How many decades has it been since the first broken man was dragged before the growling engine and promised life eternal? 


Deep beneath the Hive sits a humming engine, cracking with energy. It's origins are unknown - Archeotech unearthed from beneath the wastes? A Xenos Engine from a long dead empire reborn to summon legions of followers, or a Corrupted Machine dragged planetside in the millennia of war. 

This day the Jade Engine, named for the regenerating plates upon its armour, is overseen by a cabal of nine Hereteks maintaining its every will and need. It calls out for parts, pieces - sometimes of machine, sometimes of man. Those who drag forth flesh and steel and surrender them to the engines grumbling maw are gifted blessings of Pleasure, Anger, Death and Knowledge. 

These Hereteks are now aligned in purpose or goal. They bicker between themselves, sending prospects to the maw of the Engine for blessings and raise up prospects between them as small competing cults. One of these Hereteks now seeks to feed the engine behind its Domain and sends forth a gathering to Hive Obitus for technology, prospects and flesh for the flesh engine. 

The Cult now arrives tired and weary with hardly a dozen between them after the long journey across the Ash Wastes. They find a Hive in the midst of anxiety and stress: A perfect hunting ground for their Ironclad overlord.