The Fate of Genestealer Cults

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**PhineusPhule**

I'm an old school player from back in the Rogue Trader days. Haven't played 40K in probably 20 years but am intrigued by the new Genestealer Cult models and that led me to ponder, "what happens to Genestealer Cults after the Tyranids invade?". Back in the Rogue Trader days the Tyranids were described as invading planets and distilling EVERYTHING down to a biomass soup which was then used to create whatever Bio-Construct they needed. Genestealers and the cults that sprang up around them were used as beacons to lure the Hive Fleets and disrupt planets before the Tyranid invasions. Does that still hold true or are the Genestealers more a separate force of their own? After a planet is conquered are all the human/hybrids rendered into bio-soup or do they hitch a ride to another planet? Not sure I would want my fate to be bio-soup but once the Genestealers have you, what choice do you have.

**kastelen**

Genestealers get eaten as well, but a few might go off world before the tyranids arrive to infect other planets. Normally the cultists don't know this until it happens.

**HoundsofDemos**

Not only do they all die, the most recent codex explains that they don't know that is the endgame for them. Most if not all of the cult is under the delusions that God is coming and they will acceded to a better life. There are a few stories about the cults trying to fight back once they realize that they are just as much a snack as the rest of the planet.

**Arson Fire**

The tyranids do recognise cultists and will usually avoid fighting them until the worlds defenders are dealt with.
The cultists for their part glory in the arrival of their gods, and follow the tyranids around, helping them finish off the non-believers.

Depending on the cult, they might realize at some point that they are on the menu along with everyone else and try to fight back. Or they might happily march into the digestion pools to ascend with their gods.

**Gir Spirit Bane**

Lets not forget 40k is 'Your Dudes in spaaaaaaace'.

I play Tyranids and my mate plays GSC, but our fluff is that his cult embraces the end by digestion pool but the consciousness of the strongest/most devout gets remoulded into Genestealers in my Hive Fleet, dispersed among planets to start the cycle all over and create stronger, more intelligent GeneStealers.

Also conveniently helps explains why I own more Broodlords than I should.

**Stux**

It's also conceivable that a Hive Fleet might intentionally let a ship of Cultists escape the planet to help them infect others.

Tyranids, as a whole, are extremely intelligent after all. They are capable of complex strategy and manipulation.

**YeOldSaltPotato**

Don't forget, it sets itself up as a religion, if it gets large enough it absolutely will send missionaries out to convert more faithful. whether those missionaries have two arms or more will likely determine how they go about growing the cult, but odds are they aren't just waiting till the last second to bail. Codex had a number of bits about small splinters going off to establish themselves.

**Corrode**

In the fluff some cults also escape the planet once they realise the Nids are on the way, and go settle somewhere else and start the cycle again.

**Huron black heart**

My Genestealer cultists are absolutely horrified when they realise their true fate, and I absolutely love it that way

**Oggthrok**

I like thinking about the long term problem that occurs when no hive fleet arrives. After all, if the Genestealers wind up four systems spinward of the fleet, and an imperial campaign defeats the fleet, you wind up with a cult whose beacon won’t be answered. What if ascension day never comes?

I imagine, there could be clans of cult families active for centuries, quietly waiting, telling generation after generation the legends that never come true. This helps explain, I think, why Genestealer cults have rules for Necromunda - the fleet has simply never come, and the Palatine hive is so dangerous that a mere Genestealer infestation goes unnoticed.

**SHUPPET**

I mean who is to say the Genestealers are wrong? their Star Gos real, it is coming, and they WILL be made one with their god and their being assimilated into the whole of its being. Their death is part of that cycle.

**Grimskul**

SHUPPET wrote:
I mean who is to say the Genestealers are wrong? their Star Gos real, it is coming, and they WILL be made one with their god and their being assimilated into the whole of its being. Their death is part of that cycle.

Definitely gives Dead Space vibes with the idea of "becoming whole" ala Unitology dogma. Except with bugs rather than necromorphs. Either way, ya gotta get that biomass!

**Haighus**

HoundsofDemos wrote:
Not only do they all die, the most recent codex explains that they don't know that is the endgame for them. Most if not all of the cult is under the delusions that God is coming and they will acceded to a better life. There are a few stories about the cults trying to fight back once they realize that they are just as much a snack as the rest of the planet.

I am 99% sure that this last part is given as justification for Tyranid vs GSC matchups on the tabletop

I do like the idea- brings up some interesting what ifs? Such as, what if the cult won?

What would they do next with their new-found emancipation? An atheist survivor-cult could be a fascinating fluff tangent.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Having said that- it isn't far off the fluff of Ymgarl 'stealers, who simply get left behind to rot by the Hive fleet every time.

**BlaxicanX**

I didn't know that the GSC aren't actually aware of what happens when the hive fleet reaches their planet. That is some awesome fluff right there. Really grimdark.

**Stux**

Haighus wrote:
HoundsofDemos wrote:
Not only do they all die, the most recent codex explains that they don't know that is the endgame for them. Most if not all of the cult is under the delusions that God is coming and they will acceded to a better life. There are a few stories about the cults trying to fight back once they realize that they are just as much a snack as the rest of the planet.

I am 99% sure that this last part is given as justification for Tyranid vs GSC matchups on the tabletop

I do like the idea- brings up some interesting what ifs? Such as, what if the cult won? What would they do next with their new-found emancipation? An atheist survivor-cult could be a fascinating fluff tangent.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Having said that- it isn't far off the fluff of Ymgarl 'stealers, who simply get left behind to rot by the Hive fleet every time.

If they were from different Hive Fleets they would also fight. Which is the justification for Tyranid Vs Tyranid battles.

When they encounter each other they fight to the death, to allow the stronger fleet to absorb the biomass of the other.

**Overread**

BlaxicanX wrote:
I didn't know that the GSC aren't actually aware of what happens when the hive fleet reaches their planet. That is some awesome fluff right there. Really grimdark.

Genestealer Cults are like most cults - those at the bottom (the masses) often only have a fringe understanding of the actual real goals and focus of those at the top end of the scale. With the heavy oppression on many Imperial worlds and the machine like work ethic they demand there's ripe ground to get people whipped up into the idea of rebellion and rising up to a greater future for themselves.

There's a short story (I forget where might be Inferno 1) telling of a junior cultist who witnesses a higher ranking one defeat a group of patrol guards; only for the eager junior cultist to be manipulated and sacrificed to feed genestealers later

**nagash42**

Also in the last codex there's a snippet of a cultist following his brother genestealer who he painted up for battle. Once the hive fleet arrives the genestealer turns around and tears the cultist apart after it finishes off some guardsmen.

**beast_gts**

nagash42 wrote:
Also in the last codex there's a snippet of a cultist following his brother genestealer who he painted up for battle. Once the hive fleet arrives the genestealer turns around and tears the cultist apart after it finishes off some guardsmen.

‘Praise be!’ cried Sebathren, raising his shaking arms to Locum’s heavens. ‘The Star Children deliver us!’ He could hardly believe it. In his heart, he had always known that the Grandfather’s truth would burn away the tissue of lies that suffocated the hated Imperium. Still, to lay eyes upon the Star Children themselves was something else. The Neophytes had long talked of what they would look like, these creatures wholly free from human weakness. None of them had expected there to be quite so many. Crashing, stampeding, sprinting across the lands came a purple and white swarm. It made those of Locum’s harvest-storm locusts look thin by comparison. Sebathren saw monsters in there, towering above even the Aegis guns of the Imperial Guard. The Patriarch was darting amongst them, dwarfed by a vomiting horror that spewed its guts into an artillery redoubt. His brood followed close behind.‘Wait for us, Grandfather!’ shouted Sebathren, vaulting over the sandbag barricades of his position to skid and scramble down the hill towards the swarm. ‘Let your children aid you!’ A Genestealer darted from behind a shattered statue, the warpaint that Sebathren had carefully applied to its carapace smudged. ‘My son!’ smiled Sebathren. Then the creature darted forward, and ripped Sebathren’s head from his neck.

**Niiai**

What i toroughly enjoy about the GSC is that they are doomed. In that classic cosmic horror kind of way. There are a lot of canidates for cosmic horror. C'tan (unbound) chaos and tyranids. But the chaos cultists might make it. Ascend to deemonhood. Unlikly, but possoble. No such thing for the GSC. Thei biomass might be recykeled, but the soul nothing, and the consiusness is dead.

**Kroem**

It depends, who says joining the Hive Mind isn't the ultimate way to become immortal? A way to escape the maddening isolation of seperate bodies and consciousness to join together into the great community that is the Hive Mind?

We know that souls definitively exist in the 40k universe, so maybe the souls of the cultists do add to the Hive Mind instead of going into the Warp to be torn asunder by dæmons...

**Stux**

Kroem wrote:
It depends, who says joining the Hive Mind isn't the ultimate way to become immortal? A way to escape the maddening isolation of seperate bodies and consciousness to join together into the great community that is the Hive Mind?

We know that souls definitively exist in the 40k universe, so maybe the souls of the cultists do add to the Hive Mind instead of going into the Warp to be torn asunder by dæmons...

There's an interesting fan theory that Tyranids were engineered as the ultimate weapon against Chaos. They sweep through the universe devouring everything, then Chaos starves. Then everyone would be reborn into new bodies.

We know that Tyranids can replicate specific minds such as the Swarmlord, so it's not actually that far fetched!

**Karol**

But don't tyranids come from a different galaxy, why would someone engineer them in to anti chaos weapons, if tyranids already ate everything back home to, so to say?

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Kroem wrote:
It depends, who says joining the Hive Mind isn't the ultimate way to become immortal? A way to escape the maddening isolation of seperate bodies and consciousness to join together into the great community that is the Hive Mind?

We know that souls definitively exist in the 40k universe, so maybe the souls of the cultists do add to the Hive Mind instead of going into the Warp to be torn asunder by dæmons...

But there is no joing in case of tyranids. You get digested, broken down to most basic compotents. The only thing that does seem to have limited free will are norn queens, and only if their ship doesn't get eaten by a bigger hive fleet. Or do "clones" of succesful bio organisms like the swarmy or old one eye have rudimentary memory of their other incarantions?

**Stux**

Karol wrote:
But don't tyranids come from a different galaxy, why would someone engineer them in to anti chaos weapons, if tyranids already ate everything back home to, so to say?

Because maybe Chaos is a universe wide problem? There's nothing to suggest the Immaterium is unique to our galaxy, and it might be the case that any Chaos left would be able to grow and threaten other galaxies.

**Karol**

If tyranids eat their whole galaxy, and chaos is a universe wide problem, then this means that tyranids not only beat chaos once, but they also had time to breed specific anti chaos tyranids.

**Kroem**

Karol wrote:
But don't tyranids come from a different galaxy, why would someone engineer them in to anti chaos weapons, if tyranids already ate everything back home to, so to say?

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Kroem wrote:
It depends, who says joining the Hive Mind isn't the ultimate way to become immortal? A way to escape the maddening isolation of seperate bodies and consciousness to join together into the great community that is the Hive Mind?

We know that souls definitively exist in the 40k universe, so maybe the souls of the cultists do add to the Hive Mind instead of going into the Warp to be torn asunder by dæmons...

But there is no joing in case of tyranids. You get digested, broken down to most basic compotents. The only thing that does seem to have limited free will are norn queens, and only if their ship doesn't get eaten by a bigger hive fleet. Or do "clones" of succesful bio organisms like the swarmy or old one eye have rudimentary memory of their other incarantions?

Well you 'join' in the most literal and complete sense. Your molecules become part of the Hive Fleet organism and, if the 'psychic soul energy' is also absorbed, then so do your memories and experiences.
The loss of individuality would be total, there can be no individuals in a collective. This is a completely different type of existance.
The fundimentals of 'you' are preserved in an ageless (maybe even deathless) organism. You're part of something far greater and closely knit than anything you could be part of as a human.

**Blndmage**

My Nid fleet was mostly destroyed by Exterminatus, only Rippers and a few Malanthropes, a clutch of Hormagaunt eggs remain, that's about it. The cults rose up on the Imperial fleet in space, seizing control of the vessels.

The cult landed, feeding the servitors and non cultists to their gods to help them ascend once more. Now the Cult and Splinter fleet live together, the Nids mostly lost to Instinct while the cultists help them regain their connection.

Any attempts to destroy or stop their growth are met by the might of both forces. The cultists having become shepards and stewards for their Gods.

**Stux**

Karol wrote:
If tyranids eat their whole galaxy, and chaos is a universe wide problem, then this means that tyranids not only beat chaos once, but they also had time to breed specific anti chaos tyranids.

Sure. Tyranids are already hyper adapted to fighting Chaos. They have no souls and cut off connection to the Immaterium just by virtue of their presence.

**harlokin**

I liked the old fluff that some Genestealer Patriarchs seek to avoid their fate by making pacts with Chaos, and become Genestealer Oracles.

**Stux**

harlokin wrote:
I liked the old fluff that some Genestealer Patriarchs seek to avoid their fate by making pacts with Chaos, and become Genestealer Oracles.

You could have a cult accidentally follow Chaos still for sure. Patriarchs are full Tyranid though, though don't go with Chaos at all. Shadow in the Warp and all that.

**harlokin**

Stux wrote:
harlokin wrote:
I liked the old fluff that some Genestealer Patriarchs seek to avoid their fate by making pacts with Chaos, and become Genestealer Oracles.

You could have a cult accidentally follow Chaos still for sure. Patriarchs are full Tyranid though, though don't go with Chaos at all. Shadow in the Warp and all that.

Not quite as cool as a Patriarch giving the Hive Mind the middle finger, and making a bargain with Chaos instead.