Warhammer 40K: All Hail the Omnissiah! – The Cult Mechanicus
Today we plug into the Cult Mechanicus – the state religion of the Adeptus Mechanicus. All hail the Omnissiah!
The Cult Mechanicus is the state religion of the Adeptus Mechanicus, which recognizes its own dogma as opposed to that of the Imperial Cult. As an organization, it is composed of the priesthood of the Adeptus Mechanicus, also known as Tech-Priests.
Origins & Pre-History
The Cult Mechanicus has ancient origins, developing on Mars during the Age of Strife. It was the state religion of the early Mechanicum even before the arrival of the Emperor and the commencement of the Great Crusade. When the Emperor first arrived on Mars many saw him as the Omnissiah, or the physical manifestation of the Machine God. As per the terms of the Treaty of Olympus that saw Terra and Mars unify, the Mechanicum was was still allowed to practice its faith despite the Emperor’s own secular Imperial Truth. The Cult Mechanicus continues to exist to this day, distinct but related to the Imperial Cult.
Core Tenets & Beliefs
The core tenets of the Cult Mechanicus are codified in the sixteen “Universal Laws“.
According to the Cult Mechanicus, knowledge is the supreme manifestation of divinity and all creatures and technology that embody knowledge are thus holy because of it. The worth of a single man is only the sum of his knowledge – his body is simply an organic machine capable of preserving intellect. It is by this motivation that the followers of the Cult Mechanicus follow the Quest for Knowledge, seeking new technology and information to better themselves.
The Machine God, also known as the Deus Mechanicus, is the ultimate object of worship in the Cult Mechanicus. It is the Machine God that gave rise to all technologies and made them manifest through his chosen among mankind. To the Mechanicus, machines represent a higher form of life than those crudely formed from biological evolution. The planned perfection of form and function embodied in a machine are so great, that they could only have arisen from a divine source. Officially, the Cult Mechanicus maintains that the Emperor is the physical manifestation of the Machine God (the Omnissiah) and part of a trinity that also includes the Machine God and the Motive Force, the deity that gives all life and motion its continued existence.
I am disappoint…
One of its surviving Men of Iron, UR-025, states that it has met the true Omnissiah, not the false one worshipped by man, and that it would find the Mechanicum disappointing.
Organization
While each Forge World is led by its own Fabricator General, it is the Fabricator of Mars who is considered the de facto leader of the Cult Mechanicus. Beneath the Fabricator General is the Fabricator Locum who in turn may call upon and command 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.
Holy Orders
The Cult Mechanicus is organized in different Holy Orders, of which a Tech-Priest may change in time of need. The orders of the Magi pursue esoteric agendas as likely to end in triumpth as disaster. The orders of the Genetors probe biological mysteries, creating ever-stranger cyborgs and slaughtering numerous xenos to excise their biological secrets. The Logis includes analyst, statistician, and logistician whose purpose is to predict future trends and make forecasts about Mechanicus expenditure and needs. The Artisans create and restore weapons of war.
Military Orders
Each Tech-Priest Dominus may lead a Battle Congregation consisting of detachments of the Servitoria, Electro-Priesthood, and the Legio Cybernetica.
Kneel Before the Omnissiah
Universal Laws
The 16 Universal Laws of the Cult Mechanicus are broken down into two groups: Mysteries and Warnings.
The Mysteries of the Cult Mechanicus
- 1st: Life is Directed Motion.
- 2nd: The Spirit is the Spark of Life.
- 3rd: Sentience is the ability to learn the Value of Knowledge.
- 4th: Intellect is the Understanding of Knowledge.
- The Fourth Law is most commonly interpreted as stating that the ability to comprehend and utilize knowledge is the basis for the measurement of Intellect. It is entirely possible for any sentience to realize the value of knowledge (or stimulus, as some members of the Cult Mechanicus might refer to it) while only possessing simplistic levels of it. It is also possible for an Archive or Holonet to contain vast quantities of knowledge and the understanding thereof, without apprehending the value of that Knowledge. Neither of these two examples would possess true intellect in the eyes of a Tech-priest.
- 5th: Sentience is the Basest Form of Intellect.
- The so-called Fifth Law is often seen as being closely related to the Fourth Law. Tech-Priests often view Sentience as a commonly held trait, and they see it as only the first “tier” of Intellect, the lowest rung on the ladder of Understanding. Superior Intellect is generally agreed to be developed through the acquisition and understanding of knowledge.
- 6th: Understanding is the True Path to Comprehension.
- The concept of “Comprehension” holds special significance for Tech-Priests. It is often viewed as a state of transcendence, a level of Intellect that encompasses all Knowledge.
- 7th: Comprehension is the Key to all Things.
- The Seventh Law is widely seen as relating to the Sixth. Debate rages about whether “the Key to all things” is a literal or figurative expression. Many believe the Seventh Law means that Comprehension of the forces of the universe brings with it the keys to reality, the ability to implement any change or creation desired.
- 8th: The Omnissiah knows All, comprehends All.
- The Eighth Law enshrines the Omnissiah as the supreme being, the entity able to comprehend all Knowledge in the universe.[4e]
The Soulless Sentience is the Enemy of All.
The Warnings of the Cult Mechanicus
- 9th: The Alien Mechanism is a Perversion of the True Path.
- 10th: The Soul is the Conscience of Sentience.
- 11th: A Soul can be bestowed only by the Omnissiah.
- 12th: The Soulless Sentience is the Enemy of All.
- 13th: The Knowledge of the Ancients stands Beyond Question.
- 14th: The Machine Spirit guards the Knowledge of the Ancients.
- 15th: Flesh is Fallible, but Ritual Honors the Machine Spirit.
- To a Tech-Priest, organic components are weak, forgetful, and ultimately expendable for the greater glories of the Machine God. Only the correctly prescribed rituals can purify the fallibilities of the flesh, and enable the enlightened to interact with a machine-spirit. It would be a grave crime for a Tech-Priest to dishonor a machine spirit by not enacting the proper rituals in its presence.
- 16th: To Break with Ritual is to Break with Faith.
- As imperfect, organic being, most Tech-Priests believe that they must rely on Ritual over understanding. Every screw turn and button presss is precisely documented for every mechanism they build or use. There is a strong belief that the slightest deviation from ritual is an invitation to disaster and will lead to the unleashing of uncontrollable forces. In matters such as plasma reactor maintenance rituals, this has been demonstrably true.
~All Hail the Omnissiah!
