Humanus Transcendence Assembly
Known simply as ‘The Assembly’, they are a collection of Techpriest dedicated to the transcendence of humanity as a whole to a state beyond flesh, machine, or a simple combination of the two. They believe that by surpassing the human condition, humanity will become even more human. The Assembly sends out expeditions to the far reaches of the galaxy to directly discover lost arts and to establish research stations to delve into new secrets and to fabricate the materials to facilitate their expeditions. Reaching back to the engineers and scientist of the Golden Age of Man, they have been a shadow organization hiding in plain sight and only know to few outside their own circle. In fact, Inquisitors would debate their existence. But now with Roboute Guilliman’s push for new tech, they are coming slowly to the light. Some fear their goal may destroy the very essence of humanity they seek to save.
The Tech Witches of Ascraeus Mons:
Long suspected of the Tech Heresy of Innovation, no actions have come against the Tech Witches due to the remoteness of Ascraeus Mons and the fear they inspire in even the most powerful tech priest on mars. Deep within the maze of mines and underground factories in the Mons the Coven conducts experiments to unlock the true nature of technology. Highly dangerous, many an assistant or servitor has been killed in their pursuit. But every failure tells them as much as a success, and they have unlocked many secrets of technology. When Cawl went to Cadia they knew change was at hand, so they traveled to the Oracle deep within the hive city of Median.
The Maiden: Sister Ada (Tech Priest Dominus)
The student and creation of Mother Compiler, Sister Ada is tasked with executing the plans of her elder Coven members.
The Matron: Mother Compiler (Belisarius Cawl)
A Tech Witch in her prime, Mother Compiler handles the day to day operations as well as personally seeing to the production of Servitors and the more intricate devices the coven has developed with her own internal micro factory. Forever fabricating, never pausing, she is driven by an insatiable hunger for
raw materials. Wherever her work takes her, trains of servitors bring her materials so she can turn her own internal industry to the task at hand.
The Crone: Grandmother Lore. (Onager Dunecrawler)
The eldest of the coven, Grandmother Lore was once a normal Tech Priest. Age has worn heavily on her ancient mind and form. However, she is still a vast collection of secrets and can draw upon a long life of experience. Despite constant upgrades and maintenance, her aging bulk requires constant tinkering by servitors to function.
The Hero of the Battle of Europa:
Commander Dot Com. (Onager Dunecrawler)
After proving himself in the battle of Europa, he was given the chance to be joined with a machine to become closer to the Machine God. When his Tech Priest lord was banished during an internal struggle he and many of his warriors were discarded as scrap. He has thrown his lot in with the Coven as they march to war for some grand cause he does not understand, he only cares that he is serving a Tech priest again.
The Oracle:
Seeress Lamarr (Tech Priest Dominus)
There has been many Oracles in the Assembly over the years, Lamarr is just the current one. Supposedly she first heard the words of the Machine God when she received her first implant as a child. She spends all of her time hooked up to sensitive equipment, listening to the radio chatter, sifting through the noise for the words of the Omnissiah. In battle she serves as a data hub for the force, collecting, processing, and distributing the data of the battle so the Assembly can prevail in their latest effort.
The Knight, Von Neumann:
Piloted by: Ladies Aya and Zoe Boolean. (Knight)
Piloted by the twin sisters, the Von Neumann joins the quest for the transcendence of humanity out of fealty Grandmother Lore, who and crafted it long ago when she was a conventional Tech priest.
The Knight, Colossus:
Guided by: Techpriestess Calvin (Knight)
A knight of ancient design and unknown age, no one has entered it’s cockpit in a hundred years. The Knight continues to operate and fight with only it’s Machine Spirit to guide it. Techpriestess Calvin has discovered how to communicate with it and has gained an insight into it’s thought patterns. She is working to explain right and wrong to it and in the meanwhile leads it into battle for the Assembly.
The Immortal:
Tech Priest Lazareth. (Ironstrider Ballistarii)
He claims to be able to cheat death by transmitting and download his consciousness into his own clones, but he can only do it with himself as of yet. There is doubt that his resurrection protocol actually works, but no one can debate that at least his memories are copied to the new body every time. The Assembly hopes to perfect his process by studying it, which involves putting him in danger as much as possible so they can observe it in action. He is more than willing to oblige, in combat he rushes headlong into danger, confident in his resurrection protocol.
The Monster:
Experiment Zeta III Subject BTY 901: (Onager Dunecrawler)
An experiment to merge human brains and machines at the cellular level, Zeta III was successful in creating an intelligence. After many attempts fell into insanity, they began crafting a mask of metal for the subjects in hopes that it would give it a sense of self and help it cope. For one subject designated BTY 901 it worked, and they got a functioning individual. The techpriest can’t agree if this is the route to Transcendence or a dead end, but they continue to study BTY 901 in hopes of learning what made her maintain sanity. They made her mobile with legs from a Dunecrawler and have studied it in a variety of environments and interactions. Currently they have equipped her with an Icarus Array and are studying it in a combat role. BTY 901 understands the goal of the Assembly, and actively works for it, believing it must help make a better world that she herself can never be a part of.
