I have been talking to my friend who has decided to run a dark heresy campaign set on a space hulk, im not sure on the specifics of why we are going to be there, all i know is its supposed to be a survival horror and it will be in all likelihood we will die by the end (i hope not though id like to be a player in it for once) i have requested to be the tech-priest in the group and having recently read the start of 'Scourge the Heretic' and the Eisenhorn series (great series by the way) i have been wondering how i should actually behave as the tech-priest.

Obviously tech-priests are logical and sometimes emotionless, depending on how augmented they are, i know i will have to treat machines like they themselves are saints. Should i then if i come across a damaged machine immediately try to see if it is repairable and if the machine spirit is generally okay and is salvageable. Should i just generally praise the Omnissiah and perform the tasks to aid the Great Machine God and the idea of perfection through machines.

The question i am basically asking is how far into the role of a tech-priest should i get and what should i do in some situations that could be expected on a spacehulk. How should i play the tech-priest with regards to everything, quite simply im interested as to how everyone expects a tech-priest to act in pretty much every situation they can think of, lets see how crazy or devout a tech-priest can be!

I'd say it entirely depends on tech priest in question. After all, they are human after all. At least most parts of them are. Thus they have human emotions and personalities, some pragmatic, some spiritual, some puritan, some radical...

You can easily have two tech-priests who are complete opposites. One is a down-to-earth pragmatist who "just works here" and is continously reminded by his superiors of his inability to adapt to the spiritual side of the Cult of Mechanicus. The other is holier-than-thou spiritual mystic who has dedicated his whole life and existence to serving the Omnissiah and ridding his own body and soul of the Weakness of Flesh. Most are somewhere in between.

The basic ideas of the Cult are:

According to its teachings, knowledge is the supreme manifestation of divinity, and all creatures and artefacts that embody knowledge are holy because of it. Machines that preserve knowledge from ancient times are also holy, and machine intelligences are no less divine than those of flesh and blood. A man's worth is only the sum of his knowledge - his body is simply an organic machine capable of preserving intellect. In the Cult's tenets, life itself is of no intrinsic value.

The Weakness of Flesh is a term used by the Cult Mechanicus to describe any bodily wants, such as eating food purely for the taste of it, sex, pleasure drugs, etc. Since machines do not have these desires, members of the Mechanicum do their best to cast aside such weaknesses. It is considered part of their spiritual connection with the Machine God.

To the Cult Mechanicus, machines represent a higher form of life than that created through biological evolution.

The Cult Mechanicus await the arrival of the Omnissiah, a prophesied physical avatar of the Machine God. During the Great Crusade the forces of the Emperor liberated many of the forge worlds founded as colonies of Mars in ancient times. On his arrival at many of the worlds, the Cult Mechanicus recognised the Emperor as the long awaited Omnissiah.

Reading Titanicus by Dan Abnett might help you get a handle on the members of the Mechanicus. They are definitely not emotionless.

The Tech-Priest from the group I was running was played as a very laid-back, personable guy for the most part, except for not liking stupid people. Pretty much, the vibe I got is that the player based him pretty heavily on the chief engineer in Galaxy Quest.

Add into it another variant, my current TP who really emphasises the 'priestly' aspect. Alot of caring for the flock, alot of preachiness, not much 'action'. Machine can't be repaired? It's not his fault, it's the Omnissiah's will...

Okay, much more a culty-deluded charlatan who has some competency but is ultimately a bit naff in comparison to a proper TP. Contrast Deepak Chopra with a proper Neuroscientist and you might get an idea of where I want to go with the character.

On the otherhand, the character is personable, very fond of machines and gadgets, looks after people and oozes charisma (if not skill...yet). Aim is to get him into the Demagogue career.

With all that in mind, think about how priestly you want the character to be and also how 'techy'. Superstitious? Practical? Both? How cynical is the priest, how 'orthodox' is he? I've noticed very few folks play bumbling incompetent techpriests; though not common in the fiction, compare to bumbling/boisterous/blustery priests from the Ecclessiarchy...

Well, there's a fair opportunity. I find pinning down one or two quirks is sufficient to really 'grasp' a character I'm unsure of. Focus on one or two points when 'RPing' and let everything else flow freely/dynamically in response. For mine it's a case of 'likeable guy' and 'a bit culty' with the Machine Cult as a backdrop/informer to many opinions. If in doubt: try it out! No-one'll (sensibly) complain about your character being inconsistent if you're doing them in an enjoyable way

A player in my group has chosen the Tech-Priest, and has chosen to play him with a level of cold detachment and logical thought (Spock-ish), but also with a sense of wanderlust - he is very curious about the great wide galaxy, and collects bits of tech from around the place for no other reason than to study. His drive is to get out there and find more knowledge.

First off all, do not lett the potnetial 'weirdness' of a Tech-Priest stand in the way of a fluent and enjoyable game. In my opinion a Tech-Priest 'chosen' to become an Inquisitorial Acolyte is probably beyond the 'bleakness' of most initiates of the Cult Mechanicus anyway. This is true for Tech-Priests even more than for any other class in my opinion. In my opinion Spock (from Star Trek TOS) compared to most 'normal' Vulcans can be kind of a good inspiration (perhaps moreso for an Explorator in RT, but anyway). My groups Tech-Priest PC is often sort of sociopathic in a more nerd sense than in a shy sense and of course rather fond of all sorts of machinery (the more obscure the better). Still, not every Stub Pistol is venerated as a saint, but the enginarium and the plasma drive of a warship certainly are. He is also less a spiritual kind of priest, but more a techno-freak that is really upset if anyone out of the AM tinkers with any sort of machine. He is also rather impatient with not so intelligent people (again in a somehow geeky way) and those who do not appreciate the blessings of the Omnissiah.