Genestealer Cult Creation Thread

Rolled 55 (1d100)

>>52750917
rollin!

Rolled 28 (1d100)

>>52750917

>>52750938
>Agri-world
We take root on a world that creates sustenance for the rest of the rotten Imperium. We will use this to our advantage, and spread our flock far and wide among the stars.

>>52750969
>d100 for planet terrain

Rolled 17 (1d100)

>>52750982

>>52750982

>>52750994
>Urban. Street gangs, vagrants, and urchins are the first to fall to this Cult's influence.
Not sure how that meshes with an agri-world, but we'll roll with it.
d10 for our tactical specialization.

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>52751036

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>52751036

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>>52751045
>>52751052
Can't argue with that.
>Armored assault
We utilize the tools of heavy industry against the unsuspecting servants of the God-Emperor.
d100 for the level of technology available to us.

Rolled 63 (1d100)

>>52751095

>>52751095

>>52751102
>51-75: Actual weaponry, though not particularly advanced. Akin to that used by local law enforcement groups such as Arbites, probably stolen or bought from them, including light body armour.
We are more fortunate than most of our fellow cults.
d10 for the size of our sphere of influence

>>52751131

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>52751131

>>52751145
>Almost insignificant
We are just beginning, though our reach will spread within a scant few years.
d100 for our main enemy.

>>52751176

Rolled 76 (1d100)

>>52751176

>>52751183
Type "dice+1d100" in the options field.

>>52751197
>Significant Noble/Politician/Public Figure. A failed attempt at bringing this individual under the thrall of the Cult has led them to become incredibly paranoid of the Cult and its motives.

Now roll a d100. This is our percent chance of being discovered in the next ten years.

Rolled 53 (1d100)

>>52751217

>>52751230
Okay, now roll a d3 for which hive fleet our patriarch is originally from. This isn't on the webpage, but I feel that it's important.

>>52750917
Genestealer cults have the most boring creation tables.

>>52751257
They could use a revamp, couldn't they?

Rolled 3 (1d3)

>>52751252

>>52751308
>Leviathan
We are truly blessed, for we originate from the greatest of the devourer fleets!

Writeup incoming.

The cult's world of origin is an urban agri-world. Perhaps it has cities dotting its landscape?

We specialize in armored assaults.

We have access to the same level of technology as the average PDF or Arbites force.

We are almost insignificant in the eyes of the local authorities and the Imperium at large.

Our nemesis is a significant public figure on the planet who knows our true motives.

We have a 53% chance of being discovered in the next ten years.

Our patriarch is from Hive Fleet Leviathan.

>>52751363
Due to our small size and some luck we were missed by all of the extermini that were meant to cripple the Tyranids. Although small we have had some success converting Arbites, and in doing so we have gained access to actual weaponry. However, our first attempt to convert a local politician has failed pretty badly and as a result he has become suspicious of our small group.

>>52751752
>>52751363
Deep south Hick sheriff's department Genestealer Cult?

Pickup trucks, SWAT vans, charismatic sheriff/mayor,

>>52751363
>>52751752
Luckily for us, the politician is smalltime, big enough to be heard, but too small to be noted, so our chances to get detected aren't that bad as of yet.

We have managed to obtain armored vehicles and weapons from the arbites that we have in our ranks/supporting us, we've also most likely stolen some stuff from the PDF at the help of the arbites (arbites borrow PDF stuff for reasons, stuff never returns to PDF because reasons)

Because of this, despite the fact that we are still rather small, we've managed to either steal or nig-rig armored vehicles that we've used enough to specialize in this field.
Since our our Patriarch*autistic screeching* is from none other than Hive Fleet Leviathan, we believe that we'll come victorious once our patron fleet arrives to nom the fuck out of everything. Erasing doubt from our minds.

>>52751868
Seems good now all there needs to be is some writefaggotry.

>>52751809
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa-lmcdlq4A
ALL RISE FOR THE HONORABLE MAGUS CLETUS

>>52752426
"Now ya'll listen here, the Good Leviathan did not put us on this here earth to squabble amongst thy neighbor. We are a small community, and we hafta keep together. Lettin' such petty disputes divide us goes against our Lord's great plan fer us. Can I git an amen?"

>>52752622
What should the cult be called? I think Brotherhood of the Firebrand sounds cool.

>>52752654
Something moon related.

>>52753287
Why's that?

>>52753287
Let's go with Brotherhood of the Bountiful Moon,

>>52753447
A shitty meme.

>>52753574
I'm not sure I follow.

>>52753598
That's probably for the better.

>>52751363
What if it's an Agri-World that specializes in hydroponics?

Vast Olympic-swimming-pool-size vats of gray protein, being tended by serfs with stirring poles, clustered on all sides with nutrient tubing. A bird's eye view would see entire continents blanketed with these vats, churning out bland, nutritious muck. If there were even birds on the planet.
One serf maneuvers carefully through a shallow, scalding fermenting pool in thick waders. If he stumbles and falls, the intense microbial heat will consume his body in minutes. Suddenly, his eye catches a strange stirring of the muck. He leans in.
A massive talon bursts from the water, seizing his head and pulling it under. There is thrashing, then silence.
A serf rises from the pool. His skin is hideously burned. He does not feel it.
There is work to be done.

>>52753863
Good stuff

>>52753863
The vehicles would probably be forklifts, shipping trucks, and maybe fertilizer sprayers loaded with potent, caustic chemicals.

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>>52754026
And it'd have a real Aliens feel, with lots of metal platforms and tunnels.
The purestrains would prefer to hide in the vats and tanks and plumbing, waiting for the odd serf to come close.
Imagine the Politician's fear when he realizes that to root them out, he'd have to drain every nutrient pool on the planet while no food is exported and his people starve.

>>52754165
I like that, sounds like 40k to me

>>52751290
A few tables could use some sprucing up, the necron tables need a couple updates, the c'tan section still erroneously lists the burning one as "the Lord of fire"

How much of a personality do Genestealers have?
Could the Patriarch be super arrogant and pompous, bragging about their superior heritage of being from Leviathan, while his actual forces are incredibly weak?
...can he even talk?

Here is some fluff I wrote cus I was bored:

This is the third time one of my workers have gone missing in my area, we have search most of the agri-pools in section 54 and section 55, but no sign of them. If they fell in then I guess a few lucky guardsmen will have meat on the menu I guess. I have adressed this to the local administrator Sir Buckley, and he told me and the other supervisors that there was nothing to worry about. But his bald head was like a mirror to his words, obvious lies. But he has invited me over to his family estate on Emperor Day next week, I hope it is about a promotion, or at least a re-location, becuase frankly, I feel a bit creeped out around some of the workers here. Supervisor Kenneth Ulvo out.

+++Audio log found near the Buckley estate+++

>>52754447
The patriarch speaks through actions. His own and those of the cult, vast tapestries of himself and his kind in his layers and his minions dwellings paint a picture of his hubris

>>52754447
I think that any personality that a genestealer patriarch has would be projected on it by its flock. The patriarch is simply a tyranid bioform, albeit a long lived one. The cultists, on the other hand, have enough free will to experience doubt and terror when the first tyranid organisms descend through the atmosphere, and they know that they've been betrayed when the patriarch and his brood-kin begin slaughtering them as the hive fleet reaches the surface.

>>52754457
I like it.

captcha: gobernador 1067

Gobernador Buckley?

>>52754501
At first they might see the nids as angels of their god. Like how loyalists see space marines, the fleets even humor them, fighting alongside them as they work together to break the planet. But then they turn on them, hijacking the patriarch and all the purestrains still on world to slaughter them

Pegras flicked through her dataslate until she found it. "Next up is Tank B787-E," she announced.
The techpriests chittered among themselves in their bizarre language. Throne on Earth, but they were creepy.
Ibridan caught her eye and grinned. He was the only one she'd complained to about bringing the cogboys along on their assignment. "They're just going to slow us up!" she'd cried, throwing her hands up. "We'll never be able to review our pools with them stopping to burn incense every ten feet!"
"Relax, Pegras," said Ibridan, somehow managing to lounge even on the hard metal furniture. "They just want a guarantee that we're respecting the machine spirits. And besides, there's nothing we can do. Orders came from on high."
She sighed in exasperation. Ibridan had been her assistant in the Administratum for over a year and she still couldn't reconcile his lackadaisical attitude with his surprising competency.
She was jerked back to the present by a particularly harsh screech of binary. The techpriests seemed to have come to a decision. "WE WILL PROCEED" the leader grated out.
Pegras shivered. When she was little, a friend had told her that they liked to cut out a chunk of their brain so they couldn't feel anymore. It had kept her up at night crying for weeks. She pushed it down.
"Right this way," she said.
They passed through a string of tight corridors, hemmed in by the nutrient tubes and thick electric cabling. Some were clearly showing signs of wear, cracking and spraying thin sheets of chemicals through the air, but hey, that was for another day.
Ibridan got caught by a few drops of something particularly nasty. "Ah!" he yelled, shaking his hand viciously.
They reached the tank chamber, holding a smaller skimming vat not much taller than herself. Pegras gave it a quick look over while the cogboys prepared their ritual materials in the control room next door. It seemed fine.
She heard a "chunk" as the door swung shut behind her.

>>52755196
More?

>>52755196
Pegras turned to see Ibridan, looking back at her through the porthole of the thick steel door. "Ibridan, open the door," she said.
"I can't do that, Peg," he said. He had a peculiar expression, his eyes glazed over and yet somehow... hungry. "You don't know how long I've been waiting for this."
"What?" she said. She heard another "chunk" and turned to see the door to the control room shut as well. The techpriests were peering through the porthole, clearly trying to access the controls. But her attention was caught by the thing which had shut it.
At first glance it looked to be one of the vat-serfs, dressed in the thick black rubber of their uniforms. But there was something wrong with its arm, something unnatural in its movements. In the corners of her eyes, she could see more figures crawling out from crevices and corners of the room.
The thing leered at her. Before her terrified eyes, its arm began to split down the middle, from the gap between middle and ring and upwards with a queasy snapping noise.
She whirled back. "Open this GODDAMN door, Ib!" It may have been meant to sound imperative, but halfway through it cracked into a sob.
Ibridan's expression didn't change. "I asked him to pick you, Peg," he said. "I've been doing such a good job for him. I keep my brothers hidden, you see. There's so many vats they can use, all connected. But I make sure no one checks them. And because I've done such a good job, I asked him for something. Someone."
He leaned in until his forehead pressed against the glass. "We'll have such beautiful children," he said.
Pegras stared back at him, mouth agape in horror. Behind her, one of the disfigured creatures grunted to Iblidan.
"You will be a fine addition to our family," he said. His eyes shifted to the techpriests across the room, now banging frantically at the door. "But they will not."

>>52755609
The creature grunted again and heaved at a lever. There was a tremendous cacophony of mechanical sounds, as some pipe suffered intense, sudden pressure, and burst, raining some vile caustic liquid onto the techpriests.
Pegras had thought the Mechanicus to be emotionless, but she was wrong. They screeched now, a warbling mixture of human agony and audio feedback as they burned. All that could be seen through the porthole, now etched with acid, was gouts of steam and flailing mechadendrites and one, single fist, beating futilely at the glass before finally falling.

Whatever sorrow she might have felt was eclipsed in an instant by paralyzing terror. Something was rising from the tank.
Scum poured off its chitinous back in chunky, foamy rivulets. The cruelly curved talons of its many arms flexed as it slowly climbed from the thick liquid. It was monstrous in every sense of the word, but moved with a sinuous, twisted grace.
Pegras sunk to her knees, helpless with fear as it approached. From the window, Ibridan spoke. "A happy family," he said.
The claws closed around her.

Later, she learned what terror truly was.

>>52754501
What would happen if a cultist manages to escape the tyranids? Would they just be a marker for the next planet to consume?

>>52755940
In earlier editions it wasn't uncommon for cults that were cut off from the hive mind to turn to chaos.

>>52755940
No, one cultist would not be enough to be a marker.

>>52756661
>marker
This makes me wonder who works faster between Unitologists and genestealer cults.

>>52758823
I mean, i came up with the hydroponics thing here
>>52753863
I did the writefaggotry here
>>52755196
>>52755609
>>52755820
I think I've done what I can. Somebody else needs to pick it up

>>52759087
Are we keeping with the redneck idea? Perhaps they use fanboats to traverse the massive hydroponics vats. We could use a name for this word as well.

>>52760067
World*

>>52759087
>>52760067
I think we can do multiple takes on this agriworld concept. Endless miles of fields and orchards, vast hydroponic towers rising like mountain ranges, processing and distribution centers that would dwarf an Imperial battleship but only contain a few hundred workers, train tracks snaking through everything filled with trains the size of buildings, tiny clusters of civilizations that range from a few rundown habs at an intersection to small towns run by petty officials with barely the resources to do their jobs.

>>52760067
I mean, I was thinking of the hydroponics for a really grimdark feel, but we could definitely do a redneck vibe instead.
I don't know if we go redneck we'll have to abandon a lot of seriousness, though. You can do grimdark and xenomorph, and you can do grimdark and redneck (deliverance), but you can't do grimdark and xenomorph and redneck.

>>52761328
The outward appearance of the cult is almost certainly redneck and not quite so grimdark, however, when they come after you genestealer/tyranid style it is very grimdark. Aim for a separation of the feel of the cult to add emphasis on the contrast between what the cult appears like and what it really is to further emphasize the horror.

>>52761328
>you can't do grimdark and xenomorph and redneck.

Alien is more or less that. The problem is that you're thinking of redneck in the terms of the comedic archetype rather than as a low-class rural subculture.

>>52760067
>We could use a name for this world as well.
Phage?

>>52766297
I think we should base the name of the culture/language that the planet has

>>52767307
Did you have anything in mind?

>>52760067
Name: Vidon

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Question on the models:
Do the 4th generation cultist models that come in the Deathwatch Overkill box set look different than the Neophyte cultists sold separately? I'm looking at the sprues and the ones from the board game are snap fit hole and peg models while the neophyte kit has legs and torsos separate, but how different are the poses and are there differences in weapons and options for things like heads?

>>52772361
What'sthe significance of that?

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If we're doing an inbred redneck type of thing, perhaps they should use a disproportionate amount of Aberrants?

>>52773340
The models in Deathwatch Overkill are monopose, that is you cant customize their pose in anyway.
Their heads are freely interchangeable though, and you can swap heads with any other models from the cultist range.

They all come with autoguns, +2 grenade launchers and 2 minig lasers.

>>52773340
>>52775954

When painted you cant tell the difference, they fit in with the rest of the army, its just that you dont have any posing options.

>>52774450
I'd imagine they'd play a very heavy, "we don't talk about what's in the attic," motif, as numerous amounts of aberrants would make the cult's job harder due to the need to hide the aberrants and their inability to take part in the subtle machinations of the cult. For a small cult a high percentage of aberrant births is an enormous liability.

>>52776029
we /dunwich horror/ now

>>52776039
It's a pretty classic gothic trope in general. Southern Gothic in particular has a heavy focus on madness, illness, decay, and dissolution. I figured that making the harbinger of planetary doom into an inbred cult who even in a sparsely populated area is desperate to keep themselves hidden due to genetic maladies would be pretty neat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa2gc8LQGQE

Couldn't find the one with the proper rapid cut images but this is the sort of vibe if we are going redneck, right?

Our cult should be called the [something] clan.

>>52776792
How about this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5ryZv6ZFtg

>>52776881
What's a suitably "hick" name?

What's that site people use to generate colors for their armies?

Were the Hua-Yuan ever documented to fight genestealer cultists?

>>52773815
Just a couple of words mashed together. I just like the way it sounds

Is Whateley's world too on the nose?

>>52785746
The problem with using a Lovecraft reference is that Lovecraftian stuff comes pre-packed with a lot of cultural imagery and baggage.

>>52788292
How do you mean?

>>52788737
It's very region-specific and filtered heavily through Lovecraft's perception of the people.

>>52788909
That's very true. Maybe we can try to do a similar thing but filtered through the lense of the Imperium?

>>52789605
The idea that they spawn large amounts of aberrants makes a good parallel to the Imperium. Whereas in many Imperial families hiding some kind of malformity or cosmetic defect is common and necessary to prevent loss of standing or face, it turns into this grand struggle with the Genestealer cult as the genetic deformity in question is a misshapen monster of limited intellect and prodigious strength and malice. Locking Bertha in the attic is a lot harder when she's nine feet tall, has three arms, and can rip a man in half. It also plays heavily into the hypocrisy and corruption themes of gothic literature, wherein the "good people" are a front for depravity.

Genestealers don't work well with Lovecraft as Lovecrafts's cults were insular while Genestealers are expansive. In that way they also mirror the Imperium, expansive, violent, demanding subjugation and death to all that oppose, serving distant, nigh unfathomable masters, and having to expand faster than they're consumed lest everything fall apart.

>>52751868
We should eatablish who this middle manager is.

>>52790501
Munitorum adept? Ministorum agent? One of the Governor's many adjuncts?

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I'm really loving this thread and all of the ideas. Let me attempt to string together what has been established so far, and provide some possible avenues for expansion.

>Tone: Southern Gothic/Hillbilly Horror, along the lines of Deliverance, True Detective Season 1

>World: Agro-urban. Consists of vast sprawling "fields" of chem vats where nutrient paste is grown. Dotted among them are run-down industrial residential locations. The people who live within them are insular, tribal, likely inbred, and unsophisticated.

Addition: the one exception to the above is a central metropolis in which the planetary governor lives. This place has a plantation-like cultural vibe. Pre-Civil War Savannah meets the 40k universe/Southern aristocracy meets gothic sci-fi. The governor is a slimy but charismatic con-man. He oversees collection of the tithe for Holy Terra, but is corrupt and keeps the vast majority of the wealth produced for himself and his fellow "aristocrats"- all while convincing the hillbilly communities that do the hard labor that he's doing well by them. He can also be ruthless and is not above murder to maintain his iron grip. Think the antagonist from Django Unchained

>Cult visibility: the cult is just beginning and has a 53% chance of being discovered in the next 10 years

Addition: The cult has only taken over one town/family, and is just now starting to spread to other towns nearby

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>>52793719
>Cult method of warfare: Armored assault

Addition: The genestealer cultists make heavy use of the 40k equivalent of Combine Harvesters. Namely ones that have been given hillbilly armor and turned into technicals via the addition of machineguns a la the Goliath. This was helped along by...

>Source of weaponry: Local law enforcement groups/Arbites

Addition: Police forces in cahoots with the planetary governor keep the populace in check. They are organizationally structured to operate at a "county" level. Think: over-militarized Southern USA police forces. Our cult has turned their “local department” and is using them to get pseudo-military equipment. As a result they’ve got lots of guns, as well as a couple of policified Chimeras
>Enemy: Local noble/politician who they tried to turn and is now paranoid

Rather than this be the planetary governor himself, I propose it be an accountant-investigator from the Adeptus Administratum. At some point, the governor’s numbers weren’t coming up right, so the Administratum sent in an investigator to look into possible corruption. He has been treated well by the governor... too well. In his duties of looking into the tithe, he took a trip out into the boondocks- while accompanied by the governor’s most loyal of course. Ironically, the town that our genestealers have taken over happens to be one which was well in order, and which the governor figured would be a good way to throw the detective off his scent.
While there however, he had a strange experience where one of the genestealers was acting odd/made an attempt to turn him. He fled, and reported back to the governor. But the governor neither believes him nor wants to look into it, and insists its just the strange locals. The investigator has sent missive back to the administratum, but you know how things are in the Imperium… slow and bureaucratic. Think Twin peaks protagonist.

>>52793741
OP here. Thanks for posting all this. Another thing I think we should consider is how far away Leviathan is. If it's far away it puts more pressure on the cult to remain secretive and grow slowly, but if it's closing in, they'll be obligated to start their uprising sooner - possibly without enough resources to carry it out fully.

>>52793874
Could timing also have strategic implications?

I don't know a ton of 'Nid fluff; would it be reasonable for them to try and damage a sector via destroying its supply chain?

Here's a question: if we keep with the whole "vat" theme, what if a good number of the population is vat-grown, but they use somewhat flawed technology, so they have a lot of malformed workers already, which helps to hide the large number of Aberrants in the cult?

I'm not sure if it messes with the feel we're going with, but it's an option.

>>52793874
well, with
>>52789990
>Genestealers don't work well with Lovecraft as Lovecrafts's cults were insular while Genestealers are expansive
we could say that Leviathan is quite a ways away, forcing the cult to remain small, especially with a failed attempt to assimilate an authority figure, and a tendency to create conspicuous aberrants.
They have to be careful, which means growing very slowly and remaining highly secretive, focused more on containing their own flawed security than on expanding.

>>52780179
Yeah, during the Fall of Seven Walls on their 1d4 page.

>>52793719
The capital county/planetary governor's fiefdom is the primary locale for naturally grown foodstuffs. Said foodstuffs are the primary source of the governor's revenue and power, as they command exorbitant prices on hive worlds, allowing him to smooth over any disputes and discontent with money. He's desperately trying to prevent the Administratum investigator from finding out he's reducing chem vat acreage to expand his fields and redirecting nutrient paste precursors to increase his crop yields while adding bulk filler to the nutrient paste crop to meet tithe requirements.

>>52795641
...what?

>>52795641
Love it.

Lots of character here. Interplay between corrupt governor, Administratum investigator, and genestealer cult.

Some writefag could probably do good shit here. How does this play out?

I like the idea of the genestealers ultimately taking control of the planet, and running it in an ironically less corrupt way, making the Administratum happy while they bide their time for the coming of Leviathan.

>>52796005
I'd imagine that the genestealer cult has completely taken over a local sheriff department, giving it free access to weaponry and official sanction, but it doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things due to the low population and massive amount of territory requiring them to actually perform their duties as laid down. Since each county is independent and in competition with each other for funding various sheriff's are perfectly willing to cause trouble in another's jurisdiction to make themselves look good.

That way you've Cult vs. Governor, Cult vs. Admin, Admin vs. Governor, Cult vs. Sheriff, Sheriff vs. Admin, and I'm pretty sure some of the Sheriff's don't like the Governor either.

>>52796648
Even better. Love where this is going... but now I feel like we've made more of a setting than a Genestealer cult

>>52799045
That's fine, flesh out an entire planet. Genestealer cults can't exist in isolation like other factions as their interplay with society at whole is a major part of them.