Malcador the Sigillite - Malcador the Regent: During this time, the Emperor still continued to busy Himself with His secret project in the vast dungeons beneath the Imperial Palace. The Emperor was seemingly oblivious to the events which would play out in the early days of the Heresy on Istvaan III, Calth, Signus Prime and Prospero. He had appointed Malcador as the First Lord and Regent of the Imperium, to rule in His stead, whilst He continued to work on the secret project in the depths of the Palace.No one could guess at what was happening within the vaults. Of all the people who worked in the dungeons only Malcador was allowed free and regular access and none dared question the First Lord of Terra about the secret workings within.Malcador did not relish his job as the Imperial Regent in the final days of the Great Crusade, and every day seemed to bring forth new difficulties. The Space Marine Primarchs openly resented his authority, constantly questioning his right to command them and refusing to maintain contact with him. The Mechanicum of Mars was restless, sending daily demands to be admitted to the Emperor's presence; even the lowly clerks and administrators of Terra appeared to need to have orders repeated to them multiple times before carrying them out.Despite all of these distractions, it had become clear to Malcador that a genuine crisis was building. Warp Storms were hampering interstellar communications and the Astronomican was weakening. Entire regions of the Imperium were cut off from Terra. Horus had not been in direct contact with him for many solar weeks and Malcador had found it impossible to ascertain the whereabouts and well-being of most of the other Space Marine Legions.It felt to Malcador as if the Imperium was at its weakest point for many years, and could prove to be easy prey for a determined enemy. After he learned of their arrival in the Sol System and had confirmed their claim that Horus had indeed turned on the Emperor, Malcador went to Luna and approached Captains Garro, Qruze and the Sister of Silence Amendera Keel.He told them that the Emperor needed them, for they would become a part of the formation of a new Imperial organisation, outside the boundaries of the existing Imperial bureaucracy, which would utilise "...men and women of inquisitive nature, hunters who might seek the witch, the traitor, the mutant, the xenos."The Emperor had foreseen that the end of the Horus Heresy would cost Him greatly, so much so that He would no longer be able to take an active hand in Mankind's survival. Yet He also knew that the threat of Chaos would not see defeat with the fall of Horus, but would continue to haunt humanity. The very nature of the Horus Heresy had proven that the Space Marines were not immune to corruption as the Emperor had once hoped. So the Emperor set His hand to plans that would win a wider victory from the ashes of a most personal defeat.As the closest of the Emperor's servants, Malcador was ordered soon after the start of the Heresy to scour the galaxy for those who were worthy to help save the future of humanity. This was a monumental task made all the more difficult by the anarchy created by Horus' growing insurrection. That is how the Sigillite came to be on Luna, and the fate of Battle-Captain Garro became inextricably intertwined with the future survival of all Mankind.Under the Sigillite's own seal (the future symbol of the Inquisition), Garro was tasked with finding 7 other Loyalist Astartes from amongst both the Loyalist and Traitor Legions who were utterly devoted to the Emperor and his Imperium in body and soul. These Space Marines, called the Knights-Errant, would one day form the core of what would later evolve into the Grey Knights Chapter of Astartes, the Chamber Militant of the Inquisition's Ordo Malleus. Iacton Qruze was retained closer to home, acting as Malcador's "hand" in certain investigations such as the case of Solomon Voss. The foundations of the Inquisition were thus born in the fires of betrayal.The Sigillite next met with the Primarch Rogal Dorn in the Imperial Palace on Terra. They discussed the portentous events that were happening across the galaxy. The Warmaster, for reasons Dorn was quite at a loss to fathom, had turned upon their father, and was committing his forces to an all-out war against the Emperor. That war would come to Terra and Mankind's homeworld needed to be ready for the assault of the Traitors. The Imperial Palace needed to be fortified.The Emperor had asked Dorn, as a personal boon, to return to Terra with his Imperial Fists Legion and oversee the preparations personally, but Dorn did not feel up to the task and feared failing his father and humanity. Using his vast wisdom, Malcador counseled the troubled Primarch, helping him realise his true fears and how to overcome them so that he would be ready when Terra and the Imperium needed him.Malcador was active in many other ways during the Heresy. As well as orchestrating the foundation of the Knights-Errant at the Emperor's command and aiding Rogal Dorn in preparing the defence of Terra, he would use his secret position as Grand Master of Assassins to attempt to have Horus assassinated several times. Whilst several of his chosen Assassins -- including the first-ever Execution Force -- came close to their target, none succeeded, and the attempts were eventually given up, on the orders of the Emperor Himself. The Emperor still hoped that His most-favoured son could be saved from the corruption of the Ruinous Powers.Malcador later worked with the Primarch of the Space Wolves Legion, Leman Russ, to assassinate Horus with the Knights-Errant while the Traitor Warmaster was in battle on the world of Molech. Malcador selected Garviel Loken, only recently recovered from a bout of insanity after the Knights-Errant had recovered him from the ruins of Istvaan III, to command the mission, which also ultimately failed to kill the Arch-traitor.Malcador next appeared at the council between the Primarchs Rogal Dorn, Sanguinius, Leman Russ, and Jaghatai Khan as they discussed their strategy to face the Traitors. Malcador accepted Russ' decision to leave Terra to face Horus directly, but nonetheless attempted to quietly convince the Wolf King to stay on Terra during a chess match. Malcador admitted he had grown fond of Russ over the years since they had first met, and could not help but wish that the Emperor had engineered the Primarchs to get along better with each other.As the Heresy worsened, Malcador found himself afflicted by despair and felt out of his depth. His life had been utterly devoted to the Emperor's cause since their fateful meeting long years previously at the Sigillite Fortress, but he had never been a warrior or a general. His skills lay in administration and lawmaking, and although he shared a mysterious psychic bond with his master that no one else could understand or rival, even he was now denied daily access to the Master of Mankind.That any Space Marine Legion could betray their oaths of loyalty to the Emperor was inconceivable to him. He could not understand how four Primarchs could do such a thing and the question threatened to unhinge his mind with madness. But the Emperor assured the Sigillite, that as long as He drew breath, the evil that assailed them would not conquer Mankind. The Emperor would make Horus and his misguided followers rue the day that they had dared to turn Traitor and embraced the Warp.