem. Eddard and Tyric followed their father's path, lacking patience for their sibling's perceived foolishness. The majority of the Primarchs did not strongly align with either faction, finding the debate an amusing distraction. Now it was time for this casual discussion to enter its next phase.
Moving to a simple stone throne, the Emperor ceded the amphitheater to his thirteenth son. Calmly, the Emperor asked for Marcus to explain his position. Relate the information he had discovered in the Imperial archives and his opinion on it to the assembled demigods. The XIII Primarch did so with the rhetorical skill and poise one might expect of him. His genetic and psycho-spiritual heritage traced back to the Eternal City and its millennia of political intrigue. Marcus laid out a case for tolerance and coexistence with other sapient species, stating mankind is not the only race of beings struggling against the encroaching darkness. Other potential allies and subjects dwelt out in the void and could be aided by the Great Crusade. It was in mankind's best interest to make as many friends as the Imperium could in a galaxy full of enemies.
Marcus argued with a perfect mixture of ethos, logos, and pathos. He argued that it was the duty of the Primarchs to protect every being in the galaxy worthy of their aegis. He and his brothers have a moral imperative to aid all they could. Additionally, every bolt spent eradicating a potentially useful vassal was one not aimed at the true horrors of the galaxy. Why should the Imperium spend valuable resources in places diplomacy and soft power might be used for more constructive ends? These proposed avenues of unity had worked before Old Night, why would they not in the coming dawn? Marcus listed off accounts of close Xeno allies recorded from the Golden Age, relating the millennia-long friendship and alliance between the Third Solar Federation and Xeno cultures like the Xo'rani-kur, Plankit Alliance, Neo-Vori League, and 10011010 Commonality.
The XIII Primarch ended his speech, his logic impeccable and rhetorical skill unquestionable. So as he finished, whirling to meet his Father's eyes, Marcus's twin hearts sank. A look of weary sadness touched with what might have been pity shrouded the Emperor. Slowly, the ancient elderly god known as Revelation took back the amphitheaters focus and gestured for Marcus to sit. The weight of millennia hung on the Emperor's shoulders, the weight of countless sins both past and future apparent on the normally timeless and indomitable Anathema. The Emperor spoke with simple plain words, not even attempting to match his son's display.
"Marcus you speak logically, and with great reason and understanding, but you lack the full picture by no fault of your own. The records do not speak of the fate of mankind's Xeno allies. Do you or any of your brothers care to guess what happened in the end?"
"Did they betray us when the Age of Strife began? Is that the missing piece?" Marcus responded cautiously. "Forgive my blunt words father, but it's insufficient in my eyes to take an ugly moment from an ugly era to characterize an entire species. You yourself have spoken of how barbaric and horrible elements of humanity have become in the Old Night. Why should we so disregard the circumstances of a calamity we ourselves barely survived?"
With a single firm gesture, the Emperor silenced Marcus, the stern Judge of countless worlds and cultures suddenly looking upon his sons. With no emotion, the Emperor answered his son.
"No, the betrayals we experienced during the collapse were by far perpetuated by vile Aliens little better than Orks and similar. Spared by misguided compassion and overconfidence in humanity's genius, they struck in the moment of weakness as was their nature. The beings you bring up, the long time allies of mankind did not betray us as the myths would have you believe. In truth, they betrayed themselves. They went utterly insane with the horror of an encroaching Dark Age and the laughter of a Thirsting God. Humanity was not the only one to experience the horrors of a sudden explosion of psykers."
Leaning back into the carved stone throne the Emperor shut his eyes and remembered darker days. "The Xo'rani-kur had no concept of hate, they were kind gentle beings who narrowly survived the first contact with the Orks thanks to humanity's aid. They loved and lived as close to pacifist ideals as one can. So when the madness of Chaos came, when one in a billion psychic spawnings became one in a million and a thousand times more powerful, they lacked the cruelty to push back against the monsters. Their homeworld burned for seven solar months in a multicolored fire in the end. Parents would not and could not fight back as Neverborn wearing their children's scales as masks ate them alive. The Warp in their home sector still reeks of the despair and pain the Xo'rani-kur experienced."
Distant tragic memories flowed from Revelation as he thought back to long ended tragedies.
"Other species with the strength to fight back often fared little better. The 10011010 Commonality blurred the lines of social and eusocial behavior. The great web of their silicon-based neural matrixes cracked when countless Warp storms manifested in PA6's afterbirth. Each cracked and isolated segment fought so hard to unify with the whole, to help each other at the cost of themselves. In the end, the Commonality stretched themselves too thin and paid the price. One of the first WAAAGH since the Cullings ended, crushed them to dust."
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