The Lacrymole are minor antagonists in the Warhammer 40,000 franchise. They are a hostile, vampiric, shapeshifting alien race that was seemingly exterminated by the Imperium, but in truth survived and continued to feed on the blood of human citizens for millennia. The true form of a Lacrymole appears to be an armored, clawed, insect-like anthropoid, but when not in disguise, they have been known to assume the form of a constantly-shifting mass of flesh and limbs with two black eyes as the only constant feature. They can shapeshift into perfect copies of humans, and even Astartes and Custodes, or use their shapeshifting to morph into forms more suited for battle.
Lacrymole were featured in the novel Forgotten Sons, the RPG supplement book Deathwatch: Mark of the Xenos, and the tabletop expansion works Inquisitor Rulebook and The Inquisition.
History[]
The Lacrymole arose in the Milky Way at an unknown point in time, but were active by the time of the Great Crusade of the 30th millennium, infesting worlds of other races and feasting on the blood of the unsuspecting. At the same time, the nascent Imperium of Man expanded across the stars to rebuild the lost golden age of humanity. During the Great Crusade, a number of alien species, hostile or otherwise, were exterminated by the Imperium, and the Lacrymole were seemingly destroyed during this time. However, the Lacrymole survived, now endangered, and used their shapeshifting abilities to hide among the human populace, preying upon Imperial civilians for sustenance ever since.
Despite being nearly exterminated by the Imperium, the Imperium at large didn't know of the Lacrymole. As such, when Warmaster Horus Lupercal, most favored son of the Emperor of Mankind, led a devastating revolt against his father, he used a Lacrymole assassin to infiltrate planet Bastion. This Lacrymole shapeshifted to disguise as a member of the Legio Custodes, killing many of Bastion's senators and nobles to plunge the planet into anarchy, which led to the world joining Horus' cause.
The Great Crusade ended with Horus destroyed in body and soul, the Emperor of Mankind interred on the Golden Throne, and the Imperium declining into a theocratic, increasingly oppressive state. However, the Lacrymole survived, commonly stowing away on Imperial ships to get around the galaxy and feed on the blood of new human populations. However, at some point prior to the 41st millennium, the Lacrymole were revealed to the Inquisition by Inquisitor Parnival Grundvald, who discovered the Lacrymole infesting planet Betacairn. Seeing just how dangerous the Lacrymole were due to their ability to blend in perfectly with the citizens, and even among guardsmen and other officials, Grundvald assembled his fellow Inquisitors of the Ordo Xenos to declare the Lacrymole Xenos Horrificus, a designation reserved for only the most dangerous aliens, such as Tyranids, commanding them to be exterminated on sight.
Grundvald then led a hunt of the Lacrymole across Imperial space, seemingly exterminating the vile xenos for good. In truth, they survived yet again in unknown corners of the Imperium, such as aboard drifting space hulks akin to Genestealers, but the Inquisition believed the species to be gone. In the early days of the Achilus Crusade in the late 41st millennium, the Lacrymole were encountered again aboard the Charnel Specter, a derelict Imperial voidship dating back to the Great Crusade, which the Lacrymole had been infesting for centuries before its rediscovery. A Deathwatch Kill-team of Astartes, led by Ordo Xenos Inquisitor Malas Dyce, boarded the space hulk in the hopes of finding artifacts belonging to the early Inquisition, and were stalked by Lacrymole throughout the winding passageways. The Lacrymole assumed clawed, armored battle-forms and attacked the Kill-team, who first mistook the aliens for Genestealers. The Lacrymole forced the Imperials to flee further into the ship, splitting them up and putting them in the paths of traps and ambushes. Lone members of the group, such as Dyce's Acolytes, were then killed and replaced by Lacrymole, who assumed the form of their victims and rejoined the group, allowing them to get close enough to strike.
Realizing too late that they were dealing with shapeshifters, the Imperials were soon cut down to only Dyce and a few Astartes, the latter of whom suspected Dyce to be a Lacrymole. However, Dyce realized that he had to warn the Ordo Xenos about the return of the Lacrymole, and thus abandoned his remaining Kill-team when a swarm of Lacrymole descended on them. The remaining Astartes were killed by the Lacrymole, but Dyce successfully escaped, reporting back to his fellow Inquisitors. However, as Dyce brought back no physical evidence of the Lacrymole and had lost his entire Kill-team and retinue, he was instead ostracized by the Ordo Xenos, ending his career as a broken, paranoid old man babbling about aliens in the darkness. As such, the Lacrymole's continued existence remains unknown to the Imperium of Man, and it is possible that the Lacrymole aboard the Charnel Specter have since infiltrated the nearby Calixis Sector.