... And here I was, making such good progress on painting my Iron Warriors... And then an idea pops up, that I just HAD to do, getting me sidetracked. Oh well. :)
The story of Heretek Magos Biologis Illiex Delta-84 - infamously known as Queen of the Malstrain Hive - began as a higher ranking Magos Biologis. Her work led her to research of the Tyranid genomes, and she became fascinated by the species, the multitude of individual creatures, and specifically the genestealers - in particular, the easiness of which Genestealer and human DNA could mesh.
Very aware of the heresies she would be comitting, she began to aquire DNA samples of various tyranid creatures, in order to clone her own. However, her research quickly ground to a halt, when she realised the danger of the cloned creatures potentially being able to send a psychic signal to a Hive Fleet, thereby dooming the Forge World her laboratory was located on. However, further research led to her discovery of the Malstrain Genestealers, located on Necromunda - a certain mutated strand of Genestealer, unable to call upon a Hive Fleet, due to their twisted physiology. Decades of pulling strings, calling upon shady favours and working strictly under cover, led her to finally aquiring some usable DNA samples of the Malstrain Genestealers.
Illiex quickly went to work and went on to clone a handful of Malstrain specimens, in the secret vaults beneath her lab. She quickly realised that the specimens were close to uncontrollable and figured that their primitive intellects could be controlled by a leader. Thus, she excavated DNA strands from them, to clone a Malstrain Alpha brain, which she succesfully integrated into her own cognitive stacks. A milestone was reached - she could now walk freely among the Malstrain specimens, and they could be somewhat controlled by her thoughts.
Catastrophy struck, in the middle of her groundbreaking research with integrating Malstrain DNA into human test subjects, her Skitarii guards being “volunteers”, as word of her work had somehow reached the higher echelons of the Biologis Prime. She was forced to flee, being declared Heretek ,under penalty of obliteration, and managed to secure a few of her Malstrain subjects, as well as a handful of her enhanced Skitarii.
Illiex now roams the galaxy, still continuing her research and leading missions with her “children” as she refers to, to uncover archeotech and DNA to help her work.
The Malstrain Prime brain, integrated into her cognitive system, has made her utterly insane, and while she is convinced her work will better humanity, she is nought but a vessel for spreading the Malstrain genes.
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I loved the Malstrain genestealers from the moment I saw them. Utterly twisted and horrifying. I just didn’t know what to use them for. Inspiration struck in the early hours of December morning, when I was washing the 4th set of bedsheets my 5 year old son had thrown up in that night (yay, stomach virus…), and I got the idea to use them as ruststalkers for a Hunter Clade team. They were almost the exact same size, and my weird imagination started coming up for a way to fill out the rest of the team.
The Queen is an Infiltrator Princeps, the Malstrain are Ruststalkers, the “Siamese” is an Infiltrator and the Tech Thralls counts a Skitarii - two of them armed with a Plasma Caliver and Arc Rifle. (I still need to come up with a way to make two of them look like Diktat and Surveyor, respectively.)
