IA - The Machinist Cabal

[Mechanicum]

Comments & suggestions please

 

 

Index Astartes - The Machinist Cabal

 

 

Origins

 

Within the fractured ranks of the infamous Chaos Space Marines there exists a cabal of renegades dedicated to the mastery of the machine, addicted to the raw power of Chaos, these warriors strive to attain the mechanical and demonic perfection needed to control and create new and more deadly daemonic war machines. Known only as the Machinists, these former Techmarines and adepts of the Dark Mechanicum have banded together for mutual protection following the failure of the Horus Heresy and the infighting that quickly engulfed the fleeing Traitors. Together they fled deep within the eastern fringe, claiming the minor forge world of Naustlia as their new stronghold; such an isolated base protected the Machinist from Imperial counterattack for several decades. Freed from the limitations of Imperial Dogma these newly christened Chaos Marines quickly became obsessed with the barriers between the material and the immaterial, the mechanical and the daemonic, and through the use of arcane knowledge, gained from countless dark deeds the Machinists sought to blur the boundaries between the powers of technology and the warp, using its limitless power to fuel their future endeavours. However their newfound technology offered little protection from the massed armies of the Mechanicum, who arrived over Naustlia with the intention of reclaiming the planet in the name of their false Emperor. During the following 70 year campaign the Machinist Cabal and its Dark Mechanicus allies were slowly pushed back to the worlds primary forge complex, and defeat seemed inevitable.

In an act of utter desperation and to preserve what little was left of their merger forces, the cabal brokered a deal with the infernal Daemon-smiths of the warp spawned Soul Forge. The Machinists promised to supply their new patrons with a steady supply of souls for their forge and in return were granted a weapon capable of destroying the invading forces of the false Mechanicum. The weapon, a massive warp-bomb, created a localised warp storm which eliminated the invaders and engulfed the entire planet and the surrounding system in the raw power of the Empyrean. Thanks to this unholy bond the Machinists have survived to this day by constantly harvesting the souls of their foes and searching the galaxy for fresh opportunities to secure new forms of exotic archotech that the Machinists can put to use in their future experiments and to further their role in the Long War against the followers of the false Emperor.

 

Homeworld & Recruitment

 

The Machinists hold dominion over the world of Naustlia, located deep within the eastern fringe. The planet was once a prosperous forgeworld, only to be abandoned by the adepts of Mars after a seventy year war of attrition against the forces of the Dark Mechanicum which resulted in the world’s exposure to dangerous levels of warp energy following the detonation of a powerful warp-bomb. Pollution and warp corruption has since transformed Naustlia into a dangerous daemon world, its once mighty forges reduced to sprawling industrial junkscapes, its surface covered in a mass of scrap metals, old machinery and deadly toxic pools, its sky tainted with unpredictable electrical storms.

Once under their control the Machinists sought to plunder the worlds technological secrets; but to their surprise discovered that many of the abandoned Manufactoriums were still operational and were quickly converted to serve their new masters in their future endeavours. The bulk of the planets population was wiped out in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy, those that remain suffered from rampant mutations forcing the Machinists to recruit potential Space Marines from external sources, ranging from fallen members of the cult Mechanicus to their brothers amongst the Astartes; the Machinists will welcome anyone into their ranks providing they possess an innate understanding of the technological arts. Willing aspirants are harder to locate but once within the corrupting influences Naustlia’s atmosphere such arguments are mute, as they are forced to serve their new masters or lose themselves to mutation and spawndom. These new recruits bring with them a variety of different cultural beliefs, causing Machinist warbands to exhibit high levels of individuality and tactical independence when operating alone for extended periods of time.

 

Organisation

 

The Machinist cabal organises itself around the eight greatest forges of their homeworld, established when the world was first conquered by the forces of Chaos, each under the command of the most successful of their warlords, the so called Warpsmiths. These powerful individuals make up the Overseer Council, which act as the main body of authority and disciple within the cabal. Each Warpsmith commands the loyalty of his own warband and those of lesser Machinist lords that possess forges within his territory. In most cases these warbands maintain operational independence, conducting mock wars against rival Warpsmiths to improve their sinister creations and to increase their prestige among the warbands of the cabal, only leaving their homeworld to gather resources and fresh sacrifices, in order to uphold their bargain with the soul forge, from the surrounding systems. However the high standards by which the Machinist Cabal recruits prevents them amassing a large enough force to pose a direct threat to the Imperium, a typical Machinist Warband only contains a small number of Chaos Marines – a ranking Warpsmith and his chosen apprentices – the bulk of their fighting strength is instead made of their no less deadly, if slightly unpredictable creations and mechanical minions.

 

Combat Doctrine

 

The Machinists believe that in order to defeat your enemy you must first understand them, preferring to study enemy movements and attack strategies before committing their forces in counter attack, such tactics have caught many imperial commanders off guard as they often mistake the Machinist as simple Chaotic zealots. In combat, the Machinist mechanical creations can always be found at the forefront of any engagement, where arcane technology and their bionic resilience allows them to withstand considerable damage that would cripple more conventional warriors whilst unleashing devastating volleys in return. The Cabal rarely commits itself to large scale engagements as their insular nature prevents them from openly trusting their so called allies, especially those with ties to the original nine great legions, who view the Machinist as self obsessed upstarts who refuse to share their technology and mastery of the daemon-engine with their brother Chaos Space Marines.

 

Gene Seed

 

As a renegade warband the Machinists lack a unified gene-source and as a result are forced to harvest fresh supplies from the corpses of defeated Space Marines and have been known to broker deals with the sinister Primogenator, Fabius Bile, offering unstable technology for Bile’s no less stable ‘New Men’, however such deals are a rare occurrence given the Machinists insular nature and in some warbands outright paranoia.

Beliefs

[Dark Apostle Thirst]

Mechanicum, it's like you read my mind! You need to create a color scheme for these guys ;)

 

Index Astartes - The Machinist Cabal

Index Traitorous

 

Origins

 

Within the fractured ranks of the infamous Chaos Space Marines there exists a cabal of renegades dedicated to the mastery of the machine, addicted to the raw power of Chaos, these warriors strive to attain the mechanical and demonic perfection needed to control and create new and more deadly daemonic war machines. Known only as the Machinists, these former Techmarines and adepts of the Dark Mechanicum have banded together for mutual protection following the failure of the Horus Heresy and the infighting that quickly engulfed the fleeing Traitors.

 

The sentence immediately following this one... It goes from description to history in the blink of an eye. You should put this bit at the top of the IT and leave the rest as origins.

 

Together they fled deep within the eastern fringe, claiming the minor forge world of Naustlia as their new stronghold; such an isolated base protected the Machinist from Imperial counterattack for several decades. Freed from the limitations of Imperial Dogma these newly christened Chaos Marines quickly became obsessed with the barriers between the material and the immaterial, the mechanical and the daemonic, and through the use of arcane knowledge, gained from countless dark deeds the Machinists sought to blur the boundaries between the powers of technology and the warp, using its limitless power to fuel their future endeavours.

 

That last sentence is reeeeaaallllly long. You should break it up a little.

 

Also, you said they had come from the Horus Heresy, but then you changed it to making their base free from Imperial Counterattack. Perhaps have them created in the Horus Heresy, until they finally chose a base after the Imperium resttled itself.

 

However their newfound technology offered little protection from the massed armies of the Mechanicum, who arrived over Naustlia with the intention of reclaiming the planet in the name of their false Emperor. During the following 70 year campaign the Machinist Cabal and its Dark Mechanicus allies were slowly pushed back to the world's primary forge complex, and defeat seemed inevitable.

 

70 year campaign? For a single world? Cut that down a bit, perhaps to months.

 

Also, it seems you've got things confused. It's Dark Mechanicum, and Mechanicus. Post Heresy for that last one.

 

In an act of utter desperation and to preserve what little was left of their meager forces, the cabal brokered a deal with the infernal Daemon-smiths of the warp spawned Soul Forge. The Machinists promised to supply their new patrons with a steady supply of souls for their forge and in return were granted a weapon capable of destroying the invading forces of the false Mechanicum. The weapon, a massive warp-bomb, created a localised warp storm which eliminated the invaders and engulfed the entire planet and the surrounding system in the raw power of the Empyrean. Thanks to this unholy bond the Machinists have survived to this day by constantly harvesting the souls of their foes and searching the galaxy for fresh opportunities to secure new forms of exotic archotech that the Machinists can put to use in their future experiments and to further their role in the Long War against the followers of the false Emperor.

 

So a mini Eye of Terror? I like... Instead of having them enslaved to the Forge, though, mention that they were building a huge weapon when the Mechanicus attacked, and they had to hastily finish it to drive them back, which they did just in time.

 

That's a suggestion, though. Right now it seems to be very... They were surrounded and a huge weapon came out of nowhere that cost them an arm, leg, and their souls! If you mention it beforehand, it won't seem like a plot device.

 

 

Homeworld & Recruitment

 

 

Once under their control the Machinists sought to plunder the worlds technological secrets; but to their surprise discovered that many of the abandoned Manufactoriums were still operational and were quickly converted to serve their new masters in their future endeavours.

 

Why didn't they use the world they launched the Warp-bomb from?

 

The bulk of the planets population was wiped out in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy, those that remain suffered from rampant mutations forcing the Machinists to recruit potential Space Marines from external sources, ranging from fallen members of the cult Mechanicus to their brothers amongst the Astartes; the Machinists will welcome anyone into their ranks providing they possess an innate understanding of the technological arts. Willing aspirants are harder to locate but once within the corrupting influences Naustlia’s atmosphere such arguments are mute, as they are forced to serve their new masters or lose themselves to mutation and spawndom.

 

 

Horus Heresy again, I'd reccomend dropping it.

 

If they are all half warped technologicals their geneseed should be too devolved to use anyways.

 

 

These new recruits bring with them a variety of different cultural beliefs, causing Machinist warbands to exhibit high levels of individuality and tactical independence when operating alone for extended periods of time.

 

I'd drop the "When operating alone for extended periods of time" bit, they have no reason to not be very different, especially when Chaos is involved, which it appaers to be, very heavily. Very nice otherwise though :P

 

 

As a renegade warband the Machinists lack a unified gene-source and as a result are forced to harvest fresh supplies from the corpses of defeated Space Marines and have been known to broker deals with the sinister Primogenator, Fabius Bile, offering unstable technology for Bile’s no less stable ‘New Men’, however such deals are a rare occurrence given the Machinists insular nature and in some warbands outright paranoia.

Beliefs

They don't implant anybody for recruitment anyways, so why do you need geneseed?

 

I really, really like this IT, it's got a solid core and it's well written, it just has some parts in it that aren't benefitting it. I look forward to seeing you expand it :D