Index Xenos: Kabal of the Twin Blades - 12/6/18 update

[Cpt_Reaper]

Index Xenos: Kabal of the Twin Blades

 

Name: Kabal of the Twin Blades
Archons: Dûrion Agaith Rincavornon and Lûgion Rincavornon
Base of Operations: Pocket-Realm of Liranshadagcekhanel (Liran-Shad-Ag-Ce-Khanel)

 

Twin Blades

The Kabal of the Twin Blades is led by twin brothers, Dûrion and Lûgion, who took control of the Kabal from their cousin. Dûrion had been contracted to fight on behalf of his cousin in taking down a rival Archon, while Lûgion had been hired by that Archon to defend his interests. When the two forces came into contact, the brothers Rincavornon combined their forces and turned on both their Cousin and his Archon target. It was a bloodbath, and from it the Twin Blades were born.

Their Modus Operandi never changed since that day. Often one of the brothers would take a job fighting for one warlord while the other would fight for their rival, then when the time was right they would flip the tables on both forces and walk away with all the spoils of war for themselves.

The older of the twins, Dûrion, is an enigmatic being. It is said that after his birth he was never seen without his signature mask, crafted from a reflective metal with but a single slit for his left eye. He is a master of swordplay, wielding a huskblade that he took from the corpse of his cousin upon the success of the twins' coup. An exceedingly proud warrior, Dûrion cuts down unworthy foes with a blast pistol, not even stopping to finish off those that survive the lance of unlight.

Lûgion is the younger by scant seconds, yet it is said he used that moment alone in the womb to start a lifetime of schemes. After staging the Coup and taking command, Lûgion would become the public face of the Kabal, preferring the courts of nobility to the battlefields of warriors. Yet he is no less formidable than his brother, for Dûrion would insist that he train his younger twin in case of the inevitable assassination attempts they were sure to face.

 

History of the Kabal

M30-M40 Age of Pain

Family Tithes
The eldest member of the Rincavornon family, Archon Zyth Rincavornon places heavy tithes on his kin, stating that his protections for the family costs him an exuberant amount of resources. For his young cousins, the twins Dûrion and Lûgion, Archon Zyth not only places a higher tithe but confiscates the majority of their Kabalites.

 

The Tithes That Bind
The twins orchestrate a coup to overthrow Archon Zyth. They secretly contact the most powerful members of their family and convince them to attack Zyth at a great feast in his honour. However, nobody other than the twins knows who is loyal to Zyth and who is part of the Coup.
When Zyth makes a toast to his own good health all hell breaks loose with downtrodden and overly taxed members of his family vying for the kill. Dûrion and Lûgion make sure to not be present at the feast, and set off a stolen Void Mine hidden within the great ice sculpture centrepiece. When the dust clears the twins are the only members of their family left with any power to their name.

 

Warriors of Iron
Offering their services to human pirates to assist them in capturing supplies from Imperial convoys, the Twin Blades also provide protection to the convoys. Dûrion and Lûgion each lead a force of Kabalites, moving their vessels to strike down both forces and escape with everything. However a sizeable fleet of Heretic Astartes vessels appears, in league with the pirates. Caught flat footed and ill prepared to face such overwhelming firepower the brothers strike a deal with the Astartes leader named Viktor. Splitting the bounty from the convoy, both forces retreat. Lûgion finds Viktor to be a cunning individual, seeing in him a potential asset.

 

A Pact with Reavers

 

 

Physical Characteristics:

Like the rest of the Dark Eldar race, the Twin Blades' kabalites are much taller and more slender than human beings. Spanning millennia in lifespan, their skin ranges from an alabaster pale to ghostly translucent grey-blue as the Dark Eldar ages. Eye colour ranges greatly amongst the Dark Eldar from natural purples and blues to cosmetically altered irises suiting the personality of the individual kabalite.

As with nearly every Kabal, the majority of it's members are clones and artificially born. Where the Twin Blades differs is that even the cloned Dark Eldar are created to such exacting standards that many are indistinguishable from Trueborn. Clones that are judged less than utterly perfect are discarded, either destroyed or sent to the Haemonculus covens as payment for their services.

Where scars are seen as battlefield honours in other Kabals, the Twin Blades see them as a reminder that a foe has bested the warrior. As such Kabalites do not attach their armour via hooks and blades into the skin but with a resin that constricts on contact with the air, leaving skin unmarred but securing their armour tightly.

In an effort to further increase the number of their Trueborn, those among the nobility may select those Kabalites that show promise and take them under their wing. If the chosen Kabalite survives the exacting standard of their betters they are taken high into the Kabal's fortress-spire to be cloned and given several concubines in the hopes that they may also sire natural offspring.

 

Base of Operations:

The Kabal of the Twin Blades, while holding many assets both within Commorragh and without, has two main bases of operation. The first and most well known is the sub-realm of Liranshadagcekhanel (roughly translated to Low Gothic as The Spear at the neck of False Gods), a pocket-dimension of Commaragh with a vast spire at its centre. This structure, known as The Spear that Stabs the Heavens, is a vast edifice of black iron and unnatural glass more akin to a fortress than the regal palace that it appears to be.

 

Combat Style:

The Kabal of the Twin Blades officially only works with it's own kabalites, dozens of squads deploying in Raiders and Venoms in lightning fast fly-by shooting runs. This is due to a deeply ingrained distrust of other Dark Eldar, after all the Twin Blades are happy to stab others in the back so why wouldn't others?

When the Kabal goes to war, their Kabalites act with a strict military discipline most unusual for their kind. Manoeuvres such as performing covering fire, tactical withdrawals and feinted counter-attacks are frequently employed which is one of the reasons their services as Mercenaries are so high sought after despite their duplicitous nature.

Frequently following the Twin Blades on their missions or raids are several Hellion and Reaver gangs, while not officially a part of the Kabal they are eager youths hoping to attract the notice of a Kabalite and thus earn a sponsorship for joining the Kabal proper.

 

[Cpt_Reaper]

Heavily work in progress. Just posting as a proof of concept/something to keep me busy.

[Cpt_Reaper]

Update #2: Expanded all sections. Working on rename of sub-realm.

[Cpt_Reaper]

Update #3: beginning the History section. Will be a few references to my Brotherhood of Eternity warband here and there.

[Ace Debonair]

So far, so good, I'd say.

 

Certainly an interesting bunch - I'm not overly familiar with Dark Eldar yet but the Twin Blades sound like a proper, professional crew.

 

I know the answer is obvious, but how do Durion and Lugion (apologies, I know I'm missing the fancy punctuation - can't seem to make it work ) keep their troops in line and enforce the Kabal's disciplined approach to warfare? A sentence or two tagged into the Combat Style section to illustrate the method would be a nice addition, I think.

[Cpt_Reaper]

I had thought about that but like a champ I never wrote it down. I'll work on some ideas and see what looks better.