vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Genestealer - Ork-Genestealer Hybrids: Orks are not an ideal host species for Genestealers and eventually any Genestealers who infect them will realise that the Orks are a dead end as far as the prospects for furthering the spread of the Genestealer genetic curse is concerned.Ork society is not structured like Human society and the sophisticated techniques of infiltration of a population in a secure power base like an Imperial planet will not necessarily work with the more nomadic Orks. Sometimes Genestealers find that they must infect Orks simply because no better hosts are available.Orks often find and board drifting space hulks and delve into deserted ruins which are exactly the sort of places where Genestealers might lurk. If the Genestealers have been waiting for standard centuries to infect a host and a party of Orks just happen to turn up the Genestealers will simply follow their instinct to procreate their species.Sometimes, albeit rarely, a Genestealer-Ork hybrid brood grows and prospers. Genestealer broods are usually only successful once a breeding community of Feral Orks has been infected, and the Genestealer genetic curse will integrate itself into any reproductive spores shed by those Orks. If a "civilised", technologically-advanced Greenskin community is infected it has a catalytic effect on the Ork breeding urge and Ork Genestealer hybrids will develop from Ork spores eventually, but usually the Genestealer incursion among the Orks simply dies out.It is very rare for such a "Green Brood" to survive long enough for Purestrain Genestealers to finally emerge, and then there are few. This is because the Ork life cycle and asexual, spore-based reproduction simply does not favour the propagation of a Genestealer brood. Orks do not shed spores until the end of their lives and so the development of a brood is very slow. Additionally hybrid whelps are unlikely to be accepted by the "civilised" Orks, who will find them "unOrky."A Genestealer Patriarch who realises its mistake in trying to subvert an Ork tribe will instead tend to use its Ork hybrid brood as a temporary expedient useful only in facilitating contact with more suitable hosts like Humans.An Ork hybrid brood that does begin to thrive, and has sufficient technology to be of use to the Genestealer Patriarch in spreading the curse of the Genestealers further, is also likely to make contact with other Orks. When surrounding Greenskin tribes notice that there is "sumfink wrong" with the infected tribe, that they are "not proper Orkses" and have been "taken over by da bug-eyez," they will move to exterminate them.Occasionally Genestealer-Ork hybrid bands, the so-called "Green Broods," are encountered wandering on the fringes of Ork society or as part of a band of Freebooterz, wondering what they can do about their predicament.
Genestealer - Aeldari-Genestealer Hybrids: Aeldari biology and physiology is in some ways far less crude than that of their Human counterparts. As a result, the Genestealers' genetic taint takes many more generations before it manifests and produces a first generation Aeldari-Genestealer hybrid.The vigilant and ruthless Aeldari quickly discover this once the first Genestealer hybrids begin to be born. They then swiftly move to eliminate the hybrid community on their craftworlds or in the Dark City of Commorragh to maintain their genetic purity.
Genestealer - Purestrain Genestealer: Purestrain Genestealers have the same basic arthopodal, insectoid body structure as all other Tyranid species. They appear as roughly man-sized, six-limbed creatures with both the chitinous exoskeleton and endoskeleton common to Tyranids.They can function as a bipedal organism using their lower appendages; a second pair have extremely sharp claws used for evisceration in close combat -- these claws are sharp enough to hack through extremely well-armored enemies, such as Space Marine Terminators, with ease. The third set of limbs may also act as arms, though their nature can vary depending on the type of host species used to create the Genestealers or the needs of the Hive Mind. In addition, Genestealers are known for their agility and adept fighting skill.Genestealers were first encountered by the Imperium of Man on the moons of Ymgarl. After this encounter, more and more were spotted on large derelict starships known as "space hulks."With the invasion of the Imperium of Hive Fleet Behemoth in the 41st Millennium, it was discovered that the Genestealers were in fact a part of the wider Tyranid species. Genestealers perform two primary roles for the Tyranid armies. First, they act as assault troops in Tyranid swarms; second, they can be found as an advanced reconnaissance force of a Tyranid hive fleet, preparing future planetary invasions and aiding biomass absorption through the use of their unusual reproduction method and the establishment of Broodmind-based Genestealer Cults.
Genestealer - Adrenal Genestealer: Adrenal Genestealers are a newer strain that have emerged within the Tyranid swarms: deathly agile and relentless, these dangerous new foes spring out from every dark corner, unleashing volley after volley. Attached to these deadly creatures are Adrenal Glands, a common Tyranid biomorph which can be found on most of their front-line fighters.Polyp-like organisms clamp themselves onto the host and secrete doses of a powerful adrenaline-like substance during combat, making the host creature relentless and nigh-unstoppable in the heat of battle.
Genestealer - Vectori-strain Genestealer: The Vectori strain represents a classification of Genestealers adopted by the Deathwatch of the Jericho Reach to refer to the unique Genestealer breed encountered aboard the space hulk Mortis Thule.Much more agile than the Purestrains from which all Genestealers derive, this xenos breed is well-adapted to moving swiftly, as well as silently through confined spaces, while their lowered body mass reduces the energy required of their metabolisms, allowing them to operate effectively for longer periods without sustenance.Vectori Genestealers are nimble and stealthy hunters, operating with a focus and efficiency natural to such creatures for which economy of energy is an essential facet of survival. However, their lighter physiology makes them ill-suited for direct shock tactics, being not as durable as those of other Purestrains.
Genestealer - Broodlord: The Broodlord, or Corporaptor Primus, is the ultimate product of Genestealer evolution. The Broodlord is immensely strong, agile and durable, which makes it a superb frontline warrior.In addition to their already potent combat abilities, the Broodlord also has a few Tyranid Biomorphs or biomechanical weapon-symbiotes to chose from beyond just its standard rending claws and scythe-like talons.Broodlords act as commanders for Tyranid assault forces, personally leading attacks. They bear the "synapse" ability frequently observed in higher forms of Tyranid species, which allow them to coordinate the Hive Mind's psychic commands over less-intelligent Tyranid species.This is unlike the traditional Genestealer Cults which grow and rise on infested Imperial worlds to take its followers from among the local populace, and psychically dominate them and be worshiped as gods. The army led by the Broodlord is an infiltrating frontline vanguard operating in a similar manner to the Tyranid Lictor. A Broodlord at the heart of a telepathic link can track its foes with the senses of many and employs its greater intellect to coordinate and command the lesser Genestealers.
Genestealer - Vectori-strain Broodlord: The circumstances that lead to a Broodlord coming into being are still relatively unknown to the Ordo Xenos, but speculation and theories abound on the subject.In the case of those found aboard the space hulk Mortis Thule in the Jericho Reach, it has been theorised that exposure to the energies of the Warp and isolation from the Hive Mind has somehow culminated in the creation of an "alpha" Genestealer, a creature of terrible majesty and dreadful might that exists at the heart of the collective Broodmind shared by any given group of Genestealers.Whatever the truth of their origins, Vectori Broodlords are the most frightening of these creatures. Connected psychically to an instinctive network of hunters, they lie in wait while their lesser brood herd unwitting prey into traps and ambushes orchestrated by a being of vicious cunning and inhuman intellect. When they choose to act directly, very few combatants can endure their onslaught.Vectori-strain Genestealers have a constant telepathic link with each other which can function clearly and without restriction (such as from intervening objects or other forms of shielding) up to one kilometre. This allows them to communicate with one another and pass information to nearby Genestealers swiftly and surreptitiously.
Genestealer - Genestealer Cults: A Genestealer Cult is a xenos-worshipping secret society made up of and controlled by Genestealers, Brood Brothers and Genestealer hybrids that thrives in the dark, dank corners of the Imperium. Secretive, stealthy, and utterly malignant, Genestealer Cults are the cankers growing unseen in the hidden spaces of Mankind's realm.Their purpose is to rise up and take control of Imperial worlds in the name of a xenos god that is actually a Tyranid hive fleet. Once the world is under their control, the cultists' psychic emanations, part of a wider gestalt network known as the Broodmind, are picked up by the closest hive fleet's extension of the Hive Mind which is then drawn to consume the world, cultists and all.Some cultists are truly monstrous mutant hybrids, skulking along dank tunnels with robes or hessian sacks covering their xenos anatomies. Others are merely pallid and bald, able to pass for loyal Imperial citizens whilst their wyrm-form tattoos remain hidden.These latter-generation brethren mingle amongst the herd of Humanity like wolves in sheep's clothing, working so hard amongst the crumbling machineries of Human industry that none spare them a second glance -- but under their work fatigues and rough miner's apparel, they all bear the mark of the alien.
Genestealer - Ordo Xenos Data: Ordo Xenos Departmento Analyticus RecordDesignationGenestealerCommon TitleStealer, Leech, Sewerstalker, Scuttler, Clawfiend, GhostSpecies NameCorporaptor hominis (Purestrain Genestealer), Corporaptor ymgarli (Ymgarl Genestealer) , Vermis (Tyrannus) Furii (Broodlord)Average Height1.9 metresAverage Weight0.3 tonnesFirst EncounteredMoons of YmgarlRoleInfiltration / Shock AssaultThreat EvaluationHigh
Genestealer - Unit Composition: 5-20 Genestealers
Genestealer - Wargear: Purestrain TalonsRending Claws
Genestealer - Game History: Genestealers appeared in the 1st Edition of Warhammer 40,000 (Rogue Trader), but at the time were not a Tyranid species. They were simply noted as being an "enigmatic monster ... from one of the moons of Ymgarl", now "spread throughout space" and "threatening to become a real menace". Since then it has been revealed that they were the advance forces of the Tyranid invasion and are now often seen as part of a Tyranid army.The Genestealer Cult is a substitute army that has been introduced several times for Warhammer 40,000. The initial introduction by Paul Murphy, Bryan Ansell, and Nigel Stillman was printed in White Dwarf 114-116 (1989). This was followed by an article from Andy Chambers and Jervis Johnson in White Dwarf 145 (1992) that detailed the Genestealer Cult as part of a Tyranid army.Later, Tim Huckelbery detailed the Genestealer Cult army in issues 40 and 41 (1999) of the Citadel Journal, under the title Codex: Genestealer Cults. This official supplemental Codex provided official rules for using Patriarchs, Magi, hybrids and Broodbrother units. It even included rules for a "Transport Coven Limousine." Later, in the first Codex Tyranids, these rules were incorporated as the "Genestealer Cult Army List" and included all of the characters in their previous form sans Limousine.In the Tyranids Codex for the 3rd Edition of Warhammer 40,000, there were no rules provided for the Genestealer Cults. With the introduction of the Broodlord in the 4th Edition, Genestealers could once again be fielded as their own army, albeit one that was restricted to HQ and Troops units only (which arguably makes it quite ineffective). Before the 4th Edition, the 3rd Edition Genestealers were the oldest models in use to date (they were the same ones from Rogue Trader and the Space Hulk game).There are currently two variants of the standard purestrain Genestealer: the Broodlord and the baseline Genestealer. In earlier incarnations of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, there were five separate types of Genestealers, representing the Genestealer Cult variant army, including: Genestealer Patriarchs, the Genestealer Magus, standard Genestealers, Genestealer hybrids, and Brood Brothers.Genestealer is also the name for the second expansion produced for the Games Workshop tabletop miniature wargame Space Hulk. The expansion is named after the Genestealers that the Space Marines battle as the primary adversaries of the game. It features psyker rules for Space Hulk.With the advent of the 7th and 8th Editions of Warhammer 40,000 the Genestealer Cults were raised to the status of a full army and received their own codexes. The 8th Edition Genestealers Cult Codex also provided them with a full range of vehicle choices for the first time.
Genestealer - Sources: Codex: Genestealer Cults (7th Edition), pp. 32, 78Codex: Genestealer Cults (8th Edition), pp. 14, 55, 89Codex: Tyranids (4th Edition), pp. 24, 27, 39Codex: Tyranids (5th Edition), pp. 15, 40, 61Codex Imperialis (2nd Edition), pp. 92-93Dark Heresy: Creatures Anathema (RPG), pg. 90Deathwatch: Ark of Lost Souls (RPG), pp. 130-132Deathwatch: Mark of the Xenos (RPG), pp. 39-40Deathwatch: The Emperor Protects (RPG), pp. 46-47What Price Victory (Anthology) edited by Christian Dunn and Marc Gascoigne, "Elucidium" (Short Story) by Simon SpurrierFreebooterz: Space Ork Army Lists (1st Edition), pp. 26, 31-32, 45Imperial Armour Volume Four - The Anphelion ProjectRogue Trader: Stars of Inequity (RPG), pp. 78-79Space Hulk: Mission Book (3rd Edition), pp. 46-47Space Hulk: Death Angel (CCG), "Death Angel: Mission Pack 1 Expansion"Warhammer 40,000: Compilation (1st Edition), pp. 88-115Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (1st Edition), pg. 211Xenology (Background Book) (Ovipositor Illustration), pg. 59 (formal page numbers lacking)White Dwarf (UK) 266, "The Genestealer - Ultimate Predator"White Dwarf (UK) 114, "Genestealers," by Paul Murphy, pp. 31-37Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work (Novel) by Guy Haley, Ch. 17Red Elf - White Dwarf Magazine #266 (UK), "The Genestealer - Ultimate Predator" ArticleThe Pangolin Saloon - White Dwarf Magazine #114 (UK), "Genestealers" ArticleThe Regimental Standard - Forewarned beats Four ArmedThe Regimental Standard - Know the Xenos. Hate the Xenos.Voice of Experience (Short Story) by J.C. Stearns
Genestealer Cult - Ghosar Quintus: The first confirmed Imperial engagement with a Genestealer Cult occurred upon the mining colony of Ghosar Quintus in 680.M41. Investigating what appeared to be a perversion of the Imperial Creed, Inquisitor Chaegryn led a team of Tempestus Scions to Ghosar Quintus and ventured into the depths of the Great Pit. The deeper Chaegryn ventured, the more evidence of deviance he found. Strangely, his last communiqué stated that all was well, and that the Trysst Dynasty that ruled Ghosar Quintus should be left to its own devices.It was a full standard year before Chaegryn's fellows in the Holy Ordos of the Inquisition noticed that something was deeply wrong. A five-man Kill-team of Deathwatch Space Marines was sent on a follow-up mission of lethal investigation, yet they too were swallowed by the mysteries of the Great Pit. Only when the steel-willed Chaplain Ortan Cassius mustered his own hand-picked Kill-team was the vile truth unearthed -- Ghosar Quintus was home to a xenos infestation.Kill-team Cassius fought through hundreds of Genestealer Cultists as they plumbed the depths of the Trysst Dynasty's corrupted world. Though they made it out alive, the Space Marines were changed forever by the gruesome ordeal. Most shocking of all was not the Genestealer Patriarch that lurked at the heart of the cult, but the damning evidence in the mining cult's shipping holographs. Under the guise of industry, the xenos-tainted Trysst Dynasty had spread its curse across not only the Ghosar System, but throughout the sector. The implications were staggering.
Genestealer Cult - The Hidden Dynasties: Only those Imperial operatives of the highest echelon have an inkling of how far the Genestealer Curse has spread across Mankind's realm. For every Cult that has been thrust into the light, whether by its own ascendancy or by the burning fires of extermination, there remain a dozen hidden in the dark spaces of the galaxy, waiting for their moment to strike.
Genestealer Cult - Purii: A full Purestrain Genestealer starts the infection cycle by inserting their genetic material into a host victim. As the infestation spreads and the cult grows, the first Genestealer takes the role of a Genestealer Patriarch and often grows larger into an obese and psychic monstrosity.
Genestealer Cult - The Infected - Contagii: The host victims, or Contagii, return to their own societies and begin to have an urgent need to find a mate and begin a family. This mate also becomes infected with Genestealer DNA through sexual intercourse with the infected host.Contagii, many of whom become Brood Brothers, still physically resemble other members of their species, though they may have a slight blue or mauve pallor to their skin and can be psychically controlled by the Genestealer  Patriarch through the Broodmind to become mindless slaves, making them the perfect infiltrators.The psychic control of the Genestealer's Kiss can be resisted by infected Space Marines, as seen with members of the Scythes of the Emperor who were infected by Genestealers on their homeworld of Sotha. However even they wear psychic dampening hoods to keep out the Broodmind's urgings.
Genestealer Cult - Generation 1 - Maelignaci: The first of a cult's vile children, a First Generation Hybrid or Maelignaci is as much of a monster as it looks. More reminiscent of a Genestealer than a Human, these foul creatures feature between five or six limbs, each one ending in sharp talons. These mutants often serve as Acolyte Hybrids.Their bulbous heads have the facial features of their xenos gene-father, with their skin taking on a purple hue. These creatures are little more than beasts, their instincts directing their every move.
Genestealer Cult - Generation 2 - Hybrid: The second generation of hybrids are hunched and stooped -- not in the manner of the old or infirm, but more like pressured springs, ready to explode into movement. Like the generation before them, Second Generation Hybrids, who also serve as Acolyte Hybrids, may have five or six limbs, but their eyes and mouth are more like their Human parents, and they can make themselves understood in Low Gothic.Though their minds are still so alien that they defy analysis, they are still sapient enough to understand their host society. Some are even put to work in the industrial brotherhoods of their kin, their uncanny strength and resilience allowing them to use heavy mining tools and explosives with far more ease than any mere Human.
Genestealer Cult - Generation 3 - True Hybrid: Taking a fully upright stance, the Third Generation Hybrid is reminiscent of many mutants in Imperial society. Their foul features go unnoticed in the underhives of many Imperial worlds.However, on closer inspection their alien form is revealed. They have heavily ridged heads, mauve to violet skin, and may even hide an extra clawed limb under their tattered clothes.True hybrids often become Kelermorphs and Loci.
Genestealer Cult - Generation 4 - Primacii: By the fourth generation, the scions of the Genestealer Cult can pass for fully Human, inveigling themselves into positions of power to further the aims of their sinister cult. Most of these Primacii serve as Neophyte Hybrids.A few members of this generation possess psychic powers and become a Magus or Genestealer Primus. Other types of Fourth Generation hybrids include Clamavi, Nexoses, Sancti, and Biophagi.They are often noticed by their Human overseers as dutiful, hard-working citizens, and as such, often find themselves above suspicion. Many of these hybrids join the Astra Militarum to spread their vile seed across the galaxy, starting new cults and claiming worlds for their four-armed Patriarch.Between the fourth and fifth generations of hybrids, the Genestealer Cult will prepare for all-out war. They will spawn Hybrid Metamorphs, creatures that echo the warrior bioforms of the Tyranid hive fleets and are built only to serve as vicious cannon fodder for the coming battles.
Genestealer Cult - Generation 5 - Purii: Paradoxically, the Genestealer's pure strain DNA reemerges in the fifth generation of hybrids since the initial infection, giving birth to a full Tyranid Purestrain Genestealer, albeit one showing some physical characteristics of the original host species.Thus the cycle of infection can begin anew, as the new Purestrain Genestealers have the potential to infiltrate other worlds and become a Genestealer Patriarch.
Genestealer Cult - Creation of a Cult: The genesis of a Genestealer Cult is a strange and disturbing process. Though it obeys a loosely cyclical structure, many offshoots and bastardisations occur, resulting in a spectrum of anatomies from the outwardly wholesome to the truly bizarre. All members of this tainted family tree -- even the non-hybrid members, known as the "Brood Brothers" -- remain fiercely loyal to one another, bound as one by the gestalt psychic Broodmind.The most powerful weapon of the Genestealer Cult is secrecy. From the moment the infection vector arrives to the grand uprising itself, the faithful stick to the shadows. Those elements that emerge into the light of everyday life wear a mask of mundanity; outwardly, its cultists worship the same deity as the host civilisation, albeit a strange variant thereof.They teach extreme modesty, keeping their mutations hidden under robes and industrial clothing. Latter-generation hybrids work tirelessly, respecting the old and cherishing the young. Only on the day of reckoning is the awful truth of their existence revealed.
Genestealer Cult - Types of Cults: In a galactic empire of a million worlds, there are countless planets upon which the Genestealer Curse can take hold -- for where there is Mankind, there is always biomass to be harvested.The Imperium's teeming herds have proven the perfect hosts for the alien parasites of the Tyranids. Mankind has intelligence enough to ply the stars, but not enough to overcome the combination of ambition, hubris and curiosity that leads it into the dark and unwholesome places in which the Genestealer thrives. Unless specifically forbidden -- or prevented entirely -- from doing so, the human race will seek to colonise every corner of the galaxy, no matter what terrors it uncovers in the process.This tendency, coupled with the relatively swift span of years between its generations, makes humanity the perfect prey species for Genestealers. The vast spread of its colonies, and hence the near-limitless biomass it can provide, have not gone unnoticed by the Hive Mind that unites every Patriarch in a single intent.The human race has many instances of psychic talent, and these are getting ever more frequent. Psychic individuals are vital for the full panoply of Genestealer bioforms to rise to the surface across the course of a brood cycle. The frequency of psychic ability on Imperial worlds has been rising over the millennia, and since the coming of the Great Rift, there has been such a marked increase that the Black Ships of the Astra Telepathica cannot hope to quantify and harness more than a small fraction of psykers.Despite the risk of disaster, nascent Genestealer Cults are more than ready to induct untrained psykers into their cult, knowing that in doing so they pave the way for a Magus to ultimately be born. This war leader will lead the cult to new heights of victory as the Patriarch's mind-altering influence spreads further over the host populace.
Genestealer Cult - Hive World Cults: Imperial Hive Worlds represent the archetypal targets of a Genestealer Cult infestation. Possessed of massive, teeming populations, they represent a prime source for a new infection. At the same time, since much of that population is composed of a low socioeconomic class, a cult can spread quickly while a world's authorities remain blissfully unaware of the terrible curse spreading amongst their populations of workers and serfs.The underhive region of a hive city represents the perfect place for a Genestealer Patriarch to take up hidden residence and oversee the growth of his tainted dynasty. Imperial authorities rarely, if ever, venture into such benighted areas of the Emperor's domain, and the myriad small wars that often erupt between underhive gangers simply provide the nascent cult with its first infusion of combat-hardened personnel and weapons. It is from Hive Worlds that more Genestealer Cult infestations have arisen than any other classification of human-settled planet.
Genestealer Cult - Civilised World Cults: Civilised Worlds -- usually populous enough to have high import demands and well-established exports to boot -- are bountiful targets indeed for the Genestealer Cults. Though the trading restrictions and security of such locations can be stringent, it takes just one mistake, one deadly shipment being accepted, for the germ of corruption to be planted -- and once planted, it has a thousand different ways to thrive.Used as a springboard, these planets may push a slowly growing cult into an accelerated brood cycle that can see it cross the stars.
Genestealer Cult - Feudal World Cults: On the Feudal Worlds of the Imperium, the word of the king or queen or other ruling noble is law. Should that monarch come under the sway of a xenos parasite, strange tithes, unsettling disappearances and unnatural changes invariably follow.With most Feudal Worlds having little in the way of technology, the peasantry and knightly orders have only superstitious rites, swords and shields to protect them from the clawed horrors that prey on them from abandoned dungeons, charnel houses, cave networks and dank forests.
Genestealer Cult - Death World Cults: There are worlds in the Imperium so lethal they are classified as Death Worlds; their environments are anathema to Terran life. Many human warrior groups use these planets for extreme training exercises -- and amidst the menagerie of deadly flora and fauna they face, a slinking Purestrain Genestealer can often go unnoticed.Some of these training groups will be infected, and return to their divisions with a lurking doom in their midst that will soon be brought to whatever world they are sent to protect next.
Genestealer Cult - Agri-World Cults: Cults with a pool of mechanised assets thrive in wide open spaces, such as those of Agri-worlds. With at least eighty-five per cent of their landmasses given over to the cultivation of forcecrops, hydroponics, livestock, algae lakes and cactus forests, such planets are not especially populous.However, the wide spread of their settlements makes them easy prey for wide-ranging Genestealer Cult elements that soon have the perfect excuse to send their "provisions shipments" to other human-settled planets.
Genestealer Cult - Military Cults: The vast majority of Imperial worlds are militarised in some manner, but some are entirely given over to the production of Astra Militarum regiments and materiel. The most ambitious of Genestealer Cults seek to infect these planets above all others.Though the tactic is generally high risk, if the initiative is successful, the armed soldiers and resources they add to their own ranks with each new barracks and base they corrupt dramatically increases their chances of future insurgencies meeting with success.An Astra Militarum regiment stationed upon such a prey world will slowly become populated by Fourth Generation Hybrid or Brood Brother humans who bear the hidden mark of the Genestealer within their anatomies. Soon enough, the regiment inducts new recruits with a certain strange cast to their skin, bulbous craniums and strangely pointed fingers. Within an armed force that recruits such divergent strains of Humanity as Ratlings and Ogryns, mild variations of appearance are often overlooked –- especially when the cadets in question are so efficient and obedient.As the generations pass, it is common for the infiltrating members of that world's cult to be grouped together into the same platoons. Sometimes they are recruited in such numbers that entire regiments are taken over. Such infected military organs take pains to stay incognito, and as such, have only a rudimentary presence in the Imperium's armed forces and do not boast the wealth of munitions and war machines that a proven element of the Astra Militarum might enjoy.Still, even a basic military presence on a cult's host world is an asset beyond price. On the day of insurrection, those Astra Militarum platoons seeded with the agents of the cult will reveal their true allegiance. Eyes alight with fanatical fervour, these wolves in the fold finally put their treacherous plans in motion, launching deadly surprise attacks upon their fellow regiments before joining the main body of the cult.In an institution as immense and diverse as the Astra Militarum, a force as cunning and sly as a Genestealer Cult can thrive for many standard years before the horrible truth is revealed.
Genestealer Cult - Feral World Cults: On the Feral Worlds of the Imperium -- those that are pre-black powder and may even have regressed to pre-ferrous or even Stone Age levels of technology -- it is simple for an established Genestealer Cult to thrive; by bringing powerful weapons, advanced technology and complex tools with them, they are worshipped as gods.By contrast, a genesis infestation upon such a world is a rare occurrence, as those Purestrains that make planetfall find themselves to be the hunted as often as they are the hunter.
Genestealer Cult - Shrine World Cults: Despite the strength of their populations' faith, the Shrine Worlds of the Adeptus Ministorum are not immune to the Genestealer Curse. A vestal robe can hide a multitude of mutations, and the labyrinthine boneyards and catacombs that riddle the lesser districts are ideal prowling grounds for a species as adaptable as the Genestealer.Those humans they grant the Kiss to still claim to be worshipping the Emperor as they move amongst the flock, but in truth, their actions further a far darker cause.
Genestealer Cult - Frontier World Cults: Where the Rogue Trader plants their flag, they say, the unwashed hordes of humanity are soon to follow. On the borders of the Imperium, new worlds are claimed in the name of the Emperor with each passing Terran year.Out there, the lawmakers and enforcers of the Adeptus Arbites are a mere rumour. Though it may take a long time for a Genestealer Cult on a Frontier World to grow to full fruition, by being there at the beginning of a budding civilisation, its members can infect every stratum of human society with ease.
Genestealer Cult - Nonhuman Host Species: The Purestrain Genestealer can, through the modus of implantation via its ovipositor, place its germ-seed in any creature of the requisite anatomy to later sire a hybrid. Over the countless centuries since their introduction into the stellar realm of Mankind, these extragalactic predators have started colonies within the species of the Orks, the Greet, the Kroot, the Aeldari, the Tarellian, and even the T'au.They tend to choose ambulatory species of sufficient intellect to be space-capable, and hence spread their curse far and wide, and will usually target one whose population is dense enough to keep such a spread secret until it is too late for the infection to be overcome.The Orks have proven troublesome as Genestealer hosts, for they can sense a wrongness in those infected, something that disturbs the strange psychic gestalt of the Greenskin mind. The Kroot are much the same, though their avoidance of infected members of their society comes from their ability to taste pheromones, and the wisdom of the Kroot Shapers who guide their people's evolution.The Aeldari have such lengthy gestation cycles that they are simply not viable biological hosts; furthermore, their psychic abilities are so well developed they can often see the shadow of the curse even before it can manifest, and avoid it accordingly in infected members of their species.The T'au have a connection with their Ethereal Caste that makes hiding an infection by the Genestealers difficult. Only Humanity, so manifold and unruly in its civilisations, has as yet provided an ideal host.
Genestealer Cult - Cult Icons: The symbols of each Genestealer Cult are uncannily similar, whether borne on an Iconward's standard or hidden away as a brand of allegiance on a Brood Brother's chest. Many adaptations and interpretations have been adopted by cults across the Imperium, yet they all portray a similar, stylised bioform.Each cult uses its own variants of the insignia as it solidifies its own identity, but will also display the core symbol of the cult -- a long-bodied creature with ridges upon its spine that echoes the form of the Tyranids themselves often called a "wyrm."The fact that each cult's icons are so similar, regardless of where they are encountered, is unsettling in itself. Perhaps those that create them are guided by strange dreams and visions brought about by the Hive Mind's Shadow in the Warp, where alien anatomies whirl and bulge in sanity-stealing profusion. Perhaps the form of the Tyranid is encoded within the gene-curse, rising to the front of the cult's collective mind unbidden.Either way, from the western reaches of the Segmentum Pacificus to the depths of the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy, those worlds that harbour Genestealer broodkin are emblazoned in a hundred different ways by eerily similar markings, brands of ownership that hint at the biological apocalypse to come.
Genestealer Cult - Notable Genestealer Cults: If the High Lords of Terra truly comprehended the number of Genestealer Cults abroad in their realm, they would feel the chill of fresh terror creep across their souls. Though only six cults have been codified by the Ordo Xenos, data-harvests taken from Ghosar Quintus imply the presence of hundreds, perhaps thousands, in the Ultima Segmentum alone.
Genestealer Cult - Minor Cults: The further the Imperium looks for signs of Genestealer Cult infestation, the more diverse and widespread nightmares it discovers. Here is a curse well able to adapt itself to whatever environment and population it infests, fashioning a seemingly endless variety of cults ready to rise up against the Emperor's realm.Behemoid UndercultBringers of Enraptured JoyCult VeridianCult of the Star SavioursCult TendriculVoidbroodCult TenebrousSons of JormungandrStarchosenStar KindredWyrms of the Ur-tendrilCult HydraicCult HypodermoidBlessed WormlingsHivewyrm
Genestealer Cult - Broodmind Psychic Disciplines: The Genestealer Patriarch and Magus are potent psykers, able to use their formidable powers to bend others to their will. This mental dominance not only ensures that the gestalt consciousness of the cult's masses serves as one, but can also be channelled to crush those who would oppose their plans before they reach fruition. The powers that a Patriarch or Magus can wield include the following abilities.Mass Hypnosis - The psyker's eyes glow strangely as they cast their gaze across their chosen victims, using mental dominion to put them into a trance-like state so the cult can take them apart -- or present them to the Genestealer Patriarch for infection -- at leisure.Mind Control - Palsied fingers twitch and facial muscles spasm as the psyker's chosen mark is taken over completely. Relegated to a mere passenger within their own body, they are forced to witness their own traitorous actions as they open fire upon or otherwise act against their trusted comrades.Psionic Blast - The psyker focuses the alien hatred of their kind into a blaze of pallid energies. Where their gaze falls, the enemy are consumed -- the last thing they hear is a shrill screech of triumph.Mental Onslaught - The psyker, well used to forcing their will upon those who would resist them, intensifies their hypnotic power to such a degree it can cause their victims' brains to swell to bursting point inside their skulls.Psychic Stimulus - The unknowable power of the cult's gestalt Broodmind flows into the psyker's chosen mortal instruments, spurring these cultists into a religious frenzy that sees them attack with hyperactive speed.Might from Beyond - An alien strength lurks in every being that carries the Genestealer's genetic curse. With a low whisper that rises to a scream, the psyker amplifies this hidden might, and their followers are swollen with empowering energy born of the void itself, enhancing their physical strength and combat potential.
Genestealer Cult - Achilles Ridgerunner: The Achilles Ridgerunner is an Imperial light exploratory vehicle often used to scout out new ore seams by mining guild prospectors and newly discovered terrain on Frontier Worlds by geological surveyors.Because of its speed, range and sheer durability, the Achilles Ridgerunner also has proven to be very popular for use with the outriders and scouts of the Genestealer Cults.
Genestealer Cult - Goliath Trucks: Goliath Trucks are rugged transports originally designed to bear Imperial factotums through crypt complexes and mining tunnels. The vehicle's dense and robust construction makes it proof against the most hostile of underground environments, and its folded layers of chemically-treated permasteel give it a measure of protection against every industrial hazard the Imperium has yet encountered.Even an unmodified Goliath Truck can survive acid storms, hurricanes of forge-sparks, malfunctioning rad-chambers, and volatile toxin eruptions. Whatever damage they bear on the exterior, they keep those in their metal guts as safe as if they were locked in a command bunker.Whilst the cult lies quiescent, its Goliaths are used in everything from subterranean transit to stockpiling munitions. The duraglass screens inside each vision slit can be raised to make the vehicles airtight -- as useful for surviving the choking confines of a hazard mine as the poisonous atmosphere of battle. Their reputation is long-held; even the Astra Militarum has respect for the mighty Goliath.Though an ascendant cult will make use of any type of vehicle, from lunar quads to civilian stretch-cars to mobile industrial macro-rigs, the Goliath truck is always the most sought after. These vehicles are customised with all manner of stowage, extra armour and sprayed-on cult symbols. They are acquired by means fair and foul by every cult that can find them, for they strike the perfect balance between unobtrusive civilian vehicle and pugnacious war machine.No one gives a second glance to a column of Goliath trucks bearing rag-draped miners through the streets, and workplace graffiti and personalisation is far from unusual in the lower classes of the Imperium, so even the cult symbols stencilled upon the vehicles' sides often go unchallenged. Then, when the mind-stimulus of the Magus or Patriarch signals the time is right, the broods within these vehicles throw open their hatches and burst out -- some still mistaken for human even in their warpaint and others so alien that even to witness them is to feel the cold claw of defeat clutching at the heart.Built to the blueprint of a ubiquitous Standard Template Construct, the Goliath truck has been modified and adapted countless times across the industrial worlds of the Imperium. Most common of these variants is the Goliath Rockgrinder. Though compact, the Goliath Rockgrinder is built to withstand rockfalls, dam bursts and the fiery backwash of its clearance incinerator. Those huddled within have a great deal of protection from all but the highest-calibre weapons.
Genestealer Cult - Cult Sentinels: The Sentinel is a single-pilot combat walker that can traverse landscapes where a wheeled vehicle would swiftly founder. Though designed primarily as a reconnaissance asset to stalk the killing fields of the Imperium, Sentinels are so versatile that they are in widespread use even behind the lines. They are a common sight in the industrial zones of the Imperium; hydraulic "bulk lifter" variants of this bipedal vehicle can be found shifting ammunition crates and ordnance cylinders in the shadowy dockyards and cache-districts where Genestealer Cults thrive.Such machines are easily retrofitted for warfare by the cultists that press them into service. Still more are simply co-opted from the military forces the cult has taken over from the inside. Regardless of source, on the day of battle, these walkers will be grouped together into two main roles -- either used as lightweight Scout Sentinels for forward operations or as heavier Armoured Sentinels that lend heavy firepower to the main body of the uprising.In terms of sheer piloting skill, the Genestealer Cults may well boast the finest Sentinel operatives in the galaxy. Those walkers that were once industrial machines have been operated day and night by their assigned drivers -- Neophyte Hybrids who have become so expert in their use they can pick through a ruined metropolis with the ease a man might walk across a deserted parade ground.Such pilots make excellent independent assets when the time to strike is nigh. The Scout Sentinels they operate boast a powerful weapon system that can be fired on the move; they are fast enough to move into position for a kill shot, yet small enough to operate undetected by a larger force. This makes them ideal for covert operations. Often, a crack team of Neophyte Hybrids will send their Scout Sentinels loping around the flanks of the enemy army. At a psychic impulse from the cult's overlords, they will open hostilities with a punishing volley that can rip out the exposed throat of the opposing force even before the battle has started.Where Scout Sentinels have only a canopy of reinforced bars to protect the pilot, Armoured Sentinels have thick plated hulls, for they are built to operate even in the most dangerous war zones. Such enclosed walkers have the added bonus that no one can see the true nature of their pilot until it is too late, an advantage that is not lost on the cult's overseers. Those cults unable to sequester heavy war assets often use Armoured Sentinels as tank substitutes, fitting them with Lascannons, Missile Launchers, and perhaps even rare and temperamental Plasma Cannons. With such firepower at their disposal, the cult can theoretically take down even the heavy infantry and main battle tanks of an Adeptus Astartes strike force.
Genestealer Cult - Cult Leman Russ Battle Tank: The heavy firepower of the Leman Russ Battle Tank is legendary, and also much sought after by those cults that expect to engage the foe at range. Built to last through standard decades, if not centuries, of harsh conditions and poor maintenance, this Imperial main battle tank is a natural choice for those cults that intend to bide their time before launching a single devastating strike.Those cults determined or lucky enough to secure entire squadrons of Leman Russ tanks are a terrifying prospect, as deadly at range as at close quarters. These concentrations of force bombard the enemy from afar to crack open even the safest of havens, allowing the xenospawn at the heart of the cult to get at their soft-bodied prey in the process.The Leman Russ is constructed more as a rolling bunker than as fast-moving support. Its primary weapon is the Battle Cannon, an unsubtle sledgehammer of a gun that sends high-explosive shells hurtling into the midst of the enemy. Even the tanks of the foe can be crippled or destroyed by a direct hit from such ordnance. Sponsons are often fitted onto the Leman Russ' flanks, each bearing either a Heavy Bolter to scythe down enemy troops, or a Lascannon to crack open armoured targets. With the foe reeling, the cult will often follow up the volleys of its Leman Russ squadrons with a devastating assault from the clawing, screaming masses of its throng.
Genestealer Cult - Cult Chimeras: A Genestealer Cult will amass a great many vehicles over the course of its gestation. In terms of popularity, the Chimera Armoured Personnel Carrier issecond only to the Goliath Truck. The Chimera is so common a sight that it passes all but unnoticed through the streets of war-torn worlds and the rotting understrata of hive cities, just as the work teams of the Genestealer Cult pass without comment in Humanity's wider throng.Yet in times of war, this humble transport punches well above its weight. Its combination of Multi-Laser, hull-mounted Heavy Bolter and flank-mounted Lasgun arrays allows it to cut down Imperial infantry, rival gangers, veteran soldiers and even light vehicles.As one of the workhorses for Mankind's innumerable armies, the Chimera is built to a Standard Template Construct standard. It can traverse all manner of terrain, from acidic silt to the rockcrete rubble of a bombedout city, and even be rendered amphibious should the need arise. The blueprint for this rugged and adaptable machine, a revered relic of Mankind's past, has been replicated times beyond count.As such, the Chimera can be made from whatever local metals a mechanic has to hand, or even from stranger materials should they have the requisite material strength. To an industrial culture such as that of the Genestealer Cult, the manufacture of a Chimera -- or even an entire mechanised regiment of them -- poses little challenge.On the eve of battle, those Chimera transports the cult has sequestered are sprayed with cult icons and daubed with the blood of the unbeliever. Some have additional armour plates, auxiliary weaponry or gruesome trophies strapped to their hulls before they rumble toward the front line, forming totems of defiance and conquest even before their heavy guns open fire.These stolen Chimeras bully a path through the bloody earth of the battlefield, carrying inside them not the ordered platoons of faithful Imperial Guard, but the fully indoctrinated hybrid warriors of the cult. So familiar a sight is the Chimera that those on flanking manoeuvres are often waved through Imperial cordons by oblivious officials, the magnitude of the mistake only becoming evident when the crew and passengers begin the slaughter.
Genestealer Cult - Tectonic Fragdrill: A Tectonic Fragdrill is a form of Imperial mining technology that has been repurposed by the Genestealer Cults to serve their own ends. It is often used to unleash a localised earthquake intended to disrupt the defences of a planetary region that is under assault from the the cult or to deliver cult troops to a target area through subterranean tunnels.
Genestealer Cult - Forces of the Genestealer Cults: Genestealer Cults ForcesCommandGenestealer Patriarch • Magus • PrimusSpecialistsClamavus • Nexos • Biophagus • Sanctus • BenefictusElitesAbominant • Jackal Alphus • Kelermorph • LocusTroopsAcolyte Hybrid • Neophyte Hybrid • Hybrid Metamorph • Brood Brothers • Purestrain Genestealer • Aberrant • Genestealer Familiar • Mindwyrm Familiar • Atalan JackalsVehiclesDirtcycle • Wolfquad • Goliath Truck • Goliath Rockgrinder • Achilles Ridgerunner • Chimera • Sentinel • Leman Russ Tank (Leman Russ Eradicator • Leman Russ Exterminator • Leman Russ Vanquisher)OtherTectonic Fragdrill