Lore – Rakshasa

Designed for both terrestrial and aquatic warfare, the basic and foundational Jalrak thrives across diverse battlegrounds. Its gills and lungs are engineered for dual respiration, enabling unimpeded transitions from deep water to dry land, ensuring operational continuity in amphibious assaults. In vast numbers, Jalraks are deployed to swarm enemy positions, leveraging their numerical superiority and robust physicality. They are the relentless tide of the Rakshasa Horde, capable of wearing down opponents through sheer force and indomitable will.

The Jalrak, an emblem of the Rakshasa Horde’s immense legions, stands as a testament to the brute simplicity of evolution perfected for war. These units, stripped of complex abilities and honed for efficiency, form the core of Rakshasa’s assault strategy on land and sea.

The Trishul is known for its ranged attack: a penetrating spike launched from its maw. These spikes can pierce through most armors, causing severe damage to its targets. In melee combat, the Trishul is equally fearsome, utilizing its maw and mantis-like arms to tear apart enemies with ease. Its agility and intelligence make it a cunning adversary, capable of quick maneuvers and evasive actions, though its chest area remains a vulnerable target.

Interestingly, the Trishul consumes a larger amount of Helionite compared to other Radi-Mons and has a preference for hunting, killing, and consuming male humans. Unless provoked, it never targets female humans. Xenologists in India speculate that this behavior may be linked to the Trishul’s symbiotic relationship with Sūkṛmucs, who operate in a tentatively matriarchal societal structure.

Resembling giant bees, Weavers are worker units within the Rakshasa Horde. They are responsible for gathering essential resources like Zephyrium and Helionite, as well as constructing and maintaining the horde’s structures. Originally mutated from the Indian Giant Honey Bee (Apis Dorsata), exhibit a diligent and cooperative nature. They are inherently pacifist, focusing solely on their tasks unless provoked. They can quickly erect various structures necessary for the Horde’s operations, such as Hatching Chamber, Voracis Soultrap and Chitrapat. Their pheromone communication system enables them to efficiently coordinate large-scale construction and resource gathering without direct oversight.

To protect themselves and their resources, Weavers can burrow underground, creating hidden storage sites and tunnels that facilitate safe transport and concealment from enemies.

The Garuda, originally mutated from the Indian Flying Fox, is a flying mammal unit known for its agility and quickness in air-to-air combat. These Radi-Mons are revered for their grace and ferocity in the skies, embodying the essence of swift and deadly aerial warfare.

Garuda are incredibly agile and can maneuver swiftly in the air, making them excellent at dodging attacks and engaging in quick, precise strikes. Equipped with sharp claws and powerful jaws, they excel in air-to-air combat, capable of taking down enemy aerial units with ease. They can also emit a powerful sonic screech that disorients and stuns enemy units, providing a tactical advantage in combat. Their keen senses and echolocation abilities make them excellent scouts, capable of gathering intelligence and detecting enemy movements from above.

The Sūkṛmucs are humans who willingly contract the Rakshasa variant of the Nucleus Virus, becoming transformed into powerful, shape-shifting entities. Unlike other Radi-Mon variants created through forced conversion, Sūkṛmucs must choose their transformation, accepting the virus through consensual intimate contact with an existing Sūkṛmuc.

All Sūkṛmucs possess the ability to shift between this humanoid appearance and a serpentine worm form, granting them versatility in both combat and traversal. Male and female Sūkṛmucs serve complimentary but equally vital roles. Males typically act as pathfinders, scouts, and frontline defenders, venturing into dangerous territories to expand or protect Rakshasa domains. Females often serve as guardians of sacred sites, local hive matrons, and keepers of the Hatching Chambers.

Despite the numerical advantage of males, the Rakshasa society maintains a matriarchal structure, with female Sūkṛmucs holding greater decision-making authority, particularly the eldest among them.

Both genders excel in Mirage spells and can converse fluently in Devavāṇī. They secrete pheromones that compel other Radi-Mons to follow their commands, making them natural leaders within the Horde’s hierarchy and invaluable assets in complex operations. Along with Myrkur, they are considered the most intelligent Radi-Mons in existence.

Both male and female Sūkṛmucs have highly acidic body waste. The digestive systems of Sūkṛmucs have also evolved to process nearly any form of flesh with remarkable efficiency, allowing them to sustain themselves in environments where other beings would starve.

A distinctive trait of female Sūkṛmucs is their ability to produce a nourishing milk with remarkable properties. This substance, similar to cranberry yogurt in taste and aroma, serves multiple vital functions. For psionics, it replenishes depleted Aether reserves, while providing essential nutrients for all who consume it. Most significantly, when given to non-psionic humans who align with Rakshasa interests, this milk can bestow a benevolent variant of the Nucleus Virus that awakens latent psionic abilities without triggering a full Radi-Mon transformation — the only known method to safely grant psionic potential to those not born with it.

The social structure of Sūkṛmucs follows the sacred principle of “बहुविवाहः” (Bahuvivāhaḥ), a polyandrous mating system where female Sūkṛmucs typically bond with multiple male partners. This practice ensures genetic diversity.Since females can only lay eggs after mating and are fewer in number, each female Sūkṛmuc is encouraged to maintain relationships with several males throughout her centuries-long lifespan. These bonds form complex familial units where each male contributes unique strengths and knowledge to their collective offspring’s development.

When disputes arise among local Horde leaders, the opinions of female Sūkṛmucs are given particular weight, especially in matters concerning resource allocation, and long-term planning. Their perspective is considered more attuned to the ways of their Proxima Centauri homeland and the will of Primarch Moro.

While their appearance might evoke comparisons to fictional elves from Earth media, this similarity is neither coincidental nor derivative. From an evolutionary perspective, the elongated, pointed ears of Sūkṛmucs evolved for heightened sensory perception in the bioluminescent jungles of Bhavanta, Devithar, and moons of Chandrak (all habitable worlds in Proxima Centauri). These environments, with their complex soundscapes, favored adaptations that enhanced auditory capabilities. The distinctive pointed shape allows for subtle directional control, helping Sūkṛmucs detect threats from all angles without visual confirmation.

Parīkshaṇa, also known as ‘the Tasting’ by those who have encountered Rakshasa Horde Radi-Mons, is a revered ritual used to screen individuals (referred to as ‘The Tasted’) seeking entrance into the sacred Shashvat Ananda (the Realm of Eternal Bliss) of Proxima Centauri.

The ceremony involves a respected Sūkṛmuc (known as ‘The Taster’) binding the individual (referred to as ‘The Tasted’) to a botanical bed called Svadavidhi (स्वादविधि, meaning Method of Tasting/Extraction) after stripping them naked. The Tasted is then stimulated to defecate onto the bed, and the feces are consumed by The Taster in order to ensure that no unwanted viruses or dangers are brought into the Rakshasa community. Only a tiny portion of the feces is eaten by The Taster if at all needed, with the rest being absorbed by the living vines of the Svadavidhi during the check-up. The Svadavidhi then psionically relays the diagnosis to the Taster, who decides what information to disclose to the Tasted.

As the Sūkṛmucs themselves are immune, this practice is crucial in preventing lethal and dangerous viruses, such as rotavirus and adenovirus, from entering and harming other native Rakshasa creatures.