Blighted Schola

“They took the brightest and the best and twisted them into the seeds of some nightmare future. Were it not for their other crimes, I would say that this act alone was enough to earn them Excommunication and death.”
–Inquisitor Glavius Wroth at the Denouncement of the Golgenna Coven, 812.M41
The Blighted Schola were created by the power of Radical
Inquisitors called the Golgenna Coven. In a heretical aping
of the traditions of the Schola Progenium, the Blighted
Schola took carefully selected orphans of loyal servants of
the Imperium and schooled them to create individuals of
iron will, profane knowledge, and terrible potential. Using
psychic, surgical, and noetic methods, the ‘progena’ of these
secret institutions were generations of highly capable men
and women reared to excel in the service of a Radical master:
highly resourceful, possessed of forbidden knowledge, and
capable of murdering without hesitation or qualm. Were it
not for the nature of their curriculum and the methods they
used to create their cursed progena, the achievements of these
Blighted Schola might be applauded.
Concealed in the very heart of the sector, on the worlds of
Scintilla, Sepheris Secundus, and Valon Urr, the Blighted Schola
were set up as secret institutions concealed by elaborate cover
stories and manipulation of administrative records. Following
the pattern of their more legitimate equivalents, these facilities
were fed a steady stream of orphans of loyal Imperial servants.
These pupils were carefully selected by agents of the Golgenna
Coven within the true Schola Progenium. Once selected, a
pupil would be separated from the normal flow of orphans
to Schola Progenium facilities and records altered to indicate
their death from illness, or substituted for another’s so that
their disappearance would not be discovered. So effective
were the methods employed by the Golgenna Coven that their
twisted and Blighted Schola functioned without discovery for
over a century.
The Blighted Schola of Calixis Sector are a shameful
secret known only to members of the Calixian Conclave and
a few senior members of the Adeptus. The conspiracy which
created and maintained the Blight Schola was discovered by
chance when an agent of the Golgenna Coven within the
Administratum was investigated for suspected involvement
in a heretical cult (a charge he was in fact innocent of). The
Blighted Schola were purged, the radical creators denounced
and their former pupils hunted down and executed by teams of
Acolytes loyal to Puritan Inquisitors. The tragedy, in the eyes
of those who know of the works of the Golgenna Coven, is
that it succeeded and did so for many decades. Though many
false progena produced by the Blighted Schola were tracked
down in the wake of the Excommunication of the Golgenna
Coven, the identities of some were never recovered. Many may
have fled or gone to ground, but it is feared by some within
the Calixian Conclave that some pupils of the Blighted Schola
still serve within the ranks of the Inquisition itself.
==The Excommunication of the Golgenna Coven==
The Golgenna Coven were a group of Inquisitors and
powerful members of other Imperial bodies who, as one
of several other abominable projects, subverted the sacred
work of the Schola Progenium within the Calixis sector
to create the Blighted Schola. It is known that at least
four Inquisitors (Simion, Nihul, Estarz and Alhain) were
members of the Golgenna Coven. They also counted
amongst their members Olius Lupus, Prefect Maximus
of Scintilla, and Gornian Sans, at that time Admiral of
Battlefleet Calixis. Evidence gathered by other members
of the Holy Ordos indicate that the Coven where rearing
a generation suited not for service to the Emperor but to
serve their own radical ideals. The Golgenna Coven was
also engaged in removing or crippling the power bases of
several important individuals within the various wings of
the Adeptus. 
The discovery of the existence of the Coven
was made quite by chance when Acolytes in the service of
Inquisitor Glavius Wroth broke an agent of the Coven who revealed
the existence of the Blighted Schola. Two years later in
812.M41, Wroth denounced Simion, Nihul, Estarz, and
Alhain in front of a High Conclave of the Ordos Calixis,
citing over twenty-six acts to be considered as evidence.
All the accused were excommunicated and immediately
executed; Prefect Maximus Lupus and Admiral Sans were
subjected to arco-flagellation. The central design of the
Coven has never been ascertained, though it was noted
by Wroth that all the Inquisitors involved were once close
associates, or pupils, of the late Inquisitor Cassilda Cognos.
This fact prompted to Wroth to remark that he would have
“denounced her as complicit were she not dead.”
==Player Characters==
You are a creation of careful nurturing in matters devious and
profane. You were taught to cleave to no restriction in method
or knowledge in pursuit of your ends, or the ends of your
masters. You are a subtle weapon in body, mind and intent and
you will do what you were raised to do: follow your will.
Creating Blighted Schola Characters
Use the Schola Progenium Home World template and replace the
Schola Education and Sheltered Upbringing Traits with the
ones detailed here.
Tutored in the Profane
While true progena are tutored in the many skills and areas
of knowledge that will make them useful servants of the
Imperium, the products of the Blighted Schola were equipped
with knowledge of things that should not be known.
Effects: The Acolyte gains the Forbidden Lore (Cults,
Daemonology, Heresy, Psykers, and Warp) Skills as Basic
Skills and begins play with 1d5+5 Corruption Points.
Conditioned Mind
The Acolyte’s mind has been broken and rebuilt by means
psychic, noetic, and surgical to create a fractured but
powerful tool.
Effect: The Acolyte begins play with +5 Intelligence and the
Resistance (Psychic Powers), Strong Minded, and Foresight
Talents (ignore the normal prerequisites). He also gains 1d10
Insanity Points.