• Artificial Limbs: Cephalyx both heavily augment their own organic bodies and the bodies of those they capture. All of these augmentations are intended to make the recipient a better contributor to the well-being of the hive as a whole.
• For Science!: The Cephalyx species were once human, but their enormous cultural shift has produced a society that forcibly augments its participants within a short period of being born, rapidly changing mundane humanity into cephalyx. The cephalyx came to be solely as a result of this trope, wanting to push the limits of humanity beyond its mortal limits.
• Lawful Evil: In the Iron Kingdoms RPG all Cephalyx, including their creations, have this alignment due to the race's obsession with order and analysis.
• Mad Scientist: Cephalyx hives are headed by a conglomerate of this trope, a collection of pragmatic augmented humans obsessed with making themselves and their hives stronger.
• Mind Over Matter: All cephalyx demonstrate potent psychokinetic powers that seem entirely distinct from the magic employed by other races. In the Iron Kingdoms RPG adaptation for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, all Cephalyx spellcasters use Psionics rather than traditional magic.
• No Biological Sex: Cephalyx are born with vestigial aspects of the biological sexes, although this distinction is largely meaningless. Reproduction is handled entirely in laboratories, and all members of a hive contribute genetic material sufficient for ongoing production of new cephalyx.
• Our Clones Are Different: Cephalyx are cloned using revolutionary technology that allows them to tailor the subject's biology and share in the genetic templates of multiple "parents." Biologically, each Cephalyx clone at "birth" is still human, though with a level of selective genetic modification comparable to millennia of eugenics breeding. From there, the base creature is cybernetically trained and then mechanically augmented to fill their role within the Hive.
• Playing with Syringes: Cephalyx conduct nocturnal raids to capture prisoners and drag them to their subterranean lairs for medical experimentation and transformation into drudges.
• Power Floats: All True Cephalyx (i.e. not Drudges) have the ability to float with their incredible psychic abilities. In Warmachine this renders them immune to rough terrain, while in the Iron Kingdoms RPG they instead have "Fly 30ft" as their movement speed.
• Retcon: The full extent of the Cephalyx ability to talk has zig-zagged back and forth over time. Prior to the release of the Dungeons and Dragons 5e version of the Iron Kingdoms RPG, Cephalyx had the ability to speak as normal. In the original d20 Modern version, however, they spoke using cybernetic vocalizers. In the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition version, some Cephalyx speak normally, while others use cybernetics, and others still refuse to speak at all, using their psychic abilities to communicate exclusively.
• Spider Limbs: Adding to their Body Horror designs, Cephalyx prefer adding this trope to their spines as Artificial Limbs, or to their vessels. These double both as deadly stabbing weapons and as tools for dissecting and manipulating victims for the Cephalyx's own use.

Cyphon is the premier Cognifex of the Thornwood Cephalyx hive, devoted to the systemic dismantling of intractable minds. Risen from the chthonic tunnels beneath the forest, Cyphon floats silently through the trees, a telepathic predator seeking its quarry. Any who fall into the grasp of his clacking array of metal limbs are methodically dissected layer by layer. He carefully notes as bodily systems fail under the strain of his tests and telepathically samples the flavor of his subjects' terror and pain. The unique nature of each individual's suffering serves to inform and precisely attune the suite of tools he plies in his work. He uses the patterns of pain and fear extracted from the dying to leverage the subject's brain open. Subjected forced to endure Cyphon's art are reduced to hollow-eyed shells, their minds destroyed by unrelenting waves of suffering. Once Cyphon's work is done, his subjects are worthless even as material for the basest drudges, so they are rendered down for nutrition. By this point, the Cognifex has absorbed the entirety of the subject's intellect to examine its thought patterns in minute detail so that he may apply this data to his overarching study of thought itself. Ultimately he seeks to develop a telepathic key whereby even the most resilient and protected minds will be compelled to open at his lightest touch.

Cognifexes typically operate within the cloistered and antiseptic cells of a Cephalyx hive, far from the surface and physical danger, but Cyphon's work does not afford him such luxury. He must pursue his arts aboveground, adding new insights extracted from the dying or snatching up targets designated as critical resources to endure more extensive telepathic interrogations. To preserve the sterility and security he requires, Cyphon travels the surface cocooned in a black shell of his own design. Its insectoid limbs are tipped with surgical blades and manipulators as useful for his investigations as for keeping him shielded from the omnipresent dangers of battle. Commanding a force of drudges and monstrosities, Cyphon sweeps through the ranks of potential subjects, constantly probing for anyone who might hold secrets useful either to his hive or to his own work.

Cyphon has a single version, Cognifex Cyphon.

• Anti-Magic: Cyphon's psychic powers allow him to discombobulate enemies as a ranged attack. His "Mind Wipe" attack has the "Silencer" special rule, preventing enemies from casting spells for a full turn.
• Arbitrary Weapon Range: His "Essence Amplifier" special rule allows him to increase his spell range by +5 by consuming one of his Drudges.
• Armor-Piercing Attack: In his original version, Cyphon's "Affliction" spell deals 1 automatic damage at least, regardless of the enemy's armor level.
• Bad Boss: Cyphon has no qualms with consuming his own Warbeasts or Drudges, seeing them as nothing more than raw materials, to empower himself and his attacks.
• Blood Magic:
  • His "Essence Amplifier" lets him consume the life energy of Drudges to empower his own spells, improving their range
  • His "Synergistic Magic" ability gives him unique Power Tokens that he can use as Mana to fuel his upkeep spells.
• Boring, but Practical: Due to the limited availability of Cephalyx Warcasters, Cyphon is extremely predictable. He only has three types of Monstrosities to choose from at a time, and his spell list, while varied, has very simple tools for the jobs he expects to do. He basically will always play the same way, with no tricks or unexpected strategies, but he doesn't need to. The ability to drop +3 melee damage, speed, and armor Status Buff for a turn means he doesn't need variety in his Monstrosities. The ability to have a tool for dealing with any enemy type means he doesn't need underhanded tricks. He's extremely predictable, but that doesn't make him easy to defeat.
• Bulletproof Human Shield: He has "Sacrificial Pawn," allowing him to use his Monstrosities as this trope to intercept incoming damage.
• Cast from Hit Points:
  • His "Essence Amplifier" kills one of his Drudges to increase his range by 5"
  • His Feat gives all of his Monstrosities +3 speed, armor, and melee damage at the cost of suffering 1 damage to every column of their damage grids at the end of their turn.
• Corrupted Character Copy: Of The Great and Powerful Turtle. He's an immensely powerful psychic who travels via an armored shell of his own design that floats via his psychic powers, due to his phobias. The difference is, Turtle needs his shell to feel safe enough to use his powers, while Cyphon needs his shell to remain sterile against his germaphobia, and Turtle is a hero while Cyphon is a sadist who loves killing people and dissecting them alive For Science!.
• Cyber Cyclops: The armored chassis he pilots into battle has a single central eye that glows purple.
• Dark Is Evil: He floats around in an armored shell painted pitch black and covered in numerous, bladed Spider Limbs. It would be quite a feat to make him look any more Obviously Evil.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: The purple mono-eye in the center of his chassis glows at all times to show his psychic powers.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: Cyphon's "Mind Wipe" ranged attack is a "Spray" type attack, hitting all enemies in a line up to 10" away.
• Mind Control: As a Cognifex, this is Cyphon's forte. In game, his primary ranged attack is "Mind Wipe," which erases a victim's short term recall
• Mind Over Matter: Cyphon moves using his telekinetic abilities to float his armored chassis over the ground.
• No-Sell:
  • He has "Steady," rendering him immune to knockdown
  • His "Perserverance" spell grants one of his units immunity to push, slams, and throws.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted to a degree that causes some confusion among new players. Cyphon's "Essence Amplifier" is totally unrelated to ESSENCE, the unique Mana used by the infernals. Despite this, it's caused numerous Epileptic Trees among fans unfamiliar with the origin of the Cephalyx.
• Overdrive: Cyphon's Feat supercharges his Monstrosities, giving them +3 speed, armor, and melee damage.
• Pixellation: In 3rd edition he gained the "Blur" spell, which does this to one of his units to make them harder to hit at range.
• Power Floats: Cyphon's among the most powerful of the Cephalyx, and travels by hovering himself aloft with his telekinesis.
• Purple Is Powerful: He's among the most powerful of the Cephalyx and emits a telltale purple glow at all times.
• Reduced Mana Cost: He can use his Blood Magic to fuel his upkeep spells in lieu of his regular Mana.
• Shattered Sanity: Cyphon inflicts this on the victims he interrogates, having no concern for their well being or utility after he has ripped the knowledge he seeks from their minds.
• Speed Shoes:
  • His Feat grants his units +3 speed for a turn
  • His "Onslaught" spell grants all allies within 14" of himself the "Relentless Charge" special rule, allowing them to charge twice as far through rough terrain
• Spider Limbs: Like the other Cephalyx, Cyphon primarily interacts with the world using an array of mechanical, bladed, limbs that end in vicious surgical instruments.
• Status Buff:
  • His "Blur" spell grants one of his units +3 defense against ranged attacks and magic attacks
  • His "Perserverance" spell grants one of his units +2 armor
  • His Feat grants all Monstrosities under his control +3 speed, armor, and melee damage.
• Status Effects: Cyphon's "Breath Stealer" spell reduces the victim's speed and defense by 2.
• Torture for Fun and Information: His preferred M.O. Cyphon doesn't bother worrying about silly things like "his subjects surviving interrogation" or "being of any use afterwards" or "moral standards." He simply penetrates his victim's mind and rips the information he wants out, as painfully as possible, while vivisecting them to study their pain responses.
• What a Drag: His "Gallows" spell drags the target up to 6" out of position.
• Yank Into Melee: Because of how Gallows is written, Cyphon can use any of his Monstrosities with the Channeler special rule to drag a target into their melee range.

Floating with unsettling calm at the centre of his warband, Kythos is a Cephalyx Warcaster of terrifying mental potency. With his mind interlinked to every subordinate, monstrosity, and drudge, he commands the battlefield like a living neural network. A foreign Cephalyx from the Borokhun Hive, Kythos has been sent by his master, Xydis to both parlay with Thexus and the Thornwood hive in her stead, and to seek the secrets of the Cryxian Necrofactorum and its Helljacks. Though he learns much, in truth, Thexus is a pawn in everyone's game. The outcome of his mission will determine his fate, and the fate of the Thornwood and Borokhun Cephalyx.

Khythos has a single version, Exulon Kythos. He is a 4th edition Warcaster.

• All Just a Dream: Khythos' Feat causes a mass delusion among every enemy within 16" of himself, causing them to see things that aren't real and see Khythos' units in places where they aren't. Mechanically this is represented by Khythos being allowed to teleport his forces short distances when they're missed by attacks, to show that where enemies thought they were was a trick.
• Armor-Piercing Attack: Khythos' Scything Blades have the "Chain Weapon" special rule, allowing them to ignore the armor bonus provided by shields and bucklers.
• Back from the Dead: His "Revive" spell returns dead grunts to their units. Because this works on both living, undead, and constructs, he can even use this to make mechanithralls for his Cryx allies.
• Blind Weaponmaster: Khythos, like all responsible Cephalyx, has replaced his sensory organs with psychoactive cybernetics. He has the "Eyeless Sight" special rule, reflecting that he sees without eyes and can thus ignore things like smoke.
• Blood Magic: His "Long Shadows" special rule allows Khythos to gain 1 FOCUS when a living enemy is killed by a spell within 16" of himself.
• Blown Across the Room: The force of his Psi Blast knocks enemies up to 3" backwards on hit, and on a critical hit knocks them down completely.
• Deflector Shields: His psychic abilities grant Khythos the "Force Barrier" special rule, reducing enemy accuracy and giving him resistance to blast damage despite his total lack of armor.
• Goddamned Bats: Invoked with his "Leadership" special rule. While within 10" of Khythos, living allies gain "Annoyance," inflicting -1 accuracy on enemies within 1" of themselves.
• Meatgrinder Surgery: He has the spell "Psycho Surgery," which as its name implies messily heals every Monstrosity under Khythos' command.
• The Mole: Publicly he has been sent to the Thornwood Hive to parlay on behalf of the Borokhun Hive, seeking to add their powers together for a stronger whole. In truth he's been sent to steal the Thornwood Hive's technological secrets, as well as the secret of making Helljacks from their Cryxian allies, all without the Thornwood or Cryx realizing.
• Mook Lieutenant: In contrast to the other Exulons available for the Cephalyx, Khythos has a dedicated "Leadership" ability that empowers his Drudges and Cephalyx forces.
• More Dakka: Khythos has "Reload:1" on his ranged attack, allowing him to spend 1 FOCUS to double his rate of fire for a turn.
• Morton's Fork:
  • Khythos' spell "Deadweight" forces an enemy within 2" of its victim to forfeit either their movement or their attacks next turn
  • Khythos himself is currently subjected to this. Xydis sent him to the Thornwood as her agent specifically because of how often he dissented with her decisions. If he is killed in his mission, she will be rid of a thorn in her side, while if he is successful, he will return with the secrets of making Helljacks and substantially empower the Borokhun Hive, Her hive.
• No Range Like Point-Blank Range: Due to being a psychic blast fired from his bulbous cranium, Khythos' ranged attack has "Pistol," letting him use it in melee and at range with equal lethality and accuracy.
• Psi Blast: His ranged attack of choice is a blast fired from his "Psychic Aperture." It acts essentially as a Hand Cannon common to most Warcasters, but with some extra special rules.
• Status Effects: Enemies suffer -3 accuracy while Khythos' Feat is active, increasing the odds they were actually attacking an illusion.
• Uriah Gambit: Part of why Khythos has been sent to the Thornwood. His mission is incredibly dangerous, and his role as The Mole to steal the secrets of Helljacks and the Thornwood Cephalyx' own technology is likely to get him killed. If he dies, Xydias will be rid of his dissent in her decision making.
• Wound That Will Not Heal: Khythos' scything blades are deadly weapons first and useful tools second. Under his control, they have "Grievous Wounds," preventing victims from healing and removing Tough from them for a turn.

Possessed of the most crushingly powerful intellect of his kind, Exulon Thexus is an unconventional member of the Cephalyx elite. He has arisen to lead his hive and has restored them to greatness by entering into an unprecedented alliance with Cryx. Thexus is both uncompromising and pragmatically efficient, quite willing to send his minions to their destruction to further his long-reaching plans. His refusal to accept the limitations of the flesh drove the Exulon to indulge in radical methods to surpass them. Though all Exculons augment their brains to magnify their psychic power, Thexus has gone far beyond his peers, enduring dangerous and excruciating procedures to expand his brain mass. The power he wields has given him a ravenous hunger that drives him to consume the psyches of his foes. Nothing gives him more satisfaction than rending and absorbing lesser minds to feed his own. After he has siphoned their thoughts and memories, he casts aside the empty living husks to be transformed into drudges.

Having existed for over four hundred years, Thexus has shrewdly negotiated the politics of his kind, dominating mental inferiors and manipulating his rivals in order to surpass or destroy them. Now, Thexus feels he has augmented his brain as far as he can through customary means; he intends to be the first of his kind to achieve transcendence into a creature of pure thought. He pursues this without regard for the small-minded taboos of his peers. Thexus sees within the Convergence of Cyriss a possible key to the first gate barring his way, and he engages this enemy with driven persistence. Though Thexus does not hesitate to join battle personally, he is protective of his mortality. He prefers to observe from a distance, allowing subordinates and monstrosities to clash while he manipulates mental tethers to arrange for victory. He plucks pieces of the enemy's battle plan from the minds of its living soldiers and can focus on a dozen simultaneous events to orchestrate a perfect outcome. Thought is raw power to Thexus, and his intellect is so terrible his mere presence on the battlefield causes his enemies mental pain. Those who fall directly under the lens of his telepathic scrutiny are torn apart by waves of pure psychic force.

Thexus has a single version, Exulon Thexus.

• Anti-Magic: Thexus' "Hex Blast" spell removes all Status Buffs on his target.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: In addition to retaining his human arms, Thexus has a sextet of bladed Spider Limbs he uses for combat and dismembering victims.
• Boring, but Practical: Faced with physical limits in how far he could expand his mental powers, Thexus resorted to the obvious solution: Just add more brain mass! And it worked, terrifyingly...
• My Brain Is Big: Thexus has massively expanded his brain mass.
• Bullet Dodges You: His "Deceleration" spell slows bullets that pass within 16" of himself in the style of Neo, making it more difficult to harm his forces
• Bulletproof Human Shield: Like Cyphon, Thexus has the "Sacrificial Pawn" special rule, letting him use his Monstrosities for this trope to mitigate his Squishy Wizard stats.
• Cast from Hit Points: Thexus can use any of his Monstrosities as a Willing Channeler with his "Spell Driver" special rule, in exchange for dealing up to 4 damage to them at the end of the spell.
• Dark Is Evil:thexus doesn't just sport blackened metallic augmentations common among the Cephalyx, he always wears a full-body-concealing black robe to emphasize that he is as evil as he is alien.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: As can be seen in his page image, the trio of eyes he has mounted to his faceplate glow in the direction he looks, emphasizing that he is a vast psychic force who will Mind Control or slay any before him.
• Knockback: Thexus' Feat pushes all enemy models without Plot Armor near him 2" in any direction.
• Mana Drain: His blades have the "Inflict Pain" speical rule, allowing them to place a FURY point on a Warbeast they hit. Because of how Warbeasts handle FURY, this prevents the creature from taking any of their usual FURY-related actions by filling up their allotment.
• Mana Potion: He can also use his blades on allied Warbeasts (despite being a Warcaster himself, and thus not using Warbeasts) to remove a FURY point and allow them to make more FURY-generating actions.
• Meat Grinder Surgery: His "Psycho Surgery" spell heals every Monstrosity under his control, but as implied by the name it's not pretty.
• Meat Puppet: As can be seen in his page image, those he Mind Controls he manipulates using his fingers, connected to his victims by thin purple strands of energy like the strings of a puppet.
• Mind Control: His M.O.
  • His "Influence" spell lets him take control of an enemy warrior without Plot Armor to force them to attack their friends.
  • His "Rampager" spell lets him take control of an enemy Warbeast to force them to make a free move and attack against their allies.
• Mind Over Matter: In addition to his awesome psychic power he also has incredible telekinetic power.
  • He has the incredibly powerful and versatile "Telekinesis" spell. It lets him drag any model 2" in any direction, which can be used for everything from Knockback to get enemies away from him to Speed Shoes by moving his model 2" closer to the enemy and moving the enemy 2" closer to his model.
  • His Feat is called "Telekinetic Tide" and lets him drag every enemy without Plot Armor within 16" of himself 2" in any direction.
• Purple Is Powerful: The most powerful psychic in Warmachine also constantly glows purple to show his deadly power.
• Reduced M Ana Cost: Thexus' unique "Aggressive Reaction" special rule allows his Monstrosities to run or charge for free if at least one enemy is within 10" of their master.
• Shattered Sanity: Thexus is not gentle when Mind Controlling his victims, leading frequently to those who survive the procedure being nothing but empty shells, their minds broken, after he's done with them. As seen in his page quote, he will proudly destroy the minds of any who try to resist him, as a show of his own superiority and self confidence over these perceived "lesser minds".
• Spider Limbs: In addition to his humanoid limbs, Thexus mounts the standard Cephalyx selection of surgical instruments to his backpack, which he uses as his melee weapons in Warmachine, or as surgical tools in the lore.
• Squishy Wizard: Of the two Cephalyx Warcasters, Thexus is the more spell-focused one and also the least durable. While Cyphon benefits from his Sacrificial Pawn rule, Thexus depends on it to survive.

An apple a day might keep the doctor away in the real world, but in a post-apocalyptic Iron Kingdoms, it’ll take some seriously heavy firepower to avoid a visit from Dr. Stygius! Suffer a wound while he’s on your crew, and this sinister Cephalyx has a suite of tools to stitch, saw, or scrape away your ails and keep you in the action. But if you’re looting for the other team, don’t forget your tinfoil hat or you may find Stygius psychically scrambling your cerebellum into a savory sauce!”

Stygius embodies the Cephalyx philosophy of dissect now, talk later. Whether you see him as a healer, a torturer, or both, Stygius brings that much needed support to the hive that your foes will love to hate.

Stygius has two versions. For tropes related to him, see here

Akulon Thaemestra serves as the Hive Mind Cadre’s arcane surgeon, operating behind the front lines with chilling precision. Whether amplifying the will of her Warcaster or carving through flesh with cephalomechanikal finesse, every action is calculated to reinforce the cadre. Each engagement becomes a study in psychological warfare.

Thaemestra has a single version, Akulon Thaemestra

• Attack Its Weak Point: Her "Anatomical Precision" special rule allows her to always deal damage to a living enemy, no matter how armored they are, by stabbing at their eyes, joints, or other tiny, exposed weaknesses.
• Deceptive Disciple: Thaemestra has secretly freed herself from the Mind Control will of her Exulons, which she keeps hidden to avoid being liquidated. With her independence, she is secretly able to plan her own ascension, and clinically research pain and resistance. She shares most of these discoveries with her Hive, elevating her own social standing, but holds the most valuable information back, for future use when she needs it.
• Drunken Boxing: Thaemestra engages in an interesting variant of this trope. In the spirit of Confusion Fu her chosen method of penetrating foreign minds is not to chip or damage them, but rather to move with the walls the victim throws up. She conforms her assault to the maze of her target, sweeping through it like a wave that changes shape to match its surroundings.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: Her spell "Psychic Assault" is a "Spray" type attack that hits all enemies in a line up to 8" away.
• Immune to Mind Control: She has broken free of the obedience enforced by the Exulons throughout her hive. This is a rare feat and is seen as a deadly "deviation" by her peers, so she keeps her freedom under wraps.
• Reduced Mana Cost:
  • Her "Arcane Assist" ability allows her attached Warcaster to upkeep a spell for free.
  • Her spell "Spell Slave" allows her to aid her Warcaster by casting one of their spells that costs 3 or less for free, essentially giving them a free extra cast every turn.
• The Sneaky Guy: She uses her psychic abilities to passively obscure herself from the minds of the living. Her abilities aren't quite powerful enough to render her completely undetectable however, so in Warmachine enemies that get within 5" of her can still see and shoot at her normally.
• Speed Shoes: She has "Reposition:3," natively, giving her a free 3" extra move at the end of any turn where she didn't run or fail an attempt to charge into melee.
• Squishy Wizard: She goes into battle clad only in a black labcoat, and has the durability to match. At the same time, she's a powerful spellcaster with the always-useful "Spell Slave" spell at her disposal.
• Status Buff: Her "Tune Up" spell removes Stationary ,Knockdown, and Damage Over Time from one allied Monstrosity, then gives them "Pathfinder" so they can ignore rough terrain.
• Support Party Member: Thaemestra is a Warcaster Attachment, designed to act as a magical support unit and adjunct to the main army's Warcaster.

Few Cephalyx are as feared by enemy commanders — or as revered by drudges — as Silexus Xiphus. With a mind sharpened to flay both flesh and free will, Xiphus serves to ease the cognitive load of nearby Cephalyx, allowing them to focus on their immediate tasks while he deftly handles routine matters with the wisdom gleaned from centuries of experience.

Xiphus has a single version, Silexus Xiphus

• Attack Its Weak Point: He specializes in this with his prosthetic blades, using his "Anatomical Precision" special rule to stab living enemies in the eyes or other weak points and deal 1 guaranteed damage regardless of their armor value.
• Boring, but Practical: His preferred method of solving problems. Rather than take everything to his boss, when problems are brought to him that he is able to solve he has them solved immediately, reducing waste and improving efficiency within his hive. In combat, he focuses on easing the cognitive load of his allies, allowing them to focus on problems in front of them while he handles the monotony of regulating Drudges and their hormones.
• Combat Medic: He has several powerful offensive abilities, is capable of holding his own in melee with his Prosthetic Blades, and has the "Heal" special rule for keeping Drudges and other living Cephalyx allies topped up on health.
• The Good Chancellor: Despite the Cephalyx universally being a Lawful Evil faction, Xiphus is so loyal to his masters that he goes out of his way to ensure their attentions are most focused on the important tasks. With more trivial matters, he either delegates to appropriate handlers or solves them himself, allowing his bosses to focus on the big picture.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: His Psychic Assault "spell" is a "Spray" type attack that hits all enemies in a line up to 8" away.
• Mind Control: His spell "Befuddle" allows him to grab an enemy model without Plot Armor and force them to walk 3" in any direction. Most commonly he'll use this to drag enemies closer to his own Drudges, but it can also be used to save his Drudges by forcing a One-Man Army to leave combat with them.
• The Minion Master: Despite not being a Warcaster, his "Leadership" and "Heal" abilities cause him to excel at managing multiple squads of Drudges. It is, in fact, thanks to not being a Warcaster that he is able to focus on this role, leaving his Warcaster to focus on managing their Monstrosities while he deals with the minutia of keeping Drudges healed and empowering their accuracy.
• Psi Blast: His primary offensive ability is his "spell" Psychic Assault. It rips through everything in its path with the force of a Hand Cannon.
• Rage Helm: A creepy variant. Despite his high status, acting as second only to the Exulons themselves, Xiphus has by far the most humanoid head and mask of any Cephalyx ever depicted. In effect it gives him the appearance of a Skull for a Head with a pair of glowing red eyes in its sockets.
• The Sneaky Guy: He also has mastered the use of his psychic abilities to quietly dismiss himself from the perception of enemies. In Warmachine he has the Stealth special rule thanks to this skill, though the fact that he's not truly invisible mean that enemies who get within 5" of him can perceive and shoot at him again.
• Status Buff: His "Leadership" ability gives all allied Drudges within 10" +1 accuracy on all their attacks.

• Ax-Crazy: The surgery performed on a cephalyx monstrosity's mind causes it to become incredibly aggressive even when outside of a Cephalyx's direct control. Only Cephalyx Exulons are able to impose their will upon a monstrosity.
• Blind Weaponmaster: Part of the process of creating a Monstrosity involves depriving the victim of their senses, replacing them with psychic detectors that allow the creature to see without eyes. In Warmachine they all have the "Eyeless Sight" special rule to reflect this, while in the Iron Kingdoms RPG they have perfect detection within a 60 foot radius, but are completely blind beyond that.
• Body Horror: Monstrosities are made from regular humans, but are perverted by science and alchemy such that their bodies become unrecognizable. They become the size of Heavy Warjacks, with flesh that can shrug off gunfire, and cables that pierce through their flesh at random.
• No One Could Survive That!: In the Iron Kingdoms RPG, Monstrosities all have "Inhuman Fortitude," giving them a chance to ignore lethal damage outright.
• No-Sell: In the Iron Kingdoms RPG Monstrosities are all immune to blind, charm, fright, and Deadly Gas.
• Organic Technology: Despite having the means and the knowledge to produce Helljacks and Bonejacks, the Cephalyx of the Thornwood (and by extension all Cephalyx) still rely on Monstrosities for their Warjack-equivalent forces. Monstrosities are alchemically forged from capture victims, infused with various fluids that cause their flesh to stretch and strengthen, consuming their tissues till only muscle and skin remain. Their organs are then replaced with cybernetics to augment their newly strengthened flesh and afford their Cephalyx masters stronger control over their actions.

The Malfessor is an unusual Cephalyx. It toils alone, apart from its familiar hive, working to violate the very laws of Cephalomekanical theory itself. Its mind is brilliant, yet twisted, creating unique persepectives but also a terrible field that other Cephalyx are loath to be around. When it chooses to take to the field, typically in search of new materials or to test its theories, it does so fused to one of its personal creations. Rather than rely on an armored form and a tenuous psychic link, the Malfessor binds itself directly to its chosen Monstrosity's nervous system, creating a meditative bond that is superior to the traditional Cephalyx mind connection.

Malfessor is technically a Cephalyx Dominator, however its only version available in either Warmachine or the Iron Kingdoms RPG is fused with one of its Monstrosity vessels for battle, and classed as a unique "Cephalyx Hive Mind Cadre Monstrosity." Because of its resemblance to a Cephalyx equivalent to Malvin & Mayhem, it has been included here under the Monstrosities section just as Mayhem is under the "Warjack" section.

• Anti-Magic: Malfessor's own impressive psychic abilities leave a void that ravages mortal minds and makes spellcasting difficult. It has the "Mage Static" special rule, increasing the cost of all enemy spells by 1.
• Arbitrary Weapon Range: "Mage Static" also reduces the range of all enemy spells cast within 10" of Malfessor by -3".
• Armor-Piercing Attack: In place of its right arm, the Monstrosity portion of this duo has a Bladed Flail from a Wrecker.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: Per its rules in Warmachine, Malfessor appears to be a fairly standard Character Cohort model. It has the weapons of some of its existing equivalents (combining the Subduer and Wrecker together), but they've been upgraded, and it has some unique special rules to help distinguish it. The Cephalyx Compendium however reveals that Malfessor is not actually a Monstrosity/Cohort, it's actually a Cephalyx Dominator that builds itself a sort of organic tank to ride into battle. What at first appears to be a pawn is, in truth, a queen all along.
• Epic Flail: Its mount carries on its right arm a Wrecker's flail, upgraded with some unique modifications by Malfessor itself.
• Field Power Effect: Malfessor's unique upgrades to its mount include "Telemetry," which marks nearby enemies to allow its allies improved accuracy. Enemies within 8" of Malfessor are +2 easier to hit with Cephalyx spells as a result.
• Herd-Hitting Attack:
  • Malfessor's ranged attack is a "Spray" type attack, hitting all enemies up to 10" away in a line.
  • Its mount's Bladed Flail has "Thresher" as a special attack, hitting all models, friend or foe, within 2" of the Monstrosity in melee.
• Implacable Man: Thanks to the 50mm Monstrosity it rides, Malfessor has the "Unstoppable" special rule. Its mount's sheer mass allows it to freely march through melee combat with any enemy with no penalties, always heading for its most important target.
• Inescapable Net: On its left arm, Malfessor's Monstrosity has mounted a Subduer's Net Cannon for capturing enemies and dragging them closer.
• Knockback:
  • Enemies hit by the net launcher of Malfessor's mount are knocked down automatically.
  • Enemies hit by the Bladed Flail are pushed 1" backwards with every swing thanks to its "Beat Back" special rule.
• No Range Like Point-Blank Range: Thanks to using its mount as a nigh-literal meat shield, Malfessor can safely focus its psychic blasts even in melee. In Warmachine it has the "Pistol" rule on this particular ranged attack, allowing it to fire the Psychic Trembler in melee without penalty.
• The Paralyzer: On a critical hit, enemies hit by Malfessor's psychic attack become paralyzed, unable to run, charge, slam, or trample and with their defense massively reduced.
• Psi Blast: Malfessor itself is not content to let its mount hog all the fun of violence, it will also fire its own "Psychic Trembler" attack at enemies with its psionic abilities.
• Remote Body: Played with. Malfessor pilots the Monstrosity it is fused to as an extension of itself, in the spirit of this trope, but it also rides into battle atop the Monstrosity due to fuzing itself directly to the creature's spine.
• Speed Shoes: Melfessor's chemical augmentations to its mount give it "Hyper Aggressive," allowing the duo to make a free full move whenever the enemy damages it.
• Taking the Bullet: Thanks to Malfessor effectively not having to put itself in danger, its mount also has "Shield Guard," allowing it to intercept enemy spells and ranged attacks aimed at nearby allies.
• What a Drag: Like the Subduer, once Malfessor has an enemy in the net it can use the "Drag" special rule to pull them into its melee range for a Coup de Grâce.

Massive insensate creations that tower over humans, Monstrosities are masterfully crafted fusions of meat, bone, and metal. Chosen from those who have fallen into the clutches of the Cephalyx, the subjects doome dto undergo the grueling process of transformation are selected for their physical stamina and mental malleability. These procedures ,which represent an investment of weeks of work, are among the most complex surgeries that the Cephalyx perform on outsiders. Organs are cut free from flesh and bathed in alchemical growth solutions before being reintroduced to a radically expanded body cavity. Flesh is pumped with alchemical mixtures that foster rapid tissue development and increased bons mass and density. The final Monstrosity is several times the mass of the original subject, its skin and bones toughened to endure extreme punishment. Sensory organs are carved away and the Monstrosity's brain attuned to the psycho-spectrum, allowing it to perceive its surrounding free of the limitations of the flesh.

Few monstrosities use this superlative vision better than the Subduer. Perceiving the battlefield as overlapping waves of psychic emanations, a Subduer eyelessly tracks those trying to slip beyond the grasp of its masters, following their movements silently from behind its solid helmet. Its massive net launcher allows it to capture these victims from a distance. When fired, the weighted net slices through the air to envelop targets in a mesh of taut steel and drag them screaming back to their fate. Captives the Cephalyx deem suitable for experimentation are secured, while those found wanting are efficiently eliminated with a single, whistling slash of the Subduer's bladed arm.

• Blade Below the Shoulder: Subduers have one of their arms replaced with an "Heavy Blade" that is essentially a giant scythe blade sticking straight out of their forearms.
• Cyber Cyclops: The Subduer's head has a single glowing purple "eye" that it uses for its Super-Senses.
• Cyborg: Monstrosities are made from human flesh twisted by alchemy and machinery to be larger, stronger, and more durable. Subduers have been so perverted that they've lost any Character Alignment, making them akin to mindless animals in-universe.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: The Subduer is one of the only Monstrosities that actually has anything resembling "eyes" on its head, a single large glowing port that is related to its psychic detection systems.
• Jack of All Stats: In Warmachine Subduers fill the "Generalist Monstrosity" role, offering a ranged attack and a reasonably damaging, if slightly underpowered, melee attack.
• Knockback: In Warmachine the Net Launcher has the "Quake" special rule, inflicting the knockdown StatusEffect on its victims.
• Net Gun: The Subduer's iconic weapon is its Net Launcher, which is mounted via a chain to a winch on the creature's back, allowing it to entrap foes and then drag them in for capture or killing.
• Sinister Scythe: The Subduer's Heavy Blade is a scythe blade mounted to the stump on the Monstrosity's wrist and is capable of cutting clean through heavy armor.
• Super-Senses: Subduers lack eyes, ears, or any of the usual human senses. Instead, their senses have been replaced with a psychic organ capable of granting them vision superior to any human senses. In the Iron Kingdoms RPG this comes with caveats, however, as their "Blindsight" stops at a 60 foot radius, limiting them from seeing anything more than 60 feet away.
• What a Drag: The subduer's Net Launcher has a large chain attached to it, that allows it to winch in victims. In Warmachine this is represented by the "Catch" special rule, allowing the Subduer to drag foes up to 10" towards the Monstrosity, while in the Iron Kingdoms RPG it instead has the built-in ability to pull victims up to 55 feet towards it.
• Yank Into Melee: Enemies who the Subduer hits with its net are not only knocked down, but are then dragged closer to the creature for a Coup de Grâce.

The Monstrosities known as Wardens are a concession by the Cephalyx to the frailty of their own atrophied bodies. Crafted to react quickly to any attack and inured to even catastrophic injury, a Warden instinctively places itself in harm's way to shield its makers. Muscles like corded steel soak up bullets and cannon fire, and hardened plates of armor can withstand the fists of a Heavy Warjack. After enduring a blow, the Warden retaliates with its vise-like clamps and brutal strikes of its metal-plated head. A Warden's defensive actions are purely the product of insidious biological manipulations. The Cephalyx artfully reconfigure the architecture of a Warden's mind, enabling it to perceive the world through a suite of new senses beyond anything as crude as sight or sound. In addition, the Monstrositiy's reflexes are rewired. Autonomic responses that once helped the subject avoid pain instead compel it to hurl itself into the path of attacks meant for a Cephalyx. When a Warden suffers too much damage to easily repair, its makers discard it like a calpel that has lost its edge.

• Bodyguarding a Badass: Wardens are designed to bodyguard Cephalyx VIPs, many of whom are Squishy Wizards with tremendous psychic abilities capable of killing entire groups of men by themselves. Nevertheless, Wardens are designed to be far more durable than their charges could ever be.
• Dual Wielding: Wardens wield a pair of Power Pincers in place of their hands. Uniquely this gives them the "Open Fist" special rule among the Monstrosities.
• Foe-Tossing Charge: To better protect their Cephalyx masters, Wardens have the "Follow Up" and "Grand Slam" special rules, allowing them to engage in this trope and then keep charging after their victims.
• Knockback:
  • The primary offensive abilities of the Warden in Warmachine revolve around inflicting body slam attacks, knocking foes backwards to keep them away from the more important Cephalyx.
  • In the Iron Kingdoms RPG, the Warden's headbutt attack knocks enemies prone if they fail a saving throw.
• Literal Change of Heart: Wardens have had their organs replaced with technological and alchemical powerplants, the gauges for which poke through the left side of their chest where a heart would be.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: The Warden is one of the most unusual examples in the game, as their "Shield" is actually the armored head they posses, giving them +1 armor thanks to its "Buckler" special rule.
• Power Pincers: The Warden's melee weapons are a pair of mechanical clamps it can use to grapple enemies or tear them apart.
• Reduced Mana Cost: Wardens have the "Grand Slam" special rule, allowing them to make slam power attacks for free.
• Speed Shoes: "Follow Up" allows Wardens to gain a free speed boost to charge after enemies they slam, equal to the distance they were launched.
• Status Buff: When a Warden slams a target, they get knocked 2 more inches than normal.
• Stone Wall: Compared to the other Monstrosities, Wardens have the highest armor value and are the most focused on tanking hits on behalf of others.
• Taking the Bullet: The "Shield Guard" ability allows a Warden to intercept incoming attacks aimed at its allies, using its superior armor to shrug them off.
• Use Your Head: The Warden not only has the "Hard Head" special rule, allowing it to improve its head-butt attacks, but has such an armored head that it actually counts as a shield!
• Wrestler in All of Us: One of the best uses for the Warden's Open Fists is grappling foes and throwing them away from its Cephalyx masters. In the Iron Kingdoms RPG the Warden's claws are even designed explicitly around grappling foes, with limitations that each claw can only grapple one target at a time.

When a straightforward application of brute force is needed, the Cephalyx turn to the Wrecker, a Monstrosity created to topple fortifications and mow through ranks of the toughest resistance an enemy can offer. Wreckers are purpose-built to deal punishing blows and do it well, especially when buttressed by an Agitator. Whipping its two flail-like limbs at high speed, a Wrecker carves through massed enemies and rips through the hulls of Heavy Warjacks. Everything within reach is flattened and torn apart by the cruel weapons it swings. Whirling blades are mounted in the reinforced heads of its flails, magnifying the damage dealt with each strike. The ear-splitting, high-pitched shriek the plades produce when carving through heavy armor is enough to send weak-willed soldiers running, and the sight of a comrade crushed and ripped asunder by them causes even the stouthearted to tremble.

• Armor-Piercing Attack: Wreckers have "Chain Weapon" on their flails, allowing them to ignore the armor bonus provided by shields.
• Cyber Cyclops: Simliar to the Subduer, the wrecker has a single large "eye" in the center of its "head." Unlike the Subduer, this one is just metal, it doesn't glow at all.
• Chain Pain: Part of the Wrecker's deadly power comes from how its chains are enormous and can trip up or even rip enemies in two as they swing.
• Crippling Overspecialization: The Wrecker looks startlingly close to the page image, having replaced both of its hands with metallic stumps that have large flails on them.
• Double-Edged Buff: In the Iron Kingdoms RPG Wreckers can use their "Reckless" rule to give themselves Advantage on all their attacks in exchange for also giving enemies "Advantage" on all attacks against the Wrecker.
• Dual Wielding: The Wrecker wields a pair of "Bladed Flails" as its weapons, to great effect against armor.
• Epic Flail: The Wrecker's flails are so powerful that they almost always penetrate even heavy armor!
• Herd-Hitting Attack: In Warmachine Wreckers can use the "Thresher" special attack, hitting every model within 2" of them, friend or foe.
• Knockback: In Warmachine Wreckers have the "Beat Back" special rule on their flails, knocking foes 1" away with every hit.
• Literal Change of Heart: Part of the process of turning a Wrecker from a victim of the Cephalyx into one of their servants involves replacing the subject's heart with a steam-based powerplant, the gauges of which peek through their flesh.
• Mighty Glacier: Of the three Monstrosities, the Wrecker is 5% less durable than the Warden, while just as slow, in exchange for having a pair of weapons that are 21% more powerful each. Once it closes the distance, slow as it is, its flails will absolutely demolish anything in its way.
• Mix-and-Match Weapon: It's not enough for the Wrecker to have flails for hands, those flails also have to have buzzsaws on them!
• Sawblade Anatomy: In lieu of hands the Wrecker has a pair of flails with spinning rotary saws embedded in their heads.
• Saw Blades of Death: Though in real life the flail, mace, and other "blunt" weapons proved to be more reliable at defeating heavy armor in melee than bladed ones, the Wrecker's "blunt" flails mount a pair of sawblades to them to really help sell that they penetrate armor like a hot knife through butter.

Agitators are the surgical knives of a Cephalyx force. These sinister specialists hover across the battlefield to apply precise pressure to the enemy in order to ensure their enslaved drudges and monstrosities are performing to the utmost of their capacity. An agitator can determine the necessary course of action in the heat of battle, whether it be stirring their drudges to a fever pitch, controlling the minds of the enemy, or blasting those minds with cruel psychic force. They are a subordinate caste of Cephalyx who oversee the more mundane aspects of feeding, caring for, and maintaining control of Monstrosities. Among the darkened tunnels of a Cephalyx Hive, the Agitators tend the packs of Monstrosities in the service of their masters. They work closely with those responsible for the manufacture of Monstrosities and Drudges as aids and subordinate surgeons.

• Attack Its Weak Point: Agitators specialize in triggering the maximum amount of pain with the minimum amount of effort to both spur on Drudges and Monstrosities and rapidly cripple enemies. Their "Anatomical Precision" special rule allows them to automatically deal 1 damage to a living enemy regardless of armor thanks to their skill at stabbing through eye slits and into armor joints.
• Bulletproof Human Shield: With their "Sacrificial Pawn" special rule, Agitators can quickly hide behind allied Monstrosities, using them to block incoming fire and offsetting their total lack of armor.
• Elective Mute: In the Iron Kingdoms RPG it's noted that Agitators can understand all languages but that they choose not to speak. Presumably, due to being the lowest of the Cephalyx caste and the least experienced, they have not yet fully replaced their vocal chords with cybernetics the way Cognifexes have.
• Mana Potion: In 4th edition, Agitators lost their Psychic Assault spell and gained "Vitalizer," allowing them to give one allied Monstrosity 1 free FOCUS.
• Mind Control:
  • In Warmachine Agitators have the "Influence" spell, allowing them to take control of an enemy model without Plot Armor and force them to attack their allies.
  • In the Iron Kingdoms RPG 5th edition version, Agitators have "Dominate Monster" as a once-per-day ability.
• Mind Over Matter: In the Iron Kingdoms RPG one of the spells Agitators have access to is "Telekinesis."
• Omniglot: The Iron Kingdoms RPG notes that Agitators can understand all languages, presumably due to their psychic abilities.
• The Paralyzer: In the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition version of the Iron Kingdoms RPG, Agitators have "Hold Person" as a once-per-day spell-like ability.
• Psi Blast:
  • Prior to 4th edition in Warmachine, the Agitators had the "Psychic Assault" special attack spell, blasting all enemies with waves of force equal to a Hand Cannon in-universe.
  • In the Iron Kingdoms RPG Agitators retain their "Mind Blast" attack
• The Sneaky Guy: In Warmachine's 4th edition, Agitators gained the Stealth special rule, using their psychic abilities to conceal themselves from enemies at long range where they were harder to notice and easier to ignore.
• Slaying Mantis: Agitators in 4th edition are marked by their sextet of praying-mantis-arranged curved blades that come under their armpits and forward to claw at friend and foe alike.
• Squishy Wizard: In both Warmachine and the Iron Kingdoms RPG Agitators wear no armor save for their black labcoats. Any attacks headed their way will likely connect, and will absolutely rip clean through them. They depend on their "Sacrificial Pawn" special rule and "Stealth" to survive and keep casting "Influence" and "Instigate" to support their forces.
• Status Buff: Agitators in Warmachine always have the "Instigate" special rule, giving all allied Drudges and Monstrosities +2 accuracy and damage for a turn.

Cognifexes are a special order of Cephalyx whose job is dismantling the minds of sentient beings in order to increase the knowledge of the Cephalyx Hive. Through excruciating, mind-destroying labor, the Cognifex learns about potential sites for new abductions, potential threats to the hive, and the general goings-on of the world above. When a Cognifex leaves its hive, it wears an armored cephalomek shell. This durable armor seals the Cognifex off completely from the outside world, protecting it from any harm. Even should the Cognifex choose to open the armor plating, the cephalomekanical material it's made of is proof against bullets and blades of any description.

• Animate Inanimate Object: In the Iron Kingdoms RPG Cognifexes have access to the "Animate Object" spell, allowing them to bring to life small things like boxes or tools to attack enemies with.
• Defend Command: Cognifexes can close their armored shells to improve their defenses considerably, but the mobility consequences of this action mean they only do so against incoming attacks.
• Degraded Boss: Cognifexes in the Iron Kingdoms RPG are based on Cognifex Cyphon from Warmachine. Prior to the Iron Kingdoms-Requiem and its associated Monsternomicon, Cognifex Cyphon was unique in his design, personality, and abilities. The release of the Monsternomicon however created a more generic template that, while considerably weaker than Cyphon's full Warcaster talents, is still a Challenge Rating 7 enemy that can shatter bodies with its mind. Cyphon's page image is even reused as the official art for the entry!
• Double-Edged Buff: When it closes its shell, the Cognifex is immune to bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing damage, but also has speed 0 with no ability to increase it, can't take Reactions, and automatically fails any Dexterity Saving Throws.
• Mad Doctor: Cognifexes specialize not just in dissecting bodies but in dissecting minds. Each is a "Master Chirurgeon" and has Advantage on using its Medicine skills to either harm or heal others.
• Mind Control: Notably Averted, especially within a faction famed for their abilities in this. Despite ostensibly existing to penetrate other people's thoughts and rip through their will to resist like tissue paper, Cognifexes lack any actual ability to Dominate or otherwise control enemies.
• Mind Over Matter: Cognifexes can cast "Mage Hand" as a Psionic ability at will, and have "Telekinesis" as a once-per-day ability. On top of this they have "Animate Objects" and "Wall of Force" as psionic "spells."
• My Brain Is Big: Cognifexes keep their oversized brains safely secured inside their hulls, only opening the hull to unleash devastating blasts of psychic energy.
• Omniglot: Like the lower ranked Cephalyx, Cognifexes have the ability to understand all languages.
• The Paralyzer: Due to their greater skill with their abilities, Cognifexes can cast "Hold Person" at will!
• Psi Blast:
  • By default Cognifexes have the "Mind Blast" attack, firing a 60 foot cone that shreds enemies with psychic damage
  • They also have the "Wall of Force" spell as a psionic ability three times per day.
• The Speechless: Unlike Agitators and other lower-ranked Cephalyx, Cognifexes have cybernetically augmented themselves to no longer need to speak. Instead they use their psychic abilities to communicate.
• Stone Wall: Unlike most Cephalyx who travel to the surface, Cognifexes wear full suits of armor that turn them into floating Spider Tanks to shrug off enemy attacks while blasting them with psychic power.

Drudges are the mass produced cyborg soldiers of the Cephalyx. Kidnapped from all races the Cephalyx can get their hands on, the victims are brought deep into the laboratories of the hive. There are they are carved in flesh and converted with machinery, turning them into organic robots whose will is bound to the Cephalyx.

Drudge Conduits are lesser minds carved and crafted into obedient conduits for psychic force. They’re selected for their... limited aspirations and reconditioned with a touch of cranial plumbing. Used in battle, their fate is grim but brief: one glorious psychic assault as they channel a warcaster’s will — then lights out, cranium fried, next drudge please.

If the mind is a terrible thing to lose, the thoughtless roided-up Criterion Drudges ensure it’s the first thing to go.

Slayers are among the simplest Drudges, only slightly more complex than those which are created for simple labor within the hive. During their creation, Slayers are fed a steady drip of synthetic growth hormones supplemented y complex amino acids to stimulate muscle growth. Their arms are amputated and replaced with heavy due prosthetics capable of reconfiguring into a number of deadly weapons.

Iconoclasts tow the line between Drudge and Monstrosity. Among every batch of Criterion candidates, there is a small number who have physiological traits that make them ideal frameworks for the construction of new, extensive modifications. Their bodies to not reject transplants as rapidly as others, allowing for the grafting of additional glands, organs, and limbs beyond the norm.

Cephalyx Drudge only come in units:

• Cephalyx Workers
• Criterion Drudges
• Drudge Conduits
• Drudge Slayers
• Iconoclast Drudges

Drudges are frontline infantry and workers for the Cephalyx in every theme force and sub-faction they are available for.

• Alpha Strike: Slayers can commit both their attacks to a single strike with their "Combo: Strike" ability. This sacrifices quantity of attacks for improved base damage by attacking the same target with both weapons at once.
• Area of Effect: The Void Blast on the Iconoclast's cannon changes the weapon to AOE 2, damaging the 2 closest models within 2" of the original target on impact.
• Arm Cannon: Iconoclasts, as the sole Drudge variant with a ranged attack, have had their left arms replaced with a Mutable Drudge Cannon in the vein of Mega Man or Samus.
• Armored Collar of Durability:
  • Criterions, as heavy infantry, sport the realistic variant. Their upgrades include a ring of metal encasing a metal helmet grafter to their flesh.
  • Iconoclasts, as superhuman infantry, sport a realistic variant of this trope that borders on a bullethead. At first glance their average armor of 15 appears to make them a subversion, but their Impervious Flesh rule technically gives them skin that's tougher than a Heavy Warjack!
• Artificial Gill: In the Iron Kingdoms RPG Drudges are all immune to gas effects due to no longer "breathing" in the human sense. Instead, they're kept alive by the various alchemical cybernetics that pump through their "helmets."
• Bio Punk: Drudges blend crude machinery with alchemically treated flesh to create what are effectively organic menial labor robots.
• Blind Weaponmaster: Drudges lose their original senses, having them replaced with cybernetics similar to the ones used by their Cephalyx masters. This gives them perfect spacial awareness psychically while under the command of a Cephalyx, at the cost of being totally devoid of senses without one. In Warmachine, where they must always be led by a Cephalyx of some kind, Drudges universally have the "Eyeless Sight" special rule, allowing them to ignore things like smoke for line-of-sight.
• Body Horror: Drudges suffer a level of body augmentation comparable to the Strogg, losing all their limbs and their heads to be replaced with cybernetics. In addition, the alchemical modifications to the remaining flesh strip away any identity the original person may have had. Age, gender, ethnicity, these are all erased in the process of making a Drudge.
• Cannon Fodder: Despite the labor and resources poured into making Drudges, the Cephalyx consider them completely expendable. After all, any dead Drudge can be repaired, or replaced. This is best exemplified in Drudge Slayers, who are expected to charge face-first into the enemy guns, absorbing gunfire aimed at the more valuable Cephalyx. To aid them in this role, they even have "Advance Deployment," allowing them to start further up the board than other models.
• Cast from Hit Points: Drudge Conduits are burned out by the magical energies that course through them when the Cephalyx channel spells through them, killing the individual Conduit after a single spell.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Drudges are built for a single task, and a single task only. all have their limbs replaced with weapons or tools to fulfill this role, and as a result are almost totally incapable of doing anything else. Most Drudges in Warmachine even resemble the page image for the trope, having a pair of blades or other melee weapons in place of their hands.
• Cyber Cyclops: The cybernetic helmets and heads Drudges are installed with typically feature a large, singular glowing "eye" for their psychic interface nodes.
• Cyborg: What flesh and organic tissues remain from the original victim have been alchemically enhanced, with limbs, organs, and heads replaced with cybernetics to make a Drudge.
• Deader than Dead: Enemies destroyed by the Void Blast of the Iconoclast's cannon are Removed From Play, preventing the enemy from resurrecting them.
• Dual Wielding: With one exception, Drudges have their arms replaced with a pair of matching, specialized prosthetics for their chosen role. Those designed specifically for melee combat have their limbs replaced with a pair of melee weapons such as saws and swords.
• Fearless Undead: Played with. While Drudges aren't technically "undead," they are so far removed from humanity as to be zombies. And in the Iron Kingdoms RPG they're immune to fear and other morale Status Effects because of it.
• Fire-Breathing Weapon: The Iconoclast's "Attack Type: Flamethrower" turns its cannon into this trope, spraying gouts of flame at enemies instead of bullets.
• Foe-Tossing Charge: Thanks to being the size of Heavy Warjacks, Iconoclasts have the "Bulldoze" special rule. With this they can charge through enemies, knocking them 2" backwards with each impact.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Though they border on Emergency Weapons due to their intended role, Drudge Conduits still have augmented fists strong enough that they hit like a Hand Cannon in melee!
• Healing Factor: Part of the modifications that create Criterions give them healing abilities on par with Dire Trolls. In Warmachine they have the "Rapid Healing" special rule, healing up to 3hp every time they take damage.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: The Iconoclast's "Attack Type: Flamethrower" is a "Spray" type attack, hitting all enemies in a line up to 8" away. Oh, and they come in trios, so that's three flamethrower shots per turn.
• Hulk Out: When Criterions take damage, their whole unit gains +2 armor, melee damage, and doubled speed through rough terrain thanks to their "Battle Driven" rule.
• Humongous-Headed Hammer: Iconoclasts wield hammers as large as their torsos in place of their right arms, relying on them for melee protection if the enemy manages to close the distance.
• Immune to Bullets: The alchemical modifications to their skin have given them the "Impervious Flesh" special rule, causing enemies to roll one fewer die on all damage rolls against them. Because of how this interacts with the rules for an Armor-Piercing Attack this actually makes them more resistant to armor piercing than models with heavier armor! ^{The Math} Armor Piercing halves the armor value of the target (rounded up), while Impervious Flesh reduces the attacker's damage dice by one. Against a Khadoran Warjack with Armor 20, Armor Piercing would be rolling two dice against Armor 10 (and with a typical base power of 6) meaning they deal damage on anything higher than a 4 on two dice, or 91% of the time, with a maximum damage of 8. Against Impervious Flesh and an Iconoclast with Armor 15, they're rolling one die against armor 8 with a base power of 6, meaning they deal damage on anything higher than a 2, or 66% of the time, with a maximum damage of 4.
• Implacable Man:
  • Criterions have been so aggressively augmented that they act as the de facto Light Monstrosities of the Cephalyx faction. As part of this they have the "Unstoppable" special rule, allowing them to freely leave melee combat without penalty. With this they can effectively just keep trudging towards their true target no matter what the enemy tries to do to stop them.
  • Iconoclasts, due to straddling the line between Drudge and Monstrosity, also have "Unstoppable." When combined with "Bulldoze" it allows them to charge clear through multiple enemy squads at once without hinderance.
• Made a Slave: Drudges come from all sapient species the Cephalyx can get their hands on, who are then perverted into living mechanical slaves for the hive. Documented victims include Cygnar, Khador, Gobbers, Rhulics, Llaelese, Ordic, Ogruns, and Trollbloods.
• Man on Fire: Those who survive the Iconoclast's "Attack Type: Flamethrower" suffer "Continuous: Fire," slowly burning to death until they can put themselves out.
• Mind-Control Device: Drudges all have their heads modified with a "Helmet" that acts as a psychic antenna to allow the Cephalyx to control a large horde of Drudges at once.
• More Dakka: With the "Full Auto" special attack, Iconoclasts can forego their other Attack Types in favor of turning their cannons into miniguns that fire up to three times in a single turn each.
• No One Could Survive That!: Part of the alchemical augmentations the Cephalyx install into their Drudges include skin that can resist bullets. Drudges also have most of their organs replaced with cybernetics. Together these modifications have given them the "Tough" special rule, giving them a 33% chance to keep fighting after they should have died.
• No-Sell:
  • Thanks to their sheer mass Iconoclasts have "Steady" and are immune to knockdown
  • In the Iron Kingdoms RPG Drudges are all immune to Blind, Charm, and Fear Status Effects thanks to being essentially organic automata that have to be actively controlled by a Cephalyx.
• Organic Technology: Cephalyx technology is clearly capable of creating automata necessary to be laborers for their hives, but for a number of reasons they prefer to work off of an organic base that they alchemically modify. Drudges fill every labor-based niche in a Cephalyx hive, from frontline combat to menial labor, and they're made from unwilling organic victims.
• People Puppets: Due to having essentially all of their brains removed, Drudges depend heavily on Cephalyx to physically command and operate them on the battlefield. This relationship is noted to be similar to how Convergence Warcasters command their Vectors and an extension of themselves, rather than via the Psychic Link Warcasters typically use with Warjacks.
• Retcon: Prior to 4th edition, Drudges were so mutated by the alchemical process that was used to create them that all reflections of gender were erased. A drudge was essentially just skin stretched over raw, steroid infused muscle, with almost no body fat of any kind to fuel it, that requirement having been replaced by cybernetics. In 4th edition, however, Drudge Slayers come in explicitly female variants, wearing a Sarashi to cover their breasts.
• The Speechless: Drudges have all had their capacity for speech removed in every way, including their vocal chords and speech centers. In the Iron Kingdoms RPG they speak and understand no languages, relying entirely on Cephalyx to psychically direct them.
• Swiss-Army Appendage: Downplayed, but in the Iron Kingdoms RPG Drudges have the "Variable Weaponry" special rule. At the start of each turn it can choose to swap its melee weapons between swords, saws, Epic Flails, or Good Old Fisticuffs for that turn.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: In contrast to the full-body-concealing labcoats worn by their Cephalyx masters, Drudges only wear whatever armor and clothing their creators have seen reason to install into them. This instantly visually establishes the hierarchy between Cephalyx and their Drudges.
• Willing Channeler: As implied by their name, Drudge Conduits have a unique helmet augmentation that allows them to channel spells for their Cephalyx masters as the cost of their flesh.
• Wound That Will Not Heal: On critical hits the weapons Criterions have in lieu of hands gain "Grievous Wounds," inflicting this trope on their victims.

Cephalyx specialized in unleashing formidable mental powers to augment the drudges they command or to annihilate foes, Mind Benders can instill in their enslaved warriors a strength and savagery beyond ordinary fleshly limitations. These drudges sometimes serve as conduits for the mind bender’s overwhelming rending mental attacks, though they are consumed in the process.

• Action Bomb: The Mind Bender's signature ability is their "Burst Drudge" spell, in both the Iron Kingdoms RPG and Warmachine. It allows them to detonate one of their Drudges with considerable force, hitting all enemies near the Drudge in question even in excess of the usual rules for Area of Effect attacks.
• Attack Its Weak Point: Mind Benders gained "Anatomical Precision" on all their melee attacks in 4th edition Warmachine, representing their ability to use their surgical prosthetic blades to penetrate enemy armor in the thin gaps between joints or the slits for eyesight.
• Bulletproof Human Shield: Prior to 4th edition in Warmachine, Mind Benders had the "Sacrificial Pawn" special rule, allowing them to use their Drudges as this trope to protect against incoming gunfire and spells.
• Elective Mute: Mind Benders have yet to replace their ability to speak with cybernetics, or remove it entirely. Despite this, they choose not to speak per the Languages entry in the Iron Kingdoms RPG.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: Their "Psychic Assault/Mind Blast" attack is a "Spray/Cone" type attack (depending on whether it's in Warmachine or the RPG) that hits all enemies in a line/cone a fair distance from the Mind Bender itself.
• Instant Armor: In the Iron Kingdoms RPG Mind Benders all have "Mage Armor" prepared as a 3-times-per-day Psionic ability.
• Mind Control:
  • In the Iron Kingdoms RPG they keep "Dominate Person" prepared as a once-per-day Psionic Ability.
  • Prior to 4th edition Warmachine, Mind Benders had the "Adrenal Surge" spell, allowing them to control the minds of their Drudges at a glandular level to dump Adrenaline into their systems for a Status Buff.
• Mind Over Matter: In the Iron Kingdoms RPG Mind Benders have the "Telekinesis" spell prepared as a once-per-day Psionic ability. They also have "Mage Hand" as an at-will ability for smaller tasks.
• Mook Lieutenant: In Warmachine Mind Benders can only be taken as commanding officers of a squad of Drudges, who they then augment with various Status Buffs and special effects.
• Nerf: In the 4th edition Warmachine changes that moved Mind Benders from part of an existing unit to a unit attachment, they lost their "Psychic Assault" and "Adrenal Flood" spells, as well as their "Granted: Channeler" special rule. And they only got 14% cheaper to compensate!
• Omniglot: In the Iron Kingdoms RPG Mind Benders can understand all languages, though they choose not to speak.
• The Paralyzer: In the Iron Kingdoms RPG Mind Benders keep "Hold Person" prepared as a once-per-day Psionic ability.
• Psi Blast: In both the Iron Kingdoms RPG and Warmachine, Mind Benders have some sort of Psychic attack.
  • In the Iron Kingdoms RPG they have "Mind Blast," firing a 60 foot cone of psionic energy that deals enormous psychic damage, stuns the victim on a failed Intelligence save, and keeps them stunned until they pass the save.
  • Prior to 4th edition Warmachine they had the "Psychic Assault" spell, and the ability to channel that spell through their Drudges for improved range. It would fire a "Spray" attack up to 8" away, hitting everything along its route for damage equivalent to a Hand Cannon in-universe
• The Sneaky Guy: In 4th edition, Mind Benders gained the Stealth special rule to reflect their passive ability to shield themselves from enemy notice at long distance.
• Super Serum: 3rd edition and earlier versions of Mind Benders in Warmachine had the Adrenal Flood spell, allowing them to dump alchemical augmentations into their drudges to grant them +4 melee accuracy and damage and a free 4" move immediately. Mind Benders retain this ability in the Iron Kingdoms RPG, where it instead grants +2 melee Strength-based damage and Resistance: Piercing, Slashing, and Bludgeoning.
• Taking the Bullet: In 4th edition Warmachine, Mind Benders instead grant their unit the "Shield Guard" special rule, achieving the same effect as their "Sacrificial Pawn" special rule from prior editions, but instead tying in to their psychic control of their Drudges to command them to move in front of enemy attacks.
• Willing Channeler: Mind Benders prior to 4th edition granted all Drudges under their control the "Channeler" special rule, allowing them to channel spells through their Drudges.
• Wound That Will Not Heal: In the Iron Kingdoms RPG, Mind Benders inflict permanent ability score reductions on their victims with their Prosthetic Blades. It takes magic on par with the spell "Greater Restoration" to remove these permanent ability score penalties, any lesser healing simply forms scar tissue and leaves the stat reductions in place.

Among the lowest orders of Cephalyx, Mind slavers regularly conduct raids to seize prisoners who can be extensively modified to be mentally pliable and physically powerful. They replace slaves' crude organic sensory organs with elegant Cephalomek substitutions and often also replace their hands with deadly integrated weaponry. The resulting Drudges follow the Mind Slaver's telepathic commands without hesitation. It falls to the Mind Slaver caste to serve the basic military requirements of a Hive, contributing to engagements as required. Their frequent battlefield presence means Mind Slavers have a high mortality rate, but they are given the freedom to perform field experiments and thereby improve their rudimentary Cephalomek.

• And Then John Was a Zombie: Mind Slavers are the primary Cephalyx responsible for capturing new victims and turning them into Drudges for the Cephalyx hives they serve. In 4th edition, Mind Slavers grant the Drudges they command "Blood Boon," representing the Cephalyx rapidly converting those their Drudges kill into more Drudges for their squad. Prior to 4th edition this same ability was even referred to as Prep For Surgery, removing any doubt of what's going on.
• Attack Its Weak Point: In 4th edition Warmachine Mind Slavers gained the "Anatomical Precision" special rule, guaranteeing they deal at least 1 damage to an enemy regardless of their armor to reflect their ability to jab their prosthetic blades into the weak points in enemy armor.
• Bulletproof Human Shield: In 3rd edition Warmachine and earlier, Mind Slavers had the "Sacrificial Pawn" special rule, allowing them to throw their Drudges in the way of harm to protect themselves.
• Combat Medic: In the Iron Kingdoms RPG Mind Slavers have the "Master chirurgeon" rule which gives them Advantage on medicine skill checks. While this accurately reflects their abilities in manufacturing new Drudges, it also can be used in the heat of combat to help treat injuries their Drudges have sustained.
• Dog Pile of Doom: Mind Slavers grant their unit of Drudges the "Gang" special rule in Warmachine, giving each Drudge +2 melee accuracy and damage when they attack the same target as another Drudge and encouraging the whole unit to dogpile onto a single enemy.
• Dynamic Entry: In Warmachine's 4th edition Mind Slavers gained the "Ambush" special rule, allowing them to keep their squad off the table for the start of the game, only to suddenly arrive from the enemy's flank when they least expect it.
• Elective Mute: Like Mind Benders, Mind Slavers are low enough on the Cephalyx hierarchy that they still retain the ability to speak conventionally in some manner, but choose not to.
• Instant Armor: Like Mind Benders, Mind Slavers keep "Mage Armor" prepared as a three-times-per-day Psionic ability.
• Mook Lieutenant: In Warmachine Mind Slavers must be included with a unit of Drudges to act as their commanding officer. Though the specific Status Buffs they provide change between editions their primary role remains commanding Drudges and maintaining their numbers in the face of enemy firepower.
• More than Mind Control: In addition to the usual psychic abilities they have, in the Iron Kingdoms RPG Mind Slavers keep "Suggestion" prepared as a once-per day Psionic Ability.
• Nerf: In 4th edition, the Mind Slaver's ability to create new Drudges was changed from Add to Play to Return to Play. This prevented the Mind Slaver from potentially leading a unit of infinite Drudges, instead relegating them to no more than five Drudges at a time.
• The Paralyzer: In the Iron Kingdoms RPG Slavers keep "Hold Person" prepared as a once-per-day Psionic Ability.
• Psi Blast: In the Iron Kingdoms RPG Mind Slavers have the "mind Blast" attack that they can fire once every thirty to thirty-five seconds. It deals an enormous amount of psychic damage in a 60 foot cone and will temporarily stun those who fail an Intelligence saving throw, keeping them stunned until they manage to pass the skill check.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Cephalyx are treated as one of the most evil factions in the game specifically because they enslave sapient races and mutilate them into organic robots. It's notable that the only factions that are treated in-universe or by the lore as equivalent also engage in various forms of slavery. Namely Cryx, who resurrect the dead as slaves, the Skorne Empire, who enslave and torture anyone they can get their hands on to fuel their own powers, and the Legion Of Everblight, who enslaved almost the entire Nyss race into the playthings of Everblight. Tellingly, Khymaera, who use Cephalyx technology (in part) to produce their forces, are not treated as equally evil because they "merely" use their victims as raw materials for forging new dragonkin rather than enslaving the sapient to their whims.
• Speed Shoes: In Warmachine Mind slavers grant their unit "Relentless Charge," doubling their speed through rough terrain when they charge into melee.
• Squishy Wizard: With a paltry 13 armor, Mind Slavers rely heavily on their Stealth special rule to avoid incoming damage while they use their psychic abilities to empower their squad of Drudges.
• The Sneaky Guy: Mind Slavers, like Mind Benders, can passively use their psychic abilities to occlude their presence to enemies far away. Once they get close enough, however, there's too many give aways and the Mind Slaver can no longer hide itself.
• Wound That Will Not Heal: Like Mind Benders, Mind Slavers in the Iron Kingdoms RPG can inflict permanent ability score reductions. These wounds cannot be healed by conventional means, requiring the spells "Regeneration" or "Greater Restoration" to remove. Anything less just produces scar tissue and the ability scores remain diminished.

Overseeing the lesser Cephalyx within a hive, trios of Overlords work to execute the will of the upper echelon with utter devotion and uncompromising attention to detail. Any complex project or endeavor is watched over by Overlords to ensure its success. Whether overseeing the work performed in an operating theater or a clash with foes on the battlefield, Overlords administer the coordinated actions of lower-caste Cephalyx with a critical eye. The role of the Overlords is the first of several upper tiers in the hierarchy of Cephalyx leadership, and competition to join their ranks is fierce. Periodic trials determine who among the hive can join the Overlords. The dominant mind of each trio leads it, but this status changes periodically as Overlords jockey for position based on intellect, experience, and raw power. A single flawed decision provides opportunity for another to subvert control, so they must strive for flawlessness.

• And Then John Was a Zombie: In 2nd edition Warmachine, Overlords had the same "Death Toll" special rule as Mind Slavers, allowing them to turn living enemies they killed in melee into Drudges for their nearby allied Mind Slavers to command.
• The Archmage: Of their respective hives, Overlords are generally the ones at the top making the decisions. To go along with this they have the greatest mastery of Psionics/spells available to their hives, and are the repositories of all knowledge deemed to be of worth. In the Privateer Press era Iron Kingdoms RPG, Overlords could theoretically have any of the following spells at their disposal at a time:
  • Battering Ram
  • Cloak of Fear
  • Deceleration
  • Hyper Awareness
  • Influence
  • Instigate
  • Inviolable Resolve
  • Mindlock
  • Occultation
  • Overmind
  • Psi Blast
  • Psychophage
  • Shock Wave
  • Telekinesis
  • Total Domination
  • Triage
  • True Sight
  • Will Breaker
• Attack Its Weak Point: In Warmachine Overlords share the "Anatomical Precision" rule that was given to all their subordinate Cephalyx, ensuring they always deal at least one damage to a living enemy by jabbing them in the eyes with their surgical implements.
• Bulletproof Human Shield: In 2nd edition Warmachine Overlords had the "Sacrificial Pawn: Drudge" special rule, allowing them to throw Drudges in front of incoming enemy fire for protection.
• Cool Helmet: Overlords are marked by the unusual, and clearly metal, helmets they wear. This is in contrast to the all-black "head containers" that Cephalyx usually wear to contain their expanded brains and cybernetic sensory organs. These helmets are similar to those worn by Drudges, in that they act to amplify the Psychic Link Overlords have with one another, ensuring the trio always must come to a consensus before acting, and can do so at the speed of thought.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: Their "Psychic Assault" spell is a "Spray" type attack, hitting all enemies in a line up to 8" away.
• King Mook: Overlords are almost entirely visually indistinguishable from their lower-ranked Cephalyx underlings, but they are the undisputed masters of their hive and are the most powerful Cephalyx within its walls.
• Mana Potion: In 4th edition Warmachine Overlords gained the spell "Vitalizer," giving an allied Monstrosity 1 free FOCUS. Because they come in trios, this allows a squad of Overlords to fuel an entire Monstrosity by themselves, or support multiple Monstrosities at once to reduce the strain on their Warcaster.
• Master of None: Compared to other Cephalyx in Warmachine's 4th edition they offer only two spells: Sigil of Power allows Drudges to hit ghosts and incorporeal models, and Vitalizer refuels Monstrosities (and only Monstrosities). At five points for three Squishy Wizard models, this makes them cost more than an entire unit of Drudges for essentially 3 free FOCUS per turn. That can be a very tough sell when, for example, a full unit of Drudges with a Mind Slaver is only 20% more expensive but also has 15% more armor, the ability to come Back from the Dead by killing enemies, and +2 damage and accuracy in melee when dogpiling onto one target.
• Mind Control: Their signature ability in Warmachine is their "Influence" spell, allowing each Overlord to take control of an enemy without Plot Armor and force them to attack their allies.
• Mook Lieutenant: Of the entire Cephalyx Hive. While Warcasters lead armies on the field in Warmachine, Overlords lead the Cephalyx forces in the lore. In 3rd edition they gained the "Veteran Leader" ability, representing how their passive psychic abilities were forceful enough to improve the combat capabilities of Drudges. In 4th edition, their skills were heavily reworked, giving them a trio of different spells that they can use to either damage enemies or aid their own forces.
• Psi Blast: In addition to the spell available to their Iron Kingdoms RPG variant, Overlords have always had the "Psychic Assault" spell at their disposal, blasting enemies up to 8" away with their awesome psychic abilities.
• Read the Fine Print: The Overlords' "Vitalizer" spell does not specify "Cohort" models, it specifies "Monstrosities". As a result, Overlords working in conjunction with Cryx can't fuel Helljacks or Bonejacks.
• Rule of Three: Cephalyx Overlords operate in trios to ensure that there is always a consensus in what decisions the hive makes. Three is the minimum necessary to achieve a majority consensus, and so three is the maximum amount of hyper-competitive Cephalyx who will share their power.
• The Sneaky Guy: In 3rd edition Warmachine the Overlords gained the Stealth special rule, to represent their ability to passive delete themselves from enemy perceptions.
• Squishy Wizard: Despite their incredible power, Overlords still go into battle wearing nothing more than labcoats. They rely heavily on Stealth and their various Drudges to protect themselves from enemy attacks while they work their magical abilities.
• Touch the Intangible: In 4th edition their "Sigil of Power" spell allows one allied unit of Drudges to gain "Damage Type: Magical" so they can harm incorporeal models.

Using their awesome cognitive abilities, Cephalyx need not always convert foes into Drudges. Either due to possessing some crucial skill that would be lost, or a lack of time or materials to fashion "proper" drudges, Cephalyx will often go into battle commanding legions of captured and psychically dominated enemies. With only the barest augmentations to cement the Cephalyx's dominance of their victims, these units now kill their former comrades with abandon.

Cygnar Storm Legion once. Borderline drudges now. These Stormblades wear their broken armour and cruel grafts like badges of honour from their new Cephalyx masters. Abducted into surgical complexes, these subjects endure a masterfully subtle application of cephalomek that preserves their inborn talents and outward appearance while utterly binding them to the dominator’s will.

The Winter Korps are no strangers to brutal orders. But none are so cold as those that come from a Cephalyx Dominator. Under psychic control, these once-proud Khadorans move as a single unit, their minds shackled, their will suppressed, their weapons turned against their former comrades.

Dominated can technically include any race or unit in the Iron Kingdoms. Any whose skills the Cephalyx deem worth enslaving to keep rather than losing by rendering into Drudges can become Dominated. Because of this, only tropes specific to being a Dominated will be included here. All other tropes can be found under the various other character entries.

• Armor Is Useless: The official "alt" models released by Steamforge Games through their website show Dominated variants that more closely resemble Drudges, wielding only the weapons of their non-dominated counterparts. This even applies to Stormblade Legionnaires, who are transformed into a Walking Shirtless Scene but retain their Power Armor stats.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: Dominated are, unlike Drudges, still largely unmodified soldiers from existing factions who have been Mind Controlled into little more than zombies by the helmets on their heads.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: In the first three editions of Warmachine Dominated were not visually distinct from non-dominated variants of the same units. Indeed, Thexus' official art implies that Dominated were simply conventional forces being psychically compelled to attack their own allies in a stronger display of the Cephalyx's ubiquitous "Influence" spell. With 4th edition and the Iron Kingdoms-Requiem RPG release, Dominated were instead depicted as individuals who had been subjected to a mind control helmet to force them to fight for the Cephalyx while retaining their pre-enslavement skillsets.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Dominated canonically can come from any race the Cephalyx get their hands on, if they decide the species' existing skills are worth preserving in some way. Even comparatively diminutive creatures like Gobbers have displayed Dominated versions.
• Hypno Trinket: Dominated are marked by the large helmet they wear, which acts as a less-invasive version of the "heads" that Drudges have. It allows the Cephalyx to more easily command the Dominated and bend them to their will.
• Moveset Clone: Since the entire point of the Dominated is to preserve the existing skills the Cephalyx value, all Dominated units have basically identical stats and special rules to their non-dominated equivalents.
• Nerf: In 3rd edition and prior the Dominated could be any 30mm and 40mm unit of models from the Talion Charter, Rhul, mercenary factions, or Llael And Ord. In 4th edition, only predetermined Dominated units can be included in a Cephalyx army, specifically Dominated Winter Korps Infantry, Dominated Stormblade Legionnaires, and Dominated Strike Reavers.
• No One Could Survive That!: One of the improvements that Cephalyx Dominators passively grant to their victims is the "Tough" special rule. This gives them a 33% chance to ignore lethal damage, because the thing animating the Dominated is no longer their own will or organs, but the mind of the Cephalyx Dominator urging them to keep fighting.