Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue - History: Led by the Drukhari intellectual titan Lady Aurelia Malys as their archon, the Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue enjoys a position right at the forefront of Commorrite society. Their number includes many Trueborn -- the closest to nobility in the Drukhari society that Supreme Overlord Asdrubael Vect's mercilessly enforced kabalite system will allow.The whispersmiths have it that the Lady has her own mysterious patron, for those bold or foolish enough to eavesdrop on her personal chambers have reported two distinct voices when only one life-sign registers within. Few such spies survive long, for Lady Malys has her little ways, and she is invariably several steps ahead of the competition.The accuracy with which Lady Malys can predict her enemies' moves borders on supernatural, leading to the belief amongst many of her detractors that she has a degree of psychic ability. However, the truth is that she simply has a mind like a steel trap. So astoundingly complex is her psyche that she was once taken by Asdrubael Vect as one of his consorts, until the supreme overlord eventually cast her out.Outraged, Malys and most of her Kabalite Warriors left Commorragh and struck out into the Webway. There it is said she encountered the god of the Harlequins, Cegorach, who banished her followers and challenged her to a duel of wills.When Malys successfully answered all of the Laughing God's riddles, Cegorach vanished with an amused chuckle, leaving behind a semi-sentient blade and a pulsating crystal, which was the trickster god's own heart. Determined to gain enough power to undo Vect, Malys used the blade to cut out her own heart and replaced it with that of Cegorach. The heart has continued to beat within Malys' chest ever since.Lady Malys returned to Commorragh, where she reinstated herself as overlord of the Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue. Since then she has deftly led the Kabal through the Dark City's most deadly intrigues, including the great treacheries that have occurred in recent years.Following Vect's murder in the wake of the birth of the Great Rift, the partial awakening of Ynnead and the subsequent Dysjunction that struck Commorragh, many suspected the hand of Malys was involved. Rather than wait around for the reprisal that the Kabal of the Black Heart had inevitably planned, she took the vast bulk of the Poisoned Tongue and ventured out once more into the Webway, there to await the coming storm.Malys' foresight was once again vindicated when those archons who attended the Great Wake for the supreme overlord in Commorragh were butchered one and all, and Vect himself arose once more, alive and triumphant. For now, the Poisoned Tongue are content to watch the Dark City from afar, plotting and planning.Malys' agents dominate several highly profitable operations throughout the Dark City. Many she controls openly, such as the void-docks of Scarlet Harbour and the slums of Netherdell. Others she dominates through puppet kabals, whether they know it or not. Malys ensures her power is not centralised -- if her many enemies gut one establishment, her others remain hidden or have enough warning for her agents to slink away in time.She has also established centres of information-gathering and toxin distillation in hidden parts of the Webway. These include a specialised manufactory said to work on substances with aid from a grand masque of Harlequins the Lady of Venom has a relationship with. It is also rumoured that Malys is building a dossier of Haemonculi and their powerful clientele. Drukhari who can afford it pay Haemonculi to keep a sliver of their flesh so, should the client die, their soul can be drawn back into a new, vat-grown body extruded from the guarded flesh. If the rumours are true, Malys would hold the key to several individuals' very existence.