The Archduchy of Avarice
Capital World: New Pandaimon
Leader: Archduke Vaulkhere, noble council
Size: Several Sectors
Tech Level: Yes
Population: 250 million Dark Eldar, 7 Trillion slaves or vassals of various sorts
Military: 20 million household guard, 45 million halfborn soldiers, 300 million Janissary Pattern slave-soldiers, 1 billion cloned Systh shock troopers, 50 billion professional slave-soldiers, uncounted chaff
Notable People: Archduke Vaulkhere (low Paragon Combat, Paragon Diplomacy)
Relations: Chaos (Uneasy Truce to outright warfare), Empire of Ashes (
very uneasy truce), Orks (War)
The Archduchy of Avarice has its roots in the ancient noble houses that once dominated Commargah and the satellite realms in the webway. These houses had their roots in the pre-fall Eldar Empire, making them ancient indeed. In the aftermath of the fall, they maintained their positions in what would become the Dark Eldar, continuing their debauchery and plotting unhindered. This would come to an end with the rise of Vect. A brilliant schemer rising from the proverbial gutter, he became the leader of one of the most powerful Dark Eldar organizations in existence, the Kabal of the Black Heart. Looked down on for his common origins, he eventually out thought, out fought, out schemed and out betrayed the ancient noble houses that dominated Dark Eldar society. In a brilliant maneuver, he captured a battle barge of the Salamanders invited their rescuers into the heart of Commoragh, destroying the power of his enemies in one fell swoop. In the ashes, the houses of the ancient eldar had fallen, and the meritorcracic kabals had risen in their place.
The House of the Lords of the Iron Thorns was relatively isolated in their subrealm of Pandaimon and managed to resist the slowly expanding reach of Vect, for a time. Yet inevitably his reach expanded, and after a long conflict ending when the daughter of the Then leader of Pandaimon, Archon Qu, killed her father and revealed her status as one of Vect's concubines. With this, Pandaimon was defeated and made to kneel, hating the lowborn wretch who had defeated them. Over the millenia, the Lords of the Iron Thorns survived and even thrived, the great forges of Pandaimon providing them with a solid power base, and their endless realspace raids providing the flesh and pain their withered souls needed to survive the torments of their damned existence. Yet despite all of that, they did not forget their origins, their so called nobility, and their hatred of what Vect had done to the dark Eldar.
Under most circumstances, this would have mattered little, except for the rise of Archduke Vaulkhere. Son of a previous Archon, Marquis Vaulkhere, the eventual archduke was expected to compete with the other highborn for position and eventual control, especially his elder siblings. Initially, he was not particularly well regarded, having only minor talent for command and relatively unimpressive personal skills. Yet, his rivals seemed to constantly find themselves disgraced and at each other's throats, while Vaulkhere steadily climbed the ranks winning court post after court post with remarkable regularity. His opponents slowly whittled them down one by one, until he was one of the highest authorities in the Kabal, with his only rivals for power being his elder half sister, a naval commander of some renown, a distant cousin and scion of the most powerful on the branch families, and of course his Father, the Archon.
On a raid in realspace his father had the unenviable luck to run into a notorious chapter of the Space Marines, The Crimson Crusaders and their chapter Master Aurelian. After an epic duel the longtime leader of the Kabal was slain, and for reasons that remain unknown to this day his resurrection protocols failed to function.
The kabal was consumed with the question of who would lead, with most of the scheming and betting assuming that either the elder sister, or less likely the cousin would gain control. For Vaulkhere was considered a bit soft, a bit weak. Skilled in the great game to be sure, yet lacking a certain spine compared to the martial ability of his sister, or the personal prowess of his cousin. Yet, the result was most unexpected, for when the cousin seeked to entangle him in a scheme against his sister, the cousin was betrayed and led into a trap. Then the most shocking event occured, with his sister throwing her support behind Vaulkhere despite her apparently superior position.
Many within and without the kabal spent countless resources, and countless lives seeking to understand what happened, with theories ranging from the elder sister being a blackmailed psyker to drugs to the Lady Vaulkhere simply having similar tendencies to her distant cousin, who still remained in Vect's harem. Yet the truth is at once more mundane, and all the more shocking for it. The Archduke observed his siblings, looking for one with the right qualities that he needed. Then, when she stumbled on one of her raids he stepped in, offering his silver tongue and connections to get her shame buried, and access to some of his information to choose a new, easier and more lucrative target. This and subsequent acts garnered her loyalty and she agreed to support his ascension to Archon, in return for him making her his primary military commander. A bargain that both honored in full.
As archon Vaulkhere's true talents were revealed. He played the game excellently, fending off his foes and making less tentative than normal allies. Yet his true talents were in how he changed the culture of the Lords of the Iron Thorns. Infighting, though still certainly present, was reduced, as a sense of purpose filled those under his command. They, he constantly reminded them, were the heirs of the Eldar Empire, of noble blood and they needed to act like it. This was said to amuse Vect, as he allowed the Kabal to rise somewhat simply to see the results of Vaulkhere's social engineering.
Then, the Empire of Ashes came, and Vaulkhere was placed on the outer ring of the defenses. He was not on the primary axis of advance, and managed to salvage a significant portion of his forces, fleeing to a prepared bolthole in Pacificus. Once there, he christened the planet a relatively unspoiled maiden world chosen of its defensibility and naturally deadend warp presence, new Paidemon and set about setting up his kingdom. A local Imperial remnant was subverted over a century with pliant nobility maneuvered into positions of power, a master of the great game finding himself playing against almost insultingly pathetic opponents. The final transformation came through a combination of a civil war and a poorly timed ork invasion, as those most loyal to the Imperium fought and died, as the Lords of the Iron Thorns rapidly subverted and assimilated those of less stout fibre. They rule with a relatively light touch as things might go, being careful to restrict their predations to the more isolated an unimportant sections of their slaves even as the majority slave away in lives not particularly worse than that of the pre fall Imperium. Excepting of course, the pair of feudal worlds that they treat as a private game preserve.
At the same time, he began reforging his people into the shape that he desired them. Castes, a seemingly natural outgrowth of the already stratified Lords of the Iron thorns, but actually a carefully considered social engineering project forged of a darker looser and yet more ridged edifice than the paths of the craftworlds, spread steadily coming to dominate the Archduchy of Avarice and providing the structure that prevents a slide into chaos. Additionally, the Archduke tasked an allied hommoculi coven to create a new breed of war machine, an enhanced soldier capable of providing solid shook troops to provide a loyal rock that his soldiers could rally around. One obedient, capable and above all reliable. Though less than happy at such, boring work they did succeed, creating the Janassary series of augments. A series of augmented humans that, while hardly equal to the Astartes, did provide a significant core of relative elites to the Archduchy.
Since then Vaulkhere has acted cautiously, steadily expanding his reach, while taking in many of the other noble houses when their own kabals bit off more than they could chew, and incorporating them into his design. He was also sought to maintain at least not openly hostile relations with the Empire of Ashes. For despite their utter loathing of all that he represents, Vaulkhere does maintain strict banning of Chaotic practices, and he does provide semi regular shipments of "clean" weaponry, including several that are difficult or unwise to produce in the webway. Additionally, three times the Empire of Ashes has demanded troops and ships from Vaulkhere for their own use, and three times he has complied. He has also been a favored recruiting ground of the Incubi, as his soldiers tend to be more disciplined and chaos free than other realms, and this has bought him a measure of protection even as it irritated the empire of ashes for the potential clash between Arha and his former compatriots would be a deadly thing.
"Seriously, what kind of idiot uses 888 fragments of Kaine for a ritual?"
-Archduke Vaulkhere
Yet, this delicate balancing act has become nearly impossible in the wake of the death of Kaine with the Empire of Ashes, mounting increasing pressure to cut off any possible recruitment of incubi and a public break with their master in addition to substantial societal reforms. The Archduke has bought time by convincing the Empire of Ashes that attacking him will not draw out Arha, publicly banning such incubi recruitment, without doing much to stem the clandestined recruitment. He is certain that the Empire of Ashes knows about the clandestine recruitment, and is trying to track them to Arha himself. Ultimately however, he will have to make a choice. Yet, he is not happy with any of his choices, for he disdains the Empire of Ashes for their lack of ambition and knows that his own society is unacceptable in the long run absent substantial reforms that he is loath to consider. The Archduke is unimpressed with Arha, as his disastrous attempt to rebirth Kaine the Archduke has grave reservations as to his judgement. And as for chaos? No, he has seen what they do to those in their thrall.
Military strategy:
The Eldar forces remain a highly mobile, skirmishing force, with their slave soldiers forming the bulk of the defending forces. Their entire military strategy revolves around allowing their eldar troops to fight their best types of battles, and using slave soldiers to avoid losing their most valuable troops in actions that they are not suited for.
Notable people:
Archduke Vaulkhere:
Abilities: Paragon of diplomacy specializing in societal manipulation, high grandmaster intrigue. Everything else is reasonably average for his position (high 30s to low forties).
Personal Notes: True believer in the society that he is building, and has been fairly successful at avoiding the common pitfalls that have befallen the other Dark Eldar enclaves, though he underestimates how vital he is to the society that he has built. He's fairly pragmatic, if arrogant, and is completely willing to negotiate with those he considers his lessor.
Lady Admiral Vaulkhere:
Abilities: Paragon Combat, Grandmaster martial, relatively low intrigue, piety 40.
Personality: Effectively pathlocked as an autarch as a result of her brother's manipulations, she lives to defend the Archduchy of Avarice, and amuse herself with their enemies.
Duke Alaron "The White:"
Abilities: Grandmaster combatant, master intrigue, master martial
Personality: The leader of the House of the White Flame, Duke Alaron still burns from the humiliation of his father's failure, which led him to seek refuge with the archduke. He has stabilized his houses fortunes, and counts himself among the greats of the Archduchy.
Lady Birasira
Abilities: Paragon Combat, Paragon Swordsmanship
Personality: The leader of the Cult of the Dancing Moon, Birasira was groomed for her position by Vaulkhere long before the fall of the Dark Eldar and considers herself the greatest single combatant in the Archduchy. Though she retains a sense of respect and fear of her sponsor, she has recently begun to worry about being replaced, as she suspects that her lord will either cut a deal with Arha or find some way to entice Lelith Hesperax to join the archduchy. Ironically, while the second is something Vaulkhere would certainly desire, he believes that convincing the Empire of Ashes to agree to such is nigh impossible, and has refrained from even broaching the subject to avoid the risk of alienating Birasira should she learn of it.
A/N: This was fun to write, although probably a diplomatic nightmare if we ever actually ran into them. Kinda like how I wrote the Vestri League to give the Mechanus an aneurysm. I have a type I guess.
@Durin
