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Basically, Commorragh is a planet-sized bunch of spikes torn apart by political games, gangs, mafias and Dark Eldars hubris. But is there any xeno (or human) "free" in there ? Who either gained his liberty because of obscure reasons or came in/was invited in as a free man, and now works for some Archon or high ranked Dark Eldar.

Obviously he would be some kind of badass, as badass as a normal human can be, to survive in this spiky emo mess.

And by the way, how would the Dark Eldars react if a human slave managed to kill a Wych in an arena because of dumb luck (gained through story purposes) ?

Ehm I can remember some piece of fluff of a non dark eldar learning dark eldar nastiness there not sure who where or why but it seems to happen.
[edit] It was Fabius Bile, got to love that bad ass.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
You might be interested in reading the "Rogue trader (rpg) - The Soul Reaver"
https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2012/3/8/the-soul-reaver/

In Path of The Dark Eldar - Path of the Archon, one of the main characters is attempting to flee to an area of the city that is controlled by escaped slaves and other rejects during the disjunction. So there is a place where there are free slaves, but it is at the very bottom of the city and they are sort of trapped and hopeless.

For your last question, they would probably keep throwing them in the arena. After all, suffering is suffering, it's all sustenance for them. They would not give him any kind of honor, though.

They might SAY "oh yes, win and we'll set you free" but to them, it is like making a promise with a fly on the wall. There is no reason for them to respect the human, or to honor their word. In fact, it would be kind of humiliating to do so because why would you honor your word with scum like that?

Non Eldar aliens do live in Lower Commorragh. (According to the 5e dex.) It's reasonable to assume especially vile rogue traders or renegades might also pass through.

Escaped slaves are hunted relentlessly, though. You might get a Spartacus in the Dark City, but he's not going to last long. The best he can hope for is to go out in a blaze of glory.

A slave kills a such in the arena? S--t happens. As long as someone suffers, the DE don't care. He's not getting out, of course, and he will probably fight something out someone way more dangerous next time they trot him out, but they're not going to execute him on the spot. (Probably.)

You won't find non-Eldar in places of respect and honor in the Dark City, no, unless you are looking at Fabulous Bill.

The main character of Daemonfugue was enslaved and fought in the arena for a while. She dominated. When she was found out (she wore a helmet, so the DE didn't know she was human), the other Archons were offended and threw a bunch more wyches in to kill her. The Archon that put her in there was basically trolling, and thought it was hilarious.

So winning didn't get her any respect.

Not sure how helpful that is, but there you go.

A story featuring a "free" human thrown into Dark Eldars endless political games would be kinda interesting.

By the way, I just remembered this :

"Life is worthless in the Dark City, only pain, misery and death have value. Others I saw, humans amongst them, who took to this depraved life with natural empathy. They bowed down to the Eldar and treated them as lords, in return for favours. It is claimed that the most promising are taken as apprentices by the Haemonculi. Most end up as twisted creatures in permanent agony, but others survive and learn, to be let free again into the outside world to spread their corrupt ways."

Would it means that humans can be "worthy" enough to be taught DE' ways of inflicting pain and suffering ?

+ I just want to see a human lost it in the arena, wreck a Wych then proceed to methodically mutilate the body in front of half-puzzled / half-amused Dark Eldars.

No, a human is practically never 'worthy' compared to a Dark Eldar. There have been exactly two who have earned some kind of thought; Fabius Bile, when he came to learn from the Haemonculi and his companion, Lucius the Eternal whom was described as "endlessly entertaining". Those were two Heresy-age Astartes, and with enough power to stand on their own.

A normal human? Pffft. To consider one worthy of training would be a humiliation to the Dark Eldar who thought about it. It is like you deciding to teach your ways to an ant, or calling a slime mold your equal.

True. But some powerful DE could be interested in keeping him alive for a bit, "for scientific reasons". Or just give him all the necessary tools to humiliate a particular kabal. Or he'd just be crazy enough to test how depraved a human can be. Anyway all of this are speculations on how interesting a DE/Human interaction could be without falling to the "so they sleep together lol" bottom level of bad fanfiction.

I think the most a human slave could aspire to in Dark Eldar society would be "amusing, yet quickly expendable tool". You need to keep in mind the towering, massive arrogance that defines the Dark Eldar race. In their eyes, the most gifted human is still a piece of trash compared to them. If you devote time to that trash, your rivals are going to see weakness i.e. "he has to resort to slave garbage, he clearly is not tending to the proper things and his powerbase is weak". And that is not just external rivals, what is this DE's lieutenant going to do when he sees his master (one whom he is most likely plotting against) playing with a scrap of litter? More fuel for an overthrow, because this Archon is clearly unfit.

 LethalShade wrote:
A story featuring a "free" human thrown into Dark Eldars endless political games would be kinda interesting.

By the way, I just remembered this :

"Life is worthless in the Dark City, only pain, misery and death have value. Others I saw, humans amongst them, who took to this depraved life with natural empathy. They bowed down to the Eldar and treated them as lords, in return for favours. It is claimed that the most promising are taken as apprentices by the Haemonculi. Most end up as twisted creatures in permanent agony, but others survive and learn, to be let free again into the outside world to spread their corrupt ways."

Would it means that humans can be "worthy" enough to be taught DE' ways of inflicting pain and suffering ?

+ I just want to see a human lost it in the arena, wreck a Wych then proceed to methodically mutilate the body in front of half-puzzled / half-amused Dark Eldars.

Where'd you find that?

I keep that in mind. I just like to stretch the rules of every universe I come across, because some interesting concepts can lie underneath broken rules (Without falling to the Kaldor Draigo level of retardedness).

So yeah, there's a lot of potential stories within Commorragh involving humans other than gun blazing spess mehreens rampaging in the streets. Thanks for the clarification tho.

+ Found that on the wiki. Don't know the source, so it's probably unreliable.
In-Universe, (according to the wiki), it's a quote from "The Annals of Terror" by Lasko Pyre.

One angle you might consider is sabotage. Let's say you have Archon A and Archon B, in a bid to undermine the strength of Archon B's wych allies, Archon A slips a bunch of combat stims (as a gas or aerosol) into the slave pens before a fight. If the slaves die, whatever, but if the stimmed-up slaves shred some wyches, that is that much less power for Archon B.

It could be good, but said slaves would die too quickly for one of them to become the main character, unless he manages to escape while still pumped full of xeno steroïds and half psychotic, then somehow stay hidden in Commorragh without being killed by some random DE freak long enough to observe it in details.

Commarragh is as much a trading hub as it is a raiding base, so of course, you will have ambitious traders of all races trying to make their riches in Commaragh. As such, you will have a middle man, someone the traders get in touch with to sell their stuff to for a reduced price and in exchange they THEMSELVES don't have to deal with the Dark Eldar. Kind of like a Trade Emmissary, you sell to him, he sells to his Dark Eldar clients he has made relations with. Seller avoids dealing with the dastardly Dark Eldar, Buyer makes a profit by buying cheap and selling high.

This kind of Trade Cartel is about the highest you could imagine a Non-Dark Eldar to get in the dark city. Dark Eldar aren't above trade if it benefits them , and an Archon would likely rather buy from a Human Merchant then a Dark Eldar one anyhow, as that way they feel they are superior in the fact they can out think the Human in deals.

http://www.thedarkcity.net/t8441-power-from-pain An exceptional fan-fiction from the Dark City based on this very idea. I suggest you give it a read, it seems to be exactly what you're looking for.

Yes, there are free xenos who live in Commorragh, such as the Sslyth. I can imagine some unscrupulous rogue trader or a bunch of human pirates could set up shop in Commorragh as well. The Dark Eldar are pragmatic, they get along with xenos just fine as long as it benefits them. They are also quite fond of recruiting xenos into their service, because they are often more loyal and trustworthy than the Dark Eldar.

The current DE codex mentions part of Commoragh called the Null City inhabited largely by aliens, many of whom hire themselves out for mercenary work or whatever else. Everyone (who isn't literally caged up) is essentially free in Commoragh; there's largely a lack of micromanaging government so as long as the human can survive and winds up well-connected enough, they'd be on pretty even footing with the DE themselves. You can't have institutionalized racism without an institution, after all. If you bought a DE army to the table with a human head on one of your Scourge, I wouldn't call it unfluffy at all.

As for winning a duel in the arenas, they'd probably just send another Wych or a beast in. The point of the arenas isn't to win respect for the combatants, but to provide some spectacle.

Agreed. An arena gladiator who's successful would earn a degree of respect - be they a Dark Eldar, or a vicious animal predator or a captive Chaos Marine champion.

The point is that the Dark Eldar wouldn't release the latter regardless of how well they do. They're a slave, after all, and that mean's they're someone's property. If they win, then they're also valuable property.

The Null City is essentially merc town - pretty much 40k's version of Nal Hutta/Mos Eisley. You'll see free humans there, but at the same time it's a near toxic environment and there's a continuous state of....well....it sort of varies between "civil unrest" and "civil war" depending on the amount of shootings that day.

Theoretically, a suitably powerful and important individual could turn up and treat with a dark eldar as equals, but convincing such a monumentally arrogant people that you are an equal is a task in and of itself.

locarno24 wrote:
Theoretically, a suitably powerful and important individual could turn up and treat with a dark eldar as equals, but convincing such a monumentally arrogant people that you are an equal is a task in and of itself.

Dark Eldar have a term, "Kyerzak", which is an honourable from of address for someone who has survived torture at their hands, which also bestows upon that person a measure of respect and authority within their culture.

I suppose that to such a twisted and arrogant culture, being able to withstand torture at their hands (something they feel they have elevated to an art) would be seen as an impressive feat, worthy of praise.

And I guess some strange DE could grow somewhat fond of humans, as pets or something. They probably are as diverse as humans personality-wise, just in a different way.

I don't understand why the Dark Eldar got along with Fabius Bile and Lucius the Eternal, or vice versa, when you consider that the two humans are Emperor's Children.

You'd think the Dark Eldar would baulk at helping out anyone who assisted Slaanesh, and you'd think the Chaos Marines would incur the wrath of their god by strengthening those whose souls it craves the most.

Can anyone enlighten me as to why this strange alliance took place? It seems akin to giving a pair of Thousand Sons a guided tour of the Black Library.

Hierophant wrote:
I don't understand why the Dark Eldar got along with Fabius Bile and Lucius the Eternal, or vice versa, when you consider that the two humans are Emperor's Children.

You'd think the Dark Eldar would baulk at helping out anyone who assisted Slaanesh, and you'd think the Chaos Marines would incur the wrath of their god by strengthening those whose souls it craves the most.

Can anyone enlighten me as to why this strange alliance took place? It seems akin to giving a pair of Thousand Sons a guided tour of the Black Library.

Except Bile doesn't, and never has, worshiped Slaanesh. He turned the other Emperor's Children into Noise Marines, but to him that was just another experiment. In his own words, "The gods have nothing more to offer me. I have far more to offer them." He does his own thing.

As for Lucius, an Archon once tried to summon DAEMONS into Commoragh to get the upper hand on his rivals. Vect put the hammer down for that, but some DE can be pretty reckless about viewing the Warp and its servants as another toy.

Because Fabius Bile is one twisted mofo, and the Dark Eldar found in him a sort of kindred spirit.

While not worshipping Slaanesh, the line "I have far more to offer them" shows he still helps the gods. He's just not exclusive to Slaanesh. But I doubt he'd turn down to opportunity to help Slaanesh's goals if he was rewarded appropriately.

It seems a little like poor writing to me. In the same way that the Imperium can be portrayed as illogically grimdark, it's like the writer just thinks "DE and Bile are both similar, let's throw them together!" without realising they should be on irredeemably opposite sides. The DE are evil, and reckless, but they aren't so much so that it makes them stupid. Far from it.

It's even worse with Lucius considering he's portrayed as one of Slaanesh's favourites. It's like inviting Osama Bin Laden for a tour of the White House.

It seems like an expression of this trope - http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StupidEvil

The Dark Eldar, in all their wicked perversions, are also worshipping Slaanesh, even if they won't admit it.

The irony of the DE is that yes, they embolden Slaanesh in their attempts to stave him/her/it off, but they do that to survive (and thrive). They're ruthless, but they're also pragmatic. They don't serve Slaanesh, they just have overlapping means. Their ends are very different though.

The Harlequins have an interest in understanding the nature of Chaos. As does Ahriman. It doesn't mean they'll offer him an invite to the Black Library to compare notes - far from it. And their interest in Chaos doesn't mean they worship Tzeentch, even though as a psychic species heavilly involved in manipulating the futures and fates of others, they probably embolden him as a natural byproduct of their activities more than most.

It's just poor writing in my opinion. A lazy supervillain team-up. The DE should be as vehemently against Bile and Lucius as the Harlequins are Ahriman.

It is worth mentioning that Bile isn't with the DE proper, as far as I understand, but the covers. Nor has it been mentioned that he's been to the Dark City. Couldn't he just as easily studied with them in one of the myriad of pocket dimensions?

As for Lucius anyone got a source for that? Bringing a servant of Slaanesh such as him seems ooc, not to mention very risky given Vect response to the ruinous powers.

I think you can find at least Sslyths in Commorragh. Maybe other xenos of men here and there but not more than a few in the whole city.