THRACKCrimson Veil
Gene-wrought aristocrats, perfected killers, and the thralls who die in their shadow.
Not merely born, but chosen
The Crimson Veil are the pinnacle of pre-Collapse gene-crafting, a legacy of Nova Eden's final centuries when flesh was treated as artistry and bloodlines were refined with meticulous precision. Every True Veil represents generations of careful selection, refinement, and culling. Their hungers are not born of desperation; they are driven by control, by aesthetic perfection, and by something deeper and far more dangerous.
They see themselves as the Collapse's rightful inheritors: a ruined world demands refined rulers. Yet the Veil bow to no single throne. They exist as rival houses and quiet conspiracies, bound by blood and divided by ambition, their disputes settled through quiet duels, whispered assassinations, and the careful destruction of reputations.
Their society is a hierarchy with gilded rungs: True Veil at the summit, oath-bound Veilbound beneath, and at the bottom the Thralls, disposable instruments of their masters' will. Their weapons are crafted to endure centuries, blades balanced with surgical precision, pistols etched with kill-records spanning generations. When they strike, it is with elegance and certainty, as if the battle were a performance long rehearsed.
"To face the Veil is to face the patience of a predator that has already decided how the hunt will end."
Patience, followed by sudden violence
A Veil warband is a hunting party: a wall of expendable Thralls shaping the field, and one or two True Veil deciding when the performance ends. Their combat forms, the Red Rites, are rituals refined across centuries, triggered by the flow of battle itself.
The Red Rites
True Veil only · one Rite per round · tap to readDuring its activation, a True Veil model within 2" of a Thrall may remove that Thrall from play to perform a Rite even if its trigger condition was not met. The Rites are performances, and every performance has a cost. It is simply never paid by the performer.
Select an enemy model within 10" and line of sight of a True Veil. That model must immediately take a Nerve Test at −1. Some predators do not need to touch you to hurt you.
From Ascendants to the expendable
A Veil roster is the social hierarchy made playable: devastating elites at the top, engineered loyalty in the middle, and at the bottom, the bodies that make it all work. A few of the roster:
Veil Ascendant
An apex killer among the Veil's chosen. Every duel is a performance, every strike a signature. Mercy was never written into their blood.
Predator's Flow: on downing an enemy in melee, may be placed anywhere within 2" of them. The hunt continues.
Veilbound Retainer
Loyalty engineered into bone and sinew. Gene-wrought guardians bred for a single, simple purpose: to stand between their master and harm.
Bodyguard to the Veil: when a True Veil within 3" is hit by a ranged attack, the Retainer may swap places and take the hit instead.
Thrall
The lowest rung of Veil society. Stripped of will and identity, each one is a sacrifice waiting to be made, a reminder that the path to perfection is paved with blood not their own.
Disposable: allies gain no Nerve Tokens when it Downed. Nobody grieves the furniture.
Veilblade Initiate
An aspirant True Veil, fighting not for survival but for recognition. Beauty in motion. Vanity with a blade.
Jealous Rivalry: −1 FHT within 3" of another True Veil. Sharing a stage was never in their nature.
The Debut
A first appearance, staged to perfection. The Ascendant leads, the Initiate performs, and their Jealous Rivalry keeps them at a fashionable distance from one another. Two Retainers stand where the bullets will be, and three Thralls exist to make the Rites possible. Every debut needs an audience. Some of it survives.
| Unit | Role | Thracks |
|---|---|---|
| Veil Ascendant | Combat Leader · True Veil | 58 |
| Veilblade Initiate | Specialist Skirmisher · True Veil | 38 |
| Veilbound Retainer | Core Fighter | 26 |
| Veilbound Retainer | Core Fighter | 26 |
| Thrall | Core Fighter | 14 |
| Thrall | Core Fighter | 14 |
| Thrall | Core Fighter | 14 |
| Total | 190 ₮ |
190, with 10 Thracks reserved for accessories. One must arrive properly dressed.
The hunt, in three movements
Maintain a screen of Thralls to force the enemy into wasting attacks on expendable bodies while your True Veil manoeuvre for advantage. Once the enemy line begins to fracture, commit your elites with speed and precision, chaining Red Rites to heal, reposition, or continue the assault.
Lethal melee elites, strong sustain through Red Rites, expendable Thrall screens, and powerful target-marking.
Low elite model count, vulnerability if the screens collapse, and a reliance on careful timing and positioning.
Treat Thralls as expendable resources, not valuable fighters. Their purpose is to create the moment where your True Veil can strike without resistance. Commit too early and be overwhelmed; wait, and the enemy collapses under a flawless execution.
Elegance masking predation
True Veil fighters are the aristocracy of a forgotten age: finely crafted armour, high-collared coats, layered silks, ceremonial plating. Features pale, angular, unnervingly symmetrical, with subtle inhuman touches such as elongated fingers, sharpened teeth, and faintly glowing eyes that push them just beyond the boundary of humanity. Their weapons should feel equally refined: curved blades and ornate pistols decorated with etched sigils, blood channels, and the records of past kills.
Thralls are the contrast that makes it work. Where the Veil are composed and immaculate, their servants are ragged and worn: scarred faces, crude masks, chains, tattered remnants of once-formal livery. Base the warband on cracked marble, blood-stained tiles, and the remnants of decaying palaces. The goal is beauty intertwined with decay.
No official miniatures exist yet, and the Veil would sooner commission a portrait anyway. Build the warband as two societies sharing one base rim: elegant fantasy nobles and duellists for the True Veil, with high collars, layered capes, and blades far too fine for a wasteland; and the most ragged, broken bodies you own for their Thralls.
Push the contrast in paint as well as parts: deep saturated crimson, ivory, and gold on the masters, muted earth and grime on the servants, so the eye finds the hierarchy before it finds the details. Chains, brands, and crude masks finish the Thralls. Base everyone on cracked marble and blood-stained tile: a ballroom gone feral.
"Each motion is measured, each death serving purpose. The hunt does not end until the last heartbeat stills."
Download the Crimson Veil rules (free)