Archon Tahril

The Old Bastard. Slightly less retarded than Carron.

" Tahril you fucking idiot! Why did you position our headquarters right next to the fallen Mon-Keigh that'll feed our souls to the god we've been actively trying to avoid for thousands of years? I FUCKING HATE YOU TAHRIIIIL!!!!"

– Asdrubael Vect when Tahril gets half their base taken over by a bunch of Guardsmen

" Well Shit"

– Tahrill immediately after

Archon Tahril is a raid commander serving Asdrubael Vect, heading up the forces of the Black Heart Kabal in the Kaurava System of Dawn of War: Soulstorm. While he shares the same weakness of many characters in Soulstorm in that his personality isn't very fleshed out, he ironically is better-characterized than most, if not all of the other commanders in the campaign, with the lone exception of Gorgutz 'Ead 'Unter, who carried over from Dark Crusade and Winter Assault. He's especially notable for being one of, if not the only commander in the entire game to have a dialogue exchange with any of the enemy commanders, as he openly shit-talks Farseer Caerys during her speeches about how her opponent isn't as graceful as the Eldar is.

Compared to the other characters in the campaign, Tahril is smug, arrogant, and sly. Canonically, he's someone who's old as balls, even by Dark Eldar standards, has survived dozens of assassination and usurpation attempts, and is always prepared to get shit done. He didn't get to his position as Vect's head officer by being stupid, and anyone able to stay on Vect's payroll for any extended period of time is going to be either as masterful a prick or someone who's survived the periodic attempts at dicking with him, so you know he's not to be fucked with.

Humorously, Tahril only really considered two of the other commanders in the sector a threat: Farseer Caerys, and Chaos Lord Firaeveus Carron. Caerys he particularly wanted as a personal plaything, and was concerned about the Farseer fucking up his plans. Carron he considered a threat less because of his intelligence, and more because Carron's entire army was at his fucking doorstep and had every intent of wrecking his shit.

If he is successful, the Kaurava System as a whole is stripped heavily of life, the bulk of it, regardless of race, brought back to Commoragh for slaves and sport. Tahril is well-rewarded and retires to his private abode, presumably to celebrate with a harem of Dark Eldar skanks and a few captive Sisters of Battle. This is canonical ending, as in every other Vect dies, and c'mon, he's too big of a figure to die like that. Well, it would be if Gorgutz wasn't the confirmed winner, so we can only assume that either that wasn't actually Vect at Kaurava or Vect managed to get away.

Service

When Farseer Caerys brought her forces to stop the Kauravan Necron Lord from bringing his tomb complex back online and threatening the region, she inadvertently paved the way for her own downfall. Caerys' heavy-handed attempts to bring in additional forces activated a suite of other Webway Gates, which were quickly used by the other armies for interstellar travel during the conflict, as the Warp Storm was preventing conventional interstellar travel. Unfortunately that much activity inevitably drew the attention of the Dark Eldar, who viewed the system in conflict in much the same way a Vulture looks at a battlefield.

Quickly, the Dark Eldar set up on Lacunae, the moon orbiting Kaurava IV, where a Master Gateway was set up. Using it, they could strike across the system with more-or-less impunity, killing and abducting as they saw fit, and bringing slaves and spoils back to the moon for transport home to Commoragh. To keep his forces vitalized and on-task, kabal Haemonculus, Gruemanael, built an extensive torture grounds, where countless slaves could be tortured and murdered for entertainment, curiousity, and, of course, nourishment. With the ongoing chaos brewing across the system, the initial conflict went well, and the Dark Eldar quickly gained ground. Tahril, obsessed with the chance to capture a Farseer for his own amusement, went after Caerys immediately, adding another front as he engaged in battle with the Necrons and Craftworlders as well as the forces of Chaos while the system eventually devolved into a nine way free for all melee across the four inhabitable worlds of Kaurava.

However, Tahril, like everyone else wrote the Orks off as a joke. Though omnipresent throughout the system, the Orks were simple and crude barbarians, and while Gorgutz had made a good showing of himself on Lorn V by crushing Crull's World Eaters and bloodying the Blood Ravens, Imperial Guard and Craftworld Ulthwe's forces, he was defeated by Captain Thule on Kronus. This proved to be a fatal mistake as Gorgutz began to sweep through Kaurava II. Wiping out half of the Blood Ravens and crushing Shas'O'Res'Ka's forces, Gorgutz had already secured the strongest position of any of the contestants for domination of the system. And with every continent and province conquered, Gorgutz's WAAAGH! only grew larger as more Orks rallied to him or were born from the spores of war.

One by one, all other warlords in the Kaurava system were defeated by Gorgutz. Stubbs and all of his tanks, men, and baneblades were overrun and trampled by the ceaseless green tide and their pretty little factories were soon put to work producing more and more machines of war for the WAAAGH! The Sisters of Battle were ground into the dust by the Ork horde, with even their miracles of faith being unable to stop the ever growing and constantly expanding green tide. Even the Eldar, Necrons, and Forces of Chaos soon found themselves under attack by the Orks, and soon enough the 'Ead 'Unta found out where the Drukhari were hiding.

Though whether the Necron Lord, Caerys, Carron, or Tahril fell first to Gorgutz is unknown; the Dark Eldar proved to be no match for the green tide. As a people who love battle and are all but fearless, the Dark Eldar's weapons of intimidation and torture were only of so much effectiveness against so vastly numerically superior an enemy. The Orks smashed through the Dark Eldar's limited defences and freed captured Boyz from their cages before Tahril could present them to the wych cult arenas. There was no stopping the Orks now. As Gorgutz's horde became an endless sea of rowdy green hooligans and Tahril's kabal collapsed beneath the weight of trying to dam the flood, even Vect himself was downed by the Orks and had to flee before he could be overwhelmed, forcing Tahril to flee to Commorragh with the shame of having been bested by the Orks.

As for his warriors whom he left to die, the Orks soon entertained themselves with seeing how far they could throw them in the moon's reduced gravity after trapping them in their own cages for sport or capturing the Kabal's prized warbeasts in an attempt to tame them.

Statistics

At a glance, Tahril looks like any other Dark Eldar Archon; high melee attack power, some good abilities, and remarkable defenses for a unit in this army. Unlike the base model, however, Tahril is substantially more durable and powerful. Not only does he get better weapon upgrades, and, indeed, benefits from others mid-fight (like Poisoned Blades), he gains benefits that specifically boost his attached Incubi Bodyguards, further increase his ferocious melee power, and and even give him what is basically a clone of the Warp Spiders' Haywire Grenade. His melee damage is arguably the highest of any commander once his retinue is factored in, making his team capable of cutting even the most brutal of forces to shreds, and his only weakness is that he doesn't detect, have morale resistance, or morale immunity. Tahril can be further boosted by Combat Drugs from his Wych buddies, though, which essentially double his damage output and make him and his team completely morale immune. Throw an upgraded Tahril at anything, use the Corrosion Soul Power, and laugh as Tahril rips absolutely any enemy in the game to fucking pieces.

Dark Eldar Lords and Ladies
Asdrubael Vect - Archon Tahril - Baron Sathonyx Drazhar - Duke Sliscus - Kheradruakh Lady Malys - Lelith Hesperax - Urien Rakarth