Rilynstra's Doom - The Kabal of the Murderous Refrain

Been a while since there's been any actual hobby on here! At the moment I'm working on a few 40k armies that go in tandem with one another. They are:

A Dark Eldar army - The Kabal of the Murderous Refrain.
A Craftworld Eldar army - The Felbrineth Kindred of Craftworld Rilynstra
An Eldar Cosair army - The Empyreal Reavers

I've got some fluff worked out to link them all together and as the various projects progress I'll share some snippets of that. To start off with though I have a few WIP pictures of my Archon's second in command that I'm working on at the moment. His name is Indolas Kallixian Hierarch of the Kabal of the Murderous Refrain.

Lots of work to go on him obviously!

I've also written some background about the Kabal:

Nim’ileth broods over a nodal point in the webway. The traffic passing through has seen Nim’ileth swell from the palace of a self-aggrandising Eldar Lord before the fall to a multi-levelled sprawl. Numerous docks line the spires and around this hub of Eldar activity a small city has grown.
Nim’ileth was once a chaotic neutral ground for the disparate lines of the Eldar a race, a semblance of order prevails now under the watch of the Kabal of the Murderous Refrain. Theft and murder are rife but little more could be expected of a den of corsairs and raiders, however the Kabal of the Murderous Refrain are swift in putting down any activities that damage their profit or threaten their hold on Nim’ileth. All of the Pleasure Houses and bars, traders and stores provide a cut to the Kabal whether in the form of goods or information. Likewise those ships that travel through and the outcasts and corsairs that are drawn to Nim’ileth all pay the Kabal’s toll and even those of Commorragh that pass through must pay their way.

Such power that is held by the Kabal of the Murderous Refrain is eyed jealously by the smaller Kabals of Commorragh and those that are outcast or exiled whilst the real power players have little interest in Nim’ileth whilst it has no impact on their own scheming, indeed most look upon the nodal port with either disinterest or outright disdain so far is it from the power games of the Dark City. But those that move against them quickly learn that the Kabal of the Murderous Refrain is not lax in enforcing its control and that the riches passing through their hands have been used to ensure they are equipped to defend what is theirs for their Archon - Lady Alithrae Kallixian guards her power jealously against the ambitions of those around her and those who would see her Kabal destroyed.

Lady Alithrae’s rise to power began with the death of her father. A death met upon her own envenomed swords. Her father, Marquis of the noble House Kallixian, had ruled over a small pocket realm slaved to the city of Commorragh when Asdrubael Vect rose to power. Resisting the designs of the self-proclaimed Tyrant of Commorragh the Marquis had become embroiled in a bloody conflict with the Kabals allied to Vect. Thebattle was costly bleeding House Kallixian of the last vestiges of its true power but where her father was stubborn and inflexible, Alithrae was adaptable and utterly ruthless. All she saw was her inheritance being surrendered step by inevitable step. There was no future in resisting Vect, stronger Houses than Kallixian had already fallen victim to his meteoric rise and his power grew with each new subrealm conquered from his enemies.

In a swift and decisive blow Alithrae and her supporters murdered the Marquis and cut down any that stood to oppose her succession. Alithrae herself went to Vect and of her father’s satellite realm she made a gift to the Overlord. From the ashes of House Kallixian rose the Kabal of the Murderous Refrain. Whilst Alithrae held sway over a Kabal of her own her power had been bought at the cost of all her holdings but Alithrae’s ambitions lay further afield than the Dark City. She knew Vect would only allow a Scion of House Kallixian to survive whilst she was an irrelevance. She’s never gain any real power there as to do so would be to invite a score of daggers to her throat. House Kallixian maintained a modest fleet of ships and it was to these that Lady Alithrae took. Taking her leave of Commorragh the Kabal of the Murderous Refrain set out into the sea of stars.
An age of piracy followed, preying on the fledgling races of the galaxy to great profit but Lady Alithrae’s name only next appeared in the whisperings of Commorragh when the story spread of her having seized Nim’ileth. Alithrae herself rarely returns to Commorragh, when she does so her stay is short and often shrouded in secrecy but the vessels of the Kabals move between the Dark City and Nim’ileth regularly; carrying goods, information and tribute.

High in the spires of the palace of Nim’ileth lies the jewel in the Kabal of the Murderous Refrain’s crown. The Choir, more than anything else the Kabal of the Murderous Refrain possesses, inspires jealous whisperings in Commorragh. Created by the rogue genius Milengeth at the behest of Lady Alithrae. The Choir is a thing of terrible splendour. Concentric circles of cribs restrain row upon row of slaves beneath an array of torture equipment. Each of the slaves has been honoured by the touch of Milengeth’s scalpels, having been the subject of the rogue haemonculus’ surgeries. Their vocal chords are all modified so that they can produce only one perfect note and nothing more. Different slave stock are selected for the natural timbre and tone that their forms provide and then modified to fit the Choir’s needs.

At the touch of a button the subject is wracked with torturous energy from the array above their heads and an amplifier activated to magnify their screams, now at the perfect pitch following the Haemonculus’ ‘tuning’ surgeries. Like a maniacal pianist the Haemonculus moves from button to button blending the screams of his victims into a symphony of pain. When a ‘note’ in the choirc is burnt out another slave will undergo the necessary surgeries to replace them.
Whilst Milengeth is the genius behind the creation of this vile device it was Lady Alithrae that commissioned the Haemonculus’ magnum opus and it is she who basks in the symphony of music and pain that it produces – enervating her and those she honours by inviting them to enjoy a recital.

Recently accepted delivery of the first wave of the Craftworld army too:

Lots to be getting on with! Expect further updates soon!