Kabal of the All-Seeing Eye (Redux)

I recently got back into 40k after taking about a 5-year hiatus, and have decided to begin where I left off with collecting a Dark Eldar army. My biggest hurdle is usually coming up with my fluff though. I have a weird thing where I must have some sort of canonical element to my army, but obviously one that can be supplemented with my own little twists. Thus, I usually base my fluffs on some random canon. In this case, I’m paying homage to the 3rd Edition Dark Eldar (the one I initially got interested in, before quitting the hobby before the rerelease) as well as what initially got me into 40k, Dawn of War and specifically Soulstorm.

I chose to then pay additional homage to an existing, but retconned-ish, kabal used by GW in the 3rd Edition, and used in Soulstorm, the Kabal of the All-Seeing Eye. Doing some research on the kabal (I try my hardest to stay canonical, so try and incorporate every bit of canon that exists as I can) I found some disparate and seemingly unrelated references in the codex, in Soulstorm, in the old Collector’s Guide, and in Black Library novels (I even bought “Mistress Braeda’s Gift”, I liked the read).

With all of this information, seemingly canonical, I have compiled a fairly well-rounded background to the All-Seeing Eye, based almost entirely in actual GW-sanctioned materials. The first five paragraphs of my short fluff are based in canon, with only slight artistic-license to allow for the evolution of the Kabal’s history.


Not so long ago the All-Seeing Eye was at its peak. The Kabal held power, influence, and wealth rivaled by many and all the more astonishing because of its relatively small and meager stature amongst the other great kabals of the Dark City. It held such disproportionate sway due its patronage of the Prophets of Flesh, led by the skilled and ruthless Urien Rakarth, which gave the All-Seeing Eye the power by proxy of dealing in the monstrosities produced. Other kabals would spend great sums on Rakarth’s creatures, and the Kabal would act as middle-man, taking a cut most appropriate. In this position, the All-Seeing Eye also found itself often as a power-broker, a forger of both loyal alliances and fervent rivalries.

However, all this came to a bitter end at the betrayal of the Prophets of Flesh. Many reasons exist for Rakarth’s defection to the side of Asdrubael Vect and the Black Heart, so it should not have been a surprise to the All-Seeing Eye. Nevertheless, the Kabal had not prepared and would not recover from the sudden loss of prestige. Only in hindsight could it be seen that the Kabal had not played patron to Rakarth, but that Rakarth had played patron to the All-Seeing Eye, and just as a monster is wont to do the relationship was ended when more favorable conditions could be found.

Almost immediately the Kabal fell into brutal infighting, the wealth and resources that remained up for grabs to whomever could muscle their way to the top. Whilst this was happening, other kabals saw their own opportunity to prey upon the shattered All-Seeing Eye, picking at its nimble flesh like the carrion birds that circled its spire in High Commorragh. Beaten, inside and out, the Kabal was only stabilized by the brutal tactics of the young Lord Ranisold. Opportunistic in his own right, some say his ascension as archon had been planned long before the Prophets of Flesh even conceived of desertion.

The kabalites forced into a brittle order, Ranisold then sought to rebuild the Kabal by looking outward. The rumors of the Mistress Baeda, widow and inheritor of a great kabal in the shadow-realm Shaddom, stirred within Ranisold a plan to acquire these new resources to create a force to be respected. However, in his attempts to court the widow, he had crossed paths with the greater ambitions of Lord Malwrack, of the Splintered Claw, on his own quest to curry the favor of the Mistress Baeda. The conflict of interests would lead to Ranisold’s own demise as the Splintered Claw, led by the emotions of Malwrack, fell upon the lair of the All-Seeing Eye with hideous ferocity, leaving Ranisold dumbfounded even as Malwrack’s minions carved off his face.

The lesser leadership within the All-Seeing Eye were all but complacent in the prospect that they would be absorbed into the Splintered Claw. In fact, many willingly offered their loyalties to their presumed masters, aggravated by the series of quite recent failures propagated by their previous leaders. Still others felt a bond to the All-Seeing Eye, and the days of power and wealth that had preceded these times of upheaval. As well, the days of unrest were not over as Lord Malwrack, within weeks of his takeover of the All-Seeing Eye and several other kabals, in a desperation foreign to any outside observer, had led the Splintered Claw to ruin in an ill-conceived raid upon a tomb world. His Kabal was lost, and the loyalists within the All-Seeing Eye saw an opportunity to seek their own future.

A new leader had emerged amongst the flurry of loyalists who sought to escape the spires of High Commorragh, and their related fate with Lord Malwrack, to cloak themselves in shadows, for their eventual resurgence and revenge. Lord Erzazhan had gathered his forces within the home spire of the All-Seeing Eye, and set off on a floor-by-floor rush to collect as many weapons and resources as they could, maiming and murdering all opposition before them. As they reached the tip of the spire, a fleet of skimmers and aircraft waited, whisking the loyal kabalites away to hide, to rebuild, and to plot their next moves to regain the power stolen from them.

Raider, with symbol as seen in Soulstorm


Kabalites, with the Kabal's color-scheme adapted from the 3rd-Edition models


An old model miniature I found for reference

nice look.

Oh my gosh!!! Nope must not seem too excited, oh I suppose one little squeal won't hurt *SQUEEEEEEEE* much better *ahem*.

I love how you've adapted the canon to your own personal fluff, I look forward to you adding some meat to the bone.
One more thing, your freehand logo is the bomb!