They were Draven's memories. The man was about 43 years old and possessed considerable combat skill. Turns out, it was as Draven had said—he had never been a friend to Bastion's past self.
Draven had been raised his entire life to be loyal to House Luthor, and he had remained loyal. However, Bastion's past self wasn't exactly one to take an active role in governance. The most significant act Draven had seen his former self perform was when he took charge of the army to stop the Ork incursion.
In basic terms, when the incursion began, the various noble houses, driven by their desire to maintain control, either slowed down or outright refused to supply the forces fighting the Orks. Much like the planet's current situation, there were no reinforcements or resources to sustain the fight.
Bastion, knowing the noble houses would never relent, intervened in a drastic way—he declared that he would purge the xenos by himself. His act led to considerable success in driving back the Orks, but in the end, he suffered a severe head injury. They managed to keep him alive until recently, when he finally died.
As expected, his past self was seen as a loner—a fool—because he didn't intervene in governance, allowing the noble houses to corrupt the entire system. The Ecclesiarchy sank their teeth deep into the planet's affairs due to his inaction, and when he finally acted, the church used it to push their agenda, gaining even more political power.
"At least I don't have to worry about the noble houses for now," Bastion thought, deciding to let it go. The past was the past, and from what he saw, it wouldn't affect him much even if he didn't remember, as the man had been a loner.
As he left his office, Bastion's eyes remained fixed on his hands. He went around touching anyone he saw—a bad idea, as 90% of those in the palace were servitors, their minds long since warped.
"Ensure no one disturbs me," Bastion said as he entered his room.
"Yes, my lord," Elara replied with a bow.
Entering the room, Bastion sat on his bed and reviewed everything he had learned that day. First, he had been wrong about many things. He had once thought the noble houses held significant power based on what he had read. But from Draven's memories, it became clear that whoever controlled the faith controlled the people. If he wanted to change this world, he needed to lean on the faith.
However, he couldn't act yet, as he lacked the necessary technology. Turning to the cogitator beside his bed, a bold idea came to mind for the 70th time that day. Truthfully, his situation wasn't as dire as one might think—his intellect gave him a massive advantage over 90% of this world.
"I guess I have no choice."
It wasn't exactly a bold idea; it was one he had intended to pursue for a long time but had been stumped by the design of something. Now, however, things were different.
Picking up his modified data-slate, he immediately went to work, his mind calculating vast amounts of data to achieve his goal. Quickly, a blueprint began to form on the slate—a ring-shaped device.
"Now, let's test this," he said, pulling up a new interface, one vastly different from what he had been using on the cogitator. He had discovered that the Mechanicus didn't truly understand science but were excellent at following orders. Hence, this program.
Simply named *The Omnissiah*, it was a program Bastion had designed to not only take control of the Mechanicus but also make them do his bidding. Selecting his targets within the ranks of the Mechanicus artisans, he uploaded the blueprint with careful instructions on what to do and how to proceed.
At the same time, somewhere in the lower hive, four tech-priests could be seen bowing to no one in particular before hurrying off to complete a task. Chanting prayers and hymns as they moved, they soon entered a large factory, where an unprecedented event took place. The tech-priests chased away all workers and immediately began working on something.
Meanwhile, in the Governor's palace, Bastion stared at his screen, now divided into four different views. He watched as the tech-priests created his design.
This was the purpose of the program—it delivered his orders to anyone within the Mechanicus as divine revelation, compelling them to fulfill it as though it were their own choice.
This was the downside of the Noosphere. While it served a great purpose, it was also an unprotected backdoor into every Mechanicus-associated mind on the planet