At a cursory glance the ominous Soma looks like a massive jar of snake wine or medicinal tonic sold in some southern cities of Cathay and Nippon, affixed upon a grimly decorated floating platform of sorcerous construction. A large mutated serpent, tentacles sprouting from its snout and various body cavities, drifts and coils within this vat of formaldehyde-coloured fluid. Rippling currents of black-green or black-purple energy illuminate the vessel from within, indicative of its occupant’s frightening power. Though no vocalization issues from the vessel's occupant, the telepathic Soma serpent’s words rip into the mind and remain there as agonizing thoughts for the listener.
The Soma were once an aquatic strategist caste of Snake Men advisors produced by the Naga Queen of the future Emerald Delta marga who inhabited the great networks of flooded forests and swamps in the eastern regions, named after her and trained to excel in mind alteration. After the pact with the Ruinous Powers, they were immersed in the liquefied soup of a Slann Mage Priest in a fell ritual, taken from the corrupted pool of its conquered temple-chamber. When these serpents emerged their bodies had atrophied, rendering them virtually immobile on land. However, they had attained formidable destructive magical powers and telepathic cognitive abilities. The process had also removed their need to feed on flesh and made them radiotrophic, nourished by the Warpstone-suffused atmosphere and the fell winds that blow north from the meteorite-grounds of the southern Hinterlands and the Southern Wastes.
The Soma are afforded a special level of respect within the hierarchy of the Snake Men, as the Blood Naga believe them to be a form closer to ascendance at the end of their millennia-long search for solutions to the Great Questions. They are invaluable to the serpent-Naga’s experiments for their conditioned loyalty, photographic memories, rapid information processing and prescient insight into knowledge that even the Blood Naga are not wholly privy to. Their magical prowess and ability to tear into the minds of others makes them useful interrogators of particularly willful prisoners, elementals and spirits.
Centuries ago the Soma were painstakingly housed in the corrupted barays of the Lost City of the Old Ones and some other capital sanctums, with Naga Queens and Pannaga Chieftains journeying from all over the Hinterlands to consult them on matters of war or research. From these static locations, the Naga found that the Soma also provided valuable security. The Soma could detect the presence of intelligent beings and magical entities for many miles, alerting the Naga they served of all who ventured near their sanctums and temple-laboratories. During sieges the Soma discharged long-ranged energy shots, radiated paralyzing seizures, called down unnatural storms and bound the weak-willed within proximity to do their bidding. With their protection the Lost City and the home sanctums of other Blood Naga Queens became all but unassailable.
As the Snake Men took their wars across the world during the stranglehold, the serpent-Naga came to miss the awesome power of their sedentary assistants. When the empire of the Elves and the early human kingdoms of the east attacked Khuresh in retaliation, the Soma once again proved their worth with lethal precision. Efforts were put in place to find a way to render these serpents mobile yet practical in battle, along with a convenient source of magic sustenance.
A chance meeting with a Clan Skryre Skaven expedition, lost on its way towards Cathay, held the key. Through interrogation and persuasion the serpent-Naga found that the Skaven were able to draw energy contained within Warpstone and channel it into advanced arcane devices, giving their ramshackle contraptions motive force. Though the Blood Naga had managed to cobble together their own war machines derived from Old One technology and their own research into Chaos, they did not wish to squander the opportunity to absorb more vile knowledge. Nervous ratmen envoys were sent back to their Clans and eventually returned with select Warlock-Engineers and Master Moulders, in return for an enormous amount of Warpstone gathered from the southern jungles. Thus began the project that would see the Soma join the armies of the Serpents on the battlefield. Although sabotage and betrayal were mulled over by some of the Skaven during the construction process, intense pressure from the clairvoyant Soma and chilling Blood Naga dissuaded any serious attempts. None of the Skaven representatives that collaborated with the Naga returned from their sojourn to Khuresh, their minds devoured by the first of the Soma vessels as they rose from their moorings deep in the flooded chasms of the Hinterlands. The Council of Thirteen, content with their caches of Warpstone with fewer rivals to contend with, were disinclined to pursue the matter.
Full locomotion was finally achieved with the vat technology of the Skaven as the Soma were placed into liquid vessels dubbed the Fad Raya Shells, crafted from exceptional hardened Warp-glass that could withstand the impact of mundane projectiles and swung weapons. Filled with the waters of the defiled sacred pools, the vessel was connected to a mechanism that would periodically infuse the liquid with fresh Warp-fluid, nourishing the occupant. Unencumbered by the biological constraints of the body, the Soma could commit themselves fully to levitate the vessel it lay within far above the ground. The devolved Tokke thrall-Skinks were compelled to partake in the construction process and would later be responsible for maintenance, sometimes to also be used as components. From then on the Soma were able to accompany the serpent armies as living artillery and magical foci, ensconced within specially-designed floating platforms bedecked with root wiring, ornamented channeling pillars, supplicatory offerings and sacrificial-corpses.
On the battlefield, the Soma exudes baleful energy that weakens any nearby mortal creature, deteriorating them from the inside-out if they remain within the vicinity for too long. They can pinpoint weaknesses and fatigue in enemy forces, broadcasting the information into the minds of surrounding Snake Men. Enemy warriors that stray too close are paralyzed by telepathic seizures or are cursed by the stored agony of past victims, manifesting physical damage upon their bodies. Coruscating blasts of pure Chaos energy char distant foes. Incoming projectiles have their trajectory distorted. The flow of the Winds of Magic deranges in their presence, allowing the Soma to consistently thwart the conjurations of enemy wizards and augment the powers of the Blood Naga. Elder Soma can cast spells of Dhar, draining the adversaries’ life force and engulfing them with soul-stealing typhoons. When caught in an untenable position the Soma can also teleport its vessel entirely to another location, though it risks damaging the container and killing everything around it in a cataclysmic explosion.
The creators of the Soma Mind Creeper vessels, the Emerald Delta marga, field the largest number and most potent forms of these creatures. Experimenting on captured Warpfire Dragons, alterations have been made to allow their Soma to extract the life-force of others - particularly wizards- and compress their souls into Warpstone, creating a self-sustaining energy source to facilitate longer campaigns. They have also concocted a serum from the Soma tanks’ fluid to grant limited prescience and greater regeneration to their Blood Naga and Pannaga elite, aiding them greatly in their conflicts against the forces of Nippon to the east and the odd vampire incursion.
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