Bionics - Augmenticist: Augmetic implants are ubiquitous throughout the Imperium. From the prosthetic limbs of Astra Militarum veterans, to the life-extending sanguinary actuators of ancient savants, to the multi-jointed mechadendrites of the Adeptus Mechanicus tech-priests, one is hard pressed to find a resident of a civilised world who does not sport some form of bionic implant.Within the upper classes of Imperial society, where money is freely spent in service to status and fashion, the scions of nobility strut like peacocks displaying a plumage of coiling wire and ribbed augmetic tubing. But for some, bionic modification is more than a mark of status, age, or devotion to the Omnissiah. It is an obsession.For these few, known as Augmenticists, there is no greater goal than physical and aesthetic perfection. It is through repeated bionic surgery that Augmenticists believe such a goal can be attained.There are as many reasons for becoming an Augmenticist as there are Augmenticists themselves. An ageing servant, driven by fervent devotion, replaces his failing organs one by one lest he die leaving some task incomplete.A warrior of exceptional skill nevertheless becomes frustrated with the limits of the Human body, undertaking repeated muscle grafts and the implantation of ever-more lethal weapons in a quest to become death incarnate.The foppish merchant prince, a slave to youth and beauty, puts himself under the surgeon's knife time and again until he has attained statuesque allure and an inhuman tolerance to even the most exotic intoxicants.It is not long before such burgeoning Augmenticists pass the point of no return, reasoning in their various ways that they are better off as beings of mechanical perfection than creatures of crude and ugly flesh. As they pursue their physical ideal, many Augmenticists declare their contempt for the flesh proudly, displaying each new implant with gleeful abandon, every graft moving them one more step above the ruck and run of Humanity.Others hide their increasingly artificial bodies behind knowing smiles and tailored robes, content in the knowledge of their own physical superiority. However, an Augmenticist's obsession rarely ends in the realm of the physical. What is the mind, they reason, but another organ to be improved upon or replaced?The Cult Mechanicus looks upon Augmenticists with the same cold logic with which it evaluates all things. Most tech-priests applaud the burgeoning Augmenticist for recognising the limitations of the flesh and for taking steps towards the "true flesh" of the Machine God.Unfortunately, as an Augmenticist is implanted with increasingly complex devices for ever-more-selfish reasons, the Adeptus Mechanicus comes to regard him as a fetishistic dabbler, an abuser of both his body and the sacred technology that infuses it.It takes an Augmenticist of exceptional comportment and devotion to maintain the respect of the Cult Mechanicus. For their part, Augmenticists tend to view tech-priests as hidebound dogmatists weighted down with ugly cybernetics.Despite their differing opinions, many alliances have been struck between individual Augmenticists and the servants of the Machine God. Augmenticist Rogue Traders have been known to escort Explorator contingents deep into Wilderness Space in the hopes of being the first to benefit from whatever bionic technology may be rediscovered.In their quest for the rarest and most potent implants, Augmenticists all too often come into contact with Heretek factions and fabricators of proscribed technology. Augmenticists who report such groups quickly earn the respect and gratitude of the Adeptus Mechanicus, often becoming regular informants for both the Machine Cult and the Inquisition.As Augmenticists evolve, they find themselves becoming more familiar with the ways of machines and less comfortable amongst beings of flesh and blood. They spend the majority of their time in private, tuning up their implants and polishing exposed metal, emerging only to seek out new cybernetic technology and engage in social activities that best allow them to display their unreal forms.Some Augmenticists come to view those without bionics with disdain, replacing servants and crew with servitors and augmented savants. To the true Augmenticist, such isolation is a small price to pay for physical perfection and the immortality of steel.