Shadows of Commorragh - part 1

Commorragh, the Dark City, is the massive city-state within the Eldar Webway that is the primary home of the Dark Eldar, or Drukhari, race. It is said to be impossible for outsiders to find, and anarchy and terrorism are a well-established way of life for its debased inhabitants. It is widely believed to be hidden deep within the inter-dimensional labyrinth known as the Webway, described by the Eldar as a "dark stain" growing within their holy pathways.

Commorragh is no mere metropolis, for it is to the greatest cities of realspace as a soaring mountain is to a mound of termites. Its dimensions would be considered impossible if they could be read by conventional means, its population greater than that of whole star systems. If anything, Commorragh is more like a vast collection of satellite realms and cities linked by myriad portals and hidden pathways.

Viewed from one perspective, Commorragh is a loose collection of far-flung nodes spread throughout the arteries of the Webway like a malevolent virus. Its clustered concentrations are in reality scattered across the galaxy, thousands of light-years apart in places. Yet these locations are linked together by shimmering dimensional shortcuts. Within the Webway, the immense distances between each sub-realm can be crossed with a single step.

The Dark City is known to have "wandering shadows that tear apart the unwary" and is bathed in the crimson half-light of the Ilmaea, or "black suns," dying stars taken from realspace by the Aeldari at the height of their technological prowess and installed within their own sub-realms within the Webway to provide Commorragh with light and power.

~ 🜩 ~

Wailslake suggested a new Inq28 / Xenos28 project to our group and it has really captured my imagination. He really likes the idea of INQ28 games but he wants to try something that doesn't have the Imperium and humanity as the setting. He suggested creating a campaign based around the same sort of scale of game but with Aeldari factions fighting in Commorragh.

I immediately loved the idea of cut-throat Drukhari cult warfare and intrigue in the murky depths of the Dark City. It's a real change of pace for me, a long way from Orruks! (Though it is still definitely well within my comfort zone as far as haunted cities go!) I fear he has unleashed a great terror onto my hobby plans though as this project will need some very exciting scenery!

~ 🜟 ~

I have no solid idea of exactly how I'm going to make suitable scenery for this, but I want to make a dark and foreboding board with lots of different levels, and plenty of ruins and signs of decay. I want it to have a dark green-sh palette and include the trademark Drukhari curved blades and elongated pyramids. I don't want it to injure players while we use it but "razor sharp" seems to be the by-word for Drukhari design!

~ 🜾 ~

Low Commorragh

Around the titanic central spires of the Dark City are the trading districts of the old Eldar empire. The lowliest of ports was once an architectural masterpiece millennia ago, but the ravages of civil war have not been kind. Low Commorragh now consists of a mixture of shattered ruins and scavenged former glories. Numerous dilapidated fortress complexes and barter-ports now spread out in every direction. The lesser Kabals riddle the extremities of the angular black spires with opportunistic growth. The labyrinthine depths of the outer zones are so congested that a traveller could travel for months on end without so much as a glimpse of a stolen sun. Many areas that have been twisted beyond recognition by the tremendous upheaval of the Fall are haunted by scavengers and spectres. Within the pitch-black catacombs of Low Commorragh there lurks far larger and uglier creatures than the Dark Eldar, for they are prowled by the lost, and the feral thrive there.

One could not possibly visit all the outer districts of Low Commorragh in a single lifetime, for they are many and varied. Attempting to catalogue them would prove fatal, for the Dark Eldar are highly territorial and tend to kill intruders on sight. One such outer district is Hidden Blade, a crucially placed Kabalite stronghold that sticks out between Port Carmine and Nightsound Ghulen. Port Carmine is second only in violent reputation to the Port of Lost Souls, the largest port of the Dark City that is the principle spaceport from which slaves are brought into Commorragh and raiding parties despatched to bring further captives. Port Carmine is a violent realm, suffering from constant gang warfare between rival Kabals. The immensely tall spires of the starport sprout outward for miles, each host to a fleet of ornate spacecraft. Port Carmine's central docks play host to the spectacle of two major Kabalite fleets at full anchor, the Slashed Eye Kabal and the bloodthirsty Stolen Conscience, locked in a never-ending struggle for dominance. Around Port Carmine lay the war-torn ruins known as the Sprawls. Their bleak streets play host to the Parched, cadaverous Dark Eldar that have fallen from grace and wound up on the fringes of their violent society. These wretches are drawn ravenously to a battle whenever one breaks out, vicariously experiencing the acts of extreme violence and drinking in the bloody spectacle to rejuvenate their wasted bodies. Occasionally they will drag an unfortunate soul who has been fatally wounded into the dark alleyways, where the Parched will fight one another over the scraps of the departing soul.

The Sprawls eventually give way to a network of atriums and chambers through which flow the toxic acid-green waterway known as the River Khaïdes. This polluted waterway winds around and through the outer districts of central Corespur, shrouded in subterranean darkness and wreathed in mist. Above the toxic surface of the foul river drift thin grav-craft bedecked in faded grandeur. The sorry hosts of these craft earn what little they can by hooking corpses from the Khaïdes and selling them as slave-food. These corpse-fishers often fall prey to Jetbikes and sky-chariots which streak through the air above the river at dizzying velocity, slashing apart the unfortunate victims in merciless contests of speed.

The mercenary district of Sec Maegra is found further coreward, and is more popularly known as Null City; a nation-sized shanty town permanently riven by civil war. The permanent smell of cordite hangs over the roofs of the shanties, and every few minutes fresh screams pierce the silence. The scorched streets resound with solid-shot gunfire and the crack-spit of Splinter Rifles at night, as negotiations and assassinations turn out badly. It is said that occasionally xenos mercenaries can be found stalking the streets of Null City. It is even rumoured that from time to time the most vicious of their number are called upon to serve the Kabals.

~ 🜃 ~

My warband

I'm going to base my band around a Wych Cult. I will be including a few non-Wyches but I think starting with them as the core will give me a strong theme.

This is the kind of painterly style and colour palette that I want to aim for:



I plan to get the Dark Elf Blood Bowl team as soon as they are available. With head and hand swaps I think they will make excellent citizens of Low Commorragh.



I was not able to stop thinking about it so I went through my bits boxes and collected everything vaguely elven. I had a few Drukhari parts given to me in a job-lot of spares and left-overs when a good friend had a clear-out.

Using Wildwood Ranger bodies and Wych arms and heads I have made a couple of test kit-bashes of Commorragh denizens. I'm quite pleased with how calm and stately they look - a nice contrast to most of the rest of the, very dynamic, Drukhari range I think.





Updates: Painted!

Dhargeth and Meriseth:

And I have started some additional things for the project:

I've printed a backdrop (using an image found on a "Commorragh" Google search). The Google searching also brought up a couple of cool ideas for quick and simple Drukhari objective markers that I have ruthlessly stolen.

I started making a small piece of scenery to use as a colour-test and as a "middle ground" between the backdrop and the minis when photographing them. It's a spikey column from the Temple of Skulls kit, the front of a wrecked Raider and a piece of the Ruins of Osgiliath (Lord of the Rings) scenery on an old movement tray. It's only undercoated at the moment - I plan on painting it in the dark green colour scheme described here.

I have also found my old "tin dome" Storm of Magic templates (not shown) and a Vortex Grenade template - they will make excellent Webway Portals for the campaign!




More soon (ish)!

Sky-Pirates of The Harrowmark: The Selachii - part 2

Captain Bodrin Bok of Harrowmark skyvessel The Selachii leaned on the gunwales and looked down on the forests. The wind ruffled his already wild hair and long forked beard and he grunted with annoyance. They had been contracted to bring a load of cargo from Leechminster to Wortbad and they were already a week late. Now they found the village was occupied by orruk pirates. There were even a couple of greenskins on the dock itself - there was no chance they were going to land there.

He turned to the nearest crewman, that happened to be his nephew Anthor, and told him as much.

"Get ready to dump the Wortbad cargo overboard. We ain't picking anything up this run. We can come back over on the return leg if the winds are in our favour." he said. Anthor looked worried but didn't argue with his uncle. He knew better than that after the year he'd had aboard the Selachii.

As Anthor was about to head aft Bodrin said "Tell Darvon to come forward will you?" the boy nodded.

Anthor found Marcyn, Rohar and Josian and told them what was happening and together they started loosening the cargo nets. As they were about to pass over the skydock for a second time and let the cargo nets fall open, Darvon cam on deck. Anthor waved the Warrior Priest over.

"The Captain wants a word with you and I don't think you'll like it. But please do fight with him!" the boy pleaded. Darvon scowled but said he would do his best.

Brother Darvon walked forward along the deck, clinging to the rigging as he was still unsure of how safe the sky ship actually was, even after the long voyage, just as he approached the captain the crew let go the nets and barrels, sacks and crates tumbed out onto the deck of the skydock. Most of it bounced and rolled straight off again, carried by the momentum of the ship.

Darvon stopped and stared in horror as the cargo crashed to the ground 20 or 30 feet below.

"Ah, good Brother. I'm afraid we won't be setting you down today...."

~ 🕱 ~

The Selachii are skyship merchants and pirates from The Harrowmark in Shyish, the Realm of Death. They are Freeguilders with wild hairstyles, fur-collared clothes and lots of skulls and other macabre trophies hung from their gear.

This warband is also intended as a small group of NPCs for The Harrowmark (alongside the Graveroot Wargrove and the Court of Spades). They may end up as a unit in the Ironfang Fleet, or occasionally oppose them.

~ 🕱 ~

The Selachii explore the forests with a few old friends.







Bodrin Bok, the captain of the Selachii







The inspiration for his scroll:



Darvon, Warrior Priest





Rohar, musician





Marcyn, crewman





Kase, Champion with greatsword





Anthor, crewman





Josian, crewman

Thy Soul To Keep - part 12

Messages in the Rain

Three warbands meet in Lashing Rain, all attempting to Kill the Messenger.

Battleplan (Open War cards):
Objective: Kill the Messenger
Twist: Lashing Rain

3 Players - Triumph & Treachery turn sequence

The Rotmoons: 73 Renown

Kapitán Alunzo da Leeva - Orruk Warboss

El Doctoro - Orruk Great Shaman

Hammerhead - Ogor Crusher

Bortagno and 5 Orruk Boyz

The Raidho Othalas: 73 Renown

Arkanaut Admiral Grungi Gunnerson

3 Endrinriggers
3 Skywardens

The Gilded Hand: 67 Renown

Kalyustar of the Gilded Hand, Soulchemist - Collegiate Arcane Battle Wizard

Fernando amd 5 Fancy Fencers - Freeguild Guard

Lucius Scopos and 4 Venithyan Marksmen - Freeguild Crossbowmen

Karol and 4 Cuirassiers - Freeguild Pistoliers

~ 🕱 ~

The Rotmoons listened to the rain hammering on the roof slates of the chapel on a quiet street of Wortbad. They had been sheltering inside for over an hour while Kapitán da Leeva sat with quill and ink and scratched away a a pile of papers. He frequently cursed and crossed words out and by the time the letter was done and sealed with drips of red chapel-candle wax the crew were restless and bored. Bortagno had not covered himself in glory over the last two weeks and he felt like he had something to prove. The hands were getting argumentative and at least one of them had been stabbed while they waited out the rain.

Finally, when the letter ws safely tucked into a leather wallet and buckled into Hammerhead's bag, d Leeva gave the word fo the crew to make a move. But through the noise of the rain another sound made its way in. A droning whirr that sounded neither natural nor supernatural. It sounded mechanical, and these days that could only mean one thing: Kharadron.

~ 🕱 ~

The orruk privateers bundled out of the chapel into the graveyard.

They saw that it was not just the duardin arrived.

A floating swarm of Endrinriggers bobbed and weaved over the woods...

... and into the grounds of the skydock.

The Raidho Othalas motored forward, over the ruined bridge of the skydock and opened fire at the Rotmoons. Bullets rained off the stone walls of the chapel but none found their mark!

El Doctoro tried to focus the energies of the Great Waaagh! but he got nothing but sparks that fizzled out on his fingers.

Bortangno and Percy percy charged the Raidho Othalas and killed an Endrinrigger.

Invisible Geists dragged Geedo Forks away screaming! A Drillcannon round punched through Hammerhead's cloak and badly wounded the swashbuckling ogor. The exploding fragments peppered Kapitán Alunzo da Leeva!

The rain stopped abruptly and the Freeguilders of the Gilded Hand moved up through the woods.

The Raidho Othalas fired a blast of Aethermatic Volleygun shots at Hammerhead but he shrugged off the single bullet that found it's mark - it dinged noisily of his engraved helmet.

Arkanaut Admiral Grungi Gunnerson charged into Bortagno and Percy Percy, he smashed Bortagno with his hammer and shot Percy Percy in the back!

Lucius Scopos and the Venithyan Marksmen loosed a volley of crossbow bolts at Hammerhead but the Ogor finally fell to the clawing spectral hands of an Invisible Geist.

Karol galloped away from the battle, his saddlebag containing a secret letter from Kalyustar to Pieter von Toorn.

The remaining Rotmoons were chased off by the pistoleers who charged them in clouds of black powder smoke.

~ 🕱 ~

As the skies opened again and the storm returned the letter from Kapitán da Leeva to Bolet Ghosteater was lost in the stinking quagmire of blood and mud and rain....

~ 🕱 ~

The Raidho Othalas earned a Minor Victory for killing one messenger but the Gilded Hand's messenger escaped.

~ 🕱 ~

Viktor's side of this tale is here.