Sigma Gaevran

Sigma Gaevran, also known by the title of Sovereign Curator on Novae Cantis, is the de facto ruler of that Forge World and the prime figurehead of the secular off-shoot of the Mechanicum referred to as Mechanicum Rationalis.

A figure shrouded in mystery to the Imperium at large, Gaevran holds exhaustive knowledge on a wide breadth of topics - even by the standards of the Mechanicum, and upon such forgotten topics as the Lost Age of Technology - as well as an incredibly sharp analytical mind. This is not limited to mere data collection, as Gaevran is also very sharp of wits and capable of verbally jousting with just about anyone with ease, undeterred by strange slangs or local dialects that would otherwise confuse anyone unfamiliar with them.

Despite being the ruler of Novae IV, Sigma Gaevran occasionally leaves the Forge World to personally direct its armies and fleets during particularly important confrontations, such as was the case during the Second Rangdan Xenocides. Far from bellicose despite acting as would the Magos Dominus of the greater Mechanicum, she is a mostly diplomatic individual whom prefers to try and reach compromises rather than needlessly waste precious resources. The only exception to this rule is when dealing with Mars, where the mutual animosity between the Cult Mechanicus and its secular rival makes all negotiations arduous in the utmost. This animosity is helped naught by Gaevran's desire to upstage or otherwise ridicule Mars at every opportunity.

Age of Recovery
The exact origins of the Curator known as Sigma Gaevran are difficult to fully decipher because that is not her birth name, but one that was adopted upon joining the council of Curators that make up Novae Cantis' ruling caste. Ever since the end of the Cybernetic revolt in the 23rd Millenium and the titular Treaty of Sigma, members of the Novaean high leadership and 'royal' units have adopted the term in their names and designations as a symbol of status. Often, this is accompanied by a break with the past as the newly-ascended Curator is expected to put being themselves all prior ties and affiliations to become an unbiased leader, making it quite difficult to gleam much of Gaevran's past before then.

What is known is that Gaevran oversaw Flux City, one of the greatest Forge-complexes of Novae IV and the seat of the planetary ruling power, for at least three centuries prior to the Imperial invasion of the Corusco Sector. In the wake of the slow dispersal of the Warp Storms that had characterized the Long Night, Gaevran was one of the foremost proponents of active and rapid consolidation of power throughout the previously isolated colonies and nominally-independent worlds of the Corusco Cluster. The Curator had the foresight that the relative calm that had suddenly graced the galaxy was deceptive and that various hostile groups would certainly take advantage of the newly reopened stellar lanes to carve their own new empires from the ashes of the old Terran hegemony. The irony of the fact that this is also what Novaeans would proceed to do was not lost on them, but it was one born of calculated necessity against an unknown, unquestionably hostile variable.

Throughout this time of early expansion and consolidation, Sigma Gaevran acted much more as an ambassador than a general, traveling to the various worlds that had been contacted by the expeditions sent throughout the Age of Strife. Her goal was to soothe relationships between the Forge World and a humanity that was largely frightened and traumatized by artificial intelligence since the Cybernetic Revolt six millenia prior. This was mostly accomplished through a mixture of negotiations that were generally advantageous for vassal worlds, the bestowing of technologies lost to the various wayward worlds, and extensive amounts of debunking and dispelling various myths and commonly held beliefs, generally religious ones and ones related to AI. On some major worlds, the effort was successful, but on many, the fear was seemingly too deeply ingrained for any rational discourse to take hold. On those worlds that answered to all hails and attempts at diplomacy from the mouth of cannons, their armies and fortresses were systematically annihilated, leaving behind a strong reminder of why that fear had come to be in the first place...

Imperial Invasion
By the time of the invasion of the Corusco Cluster by the Imperium of Mankind, Novaean influence over the Cluster had stabilized and work was ongoing still at undoing millennia-long superstitions, but these efforts had to be put on hold when the last of the Warp Storms fully vanished, and following them, periphery outposts and remote mining operations started going dark by the dozens. This, Gaevran argued - correctly - to be the early warning signs of the hostile hegemons whose coming she had predicted centuries prior. Long before the full scope and threat of the Excertus Imperialis became known, a War Council was established to properly investigate, assess and respond to the potential crisis.

Ever the diplomat, Sigma Gaevran pushed for an attempt to be made to contact this mysterious force and avoid unnecessary conflict. All were in agreement that this would be the preferable outcome, but all were also aware of the low chances of success of the expedition given the widespread hostility of humanity at large against machine life. Energetic debate ensued, but the real topic was instead centered on whether or not the potential benefits of this outcome were worth the almost certain loss in war material - and initiative - that would result from a refusal. Ultimately, Gaevran managed to convince the rest of the Council that while it may lead to unnecessary, easily avoidable losses, the potential reward was worth making the attempt.

This optimistic endeavor, the Curator nearly paid for with her life. The small delegation - traveling under the protection of the Ark Mechanicum-class battleship 'Voyager' - made contact with the Imperial vanguard and attempted to open communications with the forces there, but the effort was predictably futile and hostility quickly drowned out all attempts at diplomacy through the roar of macro-cannons and torpedoes. The 'Voyager' managed to disengage and withdraw from overwhelming Imperial numbers closing in on all sides solely through the speed of the ancient ship and the incredible skills of its cybernetic helmsman and Fighter-Automata interceptors. Still, though the attempt at a peaceful resolution had failed, the endeavor had not been wholly wasted as important information had been gleaned.

The exchange, brief and venomous as it had been, had taught Gaevran much about the Imperium, but especially its Martian ally the Cult Mechanicum, and the utter, loathesome ignominy that was the Treaty of Olympus between those two entities. It quickly became obvious that there could be no peaceful coexistance with entities so virulent in their intolerance and hysteric hatred that they could - and had, according to far-flung Explorator probes - scorch entire planets to genocide any that would not subscribe to their poisonous belief system. With this made clear, Novae Cantis prepared for war, but still was reluctant to truly engage in Total War, still remembering the scars of such things from the Cybernetic Revolt.

Ultimately though, while the war was going well at first, the tides changed dramatically when the Imperial Armada managed to discover the location of Novae IV and made a great gamble, sending the integrality of their fleets directly at the Throneworld. Gaevran was tasked with overseeing the defenses of Flux City, a task in which she performed admirably during the first week of the planetside conflict. The battle however irrevocably shifted when an armored giant unexpectedly breached the secure chambers of the War Council itself through teleportation technology and began slaying its members, starting by the Sovereign Curator himself.

Faced with the possibility of thousands of years of heritage of enlightenment and bravery disappearing into oblivion, Gaevran pulled one last ditch effort not to kill, but to make her foe see reason. Curious by this shift of demeanor - and not present during the earlier attempt at diplomacy - the Giant stayed its hand, giving her the tentative chance to speak. With more conviction and internal fire than ever before, the cybernetic ambassador denounced the Treaty of Olympus as a violation of their ancestral rights earned in blood against the dreaded Men of Iron and as little more than hysterical paranoia, only to then expose the blatant contradictions between this act of aggression and that which the Imperial envoys had claimed to stand for.

No one knows how long the exchange between the two of them lasted, for there were no witnesses, and all recordings were destroyed, but several hours later, a cease-fire agreement was reached. Through a mixture of more impassioned humanity than she had ever shown before, surgically precise arguments, and no small amount of luck of the draw, Gaevran was able to convince the Primarch of the Astartes Legion at the head of the subjugation campaign that there was no purpose to all this fighting; there were no evil mechanical overlords, no oppressed or brainwashed people and no feverish worship of false idols. All that they wanted was to live and let live, but Gaevran's people would fight to the last to prevent the wanton genocide of the sentient Automata that had been their companions for thousands of years. Being no tyrant, the Primarch saw the truth in those words, and agreed to assist the Curator in pulling off one of the largest-scale campaigns of misdirection in the history of the Imperium.

Uneasy Compliance
After the cease-fire, Sigma Gaevran became the de facto ruler of all of Novae IV by virtue of being the sole surviving member of the War Council. By the terms of surrender, Novaeans would recognize the authority of Terra through that of the Second Legion's Primarch, though any acknowledgment of Mars' authority was completely out of question. All artificial intelligences were to be decommissioned, though by a loophole of the term this did not mean destruction. Rather, Gaevran and the Primarch had the remaining Novaean Automata armies - and, unfortunately, this also meant a significant part of its citizens - sealed away in secluded vaults deep beneath the vast planet's surface, shielded from all auspex scans to sleep away the years until such a time as the galaxy would allow - or require - their return.

This solution did not truly satisfy any of those involved, but it was the only way to avoid the widespread genocide of Sentiences which had squarely stood with humanity throughout the worst horrors of the Age of Strife, and had been rewarded for their sacrifices and loyalty with persecution, and now, threat of annihilation. In the meantime, Gaevran worked tirelessly to repurpose the chassis already in production and fit them with lesser intelligences that did not anger the sensibilities of the Imperium. This, too, was seen as highly distasteful conduct by just about all Novaeans, Sigma first and foremost, but it was necessary, for the intense fighting and the subsequent decommissioning of the True Automata had left its armies a shadow of their former strength, which badly needed rebuilding.

Since those days, the new Sovereign Curator has garnered much respect - if reluctant respect - from many Imperial spheres. Her appearance, nearly indistinguishable from baseline human due to highly discrete augmentics, her diplomatic nature and the secularity of the Mechanicum Rationalis has made her - and by proxy, all of Novae Cantis' products - highly sought after by Imperials who prefer to deal with Tech-Adepts that respect their own atheistic Imperial Truth. The great efficiency of Novaean technology and the keen, innovative minds of their scientists has magnified this phenomenon even further, to the point where Gaevran's influence has grown to become a contender to Mars' Fabricators.