Brainleaf
The Brainleaf (also referred to as the "Grey Vine" or "Slave Vine"[2] and by the scientific name Vinea catachanus dominari[3]) is a tree native to Catachan. It has a rudimentary animal brain with the lowest level of intelligence and can control hosts through attaching its leaves to them.[1a]
The leaves can float away from the tree for many metres using a wing-like undulation and are seemingly harmless until they make contact with a living body, at which point they use barbed tendrils to attach themselves into their prey. The leaves then spread their tendrils into their victim's body, meshing with their nervous system. From this point on the victim becomes a mindless slave of the leaf, able to perform only the most basic motor functions.[1a][3]
The Brainleaf tree uses its victims to protect itself, and propagate its young. Victims have no intelligence, often lacking the motor skills to use primitive weapons. To protect the Brainleaf, the Brainleaf Thrall will charge at anything that gets too close and beat it with whatever appendages it has.[2]
The leaf is almost impossible to remove once attached. It will inhabit its host until it wastes away, and will then look for a new home.[3] The Brainleaf can be removed from a host, though it is incredibly dangerous to the host. If the host isn't killed by the agonizing procedure, they will suffer permanent nerve damage.[2]
There is another variant of Brainleaf that appears as a grey, hairy vine wrapped around a tall object. When prey gets too close to the vine, it will reach down and attach a leaf to the back of the creature's neck. The fibers in the leaf then quickly burrow into the spinal chord of the victim, reducing a victim to a brainleaf thrall. [2]
Members of Catachan Astra Militarum regiments race through brainleaf groves as a rite of passage.[3]
See Also
Sources
- 1: Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader
- 2: Dark Heresy Core Rulebook, pgs. 346, 347
- 3: Liber Xenologis, pg. 62
