Craftworld Iyanden

Iyanden
Capital	Iyanden
Official Languages	Eldar Lexicon
Power	Minor Power
Size	Craftworld
Head of State	High Farseer of Iyanden
Head of Government	Seer Council of Iyanden
Governmental Structure	Meritocracy, Magocratic Seer Council
State Religion/Ideology	Eldar Mythology
Demographic	Eldar
Military Force	Craftworld Guardian Corps, Craftworld Fleet, Aspect Warrior Hosts, Wraith Hosts, The Eldritch Raiders & other Corsair allies

Craftworld Iyanden is one of the major Eldar Craftworlds. It suffered heavily from an attack by Hive Fleet Kraken, losing four out of every five Eldar before Autarch turned Corsair Yriel managed to drive out the Hive Fleet. As a result, Craftworld Iyanden is forced to rely heavily on Wraith constructs to keep them afloat in combat, and half of the ones alive are probably Bonesingers. They suffered further when WAAAGH Rekkfist invaded the Craftworld and were nearly overrun when the Dark Eldar of the Kabal of the Wraithkind appeared from the Webway to save them. After the battle, the Seer Council inquired why the Dark Eldar had saved them, and they replied that they thought Iyanden's angst over using Wraith constructs was so hilarious that they couldn't let them die. So grimdark.

History

Much like every other modern day Craftworld, Iyanden truly came into its own after the Fall of the Aeldari. While many of the other craftworlds tucked their tails and ran away to go hide under their cosmic beds while the boogie (wo)man feasted on their kin, Iyanden was among the first of the Craftworlds to actually pick themselves up and resolve to do something about it. As the first to take steps to rebuild an empire for themselves, the seers of Iyanden were the ones to invent the Infinity Circuit; it was actually the Phoenix Lord maugan ra who created the idea of the Infinity Circuit, hence his name "the harvester of souls", and integrate it into the heart of their Craftworld as a simultaneous psychic power source and semi-afterlife for the dead. Though they'd attempted to use this innovation to encourage the other craftworlds to get their heads out of their asses and help them make the galaxy great again, virtually all of them simply accepted the Infinity Circuit tech and kindly told Iyanden to go fuck themselves. The singular exception to this was Biel-Tan, another major craftworld who also thirsted for the conquest and glory of old. The alliance would prove fruitful, with the two Craftworlds almost cleansing Orks entirely from the galactic south, however this wouldn't last, probably due to, though they were highly motivated to reclaim the galaxy for the aeldar, Lyendan was actually honestly good natured and wanting to actually help the galaxy instead of zealotry exterminating life, that would become the hallmark of Beil-Tan.

Though Biel-Tan and Iyanden both wanted to make a glorious new empire as an end goal, tensions started to rise over the means to reach it. Iyanden was primarily focused on cleansing Chaos influence from the galaxy and actually building up colonies gradually to form the foundations of a new empire while Biel-Tan was beginning to devolve into something of a psychopathic, xenocidal murder-hobo bent on the eradication of all non-sanctioned life found squatting on any of their (former) worlds. Lyanden would grow increasingly uneasy with the actions of Biel-Tan, and would cut off their alliance, much to the fury of Beil-tan, who considered their former allies to be nothing but a bunch of weak willed traitors.

Though they had separated it didn't effect Lyanden to much, as they still remained the largest most populated Craftworld, until they would came into contact with a massive Tyranid Hive Fleet that they grossly underestimated (I mean, they are still Eldar). Lyanden had grown complacent in their position of power and dismissed Eldrads warnings out of hand, believing that he was just overstating the threat to gain influence.

They would pay dearly for their pride, and although they eventually drove off the hive fleet, Iyanden suffered countless casualties and lost four out of every five Eldar within Iyanden's halls. This embodiment of a Pyrrhic victory reduced the formerly most populous craftworld to the dramatically underpopulated husk it is today. Such is their dire state that they now rely heavily on the dead to fight for the living, dragging the souls from their peaceful rest only to have then enter a cold unfeeling half-life.

Lyanden still allows alien diplomats to live for a time aboard the Craftworld, and even takes part in public diplomatic visits. Lyanden is a Craftworld suffused with suffering and sorrow, but also hope for a better tomorrow, the rebirth of a glorious future for their species.

Iyanden spent the better part of the following millennia drifting around the eastern rim cleansing Chaos wherever it could, assisting the Dark Angels in dealing with a Fallen's Chaos insurgence, protecting a few Exodite worlds and even gaining a few new allies in the minor Malan'tai and Idharae craftworlds. Though many of the surviving Eldar protested initially, it was around this time Iyanden's signature Wraithguard and Wraithlords began to become a commonplace sight within the craftworld's military. Between their efficiency and the simple fact there weren't enough living Eldar to form the rank and file, this grim necessity was quickly accepted.

But then everything went grimdark again once they started fighting Hive Fleet Naga. Iyanden lost all its buddies as the Ybaric Cluster was isolated by a warp storm. The Invaders chapter destroyed Idharae and the Doom of Malan'tai as well. And to add even more grimdarkness, when Yriel, against the wishes of the rest of the Craftworlds leadership, went to battle with all of Iyanden fleet, leaving it weakly defended, leading to a Chaos fleet turning up, which resulted in the Chaos forces managing to strike the Craftworld with a Cyclonic Torpedo, killing a few thousands and breaking their soulstones before Yriel managed to get back, this would lead to him being exiled.

Despite this, the craftworld is recovering at a rather fast rate, hopeful to return to its former glory. Fitting for its name, really. Yes, Ward wrote some noblebright in 40k; still doomed but still.

This growth has been hampered by yet more invasions though. With the spilling of the Warp brought about by the Fall of Cadia Iyanden found itself once more beset by Chaos Forces, this time three Hulks infested with Nurgle Daemons. Although small in numbers these ships were impossible for the Iyanden fleet to destroy, so the Craftworld instead decided to focus on terminating the Hulk's engines and fleeing. Doing so came at a high cost, including the death of Yriel (although Yvraine brought him back later because a Nurgle Daemon Prince wanted to screw over Slaanesh). The Ynnari, when leaving, also took so many of their Wraith warriors with them that some of the Eldar of Iyanden feared the Craftworld was being left defenseless.

This turned out to be true when, again, Chaos attacked the Craftworld, lead by the Keeper of Secrets N'krisha, who proceeded to wreck the Craftworld and was on the verge of destroying it before the intervention of numerous different Eldar allies saved Iyanden from being destroyed yet again.

All in all the one thing Iyanden tends to be good at is almost getting destroyed and then having someone show up to save it at the last moment, though being saved seems to be the result of making a lot of friends; being perhaps the only Craftworld to truly embrace diplomacy to the extent that they do, so this makes sense. There seems to have been a strong cultural importance placed on Iyanden as they had a great influence at the very beginning, basically setting the form that many Craftworlds would follow.

Grease Monkey of The Last Chancers was punished for steeling the grav-vehicle of an Iyanden ambassador and taking it on a joyride, which implies that Iyanden may have diplomatic ties with at least a few Imperial planets, which is similar to similar arrangements among individual Imperial planets and other Craftworlds.

Recent Events

Iyanden, being a Craftworld comprised almost entirely of the dead, unsurprisingly quickly came to support the burgeoning Ynnari in their efforts to bring Ynnead into his full power. To this end, only a very minor portion of the Iyanden seers even oppose the Ynnari as a faction and even then the primary reason isn't what they're trying to accomplish; they're simply worried that too many of their (ghost) warriors will march off and leave an already critically underpopulated Craftworld defenseless.

The Craftworld that gets shit done

Their symbol looking more like a campfire than anything else. Or, you know, a Shinto shrine - which would fit with their theme of being a largely spirit-based force. But whatever.

As a result of their codex supplement and the fact they are the most underused of the craftworlds, they currently have the highest number of victories of any craftworld, despite being best known as 'Nid food. This is possibly the one good thing that ever came out of Matt Ward's work.

Some of these include:

• Destroying a Chaos Empire ruled by a Fallen Angel.
• Handing him over to Dark Angels because their Farseer saw it was the worst thing they can do to him.
• Having fucking Colonies meaning they've done more rebuilding their Empire than any other craftworld. Actual colonies, like, with cities. Not Garden of Eden Feral World on easy mode with all the cheats enabled that is the Eldar's (especially Exodite's) idea of "roughing it".
• Help destroyed a minor Tyranid Hive fleet.
• Right after being NOMed they defended an Exodite world from Imperial invasion. Which is odd because fluff also says they refused to protect an Exodite world from Imperial invasion, which pissed Biel-Tan off. Different worlds? Writers not reading fluff before they write? (Actually it was an uninhabited maiden world, Biel-Tann is pretty much the only Craftworld that cares about others camping out on Maiden Worlds.
• Leading the Eldar Bio-Purge in Octarius(aka fixing Kryptman's clusterfuck).
• During the battle for the Farseers keep seeing the craftworld lost, until Iyanna rigs the outcome saying sometimes they need to forge their own future (how ironically human of them).
• Getting M'kar to attack Ultramar, meaning they're the ones who gave Varro Tigurius nightmares about the Daemonculaba resulting in the events that lead to everything Uriel Ventris did in his books.
• They're about to combine forces with Craftworld Biel-tan in Apocalypse: Warzone Valedor and kill Hive Fleet Kraken once and for all (except not really) before Hive Fleet Leviathan can eat them.
• Discovering a pre-Fall relic called the Fireheart, essentially a psychically-activated bomb capable of destroying a planet, and (uncharacteristically for ancient relics in Warhammer 40k) actually managing to learn how to produce copies of it so they can Exterminatus planets and deny them to the Tyranids.

Iyanden has not had it easy what with fending off Ork assaults, Imperial fleets, the Necrons of the Sautekh Dynasty, and further Tyranid tendrils. With the coming of the Great Rift the craftworld has also seen fresh invasions, three times overcoming daemonic threats. Unlike most other Craftworlds, Iyanden has not seen the same level of internal strife caused by the rise of Ynnead; in fact, there is almost 100% support for the new god. The Seer Council is suspicious of the Ynnari, but that's mainly because they don't want people to abandon an already critically underpopulated craftworld to join a bunch of nomads. The Craftworld has put out a radical new idea to escape She Who Thirsts, making use of the Infinity Circuit, wraith constructs and Dark Eldar cloning tech. Every time an Eldar dies they can power up their new god before being Housed in a Wraith guard to continue to fight, then they can be resurrect from the dead into brand new bodies. This morbid plan is not very popular among the other Craftworlds.

TL;DR Iyanden is the goody two-shoes of Craftworlds.

Tactics and Military Doctrine

Though Iyanden once upon a time was the single largest craftworld in the galaxy, numerous Ork, Tyranid and Chaos invasions have decimated their population to borderline extinction. Though a limited number of Aspect Warriors and Guardians can be deployed as the need arises, Iyanden must often resort to fielding ghost warriors to make up the difference. Indeed, Iyanden hosts the highest number of Wraithguard, Wraithblades and Wraithlords of any other. These unyielding wraithbone constructs often form an unbreaking anvil to crush their enemies against.

Unique Forces

• Wraithseers - Though not necessarily "unique" in the same manner Ulthwé's Black Guardians or Saim-Hann's Wild Riders might be to their respective craftworlds, Iyanden is one of the precious few craftworlds remaining who still hosts these archaic and powerful seers. With the soul of a powerful Warlock or Spiritseer residing within the chasis of a Wraithlord, a Wraithseer uses their psychic mastery to guide fellow ghost warriors on the field of battle and rain ruin upon their foes with their D-Cannons and Ghost Spears. Unfortunately, due to their rarity and with modern Spiritseers lacking the skill to properly implant seer souls into the Wraithseer chasis, calling one into battle is truly ever only done as a last resort (you know, more so than the act of bringing in any ghost warriors at all is).