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The following are Eldar characters: Chaos Space Marines; List of Chaos Space Marine Warbands; The Lost and the Damned
The Aeldari, commonly known as the Eldar, are Warhammer 40,000 's race of Space Elves, haughty and sophisticated aliens who were nevertheless laid low by their hubris and forced to cede control of the galaxy to lesser creatures.
- Overview
- Nomenclature
- Anatomy and Physiology
- History
- Kindreds
- Aeldari Lexicon
- Aeldari Religion and Mythology
- Unique Aeldari Technology
- Sources
The Aeldari, or the Eldar as they were long known to outsiders, are an ancient and highly advanced species of humanoid xenos whose vast empire once extended the width and breadth of the known galaxy.
In its time, the Aeldari Empire was without equal in the galaxy, spreading across both realspace and the Webway. They counted themselves masters of the stars and every Aeldari was born a potent psyker, their abilities often used to both create and power their almost magical technology.
Even death was no barrier, for when the Aeldari's spirits eventually left their mortal bodies they dissolved peacefully back into the Immaterium to be reborn again in new forms, for the Warp did not thirst for Aeldari souls then as it does today.
But ten millennia ago, the Aeldari's overweening pride and their fall into amoral and hedonistic practices led to a cataclysm that all but eradicated their kind and resulted in the birth of the Chaos God Slaanesh, known as "She Who Thirsts" to the Aeldari.
Despite their boundless power, the heart of their civilisation was torn out by this catastrophe of their own making, forcing many of the surviving Aeldari to pursue different strategies for survival to protect their souls from being consumed by She Who Thirsts. These strategies have shaped the nature of the surviving Aeldari cultures.
In the 41st Millennium there are five major sub-cultures or kindreds of the Aeldari species: the Asuryani or Craftworld Aeldari, the Drukhari, the Harlequins, the Exodites, and the Ynnari.
The entire species of beings who once ruled the galaxy-spanning Aeldari Empire for millions of Terran years are called the "Aeldari." In the wake of the Fall of the Aeldari, the survivors of the great cataclysm adopted new names for their varying sub-cultures or kindreds.
The Aeldari who fled their ancient empire in the craftworlds eventually called themselves the "Asuryani" since their culture was redefined by their decision to pursue the Asuryani Path that they believed had been laid out for them by the chief Aeldari god, the Phoenix King Asuryan.
Linguistically reflecting their diminished status, the Asuryani made themselves known to outsiders as "Eldar," a name which came to be applied mistakenly to the entire species by Imperial scholars for many millennia.
Likewise, the Drukhari were the malevolent faction of the ancient Aeldari who had chosen to remain within the Webway after the Fall and continued to pursue the decadent and hedonistic ways that nearly led to their extinction. However, they were often referred to by outsiders as "Dark Eldar," a term which they rarely used for themselves and which was first coined by Asdrubael Vect, the supreme overlord of Commorragh, from the Aeldari phrase "Eladrith Ynneas" in the 32nd Millennium.
Those wilderness-loving Aeldari who settled on Maiden Worlds many solar decades before the Fall in the hope of avoiding the worsening corruption of the original Aeldari culture are known as "Exodites."
The servants of the Aeldari Laughing God Cegorach, who were protected by his influence within the Webway from being slain during the Fall, are called the "Harlequins" in the most common translation of the Aeldari term for the faction into Low Gothic.
The Aeldari appear very similar to Humans in their anatomy, although the comparison can only be made on a superficial basis, for in their minds and souls the Aeldari are truly alien. The Aeldari stand taller than the average Human male, with longer, cleaner limbs and handsome, striking features to Human eyes.
Their skin is pale and unblemished as polished marble, yet with a surprisingly supple strength hiding beneath it. Their keen ears are pointed and their slanted eyes possess a penetrating quality more akin to that of a hunting cat than a man.
The most fundamental difference can be seen when the Aeldari move, for they each radiate an inhuman elegance and poise. This is especially evident in the sinuous grace with which they fight and the dexterity with which they field their weaponry. Every gesture is laden with subtle intent, and their reflexes are dazzlingly fast. A casual, languid gesture can end in a pinpoint thrust should the necessity arise.
On closer inspection, every aspect of the Aeldari physiology betrays their alien nature. Their hearts beat at twice the speed of a Human's, and their minds race through possibilities and process emotions so fast that even the so-called geniuses of Human history appear dull by comparison.
Even their lives are greater in span -- the Aeldari enjoy lives of rich sensation and wonder that can stretch over a thousand Terran years, unsullied by illness, frailty or disease, unless they die by violence or accident. Most Aeldari are not even considered mature until they have lived for at least a standard century.
All Aeldari can manipulate mental energies to a degree. Each is psychic to one extent or another; it is said the ancient Aeldari could read thoughts at a glance, whilst those who trained their minds for war could crush a foe's weapon with a simple narrowing of their eyes.
Children of the Stars
The ancient history of the Aeldari stretches back over the millennia to a time when they dominated the stars completely. Yet, for all their splendour and might, the Aeldari brought a terrible curse upon themselves that sundered their empire forever, leaving the ravaged fragments of their race teetering on the brink of annihilation. The starfaring history of the Aeldari is long, and encompasses glories and sorrows alike. When the Aeldari Empire was at its height, their homeworlds were paradises, their powers godlike and their armies unsurpassed. As the Terran centuries slid past, their status as lords of the galaxy bred an arrogance that led to a cataclysm. A proportion of their race survived that dark time by fleeing from disaster upon the great vessels known as craftworlds. Others settled verdant planets far from the heart of their empire, and still more hid in private realms of their own making. Yet there was no real escape from what was to come. Apparent perfection like that of the ancient Aeldari is all too often blighted by pride. Over a million Terran years ago, the Aeldari alone ruled the stars as the undisputed masters of their own destiny. Such a position was their right, they thought, and their preeminence was beyond doubt. In many ways, the Aeldari had good reason for such hubris, for no other race had posed a serious threat to their wealth and stability for time immemorial. They were convinced that they no longer had anything to fear from the galaxy at large, and they may have been right, but the true threat came from within. The doom of the Aeldari, when it came, took a form far more subtle and dangerous than that of alien invasion. At their peak, nothing was beyond the Aeldari's reach and nothing was forbidden. The ancient race continued their glorious existence unaware or unwilling to acknowledge the dark fate that awaited them. They plied the stars at will, experiencing the wonders of the galaxy and immersing themselves completely in the endless sensations that it offered them. Such was the technological mastery of the Aeldari that worlds were created specifically for their pleasure, and stars lived or died at their whim. On hundreds of idyllic planets seeded across the stars, the Aeldari pursued their inclinations as they willed, indulging every dream and investigating every curiosity. They mastered the labyrinth dimension of the Webway, expanded their realms into the furthest corners of reality and learned much about the universe that has since been forgotten. When their spirits eventually left their mortal bodies at death, they dissolved peacefully back into the Empyrean to be reborn again, for the Warp did not yet hold the danger for Aeldari souls that it has since their Fall. There were, of course, many wars. Even when the galaxy was young there were upstart species seeking to gouge out petty empires of their own, and the Aeldari waged wars against the sprawling Necron dynasties that ravaged dozens of star systems and cost trillions of lives. Most of these conflicts, though, were so short-lived that the ease of their victory left the Aeldari ever more sure of their ascendancy. Even the greatest of all their wars, the conflict over sixty million Terran years ago that first forged their species in alliance with the legendary beings called the Old Ones, dimly remembered in the mythic cycles of the craftworlds as the War in Heaven, did not humble them. In their hearts the Aeldari reigned supreme, and no other power could end their dominance.
Descent into Darkness
The catalyst that brought about the Aeldari race's fall came from the very depths of their collective psyche, the innate need to fuel their passions and indulge in every extreme. Their people had long outgrown the need for physical labour or manual agriculture due to the highly advanced and automated nature of their technology. Aeldari society provided all the required necessities of life without individual effort, leaving long Terran centuries for the Aeldari to spend sating their every desire and whim. Fuelled by an inexhaustible curiosity, many gave way to their most hedonistic impulses. Exotic cults sprang up across the Aeldari domains that eclipsed the noble pursuits of old, each dedicated to esoteric knowledge or sensual excess. The core of the Aeldari race began to look inwards, inexorably seeking new ways to explore the full range of emotion and sensation. Such behaviour was perilously decadent and, in the end, corrosive to the soul of the race. The pursuit of excess gradually became a blight upon the whole society. The acts of the pleasure cults began to transcend those of idle curiosity, or even extreme addiction. Aeldari from every corner of the empire wallowed in their most unnatural impulses in the pursuit of debauchery. As the cults gained a tighter hold over their society, the Aeldari became increasingly divided. Those who saw the foulness that corrupted their people for what it was became known as Exodites, and they departed to found colony worlds on the fringes of the Aeldari Empire. As the civilisation slid further into anarchy, others repented of their ways and fled into deep space aboard world-ships called craftworlds. Most Aeldari, however, continued to glut themselves on the pursuits of the depraved. The sorrow of those left who mourned the loss of innocence eventually turned to bitterness and spite. In time, brother fought brother, and sadistic killers stalked the shadows in search of victims for their vile lusts. No life was spared in the pursuit of pleasures both murderous and perverse. A sickness of vice overtook the Aeldari race, and blood flowed through the streets amidst the bestial roar of the crowd. Their hidden realms within the Webway -- the network of tunnels that spread between realspace and the Warp – became sprawling palaces of avarice and sadism, and entire worlds were bent to the pursuit of the darkest of sensations. As the moral corruption of the Aeldari race tightened its stranglehold, echoes of ecstasy and agony began to ripple through time and space. In the parallel dimension of the Immaterium, the psychic reflections of these intense experiences began to coalesce, for the shifting tides of the Empyrean can take form around intense emotion. Slowly, silently, a nascent god of excess grew strong in the depths of the Warp.
Birth of a Dark God
Within the Warp, thoughts and emotions generated in realspace flow together in the form of psychic energy, fed by fellow feelings until they achieve a consciousness of sorts. They become entities of greater or lesser potency depending on the intensity of their origin. Amidst the swirling psychic energy of the Empyrean, the corruption of the decadent Aeldari became manifest on a horrifying scale as the flood of raw emotions coalesced into a gestalt consciousness. What an unimaginably foul and sickening thing it was that the Aeldari unknowingly raised in the Warp; it was a dire shadow of themselves, of what they had become, of nobility and pride brought low by perversity and shamelessness. Worlds burned as the Aeldari slew and laughed and feasted upon the corpses of the dead. Slowly, the Great Enemy stirred towards wakefulness. Too late, the Aeldari realised that they had created a god in their own hideous image, a god grown immense and potent by suckling upon the dark fodder of the Aeldari soul. No creature was ever conceived that was as terrible or perverse as the major Chaos God Slaanesh. It is a name the Aeldari will not speak, instead whispering Sai'lanthresh, translatable into Low Gothic as "She Who Thirsts." When Slaanesh finally burst into divine consciousness, there was not one Aeldari alive who did not feel its claws in their soul. With a howl of raw power, Slaanesh roared into supernatural life. A psychic implosion tore at the universe. Countless billions of Aeldari screamed aloud and fell dead. From the moment that Slaanesh burst into being, the soul of every living Aeldari was forfeit. Upon the death of the body, an unprotected Aeldari soul would be dragged into the Warp, and thence to an eternity of hideous torment within the psychic gullet of She Who Thirsts. In a heartbeat, the shining Aeldari civilisation that had lasted for aeons had its heart ripped out, leaving a pulsing afterbirth of pure chaos in its place. The spirits of the Aeldari were drawn from within them and consumed as their blasphemous creation took its first infernal breath. Intoxicated with this potent draught of billions of souls, Slaanesh laughed and looked upon a universe ripe for the taking.
The surviving Aeldari people are now divided into several different factions or sub-cultures sometimes called kindreds, each defined by the way in which they chose to save themselves from the great curse wrought upon them after the Fall of the Aeldari.
No matter where they go in the universe, every Aeldari is at risk of having their soul consumed by She Who Thirsts upon death.
The Aeldari Lexicon, also sometimes called the "Eldar Lexicon," is the name given by Imperial scholars to the spoken and written language of the Aeldari species.
Unfortunately, it is almost impossible for an outsider, particularly Humans, to understand anything but the most basic formulations of the Aeldari Lexicon, as many of its references are metaphors that draw directly upon the collective Aeldari psyche, incorporating mythical peoples and places and long-lost times and events in its basic structure.
The Aeldari also communicate with poses and gestures because their senses are far more finely attuned to others' emotional and mental states as a result of their intensely psychic natures than the average Human; it is possible for two Aeldari to have an entire conversation using only their body language.
The Aeldari written language is equally complex. Each written symbol, whether it is a rune, script or a hierogram, is not simply the letter of an alphabet like the written High or Low Gothic language used in the Imperium of Man. Instead, each Aeldari symbol represents an entire concept.
Ultimately, the language of the Aeldari is an ancient and complex dialect built upon and refined over many millions of Terran years. Compared to the crude, blunt sounds of High or Low Gothic, its words flow from one to the next, each sentence a complete idea as much as a collection of letters or numbers. Humans can imitate Aeldari speech to a certain degree, with sufficient training, but compared to a native speaker they are slow and halting at best.
The Aeldari Lexicon is used by all of the different Aeldari factions, including the Asuryani, the Exodites, the Harlequins and the Drukhari, though each faction may have different dialects or particular usages that differ from the others.
The Aeldari cling tenaciously to their folklore and traditions. The characters and events of ancient legend are commonly discussed and comparisons drawn between mythic events and those of the present day.
Every Aeldari is familiar with the epic songs and dances that form their mythic cycles, and references to these tales are immediately understood by others of their race.
The principal characters of the Aeldari mythic cycles are the gods, their mortal descendants the Aeldari, and the monstrous adversaries they fought. The chief and oldest of all the gods is Asuryan, the Phoenix King and leader of the pantheon. His first brother is Kaela Mensha Khaine, the Bloody-Handed God. Khaine is the master of both war and murder, and he symbolises wanton destruction and martial prowess.
Third of the greatest gods is Vaul, the crippled smith god who is often depicted chained to his own anvil. Isha is the goddess of the harvest, from whom the Aeldari race is descended.
The youngest goddess is Lileath the Maiden, mistress of dreams and fortune, whilst the third of the trinity of Aeldari goddesses is Morai-Heg the Crone, an ancient and withered creature who holds the fates of mortals inside a rune pouch made of skin.
As well as the many gods there are countless mortal heroes descended from the gods, who founded the great houses still echoed today upon the craftworlds. These include the great hero Eldanesh, who was slain by Khaine and whose blood is said to drip eternally from the war god's hands. Eldanesh had many descendants, the Eldanar, of whom Inriam the Young was the last.
•Asuryani Wargear
•Drukhari Wargear
•Infinity Circuit - An Infinity Circuit is a crystalline psychoactive matrix contained at the core of all Asuryani craftworlds, and is essentially composed of the wraithbone skeleton of the craftworld itself. Within this matrix, the souls of all the craftworld's dead reside in a form of group consciousness, providing both a well of psychic power for the worldship and a massive ancestral mind to advise and guide the living. With the birth of Slaanesh, "She Who Thirsts," the Infinity Circuit is the closest thing that the Asuryani now have to an afterlife; for if their souls are not captured at death in a Spirit Stone and integrated into the Infinity Circuit, they will be lost into the Warp and their soul energy devoured by Slaanesh. For this reason the Asuryani will defend their craftworlds with a fury and tenacity that is almost unrivaled amongst sentient species; they risk losing not only their home but the souls of their ancestors as well. Once it is part of the circuit, an Aeldari soul continues to exist forever, safe from the predations of the Warp, their individual consciousness remaining as a potential within the circuit. The Infinity Circuit is therefore far more than a source of energy for the craftworld; it is a place of refuge and eternal rest, from where the dead watch over the living.
•Spirit Stone - An Asuryani Spirit Stone, also known as a "Waystone," "Dreamstone" and a "Tear of Isha," is a small, seemingly precious gem carried in a variety of different aesthetically-pleasing settings on a Craftworld Aeldari's chest, used to save their souls from consumption after death within the Immaterium by Slaanesh. Every Asuryani of the craftworlds wears a shinning gem or polished stone upon their breast. This psycho-receptive Waystone is attuned solely to the mind of its owner. At the moment of the Asuryani's death the stone acts like a "psychic trap" absorbing their psychic self -- their soul -- and preventing it from entering the Warp and being consumed by She Who Thirsts. As such psychic energies carry with them a large part of an Aeldari's sense of identity, personality, and memories, it is quite correct to think of them as souls. The Waystone can then be brought back to the Asuryani's own craftworld and embedded into its wraithbone core, where it will grow into a larger Spirit Stone. Once the stone is implanted, the individual Aeldari soul it contains can travel freely through the psychically-reactive wraithbone, mingling with other Aeldari souls and forming part of the communal spirit of the craftworld itself. All the souls within a craftworld collectively exist within the Infinity Circuit. In times of dire need, the Asuryani are also able to retrieve the Spirit Stones of long-dead Asuryani heroes and place them into the artificial bodies of Wraithguard and Wraithlord constructs. These wraithbone constructs are then piloted by the Asuryani soul, which experiences reality in this form as a dream. This process is considered little better than necromancy in Aeldari culture and is only done as a last resort. Spirit Stones can also be placed within certain Asuryani vehicles like gravity tanks and Eldar Titans where the stone allows the captive Aeldari's spirit to control the vehicle in case its living pilots are incapacitated, similar to the way the artificially intelligent Machine Spirits found in certain Imperial vehicles like Land Raiders can take over control of the vehicle even when it is unmanned.
•Webway - The Webway was created by the ancient species called the Old Ones as a means of intragalactic travel. Via the Webway, the armies of these advanced beings could appear from hidden gateways in reality to strike at their foes without warning. Furthermore, this sprawling network allowed the Old Ones to voyage between the worlds of their dominion without risking the fickle tides of the Warp. Known by some as the "labyrinth dimension," the Webway has been envisioned by mortal minds in myriad ways. Some describe it as a galactic tapestry of shimmering strands, others a maze of glowing tunnels, or the veins of some vast living entity. All such accounts fall short of the truth, for the Webway defies neat categorisation. It is an elegantly crafted extradimensional realm located between realspace and the Immaterium, analogous to the surface of a still, dark pool, or a fine silk veil drawn across something foul. In the wake of their disappearance or destruction during the War in Heaven against the Necrons and their C'tan masters, the Old Ones left the care and use of the Webway to their Aeldari creations, who used it for millennia to tie together their great empire. The Webway once spanned the galaxy, even stretching out into the empty void beyond. Those days are long gone. Ravaged by war and catastrophe, many of its tunnels have been torn open or amputated entirely, and a great number of its entrances have been sealed by the Aeldari themselves as a desperate measure to deny their foes access. Despite its degradation, the Aeldari of every sub-culture still rely upon the Webway for swift travel, and none more so than the nomadic Harlequins. It is said that Cegorach is the only being in existence who knows every single path through the Webway. This might explain how his disciples possess such an intimate knowledge of its twists and turns, for the Harlequins walk the Webway without fear, appearing and disappearing at will. The Harlequins utilise their knowledge of the Webway's hidden paths to outmanoeuvre their foes and strike from unexpected quarters. In this way, entire masques of Harlequins can position themselves in ambush, guaranteeing the element of surprise. Of course, such a system is not perfect, for the Webway has become a broken and dangerous realm. The manifestation of the Great Rift at the start of the Era Indomitus tore at the Webway, ripping away spars already weakened by the passage of millennia and unravelling others, laying them open to the Warp. Gates long sealed burst open to admit a legion of nightmares, and malefic Chaos worshippers found themselves at liberty to strike at the labyrinth dimension like never before. So well-versed are they in the Webway's secret routes that many other Aeldari have credited the servants of the Laughing God with supernatural powers. It is the Harlequins who watch over the Black Library alongside its dark Guardians, and use its secrets to gain the upper hand in their war against Chaos. They utilise their knowledge of the Webway's hidden paths to outmanoeuvre their foes and strike from unexpected quarters. In this way, whole masques of Harlequins can position themselves in ambush, guaranteeing themselves the element of surprise. Of course, such a system is not perfect, for the Webway has become a broken and dangerous realm. Still, this is little help to the general who suddenly discovers his armies overrun from within, slaughtered by a host of Harlequins before he even realises that battle is joined.
•Wraithbone - Wraithbone is the primary construction material used by the Asuryani, the Craftworld Aeldari, and the staple of their psycho-technical engineering. It is a form of crystallised psychic energy that can exist as a solid in realspace brought forth from the Warp and shaped by an Aeldari concentrating their thoughts and intent upon it. All Aeldari are able to psychically influence and control wraithbone to a certain extent; for instance, most Aeldari walking the Path of the Artisan will use wraithbone in order to create the pieces of art, musical instruments or any other tools they desire. However, truly complex constructions (such as functional weapons or whole voidships) can only be brought into existence by the Aeldari Bonesingers; specialised craftsmen who focus on understanding and mastering the intricacies of creating, growing and shaping the Wraithbone through the application of their innate psychic power. It is a psychic conductor and thus provides not only the structure and armour for the things built of it, but also the power distribution and communications systems since wraithbone carries psychic energy the way a wire or fiber optic cable carries electricity or photons. Wraithbone is a psycho-plastic material that is highly resilient to damage, and capable of limited self-repair. It, and the other building materials of the Aeldari, will grow and react more like living tissue than the building materials of other intelligent species, save for the Tyranids' bio-constructs and necrodermis, the Necron living metal that is the basis of a majority of the Necron's technology.
•Black Crusade: Game Master's Kit (RPG), pp. 14-15
•Codex: Craftworlds (8th Edition), pp. 4-9, 11, 21-22, 42
•Codex: Dark Eldar (3rd Edition), pp. 10, 15
•Codex: Dark Eldar (5th Edition), pp. 5-6, 20, 26, 35, 43, 56-63, 89
•Codex: Dark Eldar (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 23-40, 90-91, 158-160, 200-232
•Codex: Drukhari (8th Edition), pp. 8-9, 42-43, 47, 55, 86
Jul 29, 2024 · Yvraine has repeatedly foreseen herself being slain by Helbane and having her soul consumed by Slaanesh. In her dreams she came to the conclusion that to save herself and thus the Eldar race she had to gather an array of champions from across all the Eldar cultures.
Codex: Eye of Terror; Codex: Imperial Guard (2009) Codex: Catachans (2001) Codex: Space Marines (2008) Codex: Imperial Guard (2003) Codex: Chaos Space Marines (1999)
Oct 20, 2023 · A bevy of exceptional damage dealing or utility characters are available to support in the objective game or to clip fast movers while a series of lower-priced but quality infantry provide the flexibility to score tactical secondaries.
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Jan 28, 2022 · Maugan Ra (literally, "the Harvester of Souls" in Eldar) is an Eldar Phoenix Lord from the doomed Craftworld Altansar. He is also the brother of Baharroth, like the moon is to the sun.
