January 14, 2025
Hi everyone,
Every week we're highlighting the lore of a few factions for each of our games, and this week we're focusing on Grimdark Future factions!
Alien Hives
"The Alien Hives are a faction of aliens using biotechnology, and is made up of a variety of sub-species which come from the remote frontiers of the galaxy, striving to find their niche in Sirius.
When they first arrived, they were viewed as monstrous invaders, but after a long war of extermination, breakthroughs in communication lead to a fragile peace. Now, the Hives must come to terms with the legacy of the long war and decide how they are to adapt.
Over the course of their evolution, the Alien Hives specialised into a number of different roles and environments. Despite this divergence, these sub-species gradually united into a strict caste system led by the apex predator of their world; the Hive Lord. Each caste became specialised in different roles, working together in harmony as their civilization grew.
With a lack of workable metals on their home world, their technology came to be based on psychic abilities and biochemistry, and this knowledge allowed them to adapt themselves and gradually alter native animals as well. The Alien Hives believed that these changes allowed them to exist in more perfect harmony with their world. Perhaps the strangest of these were the ones which came to be adapted for space travel. Alien Hives travel through the stars using massive creatures which they’ve bred for this purpose. These vessels travel from world to world, always requiring a great amount of atmosphere and nutrition for them to store before travelling between the stars. These ships are homes to crews who maintain them, some of whom never step off the ships on which they were born.
After travelling through a swathe of the Frontier, the Alien Hives reached the Sirius Sector. Their arrival set off a series of conflicts with the factions in Sirius, as communication proved difficult and the Alien Hives were assumed to be hostile due to their alien appearance and nature. They soon were locked into a war of extermination with the various species of Sirius, which only concluded when the DAOU managed to communicate with one of their Hive Lords. While it took time to come to true understanding, this opened a path to peace between the species of Sirius and the Hive.
Peace provided its own challenges for the Alien Hives, as they soon found themselves confronted with a number of alien ideas and values that challenged the structure of their society. They strive to stand on equal footing with the other Species in the Sirius Sector, ensuring their migratory routes are protected and defending their claims to various worlds in the sector, by force if necessary. Some in the lower castes have begun demanding new rights, undermining the harmonious working of the castes while certain Hive Lords have rejected peace entirely, fearing that the corrupting influence of outsiders might ultimately destroy their way of life completely.
How will your Hive adapt?"
Soul-Snatcher Cults
"Soul-Snatcher Cults are bands of humans, aliens, and hybrids enhanced through advanced biotechnology. These Cults rely on their enhanced speed and fanatic loyalty to overwhelm their enemies, combining the alien strength with heavy weapons that provide support from afar.
The Cults are usually founded by ambitious Soul-Snatchers who strike bargains with other species, before slowly establishing psychic control over them, amassing cults of adoring followers. Despite their power within the Cults, Soul-Snatchers must still rely on manipulation and act as hidden advisors, to ensure their true nature is not discovered by outsiders or initiates.
Most Soul-Snatchers serve the Alien Hives as powerful advisors, valued for their psychic powers and intellect. Despite their vast psychic power and ability to influence and control others, the Soul-Snatchers are always subservient to their Hive Lord.
Many Soul-Snatchers find themselves frustrated by this relationship, and as a result, some decide to strike out on their own, away from the Hives. The easiest means of departure is convincing a visiting merchant or diplomat to take them along, often with the aid of psychic persuasion.
Usually these Soul-Snatchers will seek out people in positions of power, in order to secure their place in the new community. The Soul-Snatchers can offer a number of benefits to any interested patrons, from their knowledge of biotechnology, to their services as powerful psychics and bodyguards. Those who accept the Soul-Snatchers’ offer will slowly become increasingly dependent on them, as the Soul-Snatchers covertly exercise their psychic influence.
These Soul-Snatchers will work to slowly convert their patrons and other powerful allies to their way of thinking, carefully presenting themselves as messengers and messiahs, offering salvation through their creed. Susceptible patrons soon become disciples, eagerly spreading the Soul-Snatchers’ message to both superiors and commoners alike. As they amass a following, the Soul-Snatchers will work tirelessly to enhance their flock, using their knowledge of biotechnology to create hybrids drawing on the strengths of both species.
As these Cults grow in size, they accumulate more and more sincere followers, who are unaware of the influence of the Soul-Snatchers. These disciples embrace the creed whole-hartedly, unaware of the manipulation at the core of the Cult. Whether fanatical and eager to serve, or merely following their community, they form the greater part of the Cult. Followers eagerly seek to serve their mysterious masters and fulfill their ambitions as though they were their own. As time goes on, these Cults have begun to seek each other out, working together to extend their reach throughout the sector.
How will you spread your creed through Sirius?"
Prime Brothers
"The Prime Brothers represent the pinnacle of gene science, a small number of super human individuals with advanced armour and weaponry, which rely on their skill and durability to achieve victory against any odds.
Prime Brothers are enhanced with the latest gene-mods, adapted from discoveries made after arriving in Sirius. The process that creates Prime Brothers gradually destroys the body, leaving them with significantly shortened lifespans. Despite this, many young soldiers still choose to become Prime Brothers, proudly dedicating their short lives to the Conduit and his cause.
Battle Brothers were created by a visionary scientist, known as the Founder, who used a series of gene-mods in order to enhance soldiers beyond their human limits. The Battle Brothers were quickly deployed to maintain unity and peace over Earth and its nearby colonies. The gene-mods proved wildly successful and many sought to join their ranks.
When humanity arrived in Sirius, they encountered new challenges, as previously unknown phenomena, technology and threats were commonplace in Sirius. In order to adapt, the gene-mods of the Battle Brothers were experimented upon in order to further increase their capacities. The results of these experiments were soon rolled out and distributed to each Detachment, to allow them to train and equip these recruits to become Prime Brothers.
Once their training was completed, the Prime Brothers were formed into new Detachments and deployed to the Frontier. Rather than reinforcing the existing Battle Brothers forces, they were assigned to explore and fight far from the core of the galaxy.
Many Prime Brothers began to show damage to their muscles, joints and bones, as their bodies were unable to adapt to the gene-mods. These flaws were found in every Prime Brother, but for some the deterioration was much slower than others, with it taking decades for the worst effects to show in some, but until then, each Prime Brother remained a highly effective warrior.
The Prime Brothers carried on even after these side effects were discovered, however, despite the wishes of the Custodians, they revealed the side effects of their gene-mods publicly. Despite this, many recruits were still willing to accept the risks in order to join their ranks. Prime Brothers know their enhancements mean that they are more likely to die from deterioration than in battle, as a result many are willing to take risks others would deem unacceptable. This has only further built their reputation as heroes and drawn in more recruits who idolize them.
Due to their shortened life spans, Prime Brothers often lack the organization and personal experience of the Battle Brothers, so they rely on their advanced technology and individual heroism to overcome this disadvantage. While some Battle Brothers may view them as reckless, others have developed a keen respect for the bravery and sense of sacrifice common to the Prime Brothers.
How will your short lifetime serve the Founder’s vision?"
Custodian Brothers
"The Custodian Brothers are the personal protectors of the Conduit, the heir of the Founder who created the gene-mods. Few in number, they use cutting edge armour and weapons, customized to their exact specifications.
They serve as the Conduit’s personal guard and emissaries, delivering his orders and enforcing his will directly. The Custodians depend heavily upon their reputation and the trust that others invest in them. In order to maintain their status, they have slowly embraced intricate honour ceremonies, destructive rivalries and webs of lies and secrets.
During his rise to power, the Founder established an entourage of trusted acolytes. Each member was an individual of intelligence and skill whom the Founder trusted implicitly. They were the first with whom he shared his vision for an enhanced humanity, and his plan to achieve immortality by transferring memories and consciousness to a clone upon death.
The Custodian Brothers acted as his confidants and representatives, and their word is considered second only to the Founder himself. Throughout the civil war, they served as his personal guards and emissaries to the loyalist Detachments.
When the Founder personally led a fleet to recover his stolen Flagship, the Custodians were at his side. They met the stolen ship at the edge of known space and a desperate battle ensued where the Founder himself was slain. Devastated by their loss, the Custodians fought with renewed fury, when at the height of the conflict, a wormhole opened and engulfed both fleets. The fleets then emerged in another galaxy, scattered and damaged.
The Custodians moved quickly to rally the remaining Detachments of Battle Brothers and to enact the Founder’s contingency plan: the Conduit Program. The Founder’s foresight and knowledge was proven, as his consciousness and memories were preserved in a clone. The Conduit became a symbol of the Founder’s vision and victory over death, which united the disparate Detachments in Sirius, while the Custodians continued to serve as the Conduit’s right hand in the sector.
The Custodians continue to serve a vital role as the right hand and voice of the Conduit to the followers of the Founder. As a result, Custodians value themselves and others according to the reputations they build, both within the Brotherhood and outside of it, above all else. To ensure their honour is recognized, each Custodian takes great pains to display signs of their achievements, keeping trophies and engraving their armour with titles.
While some might dismiss the Custodians as vainglorious, most recognize that it is only through their tireless dedication and diplomacy that unity is maintained. The Custodians stand as symbols of the Founder’s singular vision and reflections of human perfection that exist at the edge of genetic modification.
How will you defend humanity’s unity and honour in Sirius?
That's it for this week, we hope you enjoyed this lore focus. :)
Happy Wargaming!
– OPR Team
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