Striking Scorpions

Among the many Warrior Aspects that channel the murderous facets of the war god Khaine, the Striking Scorpions express his capacity for stealth and sudden slaughter. They are the supreme masters of close assault, patient stalkers who prize the ambush above the open charge and take grim satisfaction in closing unseen upon a foe who never learns they are hunted until the killing has begun.

Their war-gear is built for murder at arm's length. Each warrior bears a chainsword whose teeth shriek through armour and flesh, paired with a shuriken pistol for the moment before the blades meet. Set into the flaring helm are the mandiblasters the Aeldari name the sting of the scorpion, twin pods that spit a burst of laser-fed energy to stun or kill an enemy in the instant before contact. Beneath it all lies the thickest aspect armour worn by any Asuryani, letting the Scorpions weather blows that would fell their more fragile kindred.

The shrine owes its present shape to the Phoenix Lord Karandras, the Shadow Hunter, who inherited a broken tradition and remade it. Its first master, Arhra, had fallen to darkness and led daemons against his own brethren before fleeing into the webway, and it fell to Karandras to strip away that murderous excess and temper it with cold discipline and patience. Under his teaching the Striking Scorpions became not merely killers but consummate hunters, and their shrines spread to craftworlds across the galaxy.