History:
Vakarii District is one of Commoragh's oldest and most storied sub-levels. A roughly teardrop-shaped plane of stone and metal itself the size of any city built in realspace, it sits five levels below the transitory point between Low and High Commoragh, perpetually shrouded in the gloom cast by the realms of Sorrow Fell and Corespur. Despite this it remains an important industrial heartland and recruiting ground for the Kabals. Every day, hundreds of mercenaries, cut-throats and bounty hunters flock to the district in the hopes of winning their way into the elite society that hangs above their heads.

Established shortly after the Eternal City was founded, Vakarii was originally planned as a vast housing block for the slaves and servants of the ancient noble houses. After the Fall and the subsequent breakdown of wider Eldar society, it was repurposed as a manufacturing district, with a large plaza at the district's narrow end cleared and filled with weapon shops, armouries and industrial farms. It was only after the Plague of Glass, however, that Vakarii truly developed into something of note.

The Plague of Glass hit Vakarii terrifyingly hard; over ninty percent of the district's populace were slain before the disease was caged and the surviving Commorites immunised. With the factory-lords who had ruled the district now dead and vast swathes of territory now up for grabs, dozens of exiles, gangs, petty Kabals and other power groups began staking their claims. The ensuring civil war was only halted when the Kabal of the Black Heart, acting on the word of Supreme Overlord Vect himself, was deployed to enforce some semblance of order and see that exports of food and weapons to Corespur resumed.

Vakarii entered a period of wary peace after this. The many competing factions were too afraid of further punishment from Vect to act openly against one another, and turned to more subtle means of gathering power; assassinations, bombings, kidnapping and ransom. The Kabal of the Black Chalice proved one of the most successful in this regard, its mastery of such shadowy tactics allowing it to assimilate several other minor Kabals and establish itself as the face of authority within the district.

This state of affairs did not last. While Vakarii survived the disjunction triggered by Archon Ythillian's attempts to unseat Asdrubael Vect relatively intact, the aftermath saw one of High Commoragh's oldest and most powerful Kabals, the Devouring Light, stripped of their territory and forced into Low Commoragh for survival. The Devouring Light retained enough of their manpower and fleet to swiftly depose the Black Chalice, constructing a sizable docking ring for their ships and brutally pacifying any factions which resisted.

All of which leads us to present day in Vakarii. The Kabal of Devouring Light rules from a distance, its Archon too busy plotting his return to High Commoragh to devote much energy to more than enforcing his territorial claims. The Black Chalice lurks in the shadows, snapping at the larger Kabal's heels and searching for some way to recover its position. Rumours abound that with the Kabals thus distracted, other, stranger factions are beginning to creep into the district; Ynnari cults, alien mutants, servants of the dark gods and even the children of Aelindrach. And between them all lie millions of Dark Eldar souls and the heaving masses of their slaves, each seeking to twist an already tense situation to their advantage.

It won't be long until something breaks.

Factions:
The Kabal of Devouring Light:
The Devourers, as they are commonly known, are currently the most powerful faction at large in Vakarii District. They are an ancient Kabal which traces its history back to the very founding of Commoragh. Pre-dating even the noble houses which colonised the web-city, the Devouring Light began as one of the solar cults which oversaw the Llamea, the trio of stolen suns which provide the Eternal City with light and power. When the noble houses moved against the solar cults and sought to bring the Llamea under their control, the Devouring Light's predecessors turned against their kin in exchange for recognition as petty nobles in their own right.

When Vect deposed the noble houses in turn and imposed his Kabalite system upon Commoragh, the Devouring Light was again quick to turn on their former allies, quickly denouncing the old order and proclaiming themselves as one of the first new Kabals. This chimeric nature has allowed the Kabal to survive crisis after crisis, endlessly adapting and reinventing itself no matter how dire the situation. This flexibility and cunning earned the Kabal much favour from Asdrubael Vect, with their ancient Archon Drevakh Ulsolin counted for a time amongst his inner circle of advisors.

When much of their territory was lost to a massive daemonic incursion and subsequent invasion by corrupted forces of Aelindrach, however, the Devouring Light found Vect's patronage swiftly withdrawn. With his enemies circling, Drevakh was forced to abandon his position in High Commoragh and flee into the necropolis with his remaining followers. Battered though the Kabal was, they still possessed three intact spacecraft and thousands of ground troops. They quickly conquered a swathe of territory in Vakarii's northern regions and struck out at the Black Chalice, crippling the younger Kabal and forcing it into submission.

The Devourers have something of a mixed reputation in Vakarii District. They are seen almost universally as outsiders who don't have the district's best interests at heart and are resented by many for usurping their territory and setting up frequent checkpoints along Vakarii's busiest airways. None can deny that their presence has been a boon to the district's economy, however. The Devourers frequently raid realspace, and the regular shipments of slaves and plunder flowing into Vakarii's markets have won them a great deal of favour.

The Kabal favours direct, showy displays of force both on and off the battlefield. Aggressive demands take precident over delicate negotiations, and those unfortunate enough to rouse the Devourers' ire have to content with the salvos of fire directed at them from the Kabal's lurking cruisers. Individual Kabalites are haughty and arrogant even by Eldar standards, expected to maintain strict standards of discipline and keep their polished white and gold armour in pristine condition at all times.

The Kabal of the Black Chalice:
Vakarii's former rulers, the Kabal of the Black Chalice is a shadow of what it ones was. Their bold black and jade armour was once a common sight in the district's streets, enforcing a degree of order and acting as a rough judiciary to which citizens could appeal. Its Archon, Kladys Vrex, is the same woman who originally founded the Kabal, and over the course of three centuries took it from little more than half a dozen spire-thugs running a protection racket to a complex web of allegiances bound together by common interest.

It was this web which allowed the Kabal to spread so quickly. Rather than challenge her strongest rivals, Kladys approached her weaker peers first, offering them a degree of independence so long as they took her colours and acknowledge her as their Archon. Those who refused found themselves the victims of a prolonged campaign of terror, building from vandalisation and harassment to gruesome assassinations. In this way the Black Chalice expanded in small but frequent bursts, building its numbers until it could claim superiority over rival groups that would have crushed Kladys and her inner clique with ease.

While the Black Chalice suborned its rivals one by one, it spread its tendrils out into Vakarii's civilian areas as well. Pooling its vassals' resources, it established itself as a purveyor of vice, opening drug dens, pain bars and brothels across the district. Some of these venues were run at a loss, acting more as advertising posts for the Kabal where prospective members could taste the privilges extended to those found worthy of joining, further earning the favour of the general populace. All were staffed with the Black Chalice's spies and agents, which fed the Kabal a healthy stream of valuable information.

Unfortunately, this web of vice and patronage proved too fragile to stand up to a direct assault. When the Devouring Light crashed into Vakarii district, the Black Chalice proved utterly unable to mount a serious defense. Many of their vassals quickly broke away and swore themselves to the Devourers, while others simply abandoned the Kabal to strike out independently once more. Enough remained that the Kabal was able to retain a significant foothold in the district, but its power base has been crippled and it lacks the military assets to launch a definitive counter-attack. Bombings, assassinations and limited raids on Devourer territory are frequent, often used through hired mercenaries and other deniable assets, but these have had little success in dislodging the larger Kabal.

In principle, the Black Chalice's structure remains as it was at its height; Kladys and her core inner circle of several hundred troops and advisors, surrounded by a network of vassal gangs and Kabals which have forsaken independence for the protection of a larger organisation. The Kabal places a great deal of emphasis on subversion and manipulation and avoids direct combat where possible, and still works hard to earn the respect of common Commorites by providing vice-dens and an approachable authority to aid in resolving disputes. Its members display a wide variety of appearances, with the Kabal's glyph and colours being the only constants.

The Velvet Razor:
Vakarii lacks an established Wych cult. In its place stands the Velvet Razor, a large but heavily diffused gang that stands on the edge of transitioning to a true cult. Lacking any kind of central arena from which to display their skills, the Razors fight, bleed, and sometimes die for the audiences of clubs, bars, underground fighting rings and other independent establishments across the district. The gang's leadership operates out of Bloodstone Spike, a habitation spire that acts as their only true territory and training grounds.

The Razors are immensely popular in Vakarii. Their nightly shows keep the district's populace from turning on one another to feed the Thirst, and many of its warriors quickly attain an intoxicating level of fame in the vicinity of where they hold their fights. The gang is entirely female and well-known for combing the streets for lost, confused women fresh from their birthing pods, offering them protection and tutelage in exchange for a century of membership. Those who survive this introductory period are free to leave, but most choose to remain, forging an unusually tight-knit and loyal warrior sisterhood. One of the gang's strictest rules is that no two sworn members are permitted to fight to the death, unless both explicitly agree to do so before one of its ruling Succubi.

The gang is currently led by Sel'yn Mourne, with Kherna Zek and Vashiel Xekla directly beneath her. Advancement requires members to both win increasingly challenging duels and cultivate favour with their audiences, which has led to cases where popular but technically lacking members attain minor positions of rank over their more skilled peers. This is held to be one of the factors preventing them from becoming a true Wych cult, along with their lack of a fixed arena and relative scarcity of resources, but is so ingrained in their culture it shows no sign of changing.

Politically, the Velvet Razor has historically fought to remain independent, concentrating on honing their skills above all other concerns. They have links to the Devouring Light, from whom they purchase most of the slaves to be consumed in their shows, but have resisted calls to hire out their members as solders to one side or another. They dress in sleek outfits of black, royal purple and gold, and strongly encourage their members to cultivate a dramatic and unique stage persona for their fights.