The Culture explores 40K II: Now With 100% more Fanfiction

[Forum Explorer]

Path of the Warrior has rather alot of detail on the inside of Craftworld life. Well, Alaitoc life at least.

Umm... how do I put it? They appear to have no public education, the Eldar consider 40 years to be young and they have virtually no specialization, with Eldar hopping from one Path to another every two or three decades. My guess about apprenticeships being the standard way for educating new Eldar appears to be right on the mark, which indicates that they never have all that many students in the first place.

Furthermore, their use of ritual in... about everywhere, obscures the true reasons for things. I would not be surprised if much of the Eldar do not understand what they are doing and why they are doing it. They have meditations to calm the mind, but the main character has little idea of why it works and why he is so agitated. The Eldar say they carry the curse of Khaine, but what does that explain anyway?
They have this elaborate ritual for awakening the Avatar via blood sacrifice. Do they know why it works? Do they really understand the Warp the doubtless drives this?

Also, I know Alaitoc is big, but for goodness sake, it's still a spaceship! A ground battle on a spaceship?! Really? Not even a boarding action, just a... honest to goodness ground battle with trenches and artillery and heavy tanks. *argleblargh* *sputters* *dies*

First is pretty much. It's actually a superior method to learn things if you have the time for it. A species in which an individual can live for over 10 000 years certainly has the time.

To my understanding they do generally understand what they are doing. They just really enjoy the ritualized part of their life. Though Alaitoc is considered the strictest Craftworld whatever that means. I guess they could have the most rituals? The curse of Khaine could be the fact that there only living non-exclusive and free God is a God of War and that has an effect on all Eldar psyche. Or the curse is that they experience rage so strongly they don't have a proper defense for it like humans do. Thus when they go into rage mode they pretty much have to join an Aspect or they'll become a monster.

Yeah they do know about the blood sacrifice. They are literally feeding the Avatar the soul of the Exarch to awaken it. I don't know how it works but if I was to guess it would be something like this: The Avatars used to exist purely in the warp and basically fled to the real world in order to escape Slaanash. However like daemons they can't sustain themselves in the real world. So they go into hibernation. Being sacrificed an Eldar devoted to Khaine basically infuses the Avatar with their warp presence, temporarily awakening them and empowering them.

Planet sized space ship but yes warfare in 40K is silly. It always comes down to a ground battle no matter how silly that should be.

[jseah]

You're better off considering it a small planet than a space ship, honestly.

The details given by the descriptions indicate that it has more in common with a really big spaceship than a small moon.

- Thin atmosphere (by thickness I mean, its held in by forcefields)
- Artificial gravity
- Mobile

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The tactics both sides use are all wrong for that sort of action, especially if they are fighting on the surface of Alaitoc open to space.
Being that the atmosphere is only maybe a kilometer thick, any spaceships can attack the surface with impunity. Winning the space battle outside allows your ships to just pound any static emplacements and literally destroy entire sections of their lines with macrocannons.
The size of ships and their listed power all but garuantees the total destruction of anything on the ground they shoot at.

Furthermore, Alaitoc itself also has anti-space defences which would serve excellently as dual role ground artillery. Anti-space scale ground artillery which should be suitably devastating.

No, the IoM boarding action evolving into an entrenched line (and the rough equivalent for the Eldar) and use of heavy tanks is absolutely nuts. They're sitting exposed to space, where the Eldar can bombard them, and they just dig in?!
They should be fighting in the service tunnels and securing control areas. No doubt Alaitoc has alot of internal space, unless it's just a flat disc?
If the Eldar insist on using heavy weapons that you need to take out, get a ship to shoot the surface. If you don't have space superiority around Alaitoc, you're never going to hold it anyway. Their ships can do the same to you.

[Gavinfoxx]

They know the Eldar won't bombard their own home, though. Because that isn't something they do. At worst, if the entire Craftworld becomes tainted and the Infinity Circuit irrevocably corrupted, then they will start destroying the craftworld...

But why would they design defense turrets on a planetoid-sized of this:



Cut for size

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To point at the actual living spaces? Why would they design turrets on the outsides of those wonderful bubbles to shoot INWARD? Wouldn't the people object to having guns pointed at their homes? Remember when these were built -- with Eldar ascendant -- why would they design it the way you say, secure in their dominance? Blowing up their own craftworld with weapons that might damage it would be *gasp* unthinkable!

[Gavinfoxx]

Also, the ritualized part of their life is due to the fact that, you know... they need it. The Craftworld Eldar have such a focus on ritual due to the problems that Corsair / Dark / Exodite / Pathless / etc. Eldar have... Craftworld is more ritual-based than other forms of Eldar society, because of their psychological needs and the needs of their souls, and such things to which they are the heirs in history. If they didn't have to have that amount of ritual (or else!), they probably wouldn't... but that amount of ritual lets them function at such a high level of technical capability and self-direction and sustainability, in the long term, whereas Corsairs or Exodites don't... (corsairs take from others to sustain themselves, and Exodites function at a MUCH lower tech level...).


And let's not forget that Imperial ships don't always have the sorts of capabilities they would like to have. Maybe they don't have too many macrocannon shells for extended bombardment without dedicated bombardment type ships. It's obvious that they were just using normal Guard, and not any specialist troops for boarding actions; they were fighting the war with the troops they had, rather than the troops they would like to have, and those people (other than the Astartes) obviously didn't really have any training with regards to taking ships.

[jseah]

There aren't any scale bars on the images, but judging from the size of the towers and buildings visible in one of them, the Craftworld is rather smaller than I had expected. >.>
You know, when people say it's the size of a small moon, I kind of expected... well, a Death Star sized thing. Not a large city.

Still, that does explain it. I had thought that the surface area of Alaitoc was something more the size of the North American continent instead of being about the same as a GSV.
So ok, that does make more sense now.

RE defense turrets:
Its more a question of "why not". A turret designed to track enemy ships around the craftworld would be designed to have the ability to face in all angles around its mount (except directly downwards).

This would allow the largest coverage from all turrets, which is obviously what you want when you put the turrets in. Least number of blindspots and all that.

Part of this comes with the ability to shoot the ship itself since all descriptions of the ship (with spires, docking ports and so on) give ideal positions to put turrets in that allow them to hit Alaitoc itself. (namely, at the end of the spires and sticky out bits)

There's also that the pictures you give all have concave bits. There might be areas that are in the blindspots of the macrocannon turrets, but most of the Craftworld would be able to be hit by anti-ship cannons placed in logical places.

[Gavinfoxx]

Well, that can also be 'the artist has no sense of scale'.

In fact, I would put it as, 'The artist is making these much smaller than they should otherwise be'.

[jseah]

Not necessarily. It explains the timeframe of the advance. The entire invasion description at the end of both books (I skipped to the last bit of Path of the Seer) takes place over what seems to be a couple of hours. This would be impossible without mini-spaceships and a space-analog of mechanized infantry tactics (which does not go well with heavy tanks and provokes more questions); at least it would be impossible if Alaitoc was the size of the NA continent.

With a GSV sized Alaitoc, a hundred km in length or so, the time of the descriptions make sense.

[jseah]

The more I think of it, the more it seems that the Eldar will benefit more from AI technology than any other. Even the hyperdrive.

Everything they do is the work of an artist and a craftsman. Every thing is unique, one of a kind, made to order. There is no streamlining, no mass production, no expansion of capability.

Not only are the Eldar already massively limited by their lack of population, they do everything in the most labour intensive way possible. Sure, it's of the highest quality, but logistically, it's a nightmare.

Furthermore, they are culturally blocked from using their primary method of labour-saving, that of using the dead.

AI can do many of the things the Eldar can do, even if not to the same extent. It can expand faster than they can, it can also fill the bits that the Eldar don't want to or can't do. And the best bit is, AI is sort of an unknown to them, which means no cultural prejudice.

[Gavinfoxx]

Good luuuuuck convincing the Eldar to use AI...

You're gonna need it!

[jseah]

Good luuuuuck convincing the Eldar to use AI...

You're gonna need it!

I don't see why they might oppose the idea though. Nothing in their society uses AI, true, but a fully functioning AI as a concept, being completely non-psychic based, is something they have never met before.
They do not have any cultural bias against or for AI.

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At least this particular form of it:
- The Culture create a sub-race that is an all-mechanical intelligence. Although it is restricted to be sub-human intelligence (something like a knife missile) to comply with Culture ethics.
- This sub-race is created as a distinct entity from the Culture, with a technology level around that of the top-level archeotech from the IoM.
- It is instructed to follow the instructions and commands of the Eldar, as well as to lend aid as required. The Eldar are given access codes and the understanding to tweak them as necessary.

- It is of course deliberate that the AIs will not be using psychic powers, mostly because they don't have any.

In effect, they use completely different resources from the Eldar, apart from stellar energy (which is functionally unlimited) and so they serve as a very useful expendable shield and force multiplier the Eldar can wield.

[Gavinfoxx]

I dunno. You are... going to have to ask someone else about that idea. Maybe they would think it is too similar to the Necrons? Or the Men of Iron? That's just out of my context for what I can figure how the Eldar might react. Maybe it would depend on which Eldar is doing the reacting? Different Craftworlds might react differently than pathless/Ranger or Corsair Eldar...

[jseah]

part 8.5 Dark Eldar

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Week 1
One of our GCUs, Everlasting Pain, Torture, and all other things Bad (also known as the Happy Fun Times among its friends after it lined its hallways with pink furry carpets to avoid painful falls among its crew), has come across what appears to be an Eldar ambush of a human trade convoy.
What is notable is that the ships, while of apparently Eldar construction, have considerably differing design to the ships we are aware of. While we had no difficulty in pinpointing the Eldar ships, the humans were effectively under attack in the transit system by ships they couldn't see.

We watched the unfolding battle and noted the use of weapons of a completely different technological base. These weapons disabled the lightly armed freighters' weapons and the Eldar moved to boarding actions.
Weapons made to disable the human crew through extreme pain was noted and after the crew was taken captive from the first freighter in the convoy (with some notably creative torture of captives), Happy Fun Times decided to intervene in the battle.

The GCU dropped its stealth and used its effectors to disable all the human ships (including obscuring itself from their sensors) and projected a wall boxing the Eldar ships in.
A warning to cease action was sent to the Eldar ships in Eldar and when one Eldar ship tested the wall, the GCU destroyed it with a single Pancaker strike. The captives were spread between the remaining human ships by displacer and Eldar remaining on the empty human freighter were also forcibly returned to their ship via displacer and the wrecked human freighter destroyed by CAM warhead as a demonstration.

The humans were returned control of their ships except for an Effector mediated removal of all sensor information on the Eldar ships or GCU. The humans made haste towards their next warp position after assessing the loss of one of their ships and confirming that all its crew had mysteriously appeared on the other ships.

At this point, the Eldar in charge of the attacking fleet attempted to introduce himself using a dialect of Eldar with a distinct accent. It is to be noted that given that they use different technology, different ship designs and a language that has apparently been subject to some drift; Happy Fun Times concludes that these Eldar are some form of breakaway faction that has had little contact with the rest of the Eldar.

Details from the Eldar ambassador have been requested.

How attached are the Eldar to their darker kin? I know they don't admit to the existence of the Dark Eldar to the Culture, but would they object to the Culture capturing them?

At least the Culture is able to tell the difference between them and won't fault the Eldar for the attack.

[Oracle_Hunter]

I don't see why they might oppose the idea though. Nothing in their society uses AI, true, but a fully functioning AI as a concept, being completely non-psychic based, is something they have never met before.
They do not have any cultural bias against or for AI.

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At least this particular form of it:
- The Culture create a sub-race that is an all-mechanical intelligence. Although it is restricted to be sub-human intelligence (something like a knife missile) to comply with Culture ethics.
- This sub-race is created as a distinct entity from the Culture, with a technology level around that of the top-level archeotech from the IoM.
- It is instructed to follow the instructions and commands of the Eldar, as well as to lend aid as required. The Eldar are given access codes and the understanding to tweak them as necessary.

- It is of course deliberate that the AIs will not be using psychic powers, mostly because they don't have any.

In effect, they use completely different resources from the Eldar, apart from stellar energy (which is functionally unlimited) and so they serve as a very useful expendable shield and force multiplier the Eldar can wield.

Two things:

(1) Culture AI is not going to be as loyal as Eldar Soulstones
Regardless of what The Culture tells the Eldar, they have no way of being certain that The Culture is telling them the truth. Remember again how paranoid and survival-focused the Eldar are: they're not going to rely on intelligences that are less loyal to the Eldar Race than their current option.

(2) Non-Psychic AI can't interface with Eldar technology
Eldar Souls can energize Wraithbone constructs with no trouble. Pretty much everything the Eldar use is made of Wraithbone or other "psychoplastics." Culture AI lacks that ability which means the Eldar need to have an entire parallel technological infrastructure to use Culture AI.

So yeah. Maybe the Eldar will accept "mook-level" AIs for the most dangerous and least sensitive military missions but they won't make any major use of them for construction purposes or important tasks.

[Forum Explorer]

part 8.5 Dark Eldar

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Week 1
One of our GCUs, Everlasting Pain, Torture, and all other things Bad (also known as the Happy Fun Times among its friends after it lined its hallways with pink furry carpets to avoid painful falls among its crew), has come across what appears to be an Eldar ambush of a human trade convoy.
What is notable is that the ships, while of apparently Eldar construction, have considerably differing design to the ships we are aware of. While we had no difficulty in pinpointing the Eldar ships, the humans were effectively under attack in the transit system by ships they couldn't see.

We watched the unfolding battle and noted the use of weapons of a completely different technological base. These weapons disabled the lightly armed freighters' weapons and the Eldar moved to boarding actions.
Weapons made to disable the human crew through extreme pain was noted and after the crew was taken captive from the first freighter in the convoy (with some notably creative torture of captives), Happy Fun Times decided to intervene in the battle.

The GCU dropped its stealth and used its effectors to disable all the human ships (including obscuring itself from their sensors) and projected a wall boxing the Eldar ships in.
A warning to cease action was sent to the Eldar ships in Eldar and when one Eldar ship tested the wall, the GCU destroyed it with a single Pancaker strike. The captives were spread between the remaining human ships by displacer and Eldar remaining on the empty human freighter were also forcibly returned to their ship via displacer and the wrecked human freighter destroyed by CAM warhead as a demonstration.

The humans were returned control of their ships except for an Effector mediated removal of all sensor information on the Eldar ships or GCU. The humans made haste towards their next warp position after assessing the loss of one of their ships and confirming that all its crew had mysteriously appeared on the other ships.

At this point, the Eldar in charge of the attacking fleet attempted to introduce himself using a dialect of Eldar with a distinct accent. It is to be noted that given that they use different technology, different ship designs and a language that has apparently been subject to some drift; Happy Fun Times concludes that these Eldar are some form of breakaway faction that has had little contact with the rest of the Eldar.

Details from the Eldar ambassador have been requested.

How attached are the Eldar to their darker kin? I know they don't admit to the existence of the Dark Eldar to the Culture, but would they object to the Culture capturing them?

At least the Culture is able to tell the difference between them and won't fault the Eldar for the attack.

They aren't very attached to the Dark Eldar. Like at all. They do occasionally work together but more often they fight each other. Dark Eldar actually have a lot of weapons that use tortured and shattered soulstones as ammo. Naturally the Eldar don't like this.

However the Culture is going to quickly realize that you can't keep Dark Eldar captive. They need to consume souls. Without them they'll quickly fall apart.

[The Glyphstone]

Heck, they despise the Dark Eldar, and it'll be a significant uphill battle to get the 'real' Eldar to even admit the two are related in any fashion.

[Gavinfoxx]

How will they respond?

'The ambassador scowls and cuts off the questioner angrily, "Those are not Eldar!"'

is what I woupd guess. Also, you canonically, in the story, had the Culture be warned about the Dark Eldar by the Eldar. Which you should probably retcon that warning away, since it doesn't make sense.

[Gavinfoxx]

Also, the Eldar have no doubt seen Tau AI and drone tech. They have very solid AI like you describe; they make extensive use of 'dutiful helper' drones, which get more intelligent in groups. Some of those even use some construction nanotech. And the Eldar would be knowledgeable about IoM Men of Iron, and the IoM robots of various sorts. Even the Eldar make use of AI dones; some craftworlds prefer their grav platforms and similar to be AI controlled.

[Selrahc]

Harlequins hang around with the Dark Eldar sometimes, as well as Corsairs, Exodites and other fringe Eldar groups. In many ways the Harlequins are the connecting tissue between the Eldar.

[jseah]

part 8.5 Dark Eldar

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The captive Eldar have tried to negotiate for their release, but this GCU is not inclined to believe their promises not to attack any more humans.

They are being kept under a close watch and informed that attempting to exit the barrier would meet with instant destruction. We also ordered them to drop their shields or be destroyed. This was obeyed.
From their geometry and earlier tactics, it would appear that these Eldar also use the same teleportation gates that the Eldar we are familiar with use.

Week 2 (two days later)
The Eldar, given a description of the captured ships and a voice sample of the dialect spoken, refuse to acknowledge that the captives are even Eldar, despite overwhelming biological evidence.

We are negotiating on terms of the release of these other Eldar, although this GCU is hesitant to simply let them go after some basic psychological analysis.

It would seem that these other Eldar are nearly insane, driven by a need to ritually torture humans or Eldar. The inefficient and impractical construction of their weapons and ships are mostly explained by this, as well as much of their behaviour.
The extreme cruelty observed by this GCU points to a widespread sadism that forms not just their outlook but the social structure itself.

We recommend immediate classification of this form of Eldar as undesirable (although not HS behaviour).

Two days later
It appears that non-interference has been decided. We strongly recommend against it, but will heed the majority decision. We will attempt to contact these other Eldar peacefully.

Molecular scans of their weapons, biology and ships have been taken at this ship's own discretion, as well as that of the teleportation gate. These other Eldar appear to have zero psychic ability in any case, and using the Warp for temporal information appears to be beyond them. They have not detected our intrusions.
Most interestingly, one of the larger ships carries a miniature version of the teleportation gate in its cargo hold.

These other Eldar have been released as instructed to return to through their teleportation gate. We have informed them that the Culture wishes to contact all civilizations in this galaxy and that we are prepared to meet any envoys they wish to send here in this system or another of their choosing.
As instructed, this ship has apologized for the intrusion into their business and that reparations for their losses could be negotiated with a diplomat of suitable rank. Also as instructed, we have included a warning that we would not tolerate attacks on the Eldar, Necrons, Tau or the IoM, in that order.

This ship has chosen to bug their ships with hyperspace transmitters (which they appear unable to detect) as well as surveillance nanotech. Whereever the teleportation gates lead, we can find them. Happy Fun Times has noted that spying may lead to worsening relations but we are of the opinion that these other Eldar should be met with hostility. Reform is essentially impossible.

Week 3
This GCU has noted the return of a large fleet of ships to the system. We received a transmission in the same Eldar dialect regarding the reparations we had promised.

The other Eldar demanded the payment of one hundred organic crew members to be their slaves, to which we informed them in no uncertain terms that we would not accept any terms involving the slavery of any beings, organic or not. We counter-offered with CREW technology, more powerful and efficient than their current weaponry, which was rejected.
---- This GCU wonders if Happy Fun Times was actually negotiating in good faith. Perhaps we should have used an organic diplomat?

The fleet of ships began to attempt an encirclement of this GCU, which we interpreted as hostile action and avoided easily. We kept pace with the Eldar ships, refusing battle but also hiding our true tactical advantage. We request permission from the main fleet to consider these Eldar as hostile.

One day later
This GCU is cleared for limited action. All Eldar ships have been disabled via forced shutdown of their power grid after a low power CREW strike disabled their shields. It appears that our observation that violence and sadism is the bedrock of their society is accurate. Perhaps we might finally be vindicated.

We have informed these Eldar that the Culture considers ten copies of all their equipment confiscated (and have carried out the sentence via displacer), as well as the teleportation gate. This is expected to be useful for the Warp devices that have been unable to be replicated via molecular copies.
Apart from that, we also enforced a one day shutdown of all their ships in order to have enough time to obtain mind-scans of all their leaders and important crew (eg. Pilot). More details to follow.
--- This same GCU wonders if "limited action" really includes unsanctioned mind-scans. Yes, we know the rule has been waived temporarily, but breaches of the moral code, even for hostiles, is troubling. We are worried about the apparent bloodthirstiness of Everlasting Pain, Torture and all things Bad
--- Happy Fun Times would like to note that we consider them undesirable, even if the rest of you do not. They are the bloodthirsty ones. We just defended ourselves and the helpless IoM. We have instigated revolutions over a government corrupted this way. Their ENTIRE society is this way, there is no reformist revolution possible for them. Their expedition force is suspected to have a power heirarchy run this way too!

Mind pointing me to the post? I don't recall doing that.

But consider the warning suitably retconned.

[Gavinfoxx]

Also, a competent psyker, when looking at a Dark Eldar, would notice that their souls look 'vampiric', all shriveled and like the ugly / old / scary vampires, compared to a more pure and shining Eldar soul. This is probably beyond the resolution of the psychic scanners, though they will note some difference (say, in brightness of the glow, or lack thereof, and maybe color).

It is possible to convert a Dark Eldar to rejoin an Eldar paths, and live on a Craftworld, and purify their soul... but it is astonishingly difficult. They would have to want to do it, and probably have intervention with psychic techniques from specific paths of Craftworld Eldar...

It is astonishingly rare; they would have to in essence change the makeup of their soul from 'needing sustenance via torture by putting torture of others in front of what slaanesh is eating, regularly, to not get eaten themselves' to 'having the mental discipline and practicing the specific techniques to prevent their soul from getting eaten by Slaanesh all the time'.


Remember, the reason these are not Eldar is that the most important part of what makes them Eldar -- Their Souls, their Warp Component -- is not the same. It can be converted to be the same (with a huuge amount of difficulty), but it is not the same, as they are.


EDIT: When did the Culture hear the term 'Webway Gate'? What do they know of the Webway itself?? I would strongly, strongly, strongly suggest that you keep this information and this term until after The Culture scans the Deathwatch / Ordo Xenos archives!

[Selrahc]

However the Culture is going to quickly realize that you can't keep Dark Eldar captive. They need to consume souls. Without them they'll quickly fall apart.

What happens if you brain scan a dark Eldar, then grow them a new body?

EDIT: When did the Culture hear the term 'Webway Gate'? What do they know of the Webway itself?? I would strongly, strongly, strongly suggest that you keep this information and this term until after The Culture scans the Deathwatch / Ordo Xenos archives!

I would strongly bet that they can find that info, and almost all important known to the Imperium, from their scan logs on Terra.

[Forum Explorer]

What happens if you brain scan a dark Eldar, then grow them a new body?




I would strongly bet that they can find that info, and almost all important known to the Imperium, from their scan logs on Terra.

Now that is a good question. We stated that the soul is not transferred and as far as that's concerned they have an entirely new soul in a new body.

So I would say that it would set their physical need for souls to zero. However they would retain the mental addiction to eating souls and would almost certainly fall back to old habits.

[Water_Bear]

But all Eldar souls are tainted by Slaanesh right?

I always figured the Dark Eldar soul eating served the purpose of the Craftworld Eldar's discipline, and without either they would degenerate similarly. Is that inaccurate?

[Gavinfoxx]

I always figured the Dark Eldar soul eating served the purpose of the Craftworld Eldar's discipline, and without either they would degenerate similarly. Is that inaccurate?

Well, think of the Corsair and Pathless and the Exodite Eldar... they use different strategies, I think (though I think Exodites and Craftworld are the 'safest' behavior patterns, due to the amount of diligence and lack of hedonism they have). I think there's a threshold of a certain amount of dark hedonistic behavior basically means you lose your capability of defending yourself while still alive, and need to regularly put someone else in front of the encroaching hunger of Slaanesh. Corsairs get closest to this line, I think...

[Oracle_Hunter]

But all Eldar souls are tainted by Slaanesh right?

I always figured the Dark Eldar soul eating served the purpose of the Craftworld Eldar's discipline, and without either they would degenerate similarly. Is that inaccurate?

Yeah, that's wrong.

Eldar souls are not tainted by Slaanesh. They are very tasty for Slaanesh which means that instead of living as an immortal Warp Spirit, any Eldar who dies without a Spiritstone is horribly consumed by Slaanesh. Undisciplined Eldar are prone to the same excesses that resulted in the birth of Slaanesh which also makes them prime targets for Slaanesh possession -- Spiritstones or no. AFAIK, Slaanesh doesn't actually "possess" such Eldar so much as eat their souls right out of their bodies.

Dark Eldar souls are also not tainted by Slaanesh. But, rather than use discipline to avoid Slaanesh's notice or Spiritstones to keep their souls safe after they die an early Dark Eldar leader figured out a ritual for physical immortality (i.e. agelessness, not invulnerability) which also kept themselves from getting instantly nomed by Slaanesh: brutally and systematically torturing other sentients and sending their souls to Slaanesh instead. If the flow of souls isn't kept up the Dark Eldar start wasting away until they die and are consumed by Slaanesh.

[Maugan Ra]

As a quick note - the Dark Eldar are, interestingly, vastly numerically superior to their Craftworld kin. This is primarily because they make significant use of mass cloning technology, and are actually immortal. A Dark Eldar can be reduced to a single finger, and provided their treatments can be applied, that finger can be fully regrown into the original Dark Eldar, complete with memories and original soul. Some Archons will leave a finger with a Haemonculus when they go out raiding, so even slaying them utterly on a battlefield is no guarantee.

They also have a distinct technological advantage, and of all the Eldar factions are easily the most flexible and willing to adopt virtually any new technique or tactic. This is primarily a result of their social structure, which is basically institutionalized cut-throat survival of the fittest. The Haemonculus Covens actually have some of the most advanced tech in the galaxy, easily on par or perhaps beyond anything the Necrons have access to - biogenetics, nanotechnology, advanced physics, AI, the ability to turn oneself into a sentient beam of light. They probably approach Culture levels in some respects, but with an emphasis on individual works of a unique nature, rather than broadly applicable utility techs.

(Asdrubael Vect once killed a rival by sending him a black hole in a box. One imagines there was a pretty ribbon on it as well.)

Commoragh itself is a wonderful demonstration of non-Euclidean engineering applied on a macro scale. It's a city that, at last estimate, is larger than most solar systems, and by it's nature as the City in the Webway, is spread over most of the galaxy. The Dark Eldar aren't the only ones there - you can find more species in Commoragh than anywhere else in the galaxy - but they do rule it, because there is nothing in the galaxy as dangerous as an Eldar unconstrained by morality or a fear of death.

Oddly, the Culture could probably set up shop there without too much trouble, once they'd established their credentials as possessing massive overwhelming force. 'Speak softly and carry a big stick' is something the Dark Eldar would understand perfectly well. If the Culture prove that they can and will defend their citizens with lethal force, then the Dark Eldar would be happy to let them visit the Dark City freely and without harassment. Look hard enough, and one would be able to find something in Commoragh to cater to any taste.

[Water_Bear]

Dark Eldar souls are also not tainted by Slaanesh. But, rather than use discipline to avoid Slaanesh's notice or Spiritstones to keep their souls safe after they die an early Dark Eldar leader figured out a ritual for physical immortality (i.e. agelessness, not invulnerability) which also kept themselves from getting instantly nomed by Slaanesh: brutally and systematically torturing other sentients and sending their souls to Slaanesh instead. If the flow of souls isn't kept up the Dark Eldar start wasting away until they die and are consumed by Slaanesh.

Gotcha. My bad, I'm not really a big Eldar fan and don't read their codices lot.

So a Dark Eldar modified with Culture-tech into Bio-Immortality should have a more-or-less pristine soul and no real danger of falling?

Also, would the Culture consider their extreme sadism a disorder to be cured when resurrecting them or a personality quirk to be embraced?

[Oracle_Hunter]

So a Dark Eldar modified with Culture-tech into Bio-Immortality should have a more-or-less pristine soul and no real danger of falling?

Quite the opposite!

Any Eldar can fall by attracting Slaanesh's attention through sufficient decadence. If the Culture-cloned Dark Eldar went about doing what he enjoyed (i.e. torturing people) then he'd be swallowed by Slaanesh in short order unless he underwent the Ritual again.

He would be no different from your average Wanderer save that he had no experience with restraint and has spent millennia indulging in the most depraved activities he can imagine.

Basically, he'd fit in just fine with Culture meatpuppets once he learned to use VR instead of people for torture

[Maugan Ra]

The Dark Eldar are already immortal. And they're not just sadistic - they're utterly obsessed with sensation, of any kind, and being an entire race of latent psychics they get physical feedback when those around them also experience powerful sensations.

I'm really not sure what the Culture could offer them, actually...

[Gavinfoxx]

Yea, Dark Eldar do have psychic ability... it's just profoundly different than that of normal Eldar; it's very single purpose, due to their vampiric nature.


Also, one should note that the Dark Eldar have some of the best medical and biological technology in the setting. There are some minor races with incidentally superior tech in these areas (especially in the calixis sector, the RPGs talk about one super biologically capable species), and some individuals with more biotech in particular areas, but they are up there in knowledge of the biological sciences and medical sciences and chemical sciences. Of course, it's all applied toward torture and keeping people of a huge variety of species alive while being tortured and such, but that doesn't mean that the basic data they have isn't pretty much incredible and useful.