Editing Harlequin (section)

==The Final Act, A.K.A. The Last Troll==
In recent years, the Harlequins' war against Chaos has been characterised by a newfound urgency. Full masques have become an ever more common sight among the stars. Appearing from the Webway, they can be found performing within the realms of their kin or battling the galaxy's disparate races in vicious campaigns of apparently random violence. As the 41st Millennium comes to a close, more and more Eldar vanish into the Webway, forsaking their former lives to take up the Harlequin's mask. The Harlequins' numbers are growing, and many among the Eldar wonder why. The truth is inspirational and terrifying in equal measure. At the very heart of the Black Library there lies a silver-lit vault. Therein stands a plinth made of finely graven obstinite, upon which rests a crystalline book said to contain the words of Cegorach himself. Since the Fall, the tome’s covers have remained closed, sealed shut with flickering chains of light. Yet now, long-awaited portents have come to pass. A [[Ahriman|fallen sorcerer]] seeks the lore of the library. A [[Silent King|king]] stirs in his court of death and silence, preparing to rise once more. Within [[Eye of Terror|madness' eye]], the [[Abbadon the Despoiler|champion]] of the [[Ruinous Powers]] prepares to seize [[Cadia|a realm long denied]]. As the signs have come to pass, so the bands of light about the tome have flickered and died.

Now, at last, the tome has fallen open. Within its pages the Shadowseers have found a script, a secret final act that changes utterly the tale of the Fall. Penned in inks of light and shadow, these words present a slender hope, detailing an intricate, galaxy-spanning performance with the potential to change the fate of the Eldar race. Always, the strands of fate have pointed toward the victory of Chaos during the last, mythic battle known to the Eldar as the Rhana Dandra. Yet within the pages of the crystal tome is recorded Cegorach's ultimate and final [[Troll|jest,]] a way to trick Slaanesh into [[Lulz|expending all her power not to destroy the Eldar, but to save them.]] How such an impossibility could come to pass is unclear, for on this matter the final act is infuriatingly vague. Yet the Harlequins take their god's words on faith alone, for their devotion to Cegorach is total and his methods beyond question or reproach. Thus they have begun the steps of this final dance, and will see it completed, or else face absolute destruction in the attempt.

This is now also likely the Eldar species’ final and only hope for survival, period, since Eldrad upgraded from dick to dumb dick and went and boned everything for them, failing in an attempt to awaken [[Ynnead]] early and ended up killing him, all the progress that had gone into him, and the infinity circuits of every craftworld, instead. ''Whoops''. Course, this is probably precisely why the crystalline book opened in the first place, with Cegorach basically going <span style='color:turquoise;font-size:100%'> “Oh dear, who could’ve seen that coming? Oh wait, I did, that’s why I have a plan B ready to go for you dumb shmucks. Let’s open it up shall we? And we’re keeping the [[Eldrad|Dick]] out of this one. That fuckup with Ynnead…even I think that wasn't funny.” </span>

Until Eldrad didn't, of course. Ynnead seems to be doing just fine, if forming the Yncarne is any indication. Though the Harlequins are still working with them so maybe the plan to trick Slaanesh is still on. Or the Harlequins figure they might as well hedge their bets. If one plan fails, the other might succeed. Or it was the plan all along. In any case, they, like everyone else who understands the scale of the Imperium, may be dicks but aren't stupid enough to truly bring mankind's wrath down on them. Especially since the Inquisition has Inquisitors who know the location of the Black Library...In any case, they're more or less co-operating with the Ynnari though how much of this is honest and how much of it is just coincidence and how much of it is going to end up with the Craftworld Eldar getting a hilarious dose of their own backstabbing medicine is yet to be revealed. Assuming this plot thread isn't just dropped or ignored by GW, of course.