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Urien Rakarth is the Master Haemonculus of the Prophets of Flesh. He is the Sculptor of Torments, an ancient genius of flesh-crafting.
His body bears vestigial limbs and spines from earlier incarnations, because recent regrowths have each carried a remnant of the last. His flesh now heals at incredible speed, and he welcomes injury as a chance to adapt. His Wracks, Grotesques and living sculptures make his battlefield appearances a horrific procession. Urien Rakarth is the Master of the Haemonculi. He is counted among the oldest beings in the Dark City. He leads the Prophets of Flesh coven and regards bodies, his own included, as clay. His greatest secret is resurrection: he has died many times and come back every time. He sculpts monsters for Vect's wars and enjoys the pain of his subjects as much as the results.
Rakarth once held a senior place in the intrigues of Commorragh, but he has long since lost interest in the scramble for power and prestige. Only the grandest transformations of Commorrite society now hold his attention. The upper echelons of the Dark City celebrate him as a gifted artist of agony. Some even whisper that he is a god in waiting, perhaps one of the Dark Muses reborn.
Origins
He is impossibly old, alive since before the Fall of the Aeldari. He has died and been regrown so many times that even feeding can no longer restore his body.
He is credited as the progenitor of the Haemonculi's regeneration process, and his surgically altered bones hold the key to his own resurrection. He once took part in Commorragh's intrigues but has long since transcended them. To most of the Dark City, he is a figure of folklore as much as fact.
Key events
- Leads the Prophets of Flesh coven.
- Has died and been regrown countless times.
- Unleashes 'carnivals of pain' for archons who can afford his favour.
- Announced a display of his art at Vect's wake, then made the attending archons the subjects of his masterpiece.
- Worked with Vect around 999.M41 to create a pocket dimension stocked with slaves and raw materials, as a reserve for Commorragh in case a catastrophic dysjunction let daemons invade the Dark City.
- After Vect's resurrection, he and his coven restored the slain to life. Vect's loyalists came back whole, while his enemies were reborn as grotesque, enslaved abominations.
His carnivals of pain are staged as theatre. His creations ride to war chained in modified Raiders or locked in barbed cages. They strike at night or under some spectacular natural phenomenon, whatever gives the show the most gravitas. His audience watches the slaughter from low-flying pleasure skiffs. A seat is a rare privilege, and even archons too old for rejuvenation are said to leave looking centuries younger. Some guests pay with a favour to be called in later. They are bound to the bargain by parasitic slit-worms implanted in secret. If they try to back out, the worms burst from every pore and drain them of blood.
Around 999.M41, with Khaine's Gate unstable, Rakarth worked with Asdrubael Vect to build a pocket dimension stocked with slaves and raw materials. It was a larder that Commorragh could feed on if catastrophe struck and daemons invaded the city. In battle he carries the Casket of Flensing, a puzzle-box that releases bound spirits. They strip the flesh from victims' heads and carry the skulls back to him with the brains still living inside.
Battles & campaigns
- Raids into realspace in support of the Kabals.
- The Night of Revelations: He survived the Dysjunction and its aftermath.
Personality
Curious, playful and sadistic.
He is curious, playful and utterly sadistic, viewing pain as an art form. He savours death 'like a fine wine' and treats battle as a gallery for his creations. Those who cross him tend to meet fates so sudden and inventive that they seem the work of a vengeful god.
Weapons & Vehicles
The nerve-shredding neural whips and moisture-vaporising Huskblades of Drukhari Archons and Succubi, turning close combat into an arena…
The cruel crystal-toxin firearms of the Drukhari Kabals, firing storms of venomous shards designed to kill targets in maximum, soul-nou…
The corroded, pus-dripping combat blades of the Death Guard Plague Marines, so saturated with Nurgle's supernatural contagions that a s…
Masked, surgically remade servants of the Haemonculus Covens, Drukhari who chose to become living instruments of torture.
Semi-sentient Drukhari flesh-and-metal torture constructs created by the Haemonculus Covens that hover across the battlefield harvestin…
Faceless mercenary swordsmen of Commorragh who serve whoever pays and live only to perfect the killing stroke with the klaive.
Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.
Connections
Characters (1)
Factions
- Drukhari primary faction
Related units (7)
Also in this faction
Some links are thematic parallels (marked "parallel") rather than recorded meetings. See the connections web.
Legacy
Urien Rakarth is among the oldest of the Haemonculi, a master flesh-sculptor who has died and been reborn more times than anyone can count. His art makes him invaluable to archons and terrifying to everyone else. Every masterpiece he makes is a reminder that in Commorragh, even death is a medium for creative cruelty. Urien is the Drukhari dream of escaping Slaanesh made physical, and made monstrous.
Not everyone believes the carnivals are an end in themselves. Commorrite rumour says his vast wealth is put to strange, hidden uses, and that shield-shrouded Venoms leave on secret errands while the audience is looking elsewhere.
Appearances & sources
- Codex: Dark Eldar / Codex: Drukhari