[Classified Archive: The {REDACTED} Founding]
[Location: Ingulaba]
[Time: {REDACTED}]
...
Ingulaba, a dead world devoid of all signs of life, had drifted through the void in solitude for countless millennia.
But today, the silence of this star-bound land was broken.
As a bizarre energy field raged across the empty sea of stars, a massive cruiser painted in gray-black emerged from a frenzied and unnatural vortex.
The moment it appeared in realspace, the twisted entities clinging to its void shields let out soul-piercing shrieks before being annihilated in the transition between the unreal and the real.
"Lord Inquisitor, we have arrived at Ingulaba."
"The Navigator says we arrived two standard Terran months earlier than estimated."
On the bridge, a Sister of Silence wearing golden power armor reported in sign language.
Standing before her was a tall and imposing back.
He wore red-and-black battle armor, and the crimson cloak behind him moved even without wind. A terrifyingly sharp aura filled the air around him.
The Lord Inquisitor gave a slight nod, and his voice carried unquestionable authority.
"You will descend with me... inform the others that the Black Ship is only here for temporary resupply."
"All personnel involved in handling the transport craft's landing and departure are to be quarantined immediately. Once I return to the Black Ship, they are to be purged on the spot..."
"Everything is for the Imperium."
...
Stepping out of the transport craft, the Lord Inquisitor raised his head beneath the protection of an iron halo and surveyed the silent world before him.
Behind him, the Sister, now wearing a tactical helmet and carrying the Inquisitor's hammer, expressed her dissatisfaction.
"You come here as the representative of the God-Emperor's will. Why were you not greeted?"
The Lord Inquisitor shook his head.
"This visit from the Inquisition was not announced to the Magi beforehand. The fact that they did not shoot our Black Ship out of orbit with macro-cannons is already the highest respect they could show the God-Emperor's will."
Stepping over heavily silicified ground, the two slowly walked toward the base of an enormous mountain.
The Lord Inquisitor reached out and felt along the rock wall for a while. Once he found the right spot, he took out a specially prepared technopriest gauntlet and waved it before him.
In the next moment, patterns like shattered glass spread across the empty air, then exploded outward. At the foot of what had appeared to be nothing but a pile of jagged rocks, an unimaginably massive blast door suddenly revealed itself.
The Lord Inquisitor said nothing and simply stood there in silence before the gate.
After a long while, the blast door slowly opened, but only enough to reveal a gap wide enough for a single person to pass through.
Faced with this, the Lord Inquisitor remained motionless.
After another stretch of silence, the blast door finally seemed to relent and opened all the way, revealing a deep tunnel that led to an unknown destination.
Only then did the Lord Inquisitor stride forward into it with the Sister.
As they walked through the flickering tunnel, an inexplicable sense of oppression settled over the Sister.
It was a nauseating aura that instinctively made her want to retch, and it stirred an equally instinctive anger in her heart.
"You felt it too?"
A grave look appeared in the Lord Inquisitor's sharp, eagle-like eyes.
"It seems the intelligence was correct. Our friends in the Mechanicus are researching something rather unpleasant."
They had no idea how long they had walked when, just as they began to wonder whether the tunnel even had an end, a second giant blast door appeared ahead.
And waiting before it was a red-robed Magos holding a mechanical staff, accompanied by seven priests.
When the two sides closed to within five meters, a faint blue light flashed in the Magos's augmetic eye, and a static-laced synthetic voice emerged from the cluster of mechadendrites around his mouth.
"Praise the Omnissiah. Welcome, Great Inquisitor of the Human Emperor."
"Praise the God-Emperor. I am pleased to meet you, Magos of the Machine God."
After the brief formalities, the Lord Inquisitor explained his purpose.
"The Inquisition has heard that the Adeptus Mechanicus is preparing for an entirely new Founding. We thank you for your service to the Imperium."
"However, we have heard certain troubling rumors..."
"Certain signs have led us to suspect that this Founding may contain something intolerable..."
"Heresy."
The moment he said that, the Lord Inquisitor seized the Inquisitor's hammer from the Sister's hands and slammed it heavily into the ground.
"Is that true, Magos?"
Seeing the killing intent in the Lord Inquisitor's eyes, the Magos's augmetic eye flickered red for the briefest moment.
Then he slowly explained,
"We merely wish to transform the Imperium's demigod warriors into more perfect forms."
"By the Omnissiah, the weakness of their flesh causes the flaws within their gene-seed to greatly impair their combat effectiveness."
"We only seek to correct those flaws through an entirely new line of thought..."
"Please allow me to show you the fruits of our research."
With that, the Magos raised his staff, and the machine spirit of the blast door obediently opened the heavy gate at once.
Entering a laboratory filled with vats of cultivated flesh, the Magos walked to a massive cogitator. After communing with its machine spirit, he displayed seven top-secret files before the Lord Inquisitor.
"Praise the Omnissiah. These are the seven brand-new demigod Chapters we have already designed."
"Each one has been properly improved upon the original gene-seed stock... though we did indeed take a small amount of inspiration from... their designs."
"But observe. We have enhanced the bone growth capacity of the Sons of the Salamander, granting them the strength to grow dragon claws..."
"We are committed to eliminating the blood thirst and black rage of the Angel's sons, and we have achieved remarkable results..."
"...In addition to these, we also possess our greatest concept of all."
For some reason, the Magos's otherwise flat mechanical voice now carried unmistakable excitement.
"Because the Emperor's children are male, the demigods can only be created from human male adolescents."
"However, through an STC, we have found the possibility of creating female demigods."
"We plan to search for suitable candidates during the selection process for these seven Chapters. If successful, then gender will no longer hinder the birth of Astartes."
The Lord Inquisitor silently examined the data, several complicated emotions flashing through his eyes.
At last, he took a deep breath and said,
"I hope this is the full extent of your research..."
"On behalf of the Inquisition, I approve this Founding."
The Magos gave a slight nod.
"Praise the Omnissiah. Praise the Human Emperor."
...
After the Lord Inquisitor's Black Ship departed, the Magos quietly opened a hidden portal.
Inside, three giant incubation chambers stood in silence.
Within them lay three abnormally large, perfectly formed men, their eyes closed as they rested.
And on the screen of the nearby cogitator, a single line of text flashed into view:
[New Humanity Project]
(End of Chapter)
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