What you created

Two thousand years later | Solar System | Segmentum Terra | Central Palace Corps | Golden Throne

I sat on my Throne and remembered. I love this place; it makes me feel truly Great. Especially when you remember how much effort it took to build it. You're probably wondering what I've been doing in this enormous period - a lot of things, and I'll try to tell you all about it, starting with the unification of the Earth.

Unification

Actually, unification, as such, did not happen. Even though all the lands conquered me, the culture, religion, everyday life, etc., were too different. Only some could enter into a unified society, but many did. Most were Mediterranean countries and cities. And the barbarians and other countries too distant from Rome remained our enemies even after their defeat. They did not recognize the victory and the "new God. So they had to be destroyed, albeit gradually, making room for the imperials. As much as I wanted to settle things peacefully, there was no way out.

Technoadepts

At the same time as settling in, some of the people, especially from the orders I mentioned, I took away for training. I planned to make them the state's technical apex and have them lead the development of new technologies based on ancient technologies. There were already successes in this, but about them later. So, after graduating in various technical specialities, they were sent to Terra; since Latin is everywhere here, we have Terra now, not Earth. There they were to begin "superficial" training of humans and recruit into orders for more in-depth training. For some reason, they didn't want to disband the orders. Still, by my Order, they were merged into a single order, the Imitatores Mechanism or "Order of Mechanicus". I just liked the name of this organization, so I decided to create it here too, but not Adeptus, but the Order or briefly "Ordo". Adepts in their Orders were to gain knowledge of the particular path of technology that the Order was studying and to learn the precepts of Fundamenta Mechanica. This book was sacred to them and described the basics of the teachings and the rules for adepts and their entire lives. For example, one could not create machinery without the approval of its blueprints by the Supreme College of Magisters or use xeno technology without the same approval and many different rules and guidelines. It was created by Archi-Magister Karos Marn, the First Master Fabricator of Mars. (Only the rulers of Mars had the prefix "Archi"). He was one of the first in my training and the first to create his Order, which formed the basis of the Adepts of Mechanicus. The Collegium of Supreme Masters is the assembly of all the Masters - the Fabricators, the heads of the planets of the Manufactures. The Foundations spelt that name, but ordinary people called them the planets-craftsmen. Chief among them was my personal Forge, Mars; to serve on it was incredibly honourable for any adept. And I was engaged in personal development and creation of supercomplex equipment and some improvements for myself.

Army and Navy

The army was essentially unchanged in structure. There were the same legions and titles from Rome, but now their numbers were staggering. In addition to the millions of regular soldiers, there were thousands or tens of thousands of tanks and other armoured vehicles, billions of different bots produced daily by the worlds-intruders, and several special troops.

About the machinery. Even though I had a lot of technology and capabilities, I stuck to the decision that the easier the equipment was to operate and build, the better. That's why the equipment did not have an antigrav like the Citadels but a tracked chassis. But that wasn't the case with the stuffing. One of the Mechanicus Orders, the Adepto Polaris, which had a strange name, had invented a prototype energy percussion shield. It had an interesting feature, namely its two modes. With one of them, it could deflect projectiles based on kinetics. With the other, it could absorb the energy of an energy weapon shot and recharge from the same. I planned to use it against the Reapers if they showed up. In the second mode, it could work not very long: it was enough to exit the battle or to make a quick dash, but no more. In the latter mode, it worked just long enough to get out of a fight or make a quick dash for it, but not much more. These shields were used on vehicles, heavy armour, and heavy bots. There simply needed to be more room for the generators on the lighter ones. So on the outside, the tank resembled the tank familiar to the men of the twenty-first century.

The infantry represented all the same legions with the old ranks. Only now, the legionnaires wore ultra-modern armour and were all armed with energy-pulse weapons. I planned to have an advantage over Citadel because of the difference in technology. The units were diluted with fighters from heavy units with just enough armour and heavy weaponry for support. The armour resembled the old legionary uniforms from the time of the conquest, but that was only for appearance's sake. The Legions themselves were also joined by the Legio Ferro. Under the command of special commanders and programs, thousands of iron-clad soldiers marched on the enemy without fear or pity. The number of bots varied according to legion assignment and theatre. The "cherry on the cake" were two special units. In charge of the army hierarchy was Faceless. They had all been legates before and had proven themselves in command, had gone through transposition for it, and were now the irreplaceable commanders of my troops. Their platforms had no faces, hence the name. One of them was my old friend and subordinate legate. At the moment, he was my most trusted person and was not in command, but he could do so brilliantly in case of emergency.

And the Titan was the second unit and the pride of all Adepts. Yes, yes. The Titan and it wasn't my idea. When I showed the plans to the Masters, one of them compared it to the Titans of Greek mythology. So it stuck. Otherwise, yes. It was a huge robot, up to a kilometre tall. It was controlled by a special Adept, who was placed permanently in the centre of the Titan and became one with the machine. This was a great honour, and the selection of pilots was particularly rigorous. All Titans were of the same model but had modular armament. It changed depending on the mission. I made a special bet on them and would keep their existence a secret.

The fleet, on the other hand, was a special item. It took a huge mountain of equipment, technology, and resources but justified it. The ships were similar in form to the Imperium fleet, but I immediately removed the weapons from the boards. Even in my previous life, I didn't understand why they mounted them on the sides despite their size. So I put only turret weapons in my ships. And the weapons were different. Mostly energy weapons, but there were also kinetics in the form of torpedoes and missile systems. The ship's power depended directly on its size since it was possible to put a large reactor and weapons and systems.

I also made an interesting discovery for myself. I realized I didn't need a mosquito fleet with human pilots and huge casualties. I created a bot project that was cheap but had solid firepower. The defence was nonexistent, but it wasn't needed. My plan was simply to overwhelm the enemy with a swarm of drones and destroy them in chaos. So there were special ships in the fleet, carriers that carried thousands of bots, ready to let them go into battle on command. The ships, by the Way, left behind something of antiquity. Each ship had a battering ram, just like a medieval galley, only now of heavy-duty steel. Even asteroids were broken in half with it. The fleet occupied a special line in the military and had its own rules, etc., things. Its number constantly increased and now exceeded two hundred and fifty thousand units. There was also the Mechanicus fleet, but it was mostly mobile shops and workshops.

Planets

The solar system was mastered quickly within a couple of years. When all the satellites hadn't even been colonized, construction had already begun on Forge on Mars and Polis on Terra. A centre of industry was needed to supply machinery to the entire Empire. Construction went on for nearly five hundred years, as did the palace on Terra, while the following planets were built up much faster. After construction was completed, the settlement rules were created. "Praecepta Tractus." It described the types of planets and what could be produced and built on them. So you couldn't build a Forge on green worlds, only on lifeless ones, and vice versa. With the help of bots, I could fill up all the space bodies in a week and extract resources there, which were later transported to the nearest Forge. The forges themselves built machines and equipment in huge quantities. Earth-type planets were rebuilt into huge polis with millions or billions of people living on them. There were a few other types, but they could have been more important: world fortress - a planet adapted entirely for war and troop training and being a naval base; world prisons - understandable by the name, and several planets with no special name.

By the Way, one of the polis, namely on the satellite of Jupiter - Tronos (in our time, the satellite was called Ganymede), was given to the race of the Wilds. That was the name given to the race of cats from the first planet. They terraformed the satellite, especially for them, and now their society flourished and was part of the Empire. By the Way, they took an interesting position in society, namely a spiritual one. Creating a belief in the Eternal God in my honour. I still have memories of my homeland. Having been named in the Empire as "Viam Dei Imperator," they began to build some obscenely huge temples all over the Empire. And that was now the official religion in the state, except for the Adepts, who also glorified the machines and created entire associated rituals. I had nothing against faith because I believed it strengthens the soul and is always with you, no matter what. And it was in it that you could find comfort. But at the same time, science came first for everyone!

Population

The level of human development in terms of technology was special. Basic technology and the wonders created in the Manufactories or advances in military science were hidden from ordinary people. In schools, they were given knowledge for everyday life and nothing else. I did not wish they would reveal our secrets to the Xenos. But if one entered one of the Hordos, that changed everything. If one entered the Hordo Mechanicus, one learned about the wonders of technology; if one entered the Hordo Legio, one learned the theory of war, etc. There were a large number of Horde. Military and civilian. But they all boiled down to three main ones. Mechanicus, Legio, and Civis. Civis studied everything related to ordinary life, from laws to biology.

That's what society was two thousand years from the S.W.I. (Creation of the Eternal Empire). Everyday life was handled by the Concilium Civium, an assembly of rulers of the planet who decided all matters of the population and kept Order. All other positions were handled by ordinary people who had not joined the Ordos. There were their own structures, which were created by the Council of the Planet and which appointed people to them.

Structure of the Empire.

The entire territory of the Empire was divided into Segmentums, with the capital being the planets that first colonized the region. Rulers of the Segmentum were Prefects appointed by Terra. Each Segmentum had at its disposal legions of soldiers to recruit and maintain and send under a unified command in the event of war.

That's it; I've told you the main points. Sitting on the Throne, remembering how much I had to do, is very pleasant. Seeing your brainchild being made is always beautiful! But there was one other thing that interested me...

I recently began to see "neutral sparks" that were grey rather than gold, unlike mine. It was in the centre of any mechanism in the form of a misty sphere, and if I reached for it, the colour changed to gold, and the technique obeyed me. I could destroy it or enhance it. After I told the heads of the manufactories and the head of the Way about this, they immediately dubbed it Spirits or Spirits of Machines and assigned these spirits to my avatars. They even developed a prayer that would "awaken" this spirit. The machine would work better, and I could control it. "Invoking" prayers were also created. When I said them at the main machinery, I received a call, I don't know how, and I could be transported to that point, or more specifically, to the machine. It's very interesting, but I can't explain it scientifically. Well, I'll think about it when I get to Mars.

And just as I was about to go into stasis for a few minutes, I was interrupted by a signal that I had been waiting for years...

Two hours before events | Segmentum Hermos - Terminus Systems | Automated extraction station Hermos 23-4

System wake-up...

Data analysis...

Receiving data from astrochronologist...

2149 from S.V.I.

Reason for activation...

Contact with unknown target...

Attention! No identification mark of Ordo Mechanicus...

Target: Presumably a Xenoras ship. Probability: 98.4346346%.

Range: 67,000,000 kilometres from the station. Approaching...

Collecting data...

Reporting back to Terra...

An emergency shipment of all minerals to the Matrix smithy...

Protocol 67/5...

Sending a signal to the nearest Ordo Stellar patrol...

Receiving orders...

Priority Alpha...

Decoding...

Orders from Terra:

To accomplish the seizure of the ship...

Xeno seize...

Action code: Alpha 24\55

Orders accepted...

Hordo Stellar patrol is approaching...

Initiate capture...