The people of this peripheral region called Faya had enjoyed a long, lasting peace for hundreds of years.
They lacked the desperation that would drive them into a corner to seek salvation from a deity.
The Ecclesiarchy also had no intention of stepping up their missionary efforts here.
Very few cathedrals had been built, which led to a diversification of ideological ethics.
Both the Omnissiah and the Imperial Truth had their own follower bases, rather than a uniform “Hail the God-Emperor” like other Imperial colonies.
A diversification of ideologies was not a good thing for the local populace.
Differing concepts meant opposing stances, and the different factions often bickered and fought amongst themselves.
And this was exactly the opportunity Russell wanted to seize.
“I need a faction to follow me.”
“I need them to pledge their loyalty to me, not to the Emperor’s Planetary Governor. I need them to agree with my ideology, rather than worship the Ecclesiarchy or the Omnissiah.”
“So, what is my ideology?”
As the squadron of Grey Tempest strike craft landed on the plaza in front of the Governor’s mansion, Russell walked out of the hatch and looked up at the two moons, one large and one small, hanging in the sky.
He had his answer.
“Dialectical materialism.”
Having determined the path he would take, he also understood what he needed to do next.
“From this perspective, the pursuit of the Imperial Truth faction is closest to my ideology. Winning them over and making some minor ideological corrections is the best choice at present.”
“However, this faction is relatively weak on Faya. If I want to support them, I need to use the Governor’s authority to suppress the Ecclesiarchy. This cannot be done too overtly, otherwise, it will be easy to be branded as a traitor to the Emperor and the Imperium…”
“Under an adequate supply of minerals, building a Cybrex Warform takes 500 Stellaris days. I wonder how long that translates to in Faya days…”
“Before the Warforms are completed, I must act with caution.”
Upon returning to Faya, Russell quickly arranged for his personnel to suppress the public discourse on the planet.
Predictably, the claim of “human heritage from the Golden Age” quickly caused a massive stir among the upper classes.
Among them, the reaction of the Adeptus Mechanicus was particularly intense; their worship of advanced technology had reached a feverish, fanatical level.
The various starports across the planet and the ancient vessels berthed within them had originally been seized by the nobility as private property.
The local Adeptus Mechanicus on Faya, lacking support, had been suppressed for a long time.
But with the liquidation of the nobility, the spacecraft capable of spaceflight destroyed, and a beautiful ancient vessel hovering overhead waiting to be explored…
The fanatical Tech-Priests began working like mad day and night.
Their thirst for knowledge and technology drove them to mobilize all their manpower and material resources, striving to repair the paralyzed starports and the vessels within them.
Several highly respected Tech-Priests requested an audience with the Governor, hoping to obtain permission to study the ancient giant ship.
Naturally, Russell rejected all of these requests.
He publicly announced that he would deliver a global address, and subsequently shut his doors to all visitors.
During the time he spent drafting his speech, the stagnant political landscape of Faya began to liven up.
Upon learning of this, the Ecclesiarchy priests loudly proclaimed that the giant vessel hovering in the heavens was a holy relic passed down from ancient times, belonging to the supreme Emperor of Mankind.
They even held several large-scale sacrificial ceremonies facing the direction of the First Moon.
The underlying implication was self-evident.
After several unsuccessful audiences, the Adeptus Mechanicus began to turn their gaze toward the Grey Tempest strike craft that patrolled the skies above the Governor’s mansion twenty-four hours a day.
Thus, the two factions began to fight both openly and secretly, competing to win over the Planetary Governor who held control over the vessel.
After about a week of such undercurrents, Russell finally emerged from the Governor’s mansion and announced that he would begin his speech today.
Eager to curry favor, the Adeptus Mechanicus had already made ample preparations.
Day and night, they had constructed massive communication arrays in every major city on Faya’s northern and southern continents, allowing Russell’s image to be projected high above the crowds.
Not to be outdone, the Ecclesiarchy used their influence to rally countless miners and peasants into the cities, filling the space beneath every projector.
Under the watchful eyes of the masses, Russell yawned, rubbing his dark eye circles, and began his speech.
The theme of the speech was: “Make Humanity Great Again.”
Rather than a speech, the document in Russell’s hand might be better described as a balancing act manifesto designed to satisfy all parties.
As the speech began, the titan-class warship, which had been hiding on the far side of the First Moon during this period, also sailed into the sky above the planet, silently exuding its immense majesty.
Using the “heritage of the Golden Age of humanity” as his theme and endorsement, Russell began to grandiosely preach about how powerful and glorious the human civilization of the past had been.
To the Ecclesiarchy, he claimed that he had been guided by the Emperor to find the ancient relic that could activate the warship.
He swore to honor the Emperor’s own will, utilizing ancient technology to make humanity great again and return to that glorious era.
To the Adeptus Mechanicus, he expressed his willingness to share the various cutting-edge technologies stored in the warship’s core database, opening up numerous ancient human technological creations and blueprints for them to study and construct.
To the planetary government, he vowed to pioneer more star systems, expand the frontiers of the Imperium, and extend Faya’s authority further, which also meant more administrative positions and larger budget allocations.
To the working masses, he promised to use the grand technology of the ancient creations to increase productivity, ensure bountiful harvests, develop industry, and ensure that everyone could eat and clothe themselves without suffering from poverty and hunger.
As for the Imperial Truth faction, they weren’t mentioned at all.
Ending with “Make Humanity Great Again” and “the Golden Spirit,” Russell concluded the speech that would completely alter the interstellar landscape.
The entirety of Faya fell into a frenzy.
In every city, the same words echoed like a landslide and a tsunami:
“Make Humanity Great Again!”
Representatives of the Ecclesiarchy bishop and the Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus both requested private meetings with Russell immediately after the speech, rushing desperately to the Governor’s mansion to wait.
Russell casually tossed the speech, which was destined to go down in history, into the trash bin, threw on his heavy, ceremonial white robes, and entered the conference room.
The Ecclesiarchy bishop and the representative of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Tech-Priest Gauss, had already been waiting there for a long time.
The three leaders talked through the night in the conference room.
With an efficiency unimaginable to the Administratum, they quickly signed a series of agreements.
These included:
Russell would allow and support the Ecclesiarchy’s priority to evangelize on Faya and in all future star systems he colonized.
He would also accept their nomination of him as a Living Saint—though Russell felt that with his questionable record, he would likely never be officially canonized; it was merely a gesture.
In return, the Ecclesiarchy would fully support his colonization efforts and preach his glorious, righteous image among the faithful.
Russell would hand over some ancient technological artifacts and blueprints to the Adeptus Mechanicus for research as soon as possible.
In return, the Adeptus Mechanicus would pledge their allegiance to him, placing their entire productive capacity at his disposal.
As for these so-called ancient technologies and designs, they were actually a complete tech tree of the Commonwealth of Man, stored within Grey Wind’s primary consciousness.