[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-warhammer-starting-as-a-planetary-governor":3,"chapter-warhammer-starting-as-a-planetary-governor-warhammer-starting-as-a-planetary-governor-chapter-717":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Warhammer: Starting as a Planetary Governor",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1681558,2147,"Chapter 717 - 716: Savior: You Haven’t Even Got Your Research License, and You Want to Be a Black-Oil Tech-Priest?!","warhammer-starting-as-a-planetary-governor-chapter-717",717,"\u003Cp>\"By the Machine-Goddess.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What's the point of those studies? It's just a budget scam.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saru shook his head, clearly irritated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This Arch-Savant, born on Stygies VIII and specialized in xenos technology, had never liked the so-called \"two-dimensional\" faction. In his view, they were poisoning the Adeptus Mechanicus from the inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those self-proclaimed innovators not only chased bizarre, attention-grabbing projects, they also periodically uploaded techno-blasphemous images to the Mechanicus forums, seriously damaging the Imperium's moral climate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were corrupting younger tech-priests.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Honestly, they're undermining the Mechanicus at its roots. They don't look like proper tech-priests at all. What future do they have? What results will they ever produce?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saru's tracked mech-legs clattered as his huge mechanical silhouette moved through the lab.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked over the younger tech-priests who were researching quietly and obediently, and nodded with satisfaction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His own people were doing real work, not the flashy nonsense the \"two-dimensional reformists\" loved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saru tapped his mechanical staff and spoke with stern weight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We are the orthodox line of Imperial machine-craft. If anyone becomes obsessed with that so-called 'two-dimensional' stuff, you're finished. Do not expect your papers to receive an excellent evaluation from me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a severe warning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These days, promotion within the Mechanicus was tied directly to academic output and research achievements.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Young tech-priests needed to follow savants and arch-savants into projects, secure resources, and then develop their own work.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without a savant's backing, their future research path would be far harsher than everyone else's.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, if they were dissatisfied with their current mentor, they could try to switch to another savant's patronage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But that was not easy either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Saru's warning, a few young tech-priests quietly deleted certain data. Others discreetly tucked a few badges into the shielding field within their mechanical bodies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some tech-priests even fired off private messages in the forum's encrypted channels, posting long strings of binary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The meaning was unmistakable: rude language, plus references to \"old relics\" and \"ancient machine brains,\" the usual insults.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No question, in the eyes of a portion of the younger tech-priests, Saru was traditional and rigid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saru continued his inspection. He adjusted instrument parameters, broke down overly obscure datasets, and unpacked symbols that would have baffled most initiates.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was providing hands-on technical guidance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the past, arch-savants would have scorned doing such things. They preferred to lock their knowledge in the deepest layers of their data-vaults, let alone personally teach the proprietary techniques that made them valuable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, within the Mechanicus evaluation system, \"lineage transmission\" was also a hard metric.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whether savant or arch-savant, everyone needed measurable teaching contributions, and those contributions were converted into quantifiable resource allotments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The allotments were generous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under those incentives, savants and arch-savants practically wanted to convert every scrap of their knowledge into teaching credit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More credit meant more resources, and more resources meant better research.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So even the most arcane secrets of the Mechanicus were being dragged up from the deepest vaults and fed, bit by bit, into the servo-skulls of young tech-priests.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For the sake of teaching credit, arch-savants even competed for the best students.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That competition often began at the Loyal Scions Academy's Mechanicus division, where outstanding students could receive invitations very early.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Traditionalists like Saru usually did not get the very best students, but they still had far better access than underfunded institutes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For example, the arch-savants studying the T'au had academic status so low they were practically sitting at the children's table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Right now, the hottest field was research into ancient technology, especially anything tied to the Old Ones or the Necrontyr.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That linked directly to the Imperium's newest strategic plans, whether it was building a larger defensive framework, suppressing the warp, or pushing into it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Higher authorities could all sense it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Humanity was about to launch an unprecedented counteroffensive against the enemies of the Imperium.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The final war.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saru possessed deep reserves of xenos-tech expertise, so he had benefited from this shift.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most importantly, he had been granted the chance to come to Vigilus and participate in the analysis of the Necrontyr ancient weapon, the Æonic Orb.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under those circumstances, even if he was strict and old-fashioned, young tech-priests still wanted to follow him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Big projects meant rich resources, and rich resources meant access to the newest machine-arts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if it required living in the lab for years with no rest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saru scolded a few idiots whose progress had fallen behind, then spoke more gently to a handful of promising young savants, advising them to stay far away from \"two-dimensional\" obsessions and not drift into radical academic ideas.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"By the Machine-Goddess.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Our progress is solid. We are not going to lose to that crafty old bastard next door.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After making a full sweep of the lab and pulling the relevant metrics, Saru was broadly satisfied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He returned his massive mechanical frame to the array of a new-pattern contemplator supercompute engine, connected data-cables, and began another round of calculations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At their current pace, he could apply for funding from the Departmento Research before the other arch-savants did.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But not long after, Saru abruptly ended the run and severed the cable connections.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He issued a rapid burst of binharic commands, ordering the lab to prepare the highest standard of reception.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The tens-of-thousands-square-meter research hall became instantly busy. Heavy machinery shifted positions. Menials and apprentices cleaned and reorganized each section. Banners of welcome were hung.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the Savior, the Imperial Emperor, had come to inspect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a priority even above research.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Funding was on the line. They had to leave a good impression on the Savior. If they were lucky, they might even secure a larger allotment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A massive mechanical bell thundered, and a binharic hymn rose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Arch-Savant Saru led several outstanding savants to the entrance to welcome His Majesty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Machine-Goddess…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment Saru saw the Savior, the lenses of his spiderlike augmetic eyes flickered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was shocked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His Majesty wore several badges on his chest. Besides the Machine-Goddess Holy Sigil, the highest academic honor within the Mechanicus, there was also a special emblem belonging to the \"two-dimensional\" faction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yes, the Savior also held the title of Arch-Savant, and not just any arch-savant. He held the highest rank, Honor Arch-Savant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Strictly speaking, it was an honorary title, not part of the standard promotion ladder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the arch-savants knew it was a special honor, and they respected it even more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To the Mechanicus, the Savior was second only to the Machine-Goddess herself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was the supreme Honor Arch-Savant who controlled research funding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In plain terms, Eden held the purse, so tech-priests followed. No researcher ever thought their budget was too large.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially not on projects of this scale, where one forge world was not enough to build what was needed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was also one of the ways the Savior controlled the Mechanicus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had to keep the Imperium's top technical class firmly in hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could not allow a repeat of the old Imperium's weakness, where independent research collapsed and the Mechanicus could hold the entire state hostage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Saru's attention was not on the Holy Sigil.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was staring at the \"two-dimensional\" badge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wiring along his body crackled with faint static as his emotions spiked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Those radicals actually dared to give such an ugly badge to the Savior. Is this not deception? An attempt to mislead His Majesty?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saru clearly did not accept the badge, or the faction behind it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially not when the emblem featured a scantily dressed \"mechanical girl.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was enough to make him shake with indignation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The \"two-dimensional\" faction was corrupting fine Mechanicus youth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Arch-Savant, do you have something to say?\" Eden asked, noticing the arch-savant's mood. His tone was calm and even considerate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To him, every arch-savant was a pillar of the new Imperium's research foundation, worthy of respect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saru hesitated, then chose not to say anything about the badge. He had no right to judge the Savior's preferences.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His vox-speech remained reverent. \"By the Machine-Goddess, I am simply overwhelmed by Your Majesty's arrival.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I can hardly wait to present our research progress on the Necrontyr ancient weapon…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You've all worked hard. I'll go in and take a look. I hope I'm not delaying your work,\" Eden said, giving a small nod. He did not press the matter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the focus of Saru's gaze, he had already identified the problem.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the \"two-dimensional\" badge on his chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eden wore Mechanicus badges without any deep ideological leaning. He did it to narrow the distance between himself and the oil-stained priesthood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the \"two-dimensional\" emblem, the younger tech-priests liked it. Wearing it earned goodwill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, he also understood that the Mechanicus had traditionalists and radicals, and that each camp fractured into countless smaller factions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was inevitable. Any large organization developed that way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as it stayed controllable, it was fine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In some respects, controlled competition even improved vitality, especially when both sides were evenly matched.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eden was happy to see factional rivalry exist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It gave him room to play arbiter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter what, the Mechanicus was half the Imperium. He had to hold the greatest authority within it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The Mechanicus has changed a lot over the past two centuries…\" he said, studying Saru with quiet emotion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who would have thought that more than two hundred years ago, this same tech-priest from Stygies VIII had once been labeled a rebellious radical within the Mechanicus?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His work in xenos technology and blackstone research had been harshly criticized and treated as near-heresy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mars and the Inquisition watched him closely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stygies VIII itself had even been quietly judged, by some in the Inquisition, as a forge world flirting with forbidden tech.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only its strategic importance, and the Mechanicus's strength at the time, had prevented direct intervention.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But after Eden's reforms, the Mechanicus underwent a complete upheaval. New thought, new trends, new factions exploded outward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So much so that Saru, once a symbol of the radical wing, had become a traditionalist, mocked by young tech-priests as an \"ancient machine brain.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time moved on. Everyone eventually became an old man to someone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under Saru's guidance, Eden took a brief tour of the facility and listened to a progress report on the Æonic Orb project.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was very satisfied, and he issued a formal directive on the spot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The research of the Æonic Orb was one of the Mechanicus's key engineering endeavors. It was also vital machine-craft supporting the Imperium's future strategic power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Arch-Savant Saru and the tech-priests of this laboratory had made outstanding contributions to the project amid the thunder of gears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hoped they would continue pushing forward and produce even more results. May the Machine-Goddess's radiance shine forever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Savior's praise left Saru and the others exhilarated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More importantly, that exalted existence promised additional research funding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ancient weapon project was secure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The news was so good that even the lab's machine-spirits seemed to hum in gratitude.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More funding meant more rites, more holy oils, more blessings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In short, the oil-stained priests and their machines were grateful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were loyal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This is what the Mechanicus should feel like,\" Eden said, nodding with approval.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After delivering the necessary encouragement and future promises, he did not linger. Under Saru's respectful escort, he departed for the next location.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In truth, Eden had not come here for the Æonic Orb project in the first place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saru's lab simply happened to sit at the front of the route, so Eden had stopped by to show support.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Saru was ecstatic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment the Savior left, Saru rushed onto the Mechanicus forums to brag to other arch-savants, and he took the opportunity to sneer at the factions he hated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He wrote an entire binharic \"paper\" that was basically academic street-fighting, aimed straight at the so-called innovators and their \"funding scam\" projects.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"By the Machine-Goddess, you flashy, empty researchers will have your budgets cut sooner or later…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saru declared those projects unnecessary, worthless research conducted only to siphon funding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only steady, disciplined work like his deserved more, better funding and the Savior's backing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The traditionalist arch-savant triggered a new round of forum warfare. Participation exploded, and the heat climbed fast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The argument's popularity nearly caught up to the famous \"orthodox versus improved fuel-drink\" debate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a time, it even surpassed the discussion of whether the Omnissiah and the Machine God were the same entity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Naturally, the Mechanicus's supreme deity was the Machine-Goddess. Any other god was merely decoration.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eden did not bother with the forum fighting. It was normal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a sense, it was just oil-priests doing politics with keyboards.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as the conflict did not escalate, it was harmless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides, with Eden and the Machine-Goddess imposing order, the Mechanicus factions could not start major wars like they once had.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even offline \"real fights\" were banned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you had a grievance, you settled it academically.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you violated the prohibition, your funding got cut and your project permissions were revoked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was worse than death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They could not even defect to the Dark Mechanicum.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the Savior, the Imperial Emperor, was also a Chaos Warmaster, and he held half the Dark Mechanicum's territory in his grasp, controlling the flow of resources.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for throwing themselves at the Chaos Gods, that was a last resort with little future.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those gods did not have a Machine-Goddess. They did not have much in the way of real material resources either. Even the Eye of Terror was almost the Chaos Warmaster's backyard now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Strictly speaking, even the \"legitimate\" black-oil tech-priests had to apply for research licenses these days, conducting heretek and chaos-tech study legally and under supervision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Otherwise, it was unlicensed illegal research, with consequences severe enough to end careers, lives, and dynasties.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That existence was effectively the god of research administration. Nobody could escape oversight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not long after, Eden arrived at the innovators' temporary research base.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The arch-savants there had long been waiting to present their latest technical breakthroughs, especially anything related to the Necrons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It touched the Kalozasa Dynasty and the Imperium's coming war with the Silent King.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A range of cutting-edge projects were laid out before Eden in the most direct form possible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your research really is advanced…\" Eden said as he read through the material, but there was criticism in his voice. His brow tightened slightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That light, casual line made the surrounding arch-savants tense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To Eden, the projects looked too strange.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How to awaken a Necron's sex drive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What kinds of meat Flayed Ones preferred.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How the Prince of Pleasure might profane mechanical life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had even tried to get Flayed Ones to quit flesh and feed them bananas.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first glance, it really did look like a budget scam.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It felt a lot like that project filed by Honor Arch-Savant Cawl, that little bastard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The project title had been: Optimization and Safeguarding of Tech-Priest Combat Effectiveness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What it actually studied was which biscuit tasted best when dunked in fuel-drink, and at what angle and temperature produced the optimal result.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cawl had claimed that delicious fuel-drink paired with biscuits could soothe machine-spirits within mechanical bodies and augmetics.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His final answer had been: a 27.3-degree angle of immersion relative to the fuel-drink surface, with a tolerance of plus or minus 0.01 degrees.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for biscuit types and temperature, he was still \"researching\" because there were too many biscuit varieties across the galaxy and the warp, spanning countless civilizations and species.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That bastard had even applied for military-industrial project funding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, someone reported it. The funding was clawed back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cawl had to continue on his own dime.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The oversight department then used the incident to audit him hard and recovered a lot of good material.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even with that negative example, Eden did not judge these projects too quickly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many truly creative breakthroughs came out of research that looked ridiculous on the surface.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some earlier projects had already proven that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And he could afford the budgets involved. If nothing else, it encouraged innovative thinking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Is there actually something here?\" Eden murmured as he kept reading, growing particularly interested in the Flayed One projects.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These projects had mapped out a new concept: the \"interface\" by which the Flayer Virus intruded, involving the boundary between realspace and the warp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In simple terms, the Flayer Virus curse was not purely a physical infection method…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Get +30 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on \"Zaelum\"]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Every 300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Thanks for Reading!]\u003C\u002Fp>",2735,"2026-06-06T13:29:36.128Z",1,"novelbin.me","16b5a4b0917d449f2a7651c168fcabc9337bc7f60f2cd8c52a8d148fb50f21fb","warhammer-starting-as-a-planetary-governor-chapter-718","warhammer-starting-as-a-planetary-governor-chapter-716",771,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fwarhammer-starting-as-a-planetary-governor-cover.jpg"]