The Tech Guard of the Adeptus Mechanicus

The Faith-Militant of the Machine Cult 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.

Skitarii Among the Lay-Worshippers of the Cult Mechanicus are the Mechancum’s ‘Protectors’ – the Skitarii (singular Skitarius), elite warriors augmented by arcane technologies into a deadly blend of machine and human lethality. The Skitarii act as bodyguards, shock troops and force projection for their ruling Magoi, dangerous and deadly creations of cybernetics, flesh-crafting and Martian practices of eugenics and social darwinism within their menial populations. The majority of these warriors are mentally augmented, either to increase aggression, or to strip them of fear and other threat responses such as the ability to feel pain.

As with much Mechanicus technology, there is no one ‘universal’ pattern of Skitarii; they are as varied as their masters, ranging from feather-and-fur-clad techno-barbarian hordes whipped on by mechadendrite-wielding overseers to sleek, armour-plated killing-machines with only a few scraps of flesh remaining from their original bodies, marching in precise and silent unison to the noospheric command impulses that send them to war. All are augmented beyond the human baseline, and many equipped with strange and deadly Mechanicus weaponry.

Within the majority of Skitarii units there is a designated leader responsible for coordinating the actions of their squads. This individual is known as an ‘Alpha’ in most configurations. The majority of Skitarii configurations have no need for higher ranked Officers as they are often subservient to an attendant Tech-Priest, but it has been known for Skitarii to be deployed with specially constructed units equivalent to superior ranks of Imperial Officers.

Within the Prosperitas Sector, many patterns of Skitarii have been created, from the crimson and hazard-striped iron fist that form the armed forces of Forge Ferraeus, to the strangely augmented Tech-Guard creations of the young Forge Castellum, who retain their autonomy and often go without the mental augmentations common amongst Skitarii with their strange weapon limbs and bone-white armourplast coating. Forge Naximus makes use of two breeds of Skitarii, the disciplined and highly indoctrinated warriors raised from the menial population of Naximus Prime and its satellite colonies, and savage augmented Techno-Barbarian warriors uplifted from the savage tribes of the moons of Anaximund Alpha that often serve as Auxilla to the Knights of House Qureshi.

Around the feet of the God-Machines the elite Titan Guard, known as Secutarii, act as infantry support and bodyguards to the Titan Legions, clearing the way for their God-Machines to rain fire and destruction down on the enemies of Humankind. Based upon similar patterns as their Skitarii cousins, these troops are augmented for the specialised role of protecting the Titans from infantry attacks and boarding attempts.