53: Chapter 53 The Torch

011.M42 (the 11th year of the 42nd Millennium). Amidst the ruins of Ophelia, within the storms of the Warp, on the bridge of the "Tears of the Martyr"—

Sister Superior Ludmilla Zaragoza raised the torch once more.

She did not know where its flames would burn this time. She did not know where the Emperor's guidance led.

[Note from The Main Brain]

Neoth (the Emperor) has once again performed an action I cannot comprehend:

If only he had read any book—any book at all—on "how to organize collective human action," perhaps the history of the entire universe would be rewritten.

If only he had co-opted Goge Vandire and then guided the people to focus their cohesion, to focus on: serving the people, and focusing on the oppressors of humanity within the Warp—those four peddlers of anxiety—what would the Imperium of Man look like then?

He has never understood, from beginning to end: "The liberation of humanity is not the work of one person. It is a relay race passed down from generation to generation.

Everyone makes mistakes, every system has flaws, and every era has its darkness.

They do not need to force themselves to be a savior; he only needs to become a torchbearer of thought. As long as someone is willing to stand up—the path remains unbroken."

He seems to never know: the gathering of will can create gods, and it can also destroy them!

He seems forever unable to understand what the War in Heaven truly was.

He has never been able to touch upon one of the deepest secrets of the Warhammer 40K universe: the tragedy of this universe is not an accident; it was designed.

The Old Ones created the Aeldari—powerful psychic warriors. The Old Ones created the Orks—perfect biological weapons. They did not create these races to "enrich galactic life," but for war.

The Aeldari and the Orks were designed as tools of war; their purpose for existence was to fight for the interests of the Old Ones.

He seems unable to understand what "exploitation" is.

One race creates another, and then lets the latter die for the interests of the former.

It is like a capitalist who has built a factory, produced goods, and then says to the workers: "I am the one who feeds you."

They are not "good gardeners"; they are a ruling class that has monopolized the power of definition, distribution, and creation.

What they planted was not life, but tools. What they cultivated was not civilization, but armies.

The Old Ones are praised as the "mentors of the galaxy." They taught young races how to survive, how to use psychic powers, and how to navigate the sea of stars.

But the essence of their "teaching" was: "I will teach you how to use weapons, and then you will fight for me."

This is the greatest irony.

Thus, rebellion arose: the Necron, a naturally evolved race that was short-lived, sickly, and lived under the shadow of cancer and premature death.

They asked the Old Ones for help, and the Old Ones said, "No, you are not ready."

Did the Old Ones have the ability to grant immortality? They did.

They created the Aeldari, an almost immortal race.

They created the Orks, a race that would never die of natural causes.

But they refused to grant the Necron the same gift, or even help.

They were selectively allocating resources for survival; this is monopoly.

They were monopolizing, even deciding who deserved to live, who deserved longevity, and who deserved immortality.

This is structural discrimination. When allocating the most basic survival resources, the Old Ones placed the Necron at the very bottom of the list.

When a race is deprived of hope for survival, and when a race sees that the "creators" only favor the "tool races" they themselves created—what else could they do?

The Necron began to resist. They found the C'tan—ancient and powerful entities in the universe. The C'tan gave them technology, gave them power, and gave them the ability to resist the Old Ones. At that moment, the C'tan were liberators. The Necron finally had the strength to stand up.

But the C'tan were not philanthropists either. They gave the Necron power, but also turned the Necron into their own tools.

The Necron were transformed into Necrons of living metal, losing their flesh, losing their souls, and losing their sense of self.

They resisted the exploitation of the Old Ones, only to fall into the slavery of the C'tan.

This was not "liberation"; this was slavery with a new master.

So the angry Necron began a second rebellion: they used their own power to overthrow the C'tan and imprison them.

They were no longer anyone's tools. They were their own masters.

But the price was that they lost their flesh, lost their souls, and lost everything that made them "Necron."

They became Necrons—eternal, silent existences trapped within living metal.

They won. But they also lost. They overthrew their masters, but they did not find themselves.

This war gave birth to three pathologies in the universe:

Khorne is not the "God of Anger"; he is the embodiment of the oppressed's rage having nowhere to go and thus turning into pure violence.

Nurgle is not the "God of Despair"; he is the embodiment of billions of people being forced to "accept their fate" in suffering and treating despair as a virtue.

Tzeentch is not the "God of Schemes"; he is the embodiment of a society that forbids any change, where all desires for change are twisted into schemes.

And Slaanesh, who was born last, was not "invented" by the Aeldari. He is rooted in the final form of the Aeldari as tools of exploitation.

The Old Ones designed the Aeldari as "perfect warriors," but perfect warriors, when there is no war, can only destroy themselves.

Slaanesh is not the "God of Pleasure"; he is the embodiment of desires suppressed by asceticism exploding underground in the most twisted way.

Oh, humanity~ what needs to be done now is not to go into the Warp to fight the four peddlers.

Instead, it is necessary to dismantle the structure in the material universe that produces the four peddlers.

Dismantle what?

Dismantle Khorne's production line: when humanity no longer needs to use war to allocate resources, and when violence is no longer the only way to resolve conflicts—Khorne will lose his nourishment. This is not "defeating" him; it is starving him to death.

Dismantle Nurgle's production line: when the despair in the depths of the Hive City is eliminated, and when disease and hunger are no longer the daily life of billions—Nurgle will lose his nourishment. This is not "purifying" him; it is starving him to death.

Dismantle Tzeentch's production line: when society allows open discussion, allows change, and allows questioning, and when people do not need to use schemes to fight for living space—Tzeentch will lose his nourishment. This is not "seeing through" him; it is starving him to death.

Dismantle Slaanesh's production line: when moderate desires do not need to be suppressed, when pleasure is not viewed as a sin, and when humanity can freely love, freely create, and freely enjoy under the sun—Slaanesh will lose his nourishment. Instead of using "asceticism" to fight him, it is starving him to death.

But Neoth, a wise man who has lived for 40,000 years, a witness who experienced the first murder in human history. He seems to always be guided at critical moments towards a direction where one must be dark for the sake of darkness, and the Imperium of Man is also led towards a direction where it must be dark. How tragic is this?

[New File] Serious attention should be paid to: Does some unknown higher-dimensional power exist behind the Warhammer universe, manipulating it?

This does not conform to the logic of the universe's natural development.

Every rebellion ultimately strengthens the old structure.

Every change ultimately returns to the way things were.

History is not a spiral ascending; it is spinning in place—as if deliberately locked into an eternal cycle by some force.

This universe was not designed for "existence"; it was designed for "eternal confrontation."

It does not need an ending; it only needs to constantly produce conflict. It does not need redemption; it only needs to make everyone believe—that redemption is impossible.

If so, then the universe itself is a prison. And the designer of the prison never hopes for anyone to break out.