The new Codex: Aeldari is poised to leap out of the webway, alongside multiple Phoenix Lords and their Aspect Warriors, arriving in plastic for the first time.
One of them is less familiar – the sinister primogenitor of the Warp Spiders is making her first ever appearance, solving an enduring Aeldari mystery that has stood for thousands of years.* So who is Lhykhis, the Whispering Web?
Rarely seen in battlefield records of the 41st Millennium, the Warp Spiders’ Phoenix Lord was considered apocryphal by Imperial scholars. At one point, she had been absent for so long that even the Aeldari believed her lost.
More recently, however, Lhykhis has returned, becoming one of the more active Phoenix Lords and travelling the length and breadth of the galaxy to defend the Asuryani wherever they need it most. She has an unmatched mastery over the short leaps through the Warp her Aspect Shrine uses to ambush their prey – unrivalled even by her Exarchs – and the sudden speed and ferocity of her assaults are why it’s taken so long for Imperial commanders to even confirm her existence.
The danger posed by such frequent forays into the immaterium would give pause to hardened Autarchs, but Lhykhis plunges into that hellish realm time and time again without a moment’s hesitation. She embodies Khaine’s willingness to risk everything for victory, leaping from nothingness to engage the enemy in close quarters before slipping back into the Warp – where an altogether different kind of enemy awaits. In game, she supercharges Warp Spiders by allowing them to charge even after tunnelling through the Warp.
This is Lhykhis's first appearance in Warhammer 40,000, though there have been hints of her existence in older publications. In Psychic Awakening—The Greater Good, an easily missed report tells of an Astra Militarum platoon found butchered after discovering an ancient suit of Aeldari aspect armour, with Warp Spiders suspected as the culprits.
Maj. Z.B. Epra
Unides-eta Evacuation MISSID 52:15PW – GZ NorthEpsilon Company in sector omega-two-five reports successful rout of Aeldari light reconnaissance elements. Guardsman Ortug lauded for ‘miraculous’ identification of foe waiting in ambush position.
In accordance with new directive 616∆, Guardsman Ortug has been reported to Battalion Commissariat for ‘behaviour believed highly suspicious’ in light of recent anomalous and heretical events.
Chi Company’s 4th Platoon is destroyed, following discovery of ancient Aeldari relic armour. Armour apparently recovered by enemy before incineration could take place. The scant Human remains suggest attackers of the ‘Warp Spider’ warrior caste. Chi Company commander summarily executed for lack of foresight and failure to place adequate guard.
The Warhammer 40,000 loremasters gave us a knowing wiggle of the eyebrows – far more than the usual enigmatic silence, so we’re taking it as a hard confirm.
Now, however, Lhykhis is tearing her way out of the Warp like never before, leaving bodies shredded with the array of masterwork weapons built into her unique armour. Two monofilament web-casters known as the Brood Twain ensnare and dissect her prey, while a pair of puncturing barbs reminiscent of the Harlequin’s Kiss unravel their unlucky victims from the inside with whipping coils of wire lanced directly into their fleshy bodies.
The most deadly of her weapons is the sword Vhattarkan – or Weaverender in Low Gothic – said to have been blessed by Ahnakh-Yth, the primal weaver goddess and first daughter of Morai-Heg. Its crackling blade is so sharp it can reportedly cut through reality itself, slipping through enemy defences and carving vicious wounds.
It is only a few more days until pre-orders arrive for the new Aeldari range, and we’ll be lifting the lid on more content from the new Codex between now and then. Tune in tomorrow!
* At least 30 to you and us. And for the cowled loremasters in the Warhammer Design Studio? Well, time flows strangely for them…
