Auxilia Myrmidon

“...++CORPUS FINIS+MACHINA MAGNUS+SANCTUS METALLUM+POTESTAS OMNISSIAH, OMNISSIAH VULT+DEATH TO THE ENEMIES OF THE MACHINE GOD++CORPUS FIN...”
— Repeating transmission, overwhelming all signal channels, the annihilation of House Caloclast, Hive Tarsus
Although all initiates of the Machine God are versed to
some extent in conflict and the skills of warfare, certain
Mechanicus sects and military formations exist to study the
art of destruction with the ardent fervor that their fellows
might apply to the creation of machinery or the recovering
of lost technoarcana. Chief among these in the Calixis Sector
are the forces of the Auxilia Myrmidon, also known by some
as the siege engineers or war-savants. Legend has it they
came to the sector during the earliest days of the Angevin Crusade for reasons of their own, and have since remained to
defend the Cult Mechanicus’s possessions here.
One of the major power blocks for the Calixian Mechanicus,
the Auxilia Myrmidon is primarily concerned with the
protection of Cult Mechanicus strongholds, siegecraft, and
maintaining a high level of skill with the various weapons
systems and devices of war. 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, while others are tasked to hunt
down renegades accused of the foulest techno-heresies and
terminate them with extreme prejudice.
Tech-priests who devote themselves to battle are often
inducted into one of the militant sects as their knowledge
and prowess increases over time, either through their own
application or the will of their distant Archmagos masters.
The first rank of the Mechanicus militant is the Secutor,
an ancient designation believed to date back, like much of
the Auxilia’s organization and secrets, to the armed forces
of the Mechanum of Mars in distant pre-Imperial antiquity.
It is a fact that only adds to their mystery and makes them
a subject for some concern to those in the Adepta whose
arcane knowledge stretches to understand what this implies.
Certainly this conclusion is backed-up by the ancient and
terrifying weapons, relics of that distant past which they are
known to sometimes employ.
Within the Calixis Sector, the undisputed center of the
Auxilia Myrmidon’s power is the Lathe System and its vast
forge network, and in particular their heavy fortified arsenal
and base on the city-sized Panopticon orbital station. From
this mustering ground, the relatively few Myrmidons are
dispatched in small bands to oversee the defenses of the
Mechanicus’s domains, seek out and destroy their enemies.
The Myrmidons, although largely independent, are closely
linked to the Archmagos of the Lathes, who is one of their
guarantors of their dominance.
They are not, however, the only militant Mechanicus
faction in the sector, and over the last century a highly
mystical tech-sect based at the forge facilities on the death
world of Haddrak in the northern rim of the Drusus Marches has grown to prominence and increasing power.
The Divine Light of Sollex, as they call themselves, are
zealots in the Machine God’s cause, as coldly fanatic and
savage in their way as any Redemptionist of the Imperial
Creed. To them, the preservation of the arcane mysteries
of the Machine Cult from those who would misuse them
are of far greater worth than petty wealth, worldly power
or the lives of their fellow men, or even other members
of the Cult Mechanicus.
Towering figures of steel shrouded in blood-red robes
and bedecked in hardpoint, mounted weaponry of arcane
manufacture, the Myrmidons and other tech-priests
militant are war makers whose knowledge of the arts of
siege craft, weaponry and devastation is without peer.
Although few in number, they are baleful opponents to
face in battle. Heavily augmented, they are relentless,
implacable, and the most powerful among them are all
but impossible to kill. Myrmidons are held in no little
fear and awe by other members of the Machine Cult,
and have commonly subjected themselves to cybernetic
reconstruction far beyond enginseers or precepts.
In the Calixis Sector, the Auxilia Myrmidon enjoys the
patronage of most of the Lathe-Covenant Council, meaning
that the Auxilia receives a great deal of influence and favor. Of
late, a large number of Auxilia Myrmidon Secutors have been
marshalling their forces for war---some say to get involved
in the fighting on the Spinward Front of the Calixis Sector.
The High Fabricator has made note that the Myrmidons are
gathering together in unprecedented numbers on Heterodyne Station, and a number of dataliths regarding large-scale tactics
and organization have been channeled there via transmat.
==Unique Equipment==
Panoptic 0-5 Automata Pistol
Class: Pistol (SP)
The construction of these weapons is, by ancient
tradition, one of the tests of craft that each would-be tech-priest
armorer must undertake under the tutelage of the
Myrmidon Warsmiths of the Panopticon Orbital in the
Lathe System. Aspirants are given a complex and randomly
incomplete pattern for the weapon, and through skill and
divination must produce a working gun to their master’s
satisfaction. The successful finished articles are then offered
up to the Omnissiah as a sacrifice, and vaporized on the
plasma-fire altars of the Machine God. It is quite common
for the tech-priests who have studied at the Panopticon
to continue to make these pistols in this ritualistic way as
a form of mediation and to hone their skills, either using
them as personal armaments or giving them as gifts to
favored servants, or more rarely offering them for sale.
These intricate automata-guns feature two separate
ammunition cylinders and count as being fitted with a Fire
Selector.
Pistol, 35m, S/2/–, 1d10+3, I, PEN 0, Clip 5 (×2), RLD 2Full, Reliable, WT 2kg, Cost 225, Rare
==Alternate Career Rank==
Some tech-priests are drawn to the path of the Secutor through
a fascination with the unique and intellectual challenges warfare
provides, while others feel themselves drawn to the intricacies
and beauties of creation and destruction, or the sacred art of
weaponsmithing. Others simply see this path as a means to
an end, either for the protection of the Machine Cult, the
furtherance of their own independent researches, or some
other, hidden agenda. Regardless of their vocation, a
tech-priest skilled in such destructive arts as the Secutor
is an invaluable ally for an Inquisitor, and makes for a
singularly lethal Acolyte. The only downside to such
an association is that the Holy Ordos can never be fully
sure where the tech-priest Secutor’s loyalties lie---even
more so than others of their kind---or what ancient and
dark secrets they may themselves possesses.
Required Career: Tech-Priest
Alternate Rank: 4 or higher (2,000 XP)
Other Requirements: WS 35, BS 35, WP 35, any four Weapon Training talents.