Kroot Shaper

A Kroot Shaper is far more than a war-chief. He is the guiding will of an entire kindred, a warrior-elder who has eaten widely and wisely, and who steers the strange evolution of his people by dictating what prey they hunt and what flesh they devour. For the Kroot absorb the traits of what they consume, and a Shaper who chooses poorly can doom his line to a bestial dead end.

In battle the Shaper is a paragon of his kind, swifter, stronger and cannier than the Carnivores who follow him, his hide adorned with trophies and his weapons bearing the marks of a hundred hunts. He directs the kindred with harsh calls and gestures, sending the hounds to flush the enemy and the hunters to fall upon them, holding the whole savage host to a single deadly purpose.

The T'au Empire treats with the Shapers rather than the rank and file, for it is their word that binds a kindred to a mercenary contract. To the Kroot, the Greater Good is simply the richest hunting the galaxy has yet offered, and the Shaper is the one who leads them from feast to bloody feast.