The planet that they happen to be on? Are these spherical extremists in a frictionless vacuum? Like, I don't doubt there are true zealots among them. But we have also seen how much more flawed and human they really are. We can make that work in our favor.
Not to say we don't have to worry about their reactions at all. But I expect there will be steps between "Entirely ignorant" and "Glass the whole planet". Especially if we keep the majority of the pressure internal and act with a modicum of subtlety.
My whole point is that we don't have to go to them fairly or deal with them plainly. We can scam them trick them and bamboozle them.
Like, look at things from their perspective. They glass the planet- and then what? Even if they don't die in the initial blast. without the planet's supply of resources and new recruits they are screwed regardless of where they are. Even the station requires regular re-supply.
Well, we are dealing with zealots. And their leader seems to have ties to the Inquisition. They don't need to realize Vita is an AI or think she is an Ancient hoarding technology from the DAoT. Them thinking just that, for example, "Magos Vita" is a Heretek spreading sacred knowledge of the machine to the unworthy masses?
Or maybe they make no connection at all between Aevon and Vita at this point, just realizing that Aevon has access to untolerably advanced technology and scientific knowledge. Just that, while almost certainly not a "glass the whole planet" worthy? Still would be enough for them to bomb Aevon to literal stone age for their sins, and to preserve the dominance of the Enclaves and the survival of their faith.
And if they notice someone using
even more advanced technology to protect Aevon's manufacturing and civilian centers? Oh dear, that might be the work of an actual former tech-priest Heretek due to how advanced the technology is. Maybe even tainted by Chaos? And then it likely spirals all the way down from there.
So yeah, I would say that the paranoia is well deserved.
-and if we were dealing with them I might agree with you! But we aren't exactly dealing with the cream of the crop here. These are the embers and the dregs. This is almost as easy as it can get.
If it requires a few well-timed assassinations, so be it. It will be far less bloody then an outright war.
Then it comes down to this question: how much effort and
time are you willing to spend on finding a way to kill basically all of the senior leadership in all the Enclaves? Developing reliable assination methods against old, well protected and almost universally paranoid Magi, while at the same time subverting large enough majority of the lower ranks under their nose. Without, you know, them then purging their ranks out of heresy if it becomes too obvious.
Then if we manage to get there staging a revolution? If you swing and miss the initial strike? Well, the Magi might not be able to win anymore and know it. But the Adeptus Mechanicus is as
petty as hell. So if they cannot win, they sure as hell can make everyone else lose too.
And would you look at that, we have come full circle with the planet being glassed as a final "fuck you" to Aevon, us and the rest of the planet.
But just to make sure:
@Neablis what is Vita's guess on how likely is the senior leadership of the Enclaves is to resort to just nuking the whole planet in the case of an attempted assassination/revolution failing to get all of them with the initial strike? What would be likely required to assassinate them in the first place even semi-reliably? And what kind of effort we are looking if we want subvert enough people just not to sabotage things in secret, but to actually pull of an internal revolution from the lower and middle ranks with the senior Magi out of the way?
This is not even mentioning the fact that Neablis has been hinting to us to not take too long. We are on a clock, and all our preparations against the AdMech might get overturned when something else drops in. So no. I'm not taking another multiple decades to attempt a perfect internal revolution for the Mechanicus.
