Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

[hamishspence]

It may be both canon and unreliable- with the speculations of the Inquisitor in it being somewhat iffy due to him being manipulated.

I like Deathwatch: First Founding- but a quote in it has led me to speculate that the Iron Hands might be hereteks- people who engage in tech-heresy- based on an earlier Dark Heresy quote:

These two quotes from FFG books led me to raise the question:

Dark Heresy: Disciples of the Dark Gods- page 44

The Proteus Protocol:
Considered little more than a myth by many but the ultimate goal of an obsessed few, the Proteus Protocol is an ancient and heretical technology for transferring not only the engrammatic knowledge and memory of an organic brain, but also the personality and will, granting in effect complete mental and spiritual immortality in an artifical physical form. Of the few legends that surround this tech, some state that the abominations created are soulless beings with dark desires and alien hungers that can never be satiated. However, these warnings often fail to deter the Protocol's most ardent seekers.

Deathwatch: First Founding- page 9

The greatest of all Iron Fathers was Paullian Blantar of the Kaargul Clan Company. This inspirational figure embodied every one of the Chapter's teachings, from the utter certainty that Ferrus Manus would one day return, to the hatred of all that is of the flesh. Blantar flayed his own body of the flesh he was born into, until eventually, only his mind remained. This was implanted into the towering frame of a mighty Dreadnought, and some say that in so doing his very soul was ex-loaded into the machine's systems so that not a scrap of biological matter remained. Blantar serves as a permanent member of the Chapter Council, having transcended the limits of his flesh and effectively attained immortality.

So- is it plausible that Blantar used the Proteus Protocol to upload knowledge, memory, personality and will, into an artificial form? The "some say" bit raises the possibility that it didn't happen- that there's still flesh in there. Still- interesting possibility.