I don't know what 40,000 Gs is or what space rangers are, but I like the words you wrote on this post. Imperial Mutants has been the working title of the mod that had the goal of adding super beefy Juggernaut units to the Empire. Me and the boys were brainstorming potential ideas for names but couldn't come up with anything as catchy as "Imperial Mutants". This wiki page here: https://warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Mutation , primarily the section on Treatments, gave me the lore background on mutants and their potential connection to the Colleges of Magic, the gold college primarily. I also heard about the background of what the Witch Hunters do to mutants from Loremaster of Sotek's Beastmen Q&A series. So I thought the best way to lore these guys into existence was using the Balthasar vs Cult of Sigmar dynamic so that the mutants are put into service but kept in religious check by the Cult plus Sigmarite conditioning. The problem with making the mutants strictly loyal to the Cult of Sigmar is that the Cult really has no way of explaining how they made these beefed up guys without "sigmar did it lol", plus, it would be hard to explain why the Cult wouldn't just slay the corrupted children without the protection of another and equal office, i.e. the gold college. However, I am thinking about a name change that would go along with a potential future re-release, with more units, more models, and a possible hero unit. I do have possible new names in the works though. Plus I would like to add the Imperial Mutants are seen not as the ultimate saviors of the Empire, but as mysterious, hulking religious beasts that protect the Empire not because they really want to per se, but because they were told and conditioned to.

Wow, thank you for replying and putting effort in the consideration. So i think what i said was confusing by some parts but i can say is that yes the cult of sigmar has a lot to do with the approval and over seeing these imperial juggernauts as well as the witch hunters too (witch are the inquisition formed by the church of sigmar). So what was mostly got mean thinking that the “mutants” by sotek were directly beasts but these were little boys who are human and under the teachings of sigmar there is repentance against chaos so the chaos inflicted boys would've gone through a process of purification and pledges as well as committing a covenant to be cured but yeah the path lead by the gold college is quite good and truly plausible in its elements. So what also i think was odd that belthesar and volkmar were at odds, which is unusual because there both karl franz’s collegues and mentors, gelt was a most trusted advisor and head of imperial magic and volkmar is head of Sigmars church (pope) as well as karl franz’s trusted man of the Faith (Sigmar Faith), so just saying maybe perhaps not a rivalry or a sort of grudge because they both are Sigmarites and serve the emperor but instead perhaps the cult of sigmar can be reluctant but not totally against a way to save their own men (little boys) becoming victims of corruption, because they are relucent because it would be thier compassion which is in sigmar’s teachings and his church is what also defines them not just wrath and zeal which is also in sigmar’s teachings, so its compassion the cult of sigmar allows it but thier zeal makes them suspicious but grateful for the golden college for not giving up on thier or turning from the impossible and making it a reality to salvation. So i hope this makes more sense and clearer of what i meant and improves on my statement.

Thank you for your time. 😁

I get where you're coming from and I know alot of people feel the same way. I was just explaining my reasoning for the whole mutants thing, I also just like the idea of the classic super soldier archetype more than the godly empowered route. The whole Cult of Sigmar vs Balthasar dynamic by the way comes from Balthasar's theorized mutations (part of the reason why I connected this mod to the gold college) after his accident and how the Cult has always been suspicious of him, I got no exact source for this but Sotek did say it on his Balthasar Gelt video.

All in all I may change their origins in the future or make something a little more specific. I enjoy discussions on lore so this was time well spent.

Thanks for the chat as well, and im pretty sure were on the same page all in all because my first thought when i saw “imperial mutants” was thinking not lore accurate to the total war Warhammer but read thier lore and seen thier pictures is quite good but the mutation thing got me hanging as well as the beastmen part because beastmen actual wouldnt really take humanoids in but instead to kill or make soup of the boys,plus mutations would generally suggest that the victims which are children voluntarly praised chaos but chaos as a plague does also seem quite lorefull as the land changes to untainted to corrupt (even skaven corruption change lands but not really people only rats” , but i digress on what you mean by overpower mods being too much, like theres been mods giving such ridiculous things that are no where near lore accurate like give nukes to the empire even though nukes are skaven only thing do to ikit claw and then other mods too, but either way the idea to have imperial units that have some Holy effects from the sigmarite faith is great and accurate because as victor saltzpyre the warrior priest/witch captain said “victory favors the faithful”. So I'm glad we had this discussion on the lore behind this mod and thinking of adjusting the title connected to their lore, which has proven very plausible on the “mutation” on bathasar and his rumored golden skin (literal Gold) which why people think he wears a mask which also brings the cult of sigmar to be suspicious because always between magic and faith are very polarizing to each other but happens to co-exist in the empire, volkmar and gelt are good example of the existence. So yeah im glad we had this talk of the possibilities of the lore and title choices. Hope this given you good feedback and appreciation of your work to Further the empire of mankind.

Hey i just found a monologue that tells the relationship between faith and magic: “Battle Wizards are nothing more than weapons. They are rare, thank Sigmar, and they are more powerful than other Wizards. For our good and in respect to Sigmar’s Word, these foul creatures are kept locked in the bowels of their College buildings, only to be released under the strictest controls and supervision in those times when the pure steel and honest sweat of Sigmar’s chosen people face the Powers of the Old Dark. Where the loss of any good citizen’s life is loss to the Empire, the loss of some Collegiate filth is not. Let the damned destroy the damned with their own weapons, so long as Sigmar’s people are saved from the contamination of Chaos.”
— Johann Nider, Templar of Sigmar

So this does help on the very extreme suspicion and vigilance of sigmars church but in other times they made good strides with each other, though of course faith is unwavering to the perception to wizardry is military only but with steel gauntlets let an holy experiment take place for the curation of the lads into the imperial military under Sigmarites Oath and pledge to serve the empire, the emperor and sigmar’s church (not directly to the cult of sigmar faction but in general to the faith and imperial authority).