Editing Daughters of Khaine (section)

==The Scáthborn: Melusai and Khinerai==
One element that really distinguishes the Daughters of Khaine from the other known elfy subraces of the Mortal Realms (and which further invites comparison to the [[drow]]) are the races collectively known as the Scáthborn; the [[Lamia|Melusai]] and the [[Harpy|Khinerai]].

Both of the Scáthborn have forms that merge a female aelf with distinctive bestial traits. The Khinerai are bat-elves who have the gift of flight, whilst the Melusai are snake-elves similarly to the [[Medusa]]e. It bears noting that Morathi's true form combines traits of both of these races, slithering around on a giant serpent's tail like a Melusai, yet sporting mighty bat-like wings.

For the longest time, these two races were kept hidden in the temples of Morathi, who didn't want to reveal them to the other Races of Order (or even to her own people at large). After the Age of the Beast, though, they were finally brought out into the open, and are touted as proof of Morathi's divine status; after all, they are quite literally made in her image, so if she can do that, she ''must'' be a god! The dark secret, and the reason why she hid them in the first place, is that the first of the Scáthborn were actually given these forms because their souls had been touched by corruption during their time in the gullet of [[Slaanesh]]. Since Scáthborn seem to be true-breeding now, they have evidently managed to become at least as distinct from the [[beastmen]] as [[skaven]]. However, with the Máthcoir broken new Scathborn is now far more deformed and is being disposed.

Rumor has it that either Melusai, Khinerai, or both will appear as playable races in the Age of the Beast [[splatbook]] for [[Age of Sigmar Roleplay]], and given that there are rules for playing things like [[Gloomspite Gitz]] and [[Troggoths]], that's not too hard to believe.

Precisely ''why'' the Scáthborn were added to the Daughters of Khaine faction as a whole is unknown, but there are a few tentative precedents. A long-running unit in the [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Druchii]] army of Warhammer was the Harpies, who were described as a ferocious, bestial-minded fusion of female elf and bat, and the Khinerai are obvious descendant of the Harpies. The Melusai are harder to place; they probably were inspired by the Bloodwrack [[Medusa]] added to the Druchii army in 8th edition, which in turn may have been inspired by [[Dechala]], a [[Chaos Champion]] of Oldhammer who was essentially a [[Slaanesh]]-worshipping she-elf whose chaotic boons had mutated her into a knock-off [[Marilith]]. As for the '''why''' it's probably to fill out the roster for the Daughters. When the Daughters spun out from the old Dark Elves they only had three units, Witch Aelves, Sisters of Slaughter and Doomfire Warlocks. To make an entire faction with that ascetic and design Game Workshop had to make new units and sets no question, but when your theme is 'half naked warrior chick' only so many ways you can spin that so: they went with two common monster girls, harpy and Naga to as a base to fill out some slots.