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The Altumgelus, a massive manta-ray like species whose body temperature lies a bit below -200 degrees celcius. They are not a product of the ancients or a species alike the necrons whom we merely presume are biologically similar to the ancients. They are a species that, had they come to be in our solar system, would inhabit planets like Uranus and Neptune.The species is a behemoth that swims in liquid methane and ammonia, with various subspecies that have a similarly not quite sentient yet at the same time smarter than us. Their shrimp-like peons about the size of a pony, farmer and cattle isopods, jellyfish terraformers and stabilisers, headless seahorses and odd massive albino seaspiders, they create one complicated species that created themselves and evolved in the icy planets were pressure is immense and cold with little elements that would remain gaseous under these conditions.Most of them living in temperature ranges between 40 to 120 Kelvin, the shrimps are able to adapt by genetically imprinted mutative offspring to slightly hotter and different density regions.Thinking and diplomacyThe altumgelus civilisation is much slower, thinking singular thoughts at the pace that we would speak entire sentences. They don’t move much slower and their thoughts are much more multitasked, as for while they think slower they have more finetuned reflexes and small brain mechanics to practically react and act as quickly as people.Their diplomatic and philosophical thought is much slower though, resulting in it taking them days if not weeks to understand that they were being attacked for seemingly no reason or agitation when they first encountered another sentient species. It was only by a pre-determined course of action to mimic the species’ behaviour to show open diplomatic willingness and kindness that this didn’t destroy them, as the sending of a volley of ultra-cooled diamond rain scared the shit out of the attacking species and had them retreat quickly.This original species didn’t quite bother them much, and they left it be. It inhabited a much too low-density and hot planet, so there was no territorial dispute between their species as far as the altumgelus were concerned. They didn’t understand the need to attack at all, and considered the fleshy species as quite a savage one for mindlessly engaging. They merely seek to expand and colonise the to them acceptable planets of the universe further, seeing no need for hostilities. While warfare wasn’t alien to them, the need for it without purpose was, and would only become a part of the altumgelus’s culture in their new galactic role amongst species.Before, the powerful manta ray overlords of the species are the leaders de facto with rarely the need for combat. Their psyker control is a symbiotic control over the others that makes them cooperate and work more efficiently, the rest sustains their civilisation and biodome, and for the most part they merely exist to exist and thrive. Only in the neither common nor too rare event that their biosphere shrunk or collapsed, would the manta rays war with one another for resources and territory. If there was no excess of altumgelus, there was no need for strive.ColonisingThe Altumgelus are a much more basic species, and much alike the ancients they are a lot more resilient ecology-wise. They didn’t have comfortably pre-terraformed planets and large moons to live on, and are instead a more terraforming and resilient to a point where they are able to live on a planet as it is being terraformed and terraforming it as this happens.This is thanks to their jellyfish, which are merely a swarm of small biodomes that continuously sustain, spore out and control the plankton, algea and small animal-like species that the rest thrive on and require, and at the same time they sustain themselves on various processes to produce more complicated molecules and make the present atmosphere more to the sustainable altumgelus liking. Even at their home planet, there were several of these jellyfish in every tribe to maintain the preferred living conditions. The colonising ones are more akin the older savage and primitive variant to survive the new planets, and are more of a plague-swarm to rapidly make the ice-gas planets inhabitable.The others of the species can sustain themselves for quite a while in orbit while this terraforming is happening, them since having developed artificial biodomes encased in rock or another shell. These are large self-sustainable asteroids with thousands of smaller beings and usually just a single manta ray, who can live for thousands of years in a humble and if needed hibernating state while floating from one solar to the other the old fashioned way.No warp, just a rock with precise calculations to sling-shot using a planet’s gravity well and a nitrogen-jet propulsion to reach a high velocity within scientific boundaries. And then adjust aim a bit to start orbitting a suitable planet when sometimes many generations later they arrive at their destination. Throw a few meteors with jelly fish at it from which a few would survive impact, and wait. Once the planet was terraformed, the asteroid would crash into it with an acceptable loss so that the other species would start inhabiting it and spreading.Leaving the planet was a lot harder, but possible. The native planet’s original means was to create enough jellyfish amongst the entire population that would rapidly release some matter, to create a controlled superwave that would come together from all sides at one point to effectively collide the isolated biosphere located here into space. While this vastly reduced the population, it wouldn’t risk extinction according to the manta’s collective calculations and thus they would repopulate in time.In human terms, this is the equivalent to creating a supervolcano that would destroy 80% of life in order to yeet a crude space’ship’ located at the top of this volcano into space to start exploring it, which this species deems an acceptable cost. The initial space-colonists were assumed to repopulate further rather than the native planet and/or colonies having to undertake the same maneuvre in the future.After a few encounters with sentient lifeforms, this changed a bit. One of the to them uninhabitable rocks was covered with abandoned tech and orbitted by various broken ships and sattelites. The propulsion means of these heated ones were better suited to enter and leave planet wells and thus incorporated. And they were a bit better at accelerating the rocks to their next destination too.As a result, rocks headed for new solar systems have more humanoid tech attached to it but several kilometers away from the biodome. These reactors, propulsion systems and us-tech are superheated to their highest acceptable limits, because the altumgelus see little difference between a to us comfortable 20C and 300 degrees celsius, and the same for 1 bar and vacuum compared to their high-bar density.These rock-rigs can be as simple as the propulsion systems called nukes and a large shield, detonating the nukes in a rapid and precise manner to reach up to 1/5th light speed. (Look it up, this is a real thing that we can already do!) Other times it’s a propulsion system that extrudes gasses or for more finetuned navigating, and computers to know where to go at all.The ones that found and incorporated these rigs, turned back to spread it amongst the entire species for better colonisation of the whole species.There can also be more humanoid tech factories and science labs under vacuum, utilising the previously completely unexplored but now copied and incoporated low-density third planet from the sun kind of technology that the altumgelus would’ve never developed themselves.Initial warfareFor the longest time, there was little need for more developed warfare. The species that they encountered were initially aggressive, but eventually opted to just ignore them due to mutually being pointless targets and not overlapping in territory. And for the rest, space seemed to be empty and with little competition.Then, the altumgelus encountered a species that was even more pointlessly aggressive and employed the annoying artillery and as they called it ‘dakka’ more persistently. They kept coming, and kept fighting. Even when knocked down to a civilisation that didn’t have access to space warfare, the orks seemed intent to keep growing back to a point that they’d attack these powerful ice-creatures.As the altumgelus bore no ill will against them, for the longest time they merely threw some meteor showers of ultra-cooled materials like rocks and diamonds at the orks, devastating the ships while the ships keps destroying their space colony rocks and annoy the planets by throwing hot dakka into dense seas that immediately reduced their momentum and impact to negligible amounts.Eventually the altumgelus sought to get a diplomatic understanding with these boiz. But because they didn’t understand them much nor could survive in the ork atmosphere same as the orks in theirs, they wanted to use the previously encountered and still encased in ice lifeforms they brought from another galaxy to do it. All three species had a general case that bigger was more leadership-y, the other species could survive as an ambassador in the ork territory, and in general it was worth a shot. After destroying the orc spaceships and dropping these spaceships onto their biggest and most advanced population concentrations again, the Altumcentra tried it.Upon throwing a ton of encased tyrranids at the orc planet, some of them survived impact and defrosting and the initial orc aggression. The altumgelus saw a few of the drop zones thrive and spread, eventually overtaking the ork population. Too bad. But, the Tyrranid were a more civil and consistent ally, so not a bad outcome either.The tyrranids simply cannot infest the altumgelus. They can mutate into a wide variety of creatures and adapt to many situations, but it’s inevitably a carbon-based lifeforms who simply cannot just switch to the methane and ammonium-blooded frostkind. They could develop antifreeze blood to survive a body temperature under the freezing point, but even then they’d need to evolve another dozen forms or so to even be able to survive and develop Altumgelus infection agents. These aren’t Ancient one made, after all.(And no, that their ships can survive the vacuum of space doesn’t mean that they can survive extremely cold and/or dense conditions. Vacuum is a terrible heat conductor, likely these bio-ships need to mutate frills and ribbs to give off more heat into space to not overheat themselves even when hibernating and with optimised heat production.)As a result, the hivemind kinda sees the altumgelus as a weird ally that forces itself on them. They ignore aggressive attacks and simply claim diplomatic friendship without needing an agreement on this. And other than destroying the colony rocks, there’s little they can do against them. Not even bombing the planets with artillery works, as said space artillery often isn’t suitable for the high-density seas that the alumgelus live in hidden under thick gas atmospheres of these icy gas planets. This new alien lifeform that started deep in deemed dead and uninhabitable tyrannid territory and spreaded unimpeded is simply too alien to be opposed or invaded by them.And after seeing the success of throwing tyrranids at orks, the altumgelus began to apply this as their initial combat means against species that didn’t want to negotiate. While they would offer diplomacy to new societies found (though floating in space without firing and humming an unintelligible psyker message is not necessarily understood to be a gesture of peace by others), if war is necessary then they’ve since optimised the means of throwing tyrranids at the problem.Tyrranids conquer a planet, the altumcentra freeze in and take a bunch of them and put them in store. When needed, they send several massive biodomes and a few smaller ‘ships’ along wtih meteor showers to weaken the greater concentrations of where the people live and artillery fire is coming from, throw frozen tyrranids amongst those ultracooled rocks, and then space-bomb pockets of resistance while the tyrranids take care of the micromanagement stuff.In terms of psyker abilities, theirs is mundane but effective. The mantas continuously hum, blocking out anything else while they sing a tune that controls the others on a level that is neither quite enthralling nor merely commanding them. This hum is extremely simple and low-tune, disappearing in the background static until you come close enough.In fact, it seems to grant the inhabited rocks even more of a camouflage against detection. Which, considering a rock without telecommunication or heat signiatures is already hard to notice in the foliage of space unless it has a heat-tech rigged to them, makes it possible for the altumgelus to be around terraforming for centuries without the local inhabitants noticing them. And as long as that lasts, there’s no need for the altumgelus to make contact either.When in close combat however, things change. The non-mantas can become wild, panicked or stop moving when one blocks or scrambles the local psyker wavelengths that they use. But the same seems to happen to tyrranids within 1km of a humming manta ray, and they are always humming. And ork tech that relies too heavily on their psionic believes to work, may stop being enhanced or function entirely in this radius.If the manta is threatened or wounded, the hum changes into a scream that is taken over by all nearby mantas. Any other altumgelus will become extremely aggressive and seek to kill everything within range of their manta overlord when it happens without regard to their own safety or ammunition reserves. This has a short-range effect that can delibitate humans and the likes too, but is most effective against fellow psykers. They aren’t injured or unable to do anything, but it’s like making yourself heard or hearing one specific voice at a concert. They are drowned out and become more incoherent and panicked, with more instable psykers potentially injuring themselves or losing control of their powers.The mantas aren’t powerful psykers in comparison. Particularly gifted psionic beings like a sufficiently large quantity of tyrranids or a primus psyker can overwhelm them relatively easily by scrambling their hum. But against most psionic foes of the more rank and file type, the manta ray’s hum is often too powerful to beat with a greater radius than just a few nearby minions at a time.Current warfare (the one with miniatures)Upon encountering the slightly more problematic humans and eldar, more trouble with orks and especially the rare few necron encounters, the altumgelus have take to more in-person combat too. They still prefer to start of with some tyrranid yeeting, but since made suits and corvette-like ships for more close combat.Not always necessary, as the other species need to take quite some effort to enter their biodomes, but done nonetheless. Their numbers will always be few due to the efforts needed to create human-condition exosuits, but in their own territory they can bring to bear more troops both armoured and unarmoured.Most troops are isopods put in a similarly isopod-shaped exosuit, shrimps in more tank-like suits and the corvette-fighter shaped flying units steered by the shrimps.Ultra-cooled shells are their unintentional most powerful asset. When something is colder, it’s harder. While the outer shell is at room temperature and patching foam to keep the heat from coming near the inner shell isn’t hot either, the most vital inner shell of an exosuit is 50 kelvin. At this point and by using materials forged in vacuum-heat forges in their heat-tech rigs like steel plating cooled down to their preferred temperature, their inner shell is as hard as a space marine’s suit. And when the outer shell is pierced, a few times a foam can pour out that hardens as a quick patch job. The foam is much softer than the shell, and still bleeds a bit of heat in.Only stripping away enough of the outer shell so that the inner shell heats up and the pilot starts to boil alive, is a good way to defeat them consistently. Sniper-like piercing is thus often ineffective as it rarely even scratches the inner shell after being slowed down in between the shells, but enough dakka to pierce enough heat-holes into their suit can take them down.The elite troop’s shells made out of space marine armour and weapon metals is even tougher still. And elite or not, as they made their exosuits against unbearable heat, there’s little difference to them between our room temperature and a flamethrower’s heat. While bolters and other ballistics remain effective, laser weapons are only half so and flamethrowers can be pointless against these exosuits.Frost-throwers are their most common weapon, alike flamethrowers but the opposite reaching the same effect. By having just tanks of their atmosphere at its high density and opening a valve, they can shoot a jet of liquid-gas that can 3rd degree burn or kill someone with ease at close and mid-range. And the extreme cold that the exosuits bleed can with enough troops cause the region to get unbearably cold too, slowly beating footsoldiers.They also incorporate their atmosphere as grenades and with bomber ships to explode in cold fury, but otherwise just rely on tyrranids to do the job. Or, when in space, throw ultracooled rocks and rocks that melt into freezing liquids at the enemy.