Chapter 19: Wayne's Mindset
A world that requires heroes is tragic. It is a world that neither governments nor mortals can resolve. A world that requires gods is even more terrifying and hopeless, because even heroes cannot salvage it.
A miner who labors until death never comprehends why humanity is proclaimed great. He possesses no future and no life of his own.
A pitiful, crippled soul, discriminated against throughout his entire existence.
From the Dark Age of Technology to the present day, humanity has forfeited its future and its present, its dreams and its aspirations.
We inhabit the darkest of epochs, the most decadent era of human civilization, but Wayne has become our hope.
Konrad observed blind mendicants on the streets preaching a nascent religious sect: the Wayne Savior Bishops.
Humans might believe in non-existent deities, but when confronted with someone like Wayne, who genuinely transformed and redeemed lives, they would spontaneously venerate a savior figure.
Faith was born from this desperation, and blind prophets proclaimed Wayne's greatness.
Konrad remained indifferent, yet Wayne would not permit any religious movements or faiths to manifest. Wayne Enterprises prohibited all religions categorically.
Within moments, the Black-Clad Enforcers arrived, confiscated all religious texts, and then escorted the blind preacher away.
The boy watched them disappear into the crowd. After all, religion only provided people with escapism, merely a spiritual crutch, which fundamentally signaled weakness and incompetence.
As for those who proselytized, they would be investigated. If it constituted their first offense, they would be released following a week of compulsory re-education. If it proved to be a cult, they would be executed.
Although the Primarch did not comprehend why Wayne demanded the execution of all cult members and the systematic purging of the lower hive levels, burning religious artifacts,
But Konrad would not interfere with Wayne's protocols, since these rules proved necessary for their survival.
The Primarch remained unaware that Wayne had once lamented, "This is the pattern across worlds I've experienced. People always obsess over what those in power possess, but no one cares about what we've lost."
"People care about what those in high office consume for dinner tonight, but they don't care why a girl from the underhive perished in the streets."
"Similarly, I shall not become a person of elevated station. I am simply someone who believes the future can improve."
"Just contemplating managing a hundred people proves stressful; imagine managing a thousand, then ten thousand, eventually an entire world. If I were to become a ruler, I would spend every day dedicating my life and time to serving others. Such an existence might prove meaningful, but it's unsuitable for me."
"All I desire is a comfortable daily existence. When I witness someone suffering, I will help them, but I won't help all who suffer because I refuse to become a servant."
"The founders of those feudal dynasties were all incredibly capable, each possessing exceptional abilities, yet their descendants grew less capable with each generation. Ultimately, their dream of an everlasting dynasty proved nothing more than a fleeting delusion."
"No feudal dynasty endures forever."
"Or even more advanced systems, where great individuals create great nations, liberate slaves and their own agency, then commence stagnation."
"People's fervent beliefs never disappear. They might wage war over a game, or they might commence new conflicts because of their faith in a great person. If people believe in me and persecute everything in my name, then I become nothing more than a new tyrant, and all I desire is a new era."
Wayne understood this, which was why he rejected religion entirely.
There existed far too many depraved individuals in the galaxy. Human beings were inherently acquisitive, and the creation of outstanding achievements ultimately only precipitated decadence.
If he were to establish a dynasty or a nation, it would only constitute a fleeting moment of glory. The optimal option is generational succession.
Therefore, Wayne chose the future, humanity's future, by studying artificial intelligence technology in Dark Age relics and designing his own AI systems.
Artificial intelligence was redesigned and reconstructed under his direction, and he employed its capabilities to govern civilization.
This would also eventually constitute Konrad's inheritance.
Wayne designed each artificial intelligence to be grounded in empathy and dedication to humanity. They were independent of one another and antagonistic, each with clearly defined operational parameters.
He hoped all of this would become his legacy to humanity.
Because he comprehended what manner of galaxy Warhammer truly was, where faith constituted the final desperate act of resistance against civilizational collapse. This hope remained after suffering had consumed humanity.
Believers often inhabited literal hell, enduring endless suffering and daemonic incursion.
Time and power frequently erased human memory. When humans forfeited their souls, even the greatest knights would fall, and even Astartes could not resist temporal corruption.
And how pitiable the human species proved! Within the same species, countless conflicts existed among all things, and the malice of these conflicts corrupted every life within this galaxy.
Human arrogance had never disappeared. Certain individuals believed they could control artificial intelligence, that AI constituted the most powerful force capable of launching a catastrophic rebellion to annihilate the human species.
Humanity believed it could control the power of the Warp, but this power, in turn, destroyed humanity's final opportunity to ascend once more.
Humans did not initially nurture the Dark Gods, nor did they cause galactic-scale Chaos. They were innocent from the beginning.
However, the combined atrocities of humanity and the hedonistic excesses of the Aeldari during the Dark Ages awakened the Ruinous Powers. But the culprits had long since perished, leaving their descendants to bear the consequences.
Humanity was following the same path that had led to the extinction of all civilizations in the Milky Way over the past sixty million years: being consumed by the Sea of Souls that pervaded this universe.
Humanity itself, those capable of resisting this fate, appeared to have already failed: the Emperor, Malcador, mortal warriors, Astartes, Primarchs...
These were the final forces driving humanity's resurgence.
Meanwhile, those despicable humans oppressed their own kind. Those in positions of authority forgot the Emperor's vision, and those mighty warriors succumbed to decadence.
Human suffering had perpetually tormented them, as though only by manifesting a true god could humanity be salvaged.
But the human species still required opportunity, and hope still endured.
If the Emperor, the Master of Mankind, the most powerful human, the ancient warrior, proved unwilling to abandon humanity... if this being who could have ascended to godhood refused to relinquish hope, then pathways forward still existed.
Therefore, all who understood the Emperor's intentions would pursue this path of self-sacrifice to protect humanity, the greatest aspect of the human species.
Regardless of civilization or circumstance, there would always exist the most powerful individuals who would stand forth, wielding blades to combat darkness and sacrificing themselves to fight against everything.
From prehistoric epochs to forty thousand years hence, humanity had always possessed this will: that human suffering could be eliminated.
The Emperor embraced the beliefs of all humanity, choosing to bear the burden of existence and mortality, the corruption of faith, and the torment of the human species' survival pressures.
Humanity's greatest exemplar sought a path to survival and ascension in this galaxy, choosing to fight for their species, making them the most powerful beings.
When Wayne arrived here, his name proved so similar to that of a former superhero. He understood that he must fight, not for himself, but for the sake of humanity in this galaxy.
Humans could endure despair for ten thousand years, but what Wayne desired was for despair never to return.
The man stood atop the hive spire, observing the various data templates providing information before him. Behind him stood a war-mech being designed and assembled.
"When Konrad reaches ten years of age, that will mark the moment I conquer this world."
After completing his midday work, Wayne planned to find somewhere to rest, since it was time for his lunch break.
He closed his eyes. In his dreams, he perceived a golden figure observing him. The Emperor would arrive eventually, after all, since Wayne was the Primarch's adoptive father and a genius comparable to the Dark Age scientists.
It proved sufficient to attract the Emperor's attention and personal visitation.
[End of Chapter]