Dark Eldar
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This article describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. Please help rewrite it to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective. (October 2009) |
In the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000, the Dark Eldar are a Kindred of the Eldar, an ancient and advanced race of elf-like humanoids. Their armies usually have the advantages of speed, though they are often lacking in resilience. They are the thematic equivalent of the Warhammer Fantasy Dark Elves, and indeed Dark Elves in general. The Dark Eldar revel in piracy, enslavement and torture, and are sadistic in the extreme. Dark Eldar armies make use of various anti-gravity skimmers such as Raiders and Ravagers to launch high speed attacks. They strike with little or no warning, using an interdimensional labyrinth known as the Webway to traverse the galaxy safely and far more quickly than most races are able to with their Warp jumps.
The Dark Eldar are unique amongst the Warhammer 40,000 factions in the sense that they do not occupy many planets, but rather one dark city - Commorragh. They are mainly pirates, though are sometimes used as mercenaries.
Dark Eldar, like most Eldar Kindreds, make use of advanced technology, including anti-gravity devices, splinter weapons, dark matter (in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, something more akin to antimatter) weaponry, nanotechnology and psychic artifacts. While Dark Eldar do make use of psychic devices, they do not use psychic powers themselves but Psykers are treated as playthings in Commorragh, and given the twisted sadistic nature of the Dark Eldar themselves, this necessarily involves pain, torment and everything except sympathy for the psyker.
Games Workshop decided to make the Dark Eldar as a separate army, after it became fairly common to see gamers collect "Dark Eldar" armies, which are total conversions/customizations of Eldar miniatures while still retaining the standard Eldar rules. It was also relatively convenient to add the Dark Eldar to the existing Eldar storyline without any conflict, right at the catastrophe that destroyed the Eldar homeworld.
The origins of the Dark Eldar can be found in the Fall, the great cataclysm that nearly destroyed the entire Eldar race. It was an event so terrible that not only did it kill trillions of Eldar, but it breached the gap between real space and the warp, and gave birth to a Chaos God.
To understand the reasons for the Fall, it is necessary to know something of the Eldar mind and soul.
An Eldar's mind is incredibly complex. Their senses are extremely sharp, able to perceive incredible levels of detail. Their emotions can be so strong that a human’s are merely pale shadows by comparison. They are extremely intelligent; their thought processes are much faster than a human’s. All of this means that an Eldar experiences the universe and all its sensations to a greatly heightened degree.
Similarly, an Eldar's soul is much brighter in the Warp than those of 'lesser' sentients. Eldar are able to affect the nether-realm much more than most other races. They are all latent psychics and have the ability to become very powerful psykers with training. It is the strength of their souls that was one of the causes of their downfall.
Before the Fall, the Eldar had an immense galaxy-spanning empire comprising millions of worlds, larger and more powerful than even the Imperium of Man at the height of its power. The Eldar lived in relative peace—barbarian races such as the Orks were kept at easily manageable numbers and never had the strength to threaten the might of the Eldar empire. The humans were not yet virulently xenophobic and did not have a large domain, and the Tyranid Hive Fleets were unknown. The C'tan and Necrons, ancient foes of the Eldar and their gods, had withdrawn to their tomb worlds following the Enslaver plague millions of years ago to await the time when the galaxy was once again teeming with life. However, in the short story "a Torturers Tale" Asdrubael Vect tells a slave that even at the height of the Eldar empire they were not foolish enough to approach certain planets and solar systems, though the exact reasons for this are never stated.
Life on the Eldar worlds was idyllic, with fantastically sophisticated machines to take care of all labour and manufacturing required, leaving the Eldar free to indulge in other, more aesthetic pursuits. With all menial work taken care of for them, the Eldar became indolent and decadent. They began to explore more and more the arts of pleasure, delving ever deeper into hedonism. The descent into decadence spanned millennia. Tradition and order disintegrated as they limited the pursuit of pleasure. Sects called Pleasure Cults were formed, dedicated to achieving the highest levels of hedonistic sensation, and their ceremonies and practices became ever more wild, eventually devolving into violence and sacrifice of their own kind. Some Eldar hated what their race had become and left the Homeworlds for the virgin Maiden Worlds, or left on the newly-constructed Craftworlds, leaving the Pleasure Cults to their madness.
Meanwhile, something terrible was stirring in the Warp. The millennia of Eldar hedonism had made a massive impact in the psychic realm of Chaos. Within the warp the decadent Eldar civilization was giving shape to a Power of Chaos, which grew and grew over thousands of years, getting stronger and more defined until suddenly it sparked into an intelligence – a shatteringly huge and malign intelligence, with an immense and bottomless thirst for Eldar souls. This was the birth of Slaanesh.
The process lasted for thousands of years, corresponding to mankind's Age of Strife, although when Slaanesh finally came into being, the results with the universe were apocalyptic and sudden. An almighty psychic shockwave scythed across the galaxy. The souls of almost every Eldar were stripped from them in an instant and devoured by the new-born Chaos god. There were few survivors. Most were driven mad, their minds trapped half in the real world and half in the swirling insanity of the Warp. A great warp rift was created, encompassing the entire Eldar empire and creating the Eye of Terror.
Of the few survivors of the Pleasure Cults, some remained sane and able. They found to their horror that Slaanesh had not yet finished with the Eldar – S/he was slowly draining their souls while they still lived. To escape this these survivors fled in small groups to the Webway, the system of sealed tunnels that run through the Warp and enabled the Eldar to traverse the galaxy safe from attack by Daemons and other Warp creatures. Deep in the Webway, these small groups came together and laid the foundations of Commorragh. More and more survivors began to arrive, and added their own parts to the new city, making it even larger and more heavily populated.
Some Kabals can trace their history back to the creation of the Dark City, including Asdrubael Vect’s Kabal of the Black Heart.
[edit] Gameplay
In the game, many of the Dark Eldar units bear some similarity to the units used by the Eldar army, but twisted to fit in with the darker nature of the Dark Eldar. The Eldar have a diverse selection of craftworld armies with unique rules and in general, like the Dark Eldar, Eldar armies are relatively fragile compared to forces like that of the Space Marines. However, this is where the similarities end. Unlike the Dark Eldar, Eldar armies have a wider array of heavy weapons and fast attack platforms and have constantly received additions in regards to miniature line development and additional supplemental rules. Also, due to the age of the codex, there are very few decent builds and some units are much weaker than others.
Dark Eldar are lightly armoured and rely more on speed than brute force. In capable hands the Dark Eldar are a more than effective force. However beginners may find Dark Eldar difficult to use, as many of the tactics condusive to a Dark Eldar victory require patience, cunning, and even a little daring. Experience is also important for a Dark Eldar general. A beginner might be tempted to forego subtlety and simply attack the enemy, yet the relatively low troop numbers and light armor of the Dark Eldar will almost always result in a defeat in this scenario. Instead, experienced players use flanking manoeuvres, screening, and the like to achieve victory. If deployed and commanded to take advantage of their strengths - speed, close-combat prowess, and hard-hitting firepower - the Dark Eldar can indeed be a difficult army to defeat.
[edit] Notable characters
[edit] Asdrubael Vect, Overlord of the Kabal of the Black Heart
Asdrubael Vect is one of the most powerful Dark Eldar, having founded Commorragh after the Fall of the Eldar. He is the Supreme Lord of the Kabal of the Black Heart, the most powerful Kabal in the Dark City. In the past, many have tried to claim power through his destruction, but all have died in the attempt. Vect rides into battle on the Dais of Destruction, a heavily modified Ravager that carries him and his bodyguard. It is also possible that he is one of the oldest Eldar in existence as he was present during the Great Fall. Asdrubael Vect is featured in the third expansion pack to Dawn of War, Soulstorm, riding into battle upon his Dais of Destruction.
[edit] Kruellagh The Vile, Archon of the Kabal of the Flayed Skull
Kruellagh The Vile is another Dark Eldar Archon, from one of the less respected Dark Eldar Kabals. This is due to their leader's love of killing, and thus they bring in few slaves.[citation needed] Kruellagh uses the unique Soul Flayer, two long spikes protruding from each palm that drain the victim's vital juices, giving her strength. Her name is a pun on Cruella de Vil.
[edit] Lelith Hesperax, Mistress of Death
The leader of the Wych Cult of Strife, Lelith Hesperax is one of the most skilled Wyches known. Lelith is renowned as the most vicious fighter in the arena of Commorragh. In the novel, "Warrior Coven," she was severely wounded in her arena by an Eldar Shining Spear Exarch, yet survived to defeat her.
[edit] Drazhar, the Master Of Blades
Drazhar, the Master Of Blades is an extremely skilled Incubus. Drazhar's signature weapons are the Disemboweler Blades, a pair of long serrated swords wielded in each hand.These give him amazing martial skill which can be utilized on the battlefield in his role as a bodyguard.
[edit] Urien Rakarth
Urien Rakarth is the master Haemonculus in Commorragh. He once had a motive to his work, but now lives only to feed his obsession for pain and suffering. Among his creations are the hideous creatures dubbed 'Uber Grotesques' by their master.
[edit] The Decapitator, Mandrake Champion
The Decapitator is a Mandrake, but one about whom little is known. What is known is that he has four arms and a deep craving for flesh and blood. Supposedly, his lair is made up of a thousand skulls. He is known as the master infiltrator and is named after his weapon, the decapitator. There is currently no model available to represent The Decapitator. To make a decapitator one must convert a mandrake and other parts.
[edit] No'akei, the Daughter of Pain
Former handmaiden and bodyguard of Asdrubael Vect, No'akei has since been cast out of the Kabal of the Black Heart for an unknown reason. Angered by her enforced exile, she led a large force of Dark Eldar to the world of Medusa V, in an attempt to capture enough slaves to bribe Asdrubael's followers and launch a coup. However, when she returned to challenge Vect she was betrayed by her own followers; her current fate is unknown.
[edit] Tahril, Archon of the Kabal of the Black Heart
The Archon force leader who was featured in Dawn of War: Soulstorm alongside Asdrubael Vect himself.
[edit] Haemonculus Grumenael
The Haemonculus who fights alongside Tahril in Dawn of War: Soulstorm.
[edit] The future of Dark Eldar
Since the 3rd edition release of Codex: Dark Eldar in 1998, no new army book has been published. However, the new army codex (for Dark Eldar) is expected to be released in 2010, along with a batch of new miniatures. This is backed up by a statement that Rick Priestley made in White Dwarf 343 (US issue 342) saying, "I think it's time that the Dark Eldar, Space Wolves and a few others have their time in the spotlight again..." The Dark Eldar are also included in the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War computer game expansion, Soulstorm. In addition, the 5th edition of the Warhammer 40,000 rule book still includes the Dark Eldar as a major race in the 40,000 universe. This, along with the updated artwork and pictures of Dark Eldar further signify that a new edition will be released in the future.
[edit] References
- Thorpe, Gav. "The Torturer's Tale". Games Workshop. http://uk.games-workshop.com/darkeldar/torturer/. Retrieved 2006-02-21.
- Johnson, Jervis; and Thorpe, Gav (2003). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Dark Eldar. Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-307-1.
[edit] External links
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