[hider=The Order of the Sigilites]
[center][h1]The Order of the Sigilites[/h1][/center]
[hider=Overview]
Naive scholars often wonder why the Age of Technology is called Dark, possessing as it did the greatest wonders ever wrought by mankind's hands. The Sigilites know the truth of the matter however, and consider the current terrors let loose upon Terra to be marks of shame and great failure. Founded at the zenith of that so-called Golden Age, they were tasked and entrusted with the safeguarding of weapons too terrible for even men of that era to unleash, and knowledge too precious to ever be lost.

Bitter failure is the legacy of the Order as they gaze out upon the technobarbarian infested wastelands of Terra, the dark power of high technology cracking continents and boiling oceans. They have retreated to their last fortresses and holdfasts in these wretched days, the vast vaults carved into the living stone of the Hymalazias a final redoubt from would be conquerors without, and protection of the monstrous powers caged within.

Yet, not every one of the stasis vaults contains horrors. Here too is kept the great legacy of mankind's cultural and technological advancement, each relic of the past preciously guarded with as much energy and vigor as the most dire weapons created by human hands. There is no distinction between the two in the minds of the Order - they are equally precious, and must be equally protected by those who would destroy or misuse them.
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[hider=Assets]
In theory, the Order possesses the greatest network of fortresses within the entire Hymalazian range, along with vast vaults of forgotten knowledge and powerful techno-artifacts. In practice however, they have given over almost all of their material wealth to the trust and use of the Emperor, who they view as the only figure capable of saving Terra from self-destruction.

This has left the Order a wealth of [i]people[/i] over anything else, even the lowest novice of the millennia old institution being more learned than the vast majority of the population on the homeworld. While these have been identified by the Emperor as the core of his budding imperial administration, currently they continue on in their ancient mission without interruption.
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[hider=Key Characters]
Malcador the Sigilite: Master of the Order
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[hider=Malcador the Sigilite]
[center][h1]Malcador the Sigilite[/h1]
[img]https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/d/d8/Malcador_the_Sigillite.jpg[/img]
[h3][i]Brahm al-Khadour[/i][/h3][/center]

[hider=Rank/Role]
Master of the Order of the Sigilites
Personal adviser to the Emperor
Master of the Administratum
Grandmaster of Assassins
First Lord of Terra
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[hider=Appearance]
An intentionally understated figure, Malcador appears to be a slender and sickly old man, dressed in plain robes with the only concessions to ostentation being a curious collar about his neck and an ornate staff in hand. A cascade of long white hair trails down from his head, his face clean shaven. At first sight, most would assume that he was scribe-servant of a technobarbarian warlord, perilously close to death from the weight of years, an illusion assisted by the chain he carries with him at all times. Many have considered him a weakling to be tossed aside, a fragile relic of a bygone age.

Many have been wrong.
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[hider=Biography]
Sing, O muse, of the rage of Mankind, sons of Terra, that brought countless ills upon themselves.

Born in the closing centuries of humanity's last era of galactic preeminence, Malcador has borne witness to the greatest triumphs and blackest atrocities in history. A witness to the Cybernetic Revolt and mankind's subsequent fall from grace with the onset of Old Night, he has lived the long millennia of his life following but one creed: never again.

A Perpetual from an era that to most is now little more than myth, there are very few who can corroborate anything that Malcador says about his life, and even fewer who would if asked. What is known without a doubt however is that he was inducted into the Order of the Sigilite at some point in his life, and eventually became its master. From that position, he advocated for the Order to side with and support the Master of the Lines, a Hymalazan warlord who possessed more culture and vision than the typical technobarbarian. It was Malcador who urged this man to take the title that he is far better known by: the Emperor.

Possessed of the wisdom of lost ages, and of such psychic might that only the Emperor himself is his better, he is one of the greatest assets of the embryonic Imperium. However, his talents go far beyond mere destruction, and he is often far from his master's campaigns, remaining instead in his mountain stronghold to administer the rapidly growing realm that they are busy forging.

When he speaks, all know that he does so with the Emperor's voice. When he takes the field, the wise cower from his psychic prowess and gouts of rad-flame. Nearing his seven thousandth year of life, the Sigilite sees his life's work slowly but surely being brought back from the cusp of utter ruination, and he will do anything in his power to see that task accomplished.

For he has seen the dark and its terrors, and they must never come again.
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