Editing Genestealer Cult (section)

==Overview==
{{Topquote|In the name of the [[Tyranid|Star Children]] we are charged with conquering worlds. We must overthrow [[Administratum|the oppressive]] [[High Lords of Terra|regimes]] of the [[Imperium of Man|Imperium]]. We must crush [[Necron|the]] [[Dark Eldar|vile]] [[T'au|alien]] [[Ork|invaders]] and [[Ecclesiarchy|the worshippers]] [[Chaos Cults|of]] [[Chaos Space Marines|false gods]] who seek to steal our prizes from us. All this we must do through our own [[Genestealer Aberrants|strength]], [[Genestealer Magus|guile]] and [[Neophyte Hybrid|deter]][[Acolyte Hybrid|mination]]. In such an endeavour, there is no room for weakness or [[Exterminatus|failure]].|Magus Rheng of the Cult of the Fanged Deliverer}}

The Genestealers (and their Cults) have undergone several major revisions, but in current fluff they are [[Tyranid|Tyranids]] that were sent ahead of the hive fleets to prepare worlds for the invasion of a hive fleet. Their long tongues contain a barbed ovipositor; when they encounter sentient anthropoid, they [[Rape|use this ovipositor to inject a "seed" into the host's body]], combining the host species' genome with the greater Tyranid genome (hence the name Gene-stealer.) This is a method called the "Genestealer's Kiss," which is either a face-biting parody of a kiss or an injection under the ribcage. Fun fact, this biological process exists in real life under the name of "horizontal gene transfer", and is mostly used by bacteria to help other bacteria develop resistances to antibiotics, and more importantly is the main process involved in genetic engineering! More recently, the Genestealer Cult of the Twisted Helix has discovered how to extract this "seed" for use in contaminating food and medicine, allowing the Genestealer curse to spread to locations far removed from any actual Genestealer.

Regardless of the vector, the seed greatly alters the host's body on both physical and psychological levels over the course of a few hours, causing them to forget all about the infection and become subservient to the Purestrain's brood. The host is also driven to have children, even if they didn't want any before becoming infected; their partner does not have to be likewise infected, but it doesn't hurt. After a pregnant host (or whoever they impregnated) gives birth, their viciously malformed offspring creates a hive mind connection between itself, its parents, and the Genestealers (though this raises the question of how anyone else in the room during the birth, such as midwives, would react.) This connection and the mutations brought on by the Genestealer's seed proceed to subliminally twist the minds of both parents so that they unconditionally love their child and revere the Genestealers either as gods or as creatures sent by gods (the exact interpretation varies, you understand), usually fleeing into darkened tunnels, catacombs or sewers to avoid discovery. It is not even uncommon for Genestealer Cults to present, at least outwardly, as Emperor-worshipers, although inevitably they have some funky iconography like the whole four arms thing. Some of them, at least the rank and file, may even ''believe'' they're worshiping the Emperor instead of spacebugs. And, when not doing dastardly Genestealer things, they may really be about the overall work of the Imperium on a day-to-day basis, which is of course part and parcel with their infiltrationist aspects.

Eventually these infected individuals and their growing brood of offspring will come together with kindred spirits (that is, other Genestealer hybrids and their infected parents) to form a community/family dedicated to the Genestealers in both body and soul. As the family grows, they will continue to isolate themselves, eventually forming a Genestealer Cult. What follows is an ongoing process of hybrids breeding with captured and infected humans, with their human parents kept around both as breeding stock and for nursing and child-rearing. The second generation hybrids aren't as ugly as their parents, appearing more "normal"-looking but still obviously alien. However, that becomes a moot point once the third and fourth generation roll around, the fourth actually being virtually indistinguishable from actual full-members of their parent species; when ''they'' have kids they actually pop out purestrains, though these may have inherited a trait or two of the host species. The uglier members and Purestrain Genestealers typically lurk in the shadows far away from civilisation, while the intelligent and "human" members infiltrate and spy in almost every sector of society. Their psychic network lets them communicate with one another, even though some of the less-human hybrids (and the Purestrains) are incapable of speech, and when the brood mind becomes powerful enough, it will act as a beacon to [[Tyranid]] Hive Fleets. These fleets travel at various different speeds according to various different authors although generally always slower than Imperial warp drives, which means it is impractical for them to travel blindly, so they home in on the signal created by a large Genestealer Cult. When their arrival is imminent, they will directly contact the Cult, which will then engage in a full rebellion, sabotaging their planet's defenses in preparation for the fleet. This scenario is usually a win-win for the Tyranids, as even if the insurrection is crushed, they still probably went down swinging and cost the defenders valuable manpower and resources they needed to fight what's coming.

The exact manner in which a Cult reacts to the arrival of the Tyranids varies. According to the backstory for [[Hive Fleet Kraken]], a planet called Larnarno was infiltrated by a Cult calling themselves the Celebrants of Nihilism. When the Tyranids showed up to consume the planet, 75% of the population ''calmly marched towards and aboard the bio-ships where they gladly accepted being brought to the digestion pits''. However, a Cult generally has no idea what is about to happen to them, fully believing that the Tyranids are wonderful, enlightened beings and when they show up they'll all become one big happy space family. And for a bit, [[troll|the Hive Mind actually leads them on and doesn't target the cult]]. For a brief moment the cultists get to live their dream of fighting alongside their beloved star gods, but as soon as the planet's defenses are basically done for, they are on the menu just like everybody else. Even worse, the Hive Mind overrides the independence of the Patriarch and Purestrains, at which point the glamour surrounding the Tyranid horrors fades, the cultists get a good look at what their angels ''really'' look like and they have just enough time to [[Call of Cthulhu|fail their SAN checks and scream]]. Any cultists that try to flee are [[grimdark|consumed by the very father they worshiped and the very children they raised]].

Some may ask, why would GW do this? Does GW ''hate'' the idea that anyone who is not of an Imperial faction might be allowed to have a happy ending? If you have to ask these questions, you probably don't understand the situation. The Genestealer Cults are literally nothing more than convenient tools that the Tyranids use to prepare worlds for consumption. Their sole purpose is to be nothing more than the A1 Steak Sauce that makes a meal go down easier for the hive fleets. The very genetic fabric of each Cult member, right down to the most lowly cultist, has been hijacked to achieve this end. If they fail, they will be destroyed by the civilizations they are attempting to infiltrate. If they succeed, they will be assimilated by the Hive Mind. Therefore for the Genestealer Cults, one way or the other, there can be no happy ending.

Way back in the days of Rogue Trader, Genestealer Cults also used to be able to be devoted to Chaos. That disappeared from the tabletop along with the old incarnation of the army, but in the fluff, this can apparently still happen, in certain very rare circumstances. One account describes a truly hilarious case of turnabout when a Cult's ship is sucked into a Warp storm and dumped on the edges of Nurgle's Garden, where the Genestealers and their minions get taught a thing or two about ''real'' corruption and parasitism by the Chaos God who wrote the book on it. Nurgle does eventually let the Cult go, because he's a nice guy, ''after'' he's thoroughly had his way with them of course, and they come back into realspace as basically a Plaguestealer Cult. What might've happened if the Cult had fallen into Slaanesh's domain, officially, we'll never know, because family-friendly GW doesn't have the balls to go there. Unofficially, [[Hivestrain Azure|we can make a pretty good guess]]. As a contrariwise example, there's a genestealer cult in a Inquisitor Czevak story who, marooned on a daemon world in the [[Eye of Terror|Eye]] after their [[space hulk]] was unfortunate enough to crash there, nonetheless hate and resist chaos and maintain a lot of Imperial iconography and so on (although they ''do'' consort with xenos and mutants, which, while heretical, is probably still well above par for the course given their living situation).

Interestingly, it appears that the rare Genestealer Cults that fall to Chaos worship may become decidedly unappetizing to the Tyranids, to the point where a hive fleet will ''ignore'' the cult's call and merrily skip past them to go chow down on some forest-moon instead of the world the cult had been desperately calling them towards. This ends up pushing a cult even further into Chaos worship, unaware that they are not in fact following the Hivemind but instead possibly a demented purple whore or a bloated pus-covered maggot man.