During the Great Migration, the process of exodus in which the Hrud Tribes left the Underempire, the original birthplace of the Hruds, in their untold hundreds, the Tribe that would rise to become Clan Eshin was one such tribe. Through the Warpportals generated by the Grey Seers of Clan Skaven, the Tribe made their great exodus from their homeworld, eventually finding themselves in the sewers of Grand Cathay.

Cathay was a Medieval World of the Imperium, living in a feudalistic society centred around the mastering of the martial arts, and even more esoteric arts, such as the manipulation of an etheric substance they call Ki. Greater still was their mastery over the ways of subterfuge and stealth, such that whenever the Tribe sent their scavengers to forage for food and sustenance on the surface cities, they would fail in their attempts, coming back empty-handed, or in the worst of scenarios, ended up slain, by the ever watchful Night Sentinels maintained by the feudal lords as a necessary precaution against possible schemes of assassination by rival lords.

For some unknown reason, the Warpportal that led back to the Underempire failed and collapsed, leaving the Hruds stranded on Cathay. The social situation within the Tribe soon degraded into infighting as kin fought against kin for the scarce supplies of food. Some Blackfurs, in their desperation, resorted to cannibalism, preying upon the weaker Greyfurs. The Greyfurs were forced out of the sewers and onto the surface, to escape the predations of their stronger kin. This event was known as the Great Exile by the Greyfurs. Being faced with a dilemma of which they found no escape, having been forced out of the underground by their stronger kin and having no place among the Humans on the surface, the Greyfurs were forced to adapt in the face of circumstances, resorting to acts of stealth to outwit the ever-vigilant Night Sentinels, and to conceal their presence from the rest of the Human populace of Cathay. Their existence was eventually made known among the Humans however, as small as they are, their huge numbers left little places where they could stay hidden for long periods at a time. Eventually, faced with having to continuously be on the roam for shelter and food, the knowledge of the Greyfurs' existence and their scavenging of the supplies of the Humans were made known at large to the populace. They were treated as pest, with large rewards granted for their bounty. Many took to the job of their extermination, forcing the Greyfurs to face the doom of their inevitable extinction.

Fate had other plans in stored for the Greyfurs however, and the fugitive Greyfurs chanced upon a Sensei, whom they revered by the name of Master Eshin. Master Eshin took pity on the plight of the Greyfurs, and the Greyfurs came to seek refuge within his domain, where they remained safe from facing total extermination, at least for the time being. Master Eshin knew he could not protect them forever within his domain. Soon the Greyfurs he has taken in would have to face the harsh reality of their existence. With this grim knowledge, he trained them in the arts of the Night Sentinels, hoping that through mastering the ways of stealth, they would develop the necessary skills to adapt to life within the great cities of Cathay. Master Eshin was one of the Eight Immortals of Grand Cathay. The Eight Immortals were beings of such immense mastery over Ki that they have managed to extend their livespans many times over. Throughout his ageless life, Master Eshin had come to learn all the skills of warfare, knowledge accumulated over the centuries, knowledge only known to the foremost warrior masters within Grand Cathay. Master Eshin even knew the ultimate secrets of the Night Sentinels, and that was their mastery over Ki to conceal their movements, becoming almost invisible to the untrained eye. This most secret of skills was known as the Shadowmeld, which he imparted to his Greyfur disciplies. Hruds are not as adept at manipulating Ki, an etheric substance that the Cathayan warriors tap into through psychic means, as Humans are. Rather, they had not gained mastery yet during their relative short stay within Grand Cathay, thus they were not able to connect with the flow of Ki to the extent of their potential. Thus it was only a matter of time. It would be many long starlight cycles before the Greyfurs finally mastered the Shadowmeld. Some of his Greyfur disciples, however showed a surprising amount of affinity with manipulating the energies of Ki. So adept were they that he dubbed them as Sorcerers. To these Sorcerers, he taught them the secrets of Ki manipulation, allowing them to affect the flow of Ki within themselves and their surroundings. These individuals came to be viewed with a certain mystique by the other Greyfurs, who marvelled at them and their wondrous skills. The Sorcerers thus came to hold a position of seniority amongst their kind, and were the forerunners of the Ruling Council, the select group of individuals who determined the overall movements of the Greyfurs as a whole.

The Greyfurs that used to be the Smiths of the Tribe were brought aside and were instead taught the crafting techniques of the Swordsmiths, Master Eshin foreseeing the need for his disciples to have a means of equipping themselves to survive the many threats they would soon face. These Greyfurs dubbed themselves Bladesmiths, after the Nightblades they painstakingly crafted after the Ninjato of the Night Sentinels. Having learnt all they could from Master Eshin, there was one last token the Greyfurs needed from their benefactor. The Greyfurs knew their exile was only temporarily. Nor would they abandon themselves to the nights of Grand Cathay, forever wandering the streets in a life of secrecy and stealth. No, such a life would not be for them. In their hearts they swore never to suffer the humiliation of the Great Exile again. What laid ahead was a journey towards redemption, climbing up from the great abyss they had fallen into, so that once again, they can stand in the light. And for that, they needed a weapon of immense power, from which they could draw strength for the struggles that laid ahead. What they vied for most was their Master's skills, the power of one of the Eight Immortals. By the calculations of the Sorcerers that comprised the Ruling Council, it was possible for them to seal their Master's soul to his skull, from which the bearer of the skull could allow the possession of his soul by Master Eshin. Towards this end, the Greyfurs turned against him in their numbers, taking his skull as a trophy. They are now the Nightbound, bound to dwell eternally within the shadows of the Night, condemned to live in secrecy and stealth, in order to survive. So are they also eternally bound to their duty of laying the foundations of Clan Eshin, raising their fallen Tribe from the ashes, and they shall stop at nothing, as they ruthlessly pursued whatever was necessary in their path of ascension.

The first step the leaders of the Nightbound decided upon was the reclamation of the sewer network that was their former home before the Great Exile. Towards this end, they lived an existence of stealth and concealment, ever-vigilant of the bounty hunters and Night Sentinels, as they made necessary the preparations of their plans in reclaiming their former home. When all was made ready, the Nightbound descended back into the depths of the sewers, in the knowledge that they could not hope to overcome the Blackfurs in a direct confrontation. Instead, they employed the best of their assassins, having honed their skills through their constant struggle for survival on the surface, to silence each and every one of the leaders that comprised the social hierarchy of the Blackfurs. The greatest of the Assassins would adorn the skull of their late Master, allowing his soul to possess him. In this way, the skills and powers of the late Immortal lives on, through the Greyfur disciples he took on in pity. Imbued with the powers of their dead Master, the selected Assassin will be tasked with taking down the key leaders in the social hierarchy of the Blackfurs. Following the example of the Lead Assassin, the Runner Assassins quickly traced down the leaders of the Blackfurs, and taking them on surprise, cut off their heads, which they retrieved and placed before the Ruling Council of the Nightbound. Having undermined the command structure of the Blackfurs, the Blackfurs collapsed into infighting, turning against each other in a bid for dominance. The opportunistic Nightbound seized the moment, exploiting the confusion of the Blackfurs in their infighting, and by engaging in a war of skirmishes to minimalise their casualties, the Nightbound gradually wrested dominion of the sewers from the Blackfurs. This was not the end of the agenda of the Nightbound, for they hunted the remaining Blackfurs in a merciless campaign, down to the last Hrud. These ruthless and vengeful traits came to characterise the Nightbound's outlook towards life.

Having regained their lost homes, the Nightbound were thus in a position of relative safety to contemplate the movements of the Tribe on the whole, as they plotted their way towards their ultimate goal of becoming the strongest Clan in all Hrudom. Their first act as Tribe Nightbound was to restart the Warpportal that brought them to the world of Cathay in the first place, through the mystic means of the Sorcerers to manipulate the essence of Warpstone within the Warpportal, as both substance, the Warp and Ki, have close relations, some even disputing them to be a different reference for the same thing. Upon reentering the Underempire, Tribe Nightbound went about on a campaign of stealth that was very much akin to the circumstances of their existence during their struggles on the surface of Cathay, living a life of concealment from the eyes of their kindred Tribes. Their second act was to locate the Warpstone mines scattered over the domains of the Underempire. They would then seek to reclaim these mines from the control of Clan Skyre, then the most powerful Clan in all Hrudom. Clan Skyre rose to prominence through their monopoly of the Warpstone mines. Through the ingenuity of their Warplords, master engineers of Warpstone technology, they manipulated the essence of the Warpstones into various weapons of war, and through the power of these weapons, Clan Skyre remained unchallenged by the other Tribes who could not hope to face Clan Skyre in a direct confrontation. Thus, Tribe Nightbound saw Clan Skyre as the main obstacle posed to the Tribe in their quest for total dominance, and sought to undermine their power base by attacking them at its source. The first few mines were reclaimed without much difficulty, as the vigilance of Clan Skyre had waned during their periods of unchallenged dominance.

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Soon, however, it fell to the attention of the Overlord of Clan Skyre, and he proceeded to fortify the rest of the mines still in their possession. The fortified mines proved resilient to the advances of Tribe Nightbound; much like it was with the other Tribes of the Underempire, the raw firepower possessed by Clan Skyre presented an impregnable fortress even to the battle-hardened veterans of Tribe Nightbound. The Warlords of Clan Skyre, motivated by fear and ambition in equal measure, sent out their forces to secure the lost mines forcibly taken from them by the agents of Tribe Nightbound. The troops of Clan Skyre, the mainstay of which were Fusiliers, devastating ranged infantry supported by the ranks of the elite Warpflame Throwers and Warpwind Grenadiers, were sent against the forces of Tribe Nightbound. In open, direct conflict, the stealth of the Nightbound was ineffectual as the forces of Clan Skyre could easily pick them off from a distance. Furthermore, the style of warfare that was ingrained into the warriors of Tribe Nightbound was geared towards the terrain and circumstances of the grand cities of Cathay. As such, they were ill-suited to navigate the jagged, rough terrain that formed the landscape of the Underempire. The Nightbound was not to be thwarted in their schemes however. To cope with this situation, the best of the agents of the Nightbound were hand-picked to form a group that were trained and geared towards warfare within the lightless domains of the Underempire. The Night Runners were thus born. As such, two distinct classes of warriors was formalised within the social hierarchy of Tribe Nightbound, the Gutter Runners, so named from their origins within the sewers of the grand cities of Cathay, and the Night Runners, so named after the eternal nights of the Underempire. It was during this event, faced with a need to evolve against a strong foe, that the Night Runners finally mastered the Shadowmeld, a skill well-suited to the rough terrain of the Underempire. As such, mastery of the Shadowmeld came to be seen as the skill of qualification that separates the Gutter Runners from the Night Runners. Even then, the Night Runners were barely able to halt the advances of Clan Skyre, eventually reaching a stalemate between both forces. The Warlords of Clan Skyre decided they were content with their present amount of Warpstone mines, and to commit too much of their attention to their war with the Nightbound might jeopardise their positions with the other Tribes that populate the Underempire. Thus, Tribe Nightbound was left to its own devices for the time being, free to formulate whatever schemes of domination within their Warren.

Clan Skyre however, was known still to engage in skirmishes within the Warpstone mines possessed by Tribe Nightbound, as a means of keeping the actions of the Tribe in check. Within these short engagements, the Night Runners saw them as opportunities to perfect their techniques. The Ruling Council of the Nightbound however viewed otherwise, seeing the conditions of their current circumstance as a repeat of the situation during their time in Cathay, having to resort to a covert existence, forever hiding in the shadows. They swore never to allow the Tribe to suffer the humiliation of the Great Exile again, and sought a means to undo this state of affairs governing their existence. The Night Runners were thus motivated to experiment with the Warpstones in their possession under the guidance of the Sorcerers of the Tribe, in order to develop Warpstone weapons capable of countering those of Clan Skyre, in their war of ascension against them. They had their Bladesmiths fashioned blades made of pure Warpstone, to suit their style of warfare of close confrontation. The Night Runners were known too to wear protective amulets made entirely of Warpstone, in their superstitious belief in the Warpstone's supernatural powers. Most important of the tools of war developed by Tribe Nightbound during their experimentation with Warpstones was the Warptunnel Orb. The Warptunnel Orb is basically a self-contained Warpportal, allowing instantaneous teleportation to any point, anywhere, as long as the bearer has the location strongly visualised in his mind. However, due to the instability caused by projecting a teleportation field too big within the dynamics of such a small orb, the Warptunnel Orb is capable of transporting only the bearer himself. As such, only the most skillful and adept of the Night Runners are called upon to bear the Warptunnel Orbs. These are the Warp Runners, and they are the elite of the elite within the forces of Tribe Nightbound.

Having found a means to break the stalemate between the two forces, the Ruling Council of Tribe Nightbound employed the Warp Runners to hunt down the ruling caste of Warlords of Clan Skyre. Once again, the Lead Assassin was tasked with the bearing of Master Eshin's skull, and possessed with his prodigious skills, led the way in the assault. Through this way, Clan Skyre was brought to its knees in submission, having to acknowledge the superiority of Tribe Nightbound. Tribe Nightbound, after fulfilling their duty of raising the Tribe to its position as the absolute power in all Hrudom, abandoned the title of Nightbound, instead, declaring themselves Clan Eshin, after their benefactor. It was during this time that the Ruling Council started calling themselves the Council of the Night, in remembrance of the dark nights of the Great Exile. The entire Clan took up residence within the Sky Warren, now abandoned by Overlord Skyre who was fleeing for his life, and renamed it the Night Warren. This was not the end of the struggles of Clan Eshin in maintaining its status as the most powerful Clan in all Hrudom however. The Overlord of Clan Skyre, Skyre, managed to escape death despite being hunted by the Lead Assassin himself. In a titanic clash, the Overlord and his retinue fought with the Lead Assassin. Only through the slightest of luck did Skyre escape with his life. He and those of his retinue that were still alive fled away from the Sky Warren, seeking refuge with the Lesser Tribes. In a gathering with the Warlords of the Lesser Tribes, Overlord Skyre managed to convinced them that Clan Eshin could easily deal them the same blow, thus removing them from their positions of authority within their respective Tribes. The Warlords of the Lesser Tribes, convinced by Skyre's fiery, if desperate, oratory, banded together in a single Great Kinship, and in their alliance, sought to overthrow the supremacy of Clan Eshin.

In the ensuing battles, known as the Second Great War, even Clan Eshin could not hope to match the combined arms and numbers of all the Lesser Tribes within the Underempire. Overlord Skyre saw this as an opportunity to regain the standing of his Clan and attempted to sway the Warlords into bringing their forces full bear upon Clan Eshin, hopefully wiping them out in the process. However, for once things did not happen the way Skyre planned. The Warlords differed in opinion, seeing the value of the Runner Assassins if they could be employed in their own agendas. The Great Treaty was signed between Clan Eshin and the Great Kinship, which stated that the Lesser Tribes would recognise Clan Eshin's status as the most powerful Clan in all Hrudom, if the Lesser Tribes of the Underempire were free to employ the assassins of Clan Eshin in their own dealings. Clan Eshin readily agreed to the signing of the Great Treaty, for indeed, the Clan saw it as an opportunity to maintain their hold over the Lesser Tribes. The Lesser Tribes in their own struggles for supremacy between each other, would be reliant on the assassins of Clan Eshin to regulate their war. Thus, Clan Eshin would be able to control the outcome of these battles through determining the employment of their assassins to the Tribe of their choosing, preferably the underdog. In this manner, none of the Lesser Tribes would be able to reach such a position of power as to threaten Clan Eshin's standing, through the Council of the Night's manoeuvring and manipulation of the politics of the Lesser Tribes. The petty squabbles between the Lesser Tribes came to be viewed as the Night Wars, for the employ of the Night Runners of Clan Eshin was common in their squabbles. The rise to dominance of Clan Eshin ultimately led to the birth of a new era, known as the Age of Assassins, for the dark hand of the Runner Assassins of Clan Eshin was prevalent throughout the politics of that era. Among the Lesser Tribes of the Underempire, the Runner Assassins of Clan Eshin have come to be feared as the long arm of the law, with the Council of the Night as its judges.

In the meanwhile, with Overlord Skyre still alive after the Second Great War, Clan Skyre was able to maintain its prominence within the politics of the Underempire, being recognised at least as the second foremost power within all Hrudom, next to Clan Eshin. This state of events has remained this way for several starlight cycles, at least for the time being...