Beastmen

Horned, hoofed, and quite hairy Abhumans who appear like nothing so much as humanoid goats or rams. They were formerly recruited for the Imperial Army and later the Astra Militarum, where they used their bloodlust to fight for the Emperor and atone for the sin of being born as mutants. They were led by other Beastmen called Packmasters.
At present, "Pureblood" Beastmen are no longer seen in Imperial service, since overt mutants now only serve in the Forces of Chaos. No doubt Puritan elements of the Inquisition convinced the Administratum that the Beastmen could not be so radically altered from the normal human form without being tainted by Chaos.
Some lesser variants of the H.s.variatus strain, who are less physically mutated than their peers, are allowed to still exist within the Imperial armed forces, where they are used as cannon fodder and as expendable assault troops.

Civilization and Culture

History

The origin of Beastmen is unknown, though it is likely that they are the result of experiments in genetic engineering stretching back to the Dark Age of Technology before the birth of the Imperium of Man, who proceeded to breed true. Other Imperial savants claim that Beastmen are Abhumans whose unusual forms were the result of exposure to the influence of the Warp but that the subspecies somehow managed to maintain an unusual degree of genetic stability across generations.

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Human

Scientific Name

Homo sapiens variatus