Electro Priest
File:Electro Christ.mp3 Electro Priests AKA Mr Robotniks, the literal Blue Men Group, or (more officially) the Luminen and the sparks of life, are a rank of Tech Priest within the Adeptus Mechanicus. They are fanatically devoted to the Motive Force, a third of the Omnissiah's trinity, believing that all life and motion owes its continued existence to that ineffable divinity.
Electro Priests are complete wackos who make other more zealous groups of the Imperium gush with envy. Their skins are engraved with a metallic electro-circuit which spirals around their bodies and interfaces with their minds, allowing them to build up a tremendous current of electrical energy (which transforms them into a Sith Lord without the need to become a Psyker). Electro Priests are capable of channeling that energy through anything they touch; cybernetic grafts in their nervous system allow them to channel electrical energy through their copper-etched palms, the charge building quickly as the Electro-Priest works himself into a religious orgy. At the heights of their zealotry climax, the truly devout can destroy enemies of the Machine God with bolts of living lightning. The electrical power surging through the Electro-Priests is such strong that their eyes literally burst and melt, a phenomenon the order knows as the Omnissiah's Tears. They don't mind this because their implants allow them to navigate through electoreception, the ability to sense electrical fields.
To further hammer in the Gothic inspired medieval shit running everywhere in the Imperium: Long ago, the Electro Priests were divided into two factions known as Corpuscarii and Fulgurite. The forefathers of the Corpuscarii focused their worship upon the Machine God – they believed his light should be brought to the galaxy and expended great resources in subsequent Crusades. Meanwhile, those who would become the Fulgurites were aghast at the cost and were jealously protective of the Motive Force. The two factions have battled many times in what has become known as the Conduit Wars. A particularly brutal round of fighting known as the Elucidan Schism raged for centuries, and if that sounds familiar to you, that's because it is: The Conduit Wars is literally the religious split between Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox during the 11th century, except with blue half-naked men with Electro's powers instead of burly half-naked Greeks with anti-papist views. As Electro Priests enter battle they chant Cult litanies, building up their electric energy and driving themselves into an electrical rage. They are protected by powerful Voltagheist Fields.
Never, ever ask a Electro Priest to shove his dick inside a wall socket. OR ELSE. Sort of has their counterpart in Negavolt Cultist.
Tl;dr Mechcanicus Eletro-Psyker.
Types of Electro Priests[edit]
As mentioned, the Electro Priests are split into dominant sects, which still bicker with each other on a regular basis.
Corpuscarii Electro Priests[edit]
Literally filled with the Motive Force, the Corpuscarii spread the blessing of illumination in the name of the Machine God. Blazing with lightning, electrosurgically prepared for the unimaginable power coursing through what was once their veins, a Corpuscarii Electro Priest discharges an electric force that burns the enemy inside out as the bolt hops from one victim to the other.
The Corpuscarii Electro Priest comes armed with a pair of Electrostatic Gauntlets to further harness their zap powers and roleplay as Sith Lords.
In 9th Edition, these guys are 3 points per-model cheaper than Fulgurites, and not as killy in close combat (they can only put out mortal wounds with their Voltagheist Field charge, which inflicts a mortal wound on a 6+ for each model in one unit charged). They also can't buff their V-field, which means they'll be stuck with a 6+/5++/5+++.
However, their Electrostatic Gauntlets deserve a special mention. They have two profiles, either Melee 2 WS4+ or 12" Assault 3 BS3+, but both are a Flat S5 AP0 D1, (can't be modified by Invocation of Machine Might) with any 6+ roll causing 3 hits instead of 1. Congrats, you have taser goads at 12" range AND melee. Sure, they're ugly models, but that's an awful lot of firepower from 5 little guys.
Fulgurite Electro Priests[edit]
These Electro Priests belong to the Brotherhood of Petrified Light and exist to tear the life energy from the warp, particularly the bio-electricity that animates the living. They are surrounded by a protective veil of lightning and are armed with Electroleech Staves. The Fulgurite Electro Priests believe that there is no greater blasphemy than the waste of energy, so if they catch you wasting the power supplies to power up your gaming device, don't be surprised if they start whacking you over your head with their staffs.
Striding into battle at the height of religious mania, they are capable of draining the very bioelectricity from their foes, storing it in powerful capacitors as the enemy drops to the ground, cold and inert as stone. This stolen energy will later be used to power their holy march across the galaxy, everything behind them falling into permanent darkness. They are even able to drain warmachines of its power.
In 9th Edition, these guys are your assault specialists so get them in close combat and they'll dump Mortal Wounds on people. Of course, getting them to close combat is the trick. If you footslog them, they will die. Fulgurites are ideal if you're running Movement stratagems and transports. Always field these guys in squads of 10 or bigger.
At just 2 attacks per model, they simply do not attack often enough to really take advantage of the mortal wounds you can get off the staves unless you attack with enough models, and you NEED them to kill something in close combat as quickly as possible to get that sweet, sweet 3++ save. Still, the Voltagheist field is nice for some pre-combat mortal wounds if you charged, and with Fanatical Devotion, you ignore any wounds taken on a 5 or 6, which is nice.