Court of the Archon

No Drukhari Archon walks into danger unattended. About him gathers the Court of the Archon, a retinue of exotic and lethal servants drawn from across the tortured species of the galaxy, each kept close for the particular murder it performs best. To be surrounded by such a court is a mark of an Archon's power, and a shield against the endless treachery of his own kind.

Among their ranks slither the serpentine Sslyth, four-armed bodyguards whose loyalty is bought and unbreakable; the venomous Lhamaean, mistresses of poison who anoint their lord's blade; the blind, ravening Ur-Ghul that hungers for warm flesh; and the Medusae, drifting horrors that wear stolen bodies to house the psychic parasites within. Together they form a wall of murder no assassin can easily breach.

The court exists to keep the Archon alive amid a society where every subordinate dreams of his fall, and in battle they hurl themselves at any threat to his person with fanatical devotion. Yet their loyalty is a transaction, purchased with power, pleasure and the promise of survival, and the wise Archon never forgets that the blades ringing him could as easily turn inward.