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LCP · 10-01-2012, 04:05 AM

Alright, I have my concept. Below is the crunch; the background will follow. Apologies for the double post; this post has a die roll in it so I can't edit it in to the one above.

This is the construction spoiler – open if you want to see every step of how he was built. I used the core book and the Lathe Worlds supplement.

Spoiler

And here is the finalised character sheet:

Spoiler

Please tell me if I've made any mistakes, or if there's anything you want to veto.

EDIT: Background!

Septimus Shryke

Spoiler

Born on the hive world of Cantus, it is not known outside the inner circles of the Lathes at what age Septimus Shryke was inducted into the Acuitor Set. Perhaps it was that he was more personable than his fellow mech-wrights, more ready to dissemble and mislead; perhaps it was that he had a natural propensity for murder. Quite possibly, it was both.

Generally assuming the role of some middle-ranking tech-priest, Shryke would insert himself quietly into organisations and societies in which the Cult Mechanicus felt they had enemies. Imperial society is dependent on its technology, and Shryke exploited this dependence to the full. No-one questions the repair-man, the maintenance crew, the inspecting enginseer. Moving unseen through his environment, he would silently carry out his investigations, maintaining his cover until he could identify his target.

The methods used by the Acuitors vary widely. Shryke's complete kill-list will probably never be known, but from those deaths which have been linked to the tech-priest, a theme of technological sabotage becomes apparent. On Landunder, the Arcellan dynasty were annihilated when the cogitators controlling their deep-water airlocks developed an inexplicable fault, flooding their penthouse with some six hundred tons of pressurised sea-water. On Lathe-Het, the Malatek Janus Ormulate was killed by a fatal dose of radiation when the safeguards on his experimental reactor mysteriously failed, sealing him and four of his assistants inside during a supposedly routine inspection. On Tsade II, an automated omni-harvester took an unplanned detour from its programmed route to rip through a meeting of the Metcalfe trade consortium, and on Cantus an unknown number of civilians died in a malfunction of the ventilation systems on the Hive Augusta deep rail, now known as the Great Asphyxiation.

The change in Septimus' career path came when pursuing another target: a House Krin banker whose financial activities were endangering the productivity of the Lathes. Shryke had identified the culprit, and was ready to strike, when he realised he was not the only agent on the financier's trail. Wishing to leave no loose ends, he set a trap for his opposite numbers: it was only when they anticipated the “accident” in the Servitor depot and caught him in the act that he realised he might have met his match.

His opposite numbers were acolytes of Inquisitor Glavius Wroth, investigating the banker for crimes far darker than his sins against the Mechanicus. Once it had been established that their captive was not an agent of their enemy, Wroth immediately saw the potential in Shryke: not only was the tech-priest a powerfully intelligent infiltrator, but he was also a window into the secret heart of the Mechanicus. Shryke was offered a choice: accept the consequences of his attack on Inquisition personnel, or accept that he was forever in Wroth's debt. It wasn't much of a choice.

Wroth requested Shryke's services without any hint that he knew of the tech-priest's secret profession: not desiring to attract attention by a mysterious refusal, the Lathes accepted. Shryke now lives a double life, serving two masters: the Inquisitor, and the directives of the Acuitor Set. With every assignation he accepts from Wroth, he knows he risks betraying the secrets of his priesthood to the Inquisition; at the same time, as a keenly intelligent man, he cannot resist the challenge of Inquisition work.

Despite his acolyte's emotionless facade, Wroth sees this clearly. Manipulating Septimus' boredom and curiosity, he has the tech-priest in the palm of his hand.

TL,DR: 99% of the time, he is the friendly tech-priest fixing your boiler. 1% of the time, you are on a secret Mechanicus hit-list and are killed by an exploding boiler the day after he leaves.