Editing The Yaotl (section)

== Technology ==

The Mechanicus regards Yaotl technology as, like the Yaotl themselves, particularly unholy even in comparison to other xenos. While other races may concoct blasphemous technologies in their own right, Yaotl technology seems particularly close to the technology of man, twisted by alien minds towards a dark parody of the Omnissiah's teachings. Radical Magos who preach that studying the tech-abominations of the alien only serves to further knowledge of human technology through contrast form the vast bulk of Mechanicus who have dealt with Yaotl technology beyond destroying it, and among these near-heretekal communities the Yaotl are regarded as a particularly useful point of comparison. The Yaotl are widely held to not, unlike most other species, actually ''know'' in the sense that humans do at all, but rather to through some analogous process behave as though they do. This discovery can be traced back to Archmagos 10011010011101, who managed to partially decipher historical records predating the Age of Strife which posited that the Yaotl were an example of the ancient theory of a 'Synys Rom', a kind of theoretical machine-spirit that could carry out conversation to the point that it could be mistaken for a human but without at any point understanding the meaning of its own words. 

Yaotl technology in many aspects seems to operate via that same fundamental mechanisms as human tech and archeotech, but it is readily apparent to a learned observer where the xenos devices differ. Yaotl mechanics are immensely more efficient in terms of space and overall mass and power consumption, but whereas in human technology this is a result of refinement of form among the Yaotl this is the result of extremely chaotic conflict of multiple contradictory devices. Some aspects of their technology are completely inexplciable; energy appears are if from nowhere, components move in the opposite direction force should direct them to and stability emerges from chaos. 

The Yaotl are seemingly quite advanced in the manipulation of their own bodies, implanting biological or mechanical systems with the same casualness a Terran changes clothes. It is often difficult to tell where the organism ends and the machine begins. The Yaotl also infrequently display sweeping changes in their genome, usually during periods of high resource scarcity, that is undoubtedly artificial in origin; the high level of internal competition among the Yaotl however seems to have prevented any subspecies from diverging too far from the average Yaotl's genome. 
The Yaotl are also highly skilled in deceiving the senses and disrupting cogitators. In the presence of Yaotl raid fleets friends are mistaken for foes, enemies appear seemingly from nowhere, visions of targets are revealed to be illusions and machine spirits lash out in violent, random spasms. Against this nightmarish sensory assault, Imperial forces rely on superior numbers and coordination; should one or the other advantage be negated, defeat becomes unstintingly likely. 
Yaotl weaponry is a mix of crude and refined technologies. Most commonly employed are magnetically-propelled darts of small size but high mass, piston-propelled piercing or blunt weaponry, bolts of sheer electrical charge or streams of particles that erode flesh, ceramite or void-shield with equal ease. Yaotl doctrine generally emphasizes infrequent crushing blows, delivered in large numbers from an unexpected direction. Magnetics in particular are a superficiality of Yaotl engineering; their ships primarily propel themselves through anomalous mono-directional magnetism or by magnetically bottling and expelling inert gas. 
The most remarkable abomination of Yaotl tech, however, is their interstellar drives. Though lacking in knowledge of the Warp the Yaotl seem to have devised an esoteric method through which two points in space can be joined and a passage burrowed between the two. Moving one of these 'gates' at sub-light speeds, the Yaotl gain near instantaneous access from one end of the gate to another. Manufacturing these gates requires absurd amounts of energy, and takes place in cyclopean industrial complexes the size of small moons - how the Yaotl manage to coordinate to the degree necessary to construct such immense structures remains fiercly debated amongst the Ordo Xenos, with many believing that some other race must be responsible. If true, the implications of this alliance - that the Yaotl are mere pawns or even weapons of another, hidden threat - are chilling.

Thankfully, the Yaotl appear to be relatively stagnant in terms of technological development; what historical records we have show that, at least since the mid Age of Strife, their capabilities are fundamentally unchanged. This is most likely due to the unsocial nature of the Yaotl resulting in all discoveries made dying with their creator, only to be recreated by the next alpha to attain sufficient intelligence to recreate their predecessors progress.