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Dark Mechanicus

The Dark Mechanicus is a sect of Tech-priests and members of the Titan Legions of the Adeptus Mechanicus who swore their loyalty to the Warmaster Horus and the Chaos Gods as the Great Crusade came to a close and the terrible civil war of the Horus Heresy began in the early 31st Millennium. Horus won over the loyalty of many of the Mechanicus' Adepts after promising them the lost secrets of ancient Standard Template Construct (STC) technology that had been recovered from the worlds of the recently subjugated Auretian Technocracy by the Sons of Horus Legion. The members of what became known as the Dark Mechanicus supported Horus during the start of the Horus Heresy and they participated in the attacks against the Loyalist Space Marine Legions on Istvaan V where they used dark and forbidden knowledge to help destroy the Loyalist forces. Later, the Dark Mechanicus, led by the Fabricator-General of Mars Kelbor-Hal, unleashed the terrible civil war upon the Mechanicus known as the Schism of Mars in a bid to restore the autonomy of the Mechanicus from the Imperium of Man. This effort failed when Horus was slain at the end of the Horus Heresy during the Battle of Terra and the Loyalist elements of the Mechanicus succeeded in driving their Chaos-corrupted brethren from the Red Planet. Many of these so-called Hereteks of the Dark Mechanicus fled into the Eye of Terror alongside the other Traitors after the Great Scouring, when the Imperium recovered most of the territory across the galaxy that had been lost to Horus' Traitor forces.

Today the Tech-priests and Dark Magi of the Dark Mechanicus, who are considered Hereteks amongst their counterparts in the Cult Mechanicus, have pledged their souls to the worship of the Dark Gods of Chaos. They service and maintain the war machines and wargear of the Chaos Space Marine Traitor Legions and the other Forces of Chaos with equal fervour and plumb the depths of secret and forbidden knowledge kept hidden by the Ruinous Powers. Still dedicated to the acquisition of all knowledge in the universe much like their Loyalist counterparts, the Dark Mechanicus believes their uncorrupted brothers and sisters in the Adeptus Mechanicus are fools, for they will never be able to fully comprehend the divinity that is true knowledge if they cut themselves off from the secrets offered by the Dark Gods. The Adepts of the Dark Mechanicus see the Omnissiah of the Cult of the Machine as being embodied in the power of Chaos Undivided rather than the Emperor of Mankind. As such, they pledge themselves to the destruction of the God-Emperor, who they believe is a false prophet who has led the rest of their fellows astray. The members of the Adeptus Mechanicus are horrified by what they view as their Chaotic counterparts' tech-heresy, and feel that the Dark Mechanicus' knowledge is a blasphemous affront to the Machine God and his Omnissiah, even as they are always curious to learn more about what their dark brethren are up to...

1 Tech-Heresy
2 Dark Forge Worlds
3 Sources
4 Gallery

Tech-HeresyEdit

Because of the nature of their split from the Imperium, these fallen Tech-priests lack a central authority or consistent belief structure. As a result, their reigning ideology is far more diverse than that of their former brethren within the Adeptus Mechanicus. Hereteks may shun the Omnissiah entirely as a false god, worship him as an extension of Chaos, or simply ignore their former beliefs to focus solely on their research.

Even among the unusually open-minded Explorators of the Adeptus Mechanicus, there are subjects which must be avoided at all cost to remain true to the dictates of the Machine God. A Heretek enthusiastically violates all such strictures, exploring xenos technology, archeotech from the Dark Age of Technology, and dabbling in all facets of technology related to the manipulation of the Warp. He may even be bold enough to develop entirely new technologies, combining components in forbidden manners to produce the ultimate tech-heresy for many in the Cult Mechanicus -- innovation. He may go as far as sharing the tools of his trade and the secrets of its ways with those who have not been trained in the mysteries of the Machine God. A Heretek actively seeks out new technology and continuously experiments with new techniques in ways that were once forbidden. He no longer believes that any information, experiment, or device can be ignored. Rather, he deliberately focuses on those technologies that the Mechanicus' teachings once taught him to avoid, with a particular interest in developing Warp-based technologies.

Few inquiries concerning technology are beyond a Heretek’s interest, though inevitably many of his inventions and much of his research tend towards the development of tools of destruction. As he builds these weapons for his fellow devotees, the Heretek has also invariably rebuilt his own body. It may be that he has few organic components left and those that remain are often marked by the mutational "gifts" of the Chaos Gods. His cybernetic and sometimes biological enhancements not only improve his technological acumen, they also grant him additional abilities in combat. A Heretek is likely to be much physically hardier as well as much more powerfully armed than even the highest-ranking Magos of the Mechanicus.

Some in the Imperium think of those referred to as Hereteks to be a unified force, like the Adeptus Mechanicus itself. This is not the case, as there is no galaxy-spanning organisation dedicated to tech-heresy, including the Dark Mechanicus, which is often treated erroneously as being a monolithic entity like the Adepta from which it schismed. Rather, there are countless fiefdoms and Dark Forge Worlds, each ruled by a fallen Magos (or several Magi) powerful enough to dominate cadres of their fellows and enslave Mechanicus thralls and servants. Just like the warbands of the Traitor Legions and the other servants of Chaos, the corrupt Tech-priests war amongst each other, or prefer to exist aloof from all of their fellow servants of the Dark Gods.

Hereteks often follow a path of constant innovation. A Heretek may be capable of drawing power for his devices directly from the Warp and controlling them with summoned Warp entities. He might dabble with concepts of artificial intelligence, memory transference, or even attempt to capture and preserve the souls of sentient beings within his devices through his arcane knowledge of the Warp. Many of these inventors mindlessly hew to the idea that the new and the novel is always preferable for accomplishing a given end as established techniques. For them, the joy of a new idea or the recovery of an unknown bit of knowledge is a triumph, even if that idea has already been made obsolete. With each new advancement, his passion for further such successes grow as does his appetite for ever more knowledge, regardless of its source.

The Heretek is often driven by his hunger for knowledge and is quite willing to use the Ruinous Powers and their daemonic servants as a source. At other times, he seeks out xenos technology and archeotech. He may even coordinate raids upon Imperial strongholds for the sole purpose of recovering their records of where such devices can be found. In many Hereteks’ minds, there is no greater purpose in life than serving the cause of the advancement of technology and knowledge. Any sacrifice is justified in the pursuit of this end.

It is relatively rare for a Heretek to be raised by the Dark Gods as a Daemon Prince. All too often, Hereteks end up as a component of one of their own inventions, with too little left of the original body or its personality to even receive such a reward from the Dark Gods. However, those few who are granted this gift continue to spread their Chaos-tainted technology across the galaxy.

Dark Forge WorldsEdit

While some Hereteks of the Dark Mechanicus serve the Ruinous Powers alongside the Traitor Legions others control Dark Forge Worlds dedicated to tech-heresy in the name of Chaos Undivided. Most of these hellish factory worlds were originally Imperial Forge Worlds that fell to the Forces of Chaos. However, some like the world of Xana II, were created anew by the Dark Mechanicum deep within the Eye of Terror and other territories controlled by Chaos like the Maelstrom Warp rift. From these heavily fortified bases Hereteks can pursue their own dark goals, which they finance with slaves, souls and raw materiel gained from various different Chaos Lords in return for the Dark Mechanicus' weapons, technological assistance and the support of their Traitor Titan Legions on the battlefield. The Forge Masters of a Dark Forge World have usually left all vestiges of their humanity behind and exist as unholy amalgamations of heretical technology and daemonic energy.