Arcanum Servitoris – Servitors in Dark Heresy

"You shall not chain the Machine to the body;
But chain the body to the Machine."

Plague Servitor
(Creature)

"…++CORPUS FINIS+PESTIS MAGNUS+SANCTUS FERRUGO+POTESTAS MORBUS+DEATH TO THE ENEMIES OF THE PLAGUE MACHINE++CORPUS FIN…"
-Repeating transmission, the ghost factories of Silentia L

When a plague, later identified as a strain of the malefic Nurgle's Rot, broke out on the forge world of Silentia L and began to decimate the planet's indetured work force, the ruling Magos' initial reaction was to simply increase the output of their reclaimation facilities and convert the bodies of the plague victims into servitor drones to preserve productivity.

The gravity of their mistake was only later discovered by the Inquisitorial investigation team, who confronted the final result of the Magos' foolishness, in the form of the daemonic plague servitors who now roamed the ruins of Silentia.

After the cleansing of Silentia the threat was first thought eradicated, going to be confined to the secret annals of the Ordo Malleus. But before long it became clear that the ruinous powers would not so easily be robbed of their newly crafted toys. Between the initial outbreak of the plague and the planet's cleansing many a shipment had left the planetary spaceports and orbital docks – among them several shippings of servitors.

Plague Servitor

Movement: 2/4/6/12
Wounds: 20

Skills: Psynicience
Talents: None.
Traits: Cybernetic Cloud of Flies*, Daemonic (TB 10), Dark Sight, Daemonic Presence, Fear 2, From Beyond, Infected Wounds, Machine 4, Natural Weapon (Corrupted Cybernetic Attachments), Unnatural Strength (x2), Warp Instability

*Cybernetic Cloud of Flies: The plague servitor is constantly surrounded by the buzzing cloud of flies that is the trademark of Nurgle's chosen servants. The flies impose a -10 penalty on the WS of characters engaging the plague servitor in melee. Other than the common variety, the flies surrounding the servitors are also heavily laced with corrupted cybernetics. Because of this, their presence interferes with electronic sights and sensor systems and characters gain no advantages against plague servitors from sights attached to ranged weapons or from using auspexes/scanners.

Armour: None (Head 4, Arms 4, Body 4, Legs 4)
Weapons: Unarmed (1d10+10 I; Primitive).
Gear: Internal micro-bead (to taunt Techpriests only).
Threat Rating: Malleus Minoris.

Sniper Skull
(Creature/Equipment)

"Imperial stormtrooper detachment, 6th Alchysian Guards Dragoons engaged.
All targets eliminated.
Own losses minimal: 2 Praetorians damaged, 16 Skitarii killed, Adept Frosch severely wounded by plasma discharge.
Cortex of stormtrooper sergeant retrieved intact.
Mission sucessful.
Praise the Omnissiah."
-Report, Secutor Maximus Claudius XII Rho

Rumour has it that when a renegade Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus was assassinated by an agent of the Vindicare temple of the Officio Assassinorum, a cabal of Secutors, who had been tasked with performing the same deed, delivered not one, but two bodies to their secretive masters.

Shortly thereafter the first sniper skull is said to have appeared.

Straddling the line between conventional servitor and diminutive servoskull, the sniper skull is a highly evolved cybernetic assassination device in use by the Adeptus Mechanicus.

A light suspensor-borne frame carries a single weapon of suitable design for the inherently unstable platform, such as a long-las, needle rifle, or a low recoil pistol of some sort.

Controlling this contraption is the living cortex of a former marksman, mind-wiped of all but his shooter's reflexes, and directly wired into advanced targetting arrays to provide unprecedented guidance and precision in eliminating its assigned victims.

Thankfully for the enemies of the Adeptus Mechanicus these floating killers remain exceedingly rare. Their expensive and arcane construction and the scarcity of suitable supplies for the cortical units prevent their use against any but the most important targets, which the Magos would like to see eliminated without committing their prodigious military strength.

Sniper Skull

Movement:–
Wounds:5

Skills: Awareness +20, Concealment +20, Dodge +10, Silent Move +20
Talents: Weapon training as applicable for mounted weapon, crack shot, deadeye shot, dual shot, marksman, mighty shot, sharpshooter
Traits: Dark sight, Hoverer 5, Machine 4, Size (Scrawny)
Armour: None (Head 4)
Weapons: Unarmed (1d10-3 I; Primitive), long las or needle rifle or any one pistol (the ranged weapon is fitted with a red-dot laser sight and a silencer).
Gear: Internal micro-bead (to receive/relay instructions only).
Threat Rating: Hereticus Majoris.

Cost: 60,000 and up
Availability: Only Magos

Re-awakened Servitor
(Background Package/Elite Advance)

"Unit D/6: Proceed to the plasma venting chamber of enginarium II."
"No."
-Internal vox protocol, intra-system trader Days of Glory V

For the Priesthood of Mars there have always been two sources for the fleshy raw materials needed in the construction of servitors – purpose-bred or -vatgrown bodies from the workbenches of the Biologis on the one hand and the other the bodies of their enemies, traitors, criminals and undesirables, mind-wiped and given new and clean purpose as thoughtless servants to the machine-god.

Mind-wiping, like many of the arcane and complex processes and rituals employed by the techpriests, is not fully understood any longer by all of those tasked with performing it. Mistakes get made, and the spirits in the great neuro-scourges and synaptic purgers may grow listless and recalcitrant, unwilling to do the Magos' bidding. It has been known thus for servitors to regain a semblance of their former selves, the memories of the men they once were slowly resurfacing and intruding upon the supposedly clean slates of their newly programmed minds.

In most cases, the impact of such memories are minor and neglectable, the servitors merely develop quirks, movements or – if programmed for verbal interaction – patterns of speech somewhat reminiscient of their previous lifes. At other times, the changes – though often gradual – are not so easily ignored. Such cases are rare and far between, but some servitors regain not only mannerisms but a degree of the very sentience that should have been burned from the cortexes.

Adeptus Mechanicus law calls for such servitors to be put down immediately. Deactivation being the only fit response to this kind of heretical malfunction.

Some Inquistors, though, have been known to have their own use for these re-awakened servitors.

As a background package:
You were transformed into a servitor due to some transgression against the Adeptus Mechanicus or in an effort to reclaim your flesh after suffering extensive injuries.
Restrictions: Psykers are rarely transformed into servitors in the first place and their re-awakening is unheard of.
Cost: 300 xp
Effects:
Reduce your Intelligence and Fellowship characteristics by 1d10 each
You gain 1d10 Insanity Points
You become susceptible to the effects of the Binary Chatter talent
You gain the Machine (4) trait
You gain the Natural Weapons (bionic attachments) trait
You gain the Chem Geld talent
You gain either one bionic arm of good quality or bionic locomotion of good quality
You gain an internal micro-bead
You treat Tech-Use as a basic skill

As an elite advance:
You may take the Re-awakened Servitor background package as an elite advance if you should ever be sentenced to servitor-dom during the course of play. In this case, you have to burn 1 Fate Point, while the XP-cost of the package decreases to 100 xp.
 

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