Editing Nobledark Imperium Forces of Chaos (section)

===Faehounds===

The Crone World eldar are nothing if not an ingenious people. Consider the humble [[Chaos Spawn]]. It its natural state, it is a pitiable thing. Barely able to move, barely able to breathe, in most cases good for relatively little except as component materia for a [[Mutalith Vortex Beast]]. However, take that Chaos Spawn, prune away the unusable limbs, induce further mutations, and replace the parts that don’t work with prosthetics, and you get a creature that is actually worth something. Crone eldar are masters at this process, their fleshsculptors carefully and artistically trimming chaos spawn like bonsai to create the creatures that they call faehounds.

Like other flesh-sculpted abominations, it does not matter what faehounds were before they were blessed with their mutations. Even Chaos Spawn that used to be Crones receive no special treatment, Crones generally considering being turned into a Chaos Spawn as voiding one’s claim to belonging to the chosen race of the gods. Faehounds come in a vast array of shapes and forms, and it can be quite accurately said that no two look alike. As with anything Chaotic, there are innumerable variants of faehounds, their numbers limited solely by the whims of their creators and the mutating eddies of the Warp. However, most show echoes of a common design, a general hound-like form, typically quadrupedal, though bipedal, six-legged, and even centipede-like forms are known. Manipulatory appendages are rare, but most have some kind of mouthparts with which they can savage their enemy. Faehounds are generally smaller than most Chaos Spawn due to the careful grooming of their flesh, but they trade this for much more coherence in their body plan.

Faehounds have many uses in war. Perhaps their most common use is as cannon fodder. Faehounds, with their unnatural speed, can rapidly outpace Crone Eldar, and can charge enemy lines absorbing enemy fire while more valuable forces advance. Whether or not they survive is irrelevant, faehounds are easily replaceable, and each shot fired at them is one less shot fired at more valuable eldar lives. Although Perhaps one of the most common variants of faehounds are forms modified as suicide attackers, exploding in a burst of corrosive digestive juices once their purpose is finished or they are too damaged to fight any longer. After all, it is not as though they were expected to survive in the first place.

Faehounds are also useful trackers. Many varieties have some form of highly acute senses, whether it be smell, sight, or even the ability to see the raw currents of the Warp. Therefore, many Crones include faehounds in their hunting parties, these mutated beasts tracking their quarry at the side of their masters. Although the actual battle is important, the Crones find hunting down and killing the fleeing survivors to be just as much if nor more enjoyable.