First Genestealer Cults in the Imperium

[Indefragable]

When can we say the first Genestealer Cult in the Imperium was?

 

Officially?

 

We can speculate that they have been around for far, far, far longer than anyone suspects, as is the very nature of such sneaky affairs, but I'm curious how close to the Horus Heresy it would be considered appropriate for bits and bobs of GSC iconography to start appearing. 

 

I'm at the planning stages of a project and just curious when the setting officially establishes it's "ok" to show GSC stuff. 

[Shinros]

When can we say the first Genestealer Cult in the Imperium was?

 

Officially?

 

We can speculate that they have been around for far, far, far longer than anyone suspects, as is the very nature of such sneaky affairs, but I'm curious how close to the Horus Heresy it would be considered appropriate for bits and bobs of GSC iconography to start appearing. 

 

I'm at the planning stages of a project and just curious when the setting officially establishes it's "ok" to show GSC stuff. 

I think the first discovered case according to the codex was the cult of the four-armed emperor, the Imperium dealt with the original infestation but found out some of the cult members have been selected to run factories on other worlds, because you know they were awesome workers. So the cult is truly not dead like they thought. 

[Lord Marshal]

As Shinros says, the Cult of the Four-Armed Emperor operating on Ghosar Quintus appears to be the first 'recorded' discovery of a Genestealer Cult. It was also very recent, as it's said the Inquisition's attempts at spreading their knowledge of the Cults - specifically what occured on Ghosar Quintus - has been hampered by the Great Rift's appearance. 

 

However since they've been a feature since Rogue Trader, there's a few references to them in Black Library/RPG books that're set prior to that (the Deathwatch RPG certainly suggests they were known about centuries before the current timeline) which put it into question. Of course given just how well they operate in secrecy, it's not unreasonable to assume they've been seeded long before the Tyranid's were a known entity. 

[Irbis]

Centuries? More like millennia. One of the Cain books have frozen tyranids dating back at least several thousand years. Ymgarl Genestealers (who presumably could make cults) and feral Genestealers found on space hulks also significantly predate any tyranid contact, though I don't believe there are any hard numbers there.

 

If the Catachan and Fenris creatures are indeed tyranids, you can have cults dating back to DAoT, though humanity was probably capable of rendering them non-threatening back then.

[RandyB]

Given that the Genestealers are GWs take on we-all-know-who, their presence in the galaxy may well predate the DAoT. And given how far back the Deep History of the setting goes, this is not a major stretch.

[Moonreaper666]

Given that the Genestealers are GWs take on we-all-know-who, their presence in the galaxy may well predate the DAoT. And given how far back the Deep History of the setting goes, this is not a major stretch.

I think the Horus Heresy novel, Pharos, outright retcons the Tyranids. It took them 10k years to reach the Milky Way