Index Imperialis: The Harakii Gene-Clades

[Wargamer]

THE HAKARII GENE-CLADES

 

"Our lives for the Imperium!"

 

There are many worlds that can claim to be dedicated to the production of Militarum regiments, but few can hold to that idea as literally as Hakarii. Lurking in the turbulent realm of the Imperium Nihilus, Hakarii has dedicated itself entirely to the development, growth and export of fighting men. For two thousand years the gene-forges of Hakarii have competed to produce the ultimate soldier, and it is on the innumerable warzones of Mankind's domain that they seek to prove their superiority.

 

A World Lost To Shadows

 

Founded in the 37th millennium, Hakarii began as a thrall-world in service to the Adeptus Mechanicus. The planet was mineral rich, lending itself naturally to both mining and agriculture, and these manual duties, combined with a higher than average gravity soon resulted in Hakarii's people becoming a rugged, hardy population. It was only a matter of time before the Mechanicus began to exploit this resource in turn, and before long even relatively minor crimes were punished by transformation into a Servitor labourer.

 

By M39, the influence of the Mechanicus has wavered, replaced instead by the ever-hungry eyes of the Munitorum. The men of Hakarii, well-suited to both manual labour and physical conflict, were drafted en masse to serve in the Imperial Guard, or aboard Navy starships in roles that needed brute strength over intellect. Yet still the world was unremarkable, with little to distinguish it from any other world save perhaps a nobility with access to a slightly higher grade of technology.

 

All of this would change forever when a Hrud Migration targeted the world in M39. The Hrud arrived aboard the Space Hulk Calamitous, which drifted into system largely unnoticed until it was too late to divert. As the vessel entered orbit above Hakarii, millions of Hrud descended upon the world. Astropathic messages were sent requesting aid, but either by ill-fortune or the machinations of the Hrud, these would be scattered and scrambled. To make matters worse, the attack came just weeks after the tithe fleet had departed the system, leaving Hakarii to stand alone for a decade before anyone was aware of their plight.

 

The Hrud infested every corner of Hakarii, and wherever the pestilent being went they brought decay and ruin with them. Fertile lands became barren, cities were stricken with plague, and unnatural palls of darkness blotted out the sun for weeks at a time. Brave and stalwart as the Hakarii people were, they were fighting the long defeat. Wasting sickness and premature aging inflicted more losses upon the Hakarii regiments and militias than enemy weapons, and the noble houses recognised that drastic actions had to be taken to turn the tide.

 

Salvation came from the art of genecrafting. Adopted millennia ago, Hakarii nobility employed the use of genetic artifice to ensure their offspring were beautiful, long-lived and free of genetic imperfection. This technology, used for vanity and comfort, was quickly re-purposed for military applications. The hardiest soldiers who showed greatest resistance to Hrud toxins were brought to the gene-parlours where their genetic data was extracted, synthesised and used to engineer a new generation of soldier. The first wave of vat-grown soldiers consisted of a few hundred men and they were deeply flawed creations, yet they were sufficient for the task at hand. They would all perish, either in battle or due to inherent flaws of their rushed creation, but the best of them survived long enough for a next generation to be extrapolated.

 

Slowly, the gene-forges grew in size and complexity. Free-birth soldiers were spliced with genetic strains that would protect them from the blight of the Hrud, or grant them superior night vision to counteract the darkened state of their world. Those not sent to fight were tasked with bringing back the dead for genetic analysis, trait-extraction and processing into soylent paste to feed the next wave of soldiers.

 

By the time help came Hakarii was a shell of its former self, with most of the world lost to the Hrud. Only a handful of fortified cities remained, dedicated entirely to the rapid growth and adaption of the artificial regiments. Forty more years of war would ultimately return Hakarii to the Imperial fold, but it would never return to the old ways. Its fate was sealed, and its destiny decided.

 

A World Born In Vitro

 

Today, Hakarii's surface is covered by thousands of gene-forges, ranging from bespoke facilities designed to create personal bodyguards to bulk fabricators that churn out several regiments per batch. The rate of production is truly staggering, with over half a million soldiers destined for the Militarum alone, as well as innumerable Servitors and other creations intended for use by the servants of the Omnissiah. The Mechanicus once more exert great influence over Hakarii, working tirelessly to ensure each new generation of soldier is an improvement upon the last.

 

Hakarii's gene-forges are ruled over by Geniarchs, masters of fleshcraft who are frequently ordained within the Cult Mechanicus. They are served by their own bespoke creations, surrounded by individuals genetically synthesised to be perfect bodyguards, perfect advisers, perfect accountants; whatever role needs to be filled by the Geniarch's household, they will create someone to fill it.

 

Below them are the Edenics. Though viewed with awe and reverence by the bulk of the Hakarii population, the life of this caste has nothing to be desired. Edenics exist to breed - they are kept as free-range humanity to protect the genetic stockpiles from degradation, but are viewed and treated with utilitarian disdain. Most Edenics are culled in their infancy, deemed genetically inferior by their owners. The survivors will live just long enough to reach puberty, at which point their genetic materials extracted, their replacements artificially birthed, and the remnants of the genetic material sent to the fabricators. By the time their "offspring" are produced, these Edenics will have been recycled, their purpose for existing having now expired.

 

The rest of Hakarii's population consist of labourers, thralls, Mechanicus Adepts and, of course, the export stock. Of these people there is little remarkable to mention, save of course for the Geniarch's preference to grow their own workforce. Many of these individuals may well be free-born, but such people are looked down upon by their lab-grown counterparts. On Hakarii, nobody exists by accident.

 

The Gene-Clade Regiments

 

Perhaps the most renowned creation of the Hakarii Gene-forges are the Gene-Clade Regiments. There are over sixty thousand Clades from which the regiments can be grown, and there are always more in development. To have a Clade officially recognised by the Geniarchy is the highest honour, and as such competition is fierce between the foundries and laboratories to produce a better soldier.

 

When a Clade Regiment is raised, the finest genetic material will be chosen from the stasis-vaults of the factorium. Each fertilised egg will be subject to rapid replication and genetic manipulation before being inserted into an artificial womb. Through secret and arcane means the foetus is subjected to accelerated aging. By the infant stage, the soldier's mind is linked to a noospheric interface that programs them with the knowledge they require. In a few short years the child will emerge as a fully grown adult, indoctrinated into being the ultimate soldier, unflinchingly loyal and born to serve.

 

Purity is absolute within the Gene-Clade Regiments. The exact process of their creation varies, with the degree of genetic variance changing from regiment to regiment. The most extreme, known as "Aberrant Clades," are essentially thousands of soldiers who all share the same parent. These are held in contempt by most Geniarchs and their fellow regiments, if only because they represent an inefficient application of genetic resources. The ultimate aspiration is a Pure Clade - an entire army of identical individuals. 

 

Clades and Clade members do not have individual identities. Instead, they use their Clade Identifier as their identity, adding a batch code as necessary.

 

The Clade Identifiers consist of an alphanumeric string, ranging from AA-01 to the current batch, RL-03.

 

Each Clade Regiment has a HQ element. Below the HQ are five companies - Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epislon. Each company has five platoons - Red, Blue, Green, Black and White. Each platoon has five squads, using the same identifier. An individual within the regiment is identified by their place in the command structure. For example, "HQ RL-03" would refer to the commanding officer of Clade Regiment. "Alpha-Red-Black-4" would refer to the fourth soldier of black squad, red platoon, alpha company. Internally, a Clade will not usually include their Clade Identifier, though it is always used when referring to the HQ section.

 

While technically all identical, many regiments give extra modifications to their officers. These individuals are typically grown more slowly, both to ensure no imperfection and to allow for more information to be encoded into their developing minds. As such, the first individual of a regiment grown in the tube is usually its commander, followed by the company and platoon level officers. In the highest quality regiments every officer is equally skilled at leadership, with the rank structure being little more than a formality - should the HQ perish, his replacement will be exactly as capable as the original.

 

This dehumanising structure is maintained rigidly, and much welcomed by the Commissariat officers who serve with the Clades. Clade Soldiers exist to fulfill their purpose, and anything outside of that scope is superfluous. An individual who shows deviancy of any kind is viewed as defective stock and summarily executed, often by their peers. The Regiments understand intuitively the importance of their purity, and in extreme cases an entire Clade Regiment may be culled if too many stray from the norm. This will naturally have repercussions on their creators, and possibly the entire Clade lineage - such as the ill-fated CA-49, which was dissolved in entirety after their first Clade Regiment were corrupted by the forces of Chaos.

 

Famous Clades of the Imperial Guard

 

AA-01: Although the genetic stockpiles for AA-01 have long since degraded, and the Clade was vastly inferior to many that would follow, it is spoken of with reverence by many on Hakarii. Close to five thousand regiments of the AA-01 Clade have served in the Astra Militarum through the centuries, and they were remarked as being unflinchingly loyal. Proudly marching in ordered ranks, resplendent in Mechanicus Red flak-coats, AA-01 held the line time and again where lesser men would have broken and fled. It is believed that the last pure samples of AA-01 were taken by the Mechanicus and distributed to nearby Forgeworlds, so that they could produce Skitarii Regiments to serve the Omnissiah.

 

GX-50: A Clade grown for precision marksmanship, GX-50 requires an extensive production cycle that is far in excess of the norm. However, the results are undeniably worth the wait. Every soldier of GX-50 is the equivalent to a lesser regiment's sniper division, gifted with superhuman vision and an intuitive ability to place shots exactly where required. The only flaw with GX-50 is that their sharpshooting leaves them decidedly long-sighted, and thus they struggle to deal with matters close to hand. GX-50 is not usually produced in regimental batches, but instead created at the platoon level and seconded to other Clades. The progenitor of the regiment was Prototype Gamma-Command-Vox, who reportedly never missed a single shot in his entire life - a staggering eight weeks.

 

NV-22: Fabricated for aquatic warfare, NV-22 is abhorrent to look at, but unmatched in battle. Their soldiers have gills to allow them to breathe underwater, and their lasguns have underslung bolt-launchers for use against aquatic targets. Eight full regiments of the NV-22 Clade were dispatched to Ctlaynar Septimus in late M41, where they waged a three year war at the bottom of the planet's oceans against the Alpha Legion.

 

II-00: Only one Clade Regiment for II-00 was ever made. The regiment's members were paragons of the human form, faster and stronger than any mortal. Following their spectacular victories against the Cao-Gui Insurgency, members of the Ordo Malleus seized command of the regiment. Subsequently, an edict from Terra, cosigned by the Fabricator General of Mars, ordered all samples of II-00 and its Edenic breeding stock handed over to the Inquisition. Nothing further is known of this Clade, and no genesmith has sought to replicate their creation for fear of incurring the wroth of the Inquisition.

[Cpt_Reaper]

Wow. You've created a world, its people, history and the regiments that I wouldn't be surprised to see in official GW publications.

 

I especially love the different types of regiments that the world produces. Although I do have to wonder are they considered abhumans or mutants by certain factions?

[Wargamer]

Wow. You've created a world, its people, history and the regiments that I wouldn't be surprised to see in official GW publications.

 

I especially love the different types of regiments that the world produces. Although I do have to wonder are they considered abhumans or mutants by certain factions?

It's quite possible some of the more heavily modified clades, like NV-22 would be seen as abhuman. However, others like RK-40 would look pretty normal... except, of course, for everyone in the regiment looking awfully similar to each other.