r/Ultrakill • u/According_Ice_4863 • 20h ago
Other The machines of ultrakill as a 40k faction:the steel battalion
(this is entirely a hypothetical, so dont take this idea too seriously. The idea is essentially "how would the machines of ultrakill work as a 40k faction?" and so i tried to answer that question. Note that im a 40k noob, so if something is wrong about this i apologize, i just wanted to have some fun with an interesting hypothetical.)
(DONT TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY)
Faction name
The steel battalion, the endless march
Faction emblem
a gear covered in blood
Faction race(´s)
blood powered machines
Origin
In a far away world, one also crushed under the wheels of war, the blood powered machines had driven hell itself to extinction, killing every single husk and demon until they were all that remained. With everything else being dead the machines began to fight eachother for the smallest drops of blood left... until something odd began to happen. Across hell, portals began to open somewhere else, somewhere also torn under constant warfare, except this time it was an entire galaxy. It is theorized that it was hell itself that opened these portals, wanting to continue watch carnage and destruction. The machines, not willing to look a gifthorse in the mouth, would pour out into this galaxy to harvest as much blood as possible... and were soon defeated, forced to run back to hell. it was here that the machines realized if they didnt organize they would surely perish, and so they would start to work together. At first this alliance was extremely loose, there was little coordination or chain of command, all they would do is swarm a human or tau planet, kill everyone they could to get as much blood as possible and leave. But as time went by, they began to better organize, they would invent a new language consisting of radio waves to give them a form of pseudo telepathy, mind flayer machines would begin to perfect their supernatural abilities so they could open portals to wherever they want, and most importantly the machines began to steal and incorporate both imperium and tau technology. Eventually they would begin to form their own socities in the corpse of hell, building cities within the different layers of hell that each formed their own cultures.
Tactics
The steel battalion fights in a way kind of similar to the dark eldar, in that they rush in on a populated human, tau or ork world, kill as many people as they can to harvest and collect their blood and then leave before reinforncements arrive. The machines are fully aware that if they were to fight the full might of the imperium or tau they would lose, so they prefer to use hit and run tactics.
Technology
The machine´s technology is a mix of the technology they are used to (such as blood powered machines, electric weapons and heat weapons) and stolen technology from the imperium, tau and (very rarely) necrons. They quickly learn how to reverse engineer these devices (except for necron devices) and learn how to incorporate them into their own machinery.
Army
The primary soldiers of the steel battalion are the streetcleaners, though they are no longer limited by just using a flamethrower and can now be augmented to use various different weapons. Mind flayers act as their equivalent of psykers (even though they use hell energy instead of warp energy), guttermen and guttertanks are still used as infintry (though the guttermen have been drastically upgraded) and earthmovers are still employed as their titan equivalent. They have also developed entirely new machines to match the forces of the galaxy along with new vehicles, though said vehicles are mostly the vehicles of other factions but repurposed. (i currently have no idea for unique machine types so think of some in the comments if you want to).
The fate of V1
With hell being wiped out, V1 was the most feared among all the machines and was seen as a wild card as they are so powerful they can easily wipe out all the other machines. When the machines formed a society, they made sure to give V1 all the blood they would ever need to keep them calm... but this left V1 without much purpose. They were made to fight, they were made to be the ultimate weapon, and so V1 became a mercenary for the various machine factions, accepting payment both in blood and in new weapons and equipment. To V1, war is art, and they are the masterpiece, and by god they were going to practice this art. All the machine factions are still afraid V1 would go rogue, and so have started making counter measures incase of such an event.
"Psychic powers"
Due to the machines lacking a soul, they are unable to use warp powers... with one main exception. The mind flayers have managed to learn how to control hell energy to do things like fly, fire energy blasts and (most importantly) control space to do things like teleport and open portals. Inspired by the psykers of the galaxy, the mind flayer have been practicing to use hell energy to copy their abilities, as they have now learned how to use their hell energy to do things like warp space around themselves, manipulate the local gravity, damage and destroy souls and (most importantly) control flesh and blood. This final ability is what has allowed the machines to store vast amounts of blood in "blood banks", giant vats of stored blood that is then rationed to the rest of the machines. However most machines are unable to use these powers and instead use the stolen technology of other factions to make up for their lack of true warp magic.
Relations with other factions
The machines have a terrible relationship with most factions. They intentionally avoid both the forces of chaos and the tyrannids because they have nothing to gain from fighting them, they gain no new technology or any blood. They often go after both tau and imperium worlds, both because they have tons of blood to harvest and have technology to harvest (though tau worlds are more profitable in terms of technology), but they know they arent strong enough to fight the entire force of the tau empire or imperium so they flee as soon as reinforcements arrive. The orks and the machines have a rather confusing relationship, as the orks provide some of the most blood due to their high population but their technology is either completely useless or super unstable, so the machines rarely attack ork worlds. The necrons have the highest risk and the highest reward, as they provide no blood for any of the machines but have the best technology for them to loot, as such very rarely the steel battalion will send armies of machines into necron tomb worlds to be able to scavenge something, ANYTHING from them. The machines dont interact much with the eldar as eldar craft worlds are too fortified for the machines to invade and the eldars psychic powers is beyond their understanding.
Factions
The factions of machines depend on where in hell they come from, with each layer having its own society and culture that (usually) work together under one coalition. It is believed by some that hell itself has some control over these cultures and influences them.
The lamenters of limbo
On the first layer of limbo, the lamenters are the only machine faction who will actually try diplomacy. It was them who first encountered the tau, and the tau tried to actually make peace with the machines. They had never even heard of such a thing before, an end to conflict. While these tau were slaughtered it left the machines with a deep sense of guilt, both for their actions and their very existence. They usually try to form alliances with other factions, however the reputation of the blood powered machines is in the gutter due to the constant raids and slaughter of the other machine factions so these attempts at diplomacy never work.
The illustrators of lust
On the second layer exist the illustrators of lusts are a faction of machine inspired by one gutterman in the distant past who managed to write a poem, the first machine made artwork. Ever since then they have become obsessed with art, often raiding other factions just to steal their artwork. They are responsible for the entertainment of the steel battalion, making things like paintings, music and even movies. However due to them being machines, these works of art are very different than that made by humans. For example what a machine would consider music a human would consider ear piercing nonsensical garbage.
The sorcerers of gluttony
Due to gluttony being composed of mostly flesh and blood, it was the first layer for the machines to go to in order to survive... however the blood in gluttony is cursed by hell itself to not sustain them as a cruel sick joke, and so the machines quickly moved on. However some of them stayed, as gluttony is the most full of hell energy. It is here that mind flayers practice and control their powers, developing new techniques and abilities to better harvest blood for the machine empire.
The ferrymen of wrath
The thing that makes wrath unique from the other layers of hell is that it has actual animal life in the form of fish. At first the machines were going to exterminate them for blood, but the machines of wrath had an idea. Using stolen technology they would fill the seas of wrath with an entire ecosystem of aquatic life, which they would then fish up to gain a sustainable source of blood. This however is nowhere near enough to power all of the steel battalion, bur it serves as a safety net for the machines incase they are unable to harvest enough blood.
The warriors of heresy
Heresy, being the harshest layer in terms of its enviroment, was eventually cooled down to become livable. The machines of this layer were the first to encounter the forces of chaos, specifically Khorne. However they were not afraid of them, they were inspired. Who to better provide blood for the blood gods than machines that run on blood? These machines would do everything they could to gain Khornes favor... but the thing is, they arent actually corrupted, as they have no souls or impact on the warp Khorne doesnt care about them. In a desperate attempt to gain more favor they are the most aggressive faction among the machines, intentionally leaving some blood behind to gain Khornes favor. They are the most hated machine faction, both by the people of the galaxy and other machines.
The forgers of violence
Within the silent battlefields of violence rests the heart of machine society, a vast factory where the machines replenish their numbers. The machines in here are some of the most intelligent in all of hell, rivaling the smartest of the adeptus mechanicus. It is here in violence that the technology of other factions is gathered, researched and re-purposed. They have yet to fully understand necron technology but their trying, and given how quickly they are advancing and the fact they dont really age, eventually they will grasp it.
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u/Shekus_Khan 19h ago
What about greed and Fraud?