Sicarian Infiltrator

An Infiltrator Princeps leads a squad of Sicarian Infiltrators.

A Sicarian Infiltrator is a member of perhaps the most sinister of the Adeptus Mechanicus' Skitarii warrior clades, for their neurostatic bombardment robs their victims of their senses. When hunting, they emit a white noise that fills the visual, auditory and even olfactory spectrums with static, leaving their foes all but helpless before the killing begins.

Tall and slender, Sicarian Infiltrators pick their way across the battlefield with the stilted grace of spearfisher birds. They were not always this way, however, for each Sicarian is far from whole -- not in spirit, nor in body.

As with their Ruststalker brethren, every Sicarian Infiltrator was once a warrior of the Skitarii who, in the pursuance of the Cult Mechanicus' agenda, was blasted limb from limb, extensively burned or otherwise dismembered. During the data-harvest at a battle's end, if these fallen are judged still fit to serve the Omnissiah, they are not incinerated but instead taken back to the augmetic slabs.

There they are given a new lease on life by the addition of slender but powerful metal limbs. Technically speaking, all the Magi Biologis need to create a Sicarian is a head, a torso and some limb stumps, though a detachment from emotion and a knack for inspiring fear is vital for the best results.

​Role

An Infiltrator can bypass enemy defences with ease, though this ability owes nothing to stealth, nor skill. Instead it hinges upon the potency and variety of the disruptive wavelengths they broadcast from their domed helms and jutting antennae.

When the Infiltrators approach, their prey's every sensory apparatus is bombarded by overwhelming stimuli. Vox-casters howl with anguished feedback whilst vid-screens craze with fizzing static. Yet this crippling electromagnetic assault is even more effective upon natural senses than artificial ones.

Ears ring with cruel tinnitus, eyes water and turn red, and the taste of burnt metal fills the mouth. It is all the Infiltrators' victims can do to remember how to breathe. As their prey clasps hands over bleeding ears and screws shut bloodshot eyes, the Sicarian Infiltrators simply walk into point-blank range and open fire.

This sensory assault, though broad in spectrum, is calibrated precisely by the tech-priest sanctioning these macabre assassins. Those Skitarii sent to fight alongside the Infiltrators are given null codes that transmute the frequencies into harmless song; to them, the constant barrarge of neurostatic coming from each domed helmet is nothing more than a soft psalm to the Omnissiah's glory.

For this reason Infitrators are seen as wise and holy heroes by their Skitarii brethren, talismans against data corruption that fight a selfless war on the front line. Only to the enemy is truth revealed. There is little virtue left inside these merciless prowlers, and what personality remains is interested only in death.

Notable Formations

• Sicarian Killclade - The vile hissing that accompanies a Sicarian Killclade on the hunt gnaws at the mind. When the stomach-churning hum of transonic weaponry mingles with the mind numbing aura of an Infiltrator assault, its effect can be magnified, leaving those brave or foolish enough to stand their ground all but crippled. The sight of their foes reeling from their approach fills the Sicarians with righteous faith, readying them for the hyperaction imperatives their masters inload as they near the foe. At an unspoken command, the Sicarian Ruststalkers of the Killclade will burst from concealment like hunter-arachnids. Their Transonic Weapons flash azure as they plunge headlong into the foe with reckless haste, then gory red as the butchery begins. A Sicarian Killclade typically consists of three squads of Sicarian Ruststalkers accompanied by a single squad of Sicarian Infiltrators.

Unit Composition

• 4-9 Sicarian Infiltrators
• 1 Infiltrator Princeps

Wargear

As standard, all Sicarian Infiltrators are armed with:

• Sicarian Battle Armour - As agility is of paramount importance to the long-limbed killers of the Sicarian brotherhood, Sicarian Infiltrators go to war clad in Sicarian Battle Armour. This is made up of a multi-layered alloy that, though thin and flexible, provides admirable physical protection. This alloy, informally known as aegium, acts as a capacitor that harnesses the energy of incoming attacks and disperses it harmlessly across the wearers bionic frame.
• Stubcarbine - A Stubcarbine, though compact, has the stopping power of the Heavy Stubbers mounted on the tanks of the Astra Militarum. When a squad of Sicarians opens fire with these weapons, the air fills with a storm of solid shot that chews their victims to ruin.
• Power Sword - A Power Weapon is sheathed in the lethal haze of a disruptive energy field that eats through armour, flesh and bone with ease.

All members of a Sicarian Infiltrator squad can choose to replace their Stubcarbine and Power Sword with:

• Flechette Blaster - A Flechette Blaster is a lightweight but lethal weapon, a favoured tool of Sicarian Infiltrators. It fires hundreds of tiny darts, each of which bears a dormant cerebral cell awakened in the gun's chamber. Where one dart hits home, it emits a bioelectric pulse that attracts others, resulting in a series of impacts that burrow through bone.
• Taser Goad - Powered by hyperdynamo capacitors, Taser Weapons store an incredible amount of potential energy. A solid impact will cause this energy to be discharged in a scorching blast, only to be harnessed once more by the electrothief prongs at the weapon's tip.

Optional wargear that an Infiltrator Princeps can take include:

• Infoslave Skull - The dextrous skull-and-digit adjutants that accompany senior Skitarii record hard data at a prolific rate. To know their findings are recorded and reported back is a great boon to the Skitarii, who draw courage and strength from the fact their sacrifices will not be in vain.
• Relics of Mars - Relics of Mars are items of terrifying power that are sometimes bestowed upon a Skitarii Alpha or Sicarian Princeps by a senior tech-priest for them to field test.
• Special Issue Wargear - Elite Skitarii warriors have the right to bear special issue wargear into battle, which can include either a Conversion Field or Refractor Field, and Digital Weapons.

​Sources

• Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus (8th Edition), pp. 51, 79
• Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus - Skitarii (7th Edition), pp. 28, 32, 34-39, 60, 66

Gallery

A squad of Sicarian Infiltrators armed with Flechette Blasters and Taser Goads.

A Sicarian Infiltrator and Infiltrator Princeps from the sacred Forge World of Mars; the Skitarii Legions of Mars proudly bear the sacred deep crimson colours of the first Forge World.

Sicarian Infiltrator and Infiltrator Princeps of the Agripinaa Forge World armed with Power Swords and Stubcarbines; Agripinaa's soldiery wear the sacred red and black heraldry of Mars in reverse, though detractors on Mars imply Agripinaa's sense of truth and logic is likewise inverted.

Sicarian Infiltrators from the Forge World of Graia; the Skitarii of Graia wear the deep crimson of Mars accentuated with the bright red of spilt blood.

Sicarian Infiltrator and Infiltrator Princeps from the Forge World of Lucius; though Lucius' Skitarii have adopted the deep red of the first Forge World, they still wear the cream and dark metal of their planet's original heraldry.

Sicarian Infiltrator and Infiltrator Princeps from the Forge World of Metalica; unusually, Metalica's Sicarians wear white battle plate, forgoing red altogether.

Sicarian Infiltrator and Infiltrator Princeps from the Forge World of Ryza; the ochre armour plates and robes worn by Ryza's Skitarii are the same hue as the immense rust dunes that bestrew their planet; the interior of these robes are deep red in memory of the blood that has been spilt there over the millennia.

Sicarian Infiltrator and Infiltrator Princeps from the Forge World of Stygies VIII; Stygies VIII's Skitarii wear long black robes, crimson armour plate and burnished steel cybernetics; should such a warrior shed his robe, he could almost pass for one of Mars' cohorts -- a similarity Stygies has exploited many times.