>>5220752>I'm not sure if Guilliman can withstand Tal0S religious fervorOn this particular topic, I do want to say think while he might not appreciate the fact that Talos is religious, being an adherent to to the Imperial Truth (which he later admits was more due to his desire to follow the Emperor rather than naturally being inclined to it) I do not think it would be as bad as Lorgar.
The difference is that the Imperial Cult is a proteolyzing, missionary faith. The Cult Mechanicus is not. If anything its more like a mix of Gnosticism and mechanical animism. You do not see tech-priests going about shouting gigantic faith rallies alongside sororitas to have the masses surrender their souls to the God Machine, crying at them to cast out the faithless and bow down. The Machine God has no use for blind fervor. If the common man works hard at the forge and respects machine spirits, that is enough. But He is by His nature a God of knowledge. The Cult Mechanicus is a secretive, selective faith for its cult, and a passive faith to the layman. A bit like how Judaism does not encourage missionary work to convert gentiles, citing that they worship enough just by being decent people and follow the laws of Noah (do not murder, do not lie, etc.). As long as your average human respects the machine spirits and do not perform tech-heresy, they really don't care too much about the personal beliefs of others not in the cult.
In fact, the only way you can even learn the actual words and and rites of the machine god is to be worthy of becoming a cult member. You have to apply and be smart, no dumb people allowed.
The Cult Mechanicus faith is not as intrusive as the Imperial Cult (unless we opt to have Talos change it). Many of our forge worlders may genuinely believe simply because of our works and because we're inspiring and a savior, but we don't care if they don't as long as they stay loyal. Lorgar would care that they don't.
Vulkan himself was religious, with his Promethean Cult, but it too was not proselytizing beyond its own members. It also didn't promote a god but humanity. His Promethean Cult would pretty much act a lot like our Mechanicum Cult, it espouses good behavior and ideals, but it only really wants space marines and nocturnians to learn the mysteries. He was also fervent in his faith, but it did not result in friction between himself and Guilliman.
Ferrus Manus also believed in Machine Spirits.
Our religious ways are not Lorgars religious ways. Lorgar, like every other ecclesiarch, will just insistently say that "You guys will see, the Emperor is a god!" and try to convert his brothers.
If Guilliman says he does not believe in a Machine God, Talos would be sad I think, but shrug. Not everyone will be blessed to be privvy to know the mysteries of the Machine God. Otherwise, they would not be mysteries. The Quest for Knowledge is a narrow path, you have to seek it, it does not seek you.
