PART 7

THE SQUATS

Early historical records speak of the Squat Leagues, a sprawling collective of abhuman dominated empires that occupied the core regions of the galaxy. More recent official documents do not mention them, and the few which include any reference at all claim they were all eaten by the Tyranids. The facts, however, are very different. In the early years of the Great Crusade, the Emperor’s forces encountered stiff resistance upon encountering Squat dominated worlds, and was forced to offer these populations autonomy just as the Mechanicum was granted.

Mechanicum, 2008, Graham McNeill

“It… was not a ritual in the sense that we feared it would be.” He rose to his feet as he continued. “A tedious recital of ancient texts. Prayers to spirits of ancestors. Dances, drums and herbal narcotics.” The Horus Heresy, volume XIV, The First Heretic, p331

Although the Leagues were each independent, they formed a lose confederacy that banded together against their common enemies. The Emperor realised that a war with the Squat Leagues would be one of brutal attrition and bitter stalemate, and ultimately weaken both factions and leave them susceptible to the predations of common xenos threats. Besides, the squats were originally human, and retained enough stable genetic material and ideals to be offered a place in the Imperium.

Administrators from the Council of Terra had postulated that perhaps the Laer could be made a protectorate of the Imperium, since conquering such an advanced race could prove a long and costly endeavour. The Horus Heresy, volume V, Fulgrim, p28

Some xenos species, particularly those the Emperor’s forces could not eradicate at a particular time, were offered a place within the Imperium as a protectorate. The arrangement allowed the Great Crusade to deal with problems that were more pressing before returning at a later time to deal with those with which they had come to such an arrangement. The Squats were a very different situation. They possessed technology more advanced than that of the Mechanicum, were happy to trade and form an alliance with the Imperium, and practised religious rites based on ancestor worship that did not violate the terms of Compliance.

When the Home Worlds were rediscovered, the Imperium readily returned the Squats back into the fold.  Through several millennia of isolation, the Squats had developed a strong sense of independence and developed a series of mutual defence and trading leagues. In view of the mineral resources and STC materials on the Home Worlds, the Administratum was content to offer the Squats a larger degree of autonomy than normal.  Much in the same way as the Knight worlds are simply traded with and expected to supply warriors, so the Squats remain a self-governing league of worlds within the Imperium.  White Dwarf, volume 127, p56

The conflict with the Squats had been averted, but not permanently. There was tension between the Squat Guilds and Mechanicum. The Mechanicum demanded access to the technology of the Squat Guilds, claiming this was theirs by right of simply being the Mechanicum. The Squat Guilds refused, claiming their technology was theirs alone, and the Mechanicum could not lay such claims. It was a dispute that could only end in open hostilities and conflict, something that would tear the Imperium apart in bloody civil war.

THE GUILDS   When their civilisation was isolated from the rest of human space the Squats found it necessary to preserve the engineering skills and knowledge they possessed for future generations. Their lives depended upon maintaining their Strongholds, generating air and food, and defending their worlds from attack. To this end they evolved a complex system of Guilds. The Guilds drew together all the information and knowledge available and set about recording it for future generations. As the years passed the Guilds became the repositories of knowledge, and Guild training produced all the engineers, miners, and other specialists vital to keep the Strongholds running. With the passage of centuries the Guilds spearheaded research into alternative technologies and invented many of the machines that remain unique to them. The Guilds extend across all Strongholds and Leagues allowing information to spread throughout the Homeworlds.  Initially this was necessary because knowledge and specialist skills were scattered throughout the Homeworlds and had to be drawn together just to enable the Strongholds to survive. As the Guilds developed, they sought to maintain the free passage of information despite the rivalries of individual Homeworlds. Today the Guilds have become the common factor that unites all the Strongholds, enabling each to benefit from advances in technology and discoveries of ancient knowledge. Although individual Squat Guildsmen are loyal to their own Stronghold they also owe loyalty to their Guild and to the dissemination of knowledge. The Guild has succeeded in developing several technologies which are exclusive to the Squats, and are not even understood by the Technomagi of the Adeptus Mechanicus on Mars. These include the neoplasma reactor powered by a warp-core and held in thrall by a zero-energy containment field. No other race has developed this technology, and the Adeptus Mechanicus gave up their experiments with warp-cores after the infamous Contagion of Ganymede. The Squats have mastered many other technologies, and have developed still others which they consider too dangerous to use. Although the Guild makes its discoveries available to its own members it keeps its knowledge from other races. In particular the Squats regard the Technomagi of the Adeptus Mechanicus as little better than sorcerers wallowing in superstition and ignorance. This is not entirely true, but the Squats have a practical and straightforward attitude to technology which is very different from the neo-arcana of the Imperium. THE 700 LEAGUES Although each Squat stronghold is independent they have developed relations with each other.  Some strongholds have been allied for thousands of years, and interchange of peoples and cultures has made them virtually one nation. Others are loosely federated to their neighbours and share the duty of patrolling local space and defending outlying planets against the Orks and Chaos. These alliances are usually formed for defence or trading purposes, but they also define power blocks within the Homeworlds, where the most powerful rivals gather together the other Strongholds into mutually supportive Leagues. Each league is led and dominated by a single powerful Stronghold, and includes other Strongholds which either rely upon their leader for trade and defence, or which identify themselves with their League on cultural or historic grounds. There are currently approximately 700 Leagues in all, the most powerful being the influential League of Thor which includes 300 Strongholds. The other Leagues are less powerful, and the smallest is the League of Emberg which lies close to the Eye of Terror and includes only four Strongholds. Other Leagues include the League of Kapellar, which is actually the largest in size, and the League of Norgyr which lies closest to Earth. Although these Leagues, and many others, are permanent institutions, others represent looser or temporary alliances between Strongholds. The total number of Leagues therefore varies, but the most influential remain fairly constant and form the largest united political institutions of the Squats. Codex: Imperialis, 1993, pp71-3

The arrangement with the Squat Leagues appears to have occurred in the early stages of the Great Crusade, and provided the Emperor with a huge leap forward in his plans. The Squat Leagues occupied and controlled a vast area of the galaxy, adding these to the Imperium without requiring the expenditure of time and resources better invested in other objectives. But there is also another incident that occurred around this time that raises several interesting questions, and may explain the change in attitude toward the Squats.

The first of the unrecorded Primarchs was reunited with the Emperor around 830M30. This Primarch may have been located somewhere in the Squat Leagues, most likely the League of Thor given it was the most powerful. The presence of a Primarch could explain how it was able to expand and become so dominant. The presence of a Primarch would have also been instrumental in any arrangements made with the Emperor concerning the role of the Squat Leagues in the Imperium, including their continued autonomy.

THE AURETIAN TECHNOCRACY

In one of the more inexplicable incidents in the closing stages of the Great Crusade, Warmaster Horus travelled to the Auretian Technocracy with his Legion and then, despite having no reason to do so, initiated hostilities. It was strange because the Auretian Technocracy not only seemed aware of the existence of the Emperor and his plans to unite Mankind under his rule, but willing more than willing to submit his rule. More so given that Horus also seemed well aware of their existence.

Before the fighting on Davin, the Warmaster’s fleet had been en route to Sardis and a rendezvous with the 203rd Fleet. The plan was to undertake a campaign of compliance in the Caiades Cluster, but instead of keeping that rendezvous, the Warmaster had sent his compliments and ordered the 203rd’s Master of Ships to muster with the 63rd Expedition in a binary cluster designated Drakonis Three Eleven. The Warmaster told no one why he chose this locale, and none of the stellar cartographers could find reports from any previous expedition as to why the place might be of interest. Sixteen weeks of warp travel had seen them translate into a system alive with electronic chatter. Two planets and their shared moon in the second system were discovered to be inhabited, glinting communication satellites ringing each one, and interplanetary craft flitting between them. More thrilling still, communications with orbital monitors revealed this civilisation to be human, another lost branch of the old race – isolated these past centuries. The arrival of the Crusade Fleet had been greeted with understandable surprise, and then joy as the planet’s inhabitants realised that their lonely existence was finally at an end.  The Horus Heresy, volume II, False Gods, p338-9

Although nowhere near as expansive as the Squat Leagues, the worlds of the Auretian Technocracy were more significant because they appeared to be a lost Forge World with working STCs that produced power armour and bolt weapons, and soldiers that appeared very similar in nature to Legion Astartes. As part of the Mechanicum, there would be no conflict over access to this technology as there was with the Squat Guilds, but Emory Salignac was only a Consul, which raises questions about the actual ruler of the Auretian Technocracy.

The human worlds discovered by the Tech-Priests retained little of their old technology. They had devolved into feudal states ruled by aristocratic nobles who welcomed the Tech-Priests as long awaited saviours. The Tech-Priests settled among these feudal empires, or Knight Worlds, choosing planets that were mineral rich where they could rebuild their industries. They established contact with the Knights, trading with their worlds and investigating the ancient ruins where surviving technology could still sometimes be found. The Knights provided manpower and security against enemies such as marauding Orks and land-hungry Eldar exodites. In return the Tech-Priests provided technical expertise and help rebuilding their planets. White Dwarf, volume 178, p47

The ruler of a Forge World held a rank equal to an Imperial Commander or Planetary Governor. The exact title of the individual would depend upon the Forge World in question. On Ryza the ruler is known as the Hierophant Technis, while Antioch Majoris is ruled by the Gnostarch, and on Tigrus the population is ruled by the Fabricator Potentate. The title of Fabricator Consul, however, is not that of a supreme ruler.

“I am Emory Salignac, Fabricator Consul of the Auretian Technocracy. On behalf of my people, may I be the first to welcome you to our worlds.” The Horus Heresy, volume II, False Gods, p345

In the ancient Roman Republic, a Consul was one of two supreme elected magistrates, an agent of State in a foreign city. Fabricator Consul, therefore, suggests Emory was someone assigned to the Auretian Technocracy by a higher power not of the Auretian Technocracy itself, and in this case it could not be the Fabricator General of Mars. The Mechanicum, it seems, was unaware of the presence of functioning STCs on these worlds.

“Close on them!” ordered Loken as the frontal assault ramps lowered and the Brotherhood warriors within charged out. The first few times Loken had fought the Brotherhood, he’d felt a treacherous hesitation seize his limbs, but nine months of gruelling campaigning had pretty much cured him of that. Each warrior was armoured in fully enclosed plate, silver like the knights of old, with red and black heraldry upon their shoulder guards. Their form and function was horribly similar to that of the Sons of Horus, and though the enemy warriors were smaller than the Astartes, they were nevertheless a distorted mirror of them.  The Horus Heresy, volume II, False Gods, p341

It can, therefore, only be concluded that these worlds were part of the Auretian Technocracy, something larger in scale, yet still aware of the Imperium and awaiting contact. It would appear that the Auretian Technocracy had made its component worlds aware of the Imperium, but either it, the Emperor, or one or more Primarchs involved in bringing the Auretian Technocracy to Compliance had failed to share the news of their functioning STCs with the Mechanicum. Someone, it seems, was keeping secrets.

Horus Rising, 2006, by Dan Abnett

The Auretian Technocracy not only had the ability to produce power armour and bolt weapons, but Brotherhood troops appeared to be almost a match for the XVI Legion. Although the official account of the conflict did not confirm it, there is a very real possibility Brotherhood troops were gen-bulked, gene-hanced, or could have even been the biological equivalent of the Legion Astartes, albeit a smaller version. The combination of these factors raises a particularly interesting possibility – the Auretian Technocracy could have been the adopted home world of the second unrecorded Primarch, one with astonishing knowledge of biology and genetics.

His gaze hardened as his eyes alighted on the sketches over Perturabo’s shoulder, and the Lord of Iron knew exactly what Fulgrim was going to say before he said it. “How did you get those drawings?” “Which ones?” “The gruesome ones,” said Fulgrim, “the ones that look like…” “Primarch anatomy? You know how I got them.” Fulgrim nodded and an ugly expression of bitter jealousy clouded his features. “I remember little of the time before our scattering,” said Fulgrim with a dismissive shrug. “You remembered enough to pass on something to your fleshsmith.” “Fabius?” said Fulgrim. “No, I gave him nothing except permission to explore to the furthest of his knowledge.” “Really? You told him nothing?” “Well, I may have pointed him in certain directions,” admitted Fulgrim, “but the work he has done is all his own.  Admittedly, what he has manufactured so far leaves something to be desired, but no great art is ever achieved without effort and blood.” The Horus Heresy, volume XXIII, Angel Exterminatus, p347

This idea may even be supported by an entry in The Horus Heresy series that details a discussion between the Primarchs Fulgrim and Perturabo, one in which they discuss schematic drawings of Primarch physiology which (it would appear) Perturabo shouldn’t have, and certain activities conducted by Fabius Bile that involve certain knowledge he should not know about. Given both Primarchs and their Legions were involved in a conflict with a culture known as the Badoon, it adds circumstantial evidence to the theory. 

Although the official records of the conversation between Corax and the Emperor when they first met has often been interpreted as a discussion concerning the absence of the two unrecorded Primarchs, the reluctance of the Emperor to discuss the two missing Primarchs has been attributed as a reference to Alpharius and another who had not yet been discovered. If the Emperor had been referring to the unrecorded Primarchs, however, it would indicate that he knew of Alpharius almost thirty years before he was reunited with the Emperor.

“Yes, you have brothers,” said the Emperor, smiling at his son’s delight. “Seventeen of them. You are primarchs, my finest creations.”  “Seventeen?” Corvus asked, confused.  “I remember that I was number nineteen.  How can that be so?” The Emperor’s expression grew bleak, filled with deep sorrow.  He looked away as he replied. “The other two,” he said.  “That is a conversation for another day.” The Horus Heresy, volume XVIII, Deliverance Lost, pp247-8

Given his psychic connection to the Primarchs, one used to locate and recover them, the second interpretation seems far more likely than the first. This would mean that the two unrecorded Primarchs had met whatever fate befell them before Corax had been reunited with the Emperor. The timing of the second unrecorded Primarch being located would, therefore, have most likely occurred sometime between 934 and 952 M30. It would appear this period also coincides with the absence of a great deal of historical records, so is likely to be the beginning of whatever it was that led to the two unrecorded Legions being disbanded.

He passed the Temple of the Frictionless Piston, where Adept Herysto developed technologies plundered from the Yndonesic Bloc a hundred years ago, when Mars had been at war with Terra. The Horus Heresy, volume XXII, Shadows of Treachery, p174

There are some obscure, often overlooked, references that appear to support the theory that whatever fate ended the relationship between the two unrecorded Primarchs and the Emperor was linked to internal conflict between Imperial forces and the Mechanicum. There are at least two accounts that refer to war between Terra and Mars in the middle of the Great Crusade, placing this conflict around 900M29. There is also a cryptic reference to it being a ‘chaotic time’, lending support to the idea it involved the manipulations of the Chaos powers.

The priests of the red planet had been the enemies of Terra two generations ago, and my grandfather, a lapidary with exquisitely long fingers who fashioned incredible bracelets and neck ornamentation in the style of Ascalon’s Repousse and chasing, still held grudges from that chaotic time.  The Horus Heresy, volume XXII, Shadows of Treachery, pp272-3

A third account also seems to support the assertions that there was a conflict in the Sol System where factions rebelled against the Emperor. Once again, it also presents what appears to be evidence that the Space Marines were present long before the Great Crusade began. It is a simple sentence comprised of only eleven words, yet conveys a great deal. Captain Iago of the Imperial Fists was present during the “first pacification of Luna.” It was an incident that seems likely to have occurred at the time of the Unification Wars, before the Great Crusade began, but suggests there was another – that there was rebellion and further pacification was required. 

Some were old, their faces lined and scarred; others seemed young, though they were not. There was Pertinax, watching me with green machine eyes. Beside him walked Cazzimus, who had held the towers of Velga for six months. There Iago, who had fought in the first pacification of Luna.  The Horus Heresy, volume XXII, Shadows of Treachery, p26

THE BADOON

One of the earliest records of the Great Crusade involves the defeat of a foe known only as the Badoon. The nature of this enemy has never been revealed, only that it required the strengths of the Emperor’s Children, Iron Warriors, Imperial Fists and Lunar Wolves to overcome. Fulgrim and the Emperor’s Children were still attached to the Lunar Wolves at this time, their Legion still suffering from whatever genetic flaw prevented them from increasing their strength and campaigning on their own, but the combined strength of the four Legions and the reports of the incident would indicate their foe was formidable.

Prospero Burns, 2011, Dan Abnett

The conflict with the Badoon ended on Schravann when the Iron Warriors stormed the final refuge of their foes, breaching the defences and holding the position while the other three Legions entered the city beyond to crush the last resistance. Defeated or not, their foe managed to hold three of the most impressive Legions at bay for as long as they had, and one of those was led by a Primarch considered the foremost expert in offensive siege warfare. Despite the epic nature of the conflict, nothing else of the Badoon is recorded.

The name of the world would suggest it was home to a human population, but it was also referred to as the final refuge of the Badoon. The Badoon may have simply been a local resistance movement but the absence of further data concerning a conflict of this magnitude suggests something more. It is tempting to think the Badoon may have been a xenos species, but it is also possible this was the name of one of the smaller Squat Leagues or even a renegade faction of the Mechanicum.

“The Emperor will have no choice but to make an example of him.” “What does that mean?” “You know what that means.” “No, I don’t,” said Kai. “Tell me.” “It will mean the Wolves will be loosed again.”  The Horus Heresy, volume XVII, p172

The few references to the fate of the two unrecorded Legions suggest that the VI ‘Space Wolves’ Legion were involved in their suspected demise, and official records include two dates listing two campaigns involving their Legion (965 and 969 M30), both of which were expunged. This assumption fails to take into account the number of incidents that would have been expunged, for a variety of reasons, and that the Space Wolves were not the only ones that were referred to as Wolves.

It is entirely possible that the reference to Wolves referred to both the Space Wolves and Lunar Wolves. There may also be other factors involved. If the Space Wolves were responsible for the fate of the unrecorded Legions, it does not necessarily mean they accomplished the entire duty on their own. If the unrecorded Primarchs were linked with the Squat Leagues and Mechanicum, their personalities would have been shaped by these cultures.

“I know of the Mechanicum’s quest for the ancient knowledge. Fully functional construct machines would be quite a prize, would they not?” “Beyond imagining,” admitted Regulus. “To rediscover the thinking engines that drove humanity into the stars and allowed the colonisation of the galaxy is a prize worth any price.” “Any price?” asked Horus. “These machines will allow us to achieve the unimaginable, to reach into the halo stars and perhaps even other galaxies, said Regulus. “So yes, any price is worth paying.” The Horus Heresy, volume II, False Gods, pp362-3

Tensions over access to technology would draw both Primarchs into potential hostilities, and potential stalemate because the Squat Leagues could call on a Primarch to support their cause. This would have ended if another had been discovered within the culture of the Mechanicum. If the Mechanicum and Squat Guilds were both able to call on the support of a Primarch, the ideological tensions between the two cultures would have escalated.

The rivalry between the Primarchs could not have helped diminish tensions between these two factions, and it would only have been a matter of time before tensions escalated to conflict and full-scale civil war. The factions could also call on the aid of a Primarch whose loyalties to the Emperor would be tested by their loyalties to their adopted cultures, and both Primarchs led a Legion that could help resolve the situation as they saw fit. Assuming these theories about the two unrecorded Primarchs were accurate, this situation could explain a great deal. 

“Woe betide he who ignores my warning or breaks faith with me.  He shall be my enemy, and I will visit such destruction upon him and all his followers that, until the end of all things, he shall rue the day he turned from my light.”  The Horus Heresy, volume XII, A Thousand Sons, p356

Under these conditions, the Emperor would have ordered the two unrecorded Primarchs to restrain their adopted home cultures and restore Compliance. The Squat Leagues would not submit to Mechanicum demands or allow the attack to go unavenged, and the renegade faction of the Mechanicum would not back down until the Squats submitted to their demands. The two Primarchs would have defended their adopted cultures with every means available including technology and their Legions, and this is where the corruption would have occurred.

Henceforth no man shall set foot upon the world, and all around shall be set sentinels to ward away unwary spacecraft. We must accept that this place is lost to us forever, and is now the eternal habitation of abomination. Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook, 2nd Edition, 1993, p17

The Contagion of Ganymede was a demonstration of what could happen if the Mechanicum over-reached and meddled in technology they did not understand. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, some sources claim that the Squat Guilds provided the Mechanicum free access to their technology. But if this were true, then Imperial space vessels would use neoplasma reactors powered by a warp-core and held in thrall by a zero-energy containment field. Clearly, they do not, and it seems likely that efforts by the Mechanicum to develop it, or even reverse-engineer Squat variants, failed with spectacular results. 

The exact timing of the destruction of Ganymede, the nature of the ‘contagion’, and details of the experiment leading to the incident is unrecorded, but raises some disturbing possibilities that might explain what happened to the unrecorded Primarchs. The few references to them are always spoken in hushed tones, the mere mention of them or their Legions prohibited. The penalties for violating the Emperor’s edicts was demonstrated by the persecution of the Thousand Sons. If those brief comments on the matter were any indication, it was not the first time this had occurred. But if what Horus and the other traitors had done did not result in their records and every trace of them removed from sight, then what their two unrecorded brothers had done must have been far worse.

PART 6

PART 8