The human gene-mutants known as Skinners were an early experiment in creating a genetically modified hardy breed of servile human workers during the initial colonisation of the fifty worlds. Increasing their muscle bulk and bone density had a cost however, as although their intellects remained within normal human range, increased charges of adrenaline lead to heightened aggression and reduced tolerance for following orders.

The first worlds were colonised successfully by the Novan peoples with the assistance of Skinners workers, but ultimately Novan hegemony was not to last, as a series of violent rebellions by Skinners led to the fall of Novan authority on three whole planets, as well as leaving some planets partially contested.

Incensed against normal humans due to their hundreds of years of slavery, Skinners rebellions gradually changed from actions aimed at the overthrow of their Novan overlords, to the destruction of all Novan peoples across the fifty worlds of Tusculum.

Within the realms of the Novan Kingdom, Skinners worker usage was phased out, redundant workers being exiled to rebel-held areas in exchange for (typically brief) peace treaties, or simply exterminated in massacres that have become memorialised as war cries amongst surviving Skinners.

With a history of bloody conflict and entrenched hatred, between Novans and Skinners the future seems one of inevitable warfare.

40 x Skinners Infantry, 16 x rifles, 16 x melee weapons, 4 x rocket launchers, 4 x heavy machine gun.