What is "kroot"

The Kroot are a fictional species in the Warhammer 40,000 game universe. Warhammer 40,000 is a game produced by Games Workshop.

In the game, they are a species of ferocious carnivores that resemble avian creatures. They are aligned with the Tau Empire, and contribute auxiliaries to the Tau Hunter Cadres. However, they do also work outside of "The Greater Good" as mercenaries frequently.

The Kroot first appeared as a playable race in late 2001; the result of Games Workshop's plan to introduce a new race to the game . However, the first appearance of a Kroot was in the 3rd Edition Warhammer 40,000 rulebook (Priestley, 1998), in a sketch entitled "Other Dangerous Aliens" .

The Kroot are a subset of the Tau playable army, although special rules have been released to field armies entirely composed of Kroot, or as allies to other forces.