Visceri

"You cannot slow us. You cannot stop us. The Godmind shall ascend."

- Planet-Wide Psychic Transmission detected overhead Lak'Vrey (circa. 953.M40)

The Visceri are a race of highly psychic humanoids once native to the Sephadollion Sector, masters of psionic sorcery that once lorded over the entirety of the Sector. They were thought to be exterminated twice, once during the Great Crusade at the hands of the Luna Wolves Legion and once during the xenocidal campaign known as the Lak'Vrey Retaliation. However, in recent years, many have begun to suspect that the Visceri did not die with the destruction of their homeworld, the survivors still lying in wait, watching, preparing, growing in strength until the day they might rise up to challenge the Imperium once again.

Biology
The name Visceri is in fact a broad term used to describe the race as a whole, for the Visceri are in fact divided up into three separate subspecies. The first and most numerous of these subspecies are the Viscerai; natural-born Visceri with low psychic aptitudes (ranging from the Kappa to Epsilon Grade). They somewhat resemble humans, but with thin, wiry, hairless bodies, chalk white skin, slanted foreheads, enlarged craniums, slitted nostrils and small holes is the sides of their heads that serve as sound receptors. Growing from the backs of their heads are several short, fleshy tendrils that some have mistaken for hair, when in fact these are nerve cords that focus and develop the Vicerai's natural psychic abilities. As a result, Viscerai grow in psychic power as they age (Viscerai live almost as long as humans do), but their is a drawback to this process; a Viscerai's brain simply cannot handle higher concentrations of psychic power. If they reach anything higher than an Epsilon Grade in their lifetime, their brains will literally explode from the strain, or even worse, the Viscerai will become a living gateway for the Ruinous Powers to pour through.

To combat this genetic drawback, the Visceri have created technology able to allow them metamorphose into a form more suited to handling the raw power they now possess. This process is known as "The Ascension" amongst the Visceri, and is considered to be a hallowed event. When a Viscerai reaches his or her threshold, he or she is sealed within a Psionic Crucible, a unique coffin-like device that instigates Ascension process. Gestation can take several years, but when the Acsenion is complete the Visceri emerges as a fully-fledged Visceror, a member of the second "noble" subspecies. Visceror are physically different from the Viscerai in several ways: their craniums are more elongated, their nerve-cords longer, their bodies having grown taller to the point where they stand at a good seven feet. Changes also occur within the Visceror's body; their dopamine receptors have atrophied, leaving them with less access to emotion in order to temper their psychic power, and their sexual organs have disappeared, leaving them unable to reproduce. However, their psychic ability now ranges from the Gamma to Delta, making them dangerous psykers. Their lifespan has also tripped as a result of the Ascension process, as their bodies have reached such a level of internal homeostasis that they very rarely require sustenance.

A rare few Visceror continue to develop their psychic abilities even after their first Ascension, and as a result are marked to one day ascend into Visceryn, the dangerously powerful ruling subspecies of the Visceri. When a chosen Visceror reaches his or her threshold, they once again enter the Psionic Crucible, gestating for up to three or four decades before finally emerging. Visceryn have lost all their sensor organs save for their eyes and ears, communicating entirely through telepathy. They grow an extra pair of arms, and both their their sexual characteristics disappear and dopamine receptors disappear entirely, leaving them completely genderless and emotionless. Now Beta Grade psykers (though there have been reports of Alpha Grade Visceryn), the Visceryn govern over Visceri society as members of the ruling body known as the Council of Nine.