Anto Brood

NEOPHYTE HYBRIDS

Neophyte Cultists are the third and fourth generation cultists. They form the troopers, the line infantry and the greater mass of the cult’s warriors. They are fiercely dedicated to the cult, and particularly the Patriarch at its heart, willing to devote their every moment to the furtherance of its dark aims. The mental and spiritual bond of the cult is so powerful that they are more than happy to hurl themselves into suicidal attacks or give their lives in exchange for their elders’ survival. If their masters ask them to storm a position with nothing more than simple automatic weaponry and worker’s fatigues, they will throw themselves into the teeth of the enemy guns without hesitation.

Hybrids of the third generation are still markedly alien in aspect. Though they have a classic bipedal anatomy, their distended craniums, beetling foreheads and waxy pallor mean they are often seen as mutants, and are hence shunned or even persecuted by the greater masses of the Imperium. Those of the fourth generation find it far easier to pass for human. Inveigling themselves into worker gangs, Administratum facilities, manufactorum shifts and hive networks, they slowly and carefully spread the cult’s influence through the strata of society. Mining workers and militia fighters find it easy enough to secure low-grade weapons, either stealing them from those victims they silently take down or securing them on the black market. Over time, they amass an arsenal of solid-shot weapons, blasting charges and pistols with which to wreak all manner of havoc when the time comes to reveal their true allegiance.

Armour: Hazard Suit (Arms 3, Body 3, Legs 3).

Skills: Athletics (S), Awareness (Per) +10, Common Lore (Tech) (Int), Deceive (Fel) +10, Dodge (Ag), Inquiry (Fel), Linguistics (Low Gothic) (Int), Navigate (Surface) (Int) +10, Scrutiny (Per), Security (Int), Stealth (Ag), Tech-Use (Int).

Talents: Ambush, Crushing Blow, Heightened Senses (Smell, Taste), Lightning Reflexes, Nerves of Steel, Takedown, Unshakeable Faith.

Traits: Brood Telepathy, Dark-sight, Deadly Natural Weapons (Crushing Bite), Fear (1), Genestealer’s Kiss, Hypnotic Gaze, Multiple Arms (2-3), Tyranid, Unnatural Strength (1), Unquestioning Loyalty.

Gear: 4 clips for main weapon, 2 clips for pistol, small cult icon, respirator

Brood Brothers

It is common for a later cycle’s Neophyte Hybrids to infiltrate a prey world’s garrison force, or even those Astra Militarum regiments founded from its world’s populace. There, they work alongside the infected humans that have felt the Genestealer’s Kiss to ensure the cult’s sympathisers spread ever-further. The Neophytes propagate slowly throughout the ranks of the local military, taking over each corps from the inside until the entirety of their soldiers pay obeisance to the Patriarch. These professional soldiers carry Munitorumissue lasguns instead of autoguns, and use frag grenades in place of repurposed mining explosives. Some even have access to heavier weaponry and may hijack the famously indomitable vehicles of the Astra Militarum to their cause.

The foot soldiers of the cult may well fight in the Imperium’s wars, defending their homes from the predations of Chaos and from other xenos species. In doing so, they defend the cult and all that it has worked to achieve. Bound by the ties of the broodkin and a surety of common purpose, they make determined and capable warriors, but this only makes it all the more horrifying when their true nature is revealed. On the day of the great insurgency, when the populace looks to their military institutions to protect them, the citizens are appalled to find out that their saviours are not fighting against the monsters boiling up from the depths, but alongside them.

Armour: Flak Armour (All 4).

Skills: Athletics (S), Awareness (Per) +10, Charm (Fel), Common Lore (Imperium, War) (Int), Deceive (Fel) +10, Dodge (Ag), Inquiry (Fel), Linguistics (Low Gothic) (Int), Navigate (Surface) (Int), Operate (Surface) (Ag), Scholastic Lore (Tactica Imperialis) (Int), Scrutiny (Per), Security (Int), Stealth (Ag).

Talents: Ambush, Lightning Reflexes, Nerves of Steel, Rapid Reload, Takedown, Unshakeable Faith.

Traits: Brood Telepathy, Dark-sight, Hypnotic Gaze, Unquestioning Loyalty.

Gear: Imperial Guard uniform, micro-bead, respirator, 4 clips for lasgun, Imperial Infantryman’s Uplifting Primer, photo-goggles, neckerchief.

Structure

Supine

The regiment’s commander is a devout man, absolutely loyal to the Imperium, but lacking in his own initiative. Incapable of the imagination and daring that gets an officer noticed by his superiors, he serves as little more than their mouthpiece, accepting their commands and passing them on flawlessly to his own men. Bereft of any true command, the men must have faith if they are to survive in the fury of war.

Cost: 1 points

Starting Skills: Common Lore (Ecclesiarchy) Forbidden Lore (Xenos-Genestealer/Tyranid), Common Lore (Imperial Creed)

Culture

Guerrilla Regiment

These Guardsmen are light infantry units trained in covert warfare tactics and deployed against the Imperium’s enemies as infiltrators, assassins, and saboteurs. Stealthy and dangerous, these soldiers spend much of their time well behind enemy lines carrying out clandestine, top-secret missions behind enemy lines or even on worlds entirely held by foes. They tend to show more initiative and creative thinking in the field than the average Guardsman. Indeed, it is this ability to think on their feet and adapt to quickly changing tactical situations that keeps them alive and allows them to carry out their dangerous missions successfully. Experts at asymmetric warfare, their missions typically include killing or capturing enemy leaders, interrogation, and deep infiltration strikes via grav chute or other aeronautica against enemy installations and infrastructure.

Cost: 4 points

Characteristics: +3 Perception, –3 Fellowship

Starting Skill: Stealth

Starting Talents: Ambush

Standard Regimental Kit: 1 lascarbine (Main Weapon) and four charge packs per Player Character, 2 blind grenades per Player Character, 2 stun grenades per Player Character, 2 frag grenades per Player Character.

Die-Hards

The regiment is unyielding in the face of adversity, and will not falter amidst the fury of battle, no matter the horrors arrayed against them.

Cost: 3 points

Starting Aptitude: Toughness

Scavengers

Some regard the strict rationing, draconian regulations, and complex bureaucracy of the Departmento Munitorum as needless restrictions upon the capabilities of the Imperial Guard. Others seek personal gain, or simply steal out of habit or necessity. Whatever the reason, the regiment is populated with those who steal and scavenge additional equipment from the battlefield.

Cost: 3 points

Standard Regimental Kit: The regiment may choose to gain a +10 bonus on any Logistics Test. However, on any test where this bonus is used, if any doubles are rolled (22, 33, 44, etc.) whether the Test was a success or a failure, then the scavenging and stealing attracts unwanted attention from higher authorities within the Imperial Guard or the Departmento Munitorum.

Traitors

It is a sad fact that the men and women trained and equipped by the Departmento Munitorum frequently turn their weapons and training against the Imperium. Though knowledge of such treachery might be suppressed, misrepresented, or used as a propaganda tool depending on circumstances, it is an unavoidable fact that squads, platoons, and even entire regiments of the Imperial Guard can and do betray the Imperium. This regiment has done just that—forsaking its vows to defend the Imperium and turning against all it swore to protect. Whether due to some misguided sense of justice, devotion to the Ruinous Powers, or a tragic misunderstanding, this regiment has been declared traitorous by the Imperium, found guilty of the unforgivable sin. The regiment can never again turn to the Departmento Munitorum for aid or supplies, and is now hunted by the very army it once served. This drawback can also represent a treacherous planetary defence force, such as those which form the bulk of the Severan Dominate’s forces on the Spinward Front. GMs and players should think carefully when selecting this Regimental Drawback, as it fundamentally changes the nature of an Only War campaign. Rather than fighting alongside the Imperial Guard, the regiment will fight against the Imperium. The exact form of the regiment’s battles depends on what allegiance they do hold, if any.

At the GM’s discretion, he can apply this Regimental Drawback to a regiment or even a single Squad within a regiment after creation, representing in-game events. In this case, the regiment does not receive additional Regiment Creation points.

Regiment Points: 5 points

Enemies of the Imperium: This regiment cannot turn to the Departmento Munitorum for supplies. To represent the added difficulties of scrounging, stealing, or obtaining supplies through whatever treacherous organisation to which the regiment now belongs, the regiment begins with a Logistics Rating of 0 and suffers a –10 penalty to Logistics Tests. The GM may, at his discretion, modify this value to represent the resources of any group to which the regiment has sworn allegiance. In addition, characters from this regiment cannot purchase the Munitorum Influence Talent, although the GM may, at his discretion, make a functionally equivalent Talent available in its place (such as Severan Dominate Influence).

Starting Talents: Enemy (Imperial Guard) plus one Peer Talent appropriate to the regiment’s situation.

Assets

Standard Regimental Kit

(Per Player Character)

• 1 lascarbine Autogun Carbine (Main Weapon)
• x5 charge packs magazines
• 2 blind grenades
• 2 stun grenades
• 2 frag grenades
• 1 krak grenade
• Small Cult Icon
• Neckerchief/Bandana

Improve a single item of standard kit wargear from Common to Best Craftsmanship

History

Post-Cataclysmic World

Across the length and breadth of the Imperium, many worlds lie in ruins, testifying to some great cataclysmic event in their past. Such worlds are often little different from feral worlds or even death worlds, depending on the nature of the cataclysm. Some might even be classified as dead worlds, Imperial survey teams having failed to detect the minuscule human population living in the ruins or even beneath the planet’s surface. The inhabitants of such worlds tend to focus their entire society around the past, even if their myths and stories hold only a tenuous connection to reality. It is just as common for inhabitants of post-cataclysmic worlds to shun the ruins of their ancestors’ cities as cursed as it is for them to squat amongst the ruins of their forebears’ accomplishments. The societies of post-cataclysmic worlds vary, from marauding techno-barbarians roving the wastes to forlorn survivors hiding in vaults underground, awaiting the day when the surface is once again safe for habitation.

Characters from these worlds tend to utilise technology, but lack any capacity for manufacture, instead maintaining and repairing the equipment left over from the time before. Because such worlds lack infrastructure and are usually too irradiated to even provide foodstuffs, their only meaningful tithe to the Imperium is in manpower, although even this is a limited resource. In some cases, only a single founding is made from such a world, its entire remaining population drafted into the Imperial Guard, leaving only an empty and dead world behind. For the individuals drafted in such events, leaving their birth world behind to fight the Emperor’s wars is likely seen as a blessing.

Cost: 3 points

Characteristic Modifiers: +3 to any two of the following

Characteristics: Ballistic Skill, Weapon Skill, Perception

Starting Skills: Post-cataclysmic world characters start with Awareness, Linguistics (Low Gothic), and Survival.

Resourceful: Characters from post-cataclysmic worlds are used to getting by with whatever is at hand—scavenging food, equipment, and whatever else they might need. Postcataclysmic world Characters gain a +10 bonus to Survival Tests to obtain potable food and water, and to Tech-Use Tests to jury-rig or repair equipment that is not overly advanced, as determined by the GM.

Horrors of the Past: Whether it occurred in living memory or far in the distant past, all post-cataclysmic world characters are scarred mentally, and perhaps physically, by the event that scoured their planet; yet those who survive in such an environment gain strength from this adversity. Post-cataclysmic world Characters start with 1d5 Insanity Points and either the Resistance (Cold), Resistance (Radiation), or Resistance (Fear) Talent.

Wounds: Post-cataclysmic world characters generate their starting Wounds normally.

Genestealer Seed
Genestealer Cult Traits

Characteristic Modifiers: +3 to any two of the following characteristics; Ballistic Skill, Weapon Skill, Perception. +3 Perception, –3 Fellowship.

Starting Aptitude: Toughness

Starting Skills: Common Lore (Ecclesiarchy) Forbidden Lore (Xenos-Genestealer/Tyranid), Common Lore (Imperial Creed), Awareness, Linguistics (Low Gothic), Stealth, and Survival.

Starting Talents: Ambush, Enemy (Imperial Guard), Peer (choose one — Administratum, Ecclesiarchy, Heretical Cults, Imperial Guard, Imperial Navy, Planetary Defence Force, Planetary Governors), Heightened Senses (Smell, Taste), Lightning Reflexes, Nerves of Steel, Rapid Reload, Takedown, Unshakeable Faith.

Traits: Brood Telepathy, Dark-sight, Hypnotic Gaze, Unquestioning Loyalty.

Resourceful: Characters from post-cataclysmic worlds are used to getting by with whatever is at hand—scavenging food, equipment, and whatever else they might need. Postcataclysmic world Characters gain a +10 bonus to Survival Tests to obtain potable food and water, and to Tech-Use Tests to jury-rig or repair equipment that is not overly advanced, as determined by the GM.

Horrors of the Past: Whether it occurred in living memory or far in the distant past, all post-cataclysmic world characters are scarred mentally, and perhaps physically, by the event that scoured their planet; yet those who survive in such an environment gain strength from this adversity. Post-cataclysmic world Characters start with 1d5 Insanity Points and either the Resistance (Cold), Resistance (Radiation), or Resistance (Fear) Talent.

Wounds: Post-cataclysmic world characters generate their starting Wounds normally.

Standard Regimental Kit: The regiment may choose to gain a +10 bonus on any Logistics Test. However, on any test where this bonus is used, if any doubles are rolled (22, 33, 44, etc.) whether the Test was a success or a failure, then the scavenging and stealing attracts unwanted attention from higher authorities within the Imperial Guard or the Departmento Munitorum.

Type

Secret, Occult

Alternative Names

Wyrms of Anto

Ruling Organization

Hive Fleet Grimace

Parent Organization

Genestealer Cults

Related Traditions

• Day of Ascension

Related Species

• Genestealer

Related Ethnicities

• Hive Fleet Grimace

Related Historical Events

• 151
  Siege of Anto