Warhammer 40k Wiki
Register
Warhammer 40k Wiki
Line 4: Line 4:
   
 
==Backround==
 
==Backround==
[[File:Wych.jpg|thumb|250px|A [[Dark Eldar]] Wych armed with a [[Razorflail]] and a [[Venom Blade]]]]
+
[[File:Pair_of_Wyches_combat.png|thumb|250px|A [[Dark Eldar]] Wych armed with a [[Razorflail]] and a [[Venom Blade]]]]
 
The Wych Cults provide their kin with a feast of agonies that, for a while at least, keeps their blades from one another's throats. Each Cult's arena is unique, each performance more violent and outlandish than the last, for these gladiatorial sisterhoods are locked in constant competition to offer up the greatest show for their hungry-eyed audience. Commorragh exists in a delicate but well-established balance. Its citizens would gladly stab each other in the back just for the looks on their victims' faces, for to witness another's anguish is the only way the Dark Eldar have left to feed their withered souls. Yet for the ruling [[Archon]]s of Commorragh to allow the natural bloodthirst of their kin to be unchecked would be to invite total societal collapse. Because of their kind's unending need to bathe in murderous sensations, the Dark Eldar have evolved the Hekatarii, known in common parlance as the Wych Cults. Each Wych Cult is a thousands-strong organisation of gladiators that put on nightly displays of the most incredible violence; not only for the edification of the masses, but also for their literal sustenance. Such is the scale of the carnage staged by these armies of warrior-athletes that their audiences leave the arena with the glow of well-fed predators. In this way the populace is kept from full-scale anarchy -– at least, those portions of Commorragh wealthy enough to attend the Wych Cults' nightly performances.
 
The Wych Cults provide their kin with a feast of agonies that, for a while at least, keeps their blades from one another's throats. Each Cult's arena is unique, each performance more violent and outlandish than the last, for these gladiatorial sisterhoods are locked in constant competition to offer up the greatest show for their hungry-eyed audience. Commorragh exists in a delicate but well-established balance. Its citizens would gladly stab each other in the back just for the looks on their victims' faces, for to witness another's anguish is the only way the Dark Eldar have left to feed their withered souls. Yet for the ruling [[Archon]]s of Commorragh to allow the natural bloodthirst of their kin to be unchecked would be to invite total societal collapse. Because of their kind's unending need to bathe in murderous sensations, the Dark Eldar have evolved the Hekatarii, known in common parlance as the Wych Cults. Each Wych Cult is a thousands-strong organisation of gladiators that put on nightly displays of the most incredible violence; not only for the edification of the masses, but also for their literal sustenance. Such is the scale of the carnage staged by these armies of warrior-athletes that their audiences leave the arena with the glow of well-fed predators. In this way the populace is kept from full-scale anarchy -– at least, those portions of Commorragh wealthy enough to attend the Wych Cults' nightly performances.
   

Revision as of 08:42, 8 November 2014

Cult of the Cursed Blades

A Wych of the Cult of the Cursed Blade wielding a pair of deadly Venom Blades

The Wych Cults or "Hekatarri" of Commorragh are second in prestige in Dark Eldar society only to the Kabals that sponsor them. The Dark Eldar thrive upon expert displays of bloodletting, and in the pursuit of murder the Wyches are talented females indeed. The nightly battles between the gladiatrixes of the Wych Cults draw baying crowds to every Commorrite arena. Wyches wield a variety of outlandish weapons that can whip out, extend, enmesh, retract, split in two, or snap an opponent's blade with the twist of a supple wrist. Some Wyches -– such as the Lacerai, Hydrae, and Yraqnae –- specialise in such deadly esoterica. Furthermore, all Wyches are skilled knife-fighters who can kill a foe many times their size with the smallest of blades. The Wyches use a variety of combat drugs, galvanising them to ever-greater heights of balletic dexterity. They flip and pirouette around their enemies, slicing open a throat here and piercing a heart there. The Wyches flow through the elegant steps of battle, expressions of disdain twisting into savage smiles as they feed upon each fresh scream of pain.

Backround

Pair of Wyches combat

A Dark Eldar Wych armed with a Razorflail and a Venom Blade

The Wych Cults provide their kin with a feast of agonies that, for a while at least, keeps their blades from one another's throats. Each Cult's arena is unique, each performance more violent and outlandish than the last, for these gladiatorial sisterhoods are locked in constant competition to offer up the greatest show for their hungry-eyed audience. Commorragh exists in a delicate but well-established balance. Its citizens would gladly stab each other in the back just for the looks on their victims' faces, for to witness another's anguish is the only way the Dark Eldar have left to feed their withered souls. Yet for the ruling Archons of Commorragh to allow the natural bloodthirst of their kin to be unchecked would be to invite total societal collapse. Because of their kind's unending need to bathe in murderous sensations, the Dark Eldar have evolved the Hekatarii, known in common parlance as the Wych Cults. Each Wych Cult is a thousands-strong organisation of gladiators that put on nightly displays of the most incredible violence; not only for the edification of the masses, but also for their literal sustenance. Such is the scale of the carnage staged by these armies of warrior-athletes that their audiences leave the arena with the glow of well-fed predators. In this way the populace is kept from full-scale anarchy -– at least, those portions of Commorragh wealthy enough to attend the Wych Cults' nightly performances.

Blood On The Stage

Each Wych Cult has its own arena, which is as much a display of their wealth and status as it is a stage for their spectacles of violence. Comparing architectural masterpieces such as The Crucibael or Moedh Stair to the primitive amphitheatres of other civilisations would be much like comparing a glittering palace to a mud hut. Likewise, the Dark Eldar athletes that perform within them make the most gifted human acrobat look like an uncoordinated ape by comparison. Each arena has its own deadly charms and challenges, from staples such as spinning blades and enraged predatory beasts, to gravity-wells, kinetic inversion snares or even more esoteric and inventive hazards. Each Wych Cult is constantly in competition to outdo its rivals with the sheer scope and imagination of its gore-soaked games. Many performances spread into the audience in interesting and deadly ways as the excitement builds to fever pitch. Arterial spurts of blood rain down into the rapt audience as battle takes place over their heads, or even amidst their stalls. The arenas crackle with tension, the viewers leaning forward in their seats with eyes wide and the leers of hungry predators etched upon their faces. Be they aerial ballets of bloodletting, zero-gravity mass murder or carefully selected menageries on the prowl, all Cult performances have one thing in common –- the arena is slick with blood and gore by the end of each night. Most of the Hekatarii are female, for they are more often able to attain the pinnacle of poise and grace their craft demands. Male Wyches ensure that their Wych Cult is never wanting for strong offspring, yet though they are valued they rarely attain high rank. Certainly the Succubi who rule over the Wych Cults are universally female. So it has been since the earliest days of the Dark City, and so shall it always be.

Dark eldar shyntafae by beckjann

Dark Eldar Wych, lethal, deadly and beautiful

All Wyches take great pride in their appearance. They enter combat dressed with as much aesthetic care as if they were to meet a lover. Regardless of the cult they serve, Wyches wear the bladed black armour of the arena over one side of an impeccably elegant and skintight bodysuit known as a Wychsuit. The other side has sections deliberately cut away to expose their pale flesh, as if to tempt Death himself. The Wyches use a variety of combat drugs distilled by the Haemonculi covens to increase their already superhuman dexterity. When outnumbered in combat, Wyches will roll, backflip and pirouette out of the way of the foe, stabbing their blades into any vulnerable points on their enemies' bodies, slitting throats and gouging out eyes as they go. They flow like water around their foes' attempts to land a blow, their expressions of aloof arrogance melting into infuriating smiles of superiority as they drink in each fresh scream of agony.

Most Wyches wield a close combat weapon and Splinter Pistol, while others may make use of Shardnets, Impalers, Hydra Gauntlets and the dreaded Dark Eldar Razorflails. Squads of Wyches in combat also often use Plasma Grenades and Haywire Grenades for crowd control purposes and every Wych is armoured in her Wychsuit. Each squad of Wyches is led by one of their most skilled number, who is known as a Hekatrix and reports to the Wych Cult's ruling Succubus. The Hekatrixes with the most talent for murder may earn a place in the Succubus' own elite clique of murderesses, the Hekatrix Bloodbrides, who are led by an officer known as a Syren.

Beyond the Arena

Almost every Wych Cult enjoys the patronage of a powerful Archon, for there is much glory to be had for the founders of the feast. More than this, however, the Wych Cults are powerful allies. After all, each is comprised solely of trained killers who enjoy nothing more than to prove their consummate skills in battle. This mutually agreeable arrangement ensures that the Wych Cults never run short of slaves and exotic combat stimulants. A good patron is always generous lest his stable of warrior athletes decides to bite the hand that feeds them. Meanwhile, the Archon gains the allegiance of a sisterhood of exceptionally trained Hekatarii to lend their blades to his raids upon realspace. The Wych Cults take every chance they can to prove their martial skills superior to those of the lesser races, both within the arena and without. Though they profess nothing but contempt for the warrior castes of realspace, the Wyches get an undeniable thrill out of matching themselves against any suitably impressive opponent. The trophy halls of a successful Succubus will thus boast the heads of Adeptus Astartes heroes, conquering Ork Warbosses and Tyranid Hive Tyrants alike.

There is much more to a Wych Cult than its arena. Below the elegant spires and weaponnodes of each Cult stronghold's exterior are academies and training complexes devoted to every aspect of the close quarter kill. Anti-gravity hemispheres and gruelling "living landscapes" ensure each Wych is at the peak of physical fitness. Each Cult keeps an extensive menagerie, re-stocked by its Beastmasters with an endless supply of alien captives and dangerous species. Different Wych Cults practise their own specialities, endlessly discussed by the arena's crowd. The Bladed Hand, for instance, hones the art of the unarmed kill (though they are famous for blurring the line), whilst The Stilled Heart specialise in the use of poisons, venoms and paralytic elixirs. A Wych Cult will often stage realspace raids purely at the behest of its Succubus. These raids are not only to gather new fodder for the arenas, but also to provide a chance for the Wyches to match their skills against the finest warriors of the lesser races. A Wych Cult raid is considered high art by many Dark Eldar, who will pay handsomely to fight alongside the massed gladiators, alien beasts and speeding aerial acrobats that each Succubus unleashes upon her prey.

DE vs

A Wych Cult takes part in a realspace raid against Imperial Guard troopers

Other raids are quite literally performances in their own right. While the Wych Cult's Raiders and Venoms scream down into the foe’s midst and force their desperate victims to fight for their lives, Commorrite pleasure-barges drift high above. Aboard these craft, wealthy spectators swill intoxicating nectars and offer polite applause to the high points of each bloody slaughter, while bets are won or lost on the performance of favoured combatants. Such spectacles are especially popular amongst the smirking ranks of the Trueborn, who delight in watching others do the work for them while soaking up the miasma of agonies that rises off the battle below. Yet for all their foppish hangers-on, Wych Cult raids are veritable blizzards of violence. They are direct and unstoppable strikes that –- like the Wyches themselves -– scorn the cumbersome protection of armour in favour of the safety that pure speed provides. Like a perfectly placed knife-thrust to the heart, a raid by a Wych Cult is swift, deadly and precise, capable of felling even the largest and most dangerous foes before they even realise they are under attack. Amid hurtling squadrons of Reavers and Hellions, overswept by the half-glimpsed shadows of Razorwing Jetfighters and Voidraven Bombers, the Wyches leap and plunge into the midst of their enemies with joyous abandon, and leave mountains of corpses in their wake. Only when the foe's numbers become overwhelming, or there are no further victims to face the fury of their knives do the Wyches retreat, disappearing as suddenly as they came and leaving absolute carnage in their wake.

Types of Wyches

  • Lacerai - The Lacerai are Wyches who wield the vicious, segmented Dark Eldar Razorflails in combat that lash out like a whip at their opponents.
  • Hydrae - The Hydrae are Wyches who wield the strange weapons known as Dark Eldar Hydra Gauntlets that can sprout and regrow new crystalline blades from an unknown extradimensional source.
  • Yraqnae - Yraqnae are Wyches who make use of the electrified Shardnets and twin-bladed Impalers of the Dark City's arenas to more artistically slay their victims without resorting to the use of any ranged weapon at all.

Sub-Cults of The Hekatarii

As well as the knife-wielding warrior athletes who make up the bulk of the Wych Cults, the Dark City plays host to numerous sub-cults of gladiatorial combatants. When a Cult goes to war against the warriors of realspace, these sub-cults lend their particular skills to the raid in exchange for a bounteous feast of pain.

Hekatrix Bloodbrides

Each squad of Dark Eldar Wyches is led by a more skilled Wych known as a Hekatrix, who in her turn reports to the Wych Cult's ruling Succubus. It is common for a Succubus to gather the most talented and skilled of her Hekatrix handmaidens into a clique of elite murdereresses, led by the most skilled Hekatrix in the cult, who holds the rank of Syren. These cliques, whose members are known as Hekatrix Bloodbrides, are usually plagued by often intense rivalries for the Succubus' favour. When combat begins, however, Bloodbrides become an unstoppable force, ritually anointing themselves with the blood they spill from the foe as a foul testament to their own dark prowess in the arts of death, pain and terror. Hekatrix Bloodbrides are armoured in Wychsuits, and normally make use of Plasma Grenades, a Splinter Pistol and close combat weapons like Razorflails, Hydra Gauntlets, Shardnets and Impalers. The Bloodbrides' commanding Syren normally uses a Blast Pistol, a close combat weapon like a Venom Blade, Agoniser or another Power Weapon and sometimes keeps a Phantasm Grenade Launcher in reserve to deal with more immediate threats.

Notable Wych Cults

There are dozens of Wych Cults operating amidst the labyrinthine corridors of the Dark City of Commorragh. Some of the most prominent are listed below:

  • Cult of the Beckoning Thorn - A notable Wych Cult of Commoragh. There is little information listed in official Imperial records.
  • Cult of the Blade Denied - A notable Wych Cult of Commoragh. There is little information listed in official Imperial records.
  • Cult of the Bladed Hand - A notable Wych Cult of Commoragh. There is little information listed in official Imperial records.
  • Cult of the Cursed Blade - In Commorragh the term "cursed blade" does not refer to a physical weapon, but instead to an individual or organisation that rebels against its masters. The Cult of the Cursed Blade has earned its name many times over, so much so that even for a well-protected Archon to invite Wyches from this Cult into his palace is tantamount to cutting his own throat. Treachery is held as the greatest of all virtues by the Cursed Blade, for by a process of hyper-accelerated natural selection the warrior women of the Cult ensure that only the strongest and most cunning within their ranks survive. Weapons that deceive and wrong-foot the foe are popular within their warrior cliques. Many a harmless-looking ornament worn by the Wyches contains a hidden snap-sword, poison barb or pair of flickblades, and it is common to see many razorflails wielded among their ranks. The stronghold of this devious Cult is known as the Nhexus Arena, and is far more deadly than its elegant architecture would suggest. Every curve and line contains sprung monofilament nets, venomous dart-launchers, toxin-loaded syringe-drills and a myriad of other lethal surprises. Nor is this cornucopia of misfortune confined to the arena floor, for these deadly booby-traps are ever-shifting and as likely to spring up amid the audience as to lacerate or impale the performers. This is merely part of the fun, of course, adding a delicious frisson of very real danger that many Dark Eldar simply cannot resist.
  • Cult of the Flayed Hand - A notable Wych Cult of Commorragh. Their most notable action occurred in 995.M41 when they aided the Kabal of the Wraithkind in rescuing Craftworld Iyanden from the ravages of WAAAGH! Rekkfist, following their horrible narrow victory over Hive Fleet Kraken. Following their victory they were asked by Iyanden's Council of Seers as to why they intervened, the Dark Eldar replied that they found Iyanden's agnst-ridden forays into the world of necromancy extremely entertaining.
  • Cult of Grief - A notable Wych Cult of Commoragh. There is little information listed in official Imperial records.
  • Cult of the Impaled - A notable Wych Cult of Commoragh. There is little information listed in official Imperial records.
  • Cult of the Jaded Blade - A notable Wych Cult of Commoragh. There is little information listed in official Imperial records.
  • Cult of the Lethal Blade - A notable Wych Cult of Commoragh. There is little information listed in official Imperial records.
  • Cult of Murder - A notable Wych Cult of Commoragh. There is little information listed in official Imperial records.
  • Cult of Red Grief - All Wych Cults believe that the best defence is simply not to be there when the opponent's blade falls, but the Cult of the Red Grief takes this to extremes. Their raiding forces employ whole flotillas of Raiders that fly in close formation towards the foe, escorted by Reavers, Venoms and Hellions. When the aerial formations close with the enemy, the Wyches will bound and spring from Raider to jetbike to skyboard and back again with athletic precision, dismounting and mounting so swiftly that the transports barely have to slow. Only the Wyches themselves ever deign to touch the ground, and even then only to deliver the killing blow to an enemy who is still trying to adjust to the fact that he is under attack. The Red Grief's main arena, the Pit, is an especially unforgiving structure built into the peak of a towering spire. Its galleries are made from transparent crystal, revealing that the audience are suspended only moments from a sickening plunge to their deaths. The arena proper truly has no floor -– just a yawning gulf prowled by drifting anti-grav platforms. Hellions duel here, their skyboards trailing lines of monofilament wire that unspool in an ever more complex web around the arena’s struts and spars. Such bouts are brief, for the slightest error will lead to a messy dismemberment or decapitation.
  • Cult of Strife - The Wych Cult of Strife has become the most influential in Commorragh, largely due to the sublime talents of Her Excellence, Lelith Hesperax. This Cult has risen to the apex of power not through treacherous politicking, but through the creed of speed over strength and the elevation of bloodsport to a high art. Though the Cult of Strife boasts dozens of the best warrior-athletes in the galaxy, Lelith herself is the flawless diamond at the centre of the crown. Her allure draws in hundreds of thousands of spectators every night, each of whom is prepared to pay a high price for the privilege of watching her perform. Most deadly of all her kind, Lelith’s skills in the arts of combat bear all the hallmarks of a true genius. She is grace embodied, her movements hypnotic, sensual and spellbinding. Alone amongst the Wych Cults, Lelith does not use combat drugs to enhance her performance. The Cult of Strife maintain that their mistress needs nothing more than a piece of edged steel to outclass her foes. Sure enough, although she is expert in the use of all the exotic weapons used by her kind, Lelith can most frequently be seen fighting with two simple but perfectly weighted knives. Like their Succubus, the Wyches in this cult refuse to use the standard Dark Eldar combat drugs to amplify their physical abilities, as they believe that the use of such stimulants lessens the sensations experienced in the heat of battle. Amongst Lelith's many admirers is Asdrubael Vect himself, and the Cult of Strife has long been affiliated with the Kabal of the Black Heart to the mutual benefit of both. Whether this is a bond of reciprocal admiration or the wary respect of natural born killers is immaterial, for the alliance has proven as strong as steel, and strength is hard currency in Commorragh. Thanks to the unparalleled power and generosity of their patron, the Cult of Strife's arena, the Crucibael, is the most lavishly appointed and spectacular in all of Commorragh. From the city-sized laser-grid of its toroid Reaver arena to the black-veined living jade of its mighty galleries, the Crucibael is one of the Dark City’s greatest spectacles. As Vect himself was once heard to say, Lelith Hesperax is the greatest treasure of the Dark City, and one does not display one's finest emerald amid squalor. The alliance between the Kabal of the Black Heart and the Cult of Strife brings constant benefit to both. Even the most impulsive and hot-tempered Succubus must recognise that a challenge to the Cult of Strife is likely to incur the wrath of Asdrubael Vect himself.
  • Cult of the Seventh Woe - A notable Wych Cult of Commoragh, in late M41, the Wych Cult of the Seventh Woe rose to power in the arena districts after mounting a series of daring realspace raids and returning with a clutch of chitinous monsters never before seen in Commorragh. The Seventh Woe became the foremost experts on the weapon-beasts that had begun to infest the east of the galaxy, the creatures that Mankind calls Tyranids. The Seventh Woe coaxed a Tyranid Hive Fleet to divert its path towards the Imperial world of Eurydix Secundus. As Imperial forces began to fight back, the Wyches joined the fray, the carnage escalated, and ever larger and more dangerous Tyranid weapon-beasts were deployed. The Cult of the Seventh Woe captured many of the alien monsters with runic hexcages before disappearing into the Webway. In their wake Eurydix Secundus was tyrannoformed and harvested by the Hive Fleet. This Wych Cult is also well known for playing host every seventeen years to an auspacious display of martial skill known as the Dance of the Blinding Blade. The best amongst the Cult of the Seventh Woe compete with a visiting troupe of Harlequins in a series of bloody, blisteringly fast bouts. Duels are fought in which the first to inflict thirteen shallow cuts upon their foe with a shard-knife is declared the victor. The culmination of each Dance of the Blinding Blade sees one of the triumvirate of Succubi who rule the Seventh Woe face off against the leering form of the Harlequins' Troupe Master in a duel to the death.
  • Cult of Vengeance - A notable Wych Cult of Commoragh. There is little information listed in official Imperial records.
  • Cult of Violation - A notable Wych Cult of Commoragh. There is little information listed in official Imperial records.
  • Cult of Woe - A notable Wych Cult of Commoragh. There is little information listed in official Imperial records.
  • Cult of Wrath - A notable Wych Cult of Commoragh. There is little information listed in official Imperial records.
  • Cult of the Wrath Unbound - A notable Wych Cult of Commoragh. There is little information listed in official Imperial records. They Cult of the Wrath Unbound is most notable for taking part in a realspace raid alongside the Kabal of the Baleful Gaze in 626.M41 upon the industrial world of Durondas II. They cripple the infrastructure of the planet through the use of sustained haywire bombing. The Cult then lands great packs of hunting beasts, Khymerae and Clawed Fiends, the beasts loping through the darkened streets and tearing the planet’s defenders to shreds. Buried in darkness, weapons fried and transportation crippled by the haywire bombs, the terrified Astra Militarum and their civilian charges are forced to fall back time and again. The hunted survivors are finally herded together in the Grand Templum District of Durondas' capital city. Here the Dark Eldar Beastmasters loose their feral pets en masse, beginning a horrifying massacre that takes several long and bloody days to conclude, and from which no human emerges alive.

Notable Wyches

  • Lelith Hesperax - Known as the Queen of Blades, Lelith is the undisputed champion of the gladiatorial arenas, the personal favourite –- and some say occasional courtesan -– of Overlord Asdrubael Vect himself. Most deadly of all her kind, Lelith's skill in the art of combat bears all the hallmarks of a true genius. She is grace embodied, her movements hypnotic, sensual and spellbinding –- watching Lelith Hesperax go about her blood-soaked business is a privilege that only the wealthiest Dark Eldar can afford. To see such a supremely talented Succubus perform first-hand is a dream come true for most Kabalites, for it energises and reinvigorates even the eldest of their kind. Lelith blesses raiding Kabals with her presence only in order to search out unusual prey –- she loves to match her abilities against the most formidable champions in the galaxy. She has yet to return from a raid without blood upon her blades and a new clutch of grisly trophies for her private museums. In battle, Lelith uses her body as a weapon as well as her blades. Her lustrous mane of hair is sewn through with barbs and hooks, her legs and feet are edged with bladed spurs, and her fingernails have been honed to scalpel sharpness. Lelith can kill a dozen lesser warriors in the space of a few seconds before finishing with flourish and poise.
  • Yctria Ghularis - A Succubus and leader of the Cult of the Red Grief, she was a doyenne of the arenas, known behind her back as the Flayer Queen. Once of the First Blood she became a Succubus of the Red Grief, Yctria was as ravishing as she was ambitious. She was also possessed of a truly foul temper. Whenever Yctria felt slighted, she would fly into a spectacular rage. She had a hated rivalry with the Succubus known as Kariasche the Marred, who proudly wore her many disfiguring scars with pride. Her appearance was taken as a personal affront to Yctria. In one of the nightly duels that took place in the Red Grief's arenas, Yctria took great pleasure in beating Kariasche in battle, and then carefully skinned her alive before the baying crowd. Yctria then tied her rival's stolen skin around her neck like a silken robe. The elder Haemonculus Croniarch Sekh of Haemonculi Coven the Prophets of Flesh, was a secret admirer of Kariasche, and became extremely bitter and wrathful with the Flayer Queen. The Haemonculus called in a few favours, and part of Kariasche’s corpse found its way into the stasis coffins of the Prophets of Flesh. It would not be the last time Sekh would cross paths with the warrior queens of the Red Grief. The Haemonculus conspired against her with Yctria's second-in-command, Idyliane. When the Prophets of Flesh took part in a realspace raid alongside the Red Grief, Sekh enacted his vengeance during the height of the battle. Sekh was instrumental in the mutation of Yctria, who was very vain about her appearance, into a hideous beast that would be forced to fight in Commorragh's gladiatorial arenas. Seven Ilmaean cycles later, the Prophets of Flesh returned to the grand amphitheatre of the Red Grief. Croniarch Sekh and his fellows watched with quiet smiles from under their shadowed balcony. They drank in the sight of the Red Grief's new queen as Kariasche, made whole once more, strode into the arena. Every one of the scars and blemishes that the dusky Succubus had worn so proudly in her former life was perfectly intact. Led by a bone chain in Kariasche's wake came a lumpen beast of impressive size. Its anguish was plain as it moaned and drooled from a dozen wound-like mouths. Clapping hesitantly at first, but rising to a crescendo as the truth of the spectacle sank in, the Dark Eldar in the arena got to their feet until the entire arena was united in a standing ovation. There was nothing so gratifying for the citizens of Commorragh than witnessing another's pain, after all, and Yctria's new incarnation had enough of that to last a thousand years.
  • Elyra Narcistyn - A newly elevated Succubus of the Cult of Strife, Elyra has secured an allegiance with Archon Vraesque Malidrach of the Kabal of the Poisoned Crown in the hopes of escaping the shadow of Lady Hesperax.

Wargear

  • Wychsuit - Wyches wear flexible bodysuits that have been designed to protect one side of the body –- usually the side they habitually turn towards their opponents –- whilst not impeding movement at all.
  • Splinter Pistol - Splinter weapons fire shards of splintered crystal covered in incredibly potent toxins using a powerful magno-electric pulse.
  • Close Combat Weapon
  • Plasma Grenades

Sources

  • Codex: Dark Eldar (7th Edition), pp. 15-16, 21, 49-55, 57, 61, 63, 65-70, 85, 93, 98, 115, 148-149, 161-162, 227
  • Codex: Dark Eldar (5th Edition), pg. 27
  • Codex: Dark Eldar (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex), pg. 9

Gallery