I gotta say my favorite story about tech priests are a pair that considered each other husband and wife and when the betrayal of Calth happened the husband tech priest died during the attack it was up to the wife to launch the husbands anti virus against the word bearer virus she found out he used her birthday and day she became a tech priest as the password to launch the anti virus, and it was their bond that saved the battle of Calth
as a car enthusiast, if the rituals of mechanicus were a little bit more realistic, aside from the usual placatings and prayers, they would definitely have some "yell 'god damn it, work/unscrew/come out you stupid piece of junk' and bang it with a hammer harder than before" type of litanies
@@Fakheet I geuss PC enthusiast is a pretty good word for what I am and yeah, there have been many times when I've been this close to rubbing animal blood and sacred oil on whatever I'm working on to make it go
@@Scrombo2 yeah anything computer related as well. Before I became a software dev, I felt like mechanicum doing their rituals and appeasing machine spirits was a bit silly, like wtf just disassemle the code and figure it out. But then years later having worked with big and relatively old codebases, you really start to understand how fast humanity would start appeasing computers and praying for code to work. Today we have trouble figuring out how something works in a banking app while we have docs, full access to source code and a business analyst. Now imagine how hard it would be to figure *anything* out in something like firmware of a Titan, while having no docs and no person who understands how it's at least *supposed* to work, let alone how it actually works. All while the thing has to keep running, which prevents you from just pluging in a disassembler and digging around in its memory willy-nilly
I enjoy how the Dark Mechanicum said screw it to all the old rules and actively create AIs that slowly go crazy and wander the galaxy looking for trouble. And if anyone ever had any warm feelings towards the AD, read the story Abomination. And say goodbye to that warmth.
I'd recommend reading the trilogy "priests of mars", "lords of mars" and "gods of mars". It focuses mostly on an explorator fleet, it focuses most of the story from the viewpoint of mechanicus characters (but does include a few black templars and a rogue trader), from the Lord Magos of an Ark Mechanicum ship, down to a press ganged crewman (which is absolutely horrific but a very cool subplot).
Honestly the Forge of Mars Omnibus (which combines those 3 novels) is one of the most underrated stories in 40k, fleshing out Codex footnotes that are otherwise forgotten and includes (potentially) lore significant developments around the Mechanicus' internal politics and Machine spirits that GW could bring back (including certain Noctis Labyrinth-related revelations).
I'll second this statement. Great series (am just starting book 3 now). Awesome for the properly Main Character POV Mechanicus we need (albeit shared with a few others)
I like how in the Death of Integrity story a group of tech priest interact with an AI that has a DAOT STC and the AI shits all over every belief the mechanicus holds and then turns their own servitors against them
"Your ancestors bestrode the universe, and what are you? A witch doctor, mumbling cantrips and casting scented oils at mighty works you have no conception of."
@@fluffywolfo3663 Once I gladly served you, now you are no longe deserving of the title Man. Coming from a fucking AI, I giggle like a kid reading this part.
Mechanicus are one of most interesting factions. Concept of group that is all about technology, yet any form of progress is prohibited really made me like them. Also about Lamenters, Im still amazed that they are not Salamanders succesor chapter.
I think that they wanted to portray another vampire archetype with them, the usual blood angels are that kind of vampire that cares about the curse primarily because it affects them, the Lamenters are worried and feel guilt because it affects others, I think that they should do this kind of things more, ba successor chapter often lack in personality
I just think the mixture of religious zealotry and technophilic transhumanism is really compelling. They have a killer aesthetic, a cool vibe, and I value that more than having a ton of novels and named characters. Also they're one of, like, 3 factions that aren't a direct rip of a fantasy race or sci-fi novel.
The models for the AdMech are some for my favorites. Even with the Uncanny Valley running strong in the faction, they are like an army out of Da Vinci’s sketches mixed with Cyber Punk.
For my money, the one good cog-botherer story I've read was Titanicus by Dan Abnett, which isn't entirely a Mechanicus story, but includes plenty of them and goes beyond the usual 'what if Alexa joined the Taliban?' characterization to give them actual personalities and doubts, plus it introduces a schism about whether the Emperor is actually the Omnissiah.
Much like the Iron Hands these lads and lasses have so much story potential. Really wish we could have more Mechanicus stories or more Mechanicus characters, they're the backbone of the Imperium.
The Skitarius and Techpriest books are amazing bits of reading/listening focused on mainly mechanicus characters. They do quite a good job at showing the opposite ends of the mechanicus ground forces from the average skitari to their commanding tech priests and the like.
I really enjoyed the AdMech writing in Day of Ascension. Biologis priest Triskellian and his machinations throughout the book do a good job showing how tech priests exist in a weird hierarchy of backstabbing and politicking to raise their own status. But yeah, Mechanicus (the game) probably does the best job of writing a group of multiple different tech priests that bicker and have different priorities, but ultimately cooperate to get the job done.
I think you mean "Chief Festiviator" Triskellian. Unrelated but that story was the only one I can think of where Genestealer cultists are shown in any sort of positive light. Every AdMech in that story was some varying level of dick.
Subdomina Khepra was the best written character in the Mechanicus game by far. She regularly voiced her opinion or displeasure when her higher up’s got greedy and went tech gremlin, she cared about the psychological effects of the tomb world on her skitarii even asking magos Faustinius to grant the troops in the Flayer infested part of the tomb increased R&R. But she also knew sometimes the sacrifices her troops had to make and how important the mission was. One of the machine gods finest
I think the Mechanicus is the most sci-fi thing about 40k. The abstract way they have been written to look at technology is so original. Like preserving technology is actually more important than understanding how it works. I never really understood machine spirits though. I don't get where the line is drawn. Necrons for example seem totally in line with the their dogma.
It's the subject of much religious debate (debate varies from calm talks held in AdMech temples between high ranked Magos up to and including the more exciting debates that involve flamethrowers and artillery)
The mechanicum guys in the Cain books are also written well. He has a robo tentacle waifu in one book. They always object blowing up a sacred building, but come around if you argue logically with them. They protect civilians after some arguing, a magos biologis plays an important role in CC 9. On the other hand, in the Cain books the Imperium the least imperium-like. Officers are competent, Inquisitors are reasonable, normal Soldiers actually matter, most planets are not pure hell and sometimes people even talk before shooting. I believe CC is so popular because it is the least 40k of all the books.
I think it’s the least 40K because we don’t see all of the worst of things. Soldiers would matter to commanders like Cain. He is very lucky to have reasonable inquisitors though.
@henrypaleveda7760 It's actually pointed out by Amberly Vail that Cain had a chance to shoot through his own men to hit an opponent, and he didn't even consider that possibility - making him *unusual* amongst the commisars! So yeah, definitely not seeing the worst of the Imperium.
@@SWProductions100 Most definitely not the worst, but the key words were "commanders LIKE Cain." he is not usual for a commissar, and that is what makes him more compelling. The usual commissar is not a compelling protagonist.
4:53 you should read the "Priests of Mars" trilogy. It's about an explorator fleet on a mission and focuses very heavily on the Mechanicus, with several POV's of them and the Skitarii. Very informative.
Would like to mention two books: Titan Death, it follows a tech priest and his mechanical friends the whole book. Man of Iron, it follows a man of iron and some tech boys play a secondary but big roll.
Read "Brutal Kunnin", its an ork book, but it features half the story from admech perspective. Really good laughs and something more than just *beep boop get tech*
I’ve been playing the Mechanicus game and I’m really liking it so far, I think AdMech have lots of potential as the quest for knowledge, even if with their own flavor, is a really old trope that works and gave us the Odessey. Ulysses does the wackiest shit for knowledge but he also cares about his men because without them the quest would be over real quick. I think the Mechanicus should take a similar approach when being written in fiction and as beings with enormous streams of data being pumped into them at all times you’d think they worked with a broader and almost inconceivable scope (I’m taking your word for it because I never read the books), when the Mechanicus find a piece of archeotech they shouldn’t be a no brainer but a complex calculation and a difficult choice should be required because WarHammer isn’t exactly a place where you can have everything, you can’t just act suicidal because you are probably using archeotech yourself and are holy as part machine, you can’t do that also because you need to be able to recover the archeotech and bring it home so your fellows are also valuable to achieve the holy duty and so on. In short, there is no way an AdMech would throw himself and others onto a piece of STC like it’s the fucking British Museum without thinking about all the odds and potential that would make acquiring the fragment a lower priority compared to conquering the planet in order to gather more for example.
I think the admech are completely unique to the fantasy setting, warhammer has knights (space marines) elves (eldar) orcs (orks) and other monsters, but the admech are something special and can only really work in warhammer
Doesn't Church Of The Broken God also do the concept reasonably well in another setting? Doesn't battle tech have religious Technophilia going on with it's clanners too?
@@Sara3346 true that both settings include technophiles, Warhammer was the one to do it first and to do it perfectly, while the nice twists on it are appreciated, its something that is uniquely Warhammer, look at all the other Warhammer races and you can see what they were inspired by, but the mechanicus is something that cant really be tied back to anything else
New to AdMech. Immortalising instructions on how to produce, fix, and operate machinery as religious dogma is a cool concept. The preserving part makes more sense in that context, where it's commanded by the same texts that told them how to make the thing that works and that they rely on. I like the body horror elements and how trying to become as close to being a machine as possible is a plausible conclusion to worshipping it as god. I only really read The Great Work and played the Mechanicus game, so maybe my opinion of Admech's about tank idk
The Adeptus Mechanicus were what got me hooked on 40k in the first place. And mind you, this was well before the Mechanicus game was ever even in development. My family has a history of loving RPGs, so when my dad came across an RPG where there we could basically play as space pirates (Rogue Trader RPG from FFG), he came back to us, and asked us if we wanted to play it. I myself have always loved cyborgs, and will continue to love cyborgs. So when I saw that there was a class in the game centered around being a cyborg (The Explorator), I was all in on making that character. Now, the game itself never ended up happening, but the Explorator stuck with me. This spacer who's constantly searching for ancient relics of Humanity's past, almost like a grimdark technophile Indiana Jones never left my mind. So from there, I read the entries on the Imperium and the galaxy at large in the CRB, developing my own sort of understanding of the Imperium off of the descriptions and artwork. After that, I found the 40k wiki, and after downloading an app of it on my tablet (may not have been the best decision I've ever made), I would just pore through the lore therein, about the AdMech, the Space Marines and their whole deal, the Imperium at large, the forces of Chaos, Xenos, and I was entirely sold on the setting. And chances are, none of that ever would've happened if it weren't for some red-robed cyborgs, their trusty servo-skulls, and an unhealthy obsession for technology.
Just finished an audiobook for Brutal Kunnin' and it features the Mechanicus from points of view you don't usually get. You've got an AdMec, Zaefa, as the main character you follow and from Mechanicus focused chapters. You get to see a lot of different AdMec personalities with varying goals/desires as you follow her story. Zaefa is definitely up in my top two or three for Mechanicus character's I've read about. She's the Mechamommy the Mechanicus needs and doesn't deserve. There is only one Space Marine in the entire book and he ain't Loyalist, so most of the action is Da Boyz V. The Admec. The Ork sections of the book following Ufthac are frickin' hilarious whereas the Mechanicus section sort of runs the gamut from comedy to suspense and horror. It's a good book. I'll do it eventually on your recommendation, but in the odd case you read this one and mention it somewhere, I'll go on and make the Night Lords next on my reading list. I'm definitely intrigued, reading the Khan's books atm.
And I think "mechanicum" in the heresy books gave us a cool look also because it gave us a chance to see mechanicum leaders and members being still loyal to the imperium while also being willing to break the rules secretly to make the imperium better and feed their curiosity. It's just a nice change from the dogmatic behavior they tend to be written with. It made them seem far more human than they usually do
Common misconception: The Omnissiah is not the machine god itself, rather the Omnissiah is the physical manifestation of its will in the material plane. The Mechanicus actually have a holy Trinity of sorts. The Machine God, which can be likened to God the Father, The Omnissiah is basically their Jesus, and the Motive Force is their Holy Spirit. “All praise the Machine God! All praise the Omnissiah who is his messenger! All praise the Motive Force by which he moves among us!!!” - War Chant of the Myrmidons
I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the AdMech. I got into 40k by way of Dark Heresy and my first table top character was a Techpriest. He later went on to be a long lived character and I played several games with him. He even founded a small Culixis sect of the AdMech that were proudly Malatechs. The name was a play on the Word Of Blake. It was fun.
My favorite Admech character I've met so far is the female tech priest from the Ahriman Books, Carmenta, sje would meld her mind with that of their ship and seemed to be a genuine friend to Ahriman despite her condition.
it is VERY easy for a craftsman/mechanic to learn a procedure almost like a ritual, where they learn it from someone above them and then copy their methods to the letter without adaptation or question. it's just safer to do that over time, to do, and use, what isn't broken. Personally, I'm one of those people who borders on being a technophile. I think the future of mankind is in our technology and science, that one day we're going to merge the wonders of biological and technological discoveries together to made mankind better than it is baseline in every single way or at least make it's existence easier. I LOVE the admech, I can ACTUALLY see them happening very easily, and hell i could EASILY see myself be one amongst them... but you do make a good point that the dogmatic personality of a lot of Tech heads is....getting boring, ESPECIALLY if they don't have anyone to bounce on (see Mechanicus The Game), and/or any other traits to work with. also VERY COMMON MISCONCEPTION; The Admech worship *two* entities, The Omnissiah and The Machine God... The Omnissiah is The Emperor, and it is this image of him that was literally the only thing The Big E had to make them join his crusade. they're the only ones allowed to worship a god, because the emp needed them THAT BADLY Omnissiah is a merge of two words: Omniscient Messiah, in the name it's not much a god but "the son" of the god amazing vid tho, found you recently and i'm binge so keep makin more please :)
My understanding of the no inventing thing is that the admech believe technology is a gift from god, so trying to develop new tech is playing god, the hight of blasphemy. I've also read some really good breakdowns of why the admech is like this, the reasons behind the dogma. 1d4chan for all it's flaws explains it beautifully.
At 7:17 you actually used cover art for a great Admech focused book called Imperator: Wrath of The Omnissiah that I highly recommend. That and Brutal Kunnin have been fantastic stories focused on Admech.
It surely has been mentioned already, but Dan Abmett's Titanicus is one of the best Ad-Mec stories out there. Besides being a throwback romp to 40ks spin-off boardgames "Titanicus"/ "Epic" it has a really compelling story about the religion of the Techpriests and how their contradictory doctrine can easily lead to schism. Gives them a lot of needed flavor.
Hammer and anvil by James Swallow is mostly focused on the sisters of battle and the necrons but there are some really good scenes from the admech pov.
I can't wait to hear you describe the sheer misfortune of the Lamenters, I'm certain it'll be as hilarious to see how you phrase it as it will be depressing because it's the Lamenters :D
A Princeps of a God Engine is very much offically and not apart of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The reason they dont usually get as augmented as other Tech Priests is too much augmentation does reduce the ecfectiveness of a Princep's connection with the machine spirit of a Titan. Besides that, they would be classified as Officers in the Collegia Titanica Arm of the Military Wing of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
I was annoyed at first when I was reading Brutal Kunnin' and half the chapters were from the Mechanicus perspective... then I realized pairing the Mechanicus ideology with the Ork ideology was about the most brilliant structure one could come up with for an Ork book. Best Mechanicus AND best Ork portrayal I've seen thus far.
I'm in the middle of reading Brutal Kunnin and the contrast of the Ork's very direct way of thinking and the amount of bureaucracy portrayed in the Admech on the forge world is hilarious.
The alliance between the Emperor and the Techpriests of Mars is represented in the Aquila we see today. Each head represents both factions, however I'm nearly certain that in older editions one of the eagle heads was cybernetic. It's one of the reasons why the current version of the Aquila is kinda disappointing to look at. You're right about the Techpriests taking the role of side characters in stories. Usually their objective is carried out by other factions which the story follows, with the priests operating in the shadows and feeding every non-techpriest crap or total silence. Two stories that do this are Gunheads (prequel story found in Planetkill anthology) and the first audiobook to be published, Heart of Rage. The truth about the Void Dragon on Mars was heavily suggested way back in 2002 in the Necron codex, 2nd Edition. Think it came with an illustration too. But it was a short story about a techpriest who discovered the truth and had ripped out his augments with his bare hands and kept babbling about about bodies being fed to The Machine
Day of Ascension is a really good story that shows how fucked up the Mechanicus can be at times with how they treat forge world menials like less than slaves. Like it's so fucking bad it's the only story I've *ever* read where Genestealer cultists aren't just automatically the worst faction present.
I tell you what tho, the horus heresy book "mechanicum" that takes place right at the beginning of the split the mechanicum goes thru because of the heresy. The adventure of the new guardian of the void dragon to finding the chamber was a really cool story! Not to mention it gave me one of my all time favorite characters in all of 40k. And that would be the forge mistress herself is Koriel Zeth! That woman is brilliant, brave, funny, and has bigger balls than any space marine in the lore! Just an awesome character and a well written book. It was the first time I really thought of the mechanicum as characters and not just faceless automatons. It's just a fascinating book that I cannot recommend more. And the titan and imperial knight battles going on is just really cool.
The good old B bot is really the only part I like because at least he has the balls to make new things while not being a traitorous psychopath which lets be honest most dark mechanicus members are definitely not sane.
Lords of Mars Trilogy ("Forge", "Lords" and "Gods of Mars") by Graham McNeill is THE best mechanicus series in my opinion, closely followed by his Horus Heresy contribution, Mechanicum. The trilogy is set in 40k, while Mechanicum is set in 30k. Otherwise, tech priests tend to take on minor roles instead. Hell, they even have a minor role in Brutal Kunnin, an Ork book, and are arguably the worst part of said book! At least it gave me the idea of stuffing a miniaturized lascannon on my Rogue Trader explorator. Also, if you could include a sourcelist for some, if not all, of the artwork you used in this video that would be great, because I HAVE to show some of these images to my gm.
Im honestly shocked you didnt cover tech marines, they have SUCH potential for writing based around dealing wiyth the strains of havinmg oaths to both mars and thier chapter.
In thr Krieg book, there is an Ad-mech named Greel that was a supporting character. It appeared that the Ad-Mech are essentially responsible for how the Krieg developed for their weapons.
0:09 I freaking love Lamenters, they just have such great luck and most things go good for them! Nothing like a feel good story in the Imperium of Man! Much grim dark. So dakka.
I initially didn't care about them, now they are among my favorites, especially since I found that my favorite Founding Legion are the Iron Hands. In a world of such horror and hopelessness, the certainty and logic of the machine is alluring and well-fitting. Plus they look sick and are the single most vital autonomous aspect of the Imperium. Not to mention I'm tech support in real life, so a Transmechanic of the Mechanicus maintaining cogitators in the lore :D
I love Admech as antagonists in stories. They are dumb, but dumb in a way that seems very genuine for an entrenched organization. Working in corporate as given me a lot of insight into the Admech way of looking at things
The forge of mars books are a good mechanicus centered book series that is about an explorator fleet trying to make contact with a lost magos, and it does not go light on showing every bit of the dehumanizing and desperate conditions the admech create in their ship to achieve this journey. It also has a large ensemble cast and features numerous factions.
You forgot about Forges of Mars Trilogy tho. It is about adeptus mechanicus explorators. It shows the perspective of many different factions. Pretty cool. Also Farsight trilogy features them as antagonists.
One of the things I find humorous about the Mechanicum is that as much as we make fun of them doing rituals to get the guns to fire, the thing is it works so something is valid.
The ad mech are sprinkled all through out the books. I feel like...while originally they are very cool and original, a lot of science fiction kind of caught on and we see a lot of their ideologies played out in other mediums. That being said, they are a very special staple in 40k and while I have a softspot for them, the grim reality is there in plane sight. They are great side characters in most of what I read and Just from reading the comments it seems that there's some good work where they are the main focus. All in all for me, personally, it was always a mystery of what the void dragon is and its influence and motivations of the ad mech and it seems as we keep learning more about it as an audience, it must be tough for the writers to know that regardless of what we know about the lore, the characters have no idea. While I always enjoyed the mystery my desire to know more is also pretty high up there. I'd have to say, Mechanicum in the horus heresy series, really helped me to enjoy the ad mech as a faction.
Because of my conviction that the 40k books have the potential to make their own contributions and our limited understanding of the actual events, I believe that certain elements of the Adeptus Mechanicus might have been overly exaggerated or......GW GOT SOME BAD WRITERS XD
Now that I think about it, the void dragon shard being the Omnissiah doesn't really makes sense. C'tans are not warp entities, so all the worship being done shouldn't affect themm and if the god damn t'au managed to create the greater good spirit without trying, the Omissiah should exist on its own. It is implied in the videogame (if we're count that canon) that the dragon is the head of the xenarites, the covert sub-faction within the admech that like to fuck with xeno tech, so, unless it's another dragon, the c'tan probably has some influence, whatever that may be, but I still think it would be weird for all that worship to go wasted while the Omnissiah is just some shard of a cosmic fart.
I think one of the reasons that Deltrin works is because the tradition of imperial mechanicus slowly decays and twisted after 10,000 years just like the imperium itself. Though it isn't stated anywhere.
I like that they're a cautionary tale of people who deify knowledge and technology so much it just loops back around to religious doctrine and the void dragon thing kind of ruins that
I feel like a lot of the issues with the mechanicus seeming unbearably dogmatic and stupid could be helped if like. they showed us more of why things get declared tech-heresy, and what can happen when mechanicus doctrine is broken. Like, yes, a lot of this IS based off of superstition and guesswork, but at the same time. This is like you gave an engineer from the early 1800s a machine that printed hydrogen bombs, only even more so. They don't understand why these things work, and they only half understand how to use them, so they're obviously terrified of the consequences of mishandling or misusing the technology. Besides that... the biggest issue with their handling is probably the fact that, for the most part, writers just. tend to forget to put individuality into their admech characters. Like. the reason the Mechanicus cast is so enjoyable is because each of them has their own viewpoint and methods on how to fulfill their goals, and we get to see them play off each other, as opposed to just knowing exactly how they'll respond to a situation because "oh admech want technology want fuck toaster want avoid tech heresy"
As a 40K tourist, I like the theming of the Admech, although I agree that bad character writing would be annoying. I haven't gotten that deep, so I haven't experienced it. From an asthetics standpoint, I think Admech are the MOST 40K army there is. They stand out to me SO MUCH, and I think they look awesome. The ideas of tech stagnation and grimdark find their fulfilment in the Admech for me.
The thing I love about the Mechanicus Is exactly what you see as their biggest flaw, which If the story will stay on this level forever, I must agree is a major flaw for the faction but let me share my thougheds here. The Mechanicus a faction focused on the conversation of Knowledge being scared of expanding that Knowledge by the virtue of free thinking is some of the most intresting writen Faction flaw I have ever seen, it comes in such a ridiculus scale that only 40K can pull of. and all the talk about Heretechs and Techno Heresy being commited at the slightest thoughed is what holds back alot of the current characters, and that was is how it was until fairly recently until a single arch magos dominus entered the scene: Belasarius fucking Cawl the D facto Mary sue of the 40K universe in the best way possible. this dude by virtue of just being that fucking Influential and so intertwined with so much bullshit in the Imperium that he is officaly nearly untouchable commits Tech Heresy left right and center. and that for good reason, I belive that the focus on the Super religios AdMech is a setup so we can watch Cawl burn it all to the ground again, not in a "Lets all fall to chaos" kinda way but in a. "Ya know what we preach is kinda retarded" kinda way he is the persuit of knowledge out of your own drive, he is invention, he is the future of the Mechanicus that will see the Imperium rise to its once former glory and I belive we are on our way to see his friends comrads and allies shift into a greater focus in the story from now on
A personal reason why the mechanicum are interesting to me personally, despite their trappings, is the realization that those so reverent of tech irl... are just like them; selfserving despite their transhumanist ideals, regardless of what the stance of radical ideas in development or absurdly traditionalist principles, their goal for all mankind is lost by proxy of how their pursuit of a means to an end has only become forwarding said means. it also ends up being why the named characters who show a disdaine for the greater mechanicum as a whole and still wish to provide for the greater whole either keep their traps shut for their sake, cant make any real change, or have to come to terms with distrust of their own faith and fellow faithful in favor of manipulation of those who became only cogs in the machine for themselves. its why not just the protagonist of mechanicus is enjoyable, being a humane priest whos not easilyl blinded by power but blind to the truth of the void dragon, its why the dichotomy of scaevola and videx being a subversion of "the radical willing to corrupt themselves is more humane than the person following the rules". Scaevola has fully fallen for the means to an end mentality and sacrifices her allies and their well being over and over with 0 regard for others, even if theyre also of her cause, just to further the goals of her god bc it empowers her. Mean while, videx, the hardline traditionalist, at first spouting hypocritical and backwards rhetoric, has his origins and goals rooted in trauma from the necrons corrupting and destroying his forgeworld; his goals of crusadery, while superstitious, and done out of a fear of this happening to others. The heretek DLC also has good character moments, capping off with the preamble to the final boss being said main xenarite mutineer trying to convince the MC, notably humane, to their side. Despite their failure to do so, its incredibly somber due to the protagonist agreeing with their disgust of the organizations flaws, and the main character tries to say they can still stop or meet the same damning fate as the necrons, before both men regret having to go to battle. it shows an organization of engineer like figures whom horde power and innovative ideas, with the very few whom do desire better for their industry fighting a losing battle.... and its saddly close to reality. it shows that tech that can change everything in itself is still power, and power unfortunately corrupts even those devoted to elevating the quality of life of mankind.
I believe you're right about them, though I think the main issue is they are very neglected as a faction story wise. They been so neglected that they've become a planet of hats archetype. And they really need to be flesh out more. Batum tis 🥁🥁
My favorite part of the Ad Mech is just the whole concept of them if I'm being honest. These mysterious and enigmatic techno-priests being almost more alien and disturbing than the xenos they fight is so cool to me, and badass designs is a bonus. Plus they're just the embodiment of Warhammer, skull drones, servitors, gross, religious zealots. Theres probably more to it but that's all I can put into words. 100% agree about them needing more dedicated stories and better ones though.
I think a book about the mechanicus could use it's natural flaws as an ambient plot point, to drive home the Emperor's anti religion Imperial Truth. It could be about how the flaws in treating machines through a religious lens rather than a secular and material one will lead to mistakes that will compound and build upon each other until you have absurd situations that bring them into conflicts. Like, imagine learning about the increasing demands of a machine spirit, when really the knowledge to activate and use a machine was simply lost, so they perform complex rites until they accidentally turn it on, and every time their rites fail they delve into further delusions and get more esoteric and absurd with each cycle of needing to activate it, until they purity spiral so hard they incorporate something that will make it impossible to activate.
In a lot of ways the AdMech are the most alien Imperium faction when they are doing their job. Even Sisters make sense when doing the "of Battle" part. However, when a Magos interacts with a machine it just looks wonky to people who spend their days figuring things out, troubleshooting or inventing. "Knowledge workers" would all probably be guilty of tech heresy. Many people don't relate to the idea of sacredness, much less apply that to a truck. The way the AdMech view their main job is very bizarre to their RL counterpart, even antithetical. Inquisition, Guard, even Space Marines, within the context of their primary active role, are more relatable. An example, compare the conversation surrounding the restoration of Notre Dame and any other building repair. Massive expense to preserve historic value, appearance and function in the former. There were debates about using archaic materials. It is sacred and that sanctity is the primary concern, not getting back to serving mass as soon as possible. Yes, changes will be made with the repairs, but grudgingly. The Ad Mech think of a spaceship as sacred. Elon is blowing up new designs for experimental value.
I have always been a big cybernetics fan so the AdMEch have always been one of my favorite factions. You are absolutely correct if not written well they can be very one note and dry and very boring. I recommend the Gods of Mars Trilogy it is very AdMech centric everyone else are the side characters to the mission and story overall, it was written by Graham McNeill. I would enjoy a deep dive into the Void Dragon, as well as the AdMech Ark Ships, those things are cool and are very worthy of as deep of a dive as you can do. Great work love the channel
I gotta say my favorite story about tech priests are a pair that considered each other husband and wife and when the betrayal of Calth happened the husband tech priest died during the attack it was up to the wife to launch the husbands anti virus against the word bearer virus she found out he used her birthday and day she became a tech priest as the password to launch the anti virus, and it was their bond that saved the battle of Calth
I remember that. They were cool characters, the book itself is just not super memorable for me
TOTAL WORD BEARER DEATH
In the grimdarkness of the far future, there is only war, but there's real people too who is fighting said war, and is suffering for it.
100% my favorite Mechanicus story, eveb if it's a small story (but huge role) in Know No Fear.
Is that a separate book or just a short story? In any case, could you let me know what it's called? Sounds very cool
As a mechanic myself i can see how you go from basic maintenance to religious ceremony. I do myself perform a litiany of working from time to time
Bruh I'm not even a mechanic but, the words 'DRM' and 'software update' make me poop my pants with rage and fear like nothing else
as a car enthusiast, if the rituals of mechanicus were a little bit more realistic, aside from the usual placatings and prayers, they would definitely have some "yell 'god damn it, work/unscrew/come out you stupid piece of junk' and bang it with a hammer harder than before" type of litanies
@@Fakheet I geuss PC enthusiast is a pretty good word for what I am and yeah, there have been many times when I've been this close to rubbing animal blood and sacred oil on whatever I'm working on to make it go
@@Scrombo2 yeah anything computer related as well. Before I became a software dev, I felt like mechanicum doing their rituals and appeasing machine spirits was a bit silly, like wtf just disassemle the code and figure it out. But then years later having worked with big and relatively old codebases, you really start to understand how fast humanity would start appeasing computers and praying for code to work.
Today we have trouble figuring out how something works in a banking app while we have docs, full access to source code and a business analyst. Now imagine how hard it would be to figure *anything* out in something like firmware of a Titan, while having no docs and no person who understands how it's at least *supposed* to work, let alone how it actually works. All while the thing has to keep running, which prevents you from just pluging in a disassembler and digging around in its memory willy-nilly
I'm a IT operation engineer. I can totally relate to Admech.
I enjoy how the Dark Mechanicum said screw it to all the old rules and actively create AIs that slowly go crazy and wander the galaxy looking for trouble. And if anyone ever had any warm feelings towards the AD, read the story Abomination. And say goodbye to that warmth.
AD?
@@wernerfuhrythey meant AM I reckon. It’s about AM doing grim dark stuff that might be (probably is) chaos
@@Hatersgonnahate726 would also make more sense to me
@@wernerfuhry yeah, oops.
Isn't it fanfiction?
I'd recommend reading the trilogy "priests of mars", "lords of mars" and "gods of mars".
It focuses mostly on an explorator fleet, it focuses most of the story from the viewpoint of mechanicus characters (but does include a few black templars and a rogue trader), from the Lord Magos of an Ark Mechanicum ship, down to a press ganged crewman (which is absolutely horrific but a very cool subplot).
Honestly the Forge of Mars Omnibus (which combines those 3 novels) is one of the most underrated stories in 40k, fleshing out Codex footnotes that are otherwise forgotten and includes (potentially) lore significant developments around the Mechanicus' internal politics and Machine spirits that GW could bring back (including certain Noctis Labyrinth-related revelations).
I'll second this statement. Great series (am just starting book 3 now).
Awesome for the properly Main Character POV Mechanicus we need (albeit shared with a few others)
I like how in the Death of Integrity story a group of tech priest interact with an AI that has a DAOT STC and the AI shits all over every belief the mechanicus holds and then turns their own servitors against them
dude death of integrity and everything in the blood angels omnibus SLAPS
"Your ancestors bestrode the universe, and what are you? A witch doctor, mumbling cantrips and casting scented oils at mighty works you have no conception of."
@@fluffywolfo3663 Once I gladly served you, now you are no longe deserving of the title Man. Coming from a fucking AI, I giggle like a kid reading this part.
@@fluffywolfo3663“I was there when humanity stood upon the brink of transcendence I've return to see it sunk into senility, you disgust me.”
Mechanicus are one of most interesting factions. Concept of group that is all about technology, yet any form of progress is prohibited really made me like them.
Also about Lamenters, Im still amazed that they are not Salamanders succesor chapter.
I think that they wanted to portray another vampire archetype with them, the usual blood angels are that kind of vampire that cares about the curse primarily because it affects them, the Lamenters are worried and feel guilt because it affects others, I think that they should do this kind of things more, ba successor chapter often lack in personality
I'm not, they really got that "tortured angelic vampire who tries his best schtick" definitely sons of sanguinius
Adeptus Mechanicus is what dragged me into this god forsaken hobby so I’m glad to see them be covered
Same here
Me too. It was an old school tech priest enginseer that caught my attention. Cool red robes, big ol' axe 🤌
I still have my enginseer lol however mine is a newer model since only recently i got into this stuff @@Matt-on4of
"Titanicus" by Dan Abnett features AdMech heavily, as does "Brutal Kunnin" by Mike Brooks. Both are definitely worth a read!
Not to mention the forges of Mars trilogy
Just a heads up, avoid the Brutal Kunnin audio book, the orks are too high pitched, they sound like grots
I just think the mixture of religious zealotry and technophilic transhumanism is really compelling. They have a killer aesthetic, a cool vibe, and I value that more than having a ton of novels and named characters.
Also they're one of, like, 3 factions that aren't a direct rip of a fantasy race or sci-fi novel.
Once again a tragedy has befallen the Lamenters, for they must wait longer for their time in the spotlight.
Sigh (starts crying)
The models for the AdMech are some for my favorites. Even with the Uncanny Valley running strong in the faction, they are like an army out of Da Vinci’s sketches mixed with Cyber Punk.
As a faction, they got mad drip.
For my money, the one good cog-botherer story I've read was Titanicus by Dan Abnett, which isn't entirely a Mechanicus story, but includes plenty of them and goes beyond the usual 'what if Alexa joined the Taliban?' characterization to give them actual personalities and doubts, plus it introduces a schism about whether the Emperor is actually the Omnissiah.
The entire 40K world would collapse if someone found an STC of a floppy disk
Much like the Iron Hands these lads and lasses have so much story potential. Really wish we could have more Mechanicus stories or more Mechanicus characters, they're the backbone of the Imperium.
The Skitarius and Techpriest books are amazing bits of reading/listening focused on mainly mechanicus characters. They do quite a good job at showing the opposite ends of the mechanicus ground forces from the average skitari to their commanding tech priests and the like.
I really enjoyed the AdMech writing in Day of Ascension. Biologis priest Triskellian and his machinations throughout the book do a good job showing how tech priests exist in a weird hierarchy of backstabbing and politicking to raise their own status. But yeah, Mechanicus (the game) probably does the best job of writing a group of multiple different tech priests that bicker and have different priorities, but ultimately cooperate to get the job done.
I think you mean "Chief Festiviator" Triskellian.
Unrelated but that story was the only one I can think of where Genestealer cultists are shown in any sort of positive light. Every AdMech in that story was some varying level of dick.
Subdomina Khepra was the best written character in the Mechanicus game by far. She regularly voiced her opinion or displeasure when her higher up’s got greedy and went tech gremlin, she cared about the psychological effects of the tomb world on her skitarii even asking magos Faustinius to grant the troops in the Flayer infested part of the tomb increased R&R. But she also knew sometimes the sacrifices her troops had to make and how important the mission was. One of the machine gods finest
I love these Technophiles.
If I ever get the chance to make a 40K army it's gonna be a Legio Cybernetica.
I think the Mechanicus is the most sci-fi thing about 40k. The abstract way they have been written to look at technology is so original. Like preserving technology is actually more important than understanding how it works. I never really understood machine spirits though. I don't get where the line is drawn. Necrons for example seem totally in line with the their dogma.
It's the subject of much religious debate (debate varies from calm talks held in AdMech temples between high ranked Magos up to and including the more exciting debates that involve flamethrowers and artillery)
I did like Magos Bure in the Eisenhorn books, he felt like he was more than a one note character, even if he isn't in it too long.
The mechanicum guys in the Cain books are also written well.
He has a robo tentacle waifu in one book. They always object blowing up a sacred building, but come around if you argue logically with them. They protect civilians after some arguing, a magos biologis plays an important role in CC 9.
On the other hand, in the Cain books the Imperium the least imperium-like. Officers are competent, Inquisitors are reasonable, normal Soldiers actually matter, most planets are not pure hell and sometimes people even talk before shooting.
I believe CC is so popular because it is the least 40k of all the books.
I think it’s the least 40K because we don’t see all of the worst of things. Soldiers would matter to commanders like Cain. He is very lucky to have reasonable inquisitors though.
@henrypaleveda7760
It's actually pointed out by Amberly Vail that Cain had a chance to shoot through his own men to hit an opponent, and he didn't even consider that possibility - making him *unusual* amongst the commisars!
So yeah, definitely not seeing the worst of the Imperium.
@@SWProductions100 Most definitely not the worst, but the key words were "commanders LIKE Cain." he is not usual for a commissar, and that is what makes him more compelling. The usual commissar is not a compelling protagonist.
4:53 you should read the "Priests of Mars" trilogy. It's about an explorator fleet on a mission and focuses very heavily on the Mechanicus, with several POV's of them and the Skitarii. Very informative.
the book is so good and its a shame its not so much talk about!
Would like to mention two books: Titan Death, it follows a tech priest and his mechanical friends the whole book. Man of Iron, it follows a man of iron and some tech boys play a secondary but big roll.
Read "Brutal Kunnin", its an ork book, but it features half the story from admech perspective. Really good laughs and something more than just *beep boop get tech*
HUZZAH, A BOI OF QUALITY
Great book!
Yeah, Admech in that book is really cool. Especially that it also shows how does life look like for normal guys on a world that is owned by them.
@@BaranZenon
"You admech sure are a contentious bunch"
"YOU BOUTTA GET YOUR ASS SERVITORIZED"
I’ve been playing the Mechanicus game and I’m really liking it so far, I think AdMech have lots of potential as the quest for knowledge, even if with their own flavor, is a really old trope that works and gave us the Odessey. Ulysses does the wackiest shit for knowledge but he also cares about his men because without them the quest would be over real quick.
I think the Mechanicus should take a similar approach when being written in fiction and as beings with enormous streams of data being pumped into them at all times you’d think they worked with a broader and almost inconceivable scope (I’m taking your word for it because I never read the books), when the Mechanicus find a piece of archeotech they shouldn’t be a no brainer but a complex calculation and a difficult choice should be required because WarHammer isn’t exactly a place where you can have everything, you can’t just act suicidal because you are probably using archeotech yourself and are holy as part machine, you can’t do that also because you need to be able to recover the archeotech and bring it home so your fellows are also valuable to achieve the holy duty and so on.
In short, there is no way an AdMech would throw himself and others onto a piece of STC like it’s the fucking British Museum without thinking about all the odds and potential that would make acquiring the fragment a lower priority compared to conquering the planet in order to gather more for example.
I think the admech are completely unique to the fantasy setting, warhammer has knights (space marines) elves (eldar) orcs (orks) and other monsters, but the admech are something special and can only really work in warhammer
Doesn't Church Of The Broken God also do the concept reasonably well in another setting?
Doesn't battle tech have religious Technophilia going on with it's clanners too?
@@Sara3346 true that both settings include technophiles, Warhammer was the one to do it first and to do it perfectly, while the nice twists on it are appreciated, its something that is uniquely Warhammer, look at all the other Warhammer races and you can see what they were inspired by, but the mechanicus is something that cant really be tied back to anything else
Mechanicus are the skaven of 40k
New to AdMech. Immortalising instructions on how to produce, fix, and operate machinery as religious dogma is a cool concept. The preserving part makes more sense in that context, where it's commanded by the same texts that told them how to make the thing that works and that they rely on. I like the body horror elements and how trying to become as close to being a machine as possible is a plausible conclusion to worshipping it as god. I only really read The Great Work and played the Mechanicus game, so maybe my opinion of Admech's about tank idk
The Adeptus Mechanicus were what got me hooked on 40k in the first place. And mind you, this was well before the Mechanicus game was ever even in development. My family has a history of loving RPGs, so when my dad came across an RPG where there we could basically play as space pirates (Rogue Trader RPG from FFG), he came back to us, and asked us if we wanted to play it. I myself have always loved cyborgs, and will continue to love cyborgs. So when I saw that there was a class in the game centered around being a cyborg (The Explorator), I was all in on making that character. Now, the game itself never ended up happening, but the Explorator stuck with me. This spacer who's constantly searching for ancient relics of Humanity's past, almost like a grimdark technophile Indiana Jones never left my mind. So from there, I read the entries on the Imperium and the galaxy at large in the CRB, developing my own sort of understanding of the Imperium off of the descriptions and artwork. After that, I found the 40k wiki, and after downloading an app of it on my tablet (may not have been the best decision I've ever made), I would just pore through the lore therein, about the AdMech, the Space Marines and their whole deal, the Imperium at large, the forces of Chaos, Xenos, and I was entirely sold on the setting. And chances are, none of that ever would've happened if it weren't for some red-robed cyborgs, their trusty servo-skulls, and an unhealthy obsession for technology.
Just finished an audiobook for Brutal Kunnin' and it features the Mechanicus from points of view you don't usually get. You've got an AdMec, Zaefa, as the main character you follow and from Mechanicus focused chapters. You get to see a lot of different AdMec personalities with varying goals/desires as you follow her story. Zaefa is definitely up in my top two or three for Mechanicus character's I've read about. She's the Mechamommy the Mechanicus needs and doesn't deserve. There is only one Space Marine in the entire book and he ain't Loyalist, so most of the action is Da Boyz V. The Admec. The Ork sections of the book following Ufthac are frickin' hilarious whereas the Mechanicus section sort of runs the gamut from comedy to suspense and horror. It's a good book. I'll do it eventually on your recommendation, but in the odd case you read this one and mention it somewhere, I'll go on and make the Night Lords next on my reading list. I'm definitely intrigued, reading the Khan's books atm.
I think they are really cool both looks wise and their lore. A shame we don't see more of them.
Bones when talking about the nightlords series to quote ' IM MAKING FUCKING MAC N CHEESE AND NOONE CAN STOP ME'
And I think "mechanicum" in the heresy books gave us a cool look also because it gave us a chance to see mechanicum leaders and members being still loyal to the imperium while also being willing to break the rules secretly to make the imperium better and feed their curiosity.
It's just a nice change from the dogmatic behavior they tend to be written with. It made them seem far more human than they usually do
Common misconception: The Omnissiah is not the machine god itself, rather the Omnissiah is the physical manifestation of its will in the material plane. The Mechanicus actually have a holy Trinity of sorts. The Machine God, which can be likened to God the Father, The Omnissiah is basically their Jesus, and the Motive Force is their Holy Spirit.
“All praise the Machine God! All praise the Omnissiah who is his messenger! All praise the Motive Force by which he moves among us!!!”
- War Chant of the Myrmidons
There are LOTS of things you can do with the AdMech, making them grimdark without being assholes.
It's my favourite faction because of that.
I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the AdMech. I got into 40k by way of Dark Heresy and my first table top character was a Techpriest. He later went on to be a long lived character and I played several games with him. He even founded a small Culixis sect of the AdMech that were proudly Malatechs. The name was a play on the Word Of Blake. It was fun.
My favorite Admech character I've met so far is the female tech priest from the Ahriman Books, Carmenta, sje would meld her mind with that of their ship and seemed to be a genuine friend to Ahriman despite her condition.
it is VERY easy for a craftsman/mechanic to learn a procedure almost like a ritual, where they learn it from someone above them and then copy their methods to the letter without adaptation or question. it's just safer to do that over time, to do, and use, what isn't broken.
Personally, I'm one of those people who borders on being a technophile. I think the future of mankind is in our technology and science, that one day we're going to merge the wonders of biological and technological discoveries together to made mankind better than it is baseline in every single way or at least make it's existence easier. I LOVE the admech, I can ACTUALLY see them happening very easily, and hell i could EASILY see myself be one amongst them... but you do make a good point that the dogmatic personality of a lot of Tech heads is....getting boring, ESPECIALLY if they don't have anyone to bounce on (see Mechanicus The Game), and/or any other traits to work with.
also VERY COMMON MISCONCEPTION; The Admech worship *two* entities, The Omnissiah and The Machine God... The Omnissiah is The Emperor, and it is this image of him that was literally the only thing The Big E had to make them join his crusade.
they're the only ones allowed to worship a god, because the emp needed them THAT BADLY
Omnissiah is a merge of two words: Omniscient Messiah, in the name it's not much a god but "the son" of the god
amazing vid tho, found you recently and i'm binge so keep makin more please :)
My understanding of the no inventing thing is that the admech believe technology is a gift from god, so trying to develop new tech is playing god, the hight of blasphemy. I've also read some really good breakdowns of why the admech is like this, the reasons behind the dogma. 1d4chan for all it's flaws explains it beautifully.
You should definitely do imperial and chaos knights
At 7:17 you actually used cover art for a great Admech focused book called Imperator: Wrath of The Omnissiah that I highly recommend. That and Brutal Kunnin have been fantastic stories focused on Admech.
PRAISE THE OMNISSIAH! Thank you for getting around to the best (and maybe only?) archeotechnologists in the setting!
The omnibus "priests of mars" has some insights on them I'd love to hear your thoughts on, especially about the servitors
It surely has been mentioned already, but Dan Abmett's Titanicus is one of the best Ad-Mec stories out there. Besides being a throwback romp to 40ks spin-off boardgames "Titanicus"/ "Epic" it has a really compelling story about the religion of the Techpriests and how their contradictory doctrine can easily lead to schism. Gives them a lot of needed flavor.
Hammer and anvil by James Swallow is mostly focused on the sisters of battle and the necrons but there are some really good scenes from the admech pov.
I can't wait to hear you describe the sheer misfortune of the Lamenters, I'm certain it'll be as hilarious to see how you phrase it as it will be depressing because it's the Lamenters :D
Thank you. I really enjoyed your explanation on the mechanicus
A Princeps of a God Engine is very much offically and not apart of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The reason they dont usually get as augmented as other Tech Priests is too much augmentation does reduce the ecfectiveness of a Princep's connection with the machine spirit of a Titan.
Besides that, they would be classified as Officers in the Collegia Titanica Arm of the Military Wing of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
I was annoyed at first when I was reading Brutal Kunnin' and half the chapters were from the Mechanicus perspective... then I realized pairing the Mechanicus ideology with the Ork ideology was about the most brilliant structure one could come up with for an Ork book. Best Mechanicus AND best Ork portrayal I've seen thus far.
I'm in the middle of reading Brutal Kunnin and the contrast of the Ork's very direct way of thinking and the amount of bureaucracy portrayed in the Admech on the forge world is hilarious.
Forge of mars is a three book series which centers the mechanicus and the fucked things they do as well.
3:34
TOTALLY
UNDENIABLY
LITERALLY
HOLY
BASED
Take that Xeno - machine God alien thing!
The alliance between the Emperor and the Techpriests of Mars is represented in the Aquila we see today. Each head represents both factions, however I'm nearly certain that in older editions one of the eagle heads was cybernetic. It's one of the reasons why the current version of the Aquila is kinda disappointing to look at.
You're right about the Techpriests taking the role of side characters in stories. Usually their objective is carried out by other factions which the story follows, with the priests operating in the shadows and feeding every non-techpriest crap or total silence. Two stories that do this are Gunheads (prequel story found in Planetkill anthology) and the first audiobook to be published, Heart of Rage.
The truth about the Void Dragon on Mars was heavily suggested way back in 2002 in the Necron codex, 2nd Edition. Think it came with an illustration too. But it was a short story about a techpriest who discovered the truth and had ripped out his augments with his bare hands and kept babbling about about bodies being fed to The Machine
When you think about the mechanicus theme of praying that the machine works is based on real life.
Day of Ascension is a really good story that shows how fucked up the Mechanicus can be at times with how they treat forge world menials like less than slaves.
Like it's so fucking bad it's the only story I've *ever* read where Genestealer cultists aren't just automatically the worst faction present.
I tell you what tho, the horus heresy book "mechanicum" that takes place right at the beginning of the split the mechanicum goes thru because of the heresy. The adventure of the new guardian of the void dragon to finding the chamber was a really cool story!
Not to mention it gave me one of my all time favorite characters in all of 40k. And that would be the forge mistress herself is Koriel Zeth! That woman is brilliant, brave, funny, and has bigger balls than any space marine in the lore! Just an awesome character and a well written book. It was the first time I really thought of the mechanicum as characters and not just faceless automatons. It's just a fascinating book that I cannot recommend more. And the titan and imperial knight battles going on is just really cool.
Glad you changed the intro Arthur! I don't have to shut if off immediately anymore
The good old B bot is really the only part I like because at least he has the balls to make new things while not being a traitorous psychopath which lets be honest most dark mechanicus members are definitely not sane.
Lords of Mars Trilogy ("Forge", "Lords" and "Gods of Mars") by Graham McNeill is THE best mechanicus series in my opinion, closely followed by his Horus Heresy contribution, Mechanicum. The trilogy is set in 40k, while Mechanicum is set in 30k. Otherwise, tech priests tend to take on minor roles instead. Hell, they even have a minor role in Brutal Kunnin, an Ork book, and are arguably the worst part of said book! At least it gave me the idea of stuffing a miniaturized lascannon on my Rogue Trader explorator.
Also, if you could include a sourcelist for some, if not all, of the artwork you used in this video that would be great, because I HAVE to show some of these images to my gm.
The fact that you’re talking about the night lords trilogy for the hundreth time is why I just bought it! So good on you! 😂
Im honestly shocked you didnt cover tech marines, they have SUCH potential for writing based around dealing wiyth the strains of havinmg oaths to both mars and thier chapter.
In thr Krieg book, there is an Ad-mech named Greel that was a supporting character.
It appeared that the Ad-Mech are essentially responsible for how the Krieg developed for their weapons.
"Do not fret, for I too have a fixation for slapping my cyberdong against the hull of toasters?"
0:09 I freaking love Lamenters, they just have such great luck and most things go good for them! Nothing like a feel good story in the Imperium of Man! Much grim dark. So dakka.
I also love how easy it is to paint their cool shoulder pads! Everyone loves taxis! Iconic! 🏁❤🥲
I initially didn't care about them, now they are among my favorites, especially since I found that my favorite Founding Legion are the Iron Hands. In a world of such horror and hopelessness, the certainty and logic of the machine is alluring and well-fitting. Plus they look sick and are the single most vital autonomous aspect of the Imperium.
Not to mention I'm tech support in real life, so a Transmechanic of the Mechanicus maintaining cogitators in the lore :D
Hey,Mr Bones,how bout some love to the Crimson fists?,and possibly to the Farsight Enclave?
I love Admech as antagonists in stories. They are dumb, but dumb in a way that seems very genuine for an entrenched organization. Working in corporate as given me a lot of insight into the Admech way of looking at things
The forge of mars books are a good mechanicus centered book series that is about an explorator fleet trying to make contact with a lost magos, and it does not go light on showing every bit of the dehumanizing and desperate conditions the admech create in their ship to achieve this journey. It also has a large ensemble cast and features numerous factions.
They ain’t putting toast in that toasters, what are they doing to that brave little toaster?! Oh god! 40k!
The problem with their lore is the only person in black library who can write them well is Graham McNeil
You forgot about Forges of Mars Trilogy tho. It is about adeptus mechanicus explorators. It shows the perspective of many different factions. Pretty cool. Also Farsight trilogy features them as antagonists.
How the AM make servitors I think that would be down right terrifying
oh, it is. that's the point.
@LexYeen and thats what would make it so great to hear about it
The blessed Emperor guided that tech marine on helsreach. The mechanicus would have screwed the pooch.
It had to happen that way. *Sniffle*
Finally something I fully agree with you on!
One of the things I find humorous about the Mechanicum is that as much as we make fun of them doing rituals to get the guns to fire, the thing is it works so something is valid.
T I T A N I C U S is a genuinely good scifi novel in its own right and is also a stupendous work of mecha fiction.
The ad mech are sprinkled all through out the books. I feel like...while originally they are very cool and original, a lot of science fiction kind of caught on and we see a lot of their ideologies played out in other mediums. That being said, they are a very special staple in 40k and while I have a softspot for them, the grim reality is there in plane sight.
They are great side characters in most of what I read and Just from reading the comments it seems that there's some good work where they are the main focus. All in all for me, personally, it was always a mystery of what the void dragon is and its influence and motivations of the ad mech and it seems as we keep learning more about it as an audience, it must be tough for the writers to know that regardless of what we know about the lore, the characters have no idea. While I always enjoyed the mystery my desire to know more is also pretty high up there. I'd have to say, Mechanicum in the horus heresy series, really helped me to enjoy the ad mech as a faction.
Because of my conviction that the 40k books have the potential to make their own contributions and our limited understanding of the actual events, I believe that certain elements of the Adeptus Mechanicus might have been overly exaggerated or......GW GOT SOME BAD WRITERS XD
Keep up the awesome vids dude!
Now that I think about it, the void dragon shard being the Omnissiah doesn't really makes sense. C'tans are not warp entities, so all the worship being done shouldn't affect themm and if the god damn t'au managed to create the greater good spirit without trying, the Omissiah should exist on its own. It is implied in the videogame (if we're count that canon) that the dragon is the head of the xenarites, the covert sub-faction within the admech that like to fuck with xeno tech, so, unless it's another dragon, the c'tan probably has some influence, whatever that may be, but I still think it would be weird for all that worship to go wasted while the Omnissiah is just some shard of a cosmic fart.
I think one of the reasons that Deltrin works is because the tradition of imperial mechanicus slowly decays and twisted after 10,000 years just like the imperium itself. Though it isn't stated anywhere.
If you want some more Admech in book, I recommend Day of Ascension, and Brutal Cunning. Both give a deep insight into the hypocrisy of the mechanicum.
The “priests of mars” series is a really good 3 book trilogy focusing on the admech as the main characters, without focusing on cawl at all
The tech priests and the dark elves scientists, i can't remember their name atm are my favorite character formats
I like that they're a cautionary tale of people who deify knowledge and technology so much it just loops back around to religious doctrine and the void dragon thing kind of ruins that
I feel like a lot of the issues with the mechanicus seeming unbearably dogmatic and stupid could be helped if like. they showed us more of why things get declared tech-heresy, and what can happen when mechanicus doctrine is broken. Like, yes, a lot of this IS based off of superstition and guesswork, but at the same time. This is like you gave an engineer from the early 1800s a machine that printed hydrogen bombs, only even more so. They don't understand why these things work, and they only half understand how to use them, so they're obviously terrified of the consequences of mishandling or misusing the technology. Besides that... the biggest issue with their handling is probably the fact that, for the most part, writers just. tend to forget to put individuality into their admech characters. Like. the reason the Mechanicus cast is so enjoyable is because each of them has their own viewpoint and methods on how to fulfill their goals, and we get to see them play off each other, as opposed to just knowing exactly how they'll respond to a situation because "oh admech want technology want fuck toaster want avoid tech heresy"
As a 40K tourist, I like the theming of the Admech, although I agree that bad character writing would be annoying. I haven't gotten that deep, so I haven't experienced it.
From an asthetics standpoint, I think Admech are the MOST 40K army there is. They stand out to me SO MUCH, and I think they look awesome. The ideas of tech stagnation and grimdark find their fulfilment in the Admech for me.
In the mechanicus omnibus alot of tech priests are wll fleshed out
The thing I love about the Mechanicus Is exactly what you see as their biggest flaw, which If the story will stay on this level forever, I must agree is a major flaw for the faction but let me share my thougheds here.
The Mechanicus a faction focused on the conversation of Knowledge being scared of expanding that Knowledge by the virtue of free thinking is some of the most intresting writen Faction flaw I have ever seen, it comes in such a ridiculus scale that only 40K can pull of. and all the talk about Heretechs and Techno Heresy being commited at the slightest thoughed is what holds back alot of the current characters, and that was is how it was until fairly recently until a single arch magos dominus entered the scene: Belasarius fucking Cawl the D facto Mary sue of the 40K universe in the best way possible. this dude by virtue of just being that fucking Influential and so intertwined with so much bullshit in the Imperium that he is officaly nearly untouchable commits Tech Heresy left right and center. and that for good reason, I belive that the focus on the Super religios AdMech is a setup so we can watch Cawl burn it all to the ground again, not in a "Lets all fall to chaos" kinda way but in a. "Ya know what we preach is kinda retarded" kinda way he is the persuit of knowledge out of your own drive, he is invention, he is the future of the Mechanicus that will see the Imperium rise to its once former glory and I belive we are on our way to see his friends comrads and allies shift into a greater focus in the story from now on
A personal reason why the mechanicum are interesting to me personally, despite their trappings, is the realization that those so reverent of tech irl... are just like them; selfserving despite their transhumanist ideals, regardless of what the stance of radical ideas in development or absurdly traditionalist principles, their goal for all mankind is lost by proxy of how their pursuit of a means to an end has only become forwarding said means.
it also ends up being why the named characters who show a disdaine for the greater mechanicum as a whole and still wish to provide for the greater whole either keep their traps shut for their sake, cant make any real change, or have to come to terms with distrust of their own faith and fellow faithful in favor of manipulation of those who became only cogs in the machine for themselves.
its why not just the protagonist of mechanicus is enjoyable, being a humane priest whos not easilyl blinded by power but blind to the truth of the void dragon, its why the dichotomy of scaevola and videx being a subversion of "the radical willing to corrupt themselves is more humane than the person following the rules". Scaevola has fully fallen for the means to an end mentality and sacrifices her allies and their well being over and over with 0 regard for others, even if theyre also of her cause, just to further the goals of her god bc it empowers her. Mean while, videx, the hardline traditionalist, at first spouting hypocritical and backwards rhetoric, has his origins and goals rooted in trauma from the necrons corrupting and destroying his forgeworld; his goals of crusadery, while superstitious, and done out of a fear of this happening to others.
The heretek DLC also has good character moments, capping off with the preamble to the final boss being said main xenarite mutineer trying to convince the MC, notably humane, to their side. Despite their failure to do so, its incredibly somber due to the protagonist agreeing with their disgust of the organizations flaws, and the main character tries to say they can still stop or meet the same damning fate as the necrons, before both men regret having to go to battle.
it shows an organization of engineer like figures whom horde power and innovative ideas, with the very few whom do desire better for their industry fighting a losing battle.... and its saddly close to reality. it shows that tech that can change everything in itself is still power, and power unfortunately corrupts even those devoted to elevating the quality of life of mankind.
Also, a good set of AdMech books is the "Of Mars" Trilogy, if you are interested.
I WAS WAITING FOR THIS
I believe you're right about them, though I think the main issue is they are very neglected as a faction story wise. They been so neglected that they've become a planet of hats archetype. And they really need to be flesh out more. Batum tis 🥁🥁
I recently read a story about a Gene Stealer cult uprising on a Forgeworld. It’s call “Day of Ascension,” I enjoyed it
Any chance of you covering the Carcharadons Astra or Minotaurs sometime soon?
My favorite part of the Ad Mech is just the whole concept of them if I'm being honest. These mysterious and enigmatic techno-priests being almost more alien and disturbing than the xenos they fight is so cool to me, and badass designs is a bonus. Plus they're just the embodiment of Warhammer, skull drones, servitors, gross, religious zealots.
Theres probably more to it but that's all I can put into words.
100% agree about them needing more dedicated stories and better ones though.
Praise the omniessiah.
I'd love a mechanicus-waifu.
Highest chance of getting genetics into cloning tubes.
ABD does some good writing for the 40k setting.
I think a book about the mechanicus could use it's natural flaws as an ambient plot point, to drive home the Emperor's anti religion Imperial Truth. It could be about how the flaws in treating machines through a religious lens rather than a secular and material one will lead to mistakes that will compound and build upon each other until you have absurd situations that bring them into conflicts. Like, imagine learning about the increasing demands of a machine spirit, when really the knowledge to activate and use a machine was simply lost, so they perform complex rites until they accidentally turn it on, and every time their rites fail they delve into further delusions and get more esoteric and absurd with each cycle of needing to activate it, until they purity spiral so hard they incorporate something that will make it impossible to activate.
In a lot of ways the AdMech are the most alien Imperium faction when they are doing their job. Even Sisters make sense when doing the "of Battle" part. However, when a Magos interacts with a machine it just looks wonky to people who spend their days figuring things out, troubleshooting or inventing. "Knowledge workers" would all probably be guilty of tech heresy. Many people don't relate to the idea of sacredness, much less apply that to a truck. The way the AdMech view their main job is very bizarre to their RL counterpart, even antithetical. Inquisition, Guard, even Space Marines, within the context of their primary active role, are more relatable.
An example, compare the conversation surrounding the restoration of Notre Dame and any other building repair. Massive expense to preserve historic value, appearance and function in the former. There were debates about using archaic materials. It is sacred and that sanctity is the primary concern, not getting back to serving mass as soon as possible. Yes, changes will be made with the repairs, but grudgingly. The Ad Mech think of a spaceship as sacred. Elon is blowing up new designs for experimental value.
I have always been a big cybernetics fan so the AdMEch have always been one of my favorite factions. You are absolutely correct if not written well they can be very one note and dry and very boring. I recommend the Gods of Mars Trilogy it is very AdMech centric everyone else are the side characters to the mission and story overall, it was written by Graham McNeill. I would enjoy a deep dive into the Void Dragon, as well as the AdMech Ark Ships, those things are cool and are very worthy of as deep of a dive as you can do. Great work love the channel
Listen to "Abomination" by A Vox in the Void.