RED ELF
Techmarines of the Space Marines

Schooled by the Adeptus Mechanicus in the mysterious rites of the machine, Techmarines are essential for the survival of any Chapter of Space Marines. It is they who tend to the spirits of the weapons and wargear of the Chapter, ministering to the technological secrets that bind man and machine into an instrument of the Emperor's wrath. Deep within their machine temples they forge weapons and armour for their Battle Brothers with great reverence and skill.

Techmarines and the Adeptus Mechanicus

Techmarine Harkus of the Ultramarines Capter in modified power armour, complete with Argus pattern power couplings, a servo-arm designated for tank repairs and a Lucius pattern power axe.

IA ref. 5667/x/
Standard issue servo-arm fitted with solder burner for rejoining sundered tank tracks and welding ruptured hulls.

IA ref. 4322/p/
Servo-skulls equipped with power drill, slave link and auto-callipers.

The workings of technology and the mysteries surrounding the inner secrets of machines is knowledge that has long since passed from the Imperium of Man. A great catastrophe wiped away much that was once common knowledge and reduced a great deal of Humanity to barbarism. What little remains, is debased, mythical or has become such unthinking repetition that its true purpose has long since been forgotten. These scraps, gathered obsessively over the millennia are jealously gathered together on Mars by the Adeptus Mechanicus, the devotees of the Machine God, the Omnissiah. Only those privy to such knowledge, however rudimentary it may be, can hope to utilise any form of technology, and such individuals are rare indeed.

Ancient pacts sworn between the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Adeptus Astartes allow the Space Marines to send a proportion of their warriors to Mars to train with the Adeptus Mechanicus and begin the long, arduous journey of becoming a priest of the Machine God. Without the passing on of such revered knowledge, the late of the Space Marines would be sealed, for only by such means may the weapons and wargear of the Adeptus Astartes be maintained. The role of the Techmarine is to minister to the spirits of the machines in the care of their Chapter, the weapons, the armour and all the equipment in daily use by the Space Marines.

The young Space Marines train for many years on Mars, swearing powerful oaths and spending their every waking hour in deepening their understanding of the Omnissiah. They learn the correct rites of activation, maintenance and how to call forth or placate the wrath of the war-spirits of the machines they will be entrusted with.

When they return to their Chapter, they are changed individuals, aloof and mysterious, with an unusual dichotomy of loyalties. They are Techpriests of the Machine God and Battle Brothers of their Chapter. This division of loyalties causes the majority of Techmarines to stand apart from their Chapter, becoming strange figures of awe and power. The knowledge they possess is held in great esteem by their Battle Brothers and they recognise and acknowledge their skills in the arcane sciences pertinent to the dark secrets of technology. Though they possess great skill and knowledge regarding the mystical science of machines, they are warriors first and foremost and are often in the forefront of many of the fiercest battles. Should a vehicle or artefact of technology be lost, it is the Techmarines who will fight hardest to retrieve it, and as hard, if not harder, than their brethren fighting to recover a fallen comrade.

Codex Roles of the Techmarines

Within their Chapter, Techmarines are arcane engineers, maintaining and ministering to the needs of the Chapter's arms, armour and vehicles. Each Chapter has its own weapon shops, foundries and artisans. Some Chapters honour long-standing agreements with forge worlds that supply them with starships and weapons which the Techmarines subsequently modify to meet their own requirements. This practice varies from Chapter to Chapter, but few Space Marine Chapters have the facilities to build their own spacecraft, most being constructed in the shipyards of Jupiter and Mars. A notable exception to this are the Ultramarines, who maintain extensive construction yards in orbit around Calth, one of the planets within their realm of Ultramar. Marine armourers are highly skilled, practical craftsmen and their chief weapon-smith is the Master of the Forge; an honoured title and a position of great respect. All of the Space Marines' armourers work within an ancient tradition of design and decoration unique to their own Chapter and the work of a fine artificer is incredibly prized.

Before battle, the Techmarines ritually prepare their charges for war, raising the anger of the war-spirits of the weapons and vehicles that are being employed in whatever coming conflict they are to take part in. They have a strong bond with the vehicles and weapons they issue to the Space Marines. Treating The equipment as though it belongs to them and the Space Marines are merely borrowing it temporarily. Once deployed for battle, the Techmarines and their servitor thralls ritually bless the weapons and tanks of the force, uncaging the war-spirits and allowing them to see the targets of their wrath. Together with a retinue of cybernetically altered servitors, the Techmarines can also effect battlefield repairs on vehicles, healing the damage done to armour and rekindling the war-spirit that it might fight once more. At battle's end, each wound done to the vehicles and wargear issued by the Techmarines is reverently repaired and recorded in the Litanies of Battle, and it is not uncommon for some vehicles to remain in service for many hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The oldest known serving vehicle is a Rhino belonging to the Salamanders, known and honoured as Nocturne's Hammer, said to have carried the great Primarch, Vulkan. It is a position of great honour to minister to such holy artefacts and those Techmarines who honour such revered pieces of technology are accorded great respect by their peers.

Equipment and Armour

Look to your battlegear and it will protect you

We guard it with our lives

Your armour is your Soul, and your Soul's dedication

The soul of the warrior is the shield of Humanity

Honour the craft of death

Only the Emperor is higher in our devotion

Honour the battlegear of the Dead
We ask only to serve

- Part of the Warrior Catechism of Worship
as taught by the Chapter`s Techmarines.

Strike the first rune upon the engine's casing employing the chosen vessels. Its tip should be anointed wilh the oil of engineering using the proper incantation when the auspices are correct.

Strike the second rune upon the engine's casing employing the arc-tip of the power driver.

If the second rune is not good, a third rune may be struck in a like manner to the first. This is done according to the true ritual laid down by the Great Engineer.

A libation should be offered.

If this sequence is properly observed the engine may be brought to full activation by depressing the large panel marked "ON".

- Runic Spaceflight - An introduction:
Naval Flight Manual W110E

The beast of metal endures longer than the flesh of men. Those that tend the beasts of metal must labour long to lean its ways, for a single beast must suffer the mastership of many men until ready to shed its vorpal coils. Those that seek apprenticeship must attend closely to the runes of mobilisation, the rites of maintenance, and the words-of-power that describe the parts of a beast. Nor must they neglect the tutelage of the Adeptus Prefects, nof the casting of the ptoper roboscopes.

- Runic Mechanicus: An Introduction.

"The Machine is strong. We must purge the weak, hated flesh and replace it with the blessed purity of metal. Only through permanence on we truly triumph, and only through the Machine can we find victory. Punish the flesh. Iron in mind, iron in body."

Paulian Blantar

Techmarines employ a wide variety of esoteric tools and equipment not normally issued to their brethren. Many Techmarines are equipped with a servo-arm, a specialised auxiliary arm grafted to the Techmarine's armour and linked to his neural network. These arms can be fitted with a multitude of lastorches, vibrosaws and power drills or any number of arcane tools that aid the Techmarine in his battlefield role of vehicle maintenance and repair. Their gauntlets are also often heavily modified to include more delicate tools or even a limited form of mechadendrites. Many Techmarines have the organic components of their hands removed and replaced with augmetic prosthetics that allow them a greater connection to whatever machine they are ministering to, some even going as far as to incorporate mechanical interfaces that allow the Techmarine to commune directly with the Machine Spirit.

In deference to their training on Mars and the close bond that exists between Techmarines and the Adeptus Mechanicus, Techmarines traditionally repaint their armour red, though one shoulder guard will always remain in their Chapter's colours.

Techmarines understand better than anyone the risks inherent in angering the war spirit of battle gear and are careful to ensure that their Chapter symbol remains clear and unobscured. Though the Iron Priests of the Space Wolves, despite their training on Mars, exhibit a fiercely independent streak by retaining their original armour colour throughout.

Iron Priests of the Space Wolves

The Iron Priests are masters of the forge and armoury, their expertise with matters technical marking them apart from their brothers of the Chapter. They fulfil the same function for the Space Wolves as Techmarines do for Codex Chapters. Like Techmarines they spend many years on Mars training with the Adeptus Mechanicus where they learn the innermost secrets of arcane mechanics. Like all those steeped in the mysteries of technology, the Iron Priests stand apart from their brethren though this is especially true of the Space Wolves who view such knowledge as a dark and frighteningly arcane science. The Iron Priests are the keepers and guardians of the venerable Dreadnoughts who dwell in the deepest cavern of the Fang, the Space Wolves fortress, monastery on Fenris. They ensure that their ancient brethren are woken only in times of great need and honour their undisturbed slumbers. Without their expertise, the Fang would crumble and the Chapter itself die.

TECHMARINE SEVANO TOMASIN
OF THE ULTRAMARINES

As is typical of the Ultramarines, their Techmarines exactly follow the letter of the Codex when it comes to their training and methodology. The rigid adherence to the holy tome of their Primarch instils a dogmatic belief in following the words written thousands of years ago without deviation in the Chapter, and even more so in the Ultramarine Techmarines. Sevano Tomasin was no exception to this, and was a faithful servant of the Cult Mechanicus and expert in the field of demolitions. His service to the Emperor was very nearly cut short on Ichar IV when a rampaging Tyranid Carnifex ripped apart the Land Raider he was driving. Alien bio-plasma flooded the interior of the vehicle and detonated its ammunition in a huge explosion that wrecked the tank and killed the monstrous alien. Determined not to lose his centuries of wisdom, the Chapter's Apothecaries were able to save his life, Tomasin himself directing the replacement of his legs and right arm with augmetic component he had forged many years ago. His expertise in demolitions came to the fore during the Ultramarines mission to the planet of Thracia when the Fourth Company was given the task of destroying a number of strategically vital bridges. Though the mission was ultimately a success, it was to be Tomasin's last, as he was killed in action by a direct hit from an artillery shell that cooked off the melta charges he was in the process of arming.

PAULLIAN BLANTAR
IRON FATHER
OF THE IRON HANDS

The Iron Hands Chapter of Space Marines eschew the codex practice of having Chaplains to administer to the spiritual needs of their Battle Brothers, relying instead on Iron Fathers, a position akin to an amalgamation of Chaplain and Techmarine. The Iron Hands have a deep-rooted hatred - and some might whisper fear - of the weaknesses of the flesh, seeing its frailty and ultimate decay as the greatest danger to Humanity. To them, the flesh is weak and must be replaced wherever possible. The Iron Fathers fuel this hatred with rousing speeches and fiery oratory, proclaiming that the example their Primarch set them is the only true path. The Iron Hands have a reverence for the machine that far outstrips that of most other Chapters, and they have a much closer relationship with the Adeptus Mechanicus than is usual.

Paullian Blantar served in the Kaargul clan company, a warrior with a natural affinity for the mysteries of technology. The Iron Fathers of his Chapter policed his kinship with the spirits of machines early on and he was sent to Mars to begin his initiation into the Cult of the Machine. Within decades he rose to become the pre-eminent Iron Father of his clan company. A mentor and tutor to a great many aspirants of the Chapter. His expertise in the field of bionic augmentations was unparalleled and his skills in this area profoundly affected the direction of the Chapter. Blantar himself performed the necessary surgery on many recruits and was later to perform the augmentations that saved the life of his clan leader, Brannus, after Dark Eldar Haemonculi horrifically mutilated him following the Battle of Kaladrone.

His own hatred for the weaknesses of flesh was just as great and for the entirety of his life as an Iron Father, he ritually scarred what little flesh remained of his body until, towards the last years of his life, there was almost nothing organic remaining of his body, save his brilliant, mechanically attuned hrain. As with most Iron Hands, it was his fervent wish to one day he interred within the sacred sarcophagus of one of the ancient and revered Dreadnoughts.