Slaugth

The Slaugth are a malevolent species which appear to be humanoid masses of maggot-like creatures, joined together to form a single gestalt entity.

Overview
Otherwise known as Maggot Men, Dream Eaters and Carrion Lords, Slaught are sapient masses of maggot-like creatures coated in a necrotic mucous, joined together in a bipedal mass and collective intelligence governing the individual mass. This unusual bodily structure enables the Slaugth to regenerate from all but the most extreme of injuries, stretch and reform Slaugth can liquify flesh for consumption, or even melt through metal if needed. Slaugth are also immune to all known diseases and poisons and possess seemingly indefinite lifespans.

By the psychological standards of most sapient species, the Slaught are typically considered blatantly evil. They are often known to be highly manipulative and cruel to their victims, exploiting them to provide additional sustenance and consuming them should they refuse or fail to meet the Slaughts' demands. Slaught are driven by a constant hunger for dead flesh, disregarding all moral factors in this obsession. Slaugth can also acquire the memories of their victims through the consumption of their brains, which is also believed to cause them a narcotic reaction.

Technology
Slaugth technology is typically biomechanical in design, a convention they demonstrate through fielding cybernetic organisms as armies and labourers. They possess a mastery of elemental physics possibly exceeding that of even the Eldar, allowing them to travel through space without the Warp.

Slaugth tend to infiltrate other populations, at least among Humans, through the use of Shroud Cloaks and Shroud Armour, technological apparel that can render the Slaugth wearer invisible or even disguise them as misshapen Humans.

In combat, Slaugth typically utilise necrotic weaponry capable of disintegrating the target entirely or even destroying battle tanks. They also make use of militarised cyborgs known as Vassals, which resemble augmented lumps of flesh which mobilise on robotic spider-like legs and armed to disintegrate the Slaughts' enemies, or simply bite their heads off and preserve the brain for the Slaught to consume later.

Slaugth starships are considerably powerful, as demonstrated by the devastation they wrought against the Imperium of Man's fleets during the Great Crusade.

History
The Slaugth homeworld is unknown, although they are believed to have originated from the Calixis Sector of the Milky Way Galaxy. Contact between the Slaugth and Humans colonising the Calixis Sector is so rare, the Slaugth are often dismissed as a myth by most within the Imperium.

During the Cleansing of Vigil, the Space Marines of the Storm Wardens chapter successfully purged the Slaugth from the planet vigil, but suffered severe casualties due to closed quarters denying the use of heavy armour. Recognising that they could not best the Imperium of Man in open warfare, the Slaugth instead took to infiltrating it instead. They subtly seized control of the Amaranthine Syndicate, a Human trade cartel, and used it to distribute wealth and technology throughout the Calixis Sector in a bid to manipulate the Humans into conflict against each other, destabilising the Imperium's authority and possibly even infiltrating other powerful imperial factions in time.