3 Kabal Concepts Need Help Deciding

Hi Everyone,

I have been toying with some concepts for my Kabal and I was wondering if I could get some fluff advice or opinions on which is your favorite concept and why. So without further ado I present the first of three, as I don't have time to write up the other two right now...

1) The Kabal of The Pitiless Depths (Color Scheme: Blue & Green)

The Kabal of The Pitiless Depths are a relatively new Kabal within Commorragh that had evolved from what was the Kabal of the Fractured Perception. What began as an insignificant minor Kabal amongst many others battling for supremecy on the outskirts of the Dark City has over time swallowed up its competitors and dominates its own sub realm. Whilst its rivals brutally fought in the streets over slaves and equipment The Kabal of Fractured Perception kept a lower profile, using what gains it made in its small realspace raids to invest heavily in modified aquatic vehicles.

Archon Vor'Saviir was considered stupid by his peers and insane by his Kabalites however there was indeed method to his madness. Over time the Archon deployed his spies and paid off information brokers to determine the paths through the webway to gates long forgotten and abandoned. Lost to fate and time to the depths of oceans by the shifting tectonic plates and geographic disasters of thousands of planets Vor'Saviir tested these gates. Probes were lost to poor intel, some exits were to environs too inhospitable to explore further but...there were enough for the Archons desires.

Hundreds of worlds that had lain beyond the easy reach of the Aeldari or Drukhari for millennia suddenly felt the wrath of Vor'Saviirs Kabalites; using their modified attack and transport craft they were able to launch amphibious assaults across the coasts of many ill prepared communities. The sudden influx of slaves of varieties that had not graced Commorragh for time immemorial brought the Kabal a massive injection of wealth. Vor'Saviir doubled down on this niche and branched out into the capture of exotic sea beasts and plants, selling these specimens to Wych Cults looking for something new or the newly available toxins unique to these worlds to Covens that would pay well.

This rapid expansion in strength did not go unnoticed. The Kabals within close proximity to The Fractured Perceptions headquarters decided that the new rising stars of their neighbourhood were suddenly too dangerous to be allowed to live; especially as they seemed in no hurry to move their headquarters to new premises closer to the heart of High Commorragh as would be more appropriate to their new found wealth and influence. The Kabals calculated that Vor'Saviirs niche would be his weakness. They pooled a significant amount of their combined resources and bribed the Supreme Overlord to look the other way as they prepared to launch a combined assault within Commorragh itself using their unmodified attack craft and vehicles to dominate the mostly amphibious specialized Kabalites of the Fractured Perception.

Vor'Saviir was ready for just such a deployment.

Upon commencement of the assault Vor'Saviir surrendered maneuverability early on as soon as things became apparent that rather than a simple skirmish, the attack was a concerted effort to uproot and destroy his Kabal. The war quickly turned into a siege with the combined might of the rival Kabals attempting to breach The Fractured Perceptions headquarters. The battle should have been over quickly, the Dark City presented with a fete accompli, a fallen Kabal, a stern Supreme Overlord meting out token punishment to the perpetrators whilst enjoying a share of the spoils himself.

What happened however was that a network of webway gates were strategically activated or sealed depending on their location. Billions of tonnes of water from thousands of the planets identified by Vor'Saviir flooded through the webway and channeled into the sub realm that The Fractured Perception called home. As the waters began to rise The Kabal of the Black Heart took emergency measures to temporarily seal off the sub-realm from the rest of Commorragh to prevent any collateral damage. The rising waters threw the attackers into disarray - uncertain whether to continue the assault of Vor'Saviirs headquarters, disengage and seal off the routes the water was entering the sub-realm from or retreat to their own strongholds and evacuate their assets from the watery threat.

What quickly became apparent was the The Fractured Perception's base was heavily structurally reinforced and water tight unlike many of the other Kabals nearby. The confusion caused any window of opportunity to strike a finishing blow against Vor'Saviir to vanish as the waters rose to completely submerge his stronghold. Then came the counter attack; suddenly the rival Kabals had to contend with attacks from The Fractured Perceptions modified vehicles and trained amphibious Kabalites emerging from the new depths to seize control of most of the important thoroughfares in the sub-realm.

As the waters rose the rival Kabalites were driven to evacuation protocols, towers fell, victim to the torrents of water they were ill designed to resist. Aquatic monsters from many worlds were sucked into the Dark City and began attacking everything they could reach in their panic and rage. The Fractured Perceptions Kabalites were familiar with many of the creatures and had more success avoiding them, many other denizens of the sub realm were not so lucky.

At a point Vor'Saviir felt appropriate he had his agents correct the webway gates to their previous configuration cutting off the flow of water. The sub-realm on the outskirts of the Dark City had undergone a dramatic transformation. Now there was a veritable sea, with tides being pulled by the distant twin suns of the city, a brutal and ferocious aquatic/amphibious eco-system and thousands of spires piercing the waves, the remnants of the Drukhari architecture strong enough not to collapse.

Vor'Saviir then began to take the remaining holdouts of his rivals apart piece by piece, demanding surrender and the heads of his rival Archons. Under-resourced, outmaneuvered and surrounded, cut off from each other the rival Kabals knew their position was hopeless and promptly the respective Archons of each Kabal were overthrown and executed by their Kabalites in exchange for a negotiated surrender. Meanwhile The Kabal of the Black Heart's scouts had reported back that the webway had reconfigured and the flooding had ceased. A sizable force of the largest Kabal in the Dark City was mustered to unseal the highest connections between the sub-realm and the rest of Commorragh, enter, and take vengeance on the Kabals who had so apocalyptic ally breached the peace of the city by seeking each others 'unsanctioned' destruction.

What they found upon entering the subrealm shocked them, they were relatively ill suited to attack in the changed environment. Victory was still possible against Vor'Saviir and the other Kabals however casualties would be very high and there was still the risk that Vor'Saviir could reconfigure the webway and recommence flooding whilst retreating to his now submerged stronghold. The Supreme Overlord received a diplomat from the Kabal of the Fractured Perception who offered a face saving compromise for all sides. All the Kabals involved would be heavily fined and officially disbanded as punishment for their overly destructive behavior and unsanctioned attempts to exterminate each other. The severed heads of many of the involved Archons being a sweetener.

In their place a new Kabal would be formed from the survivors of the warring Kabals with a new name. Thus The Kabal of The Pitiless Depths was born with Vor'Saviir at its head and the survivors of his rival Kabalites folded into his organization. The heavy fines due to Supreme Overlord were quickly paid off from the stream of wealth the Kabal has access to thanks to its specialist niche in feeding the Dark Cities appetites.

Now the subrealm is known as the The Ten Thousand Islands after the towers piercing the depths and the bridges that connect them. It now boasts its own Wych Cult arena which specializes in combat involving aquatic specimens that is rented out to Wych Cults from across the city who desire a fresh challenge. Vor'Saviir is in ongoing negotiations with several Wych Cults who have expressed an interest in taking over the arena on a permanent basis, in return for a constant supply of new exotic foes to entertain the Wyches Vor'Saviir will have access to a potent long term ally. Meanwhile Haemonculi Covens are in similar negotiations looking for exclusivity deals on various specimens in exchange for their services.

No Archon now thinks of Vor'Saviir as stupid or insane, his Kabal grows in strength daily and every day new webway portals long unexplored are penetrated by his Kabalites; looking for greater riches and greater power. The Archons greatest threat at present is the looming political choice of supporting the Supreme Overlord...or Lady Malys. Vor'Saviir knows that if he picks the loser his burgeoning empire will be reduced to fire and ash.

Thanks for reading, depending on comments or interest this generates I will write up the other Kabal fluff concepts I am struggling between.

Concept 2: The Keepers of Ilmaea's Sight

Amongst the Dark City the dominant culture of the Drukhari is well known. There are however pockets of divergence, of unusual behaviour and beleifs that are tolerated if sneered at.

One of the most notable of these divergent cultures is the Keepers of the Ilmaeas Sight. The Kabal is a Solar Cult that has existed for almost as long as Commorragh has. Dating back to the ancient Eldar Empire the Keepers of Ilmaea's Sight were the organization charged with monitoring and maintaining the Ilmaea, the two suns that provide power throughout Commorragh and the various technology that converts the suns heat and light to said power. Low born amongst the  Eldar Empire this group were little more than servants and technicians for the pleasure cults that grew to dominate the city.

The keepers themselves were a relatively religious group within the city all hailing from the same Crone World in the Empire, honoring the Eldar pantheon, especially Asuryan, whom they considered their patron rather than the Dark Muses common to the pleasure cults. Asuryan being the deity of fire, light and wisdom. With the fall of the Eldar the Keepers were impacted in the same manner as the other Eldar who lived in the webway, gradually becoming Drukhari. As the culture of the Drukhari took its divergent path from that of the Exodites or Aeldari the Keepers within Drukhari society maintained their own sub-culture within the Drukhari.

In modern days the Keepers maintain a visible but mostly ignorable presence in the city proper. They still fulfill their niche by ensuring that the power from the Ilmaea is maintained and untampered with. The Kabal of the Black Heart sponsors their agents security whilst on 'official business' and frankly none of the other Kabals think twice about the keepers, as long as the City's power functions they are happy to leave the Keepers alone. The Keepers gain a modest income stream by fulfilling this lowly function and have also innovated and manufacture many new technologies that have practical non-violent utility for the Drukhari, which earns them more sneers and scorn but nevertheless is a valuable contribution to the Dark City and their treasury.

One of the exceptions to this perception of the Keepers comes from the Kabal of the Dying Sun who have made efforts to try and infiltrate The Keepers and either steal their secrets or absorb them into their Kabal due to their expertise in areas of shared interest such as Eldar solar technology. The Dying Sun have investigated enough to suspect that the Keepers are more powerful than they appear and continue to regard The Keepers with curiosity and suspicion. If these two groups were to ever combine their knowledge then the galaxy would face a truly horrifying foe.

This perception of menial duty and near irrelevance is carefully cultivated by the Keepers and only their lowest ranked half-born and servants are assigned to such drudgery. The Keepers true strength lies carefully concealed from all but the most well informed Kabals, Wych Cults and Covens. The Keepers have a surprising number of True Born among their ranks, this is partially due to the significant level of trust its ranking members place in each other. The Keepers respect their heritage above many things, placing great stock in their shared roots and beliefs. Any pregnant Drukhari in their ranks are expected to withdraw from internal politics in exchange for immunity and any children are strictly off limits to the internal intrigues of the Cult. The Keepers headquarters lies in orbit of one of the Ilmaea itself, using sophisticated technology remains cloaked from most means of detection and has its own small defense fleet likewise concealed. It is from here that the Keepers fleet or warriors launch realspace raids through the areas of the webway originally used to transport and imprison the Ilmaea. The gains from these raids are carefully sold within the Dark City using go-betweens so that the military might of the Keepers is not easily apparent.

The preferred method of conducting a raid for this 'Kabal' would be rather unnerving if commonly known to the Kabals of Commorragh who ignore the Keepers. In keeping with their perverted religious veneration of Asuryan, God of Wisdom the Keepers firmly subscribe to the mantra that knowledge is power.

First the Keepers select a relatively technologically advanced planet, whether Human, Tau, or otherwise. They then covertly map the manner in which their civilisation or planets infrastructure works and looks for points of weakness. Then once plans have been meticulously laid, they strike. Whether using suborned natives or their own assets they sabotage key infrastructure assets, crippling their target worlds ability to function. If necessary the Keepers fleet is marshaled to maintain void superiority over a planet that may have access to outside help. They then watch and make notes as the civilization turns on itself, spreading anarchy, chaos and destruction. It is when this carnage is at its height and its targets population and military exhausted and weakened trying to maintain the basics such as food, clean water and power they move in for the harvest. The keepers pride themselves on working to bring down an entire world in this fashion, striving to perfect the maximum damage with the minimum risk and effort. Most impressively the Keepers have been known to manipulate the solar activity of a systems star, causing solar flares that can cause blackouts of entire planets if conditions are right.

The Keepers are ruled by Patriarch Zill'nesh Vahaeron Har'st who, like every Patriarch/Matriarch before him takes a keen interest in the history of the Eldar Empire. When not ensuring to the Keepers military, economic and religious endeavors the Archon deploys his Kabalites on raids whose sole purpose is to gather lost knowledge of the Empire and to hopefully deploy that knowledge for the Keepers gain.

Whilst pursuing this agenda a new development has caused waves among the Keepers. Acting on a tip off from a Harlequin who had provided reliable intelligence before the Keepers launched a raid on Imperium facility in the expectation of liberating artifacts and knowledge of the ancient Eldar. During the raid the Keepers were interrupted by the Eldar of Craftworld Iybraesil. As fire began to be traded between the two raiding parties they were interrupted by a Harlequin Troupe who enforced a ceasefire. The Harlequins demanded in the name of Cregorach that the two sides worked together to achieve their goal in exchange for a secret. Warily both Aeldari and Drukhari heeded the Harlequins and achieved their objective.

The secret the Harlequins revealed to the force commanders before escorting them back to the webway was extensive files charting the history of the creation and origins of Craftworld Iybraesil on its origin Crone World, meanwhile the files contained lineages of both the Aeldari of Ilbraesil and the Drukhari of the Solar Cult, the Keepers of Ilmaea's Sight. To the consternation and amazement of both Craftworld and Cult it was apparent after much consideration and validation that they were kin to each other.

How to react to this information the Farseers of Iybraesil and Patriarch Zill'nesh have not yet decided. Both communities prize ties of kinship highly and find that their goals are in many ways aligned. Whilst there are religious differences between veneration of Asuryan for the Solar Cult and Morai-Heg for the Craftworld there are many points of cohesion. Whilst the Aeldari and Drukhari open tentative lines of communication between each other the Harlequin troupe laughs heartily at the awkward reunion and prepares efforts to smooth over the rough edges between the two cultures...they knew they would have need of both factions for the coming challenges ahead.

Concept 3: The Kabal of the Flayed Spirit

Amongst the Dark City The Kabal of the Flayed Spirit are regarded with a mixture of puzzlement, fear and begrudging respect. The Kabal has built its power base over many centuries and is considerably wealthy. This is not unusual, how the Kabal chooses to deploy its wealth and power however is...

Archon Fae-Letharn and his Kabalites take an extreme view of their role seeing themselves as being the apex predators of the Galaxy. This is a fairly common view for Drukhari to hold however this Kabal views most other Drukhari as mere pretenders to this status, pretenders who with the right leadership could be made to realise their true potential.

This Kabal accuses their none Kabalite brethren of being cowards, in private of course. They see all others as cowering prey who hide from She Who Thirsts and have accepted this role on the galactic food chain; dangerous prey but prey non-the-less. The Kabal of the Flayed Spirit has in contrast to this made it their business to hunt the hunter and work to terrorise and destroy She Who Thirsts minions and foil her plans wherever the achievable opportunity presents itself. The Kabal itself is willing to work with other Aeldari factions to thwart Chaos as the need arises. The attitude of deliberately provoking She Who Thirsts has earned the Kabal the close scrutiny of the Supreme Overlord lest they take a step too far and bring ruin down upon the rest of the Dark City in some crazed scheme.

The philosophy of the Kabal places She Who Thirsts as a wayward daughter who has risen above her place and seeks to supplant her parental race. Archon Fae-Letharn and his followers see themselves and administering proper discipline that has been long overdue. Rankings within the Kabal reflect how much personal damage each Kabalite has inflicted upon Slaanesh, they humorously refer to their achievements as their 'dowry'. Most of the Kabalites acknowledge that the chances are that Slaanesh will one day claim their souls, however they wish the taste of such to be bitter, the price of a Kabalite of the Flayed Spirit's soul to be higher than the total pleasure She Who Thirsts can wring from its torment over eternity. Archon Fae-Letharn holds the distinction of having banished a Keeper of Secrets in personal combat, as even being within sight of such a creature is simply unthinkable for most Drukhari who wish to remain living, such a feat has earn t him a significant amount of fear and respect in wider society, amongst his own Kabalites and even amongst some of the other Aeldari factions.

Most often the strikes this Kabal launches against the forces of Slaanesh involve identifying where her cults are active as best and possible and then simply manipulating events in such a fashion that lesser races do the dirty work on the Kabals behalf. If an imperial world has an active cult nearing the stages of completing inciting a mass rebellion the Kabal may launch repeated raids and skirmishes in nearby systems, just enough to provoke the Imperial Navy to deploy into the area just in time to then be on hand to support the Imperial Governor when the Chaos uprising springs into action and the Kabalites melt away. Perhaps the Imperial Navy/Army are too weak in a sector to be able to intervene, then the Kabalites have been known to smuggle onto the world several captured Genestealers. Even Chaos Cultists have their plans badly disrupted by a rapidly spreading Genestealer Cult to rival them for the privilege of tearing down Imperial control of a planet. The Kabal if necessary will deploy its own forces against Chaos if no other assets can be manipulated to do so however.

Recent events have been a mixed blessing for the Kabal. The Kabal shone during the demon invasion of Commorragh after Ynnead was born. The Kabal being one of the few fighting forces in the city who were very experienced in personal combat against the forces of Chaos and held no fear for the Demons, healthy respect yes, but no fear unlike many of their Drukhari brethren. The damage to High Commorragh would have been significantly worse if the Flayed Spirits Kabalites were not on hand to quickly direct defences as best as possible against the threat. Even so the Kabal suffered heavy casualties with the Homunculi still in the process of reviving many of the Kabals warriors. The Kabal then went on to play a role in the battle for Craftworld Iyanden against the forces of Chaos, allying with Ynnari, Craftworlders, Exodites, Harlequins and other Drukhari. At this point however things took a darker turn for the Kabal, the philosophy of the Ynnari being similar to the Kabals in its determination to battle She Who Thirsts many of the surviving Kabalites of this battle defected to the Ynnari, leaving Archon Fae-Letharn apoplectic with rage, accusing his one time comrades of being fools and that Ynnead is simply another Slaanesh in the making. Out of gratitude for his aid the Ynnari did not rise to his insults and allowed him and his remaining loyal Kabalites to retreat back to the webway.

The heart of the Kabal has however survived this calamity and embarrassment with more of their wounded warriors from Commorragh returning to the field from the Homunculi's care and aggressive recruiting being undertaken. The flip side of all this recent carnage is that the sundering of the galaxy by the Cicatrix Maledictum, the colossal increase in Chaos activity and the memory of the demon incursion into Commorragh being vivid in the remaining Drukharis memory has led to a dramatic increase in the Kabals expertise and knowledge being in high demand as allies on relaspace raids. Indeed Supreme Overlord Vect has taken a personal interest in quietly ensuring that the Kabal regains its strength quickly as he has plans for them himself...

The current concerns of the Kabal are to take every reasonable opportunity to strike at the forces of Slaanesh, especially in the Dark Imperium where the Astronomicon being absent has left the Chaos raiders expecting lighter resistance than before, making themselves perfect targets for ambush by the Kabal of the Flayed Spirit. Any PDF forces who are momentarily pleased to be saved from Chaos warbands had better hope however that their own defences have not suffered too harshly in the fighting as the Drukhari will gladly finish them off after dealing with Chaos in order to take more slaves. Additionally Fae-Letharn has made it a personal project to take revenge on his ex-Kabalites in the Ynnari for fracturing his Kabal and to his mind abandoning their pursuit of fighting an Aeldari Soul-Eating powerful warp entity, Slaanesh in order to enslave themselves to another Aeldari Soul-Eating powerful warp entity...

Rumour has it that Fae-Letharn has taken a special interest in capturing Demon possessed Space Marines and Demon possessed artefacts. These captured assets have been moved to a hidden base deep underneath an Ork infested world. The Archon merely smiles viciously and declares that he has an experiment in mind whenever his closest advisors dare to ask what the dangerous items are for. The wisdom in hiding under an Ork world soon became apparent, the arrival of a fleet of Slaanesh ships in orbit over the planet causing a brutal void and ground war to start raging is providing a screen for Fae-Letharns current project. He knows Slaanesh has come to stop his plan and is counting on the Orks being his meat shield whilst he gathers the last few things he needs...

Thanks for reading everyone.

I don't know how to insert a poll to the thread but if anyone has any feedback or preferences for which Kabal concept you feel has the best backstory please let me know. Don't be shy, as you can see I've put a fair bit of effort in thinking of these and putting them here to share with you.

Hi I really like the first one, it also give the oppertunity for many fun conversions.
There is one small detail I dislike and that is the "outmanouvring" of Vect. Expecially the "face saving" seems a bit weak and the original archon should not have been the one to become archon of the new Kabal. I would maybe make it something that Vect put a puppet on the throne of the kabal, with the original archon in power, but with Vect being able to give him orders. Or the original archon is also killed but the real power who was the actual mastermind of the ideas is still there.

I do not really like the second one, I am unsure why. Maybe because it feels a little bit like it was written as an excuse to combine all the factions instead of combining the factions because it fit the story.

The third backstory is fine and I really like that it really seems as if it part of a story arc not yet finished and also not just starting up. Although I like the first one best, with the exception of outmanouvring Vect.

Hi I really like the first one, it also give the oppertunity for many fun conversions.
There is one small detail I dislike and that is the "outmanouvring" of Vect. Expecially the "face saving" seems a bit weak and the original archon should not have been the one to become archon of the new Kabal. I would maybe make it something that Vect put a puppet on the throne of the kabal, with the original archon in power, but with Vect being able to give him orders. Or the original archon is also killed but the real power who was the actual mastermind of the ideas is still there.

I do not really like the second one, I am unsure why. Maybe because it feels a little bit like it was written as an excuse to combine all the factions instead of combining the factions because it fit the story.

The third backstory is fine and I really like that it really seems as if it part of a story arc not yet finished and also not just starting up. Although I like the first one best, with the exception of outmanouvring Vect.