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==Overview==
[[Image:Malice RT Sslyth.jpeg|thumb|right|250px|Malice, a Sslyth mercenary.{{Fn|11}}]]
Millennia ago, the brutish race fell before the temptations of unbridled excess and quickly became one of the most favored bodyguards of the [[Dark Eldar]]. Their serpentine bodies combined with two sets of arms allow them to carry enough blades to be a dervish is melee whilst simultaneously firing and reloading ranged weapons. Their lightning fast reaction speeds allow them to jump to their employer's defence and quickly dispatch anyone foolish to harm their master. Their scales are hard enough to serve as armor while seemingly being impervious to pain.{{Fn|}} Their combination of brutish ferocity, professionalism, and relative loyalty is why they are often chosen as a bodyguard detail for an Archon or powerful Druhkari Drukhari gang leader. Dark Eldar make poor bodyguards due to their treacherous nature which is why Sslyth are often recruited from the ranks of the aliens that inhabit the Dark City of [[Commorragh]] in order to protect their master from an inevitable coup.{{Fn|1}}
[[Image:SslythArt.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Sslyth{{Fn|2}}]]
While savage in appearance, they in fact possess a great intelligence.{{Fn|2}} These coil-kin are laudably efficient and coldly professional in their business with DruhkariDrukhari, rarely getting out of hand with slaves as a Dark Eldar might. The Sslyth language is deceptively complex. It consists of a limited vocabulary with innumerable possible inflections. Many Drukhari don't bother learn a working knowledge of this xenos tongue.{{Fn|5}} It is more common to see a Sslyth conversing in a sibilant interpretation of the Drukhari language.{{Fn|7}}
Sslyth are also known to have fought as part of the xenos mercenaries of the [[Alpha Legion]]'s [[Sons of the Hydra]] in their campaign to eradicate the [[Ultramarines]]' [[Successor Chapters]] guarding the rimward edge of the [[Maelstrom]] in late [[M41]].{{Fn|3a}} They took part in the successful ground assault against the [[Marines Mordant]]'s [[Fortress-Monastery]] the [[Bas-Silica]] on [[Vitrea Mundi]].{{Fn|3a}} Here they fought alongside the [[Tarellian]]s, [[Morralian]]s, [[Galg]]s, [[Fra'al]], and [[Eldar Outcast]]s, and were united with them by a shared seething hatred of humanity.{{Fn|3a}} The use of different species was chosen to provide maximum strategic flexibility, and their extremely varied combat styles made them very difficult for even the Marines' [[Veteran Squad (Space Marines)|Veterans]] to defend against.{{Fn|3a}}{{Fn|3b}}
==Trivia==
{{trivia}}
*In ''[[Sons of the Hydra (Novel)|Sons of the Hydra]]'', [[Quetzel Carthach]] was said to have included xenos in his close circle of advisors.{{Fn|3a}} While [[Omizhar Vohk]] is the only confirmed advisor, Sslyth or members of the other xenos mercenaries Carthach used may have been included among them.
==See also==
*{{Endn|1}}: [[Codex: Dark Eldar (5th Edition)]], pg. 35
*{{Endn|2}}: [[Liber Xenologis]], pgs. 84-85
*3: [[Sons of the Hydra (Novel)]]:
**{{Endn|3a}}: Part I, Chapter δ: ''The Viper's Nest''
**{{Endn|3b}}: Part I, Chapter γ: ''Turning Tail''
*{{Endn|7}}: [[Shadow Play (Short Story)]]
*{{Endn|8}}: [[The Treasures of Biel-Tanigh (Short Story)]] - [[Path of the Dark Eldar (Omnibus)]]
*{{Endn|9}}: [[Haemonculus Covens - A Codex: Dark Eldar Supplement]]: - ''Covens of Commorragh, The Black Descent''
*{{Endn|10}}: [[Codex: Dark Eldar (7th Edition)]], Court of the Archon
*{{Endn|11}}: [[Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (Video Game)]]
