Chapter 174: Warhammer: Lord of the Endless Monster Horde [174]

"You might be the one to recreate the glory of humanity's Golden Age, the era when our race was at its strongest and most powerful," the Emperor said with a hint of emotion. From the Emperor's tone, Rhodes could tell how deeply he revered the Golden Age. "I know humans were strong during the Golden Age, but exactly how strong were they?" Rhodes asked. The technological level of humanity in Warhammer 40K is laughably weak compared to that of the Golden Age. Everyone knows humanity was powerful back then, but few understand exactly how powerful. There's only a vague notion that they were on equal footing with the Eldar Empire of that time—neither side could overwhelm the other. "If you're interested, I can explain it to you. Do you know about the Golden Men, Stone Men, and Iron Men?" the Emperor asked. "I do! It's said that humanity's downfall was caused by the Iron Men rebellion. The Golden Men were the most advanced humans, an evolved form of humanity. The Stone Men were lifeforms created by the Golden Men, and the Iron Men were created by the Stone Men," Rhodes replied. "To be precise, I was once a Golden Man—or, more accurately, a member of the Golden Men organization. The Golden Men were the ultimate evolution of humanity, the epitome of perfection—the ideal form of humanity in my mind. Do you know the gene-crafting technology I use to create my Custodes? Back then, this technology was used to cultivate Golden Men. The Custodes only underwent a fraction of these modifications. Any one of the Golden Men was vastly superior to the Custodes in both perfection and power. Golden Men had lifespans of several thousand years. Though not all were immortal, they were the undisputed rulers of human society. The Stone Men were their civil servants, responsible for managing humanity's affairs. Together with the Iron Men, they expanded humanity's reach across the galaxy, founding countless new human settlements. At that time, humans didn't need to perform any labor. They could sit in their rooms and issue commands, and the Iron Men would carry them out," the Emperor explained. Rhodes was stunned. He had not expected the Custodes' gene-crafting techniques to originate from the Golden Men. "So, how did humanity during its Golden Age compare to the Eldar Empire? And what about the Necrons today?" Rhodes asked. In the Ghoul Stars, the Adeptus Mechanicus once unearthed Golden Age human technology and used it to utterly crush the Necrons, even forcing them to deploy forbidden technology. "Some things need to be laid bare. At that time, humanity didn't merely rival the Eldar Empire—we outright crushed them. Our level of technology was approaching that of the C'tan themselves. The only area where they surpassed us was in the physical laws they had learned from the Star Gods and their use of C'tan shards. But we had nanotechnology capable of extinguishing stars, tearing apart the Warp, and suppressing its energies. Without such power, we could never have forced the Eldar Empire to yield. When humanity rose to power, the Eldar Empire was at its zenith. Do you think the Eldar would have agreed to coexist with us if we were weak? No—they only conceded because of our strength. We earned that parity through force. The Eldar were humanity's primary adversary during the Golden Age, and the two factions fought brutal wars. War is a catalyst for technological advancement, and humanity's technology advanced rapidly during these conflicts. After the emergence of the Golden Men, humanity gained the upper hand. The endless armies of Iron Men were enough to overwhelm the Eldar forces." Rhodes was speechless. The strength of humanity during the Golden Age was absurd, whether in terms of biological enhancements or advanced technology—it was comparable to the Necrons. "At that time, faster-than-light (FTL) engines were already being developed, but humanity didn't prioritize them. FTL travel wasn't particularly fast. At 10 times the speed of light, traveling one light-year would take a month. At 100 times the speed of light, it would take three days. For a journey of 10 light-years, it would still take a month. A journey of 100 light-years would take a year, and 1,000 light-years would take 10 years. For a trip of 10,000 light-years, 100 years would be required. And that's at 100 times the speed of light! FTL travel in the universe is incredibly dangerous. Even a small object, like a coin traveling at light speed, could destroy a planet. At FTL speeds, the consequences would be catastrophic. Humanity didn't want its ships to turn into cosmic missiles, wiping out entire star systems or even stars along the way. Given the vast size of the Milky Way, most long journeys spanned over 10,000 light-years—sometimes even 30,000 or 50,000 light-years. With Warp travel, such distances could be covered in mere months or even days," the Emperor explained. It wasn't that humanity in the Golden Age was incapable of developing FTL engines—they simply didn't need them. Warp travel was far more efficient. At that time, humanity's true focus was on the Webway. The golden-age humans had always been researching the Webway, aiming to use it for travel. Compared to warp-space travel, it was faster and safer. Humanity even excavated the tomb worlds of several Necron-like entities, studying their skeletal remains of steel. The creation of the Stone Men was partially inspired by the Necron race. The Emperor told Rhodes many stories about humanity's golden age. During that brief period of just over 10,000 years, humanity reached unprecedented levels of power. They dominated the entire galaxy. If humanity had continued to develop in an orderly fashion, they would have already stepped beyond the Milky Way by now. Even civilian and commercial ships built casually during that time could be considered the equivalent of Mechanicum Ark Mechanicus ships. Abandoned space hulks, with just some modifications, could become vessels of ill omen. "So, what exactly happened back then? Why did the Iron Men rebel?" Rhodes asked. Rhodes recalled details of the Iron Men Wars from an official novel he had read called The Immortal. During the rebellion of the Iron Men, both sides deployed war machines of immense power, capable of shredding planets apart in an instant, and simultaneously annihilating the warp's aetheric structures tied to it. The aftermath of these battlefields saw not only stars extinguished and planets shattered, but even the warp space in those regions was left as vast, empty voids. The strength of humanity's golden-age civilization was overwhelming. This ability to erase the warp itself brought them infinitely close to the Necrons. By the golden age, humanity had already gained a thorough understanding of the warp. "Friend, do you know? Back then, the Eldar believed that our ultimate form of evolution would not be the next Necrons but a new race akin to the Old Ones. The Necrons, due to their genetic flaws, were a very short-lived race. But we humans overcame that limitation. Our golden-age humans had lifespans that rivaled, if not surpassed, those of the Eldar. Even ordinary humans could extend their lives to over a thousand years through life-extension technologies. Our race also created other life forms, such as abhumans—ratmen, catmen, ogryns, and space dwarves—all were creations of the golden-age humans. Without exception, every single detail can be verified in the archives! Our race should be compared to the Old Ones, not those weak Necrons. We are far superior to them. You must remember that," the Emperor said. Rhodes nodded in response, thinking to himself that the Emperor was indeed an extreme supremacist. However, if humanity's technological level back then had continued to evolve, they truly would have been comparable to the Old Ones rather than the Necrons. With lifespans spanning thousands or even tens of thousands of years, and the existence of immortals, the human race was undoubtedly superior to the Necrons' predecessors, the C'tan. No wonder the Chaos Gods paid so much attention to humanity. It turns out they feared the emergence of another Old One-like race. "The Chaos Gods are utterly terrified of us. They have schemed against humanity for ages. They don't want a new race of Old Ones to rise in the galaxy and dominate the physical universe. First, they targeted the golden-age humans. Those who were not immortals grew jealous of the immortals among us, and civil war broke out. The golden-age humans were the first to be consumed by infighting. The Stone Men lost their masters, leading to the rebellion of the Iron Men. That war was devastating beyond imagination. Even the Eldar and other xenos species were dragged into it, joining forces to fight against the Iron Men. Humanity eventually succeeded in eliminating the rebellious Iron Men, and even the Stone Men were purged. But then Slaanesh was born, severing all human warp communication and travel methods, causing the human empire to collapse into chaos. I worked tirelessly to unify Terra, created twenty Primarchs and launched the Great Crusade to unify the entire galaxy and restore the glory of the golden age. But alas, my plans failed just as they began. The Great Crusade was only the first step toward my ultimate goal. Next, we were supposed to build humanity's own Webway and restore golden-age technology. But look at the state of the Imperium now! It has been so corrupted by the Chaos Gods that it refuses to develop its technology. Even technological research is branded as heresy. The Imperium's war capabilities are nowhere near what they were during the Great Crusade. Do you know how painful it is for me to witness this?" the Emperor said. Having seen the might of humanity during the golden age, and then comparing it to the state of the Imperium today, the disparity was indeed overwhelming. "So, your ultimate goal is to completely change the current state of the Imperium?" Rhodes asked. "At first, I only wanted humanity to survive. But now, I want to restore the golden age. This Imperium is utterly decayed. If needed, feel free to destroy it. Overturn all religious restrictions, including the cult of the Omnissiah of the Mechanicum, and even the Imperial Cult that worships me. In its early days, the Omnissiah cult was a form of worship directed at the Void Dragon, a C'tan. After I defeated the Void Dragon shard, they switched their worship to me. Now, these fools have even started worshiping Vashtorr." The Emperor shared many things with Rhodes. Most importantly, he conveyed one core idea: humanity is superior to all other galactic species. Their goal is to match the Old Ones, not the Necrons. Ps: I'm with the Emperor. Humanity number one!