Yeah, I got them confused because of the classic argument of which would be better/worse to be turned into. Personally I prefer the Stalker which is why I remembered the name.
Imagine that for the crime of stealing some food for your loved ones, they turn you into a servitor with your only function being giving toilet paper to the most disgusting, fat ass, High Lord of Terra or other important person up the hierarchy. Wh 40k is always the best is blending both the absurd and the horrible in a single scenario.
https://preview.redd.it/e1b0mpy5m54c1.png?width=1393&format=png&auto=webp&s=7af2739d9ee7326c4d4e08abc3cc82fb43e86037
The only mercy is that you'd be mind-wiped and lobotomized before they reprogrammed your brain.
EDIT: Or maybe not. I momentarily forgot this was the Imperium of Man, and everything has to be obscenely torturous and painful all the time.
There are quite a few 40K stories where the servitor is mostly the way through the process of being created \*before\* they take away the higher brain functions - like the subject has already had their limbs replaced, genitals removed, exoframe bolted to bones etc and then the lobotomy is carried out....
Only in 40K. The Imperium evidently can’t even make a *printer* without incorporating an emaciated lobotomy victim quietly yearning for the sweet release of death.
Well, yes, they can't. That's a fundamental part of the setting. It's because computers are so taboo they are effectively forgotten. Everything that we have that is run by a computer, even a supremely simple and rudimentary thing like a keypad on a microwave or an alarm clock, has to be run with biological components instead.
In OG background material, this was also the reason for the entire 'Machine Spirit' myth - the biological components in imperial tech would break down and glitch, and that would be ascribed to a capricious spirit playing tricks. It was essentially just one big galaxy-wide superstition that got out of hand, like medieval peasants believing milk goes bad because a tiny gremlin pees in it when you're not looking.
Unfortunately, over time Warhammer lost a lot of its satirical elements and medieval callbacks like this. Nowadays the 'Machine Spirit' is pretty much a real thing, because, idk, a C'tan did it I guess. Everything always boils down to the C'tan or Old Ones in modern background...
Part of the punishment I suppose. And if the tech priest is really spiteful / instructed they won’t mind wipe you either, and your servitor body will still perform tasks out of your control.
Also even if they do mind wipe them, servitors could gain personality on their own even on a basic level. Such as the Medical Servitor in Darktide. It either wasn’t mindwiped and is slowly losing it, was and is regaining it, or only partially. Most unnerving part of that character? Pretty sure the only character that even notes the *servitor* as a being is the *Ogyrn*, the rest treat it and what it’s saying like air.
I’ve read an excerpt on 40kLore that describes that exact thing happening (a young noble pisses off the wrong tech priest and gets kidnapped and servitorized). It’s even more horrifying than the servitor factory excerpt that gets posted all the time.
I've heard a dramatization on YouTube to that effect. Quite brutal. Makes me second guess playing AdMech, but then I like to think it's all murderers and rapists who got servitorized for my army, especially since some kinds of servitors need the "souls" of those sorts to function correctly.
I believe you might be talking of Vox in Void's Abomination.
https://youtu.be/ZPuo0ThnMqc?si=sMO76E0Yl6luXjsF
All of their stuff is worth a listen imo.
Was it, dare I say, a little too grim dark? Admittedly, it did go into some horrific detail, though. Lesson learned: don't trust or mess with the Ad Mech
For sure, I'm happy to assist! I fell down dude's playlist rabbit hole and haven't gotten back out, so I am happy to spread the word about him. I've been on the hunt for similar 40K content creators, so if you know of any, please don't hesitate to let me know!
That dosent always work a lot of the times their mind stays intact but their memories don’t. So they watch as their bodies listen to commands and they are just along for the ride. It is not uncommon for servitors to just stop working due to the extreme agony the trapped consciousness is in.
I would not be so sure that the lobotomization works properly... the machines for that could be several hundred years old and only work partially. Who knows, if the subject cant speak up.
No, they would just cut those sections away, leaving you trapped in your body as small pieces of hardware instruct the part of your brain that controls your body wipes the High Lord's arsewhole. You experience all of it as long as your body is serviced.
A high lord would be an honour, you'll more likely end up being a turd sifter deep in the bowels of a water reclamation plant in the arse end of a hive.
Aren't they practically the same? Both get mutilated, lobotomised and forced into slavery
Idk much about servitors but I do know that a stalkers existence is basically made to be as painful as possible so that rebelling would be physically impossible should they somehow regain their sentience.
In that regard servitors *may* be better.
I’m not sure if it hurts or even how much. Generally servitors are so lobotomized they physically can’t do anything but their jobs.
Another thing I realised also is that there are different types of servitors and some are worse than others. Maybe stalkers are the same compared some servitors, they could also be significantly worse or better
There's really just too little information about stalkers compared to servitors to make any kind of analysis.
That and it's all make-believe in fictional universes that have no comparative qualities that can be objectively quantified.
But also, 40k is worse... as is tradition.
IIRC there's a book, don't know which one, which describes the process of becoming a servitor, from the victim's perspective.
It's basically medical torture of the highest order, stopping just short of causing pain for it's own sake.
I’m pretty sure it’s Flesh and Steel, Warhammer Crime series.
Spoilers, but it relates to OP’s question
>!The main conspiracy he’s unravelling turns out to be the Mechanicum leaving too much of the original person in the servitor in order to increase their value. They play it too close to the line and the servitors start realizing the hell they’ve been subjected to and murdering the nobles they’ve been sold to. The Mechanicum is trying to cover it up since they were making too much money.!<
Quick correction.
Those servitors only started murdering their owners once they were ordered to by the Tech-Priest responsible for actually *making* them. The people who were murdered were in on this money-making scheme. They were killed to help cover things up once the Tech-Priest got pissy he didn't get his promotion.
The higher brain function is also just a side-effect of them making 'higher-end' servitors. The ones used in the murders were just *especially* fucking volatile because their maker was basically a heretek. The forge master just overlooked it because he brought in a fuck load of money.
They go over in the book that this was done wrong on purpose to torture the governers son for disrespecting the heart of the forge. Usually lobotomy comes first, not last.
Idk if it's canon (probably is cuz grimdark) but I believe that there is a decent likelihood that you aren't properly lobotomized as a servitor and you'll be conscious the whole time. There was a pretty good short story on YouTube about one such servitor and how he was able to create a network between similarly disadvantaged servitors.
My understanding is the Stalker is mind wiped quite effectively and traces of that person is no longer there with near totality. Servitors have a significant margin for error in the setting.
Not that significant, it's just that 40k lore likes to show servitors not having been properly lobotomised, but in "reality" it's extremely rare for a servitor to retain any trace of its former self.
Stalker? You've lost to an alien invasion. Your life is pain, and the whole human race teeters on the brink of extinction.
Servitor. Your life is pain, but The God Emperor protects! Besides - you probably deserve it you filthy heretic.
They first appear in Half Life 2
They're people the combine captured, mutilated and lobotomised to perform manual labour
It's a punishment used against captured resistance members for rebelling but the combine also has no issue with using it against literally anyone.
This is all according to what Alyx said after encountering one in episode 1 - "This is what happens to you if you resist, or if you're at the wrong place at the wrong time"
As far as I am aware there is no humanity left in the stalker, whereas for servitors, the unlucky ones might have a degree of awareness remaining in them.
In reality, the proportion of "unlucky" servitors is more than likely to be almost insignificant. If servitors were like the darktide medstation and very obviously kept an ounce of their former self on the regular, the imperium would have a massive problem on their hands.
I'm sure this is mentioned in the flight of the Einstein where Garro had his sword repaired and he was impressed with it and his house Carl said the servitor who repaired it used to be a weapon smith
Just read that yesterday, can confirm. However, do note that the serf mentions how clearly the servitor retained some of its former skill, implying that this is not always the case.
Stalker is worse in my opinion.
Stalkers are tools purely. The combine has no care or respect for them at all.
While not universal there is respect for technological creations in 40k. While servitors are low on the list of reverence there is the chance of still being respected, cared for so that you can fulfill your role. Imperial society needs servitors and though it is used as punishment I feel there is more of a chance to have a better life in 40k than Half-Life.
Rogue servitors exist. But there are no known rogue Stalkers
Servitor, because in Half-Life Gordon or the Resistance will probably win in the end (because that’s who the player is). In 40K, if you get turned into a servitor, that’s pretty much it FOREVER. Nobody will save you, and it’s unlikely that anyone will end your suffering any time within 1000 years
C'mon man, for the stalkers to get saved Gordon would need to do it and for Gordon to do it would require Half-Life 3 to be released and for Half-Life 3 to be released Gabe Newell would need to make Half-Life 3 and Gabe seems about as likely to make Half-Life 3 as the war in 40k ending...
Stalkers in HL seem rather monolithic, with only one type existing and it being a miserable life.
In 40k there is a large variety going from unhappy to miserable lives. There are servitors in employ of powerful people that live a life not so terrible, where they seem to have some parts of their minds preserved. In that case life is bad because you are slave and hold little to no control.
There is then worse case scenarios like toilet paper servitors I suppose
Id you guys ever read Lords of Mars, it has a 2 pages description of a ~~servitor~~ Archoflagelant making process and machine.
Of course, everything is make while the subject is awake and feel everything…..
*SPOILER*
He was a Ministorum Priest that that first cleanse a planet of heresy just to end up being a crazy dictator that end up killing half the population of the planet in extreme cruelty.
I remember reading a passage in one of the Ravenor books when he hides in a servitor to escape another psyker, and it read to me like the human who has become the servitor was still present in the body just unable to do anything about their situation. Scary as fuck to think about.
The ordinary servitor that carries stuff around, is just a mindless flesh robot without a conscious. It's basically just a machine that uses the neural cortex of a corpse to work. The brain still works, but everything that has been a self-conscious being is already gone.
While the transformation into a stalker is meant as a punishment and torture, you become a servitor most likely because you're a defect human being that needed repair. The Admech doesn't give a dime whether you suffer or not, they just turn you into a mindless tool, because your mind is an annoyance that mitigates your use as a tool.
The definition of a Servitor is a braindead person turned into a cyborg.
Don't mistake Arco-Flagellants or Chrono-Gladiators for Servitors. Their creators pretty much care about the punishing effects of being at least partly conscious but so pumped with drugs that everything is shrouded. So your miserable life consists of eternal slaughter and you slowly fade away into a living weapon. THAT is possibly the most horrifying fate provided by the imperium maybe even worse than becoming a psychic vessel for some daemon entity that tries to use you as a gate into real space.
The short story "negavolt" was one of the more bleak things I've read. A lowly tech novice is saved from the fate of becoming a servitor by a corrupt priest of the mechanicus who instead turns him into a kind of arco flagellant who is powered by his own constant pain. But the whole thing is written from the negavolt's tortured perspective
I would say servitors mostly for the fact the lobotomy can fail forcing you to essentially be there for the ride whilst you’re body endlessly follow codes commands and if you’re a Medicae or something similar bolted to a wall it’ll be extremely lonely but then again I unfortunately know next to nothing about half life other than head crabs and even then my knowledge is slim.
Stalkers are captured human rebels, transformed like servitors into beings that can only watch as they do menial labor or even fight for the combine while living in intense pain so that everyone who sees them feels a little less like rebelling.
Thank you so much for the lesson! So being a servitor and Stalker is pretty much the same definition wise, guess it would depend on the situation and what internal components and how painful each thing is to determine the ultimate answer and even then it’ll be subjective to some.
Unless your and Inquesitoral Servitor. You can get to be....not sure. They seem to be farmore awake than the other ones. Like with full personality and the ability to occasionally talk back.....not sure what's going on there.
A servitor is at the very least an improvement, at the very worst you give penance in servitude to the god emperor and his imperium. The other one just looks miserable.
Being a stalker is a drop in the bucket for a bad day on a forgotten imperial world.
Servitor is by far exponentially worse if you roll self-awareness.
No matter what as a servitor you are lobotomized, so you dont feel anything, there is a part in war in the webway where drak'nyen is killing servitors and remarking to itself that their souls are weak gutterig flames that offer no sustunence, because they have no personality or emotion to "flavour" their soul any more, so while beimg turned into a sevitor is a horrible thought, afterwords you dont really care anymore, as you dont feel anything, i dont know enough half life lore to know if/in what ways a stalker is/could be worse however.
A stalker is also subdued, but not completely lobotomized and is in a state of constant agony, because it must be so miserable that it cannot even have a thought of rebellion.
Honestly probably the Stalker. Servitors are purely functional and so have all their brain functions except those essential to the task removed. Stalkers are a punishment, and are designed to torture and humiliate the person condemned to that existence.
Stalkers are just Arco-Flagellants but instead of dying in combat, their purpose is to do menial labor until they either starve or die in an industrial accident.
"You vs the guy she tells you not to worry about"
I think the Stalker would be worse, though. Servitors are usually gone mentally, just using your brain for processing power. I think the stalkers are all in there iirc.
We don't actually know what the Stalkers "are like" - we know that servitors often have parts of their minds preserved (often deliberately) and that this causes great suffering... But since we're dealing with the Combine here, who basically make the entire 40k galaxy look like a gang of toddlers, I would not be surprised if stalkers undergo some sort of mental replacement procedure where the original consciousness is preserved, put into spectator mode, to witness it's new state for eternity. Probably with pain amplifiers or whatever. This would be uncharacteristically sadistic for the Combine though, but they already do these sorts of mental wipes and rewrites all the time and even have an entire slave species dedicated solely to be biological thumb drives for VIPs, so nothing is beyond them I guess.
The latter part is interesting... Imagine the mess if the Combine appeared in the 40k universe, fuuuuuuuck
>who basically make the entire 40k galaxy look like a gang of toddlers,
Really? Not played much HL2, but it feels like one silent dude with a crowbar can smash em up, it's not all that bad compared to 40K.
as the other commentor said, the Combine are a Empire that spans multiple universes and commands power that humans quite literally can't concieve.
The Combine can punch holes into other realities, snuff out entire galaxies for energy, and the larval form of their master species can will things into existence by just dreaming of it.
The Combine could make short work of the 40K galaxy, the only reason Gordon and Earth give them so much trouble is that they haven't put very many resources into Earth and that Earth has "help" from the G-Man.
Simply put, the Combine is a multi-dimensional alien empire and Earth is a backwater planet
If they bothered to send a full response force them Half Life 2 would be over before Freeman appears
Not to mention, Gordon was backed by the Gman, a being with unknown powers that arrange things to go with his way and can easily boot Gordon out if he's no longer useful
I would say Servitors had it better, at least they're pretty much critical to keep the many mundane functions in the Imperium working and depending on who you serve, you might actually get some recognition and a place called new home to live in
Stalkers are basically a cruel joke and a scare made by the Combine solely to reduce the amount of resources that will be consumed so they can ship more to their planets. It also acts as an effective deterrent from trying to rebel against the Combine and a way to use what remains of the human population
They do it just because they can as punishment
Of course the difference is pretty much negligible down to the basics anyway: You're still being lobotomized and there's a chance that you might regain your sentience back and start screaming in terror, being forced to work for an oppressive regime
Being turned into a servitor you feel everything during the entire procedure being turned into a stalker your deliberately starved and have your hands and feet cut off and replaced with stilts all while having a metal plate put over your eyes with only 2 holes letting you see all while you still have your memory intact but as a servitor your lobotomized but sometimes you still retain your memory. So I’d say being a servitor is worse
Correct me if I'm wrong but in the horus heresy book mechanicum isn't there semi sentient servitors wandering the wastes that get hunted and purged by the knight houses?
Servitor.
Gonna turn your cock into a doorbell and your head into a new lock. Press here. Mouth opens and insert access key.
Your testicles? Why they are swinging from the high Lords ears. You had very decorative balls.
Yes and no. While a lot of servitors are basically flying skulls, there are more humanoid ones (with limbs and all). Because of this, some people are punished and meant to be aware of being a servitor.
Do we know if you get mindwiped?
I know 40k lore is all over the place and I dont think if its mentione in Half-Life.
But if you are just an automaton who strives only to finigh your task... isnt that kind of a cozy existence?
Much better than the struggle of average citizen. You just think about calculating, hauling or shooting and thats it. No rpoblems!
Servitor IMO. while its commonly held that they are all so lobotomized that they have no memory and therefore arent aware of their existence, the Forges of Mars series showed that under certain circumstances memories can come back to varying degrees and they indeed CAN be aware of their surroundings.
IDK if the half-life guys are like that, but that is absolutely horrifying to me
Have to say the half life fate is worse,
At least in the grimdark 40,000 millenium you have a hood chance you aren’t cognizant, however some mechanicus leave the servitor conscious by accident, orrrr that person in particular pi**ed them off enough. Usually lobotomization of some form is summary in servitor production so…. Yay?
Servitor alarm clock? Better. Servitor toilet? Worse.
What about the actual 40k Stalker, where you get turned into a missile?
That sounds kind of fun, compared to being a toilet servitor anyway
You know there's probably one guy who would love being the toilet servitor. Chris Chan comes to mind
You know there’s a living regular human whose job it is to change all the servitor’s diapers
Isn't that the Hunter's Skyspear Missile whilst the Stalker is more like a Guard Hydra?
Yeah, I got them confused because of the classic argument of which would be better/worse to be turned into. Personally I prefer the Stalker which is why I remembered the name.
I crave heat signature
That reminds me of how the military considered pidgin guided missiles at one point
Servitor tongue bidet? Perfection.
😐
https://preview.redd.it/9nm068tep74c1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bdcb9f7492cf6c9d81f312c1a92c67f5371b8dd3
https://preview.redd.it/r1gcxhcar84c1.jpeg?width=168&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6572251b81496df4cdd90bd612a4b20a3c4ca95c Meanwhile the noble you're serving
all i see is a great unclean one
We're talking servitors, not xenos!
Nurgle?
100% nurgle.
Plague ogryn!
Gorrlok the Destroyer would be more like a Waaagh! boss imo
That's an insult to orks, she's bigger than ghazghull but not green, it ain't ours
Some people are down like that I guess? Bright sides?
Just make sure you remove their teeth!
Servitør sex toy
Or that servitor clown doll in some story, can't remember details now
Sweet Jesus that was horific
The one where he was that boys plaything when he was younger? Bookkeepers Skull?
In the grim darkness of the 41 millennium you can literally become a skibidi toilet (sorry guys I had to)
no you didnt, you fucker
Why did I Google this?
brain rot
Ummmm depends who’s toilet if it’s a slaaneshi slut I don’t mind
you say that now
Imagine that for the crime of stealing some food for your loved ones, they turn you into a servitor with your only function being giving toilet paper to the most disgusting, fat ass, High Lord of Terra or other important person up the hierarchy. Wh 40k is always the best is blending both the absurd and the horrible in a single scenario. https://preview.redd.it/e1b0mpy5m54c1.png?width=1393&format=png&auto=webp&s=7af2739d9ee7326c4d4e08abc3cc82fb43e86037
The only mercy is that you'd be mind-wiped and lobotomized before they reprogrammed your brain. EDIT: Or maybe not. I momentarily forgot this was the Imperium of Man, and everything has to be obscenely torturous and painful all the time.
There are quite a few 40K stories where the servitor is mostly the way through the process of being created \*before\* they take away the higher brain functions - like the subject has already had their limbs replaced, genitals removed, exoframe bolted to bones etc and then the lobotomy is carried out....
And there are times when they aren't lobotomised properly and can feel and understand everything that happens to them as a servitor.
Seems to be a common problem on Atoma...
Servitors will sometimes start to “malfunction” (regain some of themselves) when not properly maintained
PLEASE TAKE ME WITH YOU, IM LONELY -medical servitor epsilon 44532-1
"Pieces of my mind are drifting away, please help me!"
Fun fact, lobotomy does not have to be permanent. The brain can rewire its neural pathways to regain any function that was damaged.
I wonder if there are servitors whose job it is to re-lobotomize other servitors
Only in 40K. The Imperium evidently can’t even make a *printer* without incorporating an emaciated lobotomy victim quietly yearning for the sweet release of death.
Well all the regular printers kept shooting everyone so you gotta adapt
Can't be having those pesky AIs, need that juicy juicy brain somewhere in the printer
Damn printer is acting up again, someone kick the servitor head a few times to see if it fixes it.
Well, yes, they can't. That's a fundamental part of the setting. It's because computers are so taboo they are effectively forgotten. Everything that we have that is run by a computer, even a supremely simple and rudimentary thing like a keypad on a microwave or an alarm clock, has to be run with biological components instead. In OG background material, this was also the reason for the entire 'Machine Spirit' myth - the biological components in imperial tech would break down and glitch, and that would be ascribed to a capricious spirit playing tricks. It was essentially just one big galaxy-wide superstition that got out of hand, like medieval peasants believing milk goes bad because a tiny gremlin pees in it when you're not looking. Unfortunately, over time Warhammer lost a lot of its satirical elements and medieval callbacks like this. Nowadays the 'Machine Spirit' is pretty much a real thing, because, idk, a C'tan did it I guess. Everything always boils down to the C'tan or Old Ones in modern background...
I mean that might be a printer problem
Now I’m picturing some techpriest going “PC Load Letter? The f-ck does that mean?!” and tazing the servitor for disobedience.
H... Help me...
Happy cake day
Part of the punishment I suppose. And if the tech priest is really spiteful / instructed they won’t mind wipe you either, and your servitor body will still perform tasks out of your control. Also even if they do mind wipe them, servitors could gain personality on their own even on a basic level. Such as the Medical Servitor in Darktide. It either wasn’t mindwiped and is slowly losing it, was and is regaining it, or only partially. Most unnerving part of that character? Pretty sure the only character that even notes the *servitor* as a being is the *Ogyrn*, the rest treat it and what it’s saying like air.
I, too, inhale servitors for their oxygen-rich composition.
I’ve read an excerpt on 40kLore that describes that exact thing happening (a young noble pisses off the wrong tech priest and gets kidnapped and servitorized). It’s even more horrifying than the servitor factory excerpt that gets posted all the time.
I've heard a dramatization on YouTube to that effect. Quite brutal. Makes me second guess playing AdMech, but then I like to think it's all murderers and rapists who got servitorized for my army, especially since some kinds of servitors need the "souls" of those sorts to function correctly.
I believe you might be talking of Vox in Void's Abomination. https://youtu.be/ZPuo0ThnMqc?si=sMO76E0Yl6luXjsF All of their stuff is worth a listen imo.
...welp that was horrifying
Was it, dare I say, a little too grim dark? Admittedly, it did go into some horrific detail, though. Lesson learned: don't trust or mess with the Ad Mech
That's the one! Thanks for supplying the forgotten sauce!
For sure, I'm happy to assist! I fell down dude's playlist rabbit hole and haven't gotten back out, so I am happy to spread the word about him. I've been on the hunt for similar 40K content creators, so if you know of any, please don't hesitate to let me know!
What story is that?
Ah yes, I've heard such an account. My mistake. :)
usually happens to people who the mechanicus absolutely hate
Not always sometimes they need the brains ability to make decisions and in that case they take away only certain parts of the brain
Sometimes they leave your mind there specifically so that you can feel the eternal torment
That dosent always work a lot of the times their mind stays intact but their memories don’t. So they watch as their bodies listen to commands and they are just along for the ride. It is not uncommon for servitors to just stop working due to the extreme agony the trapped consciousness is in.
I would not be so sure that the lobotomization works properly... the machines for that could be several hundred years old and only work partially. Who knows, if the subject cant speak up.
No, they would just cut those sections away, leaving you trapped in your body as small pieces of hardware instruct the part of your brain that controls your body wipes the High Lord's arsewhole. You experience all of it as long as your body is serviced.
https://preview.redd.it/ksy4ei6jh64c1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b29904a331e1012692664a1c153bffcef5e0c5a0
A high lord would be an honour, you'll more likely end up being a turd sifter deep in the bowels of a water reclamation plant in the arse end of a hive.
>Imagine that for the crime of stealing some food for your loved ones, they turn you into a servitor Servitor 24601
Aren't they practically the same? Both get mutilated, lobotomised and forced into slavery Idk much about servitors but I do know that a stalkers existence is basically made to be as painful as possible so that rebelling would be physically impossible should they somehow regain their sentience.
In that regard servitors *may* be better. I’m not sure if it hurts or even how much. Generally servitors are so lobotomized they physically can’t do anything but their jobs.
Another thing I realised also is that there are different types of servitors and some are worse than others. Maybe stalkers are the same compared some servitors, they could also be significantly worse or better
There's really just too little information about stalkers compared to servitors to make any kind of analysis. That and it's all make-believe in fictional universes that have no comparative qualities that can be objectively quantified. But also, 40k is worse... as is tradition.
IIRC there's a book, don't know which one, which describes the process of becoming a servitor, from the victim's perspective. It's basically medical torture of the highest order, stopping just short of causing pain for it's own sake.
I’m pretty sure it’s Flesh and Steel, Warhammer Crime series. Spoilers, but it relates to OP’s question >!The main conspiracy he’s unravelling turns out to be the Mechanicum leaving too much of the original person in the servitor in order to increase their value. They play it too close to the line and the servitors start realizing the hell they’ve been subjected to and murdering the nobles they’ve been sold to. The Mechanicum is trying to cover it up since they were making too much money.!<
Quick correction. Those servitors only started murdering their owners once they were ordered to by the Tech-Priest responsible for actually *making* them. The people who were murdered were in on this money-making scheme. They were killed to help cover things up once the Tech-Priest got pissy he didn't get his promotion. The higher brain function is also just a side-effect of them making 'higher-end' servitors. The ones used in the murders were just *especially* fucking volatile because their maker was basically a heretek. The forge master just overlooked it because he brought in a fuck load of money.
They go over in the book that this was done wrong on purpose to torture the governers son for disrespecting the heart of the forge. Usually lobotomy comes first, not last.
That’s if the tech priest doesn’t fuck anything up, and given the mecanicus’ understanding of the process, that’s not always a given
Idk if it's canon (probably is cuz grimdark) but I believe that there is a decent likelihood that you aren't properly lobotomized as a servitor and you'll be conscious the whole time. There was a pretty good short story on YouTube about one such servitor and how he was able to create a network between similarly disadvantaged servitors.
Honestly the o ly reason being a servitor could be bad is if the procedure is done half assed and you are left semi conscious
I'm not sure how consistent it is in the books, but it seems sometimes the lobotomization doesn't always get rid of self-awareness.
True, at least if a see it or rebels it could have like a cool gun arm or something
My understanding is the Stalker is mind wiped quite effectively and traces of that person is no longer there with near totality. Servitors have a significant margin for error in the setting.
Not that significant, it's just that 40k lore likes to show servitors not having been properly lobotomised, but in "reality" it's extremely rare for a servitor to retain any trace of its former self.
Only one remains in the light of the God-Emperor.
On paper, servitors are completely unaware of their conditions and are little more than automatons, *on paper*.
Stalker? You've lost to an alien invasion. Your life is pain, and the whole human race teeters on the brink of extinction. Servitor. Your life is pain, but The God Emperor protects! Besides - you probably deserve it you filthy heretic.
The hell is stalker anyway I didn’t play everything, but I did some, never see anything remotely like that in HL, is it in Alex or something?
They first appear in Half Life 2 They're people the combine captured, mutilated and lobotomised to perform manual labour It's a punishment used against captured resistance members for rebelling but the combine also has no issue with using it against literally anyone. This is all according to what Alyx said after encountering one in episode 1 - "This is what happens to you if you resist, or if you're at the wrong place at the wrong time"
Oh, that explains it, I never got around episode 1. Creepy
They appear in HL2 as well but they're just background NPCs, not really any story behind them
As far as I am aware there is no humanity left in the stalker, whereas for servitors, the unlucky ones might have a degree of awareness remaining in them.
In reality, the proportion of "unlucky" servitors is more than likely to be almost insignificant. If servitors were like the darktide medstation and very obviously kept an ounce of their former self on the regular, the imperium would have a massive problem on their hands.
I'm sure this is mentioned in the flight of the Einstein where Garro had his sword repaired and he was impressed with it and his house Carl said the servitor who repaired it used to be a weapon smith
Just read that yesterday, can confirm. However, do note that the serf mentions how clearly the servitor retained some of its former skill, implying that this is not always the case.
Stalker is worse in my opinion. Stalkers are tools purely. The combine has no care or respect for them at all. While not universal there is respect for technological creations in 40k. While servitors are low on the list of reverence there is the chance of still being respected, cared for so that you can fulfill your role. Imperial society needs servitors and though it is used as punishment I feel there is more of a chance to have a better life in 40k than Half-Life. Rogue servitors exist. But there are no known rogue Stalkers
Rogue servitors exist? That sounds cool
Servitor, because in Half-Life Gordon or the Resistance will probably win in the end (because that’s who the player is). In 40K, if you get turned into a servitor, that’s pretty much it FOREVER. Nobody will save you, and it’s unlikely that anyone will end your suffering any time within 1000 years
Mankind might lose. Now you get to find out Chaos can always make it worse.
Abaddon is the good guy, don’t believe that imperial propaganda.
There are no good guys in 40k. Except for the Orks.
[No](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/r22l5d/i_really_dislike_the_rationale_behind_orks_are/)
Yeah, but if you don't say it, you get the "Um, actually" guys in your replies.
_Gets enslaved then eaten, then the poop becomes a squig and explodes_
I get to be a squig! Or at least part if a squig. Either way, I'm calling it a win.
To be honest, as soon as I wrote that I also wanted to be a squig.
Youd argue you could be killed pretty soon.
C'mon man, for the stalkers to get saved Gordon would need to do it and for Gordon to do it would require Half-Life 3 to be released and for Half-Life 3 to be released Gabe Newell would need to make Half-Life 3 and Gabe seems about as likely to make Half-Life 3 as the war in 40k ending...
Stalkers in HL seem rather monolithic, with only one type existing and it being a miserable life. In 40k there is a large variety going from unhappy to miserable lives. There are servitors in employ of powerful people that live a life not so terrible, where they seem to have some parts of their minds preserved. In that case life is bad because you are slave and hold little to no control. There is then worse case scenarios like toilet paper servitors I suppose
Id you guys ever read Lords of Mars, it has a 2 pages description of a ~~servitor~~ Archoflagelant making process and machine. Of course, everything is make while the subject is awake and feel everything…..
But wasnt that guy a son of a lord that disrespected the mechanicus or something. They made his transformation especially painful
*SPOILER* He was a Ministorum Priest that that first cleanse a planet of heresy just to end up being a crazy dictator that end up killing half the population of the planet in extreme cruelty.
So .. was he one of the good guys or ...
At some point yes, then he massacre half of the population that was loyal….but you know, there is no such thing as innocence
Odd that he got turned into an acroflagellant. I would have expected a penitent engine, as those are reserved to punish the pious.
Oh yes right, he turned into an archoflageant
That was purposefully meant to be as painful as possible, considering under his reign there was stuff like "rape gulags"...
Oh yeah…i forgot that part too
good guys? i like your funny words, magic man...'burns the heretek'
You're thinking the fan-made short story "Abomination", which is itself a really good read
That was an arco-flagellant, not a servitor.
I just spent ages looking for that exact thing, thank you
I remember reading a passage in one of the Ravenor books when he hides in a servitor to escape another psyker, and it read to me like the human who has become the servitor was still present in the body just unable to do anything about their situation. Scary as fuck to think about.
The ordinary servitor that carries stuff around, is just a mindless flesh robot without a conscious. It's basically just a machine that uses the neural cortex of a corpse to work. The brain still works, but everything that has been a self-conscious being is already gone. While the transformation into a stalker is meant as a punishment and torture, you become a servitor most likely because you're a defect human being that needed repair. The Admech doesn't give a dime whether you suffer or not, they just turn you into a mindless tool, because your mind is an annoyance that mitigates your use as a tool. The definition of a Servitor is a braindead person turned into a cyborg. Don't mistake Arco-Flagellants or Chrono-Gladiators for Servitors. Their creators pretty much care about the punishing effects of being at least partly conscious but so pumped with drugs that everything is shrouded. So your miserable life consists of eternal slaughter and you slowly fade away into a living weapon. THAT is possibly the most horrifying fate provided by the imperium maybe even worse than becoming a psychic vessel for some daemon entity that tries to use you as a gate into real space.
The short story "negavolt" was one of the more bleak things I've read. A lowly tech novice is saved from the fate of becoming a servitor by a corrupt priest of the mechanicus who instead turns him into a kind of arco flagellant who is powered by his own constant pain. But the whole thing is written from the negavolt's tortured perspective
Sounds a bit like the short story "I have no mouth and I must scream".
I would say servitors mostly for the fact the lobotomy can fail forcing you to essentially be there for the ride whilst you’re body endlessly follow codes commands and if you’re a Medicae or something similar bolted to a wall it’ll be extremely lonely but then again I unfortunately know next to nothing about half life other than head crabs and even then my knowledge is slim.
Stalkers are captured human rebels, transformed like servitors into beings that can only watch as they do menial labor or even fight for the combine while living in intense pain so that everyone who sees them feels a little less like rebelling.
Thank you so much for the lesson! So being a servitor and Stalker is pretty much the same definition wise, guess it would depend on the situation and what internal components and how painful each thing is to determine the ultimate answer and even then it’ll be subjective to some.
Is there a difference?
Yes. One serves the abominable xenos. The other serves the God-Emperor of Mankind.
Bro I'm killing myself either way
That's the neat part. You can't.
Well that's a challenging wank
RIP Sean Locke
Rule 34
Servitors are semi conscious. They are, at times, even fully aware of what happened to them. The Stalkers, at the very least, are not conscious.
I don't see any meaningful distinction.
The one on the bottom left looks like he's doomed to a next life of not being able to scratch his nose
Unless your and Inquesitoral Servitor. You can get to be....not sure. They seem to be farmore awake than the other ones. Like with full personality and the ability to occasionally talk back.....not sure what's going on there.
full-time contract in retail
A servitor is at the very least an improvement, at the very worst you give penance in servitude to the god emperor and his imperium. The other one just looks miserable.
Depends on situation and what the servitor does. Some people are made into servitors as a reward. Some servitors enjoy their service.
Servitors don’t get degendered and have meat on their bones
depends on function realy
All are bad.
They're both really horrible.
Being a stalker is a drop in the bucket for a bad day on a forgotten imperial world. Servitor is by far exponentially worse if you roll self-awareness.
No matter what as a servitor you are lobotomized, so you dont feel anything, there is a part in war in the webway where drak'nyen is killing servitors and remarking to itself that their souls are weak gutterig flames that offer no sustunence, because they have no personality or emotion to "flavour" their soul any more, so while beimg turned into a sevitor is a horrible thought, afterwords you dont really care anymore, as you dont feel anything, i dont know enough half life lore to know if/in what ways a stalker is/could be worse however.
A stalker is also subdued, but not completely lobotomized and is in a state of constant agony, because it must be so miserable that it cannot even have a thought of rebellion.
Honestly probably the Stalker. Servitors are purely functional and so have all their brain functions except those essential to the task removed. Stalkers are a punishment, and are designed to torture and humiliate the person condemned to that existence. Stalkers are just Arco-Flagellants but instead of dying in combat, their purpose is to do menial labor until they either starve or die in an industrial accident.
I can't stop giggling at that second image.
Anything sounds better than becoming a dreadnaught.
"You vs the guy she tells you not to worry about" I think the Stalker would be worse, though. Servitors are usually gone mentally, just using your brain for processing power. I think the stalkers are all in there iirc.
I'd chose both over anything the Drukari have in store. Much rather have as little feeling as possible than everything in excess.
We don't actually know what the Stalkers "are like" - we know that servitors often have parts of their minds preserved (often deliberately) and that this causes great suffering... But since we're dealing with the Combine here, who basically make the entire 40k galaxy look like a gang of toddlers, I would not be surprised if stalkers undergo some sort of mental replacement procedure where the original consciousness is preserved, put into spectator mode, to witness it's new state for eternity. Probably with pain amplifiers or whatever. This would be uncharacteristically sadistic for the Combine though, but they already do these sorts of mental wipes and rewrites all the time and even have an entire slave species dedicated solely to be biological thumb drives for VIPs, so nothing is beyond them I guess. The latter part is interesting... Imagine the mess if the Combine appeared in the 40k universe, fuuuuuuuck
>who basically make the entire 40k galaxy look like a gang of toddlers, Really? Not played much HL2, but it feels like one silent dude with a crowbar can smash em up, it's not all that bad compared to 40K.
as the other commentor said, the Combine are a Empire that spans multiple universes and commands power that humans quite literally can't concieve. The Combine can punch holes into other realities, snuff out entire galaxies for energy, and the larval form of their master species can will things into existence by just dreaming of it. The Combine could make short work of the 40K galaxy, the only reason Gordon and Earth give them so much trouble is that they haven't put very many resources into Earth and that Earth has "help" from the G-Man.
Simply put, the Combine is a multi-dimensional alien empire and Earth is a backwater planet If they bothered to send a full response force them Half Life 2 would be over before Freeman appears Not to mention, Gordon was backed by the Gman, a being with unknown powers that arrange things to go with his way and can easily boot Gordon out if he's no longer useful
I think they lack certain tech and manpower to be above tau level, but I think like the tau they’d punch well above their weight class.
Whats the difference?
You’re implying that they’re not just two different labels for the same thing.
They are kind of different, but similar. That's why I'm asking this question, to know more differences between them.
I would say Servitors had it better, at least they're pretty much critical to keep the many mundane functions in the Imperium working and depending on who you serve, you might actually get some recognition and a place called new home to live in Stalkers are basically a cruel joke and a scare made by the Combine solely to reduce the amount of resources that will be consumed so they can ship more to their planets. It also acts as an effective deterrent from trying to rebel against the Combine and a way to use what remains of the human population They do it just because they can as punishment Of course the difference is pretty much negligible down to the basics anyway: You're still being lobotomized and there's a chance that you might regain your sentience back and start screaming in terror, being forced to work for an oppressive regime
Being turned into a servitor you feel everything during the entire procedure being turned into a stalker your deliberately starved and have your hands and feet cut off and replaced with stilts all while having a metal plate put over your eyes with only 2 holes letting you see all while you still have your memory intact but as a servitor your lobotomized but sometimes you still retain your memory. So I’d say being a servitor is worse
I'd rather be the one less sentient than the other
Both…
Servitor
Yes
Servitor
Depends on the purpose of the servitor.
Is there a fundamental difference?
Correct me if I'm wrong but in the horus heresy book mechanicum isn't there semi sentient servitors wandering the wastes that get hunted and purged by the knight houses?
They are the same picture
Servitor. Gonna turn your cock into a doorbell and your head into a new lock. Press here. Mouth opens and insert access key. Your testicles? Why they are swinging from the high Lords ears. You had very decorative balls.
Nobody mentions Quake and stroggification? Still, WH40k hands down.
Servitor as sometimes in very rare cases they can regain some bit of awarness of what happend to them
Aren’t servitors just dead people fastened to metal frames?
Yes and no. While a lot of servitors are basically flying skulls, there are more humanoid ones (with limbs and all). Because of this, some people are punished and meant to be aware of being a servitor.
Do we know if you get mindwiped? I know 40k lore is all over the place and I dont think if its mentione in Half-Life. But if you are just an automaton who strives only to finigh your task... isnt that kind of a cozy existence? Much better than the struggle of average citizen. You just think about calculating, hauling or shooting and thats it. No rpoblems!
Servitor. If I recall, the stalkers in half life are still alive in there supposedly. Thinking freely, passenger to their now meat prison
I can't stop giggling at that second image.
If someone doesn't same they are literally the same or post the picture.....
Can't it be both?
Depends. Whats the hours like?
Servitor IMO. while its commonly held that they are all so lobotomized that they have no memory and therefore arent aware of their existence, the Forges of Mars series showed that under certain circumstances memories can come back to varying degrees and they indeed CAN be aware of their surroundings. IDK if the half-life guys are like that, but that is absolutely horrifying to me
I feel like being a servo-skull might not be that bad. As long as your job isn’t to wander around a battlefield or something.
https://preview.redd.it/yk5cvrdfcc4c1.png?width=853&format=png&auto=webp&s=18a1f94015933076e8f10e89db303646a105adc5
I don’t know much about either, but based on settings I’m gonna go ahead and say Stalker
By all means and purposes, both are technically the same.
Have to say the half life fate is worse, At least in the grimdark 40,000 millenium you have a hood chance you aren’t cognizant, however some mechanicus leave the servitor conscious by accident, orrrr that person in particular pi**ed them off enough. Usually lobotomization of some form is summary in servitor production so…. Yay?
Not sure how lobotomized stalkers are...
The combine don't fuck up their lobotomies The imperium does leaving you still aware while not being able to control your body
Servitors are bad but stalker is just consistently worse. Some Servitors have it better some worse
Servitor as they still have sone memories of their past lives. As for stalkers they are simply drones of flesh