Editing Nobledark Imperium Imperial Society and Culture (section)

== Hereteks and the nature of "Tech-Heresy" ==

Tech-heresy is a complicated thing in the Imperium. The popular image of a heretek, even within the Cult Mechanicus, is of the Dark Mechanicus. But while all Dark Mechanicus are hereteks, not all hereteks are part of the Dark Mechanicus. Technically, a heretek is anyone who does not follow the Credo Omnissiah and rejects the authority of the Cult Mechanicus. Exactly what constitutes a rejection of the dogma of the Mechanicus is up to the Fabricator-General of Mars to decide, and is therefore subject to how reasonable the Fabricator-General decides to be that day. ‘Heretek’ is effectively a political designation, and encompasses everything from tech-priests trying to build Abominable Intelligences to simply tampering with a pre-existing design slightly more than is deemed acceptable.

Thus, there are groups designated 'hereteks' without leaving the Imperium or even being doctrinally heterodox, for reasons of rejecting the political authority of Mars. This happens for a variety of reasons and can take a variety of forms, from simply blithely ignoring some or all orders and pronouncements emanating from Mars to outright declaring secession. [[Nobledark_Imperium_Primarchs#Ferrus_Manus|Ferrus Manus]] even skirted the border of being declared a heretek in his later years, when he flexed his political muscles by questioning whether the logic of one Fabricator-General’s decisions was emotionally compromised. Ferrus was always loyal to the office of Fabricator-General, but that loyalty didn't necessarily extend to the person who held the office — especially one who was a fraction of his age and operating more on dogma than what was in the Mechanicus’ best interests. In this case, however, the Fabricator-General saw reason, backed down, and “merely” accused him of suffering brain degradation from his advanced age rather than picking a fight with one of the Mechanicus’ most revered figures (and possibly the second most influential individual in the Mechanicum after themselves). Doing so would be akin to the Catholic Pope of M1 asking a crusader king ruling a kingdom in the Levant what they had done for Christianity recently.

The secession of such ‘hereteks’ from the Mechanicus is often accompanied by a petition to join the Imperium as a subject of the Administratum, which places the organs of the Imperial state in something of a bind. On the one hand, the Charter of Unification — which bound Mars and Earth together at the beginning of the Great Crusade — clearly states that Mars has authority over all forge worlds; like the Imperium, the Mechanicus is not something you simply leave. However, there are precedents for worlds switching alignment between one member civilization and another, and prying a forge-world from the grasp of Mars — and thus reducing its near-stranglehold on the Imperial economy — is always a worthy goal in the eyes of the Administratum. Such conflicts are always fraught with peril and unpredictability; the red tape generated will tie up bureaucracies for decades, and even minor armed conflict is not unknown.

Generally, hereteks have a better survival rate on the fringes of the Imperium, where the Mechanicus cannot be bothered to find nor care about them. Many such figures end up here, including the members of the [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_Planets#Stillness|Strogg family of Stillness]]. Technically, [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_Planets#Savlar|the Savlar Order]] would also be considered hereteks, but that would also imply that they care about the dictates of Mars. Others get snapped up by Survivor Civilizations, who have more insulation from the retaliation of the Mechanicus due to their status, and thus can afford to patronize tech-priests, heretek or otherwise, who are out of favor with the ruling powers on Mars. The [[Nobledark_Imperium_Member_States#Hubworld_League|Hubworld League]] in particular saw a huge influx in refugees from the Legio Cybernetica after the Fabricator-General deemed their work too close to A.I. for comfort and demanded their constructs be destroyed. To the Legio Cybernetica this would be like asking them to euthanize their loyal and beloved pets, and they decided exile was preferable to compliance. That said, providing sanctum to hereteks in exchange for their knowledge is not always a safe practice; not every heretek is excommunicated for simple political reasons or inventing a twin-linked lasgun. Some have been exiled for a very, very good reason.

Some of the more… ambitious and liberal tech-priests (though thankfully none in the highest echelons of the Mechanicus) have gone so far as to advocate declaring the Hubworld League, the Interex, the kinebrach, and Eldar bonesingers hereteks. However, since all of these groups are not dependent on Mechanicus technology for survival, all this amounts to is the blustering of a paper tiger. Eldar bonesingers are especially hated by the Mechanicus, who see their beliefs as antithetical to nearly everything they believe in. Even more frustrating is the fact that the Mechanicus can’t even demonstrate how “righteous” their opinions are via intellectual superiority, as they can’t figure out how half of Eldar technology works.

It is not just hereteks who end up on the fringes of the Imperium. Many aspiring, Omnissiah-fearing tech-priests — who nevertheless tread the line between orthodoxy and heterodoxy — end up here as well. This is particularly true of those who are senior enough to be entrusted with the knowledge of how things ''actually'' work, but still feel the need to push the boundaries of orthodoxy. Given the [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_People#Void_Dragon|secret at the heart of the Mechanicum]] and how history has revealed the many, many tendrils the Void Dragon possesses throughout Mars, the inner circle of the Mechanicum hopes that keeping these boundary-pushing individuals as far away from Holy Mars as physically possible will reduce the chance of any creations of their being Void Dragon-inspired Trojan horses. And if their experimenting does get them killed, it’s less likely that anything of value will be lost with them.

The primary difference between “regular” hereteks and the Dark Mechanicus is that while hereteks may disagree with one or more of the decisions of the Fabricator-General, they are (for the most part) sane and their beliefs mostly overlap with that of Mars. The Dark Mechanicus completely reject anything resembling rules — Mars imposed or otherwise — and care only about pushing the limits of their work. It also goes without saying that most of them are aligned with Chaos in some fashion. And that they are also completely barking mad. A heretek might think the Mechanicum of Mars too uptight, but they wouldn’t go so far as to use daemon blood as engine lubricant. The Dark Mechanicus have no such compunctions.