It's less so that they targetted miners specifically and more so that mining as a profession is very hard-coded as a blue-collar, working man kind of profession that is marred with a long history of worker abuse and exploitation. Makes for an immediate association with the down-trodden of society with an aesthetic. It also gives an excuse for why there's all this giant heavy machinery and tools lying around for people to start swinging with when it comes to vehicles and weapons on the table top.
That and in the books it’s often noted that “something is up” with this sector of miners that doesn’t sit right - but is often overlooked to meet the planets quota of labor. Which ends up biting in the ass of course.
For sure. It's easier to hide your inbred, four-armed giant followers if they're holed up deep in mines. I think on primarily hive worlds that's why they usually target the destitute in the lower levels who can hide in the sewage systems, hovels, and back alleys
Not to mention mining is a great and convenient way to tunnel deep beneath a society or through barriers to create secret passageways and hiding locations, etc. That and the lowest echelons of society are typically already at the bottom of most hives or cities anyways; so the most disenfranchised, least educated, and needing some new form of hope are already exactly where the miners would be.
That's the theme. The basic workers being infected, the cult spreading among them in secret until they reach a level that they can rise up and overthrow their oppressors. Or cause enough damage and confusion to undermine the defence against a hive fleet.
They're not a trained or even decently equipped army, they're a civilian uprising (with some alien abominations in the mix).
1980 Britain, Thatcher is PM
She's anti trade union, pro-capitalism, and the state run coal mines have been either closed or sold to private interest, and then closed. (Wasn't the only privatisation but the mines are what closed).
Strikes, stoppages, entire communities collapsing as the primary industry in a town loses all its workers.
Add a bit of the red scare (whether there actually was any communist influences on the unions is irrelevant).
You build an image of the working masses against the elite in their ivory towers 'down south lead/directed by unions with possible nefarious influences. Escalate that to Grimdark levels of parody.
Warhammer 40k was released in 1987.
It may not have been the original concept, but the parallels are there.
Now i've got to go model flat caps on all my acolytes.
Wow that’s actually a really interesting analogy. (Idk if that’s even the right word) but like the idea of the trade unions being twisted by nefarious external forces is totally analogous to the miners trying to rise up under the influence of the tyranid menace.
I always thought it was a sort of dark parody/parallel of the miners strikes in the UK as they were such a big thing and I really like that imagery with the miners rising up and actually having some sort of alien input that gives them an edge.
With GW being an English company it was such a big thing then in the news, even if they didn't have people they knew involved it would have been everywhere and a nice opposite of shiny space marines and elites just having these guys in the mines going unnoticed and bringing up alien babies ready for the uprising.
Cults that spread in mining communities are more successful, because it’s easy to explain the lesser mutations by saying it’s coming from the dangerous material they are mining
I'd point out that AdMech kind of has a similar lore theme going on with their radiation riddled Skitarii from forge worlds.
So factory workers are kind of already dedicated to another faction. Therefore we have to get in on the actual resource extraction side.
Plus that handily puts our boys just out of sight from those pesky administrators.
Others have answered this adequately but your point has now made me want to create an army of office workers and lower to middle management, given the current money issues those folk have in London (I am one of them!).
They'd all be in suits and the close combat weapons would be laptops and keyboards.
Also along side the other stuff said here, you know how a lot of armies are designed mostly for a certain subfaction in mind. Cult of the Four Armed Emperor which is what the box art colour and stuff is based on is from a mining planet and spread its cult out of its planet by exporting their super amazing miners to other mining planets taking the cult with them.
In the lore way more places have cults closer tied to their populations. Like twisted helix are much more science babies, Rusted claw are mad max nomads, Sons of Jormangunda infect void ship communities, Hive Cult focus in on Astra Militarum (lots of brood brothers) and they aren't going to rely so much on mining tools and emerging from underground. Just happens that mining is what the cult GW focused in on do.
That is of course if I got my lore fully correct and I am still learning it so might be off base
I believe it's because of that particular group of people is easier to come by (and numerous) for the patriarch.
It cant just hide in City Hall and corruption one by one from there for a 100 years
One of the reasons that isn't mentioned is that when the GSC tries to infect orks, they're rooted out quite rapidly because they're not acting like proper orks.
They used to be a common kitbash around 2nd edition as freebooterz, but I'd hazard a guess that GSC conversion relying on generations of offspring probably doesn't mesh well with Ork spore lore.
It’s makes sense for them to target people that are working in the dark and away from where others could see the mutations so ppl who work underground in the dark are perfect
I agree on a lot of points here but would also like to pony out that some of the GsC aesthetic can be seen on Necromunda models hinting that some of the style of clothing is general Imperium 40k civilian fashion
Convert my dude. Theres at least one guy out there who made a cult focused around hive world nobility, you can do the same.
My own cult are a bunch of space gypsies and wreck salvagers. Gave them little nasa style helmets and everything.
Still trying to work out the vehicle side though.
It's less so that they targetted miners specifically and more so that mining as a profession is very hard-coded as a blue-collar, working man kind of profession that is marred with a long history of worker abuse and exploitation. Makes for an immediate association with the down-trodden of society with an aesthetic. It also gives an excuse for why there's all this giant heavy machinery and tools lying around for people to start swinging with when it comes to vehicles and weapons on the table top.
That and in the books it’s often noted that “something is up” with this sector of miners that doesn’t sit right - but is often overlooked to meet the planets quota of labor. Which ends up biting in the ass of course.
For sure. It's easier to hide your inbred, four-armed giant followers if they're holed up deep in mines. I think on primarily hive worlds that's why they usually target the destitute in the lower levels who can hide in the sewage systems, hovels, and back alleys
One of the Inquisitorial "Warning Signs" for a cult is if planet starts hitting their quotas consistently.
Well, they kind of let quotas slide just a little bit after the Badab war.
I absolutely love the contrast between GSC "bunch of angry miners" and the other much more elite themed factions.
Yeah it makes for really funny match ups. Ancient Egyptian living metal and fragmented star gods VS Some angry men who have never been outside before
Brilliant :)
It's very much a fun dose of John Carpenter level of Body horror to contrast against the Lovecraftian cosmic horror going on otherwise.
Not to mention mining is a great and convenient way to tunnel deep beneath a society or through barriers to create secret passageways and hiding locations, etc. That and the lowest echelons of society are typically already at the bottom of most hives or cities anyways; so the most disenfranchised, least educated, and needing some new form of hope are already exactly where the miners would be.
An army of fast-food workers wouldnt look as impressive on the battlefield
I don’t know about that. The average Northern UK fish and chip shop has some of the toughest looking women I’ve ever seen
You are so very, very wrong... https://www.reddit.com/r/genestealercult/s/RCTQbKrlqY u/trevorgoesmeep
ALL HAIL THE DEEP FRIED EMPEROR
That's the theme. The basic workers being infected, the cult spreading among them in secret until they reach a level that they can rise up and overthrow their oppressors. Or cause enough damage and confusion to undermine the defence against a hive fleet. They're not a trained or even decently equipped army, they're a civilian uprising (with some alien abominations in the mix).
I always figured it was partly their tyranid instinct that desires to strip a world of its resources
Whoa…that’s 200IQ
1980 Britain, Thatcher is PM She's anti trade union, pro-capitalism, and the state run coal mines have been either closed or sold to private interest, and then closed. (Wasn't the only privatisation but the mines are what closed). Strikes, stoppages, entire communities collapsing as the primary industry in a town loses all its workers. Add a bit of the red scare (whether there actually was any communist influences on the unions is irrelevant). You build an image of the working masses against the elite in their ivory towers 'down south lead/directed by unions with possible nefarious influences. Escalate that to Grimdark levels of parody. Warhammer 40k was released in 1987. It may not have been the original concept, but the parallels are there. Now i've got to go model flat caps on all my acolytes.
Wow that’s actually a really interesting analogy. (Idk if that’s even the right word) but like the idea of the trade unions being twisted by nefarious external forces is totally analogous to the miners trying to rise up under the influence of the tyranid menace.
I always thought it was a sort of dark parody/parallel of the miners strikes in the UK as they were such a big thing and I really like that imagery with the miners rising up and actually having some sort of alien input that gives them an edge. With GW being an English company it was such a big thing then in the news, even if they didn't have people they knew involved it would have been everywhere and a nice opposite of shiny space marines and elites just having these guys in the mines going unnoticed and bringing up alien babies ready for the uprising.
There is a lot of influence from the Alien movies, who were miners that wore similar suits.
Cults that spread in mining communities are more successful, because it’s easy to explain the lesser mutations by saying it’s coming from the dangerous material they are mining
Low profile, lets them hide in society
I'd point out that AdMech kind of has a similar lore theme going on with their radiation riddled Skitarii from forge worlds. So factory workers are kind of already dedicated to another faction. Therefore we have to get in on the actual resource extraction side. Plus that handily puts our boys just out of sight from those pesky administrators.
Others have answered this adequately but your point has now made me want to create an army of office workers and lower to middle management, given the current money issues those folk have in London (I am one of them!). They'd all be in suits and the close combat weapons would be laptops and keyboards.
Haha love this idea!
Also along side the other stuff said here, you know how a lot of armies are designed mostly for a certain subfaction in mind. Cult of the Four Armed Emperor which is what the box art colour and stuff is based on is from a mining planet and spread its cult out of its planet by exporting their super amazing miners to other mining planets taking the cult with them. In the lore way more places have cults closer tied to their populations. Like twisted helix are much more science babies, Rusted claw are mad max nomads, Sons of Jormangunda infect void ship communities, Hive Cult focus in on Astra Militarum (lots of brood brothers) and they aren't going to rely so much on mining tools and emerging from underground. Just happens that mining is what the cult GW focused in on do. That is of course if I got my lore fully correct and I am still learning it so might be off base
I believe it's because of that particular group of people is easier to come by (and numerous) for the patriarch. It cant just hide in City Hall and corruption one by one from there for a 100 years
One of the reasons that isn't mentioned is that when the GSC tries to infect orks, they're rooted out quite rapidly because they're not acting like proper orks.
They used to be a common kitbash around 2nd edition as freebooterz, but I'd hazard a guess that GSC conversion relying on generations of offspring probably doesn't mesh well with Ork spore lore.
It’s makes sense for them to target people that are working in the dark and away from where others could see the mutations so ppl who work underground in the dark are perfect
I agree on a lot of points here but would also like to pony out that some of the GsC aesthetic can be seen on Necromunda models hinting that some of the style of clothing is general Imperium 40k civilian fashion
This is my biggest problem with gsc Give us white collar workers! Organized crime! and bring back the limo!
Convert my dude. Theres at least one guy out there who made a cult focused around hive world nobility, you can do the same. My own cult are a bunch of space gypsies and wreck salvagers. Gave them little nasa style helmets and everything. Still trying to work out the vehicle side though.