Craftworld Saim-Hann
| Saim-Hann | |
|---|---|
| |
| Capital | |
| Official Languages |
Eldar Lexicon |
| Power |
Minor Power |
| Size |
Craftworld |
| Head of State |
Several High Chieftains |
| Head of Government |
Chieftain Council |
| Governmental Structure |
Confederal Chiefdom |
| State Religion/Ideology |
Eldar Mythology |
| Demographic | |
| Military Force |
Windrider Hosts, Aspect Hosts, Craftworld Fleet |
Craftworld Saim-Hann is one of the five big Craftworlds. Saim-Hann specialises in jetbikes and about everybody there is part of a Wild Rider family - basically a clan of crazy Eldar jetbikers. They are known for loving it fast and rough. Maybe they watched the Speed Freeks and thought "We can do that too, if not better!" (They, like the Speed Freeks and Blood Angels, believe that 'Red ones go faster!') Unlike other Craftworlds, they are not particularly big on the typical Eldar Path. Instead they are more outgoing, and enjoy the simple things of life to a higher degree than other Craftworld Eldar. This, however, has earned them a reputation as barbarians among other Craftworlds. Things like settling agreements with ritual duels and a general dislike for intrigue and manipulation do not help that impression.
The Craftworld was one of the first to flee the imploding Eldar empire, before Slaanesh feasted on their souls. As such, they care less about the dangers of letting their emotions run wild, and enjoy the thrill of danger. They are bros with some Exodites, in part due to their being less uptight about everything. However, they have been known to come into conflict with other Craftworlds and are distrusted because of this. The other Craftworlds have been known to try and enlist their support on several occasions, but such alliances tend to fall apart after whatever threat required them due to philosophical differences.
They'd be besties with the White Scars, were it not for the fact that both sides consider the other untermenschen. Unlike the other major Craftworlds, they don't have a single preferred enemy (though they do hold an especially great dislike for Orks and Necrons).
The Wild Rider clans are wild, loud and proud. They hold honour in far higher regard than many of the other Craftworlds, and are the closest thing in the setting you are going to get to Elven Space Wolves (just with much less wolf, and much better hygiene and fashion sense). When it comes to matters of warfare, each Wild Rider clan has full autonomy regarding whether or not they wish to partake in a militarized campaign, or if they just want to chill back on their Craftworld. The Seer Council or other Wild Rider clans can attempt to pressure or encourage each other into action, but any clan who can't be bothered can and will just tell each other to fuck off and go about their business as usual. They're also known for clan members drinking each other's blood in rituals designed to bond two warriors together, not too dissimilar from the Blood Angel's insanguination rituals (only Saim-Hann Eldar don't go batshit insane if they don't regularly get some sip).
The Eldar of Saim-Hann are happy to help out Biel-Tan in cleansing aliens from maiden worlds, but are really turned off by Biel-Tan extreme xenophobic tendencies and habit of murdering all non Eldar life, even if they no longer pose a threat. They will also work well alongside the forces Ulthwé, but will quickly grow tired of the constant manipulation and are not above telling the Seers of Ulthwé to go fuck themselves when asked to attack an unprovoked foe. Plus they clearly inspired the whole red makes things go faster thing amongst the Orks… or could that be the other way around?
The only Eldar that most clans of Saim-Hann are regularly chummy with are the Exodites and Harlequins. The Exodite worlds apparently are fantastic places for the Wild Rider clans to host all sorts of rituals, with the exodites themselves being as close to any Wild Rider clan eldar as any. The Harlequins are the only space-faring eldar that the Wild Rider clans never really have any beef with, partly because the murder clowns don't judge Saim-Hann eldar for not being as civilized as the other Craftworlds.
With the coming of the Great Rift and the massive social turmoil that has engulfed the Craftworlds, everyone wants the Wild Riders of Saim-Hann on their side. Despite the Clan’s wanting to keep their independence and freedom they are inevitably beginning to discover that it is almost impossible not to take sides in the civil unrest. They also got attacked by a Host of Death Guard who infected a part of the Craftworld, with a Clan trapped inside it. To avoid the spread of the disease, Saim Hann was forced to blow the part off and abandon the infected. This, understandably caused the infected to despair and fall to Nurgle so now reports of plague Eldar insect things attacking places are a thing.
Saim-Hann's Seer Council recently ordered Clan Moirec's Autarch Rhyloor and his Spiritseer relative Qelanaris to attack a Chaos cult on the tabletop campaign planet Vigilus. Once Rhyloor had gathered his warhost, he basically beelined directly for the Chaos cult's prophesied location without any attempt to even alert the Imperium of his actions. Of course, the Imperium didn't know that was what they were doing, so when the Aquilarian Council in charge of planetary defense heard that a band of Xenos was slaughtering Imperial "citizens", they immediately mobilized their Tempestus Scions against them. Even though Qelanaris tried to explain that they weren't the Dark Eldar going around attacking innocents, the Aquilarian Council's Tempestus Scions had no reason to believe them. It doesn't help that officially the Imperium as a whole does not generally distinguish between types of Eldar since the only difference that matters to them is that one takes prisoners and the other doesn't. So it should come as no surprise that the Tempestus Prime leading the mission, who happened to be quite versed against the raiding forces of the Druhkari, immediately ordered his men to shoot the shit out of the Saim-Hann war host. Once the Imperial forces leveled the city block and left, Qelanaris and the few Eldar not turned into paste or mist via rubble or explosive rounds that created said rubble gathered up the spirit stones of their fallen kin, Autarch Rhyloor among them, and returned to Saim-Hann. In a huffy fit of anger, Qelanaris slapped the spirit stones of everyone who died on Vigilus into wraithguard bodies and set back out for revenge despite the fact that most of their casualties could've been avoided had it not been for Rhyloor's stupid-ass decisions.
To be relatively fair to Saim-Hann as a whole, Qelanaris' campaign for revenge isn't endorsed by its Seer Council, nor do any of the other major clans of the craftworld approve. Indeed, even when Ultrasmurf Lieutenant Eothrus attempted to parlay with Qelanaris because of the bro-tier things his Space Wolf buddies told him of the Saim-Hann eldar, Qelanaris decided the best way to respond was simply wraithcannon fire. What's worse is that all of Qelanaris' efforts were sort of in vain to begin with; by the time he had organized his wraith host and attacked Vigilus, the Ultramarines had replaced the Aquilarian Council (who Qelanaris was coming to kill) and were the ones organizing the planet's defense at that point. So if anyone's to blame for this degree of fuckery, it's Qelanaris and his dead dipshit Autarch brother Rhyloor for not trying to coordinate in the slightest with the Imperium. One could argue to the later point that doing so would've only alerted Vannadan's little cult to the incoming assault, and we know what happened the last time the Eldar tried to warn the Imperium of Chaos corruption in it's midst. Regardless, the whole situation is FUBAR and now we can only wait and see how Saim-Hann officially reacts to the rogue Clan Moirec and if other Craftworlders or the Ynnari will be stepping in at any point to try to fix things.
Tactics
Saim-Hann tactics are all about speed. They usually field large numbers of Guardian jetbikers, as well as Seer Councils on jetbikes and Vyper jetbikes. Unsurprisingly they also have a high concentration of the Swooping Hawks and Shining Spear Aspect Warriors on their Craftworld. Predictably, this high emphasis on fast, highly maneuverable units gives them even more of a predilection towards hit-and-run tactics or blitzkrieging compared to other Craftworlders. While their preferred tactics are fully valid in most cases, they are also the most typical and by extension, predictable, of all the other Eldar Craftworlds.
Name
Saim-Hann, like Biel-Tan, is a name created by taking the name of a druidic festival (Samhain, Beltain), and tweaking it a bit. Why Games Workshop did this is unclear, but it may have something to do with the Eldar being Elves in space.
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