Eldar

The Eldar are a race of elf-like humanoids who look into the future. They are one of the most ancient and advanced races in the universe's history, though younger than the Necrons, C'tan and the Old Ones. Their armies usually have the advantages of speed and technology. They also have the most Psykers available.

Before The Fall the Eldar were a technologically advanced race, generally considered one of the most powerful races in the entire Galaxy. Their technology had advanced so far that little or no work was required by individual Eldar, and as a result, at some point around the 24th or 25th millennia, groups of Eldar began forming cults dedicated to the pursuit of experiencing everything that life had to offer.

The Eldar mind is capable of a far deeper level of emotion and imagination than that of a human; therefore although they are capable of experiencing the greatest joys and creating the most beautiful pieces of art and music they are also capable of experiencing the deepest hate and ugliest depravities. These pursuits became more extreme and depraved as time went on. Torture and murder came to be seen as artforms every bit as worthy as music and drama. The Eldar were extremely long-lived, never suffered from senility or disease, and their superior intellect allowed them to perfect their skills to a degree far beyond that of even the most talented humans. The Eldar were able to devise cunning new ways of torturing and killing their fellows at rates never imagined.

Despite the prediction of the reclusive Eldar Seers that warned of impending doom if the Eldar did not change their ways, government within the Eldar Empire soon collapsed and the moral degeneration of their homeworlds and colonies continued unimpeded. As the pursuit of ever more extreme experiences reached its height, death reigned in the streets of Eldar cities, hunter and hunted each being part of a twisted ritual of destruction which consumed thousands. Some Eldar were able to see that their now-corrupt society was destroying itself, and fled in disgust; these refugees would settle in the distant colonies of their Empire, and would later be known as the Exodites.

Upon dying, the soul of the deceased traverse the bounds of the physical realm and go to rest within the warp. As more and more Eldar died, the souls began to somehow coalesce into a larger entity, a living representation of the corruption that had taken their lives. This collection of souls gained sentience sometime in the early 30th millennium, creating the being known as the Chaos god Slaanesh. When Slaanesh came to be, an ethereal explosion occurred, with the epicentre being the Eldar homeworld. All Eldar caught in the immense blast were instantly killed, their souls consumed by Slaanesh. Most of the remaining Eldar gods were destroyed by Slaanesh. Kaela Mensha Khaine attempted to combat the new being, but Khaine's form was shattered and exiled to the mortal realm in the form of great statues called "Avatars", which rest in the hearts of the various Craftworlds. The other Eldar gods to survive the Fall were the trickster god Cegorach (also called the Laughing God), who hid himself within the Webway, and Isha, whom was ripped from the jaws of Slaanesh by Nurgle, who now keeps her as a slave (though she does spread knowledge of cures for Nurgle's poxes to mortals).

The Fall destroyed the Eldar Empire, leaving scattered bands of Eldar fighting for survival. Before the Fall, vast space-borne vessels called Craftworlds were constructed, enabling those wishing to escape the degeneration to flee. When the Fall occurred, the various Craftworlds rode out the ethereal shockwave, some being destroyed in the process. The Exodite worlds, far from the epicentre of the catastrophe, were largely untouched. In order to prevent the events of The Fall from ever recurring, the Eldar devised the Path system.