Many different peoples continuously fight for dominance in the Warhammer 40,000 galaxy. One has ruled over everything for millions of years and is now nearly insignificant: the Eldar. MeinMMO explains who these strange space elves are and how it came to be that they are nearly extinct today.
Eldar are technically the oldest race still alive today. The only known races that existed before them are the Slann, or simply “the Old Ones”, and the Necrontyr – who later became the feared Necrons.
The Eldar, or previously in their own language: Aeldari, are humanoid beings that roughly resemble humans, but with noticeably softer and finer features. They look about as we imagine elves today. Just like humans, Eldar are strongly psychic beings in Warhammer.
Despite their similarities, Eldar are built quite differently. Their bodies make them faster, their movements more graceful, and at the same time more resilient. The downside is that they take significantly longer for reproduction.
With their enormous technological advancement and their psionic power, the Eldar eventually dominated the entire galaxy. However, their reign lasted so long that they fell victim to their own decadence.
Yrliet is an Eldari that you can meet in the role-playing game Rogue Trader:
An empire that encompasses the entire galaxy
After the Slann were wiped out in the great “War in Heaven” and the Necrons fell into their 60 million year long slumber, the Eldar expanded throughout the galaxy.
Even before this long time, the Aeldari were a highly developed species capable of displacing “lower races” without major problems. Various sources speak of an empire that may have encompassed either several tens of thousands or even ten million systems.
Other species, such as the Orks and their predecessor species, were simply driven to the edge of the galaxy and ignored. Humans are referred to in the language of the Eldar as “Chem-Pan-Sey” (or in English: “Mon-keigh” – you can guess what that means).
A parallel dimension and its own paradise
To navigate such a vast empire, the Eldar use the “Webway”, or simply: “web network.” This network is a labyrinth where the Eldar can move at faster-than-light speeds without ever having to enter the Warp.
Over the millions of years, the Eldar expanded their empire and ultimately automated tedious tasks like farming and other heavy work. Thus, dozens of paradise worlds emerged, where the people could live in complete decadence.
This, however, led to an excess that eventually burst the boundaries of the imaginable and resulted in the fall of the entire empire.
Decadence and Fall of the Aeldari
What happened to the realm of the Aeldari is essentially what we know from Roman decadence: the Eldar indulged only in their desires, and increasingly so. However, this was not limited to harmless things like gluttony and sex, but also involved torture and sadism.
Shortly before the collapse, the streets of the Aeldari cities were no longer safe, as a murderer could be lurking anywhere, waiting for a victim to make suffer. The worlds descended into anarchy, and gangs fought for dominance.
Only a few “sensible” Eldar fled to begin a new life on Exodite worlds. However, the decadence of the people in their core worlds likely resulted in the greatest catastrophe in the history of Warhammer 40,000.
The excess of the Eldar creates a new Chaos God
As Eldar possess strong psychic powers, their connection to the Warp, the realm of Chaos, is immensely strong. Until the event that is now known as the “Fall of the Aeldari”, this was not a problem.
However, due to the great accumulation of obsession and decadence in one place, a new Chaos God emerged from the accumulated psionic power: Slaanesh, the Chaos God of Decadence.
The birth of Slaanesh was so brutal that his psionic scream is said to have killed several billion Eldar. Their souls were torn from their bodies and have since been tortured by Slaanesh.
It is said that if a human’s soul is a spark in the Warp, that of an Eldar is like a beacon upon which all demons immediately converge. To prevent this from happening, the Eldar protect their souls with soulstones, which capture their essence at the moment of death.
Eldar, Warp, and the Gods: Before the fall, Eldar souls in the Warp were more or less safe. The Aeldari had their own pantheon of gods that for the most part protected them. However, Slaanesh slaughtered all the gods except for two:
- Kaela Mensh Khaine, the God of War, whose body was shattered into thousands of shards, which now appear as avatars
- Asuryan, the Phoenix God and “God of Gods”
- Isha, the Goddess of Agriculture and Fertility, who still lives and serves the Chaos God Nurgle as a slave to test his plagues
- Kournos, the God of the Hunt and together with Isha “Father” of the Eldar
- Lileath, the Maiden, Goddess of Dreams and Luck
- Morai-Heg, an old woman and the Mistress of Magic
- Vaul, the God of Smithing
- Ynnead, the God of Death
- The Laughing God, or Cegorach, the God of Intrigues and Lies, who alone escaped Slaanesh’s god-murder
The end of a people is the rise of a new one
Through the birth of Slaanesh, a part of realspace was torn apart and merged with the Warp. This area is now known as the “Eye of Terror” and is home to Chaos cultists and daemon princes.
This event has also led to the disappearance of dangerous warp storms from the galaxy. As a result, the Emperor of Mankind was finally able to conduct his Great Crusade.
Consequently, the Imperium of Mankind has finally found unity and is now the greatest power in the galaxy, at least for now.
A dying people prolonging their death
The few surviving Eldar have mostly retreated to world ships, which are now largely lost and linger somewhere. Due to their small and steadily dwindling numbers, Eldar keep out of most conflicts.
They only fight when their council of rune prophets and seers decides after very long deliberation that an intervention is worthwhile. Many Eldar, however, still live on Exodite worlds and lead a relatively primitive life involving agriculture and livestock.
To prevent being overwhelmed by emotions again and possibly attracting Chaos, Eldar today follow “paths”, or vocations, to which they dedicate themselves entirely.
The last Eldar still following the “old ways”, meaning decadence and excess, are the Dark Eldar or Drukhari. This part of the Aeldari has survived in the great city of Comorragh within the Webway and clings to torture, sadism, and brutality.
A relatively new and small splinter group of the Eldar are the Ynnari, who believe that they can resurrect the God of the Dead Ynneach, just like their people inadvertently did with Slaanesh. By the way, you can get an exciting insight into the culture of the Eldar and the Drukhari in the role-playing game Rogue Trader, which has become really good with the first DLC: The Warhammer 40k role-playing game on Steam gives me, as a fan, exactly what I miss in Space Marine 2
