Where It Comes From

"Is that all?" Sandman's reply caused the powerful aura emanating from Korax to falter.

"Your gaze shouldn't be confined to the narrow confines of Giava and Lycaeus. Aren't you curious as to why I know so much about you?" Sandman slowly drew an Imperial double-headed eagle symbol on the table with a stone.

The stone scraped across the hard tabletop, making a crunching sound. With just a few strokes, a lifelike Imperial double-headed eagle pattern appeared on the table.

"This double-headed eagle insignia is the mark on your ovum-pod when you landed on Lycaeus. You must be very familiar with it.

This faction is called the Imperium. Its master is a powerful being named the Emperor, who is also your father.

Now, the mighty Imperium has unified humanity's homeworld, Terra. Under the Emperor's leadership, it has begun a journey to reclaim all lost human worlds, centered on Terra. Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps in a few decades, your father's invincible fleet will descend upon Lycaeus, liberate this world, and bring you, the 19th Highness, back to take command of the Space Marine Legion forged in your image."

"As for why you, of all people, ended up on this mining planet directly from Terra, that's not something I know. Perhaps... perhaps it was due to great maternal love." Sandman chuckled meaningfully.

"Korax, the problems you see on Lycaeus now, the internal strife among humans, are insignificant compared to those planets suffering Xenos invasions and colonization. Those Xenos aim for total extermination. Therefore, your vision should never be limited to this small pond. The stars and the sea are your true path." Sandman omitted much information, only giving a general introduction to the Imperium and the Emperor.

There simply wasn't time or the means to explain many complex issues.

"So, what are your expectations for me, or what are your demands?" Korax asked.

"Ah, demands? In the future, let the worlds you conquer accept your leadership. That's all," Sandman said simply.

He couldn't possibly say that the Imperium would later fall into a great rebellion due to the interference of four Warp entities, leading to its fragmentation, and that his old father would be gravely wounded and lie on the Golden Throne.

"Huh? Aren't the worlds I conquer already mine?" Korax asked, very confused.

This was also Sandman's subconscious confusion stemming from past experiences. In the original background, besides Lycaeus being designated as the Legion's homeworld, Giava was directly handed over to the Adeptus Mechanicus to be transformed into a forge world.

To put it bluntly, the Emperor was quite the trickster in this regard. Giving Korax a finely crafted Power Whip as a token of respect was one thing, but handing Giava over to the Adeptus Mechanicus, with the excuse that the Imperium needed Giava's production capacity for the Great Crusade, was another.

Sandman's evaluation of this was: "What a load of crap..."

Giava was merely an industrial world; could the Imperium of Man truly lack that much production capacity?

The rebellion of the Raven King's homeworld, which circulated in later generations, was actually incorrect. It was Giava that rebelled. The people there could not accept the constant exploitation by the forge world and launched a rebellion, not Lycaeus.

"Then, let's speed up the unification of Lycaeus," Sandman urged, not dwelling on the issue.

It was strange, but the Emperor's retrieval of the Primarchs scattered across the galaxy generally followed a pattern. Except for Alpharius, who landed directly at the palace gates, and Horus, who directly contacted the Adeptus Mechanicus.

When other Primarchs were unifying planets, the Emperor would appear beside them in various forms, either as a wanderer, a challenger, or directly leading his golden, invincible fleet.

It was as if the Emperor could be summoned when a Primarch unified a planet or effectively became its ruler.

Of course, not every Primarch's unification endeavor went smoothly, but most Primarchs unified their landing planets in a very short time. However, there was a significant time difference: when did the Primarchs descend upon their homeworlds?

The Warp had no concept of time. The time it took to travel from Terra to different planets was influenced by various factors. Under these complex circumstances, Korax became the last Primarch to return to the Imperium.

"I will organize the other contacted camps to launch a collective strike, protesting the High Tower's increasingly meager supply of resources. In about a year, I plan to initiate an uprising to completely overthrow the High Tower's rule," Korax decided upon hearing this.

"Go ahead, Korax. The Saviors camp will give you our full support." Sandman's gaze seemed to pierce through the midday sun to the silent star that had illuminated Lycaeus for countless years.

The star rotated silently, as if fate was turning imperceptibly.

The gears of the miners' tragic fate, stagnant and repetitive for millennia, began to turn at this moment. Rusty machines started to operate, and as the gears turned, they began to crush the decaying remnants piled upon them.

The predetermined trajectory had begun to move.

The protagonist was a visitor known as the Outer Wanderer, and the supporting characters were intelligent beings who had been repeating their fates for countless eons.

When Sandman came to his senses, Korax had already silently left the camp that had first welcomed him.

"Boss, isn't that a bit too fast?" Nekser asked worriedly. Although Korax had contacted most of the camps, it was still uncertain whether they could be trusted.

Even if they participated, could the miners withstand the High Tower's retaliation? Had the High Tower planted spies among them?

"Nekser, revolution requires bloodshed. In this great upheaval, no one can remain unscathed. The slaves on Lycaeus have fought for centuries, but each time they were suppressed. However, this time, I believe the wise men of those camps will make wise decisions.

As for the rest, just trust Korax. His intelligence sources are far richer than ours." Sandman rose from the stone stool. Since Korax had made his decision, it was time for him to properly take stock of the Saviors camp's assets.

Lycaeus, Saviors Secret Camp.

Erifania was an ordinary woman on Lycaeus, no different from any other.

Her life was a microcosm of countless ordinary girls on Lycaeus.

From the time she could remember, Erifania knew her world consisted of this gray sky and endless labor.

Every day, she toiled in the camp's mines as much as she could, hungry, waiting for her parents and other family members to return.

Her father's rough, cracked palm caressed her forehead. Her mother painstakingly cut open the pungent black Corpse Starch and mixed it with water to soothe their hungry taste buds.

Life passed uneventfully until her parents died in an accident while mining, buried deep within the unknown ore veins.