haven't seen you in a while LN
Machine spirit is our version of AI. all SM vehicles have got it, since they are more advanced design than what any of the other Imperial forces usually get (IG). It's programmed during the manufacture as part of the vehicle, and is activated by one of their rituals. It kicks in wheneer the driver dies/is incapacitated, and has sensors that warn of danger, and occasionally helps driving, like the more modern cars of today. of course, techpriests don't know that the machine is only going by sensors and reacting, and so it seems to them that the machine it alive. They then built a complex system of rituals and sacrifices to "appease" the machine spirit, and to continue it's holy guidance.
documented rituals are fairly rare, but i do know tht they melt down every 13th rhino as unlucky, and every 666th is unusally holy, so goes through more rituals as a benefit to commanders and VIPs. Plus they test the healthiness of the machine spirit by revving the engines 13 times, and if something is wrong, they scrap the whole batch as posessing no machine spirit.
as from that, if you're fighting a lot of nids in an outta the way location, a good place to put your chapter is the eastern Rim of the galaxy, as that's where the hive fleets usually come from.
names...names...well, i good place to start is the heraldric colour of your chapter, and the totem it uses for it's badge eg. Red talons, if you had a claw and were painted red.
to really have no scouts would pretty much mean large plains, where the more mechanized approach of your force would be much more helpful.
that's it for the mo, so give a yell if you want more suggestions!
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