Where other kabals glory in the naked brutality of the raid, the Poisoned Tongue prefers to win its wars before the first shot is ever loosed. Its serpentine hierarchy is threaded through with Trueborn, those Drukhari conceived in the flesh-wombs of Commorragh rather than distilled from captured essence, and no kabal of the Dark City can boast a greater concentration of this jealously guarded aristocracy. From that pinnacle of privilege the kabal spins webs of infiltration, assassination and mass poisoning, so that a target realm is already rotting from within by the time the raiders descend upon it.
Its dominion over the trade in suffering is vast. The kabal's agents hold the void-docks of Scarlet Harbour and the teeming slums of Netherdell in an iron grip, and in hidden pockets of the webway its poison-masters labour in secret distilleries said to refine their most exquisite venoms with the collusion of a masque of Harlequins. Every vial pressed and every rival quietly unmade adds to a fortune measured not in slaves alone but in leverage over the whole of Commorrite society.
At the heart of the web sits Lady Aurelia Malys, the Mazeweaver, whose intellect is a match for Asdrubael Vect himself and whose foresight verges upon the prophetic. Under her guidance the kabal seldom commits to a battle it has not already decided; its warriors arrive to harvest a foe made feeble by disease, paranoia and betrayal, and depart before any reckoning can catch them. To earn the enmity of the Poisoned Tongue is to discover, far too late, that one has been dying for a very long time.
Order of battle
The Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue field the units of the Drukhari, a detachment from the roster:
Other Drukhari formations
Cult of StrifeThe most celebrated of all Wych Cults, the Cult of Strife rules the great arenas of Commorragh where captives are butchered for the roaring delight of the Drukhari elite. Its warriors are peerless gladiators, and its supreme mistress is the deadliest blade-dancer the Dark City has ever produced. The Cult of Strife supplies the spectacle that Commorragh craves, and its favour is courted by Archons who wish to lend their raids the glamour and lethality of the arena.
Cult of the Cursed BladeA treacherous Wych Cult that prizes betrayal above every virtue, arming its gladiator-killers with deceiving weapons; to welcome them into one's court is to invite one's own murder.
Kabal of the Black HeartThe oldest and most powerful Kabal in Commorragh, the Black Heart has dominated the Dark City through the millennia-long reign of its Supreme Overlord. Its endless coffers, sprawling armada, and web of spies make it the pre-eminent force among the corsair nobility. Where other Kabals rise and fall in a single lifetime of scheming, the Black Heart has endured for aeons, absorbing rivals and dictating the fate of Commorragh from behind a veil of paranoid secrecy and calculated terror.
Kabal of the Flayed SkullMasters of aerial slaughter who reign from the jagged spire called the Poisoned Crown, striking from the sky in clouds of jetfighters, bombers and winged mercenaries.
Prophets of FleshThe Prophets of Flesh are the most feared of the Haemonculus Covens, ancient flesh-sculptors who regard the mortal body as raw material to be perfected through agony. Preservers of the deepest secrets of resurrection, they hold sway over life and death itself in Commorragh, and even the proudest Archons must bargain with them. Their creations (grotesque, immortal, and endlessly refined) are among the most horrifying weapons in the Drukhari arsenal.
Discussion
- No comments yet. Be the first to reply.