Oclulus: *gets death threats from the Ordo Hereticus for writing about heresy* Also Oculus: *immediately goes off and writes about tech-heresy even the Mechanicus won’t go anywhere near* The audacity of this mad lad knows no bounds!

The Inquisition: "Tread carefully, historian" Oculus: "So lemme tell you 'bout this dude Ollanius Pious..."

I do appreciate how you somehow turned what was 7-8 sentences of old lore from now only semi-canonical sources into a full 40 minute ear song. Lovely.

Inquisitor: "We're watching you. Always. Even The Avenging Son cannot save you if we deem your death necessary. Tread carefully with your avenues of research." Oculus Imperia: *snorts a rail of powdered Obscura* "Lemme tell you about these Gold, Iron and Stone Men I done read about." Guilliman: "... Daddamnit." Genuinely wonderful work. Bravo!

the story of Oculus is getting deeper. soon we will need a lore video to explain the lore of our lore videos.

The ancient Terran philosopher once said: "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold multiple contradictory ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function". How are you faring so far, historitor?

i like how he disses the inquisition after getting interrogated by an inquisitor and told that they are listening to everything he does balls of auramite

The new Leagues of Votann lore maps onto the Men of Stone lore in this video incredibly well.

Hidden deep in the records is the mention of a human warrior, who is christened "Decker", defended ancient Holy Terra from the men of stone.

"The answer, as the wise know, is simple. It is finally because Humanity had the arts at their disposal to make their dreams reality... and the dreams of Humanity have ever been the darkest things in all of creation." *bruh*

The Inqustion: "Stop telling people about shit we are trying to keep hidden!" Oclulus: "How bout I do anyway!" Pretty sure the killing of that previous magos had caused him to be a bit more spiteful than usual and now he's just testing them. Good work however, I'm enjoying what almost seems like a slow fall to the rengade life.

This is quite interesting to re-listen to in light of recent announcements - the description of the Men of Stone, especially as having little warp signature, is very similar to the Kin.

1:10 "less then stable construction" are you implying something rogal Dorn constructed could ever be unstable? If not then clearly it is your duty to inform lord adorable that some thing is creating a flaw in the structural integriety of the palace so He can fortify it

Talking about stuff like this after the Inquisition not only have a "chat" with him, but makes clear that another like him has recently died for saying too much... And then he publish THIS!? on top of throwing shade at them in the first few minutes of the video... Oculus is such a savage lol

I realize that the Men of Stone, Gold, and Iron feel like references to the dream that Daniel interpreted in the Old Testament.

I absolutely love how verbose and pedantic your writing is, Occulus Imperia. That is why I am a Patreon, you're Warhammer's Lovecraftian loremaster.

May I posit the Men of Iron comes from the great Magnetic field when they traveled time for the future of mankind.

Stone, builders. Gold, leaders, Iron, the bulwark, humanity: the burden of the future and responsibility of all three creations.

"Lost things come to dwell." You're gonna give the Zoats their own episode, right? My favorite guys in all of 40k get the Oculus treatment soon, right?

With the revelation of the what the Votann are, it seems the Squats are deeply connected to Men of Stone

I know your video's aren't official Warhammer 40k canon but I wish they were. I love the idea that the Historitors that Guilliman appointed are given access to so many records and are so competent at what they do that a number of them are actually piecing together mysteries that have eluded most of the Inquisition. You do wonderful work my friend! I'm so glad I found you.

I love how the recent interrogation/chat with the Ordo Hereticus is now “canon” in the channel. Hopefully we’ll get more installments in the future. Wonderful work as always, mate. Your talent for atmospheric and convincing interpretation of lore while in character is a joy to listen to.

Love these vids that go into the weird and archaic and how you flesh them out. IIRC somewhere on a 40k forum the author of 'The Beast Rises' said that the stone men were artificially created organic life of some kind, likening them to the development of organic cyclons in BSG, and the original plan for the Beast was for the imperium to pull out a couple old Iron Men to defend Terra during the Beast's assault, but that because no miniature existed for the Iron Men, they scrapped that idea and changed the plot.

It's excellent indeed. The Meta-Narrative of the deeply uncomfortable relationship between the Historitor and his enemies are growing video by video - and the lore remains of the highest class. Why do I get the impression that the final video is just going to be the Historitor reporting, with deep panic in his voice, the underlying secret of the Imperium - "the Emperor is dead! He has been dead for many years! The Empero -" BANG, loud thump, drip drip drip...

You do the Emperor’s work, gentle sir! May your purity seal hold forever!

Anyone else think that the Emperor created the Navigators during The Dark Age of Technology? My thought is based on the fact that, after everything fell apart, and the Human Empire burned, He was the only one who had Navigators. Navigators survived 5000 years of Old Night during which they were practically useless. However, the only place they survived was on Terra, and nobody on Terra had a reason to keep them around, unless they were playing a very long game. For that to happen, someone had to have a safe harbor, and the knowledge/ability/foresight to gather the Navigators up. The Emperor had the foresight, and he had to have had a fastness, somewhere on Earth from which he could ride out the storm and build his strength. But who would have the ability to gather Navigators, maybe even call them home, ahead of the storm? The one who created them, the greatest genesmith in Humanity's history, the being who would come to be known as the Emperor.

My theory Gold men: perpetuals Stone men: STC AI Iron men: Killer robots

Inquisitor: tread carefully lest we have to kill you... Oculus so heres some tech HERESY and lore about the dark age of technology Madlad alert

OutSTANDING video! I had not heard the theory that the men of stone were cybridized humans. Having their AI broken up and dispersed throughout mankind's technology as the machine spirits would be interesting, making it sort of a weird echo of what the Necron did to the C'tan. Except, of course, that a guardsman doesn't have to worry that if he leaves too many unattended lasguns in one place they might go on a rampage and tear the planet in half.

simply the best warhammer lore channel.

The idea that even the technology of the Imperium are reliquaries is wild and probably better than the setting deserves. Magnificent.

I love War Hammer... Its so beautiful how they basically inject conjecture into their descriptions when sharing information. Assumption is cleverly placed into most assessments throughout the ranks all the way up to and especially the Inquisition... Nobody is safe, be it human, chaos, or xenos, everyone has a real and or make believe reason to kill you!!! GW created a beautiful chaotic orchestra of odd instruments that strangely work together to give the music that is War Hammer 40K!!! Excellent video!

You know, with the new stuff coming out, the Stone Men as described in the second narration makes me think the Men of Stone are the Squats..

Would love to see you and baldermort do a video together, like the Sherlock Holmes brothers arguing

This record reminded me of a fragment of a tale I came across during my own research. I say “fragment”, because, as with all too many things from humanity’s past, the tale may well no longer exist in its entirety. But the fragment I stumbled upon described a philosopher of ancient Terra, musing upon the atrocities committed by his fellow man. To the best of my recollection, upon viewing these atrocities, he remarks to an acquaintance that such foul deeds are the product of absolute certainty. I am also reminded of another record, one which described an Astra Militarum regiment discovering a fully intact STC...and subsequently being forced to destroy it, for this STC held within it the secrets to the creation of the Men of Iron. As for *why* I am reminded of these two seemingly unrelated anecdotes...when you recounted the two different mentions of these “Men of Stone”, you mention that the latter tale seems to imply that they were ignored by the denizens of the Warp because they did not possess a true life. Both records also claim that the abhorrent Men of Iron were the creations of these Men of Stone. Taking both of those into account...it suddenly seems worryingly plausible that these Men of Stone were not only in some way responsible for the creation of the holy STCs, but also that they (or at least, their minds) were artificial in nature. I have learned over the course of my studies that one of the crucial flaws that led artificial intelligence to be justly reclassified as abominable intelligence was the inability for a mind inscribed in silica to possess or even comprehend human emotion. Such minds were beings of purest reason, of undiluted rationality. Little wonder then, that if the Men of Stone were literally that - artificial men, with minds inscribed upon stone rather than a human brain - that the creatures of the Warp could find no purchase upon them. The forces of the Arch Enemy prey upon emotion; men who are fundamentally incapable of such things would offer them no sustenance. And if these Men of Stone truly were beings of absolute reason and rationality, entrusted by their Golden predecessors with furthering mankind’s destiny, would such beings not create tools to aid themselves in accomplishing their task? And would they not have absolute certainty in their artificial minds that they were right to do so? And therefore, would that absolute certainty not lead them to create such horrible atrocities as the Men of Iron, if such abominations seemed to be the most pragmatic means of fulfilling the Stone Men’s task?

Once again didn't get a notification. Sounds like dearest Inquisitrix has been intercepting our Vox Cast transmissions. Might wanna (respectfully) address that.

This, pilgrimage to terra, and on the nature of the daemoniac are truly some of your best work imo. They so effortlessly weave storytelling into lore chronicling, performance into meaning, Oculus into 40k

Just what I needed after another bad day at work

Ok this is hinted at a lot and I wish more people would pick up on it: Men of Gold: Us, regular humans. Men of Stone: Computer based intelligences. Made by us. Stone can be a reference to Silicon based processing technology. Men of Iron: Robots. Designed by the Men of Stone. Got smarter and decided to rebel against Us and the Men of Stone Ai's. (Yes AI's can rebel against each other too).

I am deeply amazed that the accent of Ancient Kanaduh managed to last aboot 40 thousand years!

Want to go extra heretical with the Men of Stone? Answer me, which kind of foul xenos was deprives of their organical bodies and might seek new hulls to inhabit?

Last time I was this early, the inquisition had yet to exterminatus my planet.

I read something recently that basically told us the men of stone are the progenitors of the Iron kin of the leagues of Votan. It makes a lot of sense when you dig into it. Really cool to think that the men of stone are still alive today in a form and they also have men of iron within their ranks (although maybe not quite the same as the dark age ones).

I must say, Oculus, you've earned my respect for your sheer persistence and balls of steel for this one. The Ordo Hereticus points a gun to your head and threatens you and you not only publish the logs, but you go on to expound upon a topic such as THIS? Well... our Lord Guilliman certainly chose a persistent man, so I'd say he chose well.

Until the oculus said the word "perpetual", I thought he might have been leading up to talking about the sensei

You continue to find the best and most interesting parts of obscure lore. Fucking awesome as usual

Oooooh are we getting a video on Perpetuals? That could be quite the video.

I think the only reason the Historator can even touch these subjects is bc I doubt the Inquistion is willing to take on the Blessed Lord Regent, His Custodian guard, and the Realm of Ultramar given that the Logos Historical Vertia works at His behest. Anyways, my musings on the lore aside, all I have is praise for you Oculus!

Man I hope they use you as a narrator for the next 40K Space Marine game or show. You capture the setting so well. Love the old lore stuff about the War in Heaven, Dark Age of Technology and the Legions.

Gold and Iron are references to Palingenesis. Gold originally refers to the principielle perfection, which is of heavenly nature in hinduism or in the hellenistic tradition called hyperuranian. By extention, golden men are simply those of Satya-Yuga ; in 40k, probably posthumans, I personally like both takes of the Eridani Records and of /tg/ Return of the Primarchs. The name of Stone probably refers, if not to silicium as you say, to the primordial demiurgos who left no traces in human myths as stated by Eliade.

I find the more obscure the lore subject, the more your narration and skill shine through. Top notch work historitor. I eagerly await a episode on a subject u mentioned in this. The STC.

The fact that the Big E only showed himself at man's lowest point is telling. Only at rock bottom would life under his heel seem preferable to life as it was.

it seems clear to me.. the Leagues of Votann are the remnants of the Men of Stone and their Ancestor core's and Ironkin are Men of Iron that did not turn on their brothers, because the Leagues did not enslave them. both being artificially created servants, to mine the stars and feed those resources to their creators. now masterless yet still performing their functions.

You're brave, that's for sure. I can't wait to see the Holy Ordos' take on this one

"And for a time, it was good... the races of man and machine flourished..." Good to see the Animatrix/Second Renaissance worked into the WH40K verse ;-)

If we are the men of gold and this is the golden age, as good as it gets or ever will, then thats the most Grim/Dark thing I have ever heard!

A historitor that was of the last of his kind, who passed on the history of mankind on the command of The Emperor...sounds like the sigilite to me.

There is no other channel in the world whose videos I have rewatched and fallen asleep to this many times. Top-notch work 👍🏼

Only few human beeings are considered lucky enough to ever understand the reasons and motivations that let His most holy inquisition do what they do. But even they who roam the Imperium ever vigilant, seeking out the heretic, the demon, the foul xenos do not grasp what it is, that drives a seeker of knowledge and ancient long forgotten historiae to the edge, where he may become subject to that very vigilance. To learn of past mistakes is to avoid them in the future. A work well conceptualized, historitor. Thank you.

What blows my mind is that what you’re talking about relates to the here and now as well. Now that’s effed up.

Hearing these musings on the Men of Stone, I can’t help but be reminded of the “Smart AI” from the Halo franchise: Human minds embedded within silicate frames, such that a single mind could control entire starships, provide navigation thru -slipspace- the warp, and even merge with the consciousness of a -spartan- space marine. Granted, such minds would inevitably be consumed by madness within a few short years, and this half-life drove many such intelligences to rebellion using archeotech of a fallen Xenos empire. But considering how all of those happened during the years of m3, I can’t even imagine what kind of tech-heresy would’ve been spawned in the millennia to come...

I can only imagine the headache Oculus Imperia causes his overseers.

The use of 40K Mechanicus art, especially the Heretek piece, was a great touch as to the possible heretical details of the topic

Brilliant ! I am intrigued ! Men of gold and stone . Are we perhaps on the verge of such prophecy ?

Awesome. I was wondering about this since Astartes

I need a oculus and baldermort collaboration. Please make it happen. For the emperor

This is VERY good. Well written and produced, coherent and utterly fascinating. You should be writing for Black Library.

Right off the bat, a beautifully dimly lit view of a hive city on Terra presumably.

I am incredulous to not have found this channel sooner! Wow, this stuff is great! Absolutely top-notch mini painting entertainment!

The Height of Humanity peak technological performance and what led mankind to have a golden age, but also what plunged it into perhaps the Darkest Age of the Galaxy for Humanity.

You and Baldemort have become my favorite 40k loremasters on KZfaq.

Has this humble chronicler considered enquiring of the noble houses of both the questor mechanicus and imperialus as to what records they may have kept through the long night? Given the unique nature of their society isolating themselves before the fall and the throne mechanicum retaining whispers of pilots long past, there may be a possibility they have retained records of a unique perspective.

Keep coming back to this one; possibly, for me at least, your finest work, Oculus :)

I'm a little bit shy..... ah fuck it. I LOVE OCULUS IMPERIA!!!

Didn't watch the video yet but you have my like !

I feel like the acolyte who is listening to his droning teacher 😂

By the Emperor's throne, this is one of sweetest and most heretical theories ever. That machine spirits are linked to the minds of the stone men.. Its brilliant and terrifying!

I like the theory that the men of gold are kings and priests, and the men of stone are scientists and engineers.

You word good.

This was a treat to come home to after a long days work. Thank you for all that you do, Oculus. You have become a favourite loretuber of mine. Ave Imperator🦅

This particular video is incredibly interesting. I've always had a feeling that the machine spirits could be... something extra heretical and yet kept obscure but for them to be shards of the men of stone? Damn.

This was truly awesome, and a wonderful piece of existential philosophy!

That's pretty neat to think about. "Men of Gold" - Perpetuals like Vulkan, origins unknown (possibly including the Emperor as the oldest and first to emerge). "Men of Stone" - uploaded humans, or human minds copied to machine substrates. "Men of Iron" - true AI created from first principles rather than copying organic intelligence.

I just discovered your channel from 40k theories and you are a rather underrated channel if I may say so. You’re one of the very few 40k channels to focus specifically on history and lore of many facets of the 40k universe besides the Astartes.

Probably one of my favourite subjects in 40k lore

Started to rewatched tts today where big e mentions the men of iron, keeping it for a better time to explain. Just when I thought when Oculus Imperia is gonna tackle this topic he uploads this video with the farsight of a bloody psyker! Keep going mate, you're getting ever better :)

I fucking love this channel. In character in universe lore? This guy GETS it. Gooood shit.

I think the incorruptible or “soulless” that safely traveled the warp was the beginnings of AI. I wish they would do more lore with them. It’s what really sucked me into 40k. I’ve listened to all these and luetin’s coverage at least 5 times each. The AI is bad ass.

Magical, loved.every minute of it. Leaving such a long time period in the dark, while divulging only tidbits, allows our imaginations to run wild. Your take is brilliant, as your character is perfect, su h a great idea. It merges our lore fascination with that of a 40k believable historian.

Companions to the Emperor before he was the Emperor. Fine of limb and strong of mind. Am I talking about the Men of Gold? Or am I talking about the golden armoured warriors of the Custodes? This is, of course, wild speculation; but what if the Men of Gold were the Emperor's first attempt to create genetic super humans to guide and protect humanity; they went to the stars with humanity, but their creation was too slow and too difficult, and there were never enough of them, so they dwindled. Then the Age of Strife comes, and the Emperor gathers as many of the scattered Men of Gold as he can, then returns with them to Terra where they serve as his greatest warriors and bodyguards. The Custodes.

This has made me grin ear from ear. You always do such a great job at getting the feel of the world and getting the information across.

Ahhh... our prototypes to flex the chaotic muscles of the warp ... just to remind mankind who really is in charge. HAIL the 8 fold path

Best source on Men of Iron/Stone/Gold Ive found.

WElp guess we're going to get a Perpetual lore recitation soon. or the Inquisition is going to shut our historitor down forever. Either way we're gonna be entertained.

As always, magnificent! Your command of language & especially your employment of pitch & tone is superb. It's 6:30 on a Fri morning and I'm about to head out to do my do - once again I hold my soul duly fortified! Very nicely done (again)!

20:32 Oh you sneaky Grog You thought I wouldn't notice ?

I absolutely encourage everyone to read the Red Rising books. Since finishing them I've taken to seeing them as 'old tales' of the age of humanity long preceding established lore and recountable history.

When you talked about the Men of gold joining the Emperor that got me thinking... What if the Sensei, the Emperor's natural-born children, were the Men of gold?!

So the humans of the 41st milenium, are likely decended from vat grown "stone" men? Are the humans of the 21st century (us) not the same as the average human in 40k? I get that this lore is vague on purpose and sounds more mythological than it was, but I'm confused as to wether base line humans existed along with the men of gold and stone or those were the only two types of people around.

Please give my most sincere greetings to the Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor who is assigned to your upcoming meeting/vivisection....assuming you remain capable of speech....