The Morning Star lurks
just before the dawn, a
memory of the darkness
that came before and a
reminder that it will come
again after.
Imperial T-557 Gunship - Keppe - Orion Directorate
~~*~~
Keppe was a world of extremes. From the vast untouched scorching jungles and continent wide forest wildernesses to the mountains and high plateaus. From the island super volcanoes that dotted the oceans to the deadly deserts and wide open plains. It was a world much larger than Holy Earth. More extreme in its landscapes and appeared how Earth once was before it became a world of pollution, toxic sludge with the great black scar over what had once been the holy lands. Before it became a world of plasteel and plascrete, swarming with the countless billions of humanity that made Earth there home. Keppe, too, had been overrun by the Orions, turning the world into a farcical joke of what it had once been. Taking the great legacy of Kardiac's Monasteries and Cathedrals and twisting them into perverse amusements for the curious travellers looking to see a whimsical take on the great Templar orders.
The Orions who ran Keppe were deep seated and powerful on their board. Plying devious subterfuge and subtle intrigue between them in an effort to turn a profit. But for all its extremes Keppe was known to only a select few as the last resting place of the Morning Star.
Alessandro knew the history well.
In the earliest history of the Empire, an order arose at the bequest of Cardinal Kardiac Strathcona, seeking to strengthen the ecclesiastical power under a direct mandate from the Immortal Emperor himself.
The Templars were formed under the guidance of Colonel Fëdor, a veteran of the Global Civil War whose hand and ambitions shaped the militant order into a small army capable of exacting the will of the Cardinal and by extension the will of the Immortal Emperor.
Under his guidance, Fëdor swelled the ranks of the Templar into a regiment of men loyal and devote to their cause. Choosing a remote Colony world close to the Orion border engulfed in rolling plasma storms that effectively fortified the system by limiting the hyperspace routes into the system to only a few.
Strathcona, realizing Fëdor's intent, decided that Keppe was too away from Holy Earth and needed the guiding hand of the Ecclesiarchy too steer them on the right path. The Lion's Pride, a vast behemoth of a battleship that at its maximum capacity could house nearly ten thousand people, was sent to Keppe to act as the spiritual and holy figurehead of the Templar Order.
The people of Keppe became the worshippers, soldiers and crewman who would build the Templar order and fleets into a great power, and at its height it was able to challenge the might of the Polian Alliance. The fleet and Templars were considered by many to be a military arm of the Ecclesiarchy, but newly appointed Templar Master Fëdor had different ideas of where is priorities would lie. While the Lion's Pride had become the centrepiece for the fleet's vast numbers of personnel, it had also taken on a significant role as a military city from where the Order and their masters on Earth could wage both war and conduct diplomacy with worlds throughout the Empire.
From the countless settlements of Keppe, the Templars maintained a large and steady flow of possible recruits. Those who are chosen to replace fallen battle brothers are given the honour of joining one of the fourteen companies that make up the Templar orders. Those who were not deemed worthy would be sent to join the Imperial Star Navy, to fill out ranks and obligations in the combined militaries under the Imperial Warlord's guiding hand. The worshippers who travelled out to the fleets were devout and fanatical followers of the Emperor, acting as a vast nexus and spreading the word of the Immortal Emperor where ever they went.
Inevitably, after the Apilon Rift war, things changed. The Emperor had transcended, Strathcona had been died, and Bishop Sinosec had risen to head the Bishop's council, taking the reigns of power over House Kardiac as well. The struggle to succeed Strathcona had put the Bishop into direct conflict with the Templar Master for control over the order.
It had been only natural for Fëdor to strike Sinosec down, leaving the Bishop Lamont as the spiritual head of the Empire. Fëdor hadn't anticipated Lamont;s betrayal, and it had been Strathcona's own son, who had, ultimately brought down his mentor and teacher, securing his place as the head of the Order, and pledging himself to supporting the Ecclesiarchy and Lamont.
The fall of Fëdor had striking similarities to that of the fall of the Angels from Heaven, and had earned Fëdor the nickname 'the morning star', and considering what myth said about what Kardiac had ordered done to his former master… Alessandro knew he was on his way to meet a true nightmare of the old Empire.
Cathederal - Keppe - Orion Directorate
~~*~~
The Cathedral was impossible to miss- it towered over the sprawling city around it scattered on the plain, architecturally impressive despite its extreme state of decay. They had landed some distance from it, knowing that Keppe's Orion masters were not technologically hampered by tradition the way the Templar had been- they could have installed security systems in the ancient cathedral's parapets for all Alessandro knew of the place.
He seemed spurred on by that, and set off at a pace down through the city towards the cathedral. Stubborn, he thought, stalking down the dusty streets at a lesser speed. But then, he needed to be.
To his surprise, the gate of the Cathedral was wide open for him when he arrived. Tickets were readily available, and once purchased he was inside. Staring in abject wonder at the high bossed ceiling that towered over his head.
Here Kardiac entered the Templar Order.
Here Strathcona had offered the blessing of the benediction of the Immortal Emperor.
Here the Templar's Edict had been penned.
Alert for any signs of a trap, Alessandro let his hand slip to the PKD tucked inside his coat. Around him were the tourists gazing upon holy relics and passing judgmental comments about the folly of the Empire. He let it pass, focused instead on trying to find a way down into the Catacombs.
At the shrine of Templar-Brother Silas Green, he slipped away from the tour, ducking beneath a roped off section and descending a flight of stairs. There were things that were hidden there that he knew from Prince Edward's instructions. Things that, perhaps, the Orions didn't realize.
Tripping a hidden switch, he passed through an opening that hadn't been cracked in over three hundred years. Ducking as the great slab behind him swung closed he steeled himself and descended the stairs.
He wandered for hours through the catacombs, trying to remember the detailed instructions Edward had given him. Turning right and left in the complicated and dizzying twists and turns. But after awhile he found the chamber easily enough and had an up close view of a black hooded figure, flanked by four tall, muscular shapes sitting so still they could have been gargoyle statues.
"Fëdor?" he called, taking a step forward into the chamber. "I have come in search of the Morning Star."
"And what do yeh want?" the ancient voice called across the stone slabs.
"I have come at the command of our Lord God," Alessandro straightened.
"Then yeh wish to be trained," the hooded figure cackled. "Interesting. I had thought that the Immortal Emperor had forsaken the likes of me, condemned to this dark sanctuary for an age." The figure rose. "Yeh will not like what I must do to train yeh. However if yeh truly give yerself to the Lord…"
"Si, si, I do," Alessandro stated.
"Excellent," Fëdor's voice boomed as he extended his robe covered hand, the gun shot echoing about the chamber as Alessandro crumpled to the floor. "Such a pretty, pretty boy…" he mused as he swept down to stand over the body. "This will be such a shame."