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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
→Religion
The Cult Mechanicus originated during the Age of Strife. According to its teachings, knowledge is the supreme manifestation of divinity, and all creatures and artefacts that embody knowledge are holy because of it. Machines that preserve knowledge from ancient times are also holy, and machine intelligences are no less divine than those of flesh and blood. A man's worth is only the sum of his knowledge - his body is simply an organic machine capable of preserving intellect.
To the Cult Mechanicus, machines represent a higher form of life than that created through biological evolution. The ultimate object of the cult's veneration is known as the Machine God (or the ''Deus Mechanicus''), which is believed to have given rise to all technologies and made them manifest through his chosen illuminati among mankind. The Machine God my be the [[C'tan]] [[Void Dragon]], who has been entombed on Mars for millenia and was worshipped by the Cult Mechanus before the rise of the Emperor.
The Cult Mechanicus await the arrival of the Omnissiah, a prophesised physical avatar of the Machine God. During the Great Crusade the forces of the Emperor liberated many of the forge worlds founded as colonies of Mars in ancient times. On his arrival at many of the worlds, the Cult Mechanicus recognised the Emperor as the long awaited Omnissiah, however with his ascension of the Golden Throne at the dawn of the Imperial Age this belief was largely discredited.
