Machine Spirit

In the game Warhammer 40,000, the machine spirit is the animating, controlling force of machines designed by the Adeptus Mechanicus of Mars. A machine that has been deprived of its machine spirit somehow will not work unless the spirit has some sort of substitute. Orks often substitute the WAAAGH!! for the machine spirit, while Chaos Space Marines may bind a daemon into a vehicle to gain the same effect.

The machine spirit is maintained by the Machine God. Out of the entire Imperium, only the Adeptus Mechanus are allowed to worship a being other than the Emperor of Man; namely, the Machine God who allows their mighty technological creations to run. It has been hypothezised that the Machine God is that same as the C'tan Void Dragon, the greatest of the C'tan who is known to be imprisoned on the planet of Mars.