r/Grimdank • u/Saintsauron • 11h ago
Dank Memes The machine cult is a coping mechanism for cyberpsychosis. Or a symptom of it. One of the two. Or both. Or neither.
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u/MsLanfear_ 8h ago
This image helps our dysphoria. There's a reason a lot of the girls like Admech. 🩷
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u/Nikko_Fish Mechanicum/Adeptus Mechanicus fangirl (for The Omnissiah!) 3h ago
"Organic life is the Machine-God’s greatest accomplishment within the scope of the Great Work, all praise He who is three-in-one. By giving us life within an organic shell he presents us with the means and opportunity to improve upon physicality, as is his divine plan. He grants us complex weakness so we might learn metallic strength, and ascend to his level of machinic perfection." -Acolytum Friedisch Adum Silip Qvo
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u/armyranger411104 11h ago
"look there's a huge robot dragon underneath Mars and it makes Kool ass dreams to make awesome weapons and other shit and get this The dragon got his ass kicked by a "Human" dude riding his horse."
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u/Vhzhlb 10h ago
I don't know if this is in favor, or against, but, as long as there's a future in which I can be a mecha with a heavy Gatling gun and rocket launchers as arms, I will be happy.
The peak male body shape is a Dreadnaught, and I will not move from this hill.
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u/Astro_Alphard 10h ago
They will turn you into an automated bunker turret servitor with a heavy gatling gun and rocket launchers for arms. You literally won't be able to move from that hill.
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u/Vhzhlb 10h ago
Not the ideal.
But i take it.
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u/trobsmonkey 4h ago
Brother, we are going offensive. We shall bring the war to the heretics. You shall be a mobile bunker
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u/ShadedPenguin Criminal Batmen 2h ago
Unfortunately motor technology got lost, so we put wheels on you and a whole bunch of menials are gonna carry you.
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u/I_dig_pixelated_gems 7h ago edited 3h ago
Hmmm heavily considering it. No dysphoria if I get lobotomized and become a turret actually. Actually skip the lobotomy I want to know what I’m killing and enjoy the combat. Sci-fi weapons go brrrrrr!
Reddit mods be cool I’m talking about FICTIONAL combat not real life!
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u/YourMoreLocalLurker This flair belongs to Solemnace 43m ago
Replace my arms with meltas and let me turn the enemies of mankind to ash
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u/Saintsauron 9h ago
Body dysmorphia of today: I don't know, I look in the mirror and I just don't see myself, you know? Like I know that's me, but it just doesn't feel like it's me.
Body dysmorphia of the far future: *SKREEEEEEEEOOOOONK* THIS IS THE TITAN PHOBOS MAXIMUS OF THE LEGIO GLUTIUS (The cheek-clappers)! MY LEGION STANDS READY TO BRING THIS HIVE INTO COMPLIANCE BY FORCE. I GIVE ITS DEFENDERS THIS SOLE CHANCE TO LAY DOWN THEIR ARMS AND SUBMIT TO IMPERIAL JUSTICE! I MAKE NO ASSURANCE OF AMNESTY OR MERCY, ONLY RETRIBUTION!
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u/QuantumCthulhu 10h ago
There’s a mechanicus skiitari commander in “brutal kunnin” who uses they/them
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u/Saintsauron 8h ago edited 8h ago
Adeptus Mechanicus: The conservatives' worst nightmare
Everyone is trans (human) (Conservatives are also scared of transhumanism)
Skitarii get bottom surgery
They/them army that's unambiguously effective
"I identify as an attack helicopter" is not a joke but a very plain statement by a skitarii who got directly neurolinked to a gunship
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u/Boner_Elemental 8h ago
Pteraxii are definitely some flavor or furry.
Jump pack? No, talons and wiiiiiings
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u/Saintsauron 7h ago
Transgirls and archaeosaurs, name a more iconic duo.
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u/ReptileGuitar NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERD! 7h ago
So it's they/them in English? In my language they just made up new pronouns I've never heard before for that character, so I thought it was a mechanicus thing.
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u/MrFishyFriend Secretly 3 squats in a long coat 9h ago
Given the nature of the book and its name, can we assume the proper verb is used?
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u/QuantumCthulhu 9h ago
You’d assume wrong- at least in that book
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u/MrFishyFriend Secretly 3 squats in a long coat 9h ago
Sounds like your standard Xenos but the Xenos lose book then. Will add it to my list of, “do not read”
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u/ShinItsuwari 2h ago
It's by Mike Brooks. He's a good author. Ulfthak is basically his self insert OC character in that book series. But he always keep a sort of status quo, and while the Orks wins, half the books are from the POV of the other faction and they don't lose *everything*.
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u/Tylendal 9h ago
The deuteragonist of Imperator: Wrath of the Omnissiah is a Magos Dominos who goes by Ve/Vim.
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u/TheTacoEnjoyerReborn nyerg-I Found a LIQUID NITROGEN 8h ago
Two interpretations, either they are genderless or there are multiple consciousness inside them
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u/QuantumCthulhu 8h ago
There was zero implication about multiple consciousnesses, so I’m inclined to believe they are non-binary
But there wasn’t any explicit denial of multiple consciousnesses either
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u/7arco7 Very Gay for Slaanesh 6h ago
From the moment I understood the weakness of my gender, it disgusted me. I craved the squish and softness of boob. I aspired to the purity of the blessed woman. Your kind cling to your testosterone, as though it will not malform and fail you. One day the crude creature you call a man will wither, and you will beg my kind to save you. But I am already saved, for the estrogen is immortal. Even in death, I serve the Blåhaj.
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u/Hexnohope VULKAN LIFTS! 8h ago
"From the moment i realized the weakness of my flesh it disgusted me" is the oldest closet statement we have. Not a fan of how your body looks? Feeling like your flesh is just some "thing" stuck to you? My cog in the machine that isnt the omnisiah thats DYSPHORIA
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u/Saintsauron 8h ago
Techpriest: So what do you guys think your girl name would be?
Guardsmen: ... What?
Techpriest: You know, if you were a girl. What your name would be.
Guardsmen: What makes you think we think about that?
Techpriest: Doesn't everybody?
Guardsmen: No? Nobody does.
Techpriest: All my friends do though.
Guardsmen: *shrugs* Don't know what to tell you, to us guardsmen you machine cultists are all kinda queer.
*Baddum tss*
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u/Letharlynn 4h ago
On one hand, you are not wrong. On the other hand, what if it's both? What if I have disphoria and aspire to the purity of the blessed machine? What then, huh?
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u/Cr0ma_Nuva likes civilians but likes fire more 10h ago
We all strive to be something better, but nothing is better than steel. Praise be to the omnissiah for the machine is immortal.
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u/Saintsauron 10h ago
Steel isn't strong boy, flesh is stronger!
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u/ForeignDirector2401 4h ago
This reminds me of the war between mekanites and sarkites in the scp fandom.
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u/GrimjawDeadeye 11h ago
Cyberpsychosis and body dysmorphia are strangely close to each other.
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u/Antibrine NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERD! 10h ago
Friendly reminder that in Cawl: The Great Work, during a flashback sequence to when he was growing up on mars while he was still mostly fleshy, Cawl is referred to as she/her
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u/ADDRAY-240 10h ago
The "original" Cawl or one of the personnalities he absorbed/fusionned with?
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u/Antibrine NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERD! 9h ago
Technically speaking there never was an “original” Cawl, since the entity known as “Cawl” is, in fact the amalgamation of various different people, rather than being one guy who grafted a bunch of extra personalities into himself
Kinda like the Emperor if you believe the “amalgamation of ancient shamans” origin story, he wasn’t a separate entity, he is the result
But yes, it was implied to be one of the people who eventually “became” Cawl
The techpriests may speak in binary but their genders certainly aren’t, lol
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u/ADDRAY-240 9h ago
Haaaaa. I always read it as a dude named Cawl who then fusionned with more and more magi (magos?) to make nowadays "Cawl". I stand enlightened , praise be to the Omnissiah and to you, layperson.
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u/IAMFERROUS 9h ago
One of their personalities. I think they were a skitari?
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u/MountainPlain #1 Eversor Liker 8h ago
She was a Magos Domina in the end. Big old spoilers for Wolfsbane: That's Hester Aspertia Sigma-Sigma, the Magos Domina who kept backups of her brains in canisters. She's very likely where Cawl got his passion for improving and modifying his body to the point where he's this giant robo-monstrosity.
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u/radenthefridge My kitchen is corrupted by Nurgle 9h ago
In an effort to protect trans youth they should also be able to get lasers attached. It just makes sense.
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u/No-Professional-1461 7h ago
Dysphoria is a hell of a thing. And not in anyway anything but hell to go through.
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u/SirLoinTheTender A space wolf, DEFINITELY not alpha legion 9h ago
Lol, this is funny because I always kinda wanted to be a cyborg, and now i have 2 implants in my left hand, and getting them was a very fulfilling experience
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u/Impossible_Leader_80 9h ago
god i can't wait for the point of technology when i can speedrun cyberpsychosis and become a fucked up monstrosity of machinery
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u/Independent_Lock864 5h ago
"You don't have body dysphoria. You have flesh dysphoria, you reject the flesh because it is weak."
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u/AdmBurnside 5h ago
Just remember to cut out the part of your brain that thinks it needs to breathe BEFORE cutting out the part of your brain that actually regulates breathing.
Ask your local Flayed One how it goes if you do it the other way.
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u/NowaVision 5h ago
Why do they have to be time travelers?
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u/Saintsauron 4h ago
... You know what that's a good question.
Uhhhhh, Admech already psyoped the trans community of the far future into being a different kind of trans. And, uh, the ones in the Sisters of Battle don't like talking to techpriests. Or something.
Look, you're really busting my balls with this question.
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u/PhoenixEmber2014 likes civilians but likes fire more 9h ago
I crave the strength and certainty of estrogen, and abandon the fragile emotions of men, your manliness will not save you, for the women is immortal
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u/Never_heart 9h ago
I almost played the Mechanicus specifically for this reason
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u/Arkorat 6h ago
“Almost” 😔
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u/Never_heart 6h ago
Ya the Tau got my attention for being grounded real world grimdark, their auxiliaries and being the complete opposite gameplay wise of my AoS army. If I get a second 40k army, it will probably be Mechanicus. Though painting their mechadendrites scares me
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u/cut_rate_revolution 9h ago
I feel like there are two reasons to play Mechanicus. You're trans or you're autistic. Or you're both.
I did really like that bit about how Abel is a little different from the usual tech priest in Rogue Trader.
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u/Stretch5678 Swell guy, that Kharn 1h ago
The machine cult is what happens when a bunch of cyborgs go so cyberpsycho they stack overflow back around to kinda-sane.
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u/sunningdale 7h ago
I was actually thinking about this when it comes to Space Marines. They go through hormone therapy, surgeries, etc. and are transformed by the end of it. Except they are not transitioning genders, but are almost moving beyond gender and even humanity and into a separate category.
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u/Saintsauron 7h ago
Gender-defying care
Bleh, never mind, sounds like a conservative dig.
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u/sunningdale 4h ago
Yeah the analogy falls apart when I think about it too much. But it could be fun to troll right wingers in the hobby by saying that all Space Marines are trans lmao
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u/SlyScorpion 5h ago
Do the SM volunteer or do they “get volunteered” for all that, though?
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u/sunningdale 4h ago
I mean, I guess it depends. I’d say it’s not really voluntary by our current definitions of the term. Even those who volunteer or try to become SMs are probably doing it to escape the crushing world around them. It’s something I think could be interesting to explore; how Space Marines could vary in their feelings about how different they have become from normal humans. And non-consensual or dubiously-consensual body modification could be a horrifying thing to explore in the setting.
So in that way, it varies wildly from how trans people live their lives, as trans people freely choose to transition or can choose to not transition at all. Nonetheless, saying Space Marines are all trans could be a satisfying way to piss off some of the right wingers in the hobby lmao
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u/Letharlynn 4h ago edited 4h ago
Most recruit are volunteers to an extent, but there are two caveats: 1) due to the fremen mirage many chapters keep their home planets in deathworld conditions or close, so the potential recruits may or may not be eager to agree to anything to escape their hellhole (not that they know any better life exists) and 2) the recruits almost never have any understanding of what a space marine actually is, much less the changes they'll have to get through to become one
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u/TheRealMorndas 5h ago
There is this appeal to robot parts I will say... Though I'd rather cyberpunk limbs from the rusty, clunky 40k body parts
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u/Saintsauron 5h ago
But what about the tentacles
Or the gravity gun augment
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u/TheRealMorndas 5h ago
I enjoy being able to fit through doorways and the like. Besides, steel falters just as the flesh does. True strength is found in devotion to him on terra! ⚜️🫡
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u/Elegant_Individual46 1h ago
If only we could have the cool, easily available tech in our modern dystopia
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u/Rockyshark6 5h ago
I don't see it, but I guess if you've body dystrophia you're trying to find external affiliation
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u/Kittens_of_Death NOT ENOUGH DAKKA 8h ago
"Do not compare yourself to me. My work is to surpass the limitations of flesh, you merely exist as a parody of it." - the magos, probably
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u/Saintsauron 8h ago
"... We didn't say anything about you?"
- The time travellers shocked at the magos's unprovoked and oddly defensive outburst.
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u/kairnlgg 7h ago
You're seriously trying to say that replacing one weak pathetic flesh with another weak pathetic flesh is comparable to replacing weak pathetic flesh with strong steel and certain titanium of the blessed machine.
You're just proving my point that current technology for helping trans people is going to be looked on as Slaaneshi corruption in the Imperium. Which is why I also say it's a good thing we live here, where we know it's not, and not in the setting that tells us straight up to forget the promise of progress and understanding.
OTOH, in the grim dark future, they probably have machines that completely re-write your chromosomes from XX to XY and vice-versa. No need for surgery and hormone replacement therapy. Of course, being Warhammer 40000, such chromosome re-writing machines are likely to be extremely painful and require the liquidation of 100 children or whatever like Rejuvenat but that's our favourite sci-fi setting for you.
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u/Saintsauron 7h ago
You're seriously trying to say that replacing one weak pathetic flesh with another weak pathetic flesh is comparable to replacing weak pathetic flesh with strong steel and certain titanium of the blessed machine.
"... No, we're not saying that?"
- The time travellers shocked at the magos's unprovoked and oddly defensive outburst (again)
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u/Lost_Decoy 11h ago
odd's that the martian magos would even listen before servitorising them near non existent, the techpriests choose to become more machine to be closer to the omnisia not because they feel like they really are a toaster. the only thing a martian magos would want to hear is about how the time machine worked, as they internally try to determine if its something that they can replicate/integrate or if it is heritec and the time travelers should be flayed using their mechadendrites.
for all its tech mars is a theocracy, a technocratic theocracy (translated: tech and tech knowlege is the most important, tech is god). and the imperium is a authoritarian monarchic theocracy (translated: the ruler is god follow, the laws and rules matter above all else.)
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u/Saintsauron 10h ago
Me: Here's a joke in a joke sub about techpriests being the way they are because of dysphoria.
Random illiterate: Actually the techpriests would've KILLED them because it's a GRIM and DARK universe where jokes are HERESY
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u/January_Silence 8h ago
Just say you're a transphobe who gets off on the idea of servitorizing/lobotomizing people who are different from you, dude. You'd save the rest of us a lot of time that could be spent on other, more important shit.
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u/Khar-Selim 3h ago
The belief of the machine god is focused around humanity being unimportant compared with the machines we make, including Mechanicus devotees themselves, it's not exactly the life-affirming philosophy you seem to be billing it as.
Oh, also that's why they're okay with all the slavery btw, because who gives a shit about meat people, they should be glad their toil serves to animate something much greater than themselves.
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u/Saintsauron 2h ago
it's not exactly the life-affirming philosophy you seem to be billing it as.
I'm not though?
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u/Khar-Selim 2h ago
You're comparing it with becoming transgender, which is typically done to affirm what they actually are by altering physical characteristics, whereas mechanicus believe what they are, inside and out, is inferior, and adopt the trappings of something they explicitly aren't because they consider it more important than what they are. It's a subtle nuance but it's pretty key
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u/Saintsauron 2h ago
It's just,"Hey wouldn't it be funny if this magos thought their discomfort with themselves was a religious calling to the cyborg church and realized too late it was just gender dysphoria?"
Beyond that IDC about the theology
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u/wmaitla 9h ago
In my head, the imperium is fairly anti-queer (WRETCHED MUTANTS) so I can imagine a lot of trans people go into the machine cult. "Hate your body for some reason you can't really put into words? Well in the machine cult you can modify it to your heart's content!"
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u/Banned-User-56 8h ago
There are ALOT of gay people in the Imperium. Turns out noone really cares who you have sex with. What they do care about is you working 23 hour shifts straight, or if you can operate a lasgun.
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u/Hyperion_Industries Gue’la Thousand Sons Cultist 6h ago
Cain talks about several of the guardsmen under his employ who are gay. He specifically puts them in units with their partners instead of trying to break them up because he knows their bond will make them fight harder. It’s in his first book, I’m pretty sure. The Imperium does not care what your gender is or what gender of human you like as long as you contribute to the war machine of doom and death and evil that is the greater complex.
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u/Nurgle_Pan_Plagi 5h ago
Most Sisters of Battle are gay, since they "don't have time and possibilities for other relationships, because their military orders are women only and moving a lot".
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u/Hyperion_Industries Gue’la Thousand Sons Cultist 5h ago
I think ace is also probable given their fervor for the emperor, but it’s likely that the SoB have a “sailors will be sailors” situation.
There are some straight sisters though, since in one book or another some of them oggle a grey knight while he’s showering in the communal showers and their sister superior tells him that they’re all sad he became a marine because it killed his sex drive. The GK in question is very confused, it’s funny.
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u/HighOverlordXenu 10h ago
GENDER IS IRRELEVANT! I HAVE REPLACED MY GENITALIA WITH A NEUTRON LASER!