Name: Teyedan
Star System: Ultramar Sector (Far East Sector)
Sub-Sector: Far East Sub-Sector (Imperial Frontier)
Star System: Teyedan System
Population: 30,000,000 / Thirty Million
Affiliation: Imperium
Type: Forge World
Product Level: Class I
Taxation Level: Special Exemption
Great Sage Will's life as the first Overseer Great Sage of Tyeedan Forge World was undoubtedly brilliant and legendary.
As the youngest scion of a noble family born on Macragge, the Ultramarines' homeworld, Great Sage Will's life was undeniably smooth sailing until he failed to be selected as a Space Marine.
Several names on his family's genealogy were even carved onto the walls of the Ultramarines' Hall of Honor, which made Sage Will, who had been educated on family honor since childhood, quite despondent after his rejection.
However, with substantial financial resources and connections, Great Sage Will's parents still arranged his future—an opportunity to become the grand-apprentice of a Great Sage of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
During his studies, Great Sage Will's performance was, compared to his classmates, extremely mediocre; he even earned the nickname 'Stubborn Stone'.
But after he completed his studies in three times the time it took others, and with his parents' financial support, he acquired an exploration vessel, a modified Razor-class frigate, early on, everything changed!
First, he was fortunate enough to unearth several fragmented STC templates from ruins on a remote feral world; upon realizing his knowledge was insufficient to decipher and repair them, Will, then just an ordinary Tech-Priest, displayed a great boldness unlike other Tech-priest who would hoard such findings—he excitedly ran to offer them to his mentor.
The result was support in the form of two more exploration vessels, successfully allowing him to possess a small exploration fleet.
Through this successful experience, Sage Will discovered his strength—he wasn't good at learning knowledge, but he was first-rate at speculation and profiteering!
From then on, Sage Will began his unusual operations, different from other Sages.
In addition to normal archaeological excavations, when encountering relic worlds with tough challenges, Sage Will did not choose to conceal the information and fight another day; instead, he widely issued invitations, calling upon friends while not forgetting to collect an information fee and pre-arranging profit distribution.
When encountering Imperial forces in need of assistance, he actively and generously provided help without endangering himself; of course, the rewards from influential Imperial powers (Space Marine Chapters, Astra Militarum, Rogue Traders, planetary nobles, etc.) were mostly quite pleasing.
He traveled the galaxy, never forgetting to trade local specialties everywhere.
Centuries passed, and Will's title in others' mouths changed repeatedly with the size of his exploration fleet.
Priest Will—Sage Will—Great Sage Will.
Exploration Vessel—Exploration Fleet—Forge Ark.
As time approached the end of the 41st Millennium, Great Sage Will was in the Far East of the Imperium, engaged in combat with the rising blue-skinned xenos known as the Titan Empire.
These blue-skinned xenos possessed several technologies that Great Sage Will believed the plasma-wielding heretics of Ryza and the xenos-tech-studying heretics of Stygies VIII would also appreciate.
Just as his plan was about to succeed, Cadia fell, the Great Rift opened, and the ensuing surging Warp storms nearly caused Great Sage Will to become lost within them.
After enduring immense hardship to emerge, he learned that the Black Legion had surrounded his home, Macragge, vowing to drag his life idol, master of operations, and Ultramarines Primarch—Roboute Guilliman—out of his stasis field to desecrate his corpse.
How could he tolerate this! He rushed towards Macragge, resting and traveling simultaneously, making grand promises and generously distributing supplies to motivate his crew and Tech-priest, not even hesitating to damage his ship's hull to travel at full speed.
The various great treasures secretly hidden within the Forge Ark's secret vault were also ordered by Great Sage Will to be brought out for battle, causing smaller Tech-priest to leak oil in excitement, praising the omnissiah repeatedly.
Upon reaching Macragge, space was already a chaotic mess, and the Black Legion had even landed on the surface, beginning to slaughter Great Sage Will's compatriots.
Seated on the mechanical throne of the Forge Ark, Great Sage Will directly ordered:
"We're not living for tomorrow; blow them to bits!"
Activating his Warp shield, he endured the enemy ships' lance and macro cannon fire, driving the Forge Ark directly into Macragge's low orbit, fiercely engaging the Black Legion's vessels, while not forgetting to conduct orbital bombardments on the traitors on the ground, and simultaneously deploying various ground forces into the chaotic battlefield.
It proved that one should never underestimate the might of a Tech-Priest called a Great Sage, because you never know how many great treasures he hides within his Forge Ark, especially a Great Sage who rose to prominence not through academic prowess but through shrewd operations.
Small vortex torpedoes, neutron beams, gravity bombs, disintegration fields, xenos drones, organized castellan robots, relic-grade single-target teleportation devices, plus what seemed to be out-of-control sentient machines directly boarding enemy ships, and so on.
In any case, the bloodthirsty Great Sage Will had already planned to ram his Forge Ark into the enemy flagship if the situation became irreversible.
Fortunately, the Thirteenth Son of the Emperor, Lord of the 500 Worlds of Ultramar, the Primarch, he has risen again!
The moment he confirmed the truth of the news, Great Sage Will knew one thing: I, the Great Sage, am about to become rich!
Then he learned that the one who resurrected the Primarch was his mentor's mentor, his grand-mentor—Belisarius Cawl.
Oh, ho ho… indeed, loyalty is grace!
After the battle, the loyal old Macraggean—Tydenis Will—was honorably granted a 5-minute audience with the Primarch.
While waiting to be summoned, Great Sage Will didn't forget to flatter his grand-mentor, Great Sage Cawl, kneeling with remarkable smoothness.
This made the other Sages grit their teeth; incidentally, among the many Sages accompanying Great Sage Cawl was Great Sage Will's mentor, whose academic prowess was still several levels above Great Sage Will's, but who had yet to acquire his own Forge Ark.
Of course, Cawl also viewed Will, the fastest-rising and most successful of his many juniors, with considerable admiration, and most importantly, he was extremely loyal.
During the subsequent audience with the Primarch, Will expressed his admiration for the Primarch, the honor of his family, and his profound longing for his homeland, Macragge.
Guilliman expressed great satisfaction that Macragge could produce a talent like Will, and stated that the 500 Worlds of Ultramar were now in ruins and could not reward Will's loyalty, but hoped Will would continue to assist him in his subsequent plans.
Great Sage Will immediately prostrated himself (meaning limbs), presenting a data slate detailing every Throne Gelt in Great Sage Will's pocket, all the great treasures hidden in his vault, the production capacity of his Forge Ark, and the favors owed to him by Imperial dignitaries, and so on.
Will said: Loyalty is the best reward!
Guilliman was very pleased; he personally helped Great Sage Will, who was prostrated on the ground, to his feet, and verbally criticized some clearly heretical great treasures, while stating that Great Sage Will was a selfless and unrequited good comrade, but loyalty must be rewarded, "Roboute always repays his debts."
Later, in several private conversations with Great Sage Cawl, Guilliman repeatedly expressed, "You Tech-priest are truly good at hiding things. What else are you concealing from me, and what great treasures are you hiding? Hand them over quickly; the Imperium's ten-thousand-year reign depends on this battle."
Great Sage Cawl stated that he had survived for ten thousand years as a mortal, had a poor memory, and had forgotten many things, so Guilliman should let him think slowly!
From the reconquest of Ultramar, the launch of the Terran Crusade, to the later Indomitus Crusade and the Plague Wars, Great Sage Will unfailingly followed the Regent's lead and served him diligently.
It was during these continuous wars that Regent Guilliman, in a High Lords meeting, stated that the blue-skinned 'Titan Empire' xenos near his home, the 500 Worlds of Ultramar, were rapidly developing and posed a significant threat; they were no longer ordinary xenos and required a decisive strike!
Other High Lords explained that although the Indomitus Crusade had successfully reclaimed half of the Imperium's territory, to re-establish contact with the Imperium Nihilus and ascertain the situation of the lost other half of Imperial territory, most forces had been committed to the struggle for the Nachmund Gauntlet, while also needing to defend against enemies within existing territories, and urged the Regent to reconsider!
When the Great Rift opened, the Imperium of Man suffered particularly severe blows, with half of the Imperium's worlds cut off from humanity's home planet, and the Emperor's throne of power—Terra. One Imperial world after another was plagued by war, from xenos invasions and heretical uprisings to daemonic incursions, with cries for help echoing across different planets. These planets, once bathed in the Emperor's light, now faced destruction.
For the high-ranking officials of the Imperium who knew what was happening, many questions followed. What lay on the other side of the Great Rift? Did human worlds still exist? Was the immense chain of Warp storms merely a narrow barrier, or the boundary of a storm sweeping across the rest of the galaxy?
The Imperium made desperate efforts to re-establish contact with any lost human worlds. Some of the boldest, and perhaps most reckless, warriors steered their ships directly into the Great Rift, never to be seen again. Efforts to somehow navigate the swirling Warp energies that twisted space and time failed.
Even merely attempting communication, rather than physical contact with Imperial worlds on the other side, invited disaster. Thousands of Astropaths, the psychic messengers of the Imperium, plunged into absolute madness as they tried to force psychic communication through the churning Warp storms, dying miserably in agony.
The most patient Imperial agents searched for a gap in the Great Rift, a passage composed of real space where ships and Astropathic communications might find safe passage. While some apparent routes were discovered, most were confirmed to be temporary and unstable, with only a few viable routes found that could traverse the storm.
The most navigable of these routes was named the Nachmund Gauntlet. It connected the worlds of Cadia, the ruins of Old Cadia, and a world on the other side called Vigil.
It was a narrow passage, but still vast enough to allow two fleets to pass simultaneously without noticing each other.
Planets, moons, and asteroid belts were enveloped within it, occasionally struck by energy storms, and even under the unpredictable wash of Warp tides, worlds near the edge of the corridor were periodically completely engulfed by raging Warp storms.
Countless lives existed within the Nachmund Gauntlet, this ruined region of space having become a gathering place for pirates, traitors, mutants, criminals, exiles, and various Xenos, a truly hostile area.
Although many Imperial worlds still held steadfast to their loyalty to the Imperium, their isolated strength was as faint as a candle flame in a long winter's night.
Hundreds of warbands ravaged this space lane, opportunistic Dark Eldar plundered the weak and the panicked, Greenskin raiders sought the greatest spoils and the best fights, and heretical Astartes established their own heretical empires through terrible massacres.
Pirates of different races fought, enslaved, and traded here, fighting for the highest bidder, many changing allegiance multiple times in a single battle. When a star system was swallowed by the Great Rift, they wandered between orphaned planets, constantly fighting in asteroid mining outposts, on Warp-tainted ships, abandoned satellite clusters, and wreckage fields.
The Primarch, as the most excellent commander, knew better than anyone the importance of the war in the Nachmund Gauntlet, and he also knew how fragile the Imperial Sanctum (the equivalent term for the Imperium's Dark Imperium, referring to reclaimed Imperial territory) was, barely held together by his own efforts.
The Ultramar 500 Worlds must be safe, as the Imperium of Man's last bastion, backup, or even Third Imperium, should everything collapse…
The current situation forced him to prepare for the worst.
These words could not be spoken to anyone; to maintain the fragile balance of the various Imperial factions, no words that might cause them misunderstanding could come from his mouth, the Regent of the Imperium.
Damn it, ten thousand years had passed, and some people still called him ambitious. He was already the Regent; could he really pull the Emperor from the Golden Throne and sit on it himself?
How could the Imperium be managed well with these insects?
Guilliman recalled the news he had recently received about a plague discovered in the Ultramar 500 Worlds, and a bad premonition arose in his heart.
During the meeting, Guilliman and the High Lords constantly shirked responsibility and bickered.
One side argued that the Titan Empire had developed its current technological level in only a few thousand years, posing a potentially huge threat.
The other side stated that, according to the investigation results of an Inquisitor from the Inquisition's Ordo Xenos, the Titan Empire currently possessed only over 4,400 home worlds. Compared to the Great Imperium's million worlds (before the Great Rift), this was a massive difference of forty-four ten-thousandths. The small Xenos were merely a minor affliction, easily eradicated once the Imperium caught its breath.
One side then reiterated that the more time given, the greater the price to pay later.
The other side stated that the Titan Empire was located in the Far East of the Ultima Segmentum, at the fringe of the Astronomican's light. It was already a frontier of the Imperium, with various Xenos emerging endlessly, and the cost of conquering and governing it would be enormous, making it not worth the effort.
At the end of the meeting, Guilliman proposed his pre-planned solution: establishing a joint command in the Far East Sector, led by the Inquisition, the Departmento Munitorum, and the Administratum (liaising with the governors of various human planets), to independently coordinate local personnel and resources to contain all Xenos forces in the Far East region.
At the same time, he requested the Adeptus Mechanicus on Mars to approve and support the establishment of a new Forge World to upgrade the armaments in the Far East region, and the Regent appointed Great Sage Will as the Overseer Great Sage of the new Forge World.
Terra would not incur new financial deficits, the Inquisition, Departmento Munitorum, and Administratum happily received new 'slices of the pie,' Mars expanded the glory of the Omnissiah, and Great Sage Will gained a Forge World; everyone was happy.
So who paid the price?
It didn't matter; Great Sage Will didn't care about these minor issues. He only knew that he was the Overseer Great Sage, in charge of a Forge World. The reward for fawning over the Regent was simply too generous, causing him to often suddenly start giggling to himself for a long time while working.
This also led to the Sages, who were envious and resentful of Great Sage Will, privately referring to him with nicknames such as "Idiot Great Sage," "Regent's Dog," and "Merchant Priest."
You ask if Great Sage Will knew? The answer is yes. This feeling of "they can't get rid of me and still have to work for me" was very good.
There was no other way; his backing was too strong, and he simply couldn't stoop to paying attention to these "low-ranking Priests."
"If you have time to grumble, you haven't reached your limit."
—Teyedan Overseer Great Sage: Tydanis Will
Ultimately, the new Forge World was chosen on a geothermally rich planet in the Far East. Great Sage Will personally melted the surface to drive in the first rivet of the Forge World and named the planet: Teyedan.
The Teyedan system contained one star, three gas giants, and four terrestrial planets, with no habitable worlds. The system was rich in mineral resources, possessing various rare minerals.
Time flew by, and the Imperium of Man remained plagued by disasters. Had it not been for the Emperor's divine power manifesting to burn the Chaos Great Enemy's Plague Garden during the Plague Wars, the Regent himself would have nearly perished.
The good news was that the Nachmund Gauntlet had been cleared, and the divided Imperium of Man was reconnected.
The bad news was that the light of the Astronomican could not reach the Dark Imperium. Human worlds located in the Dark Imperium could not safely undertake Warp travel, and the light-year distances prevented them from communicating or making contact, becoming isolated human worlds, with loyalty and betrayal, destruction and salvation, constantly unfolding in the Dark Imperium.
At the same time, another of the Primarch's brothers was confirmed to have returned: Lion El'Jonson, Lord of the First Legion, the Dark Angels, Lion of Caliban, and Lion of the Imperium, also returned after ten thousand years of disappearance to become the Warmaster of the Imperium, campaigning in the Dark Imperium, bringing hope to desperate humanity and destruction to the enemies of mankind.
Chaos traitors continued to attack the Nachmund Gauntlet, the only stable passage connecting the two halves of the Imperium, attempting to destroy it and cause the Imperium to lose contact again.
Tyranid, Chaos cults, Greenskins, the Titan Empire, and other Xenos rebels and traitors constantly gnawed at the bleeding Imperium…
(Cough, cough… I've strayed too far.)
Back to the present, back to Omega, the half-step Tech-Priest currently riding a Sage.
All the information above was compiled by Omega from listening to Sage Lauster diss Great Sage Will's rise to power on the way, combined with information that popped into his head like triggered keywords and his memories from his previous life.
(The Great Sage, whom Sage Lauster described as shameless, vulgar, and unlearned, was depicted as loyal, majestic, and knowledgeable in the recorded knowledge, truly making it hard to distinguish.)
Omega sighed to the sky: "Too late! I'm too late! The warhammer story is almost at 42K, and all the major events I know are already history. How am I supposed to survive in warhammer now!"