Drukhari Pirate, Looking to give her more depth

[TechCaptain]

Malaskia Vileblade, Drukhari Pirate

Malaskia Vileblade was once a rising star in the gladiatorial arenas of Commorragh before her flare for battle fanned the jealously of a succubus in her Cult. After enjoying one more fantastically gruesome victory in the arena Malaskia was caught in an ambush by her fellow Durhkari, taking a wicked gash that would forever scar her face. Although Malaskia managed to slay several she was destined to be overcome until the intervention of Acolyte Fraenck Drakon. With his aid, Malaskia managed to escape the ambush but Draken had plans, and Malaskia saw herself betrayed once more as Vileblade Separates from Kabals. Upon waking she found herself before Inquisitor Adahm Klerixus with an offer, pledge her service and enjoy a measure of comfort and ample opportunity to cause suffering and the vortex microbombs, Adahm has laced through her body would not detonate and send her screaming to Slaanesh, with a wicked grin marred by her new scar Malaskia agreed.

Wargear

Electrocorrosive Whip

Hydra Gauntlet

Splinter Pistol

Wych Suit

This is the beginning of her and I have some notes floating around but this is the core. 

[TechCaptain]

One of my poor attempts on giving her a story but so far I haven't gotten that much. 

[Brother Tyler]

A little late to this party...

 

Malaskia Vileblade, Drukhari Pirate

Malaskia Vileblade was once a rising star in the gladiatorial arenas of Commorragh before her flare flair for battle fanned the jealously of a succubus in her Cult. After enjoying one more fantastically gruesome victory in the arena, Malaskia was caught in an ambush by her fellow DurhkariDrukhari, taking a wicked gash that would forever scar her face. Although Malaskia managed to slay several, she was destined to be overcome until the intervention of Acolyte Fraenck Drakon. With his aid, Malaskia managed to escape the ambush. butHowever, Draken had plans,; and Malaskia saw herself betrayed once more as Vileblade Separates from Kabals. Upon waking she found herself before Inquisitor Adahm Klerixus with an offer,: pledge her service and enjoy a measure of comfort and ample opportunity to cause suffering and the vortex microbombs, Adahm hashad laced through her body would not detonate and send her screaming to Slaanesh,. withWith a wicked grin marred by her new scar, Malaskia agreed.

 

I don't understand what "Vileblade Separates from Kabals" means (I don't have the current codex).

[ThePenitentOne]

Are you building the character for fiction, gameplay or both?

 

If you're using her in game play, are you also building characters for Adam and Frank? As a dude recruiting a Drukhari, I'm assuming Adam is an Ordo Xenos Radical? I can see Frank being equipped with a needle pistol, just in case his unpredictable and dangerous companion can't be tricked into Adam's trap.

 

So now back to Malaskia.

 

First things first: what Cult does she belong to- ie what are her Cult traits? And what is her Combat Drug of choice? I would choose these with her growth in mind, so that she has traits to start with which will synergize with the growth that will happen over the course of the campaign. You Cult traits and relationship with combat drugs is at least important as your load-out.

 

In the story, she's described as a Hekatrix, which is cool, but you also described her as a pirate... Which also has potential, through the Anrathe path of the Outcast.  I always like to play through the development of characters, so what I'd do is play her as a wych in a small Crusade that is essentially just her cult. You can start her with hydra knives, or she might earn the right to use specialized wych weapons.... I make my wyches compete for them, but it'll add games to the pre-history story arc, so your call.

 

Either way, I'd have her unit get promoted to a favoured unit- ie. Hekatrix Blood Brides. It doesn't explicitly say it in the dex, but as each member of the Bloodbrides IS a Hekatrix, my headcannon is that ALL the members of that unit are capable of acting as unit leader hekatrixes... So at that point, she'd be able to fight with the favoured unit or lead a regular one- and I'd play out a game or two with her acting in each of those capacities. Now you need a gaming group that's going to work with you to do this, because the favoured unit abilities are different than the squad leader abilities- in my group, people are okay with the combined profile since it's only one model in the unit. Also, the favoured unit requisition is suppose to be used when a unit is added to the roster,,,, And for Trueborn, that makes sense because their enhanced prowess lies in the biological difference between themselves and clones. But for wyches and wracks, it makes more sense for them to be promoted when they level. So with Malaskia, you could make her a bloodbride as soon as she hits blooded, which she could do in a single game. She gets a battle honour for leveling, and the Bloodbride requisition is in ADDITION to that.

 

In any case, I think your next step is to evolve her to Succubus level. I might hold that back til she hits Heroic- and again, you'll have to have a flexible group to let her keep Bloodbride abilities over her lifespan as a character. There is no written rule that allows you to promote a Hekatrix to a Succubus, so a way to get your group to roll with it is to use a Battle Honour to promote her... That way you're making a sacrifice for the privilege of having a Succubus that gets Bloodbride abilities.

 

The final question is the Path of the Outcast. If you want it, you'll have to negotiate with your group, because a Succubus is not an eligible unit to walk the path of the Outcast and the path system as written makes you trade in everything you've learned for different options when you begin the path. I don't think Malaksia would walk the path to its end- the last stage of the path gives the unit sniping abilities, which doesn't suit Malaksia's background.

 

Now if you aren't playing the character in games, you don't need to negotiate the pieces that don't fit with rules. And you have a list of the things the character can do at various points in her life as well as the chains of events that lead her to develop those things.

 

One final question: you've given her an electrocorrosive whip. I'm cool with that, but as non-standard load-out, there should be a reason for it. If I'm not mistaken, it is a wrack weapon that can only be taken by the Acothyst of the unit. So does she have an Acothyst friend that gave her one? Did she kill an Acothyst during the ambush and keep his weapon as a trophy? Did Adam have the weapon in his collection of Xenos artifacts and give it to her when they sealed the deal?

 

Anyway, that's where I'd go. This process is how I create all of my Characters. It's why I love Crusade as much as I do.

 

 

 

 

[TechCaptain]

So, I started building her straight from wiki lore, so all this interconnectedness I was clueless about. Sorry about not seeing this much earlier. I had semi given up on getting responses. All this information is fantastic. I don't have a clue how to answer the questions yet but now I have something to work towards. I eventually want to make a board model of her and the rest of Adahm's Retinue but where and how to play them I am again lost. Best bet I thought is something like Dark Heresy. He is an Ordo Mechanicum (Xenos leaning) Radical.  I haven't had a chance to play any crusades as I haven't had any groups that was playing that allowed new members basically. It would be a learning curve for me. I loved the series of events you kind of outline to give me a lot more to build her out with. 

Brother Tyler for your question, I just gave it a title of the fact that the main character is leaving her Sect, home, even race really to be part of the Inquisition though she wasn't given the option of no. I am open to better Titles. 
 

For the questions so far about Frank and Adahm. 

 

 

 

Edited March 26, 2023 by TechCaptain