Adeptus mechanicus

Adeptus Mechanicus
Jumpchain

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Even at the height of mankind's golden age, Mars stood out as the greatest center of technological and scientific study.  When warp storms ended humanity's golden age and cast other men into barbarism, the Martians worked to hold on to what they could and rebuild.  After a brief period of anarchy that saw Mars' terraforming undone, the preservation of past glories slowly turned into the worship of all things that held knowledge.  Thus were the seeds sown of what would one day become the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Cult of the Machine God.

Over the course of millennia, the Martians learned to detect lulls in the warp storms sweeping the galaxy and sent out expeditionary fleets to recover technology and establish new forgeworlds.  They had given no further thought to what life remained on Earth until the arrival of the Emperor, seeking alliance and aid to begin his great crusade to unify all of humanity's scattered remnants.  In the shadow of Olympus Mons, seeing the benefit of such an alliance and with many Martians already viewing the Emperor as the Omnissiah, the living incarnation of their god, a treaty was made.

But not a perfect one.

For the two-headed aquila that is the symbol of the Imperium represents the twin empires of Mars and Terra, united yet resentful.  Doctrinal differences between the Ministorum and the Cult of Mars are a source of constant friction, and the practices of the Cult are as mysterious and arcane as any sorcery.  The two empires need each other to survive, of that there is no doubt, but that certainty does not make fulfilling their obligations to the other any easier.

The Cult of Mars has spent more than ten thousand years mired in ritual and dogma.  Knowledge is prized above all, yet it is considered better to dig up scraps of ancient knowledge than to rediscover it through research.  Hidebound and hateful of sudden change, the slightest alteration to existing devices is almost criminal.  Information is hoarded even as it is gathered fervently, often kept secret or hidden by obscurity even when it is desperately needed.

It is within the ranks of this group that you will spend the next ten years.  You will be privy to ancient knowledge and wield devices of terrible power, under constant scrutiny by the unblinking optics of your fellow Mechanicus and the eyes of the wider Imperium.

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Your age, while such a thing matters little among the Cult of Mars, is 20+3d10.  The magos background adds 200 years to this roll, and a combination of extensive augmentation and your last rejuvenant treatment ensures that death by old age in the next ten years is not a concern.  Your sex matters even less, and is the same as your last jump.  You may change either for 100cp.

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Location (roll 1d8)

1: Mars (Segmentum Solar)
Mars, The Red Planet, crowned with an iron ring.  First and greatest of Forgeworlds.  Birthplace of the Cult Mechanicus.  As holy to the Mechanicus as Terra is to the wider Imperium, one is blessed to walk upon its sands...or damned should they travel too far beneath them, for the scars of the Old Night and the treachery of those that sided with Horus run deep, and many horrors haunt the darkest ruins.

2: Jovian shipyards	(Segmentum Solar)
Second only to Mars, Jupiter's orbit is choked with a massive network of orbital stations and every existing moon has been converted for use in industry.  Drawing energy and resources from the gas giant they orbit, the shipyards are capable of crafting every kind of spacefaring ship in use by the Imperium.  Here is also one of the few places capable of producing Vortex Shells for Nova Cannons.

3: Ryza (Segmentum Ultima)
Renowned among all other forgeworlds for their mastery of plasma technology.  Currently under siege by WAAAGH Grax, the magi delight in testing new and ever-more powerful weaponry upon the greenskin invaders.

4: Belacane (Segmentum Obscurus/Calixis Sector)
Once a powerful and influential forgeworld, Belacane was noted for its expertise in the manufacture of devices which incorporate temporal stasis fields.  But recent centuries have seen the export of such devices cease, the techno-magi growing insular among whispers that they have somehow lost the means to produce these exotic wonders.

5: Core Theta (Segmentum Obscurus/Askellon Sector)
As the Magos Biologis of this world grew to prominence, focus was shifted towards the study of the organic over the mechanical.  Their experiments upon life are unceasing, as are the times their work skirts the edge of tech-heresy.

6: Mezoa (Segmentum Obscurus/Gothic Sector)
A major Forge World dedicated almost entirely to the production of arms and ammunition, and responsible for the supply of ordnance shells to the Imperial Navy at Port Maw. Staunchly loyal to the Imperium, they have resisted the assaults and temptations of chaos on multiple occasions.

7: Explorator fleet
Joining the quest for knowledge far beyond the borders of the Imperium, you travel aboard a fleet of self-sufficient vessels that may spend centuries out of contact with the wider cult.  Roll 1d4 again, to determine your general location in the galaxy, relative to Holy Terra.  1 - Segmentum Obscurus (north), 2 - Segmentum Tempestus (south), 3 - Segmentum Pacificus (west), 4 - Ultima Segmentum (east)

8: Free choice
You may choose any of the above options, or begin on any canon forgeworld still in operation and loyal to the Imperium.

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Backgrounds

Heretek (Drop-in)
There are some who turn away from the dictates of the Cult, while others belonged to techno-sects whose teachings never had any connection to the red planet.  All of these individuals and more are abhorred by the Cult, for their deviant practices and rejection of the Machine God.  You are none of these things, yet neither do you have oaths of loyalty registered within the data-crypts of the Mechanicus, and no memories of your existence reside within organic storage.  Still, the Imperium is vast and communication difficult, so if you are cautious and subtle much can be accomplished in shadowed depths between the manufactoria and away from the attention of the ruling magi.

Magos Errant
There are near-infinite facets to the universe and the mysteries of the Machine God, and many tech-priests choose not to restrict themselves to a single field of study.  Instead they drift from conclave to labratorium as the mood strikes them, staying just long enough to expand their knowledge and perform experiments before moving on.  You arrive here as your sworn term of service to your current seniors comes to an end, and it is your choice to remain where you are or to continue the quest for knowledge elsewhere.

Magos Dominus
When xenos and heretics threaten the works of the Mechanicus, it calls upon specialists to ensure continued function without undue interruptions.  Yours is a unique skillset, obsessively analyzing threats so that you may determine the most efficient way to excise them like so much corrupted code or necrotic flesh.  Whether this task is best performed in person or by directing legions of Skitarii depends entirely on the results of your own calculations on the matter.

Enginseer
While the Mechanicus pursue the quest for knowledge, the machines they depend upon must be maintained.  Though perceived as lower in status to the magi, enginseers are nonetheless essential cogs that ensure the smooth functioning of Mechanicus ships and facilities.  Some may be bonded to Forgeworlds, others sent out into the wider Imperium or seconded to the Imperial guard or Navy.  Without their myriad labors, the engines of the Mechanicus and Imperium both would come to a grinding halt.

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Perks
Each background receives its 100cp perks for free, and purchases other perks in that category for a 50% discount.

General Perks

Free for all - Lingua-Technis
Known only to the devotees of the Machine God despite the best efforts of outsiders over millennia, the adepts of Mars speak to each other in bursts of binaric code.  This allows for a great deal of information to be communicated quickly and discreetly.  Even if translated, it is a complex language thick with ancient and arcane terminology that few outsiders could ever hope to make any sense of.  This language and your implants allow you to communicate quickly with other adepts, transferring messages and code many times faster than ordinary speech.

100cp - Artisan
Unlike many in the machine cult who care not for appearances, your equipment and visible bionics are shelled with precious metals and etched with devotional symbols.  Every object you craft or possess for a prolonged period of time acquires a bit of extra flair with no effort and without detriment to their functions.  Though seen by many in the cult as wasteful or vain this attention to appearance can endear one to those in the higher ranks of Imperial society who value such affectations.  You may choose to suppress this perk entirely or only for specific items.

100cp - Subtle bionics
From hesitance at abandoning the human form or the acquisition of high-grade miniaturized components, there is little outward sign of your integrated cybernetics.  Cables are subdermal and woven to follow existing muscle groups, cyber-limbs are hidden beneath a layer of synth-skin, and artificial eyes resemble the organic model closely enough that sight alone cannot recognize them as anything but.  Only large external bionics like mechadendrites are plainly visible, and they can be hidden beneath the folds of a thick robe.  While hiding the blessings of the omnissiah would normally offend even the most emotionless magi, there are occasions where concealing one's affiliations and abilities can be advantageous.

100cp - Magos designation (1st pick free for magos errant background.  1st pick discounted for all other backgrounds)
You have attained and been recognized for your comprehension of some of the Machine God's mysteries.  Choose a field of Imperial technology such as genetic manipulation, voidship construction, cybernetics or plasma technology.  You are among the noted masters of your purview, and can easily create the most common templates of your field.  With time, effort and discretion you could even modify and improve upon your specialty as needed.  Those few things beyond your full understanding can still be built and maintained by carefully following STC blueprints.

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Heretek (Drop-in)

100cp - Questioning minds
Among the things a prospective heretek learns if he wishes to live for very long is how to recognize fellows of a similar inclination, and avoid revealing his views to those of a more puritan bent.  After an otherwise innocuous conversation on a suitable subject, the heretek can get a firm sense of just how deeply someone truly holds the values they espouse, and how to frame a taboo subject for consideration without raising suspicion or ire.

100cp - Cold trader
Desiring to examine unusual technology, a heretek must first locate it.  Those of a criminal bent will view you as more approachable than your more devout brethren, and be quicker to offer you illegal services.  After dredging through the fanciful fakes and repainted junk offered by the lower rungs of the underworld, an experienced heretek quickly learns to recognize forgeries and raw deals for what they are.

200cp - Reclaimer
Rare is the heretek with wealth or connections enough to acquire the resources to pursue innovation without raising suspicion.  Most must make do with whatever they can scavenge or build for themselves, and fortune seems to often favor them when harvesting useful components from wrecked machines.  More often than not, the most delicate and valuable pieces of technology can be pulled intact from wrecks you find or create.

200cp - Mimic
Where scavenging fails, theft succeeds.  Your body has been altered through surgery and gene-tailoring to become more malleable to escape physical restraints, pattern-recognition systems and simple observation.  Facial proportions, gait, voice patterns, fingerprints and retina patterns can all be altered, and you can even shed hair and skin on demand with wildly varied DNA to confuse analysis of such detritus.  You are also well-versed in writing and broadcasting scrapcode on demand to hamper security systems or take outright control of simpler, unsecured systems.

400cp - Machine empathy
Long exposure to strange energies and abstract thought inevitably leave their mark on a heretek.  Usually these changes are debilitating or disfiguring, but you have only benefited from these alterations.  A tiny glimmer of psychic power has awakened within you, one that will demand careful use and strict discipline to cultivate safely.  As your power develops machines will come to increasingly favor you, completing desired tasks without needing to be asked, performing faster and more efficiently.  Machines in the hands of others will rebel when directed to harm you, guns jamming and sensors refusing to lock on.  Many other ways to manipulate the mechanical will be revealed in due time, if you have the strength of will and ingenuity to discover them.

400cp - Cold reason
A Heretek's quest for knowledge can show them great and terrible things.  Small minds are shattered by the experience, but you are able to take in sights and secrets that would mean madness for all others.  Impossible sights, cosmic truths, centuries of time spend in pain or isolation...even beholding an unfiltered view of the warp's majesty or the true form of a daemon is merely so much raw data to be observed and neatly categorized.  You seek to know all, comprehend all...and there is no revelation you cannot endure.

600cp - Magos Aetheric
Though feared and maligned, the existence of the Imperium nonetheless depends upon exploiting the immaterium.  Understanding it allows for travel, for communication, and to battle the daemonic on even terms.  You have come to be one of the very few experts on the subject of the warp, and know how to manipulate it through technology.  You can easily craft psy-implants that boost or suppress psychic powers, weaponry incorporating psychic components, or hexagrammatic wards.  With enough time and resources you could build or even improve upon existing patterns of gellar field generators, warp drives, and immaterial sensors.  You have even made inroads into understanding the genetic influence behind the manifestation of psyker, pariah and navigator abilities.  This is not an easy path to tread, for the slightest misstep or moment of carelessness can see you damned, and even with the most exacting precautions it is a road fraught with peril.

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Magos Errant

100cp - Cranial augments
The brain of every magos undergoes extensive modification over time, but your quality and care given to preparing your mind for the Machine God's mysteries are truly exceptional.  Extensive gene-alterations and bionic sub-systems that regulate neuro-chemistry have boosted your intelligence and reduced the influence that hunger, pain, fear and other flesh-distractions can have upon your actions and thoughts.  Further neurological modifications will be far faster and easier to adapt to with little worry of rejection.

100cp -  Logical arguments
While the Mechanicus may proclaim that their actions are dictated only by reason and doctrine, these things are often only a veneer applied to support personal agendas or champion the views of a particular sub-sect within the Cult.  You've seen the fortunes and lives of many adepts ended when they fell for a rhetorical trap, and have learned how and when to speak, developing skills for debate that will allow you to communicate your views while dancing around otherwise inviolate points of faith and law.

200cp - Mechadendrite mastery
Every ranking adept has at least one mechadendrite, from the massive pneumatic claws used by enginseers to the most delicate medicae arrays.  Even a magos would be hard-pressed to control a multitude of extra limbs simultaneously, and so learn to control their machine spirits with hierarchies of data-macros that remove the need for micromanagement.  You have refined these skills even further, and no matter how many appendages or tools you apply towards a task they will together require no more attention on your part than a single natural limb, and they will never tangle, fumble or interfere with each other.  Whatever sensory input they collectively provide will also be transmitted to you in an equally intuitive and easy-to-understand format.

200cp - Noosphere mentality
Like the vast seas of information held by the worlds and vessels of the Mechanicus, your mind is a thing of grace and depth.  You can envision mental constructs of incredible scale and complexity, and your thoughts are not fleeting, ephemeral things.  As easily as a less-skilled adept would flip through the pages of a detailed blueprint, you would forge a simulation of a machine in your mind and observe its individual functions in real time without losing sight of the whole...for hours at a time without losing focus or missing a single detail.  Such depths of thought can be dangerous to plumb, but unless some outside force actively prevents it you will always be able to bring your perceptions out from fantasy and back to the waking world.

400cp - Electro-priest
Alongside the Machine God and Omnissiah, the Cult recognizes the Motive Force as a sublime and divine energy that powers creation.  Those tech-priests who immerse themselves in study of it through extensive cybernetic and genetic reconstruction are capable of holding and channeling immense amounts of electricity, far beyond what is could be accomplished alone by the venerated potentia coil.  You have not yet reached the point of suffusion that would see your eyes boiled away by the energy you hold, but you have already learned to go without them.  You can perceive the world through the medium of electromagnetic interactions, seeing the flickers of energy held by organic and mechanical alike.  The vast majority of electro-priests are divided along philosophical lines, but outside of grumbling should you employ their unique tools you will not suffer for not joining one or the other.

400cp - Binaric weaving
The skills gained during long years plumbing data-vaults as a humble logistican have not been forgotten.  You excel at writing code, understanding machine-script better than native grammar structures.  You can understand simple programs with a mere glance and correct any errors you find within seconds, and scrutinizing longer lines of more complex coding for a single misplaced byte can take mere minutes with your skills.  Scrapcode crashes ineffectually against your data-barriers, its transmission doing nothing but opening the offending heretek's systems to a counter-intrusion.  Interfacing with a system infested with a daemon or true AI would be unwise, but with your skills emerging unscathed from such an encounter is only highly unlikely rather than completely impossible.

600cp - By the grace of the Machine God
By His blessing, let the machine be sanctified.  With ritual and prayer, protect His works from corruption and witchery.  Raise a bulwark of iron anointed with sacred oil and incense and safeguarded its form and functions from eldritch powers.  Be their origin within the material or immaterial, powers that attempt to twist the form or control the functions of your machines will be repulsed.  Minor hexes and vexes will be repelled with contemptuous ease, while mightier powers will still struggle to overcome this protection.

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Magos Dominus

100cp - Murderous algorithms
Imprinted in your mind are mathematically precise patterns of motion for optimal smiting.  You are highly skilled with every weapon commonly used by mankind, and after picking up a more unusual weapon a few moments of hyper-cognition can show you how to at least aim the pointy end properly and account for any odd qualities to avoid self-injury through its use.

100cp - Tactical equations
To help you understand the Destroyer aspect of the Machine God, the knowledge of thousands of tactical scenarios and their most efficient resolutions were downloaded into your cortex implants.  In environments both natural and artificial, you can quickly discern and skillfully direct others to follow the ideal maneuver for the current situation.

200cp - Command signifier
Smaller cogs must turn unhesitatingly at the behest of authority, and you have the means to ensure prompt compliance.  Your commands are laced with subliminal bio-security exploits and digital master keys, and the weak-willed, unsuspecting or poorly-programmed cannot resist carrying out short, simple commands.  The effect is even stronger on your lawful subordinates, pushing them into action despite hesitation or fear, though they may balk at suicidal or abhorrent orders.  Repeated use will see thinking systems becoming resistant to your intrusions.

200cp - Auspicious trajectory
The armies of the Mechanicus fight in a vast array of theaters, and each brings a new set of variables that must be accounted for.  From long experience and a few specialized modifications you've become very good at getting your shots to land exactly where you want.  Whether you are employing artillery on a world of eternal storms, trading lance fire in areas of the void with extreme gravitational lensing or throwing grenades in zero-gravity, you can quickly adapt to new environments and maintain optimal performance.

400cp - Killing machine
War is a chaotic, messy affair, where critical decisions have microseconds to be weighed and executed.  To maintain equilibrium between human thought and augmented flesh, your mind has been re-shaped to accelerate mental processing speeds.  No matter how fast your body is capable of moving, your mind will always be able to keep pace and hindbrain instincts can no longer push you to make unwanted, reflexive actions.  And to ensure that critical information reaches your attention during the chaos of combat, details such as the hum of a heretek's weapon approaching from a blind spot or the glimpse of a priority target among enemy troops will stand out over other sensory information to ensure your conscious notice of it.

400cp - Tribune
With victory and distinction comes advancement.  To command formations of lesser warriors, you have been heavily augmented to allow for parallel thought, to observe multiple points of conflict simultaneously and issue appropriate commands even while personally engaging in combat.  You could control three bodies in direct combat (including your own) provide tactical oversight of a dozen fireteams, or oversee a vast strategic theater with ease, but pushing your limits brings communication lag, then errors in judgement, and eventually the risk of neurological damage.

600cp - Collegia Titanica
You are one of the very few who are qualified for and have survived the training required to pilot a god-machine.  To endure contact with a titan's machine spirit, your willpower has been made indomitable through secret and agonizing regimens.  Yet none can bear the burden alone and hope to maintain their sanity - so you have been taught to share mental burdens with other minds.  Through MIU linkages, psychic tethers or stranger ways, your connection with others can be deepened to truly become as one mind - pooling willpower, knowledge and intent to act with seamless unity.  But as careful as the Collegia prepared you, perhaps it is your unique nature that granted you a small blessing - you will not become addicted to contact with the mind of a god-machine, nor suffer withdrawal or madness from time spent apart.

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Enginseer

100cp - Wonders of the machine god
Machinery is an mysterious as the workings of the warp to the average Imperial - it would take all day to explain what you are doing and why you need to do it for even the simplest rituals.  So by necessity you've become very good at getting people to shut up and let you work in peace.  A few curt words is enough to satisfy anyone's curiosity and ward away rubberneckers, or to make someone less technically-inclined finally understand why certain things need doing and to justify the time and expense of doing so.

100cp - Rites of maintenance
While already designed to be incredibly robust, Imperial equipment inevitably requires maintenance.  With little more than a glance, you can identify a machine's woes and discern how best sooth it.  Machines graced by your hands grow strong and resilient, performing at optimum efficiency and enduring harsh conditions with fewer problems far longer than expected.

200cp - Impossible precision
Behind the mighty engines and clanking gears of Imperial armor are smaller yet no less important components.  Servicing those delicate elements requires a fine touch, and you work with steadiness and precision.  Your hands and other appendages will not twitch from surprise or adrenaline, and they will exert the exact amount of force you desire and no more.  Exactly how precisely you can work is subject to the limits of your perceptions.

200cp - Technical knock
You have mastered the ancient technical rite of 'if it doesn't work, smack it with a wrench until it does.' Small problems like loose gears can be quickly and permanently fixed with one good whack.  When a larger problem impedes a machine's function, continuous pounding and irate prayer can cajole it to miraculously perform one last, brief task, but no more.  At that point, this rite will have no more effect until it receives proper attention and refueling.

400cp - MIU mastery
Connecting to a machine and controlling it directly can be difficult, even for experienced adepts.  But over time, taking control of a new body with a vastly different form has become second nature for you, quickly switching between new forms and the different inputs they bring without disorientation.  Hearing becomes radar.  Hands become turrets.  The engine, your heartbeat.  Whatever information the machine provides, it will always be translated in a way that makes logical sense by the association.  Through this connection, driving and piloting come easily, and it is near-impossible for irregularities in the connected systems to be hidden from you.

400cp - Armorbane
Long experience with putting things together inevitably teaches one the best way to take something apart.  Whether disabling a machine bound to the service of traitors or rending asunder the work of a heretek, you excel at finding and exploiting weaknesses, blindspots, and design limitations to bring down enemy armor.  By your divinely-granted authority over the mechanical, armor crumples under your attacks, systems seize up, power surges out of control, and ammo stores seem to cook off at the slightest provocation.  Should you show mercy and attempt to repair a machine you destroyed, the damage will appear to be far worse than it truly is, and restoring the machine to service will be far less difficult than expected.

600cp - Centurio Ordinatus
You have been inducted into the Divisio Militarus, a branch of the adeptus mechanicus dedicated to the construction and operation of the Ordinatus war machines, mighty titan-scale siege weapons of unparalleled power.  While the shielding and mobility systems that carry these devices into battle are relatively simple to create, you understand the intricacies of how physics and performance are affected by up-sizing technology.  With sufficient data on the function of a humble lasgun or arc rifle to extrapolate from, you could smoothly transition that device to function when a hundred or more times larger - and to be appropriately more powerful than the simple multiplication of its output would suggest.  The weapons you create and oversee are fit for a god-machine to wield, and the likes of Nova Cannons and weapons arrays on board the largest ships of the Mechanicus are also within your purview.

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Items and equipment
If lost or destroyed, any purchases will reappear in your possession (or at a suitable nearby location) after 24 hours.
Drop-ins receive one pick from the following lists for free.  All other backgrounds gain +600cp to spend in the following lists only.

50cp - Quantum prayer-book
Edged with gold and copper leaf, this tomes details the structure, most common prayers, tenets and rites of the priesthood.  It will return to you an hour after being lost or destroyed in pristine condition.  People who study the book, particularly those of a scientific bent, will find it very inspiring.  May or may not result in machine spirits becoming an actual thing if the doctrine is followed by enough people in a non-40k jump.  You will receive non-respawning copies to bequeath to others if you wish.

50cp - Attendants
Choose: A dozen servoskulls, a five-servitor workforce, or a trio of personalized cherubs.  All are dull but reliable servants, coming equipped for a variety of tasks.  The patterns of each are easy to re-fit for more specialized work.

100cp - Plasma Cutter
Easily used by hand or mechadendrite, this humble piece of archaeotech excels at the simple task it was designed for - cutting and welding metals of almost any type and thickness, from thin wiring to adamantium plating.  It can be used as a deadly weapon in an emergency, but is awkward and unsuited to such a role.  It never seems to run out of fuel.

200cp - Intrusion-class Dataspike
There are systems of ancient providence, human yet non-imperial designs, and alien workings that do not use an STC-standard interface.  Without a recognizable I/O port, their inner workings would remain a mystery but for this useful yet oft-maligned piece of technology.  When applied to a device, the dataspike exudes filaments which attempt to forcefully flash-forge a connection with whatever data-transfer/storage medium is being employed.  Almost any kind of electronic, solid state or photonic-based system can be linked with.

200cp - Requisition codes
Vast resources are open to all in the Cult Mechanicus - should an adept have sufficient connections or talent for manipulating its bureaucracy.  You cheat.  This data-signet holds high-level codes that demand the prompt re-allocation of required resources for your use, be it fuel, raw materials, labor, swift transportation or time with specialized equipment.  Provided you do not get excessive, you will be able to pocket a small but respectable flow of resources with no questions asked.  But taking too much or inconveniencing someone with influence may lead to inquiries, and you'd best be prepared to justify the expenses.

400cp - Phosphex printout
Phosphex is both corrosive and incendiary, a horrifically toxic compound that takes the form of a green-while mist that is drawn to movement.  It cannot be extinguished by anything short of total vacuum, and is capable of burning through reinforced ceramite.  While a rogue tech-priest destroyed the only known STC capable of producing phosphex, you have found a tome detailing its creation.  Turning a copy of these processes over to the mechanicus would earn you fantastic wealth and accolades...and return one of the most terrible weapons in the Imperium's arsenal to common usage.

400cp - STC converter
This tome-sized cogitator is designed to be fed blueprints for alien or out-of-jump technology and convert them to use STC-standard parts and design principles.  Perfect translation and equal functionality is not guaranteed, while technology that relies on unique materials or scientific principles not native to the 40k setting will most likely be impossible to recreate.  The blueprints that result from successful conversions can be followed by any competent tech-priest.  Running blueprints for Magitech or psionic technology through this device without a supreme understanding of 40k metaphysics is an exceedingly bad idea.

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Weapons and Armor

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50cp - Modified las-cutter
Most tech-priests avoid direct combat where possible, but many carry weapons as a precaution.  Others carry tools that are more dangerous than they appear, for the threats that come from within the priesthood.  While not as powerful as a laspistol during normal operation, with a tiny and subtle alteration this pattern of las-cutter can dump the energy within its capacitors into a single shot powerful enough to punch a neat hole through carapace armor.

100cp - Arc rifle
An electrical-discharge weapon capable of rapid fire, common among the ranks of the skitarii.  The capacitor technology can hold a charge for millennia if properly maintained, and the discharge is particularly disruptive to enemy machines.

200cp - Electroleech stave
A weapon of the Fulgurite faction of electro-priests, this weapon links with a tech-priest's potentia coil to steal and store the electrical energy of those it strikes.  The stave is equally effective against organic and mechanical targets, leaving both cold and dead, drained of the motive force which is reclaimed in the name of the machine god.

200cp - Transonic blade
Generating a tight sheathe of hyper-intense vibrations, this sword analyzes whatever it strikes and automatically adjusts in response.  After just a few hits, the vibrational field has been tuned to specifically destroy whatever impedes it, and only the strongest materials can withstand more than a few hits without shattering, parting like air, or being liquefied.  This blade is a masterwork - it almost seems to remember the ideal destructive frequency for every substance it has encountered, and does not need probing strikes to re-attune itself a second time.

300cp - Volkite serpentia
A rare and prized example of ancient technology, volkite weapons produce a beam of heat less intense than that of melta weapons, but more precisely and with a much longer range.  Even in this pistol form, volkite weapons are still capable of damaging power armor and punching holes clean through lesser protection.

300cp - Refractor field emitter
A ubiquitous piece of protective gear, what appears as nothing more than a small amulet generates a gravitic sheathe around the wearer strong enough to dissipate a blast from a lascannon.  The field's protection is not perfect, and too many attacks in too short a time may cause the emitter to burn out and require repair, while occasional flickers in the field may allow some perfectly-timed shots through.  The emitter is small enough to be implanted directly into the body, if desired.

300cp - Power armor
Protecting you from weaponry and hostile environments, this ancient suit was designed to interface with a tech-priest's implants almost to the degree that space marines enjoy.  Though massive and bulky, moving, working and fighting in it will soon become second nature.  The life-support systems can sustain you for weeks even in hard vacuum without resupply, and a variety of arcane systems ensure you will be able to work unimpeded in all but the most extreme of environments.

300cp - Omnissian axe
Equal parts tool, symbol, and weapon, this cog-toothed blade is granted only to adepts who have performed exceptional acts in service to the Mechanicus.  An adept gifted with one would never part with it, and has little reason to - the axe incorporates a stunning variety of physical tools and micro-cogitators, and every blade is carefully forged using ancient techniques that make the power field that surrounds the blade one of the most potent that can be produced.  Woe to the unworthy caught bearing such a sacred tool.

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Implants
Purchases here all include the knowledge and tools needed to perform the appropriate maintenance rituals.

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0cp - Average quality bionic replacements
The overwhelming majority of the Mechanicus seek to replace as much of their flesh with machinery as possible.  As such, it is entirely a Jumper's choice regarding how much and which parts of his body are mechanical when beginning this jump.  There is no CP cost, because the resource requirements for maintenance is considered a trade-off for the boost in durability.

50cp - High-quality bionic replacements
Each purchase replaces one of your major organs, senses, or both arms or both legs with vastly more efficient artificial systems.  Heart, lungs, digestive system, kidneys, eyes...All replacements are far more durable and efficient in function than the organic originals while retaining and even expanding on the sensitivity of sensory inputs.

50cp - Mechadendrites
Each purchase of this option gains you four mechadendrites.  The ancient cogitator and power systems unique to this pattern are markedly above common designs in performance, and can carry any standard mechadendrite package.  Other devices, as long as they are fitted with the proper STC connectors can also be mounted here.  You may purchase this option multiple times.

50cp - Electoo
Ubiquitous among both the Mechanicus and higher-tech Imperial worlds, most electoos functions as data storage and personal identification, or simply high-tech body art.  This version can also allow for the transfer of power both controlled and violent, or the secure transmission of data between electoos and specialized connections with only a touch.

50cp - Direct weapon feeds
All tech-priests can recharge devices with their own potentia coils and electoo inductors, but you have been outfitted with direct-line ports and variable capacitors that allow you to generate a constant, regulated output through these specialized mounts.  While connected to you through these ports, energy weapons benefit from a boost in power and firing rate. The mounts also connect any sensors the weapons possess directly to your own senses for heightened accuracy.

100cp - MIU implant
The mind-impulse unit is a cogitator/connector designed to receive information from a machine and translate it into a pre-selected format for human understanding, and to interpret established inputs from a human mind as commands for the connected device.  This model can be easily programmed to interface with any number of devices, and will function seamlessly and intuitively with all standard template construct patterns.

200cp - Gravity nodes
Small enough to be implanted within the body, tiny gravity nodules can be powered by a potentia coil to reduce or enhance the effects of gravity on a tech-priest's body.  Though the coils alone cannot allow for directed flight, a creative tech-priest can find many uses for them outside of their original purpose of easing the exploration of non-standard-gravity environments.

200cp - Drug glands
Vat-grown and gene-tailored, these artificial organs release combat drugs into your system with the proper mental trigger.  The hyper-drenalin cocktail boosts strength and reaction time, and suppresses the feeling of pain.  While the glands are also designed to filter out toxins and mitigate the side-effects of these or any other drugs in your system, using the glands too often and too quickly risks damage from the buildup of toxic by-products.

200cp - Surveyor-class auspex array
Common among many artisans, this array will quickly and accurately define distance, dimensions, weight, and a wide assortment of other gross physical properties to a dozen decimal points of precision.  Sub-systems include a chronograph and high-fidelity remembrancer implant for the transmission of discovered information.

200cp - Modular biology
The human body is a messy system of inter-connected organs.  This uncommon modification brings it closer to the machine in structure, creating distinct mounts, linkages and sockets for all limbs, vital organs and major features.  Each now functions as a module that can be easily removed if needed, making repairs as simple as swapping in a fresh cybernetic organ with the proper STC connectors.  Other connectors throughout your cyber-frame wait to receive future implants, making further implantation and modification to your body much easier.

300cp - Crystal stack micro-cogitator
An ancient and difficult-to-produce pattern, this implant is small enough to be fitted into the human skull and allows for vast amounts of data storage far beyond common neurological modifications.  Each implant must be grown specifically for an individual tech-priest, and the micro-cogitator stores information in a format unique to each mind it is linked with.  Even if physically extracted or interfaced with, it is near-impossible for outside forces to decrypt the data inside without the owner's assistance.

400cp - Skitarii-grade cyber-frame
The cyber-frame is the all-encompassing term for the system of hardpoints and skeletal reinforcements required to mount bionics upon weak flesh and bone, and yours is particularly robust.  Myomer bundles have been woven into your muscles while chem-treatments have vastly strengthened bone density.  Organic flakweave offers sub-dermal protection, while superconductive filaments have replaced major nerve clusters to increase reaction speed.  This plus general gene-augments have resulted in the gain of several feet in height and at least another hundred pounds of weight, resulting in a vast increase in overall physical ability.

400cp - Archaeotech auspex array
To ease your studies of the exotic, your senses have been expanded with a series of implants normally available to only the most elder magi.  You can now perceive almost the entire EM spectrum, measure the highest and lowest sonic frequencies, discern the chemical makeup of the most subtle olfactory inputs, and detect the tiniest tactile variations.  Naturally, all of these inputs can be selectively filtered, tied to and monitored by other systems, and be accurately measured to the most exacting tolerance.

= = = = =

Warehouse attachments

Free - Shrine to the Machine God
Plasma candles and sweet incense frame this small shrine.  Items blessed by the devout upon the micro-altar feel surer in hand and swifter in use against those things anathema to the Machine God.  But should your soul and intentions be profane, blessings will still be granted even as the altar slowly grows dark and rusted, an ugly asymmetry forming in the eight-toothed cog that now frames the Opus Machina...

100cp - Repair gantry
Attached to your warehouse is a repair facility with an interior that will expand to comfortably fit whatever you need servicing.  It will provide power for tools and is filled with lifts, docking clamps and gravity tethers, but otherwise you must provide all equipment, spare parts and supplies yourself.  The gantry can connect to the main warehouse or other attachments simultaneously, to speed the easy transport of materials between them.

= = = = =

Companions

All companions receive the items that are free for their background.

300cp - Companion import
You may import up to eight companions, each gains a background and 500cp to spend.  They receive all discounts and free items for their selection.

200cp - Magos explorator
This man's(?) flesh is hidden beneath extensive augmentation.  He has been with the Mechanicus for centuries, and his interests are many.  Less puritanical than most, the possibly of extending the quest for knowledge to dimensions unknown to the Cult appeals to him.  He has all the 100cp and 200cp magos perks, two picks of Magos Designation, and Electro-priest OR Binaric weaving.

200cp - Skitarii bodyguard
You are his assigned commander, and indoctrination renders all other concerns irrelevant.  He is almost a blank slate, knowing only obedience to authorized data-canticles and the thrill of victory.  He has all 100cp and 200cp skitarii perks, and Killing Machine OR Tribune.

200cp - Engine-sister
Voluminous red robes cannot hide the curves beneath to this woman's eternal embarrassment.  Friendly and perky in conversation to both man and machine, she is torn between her desire to be closer to the machine and her attachment to humanity.  The possibly of a harmonious union between the two has inspired her to follow you.  She has all 100cp and 200cp enginseer perks, subtle bionics, and MIU-mastery OR Armorbane.

= = = = = = =

SCENARIOS
You may choose to attempt only one of the following scenarios.  Each one offers a unique reward for clearing it.  You may have to make slight modifications to the scenario depending on your location roll and choice of drawbacks, and some details are up for you to decide.

= + =

SCENARIO:
Grand Theft STC

SITUATION:
Magi and resources are abruptly reassigned.  Security is reinforced beyond any reasonable metric.  Surely something has been recovered, and whispers among the noosphere suggest that it must be an STC fragment of great worth.  But the Fabricator-general remains silent on the matter, and suddenly takes sole control of the assigned skitarii forces and expels his peers from his personal holdings, which have been transformed into a fortress.  Protests are ignored, and petitioners are fired upon.  The dismissed magi tell conflicting stories of what was found, but all agree it was something of incredible value, one that must be shared with the priesthood as a whole.  The fabricator-general refuses to relinquish his prize, and the Forge World soon falls to civil war.

Left unchecked, the conflict will last for years.  Battles in the wider Imperium will be lost and hives will fall silent without the skills and resources of the priesthood.  Calls for aid from other Mechanicus holdings will only fan the flames as newcomers pick a faction to support exclusively.  For the sake of all, something must be done, and quickly.  You could not hope to fight the Fabricator-General's forces alone, nor do you have the authority to take command of a large enough army to match his, but perhaps stealth and subtlety may succeed where force of arms will fail?

CHALLENGE:
The Fabricator-General's personal holdings sprawl over tens of square kilometers, and extend just as far above and below the ground.  The area has been fortified to an excessive degree, even by the considerations of the Domini.  Besieging this complex is a Mechanicus army, technically unified but each Skitarii mantiple is directed by factions of like-minded magi.  Each group hopes to break the siege and claim the waiting prize, and possibly the mantle of Fabricator-general, for themselves.

Millennia-old forge worlds are not tidy things - many structures are built over the old, and so long as everything functions there is no need to scout the most ancient maintenance tunnels and confirm that paved-over passages remain sealed.  A clever adept could come to the right conclusion before the attackers or defenders do, and utilize these dusty by-ways to infiltrate the complex.  At that point, you must dodge patrols and security systems, locate the mysterious prize, and somehow escape with it.

RESOLUTION:
The prize is a fully-functional STC - sadly, its database is completely blank.  But with time and research, you will learn how to feed blueprints and physics data into the device for construction.  The STC will use the blueprints and information you provide it with to construct the ideal components with consideration to your available resources, the environment in which it will be used, and the end result's intended function.  It can produce items of supreme complexity at an incredible rate, can refine raw materials for processing by itself, and easily produce tools and secondary facilities along with the needed idiot-proof instructions for assembling those things too big for the STC to create on its own.

The STC will be attached to your warehouse at the end of the jump.

= + =

SCENARIO:
Cogs of War

SITUATION:
War is a constant within the galaxy, and by invasion or assignment you have been thrown into conflict.  Vast amounts of manpower and materials are mustered for the fight with the Mechanicus' usual uncaring efficiency.  You will be placed in a position best-suited to your skills.  That you may have no combat training previously is irrelevant - there was no mistake is your assignment.

CHALLENGE:
While the foe that assails you is not unbeatable, they are numerous.  Survival will require constant vigilance, long-term planning, and the adherence to and execution of efficacious strategic actions.  Victories will only validate your assignment and advancement, and bring with it even greater responsibility.  Soon you will find yourself directing vast numbers of Skitarii, and eventually Titan groups.  You will be marked as a lynchpin within the Mechanicus forces, and will eventually need to deal with assassination attempts - from both enemy forces, and from those among the Mechanicus who seek to correct the clear error of your placement.

RESOLUTION:
When the enemy is at last broken, adepts will be returned to their regular duties.  Your accomplishments will be noted, and an oversight will see your noospheric data retaining high-level command-codes...specifically, the ability to direct Titan assets in a war theater.  In future jumps, you will be able to summon a Warlord-class Titan to your aid on the battlefield.  The Titan's crew do not count as companions, and will pilot the Titan in your stead.  If, however, you have the appropriate perks from this or other Jumps and can endure the likely decades-long training the crew will provide, you will be able to eventually survive connection to the Titan's Machine-spirit.  At that point, you and suitable companions can take the place of the Titan's crew when desired, and may import the Titan into future jumps in the same way as any other vehicle you own.

= + =

SCENARIO:
That's no moon...

SITUATION:
Designated Space Hulk 6071rho, it is the largest space hulk within Imperial or Mechanicus records - More than three times the size of Terra's moon, it almost qualifies as a planet.  Thick with the wrecks of spaceborne vessels bound within stellar debris, the hulk's structure also shows the fossilized remains of terrestrial plant life and structures, showing that this hulk has not limited itself to consuming space-borne material.  How this is possible remains unknown, yet it only enriches what is a treasure trove of unparalleled value.

CHALLENGE:
The Hulk is also a warzone.  It has collected orks, tyranids, necrons and a multitude of lesser species in its long existence, and their endless conflict with each other quickly involves any new arrivals.  Where explorator teams once only required armed escorts, the Mechanicus presence has seemed to galvanize the hostile creatures within, skirmishing turning to organized efforts to capture spacefaring vessels and mount or reactivate weaponry on the Hulk's surface.  A Waagh is forming, Tyranid bio-structures expand rapidly, and Necron forces now act with intent beyond simply repelling intruders from their tomb complex.

Though stable for the immediate future, the hulk shows signs of inexorably returning to the warp - in a decade, perhaps less.  And so the Mechanicus rushes in desperate effort to salvage everything of interest.  Among these treasures, the greatest resides intact beneath kilometers of rock and surrounded by the fiercest fighting.  Approaching it causes a sudden surge of hostility from the local xenos, and beginning the process of freeing it from its rocky prison will drive them into a frenzy.

RESOLUTION:
Penetrating the Hulk ahead of the armies of better-equipped adepts and surviving the hostile xenos will be an epic undertaking...but deep within, past the points of fiercest fighting, lies a battered but intact Ark Mechanicus.  An ancient vessel beyond the ken of modern shipwrights to fashion, many of these ships were constructed long before the Horus Heresy and still remain in service.  Utterly massive, averaging 20km long and 2k abeam, they are capable of carrying entire legions of warriors within their hulls, and the archaeotech that drives them is priceless and irreplaceable.

If you can reach the ship's main cogitator core, commune with the commanding spirit, and succeed in freeing it from the Hulk, the Ark will accept you as its new captain.  It's word is absolute, and none within the Mechanicus may contest it.  This ship, while built for exploration over combat, is still equipped with meters-thick adamantium hull plating, multiple fusion reactors, arrays of void shields, and enough weapons to smash aside a small fleet of lesser vessels.  A seemingly endless array of foundries, workshops, laboratories, and refineries allow for self-sufficiency in centuries-long excursions.  The ship can function crewed by servitors, vat-cloned and crafted in auto-factories as required.

The Ark's machine spirit will require a new name along with a great deal of repair work, but will devoutly follow you between jumps.  It appears in an monitored area of space, or remains within a suitable warehouse attachment until summoned.

= = = = = = =

Drawbacks

You may take a maximum of 600cp worth of drawbacks.

+0cp - Continuity
Have you visited this universe before, jumper?  Did you wear the skin of human or xenos?  It matters not.  By taking this drawback you'll ensure that all your actions in previous forays here remain canon.

+0cp - Extended stay
The pace of Imperial society can be glacial, the time-frame of wars and construction projects stretching into decades if not centuries.  You may choose to extend your time in this jump to one hundred years.  Life-extension technology can sustain you through this long period, but you are not guaranteed to always have access to it...

+100cp - Bastard offspring of a servitor and a junk pile
Tech-priests often gain a patchwork appearance as flesh is replaced by bionics over time.  You've gone and abandoned all thought of aesthetics, and what flesh remains is sallow and grey where it is not covered by grills, loose cabling, analog displays and gaping interface ports.  Even if you modify your body, the end result will be something no ordinary human can stand to look at, let alone touch.

+100cp - Where are the toasters you promised?
You -clang- love machines.  You really -clangclangclang- love machines.  You find rugged beauty in even the mass-produced equipment of the Imperial Guard, and the elegance of a relic weapon can make you swoon.  Even if you could hold yourself together -FUCKING TANK STOP FIGHTING IT- your fellow tech-adepts know not to let you in the titan pen after the last...incident.  You find no beauty in the organic, and have zero interest in meat-coupling.

+200cp - 16 universal laws
Eight mysteries and eight warnings guides the cult in the quest for knowledge, and while many are debated or held in varying degrees of esteem, you will feel compelled to follow them as best you can.  Among other things, this manifests as a refusal to employ non-human technology and artificial intelligence, and to always show proper respect for the rites and rituals of the Cult of Mars.

+200cp - Actual spirits
It is accepted fact among the Mechanicus that all machines have an animating spirit, each with their unique quirks and personalities that must be appeased through ritual to ensure proper function.  Perhaps because of how objects can absorb psychic energies, this is now true.  Every piece of technology more complex than a hammer has a tiny glimmer of awareness, and forgoing rites or offering insults and misuse will see them revolt.  Glitches, inexplicable malfunctions, and poor performance will plague all the devices you operate until you make proper penance.  The more complex a device, the greater and more powerful the spirit, and thus more demanding when it comes to the attention given to its care.  Some devices will be more forgiving than others if an emergency demands immediate use, but all will expect rites to be carried out afterwards.  I advise using the really pricey unguent in that case, they seem to appreciate it.

+200cp - Rite of Pure thought
Considered extreme by most of the Mechanicus, you have had the right hemisphere of your brain excised and replaced with a cogitator.  The procedure has severely dulled your emotions and almost eradicated your capacity for creativity.  It will be extremely difficult for you to deal with problems and situations that cannot be expressed logically, and in daily life you will follow mathematically-derived patterns of behavior and decision-making exclusively.

+300cp - Malatek
Among the ranks of the Mechanicus are those who have not yet crossed into outright tech-heresy, yet have offered some offense or found suspicion in the optics of the more dogmatic members of the Cult.  Perhaps they have shown too much interest in the inner workings of xeno biology or technology, or have created and employed non-STC devices of their own designs.  Such individuals become outsiders, finding doors closed to them and others of the Cult unwilling to trade or associate with them.  Somehow you have come to be labelled Malatek, disdained but watched closely.  Because while it is considered inevitable you will one day cross a line and require destruction, working outside of Cult strictures often results in the discovery of potent and fascinating knowledge...that a covetous magos may wish to take for himself.

+300cp - A cog in the machine
For the duration of your stay, you are required to perform the duties of your background.  Being excommunicated for gross violations of doctrine, being revealed as something alien, displaying obvious out-of-jump powers or forsaking your assigned tasks to prance about the galaxy are all fail conditions.  So long as no solid proof can be presented that you are anything but a normal human and a devoted servant of the Machine God, and all your duties are completed satisfactorily, you may do as you like otherwise.  In addition to the above, a heretek must keep his practices hidden, and will fail the jump if caught committing a serious crime against the Cult or its laws.

+300cp - Factionalism
Many tech-priests gravitate towards sub-cults or gather alongside those who share their doctrinal interpretations.  This division is now far more pronounced, with battle-lines being drawn in noosphere markers and data signatures that identify every adept as belonging to one faction or another.  Though all are members of the Cult, there is a complex web of agreements and hostilities that divides every forge world and mechanicus holding.  At the very least, undertakings will often be severely impeded as views clash, resources are wasted by petty gestures, and arguments are raised over the smallest points of contention.  At worst, acts of outright sabotage and assassination happen almost daily when two factions embroil themselves in a cold and subtle war.  You will eventually find yourself shoehorned into one faction or another, making friends and enemies in equal measure.

+600 - The quest for knowledge
By taking this drawback your warehouse and all out-of-jump powers are locked, and your location set to 'Explorator fleet.'  You'll find yourself onboard a Mechanicus ship far from the borders of the Imperium, traveling between ruined worlds and lost human colonies, viewing impossible celestial phenomena, and fighting for your life against xenos, daemons, and stranger things.  You are guaranteed to have a very interesting time and will likely face death at several points.

= = = = =

Process complete
Your time here is at an end.  You have survived dangers from within and without, and hopefully grown closer to the Machine God through increased comprehension of His Mysteries.

Stay
But why leave?  There is still more work to be done, and the Mechanicus could surely benefit from such a grand cog added to their function.

Go home
Alone and ignorant, the humans of your homeworld know not of the Machine god.  Return then, and share the light of knowledge with the worthy.

Move on
Infinite mysteries await study.  New horrors must be fought.  New civilizations must know the glory of the Machine God.  The quest for knowledge is unending.

= = = = =

01001110 01101111 01110100 01100101 01110011

You don't need to worry about random, impossible-to-avoid warp shenanigans ending your chain during your time here.  But that doesn't mean you can't kill yourself doing something stupid like making an unplanned jump during a Warp Storm, or by allowing your gellar field generator to be sabotaged or go without proper maintenance.

At the end of your jump, you may choose to retain your implants or remove them while keeping their benefits as inherent abilities.  If shapeshifting, a later jump or scenario or something else would take them away for some reason the latter automatically applies for the duration.

Taking 'psycana' with the magos designation perk gives you a watered-down version of the 'magos aetheric' perk.  At best, you could perform maintenance on warp drives, gellar field generators and similar technology, and interpret data gathered on the local immaterium.

Likewise, applying the magos designation perk to weapons does not offer the specialized understanding required to craft titan- or ship-scale weaponry, or allow for the easy scaling of systems between man-portable and kilometer-sized versions.

Magos designation doesn't put you on Cawl's level, so don't expect to create new space marines or Imperial grav vehicles that can outrace the Eldar.  Assume that you completely understand the inner workings of the most common Imperial technologies within your field, like bionic limbs, lasguns, or vehicles.  Complex and ancient technologies like voidship plasma reactors, vortex weapons, antigrav plating, and the most complex cerebral implants are where things start to get fuzzy.

Xenotech is more tricky to work with, but the equivalents to less complex Imperial technologies are not impossible to figure out.

Keep in mind that STC printouts are a Very Big Deal in 40k, and people will start asking questions if you pull even a single unknown printout out of your robes.

"By the grace of the machine god" makes your equipment highly resistant to any sort of unnatural dickery, from mutant technopathy to magical anti-tech effects to chaotic energies that try to mess with everything caught in the general vicinity.

'Requisition codes' will function for any organization you are (or can convincingly appear to be) a member of in future jumps.