The complete rules for Theme Forces can be found in WARMACHINE: Prime Mk II. The complete rules for contracts can be found in Forces of WARMACHINE: Mercenaries. Exulon ThExusWIll OF DARkNESS. Downloads: 31919: Price: Free*. Khador is one of the great military powers of Western Immoren with armed forces that have shifted from fighting skirmishes with rival nations to invading and occupying new territories. Khador is one of the eponymous Iron Kingdoms and one of the main factions in Warmachine. The single largest 'jack in.

Cygnar are the 'good guys' of the Warmachine setting (occasional war crimes and subjugation of minority groups aside). They are one of the most technologically advanced Factions and were the first human nation to create Warjacks. In terms of gameplay, Cygnar is one of the best ranged factions in the game.

Situated in the middle of western Immoren, Cygnar is the crown jewel of the Iron Kingdoms. Cygnar has the largest population, the best arcane mechaniks, the most resources, and the best gunsmiths in all of Immoren. Despite these advantages, they are beset on all sides by enemies who would tear it all down if they could.

Cygnar’s military prides itself on having the most disciplined and best-trained soldiers in western Immoren, as well as providing them with the resources and equipment to overcome nearly any challenge. It has earned a reputation for defeating its enemies even while outnumbered, with an emphasis on the quality rather than the quantity of its infantry and warjacks. Cygnar’s warjacks have a wide range of capabilities and incorporate sophisticated military-grade cortexes that make them highly effective whether controlled by warcasters or ’jack marshals. The army has changed considerably in recent years to incorporate gains from industrialization and mechanika and now stands at the cutting edge of technological ingenuity applied to the arts of war.

• 1Cygnar for Beginners
• 2Theme Forces
• 3Models

Faction Aesthetic & Playstyle

Aesthetically the models are 'modern steampunk' - while other factions might utilise occult relics or the faith of their god, Cygnar applies a form of science to make their equipment as good as it can be. They've still got steam powered robots, pistons, and valves, but it's all a bit more refined than other factions. There's a lot of stuff which is reminiscent of early electrical devices, too.

In terms of playstyle, Cygnar is a mixed arms faction that heavily favors shooting, including lots of buffs and special effects for their ranged weaponry to represent their high-tech armaments. They aren't slouches in melee either, with many models having access to decent POW. Cygnar units often have issues with survivability and that is where their plethora of spell support comes in, with many warcasters having access to either Blur or Arcane Shield.

Their signature element is lightning, that often provides the disruption status effect. Disruption makes warjacks drop their focus and prevents allocation next turn as well, giving them a better matchup vs Warmachine armies than Hordes, where the disruption effect will be useless. Lightning can do more than just disrupt however, with many models with the element having the Electro-Leap special rule, where a lower POW lightning bolt will chain to the closest models (both allied and enemy, ignoring the attacking model) and automatically hit them. To go along with this, many of the models in Cygnar have immunity to lightning, allowing them to shoot near to friendly models without fearing it will 'bounce' lightning into your own forces. Though you cannot use these models to bounce lightning into high defense and stealth models, you can still target lumbering, low DEF targets to catch frail pieces standing nearby.

Cygnar's warcasters mostly focus on buffing models defence and ranged attacks, having few debuff spells and normally only one offensive attack. Also don't expect Cygnar warcasters to go on a killing spree through swathes of enemy models. Although Stryker2, Caine and Haley all have powerful assassination runs, they are fragile casters that are weak to retaliation.

Cygnaran warjacks generally have average ARM, and slightly higher than average DEF, which may give poor accuracy models trouble hitting them. Where they shine is their above average SPD and their High accuracy in both ranged and melee combat.

Warcaster thoughts

Cygnaran Warcasters are generally support based. Rarely will they ever rely upon slinging offensive spells, although we do sport some good ones. Being a strongly ranged faction, every caster except one has some kind of ranged weapon, and several are capable of scary amounts of firepower, including Sloan, allthreeCaines and Nemo3. That isn't to say our casters can't hold their own in melee, with Stryker2 able to attain the highest unassisted P&S in the game, and Sturgis being able to have 16 attacks in melee. Overall, Cygnar casters are a varied and balanced bunch, and can offer any play style, from all jacks to infantry swarm to simply gunning down the enemy army to controlling time itself.

Warjack thoughts

Cygnaran Warjacks are a well rounded bunch. Their stats are middling for jacks - They aren't as heavily armored as Khador jacks, not as swift as Cryx jacks, and don't sport the bevy of weapons Retribution jacks do. However, they do all of those things well, though not great. Because of the solid statline, we enjoy a jack for every season. Defenders are the premier shooting jack in the game, Centurions can hold zones like you wouldn't believe, Hammersmiths beat things into the ground until they stop moving, and Stormclads have a well rounded package combining survivability, efficiency, hitting power and versatility.

Light warjacks follow some of the same themes seen in heavy jacks, though with more of a combat support bent. Sentinels provide shield guard and crowd control, Fireflies buff our lightning attacks, and Chargers and Hunters excel at being focus efficient, ranged monsters.

Cygnar's character jacks take everything above, and dial it up. All of them are seen as balanced and worth taking, and most don't rely on their bond to be useful, which means they often work into many different lists. Special shoutout to Thorn, who is probably the best arc node in the game, and was often taken with 'casters who don't need one, solely because his combat abilities are so useful. Note, that most of the theme lists won't allow you to take not-bonded character jacks. Weigh the option, whether the loss of free solos and theme benefits are worth the inclusion of that given jack.

In terms of colossals, the Stormwall might very well be the best colossal in the game. Only 3 models in the game cost 39 points, the mercenary Galleon, and both Cygnar colossals. Being the most expensive model to include in your army should come with certain expectations, and the Stormwall and Hurricane can actually deliver. Cygnar colossals boast fantastic firepower, excellent melee, and good survival (especially when paired with Arcane Shield from a warcaster or journeyman). What sets them apart might be their ability to pressure scenarios. The Lightning Pods available to the Stormwall allow you to contest or even capture scenario objectives from great distances at little risk to your important units. The Hurricane's abilities are a little more niche, but against fliers or models susceptible to its knock down, it can achieve amazing results.

Starter Sets

Mk3 Battlegroup Set

Contents: Maddox warcaster, Lancer light warjack, Firefly light warjack, and an Ironclad heavy warjack. Plus a bunch of peripheral stuff (see picture).

This one is good for the so called '0 pts battles', when only the caster and his/her battlegroup fights. This, though not balanced between the factions, allows you to get familiar with the main concepts of the game, and the faction's specialities. As for Cygnar, it is supporting upkeeps for range, defence and mobility, and a feat for increasing damage. It also provides you means to arc your spells, and to learn some of the electricity-based tricks of the faction.

Two Player Battlebox

Contents: Same as the Mk3 Battlegroup Set, plus a unit of Stormguard, plus a bunch of Cryx models (that you can give or sell to a friend).

This enters you into the realm of units, with all their extra rules. As the enemy will likely field units of their own, Electro Leap will play a more pronounced role. This typical Cygnar gimmick is much better suited to damage single wound, medium ARM targets, than warjacks and beasts of the initial battlegroup-heavy fights.

The Mk2 Battlegroup Set (limited availability)

Contents: Stryker1 warcaster, Lancer light warjack, Charger light warjack, and an Ironclad heavy warjack.

You may not be able to find this any more, as it has gone out of production. This set foregoes the electric stuff and concentrates on Cygnar's shooty side, plus its extensive upkeeps. All of the faction's staple support spells can be found in Stryker1's arsenal, most notably Arcane Shield, Blur and Snipe. Stryker has a really strong defensive feat, with which he can offer a more forgiving gameplay in the initial stages of the game, than Maddox does. He also has a pop & drop assassination trick in his sleeve, and in later games he can be a cornerstone if the Cygnar brick lists too, mainly consisting Colossi and some cavalry. Due to point adjustments this box is 1 pts over his warjack points.

2017 Cygnar Army Box (limited availability)

Contents: Sloan warcaster, Charger light warjack, two Defender heavy warjacks, a unit of Trencher Infantry along with their command and weapon attachments, Captain Maxwell Finn solo, and Reinholdt a mercenary attachment for Sloan.

You may not be able to find this any more, as it has gone out of production. It is advised more for veterans who pick up a new faction, or for really committed newbies, as this box unleashes the whole rulebook upon you - from units to power attacks and solos. Its 50 points limit is slightly below the most popular 75 pts tournament formats, but prepares you well for such a challenge.

Cygnar Trencher Theme Force

Contents: A unit of Trencher Infantry along with their command and weapon attachments, a Trencher Cannon Crew unit, Trencher Master Gunner solo, Patrol Dog solo, and Commander Anson Hitch solo

This one is designed to add on to one of the other starter sets, rather than be one all by itself - you'll note it doesn't include a warcaster or any warjacks.

Other good early purchases

Whichever way you go from your initial purchase, these should be high on your to-buy list because they a) are available in multiple themes and b) are good at what they do.:

• Squire - This unarmed warcaster attachment can help you out tremendously. Free focus plus an increased CTRL area is something that nearly every caster will appreciate. It vies with other attachments like Reinhold or Sylys Wyshnalyrr but, for a start, it is definitely an OK choice.
• Captain Arlan Strangewayes - Ubiquitous repair solo and jack tuner; he can pump up one of your jacks with FOCUS to help out your caster.
• Journeyman Warcaster - Walking Arcane Shield provider, can vastly increase the survivability of your units.
• Field Mechaniks - Dirt cheap source for repairing; they'll keep your jacks and battle engine going.

Broken Egg Games - Product Placement BEG helps sponser Line of Sight, so here's a plug for some of their products You can get high quality acrylic tokens for all the spells, effects, abilities that Cygnar can use. You place these tokens next to the model(s) affected during your game. 2016 Base Set - USD$60 2017 Command Book Update Set - USD$14

Forces Of Warmachine Cygnar Pdf Free Download For Mac

Mercenaries
Cygnar has the widest access to Mercenary options of any Faction, but since themes only allow one Mercenary solo and one Mercenary unit, the amount of access is a bit moot. Cygnar typically leans on a few favourite support Mercs first and foremost.

• Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - Hands out pathfinder. Particularly useful for overcoming Storm Division's pathfinder issues.
• Ragman - Hands out a damage buff. With a lot of fairly average P+S values, even on Warjacks, Dark Shroud is very welcome. This is particularly true for Gravediggers.
• Lady Aiyana and Master Holt, plus Jonas Murdoch - Aiyana hands out a damage buff or magic weapons, and Holt brings a little bit of extra firepower. You'll need Jonas for Cygnar models to benefit fully from Aiyana, though.

Starting a Theme Force

Theme Forces 'compartmentalize' the full range of your Faction's models into smaller subsets that are thematically related to one another. By restricting yourself to a narrower range of models, you unlock additional in-game benefits which vary from theme to theme.

Theme Forces aren't compulsory, but the benefits of playing in-theme are so great that most players never play out-of-theme.

When you first start playing you should ignore theme forces, and just buy and play a few models you like the look of. Also, you can't even use Theme Force rules in games under 25 points.

However you should start looking into themes sooner rather than later, because otherwise you might end up owning, say, 80 points worth of models but can only field a 25 point theme force (because very little of your collection work together in the same theme). You should focus on collecting just one or two themes to begin with, not every single one in the Faction (unless you're a 'Collector Completionist').

If you're on a bit of a tight budget, you'll want to buy stuff that can fit into more than theme. Mostly this is just the support models, so I'm not suggesting you should buy all the models in the list below, but rather they're worth looking into.

• 4 themes
• 3 themes
• 2 themes

Flame in the Darkness

This theme is shared with Khador and Mercenaries - it allows you to mix models from all 3 factions. Although it doesn't allow you to take a Khador or Mercenary warcaster, your warcaster will get access to their warjacks.

This theme represents the Thamarite and Morrowan forces putting aside their ideological differences and teaming up to fight off the Infernal invasion.

Important Note: There are only a few Cygnar warcasters available in this theme.

Gravediggers

Trenchers form the highly-trained professional core of Cygnar forces.

The models allowed in Gravediggers are: [Show/Hide]

This list was last updated: 2017.09 (Edit)

Warcasters

• All Cygnar warcasters

Warjacks

• All non-character warjacks
• Other character warjacks can be taken, but only if they're in their bonded model's battlegroup.

Units

Solos

• Commander Anson Hitch
  ('Jack Marshal)
• Major Harrison Gibbs (★)
• Trencher Warcaster Lieutenant
  ('Junior' Warcaster)

Structures

Mercenaries

• Up to one unit
• Up to one solo

(★) Because Gibbs is specifically allowed in this theme, he doesn't use your 'Up to one Mercenary' slot.

Heavy Metal

Heavy Metal focuses on warjacks, limited to battlegroups and a few support models.

The models allowed in Heavy Metal are: [Show/Hide]

This list was last updated: 2018.04 (Edit)

Warcasters

• All Cygnar warcasters

Warjacks

• All non-character warjacks
• Other character warjacks can be taken, but only if they're in their bonded model's battlegroup.

Units

• Sword Knights
  ('Jack Marshal)

Solos

• Archduke Runewood
  ('Jack Marshal)
• Caine0
  ('Junior' Warcaster)
• Captain Arlan Strangewayes
  ('Jack Marshal)
• Harlan Versh (★)
• Jakes1
  ('Junior' Warcaster)
• Journeyman Warcaster
  ('Junior' Warcaster)
• Major Harrison Gibbs (★)
• Squire
  (Warcaster Attachment)
• Trencher Warcaster Lieutenant
  ('Junior' Warcaster)
• Viktor Pendrake (★)

Battle Engines

Mercenaries

• Up to one unit
• Up to one battle engine

(★) Because these models are specifically allowed in this theme, they don't use your 'Up to one Mercenary' slot.

Sons of the Tempest

This theme is for the half-wizard pistoleers of Cygnar.

Warmachine Cards Pdf

The models allowed in Sons of the Tempest are: [Show/Hide]

This list was last updated: 2018.06 (Edit)

Warcasters

• All Cygnar warcasters

Warjacks

• All non-character warjacks
• Character warjacks can be taken, but only if they have a bond and they're in their bonded model's battlegroup.

Units

Solos

• Caine0
  ('Junior' Warcaster)
• Captain Arlan Strangewayes
  ('Jack Marshal)
• Journeyman Warcaster
  ('Junior' Warcaster)
• Squire
  (Warcaster Attachment)

Mercenaries

• Up to one unit
• Up to one solo

Storm Division

Warmachine Khador Warcasters

Storm Knights are the elite soldiers of Cygnar, armed with the latest technological improvements.

The models allowed in Storm Division are: [Show/Hide]

This list was last updated: 2019.05 (Edit)

Warcasters

• All Cygnar warcasters

Warjacks

• All non-character warjacks
• Other character warjacks can be taken, but only if they're in their bonded model's battlegroup.

Units

Solos

• Captain Arlan Strangewayes
  ('Jack Marshal)
• Stormblade Captain
  ('Jack Marshal)
• Journeyman Warcaster
  ('Junior' Warcaster)
• Jakes1
  ('Junior' Warcaster)
• Savio Montero Acosta (★)
• Squire
  (Warcaster Attachment)

Battle Engines

Mercenaries

• Up to one unit
• Up to one solo

(★) Because these Savio is specifically allowed in this theme, he doesn't use up your Mercenary slot.

Unreleased Models

Last Updated: 2019.05

Warcasters

Blaize1 Constance Blaize, Knight of the Prophet (Partisan) Brisbane1 Major Markus ‘Siege’ Brisbane Brisbane2 Colonel Markus ‘Siege’ Brisbane Caine0 Refer to Cygnar solos, below Caine1 Lieutenant Allister Caine Caine2 Captain Allister Caine Caine3 Caine's Hellslingers (Partisan) Darius1 Captain E. Dominic Darius & Halfjacks Haley1 Captain Victoria Haley Haley2 Major Victoria Haley Haley3 Major Prime Victoria Haley Jakes1 Refer to Cygnar solos, below Jakes2 Captain Allison Jakes

Kraye1 Captain Jeremiah Kraye Maddox1 Major Beth Maddox Nemo1 Commander Adept Nemo Nemo2 General Adept Nemo Nemo3 Artificer General Nemo & Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Finch Sloan1 Captain Kara Sloan Stryker1 Commander Coleman Stryker Stryker2 Lord Commander Stryker Stryker3 Lord General Coleman Stryker Sturgis1 Commander Dalin Sturgis Sturgis2 Refer to Cryx warcasters Vinter-1 Vinter the Undefeated(Not tournament legal)

Warjacks

Light Character Light Ace - (Bonded to Caine) Thorn - (Bonded to Haley) Colossal

Heavy Character Heavy Brickhouse - (Bonded to Maddox) Dynamo - (Bonded to Nemo) Gallant - (Bonded to Constance) (Partisan) Ol' Rowdy - (Bonded to Stryker) Thunderhead - (Bonded to no one) Triumph - (Bonded to Siege)

Battle Engines & Structures

Forces Of Warmachine Cygnar Pdf free download. software

Units

• Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
  • CA - Officer ('Jack Marshal)
• Long Gunner Infantry
  • CA - Officer & Standard
• Order of Illumination Resolutes - (Partisan)
• Order of Illumination Vigilants - (Partisan)
• Legion of Lost Souls - (Partisan)
• Precursor Knights - (Partisan)
  • CA - Officer & Standard
• Stormblade Infantry
  • WA - Storm Gunners
  • CA - Officer & Standard ('Jack Marshal)
• Sword Knights
  • CA - Officer & Standard ('Jack Marshal)
• Trencher Commandos
  • WA - Scattegunner
  • CA - Officer
• Trencher Infantry
  • WA - Rifle Grenadiers
  • CA - Officer & Sniper

Special Unit Attachments

• Ranking Officer - Captain Jonas Murdoch
• Weapon Attachment - Morrowan Battle Priest - (Partisan)

Solos

• Archduke Runewood - ('Jack Marshal)
• Captain Arlan Strangewayes - ('Jack Marshal)
• Commander Anson Hitch - ('Jack Marshal)
• Glyn Cormier, Illuminated One - (Partisan)
• Grand Master Gabriel Throne - (Partisan)
• Harlan Versh, Illuminated One - (Partisan)
• Journeyman Lieutenant Allister Caine - ('Junior' Warcaster)
• Journeyman Warcaster - ('Junior' Warcaster)
• Lieutenant Allison Jakes - ('Junior' Warcaster)
• Major Harrison Gibbs - (Partisan)
• Squire - (Warcaster Attachment)
• Stormblade Captain - ('Jack Marshal)
• Trencher Master Gunner - ('Jack Marshal)
• Trencher Warcaster Lieutenant - ('Junior' Warcaster)
• Viktor Pendrake - (Partisan)

Refer to Who works for Whom and/or Category: Cygnar Mercenary

Refer to the Lexicanum article on Cygnar (this link will take you to a separate fan-site).

Forces Of Warmachine Cygnar Pdf

TRANSCRIPT

• Credits

  2

  WARMACHINE created and designed byMatthew D. WilsonLead Designer, WARMACHINE Jason SolesDesigner, CephalyxDavid CarlProject DirectorBryan CutlerCreative DirectorEd BourelleLead WriterDouglas SeacatWritingMatt DiPietroMatt GoetzWilliam ShickAdditional WritingAeryn RudelJason SolesContinuityDouglas SeacatJason SolesEditorial ManagerDarla KennerudEditingDan HendersonDarla KennerudGraphic Design DirectorJosh MandervilleGraphic Design & LayoutRichard AndersonBryan CutlerShona FahlandMatt FerbracheLaine GarrettJosh MandervilleArt DirectorMike VaillancourtCover IllustrationAndrea UderzoIllustrationsNick KayRaphael LbkeNstor OssandnAndrea UderzoLead Concept ArtistNick KayStudio DirectorRon KruzieStaff SculptorsBrian DugasDoug HamiltonMichael JenkinsBen MisenarAdditional SculptingSteve SaundersStudio ModelersNate ScottJames A. Thomas

  Miniature PaintersMatt DiPietroGeordie HicksStudio Administration AssistantCharles Foster IIIHobby Manager & TerrainStuart Spengler Hobby & Terrain SpecialistMichael ArcherPhotographyMatt FerbracheProject ManagerShona FahlandLicensing & Contract ManagerBrent WaldherPresidentSherry YearyChief Creative OfficerMatthew D. WilsonDirector of Business & Branding DevelopmentWilliam ShickExecutive AssistantMichelle HortonMarketing ManagerLyle LoweryWeb/IT ProfessionalMicah Scott RalstonRetail Support & DevelopmentCharles AgelConvention CoordinatorMichael PlummerMarketing CoordinatorSimon Berman Organized Play & Volunteer CoordinatorWilliam HungerfordQuartermaster AssistantDianne FerrerCustomer ServiceAdam JohnsonCustomer SupportJustin CottomGabriel WaluconisWriting & Continuity ManagerDouglas SeacatVideo ProducerTony KonichekPublications ManagerAeryn RudelNo Quarter EIC Michael G. RyanNo Quarter AssistantMichael Sanbeg

  Director of OperationsJason MartinProduction DirectorMark ChristensenMold ManagerKelly YeagerPacking/Shipping ManagerJoe LeeVendor CoordinatorGeoffrey KonkelMetal Casting SupervisorMarcus RodriguezLead Quality ControlCody EllisProduction Jon AdamsMark ArreolaOren AshkenaziRyan BaldonadoNelson BaltzoFelisha BolzenthalThomas CawbyJohan CeaHenry ChacChris CrespoBryan DasallaAlfonso FalcoJoel FalkenhagenJuanita Garcia-LovatoMaddie GillTrevor HancockMike HarshbargerArmond HaydelBryan KlemmNick LaraMark LawsonChris LesterDavid LimaClayton LinksKeith LoreeChristopher MatthewsBryan McClaflinMike McIntoshChris McLeroyAntonio MoraReece NashPhuong NguyenBo OlthoffScott PaschallSoroth PehnAntwan PorterSam RattanavongErik ReiersenJohn RothRob SeamountJesse SterlandTu ThanhChris TiemeyerBen TracyDara VannMatt WarrenMichele Wheeler

  Development ManagerDavid CarlRoleplaying Game Producer Matt GoetzGame DeveloperWilliam SchoonoverPlaytest CoordinatorJack ColemanInfernalsPeter GaublommeJohn MorinGilles ReynaudD. Anthony RobinsonDonald SullivanInternal PlaytestersEd BourelleDavid CarlLeo CarsonJohan CeaJack ColemanCody EllisBill FrenchWilliam HungerfordTony KonichekChris LesterLyle LoweryBryan MaclaflinChris McLeroyMichael PlummerErik ReiersonWilliam SchoonoverWilliam ShickJason SolesJacob StanleyJesse SterlandGabriel WaluconisMatt WarrenExternal PlaytestersRay BaileyAlice BettoliCody BrownCorey BrownPeter GaublommeTommy GeunsAndrew HartlandKristin HartlandThomas HoffmanFederico IngrossoStu LimingKlass LuyckxWout MaerschalckJames MorelandShane PhilippiDirk PintjensAndrew ReadyOwen RehrauerJosh SaulterTim SimpsonProofreadingDavid CarlDan HendersonGeoffrey KonkelWilliam Shick

• Visit: www.privateerpress.comPrivateer Press, Inc. 13434 NE 16th St. Suite 120 Bellevue, WA 98005 Tel (425) 643-5900 Fax (425) 643-5902For online customer service, email frontdesk@privateerpress.comThis book is printed under the copyright laws of the United States of America and retains all of the protections thereof. All Rights Reserved. All trademarks herein including Privateer Press, Iron Kingdoms, Full Metal Fantasy, Immoren, WARMACHINE, Forces of WARMACHINE, Steam-Powered Miniatures Combat, Convergence of Cyriss, Convergence, Cygnar, Cryx, Khador, Protectorate of Menoth, Protectorate, Retribution of Scyrah, Retribution, warjack, warcaster, HORDES, Forces of HORDES, Monstrous Miniatures Combat, Circle Orboros, Circle, Legion of Everblight, Legion, Skorne, Trollbloods, Trollblood, warbeast, Formula P3, Formula P3 Hobby Series, and all associated logos are property of Privateer Press, Inc. This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is purely coincidental. No part of this publication may be stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form without written permission from Privateer Press. Duplicating any portion of the materials herein, unless specifically addressed within the work or by written permission from Privateer Press, is strictly prohibited. In the event that permissions are granted, such duplications shall be intended solely for personal, noncommercial use and must maintain all copyrights, trademarks, or other notices contained therein or preserve all marks associated therewith. The process for converting living, breathing people into mindless drudge servants is agonizing, insufferable, and definitely morally abhorrent. Unless it is affecting copyright violators, in which case it is perfect. First digital edition: August 2014.

  Forces of WARMACHINE: Cephalyx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PIP 1057e

  3

  table of ContentsA BAttle of Wills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

  Will to DominAte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

  CephAlyx Rules & theme foRCe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

  moDel entRies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

  pAinting guiDe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

  moDel gAlleRy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

  faCtion baCkgroundLurking deep below the earth, the dreaded and inscrutable beings called cephalyx tirelessly perform diabolical experiments on their captives within blood-soaked laboratories. Masters of powerful psychic energies and advanced surgery, the cephalyx shape both the minds and bodies of lesser creatures to suit their sinister agenda.

  The society of these purely cerebral beings depends on a steady influx of living prisoners for use as experimental test subjects and to become heavily modified laborers and warrior slaves within their vast underground hives. The need for fresh flesh leads these alien beings to emerge for raids against the people of the Iron Kingdoms. Innocent victims are hauled away and soon find themselves strapped to cold metal operating tables before receiving the cruel surgical ministrations of their new masters.

  Once a subjects will has been cut away and the body altered and augmented through cephalomekthe cephalyxs hybrid of surgery and engineeringa victim becomes a wholly enslaved drudge. Some are selected for more extensive procedures and are transformed into hulking monstrosities. These enslaved creatures are sent forth by their masters to help capture their fellow countrymen, who will endure the same horrifying fate.

  Playing CePhalyxCephalyx armies have two distinct elements: the Cephalyx themselves and their mind slaves (the drudges and monstrosities). With high STR and ARM values, the mind slaves function as the muscle for the army, while the Cephalyx function as the armys brain. They act as nodes of influence and power that radiate outward to their hapless slaves. The armys duality extends to its operation on the table as well.

  Cephalyx leaders are all about control and manipulation. Whether its a Mind Bender channeling spells through its drudges, an Agitator empowering all nearby drudges and monstrosities to hit harder, or Exulon Thexus telekinetically moving nearly every model on the table at once to clear charge lanes, disrupt unit coherency, or redefine the control of scenario objectives, Cephalyx excel at influence and exploitation.

  The drudges and monstrosities, on the other hand, are the factions tools. Whereas the Cephalyx deal in subtlety and dominance, the mind slaves embody raw force and brutality. They wield their strength in utter deference to their masters, often suffering damage in their place to keep the Cephalyx war machine intact.

  Enslave lesser creatures to your indomitable will and lay waste to those who would hinder your plans!

  a Mind is a terrible thing to lose

• 4The powerful pulsing heart fueling the Foundry of Astroseismology was buried deep within the soil and rock of Caen, deeper even than the halls and workshops to which it fed its energies. It occupied a massive expanded cylindrical crevice that soared hundreds of feet above the foundry and plunged thousands of feet below it, into the very mantle of Caen. The monolithic tower formed a perfect concentric circle within the wider chamber around it. Pale blue light shone from various nodes and conduits upon the structures metallic surface, illuminating the darkness and pulsing to the rhythmic thrum of machinery.

  Exulon Thexus floated alone above a steel platform ringing the titanic machine the Cyrissists called a nexus generator. The multiple lenses on the helm encasing his bulbous augmented brain glowed with their own light as he studied the machine heart of the Cyrissist facility. Once, this place had frustrated Thexus, the enigma of its creation and the means by which it functioned impenetrable even to his prodigious intellect. The mechanisms of the Convergence had always confounded the cephalyx, as though fundamentally incompatible with their understanding of science.

  On numerous occasions cephalyx had driven the Convergence from their machine lairs, seizing their power generators to use for themselves. They did not know how such machines operated, but they had learned how to exploit the flows of energy they produced. Yet every time, the machines eventually failed and could not be restored. Thexus hoped to break this cycle, to re-create Convergence power sources and make them his own. Others of his kind shunned such knowledge as tainted by Cyrissist methodologies, but Thexus saw this as ignorance. He intended to give his hive access to nearly inexhaustible energy, which would afford them the leverage and strength they needed to attain unrivaled supremacy. If Thexus achieved this, his dominance over the other exulons would be assured.

  Thexus let his attention return to the battle that raged above in the foundry complex. Such was his ability that he could clearly discern the emotionally broadcast surface thoughts of the enemy. Fear, pain, anger, loss, bravery, sacrifice, deatheach was a note amid a cacophonous maelstrom, one he found stimulating rather than overwhelming.

  The humans fought to save their fellows from his grasp, reacting to the survival instinct every living thing knew. Such creatures were pitiful in their unthinking resistance. Each believed the illusion of free will, while true autonomy was impossible for such lesser minds. Though they would never accept it, they were better off as drudges or monstrosities within a hive, where their lives could at least be useful, where the endless possibility in their malleable

  a battle of Wills

  flesh could be exploited. He could increase muscle mass and size to incredible proportions through electrical and alchemical stimulation. He could fortify bone to be as resilient as steel. He could augment reaction time through manipulating and rerouting autonomic nervous systems. He could rapidly grow and expand dermal thickness and surface area to suit alterations in form while making skin almost impervious. Finally and most importantly, he could restructure the brain and give such creatures a better purposefulfillment through autonomic obedience to the cephalyx. No more would the anxieties of a weak and only partially sentient mind trouble them.

  Cryxian necrotechs and necrosurgeons had some intimation of the energy potential of organic structures. Thexus had watched them within their necrofactoriums beneath the Thornwood with amusement. Their necromancy was interesting but flawed. The true power was not within rotted putrefaction but rather in living tissue, within the electrical firing of neurons, the endothermic heat of mitochondrial reactions, and the pumping of blood through the cardiovascular system as it delivered precious fuel to the organs. Death robbed flesh of its potential.

  Thexus and his subordinates had been here for years, repurposing the Cyrissist machines for their hive, which was centered below the Thornwood. The few hundred humans and their warjacks far above were a mere annoyance compared to the force Thexus could summon. But there was something else above, something on the fringes of his telepathic range that was elusive and yet familiar. It scratched at the periphery of his awareness.

  The mental voice of Overlord Crathos reached him.

  Initiating contact with an exulon without permission was a potentially deadly breach in etiquette for the lower castes. An offending cephalyx might have his mind instantly obliterated for failing to show proper deference.

  Thexus acknowledged the overlord with the briefest of thoughts, then lowered his mental barriers to allow the lesser cephalyx to reach into the outermost folds of his mind. The two established a stronger information conduit. Words were highly inefficient for any significant transfer of information, and Crathos had much to share. Thexus experienced a flood of the overlords recent memories.

  So Lucant returns to reclaim what he lost, Thexus thought. He now recognized what had been disturbing his telepathic sensesthe clockwork minds of the Convergence of Cyriss, led by one he had faced in battle before. They were here in strength.

  the foundry of astroseisMology, beloW oCCuPied llael, 608 ar

• 5leave the chamber, thinking it would be unfortunate to lose the facility now, so close to his goal.

  eight years earlier (600 ar)Exulon Thexus drifted silently through the gloom of the Thornwood hive, threading his way along a labyrinthine system of tunnels many hundreds of feet beneath the surface of Caen. In his mind he could see the hives entire network of passages, a map recalled from long memory

  Nothing was more antithetical to the cephalyx than the Convergence, yet Thexus had been forced to scrutinize their work over many years. What he had discovered was disquieting but also tantalizing. Loathsome as they might be, their knowledge had to be confronted, not avoided, though he was alone among the exulons in believing this. Thexus pondered for a moment, listening to the mental emanations from those embattled above while focusing his gaze on the pulsing lights of the nexus generator.

  Even as a portion of his mind remained on those thoughts, he turned the majority of his attention to a small cylinder sitting upon one of the nearby consoles. It, too, glowed with its own light. Years ago that light had mirrored the soft blue luminance that permeated this facility; now it swirled with an angry mixture of orange and red.

  The exulon caressed the essence chamber with a tendril of his psyche. he mentally whispered. A red glow within the metal housing flared briefly. Thexus studied the essence chamber and its swirl of colors.

  Thexus telekinetically flicked switches and turned knobs across the control console in front of him. In response, the light within the essence chamber became an orange-red storm. As Thexus worked, he imparted commands to Crathos.

  Thexus finished his work and picked up the essence chamber with one of his spidery metal prostheses. Intense blue lights now blazed across the control console. He slowly turned to

• 6A BAttle of Wills

  and given vivid detail by his sublime intellect. He moved quickly, driven by an emotion he had not experienced for some time: excitement.

  Thexus reached a passageway branching off the main tunnel and followed it until it ended in a small chamber. The prison cell contained a low table fitted with manacles as well as an assortment of racks along the walls that held surgical tools equally adaptable to inflicting pain as to performing other procedures. They were displayed as much for their unsettling impact on the subject as for any pragmatic purpose, as this chamber was utilized primarily for the extraction of information from mortal minds. Thexus considered such physical ministrations crude but acknowledged they had their uses. Scouring lesser minds telepathically frequently resulted in irreparable damage to them.

  A priority subject was currently bound to the table. Overlord Crathos floated at the head of the table next to a pair of drudges. The augmented slaves were not equipped for combat. Instead their arms were fitted with more subtle instruments: barbed pincers, hooked scalpel-like blades, and spiked rods designed for agonizing penetration. The various implements wielded by Crathos himself were extended and ready over the subject.

  Opening the communication conduit, Thexus sent,

  Crathos telepathic greeting carried the appropriate respectful deference.

  Thexus floated to the foot of the table, his metal prostheses moving forward in anticipation around the large oblong metal encasement surrounding his skull. The bound human was an adult male with skin as pale as the attending drudges. He was a member of the Convergence, most of whom lived a subterranean existence as the cephalyx did. His body was strong, corded with muscle from years of labor hauling heavy equipment. That the Convergence subjugated its members to menial work was but one of their many loathsome aspects.

  The cephalyx had fought the Convergence for centuries; Thexus and his hive had warred with them many times. Their clockwork soldiers underwent an aberrant transformation into machinery, which served to put their minds beyond ordinary psychic manipulation. Fortunately it was a state they had to earn. The captive was an optifex, a priest. This was a high caste among them, but he was a junior member and had not made the transition to a machine body. Most of what the cephalyx had learned of the foe came from captives like this. His living brain awaited their perusal, and Thexus hungered to add its energies to his own.

  Crathos had removed the optifexs helmet, revealing a blunt-featured face beneath a shaven pate. The machine-priests

  eyes were fixed on the ceiling, and his mouth moved with silent words. Thexus extended a slender tendril of his psyche toward the optifex and encountered a barrier of mathematical theory repeated like a mantra or a prayer. The loop of dense formulae served to shield the mans deeper thoughts.

  Thexus noted.

  Crathos agreed.

  Thexus felt a surge of irritation that Crathos assumed he needed to resort to such crude methods. The overlord felt his displeasure, experienced as a roiling mental storm across the conduit between them. Crathos shrank back and offered mental obeisance.

  Thexus sent,

  He could have chosen to send the subjects brain to the preservers, a caste that could carefully slice and disassemble a mind to absorb its component pieces, but Thexus disdained those lowly beings and their slow methods. He preferred to handle the matter himself.

  Thexus reached out again with several sharper and stronger mental probes. The optifexs mind was strong, his conditioning with the Convergence impressive, but he was only human. The first probe was deflected, but before the barrier recovered, three more daggers of mental force thrust deeply through the priests outer mind, and his defenses crumbled. A wave of terror and revulsion rose within the optifex's mind and he writhed on the table. With another part of his intellect, Thexus had the drudges hold the man still. He burrowed deeper, picking up bits of information about the optifex as he did. The mans name: Hestus. Unimportant. His position: part of a minor directive within the Temple of the Prime Harmonic, recently transferred to a newer priority facility. Intriguing. Thexus wormed deeper still, and then he heard the man speak, giving voice to his torment for the first time.

  Will not . . . The voice was a ragged whisper, and the cords on the mans neck stood out with the strain of trying to fight off Thexus probing assault. Must not . . . Louder, more desperate. He was hiding something, guarding it.

  Thexus calmly exerted more pressure, slowly bringing additional tendrils of his towering intellect to bear against the inferior mind. He withheld his full psychic strength, as it would be quite easy to erase the mans mind utterly. A single stray surge of energy could sever delicate connections between neurons. The optifex still fought, trying to force Thexus out and keep something hidden. The attempt was feeble and did nothing more than damage his own brain. Thexus could feel blood vessels rupturing, and he quickly stemmed the bleeding while he simultaneously tapped into

• 7the mans neurochemistry and released endorphins and dopamine to calm his victim and make him more pliable.

  The teachings of the enemy saturated the optifexs thoughts and memories: the Nine Harmonics that were the sacred principles of his religion, the inner workings of dozens of clockwork vessel designs. Thexus found such information repulsive and misguided. The stamp of the Convergence was everywhere within the mans mind, a metaphysical stain that spoiled the pleasure of filtering for new information. Yet even this tainted consciousness held sustaining energies, which Thexus gathered to nourish his own mind. The more the optifex struggled, the more energy flowed to Thexus, like a draught of refreshing water after a long thirst.

  As he pushed aside the last vestige of the optifexs defenses, shattering what little remained of the mans identity, Thexus finally freed what the human was hiding. It came in a rush of images. The first was a huge machine, a tower of shining steel plunging deep beneath the earth. He already knew the name of part of this machinery; it was connected to several nexus generators, the power sources of Convergence facilities. There was something different about this configuration, however. The optifexs memories suggested tremendous demands for power at this place. The requirements of this facility necessitated the relaxing of certain engineering safety thresholds, a fact that excited Thexus, who had long sought to unlock the key to reverse engineering these devices. This facilitys nexus generators were vulnerable.

  He learned the name of the facility itself: the Foundry of Astroseismology. The subject did not understand its primary function, but what information he did possess flowed from the shattered husk of the optifexs psyche into Thexus ownnames, locations, strengths and weaknesses of the fortified complex, and hints that the defensive measures here were well within the capability of his hive to overwhelm.

  Thexus had what he needed. The optifex lay limp on the table, his head lolling to one side. His eyes were open, but they were glazed, unfocused; his brain was no longer capable of processing stimulus of any kind. Thexus flooded the mans brain with serotonin, inducing a coma. The exulon withdrew before the mans life force dwindled entirely.

  He sent to the overlord, In this condition, the subject would be useless for most experiments.

  Crathos asked.

  It was an impertinence, one Thexus might have used as an excuse to slay or punish the overlord. But he found himself in a forgiving mood. Instead, he deigned to reply,

  The assembly of the hives few exulons demonstrated the varied ways such higher cephalyx might augment themselves. Each of the six exulons had crafted his body over many decades, enhancing his form with closely guarded experimental processes. Such techniques could be shared as a means of political currency, but each exulon was wary of empowering his rivals. Every leading cephalyx considered himself a philosopher-surgeon, an artist of cephalomek, and the changes wrought both outwardly and inwardly upon his own body were the pinnacle of such work. Each exulon boasted formidable psychic capabilities, tremendous ambition, and a vast intellect.

  Although the exulons preferred to spend time overseeing their private projects free from the influence of peers, they periodically assembled to resolve issues affecting the collective hive. This was particularly necessary for military matters, including campaigns to expand the hives territory. Such efforts required consensus. It was for such a campaign that Thexus had called this assembly.

  He pushed his mental voice to broadcast his thoughts to all the exulons in the chamber. The crisis to which he referred had been a sharp downturn in the hives strength and power a few decades ago, one that had nearly destroyed it.

  Thexus selectively revealed the knowledge he had gained. The initial images were memories he had excised from the captured optifex. He allowed his fellow exulons to review the information from his mind, while at the same time using the mental connection with them to subtly probe their thoughts. He could feel the other exulons doing the same to him and the others. A multitude of subtle mental tendrils knotted and extended between them, probing and tangling in an unspoken skirmish war of mental influence,

• 8A BAttle of Wills

  which was customary for these gatherings. Few among the other exulons could match Thexus mental strength and precision, and it caused him little strain to avert their probes while sending out his own.

  Exulon Pyrexus was the first to be heard.

  Thexus felt agreement from the other exulons, threatening an immediate shift toward consensus against him. In the aggregate the others could overpower him, but as yet they lacked shared conviction. He chose to display his strength. Using the small footholds he had made while probing the others minds, he weakened their defenses so his telepathic voice could drown out theirs.

  Exulon Taciron came next. This was met with more agreement, a tightening and strengthening net of mental tendrils reinforcing one another.

  Thexus could sense the pleasure the others took at the chance to undermine him. He was losing the debate, but this was not a surprise. He had anticipated that the exulons who typically supported him would vote against him in this matter. To them it was a logical way to reign in his growing influence after his work to spearhead the alliance with Cryx had proven so beneficial to the hive.

  said Exulon Graximor. Thexus could taste the overconfidence in his longtime rivals thought.

  Thexus replied, savoring Graximors surprise at the statement. The prospect of his sudden retreat caused ripples and gaps throughout the closing mental net as others reevaluated. Consensus was forestalled.

  Thexus waited and monitored the ripples his proposal caused within the assembly. Two of his less-astute rivals immediately reversed themselves, seeing his proposal as a way to weaken him. Reminding the assembly of his current strength had been calculated to elicit this response. The shrewder exulons, however, were wary. They saw the calculated gamble for what it was. Thexus knew they were trying to determine his broader gambit. Despite their hesitation, a new rapidly interweaving structure of mental accord was falling into place. The other exulons continued to debate in rapid exchanges of thought, but Thexus already knew the outcome: consensus, with his thoughts dominant.

  Those exulons Thexus considered true rivals betrayed their unease. He felt particular satisfaction at their suspicion he had outmaneuvered them, though they could not see how. He almost regretted that they could not apprehend the full extent of his plans.

  He would take the Cyrissist complex alone, and its spoils and eventual production would be his to allocate. His plan was dangerous, but nothing of worth was gained without risk.

  Thexus watched with anticipation as his drudges continued to tunnel into the bedrock. The whine of drills biting into stone and the rhythmic thud of hammers filled his ears. There was no light within the tunnel, but the drudges were designed to work in the darkness of the hive and had no need of illumination. Thexus eyes could not see in the dark, but he was accustomed to seeing the world around him through the minds of his many slaves, including his monstrosities, each of which boasted sensory enhancements.

  They had been able to get close to their target position thanks to tunnels bored into this region a century ago as part of the hives gradual expansion before their fortunes had fallen. Above them on the surface world were mountains that occupied the northern portion of a human kingdom called Llael. His hive had already done population surveys of the nearby region in preparation for future raids. It had been during this reconnaissance they had stumbled upon a relatively new Convergence facility.

  Drudges equipped with the proper tools had been tunneling for weeks, working tirelessly within the hot, lightless confines of the earth. Thexus had mapped out a trajectory that would intersect with a section of the Convergence facility currently under development. The unfinished zone represented a vulnerability he intended to exploit. With no automated defenses or warning systems, the area would

  designed to Melt steel, the torChs flaMe reduCed the

  drudges exPosed skin to ash, revealing White bone beneath.

• 9be perfect for staging his invading force. Once established, Thexus subordinates could overwhelm the sentries before the Convergence could organize a proper defense. It was this knowledge that had convinced him victory was possible without the aid of the entire hive, whose numbers he would otherwise have required.

  Not for the first time since leaving the exulon assembly, Thexus enjoyed the anticipation of the gamble he had made in coming here. There was risk. Even if he was victorious in the short run, he could still face eventual defeat. Were he to lose too many resources, his position and influence among the assembly could be dangerously compromised. A remote facility like this would be manned almost entirely by clockwork soldiers and priests, with few living members. For the work he intended to do to convert this facility to his use he needed a large supply of able drudges. He had to rely on Cryx to provide these, lest he be forced to beg for support from the other exulons, giving them access to his hard-won reward. It was a precarious balance.

  Entire sections of his divided intellect were devoted to the planning of these future tasks, including calculating odds, contingencies, and possibleif unlikelyscenarios. Other sections of his mind were occupied with cephalomek projects still underway, which he had left in the hands of capable subordinates but which he feared his rivals might interfere with during his absence. There had been little else to occupy him over the many days of tunneling. That would soon end; the drudges were just minutes away from breaching the outer walls of the Convergence complex.

  He had the drudges at the front make way for a pair of warden monstrosities, which brought their own strength to bear on the wall. When his force broke through into the facility, the monstrosities would be in place to quickly neutralize any Convergence workers. An early alarm would be catastrophic.

  Thexus thoughts flowed into the monstrosities brains to activate adrenal glands and manipulate aggression responses. Through this connection Thexus felt thick strands of artificially grown muscle flexing and straining and the heady rush of blood pumping through enhanced vascular systems.

  As information flowed back through his link with the monstrosities, Thexus analyzed the data.

  Pulse 190. Increase levels of norepinephrine utilizing tyrosine module. Lactic acid buildup significant. Reduction in performance predicted as high as thirty percent. Increase vascular flow to anterior and posterior arm and shoulder compartments. Release additional stores of sarcolemma proteins to speed lactic acid removal. Use Jihaxian bypass conduits to speed transit of blood to heart for oxidization. Increase flow of epinephrine to promote

  increased glycolysis utilizing xyreuan reservoir. Increase in performance over forty-five percent.

  Thexus carefully analyzed each organic and cephalomek system. He made slight adjustments through various customized pathways installed in each monstrosity, ensuring peak performance.

  With one final blow the monstrosities smashed through the last earthen barrier and into the Convergence complex beyond. Thexus subordinate cephalyx pushed their drudges forward as one. They surged around the monstrosities, who stepped back to allow their smaller counterparts into the facility. Thexus heard the whir of drudge weaponry and mechanical shouts of alarm ahead. Over these voices came the booming sounds of the Cyrissists own tunneling equipment.

  Thexus watched through his connection with his monstrosities. There were a number of clockwork vessels within the room, most of them bearing little resemblance to humans. Instead these vessels were designed for subterranean construction work. The majority were large, squat, multi-legged entities that boasted an array of demolition and construction tools upon multi-functional, geared arm arrays. Other clockwork beings were moving debris at the behest of the engineers. Thexus recognized their frames from previous engagements with the Convergence; they possessed the same warrior bodies as the ones employed by combat units such as reciprocators and eradicators, but these were not presently armed for combat. This matched the information he had wrested from the optifex.

  Even considering the drudges artificially enhanced skeletal frames and musculature, the Convergence constructs towered over them, but the enemy was unprepared and significantly outnumbered. Thexus kept his monstrosities in reserve, unwilling to risk damage to them with the real conflict yet to come.

  Thexus watched as several drudges engaged one of the engineers. Though the engineer lacked true combat weapons, the construction tools upon its limbs were quite capable of inflicting harm. It brought down a welding torch and swept a blue-white spear of flame at an incoming drudge. Designed to melt steel, the torchs flame reduced the drudges exposed skin to ash, revealing white bone beneath, while the skin farther away bubbled and sloughed off.

  The drudge was incapable of thoughts of self-preservation, and neural implants and synapse blockers rendered it immune to pain. At its cephalyxs bidding, it pushed forward, its right clamp closing upon the strut attaching the torch to the engineers multi-tool arm. Eliciting a squeal of protesting metal, the drudge bent the strut back

• 10

  A BAttle of Wills

  to point harmlessly at the ceiling. With its other clamp, the drudge gripped one of the engineers crab-like legs, mangling an exposed gear joint. Other drudges swarmed over the larger engineer, drills, saws, and blades tearing through its chromed steel and into the delicate clockwork mechanisms beneath.

  The scene was similar across the unfinished chamber, with drudges dismantling the clockwork vessels with brutal efficiency. The engineering vessels put up considerable resistance, but they had been caught off guard and their forms were not optimized for combat. Within minutes, only piles of torn steel and smashed servos remained of them. Thexus sent a mental command for his subordinates to destroy the Cyrissists essence chambers, which served as their seats of reason. The manner in which the Convergence inhabited their clockwork vessels left their psyches as sterile and unfathomable as their loathsome metal bodies. Because he could not touch or feed upon their minds, he took little pleasure in their eradication, necessary as it was.

  With the chamber secured, Thexus moved into the Convergence foundry. His wardens remained in front, ready to shield their master from retaliation. Behind him came the footfalls of more monstrosities, the rhythmic thumping of their heavy tread amplified by the acoustics of the tunnel. He also heard the harsh sound of steel scraping against stone: the wreckers dragging their massive chain weapons behind them. Though Thexus preferred the carnage the wreckers could inflict, he had brought only two, knowing they would likely have insufficient room to swing their devastating weapons in the complexs halls. He relied more on the four subduers marching behind; their net launchers gave him considerable tactical flexibility.

  The exulon set his army to their tasks. He had mapped out several key objectives for his forces based on the layout he had discerned in the dying mind of the optifex. Thexus paused and watched his forces pour into the pale blue corridors beyond the breach. He extended his consciousness, seeking others. He could sense them, even those trapped within their metal shells, but the facility had that familiar wrongness that pervaded the Convergence. The emanations here were stale and unsavory. There were some few living minds, but even they seemed diminished, as their indoctrination created rigid and sterile mental patterns.

  As he sifted through the echoes of awareness above, a unique note piqued his curiosity. He sensed something no less stale and dead but strangely powerful. It reminded him of encountering Lich Lord Asphyxious, whose formidable intellect was trapped in bone and blackened iron. The entity he sensed now flared brightly, suggesting thoughts with individuality and complexity beyond all others within the facility. He focused on this, intrigued. The mental energy

  was comprised of an infinitude of interlocking geometrical patterns whose motions were strangely hypnotic.

  He felt the strange consciousness become aware of him and he recoiled. A lesser intellect might have failed to conceal itself in that moment of vulnerability, but Thexus instantly brought up his mental barriers and obfuscated his presence. He sensed the anomalous consciousness sweep through the complex.

  It searches for me, Thexus thought. Interesting.

  The once-spotless chromed steel walls in the halls of the Foundry of Astroseismology were stained with sprays of arterial crimson and greasy brown hydraulic fluid. Drudge corpsesbronze helmets smashed, bodies sliced open, bones splinteredwere a contrast to the crumpled steel and shattered gears of their clockwork foes. The whine of saw blades and combat drills screeched through the halls, answered by the rhythmic click of machine gears and the buzzing of voltaic generators.

  Cephalyx agitators focused their psyches to activate neural implants in nearby drudges and monstrosities. Their invisible touch within the sympathetic nervous systems and amygdalae of their subjects released a rush of hormones that pushed them far beyond their ordinary capabilities. In addition, the agitators touch opened the morpherus gland, a cephalomek enhancement that dampened certain neural pathways to make the drudges even more receptive to fine-tuned mind slaver control. Each endured a sudden, explosive adrenal release, creating a surge in muscular power that vastly augmented its fighting abilities.

  Whipped into momentary frenzy, the drudges rushed the gleaming ranks of obstructors seeking to block their progress further into the facility. The riled drudges tore into the Convergence soldiers wall of mechanikally interlocked shields, using their own bulk and cephalomek weaponry to smash through the shields and the clockwork vessels behind them. The heavy heads of teleflails whistled over the broken shield wall to strike with bone-cracking thumps. Despite the trauma, few drudges fell, their surgically enhanced bodies absorbing blows that would be fatal to less well-designed beings.

  As the line of obstructors disintegrated, a chattering like that of a swarm of mechanikal insects filled the hall, and a glittering silver cloud obscured the melee. Thousands of intricately constructed steel clockwork mechanisms barely larger than houseflies descended upon the drudges. Each tiny construct was armed with a set of razor-sharp spring blades that chewed inexorably through anything in its path.

• 11

  One such mechanism would pose little danger, but the swarm of buzzing clockwork weapons reduced drudges to strips of bloody meat clinging to gnawed bone.

  Thexus commanded one of his wreckers forward, feeling rising irritation at the Convergence resistance. Despite the monstrosities size, the wide hallway was easily able to fit two of the hulking organic constructs shoulder-to-shoulder. Unfortunately, the size of the hallway also meant the Convergence was able to bring more of their numbers to bear.

  Wanting to keep the enemy off-balance, Thexus summoned a blast of dark psychic energy, using the rapidly advancing wrecker as a conduit. The mental conjuration seared the monstrosity, scoring its pale skin with black lines, before shooting a ball of crackling ebon force at the reductors, who were reloading their swarm projectors. The rending psychic power impacted them with a boom like thunder and rapidly expanded, ripping apart multiple reductors.

  Before the remaining Convergence soldiers could recover, the wrecker was upon them, its giant flails whirring through the air and landing with staggering force. Clockwork vessels not crushed beneath its blows were sent flying. Their chromed bodies crashed into the walls of the complex hard enough to buckle the steel plating before exploding in a spray of gears and servos.

  Pulse 210. Muscle fatigue minimum. Lactic acid buildup within standard parameters. Norepinephrine and epinephrine levels at peak. Physical trauma superficial. Thexus took a moment to search the wreckers mind for its creators imprint. Lexulus. Admirable work.

  The exulon signaled for his forces to press the advantage now that the wrecker had broken the Convergence line. He could sense the approach of further Cyrissist reinforcements. Taking advantage of the pause, Thexus extended his psyche to contact his subordinate overlords who were overseeing fighting elsewhere in the complex. The size of the facility strained even his considerable telepathic reach.

  Overlords Gravita and Hiraximor were making excellent progress, and images of their successes flashed through Thexus awareness. Overlord Moximortir, however, was clearly waging a losing battle. Thexus focused on his connection with the beleaguered overlord to get a better sense of the tactical situation.

  Images of the Convergence fighting machines called vectors appeared. A tall, intricately designed clockwork vessel with spider-like legs stood beside the larger vectors, directing their implacable assault. Thexus saw the projected thoughts of this being manifest as intricate geometrical shapes similar to those he had sensed upon entering the complex. This was the powerful leader whose mind had first caught

  his attention. Thexus felt a surge of curiosity. At nearly the same moment, Thexus felt the Convergence warcasters reciprocal awareness of him. They shared a brief moment of indirect mental contact.

  Pouring his energy into the connection, Thexus forced a single focused thought at the Convergence warcaster, an image of the cephalyx assault forces combined with a single message.

  To Thexus surprise he felt a white-hot flare of indignation from the Convergence warcaster, a burst of pure emotion such as he rarely felt within the clockwork ranks, clear even across the distance that separated them. He watched through Overlord Moximortirs eyes as the warcaster charged alongside two vectors he recognized as Ciphers. Their piston spikes punched through the drudges protecting Moximortir in explosions of crimson gore and viscera. Capitalizing on the opening, the warcaster pushed past the remaining drudges, ignoring the blows flickering off his power field. Thexus heard Moximortirs desperate mental command for his drudges to stop the advancing warcaster. Moximortir pushed forward his mechanikal prostheses in an attempt to shield himself, and with a single sweep of his staff the Convergence leader shattered them. The impact did not slow the fatal blow, and before the mental connection with Moximortir faded to nothing, Thexus heard the warcasters mechanical audio vox reply.

  No. I am coming for you.

  Thexus remained motionless for several moments, lost in contemplation over the last mental notes he had pulled from Moximortir before the overlords destruction. The thoughts had carried an identityLucant. He considered the name as he planned his next move. This Cyrissist was intriguing, his mental aspect much more vibrant than any clockwork being he had faced beforeand so much more vigorous when incited.

  The exulon looked at the corpse-littered hallway and saw a pulsing essence chamber in the wreckage of a clockwork soldiers metal form. The Mask of Cyriss that marked the chamber had been rent and twisted, and only half the goddess face remained. Thexus reached out to the consciousness inside the chamber. He could feel the soldiers surface thoughts, but the deeper mind was dead

  their Piston sPikes PunChed through the drudges ProteCting MoxiMortir in exPlosions of CriMson gore.

• 12

  A BAttle of Wills

  to his touch. There were no neural pathways to grasp, no tingle of electrical current as synapses fired with living thought. No invigorating pump of blood, no sympathetic nervous system to manipulate. The Cyrissists soul was little more than a collection of preserved memories, a trapped echo. Thexus race had mastered the domination of life over millennia. Flesh was theirs to control and shape as they saw fit in pursuit of their ultimate goal, the transcendence of the mind. What the Convergence of Cyriss offered was a false mirror of that goal, a form of undeath, little different from the necromechanika of Cryx.

  Thexus turned his vast cognitive strength upon the essence chamber, exploring it with his most powerful probes. He could discern nothing useful, only meaningless flows of turbulent energy, and the realization only fueled his disgust. The pale blue glow intensified as he focused his will into the chamber. He heard a disembodied scream, and the blue glow became a blinding bright white. The essence chamber began to sizzle, and then glass shattered as the housing came apart, unable to contain the immense psychic power poured into it.

  Such loathsome beings. Thexus turned his attention away from the shattered essence chamber. He thought back to the flash of emotion he had felt from the warcaster Lucant. But perhaps some of them are worthy of study.

  Lucant had wasted no time in hunting him down. Thexus saw that the Convergence warcaster had pulled every available warrior to his side to confront him, a calculated gamble. He must know that cephalyx forces were spread around the foundry as Thexus attempted to rapidly secure it and empty it of its original owners. Glittering ranks of chromed steel glinted in the cold blue light that illuminated the facility. Thexus noted with some interest that the majority of the clockwork vessels standing with Lucant were of the heavier reciprocator class. In addition to those Convergence soldiers armed with protean halberds and hefty interlocking shields, several units of eradicators and perforators marched in perfect step toward the cephalyx forces. The distinct sound emitted by the power generators of Convergence vectors also mingled with the sounds of Lucants soldiers. A pair of Ciphers flanked a single

  Inverter, while a half-dozen lighter three-legged vectors moved behind their larger counterparts.

  This was to be Lucants last stand. Thexus felt keen anticipation as he observed the more numerous Convergence forces approach. While Thexus battlegroup boasted all eight of his hulking monstrosities, aside from those he had only a handful of drudge units controlled by their cephalyx masters. This confrontation would decide the fate of this facilityand very likely the fates of the two opposing leaders.

  Lucant raised his staff, which had so recently obliterated Overlord Moximortir, and the glowing orb at its head flashed three times in rapid succession. The front line of heavy Convergence infantry broke into a charge, the perforators arm-mounted javelin throwers firing at the cephalyx line. Thexus focused on the incoming projectiles, creating a barrier field of rippling force that slowed their deadly trajectories as if the air had become a thick fluid. The multiple thumps of a Ciphers hull-mounted cannons sounded, but Thexus telekinetic emanations dulled the force of the blasts.

  He watched impassively as Mind Bender Utoxian urged his drudges toward the overwhelming Convergence force. Before the Cyrissist troopers closed the distance, steel iris apertures on three of the drudges helms opened and released bolts of invigoration. The bolts struck the front rank of drudges, accelerating their adrenal functions and motor neuron responses. They raced forward to meet the heavy clockwork soldiers. Utilizing their temporarily augmented physiology, the drudges delivered crushing blows against the metallic frames of the Convergence soldiers, buckling steel plating and obliterating the delicate servos beneath. Two of the forward perforators fell, sparks spitting from their crushed vessels, and the rest moved in to avenge their fallen comrades.

  Mind Bender Utoxian fell back and overloaded the metabolic systems of the remaining drudges, causing them to explode as the destructive psychic energies consumed them. Though the individual blasts lacked the force necessary to take down the heavily armored clockwork soldiers, several combined to obliterate the nearest one. The destruction of these few perforators was a small loss to Lucant, and it had come at the cost of one of the exulons precious few units.

  The Convergence forces pushed forward upon Thexus line with increased speed, perhaps eager to take retribution against the cephalyx and purge them from the complex. Lucant leveled his staff and arcane fire flared from his ocular lenses, mirrored in the optical arrays of his vectors. Thexus sensed the regular transfer of power arcing from one vector to the next, amplifying the performance of the whole battlegroup. He called for his troops to give ground before the onrushing Convergence forces. Lucant moved

  thexus savored the huMan flavor of the Cyrissists

  righteous indignation.

• 13

  steadily behind his small army, a contingent of guarding reciprocators clustered around his clockwork form.

  Thexus did not want Lucant to believe he was in full retreat; instead, he urged a measured withdrawal, luring the Convergence forces forward. He continued to spend the lives of his drudges, but each assault was only a shallow cut to his enemy in exchange for a more telling blow in return. His constant harrying kept the Convergence on the attack, each minor triumph focusing their attention on their impending victory.

  Finally, Thexus force fell back into a large chamber that was a central hub for the facility. Overlord Hiraximor had directed him here when Thexus had conceived of his plan to confront Lucant. Though most of his attention was focused on the battle, the exulon allowed a portion of his easily divided mind to appreciate and examine the colossal machinery at the center of the chamber. The machine was a towering chromed-steel cylindrical construct. Softly glowing conduits crisscrossed its surface and terminated at larger glowing nodes before branching off once more to reach from the ground to the impressively high ceiling. Upon closer inspection, Thexus realized the cylinder was not one solid piece but comprised several sections, each independently rotating to bring new conduit pathways in line upon the machines surface. He sensed immense conversions of energy from one state to another radiating through it. His hive would harness that power once this facility was his.

  Thexus mentally commanded his forces to halt their retreat once the Cyrissists entered the chamber. Unable to resist, he reached out. Though he could not penetrate Lucants metal-encased mind, the warcaster was projecting his surface thoughts clearly. The geometrical patterns of his mental energy had become jagged and full of acute angles. Thexus savored the human flavor of the Cyrissists righteous indignation.

  Thexus replied. The minds of ordinary mortals flinched from his telepathic voice as it overloaded their nervous systems and burned their tissues, but he sensed no such discomfort from Lucant.

  A shout went up from the Convergence line as they became aware of hundreds of drudges pouring in from the various passageways that flanked the chamber. Thexus had kept these forces in reserve before their initial ingress into the Convergence facility.

  The first part of his trap sprung, Thexus prepared to close it completely. Pulsing purple energy swirled about him

  as he drew upon the full store of his psychic potential. Tendrils of pure manifest will shot forth and wound around the Convergence troops, their ambient light giving an otherworldly hue to the steel vessels. Thexus moved his enemies as he desired, scattering their perfect formations, sending their lines into chaos, andmost importantlyseparating Lucant from his forces.

  As one, the cephalyx forces charged, flashes of mind bender augmentations rippling through the ranks of the ambushing drudges. Thexus directed his monstrosities to attack, driving them like a wedge between Lucant and his troops. The exulon commanded one of his wardens to engage an Inverter whose meteor hammer was pulping drudges with each blow. As the warden brought its heavy clamps up to strike, the vector spun around and its macropummeler shot forward with the loud ratcheting noise of a tightly wound gear being released. The warden was hit squarely in the chest and driven to the ground. Thexus observed the impact with particular fascination.

  Extensive trauma to the thoracic region. Ribs shattered, left lung punctured, right lung burst. Severe internal bleeding. Corixian conduits destroyed, artificial adrenal reservoirs burst. Heartbeat erratic. Initiate endorphin flood to override tissue shock. Release adrenaline boosters. Combat efficiency restored by fifty percent. High likelihood of specimen death. Specimen expendable.

  Exposed, the Inverter had no defense against the wreckers retaliatory onslaught. The monstrosity stepped over the crushed and bleeding form of its counterpart and hammered blow after blow into the Convergence machine. The repeated impacts stove in the vectors armor plating and sent sparks, shattered clockwork components, and machine oil flying in all directions. In moments, the Inverter was a pile of scrap.

  Thexus sent a mental order, and his subduers fired their net launchers into the ranks of clockwork soldiers. The heavy weighted nets knocked the clustered Convergence soldiers to the ground, making them easy prey for the onrushing drudges. The augmented slaves, spurred on by the abilities of the mind benders and agitators, ripped apart their helpless foes.

  The exulon turned his attention back to Lucant, who was now surrounded by several drudges that struck at him with blades, saws, and drills. It was simply a matter of time before Thexus held the warcasters essence chamber. He would discover if this Cyrissists essence was indeed different from the others. He felt certain there had to be a way to extract information from this foe.

  After emitting so much psychic energy Thexus was filled with a desire to consume the minds of his enemies, yet he was stymied by their machine state. His abyssal hunger was almost enough to compel him to reach out to his remaining

• 14

  A BAttle of Wills

  cephalyx and rend their minds instead. With a start, Thexus noticed he had drifted closer to the warcaster in anticipation. He realized his mistake too late.

  Circles of blue runes connected by crackling electricity surrounded Lucant and then expanded to engulf the rest of his forces. Thexus watched as blows from drudges and monstrosities were deflected by the arcane protections Lucant had set in place. A pair of warded Galvanizers broke away from the swirling melee and rushed to aid the warcaster, their circular saws easily slashing through drudge limbs, necks, and torsos. Lucant charged toward Thexus through the opening his Galvanizers created, his battle staff glowing with a crackling blue nimbus. Dread gripped Thexus at the sudden turn of events, and he realized he had let his hubris expose him to this wild gambit from his enemy. He was confronted by the stark reality of his own mortality.

  Other portions of his mind were actively analyzing and evaluating possibilities. Thexus summoned all his will and poured it into his telekinetic defenses. Lucant reached him an instant later. The Cyrissists energy-charged weapon struck Thexus psychic barrier with a tremendous explosion of force. The exulon was distantly aware of dull, throbbing pain as the kinetic feedback from the staff lanced through his neural networks. The notion of a physical

  blow impacting the outer casing of his cranial protections sickened him, but he reminded himself that any such damage could be regenerated if he survived. He continued to put everything into his defenses. Lucant struck again, resulting in another concussive burst of opposing energies that wreaked additional trauma to delicate tissues buried beneath armor. Thexus calculated the odds and decided he must take a desperate risk. He drained his reserves, dropping his defenses to deliver a telekinetic blow that pushed Lucant away before the Convergence warcaster could make the fatal thrust.

  Thexus felt the crackle of energy and the hiss of wind as Lucants strike missed by mere inches. Seizing the advantage, he fled from the warcaster while commanding the nearest monstrosity, a wrecker, to intercept the Cyrissist. Lucants eyes blazed at Thexus as he retreated, and again the Convergence leader's form was surrounded by the changing patterns of his thoughts and emotions.

  Thexus could sense Lucants desire to press the attack and finish his hated foe even though doing so would end him. Survival instincts won out. With a final lingering glare, Lucant withdrew, directing his remaining forces into the path of the onrushing monstrosity.

• 15

  Hiraximor communicated.

  Thexus did not respond to the overlords self-serving praise. Though victory was indeed his, he had yet to shake the thought of how close he had come to death. He had eliminated the pain, but he could still sense the damage he had endured, and he knew his mind was presently imperfect, damaged. It troubled him, and he was eager to restore himself.

  Hiraximor continued his report.

  Thexus had no real interest in this news. It was inevitable in operations like this that some pockets of contention endured. He was about to assign the matter to Hiraximors capable oversight when a strong vibration reverberated through the room, its epicenter the chromed steel tower that dominated the chamber.

  The vast machine began to emit a loud whine. The softly glowing blue nodes and intricate conduits about it began to shine with brighter intensity. Another tremor shook the earth, followed by the sound of grinding gears. The tower began to tremble, and several concave steel panels about three-quarters of the way up spread open. With another deafening whine, the extended steel panels began to rotate around the tower, each moving up and down in some complex sequence. The glow of the machine deepened. Just as it reached a blinding intensity, a final supercharged pulse bathed the entire area in a blast of white light before quickly fading.

  Thexus waited and watched; the machine continued to function. Suddenly, the entire chamber was rocked by an earth-wrenching tremor. The whine of energy accumulation from the tower began to build again. Thexus immediately deduced what was occurring.

  he sent to Hiraximor.

  Hiraximor bowed slightly in assent, then led Thexus and his remaining monstrosities through the facility to the lowest chamber. When they arrived, Thexus could see a small contingent of reciprocators defending the barricaded entrance. Several smaller clockwork servitors floated behind the Convergence soldiers, occasionally darting in to repair damage suffered by the defenders. Extending his thoughts outward, Thexus sensed another consciousness

  beyond. Though it was clearly contained within an essence chamber, this vessel felt very different, the emotions robust, almost alive. This Cyrissist was afraid.

  Another tremor jolted the facility, shaking dust loose from far above them. Thexus had endured enough of Lucant trying to kill him. The air about him began to crackle as his outrage manifested as metaphysical energy. He reached into the receptive mind of the heavily damaged warden, seizing control completely. It was slowly dying as both organic and machine systems shut down.

  Overriding any resistance to the physical strain, he forced the tormented creature forward. It burst ahead, its overgrown leg muscles propelling it toward the barrier at incredible speed. Thexus did not let it waver even as tendons snapped from the strain and thick muscles tore away from reinforced bone. He poured everything into the warden, distantly hearing the remnant of a conscious psyche trapped within the monstrosity screaming as the creature barreled toward the Convergence barricade. Thexus savored its mental anguish, gathering it to himself.

  Protean halberds tore into the wardens body, but even their high-tensile steel shafts could not stem the monstrositys momentum. The warden burst through the barricade with a thunderous crash, sending several reciprocators hurtling to the ground. Before the monstrositys heart burst and its brain shut down in death, Thexus took stock of the room.

  It was a huge space dominated by a gargantuan construction that appeared to be an even larger version of the machine in the chamber where he had just fought Lucant. The machine towered above the central platform and descended below it. Thexus moved forward, using telekinetic force to push the remaining reciprocators off the walkway that led to the platform around the tower. The reciprocators had been protecting a Convergence engineer cowering on the platform behind them.

  Floating as he was, Thexus paid little attention to another tremor that caused the steel gantry to sway and twist with screeches of protesting metal. He advanced directly toward the Convergence engineer in slender clockwork form.

  Thexus sent. He was surprised to realize this telepathic contact felt entirely dissimilar to his conversations with Lucant. The machine divide was less distinct, and he felt he could intersect with the mental patterns directly. It was almost akin to contacting a living mind. Thexus tasted palpable fear from the engineer.

  I am happy to sacrifice myself for the Great Work. Though the words were defiant, the conviction behind them was fragile.

• 16

  A BAttle of Wills

  Thexus drove tendrils of his will into the engineers mind. It was fascinating to make even the smallest of connections. How is this possible? he thought, even as he tasked a different portion of his intellect to analyze the situation. Thexus turned his primary attention to the control console on the central machine.

  Their connection grew stronger as Thexus words agitated the Cyrissist. Images flashed, memories from the engineers past. He was recently transitioned; barely a month had passed since he had moved his consciousness to his machine body. Thexus wormed his way through the weak connection, forcing the pathway wider. Despite the lack of a physical brain, the mans thoughts still followed the echoes of his old flesh, not yet fully integrated with the machine. It was as though his consciousness existed within a remembered approximation of a living brain.

  This, together with his long studies of the Convergence, gave Thexus the access he required. He latched on to the metaphysical neural pathways just as he would those made of flesh and blood. For his purposes and at his level of psychic ability, it did not matter that the constructions were just instinctual memories. To the engineers consciousness they were real, and because of that they could be manipulated. Doing so was difficult, though, requiring Thexus to perform delicate manipulations of trace energy flows.

  Thexus sent.

  No . . .

  But Thexus already had what he needed: an image of the control panel. He telekinetically manipulated the controls, following the diagram pulled from the engineers mind. Immediately the pulsing glow of the tower dimmed.

  Thexus summoned Hiraximor.

  Hiraximor queried.

  Thexus turned to regard the Cyrissist, but when he spoke it was to the overlord.

  eight years later (608 ar)Thexus floated toward the last control mechanism that regulated power within the complex, a pair of monstrosities close by. In the intervening years he had learned much about the process Lucant had tried to employ against him so long ago. He knew why the plot had failed. The Convergence engineer had not gone far enough. He had sought to localize the destruction rather than unleashing the full seismic potential of the facilitys astroseismic converters. Perhaps Lucant had planned an effort to reclaim the facility, or perhaps the Convergence had taken the half-measure in order to spare the nearby human population centers. Despite willingly discarding his human form, Lucant and his ilk still seemed to value organic life, at least enough to avoid excess collateral damage. This was reinforced to Thexus now after having witnessed from afar Lucants actions with the humans who sought to free their fellows elsewhere in the complex.

  Thexus paused for a moment and listened to the gibbering madness of the engineer whose essence chamber pulsed in swirling red and orange hues at his waist. The engineers thoughts had long ago become incoherent, but Thexus understood all the same. he replied.

  As the final control room came into view, he felt the presence of several humans quickly approaching. They burst into the hall, two males and a female. A smoke-belching warjack and the silvery form of a clockwork engineer followed just behind them. One of the humans had a strange aura, and his consciousness was a fierce mote of white light that Thexus could not penetrate. He had seen such defenses before, though it had been a long time. He dismissed it as irrelevant and sent his monstrosities forward to deal with the interlopers so he might complete his task.

  Thexus sent.

  He felt the tormented psyche of the engineer rage at the mention of Lucant. He reached out and grasped the mind of one of the men who had arrived to stop him. The mans thoughts roiled with tumultuous emotions. Easily, Thexus took control, and as he did he thought once more of Lucant buried beneath the crushing weight of his own facility.

  Victory was eminently satisfying.

  For more about the conclusion of this battle as seen from the other side, read Through the Darkness: The Story of Machinations, available for download at skullislandx.com.

• Will to doMinate

  history of the CePhalyxoriginsThe great first city Urus was laid low not by war or plague, but by the very hand of the Creator. His tempest of divine wrath was not directed at Urus alone but at all the land, from one horizon to the other. The continent buckled beneath the fist of an angry god. The seas boiled and churned as the sky was lit afire. All the prideful were slaughtered, their prayers unanswered. The earth split open to swallow them. The skies rained sheets of flame while the wind roared in unending fury.

  All that had been built was laid to ruin, yet the onslaught did not end. The Creator had decided to shatter his work like a potter hurling a fresh-fired jug against the tiles. Those few who survived knew the people of Urus were cursed, not merely abandoned but shunned and forever marked. Most surrendered to despair and accepted this judgment. Some few persevered, though their very existence was blasphemy. They left their doomed city and fled across the wastes. Knowing no ordinary shelter would protect them from the burning sky, they went underground, descending into the darkness below. Never again would the people of Urus emerge. They spent their accursed lives entombed, becoming wretched and depraved. They lurk there still.

  Fragment from The Fall of Urus

  MeMories of the PreserversNo one in western Immoren knows the origins of the cephalyx, those dreaded and enigmatic beings who emerge from their underground lairs to capture and enslave surface dwellers. They float serenely above the ground, their faces hidden behind masks fitted with sinister lenses. They unleash terrifying mental powers to kill any who oppose them. Their enslavement raids have given rise to countless legends.

  Even among the cephalyx few know the facts of their ancient origins, before they were even called cephalyx. They prize knowledge, but they approach its acquisition pragmatically. Their intellectual pursuits are focused and all-consuming but also narrowly delineated. Not all thought or lore is of equal value. Most cephalyx focus on current anatomical and surgical knowledge, with no interest in history. They take tremendous pride in the transfiguration they have each undergone to unlock their mental potential. Each cephalyx is interested solely in his individual progression and cares not for the species as a whole. Kinship and brotherhood are foreign concepts to them.

  A very small number of lorekeepers exist, who approach the preservation of knowledge with zealous and absolute intensity. These so-called preservers archive the memories of their predecessors in their vast intellects; each holds

  a breadth of knowledge that would shame the greatest libraries of mankind. Yet for all their knowledge, preservers are a low caste, obedient servants of the greater cephalyx. They are valued only when a leader has reason to plumb the depths of their shared memories, which are an unbroken chain stretching deep into the ancient past. Their oldest memories include words preserved in tomes or scrolls or inscribed on tablets before such crude methods of recordkeeping were abandoned.

  Even preservers view their ancient origins with distaste. The cephalyx deny any affinity to those debased and diminished beings, whose primitive capabilities made them little better than unthinking beasts. Cephalyx do not credit these predecessors with reason, not as the term applies to them now. The thoughts of these progenitors, such as they were, were ruled by emotion and superstition, bound by belief structures and self-imposed limitations the cephalyx have long since rejected.

  Five millennia ago, there were no cephalyx. They were yet to emerge from a cataclysm that would eventually engender a desire to reinvent the self. The cephalyx did not develop or evolve; they were systematically self-created.

  CataClysM and the desCentThe civilizations of western Immoren trace their origins to the Menite city of Icthier and look to Cinot as their first great priest-king. It was he who received the Gifts of Menoth by which civilization was born. Yet Cinot had traveled to Icthier from the east, and his was not the first human city. Other tribes had devoted themselves to the Creator of Man and had built cities, including the greatest of them: Urus. Built in southeastern Immoren amid a sheltered valley surrounded by mountains, Urus thrived for centuries after the departure of Cinot and his people.

  Not much is known of Urus, for this ancient civilization was lost and its ruins forgotten, buried beneath jungles on what is now the Shattered Spine Islands. Four thousand six hundred years ago the continent of Immoren was sundered by an unprecedented cataclysm, one that would change its shape forever. The tribes of man never knew its cause, but Cinots descendants called it the Time of the Burning Sky. The cataclysm cracked the continent to create the Abyss and the Stormlands, while the tremors and quakes in the southeast turned part of the fractured landmass into the Shattered Spine Islands. A vast desert formed between the two halves of Immoren, and the east was consumed by decades of supernatural storms.

  The hardiest and most resourceful survivors of Urus went inland but could not endure the firestorms. Their way of life had ended, and they faced extinction. They sought

  17

• 18

  Will to Dominate

  shelter in caves and tunnels, digging deep below Caen to escape what they interpreted as divine wrath. They thought themselves cast out and accursed, unworthy of the faith of their ancestors, which had been left in the ashes of Urus.

  In the harsh early decades of their subterranean existence, the refugees society and existence changed. Early turmoil among the group led to bloodshed, which was followed by rigid tyranny by those who enforced a tenuous peace. Food scarcity prompted starvation and deprivation, which forced desperate solutions among the survivors. Those who died became food for those who endured, even as this cannibalism was understood to be another unforgivable blasphemy. The need for food and water required brief raids to the surface, although in time these people adapted to their environment and learned to sustain themselves on new food sources found below.

  a transfigured soCietyCephalyx preservers remember even less from the transitional era after the refugees went underground and the struggle to survive took priority over recording events for future generations. What is known is that the post-Urus survivors underwent multiple stages of societal upheaval, eventually developing a rigid caste-based society. This included draconian laws and punishments protecting access to the resources required for survival.

  Shame over their supposedly accursed status led to several powerful taboos, such as a loathing for direct physical contact. This extended to a general disgust for all base necessities of life. These were viewed as reminders that the flesh was a prison for an accursed soul. The lowest caste was held responsible for handling distasteful necessities, including disposal of the dead and of bodily waste. This caste was shunned by the others, treated as less than people.

  It became the custom to wear heavy black garments from head to toe, lest anyone inadvertently see skin or make physical contact. A variety of elaborate procedures were created around the unwholesome necessity of reproduction. The concept of marriage had been abandoned soon after the cataclysm, and reproduction became a carefully regulated matter. The higher castes determined who would reproduce; unapproved children were eliminated.

  The messy process of childbirth was overseen by specific members of the lowest caste. Shrouded chambers and black veils ensured those who were pregnant could deliver children anonymously. Children were then isolated, raised by masked attendants who saw to each childs early development and education until such time as it could conform to the standards of society and could labor in its assigned role. Population control was vital, as food was often scarce and carefully rationed. In truth, overpopulation

  was rarely a problem. As a result of their intense taboos, the larger concern was ensuring the society did not diminish.

  Redemption from base existence was to be sought through mental reflection, as each citizen hoped to achieve harmony through acts of will. The luxury of purely mental pursuits was a particular privilege of the ruling elite, who sought to escape the concerns of physicality. Some went so far as to adopt a custom of extreme asceticism. So long as they fulfilled their duty of governing their society and delivering judgment against lawbreakers, the leadership could occasionally withdraw for lengthy stretches to meditate. These individuals retreated to the darkness of the deepest caves, cut off from light, sound, and contact with anything beyond the cold stone beneath them. Attendants brought them water and food, which they often ignored. Their bodies withered as they ate and drank only enough to stave off death, experiencing visions as they teetered on the brink.

  Most of the early thinkers lived and died with their thoughts sealed in the vaults of their minds. In time a ritual evolved whereby the oldest were required to pass on their wisdom. Each was assigned a rememberer trained to retain and retrieve lore. These predecessors of cephalyx preservers passed this accumulated lore to the next generation.

  Cephalyx view the superstitions of their ancient ancestors as repugnant, but those early philosophers developed the core idea that would lead them to transform themselves. Time spent in isolated contemplation was the first step on a longer quest to refine the mind, a goal which would soon define the cephalyx.

  the seat of reasonCenturies of subterranean existence transformed the last descendants of the people of Urus into a society utterly distinct from its originating culture. The introspection of the ruling elite developed into exercises in logic and applied learning through experimentationessentially, science. They sought to comprehend the world and its intrinsic properties and laws. From admiration for the ordered diligence of insects such as ants and termites, they referred to their hierarchical society as a hive, in which each caste had an assigned role and function. The highest caste, freed from drudgery, assumed the tasks of leadership and philosophy.

  Some of these thinkers were absorbed with practical tasks such as innovating new techniques for excavating tunnels or for mining essential minerals. Others developed the means to breed and harvest new types of edible fungus and the myriad sunless plants required for sustenance. Still others refined weapons for the hives soldiers to wield during raids against surface dwellers. The lowest caste of the society were slaves, individuals treated as property and seen as too mentally deficient for higher work.

• 19

  When the hands of slaves proved inadequate to perform the finest surgeries, the elite developed new means to cut flesh indirectly via a system of remotely operated blades attached to artificial limbs serving in the place of their own. Heavy garments shielded them from any spatter of living fluids released by their efforts. Thus protected, they soon came to appreciate the delicate equilibrium of organs, blood vessels, nerves, bones, and other tissues. Their loathing of physical contact with the body remained, but above that was an almost reverential wonder for the processes of chemistry and biology.

  Some of these anatomists undertook the dissection of the brain amid the study of other organs. While cadavers sufficed at first, these explorers soon determined they could

  When not governing, the ruling elite looked inward, hoping to take the next step in unshackling their minds and achieving mental purity. They sought to locate the physical seat of reason and thus reconcile the physical and the mental, making pure thought possible. They believed the soul must dwell within a tangible haven inside the flesh. Finding this haven became a priority.

  Slowly and secretly at first, the elite began to explore the taboo study of anatomy. This was initially a radical and almost blasphemous practice. Those venturing into it sought to do so without violating prohibitions against physical contact with unclean bodies. They did not touch flesh directly but used slaves as proxies. The most dexterous slaves were given keen blades and directed to cut open cadavers, revealing the horrors and wonders awaiting within. A variety of captured animals were dissected to understand their inner workings, but only humans could provide the answers sought by the cephalyx. In time this study was no longer conducted in secret and eventually became an obsession among the elite, each of whom was driven to demonstrate prowess as a philosopher-surgeon. All who died were brought to their operating tables, where systematic dissection replaced funerary rites.

  Some among these surgeons discovered the means to bend and magnify light by way of polished crystals and lenses, augmenting vision while safeguarding the surgeons themselves from direct exposure to flesh. These tools were refined to provide tremendous perception, allowing observers to discern details too small for the naked eye to apprehend. Surgeons peered through these lenses to examine extracted tissues, marveling at the recursive complexity of living organs, which revealed myriad specialized structures even at the microscopic level.

• 20

  Will to Dominate

  achieve understanding only by performing their work on living captives, whose reactions were required to apprehend the brains functions. By this process they confirmed that here, at last, was the seat of reason.

  Careful and exacting examination of slices of numerous brains revealed patterns of beautiful, if bewildering, complexity. They mapped the structures within the brain and began to comprehend how they worked together to give rise to higher thought. These explorations into the brain were undertaken with religious intensity, and some among them were so enraptured by the tasks that they worked nonstop, so eager for subjects that they sacrificed their own slaves to study them. Some even opened their own skulls to see the workings within.

  As understanding expanded, the upper caste deduced the brain had secret and untapped potential and foresaw the means by which the apparent perfection of this organic marvel could be improved. Dissection of countless brains had revealed a multiplicity of recursive patterns, like an underlying code that if unlocked could change reality itself. Though cephalyx society had abandoned old beliefs, there remained a powerful imperative to escape the accursed state of existence described by their ancestors.

  The key to this freedom lay in augmenting the seat of reason by precise surgical manipulation, amplifying the power of the mind. If successful, they would transcend the limits imposed by their Creator. They would become both creator and created, shaping not only the brain but the soul itself. Visionaries among the philosopher-surgeons foresaw the possibility, in some distant era, of transcending the flesh entirely to exist as pure and unfettered thought. This seemingly impossible goal would persist to become the ultimate ideal of those who would eventually call themselves cephalyx.

  CePhaloMek to CePhalyxAn era of advancement in scientific and metaphysical understanding followed these early pioneers. Critical leaps in surgical technique coincided with breakthroughs in engineering. This work was the precursor to the science of cephalomek, a field that would combine extensive surgical alterations with mechanical elements. From the beginning this science proved its usefulness when applied to the slave caste, whose bodies were augmented by alchemical muscle-growth solutions and prosthetic replacements. It was discovered that incisions to certain areas of the brain made slaves docile and compliant. These slaves were the first drudges.

  Initially crude alterations of the brain were eventually followed by more sophisticated techniques. New mental states were achieved by combining a number of these procedures, such as making smaller and more precise surgical cuts, bathing the brain in alchemical fluids, and inserting

  metal rods into the structure. This work necessitated a growing mastery of metallurgy, alchemy, and physics as the greatest thinkers created specialized tools for transformative surgical theaters.

  Unlocking the potential of the brain required sacrifice. Surgeons needed to test and refine advanced techniques on living subjects. The burden of this experimentation fell mostly on the slave caste. It soon became apparent that this golden era of surgical experimentation had come at a pricethe population of the subterranean society had dwindled, and repopulation measures had failed to adequately replace those lost for science. The demand for additional experimental subjects necessitated expeditions to the surface to capture a greater number and variety of living specimens, preferably intelligent ones.

  Other great minds began to work on the problem of facilitating reproduction without physical contact between the genders, a condition considered essential for cephalyx society to endure in what they perceived was a higher state. It was vital that they find a way to increase their numbers without emulating unthinking beasts. Although these efforts did not meet with much initial success, in time methods were innovated to conduct most of the biology of reproduction in connected laboratory receptacles, using genetic material extracted from adult cephalyx.

  This progress facilitated efforts to selectively breed the most intelligent members of the society, allowing the upper caste to serve as the foundation for future generations. Experiments suggested a degree of diversity was required for the health of the species. For that reason, outstanding members of the lower castes were also screened and selected to contribute seed material. The notion of breeding a deliberately docile and mentally subservient caste was considered but ultimately rejected due to this need for a minimum threshold of diversity. It was important that the lower castes be included to prevent overreliance on inbreeding among the upper castes.

  A natural outgrowth of this development was a major change to the slave caste. Although the first drudges came from among the cephalyxs own slaves, it became apparent that their society was best served by utilizing exclusively captured outsiders in this capacity. As the use of drudges created from enslaved captives expanded, these entities increasingly took on the most unpleasant tasks. This allowed the lowest caste to transition into a more valued worker caste, one whose members could aspire toward mental advancement. The once-rigid hierarchy of their underground society evolved into a fiercely competitive meritocracy based on evolving mental acumen. The existence of mentally reduced drudges to perform menial labor allowed all cephalyx to exist on more equal footing.

• 21

  invention of CePhaloMekAs cephalomek emerged as the primary science and obsession of this subterranean society, several strata of its study emerged. Low cephalomek included the basics of anatomy and the simplest surgeries, including the creation of modified drudges. The processes for these tasks became so familiar as to be performed as a learning exercise by the young. The highest and most revered arts of cephalomek involved direct examination and manipulation of the brain, particularly when applied to members of their own society. The cephalyx conducted these procedures with the greatest precision and care, knowing that they could result in irreversible damage or even loss. Only the most skilled and experienced surgeons were allowed to alter the minds of valued citizens. Yet the imperative to achieve a breakthrough in intellectual capability was strong, and volunteers were plentiful.

  Efforts to unlock the potential of the seat of reason eventually succeeded dramatically. Techniques refined on captives were perfected and eventually applied to the upper echelon. Surgeons manipulated prosthetic blades and mirrors to open the cranium and work on the organ beneath, making small structural changes and applying carefully formulated growth serums. The cranium had to be cut and reshaped to relieve the pressure of the expanding cerebellum. The fluids developed to augment brain growth were distilled from spinal and brain fluids extracted from multiple donors, for them a lethal process.

  A number of the first augmentative pioneers were driven mad by the process. Soon, however, others unlocked previously unheard-of psychic powers. This breakthrough would change everything. The ability to reliably replicate

  these powers is seen as the beginning of the cephalyx themselves. From this point, the cephalyx no longer saw themselves as human; they had arrived at the onset of a new species. The precise date of this achievement is unknown, but it is thought to have transpired as early as 2700 BR according to the human calendar.

  PoWers of the MindIn a few short centuries the cephalyx developed their fundamental psychic powers. They quickly abandoned speech once they were able to converse telepathically. The cephalyx retained the equivalent of language and syntax for the ordered representation of their thoughts, but they could also communicate direct images, emotions, and complex cascading thoughts. Cephalyx learned to convey raw information more quickly and efficiently than spoken language allowed.

  Telepathy soon made writing unnecessary. The direct mental transfer of information, aided by brain augmentations, resulted in nearly perfect recall. From the rememberer tradition arose preservers, individuals dedicated to storing a vast array of information inside their minds. While every cephalyx has a prodigious memory, preservers undergo surgical procedures to broaden information storage, becoming dedicated telepathic archives accessible to hive leaders. The preserver tradition allowed nothing to be forgotten, using telepathic transfer to pass stored memories from each generation to the next.

  Telekinetic power also became universal among the augmented cephalyx, allowing them to exert force through thought alone, thereby moving physical objects with their minds. This gave the cephalyx the long-desired power to manipulate the world around them without resorting to physical contact. It became the custom for cephalyx to float above the floors of their chambers, no longer requiring the laborious exertion of legs. Floating became so intuitive that walking became inconceivable, a hardship left to lesser beings such as the enslaved drudges. Smaller efforts of telekinesis let cephalyx manipulate the finely crafted tools kept on their persons, including diverse suites of surgical implements. Soon, attached to each cephalyx was a rig containing an array of prosthetic tools customized for the work that individual performed.

  The cephalyxs ability to project waves of directed mental energy beyond their bodies gave rise to dozens of other versatile powers. As cephalyx of various mental capacities mastered their powers, they discovered telepathy was an effective weapon. By connecting to other minds, they could probe for surface thoughts or delve deeper for secrets. A strong-willed cephalyx could subjugate and dominate a weaker peer, forcing him to act as bid. The most powerful telepaths could send a disrupting wave of energy to shred lesser minds and cause damage to other vital organs.

  Monstrosity Back Detail Concept

  MONSTROSITY SPINE

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  Will to Dominate

  Most cephalyx learned techniques to shield themselves, but these defenses could in turn be undermined by those strong or clever enough. A clash of wills became an unavoidable aspect of cephalyx interaction. Leadership positions had traditionally been held by those deemed the greatest thinkers, but now the population had a tangible means to gauge mental power and to contest with one another. Strength and intelligence became synonymous to cephalyx. A new hierarchy emerged with mentally puissant leaders called exulons seizing leadership, not by persuasion or manipulation, but by raw mental subjugation. To the exulons, all other cephalyx became potential pawns, while outsiders were viewed as demonstrably inferior beings.

  froM one hive to ManyThe cephalyx began as a single self-contained, subterranean hive, one that was ignorant of the conditions of the surface world. This attitude remained unchanged until raiding parties sent to acquire subjects discovered scarcity. The location of the first cephalyx hive was quite remote from population centers, as most human tribes had emigrated toward more fertile regions to the west. The few scattered tribes that remained were meager and impoverished, scratching out a difficult living amid an arid and desolate region.

  The cephalyx faced a crisis as resource scarcity reached a critical level, a situation made worse by schisms between the ruling exulons. As they refined their mental powers these rulers increasingly found it difficult to reach consensus. Contests of wills escalated into feuds and lethal mental duels. These battles sometimes swept up an exulons followers, disrupting entire regions of the hive.

  Eventually it became clear to the cephalyx that they would need to relocate and divide. New hives were needed. The exulons broke the central hive into smaller groups and allocated its resources and personnel among them, then implemented a plan to replicate their society in new locations. The best surface raiders of the central hive became scouts, undertaking expeditions to find ideal sites to settle. This exodus, not undertaken lightly, proved essential for long-term survival.

  New cephalyx hives were established below several mountain ranges and forests across western Immoren during what the surface dwellers refer to as the late Warlord Era. These hives consolidated their strength and expanded their subterranean networks well into the Thousand Cities Era. The new thriving communities of mankind provided an ample supply of easily captured subjects. Typically such subjects could be seized without raising an alarm so long

  CEPhalYx MENTal abIlITIES

  Individual cephalyx possess varied mental capabilities,

  particularly across different roles within a hive. however, some

  abilities are shared by all. The youngest cephalyx generally have

  the least developed mental powers, while the oldest and those

  with the most augmented brains demonstrate correspondingly

  greater development and raw power.

  all cephalyx possess some degree of mental telepathy. The range

  at which cephalyx can communicate with one another varies.

  In most cases a cephalyx can contact peers at a distance several

  times farther than an audible voice would carry, and they can

  also reach one another despite certain intervening barriers. The

  most mentally powerful cephalyx can convey simple thoughts

  across an entire hive or from several miles away aboveground,

  although nuanced communication requires proximity.

  This telepathy enables the cephalyx to sense the surface

  thoughts of nearby thinking beings, making the subterranean

  race difficult to ambush or surprise. With dedicated effort they

  are sometimes able to perceive more. Probing into the inner

  thoughts of other intelligent beings always requires effort

  and can harm a vulnerable mind. Some entities are difficult

  for a cephalyx to telepathically probe. The minds of arcane

  practitioners, for example, are often difficult to discern, and

  certain energy projections, such as a warcasters power field,

  can interfere with a cephalyxs more intrusive telepathy.

  Cephalyx can communicate with outsiders via telepathy, but it

  is painful to the non-cephalyx and can damage their psyches.

  Most cephalyx have atrophied larynges and can communicate

  verbally only if they take specific measures to do so. Cephalyx

  intending to interact with outsiders rely on artificially generated

  sound. Thanks to their telepathic powers, most can immediately

  translate their thoughts into any language. This is not the same

  as true fluency in that language but represents an instantaneous

  mental translation. Cephalyx may utilize unusual sentence

  structure and grammar as a result of the different ways they

  organize information, not from a lack of understanding.

  Telekinesis is another universal trait of the cephalyx, although in

  some cases this is limited to a cephalyxs mobilityallowing them

  to float effortlessly from place to placeand the manipulation of

  prosthetic limbs attached to their backs. To a cephalyx, this type

  of movement and control is as intuitive and easy as moving arms

  and legs is to non-cephalyx.

  While cephalyx rely on their own sense organs to see or hear,

  they often augment their vision through lenses in their masks.

  Furthermore, telepathically capable cephalyx who are controlling

  drudges or monstrosities can rely on those beings to broaden

  their perspective of their surroundings.

• 23

  as the cephalyx left no trace of their passage and attacked small groups on the fringes.

  An influx of surgically altered drudges provided martial strength to the new hives, allowing them to defend themselves against organized retaliation. Even in the rare instances such efforts were mustered, surface dwellers proved reluctant to delve into cephalyx tunnels, a justifiable fear given the advantages the cephalyx possessed there. By exercising caution and carefully selecting subjects to enslave, the cephalyx were able to grow stronger and prosper. The cephalyx carved out a place for themselves, driving away violent subterranean creatures like the dregg and other perils. Generally the superior mental powers of the cephalyx allowed them to seize whatever tunnels they required without enduring substantial losses.

  Subsequent hive divisions took place in the following centuries, albeit slowly and infrequently. Population controls exercised by each hive maintained stability. The impetus for a hive to divide in order to establish a new hive was invariably a consequence of escalating battles over supremacy between ruling exulons.

  Hives naturally evolved an ideal number of cephalyx occupying the strata of its various castes. Unbalancing these numbers usually provoked strife. Once too many mentally powerful leaders became exulons, conflict was inevitable, and only murder or schism would relieve the pressure. These periods of crisis were usually resolved by brief but fierce battles among the leaders, with the losing exulon or exulons extinguished. Most of a hive would be unaffected, as members submitted to whichever leaders held dominance. Beyond these occasional struggles, hive leaders focused on their cephalomek experiments, working either individually or in research groups to refine their mastery of this science as each sought continual improvement of their mental powers.

  reaChing a higher stateContact between hives was infrequent, generally involving spies seeking to keep abreast of the advances of the nearest rivals. Strife occasionally erupted between these neighboring hives, usually over access to limited resources or attempts to secure or safeguard cephalomek advances. The rest of the time the various hives remained focused on internal issues and advancing the projects of their exulons.

  Surgical and biological research remained a core value of all cephalyx, although advancements were incremental rather than revolutionary for most of cephalyx history. Perhaps as a result of their strict hierarchy and the overpowering dominance of the exulons, truly innovative and creative ideas proved to be rare. Though they had fostered an environment to advance individual intelligence, these efforts were extremely focused, based on narrow criteria. One could argue that the cephalyx methodology had optimized analytical

  intelligence at the cost of creative insight. Furthermore, by far the greatest priority of cephalyx research and development was the augmentation of psychic abilities that did not rely directly on greater intelligence but on some combination of ambition, ego, and will.

  the Mortality dileMMaAnother great work occupying countless cephalyx across multiple hives was the ongoing battle against mortality. The ruling exulons knew the primary limit to individual advancement was the onset of disease, mental degradation, and, inevitably, death. Seeking to solve this existential conundrum, many of the greatest cephalyx minds turned from the study of the brain to a lower sciencestudying the other systems of the body, including the individual cell. Though such work carried less prestige, those set to this project knew their advances would be required for the cephalyx to live long enough to make true breakthroughs in higher thought.

  By slow turns over the centuries the cephalyx managed to eliminate or diminish several key factors contributing to bodily degradation over time. The lifespan of cephalyx began to lengthen, stretching beyond what most humans could hope to enjoy. Achieving progress beyond this incremental lifespan increase proved difficult. Moreover, the effort was quite expensive, both in resources and in the alchemical and surgical effort required. It became clear that a hive would never be able to invest in multiplying the lifespans of its entire populace. The lower castes were allowed to enjoy only the most rudimentary refinements, while those who proved capable of prodigious mental development and psychic power were given liberty not only to expand their minds through cephalomek surgeries but also to enjoy substantially greater longevity.

  This created a cycle slanted to the benefit of the exulons, given that mental development was inherently a slow and gradual task. The gulf between the ruling exulons and the lowest caste grew larger, even as the physical brains of the exulons expanded to allow for larger and more convoluted networks of dense nerve tissue. Longevity brought new problems along with its rewards, as cephalyx in this state discovered they required more than ordinary sustenance to empower their prodigious psychic abilities.

  PsyChiC hungerSoon the most powerful cephalyx noted that engaging their mental powers against lesser minds provided a rejuvenating effect. The very task of subjugating the will of others restored the mental reserves of the victor, as if he were feeding on their energies. Additionally, the physically larger brains of the ranking exulons required regular infusions of alchemical draughts drawn from the brains and spinal fluids of subject creatures. Usually these needs were

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  Will to Dominate

  met by a hive in the course of regular research, with the most mentally robust specimens put aside for the exulons. Still, in times of scarcity this could become a strain on the hive: yet another reason to limit the number of cephalyx in the upper tiers of development.

  The most powerful exulons proved to be reliant on regularly siphoning memories and mental energies from the brains of lesser creatures. Done swiftly, this scoured the subjects mind and left an empty husk void of higher mental faculties, useful only for conversion into the simplest drudges. The eldest exulons demonstrated a hunger outstripping physical need, an addiction that could force them to take otherwise unacceptable risks to seek fresh minds to ravage. This was one reason cephalyx leaders sometimes ventured to the surface world to engage in battles arguably better left to less critical members of their hives.

  the lean CenturiesBy and large cephalyx hives have been able to conduct their work and prosper regardless of events on the surface, but some calamities shook the continent deeply enough for even them to feel. The Orgoth Occupation that ravaged the surface kingdoms had a tremendous impact on the cephalyx and represented to them the first time their subterranean existence was seriously threatened by surface dwellers. It took some time before the cephalyx even recognized the nature of this threat, but by the end of the Occupation they were as relieved as any other inhabitants of western Immoren to see the foreign tyrants vanish.

  The most significant impact of the Orgoth was a sudden difficulty in harvesting subjects. This was a result of efforts by the invaders to enslave the surface population. Particularly during the early centuries of the Occupation, thousands of Immorese were killed in warfare, and thereafter additional thousands were chained and shipped overseas. Those who remained were kept in heavily guarded slave camps watched over by vigilant Orgoth soldiers. During these years cephalyx hives found it almost impossible to conduct surface raids. Making the situation even worse, the Orgoth created numerous passages and chambers beneath their structures, sometimes digging deep to establish tombs or torture chambers. Several times, Orgoth builders discovered the periphery tunnels of a hive during these excavations, resulting in bloody conflict.

  A number of hives felt pushed to desperate measures, including undertaking ill-conceived efforts to destroy the local Orgoth and seize their slave populations by force. Though these campaigns were sometimes successful in the short term, Orgoth retaliation was fierce and effective. The invaders had no fear of following the cephalyx into their tunnels and possessed a number of mystical techniques and weapons that enabled them to fight on nearly equal terms

  with their mentally augmented foes. Orgoth soldiers driven to berserk rage by mystical rites proved to be resistant to mental domination, and the drudge armies accumulated by these hives were not enough to defend them. Several hives were destroyed in this period, while others were forced to abandon outer holdings.

  return to norMalCyThe remaining hives learned to avoid direct contact with the governing Orgoth and to endure a dearth of research subjects. This was a hardship primarily on the exulons and other advanced cephalyx, many of whom perished from infighting as their mental faculties diminished after extended energy starvation. As the Occupation went on, the Orgoth eventually gave the captive populations greater liberty. This allowed the cephalyx to resume cautious raiding. The situation improved tremendously with the onset of the Rebellion, when chaos and struggles among the surface dwellers offered ample opportunities to capture entire populations of peripheral villages uncontested.

  This resurgence in the capacity for widespread experimentation also marked one of the greatest advances in cephalyx longevity. Approximately fifty years before the Rebellion armies succeeded in casting out the Orgoth, several cephalyx hives made parallel breakthroughs in cell longevity. These breakthroughs were discovered and replicated across the scattered hives. This involved a variety of complex alchemical treatments that significantly diminished degradation from aging and allowed stable cell growth in tissues that would ordinarily have become cancerous. Related treatments augmented the regrowth of nerve tissues in even the eldest cephalyx. Some benefits were easily applicable to the lower castes, but the most dramatic applications were reserved for the exulons.

  a CloCkWork eneMyThe hives anticipated a rise in their fortunes in the wake of the Orgoth Occupation, particularly given the advances in longevity. These predictions were undermined by the emergence of a new threat

  that revealed itself in the early 300s and escalated in the following centuries: the Convergence of Cyriss. Members of this machine cult possessed an affinity for underground facilities, often preferring locations proximate to major cephalyx hives. Unlike the subterranean rivals the cephalyx had encountered before, the Convergence proved to be entirely capable of waging organized warfare underground, wielding effective weapons and utilizing advanced tactics.

  Mere proximity and territoriality would have ensured bitter enmity between these two groups regardless of other considerations. It quickly became apparent, however, that this

• 25

  enemy was more than simply a rival for resources or access to tunnels. To the cephalyx, the clockwork forms of the worshipers of Cyriss represented a strange and revolting aberration, one similar to but far more abhorrent than the animated corpses employed by surface necromancers. Necromancy was a repugnant practice relying on the putrefying forces of death and decay, but its powers arose from the organic and were therefore comprehensible. The constructs of Cyriss were something else altogether, an utter rejection of biology. The leaders of the cephalyx found this concept both fascinating and loathsome, particularly since in some respects Convergence goals seemed to parallel their own.

  As clashes between the Convergence and the cephalyx grew more frequent and the cephalyx learned more of this adversary, they discovered disquieting similarities. The Convergences achievement in transcending the physical was not dissimilar to the cephalyx goal of becoming creatures of pure mind. Indeed, cephalyx leaders faced the disturbing notion that the essence chambers the Convergence had so quickly innovated might be a means to successful transformation into a purer mental state. Among the great cephalyx thinkers it was deduced that the insights Convergence worshipers had received from their Goddess of Patterns and through astronomy were similar to concepts cephalyx ancestors developed after dissecting the brain.

  Complicating the understanding of this enemy was the fact that clockwork minds seemed to be strangely impervious to psychic emanations. Probing the thoughts or motivations of the Convergence proved to be a challenge facilitated only by capturing living members of the organization, who were rarely risked in battle. Greater familiarity and studyearned at considerable cost across decades of conflictallowed the cephalyx to better understand this foe and their antithetical ideology.

  It was eventually deduced that the Convergence represented a bizarre and corrupted variant of cephalyx core beliefs, a group driven astray by superstitions encouraged by a manipulative and malevolent divinity. If there were an intelligence and will to be found among natures universal laws and the principles of mathematics, it was an aberration, an invidious entity that defiled the purity of sentient thought. Strengthening this conclusion was the finding that the clockwork entities of the Convergence did not, so far as the cephalyx were concerned, possess true free will, but only a convincing facsimile. Such clockwork beings had, in fact, been enslaved by the goddess they worshiped, becoming its extensions on Caen.

  The exulons of several hives declared that complete freedom of the mind would be negated should the divine entity called Cyriss manifest on Caen. The exulons predicted the Convergence would never succeed in their goal, given that it would require an impossible degree of coordinated global effort. Nonetheless, they agreed that the cephalyx should undermine and oppose the Convergence at every opportunity.

  No effort was made to organize multiple hives against this enemy, as hives are inherently self-motivated and self-involved, led by exulons who safeguard their autonomy. Rather, each hive has dealt with this foe as they have encountered it. Many hives have conducted operations to eradicate nearby Convergence populations when they have sufficient resources to do so, including infiltrating and taking over Convergence facilities when possible.

  CEPhalYx lIFESPaNS aNd hEalTh

  Cephalyx have yet to fully exploit their breakthroughs

  in longevity, but great strides were achieved around 450

  years ago. Even members of the lowest caste who remain

  in that echelon their entire lives can expect to live at least

  two hundred years. Overlords and top researchers such as

  cognifexes receive additional treatments, allowing them to

  enjoy lifespans as long as three or four centuries. Exulons

  receive the most extensive rejuvenating conditioning. No

  exulon treated since the creation of the Iron Kingdoms has

  died of natural causes. It is predicted that exulons can expect

  lifespans upward of six to seven centuries. Such lifespans

  are longer than any sentient species in western Immoren,

  including the long-lived Nyss.

  The state of cephalyx medical understanding makes them

  essentially immune to diseases so long as they have access

  to the resources of a hive. however, cephalyx bodies are

  relatively frail and delicate, easily damaged by forceful

  trauma. Physically weakened by atrophy of the limbs and

  a reduction of muscle mass and bone density, they rely

  heavily on telekinetics to protect themselves from harm.

  despite this, they are capable of recovering from extremely

  severe injuries so long as they are quickly tended to by a

  sufficiently capable cephalyx. Cephalyx resilience after

  injury is entirely reliant on swift and comprehensive

  medical intervention.

  Through deliberate modifications as a result of strong taboos,

  cephalyx corpses do not retain integrity after death unless

  subjected to alchemical substances known only to them. as

  soon as a cephalyx experiences brain death, the body begins

  to break down, quickly becoming a gelatinous pool of liquids

  and proteins. For this reason, no outsider has successfully

  dissected a cephalyx. In a hive, the lowest caste deals with

  corpses. Cephalyx corpses are often preserved long enough

  for the brain to be dissected and examined before the body

  is allowed to disintegrate. The resulting fluids are distributed

  to nourish food-producing fungi and other essential plants.

  Machine parts from the deceased are recycled and reused.

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  Will to Dominate

  Such victories have had the added benefit of affording the cephalyx access to powerful energy generators, which they have sometimes exploited to run their own machinery. While the cephalyx have their own biological power sources, Convergence power sources provided a greater and steadier supply of energy. The cephalyx do not fully understand Convergence technology, and there are numerous barriers to reverse engineering this machinerynot least, a strong distaste for all Convergence techniques. The cephalyx are willing to ignore their disgust, however, in the interest of seizing these power generators.

  Several Convergence facilities have fallen to the cephalyx over the decades, enabling the cephalyx to create highly efficient surgical theaters for such purposes as automated drudge creation. Where these facilities are retained for a sufficient length of time, the cephalyx can efficiently convert hundreds or even thousands of captives into battle-ready drudges. Generally a hive cannot hold such a facility indefinitely. Eventually generators fail beyond repair or the Convergence musters a sufficient military force to dislodge the cephalyx. Hives seek to exploit these windfalls to the best of their ability and then retreat to consolidate acquired resources. There has been no systematic or cohesive effort by either side to exterminate the other, but deadly conflict between them has been frequent.

  Recent events have seen a marked rise in activity among the Convergence, and the cephalyx are aware that this enemy has entered a new phase in their long-term plans. This threat has prompted the hives to gather additional forces and stand ready for conflict. Most hives are unwilling to take aggressive measures, instead preparing against Convergence forces invading their territories.

  an unConventional allianCeThe fortunes of individual hives rise and fall over time, a fact that is natural and unavoidable. Several decades ago, however, the misfortunes of a once-powerful hive led to unprecedented

  developments. The central hub of this particular hive was situated below the Thornwood, with peripheral tunnels and facilities stretching as far as the Llaelese Mountains, southeastern Khador, and eastern Ord. This Thornwood hive experienced significant setbacks in the mid 500s AR, losing a substantial portion of its strength as well as several of its leading exulons.

  There was no single cause for this decline but rather a sequence of disasters both small and large. These included a particularly costly conflict with a dregg infestation in the 550s, followed by several defeats at the hands of the Convergence of Cyriss, which had been expanding bases into the hives

  territory. The hive was already in a particularly weak and vulnerable position when Cryxians began to infiltrate the Thornwood in 586 AR. It soon became apparent that Cryx sought to establish its own subterranean presence in the area and would become a severe and unavoidable threat.

  The initial consensus among the exulons was to abandon the hives holdings and either relocate or allow itself to be absorbed by a stronger hive. One exulon, a powerful figure named Thexus, offered an alternative. He had received unexpected contact from the Cryxian leadership expressing interest in a nonviolent solution that could be mutually beneficial. The consensus went against Thexus; the other hive leaders were unwilling to enter into communication with outsiders.

  A largely secret struggle swiftly followed. No sooner had the other exulons denied his motion than Thexus isolated and eliminated the strongest of his conservative rivals. Before the remainder could organize to retaliate, he called for another assembly and calmly presented his proposal again. This time he achieved consensus and the hive entered into an alliance with Cryx. Exulon Thexus spoke for his hive, while Iron Lich Asphyxious spoke for Lich Lord Thalassina of Cryx.

  In the ensuing negotiations, Thexus hive acquired a promise that in any of its military engagements in the region Cryx would set aside a percentage of defeated enemies to be turned over alive to the cephalyx. In return, the hive would assist Cryx to create an extensive underground complex whose chambers would in some regions overlap with the cephalyxs. The two agreed to coexist in these places and to share labor and technology toward the fabrication of weapons for both. Furthermore, the two forces agreed to mutual defense and limited joint military endeavors, though force allocations would be decided by the leaders on either side on a case-by-case basis.

  While some of Thexus rivals were uncertain about entering into such a close relationship with a foreign power, the alliance quickly proved its value. Thexus hive received an unprecedented influx of slaves, allowing them to restore their supply of drudges and monstrosities. This gained in momentum as wars on the surface escalated. In less than a decade the hives military strength exceeded any previous numbers.

  The arrangement has had its downside; joint efforts with Cryx have incurred a high number of casualties among the lower castes and a not-insignificant number of casualties among the lower leadership tier. Yet in the aggregate there is no question the alliance has reinvigorated the Thornwood hive and allowed it to become uniquely formidable. Casualties have been efficiently replaced, and losses have not put an undue burden on the hive.

• 27

  Increased military strength has already proven fortuitous, as seen in recently escalating engagements with the Convergence of Cyriss in northern Llael. Exulon Thexus was able to seize a major facility from the Convergence in 600 AR and exploit its power generators to expedite the conversion of a large number of drudges. Though the Convergence recently regained this facility, Thexus is satisfied that he accomplished his goals during its occupation. Furthermore, he acquired additional military assets and vital intelligence that may prove invaluable in future conflicts.

  CePhalyx soCietyAlthough cephalyx are spread across dozens of hives deep below the surface of Immoren, each shares an identical hierarchy, and its members are divided into similar roles. Hives are self-contained and autonomous, akin to independent city-states, quite willing to compete with one another for resources and even sometimes warring with one another.

  There is limited direct communication or contact between hives, and what exists is usually a prelude to violence. That said, the breakthroughs of one hive usually filter to the rest over time. Each hive is keenly interested in cephalomek developments and will go to great lengths to acquire them. Through spies and the mental domination of captives, discoveries eventually pass to the wider cephalyx. There have also been rare occasions when the exulons of rival hives have temporarily put aside disagreements to act in concert, such as to confront a large intruding Convergence force.

  Though frequently at odds with one another, the cephalyx do possess a shared identity. In circumstances where they unite against a mutual threat, there is inevitably competition for

  supremacy among leading exulons. A stronger hive might seek to absorb a weaker one during such a conflict, as a desire to dominate and control is endemic to cephalyx culture.

  The interactions and politics of the cephalyx are difficult to understand for outsiders, who often cannot comprehend their motivations. Yet each ruling cephalyx is a highly intelligent being who has lived for hundreds of years and absorbed countless lesser minds while augmenting his own. Their actions are ultimately rational, if frequently enigmatic.

  life in the hiveThere is no question that cephalyx are a distinct species. Outsiders view them as alien beings, and this attitude is not without basis. Even such exotic races as the skorne have more in common with western Immorens human kingdoms than do the cephalyx. Referring to their city-states as hives is particularly apt, as the cephalyx are as efficient, organized, and methodical as the most complex social insects.

  Regardless of their roles, individual cephalyx spend the vast majority of their conscious hours laboring at the tasks set before them with apparently tireless diligence and focused attention. The way they approach their work would be considered obsessive by human standards. This is an essential aspect of cephalyx nature, instilled in them culturally and also arising from traits deliberately selected for through countless generations.

  Cephalyx require brief regular periods of inactivity akin to sleep, although this is not based on a diurnal cycle. They are able to return to full consciousness very swiftly. Most cephalyx retreat to a secure place for this cycle. A resting cephalyx is surrounded by guardians such as drudges, and their mental barriers remain active even in this state.

  MONSTROSITY & dRUdGE WEaPONS

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  Will to Dominate

  There is no appreciable concept of leisure time or entertainment among the cephalyx, and what pleasure they derive from life appears to come entirely from accomplishing the tasks they have chosen or have been ordered to undertake. There is no apparent art, music, poetry, or sculpture in this society, nor any other activities that might suggest an imagination applied to anything other than specialized branches of science. Their attitude can be seen in even simple matters such as basic sustenance. Cephalyx have developed an assortment of subterranean flora and fauna that provide the nutrition necessary to sustain life. The cephalyx do not eat in a traditional manner but instead create a nutrient-rich sludge they periodically introduce directly into their digestive systems. The same methodology is applied to sustain drudges and monstrosities.

  As a society the tasks undertaken by cephalyx occupy an atypically narrow range, with far less diversity than most

  surface races. Aside from individuals assigned to regulate the basic tasks required to maintain the infrastructure of a hive, all cephalyx spend some portion of their active labor practicing cephalomek. An individuals skill and knowledge dictates the difficulty and complexity of the procedures he undertakes. The diligence and all-consuming nature of this activity is comparable to the zeal with which religious communities practice their faiths. While cephalyx worship no deity and appear to have no religion, they approach the studies of anatomy, surgery, and engineering, which together comprise cephalomek, with unwavering devotion.

  There are virtually no formalized rituals practiced by cephalyx, an extension of their rigid pragmatism. Similarly, they have shown a narrow range of emotional expression, demonstrating nothing akin to joy, sorrow, rage, or love. The emotions they do experience are not always analogous to those of the surface races and are internalized rather than openly expressed. Even when engaging in violence, the cephalyx exhibit a methodical calm that is often even more chilling to the outsider enemies they confront.

  Cephalyx are supremely cerebral beings. It is frequently the case that they spend considerable time in focused thought, applied either to the task at hand or to theoretical exercises. Most cephalyx have the capacity to focus mental energy on multiple tasks simultaneously. This trait becomes stronger as a cephalyx ages and particularly as he undergoes cerebral augmentation. A cephalyx who appears to be performing a relatively rote tasksuch as amputating the hands of captives to replace them with automated weaponrymay also be engaged in complex mental exercises such as planning hypothetical experiments.

  hierarChy and advanCeMentCephalyx society remains hierarchical, with population controls in place to ensure the number of cephalyx is adequate for the hive to be self-sufficient and accomplish the goals of the exulons. Populations can be reduced in times of scarcity, either by limiting reproduction or, in extreme cases, by eliminating extraneous members of the lower castes. During prosperous times, populations are allowed to slowly increase. Drudges and monstrosities, as military assets, are created or eliminated as needed, though each hive seeks to maintain sufficient strength that it can both defend itself and conduct required offensive operations.

  Every cephalyx is expected to fulfill his assigned role with efficiency and intelligence. The lowest castes of cephalyx are watched over with close scrutiny by those above them, and they must prove superlative at their tasks in order to have any hope of moving up. Though all cephalyx have some degree of ambition, not all are equally capable of achieving their desired upward mobility.

  CEPhalYx GENdER, REPROdUCTION, aNd MaTURITY

  Cephalyx are born with vestigial aspects of the biological

  sexes, although this distinction is largely meaningless. Gender

  as a concept does not exist among the cephalyx, and they do

  not identify themselves as male or female. For purposes of

  language clarity, individual cephalyx might be identified as

  a specific gender. Exulon Thexus is referred to as male, for

  example. but this concept plays no role in cephalyx culture.

  Reproduction is handled entirely in laboratories set aside by a

  hive specifically for that purpose, tended by specialized low-

  caste technicians. all members of a hive contribute genetic

  material sufficient for ongoing production of new cephalyx.

  artificial reproduction requires delicate procedures with a

  higher success than failure rate. Cephalyx cannot reproduce

  at anywhere near the speed they can create drudges, or even

  monstrosities, from captive subjects.

  Cephalyx have the means to accelerate growth and

  development rapidly in newborn and young cephalyx,

  during which time the young are kept in an isolated nursery.

  Telepathic methods of education allow them to be ready for

  their initial assigned roles. an immature cephalyx can be

  transformed into one sufficiently mature to enter cephalyx

  society in a few short years.

  It takes far longer for a cephalyx to develop the mental and

  psychic sophistication to advance beyond initial, usually

  rudimentary, tasks. a cephalyx might remain in the same role

  for decades before transitioning to a higher function. If a hive

  is experiencing a specific lack, focused efforts can be made

  to transition the most capable members of a lower caste. This

  is typically done only after a hive endures severe casualties.

• 29

  Cephalyx society is rigid, and required functions must be filled, but individuals are not locked into a single role indefinitely. It is intrinsic to cephalyx society that those with sufficient mental acumen and power can rise. Younger cephalyx are slated to the lowest castes and must spend years performing basic supervisory tasks or rote functions their superiors would consider demeaning. In the course of such work, cephalyx refine their initially rudimentary mental powers and learn cephalomek, starting with the most basic and crude of surgical techniques. Eventually those who prove their skill might be entrusted with more challenging tasks and perhaps elevated to a different role, while newer cephalyx occupy their former position.

  Advancement typically requires lengthy labor and focused self-improvement. There are significant barriers to further advancement at each level of the hierarchy. These may require a cephalyx to undergo surgical augmentation to expand his brain and unlock new powers. Such opportunities must be earned, and not every cephalyx responds to cephalomek augmentation identically. Some of these procedures carry a risk of death or madness, and a cephalyx who is unable to perform a useful role for the hive after surgery is eliminated. Over centuries, a cephalyx who successfully advances multiple times can become a very different entity, transformed both physically and mentally.

  Some brains are more responsive to expansion, although most can be improved by several orders of magnitude over a cephalyxs lengthy lifespan. Generally the hives leaders must authorize augmentative procedures, though some cephalyx seek them without approval. There are always more cephalyx eager for augmentation and advancement than there is actual need for them, and in any hive there is a limited number of experts capable of performing the most advanced of brain surgeries. The vast majority of cephalyx are incapable of successful self-augmentation and therefore must rely on their seniors in order to advance. Casualties in times of strife can be useful to disrupt stagnation in a hives hierarchy and open chances for advancement.

  Cephalyx are still individuals, each more suited to certain tasks than others. Mid-tier cephalyx who are particularly adept at a given field may find themselves mired at that level until they can impress superiors or demonstrate unusual initiative. Similarly, many cephalyx are unsuitable for leadership roles, even after an extended lifetime. They may find satisfaction in experimental research and seek advancement purely for cerebral reasons without a compulsion to dominate their peers. Such evolved specialists can advance far in a hive and assume essential positions. Each hive includes a small number of senior cephalyx who are afforded special considerations by the exulons and who answer only to them. Such cephalyx have considerable status but might not possess any authority outside their field of specialization.

  hive Caste tiersA hive comprises myriad roles, but many include cephalyx who are essentially equivalent in status. These tiers are not formally named structures within the hierarchy, but the strata of a hive are well understood by members. Though placement in a role or caste is initially assigned, the most important aspect of a cephalyxs changing status is his mental advancement and power. Only leaders with sufficient mental strength to dominate subordinates remain in those positions. Individuals who have exceeded the ability of a superior to control them will invariably rise in station unless that rise is opposed by hive leaders.

  In cases where a rising member of a hive cannot be placed in a useful role and where his mental power and ambition disrupts the goals of the leadership caste, a struggle of wills inevitably ensues. Those who remain defiant when they are confronted by higher-caste cephalyx invariably provoke a deadly contest of psychic power. This is the cephalyx equivalent to law enforcement; open defiance is dealt with swiftly and irrevocably. Dissent and disagreement within a hive are not allowed at any level below exulon. Even among exulons, extended periods in which consensus cannot be achieved will result in violent conflict until the minority is defeated.

  hive infrastructure tierThe lowest castes of a hive are those involved in overseeing fundamental infrastructure and maintenance. The tasks they supervise include growing food crops, managing waste elimination (including handling the dead), expanding and repairing a hives tunnel network, constructing new laboratories or living areas, and overseeing reproduction centers. Many of these duties are given to the youngest cephalyx or those at the lowest end of mental advancement, including older cephalyx who have failed to augment their minds or who damaged their brains via accidents or mistakes during augmentation procedures.

  These basic tasks are vital to a hive, and it is expected that they be attended to with exacting diligence. The lowest-status members of the leadership caste are assigned to supervise cephalyx in these roles. Their only hope of advancement is demonstrating superlative performanceboth theirs and their subordinates.

  No true cephalyx, even among the lowest and most junior members, ever engages in physical or menial labor. Physical tasks are instead performed by enslaved drudges or monstrosities, which are supervised and controlled by cephalyx of the lowest caste. One essential function of low-caste cephalyx is to acquire, modify, and direct drudges that can perform this work. Mastering the surgical creation of such drudges is therefore one of the first things a young cephalyx must learn to do, a first step in the long process of mastering

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  Will to Dominate

  cephalomek. With aptitude and decades of practice, these cephalyx might move from hacking into prisoners in dark, squalid rooms to performing advanced cephalomek on cephalyx brains in pristine laboratories and surgical suites, but only if they can advance beyond the lowest caste.

  Drudges are employed for all manner of menial tasks, including excavating tunnels, carrying equipment, harvesting food, and serving as disposable weapons for hive defense. Monstrosities are more valued resources than drudges, requiring more effort to create and maintain, and thus they are present in much smaller numbers in a hive. However, they can also be employed for menial labor, typically for tasks requiring their prodigious strength.

  Several highly specialized roles exist within this lowest caste. Reproduction centers, for example, represent a relatively advanced function that is low in status. Those assigned to oversee reproduction are invariably older cephalyx who have not risen in stature within the hive. Most techniques practiced here are simple and represent basic cephalomek, although those who practice these sciences know there are unique challenges and difficulties to hive reproduction. Exulons often place cephalyx noted for high reliability but low ambition in this role.

  Perhaps the most mysterious and loathed caste of cephalyx are the preservers, a minority of highly specialized and advanced cephalyx whose sole task is the acquisition and storage of knowledge. All preservers have undergone substantial cranial adjustments and improvements, although along lines entirely different from those of other castes. Preservers are among the lowest caste of cephalyx because they regularly violate taboos against direct contact with flesh. They interact directly with brain matter and possess specialized appendages and related tools that allow them to interface with living brains as well as to section and shave brains of the deceased for detailed absorption. Many cephalyx can telepathically probe the consciousness of lesser beings and strip memories, but for the majority this is an inexact and unreliable process. The most powerful cephalyx are likely to damage lesser minds before recovering useful information. Preservers are far more adroit at extracting such information.

  Though captive subjects with unusual minds or information might be delivered to the preservers so their brains can be sectioned for absorption, preservers focus mainly on accumulating and maintaining lore generated by the cephalyx themselves. Research leaders in particular are required to regularly transmit their findings to the preservers. Additionally, members of this caste are sometimes contacted by leaders who wish to telepathically access their memory archives, usually to acquire detailed lore on rare or specialized cephalomek procedures.

  priority operations tierThe majority of hive members exist at this tier, which includes most castes of mature cephalyx involved in ongoing projects of interest to the exulons, including research. Most cephalyx spend the majority of their active time practicing cephalomek. This can include engaging in surgical procedures to innovate new drudges, refining techniques for creating better monstrosities, assisting in procedures related to mental augmentation, or conducting cephalomek experiments. All of these activities rely on a steady influx of captured experimental subjects, some of whom might survive to be subjected to a multitude of successive procedures.

  This is a very broad tier but includes the work deemed the most important ongoing efforts of a hive. This tier has many strata of status, and most cephalyx spend their lives moving slowly from one to another of these layers. A cephalyx can shift from one project to the next before petitioning for the right to conduct research of their own choosing. Cephalyx such as mind benders, agitators, dominators, and particularly experienced mind slavers are examples of cephalyx at this tier, which also includes fleshforgers, reprocessors, and oppressors.

  The lowest strata within this tier involve work on relatively basic or low cephalomek. The simplest tasks such as rote drudge creation or drudge modification are lower-caste activities; although common and necessary, these types of surgery are seen as akin to butchery and carry little esteem. Other projects involve theoretical and experimental tasks such as innovating new ways to condition or fabricate drudges, experimenting with different alchemical or surgical methods of domination and restraint, and so on.

  Monstrosity fabrication is a more advanced task and carries proportionately greater status, although practitioners are still working with well-established cephalomek techniques. The most esteemed cephalyx in this field are those seeking to develop new and more advanced types of monstrosities or to push the bounds of what is attainable within the limits of the creatures physical frames.

  The highest-status tasks in this tier involve work on the brain, in particular the enhancement of cephalyx intelligence and psychic powers. Such work is jealously guarded and usually conducted by only the greatest masters of cephalomek. Though it is sometimes done, cephalyx of this tier find it difficult to attempt to augment their own brains without the approval of their superiors. Although the desire for self-improvement often fuels a cephalyxs ambition to join the leadership caste, it is not uncommon for highly skilled cephalyx to devote a lifetime of work to augmenting exulons, never once themselves benefiting from the results of their research.

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  A hive allows for only a small number of extremely advanced cephalyx to rise beyond the oversight of overlords, most notably cognifexes and mechanifexes. Cognifexes are among the most intelligent and mentally powerful of cephalomek practitioners who have not assumed the responsibility of governing an aspect of the hive. They are autonomous in running advanced research projects, sometimes collating the findings of multiple facilities. Mechanifexes occupy a similar niche, with a focus on mechanical applications. While cephalyx are primarily obsessed with surgical tasks, their laboratories require an array of mechanical, chemical, biological, and psychic power sources to run complex machinery, all of which must be fabricated to exacting standards and maintained. Mechanifexes are capable of advanced cephalomek and wield an array of psychic powers but also possess specialized lore in machine systems.

  Cephalyx at the highest level of this tier have limited direct authority, yet they exercise considerable influence through the overlords regulating their projects. Knowing these individuals answer to a higher authority, overlords make every effort to facilitate their work and eliminate anything that would interfere.

  leadership tierThe highest tier is occupied by the leadership castes, who jealously guard their positions and reserve the right to regulate the actions of subordinate cephalyx. There are several levels of leadership within a hive, and the gulf between them is substantial. Upper-tier leaders have every motivation to discourage elevating potential rivals. There are a wide variety of circumstances whereby higher-ranking members of this tier might eliminate those lower than themselves without consequences. Entering the leadership tier means walking a tightrope. These cephalyx must prove to be capable, powerful, and useful to their hive but also not a threat to the goals of their superiors. It can take centuries for cephalyx to rise to the top of the leadership caste. More are destroyed than succeed.

  Overlord The lowest caste of cephalyx leadership is occupied by overlords. They are given oversight of any tasks requiring the coordination of multiple cephalyx. All overlords oversee subordinates working on a single task or project, but there is considerable variance in their status. An overlord assigned to manage waste elimination would be far lower in status than one assigned to a high-priority research project.

  Any sufficiently experienced cephalyx who has refined his psychic powers can petition hive leaders to join the ranks of the overlords, though few are accepted at any given time. Being an overlord is a transitional state for cephalyx, as these subordinate leaders are always being evaluated. It is a probationary role in which they are learning the demands

  of hive leadership and are held responsible for all failures of the cephalyx under their charge.

  Overlords are in continual competition with one another and are frequently reassigned as performance is evaluated. They are usually organized into trios, each member seeking dominance over his peers. This is thought to refine ambition and ensure that the strongest minds excel. It also prepares overlords for the mental clashes they will face at the higher levels. Dominance within an overlord trio may periodically change, but experienced overlords settle into more stable groupings, with one clearly dominant. It is crucial that any internal competition among overlords not interfere with vital projects. Overlords who forget this face harsh reprisals by hive leaders, potentially including immediate execution.

  Akulon Occupying an intermediary leadership caste are akulons, who serve the exulons by regulating multiple teams of overlords. They are expected to pay detailed attention to the day-to-day tasks under their purview so as to free the exulons for higher thought. An exulon might be served by one to four akulons, so there are very few in most hives. Every akulon serves a specific exulon to whom he is tightly bound by psychic compulsions.

  Overlords who distinguish themselves over the decades might be elevated to akulon. This requires the direct intervention of an exulon, who authorizes an extensive augmentation cycle. Members of this caste must stand ready to dominate entire groups of cephalyx, enforcing obedience and quashing discordant ambitions.

  Silexus Large hives sometimes elevate an akulon to the higher rank of silexus. A silexus in this special coordinating role is empowered to resolve disputes over allocation of resources between the various akulons. Each serves as a gatekeeper for the exulons and ensures that they are disturbed for only the most critical problems. Selected for their decisiveness and crushing mental presence, silexus are formidable battlefield combatants. When a hive is engaged in a protracted battle, a silexus might be elevated to serve as supreme battlefield commander in the absence of exulons. Nominating a silexus requires an exulon consensus, and a silexus serves the consensus and the hive rather than any specific exulon. Not all hives utilize this rank.

  Exulon The supreme rulers of a hive and of the cephalyx in general, exulons are the topmost caste and the elite of their species. This supremacy is most notably reflected in the powerful psychic powers exclusive to them, which require extensive augmentations and regular alchemical treatments. Exulons benefit from special rejuvenating processes that give them unsurpassed longevity and immunity to diseases.

  The mind and will of an exulon are powerful enough to subjugate members of all lesser castes, and the greatest exulons can endure mental assault from multiple junior

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  Will to Dominate

  rivals. Exulons have an enhanced ability to control monstrosities and drudges in battle and can augment multiple allies at once through their telepathic powers. The cost for these abilities is a persistent hunger for the energies of intelligent minds. This craving exists among other upper-caste cephalyx but is strongest among the most powerful exulons, who must regularly feast on mental energies to maintain their power.

  Members of this tier do not work well together: most hives can maintain equilibrium only under the direction of a small group of exulons, and some hives are governed by a single exulon for this reason. Exulons are loathe to allow others to join their ranks, and the rise of a new exulon is most often a matter of individual initiative by a veteran akulon or silexus, usually requiring secret efforts at self-augmentation and breaking loyalty conditioning. A mind at this level has reached an evolved state that can no longer endure external domination. Therefore, exulons are not promoted but rather begrudgingly acknowledged. This transition is dangerous, as standing exulons may prefer to destroy someone aspiring to join their ranks unless persuaded of a benefit to themselves and the hive.

  Among hives with more than one exulon, the idea of consensus is an essential part of internal politics. Each exulon is allowed and expected to run private projects, but major actions involving the coordinated effort of large

  segments of the hive require exulons to work in concert. Without consensus, higher-caste subordinates may interpret efforts to enforce coordination as hostile overtures.

  Meetings between exulons to achieve consensus are tense and potentially deadly. Matters are debated in a way that employs raw telepathic will, and arguments between exulons are invisible battles, conducted by way of telepathic probes, mental assaults, and psychic deflections. Consensus may arise naturally but more often requires mental battery and pressure, with the winning side forcing the losing side to acquiesce. Victory in psychic debates usually goes to the most numerous side, but not always. The strongest minds with the greatest conviction win consensus if they can succeed in eroding oppositional resistance. An exulons status among his peers can quickly rise or fall amid these meetings.

  Military of the CePhalyxThe cephalyx have not created specific castes or roles to handle hive defense; the concept of a military is foreign to them. Instead, nearly every member of a hive is expected to contribute to hive defense and to obey orders regarding aggressive actions conducted beyond the hive. No caste is exempt from this obligation, though in practice some, such as the preservers, rarely participate.

  The same leadership roles by which a hive is governed come into play in defensive or aggressive actions. Most often the

• 33

  overlords are tasked to lead, to regulate lesser cephalyx and ensure victory. In these engagements the overlords fear disappointing the exulons more than they fear the efforts of the enemy. Cephalyx are prone to underestimating their enemies, all of whom they view as inferior beings, but experienced cephalyx understand that even lesser beings can be dangerous.

  Regardless of caste or role, cephalyx are loathe to place themselves directly in harms way unless forced to do so by the mental compulsion of a superior. The preferred cephalyx approach is to make heavy use of drudges and monstrosities as an expendable resource to spend against their adversaries. Yet inevitably in battle some cephalyx may fall. Cephalyx are self-centered in this regard, little fazed by the deaths of their peers. Higher castes are quite callous toward the necessity of expending members of lower castes. Even as a mind slaver views a drudge as a useful but disposable military asset, an overlord views the mind slaver in the same way.

  That said, the leadership castes keep an accurate accounting of a hives population and know the difficulties and costs of replacing key personnel. Cephalyx pragmatism ensures they will risk vital hive resources only if the goal is of sufficient importance. Ranking cephalyx will not hesitate to retreat and surrender ground if necessary and are untroubled by human concepts like honor, pride, and duty. Any cephalyx seen fighting to the death in battle is invariably one who has been mentally compelled to do so by his superiors.

  Most cephalyx are battle-ready without additional training or preparation, able and willing to make use of their mental powers and their surgical expertise and tools if need be. With knowledge of anatomy, cephalyx can quickly and efficiently kill other living things, requiring nothing more than a small slice to a major artery. Some castes, however, are more specifically oriented toward hive defense. All mind slavers are expected to maintain a roster of battle-ready drudges to serve as the most numerous of a hives soldiery. Drudges usually employed for other tasks can be very quickly outfitted for battle.

  Agitators serve a hive by seeing to the disposition of monstrosities, ensuring they are delivered as required and augmenting them in battle. Dominators serve a special role predicated on enslaving highly skilled outsiders. Besides providing reconnaissance, access to these non-cephalyx gives a hive an arsenal of unusual tactics. A dominator can use the slaves in myriad ways, including sending dominated troops to blend in with the enemy to discern their plans.

  Cephalyx prefer to engage with small to medium-sized forces. Most cephalyx raids are comprised of a relatively small number of cephalyx supported by a larger number of drudges and a few monstrosities striking against poorly defended periphery human and Rhulic communities. Stronger hives can muster entire armies, however, though they rarely do so. One of the greatest strengths of the cephalyx in these engagements is internal cohesion and instantaneous communication, facilitated by telepathic orders. The fact that drudges are directly controlled means they are capable of perfect, silent coordination.

  The cephalyx are not a militarily regimented society, and disparate elements sometimes engage enemies in a less ordered manner. This can put them at a disadvantage against disciplined foes like the Convergence or the elite troops of kingdom armies. The cephalyx are most effective when able to ambush or strike from a position of surprise, applying their mental powers and using raw psychological shock to demoralize the enemy. They prefer to strike quickly and overwhelmingly and withdraw back to a hive; they are not as well suited for protracted engagements.

  However, a hive fighting to defend its core assets can be truly formidable and intractable. Supported by powerful ruling cephalyx and able to rely on their surgical theaters, the cephalyx can prove extremely resilient. When fighting close to the hive, cephalyx send their injured back to be treated and then returned to battle, essentially eliminating non-fatal casualties and giving the impression of far greater numbers than they actually possess.

  CEPhalYx WaRCaSTERS

  Some cephalyx have the ability to directly control multiple

  monstrosities and wield formidable powers that can transform

  a battlefield. Their telekinetic abilities can deflect incoming

  weaponry as efficiently as any power field. Such individuals

  can fight on par with Iron Kingdoms warcasters, though the

  cephalyx themselves do not consider them warcasters. Such

  powers are unlocked by the augmentation of the cephalyx

  brain; they are not rooted in an unpredictable and rare

  inborn talent, nor do these cephalyx leaders have an affinity

  for cortexes or mechanika. The ability to telepathically

  control and direct monstrosities is an extension of the mental

  abilities of these upper-caste cephalyx, not dissimilar from

  controlling drudges.

  Cephalyx do not technically cast spells or wield magic, though

  the psychic powers they manifest function similarly and can

  be similarly affected or disrupted. What appear to be spells

  employed by individuals such as Exulon Thexus are rather a

  manifestation of formidable and versatile psychic abilities.

  For this reason, when cephalyx unleash these powers there is

  no manifestation of spell runes, only a sickly purple radiance.

• 34

  CePhalyx WarCastersCephalyx warcasters do not control battlegroups of warjacks. Instead they control forces of surgically altered, mechanically enhanced giants colloquially known as monstrosities.

  CePhalyx WarCaster sPeCial rulesCephalyx warcasters can control only monstrosities and cannot control warjacks. A Cephalyx warcaster can allocate focus points to monstrosities in his battlegroup as if they were warjacks. A Cephalyx warcasters warjack points can be used on monstrosities even though they are not warjacks.

  In addition to their other special rules as warcasters, Cephalyx warcasters have the following special rule:

  healingAt any time during its activation, this model can spend focus points to heal damage a monstrosity in its battlegroup that is in its control area has suffered. For each focus point spent this way, remove 1 damage point.

  MonstrositiesMonstrosities are classified according to base size: a light monstrosity has a medium base (40 mm), and a heavy monstrosity has a large base (50 mm). Even though it is assigned to a specific battlegroup, each monstrosity is an independent model.

  Monstrosity sPeCial rulesMonstrosities are not warjacks and do not have a cortex. Monstrosities can be controlled only by Cephalyx warcasters.

  Monstrosities are living models.

  Monstrosities are so utterly dominated by their Cephalyx masters that they lack even the rudimentary capacity for free will required to form bonds.

  Additionally, monstrosities have the following special rules:

  daMage gridMonstrosities have damage grids like warjacks.

  destroyed MonstrosityWhen a destroyed monstrosity is removed from the table it is not replaced with a wreck marker.

  fearless Though it does not appear on their stat lines, all monstrosities have the Fearless advantage.

  CePhalyx rules & theMe forCe

  brainThis model can be allocated focus. This model can have no more than 3 focus points at any time as a result of allocation. This limit does not apply to focus gained by means other than allocation.

  Unless otherwise stated, this model can spend focus only during its activation.

  foCus: additional attaCkThis model can spend focus to make additional melee or ranged attacks as part of its combat action. It can make one additional attack for each focus point spent.

  foCus: boostThis model can spend 1 focus point to boost any of its attack rolls or damage rolls during its activation. Add an extra die to the boosted roll. Boosting must be declared before rolling any dice for the roll.

  foCus: shakeDuring your Control Phase after allocating focus, if this model is knocked down it can spend 1 focus point to stand up.

  During your Control Phase after allocating focus, if this model is stationary it can spend 1 focus point to cause the stationary status to expire.

  Monstrosity PoWer attaCksThis model can make power attacks. To choose the power attack option for its combat action, it must spend 1 focus point. All monstrosities can make the slam, head-butt, and push power attacks. Heavy monstrosities can make the trample power attack. Monstrosities with at least one

  On a monstrositys damage grid, the following letters

  represent the monstrositys systems:

  b: brain

  l: left arm weapons system

  R: Right arm weapons system

  h: head weapons system

  M: Movement

  a monstrosity with a crippled brain (b system) loses

  any focus points on it and cannot be allocated focus

  points. It cannot spend focus points for any reason.

  Monstrosities with crippled left arms, right arms, heads,

  or movement suffer the same penalties as warjacks do

  (see WaRMaChINE: Prime Mk II).

  MONSTROSITY daMaGE KEY

• 35

  PuPPet MastersarMy CoMPosition An army constructed under the Puppet Masters contract

  can include Cephalyx models/units. Additionally, the army can include up to one non-Cephalyx Mercenary unit if that unit includes a Cephalyx Dominator UA.

  Increase the FA of Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudge units by +1.

  Increase the FA of Cephalyx Overlord units by +1.

  sPeCial rules Units that include Cephalyx Dominator UAs gain

  Advance Deployment .

  The army can also include Bloat Thrall, Machine Wraith, and Pistol Wraith solos. These solos are considered to be friendly Mercenary models instead of Cryx models.

  non-crippled weapon with the Open Fist weapon quality can make headlock/weapon lock and throw power attacks. Monstrosities with two non-crippled weapons with the Open Fist weapon quality can make double-hand throw power attacks.

  CePhalyx WarCaster destruCtionIf a Cephalyx warcaster is destroyed or removed from the table, the monstrosities in his battlegroup become inert like warjacks and can be reactivated like warjacks.

  MerCenary ContraCtTo field a Cephalyx army, you must choose either the Cephalyx contract or a Theme Force. The contract and Theme Forces include rules for building the army. In addition to the guidelines presented in a contract or Theme Force, Cephalyx armies follow all the normal army composition rules.

  The complete rules for Theme Forces can be found in WARMACHINE: Prime Mk II. The complete rules for contracts can be found in Forces of WARMACHINE: Mercenaries.

  Exulon ThExusWIll OF DARkNESS

  WarjaCks: Mercenary non-character monstrosities

  units: Cephalyx units

  solos: Cephalyx solos

  Permission is hereby granted to create reproductions of this entry for personal, non-commercial use only.

  tier 1Requirements: The army can include only the models listed above.

  Benefit: Cephalyx Overlords become FA U. Additionally, the army can include up to one non-Cephalyx Mercenary unit if that unit includes a Cephalyx Dominator UA.

  tier 2Requirements: The army includes one or more Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudge units.

  Benefit: Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudge units gain Ambush. (You can choose not to deploy a unit with Ambush at the start of the game. If it is not deployed normally, you can put it into play at the end of any of your Control Phases after your first turn. When you do, choose any table edge except the back of your opponents deployment zone. Place the unit with Ambush within 3 of the chosen table edge.)

  tier 3Requirements: The army includes four or more units.

  Benefit: Add a Cephalyx Agitator solo to the army free of cost. This solo does not count toward FA restrictions.

  tier 4Requirements: The army includes two or more Cephalyx Overlord units.

  Benefit: Increase the FA of Cephalyx Dominators by 1. The army can include up to one additional non-Cephalyx Mercenary unit if that unit includes a Cephalyx Dominator UA.

• 36

  POW P+SPROSThETIC bladES

  5 9

  TACTICAl TIPS Hex Blast Because they expire immediately, upkeep spells and animi that had an effect when the model/unit was hit or damaged will have no effect. RampageR You cannot free strike a model you control.

  FEAT: TElEkINETIC TIDE The mental powers of Exulon Thexus are vast and nearly inexhaustible, and through them he can reach into the world to seize hold of his enemies and manipulate them at will. Transformed into mere pieces on a game board, his enemies are helpless to resist the tide of his arcane might.Push each enemy non-warlock, non-warcaster

  model currently in Thexus control area 2 in any direction. Mercenary This model will work for Cryx. Selective This model can be included only in Mercenary Contract armies that list Cephalyx as possible members. THEXUS

  PathfinderAggressive Reaction While one or more enemy models are in this models command range, models in this models battlegroup can run or charge without spending focus. Sacrificial Pawn [Monstrosity] When this model is directly hit by an enemy ranged attack, you can choose to have one friendly, non-incorporeal Monstrosity model within 3 of this model directly hit instead. That model is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects. Spell Driver When this model casts a spell, it can channel the spell through another model in its battlegroup that is in its control area. Once a spell is cast this way, the model it was channeled through suffers d3 + 1 damage points.

  Exulon ThExus MERCENARy CEPHAlyX WARCASTERA mind which will not bend will be shattered.

  Exulon Thexus

  FOcuS 8 Damage 15 FielD allOWance c Warjack POintS +5 meDium BaSe

  6 4 5 4 14 14 10

  ThExUS SPD Str mat rat DeF arm cmD

  Possessed of the most crushingly powerful intellect of his kind, Exulon Thexus is an unconventional member of the cephalyx elite. He has arisen to lead his hive and has restored them to greatness by entering into an unprecedented alliance with Cryx. Thexus is both uncompromising and pragmatically efficient, quite willing to send his minions to their destruction to further his long-reaching plans.

  His refusal to accept the limitations of the flesh drove the exulon to indulge in radical methods to surpass them. Though all exulons augment their brains to magnify their psychic powers, Thexus has gone far beyond his peers, enduring dangerous and excruciating procedures to expand his brain mass. The power he wields has given him a ravenous hunger that drives him to consume the psyches of his foes. Nothing gives him more satisfaction than rending and absorbing lesser minds to feed his own. After he has siphoned their thoughts and memories, he casts aside the empty living husks to be transformed into drudges.

  Having existed for over four hundred years, Thexus has shrewdly negotiated the politics of his kind, dominating

  mental inferiors and manipulating his rivals in order to surpass or destroy them. Now Thexus feels he has augmented his brain as far as he can through customary means; he intends to be the first of his kind to achieve transcendence into a creature of pure thought. He pursues this without regard for the small-minded taboos of his peers. Thexus sees within the Convergence of Cyriss a possible key to the first gate barring his way, and he engages this enemy with driven persistence.

  Though Thexus does not hesitate to join battle personally, he is protective of his mortality. He prefers to observe from a distance, allowing subordinates and monstrosities to clash while he manipulates mental tethers to arrange for victory. He plucks pieces of the enemys battle plan from the minds of its living soldiers and can focus on a dozen simultaneous events to orchestrate a perfect outcome. Thought is raw power to Thexus, and his intellect is so terrible his mere presence on the battlefield causes his enemies mental pain. Those who fall directly under the lens of his telepathic scrutiny are torn apart by waves of pure psychic force.

  SPEllS COST RNG AOE POW UP OFF DECElERATION 3 SElF CTRl NO NO While in this models control area, friendly models gain +2 DEF and ARM against ranged attacks. Deceleration lasts for one round. HEX BlAST 3 10 3 13 NO yES Enemy upkeep spells and animi on the model/unit directly hit by Hex Blast immediately expire. INFlUENCE 1 10 NO yES Take control of target enemy non-warcaster, non-warlock warrior model. The model immediately makes one normal melee attack, then Influence expires. PSyCHO SURGERy 2 SElF CTRl NO NO Each model in this models battlegroup currently in its control area immediately heals d3 + 1 damage points. This spell can only be cast once per turn. RAMPAGER 3 10 NO yES Take control of target enemy non-character warbeast. You can make one full advance with the warbeast and can then make one normal attack with it, then Rampager expires. While the warbeast is affected by Rampager, it cannot be forced and you cannot use its animus. Rampager can be cast only once per turn. TElEkINESIS 2 8 NO * Place target model completely within 2 of its current location. When Telekinesis targets an enemy model, it is an offensive spell and requires a magic attack roll. A model can be affected by Telekinesis only once per turn.

• 37

• Damage 1 2 3 4 5 6

  l l m B r r

  l m m B B r

  38

  SUBDUER Eyeless Sight

  NET lAUNCHER Catch If this weapon directly hits an enemy model with an equal or smaller base, immediately after the attack is resolved the model directly hit can be pushed any distance directly toward this model. After the model directly hit is moved, this model can make one normal melee attack against it. After resolving this melee attack, this model can make additional melee attacks during its combat action. Quake On a direct hit against an enemy model, all models hit are knocked down.

  TACTICAl TIP CatCH Any distance means as much as necessary, not any distance the player chooses.

  We require new flesh. Our greatest living tools will bring it to us.Fleshforger Lexulus

  subduEr MERCENARy CEPHAlyX HEAVy MONSTROSITy

  FielD allOWance u POint cOSt 7 large BaSe

  POW P+SIMPalING bladE

  6 16r

  NET laUNChER rng rOF aOe POW 6 1 3 l

  5 10 5 4 10 17

  SUbdUER SPD Str mat rat DeF arm cmD

  Massive insensate creations that tower

  over humans, monstrosities are masterfully crafted fusions of meat, bone, and metal. Chosen from those who have fallen into the clutches of the cephalyx, the subjects doomed to undergo the grueling process of transformation are selected for their physical stamina and mental malleability. These procedures, which represent an investment of weeks of work, are among the most complex surgeries the cephalyx perform on outsiders. Organs are cut free from flesh and bathed in alchemical growth solutions before being reintroduced to a radically expanded body cavity. Flesh is pumped with alchemical mixtures that foster rapid tissue development and increased bone mass and density. The final monstrosity is several times the mass of the original subject, its skin and bones toughened to endure extreme punishment. Sensory organs are carved away and the monstrositys brain attuned to a psycho-spectrum, allowing it to perceive its surroundings free of the limitations of the flesh.

  Few monstrosities use this superlative vision better than the subduer. Perceiving the battlefield as overlapping waves of psychic emanation, a subduer

  eyelessly tracks those trying to slip beyond the grasp of its masters, following their movements silently from behind its solid helmet. Its massive net launcher allows it to capture these victims from a distance. When fired, the weighted net slices through the air to envelop targets in a mesh of taut steel and drag them screaming back to their fate. Captives the cephalyx deem suitable for experimentation are secured, while those found wanting are efficiently eliminated with a single, whistling slash of the subduers bladed arm.

• Damage 1 2 3 4 5 6

  l l m B r r

  l m m B B r

  39

  TACTICAl TIP Follow Up This model stops moving if it contacts another model. This model does not advance if the model slammed is destroyed by the attack.

  WARDEN Eyeless Sight

  Follow Up When this model slams an enemy model, immediately after the slam is resolved this model can advance directly toward the slammed model up to the distance the slammed model was moved. Grand Slam This model can make slam power attacks without spending focus or being forced. Models slammed by this model are moved an additional 2. Shield Guard Once per round, when a friendly model is directly hit by a ranged attack during your opponents turn while within 2 of this model, you can choose to have this model directly hit

  instead. This model is automatically hit

  and suffers all damage and

  effects. This model cannot use Shield Guard if

  it is incorporeal, knocked down, or stationary.

  HEAD PlATE Buckler

  Hard Head This model can add this weapons POW to its head-butt and slam power attack damage rolls. MECHA FIST

  Open Fist

  FielD allOWance u POint cOSt 6 large BaSe

  The monstrosities known as wardens are a concession by the cephalyx to the frailty of their own atrophied bodies. Crafted to react quickly to any attack and inured to even catastrophic injury, a warden instinctively places itself in harms way to shield its makers. Muscles like corded steel soak up bullets and cannon fire, and hardened plates of armor can withstand the fists of a heavy warjack. After enduring a blow, the warden retaliates with its vise-like clamps and brutal strikes of its metal-plated head.

  A wardens defensive actions are purely the product of insidious biological manipulation. The cephalyx artfully reconfigure the architecture of a wardens mind, enabling

  The weapons of our enemies are inconsequential as long as our protectors stand.Agitator Hrekon

  WardEn MERCENARy CEPHAlyX HEAVy MONSTROSITy

  POW P+ShEad PlaTE

  4 14H

  POW P+SMECha FIST

  4 14l

  POW P+SMECha FIST

  4 14r

  5 10 5 4 10 17

  WaRdEN SPD Str mat rat DeF arm cmD

  it to perceive the world through a suite of new senses beyond anything as crude as sight or

  sound. In addition, the monstrositys reflexes

  are rewired. Autonomic responses that once helped the subject avoid pain instead compel it to hurl itself into the path of attacks meant for a cephalyx. When a warden suffers too much damage to easily repair, its makers discard it like a scalpel that has lost its edge.

• Damage 1 2 3 4 5 6

  l l m B r r

  l m m B B r

  40

  WRECkER Eyeless Sight

  BAll & CHAIN Reach

  Beat Back Immediately after a normal attack with this weapon is resolved during this models combat action, the enemy model hit can be pushed 1 directly away from the attacking model. After the enemy model is pushed, the attacking model can advance up to 1. Chain Attack: Bloodbath If this model hits the same target with both its initial attacks with this weapon, after resolving the attacks it can immediately make one melee attack with this weapon against each model in its LOS that is in this weapons melee range. Chain Weapon This attack ignores the Buckler

  and Shield weapon qualities and Shield Wall.

  When a straightforward application of brute force is needed, the cephalyx turn to the wrecker, a monstrosity created to topple fortifications and mow through ranks of the toughest resistance an enemy can offer. Wreckers are purpose-built to deal punishing blows and do it well, especially when buttressed by an agitator.

  Whipping its two flail-like limbs at high speed, a wrecker carves through massed enemies and rips through the hulls of heavy warjacks. Everything within reach is flattened and torn apart by the cruel weapons it swings. Whirling blades are mounted in the reinforced heads of its flails, magnifying the damage dealt with each strike. The ear-splitting, high-pitched shriek the blades produce when carving through heavy armor is enough to send weak-willed soldiers running, and the sight of a comrade crushed and ripped asunder by them causes even the stouthearted to tremble.

  Such purity of purpose is a sight to behold, repugnant as its form might be.Axis, the Harmonic Enforcer

  WrEckEr MERCENARy CEPHAlyX HEAVy MONSTROSITy

  FielD allOWance u POint cOSt 7 large BaSe

  POW P+Sball & ChaIN

  7 17l

  POW P+Sball & ChaIN

  7 17r

  5 10 5 4 10 17

  WRECKER SPD Str mat rat DeF arm cmD

  TACTICAl TIPS Beat BaCk The attacking model can advance even if the enemy model is destroyed by the attack. CHain attaCk: BloodBatH A model with a crippled weapon system cannot use it to make chain attacks or special attacks, including power attacks.

• 41

  OFFicerS Damage 5 FielD allOWance 2 BenDer & 5 DruDge gruntS 4 BenDer & 9 DruDge gruntS 6 Small BaSe

  The mind is a weapon. Thought is sharper than any blade, more explosive than any ordnance.Mind Bender Glaxosk

  cEphalyx Mind bEndEr & drudgEs MERCENARy UNIT

  TACTICAl TIP magiC aBility Performing a Magic Ability special action or special attack counts as casting a spell. 5 6 6 4 14 13 9

  MINd bENdER SPD Str mat rat DeF arm cmD

  5 8 5 2 11 15 4

  dRUdGE GRUNTS SPD Str mat rat DeF arm cmD

  POW P+SPROSThETIC MaNIPUlaTORS

  2 8

  POW P+SbaTTERING FISTS

  4 12

  Selective This unit can be included only in Mercenary Contract armies that list Cephalyx as possible members. MIND BENDER

  Fearless

  Officer

  PathfinderMagic Ability [6]

  Adrenal Flood (HAction) RNG 6. Target Drudge grunt gains +4 MAT and STR and can immediately advance 4. Adrenal Flood lasts for one turn.

  Concussion Pulse (HAction) Center a 4 AOE on this model or a grunt the spell is channeled through. Other models in the AOE suffer a POW 12 magical damage roll.

  Psychic Assault (HAttack) Psychic Assault is a RNG SP 8 magic attack. This attack ignores LOS. Models hit suffer a POW 12 damage roll.

  Psychic Projection This model can channel spells through grunts in this unit that are in formation. When it does, you can choose up to two more of those grunts and cast the spell once through each, even if the channeler is engaged. Grunts in this unit that channel a spell this way are then removed from play. Sacrificial Pawn [Drudge Grunt] When this model is directly hit by an enemy ranged attack, you can choose to have one friendly, non-incorporeal Drudge Grunt model within 3 of this model directly hit instead. That model is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects. DRUDGE GRUNTS

  Eyeless Sight

  Fearless

  Tough

  Some cephalyx cabals obsessively work at the leading edge of their particular field of cephalomek to refine their techniques. One such group, known as mind benders, focuses on pure psychic might. After reshaping their minds through augmentative surgery, mind benders are capable of unleashing mind-destroying waves of psychokinetic force through specially conditioned and modified drudges. They spur these drudges forward with psychic prods of alchemically supplemented adrenaline until the drudges stand among the enemy, then broadcast their power through their charges. Drudges used this way are burned out instantly, their minds rendered empty husks in a flash of blinding light.

  Mind benders hold a privileged position among the cephalyx. They possess greater mental strength than cephalyx of lesser castes, and their specialized work allows them the leisure to concentrate on projects of their own choosing. Except when the overlords call them to battle, they spend their lives within cloistered operating theaters, devoted to the development and refinement of their unique drudges, permitted to focus on their esoteric studies in endless pursuit of mental expansion.

• 42

  Selective This unit can be included only in Mercenary Contract armies that list Cephalyx as possible members. MIND SlAVER

  Fearless

  Officer

  PathfinderAnatomical Precision When this models melee damage roll fails to exceed the ARM of the living model hit, that model suffers 1 damage point. Granted: Combined Melee Attack While this model is in play, models in its unit gain Combined Melee Attack .

  Reanimation When this model boxes a living enemy warrior model with a melee attack, add one Grunt to this unit and then remove the boxed model from play. The Grunt must be placed in formation and within 3 of this model. The Grunt cannot activate this turn. Sacrificial Pawn [Drudge Grunt] When this model is directly hit by an enemy ranged attack, you can choose to have one friendly, non-incorporeal Drudge Grunt model within 3 of this model directly hit instead. That model is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects. DRUDGE GRUNTS

  Eyeless Sight

  Fearless

  Tough

  with Cryx, the cephalyx have had countless opportunities to refine their drudges functionality against diverse foes. Their frequent battlefield presence means mind slavers have a high mortality rate, but they are given the freedom to perform field experiments and thereby improve their rudimentary cephalomek. Those who survive may gain sufficient expertise to serve their hive in more advanced capacities.

  TACTICAl TIPS Reanimation Because the boxed model is removed from play before being destroyed, it does not generate a soul or corpse token. mind slaveR Because this model is an Officer, when it is destroyed it does not replace a grunt in its unit. Instead choose a Drudge Grunt to become the unit commander.

  Among the lowest orders of cephalyx, mind slavers regularly conduct raids to seize prisoners who can be extensively modified to be mentally pliable and physically powerful. They replace slaves crude organic sensory organs with elegant cephalomek substitutions and often also replace their hands with deadly integrated weaponry. The resulting drudges follow the mind slavers telepathic commands without hesitation.

  It falls to the mind slaver caste to serve the basic military requirements of a hive, contributing to engagements as required. They are also the cephalyx most often seen fighting alongside allies such as the Nightmare Empire. Since allying

  We are one mind with countless appendages.Mind Slaver Virex

  cEphalyx Mind slavEr & drudgEs CRyX Ally UNIT

  5 6 6 4 14 13 9

  5 8 5 2 11 15 4

  MINd SlavER

  dRUdGE GRUNTS

  SPD Str mat rat DeF arm cmD

  SPD Str mat rat DeF arm cmD

  OFFicerS Damage 5 FielD allOWance 2 Slaver & 5 DruDge gruntS 4 Slaver & 9 DruDge gruntS 6 Small BaSe

  POW P+S

  POW P+S

  PROSThETIC bladES

  dRUdGE WEaPONS

  5 11

  5 13

• 43

  Selective This unit can be included only in Mercenary Contract armies that list Cephalyx as possible members. lEADER & GRUNTS

  Fearless

  PathfinderAnatomical Precision When this models melee damage roll fails to exceed the ARM of the living model hit, that model suffers 1 damage point. Death Toll [Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges] When this model destroys a living enemy model with a melee attack, after the attack is resolved you can add one Grunt to a friendly Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges unit in this models command range. The Grunt must be placed in formation and within 3 of this model. The destroyed model is removed from

  play but does not provide a soul or corpse token. Magic Ability [7]

  Influence (HAttack) Influence is a RNG 10 magic attack. Take control of target enemy non-warcaster, non-warlock warrior model hit. The model immediately makes one normal melee attack, then Influence expires.

  Psychic Assault (HAttack) Psychic Assault is a RNG SP 8 magic attack. This attack ignores LOS. Models hit suffer a POW 12 damage roll.

  Sacrificial Pawn [Drudge Grunt] When this model is directly hit by an enemy ranged attack, you can choose to have one friendly, non-incorporeal Drudge Grunt model within 3 of this model directly hit instead. That model is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects.

  TACTICAl TIPS deatH toll The added Grunt can activate normally this turn. magiC aBility Performing a Magic Ability special action or special attack counts as casting a spell.

  6 6 6 4 14 13 9

  Damage 5 ea FielD allOWance 1 leaDer & 2 gruntS 4 Small BaSe

  lEadER & GRUNTS

  Overseeing the lesser cephalyx within a hive, trios of overlords work to execute the will of the upper echelon with utter devotion and uncompromising attention to detail. Any complex project or endeavor is watched over by overlords to ensure its success. Whether overseeing the work performed in an operating theater or a clash with foes on the battlefield,

  POW P+SPROSThETIC bladES

  5 11

  SPD Str mat rat DeF arm cmD

  When beset by other horrors, a man can take comfort knowing his mind is inviolate. The cephalyx strip even this away.

  Enumerator Hyle Bryant

  cEphalyx ovErlords CRyX Ally UNIT

  overlords administer the coordinated actions of lower-caste cephalyx with a critical eye.

  The role of the overlords is the first of several upper tiers in the hierarchy of cephalyx leadership, and competition

  to join their ranks is fierce. Periodic trials determine who among the hive can join the overlords. The dominant mind of each trio leads it, but this status changes periodically as overlords jockey for position based on intellect, experience, and raw power. A single flawed decision provides opportunity for another to subvert control, so they must

  strive for flawlessness. At the same time, these internal conflicts cannot disrupt their function lest the trio draw the wrath of their superiors. In all matters, overlords

  must be heedful of the cost of incompetence: loss of influence, demotion within their own ranks, or, in extreme cases, even execution.

• 44

  Attachment [Small- or Medium-Based non-Cephalyx Mercenary] This attachment can be added to a Small- or Medium-Based non-Cephalyx Mercenary unit. Selective This unit attachment can be included only in Mercenary Contract armies that list Cephalyx as possible members.

  DOMINATOR Officer

  PathfinderAnatomical Precision When this models melee damage roll fails to exceed the ARM of the living model hit, that model suffers 1 damage point. Granted: Fearless While this model is in play, models in its unit gain Fearless . Granted: Tough While this model is in play, models in its unit gain Tough . linchpin When this model is destroyed or removed from play, other models in this unit lose Fearless for one round and immediately flee.

  Ranking Officer This model is a Ranking Officer. While this model is in play, models in its unit are Mercenary Cephalyx models instead of Mercenary models. Sacrificial Pawn [model in this unit] When this model is directly hit by an enemy ranged attack, you can choose to have one friendly, non-incorporeal model in this unit within 3 of this model directly hit instead. That model is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects.

  they need to be, so they are used to penetrate slumbering cities or encamped armies. A dominators puppets perceive and understand what their cephalyx master compels them to do but have no power to resist. Instead they can only watch themselves strike at their slavers command, as if trapped in a violent and inescapable nightmare.

  What the cephalyx covet, they will claim. When the hive becomes aware of individuals with exceptional talents they desire, shadowy figures called dominators emerge from beneath the earth to enthrall them. A dominator subdues its subject from a distance, skillfully peeling back any resistance like a surgeon laying open a chest cavity, until it can overpower the mind and hold it in bondage. Abducted into surgical complexes, these subjects endure a masterfully subtle application of cephalomek that preserves their inborn talents and outward appearance while utterly binding them to the dominators will.

  Dominators lead their enslaved warriors in missions on behalf of the hive. They are called upon to conduct covert raids for such purposes as gathering raw materials for the hive or confounding the enemy before a coordinated onslaught. The soldiers a dominator controls might pass unnoticed among their own kind until positioned where

  When the mercenaries turned on us it wasnt treachery. I saw in their eyes they were unable to stop themselves. Their bodies were no longer their own.

  Trencher Captain Maywell

  cEphalyx doMinaTor MERCENARy UNIT ATTACHMENT

  6 6 6 4 14 13 9

  dOMINaTOR SPD Str mat rat DeF arm cmD

  Damage 5 FielD allOWance 1 POint cOSt 1 Small BaSe

  POW P+SPROSThETIC bladES

  5 11

• 45

  Selective This model can be included only in Mercenary Contract armies that list Cephalyx as possible members. AGITATOR

  Fearless

  PathfinderAnatomical Precision When this models melee damage roll fails to exceed the ARM of the living model hit, that model suffers 1 damage point. Magic Ability [7]

  Influence (HAttack) Influence is a RNG 10 magic attack. Take control of target enemy non-warcaster, non-warlock warrior model hit. The model immediately makes one normal melee attack, then Influence expires.

  Instigate (HAction) While within 5 of this model, friendly Drudge and Monstrosity models gain +2 on attack and damage rolls. Instigate lasts for one turn.

  Psychic Assault (HAttack) Psychic Assault is a RNG SP 8 magic attack. This attack ignores LOS. Models hit suffer a POW 12 damage roll.

  Sacrificial Pawn [Monstrosity] When this model is directly hit by an enemy ranged attack, you can choose to

  have one friendly, non-incorporeal Monstrosity model within 3 of this model directly hit instead. That model is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects.

  TACTICAl TIP magiC aBility Performing a Magic Ability special action or special attack counts as casting a spell. 6 6 6 4 14 13 9

  Damage 5 FielD allOWance 3 POint cOSt 2 Small BaSe

  aGITaTOR

  Agitators are a subordinate caste of cephalyx who oversee the more mundane aspects of feeding, caring for, and maintaining control of monstrosities. Among the darkened tunnels of a cephalyx hive the agitators tend the packs of monstrosities in the service of their masters. They work closely with those responsible for the manufacture of monstrosities and drudges as aids and subordinate surgeons. The tasks they perform are seen as base but necessary by the upper echelon, and the agitators earn little

  esteem among their betters. Nevertheless, the monstrosities they administer to are critical tools for excavating new sections of the hive, hauling raw materials to operating bays, and serving as linchpins of the hives defense. Agitators shepherd monstrosities to where they are needed, supervise them in their labors, and control them in battle.

  The agitators excel at telepathically rousing monstrosities and drudges to combat readiness, blanketing areas with agitating mental energies. During battle, they drive nearby drudges and monstrosities to greater violence. Although these mental influences are highly successful, their effect is neither targeted nor refined. In time each agitator hopes to master more precise control over these mental powers and rise above its lowly station.

  POW P+SPROSThETIC bladES

  5 11

  SPD Str mat rat DeF arm cmD

  There is something to savor in the horror that floods their feeble minds as I force them to turn upon one another.

  Agitator Helixor

  cEphalyx agiTaTor MERCENARy SOlO

• 46

  Deep below the surface of Caen, the mysterious cephalyx steadily assemble their tools of domination. Here is all you need to know to bring these pitiless necrosurgeons and their monstrous battle-slaves to life.

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  3

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  4

  Painting guide

  Carnal Pink

  Murderous Magenta

  Menoth White Highlight

  Red Ink

  gloWing eyesStep 1) Use Carnal Pink to paint the eye and to sketch in the light cast around the eyes edges.

  Step 2) Apply a glaze of Murderous Magenta, blending the cast light onto the model.

  Step 3) Use Menoth White Highlight to apply pronounced glowing highlights inside the eye.

  Step 4) Make a glaze of Red Ink mixed with a small amount of Murderous Magenta and apply it sparingly to the entire eye area to further blend the effect.

• 47

  1

  3

  2

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  Coal Black

  Exile Blue

  Sanguine Base

  Frostbite

  Menoth White Highlight

  Thamar Black

  CePhalyx blaCkStep 1) Start by mixing equal parts Coal Black, Exile Blue, and Sanguine Base. You will use this mixture for the next three steps as well, so prepare a little more than you will need for this first step alone. Blend this mixture onto the robes, leaving the overhanging areas and deeper recesses primer black.

  Step 2) Add a small amount of Frostbite to the mixture from step 1 and use this to highlight the robes.

  Step 3) Add a little Menoth White Highlight to the mixture from step 2 and use this to apply additional highlights to simulate the look of glossy black leather.

  Step 4) To suggest light glinting off the glossy material, apply dots and dashes of Menoth White Highlight mixed with a small amount of the mixture from step 3.

  Step 5) Return with Thamar Black to clean up the area with some blended shading. Basecoat the brass parts (trim and buttons) with Thamar Black at this time as well.

• 48

  bruised fleshStep 1) Basecoat the skin with a mixture of Ryn Flesh and Cryx Bane Highlight.

  Step 2) Apply shading with a mixture of Sanguine Highlight and Traitor Green.

  Step 3) Add Thornwood Green to the mixture from step 2 and use this to create deep shadows on the flesh.

  Step 4) Make a glaze of Exile Blue and use it to tint the areas where the flesh would be bruised by plugs, screws, and other modifications.

  Step 5) Tint the raised veins in the skin using a glaze of Sanguine Highlight.

  Step 6) Add finer vein lines to the smooth areas of flesh by painting them freehand using Beaten Purple.

  Step 7) Blend translucent highlights onto the flesh with a mixture of Ryn Flesh, Trollblood Highlight, and Menoth White Highlight.

  Ryn Flesh

  Cryx Bane Highlight

  Sanguine Highlight

  Traitor Green

  Thornwood Green

  Exile Blue

  Beaten Purple

  Trollblood Highlight

  Menoth White Highlight

  Midlund Flesh

  Step 8) Add Menoth White Highlight to the mixture from step 7 and use this to apply sparing highlights to the flesh.

  Step 9) Apply a final glaze of Midlund Flesh with a drop of mixing medium added. Cover the skin areas thinly and evenly, making sure the glaze does not pool in the recesses.

  Painting guide

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  CePhalyx Metalsdull brassStep 1) Basecoat the brass areas with Brass Balls, making certain the paint covers the surface completely.

  Step 2) Blend a layer of translucent shading over the brass using a mixture of Thornwood Green and Traitor Green.

  Step 3) Apply additional shading to the metal with Cryx Bane Base.

  Step 4) Highlight the brass areas with a mixture of Brass Balls and Quick Silver to accentuate the volume of the shapes.

  blaCk ironStep 5) Apply a basecoat of Pig Iron.

  Step 6) Shade the iron with a mixture of Exile Blue, Umbral Umber, and Thamar Black.

  Step 7) Apply final shading with Thamar Black.

  Step 8) Use Pig Iron to apply highlights to the iron in a textured pattern. Add scratches to the iron areas using Cold Steel.

  surgiCal steelStep 9) Basecoat the steel areas with Cold Steel.

  Step 10) Use Bastion Grey to apply shading.

  Step 11) Apply additional shading using Ironhull Grey.

  Step 12) Blend highlights onto the metal using Quick Silver.

  Brass Balls

  Thornwood Green

  Traitor Green

  Cryx Bane Base

  Quick Silver

  Pig Iron

  Exile Blue

  Umbral Umber

  Thamar Black

  Cold Steel

  Bastion Grey

  Ironhull Grey

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• Model gallery

  50

  exulon Thexus mercenary cephalyx Warcaster

• 51

  subduer mercenary cephalyx Heavy monstrosity

  Warden mercenary cephalyx Heavy monstrosity

  Wrecker mercenary cephalyx Heavy monstrosity

• 52

  cephalyx Mind slaver & drudges cryx ally unit

• 53

  cephalyx doMinaTor mercenary unit attachment

  cephalyx agiTaTor mercenary Solo

  cephalyx Mind bender & drudges mercenary unit

  cephalyx overlords cryx ally unit