Editing The Enshrouded (section)

==The Hollows==
A coven that has devoted itself to the goal of physical and spiritual purity, with the stated aim of freeing themselves from the eternal tug at their spirits that plagues all Eldar. Looking with disdain upon the frenzied, eternally ravenous antics of their kin, as well as the absurd attempts of the Craftworlders to direct the ferocity of their emotions down narrow channels, the Hollows have focused their time and energy towards freeing themselves of these emotional shackles that were both the cause of their cursed state as well, so they believe, of its protraction.

The Hollows thus strive to achieve a state of soullessness; they void themselves of emotion and feeling until their souls become so twisted and bare that they become something ‘other’ than Eldar, and in so doing seem to be able to escape the attentions of She-who-Thirsts entirely. It is this fact that attracts many old dark eldar weary of the constant back-and-forth struggle for their souls, who are drawn towards the somber, droning preachers littering the streets who whisper of their ancient masters who have survived for millenia without needing to sustain themselves on the soul of another.

But for many Dark Eldar, the price to pay for such tranquility is too horrible to even imagine. New initiates are mutilated and experimented on in much the same way as the Wracks of other covens, but amidst the cloisters of the Hollows so too is the soul twisted and dissected, as its owner is slowly compelled towards expelling all senses of feeling and emotion from its mind and form. Gradually, the soul diminishes completely, leaving a blank, a soulless abomination in its place, one who appears as an empty hole in the warp and engenders feelings of irrational hatred, fear and loathing in those around it. The most ancient of this coven, the very Haemonculi who conduct these experiments, are far more twisted than any other.

Only in the most superficial sense can they be considered ‘kin’ with the denizens of Commoragh, for their bodies have become supremely large, elongated things of cold and sallow flesh, covered in filthy bandages and wrappings that trail through the dirt. Towering over their minions, these creatures are utterly alien, even to the Dark Eldar. Their spirits are a gaping void that threatens to engulf those around them, and some of the more powerful of their number project such a heinous presence that weaker souls in their vicinity simply disintegrate a their passing. Free of all the emotions and drives that shape the rest of Commorite society, the Hollows are truly immortal in both body and soul, yet their motives are impossible to know. They only seek to exist and to induct more lost souls into the silence of their fold.

Of course amongst a race as warp-sensitive as the Eldar, the presence of blanks in their number is unthinkable. Even amongst the mysterious and respected ranks of the Harlequins, the soulless Solitaires live as outcasts, unable to connect at all with their ‘kin’. It is for this reasons that the Hollows, rather than face the murderous stigma of the Dark city, sought refuge amongst the Enshrouded, and came to make their home inside the hidden realm of the Ark.
Offering the use of their sophisticated regeneration chambers, the Hollows have accepted a niche in tending to the dead of the other fugitive covens, reanimating their fallen without any cost and concern for whom it is they reawaken. The Hollows bear no ill will towards any of the other factions, although they remain keenly aware of the precariousness of their position amongst the more warp-sensitive covens that share their home.