The Machine Cult

Five Things To Know About the Cult Mechanicus

• They Revere Machines. The Cult Mechanicus believes that every piece of machinery is inhabited by a Machine-Spirit, and that only through placation – with litanies, rituals and sacred anointing – can the machine be induced to work correctly.

• They Look Back, Not Forward. Despite their vast expertise, the Mechanicus are neophobes. Technological innovation in the Imperium is founded on the rediscovery of historical blueprints and templates, including the priceless and rare “Standard Template Constructs” which hold records of hyper-advanced technology once used by humanity in fathomless pre-Imperial history.

• They Advocate Augmentation. Adeptus Mechanicus often replace organic body parts and systems with technological alternatives, sometimes to the point of near-total augmentation.

• They are not Robots. While some may replace almost all their organic components with mechanical alternatives, the idea of artificial, created sentience is anathema to the beliefs of the Mechanicus and they will destroy it wherever they find it.

• They are a Cult. Despite their love of technology and knowledge, they are not rational scientists; between their ceremonial red robes, sincere techno-animist beliefs, ritual and religious hierarchy, they are as mystical and secretive a mystery cult as any found in the wider Imperium.

The Priesthood of Mars

The Machine Cult, known also as the Priesthood of Mars, Mechanicum or Machine Cult is a technocratic religion that preserves the ancient technology that the Imperium is utterly reliant upon yet understands so little about. For this reason alone, the Cult has a near-unique level of autonomy and religious freedom within the Imperium and a monopoly over complex technology – they control their own fiefdoms, called Forge Worlds, where their machine-worshipping religion replaces the more traditional Imperial cult.

The Adeptus Mechanicus is the Priesthood, it is what remains of what was once the Martian Empire. After the dark days of the Horus Heresy those Priests of the Machine Cult who had survived their own internal civil war made the decision (although some would say they were forced) to become more fully incorporated into the Imperium, becoming one of the Adepti of the Imperium. The Fabricator-General of Mars, as the nominal leader of the Mechanicus, became one of the so-called ‘High Lords’ of the Senatorum Imperialis, giving the Mechanicum a voice on the Imperium’s ruling council.

The Adeptus Mechanicus is unique in its independence from the strictures of the Imperium; many planets have Mechanicus enclaves and embassies that remain independent and sovereign territories of the Machine Cult. However, that independence is dependent solely on the Mechanicum fulfilling its role in supplying the Imperium; there is no clear-cut rule that gives the Mechanicus right to autonomy, and most certainly, willing and overt flaunting of Imperial laws by Mechanicus priests and servants is not politically astute and comes with severe consequences.

The Imperium, including the watchful Holy Ordos, may respect the Mechanicus’ role out of political respect, but it is not beyond their reach to bring a wayward Tech Priest or Forge World to heel by political or military means. The Mechanicus is powerful, but its internal political and religious divides render it disunited. There may be those amongst the Priesthood who dream of a resurrected and independent Martian Empire, but they are easily quietly removed by assassins and the levers of political machination before they reach positions of power where they would threaten the Imperium’s interests.

The History of the Machine Cult

The Machine Cult was born of the red sands of the fourth planet of the Sol System, Mars. Founded by humans from before the Age of the Imperium, the Machine Cult grew in power and strength until it became the core of a fledgling Martian Empire, known also as the Mechanicum. In the waning years of the Golden Age, the Cult came to revere and worship the great machines it constructed and dedicated itself to the preservation of that technology as the Age of Strife descended upon humankind.

One of the earliest powers amongst the stars, the Martian Empire and the Machine Cult was widespread before the coming of the Emperor. When the Imperium was founded, and Terra conquered, the Emperor forged an alliance with the Mechanicum, ensuring peace between what were two Empires of humanity and the supply of materiel and goods to the Emperor’s forces, the cornerstone of the Cult’s relationship with the Imperium.

However the defection of the leadership of the Martian Empire to the service of the daemon Horus during the Imperium’s civil war, and the subsequent Martian Civil War, almost destroyed the Martian Empire.

In the wake of the Heresy, the loyal Mechanicum were absorbed into the Imperium as the Adeptus Mechanicus, sacrificing a modicum of freedom in order to placate the reeling Imperium. This decision has been the cause of many internal disagreements among the Machine Cult – and is the reason why the Imperium has not made any attempt to stamp out their divergent belief.

Core Tenets and Beliefs of the Machine Cult

Religious practice across the innumerable words of the Mechanicum is as varied as that of the Imperial Faith, and doctrine that is accepted as totally orthodox by one Fabricator-General will be denounced as Heretekal by the adherents of a different Forge-World. The details of correct religious practice and obedience to Imperial Law are all questions of theological and political debate – often owing as much to the relationships of power with a given Forge-World’s nearest Imperial neighbours as the conviction of faith.

The Omnissiah

The Omnissiah, or Deus Machina, or very literally in low gothic, the 'Machine God' is central to the religion of the Cult.But the nature of the Omnissiah is a complicated one as many individual sects of the Machine Cult have their beliefs and these beliefs are as myriad as the Forge Worlds the Cult Controls, sometimes more so with multiple opinions on the nature of this entity being held on the same Forgeworld.

But there are two fundamental disagreements on the nature of the Omnissiah that are almost universal.

The First Disagreement is upon what the Omnissiah is - for many Tech Priests the Omnissiah is the highest expression of the Techno-animism of the Cult, a deity that represents the source of the original inspirations to pursue understanding of technology the source of the 'motive force' that drives the galaxy. But for others the Omnissiah is something less tangible, the Omnissiah is not a deity but the culmination of the 'Quest for Knowledge' that is central to the themes of the Cut, the Deus Ex Machina the God in the Machine the ultimate realization of achieving the perfection of blending flesh and steel and achieving oneness with the machine. These are the two poles of the spectrum of arguments on this entities existence.

The Second Disagreement is much younger, for it was born in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy and it is this. Are the Omnissiah and the God-Emperor the same being? This argument has wracked the Machine Cult for millennia, fundamental disagreements amongst those that believe the Machine God is a true entity that span from the Master of Humanities clear masteries of sciences beyond their reach. There are those who treat both as Gods respectful of veneration, those who worship the Emperor-as-Omnissiah and those who worship the Omnissiah as a god while respectfully disagreeing with the Ecclesiarchy on the godhood of the Emperor (who can be proven to be a living entity) over that of their Machine God.

This second disagreement is a cause of a LOT of tensions within the Priesthood and with the Imperial Cult and one that has yet to be resolved with any finality, if such religious debates ever will.

The Universal Laws

Certain key tenets, known as the Universal Laws, are held as fundamental to the beliefs across the vast majority of the Cult, and enforced by the edicts of Mars. Widely known examples include the following:

• 4th: Intellect is the Understanding of Knowledge.

• 5th: Sentience is the Basest Form of Intellect.

• 6th: Understanding is the True Path to Comprehension.

• 7th: Comprehension is the Key to all Things.

• 8th: The Omnissiah knows all, comprehends all.

• 12th: The Soulless sentience is the enemy of all.

• 15th: Flesh is Fallible, but Ritual Honours the Machine Spirit.

• 16th: To Break with Ritual is to Break with Faith.

Some aspects of doctrine are however heavily debated by the Mechanicum. For example a tenet cited in some versions of the universal laws; A Soul can be bestowed ONLY by the Omnissiah, which is treated as doctrinal canon by conservative Tech Priests with close Imperial affiliations would be heavily debated by a Tech Priest who refused to acknowledge the existence of Souls or believed the Omnissiah to be a state one aspires to rather than an existent entity.

The same issue is hotly debated over the use of Xenotech manufactured by alien species. More conservative priests cite a Universal Law, The alien mechanism is a perversion of the True Path, however this is not universally accepted. Although it is the consensus opinion of most of the Cult – there are radical elements that call this a needless political acquiescence to the Xenophobic Imperium, and there are rumours that some Imperial technologies have Xenos origins.

Despite the religious dominion of the Imperial Cult, the Machine Cult has remained rigidly independent of the Ecclesiarchy, enjoying legal rights that ensure the free practice of its religion and the absence of more than token Imperial Governance of its territories. Indeed the political situation is such that ancient laws and ties give the Machine Cult the sole legal right to prosecute individuals observed to be breaching its religious tenets and rules upon the correct and proper handling of technology. This is in part because the Arbites are just as reliant on the Cult for technology as the rest of the Imperium, and it would be impolitical to police the domain of the Cult.

Indeed this conviction that the Machine Cult is the one-true-authority on technology means that many of the most ancient War Machines and technology of the Imperium are effectively ‘loaned’ to it by the Priesthood of the Omnissiah, something that is a cause of considerable tension between Imperial Commanders, and the Mechanicus representatives to their forces.

There is however, one shared conviction between all of humanity that is shared between the Priesthood of Mars and the wider Imperium, and that is that thinking, sentient machines, Abominable Intelligences (or 'AI's' for short) are utterly heretical and forbidden. The echo of some historical war between humanity and such machines of its own creation has left a deep scar especially on the collective minds of the Machine Cult and it is universally agreed that no Tech Priest should attempt to recreate such technology out of utter fear that such a calamity will be wrought again.

The Hierarchy of the Cult Mechanicus

Within the Adeptus Mechanicus there are hugely complex machinations of politics, rank and status that determine where individual Tech-Priests fall within the hierarchy of a Forge World. The political divisions of the Mechanicus are as much religious as they are territorial. Though most Forge Worlds will, broadly speaking, align with a single sect of the Machine Cult, there may be further sub-sects still who divide up the surface of a Forge World and its colonies into their own private enclaves. Above these minor groups, individual Archmagoi will act as regional governors of a particular sector of Mechanicus territory, answering to the Fabricator-General of their Forgeworld.

A Fabricator-General or Arch-Magos and their deputy the Fabricator-Locum have charge of a full Forge-World, including temporal authority equivalent to that of a Planetary Governor in addition to their religious duties. But some planets defer to a ruling council rather than granting any one Magos primacy over the others.

Beneath the Fabricator-General are a vast array of Magi (singular, Magos) the fully inducted members of the Priesthood of Mars within the society of the Machine Cult all members of the Priesthood are referred to by the title of Magos, though they may possess other titles that define their specific rank within their Forgeworld all Priests are considered largely equal in the eyes of the wider Cult. Beneath them falls the laity of the Cult Mechanicus, the Menials, Servitors and Tech-Thralls.

The Taghmata Omnissiah - The Faith Militant

While the grand majority of the Machine-Cult’s military forces are comprised of non-ordained or ‘lay Mechanicus’, there are a number of sects of the Machine-Cult dedicated to warfare. When the Machine-Cult goes to war it does so in a number of configurations; the majority of the time most Tech-Priests prefer to direct their forces from the safety of a vessel in high orbit, an armoured bunker, or a heavily armoured vehicle far behind the front lines of a conflict.

However there are a few unique Collegia within the Machine Cult who consider themselves to be better put to serving on the front lines. Ravening hoards of Electro-Priests dedicate their entire lives to mastering the energies of bio-electricity and motive forces, using cybernetic upgrades and tesla weaponry to engage in combat with powerful electrified weapons – fanatical devotees of the Priesthood, their obsessions often leave them as more ravening hordes then potential leaders of the Cult.

Leadership and direction of the Taghmata Omnissiah comes from the Siege Engineers of the Collegia Reductor and the War Savants’ Collegia Secutor. Both sects worship the Omnissiah in its form as the ‘Unmaker God’, unleashing the destructive power of hidden Mechanicus technologies on the battlefield, using the wars it fights as the testing ground for rediscovered and rare weapons of destruction. Dedicated as they are to the art of war, the singular focus of these beings makes them terrifying to behold; often augmented into war-machines in their own right, they lead the armies of the Cult from the front in contrast to the majority of their fellow Priests.

Beneath the Priests Militant come the fighting forces of the Mechanicus, the massive legions of the Tech Guard known by their myriad designations such as Secutarii or Skitarii - these heavily augmented soldiery obediently serve Masters who from deep bunkers direct their forces by remote noospheric links. Relying heavily on augmentation the life of these warriors is a brutal one from creation to Death but they do so with fanatical devotion forced upon their augmented brains by various neural controls. To others they seem no-longer human, the majority of these forces being cyborgs who have had their human features all-but stripped away.

Alongside these stride the massive War Engines of the Collegia Titanica and the Questoris Mechanicus, huge armoured walkers created from venerated Technology that can devastate entire armies on their own.

The Lay-Mechanicus - The Labourers of the Machine Cult

Though some Lay-Mechanicus have the advantage of being posted to other areas of the Imperium and are thus considered 'students' of the Machine Cult only present on worlds to be sanctioned to interact with sacred machinery, the great majority are born into a life of service.

Differing from Lowborn on normal worlds, those born on worlds within the domain of the Machine Cult experience a far cruller existence than those born on worlds under Imperial rule. Because the Machine Cult claims dominion over the mind body and soul of those under their rule, the Menials as most common Mechanicus servants are labourers whose entire lives revolve around the cycles of work-shifts and are given very little respite from the industrial hells they are raised in.

Those considered bright or judged to be hardy enough, are permitted through the social darwinism of the Machine Cult to join the ranks of the Priesthood or the Tech Guard but most live and die as labourers...but only if they're lucky.

'The Flesh is Weak' is a common saying of the Priesthood and few of their servants die unaugmented, menials judged to be physically lacking in some way are taken by the Magos responsible for overseeing them and augmented, willing or not, to fulfill their tasks. Without any rights cybernetic mutilation is performed on menials on a daily basis. Until many are barely recognisable as human.

Those unlucky enough to be judged unfit in their current state, or proven to be rebellious suffer a far harsher fate - for unlike the Imperium who reserves Servitorisation for criminals, the Adeptus Mechanicus considers it a worthy use of a body they deem psychologically too rebellious to be useful but lacking the intellect worth of the Priesthood.

Legions of Servitors, often called "Tech Thralls" by the Mechanicus mingle with still-sentient menials, a reminder of what awaits them should they be no longer useful to their Masters. Although the vast array of Servitors in service are usually produced from vat-bred stock, it doesn't mean that the visual image is often enough to ensure that rebellions amongst menials are very rare.

See Also:

• Science and Technology for details on Servitors and Machine Spirits and other unique technologies.
• Factions of the Mechanicus in the Prosperitas Sector