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Auxilia Myrmidon

The Auxilia Myrmidon are a militant branch within the ranks of the Adeptus Mechanicus of the Imperium who are better known as siege engineers or war savants.

The origins of the organization are traced to pre-Imperium times as they stood as part of the armed forces of the Mechanicum of Mars. According to legend, they were reported to had entered into the Calixis Sector during the Angevin Crusade for reasons of their own. Their duty was the protection of the Cult Mechanicus strongholds within that region of space. Their base of operations within that area is within the Lathe system which serves as a mustering ground for the Myrmidons who often are dispatched in small bands to reinforce the defences of the Mechanicus as well as to seek out and destroy their enemies. Whilst they are largely independent, they are linked to the Archmagos of Lathe who serve as gurantors of their dominion.

The Myrmidons are noted as being expert killers as well as weapon masters and destroyers. They are often sent at the behest of the Archmagos of Forge Worlds to accompany Explorator during their expeditions of dangerous sectors of space as well as aid in the capture of the most dangerous of Xenos specimens. Some of the members of the Auxilia Myrmidon are also sent on missions involving renegade Techpriests who are accused of the foulest of techno-heresies and are thus targeted with extreme prejudice. To aid them in their tasks, some of these Myrmidons are known to carry ancient and powerful weapons that are relics of the distant past.

Members of the Auxilia Myrmidon are noted as being towering figures who possess numerous hardpoints for weapons of arcane design. They are great war makers with knowledge of siege craft, devastation and weaponry making them without any peer that can match their abilities. Whilst they are few in number, they are heavily augmented with the most powerful of their ranks being nearly impossible to kill. They are a source of fear and awe amongst the worshipers of the Machine God and are cybernetically reconstructed to a level beyond that of Enginseers and precepts.

Ranks

Secutor
Myrmidon
Centurius
Tribune / Magnus
Magos Militant

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Secutor

Secutors are members of military sects and formations within the Adeptus Mechanicus that devote themselves to the art of warfare with a fervour other tech-priests normally reserve for tinkering with ancient technology. To them, the protection of the technological mysteries of the machine cult, from those who would misuse them, is a far greater concern than anything else, including human lives and the other concerns of the Mechanicus. Huge creatures of steel, bedecked in powerful and sometimes ancient weaponry, they embody the military potential of the Mechanicus in the arts of siege warfare, destruction and death. Secutors often have extensive martial enhancements such as pistol-armed mechadendrites, brutal close combat weapons and the special machinator array that vastly enhances their bulk, armour up their internal organs and increase the ability for weapon systems to interface with their implants. A primary example is the Auxilia Myrmidon, a defense force of tech-priests traveling with technological crusades of the Mechanicus to protect Adeptus holdings on the worlds they settle. Another example is the Divine Light of Sollex, a cult of martial tech-priests unique to the Calixis Sector.

Some tech-priests become secutors because of a hatred of tech-heretics and love of war and conflict, while others are fascinated by the intellectual challenges of warfare, strategy or perhaps a love of weaponsmithing. Others, of course, merely use the path of the Secutor as a mean to further their political power, not minding extensive grafts of siege weaponry to their body if it means coming ahead in the Adeptus. At the behest at their Archmagos masters of the Forge World they hail from, Secutors are sent along with explorator fleets, Imperial Guard regiments and Rogue Traders to retrieve ancient technology, often where such retrieval is made extremely dangerous by the presence from xenos or Chaos forces, and the martial skill of a Secutor is needed to ensure the protection of tech-treasures.