Summary
Highest title of the Cult Mechanicus — the high priest of Mars, planetary governor of the Red Planet, and the Adeptus Mechanicus’ permanent voice among the High Lords of Terra.
Lore
The Fabricator-General of Mars is the supreme office of the Adeptus Mechanicus — at once the secular planetary governor of Mars and the high priest (Magos Mechanicus) of the Cult Mechanicus. He speaks the Synod of Mars, commands the Forge Primus, and through the Treaty of Mars sits in perpetuity among the High Lords of Terra as the only Fabricator-General granted that seat.
The title predates the Imperium. Under the Mechanicum of the Great Crusade the Fabricator-General was the unchallenged sovereign of the Red Planet, holding the loyalty of every Forge World by feudal oath. Kelbor-Hal held that office at the outbreak of the Schism of Mars and turned to Horus, dragging much of the priesthood with him into what would become the Dark Mechanicum. The Loyalist remnant raised the Archmagos Zagreus Kane to the post; he oversaw the reconciliation with Terra and the transition of the old Mechanicum into the present Adeptus Mechanicus.
In the closing years of M41 the office was held by Oud Oudia Raskian, an extreme exemplar of mechanical augmentation whose authority was openly contested by Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl. Cawl petitioned the Lord Commander Roboute Guilliman more than once to be installed as Fabricator-General; Guilliman, ever wary of Cawl’s ambitions, refused.
Office and Authority
- Planetary governor of Mars — secular sovereign of the Forge Primus.
- High Priest of the Cult Mechanicus — Speaker of the Synod of Mars (formerly the Martian Parliament), keeper of doctrinal arbitration for the priesthood.
- High Lord of Terra — permanent seat on the Senatorum Imperialis. Of all officers titled fabricator-general across the Forge Worlds, only the holder of Mars sits among the High Lords.
- Liege of the Forge Worlds — every lesser Forge World swears feudal allegiance to Mars through the Fabricator-General; the Adeptus Mechanicus is internally feudal in its constitution.
Fabricator-general (lower-case) is also the generalised title borne by the Archmagos who governs any individual Forge World. Many Forge Worlds, however, retain idiosyncratic local titles for their ruling Magos depending on regional variants of the Cult.
Notable Holders
- Kelbor-Hal — Fabricator-General of Mars at the outbreak of the Horus Heresy; turned traitor and became the founding figure of the Dark Mechanicum. See Heresy of Kelbor-Hal.
- Zagreus Kane — Loyalist successor; oversaw the formation of the Adeptus Mechanicus from the surviving Mechanicum.
- Oud Oudia Raskian — Fabricator-General and High Lord of Terra in the late M41, of extreme physical augmentation.
- Belisarius Cawl — repeatedly petitioned for the office in the Indomitus Era; never granted it. See Belisarius Cawl.