Kabal - Hierarchy of a Kabal: A Drukhari Kabal has a very strict hierarchy. In order from highest-ranking to least, these ranks include the following:Archon - The archons are the masters of the Drukhari Kabals. Regal and monstrous in equal measure, each wields the power to enslave worlds and destroy civilisations. Their might has not been easily won -- to rise to the lofty pinnacles of political and military power in Commorragh requires indisputable warrior skill, a lethal aptitude for politicking, and a will of unbreakable iron. The game of intrigue at the heart of the Dark City is sometimes known as the thyllian aikelethril, or "path of shards." It is savage and unforgiving, and only those possessed of true genius survive it long enough to claw their way to the top. Those that do then have to defend their status -- and their selves -- forever after. Power in Commorragh is a prize to be torn free with bloody hands, not a birthright that can be casually claimed. After all, it is whispered that even the great Asdrubael Vect himself began his days as nought but a slave. Over their long years of life, archons have fed upon the pain of so many others that it takes a true atrocity to invigorate them. They must lead ever more raids against realspace worlds, for only the bounty of horror and pain offered by all-out war is enough to slake their thirst. In battle they move like the wind, wreathed in the foul powers of dark science and armed with the Dark City's deadliest techno-arcana.Court of the Archon - Ruling Kabalite lords surround themselves with coteries of favoured retainers, pets and bodyguards. From the looming, serpentine mercenaries known as Sslyth to packs of drooling, fang-mawed Ur-Ghuls from the haunted pyramids of Shaa-dom, such a retinue can be as varied as the tools in an overlord's torture chamber. Lhamaeans lurk in their master's shadow, unobtrusive until the moment they strike, their poisoned blades slicing armour, flesh and bone. Medusae shuffle forth at their master's behest, foul parasitic fleshsacs bobbing in their wake as their visors spew nauseous anti-light that hurls foes into contraempathic comas. Though each member of an archon's court is deadly in its own right, it is when these fiends are combined that they become a truly deadly instrument of their master's will.Hierarch - A hierarch is a powerful individual within the Drukhari warrior covens known as Incubi -- mercenary warrior kings who know that to flaunt their wealth and status is to see it increase. Their domains are sprawling bastions, forested with howling marble statues and grotesqueries of twisted architecture. In their cavernous central shrines, aspirants and supplicants in their thousands come to barter for the services of the Incubi, or to beg entrance into this black-hearted brotherhood. For every supplicant fed to the murderflame, however, there is another whose offerings are considered sufficient. For such individuals the Incubi will march to war, lending their skills to their employer's cause with a totality of focus that is frightening to behold. When acting as bodyguards to an archon, the Incubi will surround their master in an impenetrable ring of flickering blades, the archon pacing calmly through the fiercest melee as if in the eye of a blood-slick storm. The Incubi also serve as exceptional enforcers; more than one Commorrite pleasure den or smuggler's spire has been reduced to a limb-strewn abattoir by a host of Incubi sending a message to their employer's rivals.Dracon - A dracon is the commander for a regiment of Kabalite Warriors in a Drukhari Kabal. They frequently lead their forces in large-scale realspace raids, or join up with a raid currently in progress upon receiving word that considerable resistance has been met. By the time a member of a Kabal has achieved the rank of dracon, they more than likely have attained access to the full armory of the Kabal, and as such are frequently seen equipped with the same incredibly advanced wargear, or ancient and valuable Drukhari artefacts. In the event of a full-scale operation, one that would include the archon in battle, dracons obviously must allow their lord first choice on any equipment they might want. It is quite common for a dracon to have a specific Kabalite Warrior squad that they take on as their retinue, but these warriors are less like bodyguards, and more like disciples, blessed with being given the opportunity to train under a being of such distinction and skill as to achieve the rank of dracon. This Kabalite Warrior squad is usually given a special name, and is treated with increased kindness by their dracon, while suffering increased contempt from their fellow Kabalite Warriors. These elites usually swear fealty to the dracon personally over the Kabal, and as such are often the fulcrum necessary for a successful coup d'etat. Unfortunately, this means in the event of the dracon's plot being foiled, these elite warriors are usually killed or enslaved by the surviving archon regardless of whether they had anything to do with the matter.Kabalite Trueborn - Kabalite Trueborn are those former Drukhari aristocrats who are members of Kabals with more established lineage. These arrogant warriors root their sense of superiority in the purity of their natural birth from a living mother, for most of the Dark City's denizens are brought into being by other, fouler technological means involving gestation vats and so are known as the "Halfborn." While they may not be loyal by any definition that a Human would understand, the Trueborn feel keenly any slight against their Kabal, for such insults call into question their own towering sense of self-worth based in their noble status. These pureblood Drukhari will fight harder than any of their peers to further the cause of the Kabal, if only through heightened self-interest.Sybarite - "Sybarite" is the title given to a Drukhari Kabalite Warrior squad leader. The strongest, most ruthless member of a squad is granted this title by killing the competition by any means necessary, as is the Drukhari way. A sybarite is still a fairly low-ranking member of a Kabal, and the title really serves little purpose apart from creating rivalry within the squad and giving the new sybarite a higher-ranking position to strive for.Kabalite Warriors - Kabalite Warriors are the poison lifeblood of their Kabal. Each warrior must carve out a fearful reputation in the war-torn halls of High Commorragh, proving themselves time and time again. Even then, only a chosen few enjoy the prestige of raiding the worlds of realspace. Be they male or female, Kabalite Warriors are tall and athletically built, powerful in stature and violent in temperament. When going to war, each warrior dons a sophisticated bodysuit of segmented armour. This is held in place with long metal barbs and hooks that penetrate the wearer's nerve bundles, sharpening their senses with the constant sting of pain. Kabalite Warriors carry a wide array of fiendish weapons, predominately long-ranged in nature, for few have the influence to ensure regeneration in the lairs of the Haemonculi, and so they prefer to kill from afar.