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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
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The Machine-God made the universe, his perfect machine, the '''Great Work'''. He made humanity, and put them into it so that they might flourish, and do so by knowledge, which begets improvement, which allows understanding. Like the [[Ecclesiarchy]], the Mechanicus believes that the human form is perfect, however the Machine Cult sees instead as the perfect beginning in order to test Machine-God's followers. The flesh was made weak by the Machine God to test them. Their role in life is to learn all there is to learn, to improve upon what the Machine-God gave them, and enrich his creation in the process.{{Fn|21b}}
→Beliefs
====Machine-God====
The '''Machine God''', also known as the '''Deus Mechanicus''',{{Fn|2}}{{Fn|3}}{{Fn|4a}} '''He who is three-in-one''',{{Fn|15c}} '''the three in one''',{{Fn|16c}} '''the triple god''',{{Fn|16a}} '''the prime architect''',{{Fn|15a}} and '''God-Machine''',{{Fn|11}} is the ultimate object of worship in the Cult Mechanicus. It is the Machine God that gave rise to all technologies and made them manifest through his chosen among mankind. To the Mechanicus, machines represent a higher form of life than those crudely formed from biological evolution. The planned perfection of form and function embodied in a machine are so great, that they could only have arisen from a divine source. Officially, the Cult Mechanicus maintains that the [[Emperor]] is the physical manifestation of the Machine God (the '''[[Omnissiah]]''') and part of a trinity that also includes the Machine God and the '''[[Motive Force]]''', the deity that gives all life and motion its continued existence.{{Fn|2}}{{Fn|3}}{{Fn|4a}}
One of the surviving [[Men of Iron]], [[UR-025]], states that it has met the true Omnissiah, not the false one worshipped by man, and that it would find the Mechanicum disappointing.{{Fn|7}}
====Machina Opus====
The Machine-God made the universe, his perfect machine, the '''Great Work'''. He made humanity, and put them into it so that they might flourish, and do so by knowledge, which begets improvement, which allows understanding. Like the [[Ecclesiarchy]], the Mechanicus believes that the human form is perfect, however the Machine Cult sees instead as the perfect beginning in order to test Machine-God's followers. The flesh was made weak by the Machine God to test them. Their role in life is to learn all there is to learn, to improve upon what the Machine-God gave them, and enrich his creation in the process.{{Fn|21b}}
Some believe that organic life is the Machine-God’s greatest accomplishment within the scope of the Great Work. The Machine God created the complex weaknesses of flesh so his followers might learn metallic strength, and ascend to his level of machinic perfection.{{Fn|15c}} Thus striving to improve upon it and replace it, however, abandoning his numerous gifts is done at great peril. For to give up one's soul is the great sin of the Cult Mechanicus. The soul must be understood, not despised. Such is life’s great test.{{Fn|16b}}
