Genestealer

In the fictional Warhammer 40,000 setting, the Tyranids are a nomadic alien race comprising many genetically engineered forms. The Genestealers, or Corporaptor Hominii, is one biological subgroup of the Tyranids.

In 4th Edition of the game, there are two subgroups of the Genestealers: the Broodlord and the Genestealer. In the 2nd Edition of the game, there are five subgroups, representing the Genestealer Cult variant army:Genestealer Patriarchs, Genestealer Magus, Genestealers, Genestealer Hybrids, and Brood Brothers.

For information concerning biomorphs and other mutable genetic characters of the Genestealers in the game, see Tyranid Genetics (Warhammer 40,000).

Background

Genestealers appeared in the first edition of Warhammer 40,000 (Rogue Trader), but at the time were not related to Tyranids. They were simply noted as 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 are the advance forces of a Tyranid invasion and are now often seen as part of a Tyranid army.

The Genestealer Cult is a sub 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 issues 114-116 (1989). Original inspiration for the idea came from a novel by Harris Moir. This book was followed by an article from Andy Chambers and Jervis Johnson in White Dwarf issue 145 (1992) that detailed the Genestealer Cult as part of a Tyranid Army. Later, Tim Huckelbery detailed the Genestealer Cult Army in issues 40 & 41 of the Citadel Journal, under the title Codex: Genestealer Cults. This official supplemental Codex provided official rules for using Patriarchs, Maguses, 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 Codex for 3rd Edition, there were no rules provided for the Genestealer Cults. With the introduction of the Broodlord in 4th Edition, Genestealers could once again be fielded as their own army. Before the 4th edition introduced new sculpts for them, 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).

Genestealers reproduce by introducing their genetic material into a host from another species; this is normally a human, but can theoretically be any humanoid race. The Genestealers have no genders, and require a creature of any species, any gender. The Genestealer will find a suitable host and hypnotise them using its unusual, alien eyes. The Genestealer then thrusts its long, whip-like tongue into the body of the host where it deposits its genetic material, or DNA. Several hours later the infected victim wakes up from the incident, with no wounds or any recollection of what happened. The new host of the Genestealer DNA will go on about its normal life, and eventually reproduce with another member of its species, thus siring (if male) or giving birth to (if female) a Genestealer hybrid. The genestealer reproductive cycle is truly cyclical, as an F4(only if human, eldar are much more protective and take 15-20 generations for genestealer strains to show) hybrid will always spawn a purestrain genestealer.

Newly born creatures, although fundamentally Genestealers, will have characteristics inherited from the host parent. Thus a Genestealer hybrid of Human stock may have a vaguely humanoid head, or only two arms instead of the usual four, and perhaps its tail will be shortened or missing. A Genestealer of four or more generations consistent human parentage would pass for a human on cursory inspection, although a closer look would reveal a bluish skin, sharp pointed teeth and rather disturbing stare. The Ymgarl Genestealers on their home world exploited a large leech-like creature called a Csith as their usual mate; and matings with a Csith always produce natural Ymgarl Genestealers, no matter what the parentage of previous generations.

Genestealer Species

Genestealer

Genestealers have the same basic body structure as all other Tyranids. They appear as roughly man-sized, six limbed creatures with both the chitinous exoskeleton and endoskeleton common to Tyranids.

Their two lower limbs are legs; another pair of limbs are extremely sharp claws which are used for tearing apart foes in close combat - these claws are so sharp that they can even hack through extremely well armored enemies, such as Space Marine Terminators, with ease. The other set of limbs are arms as well, but their nature varies depending on the type of species used to create the Genestealers or the needs of the Hive Mind. Genestealers are known for their incredible agility and great skill in close combat.

Genestealers were first encountered by the Imperium of Man on the moons of Ymgarl. After this encounter, Genestealers were further encountered on large derelict ships known as "space hulks"- these ship-borne encounters being the subject of the aforementioned Space Hulk game. With the invasion of Hive Fleet Behemoth, it was discovered that the Genestealer was in fact a part of the Tyranid race. Genestealers perform two roles for the Tyranid armies: first, they are often found in the Tyranid armies acting as assault troops; second, they can be found as an advance force of the Tyranids, aiding planetary invasions through the use of their unusual reproduction method.

Ymgarl Genestealer

By Third Edition, it was released that Imperial researchers concluded that the Ymgarl Genestealer is a form which became separated from the Tyranids, and, having completely lost its psychic link to the Hive Mind, has reverted to a feral state. Ymgarl Genestealers appear quite different from normal Genestealers, and this is also believed by the Imperials to be due to the separation from the Hive Mind, and generations of eating almost exclusively a native lifeform of the Ymgarl moons. The original Ymgarl Genestealers had a maw full of tentacles as illustrated in the original WH40K 1st edition book, which was not implemented in the later figures, although the tentacles was revisited with the current 4th edition model set, as Feeder Tendrils.

Broodlord

The Broodlord, or Corporaptor Primus, is the ultimate product of Genestealer evolution and is a new creation for the Tyranids in 4th Edition of Warhammer. The Broodlord is immensely strong, agile and durable, which makes it a superb hand to hand warrior. In addition to their already potent melee combat abilities, the Broodlord also has a few Tyranid Biomorphs or weapon-symbiotes to choose from beyond just its standard rending claws and scything talons.

The Broodlord acts as an assault commander for Tyranid armies, personally leading attacks while bearing the "synapse" ability frequently observed in higher forms of Tyranids. They are the only subgroup species of the Genestealers line in the recent edition of the Tyranid Codex. In the 3rd Edition of the game, there was no organizational structure of the Cult given rules. The addition of the Broodlord, while not a complete reproduction of a Patriarch, Magus, or Hybrids, does allow a player to field a "whole" Genestealer army; however, unlike the traditional Cult that rises up, takes its followers from among the local populace and psychically dominates them, and then worship the Tyranids as gods, the army led by the Broodlord is an infiltrating vanguard that operates in a similar manner to the Lictor.

The original model for the Broodlord looked very similar to the Patriarch model used for the Genestealer cult. The current model is slimmed down and resembles a taller version of the standard Genestealer.

Genestealer Cultists

All of the members of this unusual "family" of hosts, Hybrids and Genestealers become psychically linked to each other, and become fiercely loyal to their "family". Over time, the "family" grows as its members continue to breed and bring in more members, and the "family" will eventually grow large and become a Genestealer cult, sometimes worshipping some vaguely defined entity which will 'deliver' the worshippers and their planet from the harshness of life in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. This community is hidden behind the facade of an acceptable religious or political movement.

The psychic link maintained by the "family" or the cult - henceforth "brood" - acts as a psychic beacon, attracting the forces of the Tyranids to their planet. As more members are brought into the group, the psychic beacon grows stronger. As shown with the events leading up to the Tyranid invasion of Ichar IV (Kelly and Chambers, 2004), a brood can eventually grow so large that it will eventually begin conducting sabotage or causing riots. Broods have even been observed rebelling against Imperial authority, attempting to seize ruling power over the planet for themselves. The ultimate goal (whether the brood knows it or not) is to sow discord or even neutralize planetary defenses in order to ease the Tyranid conquest and consumption of the planet.

Purestrain Genestealers, although highly cunning, are completely alien in their intelligence and said to lack creative intelligence. They are unable to wield weapons. Hybrids have some degree of human intelligence and are able to make use of weapons. Genestealers do have incredible animal cunning, however - they have even been seen acting as a sort of scout for Tyranid armies, stalking ahead of the main force.

Patriarch

A Patriarch is the originator of a brood. As the first Genestealer of the group, all other members are psychically linked through it; this leads it to attain a level of intelligence much higher than that of other Genestealers. Over time, it can become a very powerful psyker, and it grows much larger than an average Genestealer, becoming much stronger and more resistant to damage.

A Patriarch whose cult is on the verge of taking over a world becomes a psychic beacon, attracting Tyranids to the planet; as the Tyranids approach it will fall under the power of the Tyranid Hive Mind, and begin leading the cult in attacks on vulnerable positions to facilitate the inevitable invasion. It is assumed that it knows nothing of its role in the Tyranid invasion, and once the Tyranids are successful, it and the brood are also consumed by the Hive Fleet.

Patriarchs are known to live for hundreds of years. They are seen by the cult as a "father" figure, and should their destruction come to pass, the cult would be thrown into disarray. Eventually, however, the next oldest purestrain Genestealer would assume the role of Patriarch.

Many have speculated that the Patriarch and the Broodlord are one and the same. This is mainly due to both their psychic prowess and leadership over other Genestealers. Indeed this is even hinted in an interview with a GW sculptor. However the Broodlord is stated as a separate sub-species of Genestealer bred solely for its superior combat prowess and leadership, while the Patriarch is simply any ancient Genestealer with a cult.

Hybrids

A Hybrid is created by a Purestrain or earlier generation Hybrid Genestealer implanting its alien DNA into a host organism. The Genestealer DNA integrates into the host's genome, which results in slight enhancements to the host's physiology (to guarantee he or she survives long enough to reproduce), and alters their reproductive system and germ cell line, as well as hormonally enhancing the host's natural sexual drives. When infected hosts breed (only one parent needs to be infected), their firstborn child will be a Genestealer Hybrid. The parents and any later children will be virtually enslaved to their Hybrid family member through its psychic and pheromonal emanations, cherishing it with abnormally large amounts of affection. Depending on their generation, the Hybrid offspring range from looking like humans with Genestealer traits in the first Hybrid generation to Genestealers with human traits by the last; F1, F2, and F3 Hybrids reproduce like Purestrain Genestealers by infecting otherwise normal hosts, while F4 hybrids reproduce sexually. There are no "F5 hybrids" as F4 hybrids produce only pure Genstealers or pure humans - the firstborn child will inevitably be a Purestrain Genestealer, while successive children will be purely human.

Besides humans, Genestealers can infect virtually any other race or species, and can give rise to such creatures as Genestealer-Ork Hybrids or even Genestealer-Eldar Hybrids.

Magus

A cult has a single Magus, who is an F4 Genestealer Hybrid that appears almost entirely human besides its baldness, denser-than-normal bone structure, hypnotic stare and slightly bluish/purplish-tinted skin. The Magus is highly charismatic and intelligent, possesses a human rather than alien comprehension and is a powerful psyker, but is absolutely dedicated to serving the Genestealer Patriarch and the cause of the cult. Its charisma and human traits allows it to act as the mouthpiece of the cult/brood to outside society and as the mouthpiece of the Patriarch to the brood, the role for which it is born.

The Magus is second in importance to the Patriarch; under these two individuals there is little hierarchy or leadership. Therefore both the Magus and the Patriarch are the primary targets of Imperial assassins. Killing both of these individuals would leave the Genestealer Cult leaderless and in disarray, allowing a military force to follow up and purge the masses of Genestealer Hybrid fanatics and their human relatives.

Like the Patriarch, the Genestealer Magus presumably knows nothing of its actual (and expendable) role in the Tyranid invasion it is aiding. The firstborn child of a Magus or Hierarch (non-psychic F4 Hybrid), will be a Purestrain Genestealer, but the species of any later children can be consciously chosen by the F4 parent.

Brood Brothers

Brood Brothers are the human relatives and siblings of the Genestealer Hybrids. The Brood Brothers are not part of the main cult but form its extended family. They maintain their normal roles in the infiltrated society but are just as fanatically loyal to the Genestealer brood as the Hybrids. They worship the Genestealer Patriarch as a god. When the cult rebels, the Brood Brothers will take the side of their Genestealer kin. Brood Brothers are an important part of the cult as they are often part of the infiltrated planet's military defense forces, and when war breaks out against the world's Imperial rulers they provide much of the cult's conventional military strength.

In 2nd Edition of Warhammer 40,000, they were able to enter into combat like the Imperial Guard, ally with renegade Imperial troops, or use "liberated" vehicles once owned and operated by the Planetary Defense Force of the planet which they are infesting. They were led into battle by command squads formed of Hybrids.

Speculative connections

See Tyranid Genetics (Warhammer 40,000) for speculations involving Genestealer DNA.

Current Status of Genestealer Cult army list

The most recent Genestealer Cult was published in Citadel Journal and was released for the 3rd edition Warhammer 40k. As such it is outdated and not tournament legal; however, due to the similarity of the 3rd and 4th edition rules for Warhammer 40k it is still usable. Some players prefer to use the Lost and the Damned army list to represent a Genestealer Cult, with Traitor Guardsmen representing Brood Brothers and Mutants representing Genestealer Hybrids. Others have tried to modify the Imperial Guard list using the Doctrines rule to mimic the Genestealer cult.

An unofficial Codex for the Genestealer Cult is also available to download at the BellOfLostSouls website.

References

• Spurrier, Simon (2006). Xenology. Nottingham: Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-282-6.
• Genestealer origins with early artwork
• Original genestealer article from White Dwarf