Skitarii - Vehicles: The Skitarii are the armed forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the faction that produces and maintains virtually all vehicles and engines of war in the Imperium. As such, in addition to peculiar Mechanicus vehicles such as giant land crawlers, the Tech-Guard has access to every type of vehicle used in the Astra Militarum, Navis Imperialis aircraft such as the Valkyrie, the Marauder, the Thunderbolt or the Vulture, and are known to have utilised the Rhino armoured personnel carrier.It is unknown if the Skitarii make use of other vehicles employed by the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, though one can presume that it is possible, if their Forge World is industrious enough to outfit its forces with them and fulfill its production quota.The Tech-Guard has no access to the Land Raider, as by the Emperor's decree issued during the Horus Heresy, those vehicles are the sole possessions of the Space Marines. The Skitarii also do not utilise Dreadnoughts, for the obvious reason that they must be piloted by a mortally-wounded Astartes.The following vehicles are the most commonly used by Skitarii forces:Ironstrider Engine - Taking his inspiration from the stilt-legged seekers of the Sydonian Mask, the Tech-priest Aldebrac Vingh perfected the Ironstrider Engine in the early 33rd Millennium. His achievement was profound indeed. The strange bipedal apparatus he invented is as close to a perpetual motion machine as the Adeptus Mechanicus have ever seen, its efficiency close to perfection. Acting as a dynamo as it walks, once started the Ironstrider engine essentially powers itself. There are prototype models still circumnavigating the equator of Mars today. Sadly Vingh, never the most politically astute of his Tech-priest kin, was all but ostracised by his jealous colleagues. After his death the secrets of the Ironstrider Engine were lost. So it is that the Ironstriders of today are never switched off, lest their relentless Machine Spirit fade away forever. Thousands are put to use as mounts in the Skitarii cohorts, their riders lowered into the saddles of ever-circling 'striders by articulated cranes that overlook the Iron Stables. Others are guided onto industrial treadmills and cog-steps where they pound away in their hundreds, used to power inefficient but far deadlier machineries of destruction. Such is the way of the Tech-priest; to turn a work of genius into yet another weapon of war.Onager Dunecrawler - These walker-engines possess a daunting amount of firepower for their size; so much so that the unenlightened men of the Astra Militarum often compare them to walking guns. To the Skitarii, the Onager Dunecrawler is no mere weapon, but a walking reliquary protected by the Machine God. To the Tech-priests, it is little more than a tool of destruction, albeit one tempered in the fires of history. The Onager Dunecrawler's various armaments can blast apart squadrons of aircraft, punch holes through Traitor battle engines, or atomise enemy commanders in beams of blinding blue light. When on the hunt, their scuttle-legged gait and bristling appendages make them seem like predatory insects with a mighty sting. The Onager Dunecrawler owes its origins to the Mars Universal Land Engine. Fashioned by the technoarchaeologist Arkhan Land, the original M.U.L.E was inspired by the bad-tempered, insectile beast of burden that its maker believed walked Holy Terra in aeons long past. The Dunecrawler of the late 41st Millennium still bears very powerful weaponry, and the miniature fusion generator at its rear means it is able to outlast even the rugged vehicles of the Adeptus Astartes. Its guns are hard-linked to extensive databanks that can record its successes until it is as full as a tick bloated with stolen blood. The Dunecrawler's modifications allow it to send this hard data directly to its masters -- and conversely to channel their imperatives to the Skitarii around it. The Dunecrawler holds two crew, enmeshed with their Onager host in a strange symbiotic relationship. Its gunner is a Skitarii Ranger, his formidable marksmanship bolstered by a variety of autoscryer lenses. The machine's driver is a Skitarii Vanguard, his resilience to harmful energies allowing him to immerse himself in an electro-amniotic tank that allows direct communion with the Onager's Machine Spirit (Cogitator). Such crewmen will eventually be used up in the manner of energy batteries, but these drivers are easily replaced -- by inserting a new Vanguard into the filthy, electrode-rich soup, the Onager can be given a new lease of life. The Skitarii crewmen meet their fate uncomplainingly -- to serve the Machine God is reward enough.