2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Idoneth Deepkin

2020-11-17T00:21:45Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:874:21C2:7FA3:42A0: /* Enclaves */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Idoneth Deepkin|Logo=Fucking_Idoneth.jpeg|Alliance=Order|Motto=Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters.}}

{{topquote|Marge. Kids. Everything's gonna be just fine. Now go upstairs and pack your bags. We're gonna start a new life... under the sea.|Homer Simpson - "Homer Badman".}}
{{topquote|I got no soul, but I am a soldier|The Killers - "All These Things That I've Done". Well, that's how we remember it going.}}
{{topquote|We have been hiding long enough. The time has come for Atlantis to rise again.|Prince Orm of [[/co/|Aquaman]] fame}}
{{topquote|[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfD5u9Ary6M/ Let Mathlann strike ye dead, Winslow!! HAAAARRRRRRRKK!!!]]| Willem Dafoe- "The Lighthouse".}}

The '''Idoneth Deepkin''' are a new faction of [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar]], composed of marine aelves and assorted sea fauna.

==Origins==
After [[Teclis]], [[Tyrion]], [[Malekith|Malerion]], and [[Morathi]] made [[Slaanesh]] start shitting out elf souls, Teclis took the devout of [[Mathlann]] (the deceased elf god of the ocean) and made a new home for them in Hysh called Leiriu, a luminescent city also known as the Bright Haven or City of Reflection. There, Teclis taught these newborn aelves, the "Cythai", about the old world and their gods hoping to re-create the High Elves.

However, they weren't exactly model elves: they were withdrawn, resentful and traumatized by their time within Slaanesh. Upon learning this, Teclis wasn't thrilled with them. He tried to find what went wrong, but the Cythai weren't cooperative ; Teclis' methods made some fall into madness, so they weren't exactly without reason. Afraid for their lives and unable or unwilling to cope with Teclis' methods, they fled into the oceans of the Mortal Realms. Teclis, being a [[Eldrad|dick]], tried to exterminate them for good measure, but his brother Tyrion convinced him to be merciful so he let them go.

Over time, each of the Cythai's enclaves developed differently, but all were affected by their new environs and self-imposed isolation. The magic they learned from Teclis was adapted so they could live underwater, even at the most crushing of depths. They grew attuned to their new surroundings, learning to trust vibrations and changes in pressure more than sight or sound. Some of them even became adept in the art of seeing the flaring soul-stuff that animates the living. Since Slaanesh's super-PTSD still haunts them, they welcome the way in which the depths numb their senses. If everything is cold and you can't see without the aid of magic and glimmerfish, your emotions cannot give power to their most ancient nemesis.

==History==
The elves, now the ‘Idoneth’, didn't learn that Tyrion had made Teclis cool down and stayed in hiding. Having rejected Teclis they called out to Mathlann, but he was dead so they reached out to other gods, who either didn't hear them, were also dead or didn't care. Having accepted they were people without a proper god, they tried to re-create Mathlann and society as best they could.

After making their new societies, they calmed down and took stock of their situation. Accepting the possibility that their time in Slaanesh had contaminated them, the Idoneth did some research and discovered one of the side-effects. They called it ''mallachi'', and it was when an Idoneth went into a state of raging madness that ended in savage debauchery, but this only happened to a few. A second, far worse, side-effect was found when they started having babies as [[Grimdark|only one in a hundred Idoneth babies survived past infancy]]. The Idoneth soon figured out their progeny were born with souls that swiftly withered.

Desperate and without divine aid, they turned to magic to fix the problem without success. Between the extremely high infant mortality rate, wars and the dangers of the ocean, Idoneth numbers rapidly dwindled. Things only changed when they found out [[Dark Eldar|if you kill something with a soul and put that soul into an elf, they won't die prematurely]]. They first tried this on animals, but animal souls only brought them days, so they decided to go to the surface and start doing this to other people. Though other souls, such as those of human, duardin, orruks and even sylvaneth worked equally well for the Idoneth's purpose, it often took more than a few souls to empower an elf to live even a third of their normal lifespan.

At first it was only for survival, since the withering of souls remained as aggressive and frequent as ever and has so far proven incurable, but later they did it for the expansion of their newly found enclaves. At first it was only one in Hysh, but after the discovery of the '''Whirlways''', whirlpools that work as underwater Realmgates, they started to get into the rest of the realms. Due to [[Skub|differences among the Cytharai]] and a growing population, they expanded to all Mortal Realms save [[Azyr]] and founded several enclaves in all of them. They developed a pattern of swift raids and a strict "leave no witnesses" policy, surrounding themselves with memory-altering magic so anyone who encountered them would forget it soon after if the Idoneth didn't kill or capture them first (and the rare few who managed to escape with this knowledge were written off as lunatics or deluded).

But there were other powers out there so the secret could only last for so long. [[Sigmar]] long suspected that something dangerous was in the oceans, but had other concerns so he didn't go looking. It was Alarielle and the Sylvaneth who first pierced the veil of secrecy. In Ghyran, an Idoneth attack on some coastal Sylvaneth drew the attention of [[Alarielle]], who entered the fray and personally defeated them in battle. Since Alarielle is a goddess, she's immune to their memory-altering magic and her word is all the Sylvaneth would need to be on guard against the Idoneth. While the Sylvaneth kept the secret, the Idoneth dialed back their attacks and kept a low profile in Ghyran. On the Chaos side, the [[Keeper of Secrets]] Sslish the Depraved followed the spoor of strange magic and eventually found an Idoneth army, attacking them with a daemonic army until an Eidolon destroyed them. [[Archaon]] had long suspected there were more aelves than would seem, but wasn't able to confirm this until his Gaunt Summoners found the same magic and scried, finding and binding Sslish before Archaon tortured the daemon into spilling the beans.

The Idoneth became quite the hikkikomori: betrayed by their creator, forced into bad habits for survival and hated by many. They thought that they didn't need the surface world and limited themselves to the oceans, leaving only for raiding souls. During the Age of Chaos this started to change. They fought the forces of Chaos wherever they found them, either leaving Chaos' other opponents alone or killing them and taking their souls too. High King Volturnos realized that they'd have to ally with others to fight off Chaos though most other Idoneth didn't approve of this. First, he reached out to Alarielle for peace talks but, wary of trickery and aware of the Idoneth's past actions, Alarielle turned them down. They also encountered some Stormcast Eternals, and after a battle where the Idoneth learned they're unable to capture Stormcast souls due to Sigmar's blessing, they found new allies in the Sigmarines.

They also have kind of a big issue with [[Nagash]]. You see, Nagash knew about the disappeared souls from the get-go and is kind of territorial in regards to the dead. So, because they're stealing souls to save themselves, he's not happy with them (read: really hates these guys). At first he had no idea who was taking the souls or where, despite extensive searching on his part. After the accidental drainage of a sea in Shyish (''How the hell do you drain a sea "accidentally"?!'') by the [[Skaven]] (''...oh, THAT's how. Even better, [[Thanquol|everyone's favorite Grey Seer]] was responsible.''), [[Nagash]] caught on to their existence and location. Now he’s emptying more seas in Shyish and sending waves of undead after them in all the realms to stamp them out because he’s the only guy who believes himself to be allowed to have dead souls. In their desperation, the Idoneth of Shyish changed their foreign policy and allied with the Forces of Order. Some Idoneth got so desperate they somewhat reconciled with their estranged creator-god Teclis.

==Society==
The Idoneth society is divided in three clear castes. First we have the '''Namarti''', composed of those 90% of Idoneth who were born with incomplete souls, extremely pale skin, short lifespan (for an aelf anyway, they may still live more than us puny humans) and without eyes that are the majority of the population and are the workforce. Then we have the lucky 10% dudes that were born with complete souls (aka, average aelves): the '''Akhelians''', the warrior caste and those who ride the sweet-looking eels, sharks, Deepmares and Leviadons; and the '''Isharann''', that are the magic users and priests. However, the first ones among all of them were the '''Cytharai''' which due to accidents, wars or other shenanigans all of them have died out save the exception of the [[Volturnos|High King of the Deep Volturnos]], who is still alive after millennia and a fighter who leads from the front.

One of the more weird phenomena that happens around these guys on land is the so-called '''Ethersea'''. This is a manifestation of their marine magic, taking the form of a mist that enables them to use their superior sea-faring abilities and allow their sea beasts to survive where there's no water in miles and move as if they were in water. The Ethersea also have the secondary effect that it manipulates the land and makes it gain deep-sea characteristics spontaneously, like shipwhrecks, coral, fish shoals to start running freely, bubble breath...

A possible bit of continuity errors already creeping in; whilst the armybook describes the Namarti caste as inherently eyeless, an Idoneth-focused short story in the anthology "Myths and Revenants" declares that the Namarti are actually born with eyes, but their ensouled counterparts ceremonially cut their eyes out when they reach puberty for undisclosed reasons.

==Idoneth, the AoS Drukhrai?==
For many people a comparison between Drukhari and the Idoneth comes naturally. But beyond having something to do with souls there is nothing to this.

The Drukhari murderraped a god into existence, before they were technically called Drukhari. They seek every pleasure, every emotion and sensation, pleasure and pain alike. They need the pain of others topping off their souls to even stay alive, and as the Harlequins and Craftworlders show they don't have to do this... but the Drukhari would rather be sadistic parasites than deny their desires.
Idoneth are complete opposites of this. They went down in the ocean not just to hide from Teclis, but to numb their senses, to limit their perception of touch, warmth and sight. They didn't want to feed on others souls, but now they have no choice, and they fear feeding Slaanesh and refuse to make the pact with the devil.

Instead the Idoneth seek to solve the fault in their souls on their own. They developed the Soulbonding, using other races souls as fuel for their Namarti as a stopgap measure, while their Isharann still look for a way to find a permanent solution. For all the Idoneth, save for the Fuethan, the raids are a means to an end to buy as much time as the Isharann need - and for the Fuethan, it's also impulsive aggression not sadism. All the while the Drukhari indulge in the same debauchery that they have since their inception, never seeking to solve the underlying issue of their demise.

In their quest to save and fix the vast majority of their race, the Idoneth soldiers were forced to resort to large scale violence. As it stands, Idoneth are not grimdark Dark Eldar, they are cold, nobledark Elves of the sea.

==Enclaves==
The "factions" of the Deepkin are the Enclaves, city-states founded under the seas of the realms connected by underwater realm gates called Whirlways. Whilst there are, as expected with such a large setting, countless Enclaves, there are six main ones that have been fleshed out.

*'''Ionrach''': [[Ultramarines|The posterboys, who have their armour painted a shiny blue and also have a venerable leader from a forgotten age]]. The Ionrach are one of the first enclaves that ran from the rays of Teclis into the seas of Hysh, though they have since emigrated to Ghyran. Notably the most "friendly" of the enclaves, to the point where they will actually co-operate with the other forces of Order. They, under High King Volturnos, call most often for the assembrals, large scale meetings of the Idoneth.
*'''Dhom-Hain''': The polar opposites of the Ionrach, being the first to part ways with their fellow Deepkin to settle in the ''literal hellscape'' that are the seas of Ghur. Seriously, imagine every lethal predator in our seas but 10x larger and there's ridiculous amounts of them. They settled in a deep chasm, where lots of the Fangmora Eels lurked. This meant that they use more Akhelians than other enclaves. Once went to Ghyran and fought some Sylvaneth until Alarielle kicked their asses over it. Said battle cost them a valuable ancestral heirloom, which several Dhom-Hain nobles have tried and failed to retrieve. For centuries they have not attended the assembrals, only having come back very recently to discuss a matter which they believed to threaten their entire kind.
*'''Fuethan''': Living in the seas of Aqshy means that these Deepkin are especially aggressive, and they're very mean spirited when collecting souls. Whilst enclaves like the Ionrach would spare the soul of say, a child, the Fuethan would do no such thing. In fact, they take such glee in raiding that they are found [[RIP AND TEAR|still hacking away at bodies even when they're long dead]]. The Fuethan have also been responsible for more Idoneth infighting than any other enclave.
*'''Mor'Phann''': Dour and pale, the Mor'Phann inhabit the dark seas in Shyish. They use lots of mist and pale tentacled creatures,many were hit especially hard by the Necroquake to the point where they had to ally with the Stormcast to not die.
*'''Briomdar''': These guys used to be a part of the Ionrach, before declaring independence and settling in the middle of an undersea kelp forest in Ghyran. Experts at navigating terrain and ambushes - even by Idoneth standards - they camouflage themselves in kelp to leap out at unsuspecting passerbys. As an Ionrach off-shoot, they're the second most willing to ally with non-Idoneth.
*'''Nautilar''': An enclave that literally [[Awesome|lives on the shell of a giant crusteacean]] called the Giant Scaphodon. Recently they took quite a beating from some [[Skaven]] that tunnelled underwater. Also used to be a part of the Ionrach.

==Soulbound==
According to [[Age of Sigmar Roleplay]], becoming a Soulbound is a terrifying yet tempting idea for Idoneth Deepkin. On the one hand, they're incredibly isolationist, and they have a racial grudge against their creator-god [[Teclis]] for trying to kill all of them. On the other hand, undergoing the rite of Binding strengthens a Deepkin's soul to a degree that they can't achieve on their own, freeing them forever from both the fear of losing their souls and from the phantom pain that haunts their entire race, whilst simultaneously giving them permission to reap souls aplenty from foes and fallen allies alike. Those Idoneth who do agree to make the pledge (usually specifying that they will never directly serve Teclis first) are essentially forever exiled from their people, although the most foresighted Idoneth Kings and Queens, such as those descended from Ionrach, have realized that, in this changing age, Idoneth Soulbound can make useful ambassadors for their race.

Idoneth Soulbound have access to the '''Akhelian Emissary''', '''Isharann Soulscryer''' and '''Isharann Tidecaster''' archetypes in the corebook.

==Musical Accompaniment to playing these Sea Elves==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV8i-pSVMaQ&ab_channel=RobertDarwin Jaws theme], mandatory if you have any Allopexes in your army.
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oPgmyN90B4&ab_channel=ILikeMoviesandMusic King Orm's theme], Aquaman (2018). Pretty good "vengeance from the sea"- type music, and for the madman who will undoubtedly paint an Akhelian King as Orm.
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-Ko2FbzIcc&ab_channel=WaterTowerMusic Aquaman soundtrack; He Commands The Sea], also from Aquaman (2018). Good if you want a more heroic feel, and for the madman who will undoubtedly paint an Akhelian King as Aquaman.

==An Interesting Note==
Mantic Games had been producing their own Trident Realm range several years before the Idoneth were conceived. They're categorically not elves (Kings of War has elf factions, the Trident Realm isn't one of them), and mostly naiads and thull with a number of other underwater-themed species. Whether someone at GW saw this and thought “damn, we could make a killing out of this” or not is unknown.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
file:Fucking_Idoneth.jpeg
file:Idometh_army.jpeg
file:Battleshark.jpg|WE'RE RIDING A SHARK! WE'RE RIDING A SHARK! SUCK OUR DICKS, WE'RE RIDING A SHARK!
</gallery>

==See Also==
*[[Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Idoneth Deepkin|Tactics/Deepkin]]

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}
{{Idoneth Deepkin-Units}}

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Idoneth Deepkin

2020-11-17T00:21:00Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:874:21C2:7FA3:42A0: /* Enclaves */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Idoneth Deepkin|Logo=Fucking_Idoneth.jpeg|Alliance=Order|Motto=Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters.}}

{{topquote|Marge. Kids. Everything's gonna be just fine. Now go upstairs and pack your bags. We're gonna start a new life... under the sea.|Homer Simpson - "Homer Badman".}}
{{topquote|I got no soul, but I am a soldier|The Killers - "All These Things That I've Done". Well, that's how we remember it going.}}
{{topquote|We have been hiding long enough. The time has come for Atlantis to rise again.|Prince Orm of [[/co/|Aquaman]] fame}}
{{topquote|[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfD5u9Ary6M/ Let Mathlann strike ye dead, Winslow!! HAAAARRRRRRRKK!!!]]| Willem Dafoe- "The Lighthouse".}}

The '''Idoneth Deepkin''' are a new faction of [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar]], composed of marine aelves and assorted sea fauna.

==Origins==
After [[Teclis]], [[Tyrion]], [[Malekith|Malerion]], and [[Morathi]] made [[Slaanesh]] start shitting out elf souls, Teclis took the devout of [[Mathlann]] (the deceased elf god of the ocean) and made a new home for them in Hysh called Leiriu, a luminescent city also known as the Bright Haven or City of Reflection. There, Teclis taught these newborn aelves, the "Cythai", about the old world and their gods hoping to re-create the High Elves.

However, they weren't exactly model elves: they were withdrawn, resentful and traumatized by their time within Slaanesh. Upon learning this, Teclis wasn't thrilled with them. He tried to find what went wrong, but the Cythai weren't cooperative ; Teclis' methods made some fall into madness, so they weren't exactly without reason. Afraid for their lives and unable or unwilling to cope with Teclis' methods, they fled into the oceans of the Mortal Realms. Teclis, being a [[Eldrad|dick]], tried to exterminate them for good measure, but his brother Tyrion convinced him to be merciful so he let them go.

Over time, each of the Cythai's enclaves developed differently, but all were affected by their new environs and self-imposed isolation. The magic they learned from Teclis was adapted so they could live underwater, even at the most crushing of depths. They grew attuned to their new surroundings, learning to trust vibrations and changes in pressure more than sight or sound. Some of them even became adept in the art of seeing the flaring soul-stuff that animates the living. Since Slaanesh's super-PTSD still haunts them, they welcome the way in which the depths numb their senses. If everything is cold and you can't see without the aid of magic and glimmerfish, your emotions cannot give power to their most ancient nemesis.

==History==
The elves, now the ‘Idoneth’, didn't learn that Tyrion had made Teclis cool down and stayed in hiding. Having rejected Teclis they called out to Mathlann, but he was dead so they reached out to other gods, who either didn't hear them, were also dead or didn't care. Having accepted they were people without a proper god, they tried to re-create Mathlann and society as best they could.

After making their new societies, they calmed down and took stock of their situation. Accepting the possibility that their time in Slaanesh had contaminated them, the Idoneth did some research and discovered one of the side-effects. They called it ''mallachi'', and it was when an Idoneth went into a state of raging madness that ended in savage debauchery, but this only happened to a few. A second, far worse, side-effect was found when they started having babies as [[Grimdark|only one in a hundred Idoneth babies survived past infancy]]. The Idoneth soon figured out their progeny were born with souls that swiftly withered.

Desperate and without divine aid, they turned to magic to fix the problem without success. Between the extremely high infant mortality rate, wars and the dangers of the ocean, Idoneth numbers rapidly dwindled. Things only changed when they found out [[Dark Eldar|if you kill something with a soul and put that soul into an elf, they won't die prematurely]]. They first tried this on animals, but animal souls only brought them days, so they decided to go to the surface and start doing this to other people. Though other souls, such as those of human, duardin, orruks and even sylvaneth worked equally well for the Idoneth's purpose, it often took more than a few souls to empower an elf to live even a third of their normal lifespan.

At first it was only for survival, since the withering of souls remained as aggressive and frequent as ever and has so far proven incurable, but later they did it for the expansion of their newly found enclaves. At first it was only one in Hysh, but after the discovery of the '''Whirlways''', whirlpools that work as underwater Realmgates, they started to get into the rest of the realms. Due to [[Skub|differences among the Cytharai]] and a growing population, they expanded to all Mortal Realms save [[Azyr]] and founded several enclaves in all of them. They developed a pattern of swift raids and a strict "leave no witnesses" policy, surrounding themselves with memory-altering magic so anyone who encountered them would forget it soon after if the Idoneth didn't kill or capture them first (and the rare few who managed to escape with this knowledge were written off as lunatics or deluded).

But there were other powers out there so the secret could only last for so long. [[Sigmar]] long suspected that something dangerous was in the oceans, but had other concerns so he didn't go looking. It was Alarielle and the Sylvaneth who first pierced the veil of secrecy. In Ghyran, an Idoneth attack on some coastal Sylvaneth drew the attention of [[Alarielle]], who entered the fray and personally defeated them in battle. Since Alarielle is a goddess, she's immune to their memory-altering magic and her word is all the Sylvaneth would need to be on guard against the Idoneth. While the Sylvaneth kept the secret, the Idoneth dialed back their attacks and kept a low profile in Ghyran. On the Chaos side, the [[Keeper of Secrets]] Sslish the Depraved followed the spoor of strange magic and eventually found an Idoneth army, attacking them with a daemonic army until an Eidolon destroyed them. [[Archaon]] had long suspected there were more aelves than would seem, but wasn't able to confirm this until his Gaunt Summoners found the same magic and scried, finding and binding Sslish before Archaon tortured the daemon into spilling the beans.

The Idoneth became quite the hikkikomori: betrayed by their creator, forced into bad habits for survival and hated by many. They thought that they didn't need the surface world and limited themselves to the oceans, leaving only for raiding souls. During the Age of Chaos this started to change. They fought the forces of Chaos wherever they found them, either leaving Chaos' other opponents alone or killing them and taking their souls too. High King Volturnos realized that they'd have to ally with others to fight off Chaos though most other Idoneth didn't approve of this. First, he reached out to Alarielle for peace talks but, wary of trickery and aware of the Idoneth's past actions, Alarielle turned them down. They also encountered some Stormcast Eternals, and after a battle where the Idoneth learned they're unable to capture Stormcast souls due to Sigmar's blessing, they found new allies in the Sigmarines.

They also have kind of a big issue with [[Nagash]]. You see, Nagash knew about the disappeared souls from the get-go and is kind of territorial in regards to the dead. So, because they're stealing souls to save themselves, he's not happy with them (read: really hates these guys). At first he had no idea who was taking the souls or where, despite extensive searching on his part. After the accidental drainage of a sea in Shyish (''How the hell do you drain a sea "accidentally"?!'') by the [[Skaven]] (''...oh, THAT's how. Even better, [[Thanquol|everyone's favorite Grey Seer]] was responsible.''), [[Nagash]] caught on to their existence and location. Now he’s emptying more seas in Shyish and sending waves of undead after them in all the realms to stamp them out because he’s the only guy who believes himself to be allowed to have dead souls. In their desperation, the Idoneth of Shyish changed their foreign policy and allied with the Forces of Order. Some Idoneth got so desperate they somewhat reconciled with their estranged creator-god Teclis.

==Society==
The Idoneth society is divided in three clear castes. First we have the '''Namarti''', composed of those 90% of Idoneth who were born with incomplete souls, extremely pale skin, short lifespan (for an aelf anyway, they may still live more than us puny humans) and without eyes that are the majority of the population and are the workforce. Then we have the lucky 10% dudes that were born with complete souls (aka, average aelves): the '''Akhelians''', the warrior caste and those who ride the sweet-looking eels, sharks, Deepmares and Leviadons; and the '''Isharann''', that are the magic users and priests. However, the first ones among all of them were the '''Cytharai''' which due to accidents, wars or other shenanigans all of them have died out save the exception of the [[Volturnos|High King of the Deep Volturnos]], who is still alive after millennia and a fighter who leads from the front.

One of the more weird phenomena that happens around these guys on land is the so-called '''Ethersea'''. This is a manifestation of their marine magic, taking the form of a mist that enables them to use their superior sea-faring abilities and allow their sea beasts to survive where there's no water in miles and move as if they were in water. The Ethersea also have the secondary effect that it manipulates the land and makes it gain deep-sea characteristics spontaneously, like shipwhrecks, coral, fish shoals to start running freely, bubble breath...

A possible bit of continuity errors already creeping in; whilst the armybook describes the Namarti caste as inherently eyeless, an Idoneth-focused short story in the anthology "Myths and Revenants" declares that the Namarti are actually born with eyes, but their ensouled counterparts ceremonially cut their eyes out when they reach puberty for undisclosed reasons.

==Idoneth, the AoS Drukhrai?==
For many people a comparison between Drukhari and the Idoneth comes naturally. But beyond having something to do with souls there is nothing to this.

The Drukhari murderraped a god into existence, before they were technically called Drukhari. They seek every pleasure, every emotion and sensation, pleasure and pain alike. They need the pain of others topping off their souls to even stay alive, and as the Harlequins and Craftworlders show they don't have to do this... but the Drukhari would rather be sadistic parasites than deny their desires.
Idoneth are complete opposites of this. They went down in the ocean not just to hide from Teclis, but to numb their senses, to limit their perception of touch, warmth and sight. They didn't want to feed on others souls, but now they have no choice, and they fear feeding Slaanesh and refuse to make the pact with the devil.

Instead the Idoneth seek to solve the fault in their souls on their own. They developed the Soulbonding, using other races souls as fuel for their Namarti as a stopgap measure, while their Isharann still look for a way to find a permanent solution. For all the Idoneth, save for the Fuethan, the raids are a means to an end to buy as much time as the Isharann need - and for the Fuethan, it's also impulsive aggression not sadism. All the while the Drukhari indulge in the same debauchery that they have since their inception, never seeking to solve the underlying issue of their demise.

In their quest to save and fix the vast majority of their race, the Idoneth soldiers were forced to resort to large scale violence. As it stands, Idoneth are not grimdark Dark Eldar, they are cold, nobledark Elves of the sea.

==Enclaves==
The "factions" of the Deepkin are the Enclaves, city-states founded under the seas of the realms connected by underwater realm gates called Whirlways. Whilst there are, as expected with such a large setting, countless Enclaves, there are six main ones that have been fleshed out.

*'''Ionrach''': [[Ultramarines|The posterboys, who have their armour painted a shiny blue and also have a venerable leader from a forgotten age]]. The Ionrach are one of the first enclaves that ran from the rays of Teclis into the seas of Hysh, though they have since emigrated to Ghyran. Notably the most "friendly" of the enclaves, to the point where they will actually co-operate with the other forces of Order. They, under High King Volturnos, call most often for the assembrals, large scale meetings of the Idoneth.
*'''Dhom-Hain''': The polar opposites of the Ionrach, being the first to part ways with their fellow Deepkin to settle in the ''literal hellscape'' that are the seas of Ghur. Seriously, imagine every lethal predator in our seas but 10x larger and there's ridiculous amounts of them. They settled in a deep chasm, where lots of the Fangmora Eels lurked. This meant that they use more Akhelians than other enclaves. Once went to Ghyran and fought some Sylvaneth until Alarielle kicked their asses over it. Said battle cost them a valuable ancestral heirloom, which several Dhom-Hain nobles have tried and failed to retrieve. For centuries they have not attended the assembrals, only having come back very recently to discuss a matter which they believed to threaten their entire kind.
*'''Fuethan''': Living in the seas of Aqshy means that these Deepkin are especially aggressive, and they're very mean spirited when collecting souls. Whilst enclaves like the Ionrach would spare the soul of say, a child, the Fuethan would do no such thing. In fact, they take such glee in raiding that they are found [[RIP AND TEAR|still hacking away at bodies even when they're long dead]]. The Fuethan caused the biggest Idoneth civil
*'''Mor'Phann''': Dour and pale, the Mor'Phann inhabit the dark seas in Shyish. They use lots of mist and pale tentacled creatures,many were hit especially hard by the Necroquake to the point where they had to ally with the Stormcast to not die.
*'''Briomdar''': These guys used to be a part of the Ionrach, before declaring independence and settling in the middle of an undersea kelp forest in Ghyran. Experts at navigating terrain and ambushes - even by Idoneth standards - they camouflage themselves in kelp to leap out at unsuspecting passerbys. As an Ionrach off-shoot, they're the second most willing to ally with non-Idoneth.
*'''Nautilar''': An enclave that literally [[Awesome|lives on the shell of a giant crusteacean]] called the Giant Scaphodon. Recently they took quite a beating from some [[Skaven]] that tunnelled underwater. Also used to be a part of the Ionrach.

==Soulbound==
According to [[Age of Sigmar Roleplay]], becoming a Soulbound is a terrifying yet tempting idea for Idoneth Deepkin. On the one hand, they're incredibly isolationist, and they have a racial grudge against their creator-god [[Teclis]] for trying to kill all of them. On the other hand, undergoing the rite of Binding strengthens a Deepkin's soul to a degree that they can't achieve on their own, freeing them forever from both the fear of losing their souls and from the phantom pain that haunts their entire race, whilst simultaneously giving them permission to reap souls aplenty from foes and fallen allies alike. Those Idoneth who do agree to make the pledge (usually specifying that they will never directly serve Teclis first) are essentially forever exiled from their people, although the most foresighted Idoneth Kings and Queens, such as those descended from Ionrach, have realized that, in this changing age, Idoneth Soulbound can make useful ambassadors for their race.

Idoneth Soulbound have access to the '''Akhelian Emissary''', '''Isharann Soulscryer''' and '''Isharann Tidecaster''' archetypes in the corebook.

==Musical Accompaniment to playing these Sea Elves==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV8i-pSVMaQ&ab_channel=RobertDarwin Jaws theme], mandatory if you have any Allopexes in your army.
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oPgmyN90B4&ab_channel=ILikeMoviesandMusic King Orm's theme], Aquaman (2018). Pretty good "vengeance from the sea"- type music, and for the madman who will undoubtedly paint an Akhelian King as Orm.
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-Ko2FbzIcc&ab_channel=WaterTowerMusic Aquaman soundtrack; He Commands The Sea], also from Aquaman (2018). Good if you want a more heroic feel, and for the madman who will undoubtedly paint an Akhelian King as Aquaman.

==An Interesting Note==
Mantic Games had been producing their own Trident Realm range several years before the Idoneth were conceived. They're categorically not elves (Kings of War has elf factions, the Trident Realm isn't one of them), and mostly naiads and thull with a number of other underwater-themed species. Whether someone at GW saw this and thought “damn, we could make a killing out of this” or not is unknown.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
file:Fucking_Idoneth.jpeg
file:Idometh_army.jpeg
file:Battleshark.jpg|WE'RE RIDING A SHARK! WE'RE RIDING A SHARK! SUCK OUR DICKS, WE'RE RIDING A SHARK!
</gallery>

==See Also==
*[[Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Idoneth Deepkin|Tactics/Deepkin]]

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}
{{Idoneth Deepkin-Units}}

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Idoneth Deepkin

2020-11-17T00:10:01Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:874:21C2:7FA3:42A0: /* Idoneth, the AoS Drukhrai? */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Idoneth Deepkin|Logo=Fucking_Idoneth.jpeg|Alliance=Order|Motto=Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters.}}

{{topquote|Marge. Kids. Everything's gonna be just fine. Now go upstairs and pack your bags. We're gonna start a new life... under the sea.|Homer Simpson - "Homer Badman".}}
{{topquote|I got no soul, but I am a soldier|The Killers - "All These Things That I've Done". Well, that's how we remember it going.}}
{{topquote|We have been hiding long enough. The time has come for Atlantis to rise again.|Prince Orm of [[/co/|Aquaman]] fame}}
{{topquote|[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfD5u9Ary6M/ Let Mathlann strike ye dead, Winslow!! HAAAARRRRRRRKK!!!]]| Willem Dafoe- "The Lighthouse".}}

The '''Idoneth Deepkin''' are a new faction of [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar]], composed of marine aelves and assorted sea fauna.

==Origins==
After [[Teclis]], [[Tyrion]], [[Malekith|Malerion]], and [[Morathi]] made [[Slaanesh]] start shitting out elf souls, Teclis took the devout of [[Mathlann]] (the deceased elf god of the ocean) and made a new home for them in Hysh called Leiriu, a luminescent city also known as the Bright Haven or City of Reflection. There, Teclis taught these newborn aelves, the "Cythai", about the old world and their gods hoping to re-create the High Elves.

However, they weren't exactly model elves: they were withdrawn, resentful and traumatized by their time within Slaanesh. Upon learning this, Teclis wasn't thrilled with them. He tried to find what went wrong, but the Cythai weren't cooperative ; Teclis' methods made some fall into madness, so they weren't exactly without reason. Afraid for their lives and unable or unwilling to cope with Teclis' methods, they fled into the oceans of the Mortal Realms. Teclis, being a [[Eldrad|dick]], tried to exterminate them for good measure, but his brother Tyrion convinced him to be merciful so he let them go.

Over time, each of the Cythai's enclaves developed differently, but all were affected by their new environs and self-imposed isolation. The magic they learned from Teclis was adapted so they could live underwater, even at the most crushing of depths. They grew attuned to their new surroundings, learning to trust vibrations and changes in pressure more than sight or sound. Some of them even became adept in the art of seeing the flaring soul-stuff that animates the living. Since Slaanesh's super-PTSD still haunts them, they welcome the way in which the depths numb their senses. If everything is cold and you can't see without the aid of magic and glimmerfish, your emotions cannot give power to their most ancient nemesis.

==History==
The elves, now the ‘Idoneth’, didn't learn that Tyrion had made Teclis cool down and stayed in hiding. Having rejected Teclis they called out to Mathlann, but he was dead so they reached out to other gods, who either didn't hear them, were also dead or didn't care. Having accepted they were people without a proper god, they tried to re-create Mathlann and society as best they could.

After making their new societies, they calmed down and took stock of their situation. Accepting the possibility that their time in Slaanesh had contaminated them, the Idoneth did some research and discovered one of the side-effects. They called it ''mallachi'', and it was when an Idoneth went into a state of raging madness that ended in savage debauchery, but this only happened to a few. A second, far worse, side-effect was found when they started having babies as [[Grimdark|only one in a hundred Idoneth babies survived past infancy]]. The Idoneth soon figured out their progeny were born with souls that swiftly withered.

Desperate and without divine aid, they turned to magic to fix the problem without success. Between the extremely high infant mortality rate, wars and the dangers of the ocean, Idoneth numbers rapidly dwindled. Things only changed when they found out [[Dark Eldar|if you kill something with a soul and put that soul into an elf, they won't die prematurely]]. They first tried this on animals, but animal souls only brought them days, so they decided to go to the surface and start doing this to other people. Though other souls, such as those of human, duardin, orruks and even sylvaneth worked equally well for the Idoneth's purpose, it often took more than a few souls to empower an elf to live even a third of their normal lifespan.

At first it was only for survival, since the withering of souls remained as aggressive and frequent as ever and has so far proven incurable, but later they did it for the expansion of their newly found enclaves. At first it was only one in Hysh, but after the discovery of the '''Whirlways''', whirlpools that work as underwater Realmgates, they started to get into the rest of the realms. Due to [[Skub|differences among the Cytharai]] and a growing population, they expanded to all Mortal Realms save [[Azyr]] and founded several enclaves in all of them. They developed a pattern of swift raids and a strict "leave no witnesses" policy, surrounding themselves with memory-altering magic so anyone who encountered them would forget it soon after if the Idoneth didn't kill or capture them first (and the rare few who managed to escape with this knowledge were written off as lunatics or deluded).

But there were other powers out there so the secret could only last for so long. [[Sigmar]] long suspected that something dangerous was in the oceans, but had other concerns so he didn't go looking. It was Alarielle and the Sylvaneth who first pierced the veil of secrecy. In Ghyran, an Idoneth attack on some coastal Sylvaneth drew the attention of [[Alarielle]], who entered the fray and personally defeated them in battle. Since Alarielle is a goddess, she's immune to their memory-altering magic and her word is all the Sylvaneth would need to be on guard against the Idoneth. While the Sylvaneth kept the secret, the Idoneth dialed back their attacks and kept a low profile in Ghyran. On the Chaos side, the [[Keeper of Secrets]] Sslish the Depraved followed the spoor of strange magic and eventually found an Idoneth army, attacking them with a daemonic army until an Eidolon destroyed them. [[Archaon]] had long suspected there were more aelves than would seem, but wasn't able to confirm this until his Gaunt Summoners found the same magic and scried, finding and binding Sslish before Archaon tortured the daemon into spilling the beans.

The Idoneth became quite the hikkikomori: betrayed by their creator, forced into bad habits for survival and hated by many. They thought that they didn't need the surface world and limited themselves to the oceans, leaving only for raiding souls. During the Age of Chaos this started to change. They fought the forces of Chaos wherever they found them, either leaving Chaos' other opponents alone or killing them and taking their souls too. High King Volturnos realized that they'd have to ally with others to fight off Chaos though most other Idoneth didn't approve of this. First, he reached out to Alarielle for peace talks but, wary of trickery and aware of the Idoneth's past actions, Alarielle turned them down. They also encountered some Stormcast Eternals, and after a battle where the Idoneth learned they're unable to capture Stormcast souls due to Sigmar's blessing, they found new allies in the Sigmarines.

They also have kind of a big issue with [[Nagash]]. You see, Nagash knew about the disappeared souls from the get-go and is kind of territorial in regards to the dead. So, because they're stealing souls to save themselves, he's not happy with them (read: really hates these guys). At first he had no idea who was taking the souls or where, despite extensive searching on his part. After the accidental drainage of a sea in Shyish (''How the hell do you drain a sea "accidentally"?!'') by the [[Skaven]] (''...oh, THAT's how. Even better, [[Thanquol|everyone's favorite Grey Seer]] was responsible.''), [[Nagash]] caught on to their existence and location. Now he’s emptying more seas in Shyish and sending waves of undead after them in all the realms to stamp them out because he’s the only guy who believes himself to be allowed to have dead souls. In their desperation, the Idoneth of Shyish changed their foreign policy and allied with the Forces of Order. Some Idoneth got so desperate they somewhat reconciled with their estranged creator-god Teclis.

==Society==
The Idoneth society is divided in three clear castes. First we have the '''Namarti''', composed of those 90% of Idoneth who were born with incomplete souls, extremely pale skin, short lifespan (for an aelf anyway, they may still live more than us puny humans) and without eyes that are the majority of the population and are the workforce. Then we have the lucky 10% dudes that were born with complete souls (aka, average aelves): the '''Akhelians''', the warrior caste and those who ride the sweet-looking eels, sharks, Deepmares and Leviadons; and the '''Isharann''', that are the magic users and priests. However, the first ones among all of them were the '''Cytharai''' which due to accidents, wars or other shenanigans all of them have died out save the exception of the [[Volturnos|High King of the Deep Volturnos]], who is still alive after millennia and a fighter who leads from the front.

One of the more weird phenomena that happens around these guys on land is the so-called '''Ethersea'''. This is a manifestation of their marine magic, taking the form of a mist that enables them to use their superior sea-faring abilities and allow their sea beasts to survive where there's no water in miles and move as if they were in water. The Ethersea also have the secondary effect that it manipulates the land and makes it gain deep-sea characteristics spontaneously, like shipwhrecks, coral, fish shoals to start running freely, bubble breath...

A possible bit of continuity errors already creeping in; whilst the armybook describes the Namarti caste as inherently eyeless, an Idoneth-focused short story in the anthology "Myths and Revenants" declares that the Namarti are actually born with eyes, but their ensouled counterparts ceremonially cut their eyes out when they reach puberty for undisclosed reasons.

==Idoneth, the AoS Drukhrai?==
For many people a comparison between Drukhari and the Idoneth comes naturally. But beyond having something to do with souls there is nothing to this.

The Drukhari murderraped a god into existence, before they were technically called Drukhari. They seek every pleasure, every emotion and sensation, pleasure and pain alike. They need the pain of others topping off their souls to even stay alive, and as the Harlequins and Craftworlders show they don't have to do this... but the Drukhari would rather be sadistic parasites than deny their desires.
Idoneth are complete opposites of this. They went down in the ocean not just to hide from Teclis, but to numb their senses, to limit their perception of touch, warmth and sight. They didn't want to feed on others souls, but now they have no choice, and they fear feeding Slaanesh and refuse to make the pact with the devil.

Instead the Idoneth seek to solve the fault in their souls on their own. They developed the Soulbonding, using other races souls as fuel for their Namarti as a stopgap measure, while their Isharann still look for a way to find a permanent solution. For all the Idoneth, save for the Fuethan, the raids are a means to an end to buy as much time as the Isharann need - and for the Fuethan, it's also impulsive aggression not sadism. All the while the Drukhari indulge in the same debauchery that they have since their inception, never seeking to solve the underlying issue of their demise.

In their quest to save and fix the vast majority of their race, the Idoneth soldiers were forced to resort to large scale violence. As it stands, Idoneth are not grimdark Dark Eldar, they are cold, nobledark Elves of the sea.

==Enclaves==
The "factions" of the Deepkin are the Enclaves, city-states founded under the seas of the realms connected by underwater realm gates called Whirlways. Whilst there are, as expected with such a large setting, countless Enclaves, there are six main ones that have been fleshed out.

*'''Ionrach''': [[Ultramarines|The posterboys, who have their armour painted a shiny blue and also have a venerable leader from a forgotten age]]. The Ionrach are one of the first enclaves that ran from the rays of Teclis into the seas of Hysh, though they have since emigrated to Ghyran. Notably the most "friendly" of the enclaves, to the point where they will actually co-operate with the other forces of Order. They, under High King Volturnos, call most often for the assembrals, large scale meetings of the Idoneth.
*'''Dhom-Hain''': The polar opposites of the Ionrach, being the first to part ways with their fellow Deepkin to settle in the ''literal hellscape'' that are the seas of Ghur. Seriously, imagine every lethal predator in our seas but 10x larger and there's ridiculous amounts of them. They settled in a deep chasm, where lots of the Fangmora Eels lurked. This meant that they use more Akhelians than other enclaves. Once went to Ghyran and fought some Sylvaneth until Alarielle kicked their asses over it. Said battle cost them a valuable ancestral heirloom, which several Dhom-Hain nobles have tried and failed to retrieve. For centuries they have not attended the assembrals, only having come back very recently to discuss a matter which they believed to threaten their entire kind.
*'''Fuethan''': Living in the seas of Aqshy means that these Deepkin are especially aggressive, and they're very mean spirited when collecting souls. Whilst enclaves like the Ionrach would spare the soul of say, a child, the Fuethan would do no such thing. In fact, they take such glee in raiding that they are found [[RIP AND TEAR|still hacking away at bodies even when they're long dead]]. The Fuethan have fought in every Idoneth civil war, even if they weren't involved initially, and even caused some of them.
*'''Mor'Phann''': Dour and pale, the Mor'Phann inhabit the dark seas in Shyish. They use lots of mist and pale tentacled creatures,many were hit especially hard by the Necroquake to the point where they had to ally with the Stormcast to not die.
*'''Briomdar''': These guys used to be a part of the Ionrach, before declaring independence and settling in the middle of an undersea kelp forest in Ghyran. Experts at navigating terrain and ambushes - even by Idoneth standards - they camouflage themselves in kelp to leap out at unsuspecting passerbys. As an Ionrach off-shoot, they're the second most willing to ally with non-Idoneth.
*'''Nautilar''': An enclave that literally [[Awesome|lives on the shell of a giant crusteacean]] called the Giant Scaphodon. Recently they took quite a beating from some [[Skaven]] that tunnelled underwater. Also used to be a part of the Ionrach.

==Soulbound==
According to [[Age of Sigmar Roleplay]], becoming a Soulbound is a terrifying yet tempting idea for Idoneth Deepkin. On the one hand, they're incredibly isolationist, and they have a racial grudge against their creator-god [[Teclis]] for trying to kill all of them. On the other hand, undergoing the rite of Binding strengthens a Deepkin's soul to a degree that they can't achieve on their own, freeing them forever from both the fear of losing their souls and from the phantom pain that haunts their entire race, whilst simultaneously giving them permission to reap souls aplenty from foes and fallen allies alike. Those Idoneth who do agree to make the pledge (usually specifying that they will never directly serve Teclis first) are essentially forever exiled from their people, although the most foresighted Idoneth Kings and Queens, such as those descended from Ionrach, have realized that, in this changing age, Idoneth Soulbound can make useful ambassadors for their race.

Idoneth Soulbound have access to the '''Akhelian Emissary''', '''Isharann Soulscryer''' and '''Isharann Tidecaster''' archetypes in the corebook.

==Musical Accompaniment to playing these Sea Elves==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV8i-pSVMaQ&ab_channel=RobertDarwin Jaws theme], mandatory if you have any Allopexes in your army.
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oPgmyN90B4&ab_channel=ILikeMoviesandMusic King Orm's theme], Aquaman (2018). Pretty good "vengeance from the sea"- type music, and for the madman who will undoubtedly paint an Akhelian King as Orm.
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-Ko2FbzIcc&ab_channel=WaterTowerMusic Aquaman soundtrack; He Commands The Sea], also from Aquaman (2018). Good if you want a more heroic feel, and for the madman who will undoubtedly paint an Akhelian King as Aquaman.

==An Interesting Note==
Mantic Games had been producing their own Trident Realm range several years before the Idoneth were conceived. They're categorically not elves (Kings of War has elf factions, the Trident Realm isn't one of them), and mostly naiads and thull with a number of other underwater-themed species. Whether someone at GW saw this and thought “damn, we could make a killing out of this” or not is unknown.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
file:Fucking_Idoneth.jpeg
file:Idometh_army.jpeg
file:Battleshark.jpg|WE'RE RIDING A SHARK! WE'RE RIDING A SHARK! SUCK OUR DICKS, WE'RE RIDING A SHARK!
</gallery>

==See Also==
*[[Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Idoneth Deepkin|Tactics/Deepkin]]

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}
{{Idoneth Deepkin-Units}}

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Morathi

2020-11-17T00:00:23Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:874:21C2:7FA3:42A0: /* Broken Realms */

[[File:Morathi.jpg|500px|thumb|right|"Don't you wish your mother was hot like me?"]]
{{Topquote|A scratch from an envenomed dagger, a sip from a poisoned chalice, a slight to a proud warrior's honour... In time these things may do far more grievous harm than the broadsword or the axe, my love...|Morathi}}
{{Topquote|Man does not control his own fate. The women in his life do that for him.|Groucho Marx}}

'''Morathi''' is the Queen of the [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Druchii]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy]], the supreme leader of their religious faction and mother to the racial leader [[Malekith]].

She is also perverted, incestuous, so-sexy-you'll-die-for-real-lolz, and pretty much a complete bitch as she was responsible for a lot of the actions that screwed over Elfkind. Don't believe us? Read and weep oh dear reader.

Her character suffered greatly from a 7th edition retcon, further worsened in 8e until in [[End Times]] her role in history was reduced to mostly "had a baby who is really important" and scheming on the side that kills a lot of people but contributes nothing to the story. Many fans were angered by her apparent and very disappointing death in the event, although it was later revealed she survived and may in fact still regain her glory as an important character.

She is usually seen mostly naked, although sometimes she covers her breasts or uses pasties, and always rides her Dark Pegasus named Sulephet into battle. Her model is one of the raciest in the Warhammer range as she wears a metal thong and little else, her perfect tits on display for everyone to see (something she uses with magic in a Black Library novel she gets a starring role in to render an entire mixed-gender garrison of soldiers into standing mutely while riding up and down in front of their fortress on Suluphet as they get shot to pieces with her crossbow forces). The model of her even has them helpfully pushed upwards for the best possible angle. It could be she does this because her son is so lacking in sex appeal she must make up for both of them....oh the harsh duties she must do!

==The Legend==
She was originally a mere maiden, rescued by the first Phoenix King [[Aenarion]] from a [[Chaos]] slave caravan and he was so taken with her that he took her to be his new wife, having recently lost his first wife the [[Everqueen]] to a [[Daemons|Daemonic]] attack. Considering her actions later, the rumors of her being a [[Slaanesh|Slaaneshi]] Sorceress and using her magicks to charm Aenarion were most likely true. Aenarion moved his court to [[Ulthuan|Nagarythe]] and fell into a hedonistic lifestyle while his armies battled the Daemon apocalypse raging all around. Morathi eventually gave birth to his third child, Malekith, and encouraged Aenarion to sit back and relax as everything would turn out ''juuuuuuust fine''. [[Caledor the Dragontamer]], Aenarion's old friend, hated Morathi bitterly and knew she was wreaking havoc on his already damaged mind. In a last act of desperation, Caledor gathered his Wizards and began channeling magic to create a Vortex that would suck excess magic out of the Warhammer World so Daemons would have difficulty manifesting forevermore. Morathi encouraged Aenarion to slay Caledor for his betrayal, although upon reaching the site of the ritual he instead defended his friend against the might of Chaos itself.

After the disappearance of Aenarion and the trapping of Caledor within the Vortex, Morathi planned and groomed her son to take the throne. When the actual election came however, Malekith assured the Princes of the land he was willing to accept a vote for him rather than simply claim the throne by birthright. In a retcon in [[End Times]] this turned out to be a gambit to ensure the loyalty of the Elf people and the manipulations of Chaos robbed him of his birthright; however, in original canon this was simply the only moral choice he ever made. His friend Bel Shanaar was chosen instead, and Morathi raved and ranted like a wild woman over their "treachery". Only Malekith could calm her, and assure her they had made the right choice. He then took to the sea to explore the world like his father had, being gone for many years. During his travels he encountered [[Warriors of Chaos|human Chaos worshipers]] and random undead, fighting them for control of a magical crown. Curious, he placed it on his head and saw a future where Chaos would conquer his people. He immediately rushed home.

Prior to the 7e retcon, Malekith began searching his homeland for Chaos worship and discovered the Cult of Pleasure revering Slaanesh, with his own mother Morathi as the High Priestess to Slaanesh himself having corrupted a very large chunk of the Elf race to her way of thinking. She fled to the city of Anlec where a large number of cultists resided. Malekith led an army consisting of both his own army and the supporting armies led by the princes of Ellyrion, Yvresse, Chrace and Saphery. Malekith was successful in breaching the cities defences and confronted his mother in the cities palace. Though Morathi had the upper hand with her great sorcerous powers, she was defeated. Morathi was spared from certain death by convincing her son that she would give him her full support of the cults and help him gain the Phoenix throne. She was brought before the court of the Phoenix king in the city of Tor Anroc. Though she would have been executed for her Crimes, Malekith convinced Bel Shanaar to imprison her instead (Despite Imrik of Caledor's insistence that she must die, even offering to strike the deathblow himself).

He called a meeting of the Princes of Ulthuan to reveal a discovery about the Cult. Rather than point the finger at his mother, he accused Bel Shanaar of the heresy as Bel lay dying from poison Malekith had slipped him. He then declared that he himself was the fit ruler of the Elf race, and stepped through the [[Asuryan|Flames of Asuryan]] which select who is fit to be Phoenix King. Due to his treachery and the fact the Flames are designed to root out the unworthy, his full-retard plan resulted in him burning to bacon. His followers quickly slaughtered the unarmed Princes while Morathi rushed him out and kept him alive with her magic until a priest of [[Vaul]] loyal to his family sealed him in a suit of frozen armor that would reduce the misery of his blackened body.

In the retcon, Morathi was not involved in the story at all; he returned knowing that he was the true Phoenix King as desired by Asuryan while Bel Shanaar had been shielded by magic which disqualified him from judgement, and Malekith himself was only rejected because he was immature and filled with fear. His followers killing the Princes was apparently justified somehow, and everything that happened was all the fault of the [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Asur]] because reasons and grimderpness. She still helped him survive however, and if anything was cast in a more motherly role than the manipulative one.

Either way, Malekith and Morathi gathered their supporters and their culture took a turn for the dark; pre-retcon Morathi summoned Daemons which feed on Elf souls to ravage the countryside while the formerly banned worship of the war god [[Khaine]] replaced all other faiths. Eventually the bitter civil war turned against the new Dark Elf faction, and as one final "fuck you" Morathi messed with the Vortex. When that backfired she, Malekith and the other Dark Elf sorcerers/sorceresses launched huge chunks of Nagarythe away from the land like boats, causing massive death and destruction across Ulthuan. They then settled in a new land to the west, a series of landmasses split by bodies of water that are vaguely in the shape of our real world North America, populated by vicious and nasty monsters as well as Chaos humans. These lands were called Naggaroth, and after destroying the High Elf colonies and humans who dwelled here the Dark Elves settled them.

During this time, in early editions it was implied Morathi and Malekith were lovers who also constantly vied for control of their race while planning to kill each other. Dark Elves set up many batshit insane celebrations such as a night where the Cult of Pleasure and/or Cult of Khaine are allowed to take anyone they want who can't buy their own lives in huge amount of slaves and slaughter them in any way they wish ([[Gav Thorpe]] went on record in regards to Elf storytelling that numbers don't matter, High Elves can lose millions as a statistic or ten as a tragedy and either way they will be dying out, and although Dark Elves always lose massive population due to stupid reasons will always be only in jeopardy in regards to the future but not currently on the verge of extinction). Later lore did away with the incest, Slaanesh worship, and plotting; Morathi went from the ultimate hedonistic schemer and rival to her son like a cougar version of Caligula to his dear sad mother sadly stricken with a mild case of dementia as she continued to believe that she was living in the court of Nagarythe and sometimes mistook Malekith for Aenarion whom she genuinely loved rather than manipulated, all while continuing her duties as high priestess of the Elf god of pleasure [[Atharti]] (as Gav Thorpe thought Elves worshiping Slaanesh makes no sense, since he thinks of them as [[Eldar]] in rat-infested shitholes). Either way, Morathi went to great pains to keep herself youthful. She bathed constantly in blood made from screaming Elf babies, a technique learned either from Slaanesh or Khaine directly depending on pre or post retcon.

As Naggaroth grew in power, Malekith saw the Chaos worshiping Elves as a possible threat to his power. He established Khaine as the official god of the Dark Elves, although loyalty was ultimately only to himself. The Witches were nonetheless loyal only to Morathi and their gods, Khaine and (in older canon) Slaanesh with the two factions politicking against each other while hiding their true allegiance from the rest of the race (as an open secret lacking only proof of course).

Morathi found another rival in [[Hellebron]], a priestess of Khaine who was becoming dangerously powerful within Morathi's Witch Elf forces. Morathi cursed her with a hag-like appearance Elves rarely ever naturally attain, causing Hellebron to hate her more than anyone else. Ironically, after the retcon Hellebron features in history more importantly than Morathi herself.

During the Battle of Finuval Plains, one of the many battles between the High and Dark Elves, Morathi faced off in magical duel with [[Teclis]] while Malekith dueled [[Tyrion]] below. With the Dark Elves having overrun much of Ulthuan, the battle was the deciding point between the two forces; Morathi's own Daemon force lead by a powerful [[Keeper of Secrets]] named [[N'kari]] (later retconned to be just more of Malekith's assassins) had badly injured Tyrion and hunted the Everqueen Alarielle, and the burning of her forest had weakened her powers so she could not help. Morathi and Teclis were evenly matched, although after suffering great injury Malekith managed to escape into the [[Warp]] to avoid being killed, and sensing her son flee the battle Morathi herself immediately retreated leaving her army to be cut down. After the retcon, Morathi is absent from the battle and Malekith fought Teclis in a battle of magic while Tyrion fought his forces.

In the [[Defenders of Ulthuan/Sons of Ellyrion]] novels, Morathi engineers the main plot as a repeat of the invasion which involved the Finuval Plain battle, although this time using a captured Ellyrion Reaver as a Manchurian Candidate who would assassinate Teclis and Alarielle prior to the attack. She used her rank as Slaanesh's High Priestess to call upon the loyalty of Slaanesh's current champion, a Warrior of Chaos who was kept entertained with Elf slaves for him and his men to torture and defile (use your imagination) until Ulthuan was entirely destroyed, whereupon he would be allowed to do as he would with her (que both chuckling that the other Slaaneshi would not survive it). During the ongoing war, the Witch Elves and Slaaneshi spent their time raiding each other's camps and torture-killing their allies when supplies of still-living High Elves were low. Morathi's plan was partially successful, with the cursed dagger the unwitting pawn carrying consuming the body and soul of an Elf maiden he'd fallen in love with to incinerate Teclis like Malekith, then pierce Alarielle's heart. Malekith (who she feared greatly in the novel despite planning to kill him) lead his forces to assault Ulthuan from the south with their navy and slay the greatest heroes of Ulthuan while the Slaaneshi Dark Elves and Warriors attacked from west to east and meet him in the middle at Finuval Plain II. The Champion used Slaanesh's magic of pride to force High Elf commanders and champions into terrible decisions while her beguile and mind control wreaked havoc on the lesser Elf defenders. The plan began to fall apart however when their pawn sought redemption for his actions, reuniting with his brother and fiance before joining the defending army. Alarielle herself was saved by Isha, and the Everqueen entity (made up of Isha and EVERY Everqueen who ever lived) took control of her body and healed the wound before joining the battle herself. The Everqueen's magic purified the Slaaneshi Champion, burning away his blessings to reveal an ugly old man who regretted sacrificing his only love on an altar in exchange for eternal youth, and in a battle of wills between Isha and Slaanesh the Champion was turned into a [[Chaos Spawn]] that was hacked away by the Asur forces. With the loss of their commander and the [[Daemonettes]] turning to ash all around them, the Dark Elves and Warriors looked to their Queen to find her flying inland from the battle. The forces routed, and were destroyed by the triumphant heroes. Meanwhile, Morathi's true plan had been revealed; in her madness she was only using her entire race, her son, and all the humans as a distraction for her to undo the Vortex and summon Slaanesh directly into the world to prove herself as his greatest servant. The Vortex was on an island lost in time and half in and out of the Warp like magical interdimensional amber. She stabbed a Mage to death, and cackled out her monologue to Caledor the Dragontamer when he appeared before her as an emaciated long-dead skeleton of an Elf. After calmly replying that he never liked her and had always seen her as the selfish insane little girl she was, he revealed his true form within the amber as being stronger than he had ever been and as youthful as in his prime. He lashed out at her using only his knowledge of reality, searing her mind and driving her into hysteric wailing as she fled from the island with her very soul bleeding. She somehow flew Sulephet home to Naggaroth in this state, eyes wild and screaming all the way. Her son fled from his battle similarly, his dragon mortally wounded and bereft of a large chunk of his armor and gear. This story's canonicity is doubtful as ALL of the concepts the story hinges on were retconned out. Although considering Morathi's damaged mental state in End Times, it may have simply happened in a very different way and remained canon...

In [[Storm of Chaos]], Morathi brought the Cult of Slaanesh back and allied them with Warriors of Chaos before flaunting themselves openly in Naggaroth. This was implied to put Naggaroth in a civil/religious war between the Temple of Khaine and the Cult of Slaanesh, but Games Workshop retconned Storm of Chaos out of existence so now this never happened.

===The End Times===
In an effort to reboot Warhammer Fantasy, as it had been neglected for so long in favor of yet another Space Marine Chapter update, Games Workshop thrust the End Times upon the Warhammer world, where the slow slide into destruction becomes a non-stop express train. In the canon Naggaroth had become overrun with the legions of Khorne, with Karond Kar and Clar Karond destroyed. Ghrond was surrounded by an impenetrable thicket of magic thorns when Malekith and his army arrived fresh from liberating Naggarond. No longer able to coddle his spiteful but addled mother, Malekith left her alone in a tower there after destroying the entire Chaos invasion force and destroying everything of value from fortresses to slaves to silk handkerchiefs and anything else the enemy could claim, then gathered the entire Dark Elf race barring her guards to go claim his "rightful place as Phoenix King".

She left the tower however, disguising herself as one of her own followers who had been enlisted in Malekith's army, and tried to make Tyrion into Aenarion 2.0. Once Alarielle confirmed Malekith's legitimacy by marrying him (you know, her great great great great great great great great uncle) Tyrion and Morathi were wed, him drawing the [[Widowmaker]] like his ancestor and becoming Khaine's avatar (as well as her greatest lover). She was revealed to actually be the mortal incarnation of the goddess Hekarti.

After Tyrion was killed on the Isle of the Dead, Teclis undid the Vortex in order to bind the [[Warhammer Magic|Winds of Magic]] to mortals in an attempt to combat Chaos. She rushed to stop the whole thing, and broke down sobbing and shrieking when she saw Tyrion and Malekith die (though the latter was alive, but only just). In a fit, she killed all the mages in magic amber except Caledor the Dragontamer. Her actions created a breach that temporarily enabled Slaanesh himself/herself to partially manifest in the material world, forcing one of his/her arms through the rift to grab as many elves as he/she could. Realizing she'd fucked up worse than ever before in every sense of the term, Morathi tried to flee but Caledor held her down and both were taken by Slaanesh into the Warp.

Fans of Morathi, already unhappy with her increasing retcons rendering her useless, '''[[RAGE]]D'''. Her hatedom and High Elf fans cheered that Morathi was getting her just desserts (given Slaanesh's hunger for elf souls it could be literal). A small few continually insisted that it was just how she was going to be returned to Slaanesh's side, reincarnated as a Daemon Princess while others quickly bought her models thinking she would be removed from canon.

===Age of Sigmar===
In [[Age of Sigmar]], Morathi really did make a return. During the Age of Myth, [[Malekith]] awoke alone within the Realm of Shadow without any memories. He took on the name Malerion and attempted to find others of his kind. Eventually he found Morathi, who had escaped up from Slaanesh's belly and out her mouth while he was in a food coma digesting all the aelf souls she had consumed. But Morathi was "changed" by the experience. She now had two forms: The first is her normal aelf form, whilst the winged, coiling, serpentine Grecian Medusa is her true form (which she transforms into by her own will or whenever she loses her cool). As she regained her memories, Morathi formed beings of pure shadow who celebrated around her. She met up with her son Malerion, and though there was a lot of bad blood between them, they worked together to find more aelves.

[[Sigmar]] eventually found them, and they joined his pantheon made from an assembly of gods and other powers of the Mortal Realms. Morathi stayed with Sigmar and rest of the pantheon, trying to feel Sigmar's "Stormhammer" outside of battle. When Sigmar proved immune to her charms, she moved on to [[Nagash]]. With a cry of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FL_eXQb4C0|"BEGONE THOT!"] Nagash struck Morathi, hurting and upsetting her enough that her true serpentine form was revealed (say what you will about Nagash, he keeps his pimp hand strong). Humiliated, Morathi fled. During this time [[Tyrion]], [[Teclis]] and Malerion learned that [[Slaanesh]] had the aelf souls and sought to trap him. They approached Morathi and, with the promise of the share of the bounty, they used her as bait and managed to capture and imprison [[Slaanesh]] somewhere between the realms of Hysh and Ulgu, siphoning souls from him in increments (too many at once would draw the attention of Slaanesh's followers or fellow Chaos Gods, or allow Slaanesh to break free). Morathi took her share of the aelven souls Slaanesh had consumed and made aelves from them who would go on to become the [[Daughters of Khaine]].

She claims to be the Oracle of [[Khaine]] on account of having recovered his heart and leads the Daughters of Khaine, but in truth she is siphoning the prayer-power meant for the war god (stopping his potential rebirth in the process) in the hope of becoming a goddess herself- after that she plans to exact revenge on everyone who ever wronged her. Her war against the forces of Chaos and her bringing civilization to the Mortal Realms is mentioned, suggesting that she heavily influenced the Mortal Realms before the Age of Chaos.She has also since had another falling out with Malekith/Malerion and is said to be working as a part of Order only because she finds the other three Grand Alliances even less appealing to her tastes; she has become a sworn enemy to the forces of Chaos, the forces of Destruction are too uncivilized for her liking and the forces of Death too static and unappealing to someone whose people were nearly extinct (she probably also remembers the taste of Nagash's pimp hand).

As part of her transformation, she has not only bound the Bloodwrack Medusae to her will as her high priests, but also created two new species of [[monstergirls|monstrous yet beautiful female elf-kin]]; the [[lamia]]-like [[Medusa|Melusai]], and the Khinerai, who resemble either bat-winged [[Avariel]] or a less-monstrous take on the [[Harpy|Harpies]] of old Warhammer.

Ironically, Morathi's new fluff as having mutated into a [[lamia]]-like form as a result of exposure to the [[daemon]]ic powers of [[Slaanesh]] makes her kind of similar to the now-lost Slaaneshi champion, [[Dechala]].

==== Broken Realms ====

Soon she was ready for the final stages of her gambit to ascend to godhood. First she had to steal an artifact from the Idoneth Deepkin, a lantern Teclis used to retrieve souls from Slaanesh's belly and remake them, which was kept under heavy guard. So, sixty Khainites went into <s>the water</s> the temple. One Khainite came out, the <s>sharks</s> Idoneth took the rest. But that one Khainite had the lantern.

Then, Morathi had to secure some of the realmstone of the Eightpoints, called Varanite. She did so by convincing Sigmar and Alarielle of the coming threat, getting Stormcast reinforcements from the former and getting the later to re-open the Genesis Gate and sweep aside the forces of Chaos guarding it. Morathi even sent a secret delegation to Katakros, providing bones imbued with the magic of Ulgu in exchange for a Bonereaper assault on Archaon's holdings. After acquiring the Varanite, Morathi and her Daughters of Khaine left their Stormcast allies to die.

This culminated in the ultimate ritual. Combining various sources of power, Morathi opened a portal directly into Slaanesh's belly. While she carried out this ritual, she was attacked by a massive Idoneth army led by Volturnos seeking to retrieve the lantern and the followers of Slaanesh following a prophecy that could lead to the freeing of their god/dess. Once in the Chaos God's guts, using her weapon and the lantern as a guide, Morathi found the souls of the Cythai and the souls of the Phoenix Kings from the World-Thas-Was. She trapped the Cythai souls and consumed the Phoenix King souls until she reached the strongest - her former husband Aenarion (yes, THE Aenarion, sucks that after everything he did he got consumed by Slaanesh). Enraged by Morathi's actions, Aenarion launched a counterattack that split her soul and left her with two bodies - the elegant Morathi-Khaine (formerly the High Oracle) and the monstrous Shadow Queen.

But her ambition might come back to haunt her in the form of the Newborn - the offspring of Slaanesh spawned from his/her drool (yes, really) when Morathi's ritual gave Slaanesh a seizure. The Newborn followed her back into the Mortal Realms then flew away, the light of its passage making the followers of Slaanesh immediately break off the attack and seek it out. It eventually landed and coalesced into a beautiful and terrifying form that spoke to the assembled Hedonites, who now guard it while it gains in strength.

Back to Morathi. She returned from Slaanesh's prison and, fused with the essence of Khaine, became a goddess and declared herself Morathi-Khaine, bringing her plan to fruition. From here, she quickly subdued Volturnos and made a bargain with him, giving the stolen lantern and the souls of the other Cythai to him in exchange for a binding alliance with the Idoneth. From there Morathi led her forces to Anvilgard and, aided by an insurgent syndicate, conquered the city of Anvilgard, renaming it Har Kuron and marking the beginning of the end of her alliance with Sigmar.

Despite a resistance movement loyal to Sigmar in the city, Morathi had the Stormcast imprisoned so they couldn't warn Sigmar. However, one of the captive Stormcast was freed by a winged shadowy figure, implying Malerion opposes his mother's plans.

==On The Tabletop==
In her current incarnation, Morathi has two forms. Her basic form, High Oracle of Khaine, is a caster of absurd power, and not a slouch in close combat either. She can cast three spells per turn (and Unbind twice), her unique spell which is basically Arcane Bolt on steroids, adds 1 to her casting rolls and doubling the range of her spells, as well as her Command Ability that lets her choose 2 Daughters of Khaine units within 14 inches and have them either shoot or pile in immediately. She also has 6 attacks with her bladed wings and 3 attacks with her spear Heartrender, which is better than a lot of combat characters get. On defense, she has a 4+ Armor, a 6+ Ward (from her Daughters of Khaine allegiance), a -1 to hit from how gorgeous she is AND she can only take 3 wounds per turn.

But that's not all. Either when you choose or when you roll under the number of wounds Morathi has taken, she can get super angry and turn into her giant <s>Snake Mom</s> Shadow Queen form. In this form she loses a lot of her trickier abilities (all of her casting bonuses, -1 to hit, command ability, although she keeps her max of 3 wounds per turn) and instead turns into one of the most brutal beatsticks in the entire game, capable of going head to head with Nagash or Archaon and coming out on top. She gains a shooting attack that allows you to instant kill a model if roll over its number of wounds, between 6 and 2 attacks with Heartrender (which now does a flat 3 wounds as opposed to D3 in her Oracle form), 5 attacks with her Crown of Serpents, and 1 with her tail that does between 6 and D3 damage. That's a max of 29 wounds when she's at full health, enough to wreck anyone's day. Unfortunately, any wounds she takes as Oracle are double in Shadow Queen, so you're better off letting her transform, than waiting for her to take damage. All of this will cost you 480 points, so best make sure you're getting your points worth. It helps that she's one of the best models in the game (in a faction that already has a lot of the best models in the game).

===Broken Realms===
Due to Morathi's new condition, she now costs 600 points but has both of her models active at the same time. Because of their "One Soul, Two Bodies" rule (which also incorporates the effects of the Iron Heart), her two models functionally share a single wound pool. Between that and the Shadow Queen's buffed attacks, she's now able to support her army and get stuck in at the same time, and opponents will have no choice but to deal with the Shadow Queen if they want to stop Morathi-Khaine from casting and buffing.

==Total War: Warhammer==
To the surprise of very few Morathi, alongside her son, got to appear in [[Total War: Warhammer II]] as one of the starting legendary lords for the Dark Elves. She even got to narrate the Dark Elf faction trailer, with her voice actress sounding fittingly manipulative and conniving. Interestingly Morathi as presented in game seems to mix traits of both older and newer lore, she and her faction spread Chaos corruption, and a number of her skills indicate worship, or at least the willingness to deal with, the Chaos gods. However she can also be heard referring to, or beseeching various Cytharai gods like Khaine and Atharti. Of course even in recent lore Morathi was presented as someone willing to treat with, if not outright worship, the Chaos gods and their various daemons.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Morathi Model.jpg|The offical [['Eavy Metal]] paintjob.
Image:Morathi Mini.JPG|Morathi's miniature. Despite being older, and GW's well-known issues with female sculpts, its one of the better ones they've made.
Image:Morathi Original.jpg|Morathi's original model. It was noticeably more conservative in dress.
Image:Old Morathi.jpg|Morathi's earlier look in artwork. ([[Mark Gibbons|MG]])
Image:Morathi MMO.jpg|Rita Repulsa wishes she was this awesome.
Image:Morathi And Teclis.jpg|Morathi and Teclis duel at Finuval Plains. In the narrative it was on opposite sides of a large valley, but whatever.
Image:Morathi Regal Fanart.png
Image:Morathi Kung Fu.jpg
Image:Morathi Doesn't Like It When You Look Over Her Shoulder.jpg
Image:Morathi Color.jpg
File:The Sundering Malekith and Morathi.jpg
File:Morathi 8th Edition.png
Image:Morathi And Alarielle Diplomacy.jpg|Its her pleasure...
Image:Morathi Fanart.jpg
Image:Morathi Malekith Comic.jpg|Morathi and Malekith from the [[Warhammer Online]] comic.
File:Morathi Total War.jpg|If you don't conquer Ulthuan this time Malekith, you're grounded!
File:Morathi AOS Elf Form.jpg|Morathi's new look, now Morathi-Khaine.
File:Morathi Snek.jpg|Morathi's other new look, the Shadow Queen.
</gallery>

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]][[Category:Dark Elves]][[Category:Age of Sigmar]][[Category:40k and Fantasy Gods]][[Category:Daughters of Khaine]]