Some works in progress

[MarcoSkoll]

Okay, not much of this so far, but my brother and I are throwing around ideas for another warband for him.

We're working around three characters to start. The first two are, unless minds are changed, going to be a Recongregator and his acolyte. Nothing that particularly needs special attention.

The third however, I would like your ideas on.

<extract begins>

... to describe him? Well, I can start by telling you that his appearance is beyond unnerving. As a Priest of the Machine God, mechanical augmentation is to be expected, but he is even less man than most. Standing around two metres tall, his body is knitted together from little but black electro-muscle, and his face from an utterly expressionless mask. He hides none of this from view, shunning the robes one would normally expect, and even though it can be argued that the majority of the Mechanicus have little need for clothing, actually seeing one in such a form is disquieting.

In spite of my best efforts, I cannot decipher his exact age, but given what appears to be the total replacement of his body, a highly conservative estimate would be half a millennium.

He has been in my service, as much as it is possible to say that about a Tech-Adept and their strictly enforced independence, since the Alves Strike, and has managed to defy any explanation since.
His only cited interest is the retrieval of "The Object", an item which he cannot be pressed for any information on nor any of the facts relating to his pursuit of it. What I have seen of his hunt has been recorded in a separate file (refer to H5n.8b4-776.awt) but the word disjointed seems inadequate to describe the pieces of the puzzle. They avoid conforming to any legend I have heard of in my long years.

I have been uncertain for some years now that even he knows what he seeks. His obsessive augmentation seems to have robbed him of all but a few scraps of free will, with his mechanical nature terminally enslaving him into the hunt. It may be that he simply cannot stop his pursuit, even should he succeed.

It is not something I would say to him for fear of running afoul of some ancient sub-routine within his mind, but his quest to become one with the machine has clearly killed all but the last echoes of what began the journey.

It appears he will remain with me for at least the foreseeable future, as he continues to describe me as his "optimum chance of retrieval". But given that his talents are of great value to a man of my work, I do not regret the fact. He is not without ...

<extract ends>

A bit unusual, but I don't really want to be too restrictive and deny creative freedom. But so far, although I've had some input, he seems to have been developing the idea quite well on his own*.
*I will admit to being the author of the above passage (based on his work so far). But that's because I tend to be better at writing that sort of thing. (And by virtue of some gross clerical error or something, I manage to technically be a published author.)

[Flinty]

Interesting idea for an Ad Mech - I assume he has ''become'' the acolyte due to his obsessive hunt for the mysterious artefact.

I've always wondered what would be the results of continual bionic enhancement - Im sure bionic brains can be infected with a virus/malignant subroutine or other cybernetic gubbins. Perhaps this individual has reached the boundary between humanity and A.I perhaps; how much, if any, of his organic brain is left, and if replaced does that remove human conciousness to any degree, is there such a thing as a soul that separates human from construct?

All in all, nice to see a move away from the 'Terminator' man/machine view of the Ad Mech, looking forward to seeing more.

[MarcoSkoll]

Interesting idea for an Ad Mech - I assume he has ''become'' the acolyte due to his obsessive hunt for the mysterious artefact.

Not exactly. The acolyte is a separate character, but the Techpriest's "over-enhancement" has inadvertently destroyed most of his free will, leaving him with the belief that he needs the Inquisitor as part of his pursuit of the Object- so he has become something of a willing servant to the Inquisitor.

how much, if any, of his organic brain is left

No-one knows exactly, but there's any, it's not much.

~~~~~

The idea that seems to be going at the moment is that he'll have no dedicated weapons, or even much combat skill - but as he's inhumanly strong and tough, as well as possessed of some very substantial mechadendrites and very little concern for anything that he doesn't need to complete his mission, he's still going to be worth avoiding a fight with.

[Swarbie]

This guy sounds very cool, and sort of like what I imagine what would happen if a techpriest went "too far" with their augmentation; he is stuck in a particular mental programme and thus is unable to function normally, becoming obssessed with fulfilling the purpose of whatever plan he is following.

[Kaled]

You've included a good description of what he looks like, but I'm curious about how your brother is going to translate it into a model?

[MarcoSkoll]

I'm curious about how your brother is going to translate it into a model?

There's an easy answer to that one - it's not going to be him translating it into a model.
He's lucky enough to have a birthday this time of year and one of the people who owes him a present can make such a model.

In simple terms, I'll be doing some sculpting work for him.
And that reminds me. I need to fix those painting mistakes, then get pictures of the Spring Conclave models up in the P&M forum.