thx to N0-1_H3r3 on ffg's forums

I've got a player using a Skitarius in my current game. It's a Forgeworld-born (

see The Inquisitor's Handbook, page 9) Guardsman using a custom Background (Skit
arius Hoplite - a basic augmented soldier, but not hugely special and as lacking
in social skills as the average Techpriest), and two Alternate Ranks (Hypaspist
at Rank 2, adding implants and so forth to the character as they develop beyond
the conscript-meatshield phase, and Praefect- also known as Praetorians or Herc
ulianii - who are elite, heavily augmented shock troopers, some of whom are the
size and strength of Ogryns, but with armour plating and advanced weaponry), and
selective rebranding of a few items (his photo-visor and infra-goggles are corn
eal implants, while his Recoil Gloves are a framework of bars, cables and hardpo
ints along his arms to mount his weapons onto so that he can fire his Hellgun or
Grenade Launcher single-handed).
By way of a preview - as I plan to release these rules in full, along with assor
ted other shiny mechanicus things, as an unofficial supplement called Ex Omnissi
ah Scientia - here's the background package and the first alternate rank:
Skitarius Hoplite
Home World: Forge Born
Cost: 200 xp
The teeming, faceless legions of the Tech-Guard Skitarii as they are known to thei
r Tech-Priest masters are the primary armed force of the Adeptus Mechanicus. For a
ll matters military, the Skitarii are employed, from the hordes of the weapon-se
rvitors and combat helots who make up the bulk of the Tech-Guard, to the serried
ranks of augment-soldiers who form its shock troops.
Within the ranks of these augmented warriors there are many further divisions, f
rom the mechanised phalanxes of Cataphractii vehicles, MIU-bonded to their pilot
s, to the heavy weapon specialists and artillerists of the Balisterai, to the hu
mble Hypaspist infantry and elite Centurions who fight beside the God-Machines o
f the Adeptus Titanicus and who s might is equalled only by the legendary Adeptus
Astartes.
These Skitarii for the term applies as much to these warriors specifically as it d
oes to the Tech-Guard as a whole all begin as mere hoplites, arrayed in mighty pha
lanxes and expended as readily as the hoplites own ammunition.
Through hours of augmetic surgery and alchemical treatments, these warriors are
purged of emotion, their weak flesh bolstered with blessed steel and their souls
bonded with their weaponry to make them more efficient as the Omnissiah s sword.
Effects
Apply all of the following changes to your character:
Characteristics: Increase your starting WS by +5, and reduce your starting Fello
wship by -5.
Skills: Replace the choice of Drive (Ground Vehicle) or Swim with Drive (Ground Veh
icle) or Secret Tongue (Tech)
Talents: Remove the options for Pistol Training (Primitive) and Basic Weapon Tra
ining (Primitive). You begin the game with Chem-Geld and Binary Chatter.
Insanity Points: You start the game with 1d5 Insanity Points.
Skitarius Implants (Trait): Your weak flesh has been fortified by blessed steel
and sanctified circuitry. You have been judged a worthy host for the following i
mplants:
Unconcerned with Flesh: The warriors of the Skitarii are focussed utterly on
martial pursuits, honing themselves into perfect weapons in the name of the Omn
issiah. Consequently, they have little time or patience for matters of the flesh
. You may not purchase Fellowship advances. In addition, any and all Fellowshipbased skills cost twice as much to purchase.

Electro-Graft: This is a small port that is grafted into your nervous system
. Once you have been properly trained, this will allow you to interface with mac
hine data-ports, and certain types of data-nets. Electro-grafts can take many fo
rms, such as electoos, skull shunts, finger probes or spine jacks, though rugged
ly-designed skull shunts or spine jacks are the most common amongst Skitarii.
Cranial Circuitry: This is a series of linked processors, implants and corti
cal circuits that augments your mental capacities. Most sit within housing bolte
d onto the skull, while others nestle within the brain itself. As you grow in th
e seriousness of your devotions, more and more of the brain that deals with usel
ess things such as emotion and intuition can be scooped away to provide room for
additional augmentations. Skitarii cranial circuitry is robust and often crudelooking, and shares many traits with the circuitry of vehicles and other blessed
machines of war.
Respirator Unit: This implant covers the lower half of your face with a netw
ork of grilles and tubing. It purifies your air supply, granting a +20 bonus to
resist airborne toxins and gas weapons. The respirator unit also houses a vox-sy
nthesiser capable of transmitting your voice in a variety of ways. Respirators c
an appear and simple grille units or intricate mask-like carvings.
Weapon Actuators: Your arms are covered in an intricate array of hardplugs,
cables, support struts and servo-motors, allowing you to connect directly to you
r weaponry. In time, your bond with the spirits of your weapons will increase, g
ranting you greater efficiency in battle.
War-Mantle: This is a framework of metal, wires and impulse transmitters bol
ted onto your spine, shoulders, lower ribcage, and extending over and through th
e upper arms and thighs. For most Skitarii, this is a support structure for the
other implants, but the more augmented Skitarii have additional augmetics fitted
directly to the war-mantle itself for Balisterai and Cataphractii, these implants
connect the warrior more closely to their machines of war, echoing the haptic i
mplants of a Titan s Princeps, while for the deadly Centurions, their war-mantles
allow their strength and size to be augmented and their bodies fitted with armou
r plating, turning them into veritable juggernauts of destructive power.
Skitarii Hypaspist
WE ARE ALL BUT A WEAPON IN THE RIGHT HAND OF THE EMPEROR.
Exhortationes Principiis Titannorum, Divisio Militaris
Where Hoplites are generally little more than vat-grown conscripts, those who de
monstrate themselves to be fit for a greater purpose are granted advanced traini
ng, superior equipment and the blessed gift of cybernetics.
Such warriors are known as Hypaspists, named after a band of elite warriors from
Terra s ancient past. A Hypaspist phalanx (company being the equivalent Imperial
Guard term) consists of 256 augmented, weapon-bonded soldiers, purged of emotion
and operating with mechanical precision and brutal logic. Each phalanx is furth
er divided into two centuries (platoons), each consisting of sixteen maniples (squ
ads) of 8 warriors each. Each maniple possesses a shared identity the maniple s desi
gnation is used both to refer to the maniple as a whole, and to any one individu
al Hypaspist, something which is somewhat confusing for those unused to the ways
of the Mechanicus, but which the Skitarii themselves are more than used to.
This is not to say that they are not individuals, but as with many servants of t
he Machine, it is second nature to subsume themselves into something larger, to
view themselves as simply another cog within the divine machine, an outlook that
only becomes more firmly entrenched with the purging of emotion.
For some Skitarii, even the purging of emotion cannot dampen human ambition or t
he will to achieve ever greater heights, and such aspiring soldiers consider the
ir time as Hypaspists as a mere stepping-stone on the path towards greater augme
ntation, greater prowess and greater unity with the Omnissiah.

Becoming a Skitarii Hypaspist

Hoplites, like all Skitarii, are born not chosen. Theirs are lives not of the fo
olish choices or inexplicable passions of the flesh-bound, but of the ordered pu
rpose and cold logic of the Omnissiah s chosen warriors. Whether flesh-born or vat
-grown, every Skitarius is chosen from millions of squalling children born every
day on each Forge World. Through intense genic scrutiny, the weak are culled an
d the capable are sifted and assigned their life s vocation.
Those keen of eye, steady of hand, resilient of form and aggressive of temperame
nt are taken for the Tech-Guard, and will know nothing else until their lives en
d in the Machine-God s service.
It is likely, as you spend xp on this Alternate Rank, that your character will a
dvance several Ranks in the Guardsman Career Path. While doing so, you can use t
he following titles for your Skitarii character instead of the standard ones if
you wish. After taking this Alternate Rank, you can enter any of the branches, t
hough the Praefect rank (an Alternate Rank which replaces Rank 6: Assault Vetera
n) gives many more opportunities for augmentation and development into a truly t
errifying augmented warrior.
Required Careers: Guardsman
Alternate Rank: Rank 2 or higher (500xp)
Other Requirements: You must originate from a Forge World, have a BS of 35 or mo
re, the skill Secret Tongue (Tech) and the Skitarius Implants trait.
Advance Cost Type Prerequisites
Dodge 100 S Drive (Ground Vehicle) +10 100 S
Ciphers (War Cant) 100 S Common Lore (Machine Cult) 100 S
Tech-Use
100 S Basic Weapon Training (Launcher)
Quick Draw 100 T Sound Constitution 100 T Concealed Cavity
100 T Common Lore (War) 200 S Logic 200 S Heavy Weapons Training (SP) 200 T
Two-Weapon Wielder (Ballistic)
Disturbing Voice
200 T Autosanguine
200 T Weaponsoul 200 T Weapon Actuators
Rite of Pure Thought
300 T
Slaughter Node
300 T Cranial

Drive (Ground Vehicle)

100 T -

200 T BS 35, Ag 35

Cranial Circuitry
Circuitry

Slaughter Node (Talent)

Prerequisites: Skitarius (Cranial Circuitry)
The most ferocious of machine spirits reside within the implants in your skull,
and with their help you can unleash bursts of calculated, logical fury. You may
enter a Frenzy (as per the talent) as a free action at any point, and while Fren
zied, you may continue to parry as though you had the Battle Rage talent. Furthe
r, you may voluntarily end your frenzy at any time as a free action. You may onl
y enter or leave a frenzy once per turn
you cannot do both in the same turn.
Weaponsoul (Talent)
Prerequisites: Skitarius (Weapon Actuator)
Through your blessed implants, you are made closer to the spirits of your weapon
s, and with that unity comes increased lethality. When you aim with a weapon con
nected to your Weapon Actuators, you gain an additional +10 to hit. This does no
t stack with the Accurate quality. In addition, you gain a +10 bonus on all Ball

istic Skill tests made to clear a jammed weapon connected to your Weapon Actuato
rs.