The Mahrti Army

"The great father approaches. Rise up my children and prepare the way to Paradise. Toil, piety, love and salvation are the gifts of the four-armed Emperor."

The Children of the Mahrti is a religious group on Tarsus (an agri-world neighboring Lyubov that is a protectorate of House Gilead), founded by a former Assistant Navigator, Bahir. It is a cloak for a Genestealer Cult which schemes to bring the moon and the mother planet under its control. Bahir had been infected by a genestealer, after which he retired from space travel, settling on Tarsus, marrying and having children.

The tenets of the cult promote modesty and hard work - ideals that mesh comfortably with the dominant culture of Lyubov, but also complete seclusion from the rest of society, and it forbids its followers from travelling off planet. As a significant minority of the population are members of the cult, the moon now struggles to fulfill its obligation of raising recruits for the Imperial Guard - raising some eyebrows of the Inquisitorial Judges on Lyubov.

Zuehb ibn Bahir

Assistant Navigator Bahir was the only survivor of the space freighter Ishmaelum which was attacked en route to the Imperial world of Lyubov. The freighter was boarded by Genestealers and Genestealer Hybrids. Bahir was spared to become a host, and infected by a Genestealer. He was later rescued in a lifeboat in orbit around the gas giant Gadol. Bahir told his rescuers that the Ishmaelum was attacked by pirates.

The rescuers' shuttle took Bahir to Tarsus in compliance with Lyubov's quarantine procedures. It towed the lifeboat back to the moon with them, the shuttle's captain planning to claim salvage rights. Bahir was subjected to rigorous examination. Because the Inquisition concluded Bahir showed no signs of spiritual pollution, he was released.

The lifeboat was to be brought down to the moon's space port. However, during the journey to the planet's surface, contact with the pilot was lost. Shortly afterwards the lifeboat crash landed in a dense forest. A pure strain genestealer had presumably killed the crew, and survived the crash landing on Tarsus.

Three months later, Bahir married a young woman from the city of Tarsus Prime named Barzah and moved out of town and began homesteading fifteen miles from the site of the crash. A year later, their first child was born.

Subsequently he founded a new religious group called the Achenes; its tenets promoted modesty, industry, and complete seclusion. He is called the Mahrti (the Chosen One) by his followers. He teaches that a leader will arise when the believers are severely oppressed in every corner of the Imperium.  This leader will fight the oppressors, unite the believers, bring peace and justice to the Imperium, rule over Mankind, and lead a prayer on Terra at which the Emperor will be present.

The Mahrti teaches his followers that they should remember that the prophecy about coming Savior is one that will come to pass. This prophecy, however, does not absolve the believers from their duty to strive in the cause of opposing injustice, and seeking peace and betterment of human condition.  Centuries have passed from the time of the holy Emperor gave the founders of the Faith these visions and there is a good possibility that many more will expire before they come to pass.  Believers who are negligent in their duty, hoping for a savior who will do it for them, are committing a grave mistake and are not following the divine decrees of the Emperor.

The cult has grown inexorably in power and number until it has become the second most popular religion on Tarsus. Most of the cultists are innocent dupes, completely unaware of the sinister origins of the cult and its even more frightening objectives. However, innocent or not, their number gives the cult a great deal of power on the lightly populated planet of Tarsus. Despite the cult's growing strength, the government does not recognize them as a threat.

It is tolerated, and even seen as beneficial, because its tenets include submission to worldly authority, ("Render unto the Imperium what is the Imperium's"). The Lieutenant Governor of Tarsus does not begrudge the cultists their peculiarities - if the members wish to stay in seclusion or travel about in black, voluminous robes with white turbans - as long as they pay their taxes, that is their business.

The Achene "religion" of course was nothing more than a genestealer cult, bent on complete dominance, and Tarsus is at risk of being overrun and taken over by the cult.

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