Talk:Universal Law

To be found in Explorator Warbands for Inquisitor:

The Fourth Universal Law – Intellect is the Understanding of Knowledge: The ability to understand and use knowledge forms the measure of intellect. It is entirely possible for a sentience to realise the value of knowledge/stimulus and yet possess only simplistic levels of it. It is also possible for an archive or holomat to contain a vast font of knowledge and the understanding thereof without apprehending the value of that knowledge. Neither of these two examples would be rated as possessing intellect by Techpriests.

The Fifth Universal Law – Sentience is the Basest Form of Intellect: The commonly held trait of sentience is hence only the first ‘tier’ of intellect. Intellect is attained through the acquisition and understanding of knowledge.

The Sixth Universal Law – Understanding is the True Path to Comprehension: What all knowledge leads to is comprehension, a level of intellect that encompasses all the knowledge there is to be understood.

The Seventh Universal Law – Comprehension is the Key to all Things: Comprehension of the forces of the universe brings with it the keys to reality, the ability to affect any change or creation desired.

The Eight Universal Law – The Omnissiah knows all, comprehends all: The Omnissiah is the supreme being, the entity able to comprehend all knowledge in the universe. It is thus the logic of the Cult Mechanicus that if the Machine God exists (which, of course, it does as far as they are concerned), then all knowledge must already exist, and it is really just a matter of time and effort to put it all into one place. The fact that this Quest for Knowledge has lasted well over ten thousand years does not seem to deter the Techpriests! All other considerations, including personal comfort, are secondary to the Quest for Knowledge. A devout Techpriest will sacrifice his comrades to heighten his intellect, and will even willingly lay down his life if, in doing so, he can assist the Cult Mechanicus in the Quest for Knowledge.

The Fifteenth Universal Law – Flesh is Fallible, but Ritual Honours the Machine Spirit: Organic components (people) are weak, forgetful and ultimately expendable for the greater glories of the Machine God. The fallibilities of the flesh can be assuaged through the correctly prescribed rituals to enable the enlightened to interact with the Machine Spirit. To so dishonour a Machine Spirit by not undertaking the correct rituals to honour it is a grave crime, and considered extremely risky with certain spirits, for example failing to undertake maintenance rituals on a plasma reactor is sure to end badly.

The Sixteenth Universal Law – To Break with Ritual is to Break with Faith: Techpriests rely on ritual over understanding, every screw turn and button press is precisely documented for every mechanism they build or use. Many Techpriests believe that the slightest deviation is an invitation for disaster and unleashing uncontrollable forces. Others take a more pragmatic view, believing ritual is mainly there to placate Machine Spirits and it can be hurried or even (horrors!) dispensed with altogether if the circumstances dictate – although the Machine Spirit will have to be appeased later. The Fifteenth and Sixteenth Universal Laws open a window into how the Techpriests approach most situations and deal with unfolding events. They are, on the whole, predictable, unimaginative and low on intuition. Before making an important decision, a Techpriest will always endeavour to seek a precedent that that can accede to – or in their terms, to see if this particular piece of Knowledge has already been discovered. This means that Techpriests are disinclined to rash or emotional reactions, and it is this attitude that gives them their inhuman air, which in many ways serves to separate them from Humanity as much as their physical alterations. This is not to say that Techpriests are without feelings, and certainly they can be angered or feel fear, but as they grow in experience they are more able to detach themselves from these fleshly weaknesses. A Magos several centuries old will make decisions based upon the relevance of the situation to his Quest for Knowledge and the probabilities of this being advanced or hindered. When confronted by an armed man, the threat to the Magos and the Knowledge he has uncovered and may potentially uncover in the future is paramount, and he is likely to retreat to preserve this. If, on the other hand, the armed man is guarding a repository of potentially important Knowledge, then the Magos is likely to be confrontational.

Well, I obviously trust your word for it, but I need the page-numbers of every individual paragraph. I don't have that book. Aehren 09:30, 31 July 2011 (CEST)

If I remember rightly, isn't there some Laws in Titanicus (Novel)?--Ytokes 10:04, 31 July 2011 (CEST)

Same problem, I don't have that particular book. But you could add the laws contained in that novel, provided you check it out first (and provide the source/page-number). It's quite easy to find (all) the laws through a simple Google-search but we NEED to confirm the original sources. Aehren 10:48, 31 July 2011 (CEST)

It's a free pdf from Fanatic Games, can be found here for example. I don't have the time to paraphrase that. --Inquisitor S., Großmeister des Ordo Lexicanum 12:33, 31 July 2011 (CEST)

Weird, if one looks closely at the PDF one will find another 8th Universal Law: The Alien mechanismus is the perversion of the true path. They made a mistake here, and this HAS to be investigated. Aehren 13:22, 31 July 2011 (CEST)

I just checked Titanicus chapter headings and couldnt find any laws, hence i believe i may be wrong.--Ytokes 13:06, 31 July 2011 (CEST)

Perhaps the laws are mentioned in the text... or perhaps you're simply confusing this with another novel. Aehren 13:22, 31 July 2011 (CEST)

I did not find universal laws in Titanicus. As for having two 8th laws: GW is notorious for that. Just put both and make a note explaining the case. --Inquisitor S., Großmeister des Ordo Lexicanum 15:19, 31 July 2011 (CEST)