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Large, powerful and violence-loving, the Qwolac were a species who were born for combat. Due to the love these Xenos had for war they were commonly hired as mercenaries in numerous conflicts. The Qwolac did not care for which side they fought, only revelling in the chance for bloodshed. In 913.M39 the Imperium launched a campaign of genocide against this species in retaliation for their significant role in the Cerean Crucible. The Qwolac are now thought to be extinct.
Biology[]
The Qwolac are a large humanoid species. They stand at an average of seven feet tall, and have a muscular physique. Their skin is dark grey, and extremely tough. It is perhaps for this reason that they wear only minimal body armor. They have humanoid hands that have four fingers and a thumb. Their fingers arew tipped with sharp claws that could be used as weapons in battle.
They stood on two legs. The knees of these legs bent backwards, much like those of avian species. Their feet had three large toes with sharp claws. They stood on the balls of their feet. This gave their legs a resemblance to the legs of the long dead Terran super-predator known as the Tyranosaurus Rex.
Their heads were hairless. Intead a Qwolac's scalp and part of its forehead was covered with a hardened carapace. They also possessed horns that jutted out to the side of their heads and then bent downward. The size of the horns were considered a symbol of a Qwolac's status in society. Why the more successful and powerful Qwolac coincidently had larger horns is unknown. Their face was basically humanoid, though the species lacked a nose, instead they breathed and smelled through to slitted nostrils. The Qwolac had sharp fangs for teath, and the bottom row of teath often jutted up from their closed mouths.
The race reproduced the same as most mammals. However the pregnancy lasted far shorter, and Qwolac could have up to twenty children in one pregnancy.
The Qwolac have strong, robust bodies. A Qwolac was easily capable of ripping a grown human apart with only its bare hands. The combined affect of tough skin, a high pain tolerance and accelerated regeneration of damaged tissue gave the Qwolac the ability to deal with high levels of damage. These traits along with strongly aggressive behavior and a love for violence made these Xenos good soldiers.
In additon to this the Qwolac had a profound physiological response to the act of killing. Upon killing another living being the brain of a Qwolac would release a massive spike of endorphins. That is to say that Qwolac instinctively derived pleasure on a physiologic level from the act of killing.
History[]
The Qwolac evovled on an unnamed planet. Due to their naturally violent nature, and the strain on planetary resources that came with their prodigious reproductive ability the Qwolac were constantly fighting wars against one another. Thier own blood-thirst was what kept their population in check. The technological level of the Qwolac went through a cycle of of rise and decline due to their own brutish disposition and the constant warfare. However the Qwolacs level of technology never progressed past a post-industrial level, and rarely maintained said level.
This would change when the Qwolac were discovered by a Xenos species known as the Velothians. The Velothians were a sophistocated, technologically advanced race. Following the Fall of the Eldar, and the events of the Horus Heresy the Velothians saw what they believed to be the only two true obstacles to galactic domination severely weakened. The race was eager to become a galactic super-power in their own right, and sought to expand their domains.
When the Velothians came in contact with the Qwolac they had regressed back into an Iron age level of technology. In the Qwolac the Velothians saw a primitive, but robust race that were ideal for war. The Velothians were confident that they could manipulate the savages into fighting for them. Thus the Velothians uplifted the Qwolac in, and made them a part of their armies. With the savages acting as the foot-soldiers of their empire, and the Velothians backing them with their superior intelligence and technology, their military would be a force to be reckoned with.
However the Velothians underestimated the sheer blood-lust of the race they had recruited. The Qwolac's lust for blood made them uncontrollable. The Qwolac served the Velothians for a time, but eventually turned on their masters. The result was the near massacre of the entire Velothian race. With no master to unify them the Qwolac once again factionalized, but this time they had superior technology.
While the Qwolac could not hope to create, or maintain mostof the tech that the Velothians had equipped them with they managed to keep some of the Velothians' ships in working, if poor order. The Qwolac spread out into the stars looking for the next kill. They managed to wipe out the Xenos races in the systems surrounding their homeworld. Thus they created an area of space dominated solely by them.
Given their need to fight and kill the Qwolac naturally sought out new wars to fight. As a result a large portion of the race went into mercenary work. For these Qwolac the true reward was the chance to kill new, exotic foes. The actual payment was just a bonus. Naturally the Qwolac gained a reputation as particularly vicious soldiers for hire.
The Crucible[]
Imperial Purge[]
Culture[]
Technology[]
Given the Qwolac's savagery, and lack of interest in science theur technology was primitive for the most part. Back when the Qwolac were still planet bound their technology never exceeded a post-industrial level. In fact it often regressed to even more primitive standards.
After the Velothians uplifted the Qwolac in order to fight for them they were given access to truly advanced technology for the very first time. Naturally the Technology given to them by the Velothians was to advanced for them to understand, or create themselves. However the velothians did teach them basic maintenance.
Following the their massacre of their Velothian masters the technology at the Qwolac's disposal regressed once more. The Qwolac managed to maintain a certain level of the technology that the Velothians had given them, but their knowledge was extremely limited, and as a result most of the technology fell into disrepair over time.
By the time of the Cerean Crucible the Qwolac maintained a level oftechnology that the Imperium considered primitive. What technology they did make themselves was simple, rugged and decidedly focused on warfare. The Qwolac did have some examples of extremely advanced tech at their disposal however. Given the Qwolac's lack of scientific knowledge these examples of advanced technology were likely left over equipment from the Velothians.
However this too was rare, as most of the Velothian technology was simply too sophisticated for the Qwolacs to do anything but the most basic of maintenance. During the Cerean Crucible th Qwolac only fielded two ships that were of Velothian origin. Thus the vast majority of the advanced tech that the Qwolac used at this time was likely traded to them for their mercenary work. Given this the Qwolac had an exotic array of ships and equipment that they could potentially use.
Weapons[]
The Qwolac preffered to use their own weaponry in combat rather than those that they were traded, or were left over from the Velothians. While the scientific design of these weapons was undoubtedly primitive, the Qwolac's long history of seeking constant battle meant that they were somewhat skilled in making deadly weapons.
The Qwolac had a very specific philosophy regarding their armaments. The Qwolac believed that any armament that caused harm without shedding any blood was not a true weapon. As a result the Qwolac generally shunned energy based weapons, and preffered weapons that punctured or cut their foes. Given the Qwolac's innate skill for creating primitive, yet still lethal weapons this meant that many Qwolac weapons tended to shred their victims to near the point of unrecognizability.
The most basic weapon in the Qwolac's arsenal was the Razorgun. This massive, fully automatic gun fired what were essentially bladed spear tips with a serrated edge. Given the gun's high rate of fire combined with the force that it fired these fearsome projectiles with, it was more common than not for the organism on the recieving end to be cut to ribbons.