Megarachnids

A warrior form of the Megarachnids as they stood during the Interexine-Megarachnid War

### Location

A vast area of space in the galactic north

### Date Encountered

M30.851 - By the InterexM30.943 - By the Imperium

### Notable Features

Multiple Limbs, Spider-like features, Hive Minded Caste-System, multiple different sub-species

### Eventual Fate

All but wiped out by the Interex - Survivors contained on Urisarach/Murder/One-Forty-Twenty

The Megarachnids are a race of sentient xenos resembling giant, eight legged spiders. When the Imperium first encountered the species, they were confined to a single world known to the Imperium as One-Forty-Twenty, or “Murder”, but this was not indicative of the true power the species had once wielded. Three quarters of a century earlier, the Megarachnids had held a vast empire, hundreds of worlds acting as their burrows and breeding pits. To the Imperium, the Megarachnids were barely sentient, acting on instinct more than anything, but to the Interex, the Empire who had finally defeated the swarm, they had been a terrifying foe of all but unknowable intellect, scope and power.

An extremely hostile species no matter if it was before or after their defeat, the Megarachnids had long been confided to the Interex world of Urisarach, the world of Murder, their interstellar technology stripped away from them but spared genocide by the Interex. On their new world, the Megarachnids retained some of their more esoteric technology, retaining the ability to build weather control devices that created powerful atmospheric disturbances and interfered with radio communications, appearing in the shape of large "trees" found across the planet. When the Imperium found the world, these trees proved to make the invasion costly, many Astartes dying as they were cut off from their communications before the Imperium finally found the cause.

A campaign of extermination was waged against them by the forces of the Imperium of Man many years later during the Great Crusade after several companies of Space Marines were lost to the Megarachnids' latent hostilities during the initial Imperial investigations of the planet. The war proved costly in Astartes lives, but seemed to be making steady progress by the sixth month. The campaign came to an abrupt end when the Interex arrived to see who was disturbing the planet and first contact occurred between them and the Imperium, as represented by the Primarch Khumn and the Interex Prime Designate Bartosz, himself an unknowing Primarch.

In the wake of the Imperium War of First Contact against the Interex, the world of Urisarach was once again placed under a protective cordon, this time by the XIVth Legion of the Imperium itself, its status upheld even after the empire who had first implemented it crumbled away. It is not known what happened to the Megarachnids during or after the Antarus Apostasy

## Anatomy and Physiology

When the Imperium encountered the Megarachnids, their species was a shadow of its former self, reduced to just a pair of subspecies, warrior forms and flyer forms. In the past however, the Megarachnid Empire comprised dozens of different variations of the base Megarachnid genome, each built for a specific task.

Some features were common across all of these ancient subspecies however. Every Megarachnid possessed multiple legs, often split into two groups of four, four for locomotion and another four for weaponry, whether it be the organic claws of the warrior forms the Imperium fought, or the more advanced weapons they wielded against the Interex. Regardless of their type, all Megarachnid claws were hard enough to be able to slice through Astartes Power Armour with ease, while their carapace, covered in the same organically-produced metallic substance as their weapons, made them resistant even to Bolter rounds.

Alongside this, many Megarachnid subspecies had the ability to spin a strange, cement-like substance within their throats, able to spit this as a glob as easily as create a fine, sticky web. Even for an Astartes, this cement was all but unbreakable, those caught in the web or the spit being immobilized almost instantly, stored for later consumption by the swarm.

Beyond these, the different subspecies of the Megarachnids were so divergent that some seemed like they were from a different species altogether. Some creatures were huge, beetle like living tanks, the size of battle titans, capable of striking down the strongest of opponents, while others were engineers, creating technologies using the Megarachnids own bio-excresions, forming everything from vast hive cities to mighty space ships.

Of all of these however, there was one species that was important above all. They were not a subspecies like the rest of their race, for they were the first of their kind, Millenia old and terrifyingly potent in physical and psychic means. They were the Empress’s of the swarm, and through their will were the Megarachnids led. Far larger than any of their kind, save the titan beetles, the Empresses were easily the match for scores of lesser warriors, perhaps equalling even the Imperium’s Primarch’s. Boasting six legs for locomotion, the Empresses possessed an approximation of hands, two multi-jointed fingers at the end of their remaining two arms. They were the one who laid eggs to continue their species, in numbers so large that it was often all but impossible to scour them from a world without laying waste to the planet. Most interesting of all however, was that unlike the rest of their race, the Empresses could speak in languages other than the chittering of their own race, able to assimilate members of other species to learn their tongues. With this, the species could communicate to outsiders, though rarely did they have anything to say beyond ordering their warriors to attack.

## Society

To an outsider, the Megarachnids were little more than insects, possessing the barest minimum of intellect required to ply the stars. If one looked closer however, they would quickly find that the Megarachnids were in fact monstrously intelligent, forming into complex social organisations, similar to the hives of ants or bees. The function of each individual was predetermined by genetics, as well by the subspecies they belonged to, with moving between castes entirely unheard of. Seers, for example, acted as powerful psykers for the swarm, as well as leading the intricate religion of the species as priests, while the Megarachnid Lords stood as generals and rulers of worlds that did not warrant a true Empress, in the same way as a militant governor of the Imperium.

At the very peak of the Megarachnid Empire, past the many Lords and Empresses however, was the Grand Empress herself, an impossibly ancient being known as Shaseek'az, and rumoured to be the very first of the Megarachnids. If the Empresses were akin to the Primarch’s, Shaseek'az was a step above yet again, possessing abilities beyond any of her kind, and able to command the entire swarm with but a thought, trillions of her kind moving at her whim. She had never been defeated in battle, never, until the Fourth Battle of Urisarach during the Interexine-Megarachnid War. There, she finally tasted defeat, though the cost to bring her low was beyond the counting.

## Technology

While most would not ascribe great works of technology to the Megarachnids, the species was once capable of feats of engineering that in their own way, eclipsed even the Mechanicum’s capabilities. Possessing trillions of potential workers, engineer caste drones could direct their charges to create mighty cities in mere days, to mine away mountains or divert oceans, and even create mighty void ships, able to bring the species’s eggs to new worlds ripe for feeding and colonisation.

Almost all of the Megarachnids technology was biological in origin, the cement like substance each member of the species could excrete being utilised in all things. When powered with the psychic potential of the species, the properties of this substance could be changed, from an inert and strong wall, to a rapidly expanding plasma ball, that could be further directed to provide thrust and power for anything the empire required.

## Military

While many who saw their eventual state would doubt their former glories of society and technology, none who met the Megarachnids would deny their utter mastery of warfare, even in a weakened state being able to hold off not one, but two expeditionary fleets for six months.

While all members of the species could fight in defence of their hive, each form possessing brutal claws able to slice through all but the most potent of armours, there were four main types of warrior forms that were used during an invasion of an enemy world, led by Lords and Queens.

First among these forms were simply known as “warriors”, the standard Megarachnid that the Imperium would come to know. Possessing four brutal claws and an exoskeleton that was all but impervious to low level bolter fire, these warriors would advance in chittering waves millions strong, tearing apart any foolish enough to get in their way.

   While warriors were the most common site in a Megarachnid invasion, the Wasp forms were not too far behind. Functionally extremely similar to the Warriors, the Wasps possessed vast membranous wings, able to soar at speeds no living creature should have moved at, able to keep up with some Imperial fighters.

Third amongst the military caste were the Reavers. As Warriors and Wasps would form the punch of a Megarachnid invasion, the Reaver would provide ranged artillery firepower. Standing taller than their brethren, these creatures would go to war carrying a pair of great cannons, as potent as any heavy weapon carried by a battle tank, though unlike the claws of many Megarachnids, these were not built into the creature, and could be dropped if an enemy strayed too close.

Last of the four main forms, were the most feared of all the swarm, save the Empresses themselves, that of the Colossus. The size of an Imperial battle titan, these gargantuan beings were a mass of claws, built in cannon weaponry and gestation pods, able to incubate warrior forms mid-battle, to be released as soon as they were fully grown to plunge straight into an ongoing fight.

Leading these swarms were two figures, the Lord's and the Queens. The Lord’s would lead from the front, bearing four long swords made of the same bio-metallic substance as the warrior forms, each one an exemplary artist with a sword, while the Queens would stand at the back, bolstering their own forces with psychic shields, or reaching out to tear the enemies of the swarm asunder.

## Language

Almost all of the Megarachnids spoken in a chittering series of clicks that emanated from their mouths, but were wholly impossible to replicate, even in a complete reconstruction of the Megarachnids biology. It is believed that there was some low level psychic component to the communication, though all attempts from the Interex to find this ellusive part proved to be futile.

Only the Empress could speak in a tongue other than their own, able to capture and strip away the essence of a language from prisoners taken in battle. Transported back to the Megarachnids homeworld, these unfortunate individuals were kept alive, even as they were sealed within a precisely created block of the organic-concrete excretions of the Megarachnids, bio-needles forced through their skulls to infiltrate their minds. The information learnt was then transmitted out across the empire, each Empress able to call on the knowledge at will, in essence meaning that hundreds of long dead species lived on through this psychic link.

## History

**Approx M.16** - Grand Empress Shaseek'az is birthed as the first of the Megarachnids

**Approx M.17** - The Megarachnids conquers its birth planet, the other native species of the world consumed.

**M30.851** - Forces under Empress Zan'bax make first contact with the “Interex” empire. Zan'bax fails to eliminate the force, but is instrumental in leading the Megarachnid war effort.

**M30.852** - The First Interex planet falls to the Swarm.

**M30.853** - The First Battle of Urisarach - The Interex invasion of the planet ends in a stalemate, both sides unable to dislodge the other fully.

**M30.860** - The Third Battle of Urisarach - The Interex suffer a devastating defeat on Urisarach, many of their top generals being captured by the swarm. “Bartosz” takes command of the Interex war effort.

**M30.866** - The Fourth Battle of Urisarach - The largest battle of the war so far, Grand Empress Shaseek'az personally leading the defence. She is eventually struck down by Bartosz, the swarm routing, leaving Urisarach fully in Interex hands.

**M30.867** - The last Empress is slain by the Interex. The Interexine-Megarachnid War officially ends, the surviving Megarachnids losing the cohesion they had had during the war.

**M30.867** - The surviving Megarachnids are confined on Urisarach, their ability to create space-faring technology stripped from them, while a vast orbital net of listening posts and security broadcasters is set up to try and ensure none will descend to or ascend from the world.

**M30.943** - The Imperium land upon Urisarach, their first force quickly wiped out by the Megarachnids.

**M30.944** - Imperial reinforcements arrive at Urisarach, the swarm slowly being pushed back over the course of six months.

**M30.944** - The Interex, under the command of the hated Bartosz, arrive at Urisarach, convincing the Imperium to retreat and leaving the Megarachnids in peace once more.

**M31.009** - A single Megarachnid is hatched, bearing all the hallmarks of an Empress subspecies