>>5387423That brings up something important theologically speaking. Would the Machine God save the souls of all men, or only the men it claims. Should the Cult Mechanicum be a proselytizing faith like Lorgar's, or should continue to be a mystery cult inducting only the smart members of society who seek it out.
If we suppose that only those souls who are faithful are saved from hell, and only those who are intelligent and skilled and willing may join the cult and be saved in the Data-Vaults of the Machine God, what of the masses the rest of mankind, those loyal denizens who do not believe and are not forced to believe. Is our duty to try and convince them to believe and thus save their souls, or are they simply a case of unfortunate collateral. Chaff amidst the wheat of mankind.
Depending on the answer TalOS could be somewhat of a highly callous elitist, not too different than the Emperor who only wants to save those souls of mankind in the future who become like him (and theoretically not even his own sons as we certainly are not like the Emperor and are mortal), where only the smart will be saved and the rest are damned. Or basically become a second Lorgar, pleading that all mankind everywhere from the dumbest to the highest have the faith in the Machine God, and save their souls from eternal damnation. Something we can do without explicitly revealing the nature of the warp because many religions have done that in the past, the presumption of damnation and preaching of salvation.
Only we actually know it to be true.
Perhaps there's a third way where service to the Machine God even while not being a cult believer earns one his grace. Like becoming a servitor or a tech thrall and dying in battle. This would encourage the mass use of servitors and also be seen as a way for TalOS to see himself as saving the souls of even the nonbelievers by granting them a purer purpose, or some sort of "saved through works" ethic where those who keep the Machine God's factories flowing are also saved even if they do not believe, the machine spirits of those well tended to advocating on behalf of their ignorant souls to the Machine God.
Slaanesh claims all Eldar souls despite all of them hating it, and demons claim the non-believer in demons. Perhaps the Machine God can still claim the souls of those who do not know him by name, but know him by their good works. Thus all men may work hard for their salvation.
By faith the wise are are saved, by good works the ignorant are saved:
>"Fides seu Bona Opera." >[(Revelation + Faith) OR (Ignorance + Good Works)] - Heresy = SalvationWoe to the wise yet willingly ignorant, the makers of AI and Men of Iron, who know the works but reject the faith!
