History Main / BreedingCult

* In ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'', the Bene Gesserit have worked for 90 generations to create TheChosenOne, the 'Kwisatz Haderach'. [[spoiler:They got within two generations of succeeding -- Jessica, the concubine of 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.]] Paul's son, Leto II, takes over their program when he ascends to the throne. By the time of ''Literature/GodEmperorOfDune'', he has made some success: [[spoiler: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]].

{{Hollywood Satanist}}s may have one in the hopes of using it to spawn TheAntichrist (or the Antichrist's mother, in some cases).

** It turns out that Mister Sinister knew Grigori Rasputin, [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy who was himself a mutant]]. His following of concubines was an attempt to breed more mutants, and on his deathbed, he distributed his spirit into their unborn children. Those pieces would be further divided and passed on to those children's children, but at the same time drive them all to instability and eventual suicide to coalesce in the dwindling bloodline until he eventually [[FamilialBodySnatcher reincarnates into his last living descendant]]. Most unfortunately, Colossus' last name is not just a coincidence.

* In ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale'', massive social upheaval made it so that much of {{Eagleland}} became part of a [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalist]] Christian group, which was able to take over the government and form a [[TheTheocracy theocracy]]. Disease had left many women (and men) [[SterilityPlague sterile]], so women under this new system were forced out of the workforce and categorized according to their marital and fertility status: Wives (wives of wealthy and powerful men), Handmaids (women who can't get married due to being DefiledForever, but ''are'' fertile, and so used as {{Breeding Slave}}s to bear children on behalf of wives who can't), Econowives (wives of usually less-wealthy men, and who are capable of bearing children without the aid of a Handmaid), Daughters (virgin daughters of wealthy men, who will one day be given in {{Arranged Marriage}}s to other wealthy men), Marthas (older or sterile women who are used as household servants), Aunts (postmenopausal women who instruct Handmaids), Jezebels (culturally-tolerated prostitutes who are forcibly sterilized), and Un-women (lesbians, feminists, [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs lesbian feminists]], Jezebels who grow old and lose their sex appeal, scientists, abortion providers, and other "undesirables" who are killed). There's an entire ritual around conception using a Handmaid, and it's heresy to even ''suggest'' that men could be infertile.

* In Literature/VanasHeritage the Shor try to create a master-race through selective breeding.

** ''ComicBook/XMen2019'' adds this element to the titular team. In their new, isolated and heavily cult-like society of Krakoa, polyamory and free-love are encouraged, and one of the rules is to "Make more mutants" to bolster their ranks. The problems of this are almost immediately encountered by [[ThePollyanna Nightcrawler]], who made the proclamation with all the best intentions in the world and then had an encounter with [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold Stacy-X]], who was handing out contraception and who tore a strip off him for not considering the consequences, e.g., [=STDs=] and an entire generation of children with parents who aren't especially interested in raising them (she's setting up an orphanage). She's not the only one who criticizes it, either, with one mutant ending up in the Hole for pointing out that creating and abandoning an entire generation of superhumans is a ''fantastic'' way to cause social upheaval in the future. As a result, it's modified to focus on the resurrection of those killed in the mutant genocides and to explicitly ''not'' coerce or encourage breeding for the sake of breeding.

* In ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'', the Bene Gesserit have worked for 90 generations to create TheChosenOne, the 'Kwisatz Haderach'. [[spoiler: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.]] Paul's son, Leto II, takes over their program when he ascends to the throne. By the time of ''Literature/GodEmperorOfDune'', he has made some success: [[spoiler: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]].

->'''Lady Jessica Atreides''': You don't know everything. For thousands of years, we've been carefully crossing bloodlines to bring forth...
->'''Paul Atreides:''' The One?
->'''Lady Jessica Atreides:''' A mind - powerful enough to bridge space and time, past and future - who can help us into a better future. We think he's very close now. Some believe he is here.
-->--''Film/Dune2021''

* In ''Manga/TerraforMars'', the Newton clan is revealed to be this. They have used selective breeding with humans for 600 years, with the objective of surpassing mankind. Joseph Newton is a product of this activity.

** The [[ComicBook/XMen2019 2019 run]] of ''X-Men'' adds this element to the titular team. In their new, isolated and heavily cult-like society of Krakoa, polyamory and free-love are encouraged, and one of the rules is to "Make more mutants" to bolster their ranks. The problems of this are almost immediately encountered by [[ThePollyanna Nightcrawler]], who made the proclamation with all the best intentions in the world and then had an encounter with [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold Stacy-X]], who was handing out contraception and who tore a strip off him for not considering the consequences, e.g., [=STDs=] and an entire generation of children with parents who aren't especially interested in raising them (she's setting up an orphanage). She's not the only one who criticizes it, either, with one mutant ending up in the Hole for pointing out that creating and abandoning an entire generation of superhumans is a ''fantastic'' way to cause social upheaval in the future. As a result, it's modified to focus on the resurrection of those killed in the mutant genocides and to explicitly ''not'' coerce or encourage breeding for the sake of breeding.
* The fanatical Judda from ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'', a cult centered around a former High Judge named Morton Judd, who wanted to use genetic engineering and cloning to pacify the population of Mega-City One. After his coup failed, he and his followers escaped into the Australian outback along with a batch of genetic material from the Judge clone banks. They eventually resurfaced during the "Oz" story arc, having spent the past 30 years breeding an army of Judda to conquer Mega-City One. Nearly all of them are wiped out when Dredd teleports a nuclear device into their hideout in Ayers Rock, except for three survivors: Judge Kraken from the "Necropolis" arc and Jonah and Pandora from the "Jihad" audio drama.
* ''ComicBook/TheMetabarons'' gives us the Shabda-Oud: an amoral, power-hungry sisterhood that seeks to breed an all-powerful hermaphrodite "emperoress", through which they can assert control of the universe. Their plans were ruined when Jejoh, their living god, was slaughtered by the Metabaron Aghnar moments before it could forcibly impregnate his bride, Honorata.

* In ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' and its sequel, the Clan Askani (though Xavier explicitly calls them a cult) are presented as a mostly harmless -- if somewhat strange and SuperSupremacist (specifically psychic-supremacist) -- variation on this, with a history going back millennia. They're pretty much all [[PsychicPowers psychics]], and maintain a carefully curated SuperBreedingProgram, which originally filtered out the [[MuggleBornOfMages squib equivalents]]. However, no one actually knows ''why'' they're doing it, possibly not even the Askani -- or at least if they do, they haven't told anybody. Even the vague mention of a [[TheChosenOne Chosen One]], the Askani'son, is only as an afterthought.
** Then, in the sequel, in a grand case of {{Irony}}, it turns out that one of the families that they filtered out ended up producing [[spoiler:Jean, Maddie, and Harry: the three most powerful psychics ever born]]. This, better understanding of genetics, and the appearances of other enormously powerful first-generation mutants (e.g., Magneto and Xavier himself, who they briefly thought might be the Askani'son) have apparently led to the Clan not filtering out the squib equivalents anymore -- though as Xavier coldly points out, that's out of pragmatism, ''not'' morality.

* In ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'', the Bene Gesserit have worked for 90 generations to create TheChosenOne, the 'Kwisatz Haderach'. [[spoiler: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.]] Paul's son, Leto II, takes over their program when he ascends to the throne. By the time of ''Literature/GodEmperorOfDune'', he has made some success: [[spoiler: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]].

* In the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'', especially ''Cetaganda'' and ''Diplomatic Immunity'', version I is the raison d'etre for the Star Creche and drives the main plots.
* ''Literature/{{Patternist}}'': The creepy immortal body-snatcher Doro of ''Wild Seed'' establishes one of these, with "seed villages" all over the world. Often he pairs relatives together in attempts to breed people with PsychicPowers. 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.
* ''Literature/TheLaundryFiles'': In ''The 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: [[AndIMustScream 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 ''Literature/TheBloodLadders'', the founder of the Church in the human lands was the first human mage and while her gift was given by angels it is also carried by [[BloodMagic blood]]. The early Church was known for Bacchanalian orgies to spread her bloodline as widely as possible before they realized they could protect more people from demons by slipping a drop of magic-carrying blood into the communion wine.
* In ''Literature/{{Ringworld}}'', it turns out that the Puppeteers are utilizing a "birth lottery" to breed [[BornLucky genetically lucky humans]]. Teela is a result of this scheme. It's implied that they ''also'' engineered the Man-Kzin Wars to cull the more aggressive Kzinti and breed a more "docile" species. Louis is pretty angry about them doing this to humans, but kind of sees their point regarding the Kzinti.
* The Hatchery program in ''Literature/TheLivesOfTao'' is used by the Genjix to breed the next generation of [[SymbioticPossession hosts]], specifically by breeding for both [[ChildProdigy intelligence]] and beauty, with an intense regiment of TrainingFromHell.

* ''Literature/TheSunEater'' has the Chantry which is a cross between Dune's Bene Gesserit and the Spanish Inquisition. Besides combating proscribed ideas especially technology related to A.I., the Chantry is in charge of the Breeding of the [[SuperBreedingProgram aristocratic Palatines]] especially the Imperial family. The ultimate goal is to have a member of the Imperial family eventually have a child that will reintroduce the power of their ancestral GodEmperor.
* ''Franchise/{{Mistborn}}: Literature/WaxAndWayne'': The plot of the first book is that robbers are taking "random hostages" that never reappear; the heroes realize they're actually kidnapping women with the proper bloodlines for a SuperBreedingProgram. And then they discover that the villains have also started dabbling in the forbidden art of [[BloodMagic Hemalurgy]], which allows you to steal powers by murder. This art would definitely work on newborn babies, if they have power to steal. In [[Literature/TheLostMetal the fourth book]], [[spoiler:Marasi finds that the villains were going about this [[PragmaticVillainy in a more intelligent way]]. Rather than just raping the women themselves (which would have engendered resentment and caused all sorts of problems), they kidnapped men too, tricked all of them into thinking that the world had ended, and locked them in a bunker with the captors as the "benevolent saviors." The kidnapped people, truly believing they were the chosen few who had been saved, were grateful and of course perfectly willing to pair off and produce children. And if sometimes those children went missing, well, they ''were'' warned about the monsters outside the bunker... They are ''not'' happy when Marasi finally convinces them of the truth]].

* ''TabletopGame/TheBookOfUnremittingHorror'' has a cult of serial killers trying to incestuously mate a brother and sister couple who are both serial killers themselves. Their end goal is to create a [[OddjobGod god of serial killers]] known as [[GodOfEvil the Empty One]]. This EldritchAbomination would usher [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt a new global dark age]] where all the serial killers in the world [[TheUnfettered act openly]] against the rest of humanity.

* ''TabletopGame/DeltaGreen'' has the New Life Foundation, who produce an infallible -- if extremely expensive -- fertility treatment. They are a cult of Shub-Niggurath in disguise, and the fluid is her milk. The children born are separate variant of humans that can't breed with normal humans, and once they reach adulthood, they feel the natural call to follow Shub-Niggurath.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'': The Chosen of Regeneration [[spoiler:is specifically bred to serve as a perfect vessel for the BigBad's dead/comatose sister, among other functions related to the setting's CorruptChurch]].
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'':

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'': The god of murder Bhaal learned of his impending death and started a few of these along with 'independent efforts'. The rescue of one of them sets off the plot. (The children were to be sacrificed at birth.)
* Johnny Cage from ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' is actually a descendant of an ancient cult that bred warriors for the gods, which is the source of his green energy powers.

[[folder:Web Video]]

* In the third season finale of ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'', several of the astronauts aboard the international space station Horizon try to start one of these, and attempt to make Lana Kane their "Mother of Mars" due to her intelligence, physical fitness, and physical attractiveness.

[[/folder]]

* ''Literature/{{Patternist}}'': The creepy immortal body-snatcher Doro of ''Wild Seed'' establishes one of these, 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.

* The Hatchery program in ''Literature/TheLivesOfTao'' is used by the Genjix to breed the next generation of [[SymbioticPossession hosts]], specifically by breeding for both [[ChildProdigy intelligence]] and [[EvilIsSexy beauty]], with an intense regiment of TrainingFromHell.

* 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.

* 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.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'' has the Succuboso Explosion, a cult consisting of psychotic women who want to be impregnated by Nathan Explosion in order to give birth to a new race of superhuman to take over the world.

* ''TabletopGame/TheBookOfUnremittingHorror'' has a cult of serial killers trying to incestuously mate a brother and sister couple who are both serial killers themselves. Their end goal is to create a [[OddjobGod god of serial killers]] known as [[GodOfEvil the Empty One]]. This EldritchAbomination would usher a new dark age where all the serial killers in the world [[TheUnfettered act openly]] against the rest of humanity.

* ''TabletopGame/TheBookOfUnremittingHorror'' has a cult of serial killers trying to incestuously mate a brother and sister couple who are both serial killers themselves. Their end goal is to create a [[OddjobGod god of serial killers]] known as the Empty One. This EldritchAbomination would usher a new dark age where all the serial killers in the world [[TheUnfettered act openly]] against the rest of humanity.

* ''TabletopGame/TheBookOfUnremittingHorrors'' has a cult of serial killers trying to incestuously mate a brother and sister couple who are both serial killers themselves. Their end goal is to create a [[OddjobGod god of serial killers]]. This EldritchAbomination would usher a new dark age where all the serial killers in the world [[TheUnfettered act openly]] against the rest of humanity.

* In ''Manga/TerraforMars'', the Newton clan is revealed to be this. They have used selective breeding with humans for 600 with the objective of surpassing mankind. Joseph Newton is a product of this activity.

** The [[ComicBook/XMen2019 2019 run]] of ''X-Men'' adds this element to the titular team. In their new, isolated and heavily cult-like society of Krakoa, polyamory and free-love are encouraged, and one of the rules is to "Make more mutants" to bolster their ranks. The problems of this are almost immediately encountered by [[ThePollyAnna Nightcrawler]], who made the proclamation with all the best intentions in the world and then had an encounter with [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold Stacy-X]] who was handing out contraception and who tore a strip off him for not considering the consequences e.g. STDs and an entire generation of children with parents who aren't especially interested in raising them (she's setting up an orphanage). She's not the only one who criticises it, either, with one mutant ending up in the Hole for pointing out that creating and abandoning an entire generation of superhumans is a ''fantastic'' way to cause social upheaval in the future. As a result, it's modified to focus on the resurrection of those killed in the mutant genocides and to explicitly ''not'' coerce or encourage breeding for the sake of breeding.

** The [[ComicBook/XMen2019 2019 run]] of ''X-Men'' adds this element to the titular team. In their new, isolated and heavily cult-like society of Krakoa, polyamory and free-love are encouraged, and one of the rules is to "Make more mutants" to bolster their ranks.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'', the Loptyrians are worshippers of Loptyr, an evil dragon, who needs a human vessel to return. After a long period of being ReformedButRejected, the Lotpyrians under [[TheChessmaster Manfroy]] decide to produce another vessel via interbreeding the descendants of the original vessel.
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', the Grimleal are worshippers of the [[SealedEvilInACan Fell Dragon Grima]] trying to create him a vessel, much [[MeetTheNewBoss like Loptyr and the Loptyrians]]. Unlike the Loptyrians, the Grimleal have been attempting to create a child to serve as a vessel for the dragon's spirit for a straight one thousand years. Grimleal leadership is done by failed vessels of Grima. [[spoiler:[[TomatoInTheMirror It turns out that the player's tactician character is the end result]].]]

* In ''Literature/{{Dune}}'', the Bene Gesserit have worked for 90 generations to create TheChosenOne, the 'Kwisatz Haderach'. [[spoiler: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 ''Literature/GodEmperorOfDune'', he has made some success: [[spoiler: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]].