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For anybody who doesn't know, this mad scientist appears to have either created, or assisted in the creation of, the first space marines. Of course, 40k has been retconned so often who really knows the truth? But to me, that's a huge part of the fun. Much like our own world, there are many possible theories as to how the Imperium got to be what it is today (well, 38,000 years from now), as well as discussions of what it actually is.
Anyway, I'm in the development stages of a 40k rpg campaign (not even sure which system I'll use, Dark Heresy and its brethren? Inquisitor? Orcs In Space?) but it will center around this guy, and what he did subsequent to his service to the emperor.
Obviously, a group of PCs somehow stumble on something from the dark past that the Imperium wants to keep buried.
So I'd also like to request some throw-away suggestions. What comes to mind reading this thirty five year old fluff? If you had to create a campaign in which he and what he had done was the player character's objective, what would you do, where would you take it?
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For anybody with no clue what I'm talking about...
[Excerpt | Chapter Approved, 1989] The Origin of the Legiones Astartes
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The visitors waited in the elevator capsule whilst hidden pumps silently adjusted the temperature, humidity and pressure. When the doors opened there would be no sudden draught, no breeze to alter the constant thirty-one point seven degrees in the subterranean vault. In Laboratory Nine, the most stable environment on earth, chance had long since been eradicated.
Inside the laboratory, Dr Devram Outek and his staff shuffled nervously as machines made final miniscule adjustments to the capsule's oxygen content. In a moment they would be in the presence of the man who had planned and guided their work through five generations of human endeavour.
The visitors, sealed in their pristine suits, barely heard the doors move aside to reveal the shadowy world of red and yellow light. The technicians and scientists bowed as their visitors stepped from the lift.
'My Emperor', intoned Dr Outek.
'Dr Outek. Phase Nineteen is complete?'
The scientist straightened stiffly. 'Oh yes', he said, 'A pretty baby... very pretty indeed'.
The article then briefly introduces a very early version of the role of Space Marines in establishing the Imperium (here called 'the First Crusade' - no mention of Primarchs, Horus or Heresy yet!) and the existence of multiple subsequent Foundings, up to the 26th Founding (given as the most recent, 'in the year 738 of the current millennium'.
'...And here,' continued Dr Outok [sic],'we have five of the phase eleven zygotes. The eldest has now been functioning uninterrupted for fourteen years.' The doctor gestured towards the row of glowing incubators containing several varieties of organic components in clear, bubbling baths.
'You call the organs zygotes?'
'Yes - our geneticists create a single germ cell for each new organ. Every cell takes years of work as you know. At that stage we can store the cells indefinitely in the zero-room as gene-seed. Inside the incubater [sic] we can activate and control the growth process. The cell divides, multiplies, and eventually grows into a whole organ. Until the organ is ready for implant, we refer to it as a zygote.'
The doctor led the party along the long row of glass cases, past incubators labelled with the names of the strange organs. He stopped at a large door emblazoned with the Imperial Eagle and the stark sign 'Security Zone One'.
'Now,' announced the doctor. 'Now you'll see what all this flesh and gristle really amounts to!'
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