A Beginners Guide to the Warhammer 40,000 Universe

[Icarus Athrasuriel]

This project, closely related to my History of the Imperium project, and possibly needed to understand Triangulum, both of which I look forward to continuing soon, is self explanatory, and I shall begin writing it tomorrow. It is directed towards the many newbies that visit us, but even the experienced player could learn a thing or two .

[Icarus Athrasuriel]

Introduction

As I've said, this is a project designed to help newcomers to the game learn and understand the connections between various pieces of fluff. It won't go into too much detail, just a quick overview of each race then some extension stuff about the Imperium and the Universe as a whole.

There will also be several more in depth appendices that I shall write after this, so don't fret over details.

The 40k Universe

The Warhammer 40k (40,000) universe is set in the Milky Way, some 38,000 years from now. The galaxy is burning as interspecies wars threaten to extinguish all life. Of these species, the major ones are playable in the game. Those are:

• Mankind (Humanity, **** Sapiens Sapiens etc)
• The Eldar (Split into two facets of that race, the Craftworld Eldar and the Dark Eldar)
• The Tau & Allies (The Tau Empire)
• The Orks
• The Tyranids
• The Necrons
• Chaos (Encompasses many races, including corrupt humans and other aliens)

I shall include a section on each of these races as the main article, and they will be often mentioned in the appendices.

The Eldar

Part I
Appearance & Characteristics

The Eldar, as are the majority of playable races, humanoid. They do not, however, resemble humans in detail. Their limbs are long and elegant, and their features sharp, elongated and well defined. Having a faster metabolism than a human, they are quicker thinking, more fleet of foot, and generally superior to a human in most intellectual and physical ways. Like humans, though, they very from one individual to another, so though the Eldar in general are weak in strength and fragile of body compared to mankind, many are stronger than an average human, or may be tougher. Indeed, common sense leads to the conclusion that this would be replicated mentally, and therefore that there may be many humans more intelligent than the average Eldar, and some humans can be more psychically powerful than the Eldar, though they have difficulty controlling their powers and are often destroyed before they can cause harm. Therefore, in general, the Eldar are a more powerful race than man, and are also longer-lived, having life spans reaching into millennia, but never-the-less, they are not immortal, and can die of natural causes (though, due to the geo-political sphere*, for lack of a better phrase, of the 40k universe, most die in combat).

*The 40k Universe possesses no 'geo-political' sphere as far as the pure meaning of the phrase goes, but it is the best term for the conditions of each race's political positions, another phrase which is really meaningless, but is the closest I can get to a proper explanation


Part II
Early History

The Eldar have been a space faring race for all of the last 40,000 years, pre-dating humanity's efforts by many millennia. Their earlier space flights meant that they met the Old Ones, the greatest and wisest of all the space faring races in the Galaxy. The Old Ones took pleasure in educating the Eldar on the arcane secrets of the Universe, but the passing of the Old Ones occurred many thousands of years before Man's first attempts to reach space. The Eldar, even after the dying out of the Old Ones, continued to prosper, and their civilisation spread across the galaxy. Eldar space-travel is based on that of the Old Ones, warp-tunnel* engineering. Tunnels were built from star to star, passing through the warp and offering a safe and quick way of navigating from one planet to the next. This meant that the Eldar do not now need to make use of the impractical and dangerous warp-drives pioneered and widely used by the Imperium.

*The Eldar system of warp-tunnels is called the ''web-way''.


Part III
The Racial Disaster

At it's very height, the mighty and awe-inspiring Eldar civilisation collapsed spectacularly. Now, the remnants of the once almighty Eldar race reflect precisely the achievements of that age, but they cannot hope to equal them again. The Old Ones taught the Eldar of the dangers posed by the warp to them, that every thought and feeling creates a reflection in the warp. These reflections create swirling vortices and pools of pure and unrestricted energy, a collection of thought and will. Effectively beings in their own right, the Old Ones called these pools the Powers of Chaos.
Until the Fall of the Eldar, there had been three major powers, as detailed below. The reflections of the Eldar's thought and feelings became so powerful that it became the youngest of the major powers, increasing their number to four. The Eldar fell victim to this monster of their own creation: a being made of their collective ambitions, motives and feelings. As it grew, it's echoes began to seed themselves within the very minds of the Eldar themselves, planting within them the very ideals and qualities on which it fed to further it's own growth, creating a terrible cycle. The Eldar's natural ambitions, though healthy when moderated, were exacerbated to the point of obsession and insanity. In a few generations, the Eldar shrugged off all other considerations other than their ambition. The race fell into madness and decay.

There were a few, however, who heeded the warnings of the now long dead Old Ones. They turned their backs on the vicious natural inclinations that had gripped their kind, and instead looked to avert the inevitable racial disaster. They created vast spacecraft*, entire worlds, capable of traversing the very fabric of space and time. Here they dwelled untainted by the mass insanity of their race. After Eldar society collapsed and they fell into ruin, it was the civilisations of these craft that became the forefathers of all the living Eldar, the only survivors.

The Fall of the Eldar happened, apparently, as no accurate records exist, in one, single orgy of destruction. As the Power of Chaos they had created came to be of sufficient power, it began to draw all Eldar consciousness into itself, in effect draining the minds of all the exposed Eldar. Their worlds were rid of all Eldar life, almost the entire race was wiped out.

In a single explosion of warp energy, the sadomasochistic creature Slaanesh was born, made of all the energies of the fallen Eldar. So powerful was this event that it tore a hole in the veil between the two worlds, the Warp and the Universe, immaterial and material. This tear now is known as the Eye of Terror by Mankind, Occularis Terribus. This relationship is important now to the Eldar, in Slaanesh they see the worst side of their race, the inclinations and instincts that even now the survivors are prone to.

*These craft are called the Craftworlds, and therefore the Eldar dwelling in them are called the Craftworld Eldar, as opposed to the Dark Eldar, covered below.


Part IV
The Craft Worlds

The present Eldar civilisation reside within the massive Craftworlds built by their ancestors. The various sizes of these vessels can range from those almost the size of Holy Terra and the old Eldar worlds, to those that are barely a city floating in space. The craft still preserve the ancient Eldar Webway, and each contains many entrances of varying sizes, some barely large enough to allow access to a single Eldar, others allow a substantially sized vehicle through, and the largest are located within the locality of the Craftworld, almost as if in orbit, little more than a patch of darkness. These are attached to the Craftworld, and the entrances themselves are as invisible as what connects it to the Craftworld. Never-the-less, these can allow through entire fleets of Eldar ships, and some even the Craftworlds themselves.


Part V
The Infinity Circuit

The Old Ones, although they taught the Eldar of the perils of the warp, also taught them how to take advantage of it. They said that when a creature dies, it's mind passes into the warp, and if it has achieved sufficient power, intellect and wisdom, remain whole and immortal as a spirit in the warp. The Old Ones deeply believed that the object of life was to mould for one's self the perfect mind, and to therefore achieve conscious immortality in the warp as a spirit. Once an immortal spirit was created, it could reincarnate as any living creature it chooses, and would, regardless of effects brought on by it's reincarnation, return to the warp as a whole spirit. They did, however, teach that this would be impossible to achieve if one's spirit became to close to a Power of Chaos, as after death the spirit would be absorbed by the greater power, and would lose it's identity. The Eldar have now realised, though, that they can never achieve this. After their death they would be absorbed by Slaanesh and become another part of their races eternal shame. They would be only able to serve their most potent enemy. As a response to this threat, the Eldar created the Infinity circuit.

The Infinity circuit is the proper name for the repository of Eldar minds, a collection of graceful objects called the Spirit Stones. The consciousness of one or more Eldar is stored within each stone. A consciousness, though, is not quite like a living mind, and so many Eldar consciousnesses can be contained within a single stone, becoming a repository of knowledge. Though each stone is a single repository, they all share the energy of the Infinity Circuit, and are connected by this energy flowing through them.

When an Eldar dies, it's consciousness becomes temporarily preserved within a Way Stone. Way Stones, however, can only preserve a consciousness for so much time, during which the consciousness must be transferred into a Spirit Stone in order to ensure it's survival. All Eldar wear a Way Stone, into which they will pass when they die, usually upon their breast.

Each Craftworld has it's own Infinity Circuit, spread across a network of Spirit Stones in which it's past residents exist. An Infinity Circuit is effectively a massive deposit of knowledge and wisdom, and is therefore treated with the utmost respect. Each and every Eldar is aware that after his death he will become part of the Infinity Circuit, and if one dies before his spirit is gathered, it is regarded as a great loss and a terrible fate.
There are many smaller Spirit Stones, holding one of a few minds, usually at the hearts of machines or spacecraft. These are installed in such a way as allows them to join with the minds of living Eldar, in a way that is useful and has become natural for many Eldar.

The epitome of this joining is when an Eldar meshes with the Spirit Stone of an Avatar*. Each Craftworld has a number of Avatars. Avatars are battle suits built around a Spirit Stone home to an ideal Eldar principle. These Spirit Stones contain only the part of the consciousness that embodies this particular principle. An Eldar who becomes an Avatar melds his own personality and mind with the characteristic contained by the stone. Once he dons a suit of Avatar armour, the Eldar becomes joined with the Spirit Stone until he dies, and simply forgets his own personality, completely embodying the ideal of the stone. Upon death, the consciousness of the wearer passes into the stone to wait for a new Eldar willing to don the Avatar armour. Contrasting Slaanesh, Avatars are seen as the utter and complete embodiment of everything good, wise and worthy of the Eldar race. They are therefore the most important inhabitants of the Craftworlds.

*There is another supreme example of this, the joining of an Eldar crew to the Spirit Stone of the Phantom Titan, although it is only temporary.


Part VI
The Last Hope

The Eldar, though long-lived, are not immortal. This may be an effect of their spiritual downfall. As a result, the Eldar race is in slow decline, and most of the remaining Craftworlds are all but deserted. The Eldar do, however, hold close to the one last hope. They believe that once their Infinity Circuits hold the spirits of all their race, the Craftworlds will unite, and form a single, ultimate Infinity Circuit. The collective consciousness of the Eldar would be united, and able to form a new Power of Chaos, one that stands for all that is great and worthy of the Eldar, and would battle and subdue Slaanesh, allowing the Eldar to become a single, balanced entity. Theoretically perfect, it would allow them to reform themselves in a better, less susceptible form. Until this happens, though, the Avatars must continue to guard the Spirit Stones, and survive, so that the Eldar can see a perfect example of what their race should be like.


Part VII
The Eldar Moons

Although the location of the original Eldar homeworld is now lost, it is known that it had three moons: Lileath, the Maiden Moon, which was white; Kurnous, the Hunter's Moon, which was green and dim; and Eldanesh the Red Moon. According to the Eldar legends told in Dance of Asuryan, when Khaine slew Eldanesh, the Eldar Lord was transformed into a blood red moon. Even today the Eldar still view the symbol of the red moon as one foreboding disaster.


Part VIII
The Crone Worlds

The old homeworlds of the Eldar still exist, though they do so in the Eye of Terror, having been turned into hellish places, home to the servants of Chaos amongst much worse things. The Eldar call these the Crone Worlds, after Moraiheg the Crone goddess. Even now, the Crone Worlds remain the primary sources of Spirit Stones. The gathering of Spirit Stones is very, very hazardous, as it requires a long journey through the immaterial/material space overlap within the Eye. However, it is told that the Crone Worlds are home to countless secrets since the time of the fall. This attracts thousands of Eldar, despite the danger. It is said that Vaul created the Spirit Stones from the Tears of Isha, and this is taken as a metaphor saying that they were formed through the crystallisation of psychic energies most likely released during the Fall, when the Eye of Terror burst into reality, caused by the interface of warp- and real- space.


Part IX
The Maiden Worlds

Before the Fall, the Eldar seeded many, many dead worlds with life as part of a colonisation process. Most of these worlds did not become suitable for living until years after the Fall, and many have been colonised by humans and Orks who were unaware that the planet was intended for the Eldar. Since the fall, the Eldar has colonised many seeded planets from the Craftworlds, and also some inhabitable planets they have come across. The Eldar refer to these as the Maiden Worlds, as opposed to the Crone Worlds of their ancient Civilisation.

WILL BE UPDATED

[Lord Commander Erus]

Q good start! Eager to see more!

[Icarus Athrasuriel]

2 secs

Who put h-o-m-o amongst the profanities?

[Gregor Xenos]

maybe a h-o-m-o (sapien)?

[Templar Mikeel]

This should be really helpfull.

[Icarus Athrasuriel]

I've decided to insert a part at a time, until I complete each race.

[Eldar - Part 1, Appearance & Characteristics] inserted.

[hairyyahoo]

good idea. you gonna be wanting some help? i ain't so much with the fluff knowledge but if i can help in any way let me know.

[Templar Mikeel]

Ask Dan also if you need any help. He has in his possesion a fluff bible. I do also, but I haven't read any of the 235 pages.

[Icarus Athrasuriel]

Dan has sent me the fluff bible, for referance, but I take pride in my knowledge of the fluff

And thanks hairy, but I'm okay for now. If anything crops up, I'll call you first

[Icarus Athrasuriel]

[Eldar - Part II, Early History] Inserted.

[Lord Commander Erus]

Looking good. If I can be helping at all, holler. I'm mainly and SM guy, but i'll try.

[Icarus Athrasuriel]

[Eldar - Part III, The Racial Disaster] inserted.

[Icarus Athrasuriel]

[Eldar - Part IV, The Craftworlds]
[Eldar - Part V, The Infinity Circuit]
[Eldar - Part VI, The Last Hope]
[Eldar - Part VII, The Eldar Moons]
[Eldar - Part VIII, The Crone Worlds]
[Eldar - Part XI, The Maiden Worlds]

All inserted

[Dan296]

nice work!
i didnt come up with the fluff bible though, ive seen it on the internet before and then lost it, and erus sent it to me a while ago.
i just saved it online in my email browser
but a very nice start!

[Heroka Vendile]

The Old Ones taught the Eldar Gods, who taught the eldar, IIRC.
The Slann are a scattered lizard-like alien race on the brink of extintion - there's even a picture of one in the BBB.

EDIT:
nice idea this by the way.

[Icarus Athrasuriel]

Thanks Heroka, got a bit mixed up there, I'll change it in a moment.