Rejuvenat

Rejuvenation (often shortened to Rejuve or Juvenant) refers to procedures in the Imperium of Man which extend the lifespan of a baseline human. The basic process involves reconstruction of the body with stem cells, most of which are grown in growth vats. With rejuve treatments, someone can easily live for centuries.

The Imperium being the Imperium, there's not enough Rejuve to go around. Mostly it's reserved for favoured servants of the Imperium and for rich people who can afford the steep prices involved. If those on top can last centuries then they can better secure their position against upstarts.

Cell Draining

Now so far this does not sound so bad in of itself. Sure, it's exclusive and helps rich buggers stay on top of the dung heap but compared to things like gangs of deckhands towing shells into Macrocannons while being whipped or The Death Korps of Krieg it's positively benign. That said, Rejuve Therapy does have it's Grimdark side.

There's always a high demand for Rejuve treatments and it's big money. As such, the demand for inputs is also high. This means that people which can supply the right tissue samples can make a lot of money and there are other ways of getting it than a bioreactor. In short, a young person gets taken by some unscrupulous bastards which hook them up to a rig which drains them of their blood, bone marrow and stem cells. The bleeders are kept alive for weeks or months as they are sucked clean before their broken remains are discarded. In Varangantua, the practice is to ensnare lower class teenagers at parties, but you know that kids would be targeted as well. Historically, the Imperium even used certain xenos as the supplies during the Great Crusade, but the demand for it was just as massive as it is now that those various xenos were drained to extinction just to feed the supply chain.

The scary thing about Cell Draining is that it's not done by Chaos Cultists, Xenos infiltrators or crazed fanatics like the Redemptionists. There's a demand for a product, there's a way to get it and gangers (and occasionally other business ventures) are more than willing to supply it for cash. Thankfully (at least on Alecto) it's illegal and the Bastions come down hard on it.

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