Iax took control of the Machine Body that had just landed, and his arrival was soon met with a reception.
Although the danger posed by the artificial sun had been dealt with, the impatient temperament forged over countless years would not simply disappear.
When Valentin returned from the Starport to the surface with a group of Sages and found Iax, a large crowd of Priests was escorting Iax toward the largest factory workshop on Lucius.
There were clear distinctions among the Tech-Priests, whose insignia differed.
The Priests with special insignia clearly held more authority than the others. They belonged to the Collegia Titanica.
Compared with the Adeptus Mechanicus of a Forge World itself, the Collegia Titanica was a rather unusual organization.
Although both fell under the Adeptus Mechanicus, its independence was entirely different from that of the local Adeptus Mechanicus.
All its Priests were elite members selected from branches of the Adeptus Mechanicus across different worlds.
Furthermore, the Collegia Titanica could independently answer the Imperium's calls to war and decide when and where to deploy these incarnations of the Omnissiah's wrath.
The divine machines would punish all enemies of the Imperium and unleash the Omnissiah's wrath upon them.
At present, however, the chief Sage of the Lucius Adeptus Mechanicus and many high-ranking members of the Collegia Titanica were away from the planet.
They had left several months earlier in response to Cawl's request.
Valentin had never thought much of these so-called elites, even if they possessed just a little more knowledge, perhaps had just a little more skill than ordinary Priests, and perhaps contributed just a little more to the Omnissiah.
But Valentin had always felt that the members of the Collegia Titanica were far more arrogant than he was.
This left the old Sage, who had been arrogant his