Craftworld Biel-tan
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| Biel-tan | ||
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| Translation | "Rebirth of Ancient Days" | |
| Location | Segmentum Pacificus, southern rim | |
| Specialty | Aspect Warriors, Exarchs | |
| Hero | Autarch Mauryon | |
| Enemy | Anyone who isn't an Eldar, especially Orks | |
| Colours | Green and white | |
Biel-tan is an Eldar Craftworld with a penchant for war. Unlike other Craftworlds, who are generally ruled by Seer Councils, Biel-tan is led by a council of Exarchs, Eldar who are trapped on the Path of the Warrior. This gives them a rather idiosyncratic view of the world and how to deal with it -- in particular, their goal is nothing less than a re-founding of the ancient Eldar empire, and to do that, they need to cleanse the galaxy of all the upstarts squatting on their planets.
They perform this cleansing by assembling an army of Aspect Warriors and Exarchs known as "the Swordwind" to raid a planet, scour the inhabitants, and leave before anyone has time to respond. They prefer to target planets that have just been colonized, as the defenders will have had less time to get stuck in -- in fact, many Explorator Fleets have discovered planets that still contain the corpses of previous settlers. If you haven't already realized it, the Eldar don't actually have enough people to colonize new worlds and the planets that Biel-Tan attacks were never Eldar worlds at any point in time, meaning their attacks are both pointless and contrary to Biel-Tan's own beliefs. However, this "cleansing planets" policy only applies to Maiden Worlds, and to invaders of Exodite Worlds and Eldar colonies, they don't wipe out all non-Eldar life on every planet they pass. To the surprise of no one this cause the alliance between Iyanden who had simpler goals (this was pre-Tyranid attack, and were most successful), to grow increasingly strained. This is why Orks are their most hated enemy; once Orks land on a planet, their spores will start to spread, and if they aren't wiped out quickly, they will be impossible to dislodge. Biel-tan armies will prioritize the eradication of Orks above all other foes, even allying with non-Eldar if that means the Orks die faster -- though they have no problem turning on their one-time allies once the Orks are defeated. That said, they have occasionally relocated human populations instead of wiping them out, so perhaps they aren't entirely racist pricks.
Biel-tan's greatest priority is protecting Exodite worlds, because they believe that the Exodites will be the foundation upon which the new Eldar empire will be built, with their planets used as staging areas for re-colonization and expansion efforts. Iyanden and Biel-tan used to work together on the "rebirth of the Eldar Empire" project, with Iyanden doing the colonizing and Biel-Tan acting as a provisional military force to protect the new colonies. However, Iyanden's refusal to aid Biel-Tan in protecting a Maiden World from Imperial attack (having decided that it would be a waste of time to do so when they could be fighting greater threats like Chaos instead) led to the alliance's dissolution, as the disagreement led to both Craftworlds assuming that the other was not as fully invested in the alliance as they were.
Unsurprising they're the largest Craftworld with crazy high birth rates compare to other Craftworlds.
For all their talk of rebuilding the Eldar Empire and so far having had ten thousand years to do it, they haven't seem to have gotten anywhere with it ... perhaps one of the biggest cases of FAIL in the 40k universe (if you blame Biel-tan, you should blame Iyanden too; Biel-tan's just the military force, Iyanden's doing the colonizing). They almost make Failbaddon look good in comparison. Almost. Despite this, one of the reasons the Imperium doesn't make a concentrated effort against the Eldar is because the one time they attempted to destroy a craftworld they failed in the disaster of Blood Nebula; the Imperium lost an entire Sector Fleet to the Eldar defenders. Realising the Eldar weren't pushovers like the Imperium thought them to be, they resolved focused only on individual threats and have never tried to destroy a Craftworld since then and provoke the Eldar's full fury. Which Craftworld this was is unknown, but it would be unsurprising if it turned out to be Biel-Tan. This is backed by the fact Biel-Tan was able to beat TWO sector fleets and effects of a dozen Space Marine chapters, in order to get just one Maiden World.