The Eldar

HISTORY
Lost in the vastness of space, the craftworlds float in utter isolation like scattered jeweles upon a pall of velvet. No star-shine illuminates their sleek towers. Distant from the warmth of sun or planet, their domes stare into the darkness of empty space. Inner lights glisten like phosphorus through semi-transparent surfaces. Within live the survivors of a civilisation abandoned aeons ago amidst terrifying destruction. These are the Eldar, a race that is all but extinct, the last remnants of a people whose mere dreams once overturned worlds and quenched stars.

The Eldar have a long and complex spacefaring history, so long in fact that little is known for certain about the course of their early physical evolution and planet-bound existence. Their homeworlds were destroyed during the catastrophic collapse of the Eldar civilisation known as the Fall.

Eldar are extremely long lived by Human standards, commonly surviving for over a thousand years before old age overtakes them. Their heart beats almost twice as fast as a human's and his their minds process thoughts and emotions with baffling speed and their physical reactions are almost too fast for the Human eye to follow. The Eldar radiate an inhuman elegance and their ears are pointed, their limbs cleaner and longer and their skin is without blemish.

All Eldar can manipulate mental energies to a degree. Their complex technology is based upon psychotropic engineering, the manipulation of matter using pshycic energy. But such raw power has its price. The Eldar mind is far more inclined towards extremes than that of a Human. To an Eldar, all of life's experiences are available to a heightened degree. This potential joy is paralleled by an equal capacity to feel despair, anger and even hatred.

No creature, not even an Eldar, can taste such rich fruits in an uncontrolled or undisciplined way without consequence. For an Eldar to yield absolutely to his desires would destroy him. Such was the fate of the ancient Eldar, whose depravities brought about the birth of a vicious and obscene god, and consequently the fall of the Eldar race itself.


THE FALL OF THE ELDAR
Over a million years ago, when their civilisation was at its height, the Eldar held dominion over a large portion of galaxy. Their worlds were places of great peace and beauty. All this was to end in the cataclysm known simply as the Fall.

The Eldar were a proud and arrogant people, confident in their superiority and justifiably dismissive of alien barbarians. Their technological and cultural achievements excelled those of all other races. The doom of the Eldar, when it came, took a form far more subtle and dangerous than that of an invasion.

In those ancient times there were no craftworlds and the rigid constraints of the Eldar path did not exist . On hundreds of pardise worlds seeded across the stars, all Eldar pursued their inclinations according to their own will, indulging every whim and investigating every curiosity. When their spirits eventually left their mortal bodies they dissolved peacefully back into the Warp to be reborn again; for the Warp did not have such a thirst for Eldar souls is it does today.

Slowly but surely, the worm of pride began to eat away at the Eldar race. They thought all secrets theirs to uncover, all pleasures theirs to partake. Fuelled by inexhaustible curiosity, many gave way to their darkest and most hedonistic impulses. Exotic cults sprang up all over the Eldar domains, each dedicated to esoteric knowledge or sensual excess.

As these cults gained a tighter hold over the Eldar, so their society became increasingly divided. Some heeded the portents that haunted their dreams, fleeing to found the Exodite colony worlds on the fringes of the Eldar Empire and some fled aboard space-borne craftworlds. In time, brother fought brother and sadistic killers stalked the shadows in search of victims for their vile lusts. A sickness overtook the Eldar and blood flowed through the streets amidst the bestial roar of the crowd.

Only a fool would pretend to understand the strange otherworld that is the warp, for it is, by its very nature, inconstant and incomprehensible. Yet it was within the Warp that the destruction of the Eldar race took shape. It was here amidst the swirling, psychic energy that their corruption became manifest. Within the Warp, thoughts and emotions swell and grow, fed by fellow feelings until they achieve a consciousness of sorts. They become spirits of greater or lesser ptency, and their long gestation is followed by birthing pains that rock the Warp and rupture the fabric of space.

What an unimaginably foul and sickening mind it was that the Eldar unkowingly raised in the Warp. It was a shadow of themselves, of what they had become, of nobility and pride brought low by perserverity and shamelessness. For years the Eldar were riven with madness. Worlds burned as the Eldar slew and laughed and feasted upon the corpses of the dead, and slowly the Great Enemy stirred fitfully into life. Too late the Eldar realised that they had created a God in their own image, a god grown immense and potent by suckling upon the dark fodder of the Eldar spirit. No creature was ever conceived that was a terrible as the Chaos God Slaanesh, She Who Thirsts, the Doom of the Eldar incarnate.

When Slaanesh was finally born, there was not one Eldar alive who did not feel its claws in his soul. With a howl of raw power Slaanesh burst into supernatural life, and a pshychic implosion tore at the universe. Billions upon billions of Eldar secreamed aloud in agony and fell dead. In a heartbeat, the Eldar civilisation was wiped out.


ARMY LIST

<http://oz.games-workshop.com/download/download.htm?/games/40k/eldar/gaming/reference/assets/eldar-reference.pdf>

Just click on the link to get the full Reference sheet download (completely free)

WHY COLLECT AN ELDAR FORCE
If you are looking for a force that uses trickery, stealth and speed to achieve victory, then the Eldar are for you! Consisting of Aspect Warriors that are specialists in one area but average in another is incredibly strong. If you used Fire Dragons against infantry, they wouldn't be as effective as Dire Avengers but if you used them against a tank, then they would tear it apart and vice versa. The Eldar force must be conducted similarly to an orchestra, bringing the right piece into play at exactly the right moment. The Eldar are very strong from range and good at close combat but the only downfall is they can take wounds easy if their armour fails.

PICTURES

Above: Eldar Dire Avengers

Above: Eldar Wraithlord

Above: Eldar Guardians

Above: Eldrad Ulthran

Above: Eldar Fire Dragons

Above: The Eldar Avatar

That is the Eldar as we know it, there is far more but this is just to get you started with the Warhammer 40,000 hobby. To purhase the Codex which contains a full history, army lists and everything to do with the Eldar, go to your nearest Gamesworkshop or stockist. There are plenty of them but to find the closest one to you go to http://www.gamesworkshop.com.au/ (Australia) http://www.gamesworkshop.com.uk/ (England) http://www.gamesworkshop.com.us/ (United States)