Craftworld Driag-Nahl

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Driag-Nahl
Specialty	Artillery, Heavy Weapons, Traps, Fortifications
Hero	Alandis Fændrýn, Kingslayer
Colours	Bone, Charcoal, Amber

"Driag-nahl? yeah I remember that hellhole. We went in thinking we'd crack it with ease and use the soulstones and infinity circuit as bargaining chips with other groups. But what we found... was more like the Iron Cage and we were the Fists. Who the fuck puts a Pulsar Cannon at the end of a hallway behind a façade?"

– unnamed Iron Warrior

"Driag Nahl? Real weird Aeldar. They look like any other Aeldar but once you get close and start really looking the differences become apparent. There's this... paranoia about them, this "fear" if you will. Their constant need, a want to improve on what they have and how they look at problems makes them almost... Human if I say so. Some would call it blasphemous but I see 'em as kindred spirits."

– Unknown Stormtrooper on Craftworld Drag-Nahl

A trap-laden, (comparatively) highly industrialized Eldar jungle craftworld skilled in mechanized warfare and sneaky beaky with a distaste for the old Eldar empire. Aligned with the Ynnari, and have decent relations with the Imperium of Mon'keigh, which by the latter's standards translate into absolutely amazing.

Houses of Draig-Nahl

House Fændrýn, the Chainbreakers

The oldest "clan" of Driag-Nahl, House Fændrýn predates the fall of the Eldar as a family name, as they were the logistical center for all other slave artisans, serving as heads of house for their collective masters. They were disgusted with their masters cruelty and degenerate behavior, seeing them as honourless dandies. When the fall of the empire was nigh, Asurdan Fændrýn the head of house called for mutiny, and in the slave revolt took the pleasure ship Host of Dreams. Unfortunately he did not foresee the horrors trapped within, but his single act of courage and leadership was the birth of the Eldar of what would become Draigh-Nahl. The House is now venerated as leaders and generals, with a keen eye for quality and a mastery of fine detail. In recent memory the Autarch, Alandis Kingslayer, hails from this lineage, and watches over the maiden world and orbiting craftworld with a watchful eye. While the house is largely stationed planet side, many continue to rule, work, serve, and fight in Draigh-Nahl proper, alongside the manic Swordsorn of House Cahlith. Between the two houses, they comprise the majority of the Aspect Temples, and while the Swordsworn worship them, and the rest of the houses fear or loath them, those of Fændrýn have a grim understanding of their Aspect Warriors, and those who dedicate themselves to a temple are given ceremonial funerals to mark their passing into a War Mask.

House Beleháthorn, the Emberswift

It took a certain amount of insanity to buck from the reigns of an immensely powerful fiefdom-- especially in a time where unity was needed the most-- but it took true brazen foolhardiness to not only steal their prized pleasure ship, but fly it away in the second most devastating warp Storm ever, only being overshadowed by the Cicatrix Maledictum. To this end, Asurdan Fændrýn recruited a band of pirates, rakes, roustabouts, and swindlers to claim and sail the Host of Dreams. While technically part of the artisans, most were menial labourers serving as indentured servants in the face of debts or judicial punishment. However a fair portion had a great deal of mechanical prowess in their own right, relishing in getting the best performance out of flyers and bikes, as any good pirate or daredevil ne'er-do-well would. When they begrudgingly agreed to escape their bonds alongside the other bound artisans and workers, they quickly found themselves dealing with more than they bargained for. Daemons and bizarre abominations in the lower reaches of the sprawling ship broke out in hideous skirmishes, and the ship itself had controls that bordered on madness, purpose-built for some orchestra of fleshcrafted wretches. Nevertheless, the criminal scum and racer mechanics brought their fellows to safety, and earned a place of honour in the burgeoning craftworld. In time they bonded over common ancestry, as well as temperament and interest, into a house to match all the others. Thus came House Beleháthorn, outriders, ace pilots, and rogues. Over time they took in Corsairs and exiles from elsewhere, and developed a fondness for traps such as mines and more... simple measures, especially when deployed by a speeding jet bike. Beleháthorn is characterized by razor-sharp humour and a wry, sardonic nature, often taunting those caught in their traps, or struggling to keep up in a dogfight. It's often rumored as an open secret that the house worships Cegorach, but any Eldar from the house will tell you that they are ardent worshipers of Vaul, same as anyone. They consider his trick he pulled on Khaine proof that he has a sense of humour, or at the very least that he's clever, and the fact that he challenged him at all marks him as a rebel to admire. Of all the houses, Beleháthorn has the best relationship with other Eldar, as they don't view Dark Eldar and Corsairs as reckless degenerates, or Harlequins as feckless annoyances, but rather all as kindred spirits.

House Ynos, the Songsmiths

In many lesser houses Eldar will apprentice in houses with greater influence or power, mostly houses with a great and successful population of Paths. Aspiring militia leaders will beseech the warriors of Fændrýn for tutelage in the Path of Command, minor scholars will seek out House Gilfaruin for mentorship in the Path of the Seer or the Dreamer, or even in navigating the perils of the Outcast. Beleháthorn serves a vital role in that regard, offering just enough discipline to keep Outcasts from falling to darkness, with rough and ready advice paired with relentless banter helping the lost find their true calling, lest they be forced to endure further heckling. Ynos is an extremely important house for this purpose, as it has one of the largest concentrations of the Path of the Artisan and the Path of the Seer, specifically Bonesingers. Ynos will take any and all Eldar, and attempt to turn frivolous artistic whims into practical weaponsmithing and lasting construction. Ynos has the greatest number of Bonesingers, all of whom are cantankerous craftsmen and fastidious engineers, to say nothing of their tremendous skill as psykers. The vast bulk of Draigh-Nahl infrastructure is a direct consequence of coordinated Ynos action, or built according to their teachings.

House Caeraseth, the Star Farers

In times of yore when Driag-Nahl was just beginning there was a need of protection not simply from within, but without. The need of a Navy became paramount after numerous attacks by primitives humans and various Xenos that managed to stumble upon them. While Driag-Nahl's defenses were strong, they were quite preoccupied with constructing the first and even the Middle Layers while fending off the Abominations from the Host of Dreams. House Caeraseth originated from the slave mariners, sailors and even some guards that joined the rebellion against their masters during the Fall. It was they who were called upon to forge Driag-Nahl's First Navy and set the foundations for the rest to come, for as Driag-Nahl grew it would need more and more to defend it. Not simply for defense, the fleet(s) would also be used repeatedly in search and destroy missions guided by the Rangers nad Seers to strike down any enemies that could potentially rise up and cause harm to the hiding Craftsmen. While not as warlike as House Cahlith, House Caeraseth is nonetheless a more aggressive house. They will seek no less than the eradication of those that would do harm to their fellow Driag-Nahlans. It is they who High Admiral Gallion the Sailor descends from, along with a number of ancestors who have held the title and rank. It is commonly joked that the members of House Caeraseth live more on their warships than the Craftworld it self. but few take such a joke seriously, for House Caeraseth fights tooth and nail for their home and people.

House Isdrandrad, the Felhammers

House Isdrandrad is comparatively new House, even Beleháthorn has cultural roots predating the fall of the empire. Isdrandrad represents the changing of fortune for Draigh-Nahl, and a symbol of their emergant power as well as a praise of Vaul. The house is not without darkness, as its ranks also serve as reminders of the fallen. Isdrandrad is the house of Titans, and the ghost warriors. When the craftworld expanded and began to explore more material rich environments, the Eldar suddenly had the opportunity to expand their forge capabilities. As certain areas of the ship were still dangerous, warp rifts raged still in sealed confines, and fleshwarped creations still stalked the depths of the orignal pleasure craft, both on a scale that outstripped the mere infantry of the forge masters. But with greater infrastructure, the craftworld began to magnify their lethality tenfold with the advent of Titans, and recoup their loses with Wraith Knights and Wraithguard. As if blessed by Vaul and Isha, the fresh generation of infant Aeldari saw a significant amount of twin and triplet births, hailing the turning of the tide and vindicating the titansmiths. This became known as the Comet Year, and that generation of steermen and warriors the Giantborn. The Giantborn trained from infancy to pilot their destined titans, led and tutored by the ghost warriors, their slain descendants. The day they were trained and ready to stride into battle, the crusades to take back sections of the ship commenced, the artisan houses sweeping through sections of the ship now accompanied by the might of a new generation, and the grim vengeance of those that passed. Short but bloody, the ship was made more habitable and secure, allowing for growth within, and without the craftworld.

Tight confines and strange geometry prevented a great deal of progress beyond the initial battles, and these occult climes of the Host of Dreams are still fought and won (and lost) by the Aspect Warriors, Chainbreakers, and Swordsworn that rule the orbiting craftworld. For their swift and decisive victory, the titan clade earned the title Felhammers, and together the Ghost Warriors and Titan steermen formed a house around their Giantborn leader, Isdrandrad Thel'Dyrd. A great deal of effort was made to accommodate and arm the new house, and when they made planetfall the house claimed a mighty mountain range with which to house their engines.

House Kyr-Mëanas the Wayforgers

The twisting non euclidean halls and shifting decks and sensory hellscapes of the Host of Dreams cost the freed eldar as much life as fleeing the Fallen Masters and the psychic scream of Slaanesh. Daemons flooding the ships divided groups of eldar, driving them further in, never to be found. Or they were interceded by the Fallen Master's grotesque toys, and befell a fate nearly as dreadful as that of She Who Thirsts. Hiding in tight formations was hardly better, as they only made themselves bigger targets for both the daemons and grotesques. As the eldar gained ground the craftworld began to experience growing pains, and it wasn't enough to simply wait out the unending daemon onslaught or the most likely still produced flesh beasts. The dark frontier needed to be pushed back, a home made from hell. It was not enough to eke out a miserable living while simply delaying annihilation. As their numbers thinned, a mate pair, Kyr Thuldn and Lyian Mëanas, took a hunting party and a coven of seers with the intention of never returning. As the Eldar they left behind stockpiled a staggering amount of weaponry in preparation for their extinction, the raiding party tore a dark and bloody path across the ship, sacrificing seers to seal warp rifts, sacrificing warriors to slay foul brood mothers of the twisted flesh constructs. They were ruthless, fatalistic, and efficient, and the genesis of Draigh-Nahl's fondness for traps and mines, even before the pyrotechnics of Beleháthorn. Mines, spike traps, poisoned caltrops, hallways with snipers at the end, blades in the night. Craftsmanship came in handy indeed in forging cruel implements of surprise death. After a time the onslaughts slowed, the fabric of reality stabilizing within the ship as it became more like a craftworld and less like a Space Hulk, give or take structural cohesiveness and comfort.

That hunt ensured the security and growth for centuries to come. The craftworld that came years later was only possible because of the precious moments provided by Kyr and Lyian. The fate of that party was unknown, until later parties delved into depths. They were dead to a man. Their bodies and soul stones found atop a great funeral mound of slain wretches, scaring of the battlefield signs to legions of banished daemons. Gunlines and minefields shredding the enemies of the Eldar. Trapped, out numbers, discovered, but not out witted, the hunting party went out in a blaze of glory. The only identifiable remains were those of Kyr and Mëanas, their armour melted and smouldering as they evidently detonated a grenade array. When peeled apart their spirit stones were fused, not broken, but unable to interface with the newly established Infinity Circuit. The Spiritseers detect that their souls are whole, miraculously, but the stones themselves are damaged and unable to be released. They were trapped together for eternity, and the rest of the party's stones were shattered or no doubt taken as playthings by Daemons. To honour their sacrifice, a house of the swift, clever, fatalistic, and vengeful was erected, to pierce the veil and illuminate the unknown, to forge a path for the rest of the Craftworld, and line the way back with death for anyone else. Beleháthorn is a half way house for the lost and undecided, but Kyr-Mëanas is the home for the Path of the Outcast. Other houses dabble in the Path, but Kyr-Mëanas is immersed in it, welcomed exiles, cut off from the craftworld they live in, just like the soul stone of their spiritual forebears. This delicate position of ritual distance was the leading factor in the integration of the Striking Scorpions, as the Stalking Mists temple was founded planetside with the house, one of the few aspect temples to leave the confines of the Craftworld proper.

House Ynneadandra, the Anvilthanes

Draigh-Nahl has dozens of houses, the descendants of specific artisan disciplines or sections of carved out pleasure ship, or genealogical lines. But there are those of note, House Fændrýn is that of leadership, Cahlith is that of Khaine in a Craftworld of Vaul, but these are mostly granular distinctions within a varied, mostly homogeneous people. However if there is a style of combat others associate most strongly with the steadfast Aeldari, it is massively overwhelming firepower, delivered from afar, and frequently. The Fallen Masters reveled in destructive weaponry in wars of fancy, as much as they enjoyed sensual pleasure. To this end the Eldar slaved away making legions worth of weapons of the most extraordinary sort. When Asurdan Fændrýn convinced the slaves to use their tools and crafts to earn their freedom, these weapons were turned against their masters in hilarious fashion. Many other houses, or the foundations of new ones, could claim a heavy hand in the success of Draigh-nahl, but none will contest that without the big guns, none of this would be possible. Firepower broke the chains, firepower won the Host of Dreams, firepower kept it, and firepower guards its. The Driag-Nahl cultural doctrine is built on supremacy of violence just as much as guile, and the prevalence of large weaponry is the heart of their industry. The vast swath of artillery, tanks, and heavy weapons simply acted as infantry until the confines of the ship made answering the sexual monstrosities, both of the warp and eldar science, with thunderous combat unreasonable (not to say it wasn't always considered the first option). So as doctrinal lines were being drawn as tactical darwinism took root, and houses were solidified as a matter of culture, it became clear that a space for the canons and lances was needed.

So one of the more destructive frontline commanders, Yhuric Bloodthunder, begrudgingly became the father of the House of Firepower. This name was radically unpopular for decades, and it wasnt until his son Yhurin took command and reformed what was quickly becoming a massive gang of pyromaniacs and gun toting berserkers into a regimented and well drilled militia that it was given a proper name. House Ynneadandra, named after the God of death and the Eldar apocalypse. His father claimed it was one of the few times he was proud of his son, as it was not as awful as he was anticipating. He died shortly thereafter when a Grotesque managed to sneak into his estate and kill him in his sleep. This prompted a five year destructive campaign from Ynneadandra, which saw Yhurin adopt many of his father's more surly mannerisms. Yhurin heads the house to this day, the oldest Eldar in the entire Craftworld, his guidance and knowledge invaluable to Exarchs and Autarchs alike, for those that withstand his brusque and bombastic nature. Ynneadandra is well disciplined and controlled, relying heavily on weapon and vehicle forges to fulfill their tactical needs. Because of this, they venerate Vaul to the extreme, despite their destructive capacity, although they pay lip service to both Lileath and Khaine to ensure their rounds meet their marks, and that they're battles are well won.

See Also

TBD

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