Kabal of the Obsidian Rose

The Kabal of the Obsidian Rose control the greatest swathe of weapons shops in the Dark City. Through the inventive genius of their Overlord, Aestra Khromys, they maintain a death grip on the Commorrite arms trade, and when they raid the worlds of realspace, they do so armed with the best equipment in Commorragh. Every weapon, suit of armour and vehicle used by the Kabal is a work of art, finely detailed and honed for maximum lethality. A single one of these tools of war would be a prized artefact to one of the minor Kabals, but to the Obsidian Rose the achievement of perfection is not an elusive ideal -- it is the benchmark by which success and failure are measured. These same exacting standards are applied to every aspect of life in the Kabal.

Before launching a raid, the Obsidian Rose practise every step, shot and contingency until each Warrior can perform their part blindfolded. It is the duty of each Kabalite to ensure that their splinter rifle and armour are in pristine condition, not only so that they can efficiently inflict torment, but also to proudly display the Obsidian Rose’s inherent superiority over their victims. It is not uncommon for Warriors returning from a raid to be hoisted onto the bladed vanes of their craft next to the screaming captives, simply because they have allowed their weapon to become tarnished with enemy blood. Anything less than immaculate is considered an utter affront.

History
Archon Khromys herself is an impossibly skilled artisan in the field of weapons manufacture, and a blade or pistol bearing her signature mark will sell for a huge price in slaves and souls. Yet she was not always the Kabal’s leader. Having failed to bow down and kiss the hand of the Obsidian Rose’s previous master, Archon Vhloriac, Khromys was flung into the Kabal’s vast weapons shops to suffer death by ennui alongside the other slaves. Here she was forced to monotonously assemble the same parts over and over until her days blended together into a recurring nightmare. For the Drukhari, who are by their nature born hedonists, such a fate is far worse than death or torture, for in the relentless mundanity their very souls are starved. Many so fated go mad -- but Khromys developed a plan that would take many years to come to fruition. The first step was to sate her soul’s need for extremes by constructing the most perfectly balanced and accurate weapons imaginable. The results of her prodigious craftsmanship were noticed by the factory overseers, and within a year she was transferred to a graded workshop within High Commorragh. Such was the quality of her weapons that they were soon asked for by name, and a thriving trade in Khromys’ weaponry circulated throughout the upper echelons of theObsidian Rose.

Eventually, Khromys and the team of master artisans she had trained were purchased wholesale by Archon Vhloriac, who had long since discarded any memory of his past encounter with the disrespectful weaponsmith. For him she produced finer armaments than she had ever before created, and her master boastfully equipped himself and his bodyguard with her wares. When Khromys and her team were summoned before their patron they brought gifts with them, seemingly harmless artefacts and trinkets that in reality harboured dozens of concealed weapons. The shock when Khromys’ clique put their hidden armoury to use was compounded by the fact that the equipment borne by the Archon’s Court stopped working at that very moment. It was an act of treachery that was meticulously crafted, and executed to perfection.

Since that day, Khromys has ruled as Overlord of the Obsidian Rose, and the Kabal has a flawless reputation for its firearms and blades. In her perfectionism, Khromys does not tolerate any lapse of quality in her weapon shops’ produce, or in the members of her Kabal, and will personally descend into the bowels of Commorragh to make an example of those accused of imperfect workmanship. These punishments are invariably horrific, administered as they are by Khromys’ personal Pain Engine, ‘The Overseer’. The Archon spends much of the rest of her time leading slave raids against realspace, for only Eldar slaves -- be they Commorrite, Craftworlder or Exodite -- have the requisite dexterity to satisfy the Archon of the Obsidian Rose, and she prefers to select them herself.