Warhammer 40K: The Legio Cybernetica – The Mechanicum Who Walk the Edge of Heresy
The robots of the Imperium are impressive, and yet their mechanical might is mastered by a single branch of the Adeptus Mechanicus – the Legio Cybernetica.
Gather ’round Loremasters and Loremaster-initiates. Today’s lecture skirts forbidden material, as we are discussing the nature of the great machines that protect humanity throughout the galaxy, but in order to discuss the robots that carry some of the mightiest weapons of the Imperium into battle, we must also discuss their forbidden origins when the earliest flirtations of humanity with artificial life-forms led to the creation of the Men of Iron…
Legio Cybernetica sigil
But safeguarding us from the rampage of robots, maintaining the weapons and the might of the Imperium, is the Legio Cybernetica.
The Legio Cybernetica is the robotics branch of the Adeptus Mechanicus. It is one of the oldest branches, with records stretching back to the very first days of the Imperium, and presumably before then.
One of the most feared and powerful military arms of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Legio Cybernetica carries the burden and dread responsibility of the use of Battle-automata in warfare as well as the development and maintenance of these terrifying machines.
Legio Cybernetica Origins
The Legio Cybernetica can trace its origins to when early technosavants experimented with artificial life. Ever curious, those early pioneers not only constructed vast hosts of automatons but also gave their creations the gift of independent thought. That decision was to cost them dearly, and the rest of Humanity with it.
In the aftermath of the destruction, the infant Adeptus Mechanicus subsequently followed a sacred charge known as the Crimson Accords of Mars, the cornerstone of doctrinal law created during the foundation of the Mechanicum during the Age of Strife. The Accords forever forbade the creation of the abominable and soulless intelligences known as the Silica Animus and pronounced a death sentence on any Silica Animus who remained and any in the Mechanicum who tried to create them. These accords however allowed the survival and creation of ‘lesser and righteous works’ of synthetic life deemed sacred. The Battle Automata of the Legio Cybernetica were among these chosen.
As a way to avoid further rebellions, the Legio Cybernetica’s robots have been controlled completely by their masters – not by the bio-plastic cerebra and nerve-like tendril webs of Mechanicum constructs, but by sanctified doctrina wafers. No bigger than the cards of the Emperor’s Tarot, these slivers of wetware are entrusted to the Cybernetica Datasmiths that accompany the robot maniples to war. Inserted into the dataslot hidden behind each robot’s chestplate, the wafer’s command protocol will dictate every iota of the host’s behaviour.
Dark Mechanicum Robots
Some members of the Legio Cybernetica became corrupted by Horus after he fell to Chaos and many of their units supported his ideal of an Imperium of Chaos. Some of the Magos who sided with Horus hoped to abandon the Crimson Accords and saw the Warmaster as a chance to pursue long forbidden A.I. development. Following the outbreak of the Horus Heresy on Isstvan V, the bases of the corrupt Legio Cybernetica on Mars were immediately assaulted by loyalists.
Perhaps one of the most famous robot-vs-robot actions during the Heresy took place in the Eastern Industrial Sector of Myrdinn City during the Scouring of Entessian, when a small but well-programmed force of Traitor robots held off a small force of Firebrand Titans supported by dreadnoughts and robots for almost an hour, causing considerable disruption to the planned flanking sweep.
Following the defeat of the Heresy and the banishment of the Traitor Legions, the dishonored Legio Cybernetica cohorts also fled into the Eye of Terror, where they remain to this day – merged with the Dark Mechanicus. Since the defeat of Horus, the loyalist Legio Cybernetica has pledged itself anew to the Imperium. Its members now take binding oaths of loyalty more terrible than any Marine Chapter oaths.
Legio Cybernetica Robot Basics
A robot’s atificial computer/brain is constructed from synthetic proteins and enzymes. The brain is imprinted with “firmware” routines, allowing it to follow simple commands, i.e. “Open the Weapon Bay Door” and “Move to the Holding Area.” Prior to battle, these firmware routines are overlaid and replaced with combat “wetware,” thin bioplastic cards small enough to fit into a pocket. These new programs dictate the actions the Robot will take in the coming battle, such as when to fire its weapons.
Besides their standard communication, sensor and suspensor systems, Robots were also notable for carrying self-destruct charges, designed to prevent the Robot from causing any harm in its damaged state. Should the Robot’s programming fail in some way and prevent its own self-termination, the monitoring tech-priest known as a Cybernetica Datasmith can remotely detonate the charge as well. Other upgrades included a protective power field with synchroniser unit allowing the Robot to fire through the barrier and Bombot racks for carrying grenades. Robots of roughly human size could benefit from organic camouflage with a clone-skin of human flesh, allowing them to pass for human, and were particularly useful for missions such as assassination.
Legio Cybernetica Robot Types
The Legio Cybernetica has produced many Robot designs over the centuries. Some were failures, such as the disastrous Castigator, a robot so heavily armored that it was slower than the troops it was designed to protect and support. Others proved more successful, and there are five types that have played a role in the Imperium’s long history. Here are just a few of the well known types:
- Castellan Class Robot
- Cataphract Class Robot
- Colossus Class Robot
- Conqueror Class Robot
- Crusader Class Robot
- Kastelan Robot
- Thanatar Class Robot
With so many robots in service to humanity, the Legio Cybernetica remains an important, if distrusted, part of the Adeptus Mechanicus–and indeed, the Imperium.
