Phoenix Lord

The Phoenix Lords are the founders of the Eldar's Aspect Warrior shrines, and are the authorities on what it means to practice their respective Aspects. They embody their Aspects so completely that their students often get trapped in that Aspect and become Exarchs. Think of them as legendary (im)mortal heroes of Khaine.

As of the 41st Millennium, the Phoenix Lords are not properly alive any more; their spirits have integrated themselves with their armor, so if they do fall in battle, they can be resurrected by having someone new don the suit, and they're back in action, though the unfortunate Eldar who dons the suit gets overwritten by the original Phoenix Lord's personality and memories. Yes...that does suck as much as it sounds.

On the battlefield, they wield upgraded versions of their Aspect's weapons and have all of the powers available to their Aspect's Exarchs (unsuprising, considering that they taught their Aspect everything) and strike a variety of fantastic battle poses. It has been years since the models have been updated though so come on GW; tear yourself away from the new ultramarines for a moment and give us some kickass new phoenix lord models!

Supposedly, these Lords will be heavily involved in the final battle against Chaos; given that Phoenix King is one of Asuryan's titles, there may be something to this rumor. Yet for being such rumoured big characters in the endgame, GW continues to underuse them in the fluff, which is a crying shame.

Asurmen

Asurmen, the Hand of Asuryan, was the first Phoenix Lord and the one who led the flight of the Craftworld Eldar from the collapsing Eldar empire, and later founded the Dire Avenger Aspect and the Path of the Warrior. He founded more of his shrines than any of the later Phoenix Lords. Many of his students, known as the Asurya, went on to found Aspects of their own.

Jain Zar

Jain Zar, the Storm of Silence, was one of Asurmen's first students and later founded the Howling Banshees Aspect. She still visits all of the shrines to her Aspect every century or so.

Baharroth

Baharroth, the Cry of the Wind, founded the jump pack-toting Swooping Hawks aspect. He was the youngest (and most energetic) of Asurmen's first class of students.

Arhra

Arhra, the Father of Scorpions, (also called the Fallen Phoenix) founded the Striking Scorpions Aspect. Somewhere along the way, he fell to Chaos, and left the Craftworlds. He is suspected to be the Dark Eldar character Drazhar, Master of Blades and Hierarch of the Incubi (which he got by killing the previous Hierarch and his bodyguards).

Karandaras

Karandaras, the Shadow Hunter, is the current Phoenix Lord of the Striking Scorpions. Arhra's greatest pupil, he took on his master's role after his master fell and became the Dark Eldar Incubus master Drazhar (exactly how he did this is unknown). While he is more loyal to the Craftworlds, he is no less mysterious than his predecessor.

Fuegan

Fuegan, the Burning Lance, founded the Fire Dragons Aspect. He was thought lost when Arhra tried to destroy Asurmen's shrine, but he turned up later to fight Chaos on an Exodite world. He is supposed to be the one to call the other Phoenix Lords to the final battle against Chaos, and will be the last of them to die.

Maugan Ra

Maugan Ra, the Harvester of Souls, founded the Dark Reapers Aspect. He was the first Phoenix Lord to include ranged weapons as part of his Aspect; his personal weapon is the Maugetar (which is a great name for a musical instrument), which is a beefed-up shuriken cannon with a scythe-like built-in power blade, thus achieving the ultimate fusion of dakka and choppy. His Craftworld, Altansar, got sucked into the Eye of Terror, but during Abaddon's thirteenth Black Crusade, he managed to drag it back out. Maugan Ra also managed to somehow solo a Tyranid Hive Fleet. Between this and the legends surrounding him, he's the Eldar version of Chuck Norris. He's also a teamkilling fucktard who murdered the Bonesinger who taught him how to forge the Maugetar just in case he decided to make something better.

Irillyth

Irillyth, the Shade of Twilight, founded the Shadow Spectres Aspect. He had a vision that his craftworld, Mymeara, would be destroyed unless he took action to end the threat preemptively. He gathered up a bunch of warriors from Mymeara and went to find them, and they were victorious, but they also never returned, so everyone figured that that was the end of the Shadow Spectres. Later, they found the world that he and his army had invaded, an ice planet colonized by the Imperium of Man in the meantime, and so they raided it and got his armor back, thus reviving him and his Aspect (and explaining why neither he nor his Aspect were represented in the Eldar codices to date).

Irillyth (along with the Shadow Spectres) was created and sculpted by Forge World for Imperial Armour Volume Eleven: The Doom of Mymeara.

Drastanta

Drastanta, the Tempest of Starlight, was lord of the Shining Spears. Drastanta was really full of himself and like to go on needless solo battles. This backfired horribly during the Fall were because of this it got Asurmen killed for the first time. After blowing up the Keeper of Secrets who did it, Drastanta went out to found the Shining Spears and then went into self-exiled leaving his weapon behind. His lance is currently with Craftworld Iyanden.

Living proof that Matt Ward can add a character without canon rape. Guess even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Why the Phoenix Lords are Badasses

Well, let's start with Asurmen:

1. He is the start of all this Aspect Warrior stuff and personally led the first Craftworld Eldar out of their doomed worlds, so the entire reason the Eldar still exist is due to him.
2. Kinda like the Smurfs, they wear the hat of tactical adaptability. Unlike them, however, they don't lord themselves over the rest of the shrines like chumps. And they especially don't slave themselves over an oversized book.
3. He is SO BADASS that even lesser races have legends about him. We don't know what these feats are, but they must be impressive if people OTHER than eldar are talking about them.

Jain-Zar, the Storm of Silence:

1. She's considered the second-oldest of the Phoenix Lords, so she's definitely got a ton of experience and respect under her belt.
2. Head of perhaps of the most populous of the Aspect Shrines, a bunch of sword-and-spear swinging ladies, and unlike some of the others, still teaches her students the ways of the shrine.
3. In Aaron Dembski-Bowden's novel Void Stalker she actually makes Night Lords feel a mild reaction of fear.
4. Her mask liquefies brains. That is all.

Baharroth, the Cry of the Wind:

1. Fastest fucker in the known galaxy. No nid, no Warp-cocaine addict, no White Scar on some super-bike, could potentially capture him.
2. Dude was considered the best of Asurmen's students, and considering the responsibilities these Aspect Warriors hold, that's a high expectation that they have to live up to.

Fuegan, the Burning Lance:

1. He and his shrine have probably the most brutal of guns, capable of cooking holes in fortress walls and turning tanks into puddles.
2. Has fought one-on-one with a Greater Daemon, and won. Several times.
3. Fuegan's prophecised to be the last of the Phoenix Lords to go down during the Eldar's sparkly-elf-pocalypse, so to keep that up, he's gotta be the most ruthless of bastards; and with a gun like his, expect to see everything you know and love reduced to ashes.

Arhra, the Fallen Phoenix:

1. You know those fancy Incubi everyone with a Dark Eldar army uses? Well he's the granddaddy to those elite face-stompers. Have fun with that.

Karandras, the Shadow Hunter:

1. Considering that Arhra got fucked up, it's a miracle he's able to hold on to his job, considering the grudges Eldar hold.
2. Dude at one point fought Drahzar (who may or may not be Arhra) for almost three weeks before deciding to piss him off so royally that he just decided to let the bastard RAGE at anything he found in his way, most of it being his own students. Reports heard him laughing all the way back about how it was all just as planned.
3. Kinda was hit by a Dreadnought, killing him. That might sound like FAIL, but he was holding up one of the Dreadnoughts feet. A dreadnoughts. Foot/claw/whatever. He was supporting part of the Dreadnought, while pushing a Dark Eldar warrior out of the risk zone. That being the Dreadnoughts foot. Did I mention he was holding up part of the Dreadnought? I didn't? Well he was.

Maugan Ra, the Reaper of Souls:

1. Maugan Ra dragged Altansar, his Craftworld, out of the Eye of Terror.
2. He defeated an entire Tyranid invasion swarm by himself.
3. Killed a Hive Tyrant by fucking standing beneath it, raising his gun, and taking the ENTIRE WEIGHT OF THE ENTIRE FUCKING THING ON HIS GUN, BISECTING IT!! SERIOUSLY, THIS DUDE HAS MORE BADASS MOMENTS THAN ANY OTHER CHARACTER!!!
4. Forging his badass scythe/gun by dicking around in the Eye of Terror (Even had an Exarch to morph into an avatar of Khaine and stab its heart to have his scythe tempered).
5. He had the harlequins to have his story published to the Eldar kind so they would piss themselves everytimes when the story was told.

Irillyth, the Forge World exclusive Shade of Twilight:

1. Has a very damn fancy concept for a shrine: Mini stealth battlesuits with enough weaponry to make the Tau's stealthsuits blush.
2. Guy had to be seriously patient if he was able to survive decades, if not centuries, stuck in his armor, just waiting, waiting, for the time he'd get out and then just go back to fighting when he does.

Drastanta, the Tempest of Starlight:

1. Killed a Keeper of Secrets, stabbing it so hard its soul EXPLODED.

Having considered all of this, it is mind boggling that GW doesn't expand their fluff a bit more and give them more their due. The most badass space elves ever!