Asdrubael Vect

The Pre-Fall Survivor

Asdrubael Vect was a low-born slave in the pre-Fall Aeldari empire — a position that, in that decadent civilisation, should have been a death sentence. He survived the Fall not by accident but by having spent the preceding decades quietly preparing for a catastrophe he had read correctly. When Slaanesh emerged, Vect was already hidden in the Webway with the founding cadre of what would become his Kabal of the Black Heart.

He has ruled Commorragh, more or less continuously, ever since.

The Kabal of the Black Heart

Vect's Kabal is the dominant political force in Commorragh. Every other Kabal answers to it in some functional sense — through tribute, through subordinate alliance, or through the simple acknowledgement that direct opposition produces death. The Kabal's membership is closed; new members are inducted only on Vect's personal approval, and the approval process resembles, by Drukhari custom, a long and inventive torture.

Vect's personal court contains the most accomplished Drukhari assassins, scholars, surgeons, and torturers active in any era. They serve him out of fear and ambition in approximately equal measure.

I survived the Fall. I have survived everything since. I do not see why this should be the moment that ends my run.

— Asdrubael Vect, attributed late M41

Method

Vect's preferred method of competition is the multi-decade scheme. He has been observed to plant compromising evidence against rival Archons, wait fifty years for the evidence to ripen, and then casually mention it in conversation at the moment the rival cannot publicly deny it. He has been observed to fund insurgent factions in rival Kabals, then betray the insurgents to their original Kabal in exchange for political concessions.

No rival Archon has ever defeated him politically. Several have been seemingly close. None have survived the seeming closeness.

M42

Vect has been active during the Era Indomitus and has, by his own account, found the period more interesting than the preceding millennium. The opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum has changed Drukhari realspace-raid patterns; the Ynnari movement has changed Aeldari politics; the Indomitus Crusade has changed the targets available for Commorragh's harvests.

Vect coordinates with none of them publicly. He benefits from all of them quietly.