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[Loud Whispers]

Hassan sells camels

[Kot]

CAMELS!

[Andres]

On the topic of favourite factions, I'm personally quite fond of the Mechanicus. They have lightning guns and Titans and lots of techno-magic goodies.

[Rolan7]

Yeah if we're going to answer honestly...
Tau, Eldar, Mechanicus

A better universe through technological superiority and justified smugness.
Also diplomacy (except for the Eldar, but they're just that superior).

But why no Dark Eldar?
Dark Eldar is what I am terrified of becoming, and constantly have to resist.  Which makes me a normal Eldar
Dark Eldar are what happens when hope dies.

Mechanicus are cool because gritty transhumanism and, as Andres points out, awesome toys arcane relics of immeasurable power.  Imperial Guard is really cool too but largely because of the Mechanicus.  Space Marines are ONLY cool because of the Mechanicus

not starting another tau discussion if I can help it
_{Gue'Vesa are sooooo coooool though}

[pisskop]

soooooooo ...

If chaos is a humanity-creation, how does the eldar make a daemon-baby?  Did their fucking not make it before but suddenly do so after?

[Rolan7]

I am not well-versed in the lore, but here I go anyway!

The Eldar were spiraling further and further into excess for a long time.  There's nothing particularly unusual about the timing...  They just hit a critical mass of obscene indulgence.  It wasn't bad enough, then it was.  And Slaanesh took almost all of them, leaving the weird prudes to become the Eldar we know.  IIRC, they were a galaxy-spanning civilization, probably many quadrillions of souls.  Now they're practically nomads, living desperately ascetic lives lest they fall to the great devourer.

Though it is kinda weird that humanity spawned the other three.  What's up with that?  If any race was going to spawn Lord Just-As-Planned, seems like it would be Eldar.
Hell, Eldar even have their own Khorne-analogue.  He just prefers to kill filthy xenos than Eldar.
...  And the Laughing God.  And that weird goddess of healing Nurgle captured?  And a death goddess?

Maybe the Eldar and humans just have different pantheons.  The human pantheon is just more important because the Eldar fucked themselves practically to death.  And Slaanesh goes both ways because... yeah.

Edit:  Decided to capitalize "Laughing God".  I'd rather not anger the Harlequins.

[Loud Whispers]

Yeah if we're going to answer honestly...
Tau, Eldar, Mechanicus
A better universe through technological superiority and justified smugness.
Also diplomacy (except for the Eldar, but they're just that superior).

I really love Eldar, Mechanicus and Kroot, however their hats just don't compare. I really like the whole idea with the Eldar, and just how far they fell, constantly being reminded of how usurped they are and how declining their entire species is. Their greatest craftworlds which to the lesser races are insane relics of immense power, are to them what were their basic merchant vessel. And they only have themselves to blame for this mess, and what caused it? Boredom. The Eldar defeated death itself, and were killed by boredom. I love that

Mechanicus are amazing, they are hyper-rational robots, yet they managed to get across how it is possible to replace the flesh with machine and become a hyper-rational human. It is an immense source of joy to see purity robit humans acting out the functions of humanity with the language of robits, I think the pinnacle of this is in the first heretic where a mechanicus guy delivers some final protocols for his fallen servitors ;-;

Imperium is by far my favourite faction. So much promise, so much time spent in a glorious age - and it's all over. That age is gone and it will never come back, the end is coming from all sides without and within, the only reason all hasn't already collapsed is that the threats are so numerous and the imperium so vastly clusterfucked that no one threat is capable of fully destroying the other, leaving the horrendous bureaucratic galactic mess slogging it out in vast attrition warfare with the entire universe. At its heart is one God who is literally the lighthouse guiding all of mankind on the rocks, prolonging humanity's existence out of sheer stubbornness and arbitrary determination in the human condition. This God feeds on thousands of his people every day to live, and every day hears the prayers of trillions of worlds, all screaming out in pain and fear to a God who fought to be a Man. Every prayer a mockery of all he believed in and fought for, a never ending reminder of his failure to his progeny and project, twisting on his already shattered psyche as even his frame has deteriorated to only machine and bone. He can never wake from this nightmare, he can never turn back on his worshipers, he must protect them even as he feels the weight of all suffering, he didn't ask for this and he isn't even allowed to die; this is the grim dark future of the Imperium of Man circa 40,000.

But why no Dark Eldar?
Dark Eldar is what I am terrified of becoming, and constantly have to resist.  Which makes me a normal Eldar
Dark Eldar are what happens when hope dies.

Dark Eldar know when they die they enter the hell they created, so they determined to not ever die. A whole colony of Dorian Grays stretched over aeons, only their portrait is not a painting, but the pain of their victims

soooooooo ...
If chaos is a humanity-creation, how does the eldar make a daemon-baby?  Did their fucking not make it before but suddenly do so after?

Chaos is a creation of the necrontyr/Old One war in heaven

Humanity sustains it from the horus heresy onwards but that's just because they grew more psychically nutritious than eldar from that point on

[pisskop]

So Im mixing my whf lore with 40k then.

[Grim Portent]

I tend to assume that Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh and Tzeentch first began to form back in the first corruptions of the Warp during the War in Heaven, but did not awaken for a long time. The old fluff for them as I recall was that they first gained sentience from the actions and plights of men, not that they were necessarily made by them.

After the Necrons went to sleep there was basically nothing the Eldar could not do, they had a stable government in their monarchs and princes, they knew no disease due to their technology, they were so mighty none could challenge them in war and their eventual decline into decadence took a long time. For over 50 million years there was little to feed the nascent deities whose seeds had been sown in the first galactic war. A slow trickle of power from the lesser species and what minor struggles the Eldar embroiled themselves in from time to time, but little else.

Then along comes mankind, in many ways the frailest, most fractious, most scheming, wicked, noble and cruel of all sapient life in the galaxy. Most alien species are lacking in various aspects of human nature, with limited emotions, no internal conflict or just a stunted warp connection compared to humans. Humans while few in number also had just the right mix of features that they were enough to tip 3 of the unborn gods lingering on the cusp of life into slow, gentle births, as opposed to the violent birth of Slaanesh caused by the tumultuous rush of power from the Eldar at the height of their decline.

[nenjin]

Space Marine > Inquisitor > Imperial Assassin > Eldar > Chaos SM/Sorcerer for me.

Being a Guardsmen or Cultist just seems like a losing proposition.

[Rolan7]

That's what makes them cool, though.
Fuck being a dark eldar, but a human cultist?  I could go for that.  But I'd rather serve the Omnissiah (or Greater Good).  And the Guard is brave as fuck, I just can't see a place for me in it.  Unless techpriest counts, I guess.

[pisskop]

Piss can see himself as an inquisitor or a servant of one.
Guard, ofc.
Cultist?  enh.  I dont really commit to any one philosophy well.  And unlike inquis Id question too much.
Fuck DE.  Even Skavin sounds more interesting than space DE.  and land DE is even worse.



Actually I dont really know much at all about darkelves.  Slaves and raptors.  And naked chicks.  and matriarchy.  And backstabby.

[Rolan7]

Space DE don't have the matriarchy.  Wow, I guess WHF DE are just drow huh   Sorry, that's probably mean.
LW said it well, but basically they're Eldar who give in to Slaanesh...  But to avoid being claimed, they appease Slaanesh with sacrifices of pain and excess.

They're sadistic bitches I don't like to think about too much.

[Andres]

So Im mixing my whf lore with 40k then.

Nope, because that's not the lore of Fantasy either.

In Fantasy, Chaos existed long before humanity came around. In fact, humans were just one of the races (the fourth, I believe) to be created by the Old Ones in an effort to defeat Chaos.

In 40k, the lore regarding the Chaos Gods is different. Khorne, Tzeentch, and Nurgle developed over millions of years due to the War in Heaven, gaining sentience around the time of humanity's middle ages. The two things aren't related - it's pure coincidence.
Humans, while they make good food for Chaos and have a decent Warp signature, had very small numbers back in those days and were little more than a larger-than-average drop in the ocean in regards to what created the Chaos Gods. It was the quintillions of other life forms in the galaxy that contributed almost everything to the creation of those three Chaos Gods.
Hell, even in the tens of thousands of years after they'd gained sentience, even after humanity's numbers increased to the quadrillions, the Chaos Gods were still barely active, doing nothing of note.

Then the Eldar had to fuck everything up, figuratively AND literally. They murderfucked Slaanesh into existence, she in turn sent the other Chaos Gods into a frenzy from which they have yet to come down from, and the rest is history.


Back on to the Mechanicus and what makes them so cool, just look at these pictures.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Damn those robes are swanky as hell! And look at that guy on the left, shooting a rifle with one hand and holding a sword in the other!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The machines, that wizard-looking tech priest at the front, so sweet.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

My favourite picture. More badass-looking Skitarii, this time with the added bonus of a decapitated Eldar head, an Eldar getting stabbed in the torso, and in the background an Eldar getting shot in the groin.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That Warhound Titan just body-checked that Tyranid Bio-Titan!

[Grim Portent]

Mechanicus do have some damn good art.

Spoiler: Dark Eldar stuff (click to show/hide)

The Dark Eldar are essentially a continuation of the old Eldar Empire culturally speaking.

They used to be an aristocracy, with three powerful noble families ruling Commorragh and various lesser noble families ruling it's sub realms. Then Vect happened and changed it into a form of meritocracy based on rule by the most ruthless and cunning.

Individual Dark Eldar almost always belong to one of the different groups in the city, banding together for protection from those around them. and to enable preying on those weaker than them. These groups include the Kabals, Wych Cults, Haemonculi Covens, Hellion and Reaver gangs, Incubi cults, artisan guilds, mercenary companies and the Scourge flights.

Most Dark Eldar are not proper warriors and never leave the city. All the docks are controlled by Wych Cults, Covens or Kabals, and they only allow their warriors to use them, or barter their use to other groups. The civilian populace essentially has to make do with what filters down to them from higher up the food chain and those aliens that arrive to the city to live there or trade. Parts of Low Commorragh are heavily populated by other aliens like Kroot or Sslyth who serve as mercenaries to those who can afford them.

Artists, artisans and the like are often independent or semi-independent from the larger groups in the city, with the lesser ones basically living as street vendors or running small shops while the more valued or famous ones live in luxury doing commission work for wealthy patrons. The creator of the Glass Plague bioweapon was such an individual, who sold incredibly lifelike statues of green-black glass from his studio until the rest of the city found out how he was making them and attacked him, accidentally releasing the plague into the city.


As a race the Dark Eldar are constantly having their soul slowly drained by Slaanesh, usually described with a hole in the spirit metaphor, with pain and suffering filling the hole temporarily, though it constantly grows as they age meaning they need more and more pain to stay alive. Failure to keep Slaanesh at bay in this manner causes them to age rapidly and eventually become a soulless husk that mindlessly attempts to prey on living things near them in the vain hope of recapturing life.

The Dark Eldar hold all gods in contempt, even Khaine is only respected by the Incubi. The others view the fact that their gods died as a sign they were weak, Khaine included. There's a giant heap of relics and idols on one of the main routes into Commorragh that's been a cultural dumping ground for gods ever since the Fall, when they threw the icons and statues of their own gods away. Instead the Dark Eldar revere the Dark Muses, which are basically lesser gods and folk heroes of the Dark Eldar, associated with the lead up to the Fall.