Idoneth Deepkin

With their cyfar compasses and dowserchimes, the Soulscryers can map the dark corners of a being’s soul as well as those of the mortal realms, marking them out as navigators and priests among the Idoneth. Whether their quest leads towards spirit-plunder or along new paths of the whirlways, the Soulscryers divine the way. In addition, the Soulscryers can single out a battlefield’s richest quarry, illuminating them as a prime target. In combat, they arm themselves with finger-claws made from razor-sharp Allopex teeth. They are also accompanied by Scryfish shoals, etherfish that help point the way and vigorously attack foes with the spikes jutting from their jaws.

It is the Tidecasters who conjure the phantasmal sea that allows aelf and aquatic beast to move and breathe as if they were in their own natural environment. They are able to conjure spells from the repressed anguish of the Idoneth, the curse that echoes still from their ancestors’ torture within Slaanesh. Such magics take the form of crushing waves of despair, black pits of hopelessness or raging maelstroms of horror that shatter the minds of the foe, leaving them open to attacks from the Namarti and Akhelians. So potent are these enchantments that some victims believe themselves to be trapped underwater, causing them to drown in their own fear and sorrow.

Namarti Reavers provide the archers and scouts for the Idoneth Deepkin phalanxes. The Akhelians recognise the need for reconnaisance, picket forces and massed missile fire, but regard such duties as beneath them – thus, the Reavers are assembled from the quickest and lithest of the Namarti. Their weapons training concentrates upon how to swiftly aim and fire the silent whisperbow, as well as how to defend themselves with short keening blades designed for stabbing. In battle the Namarti Reavers move quickly, probing defences, seeking out vulnerable quarry and harrying the enemy’s most formidable war assets, providing a distraction as the Akhelians line up their devastating charges.

Gifted with the spirit-sight and keen analytical minds, the Soul Wardens keep a tally of interred souls, tending to them and calculating how many are needed for certain tasks. Ordinarily they do not accompany the phalanxes to war, but there is one exception – Lotann of the Ionrach. Such is Lotann’s obsessive commitment to his duty, his willpower stains the ethersea, a presence that inspires the Idoneth to fight with heightened zeal. His highly intelligent multi-limbed Ochtar familiar aids him in his task of scribing his catalogue of souls, by keeping aggressors at bay with a serrated blade and spiked cudgel.

No troops exemplify the Idoneth Deepkin way of life more than the Akhelian Guard. Mounted atop Fangmora Eels, they fight in a loose formation ideal for rapid assaults and sudden retreats, typifying the hit-and-run style of war common amongst the aelves of the depths. Morrsarr Guard are armed with volt-spears and galv-shields, channeling the powerful electrical energies of their Fangmora mounts into the tips of their spears, releasing the charge as a lethal short-range bolt. Some legends tell of Morrsarr Guard formations so large that the brightness of their combined biovoltaic blasts left the entire enemy army blinded and reeling.

At first they appear as spectral blurs in the ethersea, distant streamlined shapes that seem to materialise from nowhere. With powerful thrusts of their sickle-finned tails, the forms grow all too quickly as they launch their attack. Sleek, muscular and built for dealing death, Allopexes are legendary predators of the deep oceans. Attracted to blood, they feed upon anything they can fit into their large jaws. The mouth of an Allopex is lined with serrated triangular teeth, razor-edged saws which can bite man-sized holes in prey. With blades attached to their fins and riders manning harpoon launchers atop their backs, the Allopex is a living weapon of war.