Adeptus Intelekt (Warhammer 40K)

Ukrainian: адептичний інтелект

First authored: 1/15/2025. Last updated: 1/16/2025

The Adeptus Intelekt legion, known as the “Enginseers”, makes extensive use of computation, simulation, and Imperium-approved, Chaos-safe, restricted artificial intelligence.

The Adeptus Intelekt is unusual in the fact that not all legionnaires are Adeptus Astartes and some are in fact adopted from the Adeptus Mechanicus. The Adeptus Intelekt has its own process and rituals for becoming an Enginseer that focus primarily on the mind, including augmentation and rigorous education. Enginseers are taught the belief that knowledge is the greatest virtue to embody the Omnissiah, and are in a never ending pursuit to improve their minds and contribute to the Librarium and Adeptus Mechanicus’ data vaults. The Enginseers are encouraged to apply their knowledge to create new technology and tactics to aid the Imperium; to that end, creativity is celebrated (a rarity in the Imperium). With this goal of pursuing knowledge, this legion’s deployments are sometimes aimed at acquiring Standard Template Constructs. This pursuit of knowledge is heavily restrained as Enginseers are wary of heretical Abominable Intelligence and its ability to be influenced by Chaos.

Given their rigorous education regimen, the Adeptus Intelekt is the smallest legion despite not requiring Adeptus Astartes.

The Adeptus Intelekt is known for:

Unorthodox and seemingly random, but precise and effective tactics
Integrated use of non-Adeptus Astartes humans
Mixed use of human, Astartes, ground, air, and space-borne machines in combat
Heavy use of reconnaissance and non-lethal machinery
Unyielding discipline to prevent themselves from falling prey to Abominable Intelligence and the influence of Chaos
Loyalists, their fanatical commitment and worship of the Emperor of Man, the embodiment of the Machine God, and close intertwinement with the Cult Mechanicus

Each Enginseer legionnaire is assigned a specialty from the following fields:

Flesh enginseering (medicine and bionics)
Mechanical enginseering (weapons and machines)
Machine body enginseering (computer science and electrical engineering)
Machine Spirit enginseering (optimization, machine learning, and AI)
Battle enginseering (warfare tactics, methods, and strategies)

The colors and symbols of the Adeptus Intelekt:

White: Symbolizes their purity from Abominable Intelligence and the heretical influence of Chaos while serving the Omnissiah
Gold: Symbolizes their connection to their machines as gold is a key element in their machines
Black: Symbolizes their commitment to the pursuit of knowledge as black is the ink on paper