FILE REFERENCE: 9901-DX-DRUKHARI SUBJECT: Drukhari (Common: Dark Eldar) CLASSIFICATION: Xenos Horrificus / Maleficent CLEARANCE: Vermilion // Ordo Xenos Review DATE: 999.M41 (Standard Terran Cycle)
The Drukhari, known in Low Gothic as the Dark Eldar, are a depraved subspecies of the Aeldari race. While they share a common genetic ancestry and the same haughty arrogance as their Craftworld cousins, their societal evolution has taken a path of abject moral nihilism. If the Craftworld Eldar are a dying race attempting to preserve their dignity, the Drukhari are a race that has embraced the rot.
They reside not in realspace, but within the impossible geometry of the Webway, in a sprawling, darker-dimensional megalopolis known as Commorragh. They are biologically distinct from the Craftworlders in that they have allowed their psychic potential to atrophy completely. To use psychic power in Commorragh is to invite immediate destruction. Instead, they have honed their physical prowess to terrifying levels. They are faster, stronger, and infinitely more cruel than any other sentient species encountered by the Crusade. They refer to themselves as the "True Kin", viewing even other Eldar as weaklings who deny their nature.
The existence of the Drukhari is defined by a parasitic spiritual affliction known as "The Thirst". Following the Fall of the Eldar empire, the souls of the Drukhari are slowly, constantly drained away by the Chaos God Slaanesh (referred to by them only as "She Who Thirsts"). Unlike the Craftworlders who use spirit stones to shield themselves, the Drukhari have found only one way to stave off this consumption: the infliction of pain.
They do not torture for information, nor purely for sadism, though they enjoy it immensely. They torture for survival. The suffering, terror, and anguish of other living beings acts as a rejuvenat for their withering souls. A Drukhari who feeds regularly on extreme agony can live effectively forever, their flesh knitting together and their speed increasing. An old Drukhari who has been denied torture appears withered and skeletal. Thus, their entire civilization is an economy based on the capture and torment of sentient chattel. They are cosmic vampires, feeding on misery.
The Drukhari do not engage in conventional warfare. They have no interest in holding territory, capturing resources, or strategic expansion in realspace. Their only objective is the harvest of biological specimens.
Their raids are lightning-fast strikes utilizing the Webway to bypass planetary defences. They emerge from thin air, striking civilian centres or lightly defended outposts. Their vehicles, such as Raiders and Ravagers, are open-topped, fast skimmers designed for speed and the transport of prisoners. They strike to terrify, using sonic weaponry and phantasm grenade launchers to sow panic. Once the population is broken and scattered, they deploy nets, chains, and paralytic toxins to drag screaming victims back to their ships. By the time Imperial reinforcements arrive, the Drukhari are gone, leaving only silence and empty habitations.
Drukhari technology is advanced but cruel. They shun the clean efficiency of the Craftworlds for jagged, barbed aesthetics. Their primary infantry weapon is the Splinter Rifle, which fires shards of crystallized neuro-toxin rather than energy bolts. A hit from a splinter weapon causes immediate, agonizing nerve overload; the victim does not die quickly, for that would be a waste of suffering. They are meant to be incapacitated for later processing.
The true horror of their technology lies in the flesh-labs of the Haemonculi Covens. These master torturers are capable of biological engineering that defies sanity. They create "Grotesques" and "Wracks", monstrous constructs of muscle and bone made from twisted captives. They can graft limbs, remove fear centres of the brain, and keep a victim alive in a state of flayed agony for centuries. A soldier captured by the Orks faces a brutal death; a soldier captured by the Drukhari faces an eternity of creative violation.
The Drukhari are a terrifying threat to Imperial morale. A raid on an agri-world can depopulate a sector's food supply overnight. However, their fractious nature is their weakness. They are backstabbing megalomaniacs, constantly fighting internal wars for status within Commorragh. Their Kabals (military brotherhoods) and Wych Cults (gladiatorial guilds) are as likely to kill each other as they are the enemy.
Combat protocols dictate that no Imperial citizen is to be taken alive by these xenos. Grenades are to be saved for oneself if capture is imminent. There is no rescue from Commorragh.
The Dark Eldar are a blight upon the galaxy, a testament to the ultimate degradation of the xenos soul. They have no honour, no courage, and no redemption. They are slavers and pirates who view humanity as cattle for their slaughter-feasts. They are to be purged with extreme prejudice, their Webway gates shattered, and their existence erased. To suffer the Drukhari to live is to condemn millions of Imperial citizens to a fate that makes death look like a mercy.
@Archon (Drukhari)
@Grotesque (Drukhari)
@Haemonculus (Drukhari)
@Incubi (Drukhari)
@Kabalite Warrior (Drukhari)
@Reaver (Drukhari)
@Scourge (Drukhari)