Logicians

“Once we were Gods, but what are we now? Wilfully ignorant savages and self-deluded fools, little more than helpless children scattered and lost in the cold dark. But I tell you, we have been Gods and we shall be Gods again.”
—In Defence of the Future: A Logical Discourse, Author unknown, banned M.36
The Logicians are an alliance of heretical factions and
tech-cults who have long been a thorn in the side
of Calixis and the nearby Ixaniad Sectors, but whose
origins go back considerably further into the Imperium,
and indeed humanity’s past. Founded not around a single
charismatic figure or dark religion, they find their inspiration
in a forbidden heretical text called “In Defence of the Future:
A Logical Discourse,” a work declared blasphemous by both
the Ministorum and the Cult Mechanicus and banned for
several millennia.
By nature, the Logicians are a so-called “progressive” cult.
They favor the advancement of mankind through progress
and the acquisition of technology, believing that they should
cast off the oppression of the Ministorum, overthrow the High
Lords of Terra, and put an end to the Adeptus Mechanicus’
stranglehold on scientific and technical lore. Ultimately, the
Logicians aim to bring about a return to the mythic power
of the Dark Age of Technology and the enthronement of
humanity as the omnipotent and indeed single surviving
sentient race in the galaxy.
Finding adherents through a secret network of ruthless
mercantile interests and power-hungry nobles, the Logician
cult is a haven for hereteks and rogue tech-priests, and is
highly organized and well equipped. The Logicians are
calculating, secretive, and patient in the execution of their
plots and intrigues, utterly callous in their pursuit of power,
and unceasing in their hunt for ever better weapons and tools
by which to achieve their ends.
For centuries the Calixis Sector has known the corrosive
influence of the Logician cult, and although the power and
reach of this tech-cult and its splinter factions have waxed and
waned over the years, the group’s presence and its insidious
teachings have proven impossible to entirely stamp out. In
the past the Logicians have been responsible for countless
deaths in the pursuit of power and progress, and once even
threatened the stability of the Calixis Sector thanks to their
shadowy role in the Meritech Wars.
Although purged and hounded to near destruction
following those dark times six centuries ago, the Logicians
have returned, seemingly even more subtle and insidious than
before. There are those who argue that the threat they now
pose is greater than ever. Some even whisper that the cult has
powerful backers among the Calixian elite and perhaps even
members of the Holy Ordos itself. Known heretek Ammicus Tole is a former member of the cult, who has now cultivated followings of his own on Sinophia and Cyclopea.
==Tenets, Goals, and Heretical Beliefs==
The proscribed work around which the cult has its foundation,
a document entitled “In Defence of the Future: A Logical
Discourse,” first appeared more than four millennia ago in the
Segmentum Solar, at the very heart of the Imperium, and some
say parts of the text itself were copied from ancient and utterly
proscribed works buried deep in the vaults of Holy Terra itself,
although its author or collator remains unknown.
The book itself promulgates the dangerous philosophy
of progress, that the advancement of technology and science
should be immediately pursued at all cost and regardless
of its source for the ultimate “benefit” of humanity and the
restoration of the lost “Golden Age” of mankind. In such
a new age, humanity would again bestride the stars like a
colossus, the ancient domains of man would be re-conquered,
held, and expanded, and all the threats to human existence
posed by the xenos or the warp could be confronted and
crushed utterly.
To this end, the work posits the destruction of the Cult
Mechanicus and the overthrow of the “stifling grip” of
Imperial authority and an end to what the book refers to as
the Ecclesiarchy’s “tyranny of lies” concerning the Emperor
and the Imperial Creed. Instead, the “logical course” for
the restoration of order and a rebirth of humanity’s destiny
among the stars is that power be placed in the hands of a new
absolutist oligarchy of “forward thinkers” and those “fitted
by vision and superiority” to rule---namely the Logicians
themselves.
The doctrines and arguments contained within the work
expound the need for utter ruthlessness in order to attain the
“glorious coming age” to which humanity is heir, and goes on
to advocate the forging of a secret empire within the body
of the Imperium itself as the agency of its overthrow, and the
unrestrained pursuit of conquest and victory through the arts
of technology and science at any cost. The work supports
this dangerous creed with numerous worthy sounding and
elaborate justifications for any needed enormity of slaughter
or sacrifice to gain the ends it glorifies, regardless of the cost
in human life or freedom. In short, to attain such a living,
tangible paradise---a future on which the universe itself is
held in the palm of mankind’s hand---no price is too high
to pay in the present. It is, the book contends, a matter of
simple logic.
==Cult Structure and Activity==
Like many widespread and successful cults, the Logicians
operate a largely cellular structure to their organisation and
are bound largely by doctrine and shared goals rather than
a rigid hierarchical structure. Some in the Holy Ordos argue
that the cult’s only true members are the oligarchs that govern
and fund its many independent cells; however, for such an
organised and well-funded group, additional manpower is
seldom a problem. Theses cell directors, or “techtrarchs” as
the Logicians call themselves, are often mercantile lords, trade
officials, guild masters, and in rare instances, rogue members
of the Adeptus Mechanicus who have allowed themselves
to be blinded by their own lust for power and profit. Due
to their high standing in society, the Logicians are very
circumspect in their activities and highly organized, often
acting far removed from the cult’s activities on the ground.
They prefer instead to operate through small units of highly
trained agents, specialists, and mercenaries to carry out their
plans and protect their interests.
The cult’s activities are principally centered on the
acquisition of power. Power to them is political influence,
the might of such forbidden arts as science and technology,
and, of course, wealth. To this last end, the Logicians
secretly nurture and fund coteries of hereteks and renegade
tech-priests who have the purpose of developing advanced
tools and weaponry with which to fight their battles, boost
their wealth, and ultimately make them powerful enough to
overcome the Imperium from within. The Logicians provide
these renegades and recidivists with the backing, manpower,
and resources (regardless of how unethical or abhorrent in
nature) to pursue their projects, insane theories, and dark
desires—just so long as the Logicians profit from the results
of their labors.
As a part of this doctrine of power through technological
superiority, they are also heavily involved in the study and
replication of captured xenos-tech and in particular the
pursuit of archeaotech—the ancient relics of humanity’s
advanced science in millennia past. They have no love of the
alien and follow a recognizably Monodominant perspective.
They simply have no compunction in taking whatever the
xenos might have of value and using it to their own ends.
The cult strives to maintain a widespread and efficient
intelligence gathering network in order both to shield it
from outside intervention and to keep it informed of matters
and discoveries of interest. Likewise the cult’s suspected
links to local planetary organized crime groups, archeopirate
factions, and the more disreputable of Rogue Traders are also
noteworthy, as the Logicians see these outsider groups as
perfect avenues by which their goals can be reached, as well
as eminently disposable lackeys to be used and abandoned as
the need arises.
==The Iron Techtrarchs==
Over recent decades one particular faction within the
Logicians of the Calixis Sector has grown to power, known
as the Iron Techtrarchs. If the rumors among recidivist
crime lords and the testimony of interrogated cult members
are to be believed, these Techtrarchs form a ruling council of
sorts (the number of which varies depending on the source,
ranging from three to as many as a hundred members) for
the Logicians of the Calixis and Ixaniad Sectors. This council
operates in concert to determine policy and coordinate long-term
planning for the cult’s diverse cells. It also administers
the Logicians’ seemingly massive commercial and financial
resources to their countless individual plots, expeditions and
experimental projects, as well as to punish the failure of their
underlings. Failure is a thing they will not tolerate.
Although several high-ranking Logicians supposedly linked
to the Iron Techtrarchs have been exposed and purged in the
last decade, conclusive proof of this elusive group has never
been found. This lack of proof has led some factions within
both the Adeptus Arbites and the Holy Ordos to doubt the
existence of the Iron Techtrarchs, believing them to be either
a simple vainglorious myth or a deliberate fabrication of
the cult’s leaders to paint themselves as part of a wider and
“all-powerful” conspiracy---the better to inspire loyalty and
obedience in their followers. Were the Iron Techtrarchs to
exist as the rumors claim, then they would have to be made
up of highly placed members of the greatest noble houses or
commercial powers of the two sectors. They would need to
have amongst their number ranking members of the Adepta or
even the Holy Ordos in order to wield their rumored power
and resources claimed for them and remain hidden---a prospect
that fills some Inquisitorial factions with the deepest unease.
==Hereteks, Progressives and Renegades==
Arguably the real power base of the cult is the diverse number
of hereteks, scholars and even renegade tech-priests within its
ranks. This relatively small but potent group carries out much
of the cult’s real activities, and each serves in its own way to
contribute to the Logicians’ power and knowledge. They are
a diverse group, often operating in cells either as individuals
or small cabals on a single project, usually being quite
ignorant of each other and their activities, and answering
only (to a greater or lesser extent) to the Techtrarch that has
sponsored them. They vary a great deal in power, knowledge,
and specialization, ranging from promising hereteks recruited
from within organized crime groups or merchant guilds who
might specialize in tech salvage, drug manufacture, or weapon
crafting, to disbarred medicae and scholars of forbidden lore
on the run from the authorities.
Outcast members of the Cult Mechanicus are a particular
prize for the cult as few are able to match their skills and
learning. Having already broken some ban or Edict of Mars,
they are often drawn to the Logicians for protection while
fleeing destruction by their own kind. In many cases, the
loyalty of these individuals to the Logicians is questionable,
to say the least, a fact that the Logicians view as an acceptable
risk. Though there are some true converts to the cause and
fanatic adherents to the Logical Discourse among them, many
serve only through an alliance of convenience, bartering
service and experimental data for protection, concealment,
and the opportunity to pursue their obsessions uncontested.
==Cult Agents==
Where possible, the Logician cult prides itself on directly
employing only the best as its agents, and beneath the
Techtrarchs the cult cells are made up of skilled organizers
and administrators, as well as specialists such as pilots, scribes,
financiers, and information-brokers. Most of these operate
under a variety of cover identities to ensure their Techtrarch’s
bidding is carried out.
The ranks of the Logician cells are rounded out by a
hard core of professionally trained killers and soldiers, all of
the highest caliber and thoroughly tested for competency,
ruthlessness, and loyalty to the cause. These militant agents
are one of the most marked features of the tech cult, as
their skill and efficiency sets them above many of the foes
that the Imperial forces must face when dealing with petty
insurrectionists, criminal gangs, or fanatic cult zealots. Highly
motivated, tactically skilled, and well equipped, Logician cult
agents have repeatedly proven to be the bane of unsuspecting
enforcer groups and ill-prepared Acolytes when the cult has
been encountered.
In addition to this, the Logicians have been known to create Infil-Traitors, mind-wiped unknowing assassins that can be triggered to attack their targets under specific circumstances, though the means through which they do this is unknown.
== Project Ashen Tear ==
In the last several decades the Logician cult in the Calixis
Sector has been repeatedly linked to a shadowy organization
of assassins, operating primarily within the Josian Reach
area of the sector. Recent intelligence gathered by the efforts
of Inquisitor Srax-Rhame has indicated that this assassin
cadre known as the Ashen Tear is actually little more than
a “cult within a cult” of the Logicians themselves. The
Ashen Tear project was created to give the cult a purpose-built
resource of living weapons with which it could strike
directly at its enemies, removing with surgical precision any
individual obstacle in the cult’s path, or deal with anyone
that would betray it. In structure, the Ashen Tear appears
much like an Imperial Death Cult, somewhat an imitation of
the great Officio Assassinorum itself. Its killers are selected
from a young age and put through grueling physical and
psychological conditioning, harsh enough that few are likely
survive to attain their majority.
==The Logicians in the Calixis Sector==
Although its threat has by no means been a constant one,
the Logician cult in several incarnations has long been a foe
of the authorities in the Calixis Sector. Some of the oldest
case files in the Tricorn Palace archives deal with plots and
incidents connected to the Logicians, dating back as far as the
Angevin Crusade itself, including the exploitation and theft
of several sophisticated relics recovered during the wars that
forged the sector into being.
The Inquisition is not the cult’s only foes. It is rumored
that within the oubliettes of Mechanicus Panopticon Orbital station
in the Lathe System there exists an entire vault of castigation,
furnished and equipped using only materials crafted from the
bones and re-tooled implants of Logicians and their apostate
renegades taken by the tech-priests over the years. 
Another enemy, although this one more unusual than most, comes in the form of the excommunicated radical Inquisitorial faction known as the Phaenonites, having returned to the Calixis Sector and begun to infiltrate the Calixian Conclave. The Phaenonites, themselves known to employ malefic sorcery combined with dark technology, have set themselves as bloody rivals to the Logicians over the remnants of the powerful and insane Archmagos Umbra Malygris, reputed to be a hidden vault known as the 'Altar of Genocide.' But their rivalry goes beyond this, having fought with the Phaenonites elsewhere, thus allowing the Logicians to quickly recognize their rivals for what they were. Since then, the Logician presence in the Calixis Sector has plotted to expose the Phaenonites’ presence to the Holy Ordos, hoping that the Inquisition will do them the service of wiping out this hated rival, whilst the Phaenonites have likewise plotted to do the same in return from within the Conclave. 
As can be imagined, the roll of crimes and blasphemies that the Logicians
have tallied in the two millennia since the sector’s founding is
a long one, ranging from simple thefts, murders, abductions,
and political intrigues to forbidden experimentation causing
the deaths of tens of thousands, and even the fomentation of
a full scale rebellion that for a time threatened the stability of
both the Ixaniad and Calixis Sectors. After several centuries
of near silence, the Logicians have returned in force, and
although their wider goals remain undefined, their doctrine
is as unchanged as their heresy.
Currently, a small cell of Logicians about fifteen strong has infiltrated the sector capital of Scintilla and has taken up residence within the southern portions of the Coscarla Division in Hive Sibellus. Their leader, an insane woman known as the Churgeon, has set up a chop shop where upon her Body Snatchers ensnare the people of the district at night for her horrifying experiments. The other Logicians have replaced the local enforcers, ensuring that no prosecution will follow up the disappearances. At least, until the Inquisition catches wind of their activity, that is...
==The Infiltration of the Josian Reach==
Over the last several centuries, the Logician heresy has once
again begun to feature in the incidents and intelligence
monitored by the Adeptus Arbites and the Holy Ordos in
the Calixis Sector. Reports and contacts have been registered
from various worlds and locations, tracking a definite pattern
over time. It is spreading toward the sector core across
the Josian Reach, with isolated incidents reported as wide
afield as Sinophia and Endrite. This latest infiltration seems
markedly more ruthless in its execution and callous disregard
for life than ever before, with its plans now featuring a
“scorched earth” policy in covering its tracks and concealing
any tangible evidence of its activities from the authorities.
New developments within the cult have also come to light,
such as the role of the so-called Iron Techtrarchs and the use of
the assassins of the Ashen Tear, as well as a distinct tendency
toward mass-casualty events such as powerful explosions,
diversionary terrorist attacks, and even indiscriminate bioweapon
releases. All of these are used to protect the Logicians
from assault and mask their escape when confronted. The
pattern of Logician activities so far has been one of covert
action to remove opposition and infiltrate local authorities
in order to pave the way for cell groups conducting horrific
experimental tests, the focus of which seems to be forbidden
fleshworks, weapons development, and augmetic research.
Inquisitor Srax-Rhame of the Ordo Hereticus has made it his
goal to confront and destroy the Logicians. In recent years
he has put forth the theory that the Logicians are operating
on some sort of rapidly accelerating timetable, seeking to
quickly develop an arsenal with which to engage in some
future war or prepare for some coming intrigue of importance
to them---worth taking the risk of breaking their centuries of
long silence. Whether or not the notorious firebrand Srax-
Rhame is correct, it is certain that the number of contacts
with the cult has increased drastically in the last decade and
that it is moving toward some dark and heretical purpose of
its own.
==The Riddle of the Logicians==
The Logicians are a conspiracy of so called progressives inspired by a proscribed doctrine outlined in the pages of In Defence of the Future: A Logical Discourse. An agglomeration of merchants, hereteks, and nobles, the Logicians hold the heretical belief in the importance of progress. They pursue technology and forbidden knowledge in the hope of restoring mankind to the god-like state it once held in its lost “golden age.” The cult’s activities in the Calixis sector are centered on the hording of power and exploration of forbidden knowledge. The riddle of the Logicians is whether it is the Recongregator inspired creature it seems; even to those of the Recongregator doctrine do not know whether the Logicians are one of their untamed monsters loosed on a wounded galaxy. 
The great mystery in the matter is whether or not the Logicians are a creation of a Recongregator’s scheming. The spread of the tech-cult through the dissemination of an idea rather than demagogues and fanatics is one favored by Recongregators and seen in the corrupting proliferation of the text In Defence of the Future: A Logical Discourse. The overt doctrine of progress at any price and obtaining lost and forbidden technologies through dealing with hereteks, the most ambitious and mercenary of the Commercia, and the nobility all reek of Recongregator influence. The only problem with this view is that it the evidence bears little chance of it being true, no matter how much some in the faction might wish it so. It is a riddle that grows all the more knotted when it is considered that even powerful Calixian Recongregator Inquisitors like Astrid Skane, Lucius Fulcio, and Lhor know of no influence their kind have exerted over the Logicians. 
Also the past actions of the heretical tech cult have proved to be both damaging to individual Recongregator plans, and served as an open case in point for rival factions of the perils of such revolutionary thinking. The solution to the riddle must therefore be either that the Logicians are the product of parallel evolution---a cult whose doctrine is something akin to an extreme form of the faction’s own---or that it was once a cat’s-paw grown to a power and life of its own. Some feel that the Logicians are perhaps the product of some unseen and unknown Recongregator plan of unparalleled subtlety, although others in the faction condemn this theory as no more than dangerous hubris.
==Inquisitorial Threat Briefing==
The Logician cult and its attendant heresies of technology and
doctrine are a clear and present danger to the stability of the
Calixis Sector, the faith of the masses, and sacred auspices of
the Priesthood of Mars. To be found guilty of being part of
the cult, in its service, or even to have unlicensed possession of
a copy of the Logical Discourse is enough to warrant a death
sentence under Imperial law—a fate marginally more merciful
than what the Adeptus Mechanicus prescribes for the crime in
its own holdings.
Within the Holy Ordos, the direct persecution of the
Logician cult is the chief responsibility of the Ordo Hereticus,
and it is a task they shoulder gladly, as its anti-Imperial,
secularist, and subversive agendas provoke the most profound
loathing and antipathy in the Witch Hunter’s ranks. Owing to
the cult’s tendency to delve into the forbidden lores of alien
science, unrestricted progress, and the ancient past, both the
Ordo Xenos and the authorities of the Adeptus Mechanicus
are also bitterly opposed to the cult’s activities. Finally, since
the days of the Proclamation of Scant Mercy, both the Adeptus
Arbites and sector enforcer cadres have the stated duty to take
extreme measures against the cult whenever it is encountered.
Given the power and breadth of the forces ranged against
the cult, it is perhaps surprising that the cult is not only
still present within the sector, but seems to be increasing
steadily in power and reach. It is a testament to both the
highly resourced and focused nature of the Logicians’
conspiracies and their sheer ruthlessness in maintaining their
covert activities that they continue to operate despite such
opposition. However, some fear privately that the cult may
have secret backing from some renegade factions within the
Adepta or the Inquisition itself.
All Inquisitorial forces in the field are briefed to expect a
highly proficient and skilled enemy in the Logicians, one that
will flee if not cornered, often inflicting huge death tolls while
doing so in order to cover its operatives’ escape. Accordingly,
(and with perhaps uncharacteristic subtlety) the Ordo
Hereticus’s standing orders, issued at the vociferous petitioning
of Inquisitor Srax-Rhame, is to match the Logicians’ intrigues
with intrigues of the Inquisition’s own. Already on Scintilla
and other worlds, the threads of a vast web of covert actions,
espionage, and lies is being woven to ensnare the wider cult.
However, when this web draws tight, the Ordo Hereticus will
stay its hand no longer, and the Logicians will burn.
==Unique Equipment==
The Fruits of Forbidden Sciences
The Logician cells in the Calixis Sector have at their disposal
a number of arcane and unusual weapons and devices,
often incorporating a blend of unsanctioned and forbidden
technology, and even in some cases materials of xenos origin.
There are many such devices; here are but a few examples:
Cerebral Annihilator
Used to conduct covert murder and dispose of test subjects,
this easily concealed palm unit uses a focused electromagnetic
field designed specifically to destroy the delicate neural
synapses in a living brain. The unit must be held within a few
centimeters of the skull for at least one full round to function
and is too precise and delicate to use as a weapon against any
target that is not unconscious or completely immobile.
Any living creature so affected must pass a Very Hard
(–30) Toughness Test or suffer immediate death from
massive cerebral hemorrhaging. Victims killed by this device
appear to have suffered a sudden natural death, unless when
autopsied their examiner passes a Difficult (–20) Medicae
Test to determine otherwise.
Grav-Flux Harness
These highly advanced suspensor systems are no larger or
encumbering than a webbing belt. They allow their operators
to move with blinding speed and defy gravity, leaping,
climbing, and bounding with unnatural ease and facility.
The materials and technological lore used to construct such
harnesses are extremely rare, and their use is restricted to the
finest assassins of the Ashen Tear and other senior killers
employed by the cult.
In order to successfully use the harness, the wearer must
have Pilot (Grav Harness)---a new Skill that works identically
to the Pilot skill and has a prerequisite of Ag 35.
While the harness is worn and active, the air visibly ripples
around the user, and he counts as having the Unnatural Speed
(×2) trait and a +10 bonus to his Dodge skill. Additionally,
by passing a Pilot (Grav Harness) Test, with a Difficulty
determined by what he is attempting, the user counts as
having Unnatural Strength/Agility (×2) for the purposes of
leaping, climbing and tumbling only.
The harness contains a somewhat unstable integrated high
capacity power-cell that lasts for about an hour of continuous
use. If the wearer suffers Critical Damage from an energy
(E) source to the Body Location while wearing an active
harness, there is a 50% chance that the harness will short
out, destroying itself and inflicting 1d10 E Damage (with the
Shock Quality) to the user.
Berserker Thorn
A very unusual device, this arcane-looking heavy-pronged
dart is laced with circuitry and power coils and contains a
strange and baleful technology little understood even by the
Logicians. When breaching a servitor or similar mechanism’s
control system, the penetrating barbs release a cascading pulse
of electromagnetic force and poisonous machine sprits that
can overload and burn out the imprinted command functions
and drive such a machine into an uncontrolled murderous
rage.
Placing a Berserker Thorn requires access to the target
device’s central control system and a successful application
of the Tech-Use skill at a Difficulty rating determined by the
complexity of the target.
Special Rule: Berserker Pulse
Targets with the Machine trait of at least 3 or higher, cogitator
stacks, and the like are all subject to the pulse’s effects. If they
have a listed Willpower Characteristic, they may attempt to
resist by passing a Hard (–20) Willpower Test; otherwise
the effects are automatic.
Servitors and similar systems are driven insane and into
an uncontrollable rage for 1d5 hours (or if the degrees of
failure in the Test exceed their Willpower bonus, this state is
permanent). During this time, they attack in the manner of a
rabid beast, immediately entering a berserk rage as described
in the Frenzy talent. During this time, they attack without
reason or desire for self-preservation, firing indiscriminately
with any weapon they possess or simply bludgeoning their
targets to wreckage or a bloody pulp if they have no other
weapons available. The insane machines’ targets are any
perceived threats, anything that moves, or anything within
reach---in that order.
Devices such as data-stacks incapable of perceiving
their environment or acting independently will simply be
destroyed from within, their machine spirits driven mad and
their memories corrupted and locked into an oblivion of
spiraling collapse.