Corpse-Starch
Corpse-starch is the Emperor's blessing upon the empty bellies of his loyal servants.
Corpse-Starch (sometimes spelled without the hyphen) is a synthetic food appearing as a grey paste that is created from the recycled dead bodies of the Imperium's citizens.[1]
Overview
Corpse-Starch is synthetic food made from rendered human corpses. It is noted as being processed into a tasteless grey paste,[1] as well as crackers.[3] Corpse Starch is most often seen packaged in tins.[4] Corpse Starch serves the dual purpose of dealing with masses of dead bodies and feeding the down-trodden masses. It can be found offered on various hive worlds and unluckier Astra Militarum regiments[1] as supplied by the Departmento Munitorum.[5]
Corpse Starch production is a highly supervised and intensive rendering process that thoroughly puree flesh into a unified blandness devoid of flavour and identity. A meal of pure corpse starch is noted as poor quality. It is created with [1] In some places of the Imperium it is considered overtly seditious conduct to express disgust in response to the weird taste of corpse starch. If a worker's foreman hears of this, said individual could find themselves on a prison ship within hours.[8]
Production
Corpse Starch is often manufactured through the process of protein reclamation, which happens in large, corpse-blending machines known as protein reclamators. Different designs of protein reclamation machines exist, but they generally involve some kind of large churn that corpses are dumped into, with a pipe that siphons out ground solid corpse matter.[9]
On Necromunda, the Mercator Pallidus sends Corpse Harvesting Parties, led by their Pale Consorts and Bone Scrivener attendants, to acquire dead bodies, which are then sent to the Corpse Grinders for processing into the final product.[2] The Corpse Grinders gang of Necromunda are known to operate protein reclamators, collecting skulls for an unknown purpose.[9]
The cemetery moon of Daedalon in the Gilead System had a large Corpse-Starch production facility.[7]
Derivatives
On Necromunda, Corpse-Starch that has been forgotten about for thousands of years gets infested by the spores of the planet's mutant fungi, and over time turns into a powdery green scum. The hivers call this substance 'raw Spook' and use it as an ingredient in a frothy liquid narcotic called Spook, which enhances any latent psychic awareness that the imbiber may have and turns them into a Wyrd.[6]
Trivia
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- Corpse-Starch is often confused with soylens viridians, which is a reference to the 1973 film Soylent Green, where the titular food in said film is made of repurposed human flesh. However, soylens viridians is actually a separate foodstuff that can be made of a wide variety of animal and vegetable matter. In the video game Necromunda: Hired Gun, though, the soylens viridians is strongly implied to be made by the Mercator Pallidus, meaning Necromunda's version of it, at least, is probably just as much human meat as their Corpse-Starch is.
See also
Sources
- 1: Imperium Maledictum: Core Rulebook, V: Armoury, pg. 157
- 2: Warhammer Community, Stock Up On (Relatively) Fresh Meat in Necromunda With a Corpse Harvesting Party, (last accessed 20 April 2025)
- 3: The Regimental Standard, The Great 'Egg' Hunt!, (last accessed 20 April 2025)
- 4: The Regimental Standard, Introducing the Guardsman to Skitarius Phrasebook, (last accessed 20 April 2025)
- 5: The Regimental Standard, Your New Diet Plan, (last accessed 20 April 2025)
- 6: Fanatic Magazine Issue 6, Dead or Alive! Rules for Outlaw Gangs in Necromunda
- 7: Wrath & Glory: The Graveyard Shift
- 8: Warhammer 40,000: Darktide: Character Creation, Crimes: Sedition
- 9: White Dwarf December 2019, pgs. 128-137
- 10: Regimental Standard: Introducing the Guardsman-to-Skitarius Phrasebook (posted 21 April 2021) (Page archived 21 April 2021. Last accessed 22 March 2025.)
