Collegia Titanica - Princeps and Moderati: Titan crews rank alongside the elite of the Imperial Navy in the skill with which they operate their mighty engines of war, although compared to the crews of void-faring warships they are few in number indeed.The officer known as a "princeps" is in total command of the Titan via a Mind Impulse Unit, a complex and not entirely understood cybernetic device that merges the Human body and mind with the artificial intelligence of the god-engine so completely that a princeps controls the Titan's metal form as they would their own flesh. The process is a two-way one however, for each Titan, in particular the more ancient god-engines, is invested of its own individual, artificially intelligent "anima" which is the product of its deeds and the personalities of its former princeps, and which bleeds into the consciousness of the mind of its current princeps to create a gestalt of the two.So immersive is this connection that should the Titan suffer damage, the princeps feels it as if their own flesh were wounded. Severe damage is likely to cause crippling stigmata on the princeps' body, and should the god-engine be dealt a killing blow, the cyber-neural feedback is almost certain to kill them as well.Assisting the princeps are a number of specialist crew, the exact number present and their roles dependent on the class of Titan as well as the doctrines of the parent Legio. These officers are known as moderati (sing. moderatus), and each has responsibility for a different Titan system, such as the sensors, the helm or a specific weapon system, adding their own oversight towards the mind impulse commands of the commanding princeps.Several of these moderati are stationed at the princeps' side within the "head" of the god-engine, while others are located elsewhere in the Titan's mighty form -- the gun moderati, for example, are often stationed in the carapace as near to their weapons as the Titan's complex anatomy allows.In addition, one or more Tech-priests watch over the god-engine's mighty Plasma Reactor, assisted by a small cadre of servitors. While a lighter class of Titan, such as a Warhound, might have but a handful of crew, a Warlord might have a dozen and an Imperator-class Titan even more.As a result of the battles they come through together and because of their link to their Titan's Mind Impulse Unit, princeps and their moderati are often more closely knit than most families. Being linked to the MIU can also be dangerous and even lethal, as the potent Machine Spirit (artificial intelligence) of a Titan can wreck an unprepared individual's consciousness and drive them to madness.Damage to the system's circuitry can cause the MIU to go haywire, and in such circumstances, the luckiest crew members are killed instantly by the psychic shock, while the rest are reduced to gibbering lunatics.Most of the crews' own connections to the MIU are equipped with manual emergency cut-offs; however, sometimes the moderati and princeps are not able to utilise them quickly enough to avoid the damage. MIU links are attached via implanted cybernetic socket connectors in the cranium and neck, or in the body armour the crew wear. The armour's role is to shield them from secondary damage caused by shrapnel and impacts, and it additionally contains power and life support units, also attached by umbilicals to external devices.These umbilicals have many redundant channels, so that if any one is severed in the heat of battle, another can easily take its place, making sure that nothing impedes the crew's ability to fight.