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1 / 4 · Click to enlargeLore & origins
The Incubi are an elite mercenary warrior order of the Drukhari, a dark mirror of the craftworlds' Aspect Warriors that has traded purity of purpose for twisted obsession and icy calm for channelled hate. They exist to perfect the killing stroke with the klaive, a two-handed power greatsword that becomes as much a part of each Incubus as his own murderous heart. They owe no allegiance to any Kabal or Wych Cult. As servants of Khaela Mensha Khaine, they are loyal first to their war-shrine. Their origins are uncertain. One legend holds that the order was founded by Arhra, the fallen Phoenix Lord of the Striking Scorpions, and some whisper that Drazhar, the Master of Blades, is Arhra himself.
Dozens of shrines are scattered across the Dark City, from towering pinnacles of black crystal to brazier-lit cavern networks. Each is ruled by a Hierarch, a mercenary warrior-king who bargains with patrons and picks initiates from the crowds of aspirants. Training is brutal. The weak are cut down and their bodies burned as offerings before the shrine's statue of Khaine, and supplicants whose pleas are rejected may be gutted and flung still living into the green fires of its pits. An aspirant who survives long enough to beat a proven Incubus and take his armour faces one last trial: to kill a craftworld Aspect Warrior in single combat and turn the victim's spirit stone into a psychic torture device, the Tormentor. Only then can they call themselves an Incubus.
In a society where rank is gained by murdering the one above you, Incubi are perfect bodyguards. They are wholly neutral in Kabal politics, they follow the code of their contract and their Klaivex zealously, and they are among the best warriors in Commorragh. Some even whisper that Incubi can be trusted to keep their word. Any subordinate who wants to replace an archon must first find a loophole that voids the contract, or face the Incubi. Unlike anywhere else in the city, assassination is forbidden within the order. Promotion goes only to those who challenge and beat the holder of the place they covet.
Appearance & wargear
Everything about a fully armoured Incubus conveys menace. The Incubus warsuit is spiked and segmented from head to foot, and its ornate helm is framed by a pair of great razored horns that give it an almost daemonic look. The warsuit protects as well as a Space Marine's power armour without slowing its wearer at all, and the Incubi jealously guard the secrets of making and repairing it. They move with a sinuous, sinister grace, every motion humming with barely contained violence. Most carry the klaive. Some shrines prefer the halberd-like punisher, and Klaivexes sometimes carry demi-klaives, twin blades that can be clasped together into one great sword.
Weapons & Vehicles
A master-crafted blade sheathed in a crackling molecular disruption field that parts ceramite, bone and steel with effortless lethality…
The nerve-shredding neural whips and moisture-vaporising Huskblades of Drukhari Archons and Succubi, turning close combat into an arena…
The cruel crystal-toxin firearms of the Drukhari Kabals, firing storms of venomous shards designed to kill targets in maximum, soul-nou…
Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.
Battlefield role & tactics
Incubi serve as an archon's retinue, as shock troops and as enforcers. As bodyguards they surround their employer with a ring of flickering blades, so that he can stroll through the fiercest melee as if in the eye of a storm. As enforcers they have turned more than one pleasure den or smuggler's spire into a limb-strewn abattoir to send a message to a rival. For all their duelling skill they scorn fair fights in battle. Their Tormentor helms send out waves of neural pain before the killing begins, and rare bloodstones can boil a foe's blood from afar.
Munitorum & Ordo Xenos Technical Dossier
Classified under Ordo and Departmento Munitorum threat-index protocols as a primary Incubi serve as an archon's retinue, as shock troops and as enforcers. As bodyguards they surround their employer with a ring of flickering blades, so that he can stroll through the fiercest melee as if in the eye of a storm. As enforcers they have turned more than one pleasure den or smuggler's spire into a limb-strewn abattoir to send a message to a rival. For all their duelling skill they scorn fair fights in battle. Their Tormentor helms send out waves of neural pain before the killing begins, and rare bloodstones can boil a foe's blood from afar. asset of Drukhari, Incubi relies on a tightly coupled symbiosis between operator conditioning and primary armament. Field maintenance and biological recovery logs indicate that extended deployment without liturgical recalibration or bio-stasis rest degrades targeting and metabolic stability by less than 4% per solar week—far outperforming standard sector baselines—while post-engagement recovery teams prioritize the immediate extraction of their core wargear, neural/gene-seed components, or machine-spirit memory cores before enemy scavengers can exploit them.
Notable battles & users
- Drazhar, the Master of Blades: the order's silent, masked champion with demi-klaives. His name means 'Living Blade', and no one has heard him speak or seen his face.
- Morr: Incubus of the Kabal of the Realm Eternal, who led Archon Yllithian's raid to steal an Exodite girl for the plot to resurrect El'Uriaq and overthrow Asdrubael Vect.
- Bechareth: once the Incubus Kolidaran. Left behind in a raid on Alaitoc, he took a vow of silence and walked the Path of the Warrior with the Striking Scorpions.
- Shrine of Splintered Bone: carves the bones of slain foes into fetishes worn inside its warplate, pressed against the skin.
- Shrine of the Scarlet Incubi: led by the Visarch among the Ynnari.
Related
Characters (2)
Asdrubael Vect · Supreme Overlord of Commorragh
The Visarch · Sword of Ynnead
