Craftworld Iyanden

Iyanden
Capital	Iyanden
Official Languages	Eldar
Power	Minor Power
Size	Craftworld
Head of State	High Farseer
Head of Government	Seer Council
Governmental Structure	Meritocratic Magocracy
State Religion/Ideology	Eldar Mythology
Demographic	Eldar
Military Force	Craftworld Guardians Craftworld fleet Aspect Warrior hosts Wraith hosts Eldritch Raiders Corsair allies

Craftworld Iyanden (spelled with an I, not an L) is one of the major Eldar craftworlds. It suffered heavily from an attack by Hive Fleet Kraken, losing four out of every five Eldar before Autarch-turned-Corsair Yriel managed to drive out the Hive Fleet. As a result, Craftworld Iyanden is forced to rely heavily on Wraith constructs to keep them afloat in combat, and half of the ones alive are probably Bonesingers. They suffered further when WAAAGH Rekkfist invaded the craftworld, and they were nearly overrun when the Dark Eldar of the Kabal of the Wraithkind appeared from the Webway to save them. After the battle, the Seer Council inquired why the Dark Eldar had saved them, and they replied that they thought Iyanden's angst over using Wraith constructs was so hilarious that they couldn't let them die. So grimdark.

History

Iyanden, like every other modern-day craftworld, came into its own after the Fall of the Eldar. While many of the other craftworlds tucked their tails and ran away to go hide under their cosmic beds while the boogey(wo)man feasted on their kin, Iyanden was among the first of the craftworlds to actually pick themselves up and resolve to do something about it. The Infinity Circuit was invented by the seers of Iyanden as part of their initial efforts to rebuild the Aeldari Empire for themselves. It was actually the Phoenix Lord Maugan Ra who created the idea of the Infinity Circuit, and of integrating it into the heart of their craftworld as a simultaneous psychic power source and pseudo-afterlife; this led to him being given the nickname Harvester of Souls. Though they tried to use this innovation to get the other craftworlds' heads out of their asses and help them make the galaxy great again, almost all of them simply accepted the Infinity Circuit technology and kindly told Iyanden to go fuck themselves. The sole exception was Biel-Tan, another major craftworld that craved the conquest and glory of old. The alliance would prove fruitful, with the two craftworlds almost completely cleansing the Orks from the galactic south. However, this wouldn't last.

Though Biel-Tan and Iyanden both wanted to make a glorious new empire as an end goal, tensions started to rise over the means to reach it. Iyanden was primarily focused on cleansing Chaos influence from the galaxy and actually building up colonies gradually to form the foundations of a new empire, while Biel-Tan was beginning to devolve into something of a psychopathic, xenocidal murder-hobo bent on the eradication of all non-sanctioned life found squatting on any of their (former) worlds. Iyanden would grow increasingly uneasy with the actions of Biel-Tan, and would cut off their alliance, much to the fury of Biel-Tan, who considered their former allies to be nothing but a bunch of weak-willed traitors.

Despite their separation, Iyanden remained the most populous craftworld until they encountered a massive Tyranid Hive Fleet that they grossly underestimated; after all, they are still Eldar. Iyanden had grown complacent in their position of power and dismissed Eldrad's warnings out of hand, believing that he was just overstating the threat to gain influence.

They would pay dearly for their pride, and although they eventually drove off the hive fleet, Iyanden suffered countless casualties and lost four out of every five Eldar within Iyanden's halls. This embodiment of a Pyrrhic victory reduced the formerly most populous craftworld to the dramatically underpopulated husk it is today. Such is their dire state that they now heavily rely on the dead to fight for the living, dragging their souls from their peaceful rest only to have them enter a cold, unfeeling limbo.

Iyanden still allows alien diplomats to live for a time aboard the craftworld, and even takes part in public diplomatic visits. Iyanden is a craftworld full of pain and sorrow, but also with hope for a better tomorrow, the rebirth of a glorious future for their species.

Iyanden spent the better part of the following millennia drifting around the eastern rim, cleansing Chaos wherever it could, assisting the Dark Angels in dealing with a Fallen's Chaos insurgence, protecting a few Exodite worlds, and even gaining a few new allies in the minor Malan'tai and Idharae craftworlds. Though many of the surviving Eldar protested initially, it was around this time that Iyanden's signature Wraithguard and Wraithlords began to become a common sight within the craftworld's military. Between their efficiency and the simple fact that there weren't enough living Eldar to form the rank and file, this grim necessity was quickly accepted.

But then everything went grimdark again once they started fighting Hive Fleet Naga. Iyanden lost all its buddies as the Ybaric Cluster was isolated by a warp storm. The Invaders chapter destroyed Idharae and the Doom of Malan'tai as well. And to add even more grimdarkness, Yriel, against the wishes of the rest of the craftworld's leadership, went to battle with all of Iyanden's fleet, leaving it weakly defended. So it was that a Chaos fleet turned up at the perfect moment, which resulted in their striking the craftworld with a cyclonic torpedo, killing a few thousand and breaking their soulstones before Yriel managed to get back; this would lead to him being exiled.

Despite this, the craftworld is recovering at a rather fast rate, hopeful to return to its former glory. Fitting for its name, really. Yes, Ward wrote some noblebright in 40K, but even there, Iyanden was still doomed.

This growth has been hampered by yet more invasions though. With the spilling of the warp caused by Cadia's fall, Iyanden was once again besieged by Chaos Forces, this time three Hulks infested with Nurgle Daemons. Although small in number, these ships were impossible for the Iyanden fleet to destroy, so the craftworld instead decided to focus on terminating the Hulk's engines and fleeing. Doing so came at a high cost, including the death of Yriel (although Yvraine brought him back later because a Nurgle Daemon Prince wanted to screw over Slaanesh). The Ynnari, when leaving, also took so many of their Wraith warriors with them that some of Iyanden's citizens feared the craftworld was being left defenseless.

This turned out to be true when, again, Chaos attacked the craftworld, led by the Keeper of Secrets N'krisha, who proceeded to wreck the craftworld, and was on the verge of destroying it before the intervention of numerous different Eldar allies saved Iyanden from being destroyed yet again.

All in all, the one thing Iyanden tends to be good at is almost getting destroyed and then having someone show up to save it at the last moment, though being saved seems to be the result of making a lot of friends; being perhaps the only craftworld to truly embrace diplomacy to the extent that they do, this makes sense. There appears to have been a strong cultural emphasis placed on Iyanden, as they had a significant influence at the outset, essentially setting the form that many craftworlds would follow.

Grease Monkey of The Last Chancers was punished for stealing the personal vehicle of an Iyanden ambassador and taking it on a joyride. This implies that Iyanden may have diplomatic ties with a few Imperial planets, similar to arrangements between individual Imperial planets and other craftworlds.

Recent Events

Iyanden, being a craftworld almost entirely made up of the dead, unsurprisingly came to support the burgeoning Ynnari in their efforts to bring Ynnead to full power.To this end, only a very small portion of Iyanden's seers even oppose the Ynnari as a faction, and even then the primary reason isn't what they're trying to accomplish; they're simply worried that too many of their (ghost) warriors will march off and leave an already critically underpopulated Craftworld defenseless.

The craftworld that gets shit done

Their symbol, which looks more like a campfire than anything else. Or a Shintō shrine, which would fit with their theme of being a largely spirit-based force.

As a result of their codex supplement and the fact they are the most underused of the craftworlds, they currently have the highest number of victories of any craftworld, despite being best known as 'Nid food. This is possibly the one good thing that ever came out of Matt Ward's work.

Some of these include:

• Bringing down a Chaos Empire led by a Fallen Angel.
• Turning over that Fallen Angel to the Dark Angels, as their Farseer saw it as the worst thing they could do to him.
• Having colonies, which means they've done more to rebuild the Aeldari Empire than any other craftworld. Actual colonies, like, with cities and everything. Not “Garden of Eden feral world on easy mode with all the cheats enabled”, which is the Eldar's (especially Exodite's) idea of “roughing it”.
• Aiding in the annihilation of a minor Tyranid hive fleet.
• Right after being nommed, they defended an Exodite world from Imperial invasion. Which is odd because fluff also says they refused to protect an Exodite world from an Imperial invasion, which pissed Biel-Tan off. Different worlds? Writers not reading fluff before they write? It was, in fact, an uninhabited maiden world, and Biel-Tan is pretty much the only craftworld that cares about people camping out on maiden worlds. All craftworlds will protect maiden worlds, but Biel-Tan tends to take it to extremes.)
• Overseeing the Eldar Bio-Purge in Octarius (that is, fixing Kryptman's clusterfuck).
• During the battle, the Farseers kept seeing the craftworld fall until Iyanna rigged the outcome, saying sometimes they need to forge their own future.
• Getting M'kar to attack Ultramar, meaning they're the ones who gave Varro Tigurius nightmares about the Daemonculaba resulting in the events that led to everything Uriel Ventris did in his books.
• They combined forces with Craftworld Biel-tan in Apocalypse War Zone: Valedor to kill Hive Fleets Kraken and Leviathan once and for all (except not really) before the latter could eat them.
• Discovering the Fireheart, a pre-Fall relic that is essentially a psychically-activated agricultural tool used in the creation of planets and solar systems but can all too easily destroy a planet.
• Uncharacteristically for ancient relics in Warhammer 40,000, actually learning how to reproduce the Fireheart, so they can Exterminatus planets and deny them to the Tyranids.

Iyanden has not had it easy, what with fending off Ork assaults, Imperial fleets, the Necrons of the Sautekh Dynasty, and further Tyranid tendrils. With the coming of the Great Rift, the craftworld has also seen fresh invasions, thrice overcoming daemonic threats. Unlike most other craftworlds, Iyanden has not seen the same level of internal strife caused by the rise of Ynnead; in fact, there is almost 100% support for the new god. The Seer Council is suspicious of the Ynnari, but that's mainly because they don't want people to abandon an already critically underpopulated craftworld to join a bunch of nomads.

The Craftworld has put out a radical new idea to escape She Who Thirsts, making use of the Infinity Circuit, wraith constructs, and Dark Eldar cloning technology. Every time an Eldar dies, they can power up their new god before being housed in a Wraithguard to continue to fight, and then they can be resurrected from the dead into brand-new bodies. This morbid plan is not very popular among the other craftworlds.

TL;DR: Iyanden is the goody two-shoes of craftworlds.

Tactical Strategy and Military Doctrine

Though Iyanden once was the single largest craftworld in the galaxy, numerous Ork, Tyranid, and Chaos invasions have decimated its population to the point of borderline extinction. Though a limited number of Aspect Warriors and Guardians can be deployed as the need arises, Iyanden must often resort to fielding ghost warriors to make up the difference. Indeed, Iyanden hosts the highest numbers of Wraithguard, Wraithblades, and Wraithlords of any craftworld. These unyielding wraithbone constructs frequently form an unbreakable anvil against which to crush their enemies.

Unique Forces

• Wraithseers: Though not necessarily "unique" in the same manner as Ulthwé's Black Guardians or Saim-Hann's Wild Riders might be to their respective craftworlds, Iyanden is one of the precious few craftworlds remaining that still hosts these archaic and powerful seers. A Wraithseer uses their psychic mastery to guide fellow ghost warriors on the battlefield and rain ruin on their foes with their D-Cannons and Ghost Spears, as the soul of a powerful warlock or spirit seer resides within the chassis of a Wraithlord. Due to their scarcity and modern Spiritseers' inability to properly implant seer souls into the Wraithseer chassis, summoning one into battle is truly a last resort (even moreso than summoning any ghost warriors at all).