Factors of the Lathes

“The subtleties of human society are often dismissed by our brothers and sisters, but these mysteries too tick in accordance with the ordered principles of the Omnissiah. Like a fine chronograph, the human mind clicks and grinds in complex patterns set out in His image. And like a cogitator or a manufactorum or a voidship, this machine must be understood---and mastered---by some Priests of our order, so that the grand Quest for Knowledge can continue.”
–Factor Jhuston, to his disciples
Many members of the Adeptus Mechanicus often choose to
ignore the niceties of Imperial society, cleaving instead to their
own esoteric, arcane practices. The Priests of Mars, however,
must ofttimes negotiate, wheedle, and bargain with the flesh-flapping
and uncouth individuals who hold themselves highly in
the Imperium, that they might further the Quest for Knowledge.
Within the Lathes, the Magos devised a common solution to
this problem, through the use of specialization. The Lathes
trains their Magos Metallurgicus to refine the secrets of the
true flesh, Magos Alchemys to create mystic unguents, and even
Magos Biologos to unwrap the riddle of the helix;
therefore, the Magos of the Lathes determined
that they would utilize specialized personnel
here as well. Instead of wasting the valuable
cognitive-cycles of its highest members, the
Lathes instead trains a small portion of its initiates to read the
muddy and inscrutable outputs generated by outsiders as well
as the pure, precise language of the machine. The Factors of the Lathes are ambassadors to the wider Sector, used when the
Lathe Worlds find the most expedient path is to deal with the
uninitiated on their own fleshy terms.
Myth has it that a forgotten Mech-Deacon created this class,
in the wake of a cataclysmic misunderstanding that began with a
Scintillan Priest mistaking a particularly venerable Adept of Mars
for a malfunctioning cogitator, and ended with several orbital
bombardments. Since then, the Factors of the Lathes have served
for centuries with distinction as ambassadors between the Lathe
Worlds and the rest of the Calixis Sector. While the Factors are not
loved by all members of the Cult Mechanicus, they nonetheless
efficiently bring about the desired results, and thus are supported
and employed heavily within the Lathes. Those chosen undergo
decades of intense training and physical modification in the
Hesh Protocol Academies, that they might become optimized
instruments of the Omnissiah. As a result, not only do Factors of
the Lathes lack the typical look of a Tech-Priest, having shed their
bulky augmetics in favor of subtle but no less potent equivalents,
but they are also capable of regurgitating vast amounts of data that
most of their brethren would deem worthless. Such information
ranges from a clinically thorough knowledge of the political
history of the Calixis Sector to truly inscrutable subjects, such as
the how to properly input and cycle nutrients when meeting
with the hive nobles of various planets.
To be a Factor is to accept that imperfection itself can be a
part of a perfect plan. The Omnissiah’s purity may be found in
steel and circuitry, but a Factor must also be able to understand,
and even appreciate, what he sees as the inferior workings of
bone, blood, and tissue. Though Factors are often as heavily
augmented as their brethren, they bear few visible signs of their
metallic ascension. Their augmetics are instead crafted with
loving precision to resemble flesh; usually the Factor conducts
this work himself, as few others within the Priesthood of Mars
would deign or desire to make such things. Mechadendrites
are kept small, subtle, and hidden in clothes, or able to collapse
into sub-dermal compartments when not needed. Few Factors
permanently incorporate larger mechadendrites into their bodies,
but some of these ambassadors find servo-arms and other artificial
limbs too useful for their tasks within the Machine Cult to forgo
entirely, and thus have studied the difficult art of attaching and
removing their external augmetics as required.
Whether a Factor revels in his unique position or bemoans the
travails that it entails, all ambassadors of the Lathes maintain a
certainty of purpose. Time and time again, the Factors have been
critical to the successes of the Adeptus Mechanicus of the Calixis
Sector, moving one Lord Governor to support a purge of a unique
new form of tech-heresy, or securing promises of assistance from
a Rogue Trader whose resources can reach a becalmed Explorator
Fleet in the Koronus Expanse. Certain Factors are even involved
with the Inquisition, using these invaluable connections to
further the causes of the dread Lords Dragon, and some become
Acolytes of Inquisitors who value their subtlety, or simply find
their company less grating than that of others from the Martian
Priesthood. Further, while their order does not specialize in
such things, Factors can be excellent infiltrators, as each is a
fully trained Tech-Priest in his own right, whose form betrays
no overt signs of its true nature. While their apparent lack of
augmentation is usually used to put others at ease, several Factors
have become embroiled in political and even military conflicts,
catching foes unawares thanks to their appearance.
As they are not immediately recognizable as Priests of the
Machine Cult, Factors of the Lathes often signify their office via
their garb or other ornamentation. They usually wear heavily
adorned Mechanicum robes, and sometimes even have shifting
electoos embedded in their skin, emblazoned with the sign of
the Cogwheel, visible when they wish to state their allegiance
but vanishing if they need to act more covertly.
==Becoming a Factor of the Lathes==
Calixis Sector Tech-Priests chosen to become Factors train on
Lathe-Hesh, where their bodies and minds are shaped so that they
can fulfil the function for which they have been selected. This
training and augmentation (or modification of existing augmetics)
can take a highly variable span of time---some Factors pass
through the Protocol Academy within years, while others take
decades to integrate the subtle etiquette sub-routines needed for
proper interaction with the myriad factions of the Calixis Sector.
Required Career: Tech-Priest
Alternate Rank: Rank 1 or Higher (0 XP)
Benefits: Fabricated Flesh (Trait)
Characteristic Advancements: The Agent may purchase
Fellowship Advances at 100 (Simple), 250 (Intermediate), 500
(Trained), and 750 (Expert).