Hey, a thread in house rules forum inspired me to make another thread focusing on infomation regarding servitors. As we all know this is very limited in the core rulebook, so I want to compile a list of information with your help. To start off I have some facts as I know them:

Servitors are:

1. half man, half machine, created by lobotomizing humans.

2. generally made and sanctioned by Adeptus Mechanicus.

3. have internal machinery and plating making them resistant to attacks.

4. often controlled by internal microbeads

5. seemingly apathic and without a will of their own

6. can be fitted with heavy and dangerous weaponry

7. often used on spaceships, heavy industry, but afaik not standard in the Imperial Guard.

8. Often grotesque in the form of flying heads or babies...

9.

OK, that's what I could think of. Now for the actual questions.

1. What kind of intelligence does a typical Servitor have?

2. Is a servitor still a human being, with human biological needs? Does it age? Can it survive locked in a tomb for 1000 years?

3. What costs are involved in the making of a servitor? Are they cost effective in combat?

4. Who can obtain servitors? Can they be bought by anyone (combat/gun servitors are obviously regulated, but I'm talking about civillian models).

OK that's all for now, answers are appriciated as is other questions one may have.

++++AN OPEN MIND IS AN INVITATION TO CORRUPTION AND SUBVERSION++++

1. What kind of intelligence does a typical Servitor have?

Enough to move, recognize patterns (including people) and obey its programming.

2. Is a servitor still a human being, with human biological needs? Does it age? Can it survive locked in a tomb for 1000 years?

Depends on the servitor. Yes, they do age, though with so many of their organs replaced by metal, it's a lot less pronounced. Servitors surviving in a tomb would be pretty rare, though it mainly depends on how deeply you want to delve into Dark Age tech.
"Human biological needs" would also depend on the specific model. The whole eating/digesting/crapping circle will likely be replaced by directly putting nutrient solutions into their bloodstream. Resting may still be necessary, though more advanced models might do away with that.

3. What costs are involved in the making of a servitor? Are they cost effective in combat?

The costs of their implants and the surgery necessary to implement them. Cost-effective? Compared to what? The teeming masses of the Imperial Guard available to the Imperium? No. The antigrav weapons-platform you'd need to carry certain heavy weapons around while retaining maneuverability in uneven terrain? Yes.

4. Who can obtain servitors? Can they be bought by anyone (combat/gun servitors are obviously regulated, but I'm talking about civillian models).

Yep, servitors are quite common. Of course, the AdMech won't sell them to known hereteks, but most other parties will be able to get some.

Cifer said:

1. SO basically insect intelligence, with the capacity to obey like a dog?

2. So essentially well made servitors can live as long as humans in WH40k, which with treatments can mean hundreds of years. Since they need nutrients they will have blood in their veins I suppose. What about need of air? And to give specific examples, lets say gun servitor and typical heavy servitor.

3. Hmm yes I can understand compared to vehicles etc., but it seems it's typical to have Cherubim as messengers and Servo-Skulls as drink-holders and writing aids.... tasks easily done by humans. I can understand it as status symbols, but it seems obiquitious in the Admininstratum.

4. Interesting... so were are the prices for common models?

1. What kind of intelligence does a typical Servitor have?

The minimum intelligence to perform their programmed tasks. Since most servitors are given basic, repetative tasks like moving boxes or sweeping floors, they aren't that smart. On the other hand, I imagine technical servitors tasked with repairing and maintaining holy machines and combat servitors would be fairly smart... at least dog or even simple human level intelligence. However, what they are is completely obedient and basically without will or much in the way of personality.

2. Is a servitor still a human being, with human biological needs? Does it age? Can it survive locked in a tomb for 1000 years?

The rules say no, they aren't human because servitors have the Machine trait. Essentially they are robots with biological components. Those biological components will need nutrients, probably provided by iv fuild mixes and something to mechanically scrub the biological waste from their "blood" (which has likely been replaced by a chymical substance). Thinking about this, I find myself imagining servitors being pumped with some crude juvenant drugs to perserve their biological parts. Not the juvenant drugs given to the Imperial elite, but the really cheap stuff that causes brain and organ damage... none of which matters to the brain-burned, mostly mechanical servitors.

One thing to note with servitors is that, while their minds are largely non-existent, replaced by programming, they still have human brains... to use a computer analogy, they've been reformatted, the software eliminated leaving the hardware intact. Depending on the task, many servitors may use a considerable amount of the raw processing capacity of their brains, uncluttered by emotion or instinct. What they lack is self-determination, personality and the natural impulses of a living creature, those things having been purged.

On the other hand side, it's uncertain how efficient their programming is in actually making use of the capacities present.

Friend of the Dork said:

Just thought I'd point out that " half man, half machine" is not literally the ratio. Some servitors are giant industrial machines, the only organic componant of which is a fraction of a brain hidden deep inside- Inquisitor Eisenhorn uses a servitor like this as a weapon in the second book in that trillogy.

Adeptus-B said:

Hmm yes the percentages of mind/machine are debatable, however it is clear they are more machinelike than Cyborgs (essentially augmented humans), and less machinelike than true robots (which are of course Tech-Heresy of the worst sort since they have A.I.)

Friend of the Dork said:

More on this ... I think it is the main DH book that mentions that some servitors are created from criminals, prisoners, etc., while most are from cloned stock. So, if I am remembering correctly, most servitors were never "real people" but were bred exclusively to be turned into some form of servitor.

Snigglefritz said:

Yes I believe a punishment for some crimes can be being turned into a Servitor. Furthermore, it wouldn't surprise me if on some worlds (especially done by hereteks) that people can be shanghaied into being turned into Servitors...

Some questions have been answered previously, but I'd like to add my 2 cents to certain bits as well.

Servitors are:

3. have internal machinery and plating making them resistant to attacks.

Not necessarily, to both parts. Servitors, depending on the task they were designed for, have a very varying set of mechanical parts. Household servitors might look almost completely man-like, while cargo hauling servitors are the exact opposite. The leve of the Machine Trait often defines how mechanized the servitor is, giving it a certain resilience against attacks, but they are obviously not designed for combat (no weapons, for example). As for plating, I think that tends to be reserved for combat servitors, after all, a civilian servitor with armor plating tends to be suspicious.

4. often controlled by internal microbeads

Well, considering the fact that most servitors are used by regular humans, I think servitors can be controlled via regular speech, but I agree that advanced models most often have built-in vox-beads. After all, when you control them with an MIU, you don't necessarily have to speak to the servitors in question. There's also Binary Chatter to consider, which I think is also a form of vocal communication.

OK, that's what I could think of. Now for the actual questions.

1. What kind of intelligence does a typical Servitor have?

Depends on the programming of the servitor. Try to think of it like computer games. Say, a simple cargo servitor might have a programming that's as complicated as an 8-bit game on C64, while a household servitor might have something akin to Crysis 2. The gap is huge and the complexity of a servitor's programming depends on the needs of the servitor's owner and the Tech-Priest doing the programming. Of course, Tech-Priests tend to be careful and doctrine abiding, as these programmes can't give servitors free will, since that's against the teachings of the Omnissiah. So no A.I., and anything that comes close to it will be under serious scrutiny.

2. Is a servitor still a human being, with human biological needs? Does it age? Can it survive locked in a tomb for 1000 years?

As others have answered before, servitors are not human beings, their biological needs - if any - are fulfilled during maintenance. Of course, there are probably exceptions, say, a food-tasting servitor might have something resembling a digestive system and thus will need to get rid of the biological waste, but I think it's safe to say that in general, servitors don't have digestive systems, lungs, liver etc. Which means there's not much biological need left in the end. As for aging, I think they do, but not like humans, more like machines. A servitor will probably go bust the same way an old washing machine does. As for surviving for long periods of time? Depends on the make of the servitor, in a Rogue Trader game, we ran into a bunch of Murder Servitors, which were doing pretty fine even after a very long time in hybernation. Then again, regular servitors won't do so well, their biological parts rotting and the metallic parts rusting away.