Nightfall (elfy stuff from Konrad....no really!)

[Konrad]

I was kicking around some ideas for a Necro-style skirmish game set before the Fall of the Eldar civilization, just as they were poised to destroy themselves. Don't get me wrong. I hate elves, eldar and anything with pointy ears and have since I was 10 years old, reading Tolkein for the first time.
But, I do like the miniatures. They are pretty. And while I'd never paint an army of them, a dozen or so would be fun.
I wrote this to introduce the various factions you could play and illustrate why they are set against each other.
I apologize for it being long and wordy, but hey, it's a bunch of panzies having a powwow, what would you expect otherwise?

An Introduction
Setting:
In the distant future, or perhaps the distant past; for a million years the Eldar race has ruled an empire spanning a million worlds. They are unmatched by any other power in Galaxy. Other races remain too primitive to pose any threat to Eldar dominance, or remain dormant…for the time being.
With every want, desire or whim instantly fulfilled with the aid of technologies that border on magical, they have turned inward. The Eldar seek perfection. The arts, philosophy, and culture are all bent to this search.
This search is called the Path.
But what is perfection? And more practically, who defines it? It is a question debated for millennia. A question debated with increasing regularity and escalating intensity of late.

The Scene:
A gathering of princes, esteemed sages, captains of commerce, beings at whose word armadas of starships sail, worlds formed, or destroyed. They are gathered far from prying eyes-and minds. The Eldar are a psychic race, for whom thoughts are as much a part of language as the words on this page are for you. The scene is played in a language of holographic images, mentally summoned from microscopic projectors, of gestures more graceful and subtle than human imagining, and words, if spoken at all, a chorus of poetry and meaning.

The Cast:

The Guardian: This vigilant knight is a defender of the Eldar people and the Path. The Guardian has battled against all the horrors the Galaxy has to offer and remained ever victorious.

The Seer: With amazing psychic foresight, the Seer casts an unflinching gaze into the tangled skeins of fate. His purpose is to divine the proper course of the Path through the perils of the future.

The Exodite: The Exodite is a pioneer an explorer. Forsaking (or forsaken by) the tame home worlds, the Exodite seeks to forge the Path in the endless frontiers offered by the cosmos.

The Cabalist: The Cabalist is a revolutionary. It seeks to free its people and the Path from the fetters of stale tradition. Eldar technology offers endless physical and sensory enhancements, stimulation, and experiences. These are the tools by which the Path will be attained.

The Solitaire: Merely and actor, nothing more, nothing less.



1.
The Seer: We are gathered to discuss the foretold danger to the Path. For too long the leaders of our people have been divided by Faction. With factions come inevitable…. extremes. This extreme behavior threatens the very fabric of our society and the Path.

The Guardian: Of course there must be unity. If all adhered to our ancient traditions, this factionalism would not exist. The extremes our colleague refers to, the increasing violence, the breakdown of public order, in public morality , can and will be curbed. The Path will be preserved, with a firm hand, if necessary.

The Exodite: And who’s hand would that be?

The Guardian: (Turns slowly on her heavy heel, armored boots scrape the polished floor.)
That’s what we are here to discuss, is it not?

The Cabalist: (To the Exodite) Both our friends are here to discuss control, but the Path is not control. It is Freedom. (To the others) And freedom, personal freedom, leads to the Self. To fulfill the Self with new experiences is the Path. But you would still fetter the Path with your rules. The “excesses” you speak of are merely the side effects of change. To elevate ourselves and the Path we must change. But you see all change as corruption.

The Seer: And what real knowledge do you find in your pleasure palaces, with your psyche and senses stroked and coddled? You think you are free? You are merely intoxicated. You would close our people’s eyes to their destiny….

The Guardian: And duty…

The Seer: …..and lead them to their doom, the blind leading the blinded.

The Exodite: The same stale arguments from a stagnant, jaded empire. (Turning a weathered face, tanned by the light of a 1000 suns to the glimmering starscape beyond the crystal ceiling)
Our people must look again to the stars. In taming new worlds, we can again make real decisions with real consequences, take real responsibility. That’s the only real freedom. We can’t be free if our people can only (to the Guardian) March to your parade music, or
(To the Seer) jerk on the strings you would spin for us, or (to the Cabalist) fill their souls with decadent pastimes. The Path is a quest. And we won’t find it here (gesturing to the circle) but out there (gesturing to the infinite).

The Cabalist: (It’s steely teeth extending in rage, poisoned tongue coiling) And you find more meaning digging in the mud with your –monkeigh- = (non-Eldar, primitive, derogatory)? Just what is it about your own people you hate so much?

The Exodite: You have to ask?

The Guardian: (to the Exodite) You talk of responsibility. What about your responsibility to the Empire? The smuggling and piracy of your fleets….

The Exodite: Is a natural response to your exorbitant tithes and trade sanctions. You won’t admit you need the raw material we can supply, or at least you aren’t willing to trade for it.

The Seer: Our people have not always ruled the Galaxy. When you in your wandering awaken one of those ancient powers, who then will you come running to?

The Cabalist (its fangs again sheathed) How boring. We come to discuss the future of our civilization, and you bicker about taxes.

The Seer: These disputes are easily predicted, the solutions easily foreseen. If you would come to us for guidance, allowed us to mediate….

The Guardian and Exile: You mean meddle!

The Cabalist: Speaking of which, the prime meddler in these affairs has remained uncharacteristically silent. Don’t think we’ve forgotten you. You and your guilds of play actors and charlatans always seem to be in the thick of these troubles.

The Solitaire (a slender figure, clothed in a domino pattern of rainbow and midnight) And what better place for a fool than in the thick of trouble? That’s how you write comedy.

The Cabalist (hissing) Be careful your comedy does not take a tragic turn. Continue to meddle in my affairs and you will be writing a different story.

The Solitaire: (shrugging innocently, the grotesque grin carved into his jester’s mask somehow widening)
Me? Meddle? When?

The Cabalist: Most recently, just as a host of my devotees, were one the verge of concluding a ritual of enlightenment, to elevate their Selves to a higher understanding, a troupe of your buffoons intervened. The result was a cataclysmic. The delicate psychic balance of the ritual was destroyed, as were the minds and souls of many of my followers.

The Solitaire: Oh, yes. Well, that was me. It does seem through my bumbling the vampiric psychic horror you were unleashing consumed the souls of the priests conducting the ritual instead of the drugged and duped victims prepared for it. I am such a butterfingers. But honestly, it was dark, everyone was wearing black hoods, and the poor thing was just starving. Really no wonder things got a little confused.

(There is a low, rating rumble. All turn to see the Guardian, her head tilted back, long unused laughter growling from deep within her ornate war helm.)

The Guardian: Now that is funny.

(In a blur of motion, the masked head of the Solitaire tumbles from his shoulders and rolls to the floor, the mask still grinning. The body drops to its knees as the Cabalist’s razored claws melt back into its hands. From the severed trunk, a spray of confetti erupts and from inside a simple children’s song, untranslatable, but perhaps similar in tone to “Pop Goes the Weasel” plays. The body then crumbles to dust.)

The Cabalist: (licking its nails) A simulacrum. How disappointing.

The Seer: But not unexpected. Our friend….

All others: Your friend perhaps!

The Seer …has merely demonstrated where this factionalism will continue to lead. The Harlequin guilds seek to intervene where they feel the danger I spoke of earlier is present. But I fear their lack of…clarity… and love of mystery lead them to intervene unnecessarily.

The Exodite: You mean he meddles with your rituals too.

The Seer: (continues unfazed) To steer our people back to the Path requires us to turn to our greatest tool, the powers of the mind, our intellect. Not to riddles and …pranks (gesturing to the mask grinning up from the floor) or (to the Cabalist) surrendering to our animal instincts.

The Cabalist: (steps closer the Seer, its body flowing into a softer form.) You shouldn’t fear your instincts.. (Wings erupt from its back) Ride them. (With a powerful gust it takes flight, disappears down a long, dark, serpentine tunnel.)

The Exodite: I think I’ve wasted enough time here too. I have real work to do.
(With a gesture a doorway opens to reveal a long transparent corridor. In the distance a fleet of graceful starships unfurl gossamer sails. The Exodite steps onto a current of air and is carried to his waiting vessel.)

The Guardian: You and the others must face facts. These are dangerous times, and the worse is yet to come. Dangerous times require obedience, dedication to duty, and unfailing vigilance. That is the Path. All your sciences, predictive powers, sage wisdom, all your planning and your scheming were unable to prevent the current situation. Why should anyone believe they are able to solve now it?

The Seer: You must understand there are no easy solutions. The patterns of probability are presently….

The Guardian: There you are wrong. There are easy solutions, if we are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices.
(With a bow, Iridium scales begin to softly glow, then flare white-hot, a thunderclap, and she is gone.)

(The Seer commands the walls of the chamber to fade, revealing all to have been standing within a crystal sphere, suspended within a tower. Below, for miles and miles the rest of the Craftworld can be seen. A glittering emerald dream, pulled into existence from the psychic realm, molded by the mental powers of the Seers.　A planet would be but a clod of dirt compared to this flawless gemstone. Another thought lifts the Solitaire’s grinning countenance from the floor. Looking into its eyes for a moment the Seer “speaks”. )

The Seer: You, of all the others at least, must understand the perilous path we now tread. You also look into the web of fate. You too see the danger, the enemy that all the strands of the future are ensnared with. For our people to survive the coming times we must be united. We must be guided by our rational powers, our logic. Not by bands of warlords, outcasts and freaks. Consider this, join your Guilds with my Councils. Together we could guide, coerce if necessary, the other factions, one-by-one back to the Path. Use your reason for once.

The Mask: Sorry, but I have reasonably, reasoned Reason is out of Season, and therefore must decline your invitation.

The Seer: Yes, yes always answer with a riddle. With that being the case, let me make my self clear. One, stay out of my affairs. Two, pick up your toys when you are finished with them. Three, get off my ceiling.
(A patch of blackness above blurs and glimmers for a moment. The Solitaire lightly flips from his unseen perch, high above and plucks his mask out of the air)

The Solitaire: How about two out of three? (and disappears in a puff of smoke)

(The Seer stands alone with his thoughts, his plans, and the encroaching endless night.

[Primarch]

Intriguing. I really enjoyed reading that, thanks Konrad.

[me_in_japan]

A nice story, with some rather dandy turns of phrase An enjoyable read, really

Now, if all it is is a nicely written story, then all is well. If you actually intend to do like you say in the intro, then I am afraid there is incoming rain on your parade. MiJ is about to don his aspect of Eldar Fluff Monster...
I apologise in advance for the remainder of this post

*kowtows dramatically, with much arm flapping and head bowing*

right. I shall proceed with the inclement precipitation...

The Eldar seek perfection. The arts, philosophy, and culture are all bent to this search.
This search is called the Path.

The eldar path didnt exist before the fall. It was created after the fall with the express purpose of preventing an eldar's soul from being eaten by slaanesh. Prior to the Fall, there was no need for a Path. They weren't seeking perfection, either. They were just lazy and selfish.

The Guardian: ~
The Seer: ~
The Exodite: ~
The Cabalist: ~
The Solitaire: ~

If timed correctly (and Im assuming that it would be) its possibly, maybe, possible that all of these archetypes would have existed at the same time, but the exodites (who were pretty hardcore puritans, btw) would have had nothing to do with the rest of em, as by the time they were leaving (and becoming exodites), the other eldar had pretty much lost it. Civilisation was gone. Taking the other terms purely as descriptors rather than as exact matches to their roles in the 41st millenium, it could be argued that regular army boys, psychic dudes, and future-dark eldar (hippies!) could exist. Solitaires would not, as Harlequins exist to tell the tale of the fall. Thats what they do. Before the fall, there were no harlequins. There may have been a Cegorach, in which case, I call first dibs on using the solitaire, as he would, in fact, be a god.

However, the seers would not use runes, and the hippies would not be all evil and killy. That came later. They'd just be permanently stoned. By the time they became psycho killers with metal teeth n whatnot, it was all week-long orgies, blood in the streets, and eldar sacrifices all over the place. I have no idea what the guardian would be like.

Below, for miles and miles the rest of the Craftworld can be seen.

There were no craftworlds before the fall, either. By the time they were being built, again, it was pretty much all over. That's why they were built. It was a kinda last ditch "run for the hiiiiiiills" thing.

I'm sure there are other wee nitpicky problems, but those uns are the ones that pretty much cause the biggest problems with the concept. However I do rather like the idea of an eldar based skirmish game. (For obvious reasons.) I reckon if you did a bit o homework and read up on the eldar/dark eldar/birth of slaanesh fluff then you could come up with something to tie it all together. If theres anything I can do to help, let me know, onegai. Incidentally, it might not even need to be set before the fall - theyre not like Marines and CSM - eldar, dark eldar and exodites do sometimes interact (in a non-killing kinda way) and harlequins pretty much go where they want and are buddies with all of em, so you could maybe even set it in the 41st millenium, which would make life a bit easier, conversion wise.

OK, Fluff Monster Aspect Helm has been removed.

apologies again

If I am wrong on any of the above, I look forward to being called on it I am sure whoever does so will enjoy it thoroughly

[Seb]

Thank you Konrad, Since I don't now anything except for the really basic Eldar fiction I was able to enjoy the well written story, the quality was high.

[Konrad]

I knew I could count on the fluff monster. Thanks, for your points and I packed my umbrella anticipating rain.
I imagine I'm taking liberties with the official fluff. I looked at it as a starting point, not the box everything had to fit into.
I was trying to imagine what would be the forces that would be driving Eldar society before it all came apart, and give those forces a (plausible?) reason to dress up in silly outfits and shoot each other.
I'm glad you mentioned that there was no Eldar Path, before the Fall. I didn't think of that. But I don't see why there would not be. The Eldar in this game would need to fight for something besides territory or loot. Why not, "The Path", the one true way to perfection, truth and all that good stuff? Sure, most of them (like real people) were probabaly just lazy and selfish. Not the types that make good characters for miniature skirmish games.
Having Aspects fighting Exodites fighting Harlequins makes each warband type (I'm calling them "Factions") unique. Having "House" Biel-Tan fighting "House" Sam-hain for loot just does not seem right or seem very interesting. A setting in the 41st millenium feels somewhat redundant. It would be easier to just make Necro house rules for Eldar in that case.
I don't think that it would be a great stretch to say that all the different archetypes could exist concurrently.
Even though the birth of Slanesh was supposed to be instantaneous, the situation that created it would have been a long time forming. Eldar civilization is supposed to be what? hundreds of thousands? millions? of years old. There would have always been soldiers, pioneers, killy hippies (sure most are harmless, but they are not any fun in miniatures games), prophets and storytellers of some sort.
I didn't remember that there were no Harliquins before the Fall. Don't see why there couldn't be. There would still be lots of stories to tell. Lots of ointments to put flies in. I didn't know that there were no Craftworlds before the Fall either. As the end came overnight, they must have really churned them out in a hurry. Maybe the craftworld in question is the first!
Thanks again.
I'm singing in the rain, just singing in the raiiiiin!