WH40k: Saharduin

Been in the mood to draw these guys for a while. A few months back I decided I'd do yet another reboot of the Outcastes and the rest of my 40k stuff, and part of that was redoing the Serrasal, a species of fishlike aliens aligned with my Chaos characters. Then I wound up in a thread on /tg/ about fixing the Saharduin/Piscean Warriors that were lost in the shuffle back in the 80s. We made some excellent progress on updating them, and I've decided to continue that by replacing the Serrasal with the rebooted Saharduin.

Saharduin are a xenos species native to the watery world of Pisces in the Ultima Segmentum. Like the Eldar, who have their souls auto-nommed by Slaanesh, and my version of the Tarellians, who have their souls auto-nommed by Nurgle, the Saharduin are a blood-feasting warrior people who have their souls auto-nommed by Khorne, the Chaos God of blood, war, and violence. As such, blood is the cornerstone of their entire society and biology, and let's just say they are very, very red, most of the time.

When the Imperium of Man stumbled upon Pisces in M38, they found the tidal world overwhelmed by violent warp storms and daemons. The native Saharduin, a water-breathing xenos people blessed/cursed by Khorne, did what they could to flee their inhospitable world and sneak past the Imperium to new horizons. The Imperial Navy attempted several forms of exterminatus on Pisces, but the planet still remains mostly intact. The Navy maintains a blockade around the planet, ready to destroy anything that emerges from its depths.

The Saharduin that managed to escape, however, have adapted well to interstellar life. A warrior race, the Saharduin usually ply their trade as mercenaries for anyone willing to hire them. They tend to operate in migratory armies called Shivers. Every Shiver has their own way of doing things, and cater to different allies and enemies depending on where they are and who's around. Unlike Eldar and Tarellians, Saharduin have a more cordial relationship with their Chaos God/soulsucker, Khorne, and Chaos Saharduin are not necessarily at odds with other Saharduin. Those Saharduin that pledge themselves to the Blood God are less often contained in their own Shivers and instead merge themselves with other Chaos armies and daemonic hordes.

A peculiar function of Saharduin biology makes them highly reliant on blood (there's or other's) and adrenaline. Saharduin are normally pretty stupid when they're calm and relaxed, and when fighting starts they can really only be relied on to chop their enemies up in melee or hit them with whatever they're holding, descending on enemy units in mad feeding frenzies. But then things improve for them – the more adrenaline, the greater rush, the more blood spilled the more higher brain functions of theirs start working. Saharduin in the heat of battle remember how to use their vehicles and advanced death rays and technology, and become intelligent and cunning enough to start blowing their enemies up at range. Because of this trend, Saharduin weapons and vehicles must be able to operate as melee weapons and ranged weapons, if ever possible. This leads to some unique combinations, like battering-ram-tanks and bikes with buzzsaws on the front. Every gun has a bayonet of some kind, and their forces are always melee heavy.

Saharduin also feature a variety of genetic mutations, with some growing to incredible heights and masses, others that can maintain intelligence without spilling blood, and even weirder and more awesome Warp mutations brought on by Chaos. Also of note is that Saharduin don't have many psykers, and any that display psychic aptitude are usually snatched up by daemons before they can reach maturity. As such, Saharduin actually maintain rudimentary computers and AI, sometimes daemon-infested to help them in peacetime when they're rock-stupid. Saharduin are roughly as tough as your average ork in straight-up combat, but have a reliable healing factor that can keep them going through serious injuries, especially when they feed on the blood of their enemies. Additionally, they are insanely useful in aquatic combat, more than capable of slaughtering a space marine or similar enemy when underwater. Because they tend to be employed in marine combat, Saharduin often dress tightly, with little baggage (I tried to slim their armor as much as possible) or heavy gear. At their most intelligent, they can create fascinating technological wonders on the same level as Tau and Eldar, but they can easily forget how their own tech works if they're short on adrenaline.

Saharduin have fairly healthy relations with just about everyone, and despite being alien vampire sharks, they're rather noblebright. They don't hold any ill will towards the Imperium and fight for them as clients whenever possible, they have friendly rivalries with the Orks, are chummy with most forces of Chaos, and are even fond of working with Eldar and Dark Eldar (since the pay is always worth the fight). They like fighting for the Tau, but very few Saharduin ever fall in line with the Greater Good and fully join the Empire, though it's not impossible for a Shiver to do so. They are also fine working with the Necrons. About the only faction they never work with are the Tyranids.

That's all I can really think of. Sorry if it's tl;dr. And the weapon the Chaos Saharduin female is wielding is a harpoon gun that pulls enemies towards her and into the gun's buzzsaw blades. They'll have a lot of crazy guns like that.