Editing Occurrence Border (section)

=== The Engineers ===
Tech-priests and the Occurrence Border do not get along well. This is primarily because the Ad-Mech likes to do things by-the-book, and things on the Occurrence Border are so fouled up that the book's only real recommendation is that the whole ship should be scrapped. That said, there are usually a few of them around, since they are undeniably wizards when it comes to fixing things that fit within their doctrine, but the more unorthodox systems of the vessel are maintained by the Engineers.

The Engineers are unordained crewmen who have been living on and repairing the Occurrence Border for so long that they've gotten a knack for it. They aren't tech-priests, and don't have their near supernatural tech-affinity, but they are the living repository of all the slap-dash fixes that have kept the ship running. Within the limits of their expertise, which may vary from man to man, they are better than anything short of a Magos. This does not endear them to the stodgier members of the Ad-Mech. Anyway, consider it the difference between a lifetime of specialized on-the-job experience and a significantly higher level of education. Also the Engineers are a lot more flexible when it comes to fixing things due to their rather lax attitude concerning what is and isn't tech-heresy.

When the Occurrence Border was sold to the Inquisition most of the younger Engineers left the ship, but the oldest ones stayed on out of stubbornness and fear of change. After the events of Discount Spaceship, the surviving elderly Engineers were all given Juvenat treatments, and set back to work. However, the loss of their apprentices and the ship's partial refit meant that the Engineers handle a significantly smaller amount of the ship's maintenance than they used to, they wound up acting more as advisors than they used to. 

Of course that all changed again when the Occurrence Border's entire priesthood (save Jim and Hannah,) was fired and replaced with wet-behind-the-ear tech-acolytes. Now the Engineers have a sort of alliance with the tech-priests, and are raising some of them up as apprentices alongside the more promising non-ordained members of their work crews. It's all a mess really.

The point is, the Engineers are generally in charge of the older systems since they know how things work, and have a tradition of putting up little notes about the oddities of those systems and how to deal with them. They have a complicated relationship with the Ad-Mech, but get along well with chief Enginseers Jim and Hannah.

Oh, and remember that most of the Engineers are over seventy years old, but have been alchemically rejuvenated to what might be called an active forty. Their hobbies include: staying alive, complaining about how things aren't as good as they used to be, referencing events and people that no one else can remember, staying alive, tinkering with things, ridiculing younger people (or people that just look younger), and STAYING ALIVE.