Karandras

Of all the Phoenix Lords, none is so wrapped in mystery as Karandras. His origins are unknown even to the seers of the craftworlds; he seems simply to have stepped out of the shadows of history already a master, and he has never explained himself. What is certain is that he became the greatest pupil of the Striking Scorpions' first teacher, and that when that tradition was cast into darkness, it was Karandras who redeemed it.

That first teacher was Arhra, the Father of Scorpions, foremost among Asurmen's students, who fell to the lure of darkness and turned upon his brethren. Arhra led daemons into the first shrine to make war upon his fellow Phoenix Lords, scattering the loyal and drenching the Path of the Warrior in treachery, before fleeing into the webway to become a thing of Chaos, the Fallen Phoenix whose get would in time become the dreaded Incubi of the dark city. The Striking Scorpions he left behind were a broken and murderous thing.

Into that ruin stepped Karandras. Where Arhra had bred only bloodlust, Karandras instilled patience, cunning and iron discipline, tempering the killers into consummate hunters who prize the perfect ambush above the wild slaughter. He carried this new teaching across the galaxy and raised fresh Striking Scorpion shrines upon many craftworlds, so that the Aspect endures today in the image he gave it rather than the madness of its founder.

The enmity between master and pupil did not die with Arhra's fall. Upon the world of Zandros the two met again, and for seventeen days Karandras and his still-living predecessor fought a duel without respite. Unable to overcome the Fallen Phoenix by strength of arms alone, the Shadow Hunter turned Arhra's own rage against him, goading him into a blind and reckless fury until it undid him. It was a victory won by patience rather than power, and there is no better measure of the Aspect Karandras remade.