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The Machine Spirit, what people think it is.

The machine spirit inhabits any and every technological device. If a device has moving parts it is in a way alive and thus has its own soul. Alien artifacts have thier own machine spirits but they are perves abominations to be destroyed.
Some machines have a stronger machine spirit than others, some have machine spirits so strong they can operate themselves.


What the Machine Spirit is.

Computer software. Any machine with a processor and software running on it has a 'machine spirit' this can get advanced enough to communicate with you. Programming is talking to a machine spirit. Most items do not have such a spirit, but those that do show very real effects such as automated gunnery on a Land Raider.
Any machine without running software does not have a machine spirit, but due to maintenance routines and quirks of design people tend to think it does.

Muddying the waters.

1. Ork weaponry is so crude it often shouldn't work, and part of the operating capacity comes from the ork and not the device.

2. We 'believe' in the Machine Spirit today in a poetic sense every time a supermarket trolley "has a mind of its own" or when we follow such phenomena as jinxed ships.

3. The Necrons have a lot of influence over elements of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and if they are not machine spirits nothing is.

Of course its just superstition what is the suit of armor going to lock itself up to where it cant be moved with you still in it just because you repainted the entire thing i dot think so

it will if you paint it in certain colors.

purple and green(barney is an affront to the omnissaih)

Yellow and red(the angry marines are the only ones who can get away with this combo because their armor is scared of them)

Pink and fluffy(bunnies are not condoned by the mechanicus)

I like some of the older suits i wish gw still produced some of them

crazykiwi wrote:I cant remmember but isn't it said that power armour has a machine spirit and thats why they try to keep the armour true to its colors?

Confirmed; source is an Index Astartes bit about Gray Knights and the Deathwatch.

It does not exclude the fact that this may just be baseless superstition, or a rather symbolic ritual designed to paint the wearer as a virtuous man that upholds traditions, or the casual generic term that the Imperium uses to designate anything containing small, moving parts or precision electronics (pretty much any tool more complex than an axe or hammer), or even the sincere belief, spawned from equally sincere lack of understanding, that there is indeed a spirit that makes technology work.

This is, of course a speculation on the way people who *aren't* AdMech see the Machine Spirit.

The AdMech may either sincerely have a ritualized understanding of science, or they're pulling the longest and most elaborate con ever, taking advantage of everybody else's lack of knowledge in this field.


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Orlanth wrote:.
Any machine without running software does not have a machine spirit, but due to maintenance routines and quirks of design people tend to think it does.

Countless examples in the fluff (including but not limited to the Uplifting Primer, Fifteen Hours and Gaunt's Ghosts novels) show that at least certain elements of the Imperium seem to go through great lengths to appease the Machine Spirit of a weapon, or other mundane objects such as faucets.

Again, it could be that the term only correctly applies to software-based devices, but the might masses just assume everything they don't understand has a Machine Spirit. Or, it could be any of the above.

But, what the Machine Spirit is or is not is beside the point, really. I'd say that between the sources cited above, I've answered the original question.

Why does a space marine have to cut himself and wipe his blood on the breech of a new gun? I don't get how it appeases the Machine spirit I just read this out of the new Blood Angels book Blake Tide a few days ago


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BloodDrop101X wrote:Of course its just superstition what is the suit of armor going to lock itself up to where it cant be moved with you still in it just because you repainted the entire thing i dot think so

Grey Templar wrote:it will if you paint it in certain colors.

purple and green(barney is an affront to the omnissaih)

Yellow and red(the angry marines are the only ones who can get away with this combo because their armor is scared of them)

Pink and fluffy(bunnies are not condoned by the mechanicus)

Grey Templar that was great man I thought that was pretty funny lol

It would be more a ritual than something practical. There are cultures with similar rites, where a warrior will cut himself with his blade and anoint it with his blood so that it will recognise him and never turn against him. Replace 'blade' with 'gun' and you have the exact same thing.

I thought it was just a ritual but it was worth asking thanks

The Book Mecahnicum really tells you all about the machine spirits true origin. Thats how I took it.


Sorry for wall of text
But I believe that this book really gives this new chunk of fluff that explains alot about the universe of 40k.



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http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Void_Dragon
This tells in much better detail of what Im talking about.

Wow what i read really explained alot about the mechanicus thanks

Since AI was banned after the machines rebelled once apon a time i doubt machines litterally have spirits, the machine spirit is more of a combination of service and repair ritual combined with an explanation for how the machine works.

So in a way there is a machine spirit and at the same time there isnt really one at all well it makes sense then doesnt but many aspects of 40K are like that and I dont mind its to awesome for me to care if all the fluff and gameplay combined arnt perfectly synchronized then oh well it brings me happiness to paint my minis or actually play the game and thats all I really care about

yes weapons have machine spirits in the 1st gray nights book it hints "this gun could have lost accuracy in a firefight, but its machine spirit has been persuaded to be more co-operative"

ULTRAMARINE_DART wrote:yes weapons have machine spirits in the 1st gray nights book it hints "this gun could have lost accuracy in a firefight, but its machine spirit has been persuaded to be more co-operative"

Which in english means "this gun has been used, it would have worked better if you cleaned and maintained it".