[Cagarner]

Today, there are no towers as high as the spires of Mars, no cities greater than the hive of Mars, and no men more devoted to the pursuit of knowledge than the Tech-Priests of Mars.

Mars is the greatest and most populous world in the entirety of the galaxy-spanning Imperium. Sprawling hives climb miles into the Martian sky and their foundations delve hundreds of miles into the core of the planet itself. In many ways Mars is less of a planet and more of the greatest space vessel ever. Orbital factories circle its globe, their ceaseless industry forming a glowing halo around the red planet.

Above the equator vast space docks float in geo-stationary orbit, for this is the home of the mightiest fleet in the Imperium, the Battlefleet Solar. Untold tens of billions of human souls live on the ancient world. They are the people of the Cult Mechanicus and the devoted servants of its technarcane Machine God.

Mars is the homeworld of the Tech-Priests, the ruling class of the Cult Mechanicus. Throughout the galaxy there are many other worlds that belong to the Tech-Priests, planets whose people also form part of the huge and powerful organization. These other planets are called Forge Worlds and Knight Worlds, and though none are as ancient of powerful as Mars, each has its hives and factories, its industries and its cavernous temples to the Machine God.

Each of these worlds is a colony of the Tech-Priests, controlled by its own Techno-Magi and responsible for its own affairs. However, the ultimate loyalty of all the cult members is to the Cult Mechanicus itself, and to its masters on the planet Mars.

But this was not always so.

HISTORY

THE AGE OF STRIFE

The planet Mars has been changed enormously since man first set foot upon it two hundred centuries ago. Using a technology long lost, Mars was converted from a red desert into a fertile pale image of Earth using arcane terraforming procedures. Vast amounts of water and air were brought from who-knows-where to accomplish this transformation and the network of graviton satellites with their associated force shields were set up to protect the planet from solar radiation.

Once terraformed, Mars was settled by industrial cartels and their work forces, and soon this activity grew into the first human hive world. Unlike Earth, the planetary core of Mars has long since cooled and congealed so that its abundant riches can be mined directly, so the true wealth of Mars has always been its abundant gems, minerals, ores, and native metals. Mars thus became the center for industrial production and research, and its very name became synonymous with technical expertise and scientific advancement.

With the coming of the Age of Strife to Mars the process of disintegration began as it did on Earth, but because of the unique conditions on Mars events were to develop entirely differently. Because of lack of maintenance the planet’s atmospheric radiation shields soon broke down. Solar radiation poured onto the surface, destroying the fragile ecosystem and wiping out sparse vegetation which had taken millennia to cultivate. Plagues caused by high radiation levels slew most of the population. Of those that survived most became deranged by sickness, many turned into mutant zombies or gibbering cannibals. The destruction of the entire planet seemed likely, however this was not to be, for a new idea began to spread among the survivors, a religion of survival - the Cult Mechanicus dedicated to the Machine God.

The devotees of the Machine God saw technology as their path to salvation. They sought out the now scattered technology needed to build temporary radiation shelters. The cult demanded absolute devotion from its followers, for only by selfless dedication and often personal sacrifice could machines be recovered or the planet be saved. Under the direction if their Tech-Priest leaders, the cultists set about restoring order to the world. They built shelters to protect themselves from the radiation storms, and oxygen generators and food processing machines to enable them to live behind the enclosed shielding.

There were few shelters for even the Tech-Priests and none at all for unbelievers. Marauders and mutant raiders tried to force their way inside the hurriedly constructed buildings. Many of the cultists died defending their shelters and some early shelters were destroyed, but the survivors emerged all the stronger and more determined.

The people of Mars interpreted their survival in the face of tremendous odds as vindication of the Cult Mechanicus. Their resolve and devotion to the cult became unshakable. Whilst rival warlords battled over the remains of Earth, the Tech-Priests rebuilt Mars in the image of their inhuman god. On red sands there rose the first temples of the Machine God and the people came to worship at the High Altar of Technology. It is believed by the Adepts of the Machine Cult that the first words of the Prayer of Preparation date from this time.

The Tech-Priests scoured the ruins of Mars for surviving machinery which they enshrined within the Temple of All Knowledge. Within the temple’s plasteel shell shining pistons held the vaulted roof almost a mile above. The shafts of each piston were so constructed that they moved to raise and lower the roof, altering its acoustic properties to accentuate the hymns of praise sung to the Machine God.

The High Altar within took the form of a vast database containing the whole knowledge of the Tech-Priests. Even today every new discovery is dedicated to this altar. Every temple on Mars and throughout the Knight and Forge Worlds is connected to the High Altar by means of a living Transmat link, a psychic Servitor whose mind co-joins all altar of the Cult Mechanicus into one holy machine entity. At this time too arose the belief that when the High Altar was complete and contained all the knowledge of the ancients which had been lost, mankind would transcend its mundane existence and achieve a state of eternal paradise and omniscience. The leader of this transformation would be the Omnissiah, an all-knowing, all-conquering Lord from off the planet.

When the Cult Mechanicus had restored order to Mars, its leaders looked to Earth and beyond, hoping to find remnants of human knowledge on other worlds. The Tech-Priests were appalled at the destruction on Earth and judged there was noting worth saving. Instead they turned their attention to the wider galaxy. However, their spacecraft were unable to break through the warp storms that raged throughout the galaxy, isolating our solar system and many others besides.

The Tech-Priests studied the warp barrier for many centuries, observing the nature of the warp storms and the energy patterns within, treating the whole problem as a test of their worthiness by the Machine God. After many lifetimes they were able to predict when the storms were at their weakest and made preparations for an expedition beyond the solar system. At last an opportune moment came, the warp storms abated as predicted, and a massive fleet set out from Mars. The spacecraft of the Cult Mechanicus new that this might be a on-way journey and so took every thing they needed to seed a new colony including thousands of Servitors and Tech-Priests, and an entire Titan Legion for conquest or protection.

After a few short days the warp storms regained strength once again and all contact was lost with the fleet. The Tech-Priests waited for a sign from their Machine God, and faithfully started to prepare another expedition.

Over the next thousand years many similar expeditions were constructed and launched into the void. Some were lost or destroyed, but others were successful in their mission. Slowly at first, throughout the galaxy new colonies of the Cult Mechanicus were founded, each a replica of Mars with its temples and hives, its factories and its hierarchy of Tech-Priests. Each new world was protected by its Titan Legion and then by its Tech Guard as well. These new worlds were called Forge Worlds.

Whilst the storms persisted the Tech-Priests of Mars could only guess how many of their space fleets had survived passage through the tumultuous warp. During moments of relative calm broken messages were down loaded into the High Altar in the Temple of Knowledge, fleeting reports from the Forge Worlds, data from recovered machines, confirmations of new discoveries or desperate pleas for help. But there was little the Tech-Priests of Mars could do to aid individual worlds, and it was not until the time of the Great Crusade in the Age of the Imperium that the Forge Worlds were to be permanently and finally united with Mars.