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Skitarii Rangers.
A Skitarii Ranger of the Adeptus Mechanicus is a hunter of sentient creatures in the same way that tech-priests are hunters of knowledge -- the enemies of the Omnissiah in particular. Skitarii Rangers are the unstoppable cyborgs of the Skitarii Legions that do not rest until the bloody deed is done, for they are driven ever onward by the imperative to locate their foes and ensure their destruction.
They do this not by Drop Pod strikes launched from above, nor by sudden teleportation into the midst of the enemy, but by stalking their quarry over the course of solar weeks or even months until it can run no more. Once the designated target is in their crosshairs, the air fills with the thump and crackle of Galvanic Weaponry, even as the Skitarii continue their restless advance. The stink of electrocuted corpses is never far behind.
As with so much of the Cult Mechanicus' business, the truths of the Skitarii's creation are kept a close secret. Some are vat-grown or cloned, whilst others are repurposed from mind-wiped convicts or warriors handed over as punishment for failure or desertion. Regardless of origin, all find a fanatical faith in the Omnissiah soon after their inception. It is then that their true transformation begins.
Without exception the Skitarii have pallid bodies of puckered flesh and sutured cybernetics. Ceramic valves and adamantium sockets stud hard knots of translucent muscle. In imitation of the ancestor cohorts that first ground their limbs to stumps upon the dunes of Mars, the Skitarii cut off their lower legs and replace them with prostheses of inviolate alloy. Even the brains of these warriors are grotesque hybrids of grey matter and twisting neurocircuitry.
One who looked for consistency in Skitarii augmentations would be sorely disappointed. A soldier of the Mechanicus may have a punchcard skullslot and leather bellows for lungs, whilst at the same time housing quantum bioware in his brain.
It is often said that were one of these enhanced warriors to be rendered down, traces of nearly every element known to Humanity could be found somewhere in the remains. The tech-priests know this to be no exaggeration, for dissection is but one of the dark fates a Skitarius might undergo in order to satisfy his masters' predatory curiosity.
The most blessed of Skitarii pass a point called the "Crux Mechanicus," their body more machine than flesh. Those that reach this stage of mechamorphosis are known as "Skitarii Alphas."
Skitarii Rangers.
A Skitarii Ranger of the Adeptus Mechanicus is a hunter of sentient creatures in the same way that tech-priests are hunters of knowledge -- the enemies of the Omnissiah in particular. Skitarii Rangers are the unstoppable cyborgs of the Skitarii Legions that do not rest until the bloody deed is done, for they are driven ever onward by the imperative to locate their foes and ensure their destruction.
They do this not by Drop Pod strikes launched from above, nor by sudden teleportation into the midst of the enemy, but by stalking their quarry over the course of solar weeks or even months until it can run no more. Once the designated target is in their crosshairs, the air fills with the thump and crackle of Galvanic Weaponry, even as the Skitarii continue their restless advance. The stink of electrocuted corpses is never far behind.
As with so much of the Cult Mechanicus' business, the truths of the Skitarii's creation are kept a close secret. Some are vat-grown or cloned, whilst others are repurposed from mind-wiped convicts or warriors handed over as punishment for failure or desertion. Regardless of origin, all find a fanatical faith in the Omnissiah soon after their inception. It is then that their true transformation begins.
Without exception the Skitarii have pallid bodies of puckered flesh and sutured cybernetics. Ceramic valves and adamantium sockets stud hard knots of translucent muscle. In imitation of the ancestor cohorts that first ground their limbs to stumps upon the dunes of Mars, the Skitarii cut off their lower legs and replace them with prostheses of inviolate alloy. Even the brains of these warriors are grotesque hybrids of grey matter and twisting neurocircuitry.
One who looked for consistency in Skitarii augmentations would be sorely disappointed. A soldier of the Mechanicus may have a punchcard skullslot and leather bellows for lungs, whilst at the same time housing quantum bioware in his brain.
It is often said that were one of these enhanced warriors to be rendered down, traces of nearly every element known to Humanity could be found somewhere in the remains. The tech-priests know this to be no exaggeration, for dissection is but one of the dark fates a Skitarius might undergo in order to satisfy his masters' predatory curiosity.
The most blessed of Skitarii pass a point called the "Crux Mechanicus," their body more machine than flesh. Those that reach this stage of mechamorphosis are known as "Skitarii Alphas."