Syll'Esske

"You wished for union, in pursuit of power and glory. Now you have it. Vengeance comes for you."

– The pair to their new initiate

Who says daemons can’t find love? Syll’Esske is the collective name for a Herald of Slaanesh and Daemon Prince pair. A synchronized union where neither being is greater or lesser than another. They are two halves of one glorious whole, and possibly the most wholesome relationship in AoS.

The Legend

Once there was a cunning Herald of Slaanesh called Syll Lewdtongue (yes, that’s really her name). She did the usual Slaanesh gig of inspiring mortals to grandiose acts of depravity and indulgence, however what separated her from her kin was her tendency to grow emotionally attached to her chosen recipient, which earned her the ridicule of fellow Heralds. She ignored these jeers and eventually she found a new champion that would change her life forever.

Esske the Scarred was a proud but jaded warrior-slave in the gladiator pits of Slaanesh’s gardens. His origins are a mystery, apparently coming from neither the Mortal Realms nor The Old World (so as far as we're concerned he's confirmed as a former Blood Bowl player until stated otherwise). The leader of some tribal society, he willingly traversed the Realm of Chaos to swear fealty to the Dark Prince, only to be stuck in the Moebius loop that was the outer arenas of Slaanesh’s Palace. Then came Syll.

She saw magnificence in the warrior and offered her service as a patron. He proved to be a perfect host for Syll’s blessings, causing him to skyrocket in the arena’s leaderboard, much to the ire of the Herald’s many rivals. Syll was killed in her sleep and then banished from Slaanesh’s palace by her jealous peers, leaving both her and Esske out in the cold. While Esske continued his fighting, Syll was reborn as a fucking Soul Grinder and began an obsessive search to return to her new sugar daddy. She did find him, fighting off an invading Khorne army, and actually killed him in a mindless rage thanks to being well, a Soul Grinder. As Esske’s lifeless and eyeless body fell to the ground, Syll returned to her original form. Howling in anguish, she desperately returned his soul to his body and fed him her own blood to return him to life. It worked and the two embraced one another and began to slaughter the marauding Khornate daemons, Syll standing atop Esske’s shoulders to serve as his eyes. They hacked and whipped their way into Slaanesh’s chambers, slaying a trio of Bloodthirsters just before the Dark Prince’s throne.

Slaanesh applauded the efforts of the bloodied mortal and broken lesser daemon and rewarded them with stronger bodies, new weapons, and ascension to Daemon Prince (for Esske). And in front of the Dark Prince, the two swore to fight at one another’s side in synchronized harmony. They were now Syll’Esske, the Vengeful Allegiance. And their first goal after their reunion was slaughtering the gossiping heralds that tried to tear them apart.

On The Tabletop

40k

So lets start off with points, because since Syll'Esske is an amalgamation of a Herald of Slaanesh and a Daemon Prince, lets compare them. As of Chapter Approved 2019, a basic Herald is 50 points and a Daemon Prince without wings and an axe (since Syll'Esske has an axe) is 156 points, for a combined total of 206 points and two HQ slots. Syll'Esske is a straight 210. Four extra points for a whole lot of goodness.

Now for their stat line, Syll'Esske has 9" movement (pretty alright given they don't have wings and are Slaaneshi), with 2+ weapons and ballistic skills (standard for DP's), S 4 (don't worry it's not that bad), T 6 (again, standard for DP), an ungodly 8 attacks (although at max a Daemon Prince of Khorne with duel Malefic Talons can make 8 as well, 9 with Hateful Assault, but hey, this is better), 9 Leadership (not like that matters) and a 4+.

Syll'Esske has the following weapons:

Axe of Dominion: S+3, AP-3 and D3. That's it, so S7 attacks, pretty nice

Scourging Whip (melee): Suser AP-1, D1. Every attack you make you does d3 additional attacks instead. So if you're super lucky you can make a total of 24 shots

Scourging Whip (ranged): Range 6", Assault d6, Suser, AP-2, D1. Standard whip profile, basically a 6" pistol that has the assault keyword

Now onto the cool shit, Syll'Esske's abilites

Well they have Daemonic (5++), Quicksilver Swiftness (fight first in the fight phase except for charged units) and Daemonic Ritual (summon daemons). Standard Slaanesh daemon abilities.

Prince of Slaanesh: reroll hit rolls of 1 for Slaanesh models w/in 6". Standard for Daemon Princes

Regal Authority: re-roll morale tests for Slaanesh Daemons w/in 6". Standard for Heralds (wow what a shocker)

Locus of Slaanesh: Slaanesh Daemons w/in 6" gain 1+ to Strength (including himself). So that whip is actually S5 and the Axe is S8, goodbye tanks!

Now the last ability, Deadly Symbiosis: In the fight phase, you select only ONE melee weapon to attack with. Once a consolidation move is made, you can then make attacks equal to the model's attack characteristics (so 8, duh) with the other melee weapon this model has. So basically unless the tanks and infantry are right next to each other, like in the case of transports who just dropped off their payload, you're going to be doing overkill on some guardsmen or throwing a bunch of light taps on a Taurox. Pretty sweet ability but its max capabilities are kinda niche.

If they're your warlord, they gain the Bewitching Aura ability from the Slaanesh Warlord table, so -1 attacks (with a minimum of 1) to enemy attack characteristics w/in 6". Not bad considering the amount of attacks they can dish out.

ALSO

Shoulda mentioned earlier that Syll'Esske is also a psyker. Cast two, deny one, knows smite and two powers from the Slaanesh Discipline. No surprise here, but it's the same as other Daemon Princes.

Keywords

Faction- Chaos, Slaanesh, Daemon

Non-faction- Character, Monster, Psyker, Daemonette, Herald of Slaanesh, Daemon Prince, Syll'Esske

See Also

• Grumlok and Gazbag, an Orcs & Goblins pair who had the same concept.
• Vlad and Isabella, another surprisingly wholesome couple belonging to a dark faction.

The Champions and Lords of the Warriors of Chaos

Aekold Helbrass - Arbaal the Undefeated - Archaon - Asavar Kul - Beorg Bearstruck - Bödvarr Ribspreader Dechala - Egil Styrbjorn - Egrimm van Horstmann - Festus the Leechlord - Feytor - The Glottkin - Gutrot Spume Haargroth - Harald Hammerstorm - Lord Mortkin - Kaleb Daark - Kayzk the Befouled - Krell - Maggoth Lords Melekh - Mordrek the Damned - Sayl the Faithless - Scyla Anfingrimm - Sigvald the Magnificent Skarr Bloodwrath - Slambo - Styrkaar of the Sortsvinaer - Tamurkhan - Thorgar the Blooded One - Throgg Valkia the Bloody - Valnir - Vardek Crom - Vandred - Vilitch the Curseling - Wulfrik the Wanderer