"THE ECCLESIARCHY ENJOYS GREAT AUTONOMY. THEY MAY NOT BE WILLING TO OBEY YOUR ORDERS," PHICRIS SAID WORRIEDLY.
Guilliman smiled. "I will make them obey me. I am the Emperor's son, the Emperor's finest representative. Even the saints of the Ecclesiarchy would not dare claim to be more qualified than I am to speak for it."
"What if they believe their interests have been harmed and take a hardline stance?"
"Then tie those heretics to the stake." Guilliman paused and looked at Phicris. "Speaking of stakes, have the Techmarines aboard weld several for me. We may need a few stakes to show those bishops what fate awaits them if they defy me."
"My lord." Phicris hesitated for a moment. "Is that really wise? It does not seem to fit your usual style. Haven't you always advocated following regulations in all things and pursuing rational thought?"
"When dealing with people like you, I advocate rational thought and acting within established frameworks, because you possess reason. You understand what is right and what is wrong. Rules can help you restrain the arrogance and complacency in your hearts, and make you understand what everything you do is for.
"But those Delirium believers have no such awareness. They only fanatically follow the faith in their hearts, willingly becoming tools of religion."
Guilliman began pacing. Only after organizing his thoughts did he continue, "What do you think the chances are of persuading them to abandon their faith? Be honest, Phicris. There is no need to flatter me. Answer based on your previous understanding of the Ecclesiarchy."
"Make them abandon their faith..." Phicris fell into thought. He had not had little contact with the Ecclesiarchy: self-mutilating ascetics, all manner of brutal killings inflicted upon those deemed sinful, and countless acts of seeming madness.
After considering the Ecclesiarchy's conduct from every angle, Phicris arrived at an answer.
"The chance of success is zero. They could never abandon their faith. Faith is everything to them. It would be far easier to persuade those believers to give up their lives than to give up their faith."
"That is precisely the problem. I cannot persuade them to abandon their faith, nor can I abolish the Ecclesiarchy with a single decree. That leaves me with very few options. Controlling them is the safest path. Once I have them under control, I can carry out a new round of reforms within the Ecclesiarchy, just as I reformed the administrative system and the Imperial military—restrict the bishops' power and guide those believers onto the right path."
"If I want them to willingly accept my reforms, I must possess a legitimate identity—an identity that makes the believers feel that I am one of them. Only then will they believe my reforms are correct, that the Emperor guided me to do this. Those who oppose me will be enemies of the Imperium, enemies of their own, agents of Chaos."
"My lord, this seems rather complicated."
"Phicris, you must continue learning. Beyond combat, you must learn other things as well. Only then can you better assist me. We do not face only the battlefield in plain sight; there are also battlefields we cannot see. We must win every one of them if we are to save humanity. Otherwise, salvation is merely an empty phrase."
"Chaos will interfere with us, traitors will deceive us, and those who harbor resentment will become obstacles to us as well. Some stand in the open, while others lurk in the shadows. Use force to eliminate the enemies in the open, then use our minds to deal with the hidden ones. Only then can we save the Imperium."
"I understand, my lord."
"If you understand, then leave. I need some quiet. Report the other matters to me in ten minutes."
Phicris nodded and walked out.
Guilliman remained alone in the room, thinking about Espandor and how he could bring the Ecclesiarchy under control.
The Ecclesiarchy's Delirium faith was terrifying, but it was not without its benefits.
Guilliman could make use of that faith to help him promote new systems and fight Daemons.
Of course, this was only a temporary measure.
The Ecclesiarchy could not exist forever. It could only remain for the time being.
Once every sector of the Imperium burst into new vitality under his new technologies and ideas, faith in the Emperor would naturally fade away.
During the Dark Age of church rule in the Middle Ages, the Ecclesiarch's authority had once expanded enormously.
Yet in the end, it had gradually declined because of the Renaissance.
After the Renaissance, people viewed gods more through scrutiny, criticism, and spiritual comfort, rather than Delirium and ignorance.
In the Warhammer Universe, denying the existence of gods was unrealistic.
But humans and gods should stand as equals. People should not endlessly kneel and flatter them.
Guilliman did not possess the Emperor's methods or resolve to simply wipe out every religion and tear down all those temples and shrines.
All he could do was proceed gradually, using the method of boiling a frog in warm water.
At Guilliman's command, the fleet recalibrated its course and turned toward the missionary world of Espandor.
A week later, the fleet emerged from the Warp and appeared beyond the Espandor System.
Preacher communication satellites floated everywhere throughout the system, constantly broadcasting encoded hymns and prayers to the Emperor.
These satellites did not merely transmit through realspace; they also used Auspex arrays to send their signals into the Warp.
Before the fleet had even entered realspace, it had already received vast amounts of communication data.
After entering realspace, it was drowned in an ocean of electromagnetic signals.
The Cogitator Skull processing the communications displayed a pained expression, while the Servitors responsible for broadcasting and calculation twitched incessantly under the enormous computational burden.
Secondary systems clogged under the massive volume of traffic, issuing harsh and grating warnings.
Most of these communications were useless, merely the Delirium prayers and hymns of believers.
The fleet had no choice but to block most of the data to prevent the Cogitators and Servitors from overloading.
Several dozen Pilgrim Arks, each dozens of kilometers long, traveled through the Espandor System. They towed Emperor statues hundreds of kilometers tall as they cruised through every corner of the system.
The arks were filled with fanatics and penitents prostrating themselves on the ground. Day and night, they scourged themselves without pause to display the Emperor's faint light.
The Espandor System possessed two terrestrial planets.
Espandor I was the system's primary population center.
More than a dozen towering Emperor statues rose from the planet's surface, piercing the heavens.
The planet's atmosphere was filled with the scent of burning incense. In the colossal cities, devout believers could be seen everywhere, carrying censers and sacred banners.
Among those believers, there were many fanatics.
The ways these fanatics expressed their devotion were exceedingly extreme.
Some wealthy fanatics did not merely have scriptures carved across their skin. They were so mad that they used Adeptus Mechanicus technology to carve scriptures into their bones as well.
Others took thorny whips and lashed themselves until they were covered in wounds and blood. In some places, white bone showed through, yet they still refused to stop. Blood dripped from them with every step.
Iron cages also hung before the Cathedral of the Emperor.
Inside those cages were heretics as judged by the believers.
Those heretics were bound to iron pillars, their bruises and bloodstains bearing witness to the prolonged torture they endured.
Flamethrowers were installed in the center of the cages, activating amid the prisoners' screams.
The heat melted portions of the iron pillars, and the molten metal flowed over the heretics' bodies, making them cry out in agony.
Other heretics had their throats slit by fanatics and collapsed to the ground, twitching. Their blood soaked the earth, while believers smeared it across their faces and knelt to proclaim that they had purged the Emperor's enemies.
This was a mad world.
This was a world that had lost all reason.
The scenes captured by the radar arrays and Auspex filled Guilliman with dread.
The Ecclesiarchy's madness was even more terrifying than he had imagined.
I hope everything goes smoothly, Guilliman thought.
The moment Guilliman's fleet appeared, it was discovered by the believers of the Espandor System.
Within a few hours, news of the Primarch's arrival had spread throughout the entire system. Countless believers cheered, regarding it as the Emperor's reward for their devotion.
A grand welcoming ceremony was held an hour after Guilliman's fleet entered the Espandor System.
A great number of pilgrimage vessels joined Guilliman's fleet to demonstrate their piety.
Several bishops also expressed their wish to board Macragge's Honour and meet the Primarch.
Four chapters, roughly twenty-five hundred words each, making ten thousand words. Brothers, votes and follow-ups!
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