I'll shortly be restarting my Dark Heresy campaign after a hiatus but I need some advice.

The issue is this - only two of the previous four players I had when we stopped play will be in the restarted group, and they'll be joined by a third. The established guys have a pair of great characters who worked well, were fun to play (and write adventures for) and frankly there's no need for them to change - however they, like their Inquisitor (the Monodominant "Mordant Crimson" mentioned in "Disciples of the Dark gods"), are very much on the puritan side of the scale in outlook.

Now the issue comes that the new player (who also happens to be my son) is devoted to the concept of playing a Tech-priest - and I'm having a hard job of reconciling that with the rest of the group. What I could do with is some thoughts/suggestions/advice on ways to introduce the new character without them being too much of an outsider, or stretching plausibility. I did suggest he played an Omnissian Apostate (Blood of the Martyrs) but he's 100% sold on the idea of a true Ad Mech priest.

So far I've come up these possibilities:

* Of the two players who have dropped out one was playing a Tech-Priest (and was the longest running character in the campaign). He was "tolerated" by the inquisitor as he was believed to have seen things or know secrets that could have been important - essentially he was being monitored by the other acolytes. As he has now "returned to duties" perhaps teh new tech priest is automatically despatched, by teh ever efficient Priests of Mars as a replacement?

* On the flip side, although called away perhaps the previous tech-priest has sent a trusted colleague (with Inquisitional sympathies) to serve in his place?

* Previously in the campaign we've introduced acolytes from other cells in the employ of the same master - perhaps this is one such acolyte? The issue would still remain of his philisophy being so different to that of the Inquisitor and the rest of the cell

* The slightly more liberal acolyte is an Arbitrator - perhaps the new Tech-priest has worked with him in the past and has proven he can be trusted? (Do teh ad mechs work that closely with the Adeptus Arbites? I assume so...)

*Perhaps he is not to be an acolyte at all? Perhaps he is working to stop a Heretek and he is temporarily assigned to assist the acolytes (whose mission overlaps) - the issue here is that what happens when the case is closed?

All thoughts appreciated....

I see absolutely no problem in bringing a Tech-Priest into a puritan cell. Most of the Adeptus Mechanicus itself are rather conservative/puritan, even if more Amalthian than Monodominant. The Adeptus Mechanicus and Cult Mechanicus exist for longer as essential part of the Imperium than the Ministorum and even the Imperial Creed as such for that matter. I could see a problem in having an Imperial (or even Rogue) Psyker and maybe even a Scum in a puritan cell, but surely not a Tech-Priest.
All your mentioned options fit fine for introducing the Tech-Priest into the cell in my opinion.

I like the idea of him coming from another cell. Maybe his other cell was hit hard and he's the lone survivor?

Luthor Harkon said:

The problem with Imperial Creed puritans is that religion doesn't mix with logic a lot of the time in WH40K (and we'll leave that topic there, I don't want to get into a debate on religion outside of 40K) so an objective look at what the Adeptus Mechanicus does for the Imperium is unrelated to matters of the Machine Cult. The fact that the Machine Cult doesn't see the Emperor as the "God-Emperor of Mankind" but rather as the "Omnissiah" is the primary problem puritans have with Machine Cultists. There's also a difference in opinion in what both sides view as "holy" from days to data-slates. Extremists (high, low , and watered-down) have denounced "heretical" cults and a lot of other lesser influencial movements for much much less and put them to sanctified flamer and chain.

My question is what part of Tech-Priest do they like? If they don't care for the Machine Cult aspect I can maybe suggest the Omnissian Apostate background package (effectively becoming a closet supplicant to the Imperial Creed and giving lip-service to the Credo Mechanicus). It's in Blood of Martyrs.

Sigismund said:

Preciosely my issue - thanks for spelling it out better than I did

Sigismund said:

Yes, I tried the Omnissiabn Apostate angle but he want's a true "tech priest" with the philisophy, mysticism, arcane and misunderstood tech,"the flesh is weak" full on 100% loyal to the Binary code...

At the moment it's still under discussion but what we may end up doing is (in a complete change of pace) swap to Deathwatch for a while, with him taking on a fully fledged (Ascension) Magos associated with the Kill team.

Another angle to look at is the fact that the Machine Cult has been around much longer than the Imperial Cult. The recognition of the Emporer as Omnissiah even pre-dates the Imperial Cult by several centuries. This could be an interesting angle to approach interactions with puritans from, that the Mechine Cult was way ahead of the religious curve.

Ah, found it: Blood of Martyrs, pg. 21 under "Orthodoxy and Heresy"

"The Cult Mechanicus is another deviant faith with which the Ecclesiarchy is often at odds. The Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus worship their own deity, woh they call the Machine-God. As with the Imperial Creed, many sects exist within the Cult Mechanicus, and it is commonly held that the Machine-God is in fact a manifestation of the Emperor, although many in the Eclesiarchy have great difficulty accepting this. Other sects appear to outsiders to be saturated in idolatry, worshipping the very machines they are tasked with maintaining and committing a thousand other transgressions punishable by death by the laws of the Adeptus Ministorum. Despite such differences, the Ecclesiarchy has no choice but to tolerate the Cult Mechanicus, just as none forgo the services of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica (a page back under "The Sin of the Psyker"), for without the Tech-Priests the Imperium would grind to a halt. No institution can do without the Adeptus Mechanicus, just as none forgo the services of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica or the Navigator Houses, regardless of how distasteful they might find their servants."

So you'll have to ask the Tech-Priest what is devotion to the Omnissiah means to him. If he can cut through their fervor with the (semi-) rational arguments and focus on that he still worships the Emperor (differently) and is a loyal citizen of the Imperium then that would go a long way towards establishing some common ground and allaying tensions.