The @Kthon are among the most ancient and feared species in the galaxy, a civilization that predates the rise of the Endless Unity by countless millennia and whose history is etched into the very fabric of the cosmos through conquest, ritual, and psionic evolution. They are a species transformed by their own will and the crucible of endless war, having undergone numerous metamorphoses across their aeons-long existence. Where other civilizations rise and fall, the @Kthon endure, adapting through sorcerous biomancy and the relentless application of strength.
Physically, the modern @Kthon are monstrous humanoids standing well over ten feet tall and weighing multiple tonnes, their crimson flesh augmented with psionic might that makes their musculature grotesquely powerful. Their slanted skulls are reinforced with bone strong enough to withstand blows that would kill a @Void Marine outright, bristling with sharp protrusions and covered in retractable scales along their backs and forearms. Giant fangs fill their jaws, and their eyes radiate a hateful orange glow born from their deep connection to the Primordial Power. This is not their original form—the species has reinvented itself many times, each transformation marking a new epoch in their brutal history.
The Cant of Blood, known in Kthonic as "Khad Ar-Kharun"—the closest approximation human vocal cords can produce of their ancient tongue—is the sonic signature of Kthon warfare. This deep, guttural vocalization is not a chaotic bellow but a precise sequence: each bloodmarine contributes a single syllable in perfect synchronization, creating a rolling wave of harsh consonants that carries across battlefields. The sound is deliberately primitive in timbre, yet its execution reveals the sophistication of gestalt coordination, transforming thousands of individual voices into a weapon that cracks glass, induces panic, and signals the methodical advance of an ancient species that has refined the art of terror across uncounted millennia.
In ancient times, the @Kthon controlled vast swathes of the galaxy, their empire stretching across what are now the heartlands of multiple successor states. Their dominion was not measured in star systems but in galactic sectors, their war machine crushing countless fledgling civilizations beneath its tread. The @Altarans, now considered ancient themselves, were bitter enemies of the @Kthon even in those distant epochs, their crystalline technology clashing against @Kthon flesh-shaping in wars that spanned millennia. Many other species were driven to extinction by @Kthon expansion, their genomes absorbed into the flesh-pits to create new servant creatures or to fuel the evolution of the @Kthon themselves.
The most profound transformation in @Kthon history was the Red Cleansing; a species-wide metamorphosis that eliminated sexual dimorphism and gender entirely, replacing natural reproduction with sorcerous flesh-shaping. This change is widely believed to have been the result of a catastrophic miscalculation on the part of those who had performed the ritual, and it is a core part of what forged the @Kthon in their modern form. Each generation of @Kthon is thus literally born from the spiritual essence of their predecessors, carrying memories and knowledge through the gestalt mind that connects every member of the species. This gestalt consciousness allows each @Kthon to be born with instinctive knowledge of warfare, logistics, and engineering, making them formidable soldiers from the moment of creation.
The@Kthon are governed by an ideal called the Path of Strength; a rigid ideology that demands the strong rule and the weak serve or perish. Their empire is decentralized, held together by a shared sense of duty and honor rather than bureaucratic control. The Emperor is first among Warmasters, the most powerful warrior who maintains cohesion through force of will and combat prowess. Warmasters rule their own domains as semi-autonomous warlords, each commanding their own blood legions and governing their conquered territories as they see fit. This system was established during the Imperial Reformation, which followed the Millennium of Darkness—a period when the @Kthon were pushed to the brink of extinction by rival powers. The Reformation allowed them to survive and eventually launch their Revenant Years, reconquering territory on a scale not seen since the Red Cleansing.
In warfare, the @Kthon are utterly merciless, viewing all other species as inferior beings fit only for slavery or annihilation. Their blood legions train throughout their lives, with only the strongest and most cunning accepted into elite units. Their technology is deliberately crude and reliable, designed to function for decades or centuries away from supply chains. They establish planetary fortresses that manufacture munitions locally, treating conquest as a permanent state of existence. Their doctrine emphasizes terror tactics and anti-guerrilla warfare, turning entire worlds into forced labor camps that fuel the war machine. The @Kthon claim territory with massive banners bearing metallic insignia, adorned with the skulls and bones of defeated enemies.
The @Kthon are the most psionically attuned species in the galaxy, with every member possessing some connection to the Primordial Power through the gestalt mind. This connection allows them to be born with knowledge that would take others decades to learn and enables their flesh-shapers to manipulate biological matter with sorcerous precision. However, this power comes at a cost—flesh-shapers gradually weaken with each creation until they succumb to the Stygian Death, their spirits exhausted. This limitation controls their reproduction rate, as creating new @Kthon is always a tremendous risk that can result in catastrophic failures, from explosive detonations to summoning malevolent entities.
The @Kthon Reclaimer Empire controls more galactic territory than any other civilization - a vast dominion that spans much of the Delta and Gamma quadrants. Their empire stretches across ancient sectors where they once ruled supreme, and they are now undergoing massive expansion to reclaim areas that were theirs long before the living memory of almost every species. This expansion is not conquest but restoration—recovery of what they view as rightfully theirs by age and strength.
Their ancient enemies extend beyond the @Altarans, and includes the many tribes of humanity along with countless other species and civilizations. In modern history, the Taurisian Star-Union was being systematically devoured by @Kthon forces in the years preceding the War of the Chosen. When the Endless Unity, with the encouragement and backing of the @Altaran Providence of the Chosen, intervened in a short but brutal conflict. The @Kthon were pushed back. From this war, the Endless Unity's @Tauron metachor was established as a fortified frontier.
In the ensuing War of the Chosen, the @Kthon would seek vengeance, and attack the embattled @Tauron metachor many times. But their forces were few; stretched thin by the massive distances from their own home territory, and would prove insufficient to meaningfully challenge the burgeoning military might of the Endless Unity - even as the latter was heavily preoccupied in a distant quadrant of the galaxy.
But the Endless Unity is now more. With the Great Schism fracturing the Endless Unity into weakened successor states, the @Kthon see their opportunity. They are devouring the splintered remnants of the superstate that once held them at bay, methodically reclaiming territory and purging resistance with the same ancient hunger that has defined them for unnumbered millennia.