Kabal of the Fell Gardens

Once, during the times where the noble houses lived in comfort and thrived in ever-sated greed, the Highborne Family of the Iernaggaith and their power grew fat and bloated, like a great leech that sucked upon the livelihood of noble and low-born runts alike. A constant thorn in the side of their highborne rivals, maintaining alliances with Solar cult and Lunar cult alike, they were long accustomed to maintaining an oppressive stance on any threat that presented itself. Eventually, however, it was not long before their great covetousness began to attract threats too great to manage, spawning threats within the Kabal that tore them into a bitter schism, and paving the way for their rivals to strike in unison and rip the family from their fortress.

All but eradicated, the remnants of the Kabal disappeared into the lower reaches of Commorragh, where they would carve out a meagre territory and began biding their time.

Over the centuries, the hierarchal structure of Commorrite society twisted itself into a meritocracy, an environment the ever-feuding family had long been accustomed to, each and every member holding great knowledge over their siblings' and rivals' histories, weaknesses, passions, and fears. Leaders were quick to come and faster to go, something that had paved the way for ever-craftier, ever-more cautious leaders. Eventually this would fall into the hands of Yraste Iernaggiech, the favoured consort to the previous Archon. Her most ambitious brothers and sisters had died in horrible circumstances, the weaker, and the less-ambitious of these were either exiled or coerced into her service. Increasingly, the influence of Shaimesh became increased, and stimulated the ambitions of those weaker, pettier members, uniting them under a banner within the Kabal.

Fearing falling to the hands of their rivals, and turned wary from the words of treason and danger from the hands of his favoured consort, he eventually offered his cruel bride a chance to claim the Kabal's rights as her own, to act as his surrogate. Only to gladly she complied, slitting his throat upon the throne for all to see, declaring herself Archon while her precedant's blood still ran warm.

Under her patronage, the Kabal's cautious nature did not diminish, but their operations grew more ambitious. Having long held a great knowledge of poisons, toxins and nociferous fungi that stemmed from the roots of the Kabal, and her own status as a Llamhean, she relocated the Kabal deeper into the underbelly of the city, claiming a desolate marsh as her own, a landscape so noxious and unforgiving that only the most exiled of pariahs and husks dared call it home.

Within the following months, a mysterious range of exotically creative drugs would creep into the market, seemingly emerging from nowhere. Dark-blue powders that set the nervous system alight with predatory urges, murky oozes affectionately named "Bitterbile" that soothed the senses when ingested, notable it's vulgar taste, and that it would emitt excrutiating gases when boiled... But most prized amongst these was a seldom-seen black nectar, often coming in delicate crystal flasks; the ever-elusive "Black Honey", a flavourless syrup that induce horrific apocalyptic visions that last for days, driving the consumer into fervent frenzies. Especially popular amongst Hellion gangs or the odd Dracon seeking an edge in combat, word of the horrific onslaughts caused by the users of these drugs became known to the common ear, and would reach insane exaggerations by the time the Higher spires caught word.

All of these bizarre substances and more came, quite naturally, from Yraste's new-found lair. The competition of other drug-peddlers rapidly became stifled by kabalite agents, many forced into offering the Kabal's finest wares, otherwise being made into grotesque canvases of horror as warning to potential rivals.

Growing once again in power, and now grown back to sufficient strength to openly display their hard-earned power, Yraste's forces became known as the Kabal of the Fell Gardens, known for their characteristic appearance torn from the lips of unfortunate survivors and sheepish witnesses; Extravagant warriors, clad in armours of tarnished gold, and deep black, wild-eyed and keen to cause as much violence as possible. Druchii dressed in garish make up, blue-lipped and disproportionately elongated helmets decorated with insectoid patterns, or outlandish feathers. These were not the usual breed of dregs of the lower spires, and their reputation became one that was often spoken, though seldom seen indeed.

Operating in small groups of two or three, the Kabal prefers a stance that is cautious and effective, employing threats but offering patronage to the desperate and the weak. These wretched souls will often be taken before Yraste herself, described a nightmarish vision herself, stark-cold elegance, a vicious matriarch who is nothing but another blight in the lives of the unfortunate. Thrown to her feet, they will be quick to implore her clemency, and receive a discreet (if painful) sigil-branding on their flesh, to mark them as property of the Mother of Dark Fancies. Then, they will be tossed to the streets again, often lightly stimulated by samples of the produce that they are required to sell.

Successful recruits will be adorned in the Kabal's fashion, decorated like fanciful pets, with obscene body piercings and bizarre appendages, as well as colourful feathers and morbid talismans.
Amongst the luckiest, and more silver-tongued, they may even be given a place in the Kabal as a spy, recruiter or even warrior.

What is sickeningly deemed fitting for the failures is best left unmentioned.

Despite having been greatly impoverished and shamed, the Kabal constantly upholds its nobility, the highborn being dressed extravagantly to promote their immense privileges within the kabal. Each of them is worth 15 lowborn-soldiers in their own eyes, and they will not hesitate to cut down any subordinate should they feel it necessary.

The Kabal's ventures into the outside are rare, even to this day. They have survived off quick kidnappings and theft of rival slaves, managing to barely sate their collective bloodlust. However, the increase in numbers in the Kabal and the growing ambitions of the Fell Gardens has caused for a increasingly greater demand. As such, attempts to rally entire Kabals to their cause have been implemented, through gentle promises of sharing vast wealth, and access to great wares in exchange for the supply of slaves at the hands of their partners.

The fortress itself is a series of large, black spires that connect with a looming ceiling miles above, the skies of commorragh hidden away by a thick veil of jagged buildings. Within the fortress, the decoration is rich, hinting at decadent tastes that may lie beyond its dark doors.

Within its, long, labyrinthine corridors sprawl out in a narrow and hellish complex, leading to great halls and opulent boudoirs. Several smoking rooms exist for the purposes of specific drugs, decorated accordingly;
Some are inviting, almost tasteful, with tranquil pools and haughty marble busts recuperated from the lost halls of their previous home, that gaze out upon elegant canopies and bowls of ripened fruit... while others are horrific, vacant rooms sprawled with mirrors that twist the reflection to the viewer, every wall painted with nightmare scenes of great suffering, great sprawling invertebrae carved into the walls that seem to shift and hiss under the influence of hellish narcotics.

Deep in the heart of the fortress lies the court of the Fell Gardens, where Archon Iernaggaith looms imperiously atop a ziggurat in the middle of the room, a reminder to any potential usurper that they are free to claim the throne, boldly stating that she is vulnerable from any side. In reality, the ziggurat is filled with playfully-cruel traps that will activate at the touch of a finger.

The Fell Garden's ongoing existence has been greatly improved by its alliance with both the Cult of Llamaea and the association with the haemonculi coven of The Red Wake. Yraste herself holds a close partnership with Brenngherian, an exceptionally odious haemonculi whose dabbling with the family goes back for generations.
His age belies a great sense of political understanding, and his relatively diminutive coven (5 haemonculi in total) has profited from their alliance with the Fell Garden.

Amongst Yraste's ambitions, she has sought to increase the elite status of herself and her favoured warriors, seeking genetic modification from the Red Wake upon her finest subjects. Poisonous sweat glands, shedding skin, weird antennae and elongated limbs are not an uncommon sight amongst the warriors of the Kabal. In exchange for this ongoing project, the Kabal supplies slaves, drugs, and protection when it is needed.

She herself is her own project, currently clad in elaborate plated armour, with micro-pores from which seep out noxious vapours and suffocating perfumes, if needed.



With no intention, or rather without the capicity, to subjugate through direct force, Yraste knows full well that if she can keep her face hidden and her appetite sated, it will be only a matter of time before she can firmly reclaim her house's reputation, and bleed the very city dry.


From the foetid swamps of the Fell Garden, a sinister taking is underway that seeps through the tissue of Commorragh like a patient cancer.



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So that's a quick WIP of my Kabal, something I've been planning for a very long time but never had much opportunity to put down into words. There's a lot to stamp out here, and plenty yet to be mentioned, but I think overall I'm pretty happy with the direction things are taking thus far!

Hopefully I can implement some models within the next 2-3 months that will give you an idea of the style, heraldry and plans of my horrible, horrible army.


Some additional information:

Sigil: The emblem of the Fell Gardens is a mass of interwoven vines sprouting from a five-petalled blossom, all encircling what a stylized leech-mouth (think a lamprey, caution--nightmare fuel awaits in your google searches...)

Costumes/Colour scheme: The idea for my kabalite warriors is that they are predominantly an extravagant bunch of psycho-fopps, that enjoy getting high on their own supply. The general style in mind is more of a baroque one, so I have in mind great, tall helmets that look like the ones you'd typically see in the older editions (ridiculously tall as opposed to the imposing but much more ergonomical ones of today), with insectoid influences (nothing TOO much beyond quoting certain abdomen etc.). The colours I imagined being a dark, slightly-reddened brown mottled with a dark gold, and detailed with deep cobalt. So sort of rich and autumny, but still dark. Failing that, just black and gold and dark blue here and there. Still very WIp about all this.

The Archon: My archon is very much intended to be a horrific monster like any other archon (it's what makes this army so damn fun!). However I also want her to be imperious and aloof, and in terms of modelling, I want this to be reflected... Bit of a challenge but we'll see. So far I have most of the pieces but she's proving to be incredibly mentally-tasking to conceptualise.
Fluff-wife she is hell-bent on self-preservation, holding little else in esteem except the maintenance of noble traditions and inflating her self-worth through showy displays of affluence. A bit of a cleopatra. I don't want her to be too much of a Llamaen, in fact I'm a bit hesitant about that one. I sort of prefer the idea of her being an exceptionally murderous daughter. But I also like tying in slightly cultish influences into my clan. It's all self-serving though so real faith is pretty non-existent, just means to serve an end.

Kabal composition: I want it to be clear that my Kabal is still very fragmented, and certainly not set to be a god-moded big-player yet... At least not in the martial field. Rather, they're very cowardly, very shadowy dope-pushers that seek power through threat of force greater than they actually have, and bribery. They're main weapon is a subtle, social influence. They hire other, willing idiots to do the work for them... Though I would imagine they'll have to enter realspace at some point.
But the point is that they're a very sparse, elite army that relies on the skills and speed of a few well-trained squads rather than venom spamming, etc. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

The dynamic I like about my kabal here is that they have a duality of being great, pompous, showy blighters, but are also a ridiculously cowardly lot that prefer to keep their name spoken in hushed tones, avoiding direct, large-scale conflict at all costs. They're really still in hiding, making a living in slaves off a stream of ever-evolving drugs and elixirs, which naturally attracts followers as well as many rivals/danger.

Black Honey is the Kabal's magnum opus and proud trademark, a vile ebon ichor that weeps from a rare type of spongiform vegetation unique to the Foetid Marshes. These are extremely well guarded, often within the heart of the Kabal's fortress that lies beneath the spires of high commorragh.


Two things I'm not still sure of; names. These took me ages to come up with, and a while back I had settled on "The Morbid Bloom" but now I'm less certain. Fell Gardens rings nicely with me but I'm still wondering if it needs improvement.

The coven's namesake, i.e.  "Red Wake" is another one I rather like but I wonder if it shouldn't need some tweaking first. Alternatives I had in mind were "Iron Web", "Dead Clutch" and "The Cull". All feel sufficiently bleak and creepy as it should be.

Thoughts and opinions and suggestions are greatly welcome and appreciated! Thanks guys.   This may take me some time as I am very busy (not too busy to spend my Monday writing this up, apparently... But still!) so I'll be realistic and say this may take quite some time. But it's motivation to finally contribute my own fluff to the forum.

Cheers for reading guys!