The other head of the Imperium of Man's Aquila had taken on a wild, grotesque appearance. The Adeptus Mechanicus had been all but destroyed.
The new Machine God had devoured 95% of the Adeptus Mechanicus's members, swallowing their faith, their souls, and what little flesh they had left. The newborn god was ravenous.
The surviving members of the Adeptus Mechanicus had become fanatics. They saw nothing wrong with this at all; instead, they considered it a wonderful thing, a form of ascension.
They had achieved transcendence, escaped the curse of flesh, and become part of the Machine God.
Many of the surviving Adeptus Mechanicus faithful had accepted the new creed, turning from worship of the Trinity to faith in the Machine God himself. Among the Adeptus Mechanicus faithful in the Screw Clan's territory, not a single soul had been eaten.
In a ramshackle Workshop, several Adeptus Mechanicus faithful who had modified their bodies with Ork technology cheered excitedly. First, they had felt a clear response to their prayers to the Machine God. Then they had kindled the spark of life in a body made entirely of machinery.
A strangely shaped robot had come alive.
From that moment on, a new race would be born in the universe of 40k and take the stage. The history books of later ages would record this moment in a chapter titled Dawn of Mechanicals.
On the front line at the boundary between Segmentum Obscurus and Segmentum Solar, the Lord Regent was leading a vast Imperial Fleet against Ghazghkull Thraka's Ork Waaagh! fleet.
The Ork Waaagh! fleet was larger and more numerous, but the Imperium of Man's fleet had better equipment, training, and coordination. Overall, the battle was evenly matched.
Over the past few months, Ghazghkull Thraka had roared orders for his followers to launch