21st 'Cursed' Founding Mutation Ideas

[calgar101]

Yeah things like more organs not working and aspirants not surviving implantation is a given. I'm curious as to what serious messed up hybrids could be made. Mental degradation aside, id like to see things similar to Flame Falcons type of problems. 

I was imagining earlier mixing Thousand Sons and Blood Angels and the result being hyper violent pskers who when they suffer the Black Rage, end up frying those neat by with warp flames etc.

 

[Volgon]

I have a special place in my heart for the Cursed Founding. The faction that got me into Warhammer in the first place were the Legion of the Damned! I stumbled on the White Dwarf containing their 2nd Edition rules as a kid and they really hooked me. As long as I can remember I've had an affinity for the undead: specifically things like death knights or your humble skeleton warrior, so anytime I make up my own OC/homebrew stuff I like to have "my" faction related to undead in some sort. I am making no deviation with the lore for my homebrew warband: the Lichborne (I have a WIP thread you can see here if you'd like to see my conversions). Here are a few ideas I've had coming up with ways to tie an undead-esque theme to their pre-Excommunicate status (keep in mind these are separate ideas and not necessarily intended to all be part of the lore):

1. Overactive Ossmodula, underactive Biscopea: the even further strengthening of bones, combined with a lack of muscle development relative to normal Marines results in a severely gaunt/skeletal appearance to the degree that Marines never remove armor/helmets in the presence of non-Lichborne individuals. Other effects could include increased durability but reduced mobility/dexterity (potentially trying to tie in that shambling/trudging nature of fantasy undead).
2. Amplified Sus-an Membrane: normal Sus-an membrane turned up to 11. Could somehow allow Marines to regenerate even after death as a sort of quasi-necromancy? Ties into that regeneration trait that many undead have.
3. Altered progenoid glands: this was a pretty far out idea I had a while ago. Essentially as the progenoids mature, they retain some of the bearer's knowledge, personality, skills, etc in some form (potentially warp related?). Whenever the progenoid is implanted into a new recruit, overtime the recruit assimilates some of the experience retained within the progenoid. In this way it is a wayward form of "undeath": the body dies but the spirit lives on in a way. A more extreme version of this I thought of would be that at some point this modification mutates to the point where any new implantees are completely taken over by the previous bearer. In this way it would mean as long as you could save the geneseed you could continue having the same characters with the same experience (kind of like Lucius I suppose).

Edited May 7 by Volgon

[calgar101]

I like number 3 the best personally, it is similar to how Eldar Phoenix lords continues the legacy of the previous wearer. This just being a 'biological' version of that, definitely cool! You could build a whole ritual ceremony aromatherapy this too.

[Volgon]

13 hours ago, calgar101 said:

I like number 3 the best personally, it is similar to how Eldar Phoenix lords continues the legacy of the previous wearer. This just being a 'biological' version of that, definitely cool! You could build a whole ritual ceremony aromatherapy this too.

 

#3 also ties in to the idea of a lich's phylactery, an item that retains the soul of lich should it ever perish. In this case the progenoid glands would function as a phylactery for the bearer, and it would be of even more importance than normal for the progenoids to be reobtained should the bearer ever die. My warband could employ an increased number of apothecaries due to this, or something like every brother goes through mandatory apothecary training/combat experience in a similar way to moving through the devastator/assault/tactical squads.

 

Or another twist could be that, since a Marine has two progenoids, the "soul" stored in them could be split in two. That is a potential flaw that fits right in with a Cursed Founding chapter; maybe there is the option of implanting the first progenoid to get a semblance of the Marine back, but not the entire personality/experience, should the second progenoid ever be unrecoverable. Brothers in such circumstances could be "fractured"; maybe they deal with some sort of psychological fallout of only retaining half of themselves?

Edited May 8 by Volgon

[calgar101]

Could definitely be an angle for having a greater than usual number of Apothecaries. Perhaps an almost zealous like figure on the battlefield with a squad of Astartes or servitors, seeking to claim the gene seed of any fallen Marine.

That idea of a 'soul fracture' is definitely an interesting avenue and a draw back, all that experience counts for nothing if they suffer from memory trauma.

[Volgon]

35 minutes ago, calgar101 said:

Could definitely be an angle for having a greater than usual number of Apothecaries. Perhaps an almost zealous like figure on the battlefield with a squad of Astartes or servitors, seeking to claim the gene seed of any fallen Marine.

That idea of a 'soul fracture' is definitely an interesting avenue and a draw back, all that experience counts for nothing if they suffer from memory trauma.

 

That is actually a really interesting idea. I have a conversion for a Chaplain Grimaldus proxy (if I ever play 40k I'd likely use the Black Templars rules), and he has a retinue of 3 that would make perfect conversion fodder for a sort of head Apothecary in my warband!

[calgar101]

Edit. Some how ended up copying my last post... silly mobile!.

I'd really like to see that conversion. It is almost like an Astorath the Grim type role too.

Edited May 8 by calgar101
Mistake

[Volgon]

1 hour ago, calgar101 said:

Edit. Some how ended up copying my last post... silly mobile!.

I'd really like to see that conversion. It is almost like an Astorath the Grim type role too.

 

Hope it's not too off-topic but here you go:

 

The backpack isn't glued so I could definitely swap it for something like Fabius Bile's chirugeon backpack to really sell that apothecary vibe.

Edited May 8 by Volgon

[calgar101]

I really like that! 

[Sugarlessllama]

I made my custom UM chapter a cursed founding chapter. And I have to admit, I have had fun with them. 

Name: Imperial Consuls
Mutation: Blindness. 

In the centuries since coming to the Ghoul Stars, the flaw in the gene-seed has become more pronounced. Indeed, by the time an Astartes completes their service as a Scout they are usually blind. The use of an additional augmetic in the cerebral cortex allows for the Astartes to plug the auto-senses of their power armor directly into the visual centers of the brain. This technology, along with their augmented sense of hearing, and smell have allowed the chapter to maintain their combat effectiveness. Though it does leave them at the mercy of the effectiveness of Imperial technology. 

 

I loved the idea of having a bunch of blind monks cruising the galaxy purging hive worlds that had fallen to zombie outbreaks.