Compendium
Dahak
Little is known about the origins of the Dahak. Scourge of humanity and destroyer of the Second Terran Empire, the first Dahak incursion occurred on the fringes of imperial space in a region ruled by insignificant great houses barely suitable to carry the name. Predictably, the core worlds ignored the situation until the invaders had established a foothold and containment was no longer possible.
The majority of Dahak are mindless drones focused solely on consumption. Once inserted into an ecosystem, they quickly devour both the local life forms and each other. Eventually, the drones devastate a planet, causing ecosystem collapse.
This insatiable appetite fuels a continual spawning of offspring. Starting off as small nodules on the skin, these children mature at a frighteningly pace. Those progeny that are not devoured by their siblings, their parent, or another drone eventually detach, often in a violent and fatal fashion. It is widely believed that the Dahak drones have been manipulated for rapid reproduction and excessive genetic mutation.
In direct contradiction to their dominate nature, one in several hundred billion Dahak develop sentience and are hyper-intelligent. The higher forms appear to be highly cooperative, and Imperial scientists believe their homeworld is technologically advanced and inhabited solely by sentient Dahak. All evidence points to the theory that the Dahak view the mass infestation of Terran-like planets as simple procreation. The higher forms have yet to exhibit any desire for empire, domination, or subjugation. Instead, other sentient life is viewed at the same level as their drones, biological fodder of no consequence.
Dahak invasions typically take one of two forms. For worlds already populated by a sentient species, dropships full of mature drones are released to butcher the denizens. For worlds with a thriving biota and sparsely populated, a virus is delivered, often by an asteroid. This virus hijacks the existing phenotypes resulting in Dahak with a variety of body forms. This second form of invasion is simpler and requires less resources. Fortunately, a vigilant population can often exterminate this type infestation with minimal causalities.
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