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Seems like the Mechanicus of Mars not only provides the technological know-how, but also the workforce and capital required to manufacture the vast quantities of materiel required by the Imperium's war effort, not to mention heaps of hi-tech consumer goods.

My question is, why do they do this?

Are the Techpriests driven by profit? Do they just receive raw materials and workers and churn out guns and tanks and servoskulls in return? Is their motivation merely religious, their mass-production of machines their own way of proselytizing, of spreading the word of the Machine God? Or do they do their job in exchange for political power, for their seat in the High Council of Terra?

So... Ladies, gentlemen... What is the payment the Mechanicus receives for their services?.

All of the above.

The Adeptus Mechanicus is an Empire within the Imperium. Mars is a separate seat of power from Holy Terra and the AdMech is, of itself, older than the Imperium. They saw in the Emperor the manifestation of what they call "the Omnissiah", the Machine-God's own mortal avatar, and so reached an accord with him.

So, yes, the Mechanicus are paid in raw materials, people, rediscovered technologies, mining rights to planets, and a million other ways to produce technology for the Imperium. The Mechanicus also funds private enterprises to go out and mine asteroids for them, or gather seeds and spores from jungle planets, or whatever. Science and Technology are religious responsibilities to them, and they will pursue these things with all the zeal and fervor of an Ecclesiarch Missionary bound for a heathen planet.

Protection. The Imperium does all the fighting and dieing and all that dirty work for them. The galaxy is a dangerous place afterall. It's mutually beneficial for the AdMechA to keep the IoM supplied with lasguns.

They are an allied power of the Imperium of man, and receive the protection of the guard and materials to create in exchange for their goods and services. Basically forge-worlds are largely independent worlds, like most worlds in the Imperium. They have a tithe responsibility just like everyone else. Beyond that they are free to trade goods and favors as they see fit to increase their power and prosperity. They license out technology for manufacturing, 'rent' out their tech adepts, and in general just try and increase their forge worlds power. There is intense competition between forgeworlds. Again, like any other world in the Imperium.

The main difference is the culture of their worlds, the local government, tends to be very different than what you see on other Imperial worlds.

A lot of their motivation is religious as producing technology is a bit like a sacrament for them, but it is also survival based.

They also do it in exchange for political power, that is part of being an allied power.

Personally, I wouldn't say "allied" as this implies complete autonomy and independence, when it is described more like a "state within the state" and part of the Imperium of Man, in fact symbolized within the Imperium's own Aquila insignia as well as the Fabricator-General holding a political office in the High Council of Terra (which is in turn subject to Inquisitorial scrutiny). "Alliance" is a term which, to my knowledge, has never been used in any studio source - though there will undoubtedly be a lot of interpretation, as the structure of the Imperium has not been explained in great detail and the Forge worlds themselves do hold a certain level of sovereignty, probably being exempt from various duties and responsibilities (did Forge Worlds not have a tithe grade of "Adeptus Non" in the 3E rulebook's "Worlds of the Imperium" list, or am I misremembering?).

As to the topic at hand ... yes, all of the above. The Adeptus Mechanicus is fanatic about technology and often works together with other Imperial organizations to secure recovered technology, an example being the Fornoth STC unearthed by a team of Ecclesiarchy Missionaries during the Icaria Crusade in M35. Added to that comes a lively trade of protection and resources for valuable technology, though I would see the greed of Mechanicus trade envoys as a byproduct of their own desire to further the Machine Cult (and their own position in this monolithic organization) rather than a personal interest in something as mundane as money.

Wow, thanks for the answers!

I had envisioned a situation, an 'end times scenario', in which the Imperium fails to pay the AdMech its due and is forced to get loans from individuals and organizations, causing indebtment, undersupply and, who knows, maybe even civil conflict if the Imperium tries to force the Mechanicum into submission.

Got everything wrong, it seems. Forgeworlds are Imperial worlds after all. They manufacture as the Omnissiah commands, get minerals, people and protection from the Imperium and give their products as tithe in return. There's little of hard cash involved in the process...

Probably a single Forgeworld won't attempt to hold back its tithe, lest they want to endanger the Mechanicus' alliance with Terra...

Mechanicum Folk are Imperial Folk and many are patriots too. Although they seem sinister in those dark, red, hooded cloaks many of the most poweful figures within it see the survival of The Imperium as their top priority too.

The Mechanicus is part of the Imperium, but is semi-autonomous (like the Inquisition and the Astartes), and independently religious (like the Astartes). They decide their tithe payments, and the Administratum has to proportion the tithes of raw materials, food, etc. sent to forge worlds. Individuals can also contract the Mechanicum for technical services. Each forge world has it's own economy, like other Imperial worlds, and as a religious organization in it's own right, the Mechanicus has missionaries and shrines on every Imperial planet.

They aren't really a part of the Imperium...
They are a seperate allied state that relies on the Imperium for both defense (they would be overwhelmed otherwise) and in some cases resources.
They pay for this in vehicles and weapons... and ammo, and armour and starships...

Petrol.

purplefood wrote:They aren't really a part of the Imperium...
They are a seperate allied state that relies on the Imperium for both defense (they would be overwhelmed otherwise) and in some cases resources.
They pay for this in vehicles and weapons... and ammo, and armour and starships...

An organization within an organization...or better yet, an organization allied with and partially under the Imperium.

Forge Worlds are the property of the Ad Mech, although the Imperium will maintain a presense too.

Titanicus illustrates the boundries that exist and how they are both blurred and starkly obvious at the same time.


A better thing for comparison would be, say, the East India Company during the 17-1800s. it was a private business that maintained its own army and navy and had land that it owned. This gave it considerable political power.

The Ad Mech is both a business, religious, and political entity. It has sovereign territory(Mars and Forge Worlds) and an army(Titan Legions) united under religious and organizational entities.

In essence, its an almost perfect society. Blending all facets of existance under a semi-unified sphere.

Faith. I believe there is nothing cynical about the Tech-Priests. They are driven by resolve and faith in their service to the Omnissiah.

The Mechanicum was somewhat forced into the deal. In Mechanicum (the book) Kelbor-Hal remarks/thinks that if the Mechanicum hadn't joined a war would've started and, despite their technological prowness, they would've lost due to the Imperium's sheer population and mass.