Warhammer 40,000 Homebrew Wiki:How to make a Homebrew Adeptus Mechanicus Order

"Knowledge is power, and power is dangerous."

- Unknown

The Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus are the keepers of ancient knowledge and arcane technology. It is they who preserve the Emperor's Golden Throne and they who operate the forge worlds that feed the Imperial armouries with weapons) armour, munitions, vital spaceships and war machines. The Priesthood of Mars blends the mystic rites associated with the Cult Mechanicus and the worship of the Omnissiah with the intricate invocations, and arcane ceremonies required to build, assemble and maintain their precious machines. Unlike many of the other major Adeptus organisations, the Adeptus Mechanicus is not headquartered on Terra, but instead upon the original and greatest of all the forge worlds, the red planet of Mars. The Adeptus Mechanicus is one organisation in the Imperium that stands apart and virtually independent of the Adepts of Terra. This organisation’s red-robed agents appear on every Imperial world and aboard all its ships. It holds entire worlds beneath its sole authority, it controls virtually all of the facilities necessary for the Imperium to make war, and yet it retains unprecedented autonomy and control. Listed below are some tips of what to do and not to do, when creating a canon-friendly Fanon Adeptus Mechanicus Order.

Before Beginning
To begin, please ensure that you have read the rules and the Quality Control Policy. These will give you an understanding about what you can, and cannot, write about when creating a Fanon Space Marine Chapter. When creating a Space Marine Chapter, be sure to utilise the Space Marine Chapter Infobox in order to keep your article uniform with other Space Marine Chapter pages.

Also be sure to browse around this wiki, as there are already a lot of Chapters that have been created. There might be one that is similar to the one you had in mind to create. Though this is unfortunate, try to ensure that you create something unique and original, as this will avoid problems with being accused of plagiarization. To quickly access the location of the Space Marine Chapters already listed on this wiki, please be sure to browse the Adeptus Mechanicus category.

Background
In the 41st Millennium, it is said that the mighty Imperium of Mankind spans a million worlds. The vast fleets and billions-strong armies of the God-Emperor wage an unceasing war against aliens, traitors and heretics from the Halo Stars to the galactic core. The Imperium itself is a grim and uncompromising authority where any form of autonomy is the highest privilege. Among the Administratum of the Adeptus Terra, departments exist to oversee, monitor and control the countless souls within the Imperial domain. A hundred centuries of civil wars, heresies, pogroms, and coups have created a bureaucracy highly attuned to the dangers of granting too much independence to its citizens, whether they are planetary governors or lowly serfs. However, there is one organisation in the Imperium that stands apart and virtually independent of the Adepts of Terra. This organisation's red-robed agents appear on every Imperial world and aboard all its ships. It holds entire worlds beneath its sole authority, it controls virtually all of the facilities necessary for the Imperium to make war, and yet it retains unprecedented autonomy and control. This organisation is called the Adeptus Mechanicus, and it has a history fully as long and as tumultuous as that of the Imperium itself.

In an age when so much knowledge has been lost, it is the Adeptus Mechanicus that supplies technical expertise to the Imperium. The Tech-Priests manufacture and maintain a myriad of essential items, from the mightiest plasma reactors to the humblest vox sets to the Golden Throne of Terra itself. The Tech-Priests are the ones who preserve knowledge from ages past and explore new sciences for the future. By Imperial decree, every new discovery made belongs to the Tech-Priests, whether it might be a reclaimed data-vault or a salvaged spaceship.

The beliefs of the Tech-Priests have been handed down from their earliest forebears in the form of data-stacks and illumined holo-scrolls, but sure knowledge of the days prior to their rise is fragmentary and conflicting. It is said that before the beginning of currently recorded history, there existed an age of technological marvels unequalled in later millennia. This time is called the Dark Age of Technology by archaeo-historians, and it began Man's conquest of the stars. Mars was allegedly the first planet to be terraformed in this golden age. The Red Planet was gifted with atmosphere, and its arid deserts made fertile by the titanic technological prowess of the men of those times. However, as the Tech-Priests tell it, agriculture was never very significant to early Mars. Rather its true wealth lay beneath the surface in the form of gems, minerals and metal ores. Studies of the oldest structures on Mars show that great cities spread rapidly across the planet as Mars developed into the first human hive world. All this was to be brought to the brink of disaster by the galaxy-wide period of collapse known as the Age of Strife.

The Age of Strife
If records dating back to those years can be said to be fragmentary, those of the Age of Strife are no more than dust. What little is known implies that two catastrophic events occurred. First, the emergence of uncontrolled psykers unleashed plagues of Warp-dwelling entities and daemonic possession on many worlds. Only planets where the most rigourous control and persecution of psykers was exercised escaped the catastrophe. Second, great Warp storms engulfed the galaxy in this period, and rendered interstellar travel virtually impossible. The vast empire of early Man collapsed almost overnight into isolated worlds that quickly regressed technologically. Sensing Mankind’s weakness, foul aliens invaded and enslaved many of the surviving enclaves, even as ravening Warp-spawned Daemons claimed others.

Even Mars and Earth were beset, and initially fought one another for possession of the few resources left in the Sol system. However, famine quickly devastated the vast populations of both worlds, and the weakened remnants were reduced to little more than a form of techno-barbarism, with individual warlords squabbling over domination of their own territories. It appears that on Mars, the technologies that had permitted its settlement were either forgotten or lost, and the whole planet teetered at the edge of extinction as its terraforming broke down. As the Tech-Priests tell it, in this, their darkest hour, a new creed emerged among the Martians. It was a creed of survival based around selfless dedication to a higher purpose, and it bound the last true men together against the anarchy that beset them. Science became their religion, and the Cult of the Machine God emerged to be their ward against the encroaching darkness.

Rise of the Machine God
It is said that the first devotees of the Machine God undertook terrible risks to seek out fragments of technology from their devastated cities. The Tech-Priests recall that their forebears used what they learned to set up protected enclaves that could shelter them against the continuing rad-storms. Piece-by-piece, they must have set about rebuilding the oxygen recyclers, moisture traps, and food processors that would be necessary to support themselves in the long term on an increasingly hostile Mars. The enclaves had barely enough space for the devotees of the Machine God, and none at all for unbelievers. It can be imagined that mutants and marauders frequently assailed the hastily-built shelters, and perhaps some of the earliest were wiped out, yet after every setback the followers of the Machine God learned and rebuilt. The Cult of the Machine God demanded absolute devotion and self-sacrifice from its followers, and to them a functioning machine became more valuable than the lives of many men. From the earliest records, it appears that the Priesthood of Mars grew in strength and confidence, and the scattered enclaves began to unite and share their knowledge. Every partial database or ruined document was carefully preserved and added to their store of understanding. Every broken machine was examined, catalogued, and collected. To the devotees of the Machine God, their survival through the dark times was nothing less than miraculous, an event divinely inspired by the God In The Machine, Deus Ex Mechanicus. The savants with the greatest understanding of technology saw themselves as Tech-Priests, prophets able to interpret the will of the Machine God through the rattle of Cogitators and the whine of compressors. The reward for their dedication was manifest to all: they could communicate with the machine-spirits present in every mechanism and persuade them to do their bidding.

The Cult of the Machine God adopted the name 'Mechanicum' for themselves, disciples of the Machine God. As their philosophy developed, the Tech-Priests came to realise that knowledge itself was the purest expression of divinity. That meant any object or being that was a receptacle of knowledge became in some part holy. A data-stack or machine intelligence that carried knowledge from ancient times was no less divine than a man of flesh and blood. Indeed, they began to see men as organic machines subject to many failings, with their only true worth lying in the knowledge they accumulated through the application of intellect. The Tech-Priests pushed themselves ever harder to overcome the weaknesses of the flesh and become more akin to machines; logical and dispassionate, untroubled by passion or emotion. Bionic replacement and augmentation became increasingly commonplace as they sought to emulate machine-kind. Over the span of generations, the Mechanicum set about rebuilding Mars into something very different to what had come before. The great structures of steel and glass they now raised were built not to house men but machines. The manufactories and forges they rekindled were devoted to the creation of engines and devices that would not serve the Mechanicum, but be served by them. Plainsong machine-cant echoed through the cathedral-like engine halls as ever more information was laid upon the altars of knowledge.

It took centuries more for the Mechanicum to rebuild the orbital shipyards of Mars, and further centuries to construct the first Explorator fleet, but the task was pursued with zealous devotion. Thereafter, expeditionary fleets departed from Mars whenever the conditions in the Warp permitted it. The expeditions were sent to whatever worlds the Tech-Priests could find mentioned in their archives as being colonised in earlier times. Some fleets vanished without trace while others were flung far off course by the ongoing Warp storms, but a portion of them eventually arrived at their intended destinations. New forge worlds were established, each a reproduction of Mars and its temples to the Machine-God. Until the Great Crusade, contact with the expeditions was so sporadic that only a trickle of rediscovered technology was ever returned to Mars. Nevertheless, the Tech-Priests persisted in this holy mission, secure in their faith that the pursuit of knowledge justified any cost.

The Arrival of the Omnissiah
On Terra, a new ruler had emerged, uniting the planet for the first time in ages. Known only as the Emperor, he seemed to desire alliance with Mars, and debate had raged among the Tech-Priests about how to receive this being. For many, the vast breadth of knowledge the Emperor had demonstrated during his conquest of Earth was adequate proof that he was the earthly representative of the Machine God, a perfect fusion of mortal flesh and divine intellect they referred to as the Omnissiah. Some Mechanicum members would not accept the proclamation of the Emperor as the Omnissiah, and a schism threatened the unity of Mars. A small rebellion by senior Tech-Priests gained little support and was quickly put down. The fires of combat were still burning in the manufactories when the Fabricator General and the Emperor signed the Treaty of Mars (known to the Mechanicum as the Treaty of Olympus Mons) to formally ally their two empires and guarantee sovereignty to each. Under the terms of the treaty the Mechanicum undertook to supply the weapons, ships, and war machines necessary for the Great Crusade and for the defence of the burgeoning Imperium. In eachange, they demanded that the Emepror's forces turn over to them all of the technologies they discovered.

The Great Crusade & Horus Heresy
Despite the Treaty of Mars and the crushed rebellion, there were still many among the Mechanicum that did not truly accept the divinity of the Emperor. As the Warp storms subsided and the Great Crusade moved through the galaxy to re-unite Mankind under one rule, it discovered forge worlds established by the Explorator fleets and re-absorbed them into the widening circle of Mechanicum power. On occasion, the wildly divergent philosophies developed by forge worlds brought fresh schisms to the Mechanicum and led to further minor rebellions. The demands placed on the Mechanicum grew higher and discontent mounted as the Great Crusade pushed ever onward, but the Emperor remained dogmatic that it must be maintained until all of humanity was freed from the influence of the Daemon and the alien.

During this time other dark forces were growing. The Emperor's own Warmaster, Horus, began to lay plans against his master and sought support from all quarters for his treachery. Much of the Mechanicum sided with the traitors in the ensuing galaxy-wide conflict known as the Horus Heresy, and Mars was once again riven by nuclear fires and titanic weaponry as the Mechanicum turned against itself. The Horus Heresy and the purges that came after it set the Mechanicum back immeasurably. Entire archives of accumulated knowledge were burned, priceless data-stacks toppled, and giant facilities ravaged in the fighting. It was a terrible wound that continues to echo down the millennia, as the Adeptus Mechanicus still struggles to recover many of those priceless, lost achievements of the glorious past.

Hierarchy of the Adeptus Mechanicus
"A man may die and still endure if his work enters the greater work, for time is carried upon a current of forgotten deeds, and events of great moment are but the culmination of a single carefully placed thought. As all men must thank progenitors obscured by the past, so we must endure the present, so that those who follow may continue the endeavour."

- The Chime of Eons, Garba Mojaro Techno-Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus

The following is an example illustration of the organisational structure of the Adeptus Mechanicus in the modern 41st Millennium:
 * Omnissiah
 * High Lords of Terra
 * Adeptus Terra
 * Adeptus Mechanicus
 * Adeptus Ministorum
 * Cult Mechanicus - Disciples of the Machine God
 * Centurio Ordinatus - Engines of the Omnissiah
 * Collegia Titanica - God-Machines of the Titan Legions
 * Auxilia Myrmidon - Savants of War
 * Legiones Skitarii - Warriors of the Machine God
 * Legio Cybernetica - The Host Robotic
 * Ordo Reductor - Bringers of Blessed Ruin

Rank Structure
The Cult Mechanicus is ordered in 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. A tentative mapping of this hierarchy, in order from highest to lowest, will follow below. It should be noted that specialists such as Genetors and Logis may not have any specific rank within the Cult as a group, but rather will be ranked as individuals.

The Adeptus Mechanicus hierarchy (from highest-ranked to lowest-ranked) is as follows:


 * Fabricator-General
 * Magos
 * Logis
 * Genetor
 * Artisan
 * Electro-Priest
 * Enginseer
 * Transmechanic
 * Lexmechanic
 * Runepriest
 * Menials
 * Servitors

The Adeptus Mechanicus also recognises the following specialist ranks, which stand outside the standard hierarchy of the Cult Mechanicus and usually serve a related military role for the Mechanicus or its allies amongst the other Imperial Adepta. Titan crews and Space Marine Techmarines are listed last not because of their actual position within the hierarchy, but because of their relative separation from the rest of the Cult Mechanicus:


 * Collegia Titanicus Princeps
 * Moderatus
 * Tactical Officer
 * Techmarine
 * Skitarii

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. As befits his position, the Fabricator-General of Mars has a permanent seat on the council that runs the Imperium, known as the Senatorum Imperialis of 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 the leader of the Mechanicus as a whole.

Fabricator Locum
The Fabricator Locum is the second highest-ranking individual on the planet of Mars. The Fabricator Locum assists the Fabricator General with the governance of Mars, including the meeting of production quotas and ensuring the correct devotions to the Machine God are observed at all times. The most notable Fabricator Locum was Kane who sided with the Emperor of Mankind during the Horus Heresy and thus maintained at least some crucial Mechanicus support for the Loyalists.

Magos
A Magos is a master of a technological or scientific discipline, having devoted many years of service to the Omnissiah in that area of study. There are many specialist divisions within the Adeptus Mechanicus known as Divisiones. Magi from these are given a rank containing the specialisation of their Divisio, such as Magos Alchemys, Magos Biologis, Magos Technicus, Magos Logis, Magos Xenologis, Magos Lexmechanicus, Magos Orbologis, Magos Cybernetica, Magos Xenobiologis, Magos Astrologicus, Magos Digitalis, Magos Fabricator, Magos Genetus, Magos Physic, and possibly many more. There are two higher ranks within the Divisiones that are variations of the Magos, including Archmagos and Archmagos Veneratus. It is not known what the specific connotations of these titles are, though presumably they are indicative of greater seniority and experience.


 * Magos Explorator - Obsessed with the quest for knowledge, the senior Tech-priests who take on the mantle of a Magos Explorator search high and low across the galaxy for lost Standard Template Construct (STC) databases and ancient human scientific and technical knowledge lost during the Age of Strife. A breed apart from regular Tech-priests, any Explorator or member of his team will willingly walk into forgotten catacombs, even at the risk of death, for mere snippets of long-forgotten knowledge from the Dark Age of Technology. Many Magos Explorator command the Explorator fleets that continue to push outward the frontiers of the Imperium or even serve alongside Rogue Traders.
 * Magos Errant - Something of a jack of all trades, a Magos Errant studies several scientific and engineering disciplines, including chemistry, genetics, metallurgy and more. They are then attached to Rogue Trader fleets and other similar Imperial expeditions by treaty between the Adeptus Mechanicus and the individual Rogue Trader houses or the Imperium itself if the expedition is sponsored by the Adeptus Administratum. In return for the Adeptus Mechanicus' expertise in technical maintenance and science, the Magos Errant is allowed to study interesting sites the expedition comes near, transport sensitive materials and generally make use of the expedition's resources for the greater good of the Machine God.
 * Magos Juris - Magos Juris are those rare Tech-priests who choose to devote their minds to the study of the Machine God's will rather than the knowledge it embodies, removing themselves from the Quest for Knowledge in order to preserve it from the abuses of the heathen masses of Mankind. Amongst their colleagues on the Calixis Sector's Forge Worlds, these individuals are sometimes known as Magos Juris. They relentlessly pursue those who would commit tech-heresy or steal the secrets of the Adeptus Mechanicus. These Magos hunt down those who would employ unsanctioned technology or, even worse, operate technology without the blessing and oversight of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Magos Juris will go so far as to even take Mechanicus voidships into the depths of the Koronus Expanse to hunt down their foes. Worse still are those who smuggle technology, attempting to keep it from its rightful guardians. The fate of such men, when they are caught, is a grim one, for they are condemned to spend a far-expanded lifetime toiling without mind or will as a Servitor aboard the ship of the Magos that judged them, their minds obliterated and their bodies repurposed to serve the Machine God that they blasphemed against. There are many Explorator Tech-priests who speculate that the Magos Juris are, in fact, the agents of a secret order within the Adeptus Mechanicus known as the Lords Dragon. This ancient and powerful cabal is composed of specially-altered Archmagos said to exist deep within the secret inner circles of Mechanicus politics on the Calixian Forge Worlds known as the Lathes. Their task: to police the Mechanicus from within. However, little evidence can be found that proves the Lords Dragon exist at all, and that these Magos Juris do not simply operate on their own.

Logis
The accountants and mathematicians of the Mechanicus, the Logis are statisticians, analysts, actuaries and logisticians. They indirectly control a Forge World's resources. They can accurately predict almost anything with very small margins of error, making them extremely useful to anyone with an artillery piece or seeking to determine interstellar trade flows. Considered prophetic by some, the Logis are also very good at predicting future trends and forecasts and so they are often tasked by the Mechanicus with aiding the bureaucrats of the Administratum. Their dispassionate analysis is given great weight in decision making.

Genetor
Essentially geneticists, a Genetor is a Mechanicus scholar who studies all matters genetic and biological. Sometimes referred to as the Magos Biologis, Genetors number alongside the Logis, Artisan and Magos ranks of the Adeptus Mechanicus as members of its ruling Priesthood, possessing access to knowledge and resources far beyond that of the lesser Enginseers and Lexmechanics. A Genetor's field of study makes him distinct from the majority of Tech-Priests, their professional obsession with organic life often making them seem strange to their more mechanically-inclined brethren. Their interest in the organic not only pertains to the human form, but to the study of xenos life as well. The study of alien genetics, intended to better understand them and thus how to better slay them, falls to a sub-sect of Genetors collectively known as the Xenobiologists. Genetors are typically found accompanying Imperial or Rogue Trader expeditions to new or rediscovered worlds so that they can sample previously unknown species' DNA for its potential utility. Genetors also introduce common Imperial animals to a new colonial ecosystem, such as the Grox, a large reptilian animal that serves as a common food source on many Imperial worlds.

Artisan
Artisans are exactly what the name implies; they build and design pieces of technology for various purposes, from agriculture to war -- they are essentially the Adeptus Mechanicus' Corps of Engineers. Usually found with an entourage of Servitors, these Adepts command labour forces that could rival small armies in size. They are responsible for controlling the vast labour force of Servitors employed by the Adeptus Mechanicus for all of their labour needs on any given Forge World.

Electro-Priest
Electro-priests are techno-zealots devoted to the Cult Mechanicus, particularly the mysteries of energy, its flow through conductive bodies and the motivating spark it provides to Machine Spirits. They are known to be outfitted with a huge number of electoos. Electro-priests support other Tech-priests in battle. The most fanatical Electro-Priests are heavily modified to permit them to generate electrical energy within their own bodies, transforming them into living fonts of crackling power, destroying everything they touch before collapsing from the strain.

Enginseers
Enginseers are the technicians of the Cult Mechanicus, specially trained in maintaining and repairing machines. They are often seconded to the Imperial Guard in order to maintain and repair the armoured vehicles used by the Guard's regiments. Although most Guardsmen revere their vehicles enough not to risk annoying an Enginseer through "tinkering," some unique vehicles have been created from spare parts in time of need -- much to the chagrin of the Enginseers present. Among their fellow Tech-priests, Enginseers are afforded little respect, as their labours do not normally contribute to the Quest for Knowledge because they only maintain existing machines instead of building or discovering new technologies. Rather, they are viewed as lowly but essential cogs in the great machine that is the Cult Mechanicus. Most Enginseers have Mechadendrites attached to their back in order to facilitate their repair work.

Transmechanic
Transmechanics are technicians or service engineers who specialise in dealing with communications technology. By the nature of their speciality, Transmechanics are often called upon to serve in other Imperial organisations for extended periods of time, and often spend their entire existence aboard Imperial Navy vessels or on Imperial Guard bastion-worlds.

Lexmechanic
Also known as Calculus Logi, Lexmechanics are the librarians and scribes of the Mechanicus. Their purpose is to compile and rationalise data so it can be entered into a central Cogitator repository. They can work with a computer's speed and accuracy, assembling battlefield reports, economic statistics, planetary reports, and so forth. Like Transmechanics, Lexmechanics are commonly assigned duties outside the Adeptus Mechanicus assisting the Adeptus Terra.

Rune Priest
The Rune Priest's role is to inscribe runes and chant liturgies over machines as part of the Cult Mechanicus ritual of initiation. They are trained in the most arcane branches of scientific lore such as intuitive mechanics, speculation, and improvisation. Rune Priests are famous for their lateral thinking, which may be called upon when strict logic and standard procedures fail.

Menials
As their name suggests, Menials are the menial and unaugmented human labourers of the Mechanicus, used primarily for unskilled labour too complex for Servitors to economically perform. Menials are not considered true Tech-priests, but are usually indoctrinated with the beliefs of the Cult Mechanicus in a simplified form. Skitarii and, to some extent, new Tech-priests are often recruited from the ranks of the Menials on Mars and the other Forge Worlds.

Servitors
Servitors are mindless slave cyborgs, designed and programmed to perform menial, rudimentary or dangerous tasks for the Mechanicus and other elements of the Imperium like the Imperial Guard or even the Space Marine Chapters. There exists an endless variety of Servitors, from heavy mining Servitors to battlefield Gun-Servitors and elite Praetorian Servitors. A Servitor's biological components are obtained either by growing genetically-engineered human bodies artificially in culture vats, or by using the lobotomized bodies of condemned Imperial criminals or failed prospective Space Marines - all are subsequently augmented with mechanical limbs, computer uplink jacks and whatever electronic accessories are deemed necessary to facilitate their ordained tasks. As they cannot think for themselves since their higher brain functions have all been disabled, they are essentially nothing more than partially-organic robots which use a portion of a human brain as their central processing unit. Some Servitors can be installed with combat programs which enable them to function as unswervingly loyal bodyguards. In the battlefields of the game, they often form part of the retinues of Tech-priests, Techmarines and Inquisitors. These are seen on tabletop battlefields as Gun-Servitors, bearing heavy weaponry; Combat-Servitors, armed with close-quarters combat equipment; and Technical Servitors, which are intended to perform repairs and construction duties instead of fighting. Particularly large and heavily armed and armoured Servitors are referred to as Praetorian Servitors. Towering over even a Space Marine, Praetorians are created either from cybernetically-enhanced vat-grown genetically engineered giants or lobotomized Ogryns.

Order's Purpose
When creating your own Fanon Adeptus Mechanicus Order, you must ensure that such an organisation doesn't already exist. If there is such an organisation that exists within the Adeptus Mechanicus hierarchy, instead of throwing out your initial idea, you can tweak it by making your order take a different approach. Perhaps it is a variant sub-cult/group of a larger, existing one - with different ideas, beliefs and methods of doing things. To give you an idea of what these various organisations do, listed below are the most common military forces and orders found within the modern Adeptus Mechanicus.

Legiones 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 do not simply crush their foes, but instead pitilessly blast them into bloody chunks of flesh. Even as they do so they record every tiny screed of battle data for later analysis. Just as the Skitarii exload the martial capabilities of the foe to their masters, the Tech-Priests inload their own programs into the Skitarii. It is usual practice for a legion's overseer Tech-Priests to monitor each battle from a scryer-ship high above. Floating in a sea of data, each adept sends battlefield commands down via data-tethers to the Skitarii on the planet below. In this way their soldiers can be remotely augmented, used as eyepieces, forced into suicidal engagements, or even possessed entirely. The ever-devout Skitarii see these incidents as the divine spirit of the Omnissiah entering them and acting through them to the betterment of the Imperium. To the Tech-Priests, their minions are little more than electric puppets jerking upon strings of pre-programmed impulse. 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. The Crimson Guard rival any of the armed forces within the Calixis Sector.

Below are listed a few of the variants of the Skitarii utilised by the various Forge Worlds of the Adeptus Mechanicus:
 * Classiarii - The Skitarii forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus take a variety of forms. On warships and Explorator vessels operating within the Koronus Expanse and the Calixis Sector, specially-programmed Skitarii are a necessity, for they serve as the members of boarding parties, security personnel and bodyguards where other forms of Skitarii would be impractical. Within the Mechanicus territories of the Calixis Sector, these warriors are known as Classiarii, a term of obscure meaning within the ancient traditions of the Calixian Mechanicus, believed to mean "mariners." Nigh-impervious to vacuum, fitted with thick, implanted armour, and equipped with an array of implanted weaponry designed for void combat and combat in the cramped enclosures of a starship, a Classiarius trooper is literally built for ship-to-ship combat.
 * Venatorii - The Venatorii were created in the wake of the War of Brass that devastated the Skitarii Legions of the Lathe Worlds, leaving entire Forge Worlds of the Calixis Sector with virtually no troops left. The reigning High Fabricator started a discreet rearmament drive throughout the Calixian Forge Worlds. The more military minded Tech-priests were moved into position to help replenish the fighting ranks. It took many years to bring this grand plan together, but once everything was in place, the High Fabricator found himself with a new force consisting of some of the best-trained and best-equipped troops in the Calixis Sector. Dubbed the Venatorii, the new hunters were a force that was to remain separate to the recovering Skitarii forces of the sector and act as the true elite of the Lathes. With their unique organisation and frightening red armour, the few outside of Mechanicus circles who were aware of their existence soon began to call them the Crimson Guard.

Collegia Titanica
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. The Collegia was one of the groups of the Adeptus Mechanicus that went over to the Warmaster Horus almost en masse alongside the Legio Cybernetica during the Horus Heresy. The name "Adeptus Titanica" is also used for the corps of Titans fielded by the Mechanicus. The Collegia is divided into divisions, such as the Divisio Militaris, Divisio Mandati, Divisio Telepathica and the Divisio Investigatus. The most important of these divisions is the Divisio Militaris since it actually includes the Battle Titans, and is itself further divided into the Titan Legions: groupings of Titans such as the Traitor Death's Head Legion, the Fire Wasps Legion or War Griffons Legion. Each Titan Legion is commanded by an officer known as the Grandmaster who may also be the Princeps of the most powerful Titan in the Legion.

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.

Knight Houses
Thousands of standard years before the rise of the Imperium, Mankind reached out to the stars and settled many far away worlds. Among the apparatus of colonisation were formidable war machines known as Imperial Knights, which existed to protect the settlers from any threat. 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.

The strongholds constructed from the remains of ancient Terran colony starships are ruled by the descendants of the first human settlers of those far-flung worlds, mighty warriors who enter combat in their towering armoured battlesuits and who are sworn to protect and guard the Imperial citizens who inhabit their worlds. The descendants of the early pioneers who settled their respective worlds were found in the knightly houses of the Imperial Knights. Known formally as the Questoris Familia, these dynasties of Imperial nobility evolved from the need to protect the early human settlers of the Knight Worlds from indigenous species discovered on their alien planets. These proud and haughty warriors can trace their bloodlines back to Terra itself and are known as nobles. Over the millennia, the pilots of these massive war suits have established a rich culture, with noble houses each sworn to the defence of their homeworld, and bound by oaths of fealty to the Golden Throne of Terra and the Adeptus Mechanicus of Mars.

Centurio Ordinatus
The Centurio Ordinatus, a section of the Mechanicus' Divisio Militaris, is the Adeptus Mechanicus organisation responsible for the development, maintenance and operation of the mighty Ordinatus war machines. Every individual Ordinatus is a unique construction and named for the Imperial world on which it was first employed or built. Each Ordinatus is a unique weapon that is designed for a specific purpose or for a particular battle. This explains why the Ordninatii Tech-priests that operate these massive war machines of the Machine God are configured using special augmetics to aid their intended purpose.

Legio Cybernetica
The Legio Cybernetica is one of the oldest sub-branches of the Adeptus Mechanicus and is responsible for deploying fully autonomous robots (Battle-Automata) for both combat duties and support tasks intended to aid Imperial armed forces in the field. The Legio Cybernetica can trace its lineage the time before the birth of the Imperium of Man when Mars was the capital of an independent interstellar empire ruled by the Tech-priests of the Cult Mechanicus. Its members regard themselves as an elite within the ranks of the Mechanicus, as they have a long history of serving the will of the Emperor of Mankind. However, many of those within the Legio broke faith with the Emperor during the Schism of Mars, siding with the traitorous forces of the Warmaster Horus and fighting alongside his Traitor Legions throughout the Horus Heresy. When this conflict ended, the Traitor cohorts of the Legio Cybernetica fled into the Eye of Terror, where they remain to this day, warped and twisted by their exposure to the power of Chaos. The remaining Loyalist elements of the Legio Cybernetica pledged themselves anew to the Imperium, and its members took binding oaths of loyalty more terrible than any taken even by the Astartes. Over the millennia since the Heresy, the Legio Cybernetica has regained the respect and admiration of the rest of the Adeptus Mechanicus as well as the other myriad Adepta of the Imperium.

Collegiate Extremis
The Collegiate Extremis is the judicial branch of the Adeptus Mechanicus. It is similar to the Adeptus Arbites in function: traitors to the Omnissiah are prosecuted and their crimes analysed. At its head is the Lords Dragon, an ancient cabal orchestrating the Collegiate, perhaps of Archmagi Veneratus of whatever divisiones of the Mechanicus serve in the Collegiate. The main leaders of the Collegiate Extremis would, in theory, be on Mars, and each Forge World would have a Lord Dragon of its own to command the local members of the collegiate, but this is based on circumstantial evidence. The Collegiate's will is enforced on Forge Worlds by attached Skitarii Provosts, as they are known, and the Magos Juris carry out their will across the galaxy. In many ways the Collegiate Extremis serves as the Mechanicus' own internal variant of the Imperial Inquisition.

Auxilia Myrmidon
Within the Calixis Sector, the undisputed centre of power within the Lathe System is the Auxilia Myrmidon, a seeming sub-organisation of the Skitarii Legions, composed of elite Tech-priests known commonly as the Siege Engineers or the War Savants. This Mechanicus sect exists to study the art of destruction with the ardent fervour that their fellows mighty apply to the creation of machinery or the recovering of lost archeotech. Legend has it they came to the sector during the earliest days of the Angevin Crusade (322-384.M39) for reasons of their own, and have since remained to defend the Cult Mechanicus’ possessions there. Myrmidons are expert killers, weapon masters and destroyers. At the behest of the ruling Archmagos of the Forge Worlds, they are sent to accompany Explorators in investigating finds in the most dangerous sectors of space and retrieve the most hazardous xenos-specimens, whilst others are tasked to hunt down Mechanicus Renegades accused of the foulest techno-heresies and terminate them with extreme prejudice. A Secutor is the first rank in the Auxilia Myrmidon presumably as the standard trooper, and is also the first Adepts Minoris rank in the Divisio Mandati. other members of the sect operate their vehicles as drivers, known as Myrmidons, who also serve in the Ordo Reductor. A platoon leader of a unit of Secutors or Myrmidons is known as a Centurius. A Tribune (commonly known as a lieutenant in the stand Imperial armed forces) commands a century; a Magnus (also known as a captain, and perhaps an Adept Majoris) commands a cohort, with a Colonel-priest having control of a battalion and a Magos Commander in charge of an entire Legion of the Auxilia Myrmidon.

Ordo Reductor
The Ordo Reductor is a sub-organisation of the Adeptus Mechanicus that developes, manufactures and operates siege weaponry. There is a sizable portion of the Ordo Reductor staffed primarily by Myrmidons of the Auxilia Myrmidon. It is claimed that these Myrmidons are located on the Mechanicus fiefdom in the Calixis Sector known as The Lathes; the Myrmidons are masters of the mysterious Ordo Reductor, and are said to be towering and fearful figures decked out in blood-red and black robes, bearing the forbidden weapons of a bygone age. Even wilder legends speak of this place as the home of mech-assassin covenants and the dread Magister Samadhi -- beings whom most Magos consider no more than a dark myth. Some even speculate that the Panopticon's rulers are members of a secret order known as the Lords Dragon, an ancient and powerful cabal of Archmagos tasked with policing the Mechanicus itself.

Adeptus Mechanicus Duties
Besides scientific research and maintaining the Imperium's machines, there are many important duties that the Adeptus Mechanicus performs in order to keep the Imperium of Man functioning on a day-to-day basis. These include:


 * Caretakers of the Generatorium - The advanced technology of the Imperium requires power and this power is supplied by Generatoriums, large, nuclear fusion-based power plants. The creation and operation of the Generatoriums (power plants) containing the Generatorium are the function of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the information behind their operations and construction are closely guarded from outsiders.
 * Caretakers of the Genetorium - Like the Generatorium, the Genetorium is vital to a planet's survivability. The Genetoriums provide a list of all plants and animals that are either on a planet or will be introduced to the planet to make it habitable by Mankind. A Genetorium is normally run by a Magos Biologis and plays a vital role in the Inquisition's activities. Their duties also extend to searching for genetic impurities in baseline human populations and in the hunting down of dangerous human mutants like rogue psykers.
 * Caretakers of the Librarium - All of the knowledge in the Imperium is stored in the vast Librariums of Terra and Mars. Along with the Administratum, the Tech-priests store, guard, and reproduce what knowledge they can attain. In the Age of the Imperium where stagnation is the rule, knowledge has truly become power.
 * Caretakers of the Manufactorium - As with the Librariums, the Tech-priests administer and protect the manufactoriums of the Forge Worlds that ensure that the Imperium is provided with the goods and machines that ensure its survival.
 * Caretakers of the Astartes - All Space Marine Chapters are expected to pay a tithe of 5% of their gene-seed every year to the Adeptus Mechanicus so that the Mechanicus' Tech-priests can monitor the health of each Chapter and facilitate the Founding of new Chapters from existing gene-seed lines whenever the High Lords of Terra decree that the Imperium has a need for new Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes.

The Quest For Knowledge
"The universe is not like a puzzle-box that you can take apart and put back together again and so solve its secrets. It is a shifting, uncertain thing which changes as you consider it, which is changed by the very act of observation. A powerful man is not a man who dissects the universe like a puzzle box, examining it piece by piece and measuring each piece with scientific precision. A powerful man has only to look upon the universe to change it."

- Techno-Magos Gaelos

Individually and collectively, the Adeptus Mechanicus is driven by what the Tech-Priests refer to as "the Quest for Knowledge." The Quest can take many forms, such as research and exploration, or scouring ancient worlds for archeotech, but its ultimate embodiment is in the pursuit of ancient, near mythological devices known as STC systems. STC systems were created at the height of the Dark Age of Technology, when humanity was thought to have colonised many hundreds of worlds. Some colonies prospered, some failed, and others failed to achieve more than a subsistence-level existence. However, all of the ancient colonies consistently maintained a high level of technology, thanks to a huge database of information they carried from Terra. This massive storehouse of technical knowledge was called the Standard Template Construction (STC) system.

The STCs are believed to hold the sum total of human knowledge in the fields of technical accomplishment and material sciences. The system included designs for every imaginable device, from simple agricultural machinery to data-cores and nuclear power-grids; in theory, every possible advancement a growing colony might need or eventually aspire to. However, the early colonists’ needs were simple, and fulfilled with more conventional power sources and low level technologies, so these form the majority of the STC data the Adeptus Mechanicus have retrieved. Little, if any, of the advanced theoretical knowledge contained in the STC databanks was ever transcribed into the fragmentary physical copies that have survived the intervening thousands of years.

No intact STC system has survived into the 41st Millennium, and very few examples of first-generation STC design schematics exist. Even so, the vast majority of the most common weapons, vehicles, and systems in use throughout the Imperium have been faithfully copied from ancient STC information. Where such information exists, it is precious and sacred to its keepers, an artefact that has been passed down over hundreds of generations. Magos Arkhan Land is still remembered and celebrated thousands of years after his death for his discovery of a single STC fragment in the 31st Millennium. That single fragment yielded construction templates for the famous Land Raider battle tank and Land Speeder aerial attack vehicle, both named in honour of their discoverer.

Wars have been fought and worlds ruined over fragments of STC data. The Adeptus Mechanicus has pursued any trace of STC information with truly religious fervour for thousands of years. For them it is the most holy of texts, a truly sanctified connection to enlightenment from a lost age. It is their lost bible, their holy grail, their cup of knowledge. The slightest rumour of a new discovery or a hidden cache of STC materials brings multitudes of Tech-Priests to investigate. Any resistance is apt to bring the full force of the Adeptus Mechanicus to bear without reference to any kind of Imperial authority. The Imperium itself is bound by the Treaty of Mars to ensure that any such discoveries are handed over to the Tech-Priests, but that has not prevented avaricious Planetary Governors, Rogue Traders, and even Inquisitors from ignoring the Treaty for their own gain.

Forge Worlds
The forge worlds of the Tech-Priests are enormous weapon shops for the Imperium's war effort. The ships, tanks, and guns needed at the battlefronts pour forth in staggering quantities from continent-sized factories and orbital facilities. Like a beating heart, an active forge world forms a hub of activity for the surrounding sectors and sub-sectors of Imperial worlds. A constant flow of traders and merchantmen carry its production to where it is most needed, returning filled with raw materials to sate the voracious appetites of the manufactorums. As mighty and powerful as a forge world can be, one left alone would quickly find itself in a dangerous position without the support and protection of its surrounding worlds and other forces. Without resources and manpower to draw upon, the Tech-Priests would be forced to concentrate solely on protecting their accumulated knowledge from scavengers and opportunists. Seclusion, while it might offer a forge world safety from attack, offers its own dangers. Warp storms have isolated many a forge world, causing some to develop various peculiarities, often leading to heresies unimagined generations earlier. Protection and trade from the Imperium allow the Tech-Priests to dedicate themselves fully to their true calling: The quest for knowledge. To a Tech-Priest, knowledge is the supreme manifestation of divinity and striving for comprehension of it is an act of worship. Preservation and re-discovery of past knowledge is the most sacred act of all and a motivating spark for any member of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Life In The Shadow of the Omnissiah
Life on a Forge World is harsh even by Imperial standards. The Adeptus Mechanicus grade, quantify and measure every child born in their domain to best find their use and how they might serve within the Omnissiah’s great pattern. The most promising are inducted into the ministries of the Machine God, destined, in time, to find their place among the ranks of the priesthood. Of the rest, a percentage of the most physically able are subjected to the trials of the Skitarii and other more secretive castes. For the majority, however, there is a place, willing or not, within the Forge World’s vast webs of production. Such life-long service forms the mass of skilled workers that maintain the Forge World’s industries. These menials (or labour units as they are known) are free to make what lives they can for themselves in conditions largely no different from those found on most Hive Worlds, that is so long as work quotas are met, order maintained and their masters’ arcane pursuits are not disturbed. For those that fail in their service, fall badly injured or are proven guilty of some crime, punishment is harsh as new labour-helots and organic servitor components are always in demand.

Adeptus Mechanicus Forge World Hierarchy

 * Fabricator General
 * Fabricator Locum
 * Priests of the Cult Mechanicus
 * Legiones Skitarii - The naming convention presented below is that used by Mars and most of its brother forge worlds; some style their armies the "Divsion Skitarii" and group their cohorts into regiments instead.
 * Macroclade 1 - (Known variously as Prima Macroclade, Macroclade Primus, ect.) A forge world's first macroclade traditionally garrisons its Titan Legions and/or Ordinatus Engines.
 * Macroclade 2
 * Macroclade 3
 * Macroclade 4
 * War Cohort 1 - Each War Cohort is identified by a cohort numeral displayed on the hull of their Onager Dunecrawler vehicles.
 * War Cohort 2
 * War Cohort 3
 * War Cohort 4
 * Battle Maniple Delta - The typical Skitarii maniple is the combined arms Battle Maniple, but specialist cohorts, maniples and clades can be arranged as needed: Infiltration Clades, Armoured Cohorts, Assault Maniples, Anti-aircraft Cohorts, Anti-tank Cohorts, and son on. Units in a Battle Maniple are identified by a common maniple sigil, usually displayed next to squad and vehicles identification numbers. Other formations are identified by combinations of glyphs and sigils on the bodywork of their war machines.
 * Skitarii Rangers
 * Skitarii Vanguard
 * Sicarian Infiltrators
 * Sicarian Rustwalkers
 * Ironstrider Cavalry
 * Onager Dunecrawlers
 * Battle Maniple Epsilon
 * Battle Maniple Omega

Known Forge Worlds
The Forge Worlds were settled by Cult Mechanicus colonists sent from Mars, the first of the Forge Worlds, during the Age of Strife. Despite the difficulties with Warp travel during that period as massive Warp Storms consumed the galaxy during the gestation of the Chaos God Slaanesh in the Immaterium, several interstellar expeditions were able to make their way across the galaxy, either using the Warp during a period when there were few storms or travelling at sub-light speeds in realspace. Hundreds of Mechanicus colonies were settled across the galaxy spreading their faith into every corner of human-settled space. These planets were allowed to remain under the direct sovereignty of the Mechanicus under the terms of the Treaty of Mars that the Emperor of Mankind signed with the Mechanicus to unite Terra and Mars beneath the aegis of the Imperium of Man in the late 30th Millennium.

While there are hundreds of Forge Worlds in the Imperium, the most important is Mars, home of the Adeptus Mechanicus' political and spiritual head, the Fabricator-General of Mars; and the Imperium's first Forge World. Other Forge Worlds include Ryza, known for its advanced plasma technology; Gryphonne IV, home of the Titan Legio Gryphonnicus; Agripinaa, a primary supplier of military goods to the Fortress World of Cadia; Phaeton, manufacturer of the Leman Russ main battle tank; and Urdesh, the primary Forge World within the Sabbat Worlds Sector. Of all the Forge Worlds only Trebor caters exclusively to the industrial needs of Cadia. One of the most sought-after creations from Trebor is its version of the Vanquisher Cannon, which is the most powerful of all the Vanquisher Cannon variants. During the Dark Age of Technology, the twin empires of Terra and Mars co-existed, to the mutual benefit of both. Trebor was colonized from survivors of colony expeditions from both Terra and Mars after they were lost during a Warp storm. This forced both colonies to combine their knowledge and build the most technologically-advanced of all the Forge Worlds. Trebor was only re-discovered by Commissar Yarrick during the Second War for Armageddon in the late 41st Millennium. As a result Trebor has sworn its allegiance only to Commissar Yarrick and to Cadia, and its arms and technology made a major difference in the successful defence of Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade.

Hell-Forges
"Silent in the Calixian extent are worlds from which the Omnissiah has withdrawn His blessings. They trail their parent stars like errant children struck dumb and bloodied. Their ruins are profound, their catacombs endless, their savages sorrowful - for these wards of the Imperium of Mankind have paid a great and terrible price for the tech-heresy of their forbearers."

- Warrus the Secondmost, Indexus Astrae Calixis There are those servants of Chaos who live beyond the normal ken of mortals within a realm not entirely of the material universe and not entirely of the Warp: a Daemon World where the laws of nature and reason have been completely usurped by the whims of the Ruinous Powers. Here daemons roam freely and are constantly nourished by the twisting winds of sorcery as mortals become their playthings with a value only as Chaos Champions or slaves. Daemon Worlds are a sanctuary for the worshippers of Chaos with the means and courage to flee to them. The Inquisition never rests in its efforts to eliminate the devotees of the Dark Gods, but a Daemon World defies even their shadowy reach.

A Hell-Forge is a fallen Forge World dedicated wholly to the Ruinous Powers and controlled by the Dark Mechanicus. Most of these Hell-Forges lie in the Eye of Terror located in the Segmentum Obscurus or the Hadex Anomaly in the Jericho Reach. These infernal forges of the fallen scions of the Cult Mechanicus burn with the terrible smells of burning blood and scorched flesh, fed by souls as well as Promethium and steel, constantly churning out arms, armament and Daemon Engines for their Dark Mechanicus lords and their Traitor Legion allies. The ubiquitous holy symbol of the blessed cogwheel, the Cog Mechanicum, is gone; replaced by leering metal skulls set in a circlet of spiked teeth. Within these foul realms there is no proper, logistical structure to the world. Forge-cities rise in random fashion, lurching towards the skies and deep into the planetary crust at the whim of their dark lords. To the Adeptus Mechanicus, these Hell-Forges are a dark mirror of their own holy Forge Worlds, one they dare not contemplate too closely.

Within the hellish realms of the Eye of Terror and the Hadex Anomaly, there are a few Daemon Worlds dominated by the remnants of the Dark Mechanicus that once followed Horus. These Dark Mechanicus Hell-Forge worlds are wholly given over to daemon-machines and infernal industries, where mills grind flesh and suffering is the currency used to make the insane visions of their nightmarish masters real. Countless millions are enslaved to work in a world-spanning network of labyrinthine forges, churning out an endless supply of weapons and armaments for the Traitor Legions' Long War against the Imperium. The masters of these Dark Mechanicus Hell-Forge worlds, most now half-daemonic machines themselves, have long since left the shreds of their humanity behind and are beholden to none -- be they mortal or Chaos God. They sell or barter their unholy inventions and arms to the highest bidder, be they warlord, demagogue, Chaos Sorcerer or Daemon Prince without favour, and their coin of exchange is always the same -- new raw materials -- the flesh and souls of slaves for the Dark Forge World's unquenchable hunger.

These fallen Forge Worlds are enclosed in a perpetual blanket of dark grey clouds. Below the clouds is the source: stack after stack of vertical pipes rising even to the lower cloud decks and billowing thick smoke into the acrid air. No sign of the actual surface can be seen, for all is covered with layered factories, which are burning, creating, and forging night and day (though there are few who can tell the two apart given the atmosphere). Robed figures wander without wasteful delay in their tasks, exposed cloth allowing glimpses of artful mechadendrites or metallic limbs. Closer examination reveals more of the real nature of these dark worlds. Unhidden, clear to even a casual glance, is the mark of the Ruinous Powers. Runes and glyphs of unholy meaning litter walls, declaring patronage to the Dark Gods. Even the Hereteks carry these marks upon their branded flesh, their allegiance to the Machine God burned away from their synapses. The forges themselves burn with the terrible smells of burning blood and scorched flesh, fed by souls as well as Promethium and low-gravity alloys of steel. The blessed Cog Mechanicum is gone, instead there are leering metal skulls in a circlet of spiked teeth. But the worst thing is that there is no proper, logical structure to the world. Forge cities rise in random fashion, lurching towards the skies and deep into the planetary crust at the whims of their Dark Magi lords.

Notable Hell-Forges

 * Xana II - The oldest reference to the Hell-Forge of Xana II appears in the introduction to the final volume of the writings of the cursed Heretic archivist of the Gethsemane Reclusium, purporting to catalogue certain terrors that lurk within the Eye of Terror beyond the ken or mortal savant and beyond the reach of even the keenest of assassin's blades. Xana II seems to be the source of several classes of Attack Craft frequently utilised in the armies of the Great Enemy, the most notorious of which are the Hell Blade and the Hell Talon. While Xana II itself is located within the baleful energies of the Eye of Terror, craft matching the description of the Hell Blade and Hell Talon have been sighted in war zones across the galaxy, suggesting that its masters -- themselves known to be singular hybrids of man, machine and Daemon -- have established bonds with factions across the void and are supplying them with weapons and materiel to further their own ends. To date, the greatest concentration of Attack Craft Imperial forces have faced was at the infamous Siege of Vraks, but recent confessions extracted from captured Hereteks suggest a mustering of unprecedented scale beyond the Cadian Gate.
 * Retlaxi - The name of this ancient fief of the Mechanicum of old was thought long consigned to history. Yet in the manner of so many things damned by the stain of the Warp, it resurges periodically to instil doubt and fear in the souls of the faithful. Having lain dormant for the better part of eight Terran centuries, the name has appeared once more in at least a dozen confirmed remote prognostications, several readings of the Emperor's Tarot and at least one recorded communion with a ritually summoned and bound ætheric entity. The world was once a subject of the Traitor Collegia Titanicus Legio Mortis, and so it is the Imperium's greatest concern that its foundries, if still they function, may be supplying arms and ammunition to this Arch-Traitor body.
 * The Silent Forge - The matter of the appearance of the Daemon Engines codified as Decimators has been the subject of several previous conjunctions, and the majority of the Inquisition are agreed that the source of these vile hybrids of machine, Daemon and xenos artifice lies beyond the Laanah Rifts in the region known to the Imperium as the Silent Abyss. Having gathered together a number of transcriptions of post-mortem confessions extracted by way of the Thanatos Protocols, Inquisitors are now certain that the long outlawed Hereteks of the Sepktraal Cult are in contact with the source of the Decimators, which they apparently know as the Silent Forge. Furthermore, these transcriptions link several Renegade Adeptus Astartes warbands to the Silent Forge, suggesting that the Sepktraal are serving in the capacity of brokers, facilitating the armies of the Great Enemy and gaining the services of these mighty engines of war. What the Silent Forge demands in return, or what share of that price the emissaries of the Sepktraal claim can only be guessed at, but no doubt speak to the very depths of sin and blasphemy.
 * Abheilūng - Survivors of the mission group dispatched to the Abheilūng System have recently returned, reporting that Abheilūng, which lies on the vital Armageddon-Paramar Grand Conduit, is lost to the Imperium. They reported that elements of the Dark Mechanicus laired beneath the surface of the world, and have employed forbidden rites of techno-pyroclasm to cause the dormant volcanoes to erupt as one, sealing the death of millions in a single moment. Worse was to come, however, for out from the roiling black clouds and rivers of molten rock charged an uncountable host of Daemon Engines. It is estimated that the entire population of Abheilūng has now fallen to the Dark Mechanicus, slaughtered, consumed or dragged beneath the ground in fetters to rend the infernal forges below. It is many Inquisitors' beliefs that Abheilūng is now entirely in the hands of the Dark Mechanicus that must have lurked unseen in its volcanic labyrinths for so long, and while the admission is likely that Abheilūng is already on the path to becoming a significant locus of production of infernal engines of war and that soon the Traitor Legions and others will be able to procure the services of machines wrought in its forges.
 * Cyclotrathe - A former manufactory world known to the Imperium only by the most ancient texts, the name Cyclotrathe was long ago purged by umbra-net data-phages by order of the highest possible authority. This minor Forge World was located in the Coronid Deeps within the Imperium to the galactic east of the Cyclops Cluster. This Forge World was one of many worlds that were a part of the sovereign domain of the Mechanicum, known as the Cyclothrathine Holdfast. Born not of ancient history, but rather some of the darkest and most horrifying conflicts of the Great Crusade and long withdrawn into secret ways and the study of the arcane, they were recognised by their strange arachnid symbol and their robes not of Martian crimson, but of deepest hearts-blood and sable, and by the fathomless storm-cloud hues which adorned their servants and engines of war. For years they had garnered a reputation for ruthlessness and aggression, both in defence of their domains from any xenos that crossed the frontier, and in pressing any claims they made to resource rights and territory. Imperial law and the intercession of Mars had been called upon on more than once occasion to keep Cyclothrathe's expansion in check. Bellicose and arrogant, the black-clad Magi of Cyclothrathe kept their distance even from others of their own kind, and where they walked, they walked alone. During the Horus Heresy, the Warmaster Horus played on the jealousy and ambition of the Cyclothrathine Mechanicum to whom Mars was at best an unwanted and distant authority. Though considered a minor Forge World at the time, it brought other, more unique powers into the Traitors' fold. In return, the Warmaster offered the Cyclothrathe freedom; no ultimate master but himself as a disinterested overlord who did not care to interfere with their works, their creed or where their arts led them, so long as his rule remained unopposed and his warriors were glutted with arms. The Warmaster offered the black-clad Magi an empire; a domain of their own to rule in his name, and for years their vault-fanes and sunken forges laboured in secret and without the knowledge of the Imperium nor of Mars, fashioning baroque engines of destruction and unliving legions of Battle-automata, stockpiling them in the deep vaults beneath their lightning-scoured world, waiting for the trumpet of war to call them forth. The future would decide for this world an infamy seldom matched in the ranks of Forge Worlds. It is many Inquisitors' beliefs that certain factions amongst their outcast kin in league with fallen adepts of the machine have recently established contact with the Traitors of Cyclothrathe, returned to threaten the northern marches of the Segmentum Solar as they did so many long millennia ago.
 * Samech - The former Adeptus Mechanicus domain of Samech stands as a dire warning of weakness, for its lords were not sufficiently strong of will or spirit to rein in those powers they were forced to utilise when their world was cut off from the Emperor's grace by Warp Storm activity. Some would take their example as a warning against consulting forbidden archives in time of need, others against doing so without having taken the proper precautions. During the region's Age of Shadows, when Warp Storms cut the Jericho Reach off from an Imperium preoccupied with more pressing concerns, world after world fell to darkness and disorder in a slow descent that marked the once proud Imperial sector's collapse into decay. For many planets, the fall was a slow one, a mere footnote for later Imperial scholars to document as the sector became a lawless Reach. However, for one planet there is an occurrence that the Adeptus Mechanicus will let none forget, when what was once a firm bastion of the Cult Mechanicus treacherously fired upon a formally recognised Explorator fleet. For followers of the Machine God, this simple act is a declaration of utter rebellion for Samech, and enough for them to forever seek its destruction. The truth was far worse, for the Omnissiah's light had been slowly dimming on the Forge World for some centuries before the infamous event. When the Hadex Anomaly consumed the world in Warp energies many Terran years later, the forges were ready to seek out the Ruinous Powers to further their own aims, as well as alien races and archeotech sources previously prohibited by Mars. Samech now stands as the main source of armaments used against the Imperial forces in the Acheros Salient of the Jericho Reach, creating profane combinations of authorized Imperial technologies, unconsecrated archeotech, unholy creations of Chaos, and even the inhuman workings of the xenos. These abominations represent the real nature of Samech -- a world where nothing is forbidden when it will garner influence and stature, of brokers willing to deal with anyone or anything as long as payment is made, of agents ever searching for undiscovered technologies to exploit. There is no morality other than the ruthless quest for power and survival in the war-torn Jericho Reach.
 * Uraniborg 1572 - Recent reports indicate that the Adeptus Mechanicus domain of Uraniborg 1572 has fallen from the grace of the Emperor, its foundries turned to the production of the tools of damnation at the behest of Traitor Magi and the status of its attendant Titan Legion the Legio Serpentes -- unknown. It is the Inquisition's belief that, given current commitments in that region, and the continued uncertainty regarding the fate or loyalty of the Legio Serpentes, Uraniborg 1572 is, to all intents and purposes, lost to the Imperium.
 * Temporia - The name Temporia appears in but a handful of archives, all of them penned by the hands of Heretics long ago consigned to the pyre. To name such a place is to invite into the soul a portion of the madness and unreality in which it is steeped, and in doing court the damnation so many haven to. In his vision, the captive Warp-seer known as the Oracle of Brass decribes an impossible realm of cogs and arcane mechanisms the size of continents and mountain ranges that can only relate to a Hell-Forge dedicated to the Ruinous Power known as the Changer of The Ways. Further assayances have served to solidify the Inquisition's view that Temporia is a Hell-Forge entirely in the sway of that power and that it exists, at least partially, deep within the heart of the Eye of Terror. This gargantuan mechanism turns in patterns mortals cannot, and should not, fathom, for they can only serve the cause of their destruction and ruination.
 * Sarum - Several of the accounts of the Great Crusade that the Inquisition has unique access to make mention of the machine domain of Sarum, though they provide scant details save that the airless planetoid was home to an aberrant order of machine adepts and was the site of an overwhelming assault by the World Eaters Legion of the Legiones Astartes. Having collated numerous texts on the subject of this world, Inquisitorial savants have uncovered a link between it and a number of void clanner legends long told throughout the Golgothan Wastes. Though each story differs in many regards, they all appear to describe a wandering planetoid which is home to a crimson-clad order of hell-smiths whose faces are dominated by lamprey maws lined with razor-sharp steel teeth. It is not known if the long-lost machine realm of Sarum was subjected to some unknown Warp phenomenon that has caused it to manifest at different times and places across the Golgothan Wastes and potentially beyond. While outlandish, such events are far from unknown to the Inquisition. Furthermore, in assaying these tales that the Warp Ghosts are able to predict or even cause manifestations of this ethereal Hell-Forge, acting as some form of dread ferrymen as they steer the long-damned foundries across the wastes and bring death and destruction upon the heads of those who dwell near the void along the coreward borders of the Segmentum Solar.
 * Crucible-Omega - Certain lords of the Inquisition have long posited the existence of a domain of the fallen Mechanicus beyond the boundaries of the Imperium's realms, some believing it a Forge World long predating the Age of Strife which was never contacted during the Great Crusade. Various legends have surfaced of a world of crippled hell-smiths that prostrated themselves before a cyclopean machine altar sending up venerations in sonorous binaric cant that echoes weirdly through the Empyrean and can be perceived by the Inquisition's Warp-seers when the tides of the Sea of Souls rage especially strong. The Inquisition have recently learned of a Phaenonite cell whose unhallowed master believes Crucible-Omega to be very real indeed, and that the altar its population worships is in fact a functional Standard Template Construct (STC) system.
 * Antioc - Located in the Prath Veil Sub-sector of an unknown sector of the Segmentum Obscurus, the Forge World of Antioc was captured by the Forces of Chaos during an incursion from the Prath Nebula. It is currently lost to the Imperium and has become another Hell-Forge of the Dark Mechanicum.
 * Incaladion - A former Loyalist Forge World located in the Ultima Segmentum, Incaladion was the homeworld of the Legio Fureans (Tiger Eyes) Titan Legion before the outbreak of the Horus Heresy. The Incaladine adapted to their savage world accordingly. They acquired additional human stock by raiding the feral populations of the world, which brought echoes of barbarous and macabre cultures that began to infect the increasingly schismatic Machine Cult propagated by the Incaladine Mechanicum. With the outbreak of the Heresy they declared for the Warmaster Horus. This world was cleansed by Loyalist forces during the Great Scouring.