A subset of Secret Circle of Secrets
, and usually an Ancient Conspiracy
, a Breeding Cult
is usually either an attempt to create a Chosen One
or a Master Race
This type of Cult
takes one of two forms:
- Controlling the world's marriages/relationships/pregnancies to create a new generation, closer to fulfilling its Prophecy or Plan.
- Where the members of the cult are itself the result of the Breeding Program, secretly choosing their partners in line with the aims and desires of the Cult.
See also Medical Rape and Impregnate
and Baby Factory
. Compare Super Breeding Program
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- In Planetary Axel Brass is the last child from a breeding program started by a eclectic group of intellectuals in post-Revolutionary France, gathered together with the goal of creating a perfect human.
- In Dune, the Bene Gesserit have worked for 90 generations to create the Chosen One, the 'Kwisatz Haderach'. They got within two generations of succeeding - Jessica, who married Leto Atreides, was supposed to bear a daughter, who would have married Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, producing the Kwisatz Haderach. However, she instead bore a son, Paul, who was the Kwisatz Haderach himself.
- Leto II takes over their program when he ascends to the throne. By the time of God-Emperor of Dune, he has made some success: he's bred an individual who cannot be seen with prescience. He plans for her to kill him and pass on her genes as humanity spreads out of its forced confinement so humanity will never be subject to a tyrant like him again.
- The Howard Families are a fictional group created by Robert A. Heinlein, featuring heavily in books such as Methuselah's Children and Time Enough for Love. The Howard Foundation was started in the 19th century by Ira Howard, a millionaire dying of old age in his forties, for the purpose of extending human lifespans.
- In the Vorkosigan Saga, especially Cetaganda and Diplomatic Immunity, version I is the raison d'etre for the Star Creche, and drives the main plots.
- Creepy immortal bodysnatcher Doro of Octavia Butler's Wild Seed establishes one, with "seed villages" all over the world. Someone who's six thousand years old and automatically possesses the body of the nearest person whenever he dies really doesn't view the rest of humanity as much more than his toy.
- In Charles Stross's Apocalypse Codex, a vicious cult camouflaged as a televangelist church uses a breeding program to create the next generation of true believers. The way they do it deserves notice: they kidnap young women, inflict spinal cord injuries to permanently paralyze them, and use artificial insemination to repeatedly use their bodies as unwilling host mothers.
- In Flight of the Godkin Griffin the Godkindred Kingdom's state religion is that by mingling species their descendants can become gods, and they conquer neighboring countries in pursuit of new bloodlines. In contrast, the Mountain Pards believe that by inbreeding they can achieve purity by inbreeding themselves into a bestial state, which involves having their psychotic male young rape their females repeatedly. They're both wrong. Ascension is a matter of belief, all the Godkindred were doing was breeding towards the phenotype their ancestors had immediately after descending from godhood.
- In Literature/Ringworld, it turns out that the Puppeteers are utilizing a "birth lottery" to breed genetically lucky humans. Teela is a result of this scheme.
Live Action TV
- In Dark Angel's second season, the enemies of the X-series are breeding cult members of "pure-blood" that have comparable abilities to the impure, gene-hacked super soldiers. The transgenics are obstacles to the realisation of the cult's planned extinction of the rest of humanity.
- On Orphan Black, Hank, the leader of the Prolethian cult intends on impregnating several women with his and Helena's children.
- Genestealer Cults in Warhammer 40,000 infiltrate a planet, interbreed with its population to pass on their genes, and then cause strife to weaken them in preparation for Tyranid invasion.
- The Starchild Movement is a secret society composed mostly of radical Inquisitors who plan to create a reincarnation of the God Emperor, though selective breeding is just one of the proposed methods.