Editing Nobledark Imperium Imperial Forces (section)

=== Beastmen and Ogryn ===

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As the Imperium spread its borders past the boundaries of Sol, it rapidly began to encounter new strains of abhumans. Some of these strains were familiar, such as the Navigators and additional tribes of Void Born. Others, such as the Ratlings, Felinids, and Nightsiders, were novel but genetically stable, having mutated through Dark Age of Technology genetic engineering and/or natural evolution - a testament to humanity's hardiness and ability to survive on almost any world.
 
For the most part, the Steward was unconcerned with admitting these abhuman variants into the Imperium. He already had one abhuman primarch, another nearly so, and he himself was only human in the loosest sense of the word. To him, the abhumans were just one more drop of variation in the great sea of humanity.
 
However, then the Imperium discovered the Ogryn. And the Beastmen.

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Each race presented its own problems for the Imperium. The previous abhuman species were all genetically stable and essentially comparable to baseline humans in intelligence. In contrast, the Ogryn were clearly of subhuman intelligence — being comparable to a mentally handicapped human at best — and behaved and looked like shaved apes more than people, fighting each other with their enlarged canine tusks.
 
The Beastmen were slightly more intelligent, but more in the manner of an extremely cunning predator than a civilized being. Completely ruled by their instincts and prone to additional mutations, when the Beastmen were discovered by the Imperium their lives were brutish, nasty, and short.
 
Such was the Steward’s concern that he brought in his highest ranked geneticists and gene-wrights to consult on this matter. At this point in time, the Steward’s various groups of genetic engineers had been merged into Adeptus Biologis, but had not yet adopted the trappings of the Mechanicum of Mars. The nominal head of the Biologis — a former Genesmith — suggested the Ogryn and Beastmen were so unsalvageable that the Steward’s best options were either to wipe them out immediately and resettle the planet with humans of other stock, or otherwise to sterilize them and then resettle the planets in 60 years or so after they had all died out. These suggestions caused considerable consternation among other schools of thought in the Biologis.
 
The Steward made it abundantly clear that the suggestion of summary genocide on a world under the Imperium’s protection would not be tolerated, and doing so without the Steward’s knowledge was grounds for immediate and summary execution without appeal. The Steward argued the Ogryn and Beastmen were humans. Afflicted humans, yes, but humans all the same. Their ancestors were no different than any other group that Earth had sent to the stars, but were merely dealt a bad hand by the universe through no fault of their own. Eventually, the Steward and the various factions of the Adeptus Biologis reached an agreement. The Biologis would release carefully tailored mutations into the genepools of the Ogryn and Beastmen over thousands of years, until the devolution in intelligence and sanity caused by the Age of Strife could be undone.
 
As of M41, Ogryn and Beastmen can be split into two broad categories: Primeval and Nova. Primeval Ogryn and Beastmen are rare, existing only on planets that have been just recently rediscovered by the Imperium. They are little different from the Ogryn and Beastmen first encountered by the Imperium in M30. Nova Ogryn and Beastmen vary in intelligence from little better than their Primeval ancestors to levels deemed acceptable to the Imperium (generally comparable to standard human intelligence, or close to it).
 
Nova Ogryn have lost some of the strength and durability of their ancestors, but in general are much more intelligent (though less so than baseline humans, on average). Combined with external artificial augmentations, such as Biochemical Ogryn Neural Enhancement or “Bonehead Procedure”, some Ogryn officers are entirely comparable to the average human in intelligence.
 
Nova Beastmen are one of the greatest success stories of the Biologis, along with the Astartes and Necromundan eco-engineering. Out of all the strains of abhuman, the Beastmen benefited the most from genetic engineering — mostly because of how bad they had it to begin with. Some have theorized that the Beastmen were created via crude methods of genetic engineering by splicing in large amounts of non-human DNA (even moreso than other abhumans) during the Dark Age of Technology. When society collapsed during the Age of Strife, there was no way to correct the myriad mutations and glitches that cropped up over the following 10,000 years. Indeed, when the Beastmen were first discovered by the Imperium they were not even recognized as human-descended at first.
 
Although the Beastmen started off much worse than the Ogryn, their uplifting progressed much faster. The same shoddy genetic engineering that made the Beastmen prone to mutation in the first place meant that the new, more stable genes introduced by the Adeptus Biologis became established across the population very quickly. As of M41, all Nova Beastmen are essentially of average human intelligence and, as previously stated, any Primeval Beastmen in M41 are all from very recently discovered worlds. Nevertheless, despite their dramatically more stable genome, Beastmen still suffer a slightly higher rate of mutation than the rest of the Imperium. No one is sure if the tendency towards mutations is due to the Biologis trying a little too hard to correct the flaws in the Beastmen genome or the Ruinous Powers trying to taint any long-term victory on the part of the Imperium.
 
The Adeptus Biologicus might have gone a little overboard in trying to keep the instincts of the Beastmen in check; as opposed to their Primeval brethren, Nova Beastmen tend to be rather solemn and dour, though this may be because they know how far they have climbed and how deep the pit they were lifted out of was. Their sense of duty and debt is second only to that of Krieg, but thankfully for the Imperium’s sake the Beastmen are much less suicidal. Promethean beliefs tend to be widespread among the Beastmen. The Nova Beastmen have not lost all of the bestial instincts of their kin, however; Beastmen often speak of a “Weakness of the Beast” to refer to any behavior that seems to be driven by instinct or base desire, one of the few societal ideas they may have picked up from the Adeptus Biologicus. Nova Beastmen in general also tend to have much sharper senses than baseline humans, and are valued even in otherwise all-baseline regiments as scouts and trackers.

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==== Beastmen and Ogryn Society ====

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Nova Ogryn tend to live under a tribal or clan-like structure of governance. There are perhaps dozens of worlds whose inhabitants come under the broad category of Ogryn, and each world can have a thousand different tribal groups, each with their own individual set of traditions. Nevertheless, there do exist some similarities. Common to most tribes are a leading Patriarch, some paternal ancestor of a large proportion of the tribe, and the presence of a Wise Woman. Sometimes this Wise Woman the chief’s mother, sometimes his wife, sometimes it's not a woman at all but just someone with good judgement. A priest/shaman position is also common in most tribes for matters of spiritual significance and dealing with supernatural phenomena (which usually boils down to “leave it alone and tell the nearest adept”). Sometimes the tribe might be blessed/cursed with a Witch/Warlock who has psychic powers. Psychic Ogryn do exist. They used to be rarer than in the baseline gene pool, but now exist in the same proportion as baseline humanity. This may be a side effect of the increase in cognitive ability or by using baseline human genes to uplift the Ogryn.

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Although Ogryns are typically not as smart as baseline humans, they are generally smarter than people expect. The officers with BONE implants can fluently converse in High Gothic about all manner of matters both practical and philosophical, and are invariably literate. But that's because they were already the brightest of the bright even before the bio-crystalline Cortex Technology was inserted into their brain. The average Ogyrn can learn to maintain an extra-large laser rifle by rote, can understand contractual obligations (although they will sign said contract with an X), and has enough brains to follow orders and even understand quite complex strategy — provided it's explained slowly with small words and you get them to repeat it back to you just to make sure. Ogryn are also known to be fiercely loyal and honorable. It's a bloody strange day when an Ogryn breaks their word.

Nova Beastmen, on the other hand, tend to form rigid military hierarchies when left to form their own societies. This is not due to any intrinsic inclination to do so, as opposed to baseline humanity and the various cultures thereof, but more because any governmental structure that doesn’t encourage iron-hard discipline tends to implode within a few years. Their inner animal is still very close to the surface, and their increased cognitive faculties haven’t tamed it in the slightest. Beastmen societies are ruled by philosopher-kings called Brahmins, who tend to exemplify everything that the Beast is not. More of a high judge than a war chief, Brahmins are seemingly at odds with the otherwise militarized nature of Beastmen society, but a wise and solemn individual that will not give in to base desires and passions proves to be an excellent leader for those who may. 

Another notable feature of Beastman society are Aurochs, the warrior-champions of Beastman society. These huge warriors are about the size and strength of Astartes, but overall tend to be much less effective for several reasons. First, Aurochs make up a vanishingly small proportion of the Beastmen population and thus cannot reliably be mass produced. Secondly, Aurochs lack all of the advantages beyond sheer strength that make Space Marines so lethal. Finally, Aurochs cannot use standardized equipment. Because of their rarity, armor and weaponry often have to be individually crafted; most Imperial helmets are unable to fit over their horns and even normal Beastmen helmets being too small for them.

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