Three Brothers Under the Moon

When humanity first looked up at the stars, the seeds of curiosity were sown.

The propagation of the species, the development of culture, and the establishment of nations saw humanity climb step by step to the pinnacle, finally leaving the planet that nurtured their lives to enter the vast universe and begin an adventure of their own.

The above is the cosmic human perspective under an orthodox, righteous worldview; for the humans of the Warhammer world, it is merely a fantasy.

The Blacklight, traveling via the Webway, soon arrived at the solar system, though during this time Hogg also discovered the shortcomings of the Webway.

First, as the galactic highway paved by the Old Ones, it was not under human control; the journey revealed that many Warp entities and space pirates were entrenched there. To maintain speed, the Blacklight had to eliminate many xenos and bizarre things.

Second, the Eldar, having lost their technology, lacked the ability to maintain the Webway and could only use it without the capacity for repair—at least, the portion of Eldar who had defected to the Blackwatch could not. This resulted in Hogg, who was enjoying the high-speed transit, having to stop periodically and occasionally transfer through the Warp or realspace.

Most importantly, humanity could not control the opening of the Webway, which was the very reason Emperor had gone to such great lengths to launch the Great Crusade to create a human Webway.

Breaking into the solar system, the cradle of humanity, and completing inspections at the outpost on Pluto, the Blacklight was finally able to fly toward Terra under the escort of the Adeptus Custodes.

During the journey, Hogg looked out from the bridge at the completely transformed Mars Forge World. Massive artificial star rings drifted in the planet's orbit, housing the largest forge docks of Imperium, where the Blacklight itself had been manufactured. The towering forge factories were visible to the naked eye even from orbit.

The tech-priest belonging to the Blackwatch curled his lip and began to badmouth Mars to Hogg: "My Lord, you may not know this, but the Adeptus Mechanicus on Mars are a bunch of heretics; they only know how to hoard technology everywhere and worship it like family heirlooms."

Hearing this, Hogg almost couldn't keep a straight face. It was a case of the pot calling the kettle black; his own tech-priests were no better. However, while the Blackwatch tech-priests were not as wealthy as those on Mars, they had one greater advantage: they knew how to share.

Most of the tech-priests belonging to the Blackwatch were misfits who couldn't survive on Mars. On Mars, the numerous Archmagos clutched their knowledge like treasures, making it harder than ascending to heaven for a newcomer to actually learn anything.

But it was different on Alicia. There were dedicated databases for research, monthly technical exchange meetings, and occasionally, xenos artifacts captured by the military for these tech-priests to tinker with.

The open and inclusive Blackwatch attracted many talented but unrecognized individuals as well as young tech-priests. Furthermore, most of them had witnessed the power of Hogg and had joined the Blacklight cult, which in turn made Mars a talent reservoir for Hogg.

In summary, Mars did not care for Hogg, the Primarch, and the two sides looked at each other with mutual disdain.

But so as not to dampen the enthusiasm of his subordinates, Hogg could only comfort them: "The past is the past, and the present is the present. With our joint efforts, I believe Alicia will surely become the most prestigious scientific research base in Imperium."

After speaking, Hogg used matter reconstruction to mold a small doll and handed it to the young initiate before him. The tech-priest who received the gift was so excited that he began to emit blue smoke, further solidifying his conviction to join the Blackwatch.

Hogg, who was chatting idly, was interrupted by the little cat: "My Lord, Terra has arrived."

As Primarchs and offspring of Emperor, each could be called a legendary figure. Moreover, those returning this time were the mysterious Blackwatch Primarch and the newly reunited twelfth Primarch, Angron.

The nobles of Terra poured out in droves, all wanting to catch a glimpse of the Primarchs. The Thousand Sons Space Marines, maintaining appearances, surrounded the landing pad, and Magnus came to welcome his brother.

But the most excited were the War Hounds who had found their father. Each of them watched the landing Stormbird with excitement, intending to be the first to greet their gene-father, while inwardly thanking Hogg for helping them find him.

The hatch opened, and the young Angron stepped out first. The War Hounds present almost screamed with happiness; at the very first glance, they knew he was their gene-father.

"But our father looks very exhausted!" a War Hound whispered.

"It must be the fatigue from the voyage. I heard that the planet where they found our father had already been subjected to Exterminatus by the Blackwatch, and a great war had broken out," First Captain Kharn explained to his brother.

The chatting War Hounds heard a violent cheer erupt from the crowd and looked over, only to see a giant standing eight meters tall crawl out.

Even those who had seen other Primarchs were incredibly stirred. They had never seen such a majestic giant, and at the same time, they felt puzzled: 'Wasn't it said that the Blackwatch Primarch was a shorty?'

Seeing his brother, Magnus, dressed in scholar's robes, stepped forward excitedly to welcome him.

Looking at the majestic giant before him, he, who should have been eloquent, really couldn't think of anything to say to praise Hogg. Finally, prompted by Angron, he squeezed out: "My God! Brother, you are really tall."

"Kid, you sure know how to talk!"

Regarding the welcome from Magnus, Hogg very smoothly patted the heads of both Primarchs. The towering Hogg became the focus of the scene, enjoying the praise and admiration of the people around him.

"Brother, Father is waiting for us inside the palace, and the other brothers are there too." Magnus led Hogg and the others toward the palace, explaining the architecture of Terra to the two who had never been there.

The golden palace sat on the spine of the Himalayas, with marble-paved floors extending to the horizon. Even from space, one could spot this greatest landmark of humanity at a glance.

Magnus pointed to the building emitting golden light and said: "Brother, this is the beacon of humanity, the foundation of Imperium—the Astronomican. Our father built it to provide direction for human ships traveling in the Warp."

Seeing the Astronomican for the first time, Hogg felt a massive surge of psychic energy. He knew of the Astronomican, but he hadn't expected it to be so immense.

The entire palace unfolded around the golden pillar of light, illuminating everything in gold. To be honest, having been beaten by Emperor too many times, Hogg felt a bit nauseated seeing gold; he felt Terra was inferior to Alicia.

"Alright, Little Magnus, take me to see our father. I will have plenty of time to visit here later, and I will look for you to explain things then."

"Very well, brother. Also, my name is Magnus."

The proud Magnus did not feel offended by Hogg's form of address; after all, according to Perturabo, this brother of his did not understand etiquette, and he quite liked the nickname 'Little Magnus'.

Following Magnus, the two finally arrived at the gate of the palace.

Under the high-hanging moonlight, they saw three Adeptus Custodes wearing very little fabric standing guard at the door. The light emitted by the Astronomican shone on their bronze skin, reflecting an oily sheen. This sight made Magnus, who had been in high spirits, shut his mouth.

A strange, impassioned piece of music drifted from the sky, and the three of them struck very arrogant poses as they opened the gate.

Not knowing if it was a Terran custom, Angron asked: "Magnus, why are they not wearing clothes and why is there a layer of oil on their bodies?"