Angstrom was an obscure Forge World. It lacked Ryza's formidable strength and Yellow Springs No. 8's high-value technology, capable only of producing some low-tech trifles.
But just as even pigs could soar when the wind picked up, Zeratul Tartaros, Angstrom's Arch-Magos, had nothing else going for him except one virtue: he was cautious!
Do not mistake caution for a derogatory trait. Among the Mechanicus, caution meant reliability and steadiness. That already put him ahead of the vast majority of Mechanicus.
Because of his caution, Zeratul had not recklessly courted death like the other Arch-Magi. Instead, he took a compromising attitude toward technology, never obsessively pursuing perfection. If it worked, that was enough.
As a result of that personality, Zeratul was utterly unknown among the Arch-Magi. He had no earth-shattering research projects, and even his title of Arch-Magos had been earned through seniority. He was a complete nobody—perhaps if he died someday, no one would even notice.
After all, anyone who could become an Arch-Magos was a true genius. Naturally, they had little respect for someone who could only serve as an assistant on others' projects before riding their coattails to accumulate experience.
Yet it was precisely because no one paid attention to him that, after learning Serenity was Atlas's homeworld, Zeratul acted with remarkable decisiveness. He immediately sought out the Second Legion and pledged Angstrom's allegiance.
At the time, Mordred had only just returned to the Legion, and the sole Arch-Magos under his command was still dirt poor. When he met Zeratul, it was like a turtle spotting a mung bean—they immediately hit it off.
From then on, Arch-Magos Zeratul became one of Mordred's "dippers." The entire Forge World did nothing else, specializing in handling Atlas's black-market goods.
And today, Roboute Guilliman, the Primarch of the Space Wolves, set foot