“The subtleties of human society are often dismissed by our brothers and sisters, but these mysteries too tick in accordance with the ordered principles of the Omnissiah. Like a fine chronograph, the human mind clicks and grinds in complex patterns set out in His image. And like a cogitator or a manufactorum or a voidship, this machine must be understood---and mastered---by some Priests of our order, so that the grand Quest for Knowledge can continue.”
–Factor Jhuston, to his disciples
Many members of the Adeptus Mechanicus often choose to ignore the niceties of Imperial society, cleaving instead to their own esoteric, arcane practices. The Priests of Mars, however, must ofttimes negotiate, wheedle, and bargain with the flesh-flapping and uncouth individuals who hold themselves highly in the Imperium, that they might further the Quest for Knowledge. Within the Lathes, the Magos devised a common solution to this problem, through the use of specialization. The Lathes trains their Magos Metallurgicus to refine the secrets of the true flesh, Magos Alchemys to create mystic unguents, and even Magos Biologos to unwrap the riddle of the helix; therefore, the Magos of the Lathes determined that they would utilize specialized personnel here as well. Instead of wasting the valuable cognitive-cycles of its highest members, the Lathes instead trains a small portion of its initiates to read the muddy and inscrutable outputs generated by outsiders as well as the pure, precise language of the machine. The Factors of the Lathes are ambassadors to the wider Sector, used when the Lathe Worlds find the most expedient path is to deal with the uninitiated on their own fleshy terms.
Myth has it that a forgotten Mech-Deacon created this class, in the wake of a cataclysmic misunderstanding that began with a Scintillan Priest mistaking a particularly venerable Adept of Mars for a malfunctioning cogitator, and ended with several orbital bombardments. Since then, the Factors of the Lathes have served for centuries with distinction as ambassadors between the Lathe Worlds and the rest of the Calixis Sector. While the Factors are not loved by all members of the Cult Mechanicus, they nonetheless efficiently bring about the desired results, and thus are supported and employed heavily within the Lathes. Those chosen undergo decades of intense training and physical modification in the Hesh Protocol Academies, that they might become optimized instruments of the Omnissiah. As a result, not only do Factors of the Lathes lack the typical look of a Tech-Priest, having shed their bulky augmetics in favor of subtle but no less potent equivalents, but they are also capable of regurgitating vast amounts of data that most of their brethren would deem worthless. Such information ranges from a clinically thorough knowledge of the political history of the Calixis Sector to truly inscrutable subjects, such as the how to properly input and cycle nutrients when meeting with the hive nobles of various planets.
To be a Factor is to accept that imperfection itself can be a part of a perfect plan. The Omnissiah’s purity may be found in steel and circuitry, but a Factor must also be able to understand, and even appreciate, what he sees as the inferior workings of bone, blood, and tissue. Though Factors are often as heavily augmented as their brethren, they bear few visible signs of their metallic ascension. Their augmetics are instead crafted with loving precision to resemble flesh; usually the Factor conducts this work himself, as few others within the Priesthood of Mars would deign or desire to make such things. Mechadendrites are kept small, subtle, and hidden in clothes, or able to collapse into sub-dermal compartments when not needed. Few Factors permanently incorporate larger mechadendrites into their bodies, but some of these ambassadors find servo-arms and other artificial limbs too useful for their tasks within the Machine Cult to forgo entirely, and thus have studied the difficult art of attaching and removing their external augmetics as required.
Whether a Factor revels in his unique position or bemoans the travails that it entails, all ambassadors of the Lathes maintain a certainty of purpose. Time and time again, the Factors have been critical to the successes of the Adeptus Mechanicus of the Calixis Sector, moving one Lord Governor to support a purge of a unique new form of tech-heresy, or securing promises of assistance from a Rogue Trader whose resources can reach a becalmed Explorator Fleet in the Koronus Expanse. Certain Factors are even involved with the Inquisition, using these invaluable connections to further the causes of the dread Lords Dragon, and some become Acolytes of Inquisitors who value their subtlety, or simply find their company less grating than that of others from the Martian Priesthood. Further, while their order does not specialize in such things, Factors can be excellent infiltrators, as each is a fully trained Tech-Priest in his own right, whose form betrays no overt signs of its true nature. While their apparent lack of augmentation is usually used to put others at ease, several Factors have become embroiled in political and even military conflicts, catching foes unawares thanks to their appearance.
As they are not immediately recognizable as Priests of the Machine Cult, Factors of the Lathes often signify their office via their garb or other ornamentation. They usually wear heavily adorned Mechanicum robes, and sometimes even have shifting electoos embedded in their skin, emblazoned with the sign of the Cogwheel, visible when they wish to state their allegiance but vanishing if they need to act more covertly.
Becoming a Factor of the Lathes[]
Calixis Sector Tech-Priests chosen to become Factors train on Lathe-Hesh, where their bodies and minds are shaped so that they can fulfil the function for which they have been selected. This training and augmentation (or modification of existing augmetics) can take a highly variable span of time---some Factors pass through the Protocol Academy within years, while others take decades to integrate the subtle etiquette sub-routines needed for proper interaction with the myriad factions of the Calixis Sector.
Required Career: Tech-Priest
Alternate Rank: Rank 1 or Higher (0 XP)
Benefits: Fabricated Flesh (Trait)
Characteristic Advancements: The Agent may purchase Fellowship Advances at 100 (Simple), 250 (Intermediate), 500 (Trained), and 750 (Expert).