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So I really need to clean this thread up and make it less disorganized and stuff. So in here you will find: 40k Grey Knights Adepta Sororitas Inquistion Exorcists Chapter Deathwatch Militarum Tempestus Adeptus Mechanicus Imperial Knights Raptors......No longer have this army Thanks GW 30K Raven Guard Adeptus Custodes Sisters of Silence Necromunda Redemptionist Completed models/ squads HQ Terminator Librarian Reynald de Vichers Inquistor (Interigator) Abygayl Selene Brotherhood Champion Landry de Lauzon Techmarine Talus ELITES Venerable Dreadnought Draper TROOPS Strike Squad Tancrede de Hautville Strike Squad Gaiwan de Monglane Strike Squad Godfrey de Caux Termnator Squad Tibauld De Gaudin FAST ATTACK Interceptor Squad De Plessiez HEAVY SUPPORT Purgation Squad Des Barres FLYERS DEDICATED TRANSPORTS Razorback "Long Swords" Kill Team Octarius Hand of Titan Raptors Hqs 10th Co Chaplain Arthurus Phobos Libraian Hes Elites Chief Apothercary Chraddas and Apothecary La Rocha 5th Scout Squad led by Veteran Sgt Helios Troops Fast Attack Heavy Support Dedicated Transports Flyers Lord of War Terrain Other Project Back to Badab Kill Team- Raptors Team 7 909th "Hell Rain" Charlie Company (Inquistorial Strom Troopers) Hqs Ordo Malleus Termiantor Inqusitor Lord Martyn Odum Ordo Malleus Inquistor Lord MyKel Westen with his Alcolytes Commissar Lord Kiera Lynx Elites Troops Alpha Squad Fast Attack Heavy Support Dedicated Transports Flyers Lord of War Terrain Order of the Valorous Heart Hqs Elites Troops Fast Attack Heavy Support Dedciated Transports Flyers Lord of War Terrain Completed Grey Knight Group Shot (12/05/2021) Raptors Completed Group Photo (02/23/2021) Order of the Valorous Heart Completed Group photo (11/07/2021)

The recent replies motivated for me to try to grapple with something that I put together back in the day but never finished and, indeed, never get as much put down on paper as I seem to recall. That is, a take on the Adeptus Mechanicus. Before I try to do that in more fragmentary fashion than some of the other threads (if such a thing is truly possible), a little bit of history is needed on the discussion that centred around the Adeptus Mechanicus and how one could interpret them in the 40k setting. THE ADEPTUS "ME-CAN-ICUS" VS. THE ADEPTUS "ME-CAN'T-ICUS" This was the central historical debate around the Adeptus Mechanicus back in the day. Simply, did the Adeptus Mechanicus understand the technology that they used/created/perpetuated ("can-icus") or was everything blackboxed behind STC or, subsequently, the C'tan ("can't-icus"). As one might imagine, many thousands of words (tens of thousands!?) were posted on the fan forums of the time as to which was the most correct. I think that it's reasonable to suggest that on the "can" side, you had people focused on the tech from the original Rogue Trader* whereas others were more inspired by the "Cassocks in Space"** approach to the Imperium that was focused around the Adeptus Ministorum and "priesthood" via A Canticle for Leibowitz. * I still love the visual of having crystal control consoles rising on suspensors from the floor of a starship! ** This is obviously a prejudiced reference of the Imperium as what amounts to a medievalised version of the Catholic Church... in spaaacce. It's very much focused on the A Canticle for Leibowitz approach to the Adeptus Mechanicus and is what one might think of as the "standard" approach of GW to the orgnaisation. SO WHAT CAME OUT OF THAT? Discussion. Lots of it. Over at the Anargo Sector Project, I advocated for what I considered a "more balanced" approach to the Adeptus Mechanicus. There were other voices at the time that called for something markedly different, including the fun Philip Sibbering with his 40k Concepts (proof, if ever it was needed, that if you marry concepts to artwork you're on for a winner to start with). And for once a great deal of the inspirational materials came from GW in the form of Mechanicum (novel), Titanicus (novel), one by Matt Farrer (part of the Calpurnia novels but I forget which), and what Gav Thorpe had done with the Inquisition (mostly positive, but a mixed bag). Or rather, the inspiration came about after a lot of time was spent discussing the approach and subsequent GW/BL materials happened to fit a lot of that discussion. :) SO, THE FRAGMENTS... The central premise of this alternate (?) approach is that it tries to balance the "can" and "can't" elements of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The proposed answer to this was to focus on the premise of the Mystery Cult, or the notion that the lowest ranks of the Adeptus Mechanicus were very much on the "can't" side of the continuum. They didn't really know what they were doing. Everything was learned by rote, and prayers and ritualism were used to obfuscate the truth behind the actions. Herein, the "Machine Spirit" (and more broadly "Machine God") were divine premises and referring to animistic principles. As one went up the hierarchy of the Cult Mechanicus, however, you brought in more and more elements of the "can" side of the continuum. Finally, Magos and Archmagos (etc.) had access to the "hidden mysteries" of technical knowledge. So, the first base. An hierarchical approach to the Cult Mechanicus before one even gets into the difference between lay practitioners and those that are invested into the Cult Mechanicus. As an example of this, the Universal Laws of the Adeptus Mechanicus (both Mysteries and Admonitions) are part of the lower-echelons of the Cult Mechanicus and are firmly ensconced in the "can't" side of things---even if there might be some variation in rank access even at this lowest of levels. If one continues to rise through the ranks of the Cult Mechanicus, however, you are introduced to what I refer to as the Derivative Mysteries/Admonitions, and finally to the Prime or Root Mystery/Admonition. TTRPG Note: For those interested in this side of things, the basic gist of how this manifests is that different (Theological) Ranks of the Adeptus Mechanicus are restricted in their access to certain broad skill types. For example, the lowest echelons may only Operate and Repair technology. The next rank up are those that can Build technology. Finally, there are those that have Wildcard access to technical skills, which aggregate those skill into unrealistic combinations (hyper-competence) that also serve to break down Tech Level differences. THE PHILOSOPOHIES OF THE ADEPTUS MECHANICUS The "Philosophies" were originally meant to be mirrors to the factions within the Inquisition, at least insofar that they were spiced to how Tech Priests might approach technology. The obvious continuing example would be Philosophies that dabbled with Xenos or Malleus technologies, but a lot of the others seem to have been lost to time. THE BINARY DOGMA OF FACTIONALISM This deliberately-pretentious term was a stand-in for the obvious conservative/liberal divide in the Adeptus Mechanicus that was suggested from the discussions (back in the day! ;)) and subsequently showed up in novels like Mechanicum. The general gist of this is obvious: the orthodoxy is inherently conservative and leans towards the "can't" interpretation, while the more radical "liberal" approaches get up to shenanigans with technology (like research and exploration). THE PARADIGMS OF THE ADEPTUS MECHANICUS Given the importance of Forge Worlds, the "Paradigms" were invented to create a specific confluence of Faction and Philosophy that may become dominant and lead to broad trends (primarily orthodox as radical Forge Worlds would be more contentious). This was a specific part of the Anargo Sector Project, so re-tooling them outside of that is a little bit more challenging but possible. THE TECHNOLOGY OF THE ADEPTUS MECHANICUS The novels Mechanicum and Titanicus really started to get into the technological manifestations back in the day and, at least based upon current readings, this now seems to be the norm. The adoption of terms like "binaric cant" is a (sensible, for once) part of this by GW. I'm not sure where I would take this. At the moment my notes started and left with Haptic Interfaces and the Noosphere, but technology has come along since those days. I'm wondering about such things as distributed networks that don't use standard communications infrastructure etc. (You can interpret elements of these from some of the more recent novels). * * * And that's where I'm going to leave this one for the moment.

Hey everyone, starting up a new Admech army and figured I'd track the progress here. Some of the base lore for the world is below, and I'll upload some photos whenever I get the chance :) The scheme is roughly inspired by "A Mechanicus...Darkly." ---BEGIN TRANSMISSION--- The world Aegaon was originally settled during the Dark age of Technology, before being overrun by orks during the long night. It is a harsh world, primarily covered in water split only by the peaks of undersea mountains that rise lonely from the depths. In M36, it was revisited by a rogue trader whose crew contained a member of the adeptus mechanicus, Techpriest Numerian. While on location, Numerian discovered an STC for a slightly different pattern of lasrifle mag, which had better charging efficiency while underwater than the traditional model. For this discovery, Numerian was gifted the world of Aegaeon and instructed to excavatefor any further STC fragments. The first 100 Aegaean Expeditionary forces were created to explore the oceans and caves of the undersea world,and by M37 it was determined that the world was devoid of any more fragments. By this time, Aegaeon had specialized into lasrifle production exclusively. Numerian, Arch-Techpriest of the world, became tired of the monotony of their production and jealous of other, larger forgeworlds. In M38, he revitalized the Expeditionary Force program to search new worlds for more undiscovered technology. The 486th Archeological Expeditionary force was one of the groups launched from Aegaeon with the sole purpose of discovering new technology. Led by Techpriest Triaxius, the expedition follows myths and legends around the cosmos, hoping to bring their small forgeworld into the limelight of the Imperium. Their blue robes mark their heritage as members of the undersea forges. ---END TRANSMISSION---