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Exactly what the title says. This is a serious question.

The galaxy is big. They can be either genetically engineered, cloned, recruited... though I'd wager they do not take pleasure from the act, but see it as a necessity that has do be down, lest they be vat grown.

Assuming they still have the er... facilities to do so then yes. Otherwise, it's as Thairne says.

Seeing as the one example I had of a tech-priest's daughter being born was cloned, no.

It would depend on their rank / dedication to the machine god.

Anyone can become a tech-priest, and some low ranking members do have relationships (Enginseer Felicia Tayber & Commissar Ciaphas Cain, for example).

But I cannot think of any who are married with children, and as Verviedi said there is at least one has cloned himself (Vitali Tychon, in the Mars trilogy).

My custom chapter kinda rely on this for its civilian population, I'm glad it seems to be possible

I would venture a guess and say the vast majority would not. They worship the machine and seek to enhance their body by purging the human bits. As such, having sex and creating a life is basically the opposite of their life's goals, religion, values, etc. Many - especially the Space Marine variants - would no longer have their sexual organs intact. Techpriests tend to be cyborgs, often with permanent ports, hookups, etc. built into their body.

On the other hand, its a big, diverse galaxy, so why not?

Cyborg upgrades and this topic....

50 shades of coding. shudders,,,

 jhe90 wrote:
Cyborg upgrades and this topic....

50 shades of coding. shudders,,,

It's all about refueling, exchanging cooling fluids and power maces

(But my original question was about the physical and physiological possibility of procreation, not about an imaginary sect of hedonistic tech-priests with mecha-boobs)

Some techpriests may abstain because "dirty mortals" have sex, but I'm confident others just see it as something necessary for the machine that is a biological body. They need food and sleep too. It makes little sense to deny other needs as long as they don't interfere with duties.

Some do some don't, it depends on how old/augmented they are, what sect of the Omnissiah they worship and personal preference.

In Know no Fear one of the senior tech adepts in charge of the orbital defense systems considers reproducing with one of her co-workers, though the exact details are left to the imagination.

In Priest of Mars Vitale Tychon's (sp?) daughter is his cloned offspring, so that's another option for them.

Don't forget, most senior adepts are functionally immortal, so they likely don't feel the same drive to reproduce that normal humans do.

 LethalShade wrote:
My custom chapter kinda rely on this for its civilian population, I'm glad it seems to be possible

The vast majority of a mechanicus owned world will still be relatively normal humans. Its not like the entire population are brains in jars. Thats only the more senior ranks which get that kind of treatment.

Although many of the workers (espcailly those up the chain) get some sort of biological augmentation.

Yeah, but those are limited and more functional related to their jobs. A dock worker might get enhanced legs or arms to let him lift heavier objects. A technician might get some mechandrites and a data processor added to his nervous system to allow him to interface with cogitators. None of which would prevent normal reproduction, or necessarily the urges.

 LethalShade wrote:
Exactly what the title says. This is a serious question.

Yes

No

Maybe

Nothing to stop them - in fact some Magos Biologicus might experiment in this area - looking to create better versions of themselves or just to pass the time...........

The pair of Mechanicus lovers during the attack on Calth in the HH are done well.............................

Cain has a Mechanicus lover who knows a few tricks wither prenhensile tail.................

I would expect that those who are involved in the biological sciences (Magi Biologis) might be more accepting of traditional reproductive methods. Those who are on the mechanical or logician ends would be more prone to view sexual reproduction as crude, dirty, imprecise, messy and not in keeping with the ultimate goals of the Machine God.

Caveats apply of course. It seems the Mechanicum has as many cults and factions as the Ecclesiarchy. Those who buy into the Emperor as Omnissiah and accept the fundamental sanctity of human form and function may well not only accept but revere sex as an important, and even sacred, biological function.

Whether they would view recreational sex as OK, or whether they'd see sex primarily as reproductive activity, is open to question.

It does seem that the bulk of Forge World populations, the menials, are conceived naturally. I'd expect certain classes of Mechanicum servant, such as heavy labor menials, Servitors and Skitarii, are more likely to be vat grown in order to achieve the right mix of genetic and biological traits from birth.

While I picture the vast bulk of Tech Priests are clones or vat grown, I also suspect the Mechanicum tests their menial populations. If a menial child shows aptitude they're probably separated from their families and raised to be... whatever they show aptitude for.

I'm running a Dark Heresy campaign now where a PC has been disturbed to find that his (cute) cousin, who he always had a crush on, was turned into a Skitarii. She only has the vaguest recollection of being a normal youth and doesn't remember the PC. It's a major plot device in the campaign. I use it to mark out the inhumanity of the Mechanicum.

Of course, it's a big galaxy. Somewhere in the IOM you can find almost any variant on the baseline beliefs of any faction or cult. As long as you can justify it in your own mind, go for it....

My two cents.

Warboss Gorhack wrote:
I would expect that those who are involved in the biological sciences (Magi Biologis) might be more accepting of traditional reproductive methods. Those who are on the mechanical or logician ends would be more prone to view sexual reproduction as crude, dirty, imprecise, messy and not in keeping with the ultimate goals of the Machine God.

Caveats apply of course. It seems the Mechanicum has as many cults and factions as the Ecclesiarchy. Those who buy into the Emperor as Omnissiah and accept the fundamental sanctity of human form and function may well not only accept but revere sex as an important, and even sacred, biological function.

Whether they would view recreational sex as OK, or whether they'd see sex primarily as reproductive activity, is open to question.

It does seem that the bulk of Forge World populations, the menials, are conceived naturally. I'd expect certain classes of Mechanicum servant, such as heavy labor menials, Servitors and Skitarii, are more likely to be vat grown in order to achieve the right mix of genetic and biological traits from birth.

While I picture the vast bulk of Tech Priests are clones or vat grown, I also suspect the Mechanicum tests their menial populations. If a menial child shows aptitude they're probably separated from their families and raised to be... whatever they show aptitude for.

I'm running a Dark Heresy campaign now where a PC has been disturbed to find that his (cute) cousin, who he always had a crush on, was turned into a Skitarii. She only has the vaguest recollection of being a normal youth and doesn't remember the PC. It's a major plot device in the campaign. I use it to mark out the inhumanity of the Mechanicum.

Of course, it's a big galaxy. Somewhere in the IOM you can find almost any variant on the baseline beliefs of any faction or cult. As long as you can justify it in your own mind, go for it....

My two cents.

Thanks for that.

My custom fluff involve some hundreds/one thousand rogue tech priest secretly brought to my Chapter's new homeworld following the 35th millennium schisms, basically.
Just needed an excuse to throw away every forms of technological stagnation

 LethalShade wrote:

Warboss Gorhack wrote:
I would expect that those who are involved in the biological sciences (Magi Biologis) might be more accepting of traditional reproductive methods. Those who are on the mechanical or logician ends would be more prone to view sexual reproduction as crude, dirty, imprecise, messy and not in keeping with the ultimate goals of the Machine God.

Caveats apply of course. It seems the Mechanicum has as many cults and factions as the Ecclesiarchy. Those who buy into the Emperor as Omnissiah and accept the fundamental sanctity of human form and function may well not only accept but revere sex as an important, and even sacred, biological function.

Whether they would view recreational sex as OK, or whether they'd see sex primarily as reproductive activity, is open to question.

It does seem that the bulk of Forge World populations, the menials, are conceived naturally. I'd expect certain classes of Mechanicum servant, such as heavy labor menials, Servitors and Skitarii, are more likely to be vat grown in order to achieve the right mix of genetic and biological traits from birth.

While I picture the vast bulk of Tech Priests are clones or vat grown, I also suspect the Mechanicum tests their menial populations. If a menial child shows aptitude they're probably separated from their families and raised to be... whatever they show aptitude for.

I'm running a Dark Heresy campaign now where a PC has been disturbed to find that his (cute) cousin, who he always had a crush on, was turned into a Skitarii. She only has the vaguest recollection of being a normal youth and doesn't remember the PC. It's a major plot device in the campaign. I use it to mark out the inhumanity of the Mechanicum.

Of course, it's a big galaxy. Somewhere in the IOM you can find almost any variant on the baseline beliefs of any faction or cult. As long as you can justify it in your own mind, go for it....

My two cents.

Thanks for that.

My custom fluff involve some hundreds/one thousand rogue tech priest secretly brought to my Chapter's new homeworld following the 35th millennium schisms, basically.
Just needed an excuse to throw away every forms of technological stagnation

Breeding new Tech-Priests is not going to do away with technological stagnation. It's purely a sense of self-preservation, since mucking about with untested and unproven technologies gives you Men of Iron, who nearly caused Humanity to go extinct. It is, in fact, more likely that a small group of Tech-Priests, such as the community you've outlined here, would be even more hide-bound to tradition than others, simply because they start out knowing only so much and don't have access or interaction with peers who think and do differently. You might get some tinkering about with various designs and options on some items or theories but, as is the case with most science, 99% of the time it doesn't go anywhere, the idealized theory is proven to be untenable, impractical or impossible.

However, this section of the Cult Mechanicus will have only what its founding members knew, and no Tech-Priests know everything. Some might have focused on weapons design, others on power distribution mechanisms, yet more on personal protection devices and, finally, some that studied biology and genetics. These fields of study are basically what these Tech-Priests do, and their expertise and knowledge outside of those fields is lacking. So in this community, you have no one who, for example, studies agricultural technologies. Starship design. Void-field maintenance. So forth and so on.

At that point, those Tech-Priests are going to be a bit of idiot savants. Really, really, really good in their chosen fields of study, useless in just about anything else. Especially if you don't have anyone who studies the design and manufacture of cybernetic enhancements... then, you end up with a bunch of Tech-Priests with badly-installed, hand-me-down potentia coils, cybermantles and mechadendrites, because no one knows how to build them or install them properly.

It's probably possible for those tech priests who haven't replaced all their bits with metal. Although whether or not they'd actually care enough to engage in it is another story entirely

Honey im home! I just had the worst day tod.... Woa hey arent you frisky. Hold on sweetie.. gak my fluid insertion hose is limp as a noodle, just let me crank this valve a few times and reset the parameters.

There we go, i know you like the cargo hauler universal connector.... there now its installed. Let me just hook that up to your exterior intake orifice and were good to go.