Schola Progenium - Forging a Killer: Tempestus Scions and commissars are remorseless and efficient killers, but these warriors are not born that way. They are forged within the Schola Progeniums -- harsh training camps based on long-established Imperial worlds. It is these ancient facilities that are responsible for taking the orphaned offspring of the best the Imperium has to offer and transforming them into ruthless soldiers.The Schola Progenium is designed to homogenise, break and rebuild the orphaned sons and daughters of the Imperial elite. It transforms them from frightened children into loyal warriors ready to fight and die in the name of the Emperor, or into fearsome, iron-fisted authoritarians who keep the wheels of the Adeptus Terra in motion.In the aftermaths of the many atrocities so common in the 41st Millennium, any newly created orphans who are of aristocratic blood are brought to the attention of the nearest Officio Prefectus officials, who are tasked with dealing with the aftershocks of a battle and salvaging anything still useful to the Imperium. Many a Commissar has marched through the corpse-strewn walkways of a Planetary Governor's palace to discover a forlorn son or daughter who has been hiding -- safe, but alone -- in some underground bunker. The Commissar, having come from a similar background, will ensure that such a child does not go to waste. Quickly and efficiently, he assigns the new-made orphan to a starship bound for the nearest Schola Progenium.It is even whispered that, when it is in the Imperium's best interests, the Officio Prefectus may "steal" a prospective new recruit. Sometimes a child -- whose parents are still alive -- may be judged to have shown remarkable qualities, and their presence on a backwater world may be considered an inefficient use of those skills when they could be put to better effect in an Imperial facility. The rumour has it that a Commissar will ensure that such resources are allocated more efficiently, even if the protesting parents have to be removed from the equation in order to do so.Children arrive at the vast Schola Progeniums at a range of ages. Some come when they are as young as six Terran years, while others are as old as twelve. Most inductees are orphaned in large groups following a single planetary disaster, though occasionally individuals are thrown into larger groups if it is convenient. New recruits undergo a series of mental and physical examinations, but this is solely for the benefit of the facility. Should the cadet have been gleaned from a planet on the wrong end of a plague or spiritual rebellion, then the last thing the Drill Abbots would want is for that same corruption to break out within a confined, isolated complex and savage its young inmates.Cadets are divided by age to form training groups that will ultimately -- in the case of the Militarum Tempestus -- form the basis of their full battle regiments, to maintain a sense of brotherhood. Group sizes can start off as large as several hundred at any one time, though those who would not make worthy servants of the Imperium are quickly weeded out, and are not seen again by their classmates.Whereas the Astra Militarum is made up of soldiers from a huge number of different cultures, the Progena of the Schola Progenium are not permitted cultural variety. Though they may arrive there from different worlds, they are quickly recast in the same Imperial mould. As a result of this, they can be relied upon to put the orders of their superiors first and foremost before any local loyalties.So that the Schola Progenium becomes their sole reality, cadets are taught to forget their old existence. They are stripped of their former clothing and of any belongings they may have brought with them. They are issued only with simple black uniforms and standardised equipment and training gear, which they are expected to wear and use throughout their training. Recruits are forced to abandon their birth names, and are instead provided with a new one chosen from a long list of legendary heroes of the Imperium. This is as much to remind them of the excellence to which they must aspire, as it is to remove their identity. One exception to these traditional processes is when siblings arrive -- they are not deprived of their familial connections, as these have been found to encourage greater competition as well as fostering stronger internal ties in the long term.Such uniformity is easier to accept for very young students than it is for those who have spent longer in their parent cultures -- but mindscaping is always necessary to facilitate the commitment to the ways of the Schola Progenium. Sometimes, for habitual prejudices, this clarity of thought can be achieved by simple techniques, such as repetition of litanies for solar weeks on end. However, at some point every cadet is strapped down to an iron chair known as a Correction Throne. Needles are then inserted through the rear of the cadet's skull, and their heads are flooded with dirus, a neurochemical fluid that cleanses their synapses, wiping away old memories and paving the way for new information. It is an unfortunate, and little-discussed fact that the Imperium possesses ever-dwindling stocks of dirus, and it is increasingly being diluted with more dubious substances. While cadets endure such treatment, Auto-vox Servo-skulls relay righteous speeches, war cries or simply inspiring quotes from Ecclesiarchical texts to properly and irrevocably infuse them with the wonder of their new creed.Sadly, even the Schola Progenium's mindscaping techniques are not infallible. Dreams and visions from previous existences will haunt some recruits for the rest of their lives. A Scion may never fully rid himself of the nightmarish visions that linger from his homeworld, or the trauma of the death of his parents. As with all such matters, the Schola Progenium's methodology goes unquestioned.However, it is always a concern when a cadet shows too strong an unwillingness to properly conform. As reward for their independence, they are often released into the training grounds only to be hunted down by their former comrades. This serves as much to bond the remaining cadets as it does to punish individuality. If a cadet publicly disobeys orders, they will meet a spectacular and very public end, courtesy of a Drill Abbot's great hammer. What little remains of their spine is coiled within a glass box and mounted within the dormitory to serve as a warning to others. This is not at the extreme end of remedial punishments. In the Schola Progenium facility on Brellex, the products of one incident remain forever enshrined. Due to a faulty batch of mindscaping chemicals, a whole year group rose up against the dictates of their masters. The seething Abbot Prime ordered the Officio Prefectus to crush the rebellion. Whilst still alive, the mutinous cadets were meshed with mortar and used to line the schola's ferrocrete walls. To this day their bones jut out of long corridors, grasping for freedom, as a warning of the consequences of insubordination.