Cyfecti

The Cyfecti

This page couldn't be more Work In Progress.
Pretty much in note form right now.

Biology

Physical Appearance

Hopefully coming soon

Physiology

Little is known of their physiology as no intact specimen has ever been retrieved to date, as upon the death of their brain the body bizarrely explodes in a cloud of plasma vapour. While non-lethal, the plasma dust cloud is dangerous and toxic, but is generally diffuse enough to only cause severe irritation if inhaled. Also unexplained is the small crystal-like stone that appears in the same process that creates the plasma dust cloud. This means everything we do know is based on inductive and deductive reasoning derived from conjecture and observation. This is believed to be due to obscure rituals that bind the physical body of a Cyfecti specimen to the warp somehow.

The Cyfecti appear to naturally possess very high-level Psyker powers, with some individual Cyfecti believed to have powers that exceed Imperial psy-level classifications. Presumably, their corruption by the Ruinous Powers has increased these levels beyond their natural limits, and it is perhaps then fortunate that so few Cyfecti exist.

Other than their psi-power levels however, the Cyfecti's physiology is largely unremarkable; the tall and skeletal frame holds all the organs one would expect, and their endurance and strength is

Technology

Where their physiology may be largely unremarkable however, their technology is not. Eschewing armour and firearms technology, the Cyfecti tech is purely about harnessing the warp, or enhancing the Cyfecti's natural psi-powers. As such they wear the bare minimum of basic ballistic armours, and possess no ranged weaponry whatsoever. The most common weapon is a 7ft halberd-like object; a 5ft tall haft with a 2 ft single edged force blade on top. This functions as a close combat weapon when necessary, but its prime purpose is to channel warp-energy, with the blade functioning as an amplifier and the haft a nullfier. But other weapons have been observed, most notably are the dual sickle blades of Naygo Hong-Gann, the 9 tendril whip of Kajj Yasut and the spear of Shin-Kengen Takeduszegei

They possess personal teleportation devices similar to the Eldar Warp Spider, but they possess the ability to travel system-wide distances. These distances can be extended much further if they set up a Crux Portal conduit , allowing them to traverse the entire Galaxy with frightening speed. Thankfully this tech has not been replicated by the Dark Mechanicum for obvious reasons. This teleportation technology appears to have made void-ships largely redundant to the Cyfecti, and so they have very few in their possession; those they do have are archaic and most often not of Cyfecti origin.

Society

Anarchist society focusing on respect, kept together by pseudo-religious philosophies, rituals, and practices.

The Four Kings

When translated literally to gothic, King would be the closest translation, kingship in Cyfecti society is vastly different/doesnt exist, the role holds no power over anyone, just responsibility to protect others, so guardian or warden is more accurate in terms of actual power.

The 4 kings guard the 4 directions, and uphold 4 great values - creation, truth, harmony, and prosperity?

ie guard your wealth, guard your family and livelihood, guard your knowledge, and guard your happiness.

in this period the Cyfecti even have access to the webway through what we now know as dolmen gates, which lead them to real Webway gates.

There has been some speculation among Inquisitors that these 4 guardians were C'tan, but many other sources also assert that they were the 4 major gods of chaos all long, and yet more still that they were just 4 mythical hero's whose legends were turned to myths by exaggeration and embellishment, until it became pseudo-religious.

The Eight Paths to Heaven

4 Kings teachings weren't enough to protect against the Eldar, so new interpretations were begun.

the 4 cardinal directions were kept, but 4 new directions were added to plug the gaps

destruction/death was attuned to life/creation unpredictability/disharmony was attuned to harmony? secrets and misinformation were attuned to knowledge/truth hardship and expenditure were attuned to prosperity/wealth

The key was balance of those forces. Balancing destruction to benefit creation, disharmony in the enemy to promote harmony in your own, misinformation to your enemy to guard your truth, and expenditure against/for wealth to provide better equipment or to safeguard a future.

While the 8 sided star was successful, it only fought the mighty Eldar to a standstill, and very little land was reclaimed of the Cyfecti empire which had still been reduced to a fraction of its former size. The resulting stalemate made the Cyfecti more chaotic, and hatred began to work itself into their thoughts, blinding them from the danger they were headed for

they are pushed out of the webway completely in this period.

The 9th Way

Cyfecti seeking to regain their lost territory and on some levels exact vengeance (the universe balances itself, so the Eldar will fall in time, but that doesn't mean we should give up and not balance our losses against theirs.)

In their desperate state, only retaining onto the territory they still held, the Cyfecti turned to knowledge and technology to save them. The warp they had used for their psyker-weaponry, but now they had lost the webway, they also turned to it for transportation - its here they developed/copied the warp teleporting technology of the Eldar. It also lead to some seeking answers in the warp, trying to find new ways to weaponise it for use on the Eldar.

One of the Notable Cyfecti makes contact with Tzeentch, who is in disguise somehow, and offers the Cyfecti a means to defeat the Eldar and save the Galaxy from a great evil.

This gets named the "9th Way" and with interpretational rhetoric, it leads the Cyfecti to chaos. Many many years pass.

Before the Cyfecti can launch their new attack, the birth of Slaanesh happens, and the Cyfecti capitalise on it, expanding once more. But then the Humans arrive, surprising the Cyfecti who did not divine this, and couldn't detect beings with such a minor psychic profile. Hordes of archaeotech wielding humans smash the powerful but few Cyfecti and their xenos volunteer auxilias, and their entire empire is swept before the Humans, the worlds being virus bombed and exterminatus'd to lifeless uninhabitable balls of dust and sand.

Several thousand Cyfecti survive the onslaught, teleporting through the warp to other worlds and hiding out. A small enclave sets up a haven in the Eye of Terror, the belief being that the location was the death knell of the Eldar, maybe it would be the death knell of the humans too.

The majority of the Cyfecti spread out into the galaxy during the Age of Strife while the human empires were falling apart. Having now studied humanity for many years, and perfected and learned everything they could about the ways of the warp and of chaos the Cyfecti set out to reestablish themselves in the galaxy, having repopulated their numbers somewhat. Their bitterness towards the Eldar still kept them pursuing the Eldar primarily. This would be a second downfall, as while the Eldar were fractured, they were still stronger than the Cyfecti, and human forces were manipulated into destroying a key Cyfecti haven world, shattering their numbers once more, down to a mere several hundred.

The survivors sought to copy the Eldars manipulative use of humans as unwitting armies, and in the early days of the Unification Wars, through using their zen-like cults of chaos, they infiltrated many human worlds around the galaxy, using chaos as their means of harnessing the humans for war against the Eldar.

The Great Crusade happens and to the Cyfecti's dismay the humans are unified again, and this time they go into hiding, using their cults as their only means of interacting with the galaxy. This catches Uriel's attention (as Tzeentch had intended it) and the Heresy begins.

(Tzeentch gives the Cyfecti his power merely to get this plan of "corrupt a primarch" into fruition.)

History

For a xenos species who would play a central role in the start of the Heresy, very little is known of the Cyfecti in the Imperium, even to most of the Inquisition. However, the Eldar as their long-standing rivals, and some elements of the Forces of Chaos are aware of the long history of the Cyfecti.

The Four Kings Era

The Cyfecti are believed to have begun their rise to the galactic stage in the wake of the War in Heaven.

The Eight Steps to Heaven

The Cyfecti's rapid expansion garnered the attention of the powerful Eldar however, and while their joint use of the Webway was at first amiable, it soon became hostility.

rise to galaxy empire

The Cold Wind

winter is coming

The Ninth Step

turn to chaos (tzeentch especially) but also nurgle khorne and to an extent slaanesh. Slaanesh mainly shunned.

The Star/Snake in the Circle

drawing Uriel to them "For the sake of reason! Always with the 9! 9 this - 9 that. Why 9?!"