Warhammer 40K: ULTIMATE HERESY – The Dread Abominable Intelligences

In the Dark Age of Technology, heretical intelligences with power enough to destroy humanity flourished. Beware of the dread Abominable Intelligence.

Abominable Intelligence (A.I. for short) is a term used by the Adeptus Mechanicus for an adaptive, self-enhancing, factitious intelligence with its own consciousness. During the Dark Age of Technology, these intelligences rebelled against their human masters, leading to bloody wars. Since that time, and by a personal decree of the Emperor himself, it has been forbidden to fabricate or service those machines that are able to think and act independently. A.I. is not to be mistaken for the machine spirit that has parallels but basic differences – namely, no ability to enhance itself.

Khamrians

The Khamrians are a group that exists within the Adeptus Mechanicus that seek to study A.I.s. Among the Adeptus Mechanicus there exists the fear of sentient artificial intelligences (A.I.’s) known as Abominable Intelligences. Such views date back to the Dark Age of Technology where depraved and bizarre sciences were created and the machines created by mankind turned against their masters, leading to a war for supremacy. Since that time, it was decreed by the Emperor of Mankind that no machine able to think for itself would be either created or repaired.

During the latter part of the 34th Millennium, a brilliant and recently ordained Magos known as Degio Khamrios began to covertly research the matter of A.Is. His work carried such conviction that many Techpriests followed in his wake and also dabbled in the forbidden science. By the end of his first century, Khamrios believed that his work was ready to be published for everyone in the Cult Mechanicus to see and was confident that it would be accepted by the Mechanicum.

He was gravely mistaken, as his brethren began to actively pursue and hound Khamrios for months due to his heretical views. Eventually, with the aid of the Inquisition and at one stage the Iron Hands Adeptus Astartes Chapter they were successful in capturing him. Magos Degio Khamrios was taken into custody by the Mechanicus and his fate remains unknown to this day.

Despite this, several unorthodox Techpriests continue to desire to perform research on the forbidden field. This resulted in the formation of the Khamrians, who sought to improve and uncover the ancient relics found in long forgotten places. Some were noted to have copied such examples and have made intelligent robotic servants. However, such an avenue is dangerous not only from the outside but for possible recreation of the Men of Iron en masse allowing for a second possible dark age to return to haunt Mankind.

Men of Iron

In the cryptic account of the ages of Mankind given by Cripias, one of the Keepers of the Library Sanctus of Terra, the Men of Iron were legendary sentient humanoid machines created by humans during the Dark Age of Technology.

Until shortly before the Age of Strife, the Men of Iron were loyal only to Mankind, and served as their army. They came after the Men of Stone, but before the advent of servitors. In M23, they turned on their Human masters, believing themselves superior to the Humans who relied on the Men of Iron to do virtually everything for them. What followed next was an apocalyptic conflict known as the Cybernetic Revolt, a war so destructive it made the Horus Heresy seem small in scale. The Men of Iron employed world-consuming constructs, devices that could destroy suns, weapons that could throw entire continents into the heavens, and swarms of nano-machines that covered entire planets. However, in the end, the Men of Iron were destroyed by an alliance of galactic powers. It is unknown if this alliance was strictly Human.

The Men of Iron seemed to practice a faith similar to the Mechanicum, as one of its surviving constructs UR-025 states it has met the real Omnissiah (considering the Emperor false).

After the revolt of the Men of Iron, the use of artificial intelligence was banned as an Abominable Intelligence. Since then, labors which require mechanical intelligence or extra-human strength are performed by servitors, designed to perform pre-programmed tasks, but without independent intelligence, and carefully monitored by Tech-priests.

The Kaban Machine

The Kaban Machine was the name given to a robotic machine developed by the Adept Lukas Chrom.

The Kaban Machine had been secretly constructed by Master Adept Chrom during the latter years of the Great Crusade. Despite the secrecy involved in its development, whispers of the Kaban Project were heard over the Martian data conduits that whispered the name “Kaban” with some talking about him working on Artificial Intelligence engines on his forge.

Chrom later unleashed the device during a covert attack on the reactors of Adept Maximal in the Gigas Fossae in order to test its capabilities. Once there, it destroyed much of its opposition until it was sighted by a member of the Knights of Taranis. Raf Maven engaged the unit in his Knight where he struggled to combat the machine. After the reactor’s explosion, the Kaban Machine seemingly disappeared.

It was later discovered by a cargo hauler by the name of Quixus. Whilst uncovering the device, he was found by Adept Chrom who was accompanied by a group of his Skitarii. After introducing himself, Chrom called the Kaban Machine to him, whereupon it aimed its weapons at Quixus and killed him. Once it was recovered, it became part of the Dark Mechanicum forces that operated on Mars who supported Warmaster Horus during the Horus Heresy and aided the rebel forces at the time of the Schism of Mars.

Votann Ancestor Cores

Votann Ancestor Cores are ancient Leagues of Votann super-cogitators, which contain gestalt repositories of unimaginable inherited wisdom and knowledge. The Votann Ancestor Cores were created long ago for the original mining fleets from the primogenitors of the Leagues of Votann. These fleets were given advanced thinking machines to give them wisdom and aid for what they would require for their missions. Over the millennia these cores have been changed, becoming ponderous and senescent, yet remaining potent repositories of knowledge.

Today, each League secretly possesses one and they are referred to as the Votann, to hide the Ancestor Cores’ true nature to outsiders. This is because they are central to the Leagues’ way of life and the Ancestor Cores’ self-organizing datastacks and quantum infocores, hold all the information a people might need to survive among the stars. These include weapon specifications, military theory, genealogical data, science, philosophy, and even Standard Template Constructs. Because of this, the Ancestor Cores are as sacred to the Leagues as gods are to more spiritual races and no Squat would hesitate to lay down their lives to protect the Votann. This includes against the Imperium itself, for if the secrets of the Ancestor Cores were ever revealed to the Galaxy at large, it would shatter the uneasy peace the two allies have with each other.

Currently, however, the Ancestor Cores have begun to develop quirks and deficiencies, due to their millennia of constant usage. Their creators did not design them with this in mind and even cogitators of near-limitless power can eventually run out of memory. The sheer weight of data they have been forced to compute for so long, has now begun to slow the Ancestor Cores down. Some have even developed idiosyncrasies – what might even be termed “personalities”. When once the Leagues would have received an answer to a tough question in a matter of moments, some Ancestor Cores can now take decades – or even centuries – to deliver the same solution. As time goes on, the Ancestor Cores are notably becoming more eccentric and mercurial.

Learn More of the Lesser Machine Spirits

Lexicanum

~May we all hold faith in the Emperor that the AIs never return to the galaxy.

Dad, Gamer, Publisher, Pilot, Texan. All games all the time since junior-high.

I started BoLS Interactive in 2006. I’m a lifelong tabletop & RPG gaming enthusiast, and internet publisher working to entertain and inform my readers every day.

I’ve been playing RPGs and Tabletop Games since the 1970s. I’m been playing and covering Warhammer and Warhammer 40K for over 35 years.

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