Adeptus Mechanicus

Imperium Nihilius    Factions      Imperium of Man      Adeptus Terra      Adeptus Mechanicus

"There is no truth in flesh, only betrayal."
"There is no strength in flesh, only weakness."
"There is no constancy in flesh, only decay."
"There is no certainty in flesh but death."
— Credo Omnissiah

Background

The Adeptus Mechanicus is the official Imperial name within the Adeptus Terra  for the Cult Mechanicus or Cult of the Machine based on Mars which provides the Imperium with its scientists, engineers and technicians.
The Mechanicus acknowledge the The God-Emperor of Mankind  as the ruler of the Imperium of Man , but not the religious truth of the Adeptus Ministorum  or the Ecclesiarchy, and are granted an unusual amount of political and religious autonomy within the Imperium's structure, a role protected by the ancient Treaty of Mars. The Mechanicus essentially maintains an empire-within-an-empire in Imperial space, and its interests usually, but not always, coincide with those of the wider Imperium.
Instead of the Imperial Creed, the servants of the Mechanicus follow their own dark and mysterious scriptures and worship the strange deity they call the Machine God or the "Omnissiah."
As part of this faith, the Adeptus Mechanicus believes knowledge is the true manifestation of divinity in the universe, and all creatures and artefacts that embody knowledge are holy because of it. The Emperor is the supreme object of worship for the servants of the Mechanicus, for He is the living avatar of the Machine God that is the Omnissiah.
The Tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus also regard organic flesh as weak and view the removal and replacement of biological tissue with mechanical, bionic parts as sacred. Most elder Tech-priests have few organic parts left and eventually become more machine than man.

Hierarchy

The term "Tech-priest" covers thousands of different roles within the ranks of the Adeptus Mechanicus which are divided into several distinct holy orders. The Cult Mechanicus is ordered by a strong hierarchy, but details on this hierarchy's actual make-up are not always clear. Generally, more highly positioned Tech-priests are expected to have more seniority and knowledge than lower ones, and are consequently more theologically important as greater repositories of knowledge. Across the galaxy Transmechanics, Lexmechanics, Enginseers, Secutors, Cognitors, Trifactors, Myrmidons, Technoshamans, and more labor alongside the wider Imperium to bolster humanity's war machine.

Magi

Magi (sing. Magos) of all stripes are senior Tech-priests with advanced specialisations in various disciplines of science and technology who pursue esoteric

agendas as likely to end in triumph as they are disaster.

Genetors

Genetors probe the mysteries of the biological, creating ever stranger cyborgs or slaughtering xenos beyond number in order to excise yet more secrets of their alien metabolisms.

Logi

A Logis (plu. Logi) is an analyst, statistician, and logistician whose purpose is to predict future trends and make forecasts about Mechanicus expenditures and needs. Because of their duties Logi are often regarded as prophetic figures within the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Artisans

Artisans create and restore truly wondrous weapons of war, from ornate Gamma Pistols to the mind-boggling immensity of the Ark Mechanicus. Also known as constructors, they design machines, buildings, spacecraft, weapons, and military hardware. They often oversee activity on Forge Worlds and control vast labor forces of servitors.

Fabricator General

The Fabricator-General of Mars is the highest-ranking individual within the Cult Mechanicus (in his capacity as the Magos Mechanicus), and administers not only the Adeptus Mechanicus but also governs the planet of Mars itself as the recognised Imperial Planetary Governor.
The Fabricator-General of Mars is the de facto leader of the Cult Mechanicus, and as befits his position, is awarded a permanent seat on the council that runs the Imperium, known as the Senatorum Imperialis or the High Lords of Terra.
Rulers of individual Forge Worlds are referred to as "Fabricator-Generals" as well, but only the Fabricator-General of Mars holds a seat amongst the High Lords of Terra, representing himself or herself as the leader of the Mechanicus as a whole.

Military Forces

The war-processions of the Cult Mechanicus are thronged with living weapons, each eager to give vent to their lethal wrath. Such a gathering is a daunting sight, for it boasts a riot of cybernetic anatomies, and the monotonous cant that emanates from it plays upon the nerves like talons drawn down glass.
To witness an army of Tech-priests marching to war is to share the vision of an insane prophet. And yet beneath the curling incense and the grotesquerie of nightmarish anatomies, there is a structure that spans from one Forge World to the next.

Skitarii

The Skitarii are the cybernetic infantry forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Skitarii regiments that go to war alongside the Mechanicus' Titans are equipped with various esoteric weapons of war. Part man and part machine, most Skitarii are cybernetically-linked to their personal weapon for increased performance. Skitarii are born into service either as natural-born human Menials of the Mechanicus who are cybernetically enhanced or in some cases as clones or vat-born humans who are cybernetically enhanced from the moment of their accelerated "birth."
Skitarii train with their weapon until they are of the age to be sent to a war zone. To guarantee their undying loyalty to the Mechanicus they usually undergo various forms of psychosurgery to wipe their minds of both emotion and personality
The Skitarii Legions do not fight alone, for they escort the vast goliaths of the Centurio Ordinatus to war, and even march in the shadow of the god-machines of the Titan Legions. It is the Skitarii that bolster the battle robots of the Legio Cybernetica and they who act as bodyguards for Tech-priests brave enough to take the field.
Skitarii are often also referred to as the Mechanicus' "Tech-Guard." Some Mechanicus factions recycle the organic portions of the bodies of dead Servitors and Skitarii as raw material for the formation of new vat-grown servitors or Skitarii.

Knights

These small combat walkers are one-man versions of a Titan. However, a Knight is smaller and less capable in combat than even the smallest class of true Titan utilised by the Titan Legions, the Warhound-class Scout Titan. Knights normally deploy in squadrons comprised of several of these war machines. These ancient battlesuits stand thirty to forty feet tall, are protected by nearly impenetrable Ion Shields and armed with a devastating array of heavy weapons. Imperial Knights are colossal war machines that tower over the battlefield.
Imperial Knights come from dynastic Knight Houses, a pseudo-feudal organization on the planets they hail from with Lords having a retinue of Knights at their command and sworn to protect their citizenry.

Titans

The Collegia Titanica is the division of the Adeptus Mechanicus that commands the Titans -- colossal robotic combat walkers which are the most potent ground weapons capable of being deployed by the Imperium of Man . Each Titan is manned by a crew consisting of a single Princeps in command of the Titan, assisted by varying numbers of Moderati, Sensori, Steersmen, Tech-priests, Enginseers, and servitors. The number of each is dependent on the type of Titan. In the Concordia Sub-Sector, the Legio Ipnos is stationed on Forge World Lothar .

Type

Political, Faction / Party

Friendly

Adeptus Astartes

80

Adeptus Mechanicus

80

The Mechanicus is technically an entity unto itself in the Imperium but maintains good relations with most Astartes Chapters.