A tale of two worlds

The Termigons – Fallen Children of the Nool

Long before the tunnels of Mars crawled with cannibal kings, there were the Nool—a gentle and contemplative race who tended the Astral Paddy Fields, vast, luminous terraces said to exist between the physical and the immaterial. They were caretakers, not conquerors. Their civilisation was quiet, patient, and deeply attuned to unseen currents of existence.

That world is gone.

Whether through war, cosmic collapse, or slow decay, the Nool were driven from their fields and forced beneath the Martian surface. In the endless dark, something in them changed.

____________________

General Overview

The Termigons are a degenerate, cannibalistic species that dwell within the vast tunnel networks beneath the surface of Mars—particularly beneath settlements such as New Brighton. Their warrens stretch through natural caverns, abandoned mining shafts, and long-forgotten sewer systems, forming a sprawling underworld few surface-dwellers truly understand.

Physically, Termigons are lean and sinewy, with elongated limbs adapted for scrambling through tight passages and uneven rock. Their hunched posture and powerful grip allow them to climb, cling, and ambush with unsettling speed. Their alien heads—marked by predatory jaws and cold, luminous eyes—make them terrifying in the dark, where they are most at home.

Despite their fearsome appearance, Termigons are inherently cowardly creatures. Alone or outmatched, they skulk in the shadows, avoiding direct confrontation. However, when they gather in numbers, their behaviour changes dramatically. Packs of Termigons become frenzied and bold, overwhelming prey through sheer weight of bodies, chittering war-cries echoing through the tunnels.

They are cannibalistic opportunists, feeding on anything they can drag into the dark—enemy, ally, or their own wounded. This has led to a brutal, survival-of-the-fittest culture where weakness is swiftly culled, and strength is measured only by one’s ability to endure and consume.

____________________

Degeneration into the Termigons

Cut off from light, harmony, and the astral rhythms that once sustained them, the Nool devolved into the creatures now known as Termigons.

Their transformation was not merely physical—but spiritual.

Life in perpetual darkness has twisted the Termigons into divergent forms:

• Sightless Strains
  Some Termigons have completely lost their eyes—smooth, sealed flesh where vision once was.
  These creatures navigate using an unnerving combination of:
  • Acute scent tracking
  • Sensitivity to vibration
  • A suspected sixth sense—perhaps electromagnetic or psychic in nature
  • In the dark, they are often more dangerous than their sighted kin.
• Shadow-Sighted Strains
  Others retain their eyes, adapted for low-light conditions:
  • Excellent vision in darkness and gloom
  • Severely impaired in bright light—often recoiling, blinking, or becoming erratic

____________________

Cannibals of the Martian Underways

The Termigons are a towering, subterranean species that infest the tunnel networks beneath Mars. Standing between 7 and 9 feet tall—with most looming at around 8 feet—they are gaunt yet powerful creatures, all sinew, bone, and predatory instinct.

They dwell beneath the surface of cities like New Brighton, spreading through sewers, collapsed mine shafts, and natural caverns, forming a labyrinthine underworld that festers just below civilisation.

___________________

Behaviour

Despite their imposing size, Termigons are fundamentally cowardly.

• They avoid fair fights whenever possible
• They stalk, observe, and wait
• Only when they outnumber or surround their prey do they attack

Once committed, however, they descend into feral pack violence, tearing victims apart in a frenzy of claws, teeth, and crude weapons.

Their cannibalistic nature is absolute:

• The dead are eaten
• The wounded are eaten
• The weak are eaten

This has resulted in a brutal internal hierarchy where survival alone defines worth.

____________________

Beasts of the Underways

In their long exile, the Termigons have not remained alone.

They have tamed and bred nightmare creatures that dwell in the deep:

• Blind, burrowing predators
• Chitinous tunnel-stalkers
• Pale, many-limbed horrors adapted to the same murk

These creatures serve as:

• War-beasts
• Guardians of brood chambers
• Living tools for excavation and siege

____________________

The Cities Beneath – Termite Kingdoms

The Termigons now inhabit vast, organic tunnel-cities—often described as termite mounds inverted into the earth.

These underground realms are:

• Labyrinthine and ever-expanding
• Carved through rock, bone, and ancient infrastructure
• Lit dimly by phosphorescent fungi and chemical glow—the so-called phosphorous murk

Each city is ruled by a clan or brood, locked in constant territorial conflict.

____________________

Endless War Below

Most Termigon existence is consumed byinternal warfare.

• Kingdom fights kingdom
• Brood fights brood
• Expansion is survival

These wars are savage, fought in:

• Flooded tunnels
• Collapsing caverns
• Narrow choke-points slick with blood and fungal slime

Victory brings food, territory, and breeding rights. Defeat means consumption.

____________________

The Rising Threat

For generations, the Termigons have been largely contained by their own infighting.

But this is changing.

From time to time, a strong clan leader emerges—one capable not only of domination, but of vision.

These leaders:

• Unite rival broods (through fear or consumption)
• Push expansion beyond traditional boundaries
• Turn their gaze upward… and outward

____________________

Weapons of the Underways

Termigon armaments reflect their brutal environment:

Vicious Knives

• Crude but deadly blades, often chipped or serrated
• Used for stabbing, hooking, and tearing in close quarters
• Frequently fashioned from scrap metal, bone, or salvaged tools

Martian Stump-Gun

A signature weapon of the species:

• A short-barrelled, shotgun-like firearm
• Brutal, unreliable, and devastating at close range
• Fires scattershot, scrap, or improvised ammunition
• Perfectly suited to:
  • Tunnel ambushes
  • Corridor fighting
  • Sudden point-blank engagements

The Stump-Gun is less a precision weapon and more a tool of overwhelming violence—exactly how the Termigons prefer to fight.

____________________

The Southern Pressure

In the southern reaches of their realm, Termigon tunnel-networks are beginning to intersect with the holdings of the Drune.

There, at the edges of civilisation:

• Outposts vanish overnight
• Caravanserai are found emptied, blood-stained, and silent
• Survivors speak of towering shapes emerging from the ground

What was once a hidden menace is becoming something far more dangerous.

The models for these are made from Games Workshop Kroot Bodies with Genestealer heads.  The guns have been cut down to represent the shotgun-style weapons in our fluff that they carry.