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I've been reading several Black Library books and I keep getting a sense that the difference between Skitarii and Servitors is not well known. For example, in Mechanicum there is a Skitarii that is pretty much what I imagine Skitarii are. He is kind of robotic, but has individuality. Then there are the Skitarii that are in a Titan in Helsreach who all respond to questions in unison. Then there are the Skitarii of Master of Mankind who are redirected by the Archimandrite without questioning why and disregarding their prior orders.

Weirdly one of my favorite examples of a Skitarii is from Skitarius whose main character had a history as well as some level of individuality. He started off as a worker on a Forgeworld who tattooed himself with where he wanted to get cybernetics.

Eventually he was assigned to a Techpriest who kept him on a longer leash than most Techpriests would. Occasionally the Techpriest would remote into him and take direct control, but that wasn't a lot of the time.

Then the Skitarii gets sent to another Techpriest, who overrides his personality. So every time the Skitarii would say "That tactic won't work" he would instead say "Yes sir." He was as good as a servitor in this case.

GW has gone on record as saying Skitarii are unique creations and they don't all behave the same or come from the same template.

This may be an opinion question, but how much independence do Skitarii have? Are they just glorified servitors?

I'd imagine a Skitarii, in general terms, retain much more in terms of its own will and skills, rather than mono-tasking like Servitors. It's part of the Adeptus Mechanicum lore that presiding Adepts can override the Skitarii's own executive functioning.

I suppose there's a difference in how autonomous they can be. If a techpriest is directly controlling them, then it's all the same, but skitarii are still smart enough that they can act independently when they aren't being controlled, while servitors will just be dumbly waiting for the next command. It all depends on how much their boss lets them take initiative, I guess.

Skitarii can act independently, have higher quality upgrades and weapons and can eventually become tech priests. As said by others, TPDs can just possess them if they want to but it can make them a bit worse at other tasks than they normally would be.

 kastelen wrote:
Skitarii can act independently, have higher quality upgrades and weapons and can eventually become tech priests. As said by others, TPDs can just possess them if they want to but it can make them a bit worse at other tasks than they normally would be.

Is there proof they can become techpriests?

Servitors are lobotomised and have no free will. Skitarii (AKA Tech-Guard) are a bit like the Imperial Guard in that units from different worlds have differences. Most Skitarii on the tabletop are Mars-type.

DontEatRawHagis wrote:

 kastelen wrote:
Skitarii can act independently, have higher quality upgrades and weapons and can eventually become tech priests. As said by others, TPDs can just possess them if they want to but it can make them a bit worse at other tasks than they normally would be.

Is there proof they can become techpriests?

Anyone who is in the service of the Adeptus Mechanicus can rise in rank. I can't think of any Skitarii off the top of my head (might of been one in the '..of Mars' trilogy), but low-level maintenance workers are 'promoted' in the Ciaphas Cain Novel 'Death or Glory' (Felicia Tayber) and 'Imperator: Wrath of the Omnissiah' (Ghelsa).

Also happened to a menial worker in the "...of Mars" trilogy too, when they were shown to be Omnissiah-blessed.

I don't see why a senior Skitarii couldn't be promoted to a Techpriest of some kind. They seem like a prime candidate to enter a Mymidon cult. I don't know if any Skitarii are found within the Ordo Reductor, but that would be another branch likely to promote a Skitarius into a Techpriest.

It helps to think of imperial "AI" as functioning the opposite way we understand "AI" to work.

In our AI, the more work and augmentive design we put in, the more independently and autonomously the AI can function. This puts the theoretical maximum autonomy something we don't yet understand, and in the context of 40k, something dangerous.

In 40k, they subvert this danger by starting with human brains - a level of independent thought and autonomy that is well understood.

Then, the more they augment, the less autonomy and independent thought is present.

A skitarii is somewhere below an unmodified human, and somewhere above the typical servitor. A Servitor can be quasi-autonomous, capable of being directed to switch tasks, or it can be fully and completely monotask, only ever being capable of operating a door, or moving a lever, or whatever, when commanded to do so. The only thing lower than a monotask servitor is a fully mechanical mechanism, which just does the same thing at the same interval forever, maybe with the capability of being turned on and off.

I think the difference comes down to level of independence and mental capacity. Servitors are depicted as being lobotomized/altered in mind to the point of removing all higher reasoning except for specific tasks. Freewill isn't just suppressed, the capacity for it is completely removed. Skitarii have modifications, but retain at least the capacity for freewill and higher order thoughts. There might be moments when Skitarii lose their free will, but they still have the capacity for it outside of specific, tactical situations.

Don't (most?) servitors have a very deep level of mindscrubbing? certainly beyond that of a typical skitari?

Servitors are in essence usually criminals.

Skitarii are soldiers. They can still think as their job is to be well. The military of the Admech. They are the standing army of the Admech, and it would make sense even in 40k to have skitarii understand and reason. Servitors cannot reason they are more like drones.

Skitarii are still human, in as far as genetically modified and heavily cyberneticized people are still human. They're definitely much more than Servitors.

Servitors are just lobotomized bags of flesh. Skitarii are humans who have had massive cybernetic modification, as well as gene-mods, to turn them into "perfect" soldiers.