LIBER MECHANICUS

A History of the Servants of the Machine God

Part I

Today, there are no towers as high as the spires of Mars, no cities greater than the hives 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 or 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.

In the distant past, before the Age of Strife, before the Dark Age of Technology even, Earth was the heart of a great civilization. There are no authentic records from this time, and what information that does exist is not available for public examination. However, it is known that Mars was the primary Forge World for this galactic power, just as it is now.

The events that triggered the Age of Strife must forever remain a mystery, but very likely the increasing turmoil in warp space was the most influential factor. Only by means of the ethereal realm of warp space can interstellar space travel take place. Erratic disturbances of warp space, called warp storms, made it almost impossible for spacecraft to travel between star systems. During the Age of Strife, the warp storms became more frequent and intense, spreading throughout the galaxy until all space travel became next to impossible. Individual solar systems became isolated and many human colonies hitherto dependent on interstellar contact were lost. Societies collapsed, anarchy prevailed, and the old civilization of mankind passed away forever. Such was the Age of Strife.

During this time Earth, heart and head of the old civilization, could no longer acquire sufficient food or resources to accommodate its people. Without access to the wider galaxy the homeworld could not survive. Untold billions died as a result of war and famine. The planet soon became a battleground where rival warlords fought over the ruins of a once great civilization. All of Earth’s ancient knowledge was lost and its cities destroyed. The planet became little more than a desert where its people were reduced to the level of brute savages fighting over the scarce land and water that remained.

On Mars, events took a somewhat different course.

Knowledge is Life, use it well