Zhao-Arkhad - Coming of the Imperium: It was not until the latter half of the Great Crusade that the Imperium's expeditionary fleets ventured into the deep galactic south and thus discovered the existence of Zhao-Arkhad.First contact was made indirectly, when a small Arkhadian mining-fleet which was exploiting the mineral-rich asteroids of the Ilotar Asteroid Belt encountered a beacon which transmitted an unknown and unrecognised signal in an ancient Terran language.The message promised peace and broadcasted a series of ident codes that would correspond with the identity markers of arriving vessels. In addition, the broadcast requested permission to land on the system's primary world.News of this discovery was quickly forwarded to the supreme domini, who ordered the mining fleet to remain on station so it could auspex-check that the ships that would come were indeed of Human origin. Within solar hours, the first vessels of the announced fleet emerged from the Warp at the Zhao System's Mandeville Point.The miners were quickly able to confirm that the fleet was indeed Human, its ships being brute slabs of armour and weaponry and not the sleek hunter-killers of the despised xenos. Through hololithic transmissions, the mining fleet and the Human vessels exchanged some words of greetings, again confirming the Humanity of the newcomers.The vessels which entered the Zhao System belonged to an expeditionary fleet of the Thousand Sons Legion of the Legiones Astartes, this particular squadron being commanded by Captain Itzal Apophis of the 5th Fellowship.Upon his arrival, he was greeted by the supreme domini herself and at her side stood Magos Tacitus Proctor, now forge-domini of the Eminarii Forge. Officially Proctor's presence was justified for the great contributions he and his forge had made in Zhao-Arkhad's continued survival.Imperial Compliance was reached bloodlessly, the masters of Zhao-Arkhad only too delighted to be brought into the Imperium of Man and restore communications, however distant, with Holy Mars.It was perhaps indeed better for Zhao-Arkhad to have been discovered by an expeditionary fleet of the XV Legion, for many more technically-versed Astartes Legions such as the Iron Hands might have preferred to destroy them utterly upon learning how far they had strayed from the precepts of the Cult Mechanicus.Even the great distance between Mars and Zhao-Arkhad worked in their favour, as given the long journey Zhao-Arkhad's first visitors from Mars would be Mechanicum envoys tasked to assay Zhao-Arkhad's production capabilities rather than a fleet of Mechanicum War Arks. In this again, the isolation of the Arkhadian forge-fanes worked in their favour, the considerable deviations from Martian dogma being easily hidden amongst purer forge-fanes.Now a far-flung outpost of the Imperium's ever-expanding borders, Zhao-Arkhad would greatly benefit from its attachment to the wider domain of the Emperor, as gradually great quantities of materials and new technologies were made available to them.The xenos that had preyed on the Zhao System for so long were annihilated by the armies of the Great Crusade and the vessels of the Armada Imperialis.On Zhao-Arkhad, the manufactoria began to run day and night, producing the goods needed by the Imperium's armies and the neighbouring worlds. Upon its discovery, the Arkhadian Mechanicum had begun reconfiguring a part of its mining fleet into new colony vessels to settle the next world in the Zhao System, but had to halt any plans for expansion following its reunification with the Imperium.In return for the new influx of technologies and resources, Zhao-Arkhad grudgingly gave up several maniples of the Legio Xestobiax in service to the Great Crusade. The militia regiments of the lunar colonies were transferred to the Imperial Army and the former mining barques became their mass-conveyors.Additionally, perhaps hoping to gain profit from such a close relation to Imperial power, the Kiarii forge-fane produced its own independent Taghmata for service in the Great Crusade.While the Thousand Sons had already discovered other minor Forge Worlds such as Shenzen and Boracora Lux, on Zhao-Arkhad, the sons of Magnus the Red lingered far longer than they should have and also took a keen interest in some of Zhao-Arkhad's research, especially those of the Eminarii forge-fane.The Thousand Sons seemed keenly interested in the Eminarii's psyker-imprint-based hybrid Battle-Automata and in hindsight the similarities between these hybrids and the Castellax-Achea-class Battle-Automata used by the Thousand Sons during the Fall of Prospero are many.Here was a thing widely forbidden by the Mechanicum yet the Thousand Sons could easily get their hands on the design. To solidify this new relationship, the Thousand Sons advocated a formal alliance: the XV Legion would maintain a small garrison on Zhao-Arkhad, whilst the Forge World would open a sub-fane on the Thousand Sons' homeworld of Prospero, a sub-fane they argued should be run by Forge-Domini Proctor of Eminarii.The supreme-domini quickly accepted, for such patronage could only favour Zhao-Arkhad, but even better, the Thousand Sons had offered the supreme-domini a means to placate the Purist faction by removing the leadership of the Eminarii forge-fane from the world, which would cement Zhao-Arkhad's fragile peace.The deal was struck and Zhao-Arkhad's later condemnation by association with the Thousand Sons after they were declared Traitors was sealed virtually at the very moment they were welcomed into the Imperium.During what remained of the Great Crusade, Zhao-Arkhad knew a brief period of prosperity during which much of he Forge World's resources were spent in order to build and expand the Prosperine forge-fane, which like its Arkhadian counterparts was established under the burning sands of Prospero to ward it from Psychneuein-infestation.The sub-fane was so densely layered with Void Shields that it would survive the initial bombardment of the Imperial Censure Host later sent to punish Prospero virtually unscathed and offer fierce resistance to the invaders.Most of the materials gifted to Zhao-Arkhad upon their Compliance were invested in the expansion of the Legio Xestobiax, which was granted a Prosperine Vigil to watch over Forge-Domini Proctor's new domain on Prospero.With the Kiarii taking up the call of the Great Crusade and focusing solely on manufacturing new, traditional patterns of Battle-Automata, the Purists were placated and peace reigned on Zhao-Arkhad until the fateful civil wars of the Horus Heresy broke out.