Slathers

Slathers are predominantly porcine in build. Each Slather consists of the major organism, and then the several minor organisms which comprise its whole. A Slather is defined by the personality of the strongest individual within it, who provides the basis which the rest of the Slather is built. Other entities in the Slather have a sense of self, but the sense of self is subsumed into the Slather as a whole.
Slathers are born as single minded organisms. As children, they develop their individual minds. For approximately 29 months, Slather children live as individual beings, but around 30 months, Slather youth begin to gather into their first Creche. At this point, the Creche is still figuring itself out. Any conflicts between the singular youth ends with an individual being rejected if the conflict cannot resolve. Once the children settle into a group of three to five, they become an official Slather, an adult, comprised of individuals who have become more than individual.

SLATHER TRAVELLER STATS
Slathers are rolled with SOC and DEX -1. At creation, Slathers roll d6-1 to determine how many individuals comprise them besides the core organism. 
All Slathers have the following traits: 
HIVE SURVIVAL: if a Slather is reduced to 0 health and would die, one of its individual parts dies instead. If at any point this reduces the Slather to its core organism, the Slather faces a persistent DM-3 bane to all checks until it can reconstitute itself. 
COLLECTIVE STRENGTH: as long as a Slather has 4 or more individual parts, it gains a bonus to strength rolls. At 4 organisms, the checks are DM+1. At 5, DM+2. At 6, DM+3. 
CAREERS: Lone Slathers do not enlist in military groups unless they are especially desperate. The only time a Traveller Slather may take any military career is if they washed out of a previous career and are drafted, or if they have been a Drifter for 2 consecutive terms. 

Basic Information

Anatomy

Slathers are uniformly quadrupedal creatures which resemble Earth pigs in many ways. They are thinly-furred in mottled tones of peach, red, and orange, with the rare Slather born that has a segment which is blue-toned. Each individual segment of a Slather has its own features and build, ranging from small petite-built frail-looking Slathers to larger, bulkier-built Slather segments which look more like boars than farm pigs.

Genetics and Reproduction

Slathers reproduce within themselves. Individual organisms will couple together and then the offspring are simply birthed to the whole, and raised as individuals by the Slather who birthed them. 
As a species, they have a bit of a taboo against seeking out other Slather individual parts to mate with. It's considered duplicitous in a way that even the roguish creatures dislike.

Growth Rate & Stages

Slather are born as individuals; each segment has its own conscious mind at birth. Through the first several months of growth, the child makes its way through the world as an individual and feels the bonds formed by its adult company. This period of isolation is actually regarded as one of the most trying parts of a Slather's life, because even at this young age an individual feels the greater bond and yearns for it though they do not understand quite what they yearn for.
In adolescence, at about 16 months old, the individual Slathers begin to form into small groups and figuring out the alignment of their minds. At this point, it's not uncommon for deaths to occur when a group is over zealous in kicking out a member that doesn't fit with the rest of them, the hive-mind aggression overwhelming the outsider and resulting in death. This is seen as as a tragedy, but it is never punished.
Even now, the Slathers are not a proper Creche. It takes almost 14 more months for the Creche to actually form as the individuals discover their personal limits and sort out those who do not fit. Eventually, the weaker minds begin to fade into the stronger presence, becoming influences on the whole.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Slather are carnivores. All organisms in the Slather need to eat meat in order to survive. In certain circumstances,  a minor organism can latch itself onto another minor organism and share the nutrition consumed by the other.

Behaviour

Slather tend to be particularly group oriented, even beyond the minor organism that comprises them. Slather enjoy being social creatures and do not react well to being isolated from other beings. Their society is cutthroat politically and this shows in the way many Slather behave duplicitously and self-interestedly.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Slather society, at least on the core worlds, is arranged like a corporation. Promotion comes and goes, and any Slather who wants to get out of the rank and file civilian work force needs to be willing to do a little bit of occupational backstabbing.