Today learn of the masters of darkness and shadow – the dread Mandrakes of the Drukhari and their undying master – Kheradruakh.
Drukhari Mandrake Basics
A Mandrake is a type of Drukhari native to the region of Commorragh known as Aelindrach. Mandrakes are often cannibalistic and wild, living separate from other Drukhari.
A Mandrake’s physique has adapted to make himself or herself camouflaged almost anywhere. They have evolved the so-called shadow-skin, which makes them nigh-invisible out of direct light. They also exist within a different reality itself and are capable of entering into reality straight out of another person’s shadow. No-one knows how this dramatic change has occurred, not even their Drukhari kin. While the shadowskin could be just the result of warp exposure, other theories exist. Some consider them to be the very shadows brought to life, while others claim that Mandrakes are the descendants of a forbidden cult that found a way to pass into shadow to avoid the Fall, yet other rumors tell of a union between Eldar and Unholy Entities created when the Eldar Empire was at it’s most decadent. Other rumors hold that the first Mandrakes were created by Haemonculi employed by the Wych Cult of Grief.
One thing that is known about the Mandrakes is their lethality. Even the brutal denizens of Commorragh fear these creatures, and they are known for their ability to hunt down any quarry. Younger Drukhari call Mandrakes “creepers”, whispering that they can slink from one shadow and to another. They strike from the shadows, surprising and rending their enemies apart with Glimmersteel Blades, with strength more often associated with Orks, rather than the Eldar. These weapons, and an assortment of other hooked blades wielded by Mandrakes, are used to extract the maximum amount of pain from their foes. Mandrakes can then channel these stolen energies into a blast of cold fire that roars out of their claws to freeze victims in place, which are then rendered perfect for capture.
Mandrake Hierarchy
Mandrakes have a unique hierarchy that only themselves understand :
- Nightfiend, the leader of a Mandrake unit, a being whose presence can cause its enemies’ blood to curdle.
- Abyssals, living conduits of the malign energy that resides in the tenebrous dimension of Aelindrach.
- The Chooser of the Flesh uses its baleblades to collect limbs in service of some arcane ritual.
- Dirgemaws haunt their foes with pareidolic projections in shadows and reflections, their wailing scream the last thing their target ever hears.
- Shadeweavers, Mandrakes that weaponise darkness, drowning areas in suffocating darkness and using their penumbral manipulation to bore tunnels through the very fabric of reality.
Kheradruakh – the Decapitator
Kheradruakh, also known as the Decapitator, is the long-lost monarch of the Mandrakes whose name literally translates to He Who Hunts Heads. A dark legend and patron saint of murder even in the eyes of other Mandrakes, he rules the shadow-realm of Aelindrach that now spills over into Commoragh.
Kheradruakh’s History
Kheradruakh has lived since at least the time of the Horus Heresy, who might once have been one of the Eldar race before becoming a Mandrake — believed by some to be the first and greatest. He made his lair in the slowly-expanding realm of Aelindrach in Commoragh, considering all creatures from other realms only as prey to be hunted.
For eight millennia, Kheradruakh killed seemingly at random, occasionally joining a realspace raid unexpectedly or working as an assassin for a steep price in souls. He would hunt his prey for decades across a dozen worlds if necessary, lying in wait for weeks to await the perfect moment to strike. He took the heads to his lair where he stripped them to the bone, smashing those that did not meet his requirements, but adding the few that did to one of the thousand niches in the hemispherical walls. Each skull, still containing an echo of the soul, stared at the same point above the central dais. During the Long Midnight in 891.M41, he claimed an unprecedented seven worthy skulls in only six cycles.
When the resurrection of El’uriaq, Tyrant of Shaa-Dom, triggered a Dysjunction that threatened to open the hole in reality in Kheradruakh’s lair before the collection was complete, Kheradruakh was disgusted by the part played by the Mandrake brother-kings Azoruakh and Xhakoruakh. He had no interest in their rivalry, viewing their thinking as tainted by the goals of outsiders and an affront to the nature of Aelindrach. Kheradruakh killed Azoruakh as he fled in defeat from his brother before retuning for Xakoruakh as well. Both were judged worthy, finding places directly opposite one another in Kheradruakh’s lair. With the conspiracy ended, the fabric between realities was stabilised, though Kheradruakh believed he sensed a stirring on the other side.
After the partial awakening of Ynnead created another massive Dysjunction that caused Commorragh to fall into chaos, Kheradruakh killed Archon Sythrac, claiming his head as the final skull required to bring the shadow-realm of the Mandrakes into the Dark City. For a dozen miles around the Decapitator’s throne, Commoragh became a sea of living shadow that consumed even daemons.
Like all Mandrakes, Kheradruakh has chameleonic shadow-skin, which combined with his exceptional skills of stealth makes him virtually invisible and allows him to slip out of the slightest shadow to ambush his prey. He has no eyes in his hollow sockets and an additional set of taloned arms, possibly the work of a Haemonculus. Kheradruakh’s unnatural senses allow him to interact with the shadow-skein of Aelindrach, detecting the deepest desires of others.
Learn More of the Dread Commorragh
No one truly leaves the Dark City
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I started BoLS Interactive in 2006. I’m a lifelong tabletop & RPG gaming enthusiast, and internet publisher working to entertain and inform my readers every day.
I’ve been playing RPGs and Tabletop Games since the 1970s. I’m been playing and covering Warhammer and Warhammer 40K for over 35 years.
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