Resurgent Eldar Empire

This page is part of the Imperium Asunder, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. See the Imperium Asunder page for more information on the Alternate Universe.

History

Short version: the Eldar took the punishment, and grown more powerful from it.

M37

• Biel-Tan moves to defend various Exodite worlds scattered across several sectors of Segmentum Tempestus. They find themselves drawn into an arduous campaign that feels like putting out fires.

Early M38

• Corsair Fleets begin to arrive in the beleaguered sectors in greater numbers, drawn by romantic notions of Biel-Tan's constant struggle.

Late M38

• The piratical human raiders and perverse Sslyth plaguing the Exodite worlds of the lower Tempestus finally seem broken, and Biel-Tan diverts its attention toward rebuilding what has been destroyed.
• Before the Eldar can pause to appreciate the reprieve, a vast migration of Rak'Gol vessels pours into the local sectors, originating from somewhere far to the galactic west. Numbering in the thousands, the alien ships disperse like a swarm of locusts across the stars, and Biel-Tan is forced to split its forces across known Exodite space, lest everything in the vicious aliens' wake be reduced to irradiated wastelands.
• More and more Exodites begin to abandon their lifestyles, joining Biel-Tan in the hopes of defending their homes. The beginnings of industrial capacity sprout across the less conservative worlds as they fight tooth and claw against the encroaching Rak'Gol.
• As those aliens on a course for Exodite worlds are systematically destroyed, it becomes clear that many of the Rak'Gol fleets that missed them originally are turning to investigate the disappearance of their fellows. Craftworlders and Corsairs are forced to fight neck and neck in a brutal naval campaign, their enemies severely outnumbering them and entirely willing to hurl themselves into mortal danger.
• Appearing without warning, the Masque of the Reaper's Mirth are sighted in pitched battle with the Rak'Gol, though they often vanish without warning or explanation. These appearances are soon linked to a sharp decline in alien morale.

Early M39

• In an unprecedented move, Craftworld Mymeara declares its intent to assist Biel-Tan. It is soon followed by Craftworld Lugganath.
• As sightings of the Reaper's Mirth become more commonplace and with the additional assistance of two relatively unscathed Craftworlds, the Eldar begin to drive the Rak'Gol out of the region. Unbeknownst to them, the rapacious aliens pillage their way onward to the worlds of the Iron Hearts.
• The victorious alliance are finishing the few straggler fleets of Rak'Gol remaining in proximity to the Exodite worlds of the lower Tempestus, when communications with one of the worlds to the galactic east go silent. Upon further investigation, the Eldar are furious to find that the paradisaical Maiden World has been utterly sterilized by the interference of Forgespace forces. Combing the sector for some rumoured technology of their lost empire, the humans leave little alive in their wake, and the allied Craftworlds engage them in a protracted campaign where total annihilation is the desired goal of both sides.
• The war is long and bloody, fought primarily in the cold of the void, but there are several notable land engagements on the mountainous world of Gudrun (Kharellan to the Eldar) and shattered moon-belt of Eris (Saphellion under its Eldar name), where the Skitarii of the Forgespace legions prove a difficult foe to oust.
• Eventually, an ambush in the accretion disc near Saphellion shatters the Forgespace fleet, the battle ending with the loss of the Ark Mechanicus Red Son. Its sister vessel, the Star of Syrinx returns to the Forgespace as a bearer of bad news.

Mid M39

• The first rumblings of a resurgent Eldar Empire begin to spread.
• Corsairs arrive in greater numbers, and begin the first tentative trade agreements with the Webway Satellites.

Late M39

• Stirred by the awakening of Idrias Stern, the Undying Scions launch a crusade across the Segmentum. They crash into the tenuous Eldar territories, resulting a drawn-out, bloody war.
• Eventually, the crusade is driven back, but at great cost, Biel-Tan losing well over half its population. Incensed with rage and the swell of victory, Biel-Tan declares a resurgent Eldar Empire.
• By now few traditional Exodites remain, their worlds having to advance in order to survive. Massive industrial projects spring up across the Eldar territories and, to make up for their losses, the newborn empire produces wraith constructs on a massive scale, ensuring that every fallen Eldar can fight for their people.

Early M40

• Iyanden, Idharae, Iybraesil, Telennar and Mynathensar join the allied craftworlds.
• A Corsair fleet of unprecedented size tears its fangs across the western edge of the Unyielding Vigil, wreaking a terrible vengeance.
• As the Empire fights to secure its borders, Muirthandril, a Seer of Craftworld Mymeara, experiences a vision, and sets out with his fleet.

Mid M40

• Muirthandril's expedition recovers an ancient Vaul Engine, known to humans as Blackstone Fortress. Spurred by further visions, the forces of the Empire move to secure various other such stations littered through the Orphus Sector of the Segmentum.
• Muirthrandril is not alone in this prediction, and the Eldar find themselves once again faced with the forces of the Unyielding Vigil. The Orphic Wars begin over the seven Blackstone Fortresses abandoned throughout the sector. There are heroes on both sides - the Vigil will forever remember Brother Estram Yorick, Interred after acting as a lone vanguard to his Brothers, and to this day Hemlock ace Jhainen Khaine-Handed is celebrated for her achievements by the Eldar Empire.
• Seeking vengeance for sins of the Empire's early years and covetous of the Vaul Engines, the Ark Mechanicus Wisdom of Mars of the Forgespace, accompanied by its attendant battlefleet, arrives to reinforce the Scions' offensive.
• Mynathensar is rendered inhospitable, and its survivors (the living and the enshrined) are evacuated before Autarch Vaeleryss sets the craftworld on a collision course with the nearby world of Provinus IX, annihilating the Vigil forces regrouping there and cracking the planet's mantle.
• Craftworld Yme-Loc arrives on the eastern fringe of the Edar territory, joining the fray and pledging themselves to the Empire.
• The Wisdom of Mars diverts its attention from the front lines of the campaign to secure orbital dominance over a particular landmass on the planet of Minerva (Sidharre to the Eldar). Its forces are deployed far behind the battle lines on the planet, and they make no move to assist the forces of the Vigil, eventually departing in their majority and leaving barely a token force behind. The Undying will remember this.
• The war concludes with six of the Fortresses in Eldar hands, but the seventh is destroyed in a daring boarding action by Idrias Stern, who fells Muirthandril in the process. The Farseer is saved by the timely intervention of a Solitaire, but much of his body is replaced with wraithbone prosthetics.
• Harlequins of the Midnight Sorrow continue to harass the Wisdom of Mars well into is return journey.

Late M40

• The Vaul Engines are stationed on the eastern edge of the Empire. Together, they form a region of veiled space where conventional Warp travel is even more difficult. Without the seventh Fortress, however, there is a small gap in this net.
• More and more advanced Commorrite technology begins to reach the Empire, many planets beginning to resemble the worlds of the old Empire
• Prince Yriel pushes back Waaagh! Gnarlgut, which proceeds to smash into a sector where the Behemoth Guard are establishing a number of forward bases. Two enemies are dealt with in a single blow, but the Seers fear that Gnarlgut will return with an even greater horde.
• A troupe of Harlequins deliver an unknown artifact of the Old Empire into the hands of Lugganath's Seer Council. There is much discussion, but none of it is public.
• Farseer Muirthrandil's prosthesis begin to fail, and his spirit is interred in a wraithseer shell.

Early M41

• Waaagh! Gnarlgut returns, savaging several systems before being turned away by a vast ghost legion of wraith constructs.
• Many Corsairs begin establishing satellite abodes beyond the established borders of the Empire. They are bawdy and lawless by craftworlder standards, and continually draw the Empire into squabbles with minor powers. They also begin to employ a great many alien mercenaries.
• Savaged by a sustained conflict with a Necron Dynasty, Craftworld Kher-Ys arrives in Imperial space.
• Eldar raiders are reported to be preying upon Princedom Worlds across the northern fringe of the Empire. Blame falls immediately upon the Dark Kin of Commorragh, and Lugganath becomes mediator to a frenzied debate.
• The first forays into the use of automated, non wraith-guided constructs are made in secret, based on designs scrapped together in trade with various Webway States.
• The Masque of the Frozen Stars reenacts the War in Heaven before the citizenry of Iybraesil. The final scene, foreshadowing the birth of She Who Thirsts, is suspiciously absent, and the Masque departs before the Craftworld realizes that they have left the performance unfinished. Whispered rumours and speculations spread throughout the Empire.
• Princess Saarania of the Void Dragons returns from a long sojourn abroad. Minor Princes scrabble for the attentions of the haughty pirate queen, resulting in a rash of minor border scuffles.
• A potent psychic signal from the direction of the Jade Empire flares across the Empire, disrupting several important scryings. The Seers of Iyanden and Iybraesil make attempts to investigate the cause, and keep their findings to themselves.
• A gaggle of Telennaran Rangers, disfigured and incurably insane, are discovered by a regular patrol across the borders of a Corsair Princedom. They are interred into the peace of their Craftworld's Infinity Circuit and steps are taken to fortify the northern fringe.
• A trio of silent Craftworlds are reported upon the northern borders of the Empire. The local Princes quickly realize that the abandoned Craftworld of Ulthwe is among them. A state of emergency is declared as news spreads across the Empire and warhosts from across the Imperial territories converge upon the northern fringe.
• Pouring from the stolen vessels, a horde of Crone World Eldar, hailing from deep within the Eye of Terror, descend upon the Empire, bringing the spectral servants of She Who Thirsts with them. The combined Corsair Princedoms are hard pressed to hold their ground, even with Saarania and her legendary fleet present, and resort to using their Custodian Hosts as cannon fodder to stem the baleful tide. The ruins of Ulthwe broadcast a veil of psychic horror over its surrounding system, damaging morale and filling the dreams of nearby Eldar with fevered visions of the Old Empire's ritual atrocities.
• Imperial morale suffers a further blow when the warleader of the enemy reveals himself on the surface of Quelaash, a thriving Paradise World. An Eldar boy of stunning beauty, he strikes down Prince Sargonesse of the Errant Moons and Prince Illaren of the Storm Host with but a touch each. Corsair forces abandon the planet to the enemy, hastily glassing its largest continental mass in order to deprive their foes of its bounties. Declaring himself the rightful Prince of the Eldar Empire, the enemy commander retires to Ulthwe, letting his fleet ravage across the surrounding systems.
• The warhosts of Mymeara, Iyanden, and Biel-Tan arrive in the sector, alongside their auxiliary Custodian forces. They are able to bring the local Corsairs back into form and begin to push back the enemy fleet, preventing it from making landfall on several tactically valued worlds. Their efforts are disrupted when, in a base act of betrayal, Prince Raegathiel of the Solar Spears perverts the Webway gate upon his throneworld. The planet is enveloped in a sea of flame, daemons swarming its surface and severely hampering the passage of supplies to Iyanden and Mymeara's warhosts. Raegathiel is bathed in the corrupting energies of the Warp and ascends into something terrible to look upon.
• Finding themselves once again losing ground, the Imperial Eldar are approached by the combined Masques of the Dreaming Shadow, the Midnight Sorrow, and the Soaring Spite, alongside a courier of Lugganath, who propose a daring offensive. The majority of Mymeara and Iyanden's forces, alongside several Corsair Fleets, turn upon Raegathiel's domain, now a weeping sore from which daemonkind pours in droves, devoting the fullness of their might to his destruction. Biel-Tan's warhost and the majority of the remaining Corsair forces make for the ruins of Ulthwe, the Harlequins alongside them.
• Mymeara's Titan Legions spearhead the assault upon Raegathiel's throneworld while the beleaguered forces of Biel-Tan, the Void Dragons, and the combined Masques assault Ulthwe. Few of Mymeara's storied giants survive, most laying down their lives to ensure that the Eldar penetrate their former ally's inner sanctums, where they are faced with Daemon Prince Raegathiel. On Ulthwe, the Eldar fight without heed for their own survival, battling through a storm of psychic horror to reach the throne room of their foe. The Imperial forces valiantly hold the line, suffering extraordinary casualties, as the Solitaries of all three Masques engage the enemy warleader in combat. Freshly ascended and unprepared to face the full force of two major warhosts, Raegathiel is banished by the Void Sabre of Prince Olorinn, the attendant Voidseers to his fleet giving their lives to close the Warp-rift Raegathiel tore across his throneworld. Meanwhile, the Solitaires, for all their supernatural skill and strength, can only distract the uncanny youth in command over Ulthwe. This distraction is all Princess Saarania requires to drive an ancient offering knife of the Old Empire, delivered by Lugganath, deep into the corrupted Infinity Circuit of the Craftworld. Space buckles and twists and the battle becomes a race against time to escape as Ulthwe is drawn back into the Realms of Chaos, many Eldar choosing to stand and fight so that their kin can flee.
• In the aftermath of the conflict, a grave council is called, and greater importance is bestowed upon the task of monitoring the goings-on of Chaotic space, the ruling Seer Councils of the Craftworlds concluding that the Empire had become dangerously myopic and complacent as a result of its recent fortunes. Though his true nature is never divined, the Empire remembers its new foe as the Prince of Thorns, for the venomous, hallucinogenic briars that sprung up across Quelaash in his wake.

Mid M41

• The raiding activities of a Corsair Princedom draw the Empire into yet another conflict with the Unyielding Vigil. The war quickly escalates, more Corsairs joining the fray, spurred by the ancestral bloodlust of the Eldar.
• Wraithseer Muirthandril leads a considerable ghost legion to support the outlier Corsair territories, and once again faces Idrias Stern in battle, this time on an equal footing.
• The conflict is interrupted when a tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan tears through the Tempestus. Both forces find themselves struggling to survive against an utterly alien foe, and ultimately withdraw to reinforce their own borders.

Late M41

• Spread out by its initial contact with Idrias' and Muirthandil's forces, the Tyranid swarm continues to wreak havoc on isolated systems throughout the Segmentum. Considerable resources have to be diverted to keep the swarm from growing.
• The ripples of a terrible premonition stir the minds of the Seer Council. They fear the worst.
• A cadre of Warp Raiders attempt to plunder Lugganath for its artifacts. They make off with a number of rare items before being expelled, and brutally dismember the eldest of the craftworld's Seer Council, but the true object of their search, a wonder of the Black Library, is swapped for a replica. It explodes in Warpspace, shredding one of the Warp Raider vessels and hurling its crew to the mercies of the Immaterium.
• Fleeing from their own twisted kin, the Agdagath Necron Dynasty seek to enslave the populaces of several Custodian worlds on the fringe of the Empire. Recovered from their previous losses, the grim warhosts of Kher-Ys move to counter the threat, and sector is caught between two opposing legions of implacable, seemingly deathless warriors.
• Purchased by an unknown employer, knights of House Rammstein assault the farthest Corsair Princedoms of the western fringe, accompanied by a motley of human and Tarellian mercenaries. Finding the demeanor of the knight House appreciable, the Princes make a game of warring with them. In particular, Prince Drulliac of the Black Suns delights in the chance to match his personalized, single-seater Eidolon Titan against the knights of Meinherz, and some even suspect that Drulliac himself funded the war.
• As the campaign stretches on, both sides begin to hire more and more mercenary assistance, and the region soon becomes a goldmine for those seeking employment as hired swords. Sabbath Ice Maidens dogfight with Tarellian gunship crews in the skies of the sector's worlds, while Negators of Guiscard Daire's Warband battle hardy detachments of Jhokanin Void-Men across the airless, mineral-rich moons of Aiathoc.
• The stalemate between Craftworld Kher-Ys and the Agdagath Dynasty is resolved, against all odds, by diplomacy; the Seer Council of Iybraesil intervening. Covert bargains are made, and the Agdagath Dynasty settles to the north of the Empire, in close proximity to the farthest Corsair Princedoms of that fringe. In the following years there is a marked decrease in the number Agdagathan Necrons succumbing to the Flayer Plague. Soon after, the Eldar of Craftworld Alaitoc declare the Resurgent Empire anathema, and begin spreading word to similarly conservative Craftworlds that something must be done about the worsening degeneracy of their kin.
• No longer finding the wars in the west humorous, Craftworld Yme-Loc mobilizes its Titan Hosts, joining the fray. Eventually the invaders are pushed back and the region stabilizes, though not before Prince Cruachellen of the Twilight Swords falls before the blades of House Rammstein. A noted Khainite, his heir swears revenge, promising that she will paint the void red with the blood of House Rammstein's favored sons.
• A Chaos Cult is uprooted on the border world of Israbael. The planet is plunged into civil war, the traitors having even infiltrated its Seer Council and much of its warhost. Eventually, the planet is abandoned when the cultists re-purpose its Webway gates to draw their infernal masters from the Warp. The Empire scrabbles to investigate any and all possibilities of similar Chaos corruption. Many Corsair Princes face such accusations, and react with indignation. A secretive circle of Warlocks with previous ranger or Scorpion experience is formed to watch their realms from the shadows and strike down any hint of corruption.

Early M42

• Jhainen Khaine-Handed, a hero thought killed in a controlled distort detonation, emerges from the Warp, initially believing herself gone for merely a year. She immediately sets out in her Hemlock fighter, pursuing some unknown cause.
• Forces of the Extropian Collective are reported to be preying upon isolated worlds at the very edge of the Empire. Gathering a hundred Corsair Fleets, Prince Yriel hunts these vultures back to their own territories. He is joined by the forces of Duke Sliscus, and the two persecute a bloody campaign of revenge and/or enjoyment against the Collective's outer territories, withdrawing only when they are certain that the Extropians will reconsider their aggression.
• As prior visions of doom begin to crystallize into a definite form, twin Farseers Sgathaich and Aoifea deliver a message to Commorragh through their Corsair intermediaries
• Catastrophe strikes in the form of a Dark Crusade. The Forces of Chaos rampage through Segmentum Tempestus, the Crusader States amassing their full force to counter the wave of death. In the midst of the Crusade, forces belonging to the Silver Spears besiege the western worlds of the Empire. As the Dark Crusade is gradually driven back across the upper Tempestus, more and more Chaos Marines join their brothers in the assault.
• Intent on carving through the Empire and securing further tracts of the Segmentum, the Undying Scions launch another attack from the galactic east. The Empire is caught between two vying forces, both intent on grinding it to dust and fighting for supremacy atop its ashes. Only minimal forces can be redirected from the galactic west, but Wraithseer Muirthrandil spearheads the counter-offensive, sensing the hand of his old foe Idrias.
• While the warhosts mobilized to the west begin to push back the forces of Chaos, the Undying Scions tear through the satellite Corsair states in the east, the defense steadily losing ground. When it seems that the Scions will soon breach the Blackstone Array and penetrate deep into the heartlands of the Empire, the Eldar forces dig in, determined to hold the line, choosing to lay down their lives to grant their comrades in the west even a tiny morsel of time. Determined to inflict as much damage as possible upon the Scions, they take the conflict to new heights of brutality.
• On the world of Ikarius II (Rhondgromryn to the Eldar), Muirthandil and Idrias meet once again, but again, their feud is interrupted. Stirred by Sgathaich and Aoifea's promise that Sarco Funerus would be present, a full compliment of Negators descend upon the world, the Giantslayer himself at their fore. A maelstrom of blood and carnage envelops the planet.
• Eventually realizing that he has been tricked, Aodhán explodes into a furious rage, distraught at Sarco's absence, howling for his brother. His Legions rampage across the sector, battling Eldar and Astartes alike, until a tenuous alliance sees Idrias and Muirthrandil leading a vast host of venerable giants against the Warp-touched Primarch. Eventually overcome, a sullen Aodhán withdraws to his flagship, the Answerer, departing the sector. In a fit of spite, he tracks down Sgathaich and Aoifea in their personal vessel and returns to the Webway with them in tow, claiming them as payment for his services.
• Both sides still licking their wounds, the Scions and Muirthrandil's forces retreat, leaving a decimated system in their wake. The Eldar still in fighting shape move to reinforce their comrades in the west.
• Against the flood of Chaos Legions there is little that can be done, it seeming an almost foregone conclusion that the Eldar will have to sterilize many worlds in the outer regions of their empire, denying their enemies significant gains and starving them of resources
• The first battles of this campaign are successful, Corsair fleets working to pull apart the Chaos-worshippers’ supply lines while the steadily retreating Imperial hosts annihilate the worlds behind them. The invaders are slower to feel the effects of this tactic than expected, however, and many Autarchs become fearful that they will have to sterilize vast swathes of the Empire in order to starve their enemies out.
• Sensing defeat, Prince Yriel gathers several Corsair fleets for a bloody, last-ditch effort to strike at the very heart of the Silver Spears forces, a Keeper of Secrets known as Heartslayer. Against all odds, the campaign is successful, and Yriel himself strikes the ancient daemon down, though the Spear of Twilight drains him of all life in the process. With their greatest anchor in the physical realm destroyed, many of the daemons marching alongside their mortal allies gradually fade out of realspace, and the Eldar begin to establish a permanent bulwark against the invaders.
• In an event unprecedented, the Spear of Twilight sees fit to return the very last spark of Prince Yriel’s life to him. Awe of his feats spreads throughout the Empire, and the Council of Iyanden sees fit to present him with the Armour of Eldanesh, its plating stained crimson with the blood of the ancient hero. The armour accepts him, and, with its strength fueling his tattered body, Yriel returns to the fray.
• The forces of Chaos are finally ousted, pressure from both the resurgent Eldar and the Crusader States pushing them far from the Empire's borders.
• Prince Yriel returns to a hero's welcome upon Iyanden. Granted the position of supreme commander of Iyanden’s fleet, many Eldar begin to refer to him as the Phoenix King, whispering that he is Eldanesh reborn. Unprecedented numbers of Corsair Princes pledge themselves to his service, and several minor Craftworlds set course for the Empire.
• Somewhere in the Webway, Eldrad Ulthran keks heartily.

Recent Events

• House Rosier of the Dark Worlds, bolstered by a horde of eager mercenaries, declares that they have been delivered a quest from the lips of the Dark Prince Herself. Its daemon-knights march upon the worlds of the Eldar Empire.
• On the eastern fringe of the Empire, a distraught Eldar maiden experiences a virgin birth. The child grows to boyhood within a day, unleashing a psychic scream that levels the citadel of its birth. Reborn into the Materium, the Prince of Thorns vanishes into the depths of space. Later investigations unearth a Slaaneshi cult dwelling beneath the ruined city.
• A warband of Silver Spears join House Rosier's crusade, eager to offer the souls of the Eldar to their unholy prince. They are joined by roving bands of piratical cultists.
• Iyanden devotes the entirety of its strength to countering the threat, supported by the Titan Hosts of Yme-Loc. Prince Yriel, clad in the Armour of Eldanesh, leads the counter-offensive.
• Jhainen Khaine-Handed's wraithfighter is spotted emerging from the Webway near Star Fort Brightroar, firing on the Repulsive Class Grand Cruiser Hand of Iron with an unknown weapon, shredding its sensor arrays and allowing the nearby Warhawks strike fleet to pick it apart at their leisure. Seeming to move with unnatural swiftness through the Webway, the hero out of time soon reappears on Follax IV, accompanying a Lawbringer of the Kor Protectorate.
• Sgathaich and Aoifea, by now used to captivity, convince the Primarch of the Negators to foil the Silver Spears, a feat made simple by Aodhán's bitter hatred for Kashaln. The Warband of Rhydderch Kane sets out to test their mettle against the sons of Kashaln.