The Morbid Progeny

[Pariah Mk.231]

NAME: Morbid Progeny

FOUNDED: Approx. 690.M41 (Split from original chapter)

HOMEWORLD: Unknown

CURRENT HOMEWORLD: Unknown, Somewhere on the northern fringe of the Eye of Terror

CHAOS DEDICATION: Undivided (Cult troops exist among newer recruits)

SPECIALTY: Close range firepower, high mutation susceptibility

BATTLE CRY: "Witness the dawn of the new man!"

 

 

The Morbid Progeny, formerly the 6th company of the Celestial Children, have had a curse upon them since their creation. One theory is that subtle mutations somehow missed during screening, were present within their gene-seed. In the beginning, the brothers of the 6th were engineered by the apothecaries specifically to develop overactive muscle growth and aggression levels far surpassing those of a normal marine. However, over the course of a decade, the members of the 6th company began developing increasingly severe mutations. The companies apothecaries could not find a pattern to the spread, purity checks turning up nothing that could explain the mutations.

 

It was later theorised that the iconography of the 6th, though seeming innocent, may have accidentally formed an array that focused the power of the warp into the battle brothers, leading to the inexplicable mutations.

 

Even the most devout of the company did not remain untouched by the spread. Due to the fact only the 6th company seemed to be afflicted, the chapter kept it a secret in the hopes a cure could be discovered without such a stain on their honour coming to light.

 

With the mutations unexplained, the 6th company soon grew arrogant and deluded, seeing themselves not as mutants, but as a new link in the chain of the evolution of humanity. If a flaw in the gene-seed was not the cause, then surely it must be a gift from the Emperor.

 

They strove to prove the capabilities of the "New Man", and their zeal when fighting xenos rose to new heights. But it did not go unnoticed that soon they began to show mercy to bands of escaped mutant slaves, at first turning them over to authorities rather than executing them immediately. Soon after this, they began to ignore any pleas for aid in any circumstance in which they would be fighting mutants.

 

After several decades of this behavior, the 6th were deemed to be corrupted beyond redemption by the grand master of the chapter, and it was ordered they be purged by fire.

 

The 6th fled and went into hiding near the eye of terror, taking with them several hundred mutant slaves that they freed along the way. The companies serfs, though not showing any signs of mutation, were loyal to their masters and fled with them without question. For surely if a mighty space marine could be found guilty of corruption, then it was just as likely those who served them would be executed along with them.

 

It was at this time that the company changed it's name and heraldry, becoming the Morbid Progeny.

 

There they were introduced to and perverted by Chaos, eventually seeing it as their only ally in a galaxy filled with lesser men. Gathering to themselves hordes of men and women touched by mutation, no matter how minor, they built a small empire on the north-eastern fringe of the eye. Through long hard years of intense research and experimentation, the creation process was adapted to the point that the companies apothecaries had lost the knowledge to create new marines from unaltered men, but discovered a way to implant gene-seed and the required organs into select mutants. The strongest of the mutants taken by the apothecaries and granted the honour of undergoing the process of becoming space marines, joining the ranks of their masters. Slowly, the amounts of marines present began to grow.

 

After many years, other renegade marines found their way into the folds of the empire, bringing with them new resources and specialists, swelling their ranks. Though these new arrivals have adopted the name and heraldry of their new brothers, and began to show signs of mutation, it is to a lesser degree and almost purely cosmetic.

 

Within a century, the company had completely fallen to the worship of Chaos, but never worshiping individual gods, only Chaos in it's purest form. The newer recruits however would often focus their worship towards a particular deity. The larger mutant recruits commonly finding their place among the followers of Khorne. This mixed worship eventually led some of the original brothers into the service of Khorne, their mutated bodies becoming the perfect tools for destruction and bloodshed.

 

Although the company is highly prone to mutation, no incidents of possession have yet been recorded in marines originally of the 6th.

 

 

When Abaddon launched his 13th Black Crusade three centuries after their fall, the Morbid Children and their mutant servants swore themselves to his service, wanting nothing more than to bring pain and misery upon the misguided fools of the Imperium who were too blind to realise their superiority.

 

By this stage, only a small amount of original marines remained, these brothers forming small elite groups made up of only former Celestial Children.

 

At the head of this force is a man known as T'an-Marduk. Whether he is in fact Captain Forzarius of the Celestial Children's 6th Company remains a mystery. All accounts and battle images show him fighting where the battle rages most, encased in ornate Terminator armour, his massive daemon sword reaping a heavy toll on his enemies.

 

 

To this day, the Celestial Children have not replaced their lost 6th company, for fear the curse may be renewed upon any man assigned to it's ranks.

[Rain]

Hmm interesting. I actually like this fluff a lot which is pretty uncommon as most DIY chapters I've seen are either completely unremarkable or "like the coolest most amazingest guys ever!". The only part I find sketchy is that it was their company iconography by itself that corrupted them, you should try to flesh this out more, maybe it's because the iconography was designed by a librarian that thought he was hearing the words of the Emperor?

 

Also I'm pretty sure that the "New Man" is what Fabius Bile refers to his "volunteers" as, so maybe you could work in some connection to that as well, especially as fielding Bile would actually let you take enhanced warriors. Anyway, good job.

[Pariah Mk.231]

I had considered connecting them to Bile in some way, but since they'd already sworn themselves to Abaddon, I didn't want them to seem like they were part of the "Chaos In-Crowd". I suppose I could take Bile to represent the Progeny's lead apothecary, maybe someone who had done some work alongside Bile before coming to the chapter, seeing it as his own little test group.

 

About the iconography, I put it there as a theory as to why they mutated, and said it was a theory. The truth is as yet unknown.