Rak'Gol - Rak'Gol Technology: By the standards of the Imperium, Rak'Gol technology is quite primitive. Even their augmetic implants lack the utilitarian elegance exhibited by Imperium designs. Yet, this xenos race has managed to merge the biological with the mechanical, and have learned to construct ships that can traverse the void. Though they do not possess any true psykers, the Rak'Gol also manage to navigate the Immaterium. How this is accomplished is something the Ordos of the Inquisition (and some Rogue Traders) would pay dearly to find out. Rak'Gol weaponry is as brutal as it is effective. Many of the weapons employed are designed for close combat, but they employ a few that are effective at range. Most of their weapons are deadly mono-blades, spears, or some combination of the two; all have wicked-looking curves to them and deadly barbs. Rak'Gol favour simple projectile weapons, firing either oversized stub ammunition, or barbed razor-shells that tear and rend on impact.The Rak'Gol appear to care little for their gear, as is readily evidenced after every raid they conduct. They casually leave weapons and armour behind, as well as their dead. In those instances where a defender successfully survives a Rak'Gol assault, they always have samples of the xenos tech to use or provide to the Adeptus Mechanicus for analysis. Similarly, in those cases where a vessel at least put up an effective defence against the Marauders, the ship's ruins always contain samples of Rak'Gol technology for those that salvage the remains. Consequently,Inquisition and Adeptus Mechanicus agents have successfully assembled far more information about Rak'Gol technology than they have managed to glean of their history or culture.In the years since the Rak'Gol emergence, various xenographers and Adeptus Mechanicus Explorators have undertaken exhaustive studies of Rak'Gol technology at their own initiative or at the behest of those Rogue Traders who want to see the Rak'Gol destroyed. The results of those studies reveal a race possessing an inferior technological base to humanity, though the beasts seem able to compensate for this somewhat with their hyper-aggressive demeanour. Rak'Gol energy production seems firmly rooted in primitive atomics, meaning their ships' motive power comes from dangerous and inefficient fission pulse engines, rather than the mighty fusion plasma drives of Mankind. Though they can reach an impressive speed, their turning and acceleration is greatly limited. The rest of their technology shows the same limitations.The Rak'Gol have little skill with the arcane sciences of energy weapons. While the few such devices they do possess are potent atomic beam weapons, they are also bulky and unwieldy. The "Roarer Beams" mounted on their starship are spinal weapons running the length of the hull, and the few beam weapons used by individual Rak'Gol suffer similar limitations, their bulk requiring them to be wielded by the largest and strongest of the xenos race. Simple projectile weapons make up the majority of the Rak'Gol armoury. Some of these weapons are very similar to human heavy ballistic Stubbers or Autoguns, though this is more likely a quirk of similarly evolving technologies. Another common variant of projectile weapons fire barbed razor shells that shatter into sharp fragments on impact, ripping through a target's body and causing massive, and usually fatal, tissue damage.In addition to the various weapons, cybernetic enhancements are a clear hallmark characteristic of the species, though again, these are almost always bulkier andcruder than their human equivalents. However, with the exception of the unblooded, virtually every combat-capable specimen has at least one mechanical modification, and many of the bodies recovered possessed more than a dozen different implants. The Rak'Gol also possess implanted ceramic plates to reinforce their already resilient hides. Rak'Gol cybernetics tend to be simple but robust, able to withstand a great deal of punishment before failing, and sometimes operating long after their owners die. It remains unclear if these devices are still manufactured by the Rak'Gol, recovered from their fallen brethren, or simply ancient devices that remain from a time when the race might have possessed a greater level of sophistication and technical aptitude. Clearly there are individual members of the species that possess sufficient technical acumen to implant these devices within the bodies of their brethren. Most of the devices' purposes are fairly obvious -- cybernetic limbs, bionic replacement organs, and implanted weapons. However, some served no discernible purpose, even when subjected to detailed analysis. At least one Magos employed by Aspyce Chorda attempted to learn their function by implanting the devices in a number of that Rogue Trader's indentured workers.Initially analysts believed that the Rak'Gol implants were non-functional as the installed devices appeared nonresponsive to standard query protocols. Further analysis showed little evidence of any energetic flow within the devices, suggesting that the alternative hosts were incapable of activating and controlling these implants. However, the test subjects soon discovered that these preliminary results were not consistently accurate. In all cases, if the human body did not fatally reject the unknown implants, severe mental degradation followed within a week. It is unclear if this was a consequence of the implant's unusual biochemical interface or if the implants affected the brain directly. None of the test subjects survived beyond two weeks -- and the three that possessed some rudimentary psychic abilities perished in screaming agony within hours. It is said that Chorda sold the results, as well as the services of the Magos who conducted the experiments, to an agent of the Ordo Xenos in Footfall.One point of note about Rak'Gol technology is that a small but significant percentage seems to incorporate technology that bears the hallmark crystalline and bone structure associated with the Yu'vath. This suggests that the Rak'Gol may havean association with that dead xenos species. Some of those who have had the misfortune of encountering one of the Rak'Gol "Abominations" -- the xenos' leadership caste -- note that they are more likely to possess Yu'vath technology, indicating that it may be some sort of status symbol amongst them. Rak'Gol have been encountered possessing Yu'vath symbols, as well as symbols that learned scholars of the arcane and the forbidden claim are debased and simplified symbols of the Ruinous Powers of the Warp. Clearly, the Rak'Gol have some sort of ties to the Immaterium, possibly through their covetous desire of Yu'vath technology. One of the most mysterious facets of Rak'Gol technology is the propensity for the Abominations to seek out and capture lost relics of the Yu'vath. These wretches will go to any length to possess Yu'vath implants and constructs, going so far as to even decorate their bodies with the silvered traceries and symbols used by that decimated race of Chaos-worshippers.