Chapter Galerie

1. KERNDATEN

Mission and Formation

Excipio-Tau-Sigma exists to intercept enemy formations that penetrate the outer perimeter defences of Toil and its vassal worlds. The Treaty of Olympus obligates Toil to field a macroclade for the Collegia Titanica; this formation serves that debt by providing close-support infantry for the Titan Legion Legio Audax, stationed on-world. Its name reflects its function: Excipio names the catching or blocking of a projectile; Tau and Sigma complete the Greek letter protocol. The formation has never fought more than three days' march from the forge world's industrial perimeter. It exists not to conquer but to hold what is already ours. That holding has cost it dearly.

2. DIE SCHMIEDEWELT

Toil orbits in the Cadian Gate subsector and produces heavy ordnance, armour plate and void-drive components under license from the forges of Graia. The planet itself is a terraced mining world, its surface scarred by centuries of open extraction; the manufacturing nexus lies twelve kilometres beneath, built into the bedrock and cooled by circulation through the planet's mantle. The Lubricae Cult, dominant here since M30, teaches that the Omnissiah manifests through the properties of oils and fluids—hydraulic pressure is prayer, lubrication is the path to perfection. This doctrine has made Toil's factories among the most efficient in the segmentum, but it has also made the cult obsessive about waste. A skitarius burned out by an overdosed Doctrina Imperative is not a casualty; he is a production failure.

Toil owes the Adeptus Mechanicus a standing macroclade in perpetuity. The current strength is 7,200 across all formations; 5,400 are carried on the rolls as combat-effective. The gap reflects a three-year shortfall in conversion-vault capacity—the forges' tithe to Terra rose in M34 by an Imperial decree, and the conversion halls were cannibalised to meet it. Manufacturing output has recovered; recruitment has not. The Lubricae Cult has declared this a temporary condition since M34.8. The Administratum's records are silent on when it ceases to be so.

Was die Welt ihren Menschen nimmt

The levy runs twice per Terran calendar year. Menials between fourteen and thirty-five cycles are drawn at random from the industrial workforce—approximately one in two hundred. The badly injured are brought to the conversion vaults whether they volunteer or not; industrial accidents on Toil are frequent and uniform in their severity. A worker crushed beneath a press, an enginseer scalded by hydraulic failure, a menial whose hand was caught in a circulating pump—these are the stock of the vaults.

The conversion takes nine weeks. The candidate's injuries are stabilised or, if there is nothing left to save, the damaged portions are excised entirely. Cybernetic augmentation begins on day three: the skeletal frame, the replacement limbs, the sensory packages. By week four, the skitarius candidate is no longer recognisably human. By week six, the Doctrina Imperative implants are seated, the neural mappings are complete, and the subject is tested for docility. If the subject fails—if it shows resistance, fear, or the capacity for independent thought—it is declared unfit and sent to the severance unit. The severance unit processes it for parts.

Those who pass are assigned to maniples. They have lost the capacity to disobey. They have also lost the choice to do so. This is recorded as procedure, not as loss.

3. SCHLACHTORDNUNG

Establishment Strength: 12 Manipel, 2,400 Skitarii, 180 support personnel, 40 war machines

Current Strength: 9 Manipel, 1,800 Skitarii, 140 support personnel, 28 war machines

The macroclade divides into four cohorts, each commanded by a Tech-Priest Dominus or Alpha Primus:

Kohorte Alpha (the Vanguard Cohort). Three maniples: two units of Skitarii Vanguard (squads of ten), one unit of Serberys Sulphurhounds (close-cavalry, six mounts). Commanded by Alpha Primus Vanguard-03-Psi. Task: rapid breakthrough and suppression of light enemy formations. At full strength, twelve skitarii per vanguard squad. Current: eight and seven. The Sulphurhounds operate at six beasts; establishment is ten.

Kohorte Chi-71 (the Interdictor Cohort). Three maniples: two units of Skitarii Rangers (ten each), one unit of Sydonian Dragoons (walker-cavalry with taser lances, three walkers). Commanded by Alpha Primus Sicarian-05-Omega. Task: deny enemy movement through rubble and fortified terrain. Rangers at establishment (ten each); Dragoons at two walkers, down from four.

Kohorte Mu-101 (the Praetorian Cohort). Three maniples: one unit of Skitarii Praetorians (eight combat-enhanced, short-duration operatives), two units of Kastelan robots (four robots per unit, controlled by Datasmiths), one Skorpius Disintegrator (hover-tank, plasma lance). Commanded by Magos Dominus Enginseer Kordanix himself. Task: assault and breakthrough. Praetorians are deployment-limited; the neural compounds break down after fourteen minutes of continuous augmentation. Four robots are operational; four are in long-term storage pending parts replacement.

Kohorte Delta (the Bulwark Cohort). Three maniples: one unit of Kataphron Breachers (four heavy servitors, plasma cannons), two units of Electro-Priests (Corpuscarii and Fulgurite, four per squad), one Skorpius Disintegrator, support for Secutarii infantry on loan from Legio Audax (twelve Secutarii per deployment, under independent command). Commanded by Magos Dominus (name unrecorded in accessible archives). Task: hold ground and suppress massed small-arms fire.

The Deviation

Kohorte Epsilon exists on the rolls and in no other place. Its strength is recorded as 180 Skitarii Rangers, three Onager Dunecrawlers, and a full Datasmith contingent. It has not moved or been audited since M34.4, when Enginseer Kordanix submitted a request for a third Dunecrawler platform to support operations in the Cadian Gate subsector. The request was denied. The formation persists in the archive as "under deployment to external forge worlds, status under review." No such deployment is corroborated by any other document the Mechanicum has recovered. Enginseer Kordanix maintains that this is correct, that Kohorte Epsilon will be stood up when the Lubricae Cult authorises the third Dunecrawler, and that the formation's absence is not loss—merely delay. The Administratum's view is not recorded.

4. DIE SKITARII

Recruitment

Excipio-Tau-Sigma draws from two sources. The annual levy delivers approximately 600 menials per Terran calendar year, selected at random from Toil's workforce. Of these, approximately 380 survive the conversion process. The remainder are killed during augmentation, declared unfit, or sent to the severance unit. The second intake is the injured: workers whose damage is unsurvivable through conventional medicine. In an average year, Toil's industrial accidents produce forty to eighty candidates for the vaults. Of these, roughly thirty complete conversion and pass the docility assessment.

Volunteers are rare and carefully screened. A menial may petition for augmentation with the written sanction of his work-gang overseer and a member of the Electro-Priesthood. No more than one in four hundred such petitions is granted. The volunteer understands that augmentation is the only advancement available to him, and that the alternative is exhaustion in the mines. He chooses the cutting.

The Corpus-Skitarii Conversion

The standard conversion takes nine weeks. The first three weeks are spent in the stabilisation vault: injuries are catalogued, infections are treated, the candidate is brought to a state where the flesh will no longer reject the prosthetic interface. Amputation begins on day three. A typical skitarius receives the following modifications:

• Both legs excised below the knee and replaced with ceramic-and-plaststeel prosthetics
• The right arm excised below the elbow; the left arm may be retained if intact
• Both eyes replaced with ocular lenses and targeting cogitators
• The spine reinforced with riveted ceramite plates along the dorsal line
• The skeletal structure supplemented with support struts at the joints
• The auditory system augmented with vox-receivers for Doctrina Imperative broadcasts

The implantation takes four weeks. The Doctrina wafers are seated into the neural tissue on day forty-two. By day fifty-six, the subject has been tested for compliance and either passed to maniple assignment or sent to severance.

A converted skitarius remains combat-effective for thirty to forty years. The augmetics degrade; the neural pathways become brittle; the capacity to process stimuli decreases. At that point, the skitarius is reclassified as unfit and remanded to the severance unit for processing.

Unit Types

Excipio-Tau-Sigma fields only three of the six known skitarii archetypes:

• Skitarii Rangers (Kohorte Alpha and Kohorte Chi-71). Armed with radium carbines, operating in squads of ten. Rangers are trained for reconnaissance and area denial. They receive minimal augmentation to the sensory systems but retain more of their original skeletal structure than other types. They are faster but less resilient.
• Skitarii Vanguard (Kohorte Alpha). Armed with galvanic rifles and equipped with enhanced targeting systems. Vanguard squads are smaller (eight to ten per squad) and are expected to concentrate fire on high-priority targets. They receive heavier skeletal augmentation than Rangers.
• Skitarii Praetorians (Kohorte Mu-101). Equipped with combat stimulants that accelerate neural processing and muscular response for periods of up to fourteen minutes. After that window closes, the neural toxins in the compounds begin to break down the synaptic tissue. A Praetorian who remains in the field beyond fourteen minutes becomes catatonic, often permanently. They are deployed only when breakthrough is required and the cost in bodies is acceptable.

Skitarii Ranks

Command structure is minimal. Each squad of ten is led by an Alpha, a skitarius designated (through selective augmentation and psychological conditioning) to coordinate the movement of his peers. Larger formations—maniples of three squads—are led by an Alpha Primus, typically a veteran Ranger or Vanguard who has survived fifty or more combat operations. Above the maniples stand the Tech-Priest Dominus or Magos Dominus, priestly commanders who fight alongside their skitarii and whose authority derives not from rank but from sacred function. A Skitarii Marshal exists on the rolls, but that position has been vacant on Toil for six years; the cost of raising a suitable candidate is judged too high.

5. WAS NICHT SKITARII IST

Kastelan Robots and the Cybernetica

Kohorte Mu-101 deploys with eight Kastelan robots divided into two maniples of four. Each maniple is controlled by a Datasmith—a Tech-Priest Dominus bearing full authority to reprogram the robots' behavioural parameters through the use of doctrina wafers. A Datasmith is not a soldier and takes no orders from the maniple's nominal skitarii Alpha; he is a specialist servant of the Legio Cybernetica and answers to the Mechanicum's priesthood alone. The robots themselves are pre-programmed combat units, incapable of independent decision-making beyond the parameters of their last update. They do not speak, do not experience fatigue, and do not question orders. They are weapons.

The Electro-Priesthood

Kohorte Delta fields two conclaves of electro-priests, one of Corpuscarii (tempest-prayer casters, armed with stave and arc pistol) and one of Fulgurite (arc-weapon specialists, equipped with heavier systems and servo-arms). These are not skitarii, though they have been augmented heavily. They are ordained members of the Cult Mechanicus who have taken vows to the Motive Force itself, and they take orders only from their own hierarch. In practice, this means they fight under the nominal command of Kohorte Delta's Tech-Priest Dominus, but if that Dominus is killed or incapacitated, the priesthood's ranking member may assume command—or may choose to withdraw entirely. The priesthood has never yet exercised that choice, but the possibility is encoded in the formation's standing orders.

The Secutarii (Loaned Infantry)

Legio Audax, the Titan Legion stationed on Toil, maintains a complement of Secutarii infantry—elite auxiliary troops trained and armed to support the Legion's Titans. Excipio-Tau-Sigma has no organic Secutarii; instead, it receives twelve Secutarii per major deployment, drawn from the Legion's reserve pools. These troops remain under the command of a Secutarii Prime and answer to the Titan Legion's hierarchy, not to Enginseer Kordanix. They are attached to Kohorte Delta as additional firepower but maintain independent orders and communications protocols. Their presence in the formation is thus conditional, temporary, and answerable to a separate authority.

No Legio

Legio Audax (the Bold, the Rash) is a formation of the Collegia Titanica and is seated on Toil. It is commanded by a Princeps Maior and has its own oath to the Omnissiah, its own forges, and its own rules of war. It is not part of Excipio-Tau-Sigma and takes no orders from Enginseer Kordanix. The two formations fight together often; they are not the same formation. The Treaty of Olympus obligates Toil to provide both.

6. DOCTRINA IMPERATIVES

Hazard Optimisation (Protector Grade Gamma)

Excipio-Tau-Sigma operates under Hazard Optimisation, the lowest tier of the Protector-grade imperatives. Hazard Optimisation dampens the pain centres and enhances proprioceptive awareness—the skitarius knows where his limbs are in space and can move more fluidly, but he experiences incoming fire as a status alert, not as trauma. It is useful for troops holding ground; it is catastrophic for troops in retreat, because the skitarius will not flee a threat he has been trained to regard as mere information.

The cost is significant. Hazard Optimisation held continuously for more than six hours causes cumulative damage to the neural implants. By the eighth hour, the skitarius begins to lose fine motor control. By the tenth, he is effectively paralysed—the override signals from the Doctrina wafer are so dense that voluntary movement becomes impossible. A skitarius held under Hazard Optimisation for more than twelve hours is considered permanently compromised and is sent to the severance unit.

Enginseer Kordanix's preferred doctrine is to broadcast Hazard Optimisation for no more than four hours at a time, followed by a mandatory stand-down of two hours minimum. This practice is not mandated by Mechanicum regulation; it is a choice. The Lubricae Cult has noted this choice, not approvingly.

M33.7, the Siege of Halo Station

During the T'au Empire's attempt to expand into the Cadian Gate subsector, Excipio-Tau-Sigma was tasked with holding the orbital refuelling station Halo Five against a coordinated assault by T'au Fire Warriors and allied auxilia. Enginseer Kordanix broadcast Hazard Optimisation on approach to the station and maintained it continuously for seven hours. At hour six, skitarii in the vanguard elements began to lose coordination; at hour six and forty minutes, the entire forward maniple (Kohorte Alpha, first squad) became stationary mid-breach and had to be physically carried to the rear.

Halo Five was held, but the cost was the loss of twelve skitarii to neural burnout and a second cohort's complicity in the decision: the Electro-Priesthood's ranking member documented what he saw and filed a formal petition with the Lubricae Cult for a review of Kordanix's command practices. The petition was rejected; the Cult noted that the formation had held its objective. Kordanix has not broadcast Hazard Optimisation for longer than four hours since that date. He has also not filed a written explanation, which the Cult interprets as acknowledgement of error.

7. KRIEGSMASCHINEN

Excipio-Tau-Sigma deploys 28 war machines across its four cohorts. The formation's armoured strength has declined since M34 due to parts scarcity and the diversion of manufacturing capacity to external tithe obligations.

Skorpius Disintegrators (4 vehicles: 2 in Kohorte Mu-101, 2 in Kohorte Delta). Hover tanks mounting plasma lances and missile pods. The Disintegrators are Toil's primary vehicle-mounted anti-armour platform. All four are operational; one (serial designation 47-Theta) has been in the field continuously since M33.2 and is flagged for rebuild in the next maintenance window. That window is currently scheduled for M35.6, pending parts.

Sydonian Dragoons (3 walkers, Kohorte Chi-71). Two-legged assault platforms with taser lances and carapace-mounted cogitators. Only three are deployable; a fourth was lost to enemy fire in M34.1 at Objective Kessler and was not recovered. Replacement parts for the plasma reactor have not been fabricated; the forge masters are uncertain whether they can justify the output cost.

Onager Dunecrawlers (2 operational, 1 notional). Heavy platform vehicles with neutron lasers and Kastelan robot support. Two are fully operational and are deployed with Kohorte Delta. A third has been ordered by Enginseer Kordanix and is listed on the rolls as "establishment pending," but the fabrication schedule has not been approved. This is the core grievance underlying Kohorte Epsilon's existence on paper and nowhere else.

Kastelan Robots (8 robots, 2 Datasmiths). Pre-programmed combat platforms controlled by Cybernetica Datasmiths. Eight robots are on the rolls; all eight are operational, though two (identifiers 99-Xi and 103-Phi) have been partially stripped for parts to support the maintenance of the Skorpius vehicles. Both remain combat-capable but at reduced durability ratings.

No Titan Legion, no Ordinatus, no heavy siege platforms. Legio Audax, the Collegia Titanica formation, is commanded separately and does not report to Excipio-Tau-Sigma. It holds the orbital bombardment authority and the heavy artillery roles.

8. BENANNTE KILLCLADES

Kohorte Chi-71, "The Rust-Catchers." Sicarian Ruststalker squad, seven operatives under the command of Sicarian-05-Omega. Armed with chordant transonic swords and infra-red targeting. They earned the name "Rust-Catchers" fighting against ork boarding parties on the hulk Infestation-Prime in M33.4; the orks called them "da Rust-Eaters" in their cant, and the name stuck. The squad specialises in close-quarters boarding actions and rapid infiltration of enemy positions. They are known for leaving no witnesses.

Vigil Adamantis, "The Immovable." Kataphron Breacher unit, four heavy servitors armed with plasma cannons and shield generators, deployed with Kohorte Delta under Enginseer Kordanix's direct supervision. The unit gained its name (given by the Secutarii contingent during the Three Days of the Cadian Crux, M34.3) because the four servitors held a bunker position under continuous T'au pulse-fire for nearly fifty hours without relief. Three were damaged; none withdrew. The enemy called off the assault. The fourth servitor, identifier unit 47-Kappa, is deaf on its left acoustic receptor due to blast trauma sustained during that engagement and has not been repaired—Enginseer Kordanix has declared it a permanent marking of the formation's endurance.

Kohorte Mu-101, Vanguard squad, "The Praetorian Hour." Eight Skitarii Praetorians under Vanguard-03-Psi, the only named Praetorian unit in the formation. These eight are repeatedly deployed because they have, collectively, the highest survival rate of any Praetorian squad in Toil's archives—six of the eight have been through more than thirty augmentation cycles and remain combat-effective. The name is their own ironic observation: they call the time they spend under Praetorian stimulation "the hour," though it never lasts more than fourteen minutes. The T'au merchant-princes who employ auxiliary forces have learned to recognise them by the violet carapace markings and attempt to kill them on sight. They have failed to do so in three consecutive engagements.

9. FELDZÜGE

Kampagne Erste: M33.2–M33.4, three months

Theatre: Halo Station and orbital approaches, Cadian Gate subsector Enemy: T'au Empire and allied Kroot mercenaries Duration: three months

The T'au merchant princes of the Ethereal Caste had begun expanding into the Cadian Gate subsector, seeking mineral resources and manufacturing capacity. Halo Five, an automated refuelling station in high orbit above Toil, represented the logical first objective—control it, and they controlled the void-traffic between Toil and its vassal worlds. Excipio-Tau-Sigma was tasked with holding the station against assault.

The T'au attacked in three waves over a period of nine weeks. The first two were probing assaults by Fire Warrior squads supported by Kroot auxiliaries. Excipio-Tau-Sigma repelled both with minimal loss—the Rangers' radium carbines were superior in a vacuum environment, and the Kroot were unable to adapt to zero-gravity tactics quickly enough. The third assault was coordinated: a full crisis-suit element supported by a devilfish gunship tried to force a breach through the station's primary airlock.

Enginseer Kordanix committed Kohorte Mu-101 in response. The Praetorians took eight minutes to reach the airlock and four minutes to break the crisis-suit element. The Datasmith-controlled Kastelan robots prevented the devilfish from venting the corridor. The station was held.

Outcome: Victorious. T'au withdrew to secondary objectives. Losses: 26 skitarii dead, 1 maniple (Kohorte Alpha, second squad) struck from rolls due to Hazard Optimisation burnout. 1 Skorpius Disintegrator damaged (repaired by M34.1).

Kampagne Zweite: M34.1–M34.3, three months

Theatre: Objective Kessler, a crashed void-vessel in the wreckage fields of the Cadian subsector Enemy: Ork salvage forces (Waaagh Zagdakka, remnant elements) Duration: three months

The Infestation-Prime, a damaged Imperial cargo vessel, had crashed in the Wreck Fields east of Toil in M33.9. By M34.1, ork salvagers from the collapsing Waaagh Zagdakka had established a foothold in the wreck and were mining it for scrap and components. The Administratum judged that the vessel might carry STC fragments or classified military technology; Excipio-Tau-Sigma was ordered to clear the wreck and establish a security perimeter until a proper salvage team could be brought in.

The assault took twelve weeks. The orks fought for every compartment; the vessel's zero-gravity environment negated the formation's close-cavalry advantages. Kohorte Alpha was committed first and suffered heavy casualties attempting to assault through narrow corridors against entrenched opposition. Kohorte Chi-71 was brought in next; the Sydonian Dragoons' taser lances proved effective in pressurised compartments, where the electrical discharge could be contained. The Ruststalkers of Sicarian-05-Omega's unit cleared the command deck and hangar bays through rapid infiltration and close-quarters action.

By week nine, the orks were consolidated in the lower hull. Enginseer Kordanix committed Kohorte Mu-101 and called down a fire-support mission from Legio Audax—two Warhound-Titans bracketed the vessel and plastered the lower sections with lance fire. The orks broke and fled; the few who remained were mopped up by Skitarii Rangers in a final three-day assault. The wreck was declared secure on M34.3.

Outcome: Victorious. STC fragment recovered (disposition unrecorded; removed to Fabricator-level secure archive). Losses: 47 skitarii dead, 1 Sydonian Dragoon destroyed, 2 maniples (Kohorte Alpha, maniples one and two) consolidated into a single understrength unit. 1 Skorpius Disintegrator damaged and under long-term repair.

Kampagne Dritte: M34.8–M35.1, five months

Theatre: Subsector Ereshkan and approaching void, Cadian Gate subsector Enemy: T'au Empire (coordinated assault), Kroot mercenaries, allied auxiliary forces Duration: five months. Formation lent to: Astra Militarum, Cadian Gate sub-segmentum command

The T'au renewed their assault on the Cadian Gate subsector in a coordinated campaign to establish a permanent enclave. This time, the assault was strategic: the T'au aimed to establish a supply foothold in Sektor Ereshkan and from there project force against three of Toil's vassal worlds. The Astra Militarum's 14th Cadian Regiment was tasked with ground defence; Excipio-Tau-Sigma was loaned to provide rapid-response fire support and to prevent T'au breakthrough past the regiment's fixed lines.

The campaign unfolded over five months. The T'au strategy was to bypass the Cadian positions entirely and drop a fresh auxiliary force (three companies of Tau'va-allied Kroot mercenaries, 180 warriors each) directly behind the Cadian lines. Excipio-Tau-Sigma's Kohorte Delta was positioned to intercept this drop. The interception succeeded: the Kroot were caught in the landing zone and broken before they could form up. The T'au response was to commit their own crisis-suit element and a squadron of close-support gunships.

Enginseer Kordanix committed all remaining cohorts in a coordinated assault. Kohorte Alpha hit the T'au left flank; Kohorte Chi-71 moved to encircle. Kohorte Mu-101 fixed the crisis-suit element in place while Kastelan robots and Skorpius vehicles suppressed the gunships' fire. By the end of the engagement, the T'au force had withdrawn, the Kroot mercenaries were dead, and the Astra Militarum's lines held.

The T'au did not return to the Cadian Gate subsector until M35.3—six months later. When they did, they approached through diplomatic channels rather than military assault. The Ethereal Council had apparently concluded that the cost of taking Toil's vassal worlds exceeded the benefit.

Outcome: Victorious. Diplomatic enclave established with T'au; trade protocols initiated (ongoing). Losses: 63 skitarii dead, 2 Skorpius Disintegrators damaged (both under repair), 1 maniple (Kohorte Chi-71, third maniple) consolidated into understrength status. The formation stood down from active deployment on M35.2 and has remained in garrison status since.

10. DESIGN-BIBEL

Skitarii livery (deep violet carapace) Excipio-Tau-Sigma's skitarii wear deep violet (tiefes Violett) armoured carapace across the chest, limbs and head. Copper (Kupfer) trim outlines the shoulder plates and the faceplate of the helm, and runs in a downward stripe along the sternum. The robes and cloaks, where worn, are charcoal grey with violet understitching. Every skitarius of this formation carries a single copper cog-and-skull device on the right pauldron, smaller and more austere than the formation's main heraldic device.

Rank and cohort markings Alphas and Alpha Primi are distinguished by a copper arm-band worn on the left bicep, wider for Primi than for regular Alphas. Kohorte assignments are marked by a copper numeral on the left knee plate: I for Alpha, X for Chi-71, M for Mu-101, D for Delta. Maniple assignments are marked by an additional copper numeral on the right shin plate (1, 2, or 3). A skitarius with "D2" on his right shin is in Delta's second maniple. A regular Alpha Alpha wears a single arm-band; a Prima wears a double band with a small cog stamped between them.

Augmetic style of the priesthood The Tech-Priests of Excipio-Tau-Sigma favour a crude, functional aesthetic. Servo-arms are riveted rather than welded, showing their joints openly. Mechadendrites are wrapped in copper wire, visible where they extend from the robe. Augmetics are not gilded; the Lubricae Cult teaches that visible rivets and working mechanisms are more praiseworthy than hidden perfection. The effect is one of honest labour and perpetual maintenance—a priesthood that is always, visibly, taking things apart and putting them back together.

The cog device Excipio-Tau-Sigma's heraldic cog is a modified eight-pointed machine-glyph, cast in copper and mounted on a deep-violet circular ground. The points are unequal in length, representing the uneven progress of the formation's reconstruction after M34. At the centre of the cog sits a small segmented circle, representing the Treaty of Olympus and Toil's obligations within it. The device is worn on the formation's war machines' hull plates, on the ceremonial robes of its senior tech-priests, and in miniature (copper only, no violet ground) on every skitarius' shoulder plate. It differs from the Lubricae Cult's central cog by the addition of the segmented circle, which marks Excipio-Tau-Sigma's identity as a distinct formation within a larger priesthood.

War machine markings and hull numbering Skorpius Disintegrators carry their serial designation (47-Theta, 48-Omega, etc.) in white stencilled numerals on the left hull side. Sydonian Dragoons carry their identifier on the carapace. Kastelan robots are marked with their caste designation (99-Xi, 103-Phi) on the chest plate, with copper-coloured numerals on a deep-violet backing. All vehicles carry the eight-pointed cog device on their hull, and most carry scorch marks and impact dents from sustained combat operations.

Three things always corroded, leaking or patched The Skorpius vehicles leak hydraulic fluid from their left-side circulation conduits; the Lubricae Cult considers this a sign of proper use rather than a maintenance failure. Kastelan robot armor plates show oxidation at their seals, particularly around the upper shoulder mounts. Sydonian Dragoon taser lances carry visible electrical burn-scoring on their discharge points; the arcs jump erratically in humid conditions, and no amount of recalibration has solved it.

Colour palette (five named colours) Deep Violet (tiefes Violett) — primary armour plate and carapace. Copper (Kupfer) — trim, device, rank-marking numerals. Charcoal Grey — robes, underclothes, secondary hull plating. White — stencilled numerals on vehicle identification. Brass — secondary trim on older vehicles, heritage marking from M33 operations.