Pre-Fall Eldar

[Marshal Rohr]

Has anyone ever seen some cool conversions of Pre-Fall Eldar they'd like to share? I've always loved the exodites and the Eldar before Slaanesh. Do you think they'd still use wraithbone the way they are forced to after their exile? Or would metals and plastics be part of their aesthetic?

[Brother Tyler]

THE PSYCHIC RACE

 

As far as is possible to tell, the Eldar have always been a psychic race. This manifests itself in a variety of unusual talents. On natural ability which is common to many Eldar is called psychomorphism by the human Xenobiologists of the Imperium. In crude terms this gives them the ability to shape matter and create simple artefacts from raw materials. More complex things can be made by several individuals working together or with the aid of forging machines to enhance the creative process.

 

Eldar can also move small objects by a form of psychokineses and it is by this means that they build their most sophisticated devices.

 

Some Eldar can influence the structure of growing matter by a form of empathic telepathy. This empathic ability may have been particularly important during the early development of the Eldar race enabling them to promote the fruitfulness of edible crops and reshape the growth of trees to make simple shelters. During their primitive evolutionary stage the Eldar undoubtedly benefitted greatly from these skills. The first Eldar villages and towns are supposed to have been living structures grown from trees, often covering many square miles and reaching high into the air. Structures like this can still be found on worlds colonised by the Eldar in later times.

 

Because of their psychic abilities the Eldar race learned how to make and shape raw materials at a very early stage of cultural development. By means of their mental powers they were able to refine minerals and shape the resulting metals and stones into whatever they wanted. Eldar technology has a very ancient history and the pace of its progress is closely tied to the slow evolutionary development of the race.

 

There was never a sharply defined industrial phase of Eldar history (as for example there was in human history) but rather a steady growth in competence and knowledge over a very long period of time. A particularly Eldar aspect of their technology is that its forms often adhere closely to natural biological shapes and structures. This is quite understandable, as there is no real difference between technology and nature in the Eldar mind - they amalgamate into a single process by which the Eldar imbue living things with function and functional things with life.

 

(Note that I'm guessing the issue based on the cover - I actually copied the passage from the Warhammer 40,000 Compilation in which that article was re-printed - my copy is somewhere in the garage.)

Since the core of the various craftworlds appears to be wraithbone and the craftworlds were created before the Fall, I would guess that the Aeldari have been using wraithbone since before the Fall.

 

While it is probable that Aeldari fashions have been shaped by the various factions subsequent to the Fall, it is likely that each preserves some aspects of pre-Fall Aeldari civilization to one degree or another. At the very least, the common thematic elements probably pre-date the Fall. The Exodites are considered backward remnants of pre-Fall Aeldari, though their appearance in art appears to draw upon elements they share in common with the Asuryani (who are also considered a conservative faction of the pre-Fall Aeldari civilization). Yvraine is considered to be the modern Aeldari who most embodies pre-Fall Aeldari. Whether or not that is confined solely to her personality and outlook, or if it also extends to her (distinctive) apparel, is unknown. Since that apparel is so distinct, though, and since she can claim experience in three of the main Aeldari factions (Craftworld Eldar, Dark Eldar, Eldar Corsairs), I think it likely that her clothing provides some clues as to some common pre-Fall Aeldari fashions.

[Marshal Rohr]

I hadn't followed any of Yvraine's lore. I had perused the early White Dwarfs and Space Fleet, and I really enjoyed the look of the 2nd edition elder, since it seemed less like living suits, and more like armor.

[Laughingman]

In Asurman Hand of Asuryan a sizeable amount of the story takes place right before and during the fall....  Might be worth checking out for insight.