vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Cthonia - Law of the Blade: Faced with complete and total economic and societal collapse, the people of Cthonia had either left if they possessed wealth enough to return to Terra or had sunk ever deeper into a terrible poverty defined by both its savagery and a desperate struggle for survival. Fierce, lawless gangs inhabited the depths of Cthonia, enjoying freedom from the rigours of Imperial citizenship.There was no law but the blade, no desire save that to survive. Some gangs were territorial, their leaders possessing all the pretensions of barbarian kings. With armies of men and women bonded to their service, they would seize access to tunnels, demand tribute from other factions and create enclaves in the lightless heart of abandoned tunnel networks. To other gangs blood and power was a crop to be harvested by violence and violence alone, and the dead meat enough to live on.Holding no territory and living from plunder, these gangs raided, murdered and burned. Where they did not need food, ammunition or supplies they would raid simply to enhance the fear they spread, or winnow out the weak and the undeserving from their own ranks.While these reaving gangs left blood and ruin at their passing, others moved like spectres on the edge of sight, killing silently and for ends that few could understand.Between these factions a fluid web of respect, tribute and rivalry existed. Factions would form, evolve and dissolve in a few solar months. Of those that endured longer, only one thing was certain: their time too would pass.And so it was for the long years of the Age of Strife: the strong killed the weak only to be killed themselves as others rose up again and again and again, and somehow this murderous strain of Cthonian humanity not only survived, but thrived by murder and prospered by plunder, and so Cthonia endured for long years.
Cthonia - A Human Harvest: By the time the Great Crusade began in ca 800.M30, Cthonia's mines were long spent, but it had a resource that the new Imperium needed more than metals and jewels: hardened fighters and born survivors in their millions; a lean and hungry race of killers with no illusions about the horrors of the universe.Cthonia, relatively close to Terra in the void, and with whom some minor intermittent contact had been maintained even through the Age of Strife, had its murderous and strife-torn population marked by one of the first expeditionary fleets to leave the Sol System.To fuel the growth of the early Space Marine Legions, the Imperium took full advantage of the bounty that Cthonia provided. At the time of the First Founding, Cthonia helped provide the necessary flesh for the gene-wrights of Luna to fuel the growth of the Legiones Astartes.One report talks of so-called Imperial "recruitment squads" harvesting tens of thousands of Cthonian gangers and shipping them away, chained together in the holds of prison-shuttles, to the geno-laboratories of Luna.The majority were impressed troopers for the crusade's Imperial Army regiments, but the finest specimens were taken for induction into the XVI Legion, later named the Luna Wolves after their first campaign beyond Terra in 798.M30. On Luna these chosen sons of Cthonia were transformed and reborn as the transhuman Astartes of the XVI Legion.It was more common for the first Space Marine aspirants to be volunteers from Terra, and later, after the rediscovery of the Primarchs, from Feral or Feudal Worlds. However, after the usual hypno-psychological indoctrination process, the Luna Wolves created from the men of Cthonia emerged as excellent - and ferociously powerful - Space Marines.Within the Imperial Army, the Cthonians developed a very similar reputation which led to the formation of several elite Solar Auxilia cohorts, collectively known as "Cthonian Head-hunters," which would all side with the Traitor forces of the Warmaster during the Horus Heresy.
Cthonia - The Emperor Arrives: Information about the early days of Horus himself is even harder to uncover in Imperial records. It is thought that he was the first of the Primarchs to be recovered by the Emperor, having been cast much closer to Terra than the others, and was found at a much younger age. As a result, Horus was for many years the Emperor's only son, and there was a great affinity between them.The Emperor spent much time with His protege, teaching and encouraging him to reach his full potential and a love sprang up between them that the Emperor believed nothing could ever break. Horus was soon placed in command of the XVI Legion that had been created from his DNA and in many cases from his own fellow Cthonians, who had already earned the moniker of the Luna Wolves during the First Pacification of Luna in 798.M30 -- 10,000 Space Marines who were the true sons of Horus and would later bear that name as a Legion.With these warriors to lead, Horus accompanied the Emperor for the first thirty standard years of the Great Crusade, and together they forged the initial expansion of the young Imperium of Man.
Cthonia - Cthonia's Fate: Eventually, a great schism known as the Horus Heresy occurred when Horus betrayed his father and entered the service of the Ruinous Powers of Chaos in an attempt to usurp the Emperor's place as the Master of Mankind. This was the first and most devastating civil war in Imperial history.Occurring in the early 31st Millennium and lasting less than a solar decade, it divided and nearly destroyed the fledgling Imperium. It marked the end of the Great Crusade and the death of Horus and the Ascension of the Emperor of Mankind to the Golden Throne.The Sons of Horus Legion that has been the Arch-Betrayer's own fled under the command of its First Captain, Ezekyle Abaddon, into the Eye of Terror, alongside most of its fellow Traitor Legions. There, over the next 10,000 standard years, Abaddon twisted the XVI Legion into a dark, twisted version of its former self that he renamed the Black Legion, the most potent of the Traitor Legions which serve the Dark Gods of the Warp.In the 41st Millennium, the Black Legion's homeworld of Cthonia no longer exists, having apparently lost geo-structural integrity and broken apart into asteroids and debris during the centuries following the Heresy. Certainly the once ore-rich planet was riddled with mine workings right through to its dead core (in fact the numerous gangers that formed the population may originally have been imported as work teams to maintain the crumbling tunnels), however there is much conjecture that Cthonia was destroyed deliberately by the Imperium after the Heresy during the Great Scouring to remove the tainted world from the demesne of the Emperor.Since the destruction of their fortress in the Eye of Terror, the Black Legion is no longer based on any particular planet, instead stationed permanently on various spacecraft. They possess a single ancient Battle Barge from their original fleet, as well as other vessels commandeered or captured over the years.In particular, many former Imperial Army warships that rebelled during the Horus Heresy now seem to be under Abaddon's command, along with newer vessels he has ordered constructed within the Eye of Terror by the Hereteks of the Dark Mechanicus.
Cthonia - Appearance: The people of Cthonia were said to have possessed slightly freckled faces and pale, craggy features.
Cthonian Beserk Mole Grenade Launcher - Cthonian Beserk Mole Grenade Launcher: The Cthonian Beserk Mole Grenade Launcher, also just called a Mole Grenade Launcher, is a long-ranged Mole Launcher that fires grenades rather than burrowing torpedoes that is employed by the Cthonian Beserks of the Leagues of Votann. This repurposed mining equipment delivers subterranean explosives into the midst of enemy units, even if they are cowering out of sight.Every Cthonain Beserk who opts to wield a Mole Grenade Launcher is assisted in combat by an L-COG, a robotic Kin labour drone, who carries his primary melee weapon that the Beserk can switch to once close combat begins.
Cthonian Beserks - Cthonian Beserks: Cthonian Beserks are workers of the Cthonian Mining Guilds of the Leagues of Votann who can also serve as powerful assault infantry and melee combatants in many Kin Oathbands.Cthonian Beserks are amongst the most heavily cybernetically-augmented and courageous of the Kin. Brandishing mining tools that they have repurposed as weapons of war and unleashing explosives that tunnel through solid rock through the use of their Cthonian Beserk Mole Grenade Launchers, the Beserks storm the enemy's strongpoints and break them open just like they would an asteroid filled with seams of precious ore.
Cthonian Beserks - Role: The courageous workers and part-time warriors of the Cthonian Mining Guilds represent some of the most heavily augmented Kin -- unreasonably brave souls who have enhanced the physical capabilities of their cloneskeins with cybernetic implants and upgrades, all the better to extract precious minerals from radiation-plagued nebulae, explosive asteroids, and fathomless ocean depths.Boosted by the cyberstimms that flood their neurological and metabolic systems from their implants, the Beserks can keep battling through life-or-death situations. They eschew the highly-advanced, STC ranged weapons wielded by the rest of the Kin, using robust mining equipment such as Heavy Plasma Axes, Concussion Mauls and Concussion Gauntlets that are efficient in close, melee combat.In the muscled (or mechanical) hands of Cthonian Beserks, these tools become weapons that can penetrate heavy armour or alien carapaces just as easily as stubborn rock and stone.
Cthonian Beserks - Unit Composition: 5-10 Cthonian Beserks
Cthonian Beserks - Wargear: Void Armour (A full suit is rarely worn)Heavy Plasma AxeConcussion Maul (As replacement for Heavy Plasma Axe)Twin Concussion Gauntlets (1 for every 5 Beserks as replacement for Heavy Plasma Axe)Cthonian Beserk Mole Grenade Launcher (1 for every 5 Beserks as replacement for Heavy Plasma Axe)L-COG (Accompanies any Cthonian Beserk wielding a Mole Grenade Launcher)AugmeticsCyberstimmsEye of the Ancestors
Cthonian Guild of Kâdokh - Cthonian Guild of Kâdokh: The Cthonian Guild of Kâdokh is a Cthonian Mining Guild of the Leagues of Votann that operates in the Greater Thurian League. Like all Cthonian Guilds, the Guild of Kâdokh carries out most of the Greater Thurian League's mining and resource extraction activities, and embodies the belligerence and acquisitiveness of the Kin. These Kin miners are fearless in the cause of locating, securing and harvesting resources for their league, and think nothing of braving environments so extreme that even other Kin would baulk at their hazards.
Culexus Temple - Culexus Temple: The Culexus Temple is one of the most sinister and feared orders of the Officio Assassinorum and its Assassins have been described by Aeldari Warlocks as nothing short of the embodiments of pure evil. Even amongst the upper echelons of the Officio Assassinorum this temple is always viewed with extreme caution.The reason for this is not because of the way that the Culexian Assassins carry out their operations, or the heinous methods of killing they employ. It is because of the very nature of the Culexus Assassins themselves.The Assassins of this particular temple are not chosen because of their innate savagery, cunning or combat skills. First and foremost, potential candidates are chosen to be Culexus Assassins because they are born with an extremely rare human genetic mutation called the Blank Gene -- which means they have no presence within the Warp like all other sentient beings, and thus no soul.Even normal humans find the presence of a psychic Null extremely disturbing, but the effect is most pronounced on psykers, who find Pariahs genuinely terrifying, as though staring into a hole in the universe when they use their Witchsight.It is hardly surprising that Pariahs are often treated like outcasts or lepers in Imperial society, rejected by their parents and banished from their homeworld's local settlements. Local superstitions on many worlds often warn about touching them, saying that to do so would bring bad luck. Resigned to their fate, many Pariahs lead simple, solitary existences, as far away from heavily populated areas as possible.All psykers and intrinsically psychic species like the Aeldari consider a being like a Culexus Assassin to be an absolute abomination. Even monstrosities such as a Tyranid Hive Tyrant can balk at the prospect of being permanently severed from their psychic abilities and the Hive Mind. The Culexus Assassin causes absolute terror in all psykers -- which is why they are so useful to the Imperium.
Culexus Temple - History: When the Sisters of Silence first captured and transported large numbers of Pariahs back to Terra during the Great Crusade, humanity had its first disturbing revelation of the potency of these strange mutants. As large groups of Pariahs were brought to Terra, they began to cast a shadow in the Warp, blocking out the Astronomican, the vital psychic beacon used to guide starships to the far reaches of the Imperium.Other branches within the Imperium of Man, especially those that relied upon the abilities of psykers, were horrified by the existence of Pariahs. Several members of the Council of Terra sought to have Pariahs outlawed outright like other dangerous mutants -- tasking the Sisters of Silence with the ruthless extermination of any more Pariahs that were found just as they eliminated renegade psykers who presented a threat to humanity.A number of members of the Council of Terra, including the Paternal Envoy of the Navis Nobilite were pushing the Emperor of Mankind to issue an official decree to rid the Imperium of the "anti-psyker" mutants that threatened their Adepta's very existence.This was unfortunate, for the Officio Assassinorum had been working in secret with the Magos Biologis and Genetors of the ancient Mechanicum on the order of Malcador the Sigillite, the Regent of Terra and the founder of the Officio as the first Grand Master of Assassins, to see if it was possible to harness the Pariah's strange abilities and use them to kill psykers. Their work was almost complete; many years had been spent developing specialist wargear and training techniques, all of which was about to be ruined by a zealous witch-hunt.Fortunately, the Emperor never had to issue an official decree, for at Malcador the Sigillite's behest, the Mechanicum announced that it was ending the Pariah Project, making a great show of closing down its laboratories and executing many of the "specimens" it had tested there. Satisfied that no further action was needed, the bureaucrats of the Council of Terra turned their attention to the more important matters at hand.However, closer study of the fragmentary Imperial records from this time reveal that the number of executions did not match the number of Pariahs contained within the laboratories of the Mechanicum. Working in collusion with the Officio Assassinorum, the Mechanicum spirited away the most promising Pariahs to a specially constructed fortress hidden on Terra, beyond the reach or knowledge of the more zealous branches of what eventually became the Adeptus Terra after the Horus Heresy.It was there that the Culexus Temple, originally known as the Culexus Clade, was born in its modern form under the direction of its first Director Primus, the individual known only as Sire Culexus.Culexus had sworn an oath alongside Malcador and the five other Directors Primus of the newborn Officio Assassinorum to defeat every enemy of the Emperor no matter where or how they sought to hide from Imperial justice. The Culexus Assassins would become an important component of keeping that vow.
Culexus Temple - The Fortress of the Soulless: Most of the other ancient temples of the Assassinorum are granted a certain amount of autonomy, allowing the general day-to-day running, training and sometimes mission assignation to be taken care of by older, more experienced Lord Assassins.However, the Culexus Temple is ruled directly by high-ranking officials of the Officio Assassinorum. The temple itself is located not upon Holy Terra, but within a fortified complex located on a dead moon, outside the range of the Astronomican in the far reaches of the galaxy.This is the Fortress of the Soulless, an echoing, armour-clad fastness that lies always beneath a suffocating blanket of dread. All Pariahs and Culexus Assassins are kept within the fortress unless on active duty.If any are ever allowed to leave, then it is always under a veil of secrecy and with the highest levels of security. It cannot be doubted that the Culexus Temple has proven itself of invaluable use to the Imperium on countless occasions. Even so, there are factions within the Imperium that would see every Pariah executed and the Culexus Temple utterly destroyed.
Culexus Temple - Abilities: Pariahs can nullify psychic powers, and if they are in close quarters to their targets their very existence drains the strength from psykers. Culexus Assassins therefore specialise in psyker-hunting, most notably of Aeldari Warlocks and rogue human psykers. Culexus Assassins have also been shown to be useful at combating daemons, as daemons are entirely composed of psychic energy drawn from the Warp and given form in realspace only so long as they have a link to the Immaterium or possess a mortal body.A Culexus Assassin carries no gun or hand-to-hand weapons, for he needs none and would be distracted by their use. Once on the battlefield the Assassin's chosen Custodian will release his hold over the Assassin. The large eye in the Assassin's Animus Speculum opens and only then does the full intensity of the Assassin's horrific anti-psyker capabilities flood the battlefield.The Culexus Assassin attacks using his own innate abilities enhanced by years of training, mental exercises and arcane wargear. He slips through the battle lines and bodyguards, his negative aura muddling the minds of conventional troops, allowing him to close upon his targets.Bolts of negative Warp energy blast the minds of enemy psykers and strip them of their powers before he moves in for the kill, sapping the very life-force from their bodies.
Culexus Temple - Notable Culexus Assassins: Sire Culexus - The founder and first Director Primus of his clade, Sire Culexus was the namesake and founder of the organisation that eventually became the Culexus Temple. He is presumably the first of his kind, and possessed the Pariah Gene. He, along with the other founders of the various clades that eventually became the Assassin Temples, was present on Mount Vengeance. With his fellow clade leaders he swore a pact in the shadow of the Great Crusade, an oath that breathed life into the creation of the Officio Assassinorum. The newly created Assassin clades hunted down the enemies of the Emperor through stealth and subterfuge, establishing the fact that there was no safe place to hide in the galaxy from the Emperor's justice.Iota - Iota was a female member of the Culexus clade during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy era. Iota was designated as a Protiphage, for she was not fully human in the strictest sense; she was a clone, or as they were known in the Imperium, a replicae. Created by the Emperor's biologians, Iota was conceived from cells that had been combined in a test tube in a laboratory. As a Culexus Clade operative she was a being without a soul, closer to a xenos than her own kind. She was dispatched with the first ever Imperial Execution Force that was composed of Imperial Assassins from every clade, who were attempting to assassinate the Traitor Primarch Horus upon the world of Dagonet. Ultimately, their assassination attempt failed and all the Assassins were slain by the Traitors.
Culexus Temple - Sources: Assassinorum Executioner Force: Rulebook (7th Edition), pp. 30-31Codex: Assassins (3rd Edition), pg. 5Codex: Assassins (2nd Edition), pp. 20-23Codex: Grey Knights (5th Edition), pg.52Codex: Necrons (3rd Edition), pg. 8Rogue Trader: The Navis Primer (RPG), pp. 116-117Nemesis (Novel) by James Swallow
Cullgene Gas - Cullgene Gas: Cullgene Gas was an Alchemical Weapon employed by the Death Guard Legion's Grave Warden Terminator Squads during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. It was a toxic weapon of mass destruction that was  utterly lethal to most forms of organic life.
Cult Hydraic - Cult Hydraic: The Cult Hydraic is a highly-active Genestealer Cult whose gene-sects are spread across many worlds of the Segmentum Pacificus but often act in unusual concert.To assail an infestation of the Cult Hydraic is to attack a single tendril of a far greater organism. For hundreds of Terran years this organisation has sent broods of Purestrain Genestealers from the orbital dockyards of Vigilance Quadrex. Though many have been subsequently destroyed, many more have started the Cult Hydraic anew, their colours flown on a dozen Imperial worlds across the Segmentum Pacificus.To attack one such node is to invite slow but certain retribution. With news of the hostile act transmitted psychically through the Broodmind by the cult's war leaders, it is only a matter of time before several more claws of the organisation converge on the aggressor -- and either eradicate them entirely, or use sinister charisma to convert them to the cult's cause.It is said that only the cult's High Nexos knows the true number of Cult Hydraic cells operational across the galaxy, and that he passes fragments of this knowledge on to each gene-sect's own Nexoses by psychic transfer.
Cult Hydraic - Sources: Codex: Genestealer Cults (7th Edition), pg. 51Codex: Genestealer Cults (8th Edition), pg. 33Codex: Genestealer Cults (9th Edition), pg. 37
Cult Hypodermoid - Cult Hypodermoid: The Cult Hypodermoid is a Genestealer Cult.Its bio-conclaves fashioned a relic injector claw known as the Hand of Aberrance that sends powerful mutagens coursing through its victims. Their bones stretch and shatter, their muscles atrophy or swell until they burst, while their flesh blooms with nests of lashing pseudopods -- or else tears apart as it undergoes involuntary mitosis and seeks to squirm away.
Cult Mechanicus - Cult Mechanicus: The Cult Mechanicus, also known in ancient times before the Horus Heresy as the Cult Mechanicum, is the set of religious beliefs that serves as the philosophical foundation of the Adeptus Mechanicus and its predecessor, the ancient Mechanicum.Although the worshippers of the Cult Mechanicus are members of the Imperium of Man, they have their own version of worship that differs substantially in theology and ritualistic forms from the standard state religion known as the Imperial Cult that is dedicated to the God-Emperor of Mankind.The religion of the Cult Mechanicus values knowledge and the technology it creates above all else and views the final embrace of technology in the form of a purely mechanical existence as the ultimate destiny for Mankind's evolution.The Cult Mechanicus -- the religion of the Machine God -- is a complex and labyrinthine structure, a creed of secret rites and ceremonial processions that is never shared with outsiders. Within each Forge World the myriad ranks of Tech-priests vie for mastery in a world where only through the accumulation of technology and hoarded knowledge can one advance.Those who lead the workers and armies of the Cult Mechanicus are called "Tech-priests." It is they that devote themselves to the service of the Omnissiah, altering their flesh forms beyond recognition to improve their ability to execute rites of repair, to placate Machine Spirits and to acquire lost technologies. Given the hostile nature of the galaxy, it is also necessary to ensure that a Tech-priest has the power to slay any that stand in the way of their sacred missions.Despite the never-ending thirst for knowledge of all branches of the order, most Tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus have lost the ability to innovate. No longer the master of its creations, the Cult Mechanicus is enslaved to the past.It maintains the glories of yesteryear with rite, dogma and edict instead of true discernment and comprehension. Even the theoretically simple process of activating a vehicle's engine is preceded by the application of ritual oils, the burning of sacred resins and the chanting of long and complex hymns. Should mechanisms break down, as they often do in service to the Adeptus Mechanicus' war effort, a replacement must be found, or knowledge of how to repair the existing one must be learned.Across the galaxy, thousands upon thousands of armies and fleets are already searching, guided by a database begun before the birth of the Imperium. Once found, such items and knowledge are confiscated at all costs in the name of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Cult Mechanicus - Theology: The Cult Mechanicus believes knowledge itself to be the manifestation of divinity in the universe. The supreme object of devotion is therefore the omniscient Machine God, an immanent and omnipotent spirit that governs all technology, machinery and knowledge in Creation. The Machine God is believed to be friendly to Humanity, and to be the originator of all Human technological and scientific knowledge.According to the teachings of the Cult Mechanicus, knowledge is the supreme manifestation of divinity, and all creatures and artefacts that embody knowledge are sacred because of it. Machines that preserve knowledge from ancient times are also holy, and machine intelligences are no less divine than those of flesh and blood -- perhaps more so, because they are more pure expressions of that knowledge without the conflicting emotions and imperfections that riddle organic beings like Man.A person's worth is only the sum of his or her knowledge -- the physical body is simply an organic machine capable of preserving intellect, and one that is far more imperfect in the Machine God's eyes than one of metal and circuits. For this reason, the devotees of the Cult Mechanicus often transform large portions of their bodies with cybernetic enhancements.
Cult Mechanicus - Machine God and the Omnissiah: According to the Cult Mechanicus, technology is a higher form of life than that created by cruder physical processes such as biological evolution. Only a divine source could have inspired the perfection of form and function attainable in machines. This divine source is the Machine God. The Machine God is not to be understood in the sense of the ancient Terran Abrahamic religious tradition's personal God; the Machine God is not a person, but rather a force immanent in the universe.For unspecified reasons, it has appointed Humans as its chosen people, and reveals its true designs and machines to them through selected prophets. In order to interact with the physical world it was also prophesied to create a physical avatar, called the "Omnissiah."In the early days of the Great Crusade, the Emperor of Mankind was recognised by the ancient Mechanicum as the Omnissiah, prompting the signing of the Treaty of Mars (known to the Adeptus Mechanicus as the Treaty of Olympus) and the alliance of the Cult Mechanicus with the burgeoning Imperium of Man, transforming the Tech-priests of Mars into the Adeptus Terra's Mechanicum, and during the Horus Heresy in 012.M31, the Adeptus Mechanicus, after the Loyalists in the Mechanicum formally broke away from the Hereteks of the Dark Mechanicum who had sided with Horus and the service of Chaos.
Cult Mechanicus - The Motive Force: In addition to the Machine God and its Omnissiah, there was a third member of the Cult Mechanicus' divine trinity. This was the "Motive Force," an ineffable and invisible divine power or spirit said to exist throughout the universe that was responsible for the ability of all life, whether it was mechanical or flesh, to move of its own accord.Among the Tech-priests, the fanatical warrior clerics known as the Electro-priests were the most devoted followers of the Motive Force. The Electro-priests are divided by a religious schism into two sects, the Corpuscarii and the Fulgurites. The schism that divides the two sects dates back to pre-Imperial times, when this offshoot of the Mechanicum of Mars was still in its infancy.The forefathers of the Corpuscarii focused their worship upon the Machine God -- they believed His light should be brought to the galaxy. His energies were to illuminate the savage, in doing so bringing more resources to their order. The Corpuscarii mounted great religious crusades to this end, expending a great deal of Mars' resources in the process, but believing the price worthwhile -- those early pioneers considered the Omnissiah's power to be infinite.Those who would become known as the Fulgurites were aghast when they counted the cost of such crusades. They were jealously protective of the Motive Force. Believing their god's favour to be finite, they claimed that the Corpuscarii were flagrantly wasting the Machine God's power -- they not only abused His divine energy in illuminating their voidships, but frittered His power into the ether by channelling blasts of electricity.Incensed at these accusations, the brotherhood of Electro-priests fractured many times, and the first Conduit Wars began. To this day, Mars' surface is still scorched by the legacy of those bitter internecine battles. The dogmatic nature of all Electro-priests means this conflict will never truly be resolved.While outbreaks of open warfare between the rival sects of Electro-priests are now mercifully rare, on every Forge World innumerable smaller hostile acts -- both political and covert -- still take place on a regular basis, and neither side can forgive the transgressions of the other for long.
Cult Mechanicus - Machine Spirits: The Cult Mechanicus also believes in the existence of Machine Spirits, minute, animistic fragments of the Machine God that inhabit every machine or piece of technology in existence. These fragments of their deity naturally command a great deal of respect, and they are also believed to be directly in control of the machine's operation.This means that Mechanicus Tech-priests and others they instruct like the Adeptus Astartes' Techmarines generally make many ritualised, prayer-like petitions to their machinery in order to insure their spirits are compliant and respected, and thus that they operate properly.These rituals often include many operations of a potentially mechanically-useful nature, such as lubricating an axle, securing a screw or similar actions, but also operations of no immediately visible value such as sacrifices, chants, libations and the like.The belief in Machine Spirits is also the cause of the cult's stance on alien technology. As aliens do not recognise the spirits of their machines, such devices are enslaved and maltreated by their creators. Because of this, Humans should not make use of xenos technology even if it is superior to its Human-made counterparts.Orthodox Mechanicus cultists usually advocate the destruction of alien technology to free its spirit, while more radical followers may excuse the study, safekeeping and even use of alien devices in the name of the eternal Quest for Knowledge.
Cult Mechanicus - Ghost in the Machine: Technology and its mysteries are the preserve of the followers of the Machine God, the Tech-priests, for they believe that machines are imbued with a life-force of their own, a soul granted to them by the Machine God -- a will and a personality.The more ancient a piece of technology, the greater reverence it will elicit from these robed followers, who will spend many solar hours anointing a machine with the correct unguents before pressing the sigils of activation to coax its spirit into life.A machine that is both old and complicated is given the same status by the tech-priests as the Ecclesiarchy would give a major saint, for many of the systems on these machines are irreplaceable, their secrets lost to time. Among the greatest of such machines are the vast battleships of the Navis Imperialis, or the super-heavy Titan war machines of the Adeptus Mechanicus' own Collegia Titanica.But Tech-priests will also lavish their attention upon an antique lasgun or prognosticator, and will spend much time trying to understand the intricacies of a device's workings. All machines though, no matter what their pedigree, are treated as living things by the Tech-priests and they will treat all with reverence, for all are gifts from the long-lost past, knowledge of their function handed on through time only by the beneficence of the Machine God. Woe betide any person who fails to treat their weapon with respect or hurls abuses at their desktop cogitator within the range of the machine enhanced senses of a Tech-priest.Paradoxically, true machine general intelligences -- the so-called "Abominable Intelligence" or Silica Animus -- are held to be anathema by the Tech-priests, for they view these as soulless automata, spiritless things cast into the galaxy to confound the will of the Machine God. Shrouded in myth and legend, these abominations are rumoured to have originated during the Dark Age of Technology.Supposedly pathologically dangerous, an Inquisitor may encounter them, although rarely, in the course of their duties. Should they learn of these creations, the Tech-priests will hunt them down, investigate them and then destroy them. Only properly sanctioned logic engines, those deemed to have a spirit gifted them by the Omnissiah, are allowed to persist.
Cult Mechanicus - Quest for Knowledge: The ultimate goal of the Cult Mechanicus is to understand the Machine God and the will of its physical embodiment in the universe, the Omnissiah. The communal and individual attempt of Mechanicus believers at this is known as the "Quest for Knowledge," and the cult's followers view this endeavour as paramount and more important than any other concern.Generally, the Quest for Knowledge is pursued through scientific and exploratory endeavours. The cult believes that all knowledge already exists, and it is primarily a matter of time before it can be gathered together to complete the Quest.The Mechanicus' members are therefore disinclined to perform much original scientific research into previously unexplored fields. They consider it more important to safeguard that knowledge which they already have accrued and gather more by searching for STC templates and similar lost pieces of ancient Human technology from the Age of Technology.Some original research and technological innovation does happen within the Adeptus Mechanicus, particularly among the unorthodox faction of Tech-priests that has now gathered around Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl in the Era Indomitus, although the results of such endeavours are strictly quarantined for many standard years before being disseminated publicly.In the Quest for Knowledge, members are guided by the Sixteen Universal Laws. The Sixteen Laws, or "lores" are as follows:
Cult Mechanicus - The Mysteries: 01. Life is directed motion.02. The spirit is the spark of life.03. Sentience is the ability to learn the value of knowledge.04. Intellect is the understanding of knowledge.05. Sentience is the basest form of Intellect.06. Understanding is the True Path to Comprehension.07. Comprehension is the key to all things.08. The Omnissiah knows all, comprehends all.
Cult Mechanicus - The Warnings: 09. The alien mechanism is a perversion of the True Path.10. The soul is the conscience of sentience.11. A soul can be bestowed only by the Omnissiah.12. The Soulless sentience (i.e. the Necrons or Silica Animus) is the enemy of all life.13. The knowledge of the ancients stands beyond question.14. The Machine Spirit guards the knowledge of the Ancients.15. Flesh is fallible, but ritual honours the Machine Spirit.16. To break with ritual is to break with faith.
Cult Mechanicus - Magi: Magi (sing. Magos) of all stripes are senior Tech-priests with advanced specialisations in various disciplines of science and technology who pursue esoteric agendas as likely to end in triumph as they are disaster.Prime HermeticonLord DogmaMechae MoribundusInvictus AcquisitorGerontocraftData-PredatorMagos Dominus
Cult Mechanicus - Genetors: Genetors probe the mysteries of the biological, creating ever stranger cyborgs or slaughtering xenos beyond number in order to excise yet more secrets of their alien metabolisms.Magos BiologisArch-chymistGrand ParasiteMetasurgeonCorpus IlluminatorGenetor Extremis
Cult Mechanicus - Logi: A Logis (pl. Logi) is an analyst, statistician, and logistician whose purpose is to predict future trends and make forecasts about Mechanicus expenditures and needs. Because of their duties Logi are often regarded as divinely-chosen prophetic figures within the Adeptus Mechanicus.Lexico ArcanusBibliophiliacHyper-rationalistMonitor MalevolusInfo-executionerBiocogitatus
Cult Mechanicus - Artisans: Artisans create and restore truly wondrous weapons of war, from ornate Gamma Pistols to the mind-boggling immensity of the Ark Mechanicus.Also known as "constructors," they design machines, buildings, spacecraft, weapons, and military hardware. They often oversee industrial or manufacturing activity on Forge Worlds and control vast labour forces of servitors.Forge LordMechasapientPraetor ElectroidCybersmithTechnoarcheologistNecromechanic
Cult Mechanicus - Rank Structure: The term "Tech-priest" covers thousands of different roles within the governing clerical hierarchy of the Adeptus Mechanicus.A genetor, sometimes referred to as a "magos biologis," is a high-ranking Tech-priest usually bearing the title of magos who is essentially a geneticist, zoologist, xenobiologist, xenographer and molecular biologist all rolled into one, studying all matters genetic, anatomic and biological.A genetor numbers alongside the logis, artisan and magi ranks of the Adeptus Mechanicus as members of its ruling Priesthood of Mars, possessing access to knowledge and resources far beyond that of the lesser enginseers and lexmechanics. Yet a genetor's professional obsession with organic life often makes them seem strange to their more mechanically-inclined brethren, who comprise the majority of the Mechanicus. They also can serve as diagnosticians and treaters of disease in the Human body equal to or better than any Imperial medicae.Artisans create and restore truly wondrous weapons of war, from ornate Gamma Pistols to the mind-boggling immensity of the Ark Mechanicus.Magi of all stripes pursue esoteric agendas as likely to end in triumph as they are disaster. Across the galaxy Transmechanics, Lexmechanics, Enginseers, Secutors, Cognitors, Trifactors, Myrmidons, Technoshamans, and more labour alongside the wider Imperium to bolster Humanity's war machine. Within the Adeptus Mechanicus the ranks become even more esoteric.Each Mechanicus Forge World is led by a fabricator-general, or a similar official with a different title, and beneath them their fabricator locum. Each fabricator locum can call upon Magi Technicus, Metallurgicus, Alchemys, Cogitatrices, Pedanticum, Tech-assassins, hive monitors and Holy Requisitioners, who in turn can command a body of fabricators minoris, Fulgurites, Corpuscarii, overseers, underseers, stasis clerks, and techno-dervishes.Each sub-division within every facet of the order is split into dozens of ranks. To avoid confusion during war, the most senior of the Tech-priests in a Battle Congregation adopts the title of Tech-priest Dominus or Magos Dominus to lead the effort.Each Forge World is a citadel of information, a repository of all Mankind's technological knowledge -- the temple to which each Tech-priest is devoted. Mars, the first Forge World, remains the true seat of power for the Adeptus Mechanicus. Its fabricator-general is the de facto leader of the Cult Mechanicus, and is awarded a seat upon the Senatorum Imperialis, the council of the High Lords of Terra.The Cult Mechanicus is ordered by a strong hierarchy, but details on this hierarchy's actual make-up are not always clear. Generally, more highly positioned Tech-priests are expected to have more seniority and knowledge than lower ones, and are consequently more theologically important as greater repositories of knowledge.Within the Adeptus Mechanicus the ranks become even more esoteric. It should be noted that specialists such as genetors and logi may not have any specific rank within the cult as a group, but rather will be ranked as individuals.
Cult of Ohn - Cult of Ohn: The Cult of Ohn are an intelligent and ominous alien species that are known to be hostile. As a result of the convulsions in the Warp brought to the galactic core by the birth of the Great Rift in the Era Indomitus that destroyed their home star system, the Cult of Ohn launched attacks into Leagues of Votann space.
Cult of Ohn - History: The greatest recorded upheaval to the Leagues of Votann's home space in the galactic core came with the emergence of the Great Rift, and the eruption of multiple Warp storms across the core as a result. Warp storms designated by the Leagues Örgvayr, Töroll, Öggh, Cyklöp and other distorted maelstroms swallowed star systems, consumed Kindreds, sundered age-old trade routes and stable Warp currents, and left many leagues either suddenly embattled or broken into Warp-riven territorial fragments.As the shock waves of the Warp storms rolled outward, worse was to follow. Long-stable celestial phenomena convulsed and mutated, with pulsars becoming betentacled predatory horrors, grav-reefs inverting and black holes sprouting dark matter fangs as they expanded ravenously. Hostile alien races -- such as the insidious Septeryx, the Chrobdyr Ferrophagites and the ominous Cult of Ohn -- were driven onto the warpath as their own home star systems were consumed. Some Warp storms -- Örgvayr and Gëirokh worst amongst them -- vomited hordes of Chaos-worshipping invaders and Daemonic horrors, and one Ork WAAAGH! after another erupted from the fringes of the storms.
Cult of the Dragon - Cult of the Dragon: The Cult of the Dragon was a cult extant within the ancient Mechanicum during the 30th and early 31st Millennia that lived on Mars within the mysterious Noctis Labyrinth.The cult was regarded as a group of madmen in the desolate region of the Red Planet that they called home, a region that other members of the Mechanicum avoided at all costs. These individuals consisted of Tech-priests who long ago had tried to build their forges in the region that lies between the Valles Marineris and the Tharsis Uplands, but eventually abandoned them.However, the few that remained behind had formed the cult. The Cult of the Dragon worshipped the entity that was known to slumber deep beneath the Noctis Labyrinthus that some in the Imperium have come to believe might be the hibernating C'tan known as the Void Dragon. Others hold that this entity is, in fact, the original source of the Adeptus Mechanicus' belief in the Machine God.
Cult of the Four-Armed Emperor - Cult of the Four-Armed Emperor: The Cult of the Four-armed Emperor, also known as the "Burrowers Beneath," and the "They Who Shall Rise As One," is a Genestealer Cult that was the first ever encountered by the Imperium of Man on the Mining World of Ghosar Quintus in the 41st Millennium. It is now one of the most widespread in the galaxy, concentrated in the Segmentum Ultima.The Cult of the Four-armed Emperor are cunning, wily and endlessly patient. They are the masters of subterranean assault. Wherever one of their devoted walks in the open, a thousand more lurk beneath, ready to surge up for the kill.The methods of the Cult of the Four-armed Emperor exemplify those traits that make the Genestealer Cults such a grievous threat. They lay their plans with horrible, inhuman patience and exploit Humanity's bloated bureaucracy and innate greed for their own ends. They are true and terrible parasites who have spread further through the Imperium than even the most alarmist doomsayers dare to suggest.Hailing from the Trysst mining dynasty of Ghosar Quintus, the Cult of the Four-armed Emperor lies in wait beneath their host planet's surface before launching a long-planned and decisive ambush. Some of their number never see the light until the day of insurrection; when the moment comes, these troglodytes attack with speed and savagery.
Cult of the Four-Armed Emperor - The Bore Wars: The Cult of the Four-Armed Emperor took over the volcano-farming world of Thousandile in a single Terran year in the 41st Millennium. Having been commissioned to "bleed" the lava rivers that are slowly cooking Thousandile's hive cities -- much as a medicae would use leeches to bleed a swollen limb -- the Trysst mining dynasty brings in hundreds of large industrial drills. At first, their work goes well -- or so it seems -- as the temperature in the hives drops to become bearable once more.Then, on what comes to be known as the "Day of Eruption," all of the geothermic tunnels overflow at once -- worse still, their level is swiftly rising. The reason for the rising tide of lava is secondary to survival. In their desperation, all the gangs within the hive move to higher ground, fighting their way into the upper spires and eventually overcoming the Spyrer hunters who attempt to repel them through sheer weight of numbers.Meanwhile, the cultists of the Four-armed Emperor take more and more of the hive for their own territory, and when the lava recedes, use aqua pipes and sluices to harden the metal of the main hive once more. Amongst the melted organic-looking labyrinths of the lower hives, a new order rises -- and this time, its deadly tides rise all the way to the top.
Cult of the Four-Armed Emperor - Sword of the Four-Armed Emperor: This peculiar sword has not one blade, but four bound as one. When its handle is given a sharp twist, the blade splits and splits again until it resembles a sheaf of gleaming tentacles -- or a striking hydra -- more than it does a conventional blade. It symbolises the cult's abiility to shroud themselves in normality until the time comes to reveal the hideous and lethal truth.
Cult of the Four-Armed Emperor - Cult Psychic Discipline: Undermine - Just as the dark depths below serve to shelter the Cult of the Four-Armed Emperor, so too can they be psychically opened into an abyss that swallows their enemies whole.
Cult of the Four-Armed Emperor - Sources: Codex: Genestealer Cults (7th Edition), pp. 42-43Codex: Genestealer Cults (8th Edition), pp. 20-21, 38Codex: Genestealer Cults (9th Edition), pp. 30, 56
Cult of the Red Heresy - Cult of the Red Heresy: The Cult of the Red Heresy was an anti-Imperial human anarchist movement and Chaos Cult active during the 36th Millennium, from 290-310.M36.Aided by the Fallen Angel Cypher, they gained support from seven different star systems in the Don'lorth Sector.However, in the midst of the Plague of Unbelief, Cypher betrayed the cult and helped the Silver Skulls Chapter and its Unforgiven allies suppress its rebellion. It is unknown why Cypher and other Fallen first aided, and then betrayed the cult.
Cult of the Red Heresy - History: During the Age of Apostasy, in 290.M36, the Red Heresy Plague erupted across the Don'lorth Sector, a foreshadowing of the later battles that would become known as the Plague of Unbelief. It is here that the Cult of the Old Gods rises.Agitators and anarchists stirred up the hive cities into open rebellion. Workers in their untold billions were urged by red-robed priests to cast off their shackles, to reject the Corpse God that was the Emperor. The horrific slaughter of all agents of the Adeptus Administratum and Adeptus Ministorum was enough to draw in vast fleets of Imperial armed forces.Seeking a quick way to end the rebellion, the Silver Skulls Chapter deployed en masse in a desperate attempt to kill the leaders behind the rising cult. The hunt proved disastrous -- with Drop Pod assaults ambushed and multiple Thunderhawks brought down en route to their objectives.Only the arrival of Dark Angels Deathwing and Ravenwing forces, along with the 3rd Company of the Angels of Vengeance, staved off certain defeat. However, the Silver Skulls observed the Deathwing forsaking the battle in pursuit of a mysterious robed Space Marine, who turns out to be the notorious Fallen known as Cypher.Before Cypher escaped, an Angels of Vengeance Librarian detected several Fallen Angels ensconced within the red-robed hierarchy of the Red Heresy.The Silver Skulls were left to dig themselves out of their own predicament. They did so, but openly condemned the Dark Angels; another formal protest about their behaviour was filed with the High Lords of Terra.