vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Drukhari - Venom: The raids of the Dark Eldar rely above all else on the advantages of surprise and sheer speed. As a result, all Dark Eldar skimmers are extraordinarily fast and highly manoeuvrable in-atmosphere. The most agile of all Dark Eldar transports is known as the Venom, an arrowhead-shaped skimmer that carries an elite group of Dark Eldar warriors into battle. Rather than present one obvious target, Dark Eldar strike forces attack in waves, with a veritable horde of their skimmer craft pouring out of the Webway portals they open in the tortured skies of targeted worlds. Although many of these Dark Eldar craft can still be intercepted by enemy antiaircraft fire, even a highly disciplined battery will prove unable to stop all of the craft in the black swarm that falls upon it. Additionally, it is always the largest and most populous of transports that draws the attention of well-drilled enemy soldiers. Thus, the most devious Dark Eldar ride to battle upon aircraft no larger than the Vypers used by their Craftworld counterparts or the sky-chariots once so ubiquitous in the skies of the planets ruled by the lost Eldar empire. Speed is always of paramount importance to the Dark Eldar -- should even one Venom penetrate enemy air defences it can be enough to prove the doom of the opposition, as its lethal passengers do their bloody work.Though the Venom's booster engines and the anti-gravitic emitters implanted within its ribbing is similar to that found on other Dark Eldar skimmercraft, the transport is so agile and sensitive to the commands of its pilot that it can juke through a hail of incoming fire, its holographic Flickerfield confounding enemy snipers and Auspexes. A skilled Venom pilot can even manoeuvre his craft into those segments of the Webway designed only for the passage of a single individual at a time. It is for this reason that Venoms are very popular with Commorrite hunters and those Dark Eldar nobles of the Dark City's upper spires who enjoy running down their enemies as a form of vile sport.Despite its small size, the Venom can carry a small squad of up to 5 hand-picked elite warriors who have been trained to enter combat as a coordinated unit. Though most Dark Eldar lords and elite warriors prefer to lead their Kabalite Warriors into battle from aboard a larger Raider personalised to their specific tastes, this does not sit well with those especially arrogant Comorrites who do not wish to consort with mere footsoldiers. Sometimes Venoms are used to transport only a single warrior to battle in unusual style. This is usually those Dark Eldar nobles so convinced of their own superiority that they believe they do not need bodyguards -- or those so paranoid that they fear them. Those amongst the forces of the Imperium who have seen the Dark Eldar in combat know that a single one of these malicious xenos warriors is sometimes all it takes--the true toxin delivered by a Venom is its passengers, not its weapons.The Venom is armed with a twin-linked Splinter Rifle, a Splinter Cannon and a holographic Flickerfield for defensive purposes.
Drukhari - Razorwing Jetfighters: An aircraft with speed unmatched by even the fastest of the Craftworld vehicles, the Razorwing jetfighter is commonly used as heavy support and to rapidly advance ahead of the main force, taking out gun batteries and main battle tanks to prevent casualties to the main fleet. The Razorwing is piloted by an ex-Reaver jetbiker who earned enough to escape the carnage of the death races, and now seeks to maim and kill without risking his own skin. Razorwing jetfighters are so fast that their attack runs seem little more than a hallucinatory blur of streaking shadow. Yet the carnage they leave in their wake is breathtakingly real. While Razorwings are well equipped for dogfights, their pilots prefer to rain death on helpless ground targets. Razorwings are brazen aircraft specifically designed to terrify the foe with their screaming approach. Their pilots delight in executing murderous strafing runs and watching the panicked survivors scatter for cover. Indeed, more than once, their punishing attack runs have prevented realspace raids from being overwhelmed by the massed infantry of their foes, swathes of proud warriors reduced to mangled meat with each bombardment of terrifying Monoscythe Missiles.
Drukhari - Beastmasters: Over the millennia since Commorragh's founding, its sand-filled arenas have drunk the blood of millions. Each arena has witnessed countless spectacles of perversity and death, but there is one gladiatorial favourite that never fades in popularity -- the wild hunts of the Beastmasters.The Beastmasters themselves are technically part of the Wych Cults, though they are mostly male and remain remote from the Hekatarii. Some suspect they are part of a shamanic tradition, for when the Beastmasters go to battle, they wear totems and masks echoing the nature of the alien predators under their control. It is partially because of these artefacts that they enjoy such mastery over their ferocious beasts, for their masks harbour complex sonic emitters and pheromone traps. Even unmasked Beastmasters have a natural ability to dominate, and the most senior of their number can subdue rampant Megasaur with a baleful glare.When accompanying a realspace raid, Beastmasters gladly involve themselves in the business of bloodletting. They hover above the gore-spattered ground upon modified anti-gravitic Skyboards, goading their charges into the fray with whip and lure and laying about themselves until their enemies are torn to shreds and frequently messily devoured. In the Dark City, their arenas have played host to a broad variety of dangerous creatures, including blade-legged Helspiders, hyper-vigilant Bhargesi, and even captured Adeptus Astartes warriors. Three species remain in perennial use, however, and the largest of these is the Donorian Clawed Fiend, the Empyrean-spawned beasts called Khymerae, and the alien terror known as the Razorwing.
Drukhari - Talos Pain Engines: A Talos Pain Engine is the most widespread of the Dark Eldar's many so-called Engines of Pain. Festooned with multiple surgical apparatus and grotesque weapons of war, the Talos is a part organic and part mechanical device conceived by the creations of a mad genius. Created by the insane Dark Eldar masters of pain known as the Haemonculi, the Talos was first constructed as a torture device, but is now employed across the galaxy's innumerable battlefields. Sweeping forward upon anti-gravitic motors, the Talos catches its victims with its razor-sharp claws and then incinerates them from the inside out. The death spasms of those captured propel the Talos towards its enemies as its unique Sting wildly spews death in all directions and its many-bladed arms cut through armour and bone alike with lashing blows. These semi-sentient machines are invaluable to the Haemonculi, as they serve as both guardians and mobile torture chambers, inflicting punishment upon all those that displease their master. The fate of those caught within the death-grip of a Talos does not end with death. The remnants of the victims caught within its grasp is siphoned out to be used in the creation of potions and elixirs.
Drukhari - Cronos Parasite Engines: Like the Talos, the Cronos Parasite Engine is a creation of the Haemonculi. Through a blend of alchemy and science, the Cronos drains away not the vital fluids of its victims but their life essence. What remains of its prey when the engine has drunk its fill is a testament to the diabolical skill of its creators -– to the onlooker, the Cronos' victims seem to age at an incredible rate, wrinkling and rotting until nothing is left but ancient-looking cadavers. Once the Cronos has fed on its prey, their stolen vitality is magnified and projected from its resonator vanes. Pulsing waves of spirit-essence flow outward to those Dark Eldar standing near the Cronos, rendering them stronger and more vital even as the foe wither and crumble to dust. Many Archons will pay handsomely for one or more Cronos to accompany their forces, for should the fighting become protracted, having such an invigorating horror on hand can make all the difference.
Drukhari - Ravager: Though it fulfils a similar role to the main battle tanks of other races, the Ravager carries little armour. Instead, Ravagers are so nimble that they can ambush an enemy tank and destroy it in a single devastating pass, disappearing again before the foe knows what hit them. Shadows streak suddenly overhead, tanks exploding in gouts of flame as lances of dark energy tear through their hulls. Defenders scramble to respond, gunfire spitting in all directions. Panic and confusion spread like a plague, while the Ravagers slip away ready to attack again elsewhere. In this way enemy strongpoints or tank columns can be reduced to smouldering wreckage without the cost of a single Dark Eldar life, the dazed survivors left defenceless as the rest of the raiding party descends.
Drukhari - Voidraven Bomber: The Voidraven bomber is the ultimate in Dark Eldar heavy weapons deployment. Its aerodynamic design and supersonic turn of speed allow it to dance through the sky with balletic grace, and the Voidraven's pilot will invariably be a veteran of the death races around the spires of High Commorragh, thinking nothing of breakneck aerial manoeuvres that would kill a lesser steersman. Voidravens are invisible to all but the naked eye and mount complex sonic dampers that completely obscure the sound of its engines. Sensors and early-warning equipment are rendered useless by a stealth warfare suite of such potency that the aircraft might as well be obscured by dark sorcery. Enemy pilots are equally helpless, their comms filling with panicked shouts as they try to hunt fast and deadly ghosts that their instruments insist simply do not exist.
Drukhari - External links: Wargame Tactics for Dark Eldar  A site outlining tactics for the Dark Eldar army.
Drukhari - Sources: Citadel Journal 34, "Slaves to Darkness: Dark Eldar Detachments in Epic," pp. 30-37Citadel Journal 42, "Pains and Pleasures Dark Eldar Tactics," pp. 30-39Codex: Dark Eldar (3rd Edition), pg. 44Codex: Dark Eldar (5th Edition), pp. 5-7, 20, 26Codex: Dark Eldar (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), "The Three Ages of the Dark City"Codex: Drukhari (8th Edition), pp. 6-73Codex Heretic Astartes - Thousand Sons (8th Edition), pg. 28Liber Xenologis: Observations from a Blackstone Fortress (Background Book), pp. 36-39Only War: Enemies of the Imperium (RPG), pp. 68-93Psychic Awakening - Phoenix Rising (8th Edition), pp. 16-17Rogue Trader: The Soul Reaver (RPG)Rogue Trader: The Soul Reaver - The Dark Kin (RPG)Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse, pp. 166-167Warhammer 40,000: Rulebook (4th Edition), pg. 144Warhammer 40,000: Rulebook (5th Edition), pp. 174-177Warhammer 40,000: Rulebook (6th Edition), pp. 206-209White Dwarf 226 (US), "How to Paint Dark Eldar," pp. 8-9White Dwarf 227 (US), "Codex Dark Eldar - Preview," "Wych Cult? - Dark Eldar Wyches," "Dark Eldar Miniatures," "Ain't Dark Eldar Brilliant Too! - Dark Eldar Minis," "Codex Dark Eldar," "Dark Eldar Battle Force," pp. 7-22White Dwarf 228 (US), "Codex Dark Eldar," "Dark Raiders - Dark Eldar Raider & Urien Rakarth, Master Haemonculus," pp. 62-63, 67-71White Dwarf 229 (US), "Black Scourge-Dark Eldar w/ Shredder & Dark Lance, Scourges, Wyches, Talos Heavy Support," "48 Hours - Dark Eldar for the Codex," "Dark Eldar Battle Force," pp. 26-29, 32-34, 35White Dwarf 230 (UK), "Grotesque: Haemonculi Experiments"White Dwarf 233 (US), "Watch the Shadows - Dark Eldar Mandrakes, Shadow (Raider Conversion), Drazhar: Incubi Master of Blades," pp. 66-69White Dwarf 234 (US), "Swift Death: Tactics," "Deep Purple: Dark Eldar Tactics," "The Kabal of the Broken Soul: Conversions," "Kruellagh the Vile: Pirate Lord, Ravager," pp. 29-31, 33-35, 115White Dwarf 241 (US), "The Torturer's Tale: Dark Eldar Background," "Vanquisher of Worlds Asdrubael Vect: Sumpreme Lord of the Kabal of the Black Heart," "Painting Marble on Asdrubael Vect Mini," "Mistress of Death - Lelith Hesperax: Leader of the Wych Cult of Strife," "Hellions: Wych cult sub-sect," "Miniatures - Lelith Hesperax leading her Cult of Strife Wych Army," "The Dark Raising: Asdrubael Vect's Army: Conversions," "Bloodied Souls: Battle Report - Dark Eldar vs. Biel-Tan Eldar," pp. 7-19, 100-101White Dwarf 40 (December 2019), "Worlds of Warhammer" by Phil Kelly, pg. 11Midnight on the Street of Knives (Novella) by Andy ChambersPath of the Renegade (Novel) by Andy ChambersColours of the Kabals (Games Workshop Website)Warhammer Community - Grim Dark Corners: The Fall of the Aeldari and the Birth of Slaanesh
Drukhari Wargear - Drukhari Wargear: This page briefly summarises all the forms of advanced wargear used by the sadistic Aeldari kindred known as the Drukhari, also called the "Dark Eldar" by outsiders. The Drukhari, like most Aeldari kindreds, make use of highly advanced technology, including anti-gravity devices, dark matter weaponry, nanotechnology and psychic artefacts.While Drukhari do make use of psychic-powered devices, they do not any longer use psychic powers themselves because of the danger that interacting with the Warp brings for those whose souls are desired by Slaanesh.Psykers are treated as playthings in Commorragh, and given the twisted, sadistic nature of the Drukhari, this necessarily involves pain and torment for the psyker.Though it is manufactured rather than psychically-grown from the hardened substance of the Warp like the wraithbone implements of the Asuryani, the Drukhari's weaponry is just as technologically advanced as that of their more benevolent counterparts.When it comes to war, the Drukhari are veritable artists. Their technology is refined to the point that some of its effects appear as nothing less than magical to less-advanced intelligent species like Humanity.Their infinite -- if infinitely dark -- imaginations and sheer skill have led them down a sinister path -- their favourite weapons can set every nerve ending afire with pain, darklight beams, whips that bleed acid and eldritch soul-traps.The Drukhari are so confident of their own abilities that their lightweight suits of body armour incorporate bladed plates not only for protection, but also to provide them with yet another weapon to inflict pain.The warriors of Commorragh are well-versed in the physiology and anatomies of all the other starfaring races of the galaxy, knowledge that is used to inflict the maximum amount of pain, suffering and death.
Drukhari Wargear - Melee Weapons: The Drukhari employ a number of hand-held weapons designed to eviserate, lacerate and incise at close quarters. Although varying widely in design and use, all employ a similar technology in their construction. They are built from very lightweight materials, with blades honed to a mon-molecular edge capable of cutting through even Ceramite armour plating when sufficient force is employed.Weapons incorporating powerful shock fields have also been recovered by Imperial forces, and these devices utilise an energy generation and transference system as yet beyond the comprehension of human Tech-Adepts. The following are the most common close combat weapons employed by the Drukhari:
Drukhari Wargear - Agoniser: Main article: AgoniserAn Agoniser is an extrememly sophisticated close combat weapon that acts as a Power Weapon and drives a victim's sensorium haywire, causing excruciatingly severe pain as a victim's nerves burn out through constant overstimulation, producing exquisite agony. Though Agonisers come in a variety of forms, the most common are whips or barbed flails.
Drukhari Wargear - Archite Glaive: Main article: Archite GlaiveThese Power Glaives are exquisitely crafted pole-arms employed to lethal effect by Succubi in both the gladiatorial arenas of Commorragh and the battlefields of realspace. They can be wielded with both hands, to bisect a foe with ease, or used in combination with another weapon to cut through a host of victims.
Drukhari Wargear - Bloodstone: Main article: BloodstoneA Bloodstone is a rare and exotic weapon forged from the broken Soul Stone of an Eldar Exarch. It can be used in close proximity to an enemy, unleashing a single pulse of baleful energy that will boil their blood.
Drukhari Wargear - Chain-Flails: Main article: Chain-FlailA Chain-flail consists of lengths of barbed chain wound tight under gravitic pressure. As a Talos glides into battle, these chains are loosed, hurtling from their housings to lash around wildly. As their barbs find purchase in flesh, the chains' grav-winches re-engage, reeling in at lightning speed to snap bones and tear bodies asunder.
Drukhari Wargear - Cluster Caltrops: Main article: Cluster CaltropsCluster Caltrops serve as an antipersonnel weapon made up of two or more sharp nails or spines arranged in such a manner that one of them always points upward from a stable base in the form of a tetrahedron. Caltrops serve to slow down the advance of foot soldiers and mounts. Caltrops are also used against wheeled vehicles with pneumatic tires. This weapon is most commonly employed by Drukhari Reavers who use these small but effective antipersonnel weapons against enemy troops as they swoop past on their deadly Jetbikes.
Drukhari Wargear - Crystal Gauntlets: Main article: Crystal GauntletCrystal Gauntlets are extraplanar in origin, able to mysteriously sprout and regrow a deadly profusion of blades. These deadly weapons are often employed by Drukhari Wyches in melee.
Drukhari Wargear - Demiklaives: Main article: DemiklaiveA Demiklaive is a variant of the deadly Klaive. These vicious Power Weapons are finely honed to a mono-molecular edge and can either be wielded separately or clasped together to form a much larger blade that confers an even deadlier strike against an unfortunate victim. These weapons are commonly employed by Drukhari Incubi and can either be wielded separately for speed, or clasped together to form a more powerful blade.
Drukhari Wargear - Djin Blades: Main article: Djin BladeDjin Blades are Power Weapons that usually take the form of blades of polished crystal with a scowling bestial face engraved upon their hilts. Each blade has a bloodthirsty and resentful sentience of its own, usually that of a former rival bound eternally to the service of the blade's owner.
Drukhari Wargear - Electrified Shardnet: Main article: Electrified ShardnetAn Electrified Shardnet is a specially crafted and weighted net that can be thrown over an enemy in order to ensnare them. The combined weight and the painful electrical shock of the net is both painful and debilitating. When successful, the victim is then attacked with an extendable twin-bladed impaler while they are entangled, ensuring they cannot escape alive. Another tactic that is often used is to ensnare an enemy's weapon in the shardnet and pull it out of their grasp, leaving the opponent defenceless. This weapon is commonly employed by Wyches.
Drukhari Wargear - Electrocorrosive Whip: Main article: Electrocorrosive WhipAn Electrocorrosive Whip is a deadly Power Weapon whose lash is a tongue of venom-soaked polymer with a high-yield dynamo embedded in its hilt. Its touch is painful and debilitating in the extreme, sapping the strength and robbing the will to fight. This weapon is commonly employed by Wyches and Beast Masters.
Drukhari Wargear - Flesh Gauntlet: Main article: Flesh GauntletA clawed glove fitted with syringe-like protrusions and serum-filled vials, the Flesh Gauntlet can inject potent electrosteroids that force rapid, unnatural, and uncontrollable growth. Its victim will literally outgrow his own skin, bursting apart in a welter of streaming, heaving matter, and leaving little more than a pile of twitching overgrown muscle, ruptured skin, and shattered bone. The deadliness of the weapon is hardly offset by the fact that many models require a short period of time to prepare a new batch of electrosteroids after each use.
Drukhari Wargear - Fusion Pistol: Main article: Fusion PistolThe Fusion Pistol is a compact hand-held Melta Weapon whose elegance belies its potency.
Drukhari Wargear - Hellglaives: Main article: HellglaiveThese long, lightweight, twin-bladed halberds are the favoured weapons of Hellions, who employ the sharpened hooks on each end to pull themselves around corners and past obstacles, while the broad heads and symmetrical balance of each Hellglaive serves to aid a Hellion's stability in flight. As weapons, they are no less useful -- a Hellglaive's balance and razor-sharp blades allow a Hellion to strike down multiple enemies with every pass, if he is sufficiently skilled. Though it requires some effort to master, this weapon can spin and block like a stave, cut like a scythe, or impale like a barbed spear. From the back of a Hellion Skyboard such a weapon can prove especially lethal, lopping off heads and severing limbs with every blow.
Drukhari Wargear - Huskblade: Main article: HuskbladeA Huskblade is a Power Weapon that appears as if made of cracked and pitted bone, a husk blade leaves faint smoke trails as it passes through the air, and instantly evaporates any moisture that comes into contact with its blade. Victims slashed or stabbed by such a blade are reduced to shrivelled corpses that turn to dust in moments, and even those lucky enough to only suffer a glancing hit find much of their vitality dragged away by these deadly weapons.
Drukhari Wargear - Hydra Gauntlets: Main article: Hydra GauntletThese outlandish weapons are the defining tools of the Hydrae, and the bladed gauntlets they wield are said to have been forged beyond the petty confines of reality, in some strange and distant pocket of existence. The blades on each gauntlet are grown from a strange crystalline substance that continually renews itself, sprouting new blades to replace those shorn off or blunted. Hydra gauntlets are only ever equipped in pairs by Hydra Wyches, and though one could theoretically be used alone, it would be both uncouth and far less effective. Hydra Guantlets are commonly worn by Drukhari Wyches.
Drukhari Wargear - Ichor Injector: Main article: Ichor InjectorThis device injects its targets with the noxious ichor of the wielder’s own bloodstream. Its victims boil alive from the inside out, while foul, steaming fluids bubble from their mouths and eye sockets.
Drukhari Wargear - Impaler: Main article: ImpalerAn Impaler is unremarkable in itself, a simple twin-bladed shortspear that can be rammed deep into the body of a victim. Impalers are seldom used alone, and most of those who wield them are Yraqnae Wyches, who use them in conjunction with Shardnets.
Drukhari Wargear - Klaives: Main article: KlaiveKlaives are massive ritual Powerblades of brutal aspect, which are favoured by the deadly Incubi. Shimmering with dark energy these weapons are impossibly light for their size and can slice through the thickest armour and toughest flesh with insulting ease. These weapons are considered to be a masterpiece of balance and form and the one true weapon of Drukhari warriors, though Klaivex war-leaders sometimes favour variants such as the more versatile Demiklaives.
Drukhari Wargear - Mindphase Gauntlet: Main article: Mindphase GauntletLess a weapon and more a control device, a Mindphase Gauntlet is an advanced neural controller that saps both strength and will. It can stop a rampaging foe in his tracks with a single touch, leaving him glassy-eyed and shuddering with overwhelming fatigue.
Drukhari Wargear - Razorflail: Main article: RazorflailRazorflails are lightweight, twinned pair of blades composed of a number of interlocking blades joined by a cable. At a moment's notice, these blades can be separated, turning a sword into a many-bladed lash. In the hands of a skilled wielder, these are almost impossible to parry and can be woven past almost any defence. Razorflails are commonly wielded in pairs, the Wych wielding them surrounding herself with a swirling wall of deadly blades as she dances across the battlefield.
Drukhari Wargear - Scissorhand: Main article: ScissorhandThe Scissorhand looks a little like a pair of surgical shears, and harbours expensive toxins so that its wielder might better incapacitate those whose limbs it amputates.
Drukhari Wargear - Shaimeshi Blade: Main article: Shaimeshi BladeWhether elegant short sword, curved dagger or even barbed hair pin, the core of each Shaimeshi Blade is shot through with reservoirs of breathtakingly lethal poisons, while its surface is riddled with microscopic vents through which these venoms can flow. With each graceful swing or lightning fast stab, it parts flesh to vent its poisons where they can do the most harm.
Drukhari Wargear - Shardnet & Impaler: Main article: Shardnet & ImpalerTypically used as a ritual pair, these weapons are a deadly combination. Shardnets are a wire mesh covered in tiny barbs that dig into flesh and tear with every moment of struggle, while simultaneously administering electrical shocks that render a victim incapable of self-defence and cause him to jerk and twitch against the barbed net. The wielder first entangles their foe in the hooked mesh of their electrified shardnet before administering the killing blow using their extendable, twin-bladed Impaler.
Drukhari Wargear - Stunclaw: Main article: StunclawStunclaws are viciously barbed grapnels, often attached to lengthy metal chains. In battle a stunclaw can be anchored in the armour or flesh of a luckless victim, who is then hoisted agonisingly aloft and borne away amid a flock of jeering Hellions, either to a horrible and bloody fate at the end of the Hellions' blades, or a brief and violent death by virtue of simply being dropped from a great height.
Drukhari Wargear - Venomblade: Main article: VenombladeThis weapon is a common sign of wealth and power amongst the Drukhari aristocracy. Each Venomblade has thousands of microscopic pores that continually exude a distilled cocktail of hypertoxins. The slightest scratch from a Venomblade is sufficient to fell even the mightiest of foes.
Drukhari Wargear - Wrack Tool: Main article: Wrack ToolWracks wield a sickening variety of sickle-blades, saws, knives and mauls into battle, all of which are coated in searing venom.
Drukhari Wargear - Wych Knife: Main article: Wych KnifeAt first glance, there is little to distinguish these blades from a commoner’s knife or a Kabalite Warrior's flaying blade. However, subtle details of their construction, such as the pattern of serrations, the precise curvature of the blade, or the placement of perforations, influence the balance and the cuts Wych Knives inflict so that in the hands of an expert they can inflict grievous wounds and find the weaknesses in all but the toughest armour.
Drukhari Wargear - Baleblast: Main article: BaleblastMandrakes can channel the energies stolen from their prey into blasts of freezing flame called Baleblasts, wreathing their victims in spectral fires that burn through flesh and soul alike.
Drukhari Wargear - Disintegrator Cannon: Main article: Disintegrator CannonThe Disintegrator Cannon fires particles of unstable matter harnessed from a stolen sun, each shot capable of atomising the most heavily armoured warrior. Far more sophisticated than conventional plasma-based firearms, it maintains a high rate of fire and always remains cool to the touch despite the ravening energies housed within. Disintegrator cannons are most commonly encountered mounted onto vehicles like Raiders and Ravagers.
Drukhari Wargear - Eyeburst: Main article: EyeburstA Medusae can open its host's steel visor and paralyse those under its gaze with a wave of raw anguish, plunging them into a coma from which there is no recovery.
Drukhari Wargear - Haywire Blaster: Main article: Haywire BlasterHaywire Blasters are long-barrelled weapons that siphon the electromagnetic energy crackling around Commorragh's highest aeries, to later release it in a terrifyingly powerful burst. A well-aimed Haywire Blaster can cripple an enemy vehicle's control systems in a single shot.
Drukhari Wargear - Heat Lance: Main article: Heat LanceThe long-barrelled Heat Lance is a powerful device that combines the focus and precision of laser weaponry with the searing potency of melta weaponry, creating a weapon able to melt armour plate from further away than most comparable Meltaguns, but with the fine precision of the most finely-honed Eldar laser weapon.
Drukhari Wargear - Hexrifle: Main article: HexrifleThe Hexrifle fires crystal cylinders containing a tiny sample of the Plague of Glass that afflicted the Dark City in the 36th Millennium. While the plague itself has long since been stopped, samples of the disease still exist in phials within the laboratories of Haemonculi, to employ as a weapon against their enemies. Each Hexrifle is unique, created for an individual Haemonculus to deliver this potent and exotic plague in battle, but all function in essentially the same way. Crystalline cylinders containing the tiniest quantity of the disease are fired from the rifles, shattering upon impact and exposing the target to the plague. For all but the hardiest of victims, this momentary exposure is sufficient for the plague to begin its vile work, turning flesh and bone into glass and leaving a transparent, flawless statue where once was a living creature.
Drukhari Wargear - Implosion Missile: Main article: Implosion MissileUpon detonation, these missiles emit a molecular dissonance field that causes those caught in their path to implode, instantly collapsing in upon themselves and leaving nothing more than a scorched silhouette to mark their passage.
Drukhari Wargear - Liquifier Gun: Main article: Liquifier GunThis baroque collection of pipes and tubes projects a torrent of highly corrosive fluids that can melt through anything it touches. Typically carried by Grotesques, Wracks, and other servants of the Haemonculi, these weapons are most commonly fuelled by the corrosive ichor that passes for blood in such creatures. The devastation wreaked by a liquifier gun's noxious payload depends entirely on how much of the fluid splashes across a target. While not strictly a Flamer weapon, a Liquifier Gun functions in almost exactly the same way, including a chance for its user of being set aflame -- in truth, this represents a quantity of the corrosive liquid lingering on the target and continuing to eat away at flesh and armour, and thus deals damage with a toxic quality, in place of the normal damage from fire.
Drukhari Wargear - Monoscythe Missile: Main article: Monoscythe MissileThese signature missiles are remotely steered by the Razorwing's pilot into the midst of the foe. When detonated, they emit not a conventional blast but one that is constrained to a specific plane by complex in-built powershields. A great horizontal sheet of force explodes outward at a certain height, decapitating or even cutting in half everyone caught in the blast zone.
Drukhari Wargear - Necrotoxin Missile: Main article: Necrotoxin MissileAt the heart of a Necrotoxin Missile is a large reservoir of virulent poisons. When the missile detonates, it splinters into shards of jagged shrapnel, each carrying thick gobbets of its deadly payload.
Drukhari Wargear - Ossefactor: Main article: OssefactorThe Ossefactor employs weaponised osteocytic impulsion-waves, normally used by the Haemonculi to craft bone structures and fashion spinal sumps. It projects a focussed overdose of this energy at its victim, triggering uncontrolled osteocytic multiplication. Bones twist and lengthen violently, shooting out dozens of spurs like the branches of some hideous tree. The luckless victim is rent apart by their own warped skeleton, even as their horrified squad mates find themselves impaled on the calcific spears that burst from their body.
Drukhari Wargear - Phantasm Grenade Launcher: Main article: Phantasm Grenade LauncherWealthy Drukhari warriors often wear specially modified backpacks that can hurl a volley of small, disc-shaped grenades from twin tubes. These grenades are made from a highly reactive substance that, upon contact with the air, dissolves into clouds of psychotropic gas so potent that to even catch a whiff of it fills the mind with horrific nightmares and delusions. This weapon is often employed by Drukhari Kabalite Warriors.
Drukhari Wargear - Shatterfield Missile: Main article: Shatterfield MissileA Shatterfield Missile actually houses two separate detonator cores. On impact, the first of the cores sucks away all warmth, turning those caught within its blast into brittle statues. An instant later, the second core sends out a blast of percussive force that shatters its frozen victims into a thousand pieces.
Drukhari Wargear - Shredder: Main article: ShredderThe Shredder unleashes an expanding mesh of monofilaments with miniscule barbs along their length. The mesh entangles the victim in an invisible net that slices apart the target as it struggles.
Drukhari Wargear - Spirit Syphon: Main article: Spirit SyphonThe Cronos Parasite Engine can cast out a field of baleful energy that allows it to feed upon those nearby.
Drukhari Wargear - Spirit Vortex: Main article: Spirit VortexCronos Parasite Engines are sometimes modified to incorporate a spiral-etched device that can hurl out a massive burst of negative force, draining the lifeforce of dozens of victims.
Drukhari Wargear - Stinger Pistol: Main article: Stinger PistolA Stinger Pistol is a lightweight sidearm characterised by a long syringe-like barrel and a venom magazine that holds searingly effective toxins. When fired, it ejects a long sliver of hollow glass that can pierce a foe’s skin and introduce the toxins straight into his bloodstream, with invariably horrific results.
Drukhari Wargear - Stinger Pod: Main article: Stinger PodTalos Pain Engines are often armed with sinister weapons that fire great pulses of raw agony. The victims of these weapons often break their own bones or rupture their own organs with the force of their agonised convulsions, while survivors are left catatonic with pain, unable to defend themselves against the Talos' bloody ministrations.
Drukhari Wargear - Void Lance: Main article: Void LanceThe Void Lance fires pulses of highly destructive eldritch energy harvested from beyond the shattered spars of the Webway.
Drukhari Wargear - Void Mine: Main article: Void MineThe bizarre bomb known as a Void Mine detonates two warheads, one a split second before the other. The first merely establishes a sphere of force that protects everything outside and condemns everything within. The second contains a particle of purest darklight, released from its containment field by the primary detonation. The effects of introducing even a tiny amount of darklight into realspace are catastrophic. If it were not for the force sphere established by the primary detonation, the resultant implosion would destroy not only the enemy but also the Voidraven into the bargain. As it is, anything trapped inside the crackling sphere is annihilated utterly, and in total silence.
Drukhari Wargear - Heavy Weapons: Like all Aeldari technology, the heavy weaponry that is employed by the Drukhari utilises an order of technology far different from that employed by the other sentient races of the galaxy. The following is a list of the most common heavy weapons employed by the Drukhari:
Drukhari Wargear - Dark Lance: Main article: Dark LanceThe Dark Lance is comparable in its role to that of a standard issue Imperial Lascannon. Its primary function is to destroy heavily armoured targets. However, the Dark Lance does not employ standard laser technology, but instead fires a stream of "Darklight." This dark matter substance works by reacting catastrophically with its target, producing a blast that is more than capable of destroying any vehicle regardless of the thickness of its armour, or totally vapourising a foot soldier.
Drukhari Wargear - Disintegrator: Main article: DisintegratorA Disintegrator employs a more unstable form of "Darklight" dark matter and can be used in several firing modes, unleashing a single ball of ravening energy or a lethal salvo of powerful energy bolts.
Drukhari Wargear - Arcane Wargear: There are a number of weapons entirely unique to the Drukhari, although they draw upon the same basic technology found in the weaponry of the Craftworld Asuryani. The following is a list of the special weapons commonly employed by the Drukhari:
Drukhari Wargear - Beastmaster Skyboard: Main article: Beastmaster SkyboardThe Skyboards of the Beastmasters are calibrated to reflect their specialised needs. Able to move at high velocities while hugging the the ground, they automatically swoop around hazards, leaving their riders free to ply the lash on their feral charges.
Drukhari Wargear - Bladevanes: Main article: BladevaneThese hooked, razor-sharp blades jut from the sleek hulls of Reaver jetbikes. In battle the riders crouch low over their steeds before streaking through the midst of the enemy ranks, using their bladevanes to lop off heads and limbs with every pass.
Drukhari Wargear - Clone Field: Main article: Clone FieldA Clone Field projects holographic duplicates of the wearer, all identical in aspect and moving in perfect and lifelike synchrony. Only through trial and error can the true wearer be identified, and few combatants have the time to find the real threat amidst a swarm of falsehoods.
Drukhari Wargear - Crucible of Malediction: Main article: Crucible of MaledictionThe Crucible of Malediction is a weapon used by the Drukhari to neutralise the psychic powers of enemy psykers, a necessary defence for a species that cannot risk ever developing its own powerful latent psychic abilities for fear of drawing the attention of Slaanesh, She Who Thirsts. No one knows what dark arts the Drukhari use to create their Crucibles of Malediction. Each Crucible appears to contain the trapped spirits of psykers of many species captured and tortured by the Drukhari in their Dark City of Commorragh. Once released, these spirits move across the battlefield and unleash a psychic cacophony that only other psykers can sense and that can drive them insane if their psychic defences prove too weak to survive the assault. The most powerful Crucibles of Malediction contain the trapped and tortured souls of Eldar Seers.
Drukhari Wargear - Darklight Weapons: Main article: Darklight WeaponsDarklight Weapons are crafted in the weapon shops of Commorragh that are infamous for their ability to cheat the natural laws of physics in order to design ever more efficient ways to kill. Blasters, Blast Pistols and Dark Lances epitomise this, for they do not employ standard laser technology but instead fire a stream of what is, for want of a better term, "darklight." The origin of this substance is unknown, although some amongst the savants of Commorragh claim that it is a form of dark matter that has been recovered from the event horizons of black holes, Warp Storms, and other celestial phenomena of great magnitude. Darklight works by reacting catastrophically with its target, producing a blast that can bore a massive hole in a vehicle regardless of armour, or vapourise a foot solider in an instant. Even to perceive a beam of darklight without the correct protection leaves permanent slash-scars upon the retina.
Drukhari Wargear - Destructor: Main article: DestructorThe Destructor fires a stream of virulent organo-acidic compounds which can melt through armour and sear flesh. The effects of these toxins can inlcude blood vessel explosion or implosion, pharyngal contraction, extensive haemolysis, skeletal disintegration, sclerotic corrosion, intercostal spasm, hyper-reacted thermoreceptors and chemoreceptors, Eustachian damage, retinal scarring, cardiac and respiratory atrophy and aqueous humour deprivation. In simple terms, the victims are hideously blinded and disoriented, their skin feels as if it is burning, their respiration and even the circulation of their blood is erratic and extremely painful.
Drukhari Wargear - Grav-Talon: Main article: Grav-TalonThe Grav-Talon is an adaptation of the traditional Reaver jetbike Bladevanes. As well as slicing its way through foes unlucky enough to feel its bite, a Grav-Talon can discharge a localised pressure wave. This smashes the enemy flat with a dull boom, forcing them to abase themselves and leaving them at the mercy of their predatory foes.
Drukhari Wargear - Haywire Blaster: Main article: Haywire BlasterHaywire Blasters are long-barrelled weapons that siphon the electromagnetic energy crackling around Commorragh's highest aeries to later release it in a terrifyingly powerful burst. A well-aimed Haywire Blaster can cripple an enemy tank's or aircraft's control systems in a single shot.
Drukhari Wargear - Haywire Grenades: Main article: Haywire GrenadeHaywire Grenades are used for disabling or crippling enemy vehicles. They send out a powerful electromagnetic pulse that shorts out and destroys electrical circuits.
Drukhari Wargear - Hellion Skyboard: Main article: Hellion SkyboardThese anti-grav boards are highly prized as symbols of independence. As such they are personalised by their owners with trophies and glyphs. They are sensitive to the slightest pressure, allowing their riders to flip and jink at incredible speeds while firing their splinter pods into the foe with the simple depression of a heel-stud.
Drukhari Wargear - Mindphase Gauntlet: Main article: Mindphase GauntletA Mindphase Gauntlet is a special close-combat weapon that acts as an advanced neural controller that saps both the strength and will of an enemy. It can stop a rampaging foe in his tracks with a single touch.
Drukhari Wargear - Reaver Jetbike: Main article: Reaver JetbikeReaver Jetbikes are the most streamlined and pared-down of all Drukhari skycraft, a fusion of raw motive power and finely-honed lethality.
Drukhari Wargear - Shadow Field: Main article: Shadow FieldA Shadow Field is an arcane Drukhari device that creates a defence that is virtually impossible to pierce. Projecting a dark miasma of energy around the wearer, the field is proof against almost any attack, and the warrior within cannot be easily targeted. However, should one manage to penetrate this miasmic aura, the field's instability causes it to collapse almost immediately.
Drukhari Wargear - Soul-Trap: Main article: Soul-TrapThough Soul-Traps vary in size and appearance, from folding pyramidal prisms to jewelled skulls engraved with vampiric runes, they all have one ghastly function -- to capture the soul of a powerful enemy within its confines and empower the bearer with the stolen energies.
Drukhari Wargear - Shredder: Main article: ShredderThe Shredder is a hand-held pistol that unleashes a web or mesh of monofilament wire, often with minuscule barbs or serrations along its lines. This mesh entangles the victim, slicing them to pieces as they struggle. Its dense cloud is also highly effective at finding weak points in a vehicle's armour, but is thankfully short-ranged.
Drukhari Wargear - Spirit Probe: Main article: Spirit ProbeA Spirit Probe is a conductor for agony; a device that ensures no scrap of pain or misery escapes the Cronos' contra-empathic net. Running hot on tides of excruciation, it boosts the resilience of nearby Drukhari, allowing them to stride laughing amid volleys of fire and rains of blows that would otherwise tear them apart.
Drukhari Wargear - Splinter Weapons: Main article: Splinter WeaponSplinter Weapons fire shards of splintered crystal using a powerful magno-electric pulse. These shards are covered in incredibly virulent and fast-acting toxins the better to ensure a painful death. The favoured armament of the Kabalite Warrior is the Splinter Rifle, often fired on the move from the ballustrade of a Raider or Venom transport. The Splinter Pistol, its handheld cousin, is an elegant sidearm beloved of assassins and street fighters across the galaxy; though it is designed for precision short-ranged shots, the toxins inside its reservoir pod are no less deadly. Larger variations of Splinter Weaponry are often employed, such as the Shardcarbine, popular amongst the winged Scourges, and the Splinter Cannon, a heavy weapon able to mow down entire squads at a time.
Drukhari Wargear - Vexator Mask: Main article: Vexator MaskA Vexator Mask often takes the form of a delicate skein of bone and skin adorned with runes of confusion and illusion. It projects the image of the viewer's most trusted friend, beloved ruler, or loved one, often buying the wearer a second of precious time. An enemy will balk at the sight of such highly personal illusions and may not attack the bearer -- until it is too late.
Drukhari Wargear - Webway Portal: Main article: Webway PortalThese are small, easily carried versions of the mighty Webway portals used by the Drukhari to travel across vast distances instantaneously. Appearing as jagged, rune-graven crystals, these devices are simply hurled into the air where they hang impossibly, in defiance of gravity. With a crackle of dark energy they tear a rent in the skin of reality, flaying open a route into the webway through which murderous Drukhari can pour.
Drukhari Wargear - Armoured Carapace: Main article: Armoured CarapaceEngines of Pain like the Talos and Cronos are clad in finely wrought armoured shells that protect the most vital of their grisly organic components from harm.
Drukhari Wargear - Ghostplate Armour: Main article: Ghostplate ArmourThose Drukhari who desire a substantial amount of protection whilst retaining a high degree of mobility wear armour constructed of strange resinous materials and shot through with pockets of lighter-than-air gases, each suit of Ghostplate Armour provides considerable protection while weighing far less than any comparable panoply. The expense of a single suit of Ghostplate is such that only the wealthiest and most influential Drukhari can obtain it. Each suit is further reinforced by a protective force field.
Drukhari Wargear - Gnarlskin: Main article: GnarlskinThe Drukhari Haemonculi and their hideous, fleshy creations have toughened, scarred hides that have been subjected to so many brands, burns and abrasions they have become leathery and resistant to enemy blows.
Drukhari Wargear - Incubus Warsuit: Main article: Incubus WarsuitAll Drukhari Incubi wear a close-fitting suit of ritual battle armour that can turn aside all but the most well-placed blows.
Drukhari Wargear - Kabalite Warrior Armour: Main article: Kabalite Warrior ArmourThese suits of segmented plates are commonly worn by Kabalite Warriors of all kinds, from the half-born murderers who have dragged themselves up from the depths of Commorragh to the sneering Trueborn in their palatial spires. Each suit of armour is held in place by a variety of barbs and hooks that dig deep into the wearer's flesh and play against his nerve bundles. His senses heightened by his own pain, the simple act of donning this armour prepares him for battle.
Drukhari Wargear - Wychsuit: Main article: WychsuitWychsuits and similar garments are little more than flexible bodysuits, adorned in an eclectic manner with armoured plates and reinforced panels. Those worn by Wyches often provide protection only to the side of their bodies that they habitually turn towards the enemy, while Hellions commonly wear armoured collars and vambraces, and many Reavers favour masked cowls and heavily padded shoulders. Regardless, it is difficult to strike a Drukhari warrior past even the tiny amounts of armour that these suits provide.
Drukhari Wargear - Xenohide Clothing: Main article: Xenohide ClothingCrafted from the flayed hides of arena beasts or slaves (living or dead), these garments are common clothing amongst the Drukhari of the Nexus of Shadows. The toughened nature of the material helps ward off would-be murderers and other common hazards of the Bonespires and the Shadow Arteries alike.
Drukhari Wargear - Chain Snares: Main article: Chain SnareSome Drukhari vehicles are fitted with several underslung chains and barbed hooks, the better to gouge at the flesh of those they pass over – if the vehicle happens to snatch up a victim or two and drags them to their death, so much the better.
Drukhari Wargear - Enhanced Aethersails: Main article: Enhanced AethersailAethersails are used to capture the aetheric winds that flow out from open webway portals. Many vehicle crews are meticulous in the construction of these sails, incorporating frictionless alloys, vibro-pods and angled booms to enhance their bursts of speed.
Drukhari Wargear - Flickerfield: Main article: FlickerfieldFlickerfields are highly advanced optical force shields that make the vehicle they are fitted to appear to flicker in and out of reality.