Commorragh

Commorragh
Capital	Commorragh
Official Languages	Eldar Lexicon
Power	Great Power
Size	Unknown, presumed Galactic
Head of State	(Incumbent) Asdrubael Vect
Head of Government	Ythillian Dynasty, Kraillach Dynasty, Xelian Dynasty (prior to Vect), Various Archons (current)
Governmental Structure	Authoritarian Aristocracy (M30-M35) Libertarian Meritocracy (M35-current)
State Religion/Ideology	Sadomasochism, Hedonism, Temple of Khaine, Dark Muse Сult
Demographic	Eldar, Mandrakes, Sslyth, various Xenos, various slaves
Military Force	Dark Eldar Forces

"Is an eldar not entitled to the sweat of his brow? 'No!' says the eldar in the Exodite Worlds, 'it belongs to the land.' 'No!' says the Harlequin, 'it belongs to Cegorach.' 'No!' says the eldar in the craftworld, 'it belongs to everyone.' I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose... Commorragh. A city where the artist would not fear the censor; where the Haemonculus would not be bound by petty morality; where the Archon would not be constrained by the slave! And with the sweat of your brow, Commorragh can become your city as well."

-- Andrew Ryan Asdrubael Vect on Commorragh

"He that becomes protector of sin shall surely become its prisoner."

--Augustine of Hippo

"If the galaxy was a giant rundown town, Commorragh would be the local nightclub-turned-insane asylum."

—Big E making his opinion on the city clear

Commorragh is the main realm (there really is no better word for it) of the Dark Eldar. It sits at the heart of the Webway. Games Workshop named them after/based them on the Camorra clans of Naples and the Biblical city Gommorrah.

Sounding like something that would be named by an Mon-Keigh, it started out during the days of the Eldar Empire as a bunch of private realms where bored Eldar could do perverse things in privacy -- or in large groups, if that floated their boats. These realms' relative isolation from reality partially shielded those within from the birth of Slaanesh, preventing them from being outright sucked into the Warp, though they quickly realized that they were still in danger as their souls began to erode from within their bodies.

Then, they discovered that causing pain to other creatures allowed them to top up their souls and stay youthful and energetic. These realms slowly coalesced as their occupants found common purpose in raiding realspace for victims, and then bringing them home to torture them. Eventually, some of these raiders banded together under the banners of the old noble houses, and the alliances and mergers brought about the Dark City we all know and love.

Because Dark Eldar have no need for foolish things like supports or foundations, structures get built at all sorts of crazy angles, which makes things that much more entertaining for the residents; from jet-bike races among the rooftops to gladiatorial challenges in the arenas to the therapist's office, Commorragh has it all!

Despite it being hidden in the Webway and being crazy heavily defended Commorragh was invaded multiple times: often by Orks, one time by Space Marines (Salamanders and their successors, fittingly) or Chaos Space Marines (Death Guard of all people), but mostly by Daemons. Almost all of these invasions were engineered by the dark Eldar themselves to deal with their rivals in the ensuring chaos of battle. Denizens don't even consider these incidents threatening anymore. If anything your average Cabalite sees it as an upgraded version of a realspace raid - you get the joy of the hunt without leaving the Dark City and subjecting yourself to a withering influence of materium sucking half of the energy you take from torturing your quarry, AND you can backstab your competitors, superiors or aspiring underlings as there's no realspace raid truce to stop you. Sure, some would die in the fighting, but most invaders don't have annihilating weapons and the nearest Haemunculi resurrection chambers that could regenerate you from a single finger phalanx are right next doors. Anyone who get "accidentally" vaporized by "friendly" darklight fire certainly deserves to stay dead for not looking at his back.

The History of the Dark City

Commorragh's history begins with the rise of the Eldar Empire, a stellar nation which straddled the galaxy for countless millennia and was the dominant force in the galaxy until the Fall which saw their almost total collapse. One of the key advantages which allowed the Eldar Empire to grow so powerful was their ability to use the Webway, a form of movement left to them by their creators; the Old Ones. The Webway was the principle mode of transportation for the Eldar during the tenure of their Empire and, as a result, numerous port cities were constructed within it. Greatest of these was the city of Commorragh itself.

However, when the spiritual malaise and decay that would doom their species set in, places like Commorragh were not exempt, with the inhabitants becoming cruel and capricious creatures, seeking ever more decadent, and often violent, forms of self-gratification. When The Fall occured and Slaanesh was birthed into the galaxy in an orgy of...well just about everything, the Eldar Empire practivally ceased over night, with countless Eldar simply falling dead.

The Eldar within the Webway, however, were shielded from this effect. Although Slaanesh had purchase on their soul, the Young God could not simply extract it at will, instead having an affect to slowly draining the soul away. As a result the Webway, like the Craftworlds, Cegorach or the World Spirits of the Exodites, became a form of refuge for the surviving Eldar. Commorragh, as the greatest of these Webway Cities, became a hub for surviving Eldar to gather and exist in pseudo-safely.

Unlike their Craftworld, Exodite and Harlequin cousins, however, the Eldar of Commorragh chose not to give up their old ways, even though it had now literally damned their souls to an eternity of torment. Instead they devised a method by which they could sustain and feed themselves off the misery and suffering of others, ensuring they could live and escape Slaanesh as long as they could get access to adequate amounts of pain, sort of like garmonbozia. Indeed the Dark Eldar are, effectively, pain vampires.

In the initial history of Commorragh it was ruled by dynastic noble families and clans, fueding with each other, and leaving it a rather anarchic place. Their rule was, however, eventually overturned by a former slave known as Asdrubael Vect who was smart enough to realize that there wasn't anything that couldn't be solved by a Space Marine and, so, managed to lure the heads of the major noble families into fights with some Salamander Chapter Space Marines which saw them all promptly killed. In the aftermath Asdrubael took over and instituted a new system based off Kabals, and became the top authority within the Dark City. Of note the term 'Dark Eldar' only came to be used by the inhabitants of Commorragh to describe themselves following Asdrubael's rise to power.

During the Great Crusade the Dark Eldar continued to act as they had always acted before, and continued to be the sadistic freaks that we know and loath today, but with one new addition to their gruesome to do list. In order to hold off Slaanesh from devouring their souls the needed slaves (lots of them) to take their place. The Dark Eldar proceeded to launch raids across the galaxy were they plundered countless worlds including Vulkans adopted home world which certainly didn't help to convince the Imperium to drop its xenophobic views. In the aftermath of the Great Crusade the Dark Eldar were involved in one incident; it is believed that the Primarch of the White Scars went missing pursuing Dark Eldar into the Webway. What exactly happened is unknown though, but it is unlikely he ever was taken to Commorragh or found by any of the leadership of the Dark City.

After the Horus Heresy the next major event to occur to the Dark City was when the Champion of Slaanesh, Lucius the Eternal was briefly detained along with Fabius Bile within an outer satellite of Commorragh. The capture was revealed to be a ruse, however, by the Emperor's Children who proceeded to release Daemons to feast upon the souls of the Dark Eldar present. It was noted as being the largest single loss of Eldar life in ages, with the Daemons of Slaanesh so overjoyed that the entire Dark City was briefly cowed from action as they looked to their own defences.

Despite these incidents the reign of Asdrubael Vect only saw one serious challenge, the domain of Shaa-dom, a powerful holdout of the former nobility. Although they proved a worthy adversary for a while the master of the Dark City eventually doomed the domain to a Daemon infestation, removing that threat. Only much later would another, more serious, competitor for power emerge in the form of a jilted former consort of his; Lady Malys.

Lady Malys became a powerful Archon with connections to the Harlequins, who seemed set to guide her on a path perhaps connected to the Ynnari as they helped bring Yvraine, future Herald of Ynnead to her attention. For a while the Dark City began to devolve into tension from the rising emnity between Lady Malys and Asdrubael...as well as the ominous collapsing of the defences around a part of Commorragh named 'Khaine's Gate'.

Fracture of Biel-Tan

Of late the Commorragh has seen a rather turbulent period in its time. The emergence of Yvraine as the Herald of Ynnead saw the largest dysjunction in Commorragh's history, the infamous Khaine's Gate tearing open and allowing a vertiable flood of Daemons to begin overwhelming the city. Although Vect had put counter-measures in place, and the Kabals did attempt to counter-attack, these did little to stop the invasion, with the Daemons continously gaining ground and feasting on the souls of the slain Dark Eldar. Indeed the situation became so grim that many Dark Eldar began to talk openly of overthrowing Vect for allowing such an event to occur in the first place.

Certainly the Dark Eldar did not help themselves by continuing to fight against each other and by dispatching some of their own even in such a dire time to chase down and slay the Ynnari.

However, just as things began to look truly dire for the home of the Dark Eldar two things occured; first the famed Decapitator of the Mandrakes completed his ritual, causing the Dark Dimension to flood out into Commorragh proper and a tidal wave of Mandrakes to counter-attack the Daemons, and secondly the Haemonculi decided the threat was at last dire enough that they opened up their abbatoir's and released their most deranged and fearsome of beasts. Combined these two attacks finally quelled the Daemon invasion, saving Commorragh from destruction.

In the aftermath, though, the status quo had shifted. The city was damaged like never before, Asdrubael Vect's position now shakier than ever and the effects of the Mandrake's dimension intruding on Commorragh was not yet fully known.

A Tour Guide of Commorragh

The skyline of Commorragh. Can--and will--be viewed from any angle.

If you're not a Dark Eldar, Harlequin, or a badass mercenary, Commorragh can be difficult to get around in. It's a city that destroys the weak, torments the slow, and kills the stupid. Of course, all the previous three will die, it just varies on how and when. Despite popular theory, non-Eldar can prosper in Commorragh, since there are several parts where aliens live in towns and the most fearsome can be recruited into Dark Eldar Kabals, mostly because outsiders are at least familiar with the concepts of loyalty and honesty, unlike your average Dark Eldar, and those are often in demand in the Dark City.

A list of tips for newcomers.

• Head to the district called 'Null City' and become a badass alien mercenary (humans are aliens to Dark Eldar).
• Don't fuck with Asdrubael Vect.

Otherwise.

• You were most likely brought back so Dark Eldar could feed off your pain so Slaanesh won't eat their souls/ sacrified to Slaanesh in their place.
• You may have been brought back to be a Haemonculi's guinea pig, snack, pet, a diversion so they won't get bored (which still involves unspeakable torture) or all of the above.
• You may be sent to the gladiator arenas of Commorragh to fight for your life against Wyches, dangerous beasts ranging from Razorwing flocks to captured Carnifexes, or both at the same time. This will last until you die.
• You can be killed simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time (or even if you went where you're supposed to go).
• If you're a slave, you're expendable currency, or used for other things.
• If you stare at Scourges for too long, they will fly down, pick you up and impale you on a spire.
• There's no night or day, just the dull, baleful glow of stolen stars. It also has many areas where light never reaches (Dark Eldar adapted by developing natural night vision).
• In the shadows you can encounter Mandrakes, who will kill and/or eat you.
• The unnatural geometry of Commmoragh can be extremely disorienting for visitors.