Cyclops Cluster - The Emissary of Mars: As was to become known much later, while the Ikon and her brethren began to sow fear and terror amongst the worlds of the Grail Abyss, during the closing quarter of 006.M31, the Cyclops Cluster received a very different type of visit: an official emissary from the Red Planet.Forge Worlds stand apart from the other worlds that make up the Imperium; their allegiance goes to the Fabricator-General of Mars and not to the Emperor on Terra; theirs is a pocket empire both distinct and intricately woven into the fabric of the Imperium. As hives of technological research and industrial might, their strategic value is unsurpassed except perhaps by the most important Hive Worlds, and their contributions to the Imperium are many: mighty warships, armies of cybernetically-augmented fighters and robotic battle-automata, supplies for the Emperor's armies, the destructive glory of the Collegia Titanica and many more. On a political level, however, Forge Worlds tend to be highly isolationist, more intent on meeting their next production quota and growth projections than worrying about the Imperium's security or future. While Dominica Minor could not hope to rival the military might of Mezoa, or the industrial output of M'Pandex, it was still considered the capital world of the Cluster, a position neither Mezoa nor M'Pandex had sought to usurp. While the alarm spread through the Cyclops Cluster, both Forge Worlds had continued to labour, taking little or no interest in the surrounding turmoil. Perhaps by design, Horus' forerunners had yet to strike a world of importance for the Forge Worlds' logistical supply lines, thus leaving them blissfully unaware of the wider situation.Such it was that both Mezoa and M'Pandex received the visit of the Emissary of Mars. In both cases the ambassador presented itself under the name of Regulus -- which is widely believed to be an alias, as several entities bearing that name have been recorded in different locations at the same time. The original Regulus had been a senior Tech-priest of the Mechanicum of Mars who had given his domains over to Kelbor-Hal as to better roam the stars at the side of Horus Lupercal. This had been long before the betrayal at Istvaan V, and there could be very little doubt on whose authority this emissary now acted. Yet, Regulus was still a senior Archmagos of the Omnissiah and neither his presence, nor his words, could be discarded lightly. The Forge Worlds in the Cyclops Cluster were ignorant of the brutal Schism of Mars and that Kelbor Hal had thrown in his lot with the Warmaster, but it remains doubtful if further knowledge on that matter would have considerably influenced on the events to take place.On M'Pandex the emissary was greeted with great reverence and courtesy and almost immediately led to a private audience with M'Pandex's ruler, the High Ourteka of the Golden Forge. The emissary identified himself as Regulus and bore dual patents of authority: the first from Horus and the second from the hand of Kelbor-Hal, the Fabricator-General of Mars, voice of the Omnissiah and Supreme Pontifex of the Mechanicum. To the High Ourteka, Regulus made both an offer and a demand; the demand was for fealty, as Kelbor-Hal -- their rightful leader -- bid them to obey the orders of the Warmaster as if they were his own and to offer up their armies, their craft and the fruits of their forges to Horus while offering shelter and supply to his warships and deny all these resources to those that had remained loyal to the Throne of Terra. Those Imperial Commanders not yet subjugated were already demonstratively squabbling amongst themselves, further convincing the High Ourteka that the way of stability, progress and obedience laid with Horus. If this had not been enough already, Regulus had not come empty-handed. He bore valuable gifts to sway the High Ourteka: STC technologies discovered during the late Great Crusade and never shared with the wider Mechancium; but most importantly Regulus made a promise, the promise that Horus would protect and sustain them, that Horus would free the Mechanicum from the strict tenures of the Treaty of Olympus Mons and give them the freedom to pursue the technologies and arcana they craved but the Emperor -- in his intolerable cruelty and ignorance -- had denied them.On M'Pandex, a world which owed much to Mars, these offers were sufficient to sway the High Ourteka. On his sole authority -- without consulting M'Pandex's synod of Magi for confirmation -- the Forge World was pledged to the service of Horus. As was to be expected, some quarters resisted these new orders violently, but M'Pandex's history had been written in times of internecine conflicts such as these and any resistance was swiftly crushed by the High Ourteka's loyal Martian Skitarii and a detachment of sacred Battle Titans drawn from the Legio Mortis -- initially deployed to aid in the world's protection and now the High Ourteka's personal enforcers. This newfound allegiance was kept secret from Imperial authorities and outsiders while M'Pandex covertly girded itself for war.The reception which greeted the Emissary of Mars at Mezoa, however, could not have been more stark in contrast than to that at M'Pandex. Regulus found a star system already geared for siege and conflict; his Warp runner was stopped at the outer edge of the system and forbade entry on the threat of immediate destruction. Mezoa had ever been a militant system, born in the ferocious wars of the Great Crusade and fashioned as much as a fortress as a centre of macro-industry, its Magi fiercely independent from their kin elsewhere and just as fiercely loyal to the ideals of the Imperium whose expansion they served. Here, simple obedience to the Fabricator-General would not sway the Pentarchy of Archimandrites that ruled this world. Forced to communicate via only the most primitive two-way Vox-circuit with a hulking Mezoan battle-sphere rather than directly with the Forge World, and under the condition that any attempt at other communication or the passage of data-djinn or other influence over the circuit would result in immediate annihilation, Regulus nevertheless argued his case and extended his demand of fealty and his offers.In response, the Pentarchy made a blunt rejection of the Warmaster and a formal secession from the authority of Mars. Further, they called both Regulus and Kelbor-Hal apostates as well as blasphemers in the eyes of the holy Omnissiah and pronounced them and any that served under their command under sentence of death should they ever try to enter again the star system of Mezoa. As Regulus was forced to flee the system, a single word of judgement echoed through the still-open Vox-channel: "Heretek".