Editing Cult of Krenz (section)

==Origins==
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<center>'''SCABS'''</center>
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Komra biologists had long studied the physiology and life-cycle of the Orks, hoping to find new methods of combating their age-old foes.  Their masterful art culminated in Karazak's Phage Towers, which succeeded in inhibiting the Orkoid life-cycle.  Yet on corrupted Rakizor these experiments took a darker turn.  Inspired by Ork biology, Krenz cultists designed a fungal symbiote and implanted it into chosen human slaves, creating the wicked, hunchbacked ''Scab'' race.

These horrors were first unleashed during Rakizor's war against the Stem Worlds and refined during the long blockade.  By the time the Cult of Krenz was unleashed upon the Galaxy once more, they had perfected their biological tempering.  Lean but  wiry, they are not overly robust but their symbiotes give them great regenerative abilities. Scab psychology is a repugnant mixture of fawning obedience to superiors, backstabbing mistrust of peers, and sadistic bullying to inferiors.
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Krenz itself is ancient beyond belief and the true identity of the entity remains a mystery.  Imperial Inquisitors tasked with investigating the Cult have speculated that Krenz is one of the star gods of the Necron - the C'Tan - while others believe that it is a powerful Daemon.  Both of these theories are belied by the Cult's relatively independent action.  Whatever its nature, Krenz is a vile thing, psychically dominating its minions and demanding regular blood sacrifices.  The entity lay in the rocky heart of Rakizor for untold ages before its discovery by the Komra miner Edsten.

After discussions with his Gelkzaft, Edsten had embarked on a deep prospecting mission in search of valuable minerals.  He was particularly hopeful that the strata he explored would be rich in the adamantium ore that was so crucial to Komra industry.  However, the automatons under Edsten's control began to give anomalous readings, well outside those of any recorded mineral deposits.  Fearing mechanical malfunction, the miner notified his brethren and slowly descended to the tunnels in which his machines were operating.

The evidence of his own senses agreed with the automated reports.  While the sleek black surface of the tunnels bore some resemblance to obsidian, the loose fragments were clearly not glass but dense stone.  As Edsten approached his machines, he slowly became aware of a presence, not in the tunnels but ''within'' himself.  Memories of engines and mechanical power began to press in on Edsten's consciousness, first the thoughts of the remotely-operated mining equipment he had been using, then other machines.  The miner began to tremble from internal vibrations and fell down retching at the remembered sensation of engine fumes.  Rapid electronic computation fizzed on the Komra's nerves.  Finally, as a sense of the impossible pressure and heat of the fusion reaction crashed into his mind, he passed out.

The weight of the machine-mind of Krenz had not abated when Edsten awakened.  Rather, the miner's will had been hammered into a shape pleasing to his new master.  Through Edsten, Krenz set about corrupting Rakizor.  Within a few days, the miner's Gelkzaft had been lured to the tunnels with the promise of mineral wealth and psychically overwhelmed.  Within months, the whole world was in thrall to Krenz.  The rough pit in which Edsten had been overwhelmed was transformed into an elaborate temple in which blood sacrifices were offered up.  Worse yet, Krenz looked hungrily out to the stars.  Human worlds, destabilised by the calamities of the Long Night, were raided for slaves and tribute to Krenz.  The Komra homeworlds were too strong to overwhelm with force, but they were unaware of the threat within and Krenz dispatched Edsten to corrupt the Komra leaders, the Brysojt on Valaya Station.  This vile plan was thwarted by the heroism of the Komra psykers Roxum, Karnech, and Kakau.  With the threat of Krenz exposed, the Komra stem worlds banded together to combat their horrid kin.  Yet even in victory over such a loathsome foe, the Komra elders were loathe to raze one of the ancient holdings.  Rather than invade or bombard Rakizor, the Brysojt chose to implement a perpetual blockade.  Although this policy could not turn back the Krenz-stone bearing ships that had scattered from Rakizor to the far corners of the Galaxy, it would at least restrain the majority of the Cultists.  And so for centuries, the Cult of Krenz festered on Rakizor.

In isolation, the distinctive features of Komra life were broken down and rebuilt in a dark mockery.  The communal life of the Gelkzaft barely existed.  Slave labour, the descendants of luckless humans abducted to Rakizor, was put to work so that the Cultists could spend their time in adulation of Krenz - and preparation for new wars.  As long centuries went by, Rakizor came more and more to resemble a military barracks on a planetary scale.  War-servitors were constructed and implanted with chips of Krenz-stone to allow the Entity to project its awesome will upon the battlefield.  The hideous Scab slave-soldiers were not only made more durable and dependable, but put into suspended animation by the thousand to create a vast reserve for the day when the Cult would once again menace the stars.

Their release came towards the end of the Emperor of Mankind's [[Great Crusade (Hektor Heresy)|Great Crusade]].  Although the Komra had been on fair terms with the growing Imperium, thanks in good measure to the fair-minded dealings of [[Arelex Orannis]] from his base in [[the Atalantos Worlds]], relations began to sour towards the end of the 30th Millenium.  The War Council came to see the independence of the Komra as an obstacle to reuniting mankind under one banner, and dispatched the Primarchs [[Shakya Vardhana]] and [[Gaspard Lumey]] to bring the so-called Core Worlds Confederation to heel one way or another.  After a brief attempt at diplomacy, the way determined was war: a brutal and bloody conquest that saw ancient Karazak ravaged by orbital bombardment and the warfleets of the Stem Worlds almost annihilated.  Under these conditions, the perpetual blockade could not be maintained and the Cult of Krenz began to seep outwards.