Venandi Mech-Assassins

The **Venandi Mech-Assassins** are part of an order of assassins within the Adeptus Mechanicus that operates throughout the worlds of the Ixaniad Sector where the influence of Forge Hephaestia holds sway and beyond. Venandi Mech-Assassins extend outward from the far more specialized Interfector Death Clades and are subservient to the Prefecture Magisterium. They answer only to the Magi Juris of their own order, and usually operate according to their masters' will without scrutiny. The **Semita Set of Aglea**, less formally called the Mech-Assassins, are trained in the nigh-heretic arts of stealth, machine sabotage, and mind scourging, these deadly agents are able to move within plain sight among the lay folk throughout the sector, hidden from scrutiny beneath heavy red or black robes associated with the high ranks of the Martian Priesthood.

The vast majority of these precision logicutioners are pulled from across the Aglaean system, and taken specifically from menial families who have demonstrated high aptitudes for logic and combat beyond general aptitudes considered for potential initiation into the lower mysteries of the Cult Mechanicus. Once selected the youth are taken away from their families to be instructed in secret fortresses scattered throughout the Ixaniad Sector. The Venandi's operating procedures is heavily tied into the operating practices of the Proodosi sub-sect of the Anima Cult and as such idolize the thinking power of Machines to narrow down their search areas. The Mech-Assassins of Hephaestia believe these cogitations guide them to the targets of their wrath and aid them in making short work of those who oppose the tenants of the Magisterium and the will of the Machine God.

## Practices of the Mech-Assassins

The infiltrator agents of the Prefecture Magisterium are first and foremost instructed in stealth as to maintain the illusion that any of the priesthood could be one of these shadowy figures. As such, Mech-Assassins are inducted into the mysteries of the Cult Mechanicus; particularly in the rites of maintenance, weapon rites, digitalus arcana, and Astrotechnica. So it is that these disguised agents roam the sector providing the services of a tech priest; maintaining voidships, repairing Cogitators, unjamming weapons, and occasionally creatively killing their unsuspecting prey. The methods by which a Mech-Assassin can kill are varied; some value a clean kill at a distance, while others prefer to slay with elaborately created traps or carefully scripted malfunctions, or simply just stab the enemy to death with bladed mechadendrites.

In all cases, however, the sharpest weapon one of the Venandi possesses is his mind. Whenever possible, a Venandi elaborately plans a kill, running simulation after simulation in his augmented cranium, consulting with the Proodosi cogitators, and including a wide array of factors that few without the gifts of the Omnissiah could effectively consider. Like the marching soldiers of the Skitarius Rangers, a Venandi might stalk his target for months or years at a time, slowly progressing towards an inevitable goal as they gather ever more information to be filed away for their grim purpose. An Venandi Mech-Assassin’s honed, clicking mind allows him to utilize nearly anything as a lethal weapon; steam pipes become a scalding trap to an unwary passer-by, a plasma gun becomes a time-bomb for its user, or promethium fuel stations may fail critically. Infinite possibilities for murder unfold before a member of the Venandi Sect, and uncovering then implementing the best one for an enemy of the Omnissiah is simply his role in the greater Quest for Knowledge.

## The Interfector Scourges

The Interfector Death-Claves of the Prefecture Magisterium are the shadowed hand of the Archmagos Intendant, utilized as singular purposed terror weapons to expunge internal threats to the dogma of their particular Forge World, as well as to liquidate the proponents of techno-heresy before it can spread, whether they lie under the jurisdiction of the Archmagos or represent an extraneous threat. Irrevocably tied to the particular structure and doctrine of their Forge World, such Death-Claves have often evolved their own shadowed and morose identity, with the most notorious undoubtedly being the Cydonian Sisterhood of Mars.

Whatever their given title and practices, and Interfector Scourge is a singularly lethal assassin, almost entirely rebuilt in a strange mechanical form, often deployed in overwhelming groups armed to overcome the defenses of any Magos who should decry the will of the Omnissiah.

While nominally part of the *Collegia Extremis Prefecture Magisterium*, the Interfector Scourges are subservient to the Lord of the Forge World, as a check on the power of the Prefecture, serving to eliminate those the Fabricator General requires, even the Magisterium Prefect.