Fabius Bile's ties to the Cursed Founding Chapters

[LSM]

While looking over some old material for the recent Legion of the Damned release, a couple things caught my eye.

 

The sources in question were:

• 2003's Index Astartes Volume III; specifically the article on the Cursed Founding by Graham McNeill
• 2004's Chapter Approved 2004; specifically the article on the Cursed Founding by Graham McNeill, Andy Chambers, and Phil Kelly

 

(Both these books are reprinting material previously seen in preceding issues of White Dwarf magazine.)

 

//

 

To begin with, the Index Astartes pages of lore are presented in a "nesting doll" story-in-a-story-in-a-story fashion.

• The top level is an Inquisitorial report, dated to 999.M41. The writer has intercepted AdMech communication which indicates that an expedition has discovered an archealogical site on the planet of Incunabla, that seems to be where the work was done on the Cursed Founding. The Inquisitor thinks that the Thorians were involved (though does not say in what capacity), and has dispatched Grey Knights to do clean up.
• The second level is some log entries from the AdMech expedition (998.M41). Incunabla is said to be a desolate world, close to Terra. The leader of the expedition is extremely well funded and equipped by the Departmento Munitorum, and has some strange device which allows them past the magnetic fields and optical distortions that are hiding the old facility. 
• The facility itself is down at the bottom of a great elevator shaft, and it is noted that there are signs of small arms fire on the walls, hastily constructed barricades, etc. Hidden at the heart of the facility was a secret laboratory, filled with techno-arcana including six incubation tanks - three empty, three containing what appeared to be huge Space Marines. One of the tubes appears to still be functioning.
• The two corpses are taken for autopsies, while the writer begins the eight hour revivification process on the sixth specimen. The autopsy report shows "evidence of 'hot-housing' the genome" which suggests that the subject is less than one year old. Internal organs are suggested to have been "many times more efficient than even the Space Marines of the present day", and there are a number of other organs which are not normal for Space Marines. Dissection of the brain revealed a "most curious organism" with additional organs and "a hithero unknown configuration of matter" that rapidly turned into a puddle of grey ooze. The examiner concludes that, having performed autopsies on Space Marine before, these subject are superior in every way.
• While waiting for the revivification of the third specimen, the writer notes the ancient fragmentary logs of the Base Commander who was originally working on the project. These form the third level of the story, and tell us that what would become known as the Cursed Founding was internally referred to as 'Project Homo Sapiens Novus' - with the "...goal of recreating the [fragment destroyed] and imbue them with psychically attuned minds to resist the .................. of Chaos." [From other sources, these would date to ~995.M35; six thousand years earlier.]
• The Base Commander pridefully notes the "enhanced warriors" of the Flame Falcons as the latest of their Chapters, leaving for their designated new homeworld of Lethe. Soon after, they discover a stinking organic substance rapidly growing in the gene-banks, which is destroyed with incinerators. Then they get word from the Apothecaries of the Black Dragons (another new Chapter) of irregularities in their first initiates - bony protrusions emerging on their arms and heads; and after that there are almost daily reports of spontaneous mutations in the Chapters that had been created at the facility and sent out into the galaxy. They worry about the ramifications of their experimentations coming to light.
• The Base Commander suggests halting the program, but the Inquisitor who is overseeing things (Crescere) assures them of the Emperor's blessing and threatens their life if they fail to continue. They secretly create a seperate group of six subjects, unknown by Crescere, to monitor. During routine training, two of the secret test subjects go berserk and kill thirty others subjects before collapsing in a pile of mutation. Crescere incinerates the bodies without examination, and demotes the Base Commander. The third of the secret subjects seems to be entirely stable, giving them some hope.
• Months later, the Astropaths in orbit note an unsanctioned psychic signal originating from their facility. Crescere interrogates (to death) the base's Astropath, and discovers her to have not been the source. Soon after, the Imperial forces in orbit are attacked. A planet-wide visual broadcast goes out: "From his build I knew he must be a [fragment destroyed] but his armour was adorned with symbols and runes that made my eyes sting to look upon them. Over his shoulders hunched a grotesque device with obscene mechanical limbs like a spider reaching forward, each one ending in what appeared to be a bizarre weapon or torture device." A drop pod assault on the facility commences.
• They want to destroy the remaining secret subjects (and the research material in general), but the third subject bursts into the command centre and starts killing everyone. As they flee they see the figure on the screen smiling "as though welcoming a long lost son" and they realise that the third subject was the source of the psychic signal. They hide as the invaders hunt down and kill the facility staff. They pray that the secret laboratory is never discovered, and profer the belief that Project Homo Sapiens Novus was doomed from the start (as they prepare to kill themself).
• One last entry from the AdMech exploration team in 998.M41, who decide that they can't wait to share news of the great find, and transmit their current logs. (There's still an hour to go on the sixth subject's revivification, and they apparently didn't understand that this was going to go poorly for them.) 
• An addendum to the Inquisitorial report in 999.M41, noting that the Grey Knights found no one and nothing in the facility. The site is bombarded with cyclonic torpedoes and expunged from records.

//

 

So in this there are two things to note. First: Fabius Bile shows up at the end - the use of drop pods indicate that the base is attacked by Space Marines. (Elsewhere Frater Gamiel suggested that the description could also fit a Haemonculus, but I hadn't mentioned the drop pods. I also think the use of "spider" is suggestive of Bile, though I'm not entirely sure when he gained that nickname).

 

The other big thing though is that this is referred to as 'Project Homo Sapiens Novus'; Project New Men. Bile's New Men are a classic aspect of his lore. (I think introduced as a term in 1999's Codex: CSMs, as it is not used in 1996's Codex: Chaos; that original source just uses 'Enhance Warriors'.) This is especially notable, as without it one could easily surmise that Bile merely showed up to raid the facility after being made aware of it. The project sharing the name indicates (to me) an intended deeper connection. This would also help explain why the test subject contacts Bile, and Bile viewing them as a "long lost son".

 

In 1996, Bile's Enhanced Warriors gained +1 M, S, T, and A.

 

In 1999, the Enhanced Warriors gained +1 S, T, A, and Ld, as well as an ability called 'Genetic Corruption'. Before the game began, the player would roll a d6 for each Enhanced Warrior, and on a 1 would roll a second d6: on a further 1 they went 'Berserk!' (remove d3 models from the squad), on a 2-5 they had a 'Meltdown' (remove the model from the squad), and on a 6 Bile had 'Created a Monster' (add +1 to all the model's stats except Sv; remove as a casualty at the end of battle).

 

The 2002 Codex: CSMs then simplified this. You rolled 1d6 for the squad: on a 1 they suffered from 'Berserk Rage!' (make a Sv roll for each model, and remove fails; survivors gain +1S), on a 2-5 Bile achieves a 'Stable Mutation' (+1 S and I), and on a 6 Bile has 'Created a Monster' (+1S, I, and A; remove them as casualties at the end of battle).

 

//

 

This brings us to the rules for playing a Cursed Founding Chapter from Chapter Approved 2004. There are a number of restrictions to indicate the poor resources of many of these forces (0-1 on most tanks, Terminators, etc), 'Outcasts' (no allied Assassins, Grey Knights, Deathwatch, etc), 'Ill-fated' (removes 'And They Shall Know No Fear'; no Drop Pod Assault). They also gain a custom Psychic Power ('Howl of the Cursed'), a couple new units (Abominations and Cursed Knights), and one of six Chapter Traits to apply:

• Ossific Blades (a melee Hit roll of 6 auto-wounds and ignores armour; Black Dragons)
• Berserkers (+1 Attack, auto-pass Morale and Pinning Tests, must Assault, must Sweeping Advance; orginal Minotaurs)
• Apparitions (enitre army deploys via Deep Strike rules, 6++; Legion of the Damned)
• Aura of Doom (enemy must pass Ld Test to Charge the unit; Lamenters)
• Immolation (always in Cover when shot at/Charged; Flame Falcons)
• Augmented Skelton (+1T; Sons of Antaeus)

 

The Abominations are Space Marines with +1 A, Fearless, 'Death Spasm', and limited options.

 

The Cursed Knights... well: "These individuals are Space Marines who appear to have escaped their chapter's curse. They are strong, tall and proud in form and yet this veneer of perfection hides a curse often more extreme than that affecting their Brethren." 

 

They have +1 A and Ld, and have the rule... 'Genetic Corruption'. 

 

You rolled 1d6 for the squad: on a 1 they suffered from 'Berserk Rage!' (make a Sv roll for each model, and remove fails; survivors gain +1S), on a 2-5 they achieve a 'Stable Mutation' (+1 S and I), and on a 6 someone has 'Created a Monster' (+1S, I, and A; remove them as casualties at the end of battle).

 

The exact same rule as Bile's Enhanced Warriors!

 

Surely that's not a coincidence - the writers even used the same result names: 'Berserk Rage!', 'Stable Mutation', and 'Created a Monster'. The Cursed Knights of the Cursed Founding are Enhanced Warriors, Bile style.

 

//

 

One could also argue the opposite: that the Cursed Founding is not based on Bile's techniques in creating Enhanced Warriors, but that Bile's Enhanced Warriors (in the current setting) are based on the technology used for the Cursed Founding instead. But Bile seems to have started his New Men Project before this Project Homo Sapiens Novus, making me think that the former is more likely.

 

There is also the curious phrasing of them attempting to recreate [fragment destroyed] (with additional psychic powers to resist Chaos). What would they be "recreating"? The Emperor's original work on the Legions? New Primarchs/lines of gene-seed? Something... sinister? Were a radical group of Inquisitors attempting to make use of Bile's work?

 

Edited September 22 by LSM

[MoriyaSchism]

Why would Bile make more of something he considers a failure? Bile is completely indifferent to Space Marines and even views them as beneath his New Men. I always interpreted this story as the Cursed Founding being something the Imperium covered up to the point of not even its own agencies not knowing about it. The thing about the New Men created by Bile is that they are seeded on worlds and that they can reproduce which is something Space Marines are incapable of. If you really want to pin this on Bile a more likely theory is that some of the subjects for this project were probably New Men infiltrated into it as aspirants to sabotage it.

 

A radical group would never be able to muster the resources to found over a dozen Space Marine Chapters or even get the green light to mess with geneseed to fix it, something like that would probably require approval from the High Lords and everyone else involved in founding new Space Marine Chapters. Geneseed, armaments, training personnel and aspirants would have to be provided. I think "Radicals" being responsible for everything in the Imperium that's shady and goes wrong is something that doesn't sit right with me. Yes the Imperium is stagnant and superstitious, but I don't like that there is not a single ounce of struggle to make something to turn the tide or gain a battlefield advantage. Old fluff was filled with that, from small things like Chapter Tech-Marines designing improvised vehicle patterns to large undertakings by major state bodies to create new and improved soldiers for the Imperium (gland warriors, Afriel Strain, Cursed Founding, the original Dark Founding with the Exorcists and so on) regardless of the final result. Today everything is dependent on big players or characters that appear out of nowhere to create wonder-tech that works perfectly (Cawl) and intermediaries that wash Terra's hands clean of any responsibility like Radicals or Renegades. 

[LSM]

19 hours ago, MoriyaSchism said:

Why would Bile make more of something he considers a failure? Bile is completely indifferent to Space Marines and even views them as beneath his New Men... The thing about the New Men created by Bile is that they are seeded on worlds and that they can reproduce which is something Space Marines are incapable of....

 

When this article was written, c2001, Fabius Bile had been a Codex character for about five years. (Jes Goodwin's original sketch is dated to 1995.)

 

His 1996 Codex: Chaos lore doesn't yet include the New Men (or their like). It does mention him "improving" the troops of various warlords who took him in, and talks about him cranking out clone warriors for them. (Which they generally come to regret.) It also talks about him negotiating his delicate position helping all the Traitor Legions with the creation of new Space Marines. Rules wise he of course has Torment, the Chirurgeon, his Xyclos Needler, and the ability to create Enhanced Warriors (Space Marines) through drugs and genetic manipulation.

 

The 1999 Codex: Chaos Space Marines adds: "...he has left a trail of deviants and abominations wherever his ships have landed. Whole populations have been wiped out by the Adeptus Astartes as they attempt to purge Bile's creations. Mostly they find once-civilised planets populated by debased monsters. However, in several battles the Emperor's Space Marines have encountered fierce resistance from a cadre of enhanced humans who fight with the cunning of devils. These are Bile's proudest creations, the New Men he would see spread throughout the galaxy; fickle, selfish, obsessive, agressive, treacherous and murderous. Each of Man's worst traits has been bread into these creatures and married with the psychology of a tyrant and the strength of a madman. Even we of the Inquisition do not know how many of these abominations have escaped into the galaxy."

 

Once more, though, in his rules he enhances warriors (Space Marines) under his command via drugs and genetic manipulation. They even had their own models at the time.

 

 

That's how Fabius Bile existed when the article was written.

 

//

 

Since then, obviously the wonderful Fabius Bile series (2016-2020) came out from Black Library. He also made appearances in the Blood Angels books Red Fury (2008) and Black Tide (2010), and Genefather (2023).

 

His 2007 and 2012 Codex appearances keep on keeping on. He makes Space Marines for the Traitor Legions, he creates Enhanced Warriors under his command. His proudest achievement, amongst all the many foul deviants and twisted abominations that he creates, are the New Men.

 

In the 2017/2019 Codex there is a little bit of fluff titled 'The Primaris Primogenitor' that adds a new aspect to Bile's lore: "The deranged fleshmaster Fabius Bile is upon the world of Agrathane Excellia when he witnesses a strike force of Primaris Space Marines in action... Impressed despite himself, Bile develops an obsession with the capture and dissection of these statuesque warriors. His intent is to blend them body and soul with the dark energies of Chaos in order to breed his own twisted versions of Primaris Space Marines." Additionally, his lore section now includes: "Of late he has used his leverage to a singular end — the capture of the Primaris Space Marines sighted across the galaxy."

 

The 2025 Codex tells us: "He leaves a trail of deviants and twisted abominations wherever his ships visit, referring to those prime subjects who survive his experimentation as his New Men. These specimens exhibit strength greater than a Space Marine's, their flesh warped and stretched over osseous growths from within. They are his favoured creations and the pinnacle of his foul art to date." And: "Fabius Bile is often accompanied by a bodyguard of his own mutant creations. Some of these altered Legionaries have willingly sought Bile's expertise to enhance their physical might and now serve him to pay their debt. Others are vat-grown clones forged in Bile's own laboratories or abducted Heretic Astartes enslaved to his will through a variety of psychological and neurological tortures." As well as: "He has claimed to have unlocked, and even improved upon, the arcane science by which the Emperor created the Space Marines. In recent years, he has captured Primaris specimens from Loyalist Chapters, and has also preyed upon the Adeptus Custodes. What he means to do with such samples remains unclear." 

 

Bile's entire tabletop history has included him selling his services in the creation of Space Marines, and the enhancement of Space Marines. For the last few editions, he has even had an entire Creations of Bile Legion keyword/detachment devoted to his Enhanced Space Marines.

 

From the perspective of thirty years of his Codex lore, the idea that he is indifferent to Space Marines strikes me as... odd. They may just be his day job, but they're something he keeps up at.

 

//

 

19 hours ago, MoriyaSchism said:

A radical group would never be able to muster the resources to found over a dozen Space Marine Chapters or even get the green light to mess with geneseed to fix it... Old fluff was filled with that... Today everything is dependent on big players or characters that appear out of nowhere...

 

This comes from the early 2000s; I think it is old fluff.

 

I'm not sure when the concept of the Cursed Founding was first created, but it's present in Codex: Ultramarines (1993 Edit: 1995; thanks Griefbringer). Two paragraphs tell us that the 21st was the largest Founding since the 2nd, that it took place right before the Age of Apostasy, and that all the Chapters were plagued with ill fortune (with many disappearing mysteriously). Those that survived were victims of genetic mutations, most have gradually dwindled, and some (like the Flame Falcons) had such physical corruption that they have been purged by the Grey Knights. (Later in the book, a lore blurb talks about the Fire Hawks and mentions that they were also from the 21st Founding.)

 

Looking at sources on Lexicanum, most everything they list then comes after the Index Astartes articles/Chapter Approved 2004. These two sources seem to have defined the Cursed Founding, and many of its Chapters. (Before this, were the Black Dragons known to have bony growths? Was it known that the Flame Falcons spontaneously immolated?) 

 

Likewise with the Thorians. The article has the Inquisitor saying: "I believe that our Thorian 'brothers' in the Inquisition have once again attempted to make their wild and heretical beliefs a reality. Only time will tell whether I have acted in time." But it doesn't go into any other details.

 

Lexicanum's article on the Thorians lists sources that come after 2001; similar to many sources on the Cursed Founding coming after this point.

 

In fact, speaking of Thorians... pulling out the listed WH 267 (2002), there is an article by Graham McNeill on various factions of the Inquisition. It lists three Radical Factions: Xanthites, Istvannians, and Recongregators. It also lists three Puritanical Factions: Monodominants, Amalthians, and... Thorians.

 

The flavour quote for the Thorians says "The rewards more than outweigh the risks should we succeed. Imagine it! The Emperor reborn and walking amongst his people as a living god. Who can say such a thing is wrong?" This is attributed to... by the Emperor! "Inquisitor Crescere. From Inquisitorial Report TH/21/36: The Incunabla Incident." It tells us that they believe the Emperor's spirit to be wandering the Warp, ready to return to the mortal plain. "There have been many attempts to create a body suitable for such an important ritual, including the disastrous events on Incunabla, but so far none have succeeded."

 

Huh. So the "events on Incunabla" (ie. the Cursed Founding) were (in part) an attempt by a Puritanical Faction of the Ordo Malleus to create a body to house the Emperor's spirit? Wild. And somehow Fabius Bile was involved, psychically called to the planet by one of the subjects, while the entire founding bore the name Project New Men and created models on the table top with exactly the same rules as Bile's Enhanced Warriors.

 

Edited September 23 by LSM

[MoriyaSchism]

Yes, I'm well aware that this is old fluff, I do own the exact copy of White Dwarf that has all these rules and the Index Astartes article, I'm just talking about this in the modern context. Thorian involvement and their motives on the side to use this project to their own ends doesn't exclude general Imperial approval of the project itself. After all Thorians are listed as a Puritan sect and Thorians are generally known for being rather conservative in their actions and goals. Them being Thorian means it's less likely for them radical by default. If I remember right Incarnationists school of thought has been a Puritan since M36 and have had mainstream Inquisitorial approval. With many Thorians working for the Ordo Malleus. 

"Even we of the Inquisition do not know how many of these abominations have escaped into the galaxy" 

 

This part about the New Men would support my theory that some of them were seeded into the project as aspirants to sabotage it rather than Bile's own work being used to create an entire founding of Space Marines. Why would the usually conservative and puritan Thorians use the works of Chaos on a project that they believe would help rebirth the Emperor? The similarity of the rules on the tabletop would be just that, mechanical similarity, transplanting an already proven ruleset in a flavourful way to another faction. It's my own personal bias, but I just don't like the idea of Bile being responsible instead of the Imperium. I'd imagine the first batch of Chapters they created were seemingly successful considering some of them are still around and kicking after 4000 years, but then the people behind the project kept going and making Chapters using this engineered geneseed. I'd like to imagine it's just Bile showing up, surveying the wreckage, mopping up and claiming some of the technology instead. 

I can't see the images for the Enhanced Warriors you posted. 

[Griefbringer]

4 hours ago, LSM said:

I'm not sure when the concept of the Cursed Founding was first created, but it's present in Codex: Ultramarines (1993). 

Technical correction: Codex Ultramarines was published in 1995.

 

There is room for confusion if you also consult the title page quickly, as it also mentions year 1993 - however, this is part of copyright statement for the sustained fire dice, not the codex itself.

[LSM]

On 9/23/2026 at 1:30 AM, MoriyaSchism said:

This part about the New Men would support my theory that some of them were seeded into the project as aspirants to sabotage it rather than Bile's own work being used to create an entire founding of Space Marines. Why would the usually conservative and puritan Thorians use the works of Chaos on a project that they believe would help rebirth the Emperor? The similarity of the rules on the tabletop would be just that, mechanical similarity, transplanting an already proven ruleset in a flavourful way to another faction. It's my own personal bias, but I just don't like the idea of Bile being responsible instead of the Imperium. I'd imagine the first batch of Chapters they created were seemingly successful considering some of them are still around and kicking after 4000 years, but then the people behind the project kept going and making Chapters using this engineered geneseed. I'd like to imagine it's just Bile showing up, surveying the wreckage, mopping up and claiming some of the technology instead. 

I can't see the images for the Enhanced Warriors you posted. 

 

Possibly. Bile doesn't just show up casually, though; he is psychically called by the third subject. (Using Bile's rules while also including Bile's presence in the fluff... that seems like more than a coincidence.) If he just showed up at the end, I'd be entirely on board with the idea that Bile attacked some fellow gene-manipulators and nicked their work. But Project Homo Sapiens Novus, "doomed from the start", the obvious implication of Inquisitor Crescere's reassurances that they were proceeding with the Emperor's blessing (so they definitely weren't approved), the Base Commander's terror at the thought of the Cursed Founding Chapters' mutations being traced back to the work they were doing on Incunabla...

 

While the 21st Founding was above board, the gene-seed being manipulated en masse to produce enhanced warriors psychically resistant to Chaos (and failing) was, seemingly, not. That aspect of the Founding was done in secret.

 

Building off of 1995's (heh) Codex: Ultramarines description, "every" Chapter of the Cursed Founding either disappeared or suffered instability and mutation.

 

//

 

The autopsy suggests that the subjects were 'hot-housed' (cloned?) and less than a year old; not traditional aspirants as such. If the program did also use more traditional aspirants, I imagine that they'd undergo examination to rule out mutants like the New Men. (I can imagine a technician going to install an Omophagea in a subject: "Ummmm.... Sir? This one's already got one?")

 

If we were to consider some inserting themselves in positions of power, I'd think that (while the New Men are Bile's creations) they wouldn't have access to his techniques and technologies. So I don't think they'd be hijacking the Founding to introduce Bile's work into it.

 

If we were working with retroactive continuity, Bile was (in 991.M35) not yet Marked by Chaos. (An event which now cannonically happens in Part II of Manflayer, dated to 992.M37.) In the article, it says that the goal is to recreate [fragment destroyed] with more psychic resistance to Chaos; something that would fit the anti-theist portrayal of Bile in his prequel series.

 

Crescere was also (retroactively?) a pre-Thor Thorian. (The existance of such seems like cover for a mistake in the timeline by McNeill, to be honest.) The Lexicanum claims that Inquisitor: The Thorians (2005) says that by M35 ressurectionism was mostly wiped out, only seeing a resurgence post Age of Apostasy (hence the name Thorians in the modern setting).

 

//

 

I should mention: I'm not trying to pitch the idea that Fabius Bile buddied up with the Inquisition to run the Cursed Founding. It just struck me that there was a strong link being implied by McNeill et al, and I found that interesting. It's (purposefully) not clear; but it is, I think, (purposefully) there.

 

Perhaps... if I were to come up with my own headcanon: the facilities on Incunabla could pre-date the Cursed Founding, and in fact be an old lab of Fabius' from the Great Crusade/Heresy. (It's door was marked with the Imperial Eagle, after all - the symbol given to the Emperor's Children.) It's gene-tech was considered bad enough to keep hidden by the Inquisition, but not so bad that it needed to be detroyed. Renegade and Traitor, but not Chaos. Cloning machines, research into the original creation of the Space Marines (and how they might be improved), etc.

 

Inquisitor Crescere (who kept their ressurectionism secret, it being heavily disfavoured pre-Sebastian Thor) managed to be in a position of power during the 21st Founding (overseeing the purity of the new Chapters' gene-seed) and decided to use Bile's five-millenia-old lab to try to engineer the Emperor a new body. He told the geneticists that they were merely secretly creating a new generation of superior Space Marines at the site - a smaller indiscretion, to hide the bigger one. And Crescere didn't tell them who their predecessor at Incunabla had been, until he was called to reclaim what was his.

 

//

 

(Fixed the picture of Bile's Enhanced Warriors models. I had tried to edit the image to be smaller and accidentally mucked it up. The 1999 Codex attributes their sculpting to Shane Hoyle.)

 

Edit: the seem to have been sold (in 2003's CSM Collector's Guide) as "Fabius Bodyguard".

 

 

Edited September 24 by LSM