Site-made title card, not a depiction. Artists: permitted fan art of Khymera is welcome through the Art Call.

Warp Predator · Commorragh · Beastmasters' Hunt

Khymera

Nightmares given fangs, warp-beasts dragged out of a daemon world by Drukhari Beastmasters to tear prey apart in the arenas of Commorragh.

Type: Warp-born predator
Origin: A daemon world, drawn into realspace by Drukhari Beastmasters
Form: Sinewy, cat-like, many-eyed, long-fanged
Masters: Beastmasters of the Wych Cults
Arena: The great arenas of Commorragh
Older name: Warp Beasts

Artwork coming soon: no permitted independent art of Khymera is on file yet. Art Call

At a glance

Khymerae are among the strangest and most frightening creatures used by the Drukhari. They are not animals in any normal sense. They are born from the raw stuff of a daemon world, coalescing around nightmares into bodies of sinew, fang and eye. Each one is a predator shaped by fear. They look something like great cats, lean and muscular, but their forms are wrong in ways that are hard to describe. Their eyes are too many. Their fangs are too long. Their bodies seem to shift and flow as though they are not entirely solid.

The Drukhari use Khymerae as hunting beasts, war beasts and arena monsters. They are controlled by Beastmasters, specialists among the Wych Cults who capture, train and lead monstrous creatures in battle. A pack of Khymerae bounding ahead of a Beastmaster, howling with voices that seem to come from somewhere else, is a sight that has broken the nerve of many enemies.

Nature

Born of nightmares

Khymerae originate on a daemon world, a place where the boundary between realspace and the warp has collapsed. There, the stuff of the warp takes shape around thoughts and emotions. The Khymerae form around nightmares, becoming predators that embody the terrors of the minds that shaped them. They are creatures of the warp, but they are not daemons in the usual sense. They have no allegiance to any Chaos God. They are simply hunters.

Drawn into realspace

Khymerae do not naturally exist in the material universe. Drukhari Beastmasters go on dangerous dream-quests to hunt them, venturing into the dreaming realms where the creatures can be found. If they succeed, they draw the Khymerae back with them into realspace, where they can be trained and used.

The dreaming hunt

The dream-quest itself is one of the most dangerous undertakings in Drukhari culture. The Beastmaster enters a trance and sends his mind into realms where nightmare and reality blur. There he must track the beasts, survive their attacks and bend them to his will before he can wake. Some Beastmasters never wake at all. Their bodies lie in their chambers, breathing, while their minds are devoured somewhere far away.

Fading like mist

Because they are creatures of the warp, Khymerae are not fully stable in realspace. When they are killed, or when their bond to realspace weakens, they fade away like mist. This makes them difficult to study and difficult to keep. It also makes them all the more frightening, because a pack that seemed to be destroyed may leave no trace behind.

The Beastmasters

The Beastmasters of Commorragh are a breed apart. They are members of the Wych Cults, the gladiatorial societies that fight for the entertainment of the Drukhari, and they specialise in the capture and use of monstrous creatures. Each Beastmaster is a skilled hunter, a ruthless trainer and a fearless warrior. They ride skyboards above their beasts, directing them with whips, goads and shouted commands.

Khymerae are among their most prized beasts. A Beastmaster who returns from a dream-quest with a pack of Khymerae earns great prestige. Training the beasts is dangerous, and a Beastmaster who shows weakness may be devoured by his own pack. Those who master the creatures can unleash them on the battlefield or in the arenas, where their savage displays thrill the crowds.

Other beasts

Beastmasters also use Clawed Fiends, massive, brutish creatures captured from many worlds, and Razorwing Flocks, swarms of bladed birds. Khymerae are the fastest and most unnatural of these beasts, and they are often used as the spearhead of a Beastmaster's assault.

The arenas of Commorragh

The Drukhari crave suffering, both to sustain their souls and for entertainment. The arenas of Commorragh are among the most popular venues in the Dark City, and the Wyches who fight there are celebrities. Khymerae are frequently pitted against slaves, captives and other beasts in the arenas. They tear their victims apart, and the crowds roar with delight.

Arena masters stage elaborate spectacles with Khymerae. Captives are released into mazes and hunted by packs. Gladiators duel Khymerae for glory. Beastmasters show off their control by having their beasts perform before the crowds. The creatures' unnatural appearance and unpredictable behaviour make them perfect for such displays.

Khymerae at war

On the battlefield, Khymerae are used as shock troops and hunters. They are fast and agile, able to leap across the battlefield and strike at the enemy before they can respond. Their claws and fangs can tear through flesh and armour. They are particularly effective against infantry, and they are often sent to hunt down fleeing enemies.

Because they are warp-beasts, Khymerae are difficult to kill with conventional weapons. Their forms seem to flicker and shift, and shots that should hit them sometimes pass harmlessly through. They are also highly resistant to fear, because they are made of fear.

The Drukhari use them in raids on the material universe, sending packs ahead of their main forces to sow terror and confusion. Victims who survive a Khymerae attack often speak of creatures with too many eyes, of fangs that glinted in the darkness and of a sense of being hunted by something that should not exist.

Brutal Moments

Brutal moments

The arena maze

The slaves were released into the maze with nothing but their bare hands. Above them, the stands of the arena roared. For a long moment, nothing happened. Then a woman at the back of the group began to scream. Something with too many eyes had stepped out of the shadows behind her, moving like smoke poured into the shape of a great cat. Its jaws opened wider than any jaw should, and it bit down on her shoulder and shook her until her arm came away. The others ran. The Khymerae followed, unhurried, picking them off one at a time at every turning. The crowds cheered each kill, and the Beastmaster circling above on his skyboard bowed to them with a smile.

The raid

An Imperial outpost on a frontier world came under attack at night. The defenders saw shapes moving in the dark beyond the perimeter, lean and cat-like, with too many eyes glowing in the darkness. When the beasts came over the walls, the defenders fired, but their shots seemed to pass through them. The Khymerae tore into the guards, ripping open throats and dragging men screaming into the shadows. The Drukhari followed, collecting survivors for Commorragh. By morning, the outpost was empty, and there was no sign of the creatures that had attacked it.

The dream-quest

A Beastmaster ventured into the dreaming realm to hunt Khymerae. He found a pack feeding on a nightmare of his own making, a memory of a childhood fear he had long forgotten. The beasts turned to him, their eyes glowing. He fought them in the dream, lashing them with his whip and bending them to his will. When he awoke, the pack was in his chamber, waiting. His servants found him later, smiling, with blood running from his eyes.

The traitor

A Wych who betrayed her cult was not executed. She was released into the arena, alone, with the Khymerae she had once helped train. She fought well. She killed two of them, and both faded into mist. But there were always more. When she fell, the crowd cheered louder than they had for any slave.

Beasts and status in the Dark City

In Commorragh, everything is a measure of status, and beasts are no exception. A Beastmaster's reputation depends on the rarity and ferocity of the creatures he commands, and Khymerae are among the most prestigious. Few Beastmasters are willing to risk the dream-quests needed to capture them, and fewer still return with a pack. Those who do are celebrated in the arenas and courted by the Archons of the Kabals, who hire Wych Cult beast packs for their realspace raids.

The Wych Cults guard their Beastmasters jealously. A great Beastmaster draws crowds, and crowds bring the patronage of powerful Drukhari. Rivals may try to sabotage one another's beasts, poisoning them or releasing them during a performance so that they turn on their own handler. The arenas of Commorragh are dangerous for everyone, and a Beastmaster's own pack is never fully safe.

The nature of control

No one truly tames a Khymera. The bond between a Beastmaster and his pack is closer to an uneasy truce, held together by the Beastmaster's will and the beasts' hunger. As long as the Beastmaster provides prey and dominates the pack, it obeys. If he falters, it turns. Many Beastmasters end their careers inside the jaws of the creatures they once commanded, and the crowds enjoy those performances most of all.

Surviving Khymerae

Hold a tight formation; Khymerae pick off stragglers first.
Target the Beastmaster; a pack without its master may scatter or turn on itself.
Use flame and blast weapons, which strike the whole shape rather than a single point.
Keep lights burning; survivors say the beasts prefer shadow.
Do not flee; a running target is exactly what they are bred to chase.