Kroot Shaper - Role: Shapers command their underlings on the field of battle much like a Sergeant of the Imperial armed forces and perform most of the functions associated with interaction with other groups such as the T'au. However, more significantly, they play a vital role within Kroot society which shapes the fate of the entire species.The Kroot have at some distant point in their past gained the ability to absorb the genetic characteristics of their prey, inheriting many of their physiological and anatomical features. This is achieved by way of the Kroot's unique DNA, which is able to store far more information than that of other species, allowing them to incorporate useful DNA strands into their own genotype in Lamarckian fashion.It is the task of the Shaper to oversee this process. At some point in the species' past, the riot of uncontrolled evolution must have produced the ancestors of the current incarnation, and they, uniquely amongst their entire genus, were sentient and capable of exerting some control over their own genetic fate.Were they not, they would have been a short-lived passage in the species' genetic history and would no doubt have succumbed to random evolution. When some quirk of evolution blessed the Kroot with sentience, they gained the ability to control their own destiny, and the Shapers are those in whom responsibility for this process is vested.Shapers have the instinctive ability to sample and analyse the genetic characteristics of any creature they eat. They are able to isolate the prey's DNA so that it does not corrupt their own, and interpret which of its characteristics might be favourable to Kroot evolution and which might be detrimental. The Shaper then warns his Kindred against eating particular prey, and directs them towards others.By carefully guiding his Kindred's breeding, the Shaper can navigate the species' turbulent development. He is as much responsible for guarding against regression as he is for ensuring the development of new, favourable genetic traits. For instance, a Shaper who wants his Kroot to gain muscle mass will take on campaigns against Orks to acquire the right DNA, while extensive feeding on flying predators will allow the Kroot to grow wings.Each Shaper belongs to a single Kindred, and guides that Kindred along a slightly different path from the others, meaning that each Kindred possesses a fractionally different genetic code. This diversity is necessary, for the Kroot, like many lifeforms native to Pech, risk being trapped into a single DNA structure that is effectively a dead-end, with no more variety possible.There are a number of other, related creatures from Pech that have suffered this fate -- Knarlocs, Krootoxen, and Kroot Hounds are just a few examples. These beings are all closely related to the Kroot, and may have, in fact, even been Kroot at some point in the distant past until they encountered an evolutionary roadblock.Kroot are possessed of an overwhelming urge to consume the corpses of those they have slain in combat, a trait over which they have very little control and is a throwback to earlier stages in their evolution. The Shapers are the only Kroot capable of curtailing this instinct, and they can with a single hiss warn their underlings away from consuming the flesh of an undesirable creature.Having determined that a particular prey is safe to consume, the Shapers invariably allow their Kindreds to obey their primal urges. Thus, Kroot will consume the bodies of fallen humans and other creatures if the Shapers have already determined that it is safe for them to do so.There are three known types of creature that the Kroot will not prey upon, the Shapers having forbidden it. The first are Tyranids, who the Shapers have declared "inedible" (the term has far worse connotations to a Kroot than to a human). Something in the function of Tyranid evolution causes utter revulsion in the Shapers, perhaps because Tyranids also modify the genetic inheritance of other species towards their own development, though in a very different manner.The second group the Kroot avoid preying upon are those humans who have turned to the worship of Chaos. This is a very hit and miss affair, for the Kroot are barely able to tell the followers of the Ruinous Powers from any other type of human. This proscription stems from an incident when the Kroot defeated a warband devoted to Slaanesh, and later developed a number of entirely undesirable mutations.The last group the Kroot are forbidden by the Shapers to feed upon are the T'au themselves. Even though the Kroot comport themselves as savage mercenaries and rely upon the T'au for material support in many matters, theyare, as a species, deeply indebted and devoted to the T'au, for Pech would have fallen to Ork invasion were it not for the T'au's aid. To taste the flesh of the T'au is to earn the swift and deadly retribution of the Shapers.