Editing Viskeons

[[File:Krashrak diorama.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Krashrak the Stalker, the only named Viskeon in the lore, as well as the only model]]

The galaxy of [[Warhammer 40,000]] is a big place, home to uncountable [[Xenos]] races, though that number has slightly thinned out recently thanks to the actions of [[Imperium|one in particular]]. Some races are big players on the main stage, like [[Human]]s, [[Aeldari]], [[Q'Orl]], [[Orks]], [[Necron]]s, and [[Tyranid]]s. Others are more of a supporting act, such as the [[T'au]]. And then there're the little guys who never even get invited to the party, like the '''Viskeons'''.

== Overview ==

The Viskeons were a cold-blooded race, native to a harsh but beautiful [[Deathworld]] of desert, plain, and jungle, and their unforgiving homeworld had bred a people of strength and pride. They valued [[Khorne|martial honour above all else]], adhering to a strict warrior code that viewed ranged combat as an insult to your opponent, denying them the chance to test their mettle against you in melee, like [[Firaeveus_Carron|a coward and a fewl]]. A favoured traditional weapon of theirs was their signature Shockthrottle, a unique-looking hand weapon with four main blades sprouting from a single head, and a chain wrapping it around the wrist to prevent disarmament.

In appearance, Viskeons were humanoid, as most Xenos are in this franchise, distinguished from the actual Humans by their blue skin and a fin on the back of their head ... [[Lizardmen#Skink|Wait a minute...]] They were also naturally ambidextrous, and had a large white tongue which contained their saliva gland, with a pore at its tip to eject the acidic spit. Some of them instead had green skin, no head fin, and Davy Jones' face but with a beak and stubby tusks instead of tentacles, though since their races' extinction it's now impossible to know the reason for this diversity. Because of their ectothermic metabolism, their physical condition varied considerably throughout a given day, being drowsy and sluggish when in the path of strong direct sunlight or equivalent, and alert and active when enveloped in shadow or during the night.

According to [[Xenology]], Viskeons, like starfish, can multiply by having limbs cut off. If you cut off a Viskeon's arm, the Viskeon will grow a new arm, and the arm will grow a new Viskeon.

=== Code of the Stalker ===

Viskeon warriors wore a [[Carapace_Armor|Carapace Armour]] Breastplate with a single horned [[Pauldron]] on one side, leaving their arms and legs mostly exposed to display their well-defined musculature, and the strings of white spurs that ran down their limbs. A relatively large Backpack unit was incorporated into the Armour, though not as bulky as those of [[Adeptus_Astartes|Astartes]] [[Power Armour]], and this housed an advanced sensor suite that could even rival a Psi-Tracker in detection capability, giving them an unparalleled track record in manhunting. And a pair of Neurogauntlets on the wrists rounded out their equipment, built-in [[Drug]] Injectors commonly filled with doses of stimulants such as Reflex, or sedatives like Chlorintone.

Chlorintone in particular was preferred, as when combined with Viskeon biology and sufficient training, it enabled them to reduce their body temperature and vitals to a point where their body could be examined by a Magos Biologis and declared dead, letting them sneak past even the most advanced sensor grids to catch their prey.

=== Extinction with Honour ===

The Viskeons met their untimely end thanks to the actions of the usual <strike>suspect</strike> [[Eldrad|dick]], who manipulated an [[Ork]] [[Waaagh]] into gatecrashing a Splinter Fleet of [[Tyranid]] [[Hive Fleet]] [[Hive_Fleet_Kraken|Kraken]] that had broken off at Ichar IV, redirecting it away from some [[Maiden World]]s but toward the Viskeons. Without ranged weapons of any kind, they were unable to hold back the uncountable tide as the skies turned purple with swarms of [[Mycetic Spore]]s, and their entire race was wiped out in a single night, their world and its stark beauty stripped clean in little over ninety days. The [[Troll|aloof]] [[Farseer]]s of [[Ulthwe]] considered this a sacrifice worth making, as [[Aeldari]] lives had been saved and that was all that mattered. And with no way of knowing of the Aeldaris' involvement in the whole affair, those few Viskeons who were offworld at the time had nobody to blame but the Tyranids.


=== A Thread of Hope ===
Technically speaking, due to their way of reproducing a new young Viskeon from every torn off limb, hope for the Viskeon race against extinction isn't entirely vanished. As long as one of the very few survivors like Krashrak is willing to keep ripping their arm or leg off over and over and over to make a limb-babbeh, on a relatively safe planet, the Viskeons could always restart their race anew.

== On the Tabletop ==

The Viskeons made their debut in [[White Dwarf]] 263, with a single individual represented in the [[Inquisitor_(role-playing_game)|Inquisitor]] [[Specialist_Game|specialist game]], Krashrak the Stalker. He had a base profile with WS79, BS11, S81, T73, I70, Wp56, Sg68, Nv93, and Ld23, but this could be modified depending on if it was high noon or midnight. If it was the heat of the day, he lost -2d6 WS, -2d6 S, -1d6 T, and -2d6 I, whilst if it was the cool of the night, he gained +2d10 WS, +2d10 S, +1d10 T, and +2d10 I. If the time of day hadn't been determined by the [[GM]] already, you had to roll 1d10 to figure it out yourself, with 1 to 3 being high noon, 8 to 0 being midnight, and everything inbetween being just normal. Skills included Subdue, Nerves of Steel, Furious Assault, Spit Acid, and Ambidextrous.

Krashrak was equipped with chest Carapace Armour, a Runic Talisman that counted as a Hexagrammic Ward, a Backpack that counted as a Psi-Tracker, and a pair of Neurogauntlets that counted as Drug Injectors with four doses of Reflex and unlimited does of Chlorintone. He was armed with a [[Basic_Close_Combat_Weapons#Sword|Knife]], which was just a Knife, but he also had a [[Miscellaneous_Weapons#Shockthrottle|Shockthrottle]], which was Reach 2 Damage 1d6+4 Parry Penalty -10%, on a Critical Hit couldn't be dodged, and injects the target with Chlorintone if the Damage roll exceeds the hit Location's Armour. At normal dosage levels, an affected target loses one point of Speed at once, and another every subsequent turn until incapacitated, but the dose can be upped to lethal levels. This adds +1d10 Damage to further Crits that penetrate Armour.

Outside of Inquisitor, there's potentially a more sinister representation of them in the main game. What with their distinctive head fin and acidic spit, it could very much be the case that the [[Hive Mind]] decided to retain these traits in the genepool, and used them to spawn one of its most numerous and successful strains, [[Gargoyle_(Tyranids)|Gargoyles]]...

== Famous Viskeons ==

*'''Krashrak''' - An infamous bounty hunter who once worked for Inquisitor Lichtenstein. He wasn't on his homeworld when the Tyranids attacked, and only learnt of its destruction a year after the fact, raising a glass to their souls at one of the seedy bars he frequented. And that he frequented any bars says a lot about alien life in the Imperium.

== Gallery ==

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Krashrak model.jpg
Krashrak inquisitor.jpg
Viskeon xenobiology.jpg
</gallery>

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

[[Category: Xenos]]

[[Category:Minor Xenos Species]]

{{Template:Important Species in 40k}}