realized that i never posted actual Xarxes art here

Hes an Apex Illithid, which are genetically altered super soldiers in my setting

Copy and paste from my lore area in my discord for those who are nosey:

When an elderbrain needs something done that requires an Illithid mind but a thrall's brawn they will select a newborn that fits a list of criteria and send them to the creatives. Here they will undergo physical alterations that will make them larger, faster, and stronger, and if necessary, psionic seals for anything they may be lacking, be it physical attributes or unquestioning loyalty. they will then be sent to the Tamers for their physical and military training. While their psionics tend to be lacking due to taking a back seat in their training, they are still capable of using the most basic of their abilities when needed though they will always prefer their physical might, They are also extremely intelligent and will always get the job done no matter the price.

Due to the resources to take care of Apex Illithid, they tend to be even more rare than Ulitharids, While a Mindflayer already has a fast metabolism while living a cushy life getting tended to by thralls, an Apex will often triple or even quadruple the calorie intake of even the most physically inclined Major. The stress on the community to feed these individuals is often more than their society can handle, so after the mission they were born to complete is done, and if they survive, they are often ejected from their colony of origin or culled.

The end result of an Apex is usually a sad one, their life expectancy hardly reaches 25. After ejection they're usually killed when weakened by starvation in an attempt to feed on anything that moves, be it other Mindflayers, adventurers, villages, or beasts if they don't simply starve, as they can only survive about four days without a meal. On RARE occasions, however, an Apex can become a mercenary after expulsion and, if well known enough, will often be hired by colonies to do their dirty work while allowing them to not waste resources on raising their own Apex. The down side to this is that they will often be subjected to psionic surgeries that erase the knowledge of their past jobs that often take fragments of the individual's psyche with them. The older an Apex gets, the less stable they become.