Shadow Massassi

The Shadow Massassi were a special breed of Massassi engineered through by Rin Sakaros and the Centurion Vos'elk'eetash.

Biology and appearance
"They are the apex predators that planet would have designed had the Veracht themselves not topped the food chain. Perfect."

- Rin Sakaros

In many ways, Shadow Massassi resembled their source species, which Rin took to calling "true Massassi" as a means of comparison. Shadow Massassi had the same yellow eyes as their progenitors, but darker red skin. They were also slightly taller, and while they had thinner frames than the burly true Massassi, they were proportionally just as muscular. While true Massassi had spines on their heads, necks, and elbows, Shadow Massassi additionally had them on their backs, forearms, and knees. The Shadow Massassi had tails, unlike true Massassi, and these tails were spiked as well.

The Shadow Massassi stood with their legs bent at the knees, as if always ready to spring from a crouch. Their legs were muscular, enabling them to move at speeds vastly greater than regular Massassi. Rin and Selkee engineered pads onto the soles of their feet so that they moved much more quietly than most species; in total darkness, Rin could detect their approach only by their Force signatures and the movement of air they created as they ran.

The Shadow Massassi had coils of flesh around their wrists, which when unwound revealed long, muscle-and-cartilage-filled tendrils. These ended with serrated, barbed bone spurs. The Shadow Massassi could propel them out at will like Leik barb-lashes, and could spear and reel in prey. The "harpoon tendrils" were as thick as rope and securely attached to forearm muscles and bones with redundant tendons and ligaments to prevent tearing.

After numerous failed experiments, Selkee and Rin managed to engineer Shadow Massassi blood to act in their circulatory system without harm, but to be poisonous to Veracht while being immune to Veracht venom. They could also smell Veracht from up to half a kilometer away, and were able to trace the scent through buildings.

Society and culture
Like the true Massassi from which they had been mutated, the Shadow Massassi viewed the (including part-Sith like Rin Sakaros) as gods. The Shadow Massassi were entirely loyal to Rin and committed to aiding her by protecting her Consuls and others from the Veracht. Most of them grew to detest the Veracht on a combination of conscious loathing of their Queen's enemies and newly-ingrained instinct.

As a community on Kavez Massass, the Shadow Massassi had sometimes awkward relations with their brethren. Their physical differences, particularly their tails and wrist harpoons, made them stand out immediately, and neither was particularly attractive to the opposite sex. The Shadow Massassi worked diligently like all Massassi, but they eventually created a small enclave community of their own.

History
Having decided to create the Anzat hounds after the Battle of Harth Gool and several other incidents of the Vyrak Legions causing chaos in the Empire, Rin thought of the Shadow Massassi as an additional tool. She already loathed the Veracht for their attempt to assassinate Jira Zaffrod and her family, but she was pushed to action by the assassination of two Consuls by Veracht.

Rin and Selkee traveled to Kavez Massass and used Sith alchemy to create the Anzat hounds. When that project was done, Rin asked for volunteers from among her Massassi population, warning them that the project would be painful and change them forever, but that they would protect the Empire. Far more Massassi volunteered than were needed, even allowing for failures and accidental deaths. Rin and Selkee were able to engineer most of the changes in the Massassi without any outside templates, but Rin brought in several Leik terrorists who had been condemned to death and used their bodies as templates for the Shadow Massassi harpoons.

Unlike the Anzat hounds, which were deployed widely with the Empire's fleets and unleashed on the battlefield against the Anzat clones, the Shadow Massassi were kept more secretive. Since they were fewer in number, Tariun assigned only a few (and usually only a pair) to each Consul serving on what was considered a world at risk for attack. Just prior to the Battle of Keliso, Veracht assassins attempted to kill the Prince Regnant of Keliso, but were themselves killed by Shadow Massassi. Rin had the corpses of the Veracht crucified and publicly displayed.

A small group of Shadow Massassi were present aboard the Sith Star when it was boarded during the Battle of Dolomir, and they wreaked havoc among the Veracht who had boarded the flagship. Once the battle was won, Rin used the Shadow Massassi to hunt down and exterminate the remaining Veracht in the captured ships. After the war, Rin let her Shadow Massassi return to Kavez Massass. The Shadow Massassi, while they retained full sentience, had dim memories of being true Massassi due to the changes they had undergone through alchemy, which led to some unease with the Massassi occupants of the planet.