Gland War Veteran
Gland War Veterans (Called Glandies or Gland Warriors for short by some in /tg/) were a specialized, genetically modified force of Imperial Guard Veteran designed to battle the Tyranids. They are considered by the Mechanicus as a far more successful and stable compared to the Afriel Strains.
After the Forge World of Dantris III became heavily infested and polluted by Tyranid forces, the Techpriests of the planet modified several companies of the Lostock 23rd to fight in the hellish conditions. Imagine Glandies as Space Marines without the power armor. They had many organs and drug-secreting glands implanted in their bodies so that they could survive unprotected such as an organ that would secrete stims, painkillers, and various medical drugs, more powerful natural air filters via a modified lung, enhanced bio-musculature structure for increased strength and etc. Their genetic tempering and augmentation has made them a distinct Abhuman, although whether they can breed and successfully pass on their genetic coding and new augmented organs is unknown. Their combat abilities and aggressiveness were also further increased in order to deal with the myriad of threats from the varied Tyranid forces.
Heck, the Gland War Veterans was so successful and super-anal retentive that even the Hive Mind thought they were crazy as fuck and that; despite the heavy losses they took, was able to ensure the successful defence of Dantis III. Only three Gland Warriors are believed to have survived, which were taken by the Inquisition for study and "debriefing".
At least one of them ended up in an Inquisitor's retinue so apparently "debriefing" doesn't always mean "dissected" or "killed with fire."
Gland War Veterans probably look almost indistinguishable from the average Human especially if he/she is in armor. Although they may be differentiated with increased muscle mass to fend off larger Tyranid creatures, denser musculature to shrug off blows from a Tyranid, heavier skeletal structure and possibly altered rib-cage to protect them from Tyranid weapons, hyper-resistant or acidic blood to protect the body from Tyranid cell infestation, enhanced senses to adapt to the wide variation of Tyranids, augmented or multi-layered lung to breath in the toxic gas from Tyranids, increased adrenaline and veins popping up everywhere.
Difference between Gland Warriors and Space Marines
You may wonder what makes Glandies so different from Space Marines despite sharing what appears to be similar biological enhancements. The answer could be that Space Marines use artificial organs to help "augment" their body in new and interesting ways that are simply not possible without them. However, Space Marines are still considered Human due to very little genetic tempering and if you somehow removed those organs (without causing utter biological system failure to the patient) there would be little to differentiate between what was left and a regular human with a bad attitude.
On the other hand, Glandies are not only supplemented with new organs, but draw from a completely altered DNA strand that may completely alter the genetic make up of the original owner. However, in every incarnation of the rules, whether it be on the tabletop or in RPGs, Gland Warriors retain an ultimately "human" statline. This is because their biological upgrades are somewhat more subtle, with the actual "glands" of their Lostok Augmentations secreting drugs and hormones into their bloodstreams, increasing the strength and agility of their natural-born muscles and then filtering these chemicals before they become a drawback and cause the body to crash, while also making them resistant to many external chemicals and pathogens too.
With that being said, the procedures undertaken to become a Gland Warrior are not as time intensive as with an Astartes, Who by necessity have to take their candidates at a very young age (usually between 8-12 years) and the process of implantation takes about a decade or more as the applicant passes through his Chapter's 10th company. By contrast; the surgeries that gland warriors get are considered: "somewhat short, it takes many months for the recipient to learn how to properly utilize their new biological additions". So that means that the Imperium can generate gland warrior super-soldiers much more quickly.
And that's not to say that Gland Warriors cannot be further augmented with any of a variety of commonplace military upgrades such as vat-grown muscle fibres, subdermal armour and minor cybernetic enhancements, because if you're going to the extent of introducing foreign DNA to the human genome, you might as well protect your investment.
Stable Sub-Species
While we may not have enough evidence of this in fluff, in order for the Glandies to become a sub-species of the mainstay Human, they must:
- have a different but stable DNA code
- have conditions that enable them to adapt to a particular scenario
- be able to procreate with their own kind and breed true.
For the Glandies, they were given special organs to better adapt in fighting Tyranids which is far more specialized than the average 'Jack-Of-All-Trades' gene-seed enhancements given to the Space Marines.
The high specialization and the complete overhaul to make these men more able to compete with a Tyranid organism would be enough to classify them as distinct from Humans. Furthermore, Gland Warriors have their DNA mixed with a Mechanicus improved DNA base which will be replicated through cell division. This further elevates the Glandies from conventional Humans and further differentiate themselves from the Astartes who do not directly undergo DNA tempering to their human genome, but have it swimming through their blood symbiotically.
The subject of being a stable "sub-species" is never really broached by GW, even though they usually lump Gland Warriors in to the "Abhuman" category along with other human strains like Ratlings and Ogryns. This might be because GW failed at high school levels of biology (especially when they continually insist that Astartes are genetically modified) Having different and stable DNA is one thing; being able to procreate and pass on those genetic traits is another. Since most of the organs are surgically implanted rather than being grown within the body, it is uncertain whether a mommy and a daddy glandie could have a baby glandie or if they would produce a whole new type of human being with the genetic markers of a gland warrior, but without any of the implants.
What is known is that small communities of Gland Warriors do exist both within and without the Imperium, though the level of tolerance towards these communities appears to be the same as the tolerance of any other mutants or abhumans populations, for example, the Red Night Brotherhood was destroyed by the Ordo Hereticus, while other warrior lodges seem to be the subject of speculation and little hard evidence.
In any case, "Official fluff" (i.e excluding FFG) puts their creation alongside the invasion of Hive Fleet Kraken, which means that they are only a few decades old at best, so the Imperium might not have had enough time to properly categorize them, or for a sufficiently large population to arise before it actually becomes a cause for concern.
On The Tabletop
Due to their success, Gland War Veterans are getting increasing attention to the Imperial Guard and has been nagging the Mechanicum like a housewife to give them some of these augmented Abhumans.
The original Chapter Approved rules for them "upgrade" a guard infantry squad for 15 points to give them the Fleet special rule, however this came with the drawback where if you ever rolled a 6 on the fleet (run) move, you lost a model in the squad. Suffice to say this was shit.
If you want to field them today and be entirely legal, use the D-99 Army List in the Imperial Armour 4: The Anphelion Project with the Hyper Aggressive Tendencies drawback, as that's pretty much exactly what the Gland War Veterans are.
