Progenoid Glands

[inquisitorsog]

This is what I remember from the olden days. Think people plugged into Mechanicus machinery like in the Matrix, just to grow gene-seed. Currently, I don't think there is a definitive explanation, but it would seem like they want the tithe method to be the official stance, which is why Chapter Foundings are staged at various time intervals whenever there is both need and sufficient resource available. Individual chapters may also have their own secret methods, which could explain why some are frequently above or below standard chapter strength.

The Adeptus Terra also has a strong smurfs bias*, this may actually play into some chapters difficulty of rebuilding. Per Codex, more than half of current chapters are direct or indirectly founded from Ultramarine geneseed.

I think most cases of persistently below strength chapters are a function of either bad luck, too aggressive, having too harsh a training program, or having a hard time recruiting sufficient numbers. I don't tend to think of it as a gene-seed issue. We also see some BL novels where traitors target gene-seed repositories for their own ends. The traitors often are trying to get their hands on geneseed, that also plays into the idea that loyalists may actually lean on other sources than harvesting "heroic" gene seed from brothers.


*EDIT- notice the smurfs didn't seem to lament too long about rebuilding after the nids invaded.

[mjasghar]

One recent novel put it that the neck ones were harvested in life and the chest ones in death as the later one could only be accessed thus
I think the reference was in Fear to Tread as the main character is an apothecary - certainly all the refs we see to harvesting are chest
But you are right , many times we hear about ships lost to the warp or imperial defeats where an entire company is slaughtered. It doesn't make sense when you actually think about it but then nor does that crap about 20hr shifts where you then sleep at yiur workstation