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At a glance
The Slaugth are a xenos race so repulsive that even hardened Inquisitors speak of them with disgust. They are tall, gaunt, humanoid figures, up to three metres in height, usually wrapped in heavy cloaks. Beneath the cloaks, their bodies are not flesh at all. They are made of countless writhing, maggot-like worms bound together by necrotic mucus. When a Slaugth moves, its body ripples. When it is wounded, it bleeds worms. Human soldiers who have fought them call them "the worms that walk".
The Slaugth are not mindless beasts. They are intelligent, cunning and ancient, and they have a deep interest in the dead. They crave brain matter, especially human brain matter, which they consume to experience the memories of their victims. The Slaugth operate in the shadows of the Imperium, controlling criminal syndicates and trading in corpses, and their presence is often discovered only when the bodies begin to pile up.
Anatomy
A Slaugth's body is a colony of writhing worms, held together in a humanoid shape by necrotic mucus. This strange structure makes them remarkably resilient. They can regenerate from wounds that would kill a human, and they appear immune to age, disease and poison. Their bodies rot and reform constantly, giving off a stench of decay. When they die, their bodies collapse into a mass of squirming maggots.
The Slaugth wear heavy cloaks, often called shroud cloaks, which conceal their forms and protect them. They carry weapons such as necrotic sceptres and necrotic lances, which can rot flesh at a touch.
The brain hunger
The Slaugth's most disturbing trait is their hunger for brain matter. Eating the brain of a dead creature allows them to experience its memories and thoughts. To the Slaugth, this is both a narcotic pleasure and a source of knowledge. They prefer fresh brains, but they will consume old ones if necessary. This hunger drives their interest in the dead and their involvement in the trade of corpses.
Society & servants
The Amaranthine Syndicate
In the Calixis Sector, the Slaugth have long controlled a criminal network known as the Amaranthine Syndicate. The Syndicate deals in corpses, organs and other grim commodities, and it supplies the Slaugth with the brains they crave. Its human members may not even know who their true masters are. A splinter faction of Slaugth, led by an individual known as Intendant Recusant, operates independently of the others.
Constructs
The Slaugth use machine servants known as vassals and harvesters. Vassals serve as guards and labourers. Harvesters collect the dead. They carry a sack in which they store the severed heads of their victims, so that the Slaugth may later feast on the brains within.
Ships
The Slaugth have their own ships, which can cross space without using the warp. This allows them to travel undetected by Imperial astropaths and Navigators, and it makes them a particularly dangerous threat.
History
The Slaugth have a long and grim history with humanity. During the Great Crusade, they followed the Rangdan, another xenos race that fought a terrible war with the Imperium. The Slaugth followed in the wake of the fighting, harvesting the dead from the battlefields of the Rangdan Xenocides. This established their reputation as carrion lords, scavengers of war.
In the Calixis Sector and the Hazeroth Abyss, the Slaugth have been a hidden threat for centuries. The Inquisition has fought them on many occasions. The Storm Wardens Space Marines are recorded as having cleansed the world of Vigil of a Slaugth infestation.
Minds of the carrion lords
Those who have spoken with Slaugth, and survived, describe them as cold, patient and contemptuous. They seem to regard other intelligent races in much the way a gourmet regards a well-stocked larder. Humans are not enemies to them so much as a resource, valued for the memories and experiences stored in their brains. A Slaugth may speak courteously to a human it intends to eat, and it may admire the richness of a long life before it consumes it.
Because they absorb memories, the Slaugth accumulate knowledge over centuries. An old Slaugth may carry the recollections of thousands of victims, from soldiers and scholars to nobles and criminals. This makes them dangerous in ways that go far beyond their physical strength. They know the languages, customs and secrets of the people they prey upon. They know how Imperial institutions work, who can be bribed and who can be threatened. Some Inquisitors fear that the Slaugth know more about certain sectors of the Imperium than the Imperium itself does.
Signs of Slaugth activity
- Corpses vanishing from mortuaries, battlefields and plague pits.
- Bodies found with their skulls opened and their brains removed.
- Criminal gangs suddenly flush with offworld wealth and strange technology.
- Reports of tall, cloaked figures and an overpowering stench of rot.
- Witnesses who speak of a voice that sounded exactly like someone long dead.
The Hazeroth Abyss
The Hazeroth Abyss, on the edge of the Calixis Sector, is a region of dead worlds, lost colonies and shadowed void. It is said to hold Slaugth enclaves, hidden far from Imperial attention, from which their ships move unseen into the sector. Inquisitorial expeditions sent into the Abyss have not always returned, and those that do bring back stories of worlds where the dead outnumber the living.
The nature of the threat
The Slaugth are not a threat of conquest. They do not seek to overrun worlds with armies. They operate in the shadows, using criminal networks, corrupt officials and their own machine servants to gather the dead. Their influence can spread through a world's underworld long before anyone realises that something is wrong.
When they are discovered, the Inquisition responds with extreme force. The Slaugth are regarded as Xenos Horribilis, and their presence is an affront to the Imperium. Infestations are purged with fire, and those who have dealt with the Slaugth are interrogated and executed. Even the bodies of the Syndicate's human members are burned, because the Inquisition knows exactly what the Slaugth would do with them. No corpse is left whole where the worms that walk have been, and no brain is left for them to taste.
Fighting Slaugth
- Use flame; their worm bodies burn.
- Avoid necrotic weapons; a touch can rot flesh to the bone.
- Burn the dead in areas where Slaugth are suspected.
- Investigate corpse trading; it is often the first sign of their presence.
- Never let them eat the brain of someone who knows secrets.
Trivia
- The Slaugth are known as "the worms that walk".
- They crave brain matter for its memories.
- Their ships can travel without using the warp.
- They followed the Rangdan during the Great Crusade, harvesting the dead.
- The Amaranthine Syndicate is a Slaugth-controlled criminal network in the Calixis Sector.
- Their bodies collapse into masses of squirming maggots when they die.
