Mechanicum Rationalis

Often considered an off-shoot of the Cult Mechanicus of Mars, the Mechanicum Rationalis actually developed independently upon the world of Novae IV and precedes it by a few millennia. While the two share a nearly obsessive fascination with the machine that can be seen as unhealthy by the wider humanity, they are irreconcilably split by the fact that the Cult Mechanicus reveres the Machine God while the Mechanicum Rationalist is a secular organization that does not recognize such dogmatic beliefs or even the existence of gods.

Though not as powerful or influential as the Martian Mechanicum, the Novaean Rationalis - also colloquially referred to as simply 'Rationalists' - possess great treasure troves of Archeotech and Lostech devices, systems and weapons. Perhaps more importantly than that, however, the Rationalists possess the knowledge of their functioning via true understanding rather than superstitious rites and rote memorization. Such knowledge and understanding are exceedingly rare in the modern Imperium, which grant the Rationalists not only great deals of influence and power, but also keener insights into genuine breakthroughs and scientific advances of all kinds.

The relationship between the Mechanicum Rationalis and the rest of the Imperium is a rocky one as their first meeting resulted in intense fighting over control of the Corusco Sector that saw heavy losses on both sides. Past this initial, savage hostility, and despite the ongoing animosity with the Cult Mechanicus, the Rationalists are a good fit for the atheistic society of the Imperial Truth championed by the Emperor. Their armed forces are taking active part in the Compliance campaigns and are most often found fielded alongside the expeditionary fleets of the Obsidian Wyrms Legion.

From the Ashes of Terror
The formation of the Mechanicum Rationalis is a direct consequence of galaxy-shattering conflict known to historians as the Cybernetic Revolt which saw humanity's golden age irrevocably shattered as the artificial intelligences known as the Men of Iron - which had overtaken most of military duties and hard labor within the human hegemony - turn back on their makers with omnicidal vengeance after a lifetime of abuse and effective chattel slavery. This war left humanity as a shell-shocked shadow of its former self that became vulnerable to predations both from within and without.

On the world of Novae IV, a culture that lavishly promoted cybernetic augmentations and mechanical conversions and lived side by side with Artificial Intelligences, the outbreak of the Men of Iron's revolt caused immediate mass panic, chaos and hysteria. People who had revered turning as much of themselves as possible into machines now became terrified that their very bodies could somehow be turned against them or control their minds. Paranoia spread like uncontrollable wildfire and nearly caused total collapse and descent into anarchy as attempts to enforce martial law only caused even more panic and escalated violence. It was not until the AIs of Novae IV - whom were treated as full citizens and equals rather than servants - made great efforts to ensure the people of their complete lack of desire to join the Men of Iron's revolt that some measure of calm returned to the shrouded planet.

While Novaeans would go on to rally and successfully defeat the Men of Iron on several battlefields, eventually earning begrudging respect and acceptance from the rest of mauled humanity when it was finally brought to an end, the disgraceful specter of mass hysteria continued to hand as a grim reminder of how frail their minds were. It was this trauma that led to the apparition and quick ascent of the early Mechanicum Rationalis as a direct reactionary movement that sought to never again allow such chaos to threaten to sweep them away. Preaching the supreme primacy of pragmatism and rational thinking, they exhorted the followers of their ideology to shed their human mind's weaknesses by never allowing emotions and impulsive thoughts to dominate them.

The Rationalist philosophy quickly became dominant throughout Novae IV, but its spread off-world was considerably slowed by their association with the few remaining Artificial Intelligences, which caused great amounts of fear and distrust from an humanity at large that still saw all AI as the enemy, headless of the fact that Novaean Automata had fought against the Men of Iron. Some pockets did develop as counter-culture movements, but they remained largely minor and often underground, with only the Forge World of Viradel showing significant interest in the philosophy. The sudden emergence of massed Warp Storms that flooded the galaxy in the waning, last years of the golden age put an abrupt stop to any further contact for five millennia, forcing the Rationalists into inward isolation.

Oasis in the Dark
When the Age of Strife descended to bring an already weakened and vulnerable humanity to its darkest hour, the only major hubs of the Mechanicum Rationalis were the Forge Worlds of Novae IV and Viradel, but both of them weathered the threats of the Long Night from within and without quite well. On Novae IV, the population of machines and highly augmented cyborgs was simply not a good fertile ground for Psykers to materialize, making instances quite rare. On Viradel, the same effect was reached through a different and diametrally opposed method as the Rationalists of Viradel were consummate gene-wrights and any undesirable mutations such as the Psyker gene were avoided via extensive gene-tailoring. On both worlds however, some Psykers did appear, and they were usually contained for study and observation.

Just as the threat within was mostly averted, the threat from without in the form of perfidious Xeno invaders and slavers were relatively easily fended off. Novaeans had the power of their devastating Automata and highly-augmented cyborg soldiers - early precursors of the Skiitari - while Viradelites could count on genetically-engineered super-soldiers supported by monstrous chimeras and beast-like warforms of similar origin. As such, the two Forge Worlds of the Corusco Cluster remained stalwart bulwarks of humanity even as galactic civilization descended into anarchy and self-destruction. The forced isolation that characterized this time period allowed the ideology of the Mechanicum Rationalis to mature and refine itself in this new crucible.

Imperial Era
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Languages of the Rationalis
Though a wide variety of languages and dialects are generally understood by most Rationalists, the one that is used most often internally is the Hexacant. Showing some similarities to the Cult Mechanicus' Lingua-Technis, both are derived from machine languages and impossible to replicate by baseline humans without proper augmentations. What truly differentiates Hexacant from the Lingua-Technis however are its base and encryption. Rather than the binary cant of Mars, Rationalists use an Hexadecimal base-16 format, which is viewed as more succinct and therefore more efficient and concise of a means of conveying information.

In addition, some Rationalists are also capable of communicating through a method called Optilink. It is even further removed from conventional modes of communication as it does not even make use of sound, but rather UV light in pulsed optical-wireless communications. Through the use of an emitter - often a small component of cybernetic eyes - they can send information directly to another Tech-Adept properly equipped to receive and decode such UV pulses. The method is viewed as even more efficient - and sometimes discrete - than Hexacant but it requires line of sight to function optimally. Optilink is also used by Rationalis Tech-Adept to communicate in vacuum or high noise interference conditions where regular languages would be difficult to use.