The Empty Crusade (Horus Heresy)

Guilliman watched as the survivors and rebuilt imperial biotechnical division first met with the imperially controlled Selenar cults. The small skirmishes that were needed to make the Lords of Luna kneel before the new Emperor, the concessions were easy for them to accept once they understood their options were annihilation or subjugation. Soon they would begin working together and deep within their labs the Astares would be created, geneseeds monitored and refined.

Their prime Matriarch would join the council of advisors and directors of the many limbs of the nascent imperium. Even as the historic event before him continued, he couldn't help but look up thinking endlessly about the brewing civil war on Mars. The main Mechanicum we're reluctant but willing to kneel between the offerings of navigators and astropaths, the two legion's that would be on line to the cult until their primarchs were discovered was minor but the 4th and 10th legion were both stable and loyal, so would support the Mechanicum's integration.

The only issue was several forge cities hadn't bowed with their Fabricator General. The growing discontent with the increased imperial presence on the red planet had flared into small battles between the titan houses and skitarii across the world. Only the direct request of the Fabricator General to allow this to be handled by the red planet, stayed your hand. That and the loss of many forces against the xeno controlled Lithogolems on Venus the death world's inhabitants were completely unwilling to submit.

It was a clear requirement for all others. You could surrender or die, the imperium was flexible but he could not allow others to go forwards without being under his control. It was a simple calculus. Those under the banner of the imperium could be monitored, watched. He could work them into his plans, his systems, others without those bonds could as easily turn against the imperium at the worst time.

By the time he returned to the palace to continue his paperwork, he was deep in thought. He had completed the Unification of Terra the Lord's of Mars and Luna were to join his council but become just another branch in the imperial machine. Ceres, and Mercury had already fallen or surrendered and Venus and Jupiter were now under assault by the dwindling Thunder Warriors in mark 2 power armor, alongside imperial army and Astares commanders. Already the 8th legion had begun to bring Uranus to heel.

The reports would require teams to pour over had he been anyone else but Roboute Guilliman had nothing if not his extraordinary mind. He hadn't taken to the battle in nearly a year, with the completion of the conquest of Terra the imperial state had been growing in a way that was only tenable because of his superhuman mind guiding it as he built it to last with each new addition and fief.

He stopped blinking and stared down at the missive before him. The xenos upon Venus had requested parlay? Pulling over those reports of war he had not been deeply involved in leaving it to the Astares generals to manage as they would be increasingly necessary in the growing crusade.

What the first reports marked as Xenos were psykers of human ilk, self proclaimed witches. That made parlay a questionable resolution as the Sigillite closely monitored and dealt with psykers and the like when he was not working deep within the bowels of the palace working on a beacon of Guilliman's father's design. The war elsewhere was progressing well and with small exceptions the imperium was settling his bureaucratic machine running smoothly and operating to keep things working as they should be.

So knowing that this conversation would need to be had the Lord of the imperium sought the blind man who had seen its birth and the end of the age of strife.

"Why do you seek me?" The man had for as long as Guilliman known him been a sullen man of little patience for foolery so the new Emperor turned to the blind man and spoke the question that led him to the bowels of Terra even as all of Sol fell to his armies.

"What happens to the Psykers that are not added to the ranks of the Astropaths?" The man raised an eyebrow behind his blindfold.

"Some are trained to control their abilities and as much as allowable added to the imperial army." Guilliman didn't entertain him, simply waiting for him to continue. "Some things need to be done for mankind to thrive in the galaxy, sacrifices need to be made."

"I understand I send millions to die in this war alone and the conquest of the galaxy is far from a bloodless affair." The blind man shakes his head.

"Not all sacrifice is in honor, not all death is in battle. You know that the thunder warriors are breaking down, you were smart enough to see their time has passed. The Emperor was a power Psyker, he had planned to use resonance between his essence and a choir on Terra to produce a beacon. This is the only way the crusade can continue, his other plans… none can fulfill them now and we have no time before our momentum is killed. The chaff psykers are a danger to themselves and others. Once you have finished here in Sol I will use their power to light that beacon. It will burn them out, but it will light the way for all of mankind."

"And of the witches of Venus?" The man simply shrugs his shoulders.

"What of them, while I caution against allowing everyone to deep into the imperium and the perils of the immaterium is something I know well you are at the end the leader of your father's empire. Powerful psykers can be a potent tool, but beware a foolish or ignorant one for they are more liable to burn you then any foe."

The new Emperor leaves mulling over what he learned of today, the Psyker Beacon, being a small part of what's left to do. The galaxy is ancient beyond reckoning and has used that time to cultivate it's dangers. It has been two dozen years since his awakening, his father would have already been out conquering stars but everything had gone slowly. Sol was all but in his grasp but he had a few final tasks.

Of the polities in Sol several human ones had quickly surrendered, more complicated a number of inhumane ones had as well. As he will do many times, Guilliman…

Vote once for Xeno, Psyker, and Mutant
[][X]Spared
As long as one surrendered before the eagle they will be subject to the imperial machine as any other.
[][X]Slaved
They are a dangerous kind and while they do not deserve death, to allow them all the freedoms of a man is to quest for betrayal.
[][X]Killed
They can not be trusted and even in bondage they would find a way to strike all but the most benign and useful must be cleared before humanity can grow.

In the final days of the conquest poets and historians take note of the new Emperor's labours, he was…
[][Labour]At the Final Battle
[][Labour]Intervening in the Martian Civil War
[][Labour]Convening the Imperial Council
[][Labour]Working on a Book of Stratagems

He had thought many days on the nature of his conversation with the Sigillite and in the end he decided…
[][Beacon]Sacrifice Needed to be Made
[][Beacon]It was a temporary Solution
[][Beacon]It needed to end.
-[][Beacon]He would discover his father's project.
-[][Beacon]Ships could skim the warp.