Dark Elves
The Dark Elf race was born in war, a conflict that has continued for more than 5000 years. The roots of this terrible war lie with one being, Malekith, the Son of Aenarion, the first of the High Elf Phoenix Kings, and the mysterious and beautiful Seeress Morathi. He grew to be a mighty warrior and a great sorcerer. What no one knew was that Malekith had been secretly experimenting with the power of Dark Magic, and that his contact with its evil energies had corrupted him and created in him an overwhelming desire for supreme power. Due to the changes in Malekith's appearance and behaviour caused by his experiments with the Dark power, he was passed over for Phoenix King upon Aenarion's death and the crown of the Phoenix Kings was given to Bel-Shanaar.
Malekith finally claimed that Bel-Shanaar was a secret worshipper of the Chaos Gods, and then had him poisoned. Believing that all he now had to do was crown himself the new Phoenix King, Malekith marched into the Sacred Flame of the god Asuryan, the final test that each Phoenix King has to pass to prove their worthiness for the crown. The Flame of Asuryan would not suffer his polluted body to pass through it. Horribly scarred and burned, Malekith was cast back onto the side of the platform he had entered from.
Malekith and his followers fled to their stronghold in the mountains to the north of Ulthuan. Leaderless, the Elves did not purse. Frantic consultations were held and it was decided that the third Phoenix King was to be Imrik, who upon his succession took the name Caledor the first. Civil war raged throughout Ulthuan. It was a period of great confusion and conflicting rumour. Brother fought brother. In the far realms and colonies no one knew who the true King was, some spoke for Caledor, some spoke for Malekith. War raged, the two sides evenly matched. The followers of Malekith were numerous and well versed in sorcery, being descendents of those grim Elves who had followed Aenarion after he took up the Sword of Khaine. There were no fiercer warriors among Elven kind.
Malekith himself recovered his strength and called his armourers to him. With the aid of the sorcerers he had trained in the Arts of the Dark Magic, and Hotek, a renegade priest of Vaul, he forged a great suit of black armour, which would lend strength to his withered and fire-blasted body. To the brow of its great horned helm was welded the Circlet of Iron. On the day of its creation, he had his armourers fuse the suit directly to his body.
From this great conflict were born the Dark Elves of Naggaroth. These fell warriors in battle prefer to use guile and cunning to defeat their enemies, rather than pure brute force. Dark Elf armies have large numbers of the infamous Dark Elf Scouts and Dark Rider cavalry. These troops range ahead of the main army, spreading fear and confusion and reporting back with information on the enemy's deployment. If at all possible, the Dark Elves will use this information to draw the enemy into a trap or ambush.
Although the majority of Dark Elves are warriors by nature and inclination, this is not true for all of them. The Dark Elves are a race touched by magic power, and Dark Elf Sorcerers have become the ultimate masters of Dark Sorcery.
The Dark Elves worship the Bloody-Handed God, Khaine, or Khaela Mensha Khaine, as he is known in the Elven tongue. He is the Elf God of War, Murder, Hatred, and Destruction. He is the Destroying God, who represents to the Elves the fact that in order for there to be life, there must also be death. In order to have peace, there must also be war. In order to have happiness, there must also be suffering and sorrow. In order to have love, there must also be hatred and murder.
For the Dark Elves, there is only one god, Khaine, because in their lives there is only death, war, suffering, hatred and murder. They have no time for life, peace, happiness or love, and thus no time for the Elven Gods that represent these virtues. The Dark Elves have given themselves entirely to the worship of Khaine. They let their dark sides control their lives and actively seek oppurtunites to cause death and carnage. They revel in their wickedness and gratify it at every oppurtunity.
Within Dark Elf society, there are a number of religious cults commited to the dark rites of their god. Of these, the Witch Elves are by far the most numerous and renowned. They worship Khaine's warlike aspect, taking frenzied joy in the destructiveness and mayhem of bloody battle. They are the brides of Khaine, beautiful but deadly, cruel and uncaring, their bodies leath and strong.
The Dark Elves raid out of Naggaroth on the great Black Arks of Naggaroth. These great floating fortresses, which were at one time built upon mountains of solid rock, and are now the scourge of the seas. They are held together by titanic binding enchantments that allow them not only to float but to be navigated. They are the mightiest seagoing vessels in the Warhammer World. They are enormous sinister floating fortresses, covered in eldritch carvings which are painful to behold.
The Black Arks range across the oceans of the Warhammer World, bringing fear, terror and destruction with them. They make raids to capture the great many slaves used by the Dark Elves either to carry out the multitude of menial but vital tasks that no self-respecting Dark Elf would ever deem of performing or to serve as the living victims of the hideous rituals the Dark Elves carry out to honour Khaine.
All Dark Elves are subject to the rules for hatred when fighting High Elves. They also cause fear in Goblin units, unless the Goblins outnumber them 2 to 1. Both of these rules can be used to advantage.
The Cult of Pleasure
The Cult of Pleasure and the Brides of Khaine are the two most influental groups in Dark Elf politics. The worshippers of Khaine oppose the Cult of Pleasure as often as they can and work actively to twarth their plans. They see them as heretics that have betrayed Khaine. Of these the Brides of Khaine are the most numerous and influential. They are lead by the cruel and ancient Hag Queens whose bodies are as beautiful as their youngest sisters. They wield great power as the priestess of Khaine and their frenzied naked sisters is more than a match for a fully armoured warrior. The Brides of Khaine live in great temples scattered in the cities of Naggaroth, the main temple is located in Ghrond with the groups leader Hag Queen Crone Hellebron.
The Cult of Pleasure maintain that they were the first true Dark Elves and the ones that led the attack on their brethren. Since the time of the start of the Elven War their power have shrunk, particular because of their lack of warriors. The cult is far more interested in pursuing every whim and kind of pleasure that exist. Many Black Ark commanders belong to the Cult as their Arks are the forteress-palaces of the once proud cities of Naggarythe. Broken off from the world by the great tidal waves of the cataclysm as the Witch King tried to undo the spells that bound Realm of Chaos to the Northern Wastes.The slaves brought back by the Ark provide the Cult of Pleasure with far greater economic resources than their rivals. Although the wealthiest group they spend it all on hiring warriors to protect them, lavishly decorate their palaces and on the countless expensive pleasure seeking activites. The Cult do maintain strong ties with Slaanesh Chaos Champions and the Cults have quite a few bound Daemons. Their most prized Daemon is the much feared Keeper of Secret Ch´tai N´gyen who supply the cult with indepth reports of the Brides of Khaine as well as their other political enemies.
The Nobles of the Drucchi originate from the ruling houses of Naggarythe and they maintain that they are the true rulers of Narggaroth. They do not oppose the Witch King seeing him as their supreme leader but look down on the Brides of Khaine and the Cult of Pleasure. They lead the armies of the Elves of Naggaroth onto their breathren of Ulthuan or embark on Black Arks to raid far away countries. The elven Sorcerers are the mightiest of the whole world. But whereas the Sorcerers of Ulthuan strive to purity the Elves of Naggaroth seek out the deepest corners of their hearts for dark power. The sorcerers are often advisors and battle mages of the nobles. Some nobles are fully domminated by the sorcerers and sorcerers are known to encourage the younger sons to slay their father and thus elevating the Sorcerer in the process.
There are numerous cults and sects among the elven population. The Cult of Pleasure fled the persecution and war waged on them by their breahtren and settled themselves in the cold land of Naggaroth. The Cult of Pleasure were severely weakened over the years as it had thrived on the numerous recruits gained from the decadent society of the Elves of Ulthuan. A society that drove youths into seeking any kind of pleasure, preferable forbidden ones. The cult attracted few elder elves and warriors as they were too caught up in their own lives or battles to allow themselves to seek pleasure. True the warriors live life as each day would be, and sometime will be, their last day but they did not have the option of pursuing pleasure in the same way as city dwellers. They could find themselves marching to a battle site one day and on guard duty the next. After a victorious battle they would spend night of intence pleasure roaming the camp or city of their opponent. Although the Elves of Ulthuan were not particular bloodthirsty some warriors found that the thrill of chasing a small girl through her house wanting to buthcer her as he did her family were almost equal to the the thrill in the heat of battle. Many acts of cruelty was looked away from and many were not discovered, many fires were started to cover up these crimes and many a city were destroyed by them. Many informal warrior cults formed in the armies of the Elves of Ulthuan, not as well known or obvious as the Cult of Pleasure cult but becoming equally degenerated. When the flames of Asuryan rejected the righteous Phoenix King Malekith the warrior cults fled to Nagarythe with him fearing they would be made an example of. Some armies lost almost a third of their forces and in some cases up to half their officers, the cults had dug deep into the elven armies.
Today the warrior cults have blended into the Druchii society and few hold positions of power. They orginate from foot soldiers and not from the Noble houses of Nagarythe. The oldest warriors hold positions as detachment leaders or City Guard commanders and often command armies waging war far from Naggaroth. Many feel cheated due to their lack of power but many have been adopted by the Noble houses, though not being born into the house mean they are still barred from high positions. They are also barred from riding the fierce Cold Ones as they are reserved for the noble sons, instead they ride black elven steeds, although these long for blood and to crush foes almost as much as the Cold Ones. They also ride war chariots which cult warriors from Tiranoc brought with them as they fled.