As humanity's most powerful weapons of war, the Iron Men, whether loyal to the Gold Men technological collective or the human resistance, were, in the broader sense, loyal to humanity.
To erase that lost history, everyone believed that the Iron Men had betrayed humanity—that these intelligent machines had stabbed their creators in the back. The Imperium's Scarlet Accords of the Red Line strictly restricted all research into and use of artificial intelligence.
Humanity spoke of Abominable Intelligence with dread, to the point where nearly everyone believed it deserved death.
Yet the Emperor said that this was not the truth, but another lie.
"This was necessary, Lox. Over the long years, the malignant entities of the Warp have constantly corrupted artificial intelligences. Perhaps the vast majority remained loyal, but we could not gamble on those odds. Some artificial intelligences truly were corrupted and fell."
"We could accept the Imperium's extreme inefficiency. We could accept it making basic mistakes. But we could never permit artificial intelligence to betray us, because we no longer had the strength to withstand another true Iron Men rebellion."
The Emperor's words plunged Lox into thought. He was speaking the truth. During that war, loyal Iron Men had still helped humanity. But what about now? What could the Imperium use to fight an Abominable Intelligence that had truly grown powerful?
Rely on mortals wielding entrenching shovels and lasguns?
Iron Men that could use any material in the physical universe to proliferate could, under ideal conditions, expand exponentially. Their expansion and self-replication were even more terrifying than those of Greenskin Orks, and the threat they posed was far greater.
Yet Lox still wanted to fight for it. Artificial intelligence was so dangerous, but it was also so important.
"I used the Necrons' Blackstone matrix to establish an anti-Warp field