New Men
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This article is about the New Men of Fabius Bile; for the Imperial Abhuman, see Gland Warrior. |
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The following paragraphs contain spoilers for: | Fabius Bile (Novel Series) |
The New Men or Homo novus are creations of Fabius Bile.[2a]
Overview
Viewed as the pinnacle of Bile's "art", these are creatures who possess strength and intelligence superior to any human, as well as the worst traits of mankind. Fabius secretly seeds New Men on worlds across the Galaxy, hoping to one day have them overtake the Human race. As Fabius leaves behind planets of corrupted human abominations, the Adeptus Astartes and the Inquisition strive to purge these creations, and are forced to destroy entire populations.[1]
Fabius would seed populations of his New Men on many Frontier Worlds, safely spinward from the galactic core. On some worlds they ruled openly, but after the events on Paramar he decided it was not yet time for them to do such. Since then, Abbadon has ordered Bile's New Men to be killed on sight.[3d]
Homo Novus was able to reliably breed true. Their children grow and learn extremely fast and are born survivors. Infants are able to see, hear, and eat solid foods only a few hours after birth. After a few days they are able to hunt vermin for themselves. Bile begins their education at 6 weeks of age, which progressively becomes more complex after a year. Those who show an aptitude for social or hard sciences are separated from the rest and given specialised training.[2a] Many Homo Novus would develop purple eyes and white hair, alongside strong frames and regal or unnaturally perfect features.[2e][2a] This is due in part to the pure Emperor's Children gene-seed Fabius obtained on Solemnace, as well as feasibly one of the many traits Homo Novus choose to pass on in their bloodlines to improve the next generation.[2a]
Fabius is proud of his New Men, but he also believes they must eventually kill him to realise their destiny, a fate he is willing to accept. Bile engineered all urges for religion out of his New Men, but they still revere him.[5a] They are also engineered to not be nervous or feel fear, however, some might feel fear for their maker if his life is threatened.[5b] Some mistakenly believe that the hordes of Beastmen and other mutants that Fabius often uses as cannon-fodder are, in fact, his "New Men". Fabius finds this thought amusing.[5c] The fervent worship the New Men have given of Fabius, despite his best efforts to discourage such behavior, has nonetheless stirred a minor Chaos God within the Warp dubbed the Pater Mutatis.[2b]
Shortly before the Battle of Belial IV, Fabius realized his "children" would come under retaliation from the Dark Eldar enemies he had made. In desperation, he journeyed to the Daemon World of Callax and met with Fulgrim. Fabius requested Fulgrim protect the New Men from the Drukhari. The Daemon Primarch agreed, but only if Fabius pledged his soul and his creations to Slaanesh. Though willing to sacrifice himself, Fabius refused to offer the New Men to the forces of Chaos. A compromise was reached: Fabius would submit to Slaanesh, but his creations would be free to decide their own fate.[2c]
Gland-hounds
A fierce sub-type of New Men are the Gland-hounds, warriors designed to hunt Space Marines. These are made by partial implantation of a lesser form of Astartes gene-seed.[3c][4b] Like all of Fabius' creations, he experiments and tweaks their generations, a notable addition is aeldari genetics increasing their speed and agility.[2d] The hyper-violent Bharghesi may have also been used in their creation, their violent nature tempered with the patience of a human making for an effective predator.[3h] They have muscles of comparable size to an Astartes, but are unlikely to defeat an Astartes one-on-one. Despite this, it is exceptionally hard for them to die, making them a time-consuming opponent for any Space Marine one-on-one.[4b] Gland-hounds are designed to hunt Space Marines in packs and retrieve their gene-seed.[3c][4b] They are loyal to Bile on a genetic level and worship him as a quasi-god.[3c]
The Gland-hounds of the New Men have jostling rivalries and pack social structures where the strongest and most capable rise to prominence. They often brawl and test their strength amongst each other. Pack leaders are inevitably challenged and usurped once they're strength, skills, or knowledge has little more to offer the pack.[3d] A single Gland-hound pack can range from less than a dozen to over a hundred.[3f]
Alongside their enhanced musculature, they have thickened dermis that allows for tolerance of cold to such an extent that they can even survive brief exposure to the void.[3a] Many also have omophageac capabilities; data intake by ingestion, the ability to learn by eating.[2a][2f] However their omophageac abilities are to a lesser degree compared to that of an Astartes.[2f] Of their many biological quirks, some of the early Gland-hounds were even able to piss a strong form of corrosive acid.[4b]
The twins Mayasha and Mayshana were the first natural-born Gland-hounds to inherit the first generation's enhanced musculature, without the need of augmentation after birth.[3a]
Some Alpha Legion warbands have an interest in using Gland-hound children to infiltrate Imperial organisations, such as the Schola Progenium.[2d]
Known New Men
- Darax - Third of Igori's pack, promoted to Second.[4c]
- Emil Vargas - Became Planetary Governor of an Imperial world. Taken by the Dark Eldar.[2a]
- Glaive & Spar - Fourth Generation Gland-hound[2g] twins.[2a] Igori's great-grandson and great-granddaughter, respectively.[2g]
- Igori - First generation Gland-hound directly created by Bile.[2g] Foremost amongst the Gland-hounds.[4b] Matriarch to many subsequent generations.[3e]
- Mayasha & Mayshana - Third generation Gland-hound[2g] twins.[3a] Igori's grandson and granddaughter, respectively.[3g] Mayasha was slain by Palos, a warrior of Flavius Alkenex, during the Phoenix Guard Prefect's betrayal of Fabius on Solemnace.[3b]
- Ortiz - Former Second of Igori's pack. An exceptionally large brute that was almost as strong as a Space Marine.[4c]
- Porter - Bodyguard of Fabius Bile in M42 and descendant of the New Men.[5a]
- Fetzer & Zella - Planetary Governor and his wife, respectively. Ruled the minor Imperial Agri World of Peleus-Tertius.[2e]
