Drow Thel

"Our decent will herald the others approach. Our task is simple but sacred, kill them all and clear a path, but worry not 'brothers', your blood will serve just as well as theirs..."

- Drow

Drow Thel or simply Drow is a former Autarch of the Saim Hann Craftworld and now a Champion of the Chaos God Khorne. She is now part of the Brethren of Spite, and acts as the second in command of Cain, as a stalwart Champion of the Blood God, and leader of what remains of the Brethren's assault company. A skilled and terrible warrior, Drow acts as the enforcer and executioner of the Daemon Prince Cain, Drow has slain and slaughtered thousands, possibly millions over her long life in both her devotion to the Eldar and now Khorne. A veteran of a hundred conflict and a master of a hundred forms of combat, Drow Thel continues to prove an extremely dangerous force of rage and brutality to those who oppose the Brethren of Spite.

Early
Born on Saim Hann before the fall as ‘Drow Thel', she would follow several paths. Her first path would be that of awakening, and then that of grief. After these, she found herself drawn to the war path. She first practised in that of the Banshee, learning great skill in close quarters, strength and speed. Several decades after her part in the Banshee aspect, Drow moved onto that of the Scorpion so that she could further several of the skills and abilities learned in that of the Banshee alongside others. Drow would learn the use of stealth in combat, and once veteran in that she moved onto the path of the Shinning spear. Drow saw this as her greatest challenge, as Saim Hann valued the use of Jetbikes in combat alongside wild feats of speed. Upon her completion of these paths, Drow Thel would follow that of command. She would arise to become an Autarch, and a master of battle.

Drow would lead battles against the forces of the Imperium during the closing days of the Great Crusade. As a relatively 'young' Autarch, Drow would learn much from her battles against the Astartes legions as they pushed into the unexplored regions of space. These included Exodite worlds, protected with a zeal by the Eldar. As the Horus Heresy begun, she would face the forces of Chaos, including those serving the ancient enemy of the Eldar. Slaanesh. Drow would develop a great loathing and fear of Chaos, greater than some of her peers, from the atrocities committed against her own. Drow Thel would battle against the traitors until the end of the heresy.

Hundreds years later, Drow would battle the Brethren of Spite and their leader Cain during mid to late m.37 on several occasions as the renegade pirates struck at several Exodite worlds under the protection of Saim-Hann. These forces sought to loot valuable artefacts, treasures, and even the Eldar themselves to barter with other Chaos war bands. Such a crime brought one reprisal from Saim-Hann. Total annihilation. Drow lead numerous strikes against the Brethren, beating the off and launching devastating counter attacks on the heretical raiders. Cain's every move was strategically broken down by Drow. The chaos lord had met his match, and his next target. After a string of devastating defeats, the Brethren fled, with a vengeful Drow declaring she would hunt them down.

Cain however had little time for any further acts of defiance from Drow, and sought to break her as punishment for stopping the Brethren. Cain also sought to recruit a new commander for the Brethren, alongside giving himself some entertainment. But Drow was no easy quarry, Eldar are a stealthy and deceitful race, and even the barbaric Saim-Hann could not be tracked so easily. Cain was sure that Drow was planning her own reprisal for the Brethren, and acting fast to purchase the services of the Dark Eldar mercenary known as Silinurl Luvt to capture her. Luvt set to work.

Capture and corruption
"Nice doing business with you Mr. Cain, Enjoy your feisty little female."

- Silinurl Luvt

Luvt was able to subdue and capture Drow during one of her battles against the Imperium, and delivered her to Cain, threatening to kill her due to the greater resistance from the target. Luvt was paid twice the amount he had initially demanded, which Cain happily accepted. Already badly injured from her skirmish with Luvt, Cain's was quick to begin his torture of Drow. His first action was to take her soul stone. Drow's soul was now in the hands of Cain, and she knew that the Champion had taken it as both a trophy and bargaining chip. Cain for just over a year, subjected Drow to horrendous torture, having her body beaten and her mind broken under physical and psychic assaults that would have killed most. Drow was even pitted against summoned Slaanesh daemons, forced to battle for her life and avoid the terrible fate that would await her in the warp, or if the daemons subdued her and Cain did not choose to intervene. Cain's brutality had left Drow scared, her will to fight back all but destroyed. Drow's few attempts to escape were feeble at best, and only furthered her captors torments.

But during her months of torture, Cain did bestow a strange "gift" upon Drow. A Daemon weapon of Khorne, placed in her cell as her only form of company. An ancient thing, the weapon held a Greater Daemon of Khorne, bound into it by a sorcerers cabal long before the Horus Heresy. The weapon bore several unique traits, chief among them was it's ability to change it's appearance to suit it's wielder. Cain taunted the Autarch with the blade. When he first handed the sword to Drow, he sent away his guard and presented himself to her as unarmed, and mocked Drow with joy. At any moment Drow could cut down the Chaos Lord, at any point she could end his life, but Drow knew the cost. The sword burned with a soul hungry, insane intelligence that burned through reason and thought with a dire fury. It demanded blood and skulls for Khorne, and Drow realised that to use such a weapon would to be barter away her soul to Khorne.

"Yes, take me in your hands Eldar, I am good blade am I not? My weight is nought, my edge is sharp, my power great. You seek vengeance upon them, upon him? Then take me up, take my edge to their necks. They cannot resist you, they will be sacrifice. Their Blood, for the Blood God..."

- The Daemon Sword

And so Drow lingered for months in the Covenant of Sin, tortured, taunted and broken by her captors again and again. Cain continued his visits to mock and berate the Autarch, offering her up the daemon sword. The blade, Caries it called itself, raged at Drow for not laying waste to Cain with it's warp enchanted fury. Again and again Cain did this, until without reason he grew bored. Apparently tired of the "lack of response" from the Eldar, Cain brought in what he could only call experts on the subject. A cohort of Slaaneshi devotees. Cain had offered Drow to them as a sacrifice for their vile patron, and they were eager indeed to enjoy Cain's gift. Something in Drow's mind snapped. The call of the sword grew even greater as Cain servants leered over her fragile form, as they advanced to begin her defilement, the Autarch grabbed up the sword. Screaming praise to Khorne, Drow fanatically slaughtered her captors. Driven by the will of the blade, Drow descended on the Brethren sent to contain her, rending and ripping them apart with burning strikes from her daemon sword. Soon the halls of the Covenant of Sin were slick with blood and ichor, and the Brethren fled, terrified of the flaming avatar of the Blood God that now hunted them in their own ship. Only the most insane of the Brethren's own Khornate warriors dared to confront Drow, but little they did could halt her advance. Drow had but one goal, to kill Cain.

Hacking apart the few who stepped to defend their lord, Drow's path to the Chaos Champion was clear. Piercing open the doors to the ships bridge, she found Cain alone. He sat proudly atop it's command throne, and greeted Drow warmly as a new member into the fold of Chaos, naming her as an esteemed champion of the Blood God. The whispers of the daemon blade called for his death, and Drow gladly accepted, snarling a vicious war-cry to the Blood God, she charged Cain howling bloody praise to Khorne. Their battle was vicious, Drow was still an Eldar, and still possessed all her speed and cunning, even if the latter was overcome by fits of madness and fury by the power of the sword. She struck at Cain in a frenzy, cutting deep into his hide, but Cain still stood. Years of service to the dark powers had given him a resilience that could challenge the Daemon-sword, but Drow would not bow. Her fury was unbound, and again and again did she hack and slash away at him, but Cain stood strong. Surviving the bloody onslaught of his opponent, Cain struck back at Drow in a show of brutal strength and martial fury. Grabbing hold of Drow's sword arm, he tore it free, leaving Drow in utter agony, sprawling on the floor and deprived of her weapon. Drow was at the mercy of Cain, but the Chaos champion was impressed with his opponent, and let the Eldar live, if only to serve his own needs.

Taming the sword
While Drow's body lay in comatose under the "care" of the Brethren, her mind now faced a much greater threat. Fuelled by the slaughter Drow had wrought in her wake, Caries had regained some of it's former strength. The Daemon, an ancient Bloodthrister of Khorne, sought desperately to find a vassal or some other means of it's release, and saw that Drow Thel was a prime candidate for possession. Having wormed it's way into the Eldar's concious ever since it was first presented to her, Caries did not see the task of breaking the Autarch's mind and taking her body for his own as a difficult task, but Drow would not submit so easily. Refusing to bow to the Daemon, Drow demanded that the creature actually confront her if it wished for her body, and claimed that the beast was nothing but a coward.

Attacking the ancient Bloodthirsters pride, Drow soon found herself at the centre of a blood stained realm, the ground shattered, mounds of cracked skulls littered the floor in massive mountains, while jagged spikes of brass acceded high into the black skies. Drow was in the realm of Khorne, and was presented by the sight of the snarling and roaring Bloodthirster. A colossal mound of red muscle and rage, Caries towered above the Autarch, and was clad in great plates of steel and brass armour. Hefting up a pair of obsidian axes, he offered Drow to summon her own weapons, if she should. With nothing but a thought, the Autarch had clad herself in heavy battle armour, and took up a great two handed sword from the many armouries that lay within the Greater Daemons lair.

Their battle was fierce. Where Caries was a great monster of strength and brutality, Drow was still an Eldar. Where the Bloodthirster was slow, the Eldar bore unnatural speed and dexterity, able to avoid his blows. Though the Bloodthirster struck with enough force to have felled an army, Drow side stepped and kited him with such grace and speed that the Bloodthirster could simply not match. He grew angrier and angrier, goaded further into rage as the Eldar struck at him again and again, only for his own countering attacks to be ignored or to miss. Caries was soon striking at anything within distance, crushing and destroying anything that moved among his lair, while Drow readied herself for her own attack.

Finally facing the Bloodthirster, Drow struck at him with swift and brutal strike which sent the creature to his knees, slicing his tendons and throwing him off balance. Roaring in fury, the Bloodthirster finally caught up with Drow, grabbing her up in his clawed grip, Caries threatened to crush the Eldar in his hands, but Drow struck again, thrusting her sword into his eyes and blinding him. Caries tore at her, crushing one of the Eldar's legs and throwing her to the ground as he thrashed and screamed in rage, but Drow rose up and struck again. Thrusting the blade into his throat, Caries tore through the Bloodthirsters neck and into his mouth, silencing the daemon as it slumped to the ground. Clambering atop it, Drow cut the beasts head from it's neck and raised it up in tribute to Khorne. Swearing herself to the Blood God, Drow promised to serve Khorne for the rest of her days, as his devoted servant and Champion.

Drow awoke in the Covenant of Sin's medical ward, her beaten and battered body now attended to by those who had just days ago tortured her. Cain a small cohort of his advisor's awaited Drow, and greeted the former Autarch for accepting the supreme power of Chaos and dedicated herself to the greater cause of serving the Blood God. Drow had little care for Cain's pleasantries and demanded to know why she'd been kept alive by the Chaos Lord, after slaughtering his crew, and attempting to murder him, Cain admitted that he saw use for Drow's martial prowess, her Eldar strength and tactical ability, and sought a strong second in command. An enforcer and champion who would led alongside him, not as an equal but still a strong leader for the Brethren of Spite to follow into war. Cain expressed that while many of his men bore loyalty to him, he understood such that anyone in the chain of command would attempt to take his place given the first chance, and that a figure of fear and respect like Drow could enforce his dread will upon the disloyal and ensure the security of his position.

Blood of the Eldar
It can be said that Drow's "crowning" achievement would be the massacre of her own kin. The Eldar of Saim-Hann had sent scouts across the galaxy searching for the Autarch, seeking her and the Brethren of Spite out. The Brethren had been keen to keep their tracks clean, their hiring of the Dark Eldar mercenary, Luvt, had allowed them to evade detection for so long before a small group of Harlequins finally discovered the hidden Brethren fleet hiding in an asteroid field on the edge of the galaxy, having retreated their to prepare for an assault on a series of Imperial fringe worlds. Deploy a host, the Saim-Hann fleet struck at the Brethren from a dozen sides. Several ships were crippled in the first minutes as the Eldar raiding force began it's assault, and it was not long before the Covenant of Sin was breached and boarded. The Brethren of Spite could neither flee, and their attempts to fight back were slow, clumsy, and ill advised.

The Eldar sought out their stolen kin, and did so with a fury that the Brethren could. only crumble and faltered too. Cain offered this event as a time for Drow to prove herself as a true champion of Blood God, through the murder of those that now threatened the existence of the Brethren of Spite. Cain was also not afraid to note that the Eldar would have no qualms with killing her the moment they found her. Gifted a new battle plate, Drow took up the Daemon Sword and prepared to battle those who were sent to save her. Leading a massive cohort of Khorne Bezerkers and Raptors, Drow and her new allies were unleashed on the Eldar strike force. Completely unaware of the defection of their Autarch, the Saim-Hann troops were not ready for one of their own leading their foes. Hacking, tearing and ripping them apart, Drow reduced scores of Eldar warriors to headless corpses as she reaped her bloody tally. As the first vid-captures and psychic screams of their kin filled the Farseers minds, the Eldar realised the fate that had befallen their Autarch. Filled by despair, the Eldar tried to shrink away.

But Drow would not let them, nor would Cain or the Brethren. Regrouping and counter-attacking, the Brethren were able to cripple the Eldar flagship, leaving the others to flee or be obliterated by the massive fire screens the Brethren had begun to erect, while by now Drow had made sure not a single enemy lay alive aboard the Covenant of Sin. Gathering up her cohort of insane bezerkers and possessed, Drow led the Brethren of Spite in a massive boarding action, crashing into the fragile and crippled flag-ship and spilling into it's halls. Drow was a frenzied warrior, and with reckless abandon did she wreck utter havoc upon her kin. The Eldar mounted a stalwart defence, and brought low many of the Brethren who had accompanied Drow, but it mattered not to the new champion of Khorne. Their blood appeased him as much as that of the Eldar. Taking many trophies, Drow with what was left of her followers burst into the bridge.

Drow found herself faced with a Striking Scorpion Exarch, who emerged from the shadows of the bridge, slicing apart and cutting down several of her Berserker allies and approached the fallen Autarch. Drow smirked, having finally found a worthy opponent. The two duelled and danced for almost a day, and soon they were alone surrounded by a thick wall of corpses. The Scorpion struck at Drow from the shadows, trying to whittle her defences down, but Drow was still Eldar. She waited for her chance, and when it appeared Drow struck her blow. Grabbing the Scorpion by the neck she thrust her Daemon Sword into it's chest, over and over until the Exarch was nothing but a pile of charred and burnt armour. Drow celebrated her victory gleefully by impaling the Exarch's charred and cracked helm upon her jagged trophy rack. Collecting the soul stones of the fallen, Drow fed them to the mindless sword as a tribute to Khorne.

Mirror world
"You serve me now. My demands and orders are too be followed to the letter, or you will join the others"

- Drow Thel

Drow was gifted command of the Brethren of Spite's former assault company, which had become a number of splintered squads and bands of Khornate berserker's. Angered by the appointment of a xenos as their commander, and soon Skull champions went to challenge Drow for her position. Drow had little time for insubordination, and it was not long before their heads were impaled upon her trophy rack, and their bodies strung up. After several weeks and a dozen attempted coups, Drow had cemented her position as a Champion of the Blood God among her new servants. Some openly swore their loyalty to the corrupted Eldar, while others carried their contempt in secret. Whatever the case, Drow had cemented her position among her own servants. News spread quickly about Drow Thel through the Brethren of Spite, and the Brethren officer core soon found itself joined by it's new member. Drow was well known for her violent and lethal outbursts, with a number of the Brethren of Spites champions being decapitated or cut apart after insulting or questioning the place of the fallen Autarch in the Brethren's hierarchy. The grudging respect that had existed only among the assault company now began to spread through the rest of the Brethren of Spite as Drow fought alongside them.

Drow would alongside Cain and a troop of the Brethren land on the planet only known as the "Mirror world". Crashing into the crystal forests that covered the world, Drow and her Brethren entourage were quick to encounter the planets inhabitants, armies of primitive human warriors. Cutting through these in her typical Khornate fury and passing through great fields of glass and crystal, Drow and the others found a series of great floating constructs. Hovering above a sea of emerald fire, a trio of colossal marble fortresses interconnected by a mass of crystal veins pulsed with magical energy. Drow and her allies scaled the walls of the fortresses while battling a host of Tzeentchian daemons which spilled from rips in reality or burst from the roaring sea, Drow slaughtered dozens of the pink and blue daemons before being forced into the first of the marble castles. Blasting her way inside, Drow found herself alone within what appeared to be a gargantuan mirror filled maze.

Drow had no intention of properly navigating the maze and set to simply smashing it apart with her daemon sword, but soon found herself beset by strange visions. Though spared some from her Khornate protection against the daemonic whispers and creeping influence of other ghastly things, Drow saw her reflections come to life. Some even took the form of flesh, and Drow reacted in the only way she knew. Cutting down a dozen of her clones, Drow was soon covered in her own blood while she continued to demolish swathes of the mirror maze, but something else crawled into reality which disturbed Drow all the more. The creature Drow found had taken the form of a child, and more specifically, her young self. The clone thing begged in fear what Drow was and where she was, but the Chaos champion cut the child down in anger. Drow set off back into the maze, her blazing daemon sword at the ready.

The next figure Drow met was herself when she had only just ascended to the position of Autarch. Where the child was confused and scared, the young Autarch snarled and spat at the Chaos champion, demanding to know why she had brought her here. Drow let out a half hearted half and threw off her war helm, revealing her scared and beaten face. The Autarch, young and naive compared with the grizzled and ancient, laughed at the Chaos champion and claimed it was nothing but a delusion and that she would never serve the black powers. Drow took a second to appreciate the irony, before shooting the duplicate in the stomach, and decapitating the young Autarch with a single strike. She moved on silently.

The final double ganger Drow found was a copy of who she had been right before she had been captured by Luvt and delivered to Cain. Drow Thel saw what she had been not long ago, and stopped for a moment in a mix of anger and longing for what she once was. Like the others, the veteran Autarch asked Drow why she was here, and who the Chaos champion was, but Drow was paralysed. Drow's double leapt at her, and the two were thrown into a vicious battle. The Autarch tore at Drow, pulling free her helm and cutting a deep gouge in her chest plate. As the Khornate champion fell back, the Autarch Drow was aghast at what it saw. Demanding that the corrupt warrior reveal it's true face, Drow spat at the delusional clone and revealed to it that she was the Eldar's future. Striking back at the Autarch, Drow told her past self of what was to come and how she had become this. The Autarch was driven to the brink of madness by the tale of her fate, though Drow was quick to end it's misery.

Drow would reach the nexus of the Mirror World and found at it's heart a sorcerer. Ancient and wizened, the psyker greeted Drow though expressed annoyance at the destruction of his duplicates and the worlds carefully crafted scenery. Drow losing interest in what the sorcerer had to say, simply marched up to him, and cut off the wizards head with a single sweep of her blade.

Cain
Drow and Cain have a rocky relation to say the least. Drow's loyalty to Cain mainly comes out of a fear of what his response will be if she attempts to resist his reign, punishments include trips and holidays to Commoragh and other such unpleasant places. Cain enjoys the utter despair and hatred Drow displays towards him so much so that he keeps the Eldar around him at all times. Drow ultimately seeks to remove Cain from power, as well as his head from his shoulders, and offer it up the Blood God at the base of his skull throne.

Personality and Traits
"Where you abandoned me, Lord Khorne and found me. I shall thank my glorious savour with a fitting gift!"

- Drow to her former comrades

Aggressive, brutal and warlike, Drow is a fanatical servant of Khorne. Drow once sought to defend her Craftworld of Saim-Hann, she now only seeks to slaughter in the blood gods name, and does so with a fanatical passion. Drow is quick to anger and fairly barbaric during battle, probably stemming from her origins as an Autarch of the Saim-Hann Craftworld. Drow's currently personality has been shaped from the months of brutal and malicious torture she endured under her captivity by the Brethren of Spite. Viewed as a psychopathic mess by several members of the Inquisition, Drow's mental state has been in question for some time, her mind almost broken from her experiences at the hands of those she now fights beside. Drow has come to fully abandoned her former brothers and sisters of the Craftworlds, and sees them as nothing but weaklings, fools who cannot embrace glory of Khorne, the ultimate enemy of Slaanesh.

Powers and abilities
Drow is a brutal but skilled fighter, having trained and fought for centuries as an Autarch of the Eldar and having walked several paths, she is matched by a seldom few in combat. Having mastered numerous weapons and fighting styles, Drow can go toe to toe with most opponents. Only a scarce few can survive the brutality of her vicious assaults, Drow's fanatical bloodlust drives her to many acts of savagery and terrible violence on a scale matched by only the most esteemed champions of the Blood God, whom she draws much favour from. For years of terrible service and unrelenting loyalty Drow has been granted several gifts from Khorne, including flight and protection and resistance to and from psychic powers. Many a sorcerer has unleashed a terrible spell of destruction to find Drow unscathed and only further angered by his weakling use of magic. Upon great bat like wings does Drow swoop down onto her targets, clutching them in long dagger talons and slicing them apart, or tearing into them with hands bathed in searing warp fire.

Appearance
"And she had come again, and our hope had turned to despair. Clad in brazen armour she descended from the sky and struck at us, a winged monster, the ranks broke and the men fled, as she screamed her praises to the Blood God..."

- Ordo Malleus Inquisitor on Drow

Drow is far taller and muscular than other Eldar, standing an impressive 8’10 when clad in her suit of Daemonic power armour. Drow's flesh is pallid white, her face cut and beaten from years of fighting at the forefront of almost every battle the Brethren have fought, her eyes are tired and her crimson hair can be found commonly marred by dried blood and alien ichor. Due to her standing in Khorne's eyes, Drow has been blessed with numerous daemonic gifts such as horns, wings and runic blessings upon her armour and weapons. Drow's hands are now nought but blackened skeletal fingers, alight with warp fire. Drow enjoys the gift of Daemonic flight, allowing her to glide and leap long distances, as well as pounce upon foes with talon like feet, shredding armour and flesh alike with ease. She is clad in heavy bronze armour, made up of thick, heavy overlapping anarchic plates, and enjoys the protection of Khorne against psychic powers and weak wizardry.

Equipment
Drow has a wide and varied armoury of Eldar, human and xenos weaponry she has either created herself, or taken from her defeated foes.


 * Daemonic armour: Drow is usually seen in battle with her set of Daemonic armour, possessed by an evil intelligence of it’s own, this crimson and brazen armour is marked with runes of warding which provide protection against magical attacks. Crafted by veteran's of the Dark Mechanicus and several sorcerers, the armour provides Drow with ample protection and a variety of specialised systems.


 * Caries: A daemonic sword inhabited by a Bloodthirster of Khorne, Caries is a large runic blade that Drow has carried into battle since her corruption. Caries was discovered in the depths of a ruined temple by a small expeditionary force of Brethren of Spite, and was held in storage by Cain until he could find a good use for it. Starved of souls and desperate for blood, it was able to use the Autarch to return a small proportion of it's power to it, and in it's hunger for more, it tried to possess Drow's body and use it as a vassal so it might break free of the sword. Though costly to Drow's own mind, she was able to break the weakened creature and shatter it's conciousness into nothing but a howling fount of rage, devoid of personality or sentience, the sword still possesses much of it's former power, but has no ability to use it outside of battle.


 * Rune of Khorne:  Drow’s first gift from Khorne, the Rune is worn around her neck and acts as a buffer against warp based attacks.


 * Broken soul stone: Hung around the main spike of her trophy rack, Drow keeps her soul stones broken remains as a sign of her protection and devotion to Khorne, and as one that she has left her race who fear their souls being consumed by Slaanesh. Drow knows hers has already been taken by Khorne.


 * Howl of the Blood God: A daemonic war helm, the Howl of the Blood God resembles the skull of a Bloodletter, and can be used to unleash a deafening cry in battle. It's believed Drow created the helm from the remains from the broken war mask of her own tutor among the Howling Banshee's, corrupted into the service of Khorne through a series of rituals that bound it to several lesser daemons of Khorne.

About
Feel free to add your own

"I'm so very happy that we get to spend this time together, you and I. I'm going to make a lovely sculpture of you, something that even the most Jaded of Eldar will love and adore. Oh no, I can't sculpt you while you're wearing that brass filth. Remove it, and let me... adore your bewitching skin."

- Silinurl Luvt "A Eldar who has formed an Symbiotic relationship with the daemon Khorne? Certainly a rare specimen with a calculable likely-hood of reoccurring that is 16,725,020,567,892.58 to one. Certainly it's potential is wasted under the crude, trail and error, methods of it's current owner. Acquire it for me so that I might test it's value to the Dajakk."

- Chief-Administrator Arch-Heretek Manderon ordering The Brotherhood of the Dajakk to 'acquire' Drow Thel

"Ah, Eldar. How the mighty have fallen indeed."

- Greyon Autaris