The Forge World of Portentia had, as always, stood alone. The wisest of the Tech Priests had discerned that they had been separated from the wider galaxy by some cosmological disturbance, 'storms' that had cut off all contact with any world beyond the Larusian System.

The Tech Priests, rulers of the great Manufactorums and disciples of the Machine God who strove to know the divine by searching for knowledge, had long been divided. The prevailing party, led by the Fabricator-General, were known as the Orationes.

Formed from staunch traditionalists, the Orationes represented the traditional way of thinking among the Tech Priests. They believed that the Machine God favoured those who spent their days in prayer and silent reflection, for the secrets of the universe can only be discovered through private contemplation.

Another group, formed from so-called 'new paradigm' members of the Cult Mechanicus, became known as the Exploratores. They believed that, in order to acquire knowledge and properly serve the Omnissiah, one must be willing to leave the confines of their existence and venture out into the unknown in search of new experiences. They argued that one must also be willing to go beyond their own preconceptions and explore varying paths of technological and scientific development. The Exploratores were few, but over time, their numbers steadily grew.

These two groups of Tech Priests often clashed with religious sermons and bolters alike. Their disagreement led to the Portentian Schism, a period of several centuries where the planet's surface became littered with the bloodied corpses of Skitarii and the ruined husks of Titans and Servitors alike.

Both sides saw themselves in the right, and thousands were slain in the religious fervor. Those not aligned with the Exploratores or the Orationes did not take any sides; they were independent, and wanted nothing to do with the bloodshed while continuing to honour the Machine God in their great forges.

This way of life continued for untold decades, with neither side showing any indication of surrender. But then, one day, amidst a field of the dead and broken, a lone Tech Priest happened upon a discovery that would change everything…

Archmagos Lucratio Moran strode through the battlefield, surveying the carnage with his ocular implants, which shined like two aquamarine orbs in the night. They had won the Third Battle of Harshor, but only just.

The vast, expansive plain that stretched across the middle of Portentia's second continent, the Harshor plains had been the sight of several battles in the Schism. This day's battle had been the worst. Thousands of corpses stretched across the plain, wetting the dry, brown land with blood and oil. Atop the fallen Skitarii and Servitors lay the remains of several Titans, the god-machines of the Cult Mechanicus seen as the very embodiment of the Machine God. Their great hulls were blasted apart and rent asunder, having been felled at great cost of lives on both sides.

Lucratio scoffed at the carnage before him. The Orationes had always been the predominant party among the Tech Priests of Portentia, but their dominance was rapidly coming to an end. The Exploratores were gaining momentum every day, and logic told the Archmagos that they would find victory one day.

If only the Fabricator-General and the 'old paradigm' Tech Priests could understand that. And yet, they stubbornly refused, opting to remain on their thrones instead of recognizing progress.

Flanking Lucratio were a pair of Praetorian Servitors, massive cybernetic constructs fashioned from large, vat-grown organic bodies fused into towering mechanical combat platforms. They were potent weapons of war, utilized exclusively for the protection of senior Tech Priests and the most important temples of Portentia.

The pair that accompanied the Archmagos rolled across the corpse-strewn battlefield on large tank treads, bearing deadly autocannons that replaced their arms.

The Tech Priest saw a Skitarii, bearing the symbol of the hooded mechanical skull of the Orationes, reaching out to him. His legs had been blasted off, and he couldn't move. The enemy soldier's head was summarily crushed by one of the Praetorians' treads, and the pair of Servitors proceeded to unleash bursts from their autocannons at fleeing enemy Skitarii.

The ground quaked at Lucratio's feet from the thunderous steps of the Exploratores Titans of Legio Lex. The colossal avatars of the Machine God were accompanied by scores of Skitarii and Secutarii. All of them scoured the remains for surviving enemies.

In this war, mercy was not a luxury, but a liability.

Suddenly, there was a mighty boom in the sky. Lucratio, along with his victorious forces, looked upwards and saw the black, polluted clouds split open as an object fell from the sky. It was wreathed in fiery crimson as it plummeted towards the earth, and Lucratio's implanted logic circuits predicted that it would strike the ground three hundred metres ahead.

"Target identified" one of the Praetorian Servitors stated in its garbled, electronic voice before it and its partner unleashed a barrage from their autocannons at the falling object.

Lucratio zoomed in with his ocular implants, attempting to discern the object's nature when he was suddenly struck with an acute feeling of destiny. The Archmagos felt, with every part of his flesh and implanted tech that this object would alter the fate of Portentia forevermore. Guided by this feeling, he quickly barked an order to the Praetorians in Lingua-Technis, and they promptly ceased firing.

The object did not take long to reach the ground, striking with a mighty crash and pulverizing a large cluster of corpses and forming cracks in the ground.

Lucratio, accompanied as always by the Praetorians, made his way towards the object. When he finally did, he beheld the large crater that had been formed by the crash. The object lay in the centre, and the Tech Priest could now see that it was a large metal capsule with a lid on the front. Above the lid was engraved the numeral II.

He descended into the crater and proceeded to remove the lid with the aid of his three Mechadendrites. Upon gazing inside, he froze.

Within the capsule was an infant child, but it was far from ordinary. The child was perfectly unharmed from the violent impact; in fact, it looked up at Lucratio with shining silver eyes, bearing a curious expression on its face.

The veteran Tech Priest, disciple of the Machine God for the last century and champion of science and reason, found actual tears running down his face. This child was just perfect in every way, and the Archmagos was utterly captivated by it. With a gentleness normally reserved for the most revered machines, he reached in and scooped up the infant.

The child smiled as he held it, and it reached out to grasp the tip of one of his Mechadendrites. It appeared to be studying it, and the Tech Priest truly smiled for the first time in his life.

Welcome, everyone, to my latest fic!

I am currently in a massive Warhammer phase, and the chance to explore the Lost Primarchs was just too good to pass up. This story was partially inspired by The Lost Primarchs, a phenomenal fanfic written by dorawarrior which I HIGHLY suggest you all read (it's actually a fantastic read).

Please review and favourite!