Epic Roleplay: Antagonists – Shaboleth

This time, I feel like going into a bit more detail – on the antagonist creature and on how it came to be in the first place.

I just did the interpretation of the Saharduin (Sahuagin with filed-off serial number … in Space!) for Epic Roleplay gearbeitet and was thus doubly primedd (Epic Roleplay conversions and D&D fish monsters), when a bit of banter on the German Discord of fellow bloggers Kritischer Fehlschlag suddenly brought up the Aboleth. It really was just a pun … but I was doubly primed and so I was starting to ask myself (out loud) what Aboleth (with filed-off serial number … in Space!) could look like for Warhammer 40,000 in general and – of course – in Epic Roleplay in particular.

Shaboleth
The Shaboleth are a species of perfidious space pirates. Capable to survive unaided in the airless void and able to “swim” through it by unknown means, but theorized to be based on gravitic manipulation of some sort, they never the less prefer to lair – and hunt – in amongst asteroids, the upper layers of gas giants, debris fields, complex ring or moon systems, and other confusing and hazardous areas. Spacehulks, too, have been known to sometimes harbour them.

Somehow – whether by psychic powers, technology, or fusion of psi-tech remains a mystery – they are able to lure starships off course, both in real space near their lairs, and even in the warp, leading to ships transitioning back into real space right within the Shaboleth’s reach.

If the Shaboleth succeed in thus provoking a calamity, they descend to plunder the wreck. Neither cargo, nor crew – living or dead -, nor machinery or ship’s fitting (nor the ship itself – its state permitting) are safe from them.

They will hoard even things for which the Shaboleth have no apparent use at all, sometimes bartering such items to other pirates with whom they collaborate or with unscrupulous individuals who steer more victims their way or provide them with intelligence. Eldar, Saharduin and members of other species may too work witg the Shaboleth in such a fashion.

False Beacons (and Space Hazards): Within their area of influence (in real space, typically one to two plasma weeks around their lair, in the warp where routes or currents pass close to their system), the Shaboleth may impose a -2 penalty on Navigate (Stellar) and Navigate (Warp) tests.

When a penalized Navigate (Warp) test fails, do not roll on the standard Warp Currents table. Instead, the ship drops back into real space within the (real space) area of influence of the Shaboleth. Should this put the ship not within a safe jumpzone, roll for the ship’s fate (with a +1 modifier) as if it had been lost in battle.

When a penalized Navigate (Stellar) test fails, the ship moves towards the Shaboleth’s lair. If the ship is in/ at or crosses through a space hazard (such as an asteroid or debris field), make a Navigate (Stellar) test to avoid, which the Aboleth may of course penalize. If the hazard is not avoided, roll for the ship’s fate. Depending on the nature and severity of the hazard, a positive or negative modifier may be applied. Some hazards may have other specific effects instead.

Shadow Gel: Shaboleth continuously exude a gel-like, seemingly only half-material substance which surrounds them like a cloud.

The gel helps them to squeeze through openings and into spaces that appear much too tight for their formidable bulk. Shaboleth may enter and move through terrain as infantry.

In close combat, the Shaboleth can use the gel both to hinder and snare foes but also to slide out of an enemy’s grasp. At any point, they may freely choose whether they and an enemy in base to base contact count as pinned or not. If the gel should indeed facilitate their space swimmung, then it would also be what makes them able to move as skimmers and without suffering penalties for zero gravity.

The suspected connection of the shaodow gel to the Shaboleth’s extraordinary abilities has triggered more than one hunting campaign against them and the right buyers will be paying staggering sums for samples of the gel.

Psychic Powers: Shaboleth are psykers. They usually possess the psychic powers Precognition, Scan, and Invisibility. They have a 3+ psychic save.

Miniaturewise, I am currently thinking a lower detail, smooth n 3D model of an Aboleth (plenty designs out there, at first glance), in the hope that downscaling will work so that a print would look alright on a 20mm or 25mm base.