Screaming Vortex - Drukhari in the Screaming Vortex: The dark paths of the Aeldari Webway wind from one end of the galaxy to the other. While vast tracts of space are sealed behind runebound portals not even a Chaos God may pass through, other zones forbidden to the bulk of the galaxy are accessible by those with the means to do so.The Screaming Vortex is one such place, though few Craftworld Aeldari or Exodites would consider setting foot within its churning depths unless perhaps the fate of their entire species hung in the balance. However, there are other Aeldari kindreds who have no compulsions about entering such places.The Drukhari of Commorragh, a cruelly beautiful people who exist in a time and place outside of reality, slip through the ragged weft and weave of realspace to emerge wherever their vile whims draw them. The Screaming Vortex is one such place.While no mere Human has ever witnessed the process, it is surmised by the hell-seers of the vortex that the Drukhari gain entry to the region not via the 13th Station of Passage in the Koronus Expanse, but by way of the place called the Forbidden Portal. Plenty of Humans, as well as other sentient beings, have witnessed the process of the Drukhari passing from the Screaming Vortex -- for they come to scour the worlds of the Warp storm for slaves.The feral Human peoples on many worlds in the Screaming Vortex are hearty, hale, and often competent and dangerous combatants. Those the Drukhari can enslave are dragged through the Forbidden Portal and back to the Dark City of Commorragh within the Labyrinth Dimension of the Webway. There, the lucky few gain a quick death. The majority are condemned to fuel the Drukhari's eternal thirst for pain and suffering, or thrust into the fighting arenas of the Wyches as entertainment for the wicked masses.However, the Drukhari see the Screaming Vortex as far more than a fertile supply of slaves. To many of the decadent, jaded, and often incredibly ancient Drukhari, nothing thrills their withered souls quite like a challenge. The warbands of the Screaming Vortex contain skilled and dangerous warriors (and devious plotters), and hunting them down and bringing them to battle is likely guaranteed to thrill the rotting heart of the most decadent archon.Those Drukhari groups that routinely pass through the Forbidden Portal can be split into two main bodies. The first is the Kabal of Crimson Woe, a kabal engaged in the ceaseless battle for power within the Dark City. Outwardly, the kabal swears fealty to Asdrubael Vect, the supremely cruel master of Commorragh, yet some have questioned their objectives in coming to the Screaming Vortex.Perhaps they seek more than the slaves the primitive Feral Worlds can provide. Perhaps, silvered tongues whisper while coal-dark eyes glint, the Crimson Woe seeks some weapon to wield against Vect. To date, the Supreme Overlord of Commorragh has been content to watch the Kabal of the Crimson Woe from afar, infiltrating several of his agents into their midst to report back should any sign of treachery rear its head. The leaders of the kabal are, of course, well aware that their ranks are compromised in this manner, for such is the norm in the deadly courts of the Drukhari.The Kabal of the Crimson Woe is known to the servants of the hated Emperor, for they have ranged far and wide, including several realspace raids into the Calixis Sector. To date, these raids have been comparatively small scale, and certainly not anywhere as calamitous as those ordered by Asdrubael Vect and involving the forces of numerous kabals. In their incursions into the Screaming Vortex and the Calixis Sector both, the kabal has earned itself a cruel reputation and many bitter enemies, though none so dangerous as their own ultimate lord and master, Asdrubael Vect.The second group calls itself the Children of Thorns, and represents a kabal of outcast Wyches, Hellions, Reaver gangs and disgraced Drukhari nobles. Instead of surrendering to the inevitable doom that Commorragh normally visits upon such dregs, the Children of Thorns have determined to reclaim their fate and strike back against their oppressors.The group aims to replicate the fate of Asdrubael Vect himself, who rose from the lowest station as a slave to topple the old noble order of Commorragh and take control of the Dark City for himself and the kabals. The Children of Thorns range far and wide in their activities, collecting slaves and weapons and taking them back to Commorragh, where they arm their followers lurking in the deepest, darkest sub-reality sinks of the city.While the Crimson Woe desires the overthrow of Vect so that they themselves may replace him, the Children of Thorns seek to raze the entire edifice of the Commorrite kabals to the ground, tearing down the old order and replacing it with their own. It is not known if Vect is yet aware of their activities, though it can scarce be imagined that one who rose to power in such a manner would not take every precaution to ensure that others did not attempt to imitate him.And some in the vortex say that another Aeldari kindred utilises the Forbidden Portal, though not to make slave raids. Who these bright-clad and deadly graceful Aeldari warrior hunters might be, none can say, for no Human Heretic of Chaos has ever faced one in battle and lived to tell the tale.