Background
A single Purestrain Genestealer is all that it takes. One single 'Stealer, who finds his way into contact with
an intelligent and social race, making humans the most ideal and most common. The 'Stealer is able to hypnotise
his victim, paralysing him and rooting him to the spot. From there, the Genestealer corrupts the hosts genetic
structure, by the use of an ovipositor located in his tongue, in a grim parody known as the Genestealers Kiss.
Often the victim will remember nothing except for nightmares of powerful claws and deep eyes. However, in a
short time, the victim finds that he has a strong desire to mate and to produce offspring. When this happens,
the first born is hideously deformed, possessing at least an extra arm ending in a large claw, a bulbous head,
a purple tint to the skin, a dislike and lack of ability to understand the simplist technology and other symptoms.
It is a first generation Genestealer Hybrid. A parental nature is a very strong thing, and this is reinforced by
the Genestealers corruption and the hybrids latent psychic ability, and so the infant is protected and looked
after. He also has the hypnotic ability of the Purestrain, and so the social infection continues and spreads,
with each hybrid generation the offspring become more like the host species and by the third or fourth generation
they reproduce as normal and do not have the use of their Ovipositor. There are four generations of Hybrid, the
fourth being almost indistinguishable from a normal human. Any subsequent offspring of a fourth generation hybrid
can be hybrid, a normal member of the host species, or a Purestrain Genestealer.
A Purestrain Genestealer has a very strong, bestial presence in the Warp, and this is what counts for its hypnotic
ability, and so they are all latent psychics. However, with subsequent generations of hybrids, when the strength
of the Purestrains presence becomes tempered by the subtlety and control of another actively psychic species, the
potential for full psychic powers becomes greater. In this way, a Genestealer Cult becomes more likely to produce
and attract psykers as it matures. Additionally, all direct members of the cult - those who are hybrid offspring
and those who have been genetically tainted by a Genestealer - share a psychic link in the form of a brood
telepathy, allowing the will and wishes of the Genestealers to be passed onto other members.
When the fourth generation hybrids come into existance, the cycle is complete. One of the fourth generations
becomes the Magus, a charismatic individual able to conduct business and to understand the society in which
the cult is embedded as well as being a powerful psyker, while the original Purestrain becomes psychic and
grows in size to become the Patriarch - the real cult leader. Imperial scholars have conjected that if the
original Purestrain corrupts ten humans (a very conservative estimate indeed and numbers are more likely to
be around 50 or 60), and each of those ten resulting Hybrids infect ten and so on down the line, there will
be over eleven thousand one hundred Genestealers by the fourth generation, in addition to the human parents,
relatives, enthralled, sympathisers and other cult members. This is what makes Genestealers so very dangerous.
Initially, the cult seems fairly innocent, and certainly one of the more benign and peaceful posibilities that
planetary governors should worry about. The cult promotes family values and respect for ones elders. The members
are humble, shunning complex and expensive technology and dress in simple robes which hide them almost completely.
Often, the only way that a cult is recognised is by the large, dark cars which no-one ever sees inside of. As the
cult matures, it uses any method possible to grow in size and strength. Often, members will turn to Chaos in an
attempt to gain power, making pacts with Daemons and other cultists. The cult also attracts the dregs of society.
Those abandoned by the system find a home and a family within the walls of the cult, and so it becomes a haven
for beastmen, mutants and psykers of all types. Even its own members are often ignorant of the real purpose and
beings behind the Inner Circle of the cult, and innocent people looking for guidance, as well as the relatives
of Hybrid generations, frequent the building.
And then, when the cult reaches maturity, it turns on the society in which it is situated. By then, it is often
too late. Large sections of the population are connected and support the cult, including the planetary defence
forces, and Genestealers emerge in vast numbers. The society almost literally explodes, and is torn apart by
civil wars, with the authorities never knowing exactly who is on the side of the rebels. External forces, such
as the Adeptus Astartes, are sent, or the planet may be Virus bombed from Orbit, if the uprising is caught
quickly enough. Genestealers are sent out in ships, with Hybrids and Brood Brother cultist to care for them
and set autoguidance systems in the star ships (which are unintelligible to the Purestrains) before these
devotees die. A Purestrain Genestealer does not breathe, it does not age or die of natural causes, it can wait
forever, until a new host is found and the cycle starts again on another planet.
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Forge Worlds and Armour Patterns
The majority of the weapons and armour, both combat and non-miliary, is produced by a core number of Forge Worlds within
the sector. While the Genestealer Cult has infiltrated the Planetary Defence Force, these units were supplied by the
standard requistion suppliers, the local Forge Worlds. Each of these has a historical tradition and style with their
manufacture and design of equipment. In addition, each Forge World may produce a number of designs on a single type of
tank, and so a Euripadese pattern Mark III Chimera is different to a Euripadese pattern Mark VI Chimera, and both are
distinct to the Ferrolyte pattern Mark I Chimera. However, all of these vehicles behave in the same way on the
battlefield. You can use any of these models to represent the statistics and armour bought using the army list.
Euripadese - The Euripadese Forge World has the closest ties to the Imperium, and therefore the armour and weapons
which are manufactured here are closest to the approved Imperial STC designs. Euripadese is a bustling Hive World, with
Forge facilities located on the main moon of the planet. The system is an important port and deals with a large volume
of traffic through nearby space. As a consequence, the Forge Moon was forced to be isolated and secure, and very few
are permitted entry or exit to the satellite. This continuous movement around the major planet of the system makes shipping
the equipment relatively easy, however it also makes the practice of smuggling commonplace. Weapons manufactured here
are renown for being sturdy in their construction, and reliable in their maintenance.
Ferrolyte - Ferrolyte is an anomoly, in planetary terms. It is mostly made up of a metal impregnated, heavy rock
structure. Why this planet has this strange make-up, which is more commonly a feature of older worlds towards the galactic
core, is currently unknown. However, the heavy elements present in the body of the planet has provided a rich source of
the harder elements necessary for the production of armour. This made it a prime location for forge facilities. These
facilities are currently relatively new, and vast tracts of the planets crust have been mined and gorged away, providing
raw materials and at the same time allowing the expansion of the forge plants and workings. Ferrolyte equipment is
no-nonsense in its design and function, often appearing brutish and abrupt. The Forge World is rapidly acquiring
a reputation for the production of high explosives and powerful, short-ranged weaponry, as well as heavily armoured
vehicles.
Nytore - A more traditional Forge World, if this exists, Nytore is shrouded in the exhausts of its own devising. It
is a permanently dark planet, surrounded by ash and poisonous gasses, the colour of the night - a deep dark blue which
blends to a deep magenta at sun rise and sun set (although this is as much light as is ever able to permiate the
thick roof of the planet). Nytore produces a higher proportion of laser weapons, and military equipment such as night
vision goggles, combat knives and personal sensor equipment. The entire world is in the employ of the forges, which
consist of hundreds of individual depots connected by subterranean railways.
Psublin - Eighty five percent of Psublin is covered with water. While this makes the mining and extraction
of natural resources more difficult, the factories are able to utilise the water supplies in vast volumes for cooling
and friction reduction in the many plants and factories. These are mainly located beneath the water, on the sea beds,
and entire cities and populaces inhabit here for years at a time. Waste is either pumped into the surrounding water, where
it collects and polutes the region destroying all indiginous life, or is carried above the water level by huge
chimneys. Almost all the raw materials used in manufacture are imported to Psublin, and the Forge World lives on an
economic knife edge.
Viridian - The Viridian Forge World is a desolated, isolated and secretive place. The planet is an enigma, little
is known about its past or even how long the Adeptus Mechanicus had been aware of the planet and had teams based there
for exploratory reasons before the decision was made to settle and set up a forge. The surface of Viridian is a simple
desert, with sands covering the entire planet in yellows and reds, with strong winds gusting over hundreds of miles an
hour. This all makes the planet relatively secure from enemy invasion, and fliers find the planet impossible to land on.
Therefore, shipping the equipment out and the resources in to the planet is difficult to impliment, and so shipments are
made irregularly but in huge volumes.
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