Editing Slaugth (section)

==Overview==
The Slaugth are aliens that look like three-meter-tall swarms of maggots, dripping with necrotic mucus. Their nature means that they can stretch and reform their bodies at will, and move with an "obscene, boneless fluidity". They can also regenerate very quickly from all but the most catastrophic injuries. When they want to pass among humans, they put on shroud robes and use masks to hide their [[Bullshit|'beautiful faces'.]] Because of their nature, they tend to stay on the [[Ghoul Stars|fringes of known space]] or lurk in obscure places, such as deep within the lowest parts of hive worlds or your mom's basement, popping out long enough to OM-NOM some unfortunate humans before slithering back off into the darkness (by the way, when's the last time you talked to your mother?). They've apparently been around for a really long time, but they're so damn good at staying hidden that no one knows how old they actually are, what their ultimate goal is, or even the location of their homeworld. (Some of the RPG fluff seems to imply that the [[Inquisition]] has standing orders to [[Skaven|shoot anyone who runs into a Slaugth]], which wouldn't help matters any.) They also like to give their weird-ass tech to greedy rogue traders and planetary governors as a way to cause [[troll|political]] [[/pol/|disarray]] and to soften up the local [[Imperial Guard]] and [[Planetary Defense Force|PDF]] so they can go to town on the local populace without anyone noticing.

They seem to dislike getting their proverbial hands dirty, eschewing open warfare in favor of stealth, manipulation, and the use of proxies. Their main agents within the Calixis Sector are the Amaranthine Syndicate, a subverted trade cartel that they use as a front for smuggling xenotech and instigating trade wars as well as far more malicious operations.

===The Amaranthine Syndicate===
The Syndicate starts their work by identifying someone in such dire straits that they'll accept help from anyone to get out of their current trouble, then appearing to that person with what looks to be a very generous deal. However, even as they alleviate the original problem the Syndicate works to make their "friend" increasingly dependent on the Syndicate's aid- their enemies are set against them, other forms of help become suddenly unavailable, and "accidents" occur with unusual frequency. When the subject is so heavily indebted to the Syndicate that they have no way out, they are taken to meet one of the "Principals" so the subject can better understand the bargain he's been forced into...and the consequences of trying to back out of the deal.

The Slaugth's demands are trivial or even nonsensical at first. They might ask for a book in a private library to be burned, or a commodity's price to be raised ever so slightly, or to reassign seemingly random personnel. It doesn't take long for their demands to escalate, however, and before long the subject will be ordered to taint medical supplies at their source, redirect relief shipments away from planets in need, or outright betray colonists to Slaugth raiders. Should they refuse, the Slaugth will eat them instead and find another desperate fool to take their place.