When most of us hear “Skitarii,” we picture grim cyborg infantry doing the thankless jobs.
They are tougher than Guardsmen, yet they still feel disposable in 40k. However, this piece is all about the original Skitarii, and they are a whole different beast. In fact, they were relic hunters, terror troops, and the mailed fist of the Fabricator General. So if you ever wondered why Mechanicum players get that smug look, this is why.
Not Your 41st Millennium Skitarii: The Fabricator General’s Relic Hunters
These Skitarii are framed as unsung MVPs whose actions shaped the Heresy more than anyone noticed. They were not just “augmented dudes with rifles.” Instead, they were feared conclaves tasked with tracking down Humanity’s nastiest technological relics, the kind of Dark Age goodies you do not leave lying around. Moreover, their whole identity is religious duty mixed with special forces energy, which is an awesome vibe for the setting.
The upcoming Journal Tactica is positioned as the big source for this era’s lore and rules. However, the core idea lands right away: these are elite hunters first, line troops second.
Flesh Shriving and the Corpus Skitarii: How You Make a Living Weapon
Mechanicum taghmatas use plenty of thralls and robots, but the classical Skitarii are treated like artisan work. The process is called Flesh shriving, and it is exactly as grim as it sounds. Their mortal flesh gets surgically removed and replaced with the sacred corpus skitarii, meaning the augmetic armour suit basically becomes their body.
That swap is not just physical either. Most importantly, the suit bends the mind by pumping in the combat experience of all previous wearers. It is described as raw data that would break weaker brains, which feels like getting force fed a thousand veteran after action reports in one sitting. Consequently, the aspirant’s identity gets rewritten into something made from fragments of countless past lives. No wonder some enemies whisper that Skitarii can never truly die, because the “self” keeps coming back in pieces.
Then there is the practical payoff. Combined with their enhancements, this turns “harmless labourers” into hardened veterans fast. And while that line is a little horrifying, it also screams efficiency. It even gets compared to other elite recruitment pipelines, because it can outpace the time it takes to produce other top tier troops. That is wild, and it makes the Skitarii feel like the Mechanicum’s mass producible elite option.
Schism of Mars and Battlefield Behaviour: Cold Logic, Hot Relic Greed
When the Schism of Mars kicks off, the Skitarii conclaves split too. Just as many go with the Loyalist Fabricator General in exile as stay with Kelbor Hal, yet their mission stays basically the same. They keep combing the galaxy for hidden treasures, because that hunt is their highest religious duty. So even when the galaxy is on fire, they are still out here chasing sacred loot like it is their job, because it literally is.
On deployment, they are described as single minded to a scary degree. They follow orders even if it kills them, which is peak cyber zealotry. Meanwhile, if they need to fight as a mustered force, their bionic legs and loping gait make them ideal scouts and recon. They also bring excellent marksmanship and voltlock arquebuses, which are refined volkite style weapons with extra range and punch. So the play pattern is clear: spot the critical target, delete it with disciplined volleys, and let the enemy realise they are in danger about two seconds too late.
Still, they are not exactly cuddly teammates. Their cold logic, weird movement, and total disregard for self preservation makes them hard to work with. However, allies usually learn respect fast once a flanking threat gets shredded by voltlock fire. The catch is hilarious and very Mechanicum: if the battle does not serve the relic hunt, the Skitarii might decide you are not worth their attention. That is the kind of “objective based play” that makes friends swear at you across the table.
Summary
This write up sells the Heresy era Skitarii as elite relic hunting conclaves, built through the brutal Flesh shriving process and transformed by corpus skitarii suits that rewrite body and mind with accumulated combat data. Because of that, they become fast made veterans with a spooky “never truly killed” reputation, and they keep doing their sacred job even after the Mechanicum splits in the Schism of Mars. On the table, the vibe is ruthless pursuit, recon movement, and precise voltlock arquebus fire into key targets, even if they are awkward allies who care more about relics than your plan. If you want to start them, the new miniatures and the Journal Tactica go up for pre order this Saturday, so you can go treasure hunting for whichever Fabricator General you are backing.
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