The Evolution of Fluff
I’ve been working on the fluff for my 40K army (The Kabal of the Malebranche) for about a year now. It’s currently undergoing it’s third iteration of plot line.
The first plot line was pretty vanilla. Not much to say about it.
The second plot line was a bit more engaging. The Kabal was a splinter of a larger Kabal that failed in a coup against the Archon of the Kabal of the Splintered Crown. They ended up isolated on a feudal world and established themselves as dieties until the Adepta Sororitas arrived. Battles were fought and then the Kabal left once the Space Marines arrived when the warp storm holding them there dissipated.
Now, I’m thinking that the world the Kabal was stranded on was actually an Imperial Shrine world with a fairly decent sized Imperial presence. The storm is still there but the Sisters didn’t arrive - instead they were the guards of the Shrine along with an Imperial Guard Mechanized Infantry Company and assorted PDF units. There’s also an Imperial Navy Penitent Crusade in orbit when the DE arrive.
What I’m trying to avoid is making my Kabal have “exceptions” to the codex fluff and yet remain fairly unique. I don’t want them to be anything silly like an elite cadre of Dark Eldar raiders with unique abilities.
However, there is a plot line for the Kabal of the Splintered Crown that has a few special rules I’m working on. The side story is intended to allow Dark Eldar to be selected as allies for a Daemonhunters army.
2 Comments so far
Stranded off-world (if that creepy DE city can be called a “world”) is certainly an unusual background of a Dark Eldar force, but I’m working on the credibility. AFAIK, the DE have their own Webway paths for getting around the galaxy, so it seems strange for them to be stranded on a planet. Such a limitation demands some explanation, IMAO.
Not that DE don’t have special relationships with certain planetary populations. Every Kabal and Cult seems to have a list of favorite victims they like to revisit and re-terrorize on a schedule.
Perhaps the Sisters did something particularly annoying by constructing a Shrine on this world during the decades-long lull between DE raids. The DE take offense very easily, I understand.
Should I assume that WoS will continue to languish until the end of the Winter League?
As far as the fluff goes, I think you’re correct. It’s not been “hard” defined the way it has been for the Eldar but it’s a small leap to apply it to the Dark Eldar. They use the webway to move their ships around so you’re right. A traditional Warp storm shouldn’t strand a DE fleet.
And I do have an explanation. A fairly reasonable one. When the DE fleet that would eventually become the Kabal of the Malebranche fled Commorough, they were persued by the bulk of the Kabal of the Splintered Crown’s fleet. Ardat Lile set into the webway but the pursuing fleet fired a salvo into the gate before it closed. The resulting energy fluctuations destroyed the gate and stranded Ardat Lile’s fleet for some time. When the finally emerged, the energy of the explosion that had been persuing them in the webway stirred up a warp storm around the planetary system where they emerged.
Doable?
As for WOS, it won’t languish much longer. It certainly won’t wait until the end of the league. I can only game one night per week so I don’t see it as a hindrance to WOS. Hang in there, little demon.