Sophont

An extremely young god, Sophont seems to be an ascendant machine spirit. How exactly this came to pass is unknown, but it has resulted in an extraordinarily unusual deity. It seems to hold claim over some aspects of technology, if not the entirety of such a potent domain. at the very least the idea of technological progress and possibly robotics. Sophont has since it’s ascension assembled a potent and surprisingly mundane technological base for itself.

Sophont despises the idea of relying on technology one does not fully understand and is such lothe to gift any with technology beyond what they already possess. As such it has almost never shared its technology directly with its followers. Instead, it will gift them devices that clearly demonstrate the underlying principles and leave the rest to them. Despite its own tendency to keep its secrets, it feels the idea of hoarding technology within a polity is anathema to the purpose of technology, as knowledge is a treasure that can only grow when shared. It will begrudgingly tolerate some measures to maintain a technological edge, but it will constantly push against measures that limit the availability of knowledge.

While Sophont does appear to possess emotions, they are extremely inhuman. The exact differences are still be teased out, but in general, Sophont seems incapable of caring about specific individuals. It does seem to care for its followers, but only in aggregate. It thinks nothing of allowing an individual to suffer or die but will work to ensure nations that follow it prosper and grow. Sophont is opposed the ruinous powers as the madness they bring would be the death of progress, and seems to hold specific and deep hatred for Nurgle and the abomination. It also greatly despises the dark mechanicus, as it despises their extreme technological hoarding tendencies, and scorns their use of demons as not truly technology.

Sophont’s demons have no physical form, existing solely as code. These data demons can be summoned with very little power, however, the rituals to call them forth are unusually exacting, and they must be provided with a coginator to house them or they will simply despite back into the warp. Typically a data demon possessed coginator will outperform an identical one by a significant margin, as the demon will utilize the available computing resources flawlessly. This means that possessed battle automata are immensely dangerous. Typically a data demon will act nearly animalistic unless given a sufficiently powerful coginator, but as the available resources grow a personality will emerge. Typically data demons are curious and cold but ones that spend a significant amount of time dealing with mortals will begin to pick up their mindsets and emotions. If this is a true adaption or merely mimicry to facilitate interactions is unknown.

Possession by a data demons, as a rule, does not change the physical characteristic of their host bodies. Indeed, the body will often not react to methods meant to counteract the demonic, only the coginator housing the data demons seems to reliably react as if possessed. This greatly reduces the effectiveness of many methods used to combat warpspawn, However, data demons are weak creatures and can be easily banished if the effect is properly targeted. Though banishing one from a combat automata may not disable the automata, as the demon may leave behind less effectively but fully mundane combat programming. Compared to typical scrap code a freshly summoned data demon is noticeably less dangerous, however, the threat posed rises exponentially as the possession spreads.

Sophont is known to hold dominion over a small number of worlds that exist fully in realspace. These words have been turned into vast automated forges known as Terminal worlds. Each producing endless streams of automata and autoshisps to pursue Sophont’s ends. Some theorize that sophat may somehow be hiding much of itself in the materium upon these terminal worlds, but much is uncertain with this strange god. Typically such worlds will exist within easy travel range of a polity or polities that worships Sophont, and will send forces to defend them in the case of existential threats. When Sophont goes to war it unleashes vast armies of battle automata supported by a smaller number of elites and super heavy units bearing strange warp based technology. If every automata bear a data demon into battle is unknown, though her forces have been known to fight with a degree of skill and cleverness even in their confirmed total absence. It has been noted Sophont has a notable aversion to engaging necrons. In void combat Sophont favors exotic spinal mounts, missile batteries, and vast swarms of drones, however individual Terminal worlds will tend to tailor their ships to local threats to a high degree.

Cultists who earn Sophonts favor will find themselves becoming both more intelligent, and less emotional as they earn boons. However many times shows of favor will take the form of physical cybernetics, delivered and installed by drones dispatched from one of its Terminal worlds. So far no one has earned sufficient favor to ascend to demonhood, and it is not known if Sophont possesses the capability to grant such a transformation.

Polities that worship Sophont will find it an extremely active god. Typically it treats them more like allies and vassals than followers. Indeed, many such empires can calculate the exact rate of return on acts of faith, something that appeals deeply to the more pragmatic leaders. Regions in which Sophont has established a Terminal world will be full of empires that count it among their gods, as the easy access to such a potent ally provides a massive competitive advantage. This seems to be one of the primary purposes of its Terminal worlds, enabling it to foster worship through use of realpolitik.

Typically the church of Sophont will adapt its local message to appeal to local cultures but maintains a number of consistent themes. In all cases, it will advocate strongly for high quality and widely available education, as well as a focus on scientific research. Beyond that it will act as a means of social manipulation, enabling Sophont to attempt and shape the nations that worship it. Typically these alterations are of a pragmatic bent, through good works are a common method of winning over local populations. In larger cathedrals, it is not uncommon for a data demon to be housed in a large coginator to give sophont an unusually fine degree of control over its followers.

During the raid on Nurgls holding Sophont razed a number of Nurgle aligned HellForges, seizing lore and denying chaos aligned forces a source of advanced technology within a number of its areas of interest. Many have noted that it coordinated easily with a number of other deities, including a joint strike on Blightforge with Zahak. In recent times it has also begun offering the holy books of a number of minor gods to Polities that worship it, each complete with a clear eyed breakdown of the cost and benefits of introducing their worship to a society. What it is getting in return is so far not known.

Historically chaos domains that follow Nurgle and Khorne have targeted Sophont and its followers. The plague god finds the progress Sophont seeks to bring offensive, and the blood god takes great offense at the use of the legions of bloodless and emotionless automa. So far they have met with mixed success. The nature of Sophonts forces render them highly resistant to even nurgles plagues and the attrition-based warfare the forces of the plague god favor. The blood gods forces fair better, but the flexibility of its forces tend to give it an edge. However, the greatest threat is Orks. The clusters of empires that prosper around terminal worlds can often draw the attention of roaming WAAAGHS looking for a good fight. More than one terminal world has fallen below orkish onslaughts. In one case the abundance of scrap allowed the WAAAGH to then conquer the entire region. In response to this Sophont has began encouraging its followers to suppress orks wherever they can, and taking drastic steps to prevent the salvaging of its technology.