Editing Slaugth (Hektor Heresy) (section)

===The Phoenix Emperor===

As Aenarion's fleet headed back towards the Eldar homeworld, the roles reversed: now the rebels were mercilessly hunting the traitors down, and the Imperial fleet was trying frantically to regroup, confused by the Autarch's sudden counterattack. And yet, their clumsy attempts were all in vain, for Khaine himself guided Aenarion's vengeful hand. There was nowhere they could run, nowhere they could hide from him, neither on the ground nor in the heavens above, neither in the cold of the Void nor in the labyrinthine tunnels of the Webway. Aenarion became an avatar of Death itself, and anyone who dared to oppose him was as good as dead. For the Autarch forgot the meaning of mercy, slaughtering the guilty along with the innocent who happened to get in his way. His ultimatum to the Eldar army was brutally laconic: join his crusade or be executed. And many generals did join him, either out of respect or simply fearing his wrath.

He started out with but a handful of ships in a dire need of repair. By the time he reached Cadia, the forces under his command rivalled the remnants of the Imperial fleet in numbers. And yet, the outcome of the war was far from decided. Feeling the noose tighten around their necks, the Slaugth Principals finally decided to join the war openly and bolstered the forces of their incompetent underlings with the best war galleys at their disposal. They also tricked a handful of mighty Krork warlords into joining the battle on their side, so in the end the rebels were outnumbered four to one. And yet, not a muscle flinched on Aenarion's face as he beheld the cyclopean force his foes amassed to bring him down. Instead of a mighty enemy, he saw sheep flocking mindlessly to the slaughter.

The Battle of Cadia is so shrouded in heroic legends that even the Eldar scholars have trouble separating truth from fiction. Some accounts claim that Khaine personally manifested on that day and hurled a moon at the traitor forces, others mention that Aenarion sliced the enemy flagship in half with the Widowmaker. While such reports are dubious at best, one thing remains certain: the rebels handed the foe a crushing defeat, destroying what remained of the Imperial fleet. Two factors contributed to Aenarion's decisive victory. Firstly, several Imperial admirals decided to switch sides midway through the battle in a desperate bid to save their lives. Their decision proved to be ill-advised, as Aenarion ordered to execute everyone aboard their ships anyway. Secondly, rather than risk their lives in what seemed to be a loosing battle, the Slaugth abandoned their allies at a critical point. They departed back to their empire to start preparing for the inevitable war with Aenarion.

After the glorious victory at Cadia, the way to the homeworld was open. Years after his adventure in the Senate Spire, the Autarch returned to his race's capital, this time as a conqueror. Although the Senate managed to mount some meagre defence, it was brutally swept aside by the mighty rebel fleet. In a couple of days, Aenarion entered the Spire for the second time in his life. This time around, he was personally escorted to the assembly hall by the commanders of the Spire Guard hoping to ingratiate themselves with the new tyrant. This was, of course, just a waste of time on their part, for the Autarch did not believe in such a thing as a former enemy. Many of the Senators chose to commit ritual suicide rather than face Aenarion, and those who didn't envied them. The Autarch's trial of the Senate was swift, his verdict harsh: all of the Senators were to be hurled alive into the sacred Flame of Asuryan, burning brightly in a pit in the middle of the hall. 

So ended the ancient Eldar republic. Aenarion was fundamentally opposed to the idea of democracy, believing it to be inherently prone to corruption, so he decided to crown himself the emperor to replace the power vacuum created by the demise of the Senate. He styled himself the Phoenix Emperor to commemorate his miraculous walking through the Flame of Asuryan, but the Creator God was no longer his favoured deity. As he promised on the Blighted Planet, his rule saw the resurgence of the Cult of Khaine. The bloody-handed god's disciples came out of the shadows to become powerful priests and templars, parks and shopping districts of many Eldar metropolises were burnt down to give way to imposing obsidian temples and fountains of lava. Not everyone was happy with the changes introduced by the Phoenix Emperor, but they were too scared of his already legendary wrath to voice their concerns. The entire race was ordered to celebrate the dawn of a new era, and so they did, even if their whimsical carnival masks hid scared, troubled faces. 

However, the celebrations were kept to a minimum. After all, there was little time to be lost - while the enemy within was soundly defeated, the true foe was still as strong as ever. As the Eldar danced in the streets, the Slaugth were reinforcing the border regions and gathering forces for the imminent war that would leave only a single race to dominate the Galaxy.