Cubicle 7 unveils its newest archetype, Hag Priestess, for their current Warhammer RPG project Soulbound. Below, you can see a beautifully illustrated piece of concept work for the archetype by Clara-Marie Morin.
From Cubicle 7’s Official Announcement:
Kellara, Hag Priestess of the Draichi Ganeth
To a Hag Priestess, becoming Soulbound is not unlike wielding a phenomenally powerful artefact with a blade for a handle – exhilarating, but painful. She becomes effectively immortal, no longer needing to perform tiresome blood rituals, and is granted the tremendous freedom to pursue her own interests and agendas far more than she ever could previously; however, Morathi did not construct a rigidly hierarchical society with the intention of allowing her priestesses to interfere with her plans. It is Morathi, alone, who grants a Hag Priestess the right to join the ranks of the Soulbound – or pushes her to become such.
While the High Oracle of Khaine often couches the responsibility of being Soulbound in glowing terms of ‘glory’ and ‘noble burdens’, she generally fails to mention that a Soulbound Hag Priestess is forever stripped of formal connection to any temple of Khaine. Now that she serves Khaine in ‘another way’ she is, effectively, exiled and while Morathi may well want to continue to work with her, she will never entirely trust the Hag Priestess again, knowing that her new concerns and vital connection to the Mortal Realms, along with her fellow Soulbound, will invariably change her allegiances forever.
Zealous and Cruel
The God of Murder is yours to invoke.
The priestesses of the Cult of Khaine are selected from the ranks of the Witch Aelves by Morathi herself. They are usually chosen as a reward for exceptional bloodthirstiness or zeal, but the goddess is not above ulterior motives in her selections. Those that survive the many trials which follow emerge hardened by the experience and suffused with a bloody zeal for the God of Murder that surpasses even that of their former sisters.
Through blood rituals and incantations the Hag Priestess is able to call down the wrath of Khaine and perform miracles in combat. Further, they are masters of poison, and most carry at least one treated blade secreted away somewhere at hand; they concoct an assortment of witchbrews and potions capable of driving a quiet mage to berserker fury or rendering an ally impervious to pain. Each Hag Priestess is amongst the few with knowledge of the dark rituals of rebirth and, beneath their apparent youth and beauty, might easily be an embittered crone many thousands of years old.
The culmination of a Hag Priestess’ training is to become a Hag Queen. Of course, in a hierarchy of near-immortals, opportunities for advancement are few, predicated on the death in battle, murder, or fall from grace of one’s superiors. A Hag Priestess is nothing if not patient in her ambitions.
