Editing Eldar (section)

===The Eldar during the War in Heaven===

The War in Heaven was an apocalyptic war between the species known as the Old Ones and the [[Necrons]] that makes the Horus Heresy and the [[Men of Iron|war against the machines]] look like schoolyard scuffles. The War in Heaven occurred roughly 65 million years ago, and is implied to have been the real reason for all the mass extinctions that happened during this period, seeing as it takes place during the same time period that the last of the non-avian dinosaurs went extinct. To put the scale into perspective, [[Trazyn]] has one of the ancient [[Orks|Krorks]] that fought during this time in his exhibits; it is described a towering, twelve-meter-tall monstrosity that loomed over [[Fabius Bile]], whose weaponry and crude exoskeleton were far more advanced than even the modern day Astartes battle-plate. To put that into even more perspective, the largest of the six [[The Beast|Prime-orks]], the ultimate mastermind behind the [[War of the Beast]] which devastated the early Imperium and brought the [[Administratum]] to its knees stood at only ''10'' meters.

Information on the Eldar during this time is a rarity and scattered throughout the lore:
*They were a powerful psychic warrior race. In the latest book in the [[Mephiston]] series, the recently awakened [[Necron Lord]] commented that although powerful, he was but a pale shadow of its recollections of the Eldar; considering the insane BS Mephiston was able to pull off (still couldn't break out of Veilwalkers grip however, as she dragged him around by his psychic ear), that is truly scary. Modern Eldar are greatly restricted in how they use their psychic might, and limit themselves using runes, that act as psychic fuses (the greater the number, the more power they can safely access). They can choose to override the runes, but it doesn't usually end well; such as the example of the Eldar seer, who in a suicidal last act tapped directly into their full psychic potential, for only a handful of seconds- burning out their runes. The Seer unleashed a terrifyingly powerful Eldritch storm that consumed the whole planet they had been fighting on; however within seconds of doing so the Dark Prince instantly sunk its talons into the Seer's soul, dragging it directly into its open jaws, and consumed the the soul of the Seer entirely. Even constrained and restricted Eldar Seers such as Eldrad are still capable of freezing time for the entire capital of Guilliman's realm, whilst at the same time holding a casual conversation (Unremembered Empire), psychically powering an entire Eldar battleship from halfway across the galaxy, whilst again holding a conversation with the stranded crew, guiding them back home safely, or singlehanded, controlling and shaping enough raw power to birth a god. According to Asurman this sort of display of power was not uncommon before the Fall.
*The entire species was connected by what could be described as a species wide "Gestalt" Field; no Matter how far they may be, they are always connected together ( potentially why The Dark Prince has such a stranglehold on their souls). Many before the Fall took this for granted, only to suffer soul crushing loneliness when it was torn from them. Those that join the Ynnari are able to reconnect, with many finally realising that the Fall hadn't just broken them in the physical sense, but it had shattered them spiritually; if the species has any chance of survival they must become whole once more.
*They created warp constructs/weapons that could be used to battle the Star Gods directly.
*They were apparently able to “reincarnate” after they died. They were essentially a race of [[perpetual]]s, in that their souls are actually immortal and continually move through a circle of death and rebirth. This works in a similar fashion to the '[[Doctor Who|Doctor's]]' regenerations, with the soul being identical but with each reincarnation being its own person, with its own personality and identity; the memories of their past lives are still there, and are still accessible when needed but most don't bother.
*They were [[psyker]]s who could read minds with but a glance and crush an opponent’s weapons with a mere gesture (the example given is a simple closing of an eye lid).
*They fought using swords and spears, not firearms, essentially being more powerful [[Warlock (Eldar)|warlock]]s:
::''“We speak of gods and souls, and this one assumes the smith-god’s gift to the Eldar was plasma weaponry? Hah! These events occurred eons before the Eldar had mastered such things. They fought with swords, spears and their own twisted version of faith.”'' 
*They were created before the Krorks, and although powerful they were few in number by comparison. Thanks to 'Wild Rider' we know that the Eldar predate the War in Heaven, as they appear to have had none-violent interactions with the pre-Necron [[Necrontyr]]; keep in mind that the Necrontyr originally asked the Old Ones to help them peacefully, and that the conflict was stoked by the Necrontyr's leadership for political reasons (to unit the turbulent factions of their society against a common foe). The Necrontyr were apparently the ones to introduce the fledgling Eldar species to the concept of the written word; not a good look for the Old Ones, when the Necrontyr turn out to have been the better teachers.
*The Eldar were said to represent silence and grace, whilst the [[Orks]] represented rage and noise.
*The Jokaero were made by the Old Ones to serve as slave-engineers to the other weapon-races and to the Old Ones. The War in Heaven exhibit has a Khaineite warrior armed with some form of chainsword; meaning the Jokaero may be the origin for all chain bladed weaponry that exists in the 40k universe.
*They made use of “Iron Knights” animated by Eldar souls and “Giants” inhabiting (inhabited by?) the souls of the greatest Eldar heroes. Standing three times taller than a Necron and virtually indestructible, they carried arcane weaponry that could channel and project soulfire that ripped their opponents apart. They are reminiscent of the Wraith constructs employed by the Craftworld Eldar, and also resemble the creation and use of the Avatars of Khaine. In ''Ghost Warrior: Rise of the Ynnari'' Autarch Meliniel has gained the ability to transform into an Avatar at will, which may indicate that certain ancient Eldar Warriors may have been able to do the same. [[Tyrion]] during [[the End Times]] did something similar, becoming an avatar of Khaine through the use of the sword [[Widowmaker]] (the last of the swords forged for [[Khaine]] by [[Vaul]]), which means that it may be the forging of objects directly connected to the gods that may have allowed for these theorized transformations.
*During ''Rise of the Ynnari: Wild Rider'', Nuadhu Fireheart, due to some type of ancestral memory, has flashbacks to fighting alongside constructs larger than [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|titans]] in the original War in Heaven. These titanic figures could very well be the physical manifestation of the Eldar gods given form in the physical plane.
*The Necron [[Phaeron|Phaerekh]] known as the Watcher in the Dark, upon watching Aeldari ships descending from the sky, has flashes from her pre-Necron life. She sees images of immense flying predators and makes a note that the Eldar ships seem to have been inspired by these same creatures; this may represent the Eldar mythological figure of the Cosmic Serpent and its children. Many of the Eldar ships and vehicles (such as the [[Dragonship|Dragonships]], [[Wave Serpent]], [[Vyper]], [[Skyweaver]], [[Starweaver]] and [[Voidweaver]]) are all named in honour of these mythical figures. It could be that during the War in Heaven, the Eldar may have ridden "dragons" in a similar manner to the [[High Elf (Warhammer Fantasy Battle)|High Elf]] [[Dragon Prince]]s and Dragon-riders; the "dragons" that the Eldar Exodites ride may well be their lesser descendants. During the Heresy, [[Vulkan]] fought an Exodite seer upon the back of a giant winged "dragon", so there may still be some of these guys still out there.
*The 8th edition Codex mentions that virtually every battle between the Eldar and Necrons was an overwhelming victory for the Eldar, even after the Old Ones were wiped out. Ultimately, the ensuing assumption of Eldar invincibility would help lay the foundation for the Fall, as they came to think nothing could stop their empire.
*With the apparent demise of the Old Ones, it was the Eldar who stepped up to fill the power vacuum left behind; leading the other creations of the Old Ones against the now weakened Necrons, forcing them into their long sleep.
*The Eldar were led by the brother heroes, Eldanesh and Ulthanesh, who alone could control the Warp Gods and summon them onto the physical plane. The brothers and their gods would lead their children into battle time and time again, pitting Warp spawned furies against the soulless technologies of the Yngir.
*To give an idea to the scale of power wielded by the ancient Eldar, we can look at the Spear of Twilight currently used by the last of the house of Ulthanash, Prince Yriel. The spear of twilight is said to have been used by Ulthanesh himself, and although it is a pale shadow of its former might it is still capable of, not only wounding but feeding upon god tier entities such as the Hive Mind (too bad its tabletop rules don't represent this).
::''"Yriel plunged his spear deep into the rearing serpent. It keened terribly, and Yriel salivated as his weapon drank. Since the day he had lost his eye due to the spear feasting on the limitless hive mind, he had managed to control its fell power and its obscene appetites, but at this final pass he no longer had the strength, and the spear’s murderous soul overwhelmed him. He could not stop it feeding, drawing upon the infinity of spirit the Great Devourer possessed. Yriel felt the hive mind, heard it howl. It thrashed about, and Yriel was battered by its anger. Its thoughts were utterly, unimaginably alien. But one thing came through strong and loud. Hatred, hatred for this creature that had for the first time in untold eons wounded it."''
*It has been shown that "[[Chaos]]", or, as the Necron Phaerekh called it, "the foe-that-creeps", was very much a growing problem, with whole worlds destroyed to prevent its spreading influence. Apparently, the Eldar had been brought into being with the specific intent for them to resist the counter-dimensional incursions, whilst at the same time making use of the Warp to do battle with the Necrons. As has been mentioned, the longer the War in Heaven lasted, the more it churned up the [[Warp|sea of souls]], and in doing so created many of the dangers that would now hunt within its depths. At some point the [[Enslavers|Warp-spawned horrors]] flooding reality must have reached a breaking point, as both the Eldar and Necrons seem to have joined forces to beat their demonic arses back into the hell from which they came. Vaults created through the efforts of both the Necrons and Eldar imprisoned many of these [[Daemon|daemonic]] entities; this includes powerful daemons of "[[Slaanesh]]"?
*Thanks to recent revelations from 'Infinite and the Divine', we now know that the War in Heaven was indeed an accumulation of many different incidents, happening over a very long period of time. The time period known as the War in Heaven lasted around five million years; not kidding here, according to two very high profile Necron Lords this is how long it took. However it does appear as if their memories have become somewhat mixed up, or maybe deliberately tampered with during biotransference, as the two Lords have very different reconciliations about who dragged who away towards the bio-furnaces. After the War in Heaven ended (in reality it never really ended, the bell is about to ring announcing the start of the next round) the Eldar that emerged are said to have taken a very hands off approach to what little life remained in the galaxy, holding a reverence for life in the wake of the destruction wrought by the apocalyptic war. Eldar even visited early Earth, where they discovered a species of small mammals, the earliest ancestors to modern humans. A debate then arose concerning these creatures, as visions gifted to the Eldar revealed that in the far distant future they would either be responsible for Chaos ultimately consuming the galaxy, or a vital element in the fight against the [[Chaos Gods|Primordial Annihilator]]. The Eldar at the time decided to take a gamble and left life on Earth to develop unmolested (too bad the gamble failed; to be clear this is very old lore, but a conversation during ‘Throne World’ does hint at its continuous existence within the current Lore). This is actually supported by 'Godblight', where it is confirmed that the Eldar have been visiting [[Terra|Earth]] for a very long time now, at least as late as 6000 BC, which is about the same time as the founding of Mesopotamia, or the "Cradle of Civilisation". You know those theories about ancient aliens visiting earth- and who may have played a considerable part in the development of early human civilisation, back in the day, well guess who it was; this would also explain why so many ancient pantheons in old myths and legends have a more then passing resemblance to the Eldar's own pantheon of gods. The idea that the Eldar have been taking day trips to earth throughout history isn't that far fetched, when you consider the fact that, at this very moment, there is a massive Eldar city in the [[Webway]] just adjacent to our own solar system ('The Impossible City' that the Emperor intended to use as his entrance point into the rest of the Webway); there might be millions of Eldar at this very moment watching us, maybe even editing this very page... Gits.