Help needed with my DIY Chapter

[Techmarine Andreas]

Without going into too much detial right now I need advice on how a chapter operating on the Very fringes of imperial space with limited to non existent contact with the Imperium propper could maintain its ability for warp travel. Can Navigator Families breed with non Navigators (Albeit humans with Psychic Abilities) to produce more Navigators? I really hope this is the case as otherwose teh entire fuff for my chapter falls apart

[Captain Juan Juarez]

Without going into too much detial right now I need advice on how a chapter operating on the Very fringes of imperial space with limited to non existent contact with the Imperium propper could maintain its ability for warp travel. Can Navigator Families breed with non Navigators (Albeit humans with Psychic Abilities) to produce more Navigators? I really hope this is the case as otherwose teh entire fuff for my chapter falls apart

 

As I recall, Navigators do not interbreed with those who are "non-gifted" to keep bloodlines pure and allow procreation to yield more Navigators; not that it is a brilliant source, but the Space Wolves novel Wolfblade features alot of Navigator-related stuff.

[soddinnutter]

A hybrid of a Navigator and a Mundane will result in a tall, gangly, weedy, physically weak human with a noticeably higher chance of developing the psychic blessing.

 

The Hybrid breeds with a Navigator and there is a greater chance that they will be born as a second rate Navigator.

 

The Lesser Navigator breeds with a True Navigator and then you, hopefully, have something of the standard they export from Holy Terra.

 

So yes. Its possible. But you better not be in a rush. Just one Navigator family out on the Edge will die out of inbreeding within the space of a half dozen generations, less if they don't have access to genetic re-sequencing tech.

 

Ways around it could be the extremely selective inter-breeding with the Mundane population to produce new generations of Navigators a hundred years down the line. Or you could periodically send for new specimens every couple of centuries to improve the breeding stock.

 

The last one is not as bad as it sounds. Every Navigator House has at least one annoying relative who they contemplate killing because they become a liability to the houses political standing. If the Choice is either die with a sniper bullet in your head under the orders of the House Patriarch/Matriarch or live to be 400+ on the Galactic Edge and die surrounded by grieving great-grandchildren then there really is no choice.

 

God only knows what will happen if you mix the Psyker bloodlines with the lineage of the Navigators. The Navigator mutation is a living relic from the Dark Age, start mixing a man-made mutation with something as unpredictable as the Navigator mutation and you could be up to your ass in Enslavers, Deamons and worse.

[Nine_Breaker]

Or maybe you chapter could send a couple marines off every century or so to pick up new navigators. They might even hitch rides with rogue traders and the like.

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

If Navigators breed with any human without the Navigator gene, the offspring will not have the Navigator gene. Therefore it is imperative that only Navigators breed with other Navigators to continue the bloodline and keep their power within the Imperium.

[Leonaides]

Forget warp travel - you get a visit every few years to collect your tithe of geneseed. If you go for too long without that, the Inquisition turns up with a burn order and a load of angry marines or grey knights and takes it - from your recently deceased battlebrothers if necessary. No marine chapter would ever be that out of contact with the imperium. A marine chapter is a very important thing, far too important to simpkly loose track of, or not call in on every so often. It'd be a bit like forgetting where you put the keys to your Bugatti Veyron... Just wouldnt happen.