THEY'RE FLOCKING THIS WAY

 On one of my recent post Joe pointed out that I hadn't really explained what a Kroot was, and he was quite right to point this out, so for anyone unfamiliar with this species here is a description of them.

The Kroot (Krootis aviana), also designated by the Imperium as Kroot Carnivore, are a xenos species of savage humanoids who are members of the T'au Empire. The Kroot evolved from avian creatures on their homeworld of Pech.

Kroot are tall (a good half-metre taller than most Humans), their avian ancestry giving them a bird-like beak and long quills protruding from their heads like hair.

Smaller quills, possibly the evolutionary remnants of feathers, can be found scattered over their bodies.

A unique feature of the Kroot is that they evolve by selecting genetic traits of their defeated foes to absorb by eating them. Due to this, the many Kroot warbands across the galaxy often look radically different.

Kroot leaders are known as Shapers; they are generally the Kroot with the best ability for recognizing desirable traits in defeated foes and tell their kindred (the word for a Kroot clan) what to eat to reshape themselves to suit the task at hand.

For instance, a Shaper who wants his Kroot to gain muscle mass will campaign against Orks to acquire the suitable DNA, while extensive feeding on flying predators will allow the Kroot to grow wings.

This eating of their foes ties in with the religious beliefs of the Kroot: they believe that when a warrior of any race dies, his warrior spirit should be kept, and the only way to do this is by eating his flesh. The Kroot practice this in their "burial" customs, in which the body of the deceased is consumed by the kindred.

Kroot, who prey extensively on a particular species, will begin to take the characteristics of that creature. In sentient species such as Orks and Humans, they may take on cultural aspects of that people as well. Kroot, who have fed on Drukhari, for example, soon begin to show signs of the cunning and intense cruelty the Drukhari are known for.

In the case of animals, this sometimes leads to evolutionary dead ends. A kindred will find itself locked into an animalistic and unintelligent form, unable to evolve themselves any more. Species such as Tyranids who also absorb the DNA of their prey are hazardous for Kroot to prey upon, as they may acquire too many undesirable Tyranid characteristics.

The ecology of the Kroot homeworld of Pech includes many species of animal that are partially Kroot, the results of a kindred's evolutionary missteps. The Kroot use these related creatures as labourers, pack animals, and even as weapons. The most common examples are the canine Kroot Hounds, the lumbering and powerful ape-like Krootox, the dromaeosaurid Knarloc riding beast, and the massive, dinosaur-like Great Knarlocs.

Another creature of note is the Kroothawk, an animal held sacred by the Kroot, possibly because it may be their evolutionary ancestor. There are other Kroot sub-species that are considered outcasts in Kroot society and are killed by Kroot if found.

In order to gather genetic material from all over the galaxy, the Kroot offer themselves as mercenaries and sell their services to anyone willing to pay them. They travel the galaxy taking limited contracts from both major and minor intelligent starfaring species and are regularly employed by the T'au.

While the contract with the T'au is supposed to be an exclusive one, the Kroot regularly send out their warspheres to continue their mercenary trade amongst the wider cosmos.

Hopefully it makes a bit more sense now, for anyone who didn't know. So this week I've been working on something new, but it's not quite ready to show yet, but I have managed to finish another Vulture Kindred, these Kroot have been fed on birds to regain the gift of flight.

And here he is with the rest of the pack so far, still got 3 more to convert.

The other thing I have managed to achieve this week is getting the rest of the army I have so far based, first up is a standard squad.

Next is the second standard squad, performing their favourite task, gathering meat.

Next is the Master Shaper, and his two personal hounds, I made these a bit stockier than standard, almost like a Rottweiler version compared to the normal greyhound type.

Next we have an elite squad the Headhunter Kindred, these Kroot have been on a diet of all the most poisonous creatures and have a poison attack, hence the one spitting venom, and the frills like the Dilophosaurus in Jurassic Park.

Next up we have the start of my Krotox squad, just need to add 10 Kroot to the unit.

Another heavy unit, is the hunter kindred, they use Kroot hunting rifles, that lose the close combat attacks but counts as a sniper rifle, I removed the blades, and extended the barrel, and added a scope to help represent this.

Last up today is a Great Gnarloc, and herders, this was sold by Forgeworld, just wish I'd got the other 3 variants ! LOL

That's all for today, so until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave