Lightbringer:
During the last years of the 39th millennia, the Imperium was blessed with the birth of a great hero. From humble origins, this military genius united hundreds of sectors, brought peace to countless systems, and culminated his extraordinary career by raising a truly vast army and conquering a thousand worlds in the western reaches. This extraordinary individual is known to history as Lord Solar Macharius. His life, and his tragic death under mysterious circumstances are legendary in the Imperium, though his reputation is tainted by the collapse of his conquered territories following his death during the later Macharian Heresy.
Within two hundred years of his death, the first Afrieli strain Guardsmen appeared. The product of an Imperial weapons research project so secretive that to this day only the highest adepts of Terra are aware of its full implications, its aim was to produce super-soldiers, genetically screened to ensure utter loyalty and reliability.
The intention was not to create rivals to the great Adeptus Astartes, but to create stable and utterly self-sacrificing abhuman infantrymen who could hold territory in circumstances that would represent a grave threat to the moral purity of “normal” troops.
Skirting dangerously close to tech-heresy, the mysterious creators of the strain took the base genetic template of Lord Solar Macharius and adjusted certain markers to reflect desirable genetic traits from a number of other heroic “donors.” Sergeant Cassius Grale, who marched 300 miles in two nights carrying his injured commanding officer across the high-grav plains of Astaban IV, under fire all the way, provided genetic information for the cardiac and muscular markers. Commissar Rakken, sole survivor of the Vaniette Plains massacre provided genetic data linked to personality and mental stamina. Other highly decorated heroes of the Macharian crusade contributed the DNA code sequences which enabled desirable traits linked to reflex time, perception, eyesight and the like to be coded into the strain.
The Afrieli strain’s creators lacked the awesome technological facilities the Emperor himself had possessed when he created the Adeptus Astartes. They were not able to create Astartes geneseed, so the piecemeal genetic template they had painstakingly stitched together had to be imprinted on blank human ova and either grown in Vitae-Womb tanks, or implanted in womb-servitors, mindwiped human females used solely to act as birth mothers for the infant Afrielis. All Afrielis were created as albinos in order to aid battlefield identification and prevent easy desertion into local human populations.
The resulting children were genetically human, but were so obviously genegineered that they have always been classed as abhuman by the Imperium. They were trained from birth in specialist Departmento Munitorum facilities in their duties. Raised solely into the Imperial Creed, with an emphasis upon self sacrifice and loyalty, they became amongst the most fanatical and devoted servants the Emperor possessed.
Finally, armed with a uniquely created genetic code, a lifetime’s worth of training, and the best military equipment available, the first regiment of Afrieli strain Guardsmen marched to war under the banner of the Imperium.
The experiment was a failure.
Initial results were overwhelmingly successful: the Afrielis were, as anticipated, utterly remorseless and without fear. They obeyed any order, no matter how horrific or pointless. They fought without breaking against Daemonic opponents, and never asked for or offered any quarter. However, they seemed to be dogged by the most hideous bad luck: half the first regiment was wiped out when its heavy lander crashed under freakish circumstances, and the remainder gradually starved to death during the Frenella Daemonic incursion war when a Departmento Munitorum clerical error sent them sunscreen rather than rations.
The second regiment was lost in the warp and the third were killed during the infamous Rashan dropsite massacre of M41 255. By the time the fourth regiment was lost when their Chartered vessel suffered a warp drive implosion, dark rumours about the Afrieli strain being cursed began to spread. In the superstitious and backward 41st millennium, such rumours rapidly developed a life of their own. Inquisitors descended upon the facilities devoted to the creation of the Afrielis, and many of the scientists responsible for their inception were racked and burned at the stake.
Now, very few Afrielis remain. Some technologically advanced Imperial worlds still retain their genetic template, and occasionally raise Afrieli regiments in the old manner, but these are rare. Ironically, the principle users of Afrielis are the Inquisition. Many Ordo Malleus Inquisitors value the loyalty and spiritual fortitude of Afrielis, and many historically minded Inquisitors of other Ordos enjoy having acolytes who bear the genes – however diluted – of the great Lord Solar Macharius himself.
Creating an Afrieli character
Afrielis are unique, having a background and childhood totally different to anyone else in the Imperium. Raised from birth in military training schools, and having had a uniquely grim interpretation of the (already grim) Imperial creed drilled into them, they are always going to be a little odd. As such, the normal hiveworld/feral world/Imperial world/voidborn rules do not apply to them. The rules below replace the rules set out on p13-21 of the DH rulebook.
Afrieli Traits
Afrielis all have the following traits. Record all these on your character sheet:
Cursed
For reasons no-one has ever fully understood Afrielis, especially large groups of Afrielis, seem to have the most appalling bad luck. Roll a D6:-
1-2: Halve the number of fate points your character has, rounding down. Thus a roll of 1 fate point means you have no fate points and a roll of 3 fate points means you have only 1. Use the Imperial world part of the chart on p28 to determine the number of fate points.
3-4 Health problems. There has been some fault in replicating your genetic code over the years. You are more prone to cancers and other related problems. Every time you advance a career rank, roll a d10. If you roll a 1 or 2, you have developed a debilitating cancer. This will not immediately affect play, but between sessions you will be diagnosed with a medical problem that will involve painful and unpleasant treatment. Lose 1 wound permanently, and again each time you roll a 1 or 2 on advancing ranks.
5-6 Mental problems. Some fault in your genetic code makes you have a slightly tenuous grasp on reality. Every time you advance a career rank, roll a d10. If you roll a 1 or 2, you have developed a minor mental problem. Gain 1d5 insanity points.
Blessed Ignorance
(as the Imperial worlder trait on page 19 of the DH rulebook)
Odd
Afrielis are odd, even by the standards of Imperial warriors. They all look alike (they are all in effect identical twins, having been created from the same genetic template, though minor variations due to conditions in the womb are common), they are not used to dealing with people, and they see everything in quasi religious/military terms. This makes them unsettling and intimidating to normal people. Afrielis gain the Intimidate skill, but take a -10 penalty on all fellowship tests involving non-Afrielis.
And they shall know no fear….
Afrielis have been genetically designed to have no fear of anything. This is a less subtle process than that used to create similar fortitude in the Astartes: Afrielis are simply brainwashed from birth to be faithful and not to value their own lives. Their genetic code also renders them immune to battle shock and post traumatic stress disorder.
Afrielis gain the Fearless and Insanely Faithful Traits.
Cruel Military upbringing
Afrielis have a wider range of military skills than most guardsmen. This is a product of their intensive training from birth.
The character gains the Swim, Literacy and Navigation (surface) skills. However, they are all sterilised at birth, so also gain the chem-geld trait as well.
Afrielis grow up on harsh military bases, and have amongst the best medical treatment in the galaxy. This toughens them up, and provides superb military training but makes them naïve and unworldly. Generate characteristics for them using the following chart, which replaces table 1-3 on p 23 of the rulebook:-
Table 1-3: Generating characteristics
Homeworld modifiers
Characteristic Base Afrieli
Weapon Skill (WS) 2d10+ 20
Ballistic Skill (BS) 2d10+ 25
Strength (S) 2d10+ 20
Toughness (T) 2d10+ 25
Agility (Ag) 2d10+ 20
Intelligence (Int) 2d10+ 20
Perception (Per) 2d10+ 20
Willpower (WP) 2d10+ 20
Fellowship (Fel) 2d10+ 10
When determining the career path for an Afrieli, you are going to be very limited. They are born to be soldiers, pure and simple.
However, now and again, for reasons no one can truly understand, a female Afrieli is born. It is unknown how this is even possible, but on the rare occasion it does, they are usually earmarked for specialist black ops work. Thus, to replace table 1-4, career paths, simply roll a d100. On a roll of 01-99, the character is a male guardsman. On a roll of 00, the character is a female assassin.
When rolling for wounds, treat Afrielis as Feral worlders for the purposes of table 1-6.
Thereafter rollup the character as normal.
When rolling up your character’s appearance, however, you again are going to be rather limited. All Afrielis have white albino skin, white hair and red eyes. In fact, the eyes of an Afrieli are completely red, having no “white” at all. Many humans find this disturbing. They are all of slightly above average height, (ranging from 5’9” to 5’11”) but are well built and muscular (around 75-80kgs).
Disturbingly, they all have the face of Lord Solar Macharius, which is recognisable from thousands of portraits and statues across the Imperium…
Design notes: I haven’t invented Afrielis, 40k anoraks will know that they featured in a White Dwarf a while back, and also in a Black Library “Last Chancers” book by Gav Thorpe. I have to admit I haven’t read the book, only the WD article, but I loved the concept and used it to create this article. I have tried to make the background of the Afrielis to be as “open” as possible, so as to deal with any inevitable GW retconning. If you don’t like my history of the Afrielis, please feel free to re-write it for your own games, I never claim any moral rights over any of my stuff, use as you see fit! (That applies to anyone who wants to put this on their website - feel free to do so!)
The Afrielis are hardcore acolytes, combat specialists. I have tried to balance them out by making them odd, cursed and sterile, but you should be aware that they’re going to be probably the toughest combatant in the group. I think however that they are tremendously characterful and interesting. They could create good roleplaying opportunities, too. I always saw them as being quite gentle and childlike in many ways, until a fight kicks off. Imagine an albino Jason Bourne! I hope you enjoy using them, and remember…the Emperor protects!
